Kitsch Magazine: Fall 2021

kitsch Vol 20 No 1||Spring 2021

renaissance

kitsch Vol 20 No 1

editors-in-chief

copy editor art editor watch & listen editor zooming-in editor zooming-out editor

Selene Xu Havi Rojer Jean Cambareri Chloe Wayne Mariana Meriles

writers Medha Bulumulla Jean Cambareri Vee Cipperman Stacie Dressel Evelyn Kennedy Jaffe Grace Lee Sofia Paredes Havi Rojer Stephanie Tom Chloe Wayne Tenny Yin

Fall 2021

Vee Cipperman & Stephanie Tom

design editor social media editor web editor bite-size editor assisstant zooming-out

Tilda Wilson Sarah Bastos Carrie Kim Sofia Paredes Olivia Pietz

artists Medha Bulumulla Vee Cipperman Havi Rojer Belle McDonald Chloe Wayne Tenny Yin Christina Lee Lilly Bjerke Tilda Wilson

cover art Havi Rojer

in this issue...

Bite Size

Watch & Listen

Who is your renaissance suitor? A quiz

8

What Major Figures in the Renaissance Would Wear to the Met Gala.

12

Orbium Coelestium

13

Paper Craft

15

Recipe for Sourdough Bread

16

On The Plaza

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If You Don’t Kill Your Darlings, I’ll Do it Myself

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Hedgehogs and Egotistical Middle Schoolers: Philosophy and Rebirth in Neon Genesis Evangelion

21

Spotify Playlist

24

The Life and Death and Death of Electra Heart, or How Tumblr Taught Me to Kill my Darlings

26

Empty Bottles, Different Dreams

30

A Song for Saint Ursula

33

Zooming In

Zooming Out

Queerness and the Renaissance How to Treat The Black Plague Pink Renaissance The Tale Of The Inventor Global Golden Ages The Catholic Church Today The Day in the Life of a Renaissance Inventor

36 38 40 42 43 46 48

Letter From The Editors ear Reader, Cornell is coming alive again, and so is Kitsch. After three semesters of heavy COVID safety restrictions, we’ve emerged into a new era of lightness and spontaneity - a true Renaissance, for ourselves and for our magazine. As we’ve worked to re-explore our campus and make overdue memories, we’ve created all the writing and art that you’ll find within these pages. We’ve forged new paths and made new discoveries. We’ve come together after years apart, welcoming a fresh eboard as we look back at the past year and imagine the future to come.

We welcome you into our process of reinvention in every page of this magazine.

We invite you to learn about the historical Renaissance, including its science, people, and ways of life around the world. Ruminate on the roles of gender and sexuality with Jean Cambareri in “Queerness and the Renaissance.” Discover ages of prosperity and advancement around the world with Stacie Dressel in “Global Golden Ages.” Get some delightfully dubious advice on Renaissance medical procedures in Medha Bulumulla’s “How to Treat the Black Plague.”

In pursuit of the modern and personal, our editors and contributors have offered insight into their own Renaissances. Grace Lee discusses how we should discard internalized misogyny and redefine modern femininity to be inclusive and empowering in “Pink Renaissance.” Sofia Paredes reflects on her experience with Catholicism in “The Catholic Church Today” and asks readers to adapt the Church to modernity, finding a way to balance a respect for the core beliefs of the Church that advocate for love and kindness with condemnation for upholding justification for acts of violence such as homophomia and pedophilia. In “Empty Bottles, Different Dreams,” Evelyn KJ explores the Chrysalis Effect as it is related to their feelings of isolation of COVID-19, and how they’ve found their way out past them.

This semester, we saw Kitsch reborn. The hallmarks of our Renaissance include staying too late in a dining hall with friends; eating snacks at editors’ meetings under tents; buying far too much glitter paper for the sparkliest art; sharing hot apple cake at art night; fighting In-Design together during layout week; relaunching our launch party; and making the memories that make our poetry, essays, and art.

Thank you for finding your way to Kitsch, whether you may be discovering this magazine for the first time or if you are an old friend. May you find a path to your own renewal within these pages.

Love and gnomes, Vee and Steph

e t i d B ize S

Who is your Renaissance suitor? A quiz.

by Chole Wayne art by Tilda Wilson A quick couple of comments: for this quiz, I was hoping to keep it in an online format that readers can take by scanning a QR code. Also, the responses will be randomized. I copied and pasted the questions, responses, and results so you can edit them directly.

Here is the QR code (and the link so you don’t have to scan your computer):

A lecherous wench approaches thine man and gives him a smooch on his cheek, what do you do? a. Are you mad? Knap the wench! Beat her into an early grave! b. As Shakespeare once said, “I’ll beat thee, but I would infect my hands.” I wouldn’t dare put my hands on such a zany woman. I’d blackmail her instead. c. With a heavy heart, I’d weep rivers! d. Eh, there are other suitors in the city. Suitors are exchangeable, like coins in a bank. e. I’d stand in shock! Who would do such a thing? f. It really do be like that sometimes.

Prithee tell, which color do thee fancy? a. Opulent Red b. Luxurious Purple c. Brave Blue d. Sunset Orange e. Rejuvenating Green f. Shitstain Brown

Oh my, thou art in good fortune! A worthy suitor has offered a gift for his beloved. Pray tell, which shall thee taketh? a. A personalized sonnet, depicting your unfathomable beauty! b. A vibrant carnation, symbolizing a passionate love for thee! c. An intricate gold-encrusted brooch to wear on thine chest! d. A serenade, performed by lyre amidst the bustling beauty of Florence! e. A manifesto detailing the failures of capitalism. f. A half-empty white claw can.

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Thine suitor wishes to take thou on a romantic venture. What scenery and activities do you fancy? a. A historical tour of the Palazzo del Te and its intricate murals. b. A boat ride on the glossy rivers of the Venetian canals. c. Be a guest at a glamorous Masquerade ball attended by the most elegant debutants of France. d. Uproot and revolutionize Catholicism through a radical critique of Catholic practices which you nail on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church for all to see; catalyzing the Protestant reformation. e. Watch displays of valor in fiery fencing matches with your suitor by your side. f. Cracking open a cold one with the boys.

What is thine language of love? a. Words of Affirmation b. Acts of Service c. Receiving Gifts d. Quality Time e. Physical Touch f. Queefs.

Which set of qualities do you fancy the most? a. Searches for meaning in everything, appreciates aesthetics, is sensitive, but can be a bit over-emotional at times. b. Challenges authority, thinks radically, lives by their own rules, but can be a little problematic at times. c. Likes the finer things in life, acts in a dignified manner, giving to those close to them, but can be a bit selfish at times d. Has a passion for knowledge, is hardworking, calculating, but can be a bit cold at times. e. Romanticizes life, has lots of love to give, seeks happiness and fulfillment in everything they do, but can be a bit clingy at times. f. Ability to chug a keg of beer, kisses the homies goodnight WITH SOCKS on, an extensive vineyard vines clothing collection, and pecs that are actually boobs because there is no way pecs are just naturally that big.

What is the essence of thine being? Differently put, what drives thee? a. Creating anything which fulfills me (either emotionally, aesthetically, economically, etc.) b. Restructuring the foundation of society, either for collective benefit or chaos. c. Living comfortably or gaining the finer things in life. d. Learning as much as possible/becoming a lifelong learner. e. Meeting someone to share the rest of your life with. f. Getting tickets to the next Lil Uzi concert.

Choose a furry photo. Yes, this is still the Renaissance suitor quiz. No, you didn’t accidentally click onto another quiz.

a. b. c. d. e. f.

A

B

C

D

E

F

squad up furries alpha male furry cult furries poser wannabe furry taylor swift CGI furry political commentator furry who thinks facts don’t care about your feelings

Pick an “ick”. a. You are on a date and pass by a basketball court.

Frantically, your partner runs to the court and picks up a ball. Loudly, they shout “This one’s for you!” As they attempt a jump shot, they trip over their shoelace and fart. They lay on the ground shitting and crying over their emasculation. You leave them in a puddle of their tears. b. Your partner is a digital artist. For your anniversary they decided to draw a portrait of you. Over a romantic candlelight dinner, they pull out their iPad. Excited to show you the fruits of their labor, they swipe through their photos app. “Aha, I found it, “ your partner exclaims as they stop on a picture of a prolapsed anus they were using as a reference for a collection of gore art. You did not know about this gore art. “I’ve lost my appetite,” you blandly state as you leave the dinner table. c. On a regular Friday evening, you and your partner are chilling together, philosophizing about alternative worlds. Questions such as, “What if America was communist?” or, “How do we disestablish heteronormative gender norms?” are frequent conversation topics. In the middle

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of your point about the structure of transnational mother-migrant families, your partner interrupts you. “Hold on babe, I’m going to take a bong rip,” your partner cooly says, reaching for his bong. After indulging in his smoker’s delight, he says “Check this out, babe.” Putting his mouth to the lip of the bong, he drinks the water and proceeds to gurgle it in his mouth. “Weeeeed mouthwaaaaassshh,” he articulates as he gurgles.

You leave. d. You are going on a first date with your partner.

You have chatted over Bumble many times and have decided to make the next move. Their witty quips and intellect made you fall hard. Now, you wait outside your house for your partner to pick you up for your date. You get a text. “I’m almost there :)” You smile. 2 minutes later a cyan-colored mini cooper blasting “Buddy Holly” by Weezer pulls up to the driveway. Stickers with sayings such as “Incel Rights” and graphics of big tiddy anime girls litter the car windows. But wait, the driver doesn’t look like your partner? “Hey!” You look across the driver’s seat to see your partner waving frantically. “This is George, we are both in a competitive League of Legends tournament at the local retirement home! He’s gonna drive us to Wendy’s and eat dinner with us. They get out of the car to open the door. They are adorned in a shirt of Shinji from Evangelion with a Minecraft hoodie, and, to top it off, cargo shorts. You go back inside the house, never to return. e. You and your partner are attending a dinner with prominent tech CEOs. Formality and a cold demeanor characterized the conversations at the dinner table. After a while, dinner is served: pepper-filled premium german sausage with a side of potatoes au gratin and freshly picked summer vegetables.

As people begin to partake in their dinner, wet slopping sounds begin to echo the room. Your turn over and your partner is performing fellatio on the sausage. Really, bad fellatio.

They drop the sausage on the table and begin barking and lapping at it like a wild animal.

You excuse yourself from the table.

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f. You and your partner are walking along the local strip mall. Admiring the shops, sometimes stopping in, you enjoy the frivolity of the date. Abruptly, your partner puts his arm out in front of you, bad-driver-who-at-

the-last-second-decided-not-to-run-a-red-light style. Stopping you in your tracks, you hear a faint song in the background, sounding similar to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Snapping along to the rhythm, they move forward. Strangers begin migrating towards your partner, stepping along with the rhythm of the beat. Your partner starts singing, in a brutally off-key manner reminiscent of prepubescent middle school boys, “I LoVe YoU bAbY aNd If itS quITe alRIGHt i NeeD yOu bAby.” Disgusted by their Urkel-esque dance moves, all sexual and romantic feelings for them drain out of your body.

Results: Fabritio (The Creative One): A creative and emotional soul, Fabritio is searching for a muse to complement his art. An empathetic soul, Fabritio is comparable to having an artsy hipster golden retriever as a partner. Troubled souls, they will fantasize about the manic pixie dream girl who will lead them on a restorative journey. Looking for Alaska by John Green would be on his bookshelf, if he wasn’t a fictionalized Renaissance suitor fabricated for the purpose of this quiz. As the Francis Bacon and Shinji Ikari hybrid of these quiz results, you shouldn’t be

surprised to find him sitting in a folding chair, head in his hands, contemplating existentialism.

Gerolamo (The Controversial One): A Martin Luther wannabe, Gerolamo dreams of making the history books with his revolutionary ideals. Although, I don’t know how revolutionary “replacing cutlery with sticky hand toys” is. Oftentimes, his heart is in the right place, but he says things that can be...well...a little problematic. No, he doesn’t truly believe that medieval English immigrants should “go back to their homeland,” he just thinks it might be distressing for them to finally have dental insurance access. Yes, you will attend protests with him regarding issues he doesn’t understand. It’s okay. Just let him pretend he understands what’s going on.

Pierre (The Rich One): The Great Gatsby of the Renaissance suitors, he is willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on his partner. A sassy rich bitch, he is definitely caught up in all the hot Venetian gossip circulating around. To him, it’s not Venice, it’s The Real Housewives of Venice. One of the perks of dating this man is that, if you ever lose him in a crowd, just follow the noises of screeching homeless men and you’ll find him, throwing pennies at the poor. If it wasn’t clear already, yeah, he’s elitist. But he has a big heart...

for other rich people. Have fun enjoying the most extravagant dates with the most extravagant, sassy, rich bitch of Venice.

Niccolo (The Intellectual One): Revered for his intelligence, you can often find this man with his nose in another astrophysics book. The walls of his home are covered by bookshelves, all of which are filled. He knows everything, and, therefore, can help you with anything. Yet, with all the time he spends curating his intellectual prowess, he has never had physical contact with a woman. But of course, he doesn’t attribute that lack of intimacy to the inordinate time spent reading, he attributes it to the Chads of Florence who swindle women into having intercourse with them. In other words, he’s an incel. But he’ll open up, I promise. He’ll open up his diary which has been held for review at multiple mental institutions. You’ll just have to teach him some things he has never learned from reading books. Like how to not be an incel.

Tommaso (The Romantic One): Oooh la la, the Pepe Le Pew of the Renaissance (and I’m not talking about the meme co-opted by far-right groups). A true romantic, he will devote all his time to making you swoon.

Every week, he will surprise you with a new romantic gesture guaranteed to make you fall in love even deeper. But in his efforts, sometimes he makes mistakes. Like big public ick mistakes. Once, he might’ve tried to propose in the middle of a fencing match but got violently hit in the balls with a lance.

He didn’t cry and throw up on the stage floor. That totally wasn’t him. He tries to cover up his mistakes by acting like a swag f-boy. He’s not. He’ll repeat jokes multiple times after no one has laughed. He refers to his mom as “birth giver.” But despite the cringe, he deeply cares for you. Trust me.

Chad: Hell yeah, brah. Get ready for lakeside dates with the boys nearby on a yacht paid for with daddy’s money. He might be failing basic math, but he will for sure fail you on multiple occasions. Birthdays, social events, homework help, he will fail you on all of them. He is a man-baby who is perpetually stuck in the oral fixation phase (as indicated by his inability to physically distance himself from his vape pen).

Under the vineyard vines and Colombia vest is a heart full of nicotine, which will soon be defective starting in his early forties. Have fun. ◆

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What Major Figures in the Renaissance Would Wear to the Met Gala

by Chole Wayne art by Chole Wayne

William Shakespeare

Um... is he wearing a phallic-shaped cactus costume..?? Does it say “Salutum Erectorium”?? Puny, and reminds me of that one creepy uncle. We all know he was a brilliant writer AND he had lots of sexual innuendos in his plays. We should’ve expected it.

Nicolaus Copernicus

He wanted to twin with Galileo but ended up dressing like a crackhead Bill Nye. He’s trying his best. :,)

Michelangelo

Oh. My. God. This dude raised the bar for Met Gala fits. Everything is hand-painted and crafted, because, of course.

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Galileo Galilei

He didn’t get the memo. Another heterosexual male fumbled the bag for Met Gala by wearing a plain tux. He’s over by the cocktails scheming with Copernicus.

King Henry VII

Making a splash at the Met Gala, King Henry is wearing a purple suit with a leopard lapel (rawrr). Yeah... he looks like a pimp. I mean, it fits? We wouldn’t expect anything less from a man who created a separate Church of England just so he could pursue more hoes. Yes, he had hoes in the 15th century. Beheaded hoes....

Martin Luther

Adorning a conservative robe sort of thing? Making a holier-thanthou political statement, his outfit is essentially a play on Cara Delevigne’s “Peg the Patriarchy”, but without the pegging, because that isn’t very Catholic (or is it?).

Niccolo Machiavelli

Heretic! Immoral! And, worst of all, a politician! He’s turned heads with his sparkly nipple pasties and thigh-high boots. Look out boys, once he sways those hips towards you...you’ll be stuck listening to his political theory outlined in “The Prince.”

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orbium coelestium

by Havi Rojer art by Havi Rojer

i promise, earth-planet i adore you still your ancient forests your endless seas

though i’ve sentenced you to orbit for forever after all our epicycles when i lay dying slow

to cast you adrift was never my intent but i cannot deny solar gravity

i’ll sing into the vacuum “you will always be the center of my universe”

do not envy that central star flaming helios holds nothing over you ask any man and he’d choose gaia for what could compare to your verdant breast

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Thanks to the printing press, we can make crafts of vintage towers.

by Medha Bulumulla

1. Cut the figures.

2. Cut slits on the dotted lines.

3. Insert the tabs into the slits.

4. Place the cone on top of the cylinder.

5. You have your own tower!

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Recipe For Sourdough Bread

by Havi Rojer art by Havi Rojer Do you wish you could bake a loaf of bread just like someone from the Renaissance? Until the 19th century, sourdough bread was the main way that everyone from serfs to royalty could enjoy the tastiest toast around, and archeologists have found sourdough starters dating back to over 5000 years ago!

This recipe utilizes modern day conveniences like a fridge, oven, and Google for when you freak out over whether your dough is supposed to look like that, but otherwise, this is probably about the most cottagecore you’re going to get unless you decide to straight up move to the coast of Britain or something. Enjoy!

Ingredients

500 g water 800 g white flour 1 T kosher salt 160 g starter

Instructions

Making bread is a two (to two and a half) day process with the following general form: 1. Day 1, T = 0 hours Feed starter: 30g water, 30g flour, 30g starter 2. Day 2, T=12 hours Feed starter: 80g, 80g, 80g 3. Day 2, T=0 hours Make dough (save 30g of starter for reserve) a. Set warmer to 80 to 90 degrees F b. mix flour, water, and salt c. make well in center for starter d. mix with hands until sticky, tight dense, and all flour is almost off hands e. rest for 10 minutes

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4. Day 2 T=0.16 hours Knead dough (round 1) a. Mix with wet hand until nice texture b. cover with parchment paper and oil spray

c. rest for 90 minutes 5. Day 2, T=1.6 hours: knead dough (round #2) a. Mix with dry hands for 1 minute and transfer to dry parchment paper in large mixing bowl covered with wax paper and oil on top. b. Rise for 3 to 6 hours.

3. Day 2, T=5 hours Bake Bread a. Make cross cuts in top with serrated knife b. Place large enamel pot in oven at 500 F for 20 min c. Transfer paper and bread to heated large pot and bake with cover at 450 F for 30 mins d. Remove cover and bake for another 10-15 mins until nicely browned on top e. Remove pot from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour f. Slice and enjoy!

On

The

Plaza

What deserves a renaissance?

“Pokemon”

“those Cooking Mama video games”

“The world before white people colonized everything.”

“girl bands”

“Pumpkin Pie”

“growing your own food”

“Monarchy” (“not sure if that one’s a joke”)

“Can we bring back revolutions? It’s been a little quiety lately.”

“Cattleya cut flowers”

“Small talk”

“insects / cool bug stuff”

“Breaks (of many kinds)”

“food without onion, garlic, and pepper”

“flip phones and high school move montages”

“the education system” “the warriors books” “Yu Gi Oh!” “boybands

“The food scene is a little boring here.” “it’s 2021, can we reclaim moist?

“American Girl Dolls.”

“bell bottoms”

“Silly Bandz.”

“sitting in silence and not looking at your phones”

“Rooms where all you do is gossip and cross stitch.”

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If You Won’t Kill Your Darlings I’ll Do It Myself

by Stephanie Tom art by Havi Rojer

It all starts when we’ve become witness to one-too-many retellings of melodrama and misery. How, in every story, there is a heartbreak there is rain and there are tears.

We watch girls lose themselves in the folds of their memories over boys that do not love them anymore, and we watch them wallow to the point of near drowning.

Newsflash! society has progressed past its desire for sad girls!

We don’t want to see your washed out mascara dripping down your cheeks.

Your tears are too pretty to be lost over a boy.

Darling, please don’t cry.

Every girl knows that the best way to run from heartache is to leave no trace of the past self to learn to dye your hair to rewrite the memory of yourself all the way through to your roots.

This is why we begin every fairy tale bildungsroman or myth with a transformation for a new origin story.

If this is a coming of age story, I want to be completely unrecognizable when the powder puff settles and the bubblegum pop dies down.

When the boy breaks my heart, I break his memory in my mirror. It all starts with purple hair – I wake up and choose my colored streak of the day, to define myself before the movie directors can. The first lesson of the heartbroken feedback orchestra – you are the only one who is allowed to decide your own erasure. Here in the Love Club we’ve mastered the art of transfiguration.

The girls and I eat happy-go-lucky charms for breakfast and say Amen when we don’t choke on the sugar. Call me the patron saint of not giving a damn – my heart won’t be stolen through the heart on my sleeves so easily. I unravel, unhinge my jaw and swallow this story whole. Second lesson of the Love Club: for every reimagination, there is a dream that must die – and in this story, I don’t go back 18

to sleep. Say goodbye to the manic pixie dream girl of your boyish fantasies – say hello to the depressive demonic nightmare you’ve woken up instead with your dirty hands.

And yet, a trace of the true self exists in the false self.

Darling, it’s okay if at the end of this fairy tale, you are tired of being someone you’re not. It’s okay if you do not wish to be the slayer anymore. You do not have to be the final girl alone. If being a nightmare is too much of a monster is too much of a burden for you you can rest here. The Love Club will still be yours. All of this hurt can be yours. Your grief doesn’t have to be glass.

Darling, what I’m saying is that if you find your heart broken you can hold it in your hands and if you need to bury it properly to truly let go I will be here for you and keep your hands warm.◆ 19

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Li

t en

s

h c t a W

And

H edgeho g s a nd Egot i st ic al M idd le S cho olers: Ph i los o phy a nd Rebi r th i n N eon G enes i s Ev a ngel ion

by Chloe Wayne art by Chloe Wayne & Vee Cipperman To enter academic spaces, to howl and profusely spout the notion that “anime can be philosophical!” is the intellectual equivalent of shoving your balls in a meat grinder and claiming it’s a “kink.”

It’s a pointless venture with little to no validity in the eyes of others. Yet, as I write this article, I stick my metaphorical balls in a death trap and venture through this taboo space. I argue that underlying the shock-value, bright-lights, and waifu-ism inherent in anime, its universality strikes the hearts of all men. In other words, anime has important shit to say. Evangelion is no different. Indeed, underneath the “Feliz Jueves!” memes littering Reddit pages, Rei plushie fuckery, and overall incel-ness of the protagonist Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion

“To enter academic spaces, to howl and profusely spout the notion that ‘anime can be philosophical!’ is the the intellectual equivalent of shoving your balls in a meat grinder and claiming it’s a kink.” is littered with philosophical commentary, religious iconography, and notions regarding the intrinsic nature of humanity. Through the narratives of trauma-ridden characters, Evangelion seeks to dissect the questions of ‘what is Humanity?’ and ‘how do we connect with others?’ Specifically, within this article, I will be covering the conceptualization of “rebirth” portrayed in Evangelion through the lens of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s theories.

In unraveling the complexities of this 26-episode existential pit of despair, I will spoil the show. Therefore, read if you dare.

In the world of Evangelion, middle-schoolers Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley, and Rei Ayanami are selected

to pilot glorified robots known as “Evas” in order to combat the threat posed by extraterrestrial beings known as “angels.” NERV, a private, non-governmental agency, is the foundation for the creation of Evas and the safeguarding of humanity. Yet, unbeknownst to many of the underlings of NERV, angels are the driving cores behind the Evas. In other words, Evas are composed of angels. In addition, Shinji’s father, Commander Ikari, is conducting a separate project known as the “Human Instrumentality Project” in an effort to reduce man back to its beginnings. Ultimately, the implication of this project is that the consciousness of mankind will be reduced to one slurry of collective being, devoid of physical boundaries demarcating the individuality of man.

Interwoven with the battles against the angels set on demolishing earth and the nefarious behaviors of NERV are the personal struggles of the pilots. Shinji, the poster child for fatherless behavior, struggles to strike a balance between “absolutely fucking hating his father” and thriving off of the piecemeal validation he receives from him, however emotionally impotent he is. Asuka, who is one degree removed from the Republican rage underlying hate crimes, struggles to safeguard her fragile pride while earning the respect and attention she craves by piloting her Eva. Meanwhile, Rei (spoiler alert) is a clone created from the salvaged remains of Shinji’s mother. Together they form an utterly fucked up trio attesting to the harms of intergenerational trauma.

Kidding. But their dynamic illustrates the concept of Schopenhauer’s Hedgehog’s Dilemma: a theme central to the show.

In the tale of the Hedgehog’s Dilemma (which actually involves porcupines, surprisingly) a group of porcupines huddle together for warmth. Yet their sharp quills prick one another, causing them to disperse. Due to the cold, they eventually come back together, with a newfound recognition that

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there must be a certain amount of distance between them to survive. Schopenhauer compares this story to society, stating that “In the same way, the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of their nature. The moderate distance which they at last discover to be the only tolerable condition of intercourse is the code of politeness and fine manners, and those who transgress it are roughly told—in the English phrase—to keep their distance.” In the same manner, as the protagonists of Evangelion get closer to one another, they only find their individual traumas as a repellent to any future closeness. Hence, the call for the Human Instrumentality Project, a solution for the follies of mankind.

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In addition, in Schopenhauer’s “The World as Will and Representation,” Schopenhauer contends that human individuality produces suffering, due to the fact that “each individual will or ego can only view the world from its own vantage point.” Therefore, our perceptions will never be perfectly synergized into a perfect connection. In addition, this separation of wills causes alienation and isolation, which, in turn, causes pain in the lives of men. Shinji’s

suffering is rooted in the constant validation he seeks from others. In his perception, he believes nobody likes him. No matter how much his perception is unaligned with reality, he lacks the wisdom to understand that fact. He is devoid of any self-love, unable to see himself as an individual with meaning within the world. In addition, as Shinji tries to get close with Asuka, their egos clash due to their perceptual misunderstanding. Asuka sees Shinji’s constant submission and compliance as weak-minded, and laments his inability to seek validation in the same manner she does (through competence and authority, instead of through Shinji’s meek pity parties). Yet, Shinji sees himself as feeble, and in need of the love and comfort of a caregiver in order to survive. He sees himself as a victim of circumstance; a victim of the hatred of others. He doesn’t have the fortitude to deal with the obstinate wills of others and wants to be drowned in niceties and love. In an existential monologue in episode 20, Shinji cries “I’m doing my best. I am. Please be kind to me. I’ve been fighting so much. I’m fighting as well as I can.

Take care of me, please. Be kind to me!

From this plight, the rebirth of man unfolds.

In the last episodes of the season, the Human Instrumentality Project takes place. Through the eyes of Shinji, we see the rebirth of humanity. The clash of egos and frustration of man is replaced with a vast emptiness. This emptiness is intended to be preferable over the pain inherent in existence. It’s an answer to the question of “how can we ever find solace if we can never truly understand each other?” This specifically formulated answer is seen as preferable, at first. In this form of existence, Shinji’s self-worth is finally based upon other’s perceptions, although it would be a mistake to label that “self ” worth. After all, there is no existence of the self within the Human Instrumentality Project. This world is a mirage of want; as Asuka tells Shinji, “All you do is to wait for someone’s giving you a happiness. A false happiness.” The collective consciousness formed by the Human Instrumentality Project is a false happiness. It’s a world in which everything is reduced to nothingness.

As this mirage progresses, Shinji starts to see the cracks in paradise. Within the stew of consciousness, Shinji finds that the markings of individuality

“Through conversations with ‘others’ within the collective, Shinji is taught his subjective reality is flawed, but it is a necessary reaction to survive with the world. In this world there are ‘as many truths as there are people.’” give us a point of comparison; how will you ever know if you are stingy, short, or smart if you aren’t surrounded by other people? Even more pressing, how can you have a concept of yourself without others, in a space of nothingness?

Shinji expresses this concern: “This is the world with nothing, the space with nothing...the world with nothing but me. I am less able to understand myself.

I feel as if I am going to disappear. My existence is fading away.” Through conversations with “others” within the collective, Shinji is taught his subjective reality is flawed, but it is a necessary reaction to

survive within the world. In this world, there are “as many truths as there are people.” Despite these permutations of the truth, Shinji’s friend Kensuke demonstrates to him that “there’s only one truth that you have, which is formed of the narrowed view of the world. That’s revised information to protect yourself, the twisted truth.” This truth loses its meaning in a world without others. Even though our wills crash, intersect, battle, the individuality associated with a will makes a world far more interesting and worth living.

Thus, the Evangelion rebirth is one of morals. A renaissance of humanity. Through the introspective lense of Evangelion, we see how pain is integral to our growth and existence as human beings. With it, we are exposed to a universal truth: Life is meaningless without others. ◆

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The Life and Death of Electra Heart, or How Tumblr Taught Me to Kill My Darlings

by Stephanie Tom art by Vee Cipperman TW: self harm Nearly 10 years ago, Marina and the Diamonds released her sophomore album Electra Heart in 2012 at the height of the Tumblr renaissance era. When I first discovered the album and artist through 240p animated music videos (AMVs) on YouTube in middle school, and later saw her all over Tumblr when I made an account two years later, I was enthralled. There was just something so magnetic about the album cover, Marina’s eyes looking up at me as her head tilted otherwise, her signature eyeliner-drawn heart stamped prominently on her cheek. Apparently, whatever had drawn me to Marina and had me hooked on her songs had also gotten a generation of Tumblr-typical girls as well. As my friend Matilda put it aptly, “Marina had an iron-clad grip on Tumblr culture for

“How did Marina’s sophomore album come to define a generation of girls on the internet?” most of our formative years, and that’s why so many of us knew what depression was before we even learned the name for it.” It’s true that Electra Heart later went on to heavily influence Tumblr culture and spaces from its release onwards, including the fact that the song “Bubblegum Bitch” recently saw a resurgence on TikTok in 2021. So how did Marina’s sophomore album come to define a generation of girls growing up on the Internet?

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Marina explains in multiple interviews that Electra Heart was born on her travels across the United States while she was on the Family Jewels tour for her first album in 2010. While passing through the southwest and, most notably, Hollywood, she began thinking about how the Tumblr generation was growing up on the Internet as anonymous stars, how pictures were posted without knowing the strangers you shared space with through the screen. As a result, Electra Heart ended up revolving around the space between identity, self, and the glamour of being seen à la Hollywood. In her own words during

an interview with PopJustice in August 2011 (eight months before the release of the album), “It’s kind of basically a vehicle to portray part of the American dream, with elements of Greek tragedy.”

According to Aristotle, the six elements of Grecian tragedies are plot, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle. To capture the American dream through such a lens, Marina went all out, beginning with the launch of a Tumblr page with the username ‘electraheart’ in December 2010. As posts started appearing over the months leading up to and through the release of the album in April 2012, they all started to develop the iconic Electra Heart aesthetic that we’ve all grown to know and love. This included washed-out polaroid-style photo shoots with the iconic heart (♥) on either end of captions, bolded words in all caps, and space between each letter.

Having established the “plot” of her album and placing it in the realm of American dreams, Marina then conceptualized what she called the four “archetypes” of Americana, taking photoshoots of four vastly different characters that she eventually turned into the archetypes / “speakers of her poems (songs)” in her album.

The first of the archetypes is the housewife – the stereotype of the submissive and docile wife who conforms blindly to the old-fashioned subservient role in the relationship with her husband. Cultural references include “The Stepford Wives” (1975) and Valley of the Dolls (1966), with the corresponding songs on the album including “Su-Barbie-A” (unreleased), “Lies,” “Valley of the Dolls” (directly borrowing from the book of the same name), “Starring Role,” and “Hypocrates” (the last two being speculative without actual confirmation from Marina).

Following up with the opposite of a housewife, Marina introduced the homewrecker as her second archetype. Inspired by the ‘homewrecker’ trope of a (usually) female character ruining an established family by romantically pursuing a married family

member with little or no remorse, Marina honed in on the idea of being “the slayer instead of the slain.” Such songs falling under this trope include “Homewrecker,” “Power and Control,” “E.V.O.L.,” and “How to be a Heartbreaker” (a personal favorite).

The third archetype explored was the beauty queen, aka “Primadonna,” as seen on the album cover and representing all of the girls and women who are trying to validate themselves without receiving validation from others. Songs that embody this archetype include “Primadonna,”

“a space where they could be angry, and sad, and insecure, and scared, and have others speak to that” “Fear and Loathing,” “The State of Dreaming,” and speculatively, “Sex Yeah.” Marina herself has firmly stated that this is an ‘undesirable’ character type, clarifying in an interview with Elle Girl that this archetype was inspired by an ex-boyfriend who thought it was funny that Marina was “a mega drama queen always talking ‘global love’ this, ‘global love’ that,” something that she both found funny but also simultaneously hated. In the same interview, Marina continued to say that her reason for including this archetype was to emphasize that “it’s about not needing anybody when it comes to love — your raison d’etre is to live for adoration,” something you need to be able to give yourself when others cannot. Acknowledging the adage that ‘you only hate in others what you hate in yourself,’ Marina decided to channel this phenomenon into a song (“Primadonna”) to paint it as undesirable, encouraging listeners to break free of that mindset.

Finally, Marina deemed the last of the four archetypes the teen idle, another undesirable persona, this time about youth and not living out teenhood the way you imagined or wanted to. The three songs under this umbrella include “Teen Idle” (the first Marina song that I ever heard in an AMV), “Radioactive” (which shared the same title as my first crush’s favorite song at the time), and “Bubblegum Bitch” (one of the best openers of all time, and certainly one of my favorites).

Looking back, I do think that the two archetypes most popular with Tumblr users were the undesirable ones: the beauty queen and the idle teen, the only two that would likely match the age

demographics of most Tumblr users. Why did we latch onto these ‘undesirables’ so much, and why did we fall in love with what we weren’t supposed to aspire towards?

Well, perhaps her archetypes spoke to the Tumblr generation for the same reasons that drove them there to begin with – to find a space where they could be angry, and sad, and insecure, and scared, and have others speak to that experience instead of tamping it down and suppressing it. Electra Heart was not an alter ego for Marina, but instead, a “vehicle used to explore American archetypes.”

And throughout the album, Electra Heart did just that: speaking to the multifaceted insecurities of our many facades and representing them in their entirety.

Marina had initially created Electra to explore the aesthetic of American identity, to try to figure out what Americana valued, what it would take to be successful, to win in this world. When those answers came together, she eventually discovered that at the heart of the American dream was corruption, something that turned Electra Heart, the icon of feminine aspirations within that dreamscape, into a “strong, cold-hearted, vacuous [bitch].”

While Marina had set out to explore Americana to unpack what made it beautiful, what she found through the lens of a less-than-divine-feminine

was a generation’s deepest anxieties and fears as exemplified through Tumblr teenhood. There was no longer any glory in the idolized “gossipy, suicidal 27

side of the ‘30s and ‘40s in Hollywood” that she had started out with; this was, in many aspects, the Grecian tragedy that she had set out to write.

Of course, no tragedy is complete without a spectacle, so Marina wrote a ritualistic killing of Electra Heart, symbolic of her killing the persona that she had built. Here was a monster that she had built, and as the archetype of the homewrecker, Marina would be the slayer instead of the slain.

“Where Electra was a stone-cold bitch who couldn’t be fazed, in Love + Fear, Marina was entirely herself, and posited that the act of making herself and vulnerable was a sign of strength rather than weakness.”

Killing Electra with sleeping pills symbolized an acceptance and embracing of the feminine fears and unfulfilled promises of teenhood that a lot of girls seemed to lose themselves within. In particular, the use of sleeping pills was Marina’s first stab at a rebirth, of both the American dream that we’ve created as well as of her artistic renaissance: even when killing, there is no shame in being soft, in being kind to someone who had done you harm.

(As an aside, though the usage of sleeping pills may have contributed to Tumblr’s tendency to glorify self-harm as a beautiful ‘solution’ for many people online, I am not encouraging that or insinuating that this was Marina’s intention).

With the end of Electra Heart, Marina ended a cycle of harm and came back slowly but surely in years to come with anthems exploring that cycle of life and death – through her album Froot (2015) and later in Love + Fear (2019). Froot was named “one of the most complex pop albums of recent years” by The Line of Best Fit, and Marina was praised for being “that emotionally intelligent outsider who knew how to perfectly articulate those weird thoughts and reactions we all have but would never admit to”

by State.

Love + Fear, her first album after dropping ‘and the Diamonds’ from her stage name, was entirely soft in aesthetic terms – radiating peace and joy, and wholly advocating for global love (which her ex-boyfriend had laughed at her for). In short, she wrote a very emotional album, but in a way that was 28

the antithesis of Electra Heart; where Electra was a stone-cold bitch who couldn’t be fazed, in Love + Fear, Marina was entirely herself, and posited that the act of making herself open and vulnerable was a sign of strength, rather than weakness.

Marina’s trajectory of her artistic career from ‘voice of teen angst’ to ‘curator of self-love’ has emulated (and possibly inspired) other Tumblr-popular American musicians of similar genres and styles at the same time. Among those who were also exploring the idea of Americana, femininity, and teenhood were Lana Del Ray, Lorde, and Mitski, with contemporaries like Halsey, Melanie Martinez, and Billie Eilish following suit a few years later.

Almost all of the aforementioned artists above have taken a hiatus since their peaks as Tumblr queens of teen angst (with Marina taking 4 years in between Froot and Love + Fear, Lorde doing the same between Melodrama and Solar Power, and Mitski taking three years in between Be the Cowboy and her upcoming Working for the Knife). The latter artists have all gone through ebbs and flows, evolving from pop-punk sad girl indie aesthetics to more mature aesthetics of entering adulthood, whether they be angrier, more melancholic, or simply more contemplative.

Now that I’m entering the cusp of adulthood myself and have long abandoned the Tumblr page of my middle school years, I realize that the feelings of teenhood are something we never fully grow out of and that the teens we used to be or the angst we used to have and swan about online never disappear entirely. Rather, like Tumblr, we’ve only undergone changes in appearance and the systems we belong to. At our core, we still harbor all of our emotions, anxieties, and concerns about life – but only because we care. We care so much more now, about ourselves, the world, and other people, because that’s what drove us online to begin with. I think I understand now why Electra Heart had such an iron-clad grip on so many Tumblr girls of the mid-2010s: it was because we needed to see who we could become, to see that it is possible to be strong when we thought we couldn’t, and to see that it is possible to be strong without losing your soft edges.

I think fundamentally, the lesson we all learned from Electra Heart was that there is strength in being soft, and that even when all seems hopeless, we can construct a better future for ourselves if we learn to kill our own demons. ◆

In

g

n i Zoom

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Empty Bottles, Different Dreams

by Evelyn Kennedy Jaffe art by Tenny Yin The Chrysalis Method 1. Find seclusion 2. Break yourself down so you become a pile of pure fucking nothingness 3. While remaining in solitude, slowly piece yourself back together 4. Emerge into the world completely transformed -Instagram user @soflytaxidermy

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In the solid phase, the molecules of matter are closely bound to one another by molecular forces.

A solid holds its shape and the volume of a solid is fixed by the shape of the solid.

In May of my freshman year, several of my friends and I buried a time capsule. We wrote letters to our future selves, choosing either to roll them up or fold them tightly. The papers were fed to the neck of a large blue wine bottle, which we laid in the ground out back of Risley. We speculated a lot, in the time

between, about what had happened to the time capsule. Was it still there? Had the glass broken?

Had the ink bled?

There is a map in my room, on the wall of my room And I’ve got big, big plans But I can see them slipping through, Almost feel them slipping through the palms of my sweaty hands - “Maps” by The Front Bottoms We unearthed it in the spring of 2021, my junior year. Two years to the day. When we buried it, I had been in one of the best places of my life. I was happy. I had friends I felt truly cared about me; I was making mistakes but rolling with the punches.

When we buried it, we didn’t know a thing about March of 2020 and the giant traumatic global event it would bring. A disruption that would fling us unceremoniously into the unknown, like the bounty of forgotten pens clattering to the ground after shaking your blanket.

Reading the letter two years later was like reading a letter from a distant relative - one whom you long to know, but time and space don’t allow it. I do not know the girl who wrote the letter.

She wrote it completely unaware of what would happen to her, not even considering the possibility that people I loved dearly would hurt me beyond what I thought possible.

She asked “Are you still afraid?”

In the gaseous phase, the molecular forces are very weak. A gas fills its container, taking both the shape and the volume of the container.

And so a global pandemic hits, we get sent home, and everything is awful.

I am wrestling with my gender, my body, my work, with insurmountable distance, with a creature that has slowly begun to swallow me.

I remember, early in the pandemic, lying curled in bed after hours of crying, being absolutely terrified of the fact that nowhere in my head was safe anymore. No trains of thought had any destinations other than the “Epic Whirlpool of Terrible.” And I was traveling alone.I became this horrible self-eating machine who could only rely on itself, and yet, was its own worst enemy. I became fascinated with the fact that I could hide my pain from those watching.

I could stop crying at the exact moment when my phone would start to ring, or when I turned the corner from the kitchen to the restaurant floor of my summer job, ready to grin behind my mask at people ordering wine. I was one of the worst versions of myself. Every night, I unscrewed the bolts holding my torso together and let myself spill out over the bed, pawing through the rusted, busted parts, not sure how to fix them. Maybe I should just throw them all away.

I can change, I can change I can change, I can change I can change, I can change I can change if it helps you fall in love, in love - LCD Soundsystem “I Can Change” The creature I am fighting is very good at hiding its teeth, so I don’t notice what’s happening until I am well on my way down its throat, with no sign of light, no allies, no nothing. The muscles in that throat are so strong; I have been unknowingly fighting for so long that I am weak. I let myself be swallowed. I let myself dissolve. I became part of it. Stretching to my breaking point, breathing too heavily. It’s overexerting me. I’m drowning in my own saliva. I’m breaking my bones trying to escape.

I think it might kill me.

I’m sick of being your shoulders, you know I need shoulders too - “Yer Killin Me” Remo Drive When I summon up all of my strength to do the unthinkable, I decide to poison the creature with my blood, even though the likelihood that I’ll die of my wounds is high. I call one last time through my

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ragged throat to the outside world and hear a faint shout of recognition. A friend of mine can finally hear me! Maybe I’m not going to die embedded in the lining of this monster’s stomach. I slice at my limbs and let the acidic blood spill into the monster’s lungs, watching the skin pucker and burn until my vision goes dark.

When I wake up, it is snowing. Somehow, it became November in the time I was gone. How many months did I lose? I am so weak and have lost so much blood - I have no choice but to seek shelter in the mass of warm viscera between the creature’s ribs. Tomorrow, I can search for that friend I heard, we can embrace, and I can start to heal. But before I can close my eyes for the first real night of sleep in over half a year, a shadow falls over me.

My friend is standing outside the carcass of the creature. She is holding a spear, cold blue steel sharpened to a deadly peak. I open my mouth to exclaim in joy and gratitude. She meant to help me kill it - I am sure - until she buries its point deep in my heart. Blood bubbles out between my gritted teeth. She loves me - I am sure - until she twists the blade, grinding my heart to dust, before asking why on earth I’ve made myself the victim again.

In the liquid phase, the molecular forces are weaker than in a solid. A liquid will take the shape of its container with a free surface in a gravitational field.

In microgravity, a liquid forms a ball inside a free surface. Regardless of gravity, a liquid has a fixed volume.

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Eventually, I had no choice but to try living again, instead of swallowing myself.

There is a dream And it is miles away Miles away And I can’t always touch it But I surely can see it - Chloe Frances, “There is a Dream” You go in a girl, you come out a what???

You go in heady, young, and naive and come out jaded and bruised. Unable to hug as tightly, not because you don’t want to, but because you are scared.

And in between, you are jelly, sweet and spreadable.

In between, you lose your words and know only to listen. You deny yourself humanity. You rip off your own skin with your own teeth. And then, you have to learn how to care about yourself again.

Have you ever seen anything quite like this?

Have you ever known anything quite like this?

Have you ever done anything quite like this?

Have you ever seen anything quitе like this? - Anjimile, “Maker” It is the hardest thing. Every night, I slide the bones out from between my muscles and dunk them in denture cleaner, buffing them until they shine. Every morning, I re-staple my jugular vein in place, pumping blood up to my cerebral cortex. And always, I am still afraid.◆

A S on g for S a int Ur su l a

by Vee Cipperman art by Havi Rojer “For it is the nature of precious stones to seek the honest and useful and reject the evil and the false in human beings, in the same way that the virtues throw off the vices.”

- Hildegard von Bingen, The Book of Gemstones, Part IV of her Physica compendium Verse I – Water O Hildegard, I envision your mind as a sapphire, blue opaque and opalescent clarity, emergent and emulgent, effusive, of clarion maritime light.

You coin, combine, corroborate – seer-blasphemer, sister-scholar, crafting Catholic alchemies at tremulous junctures, your vision/religion.

You mend, repair, and mediate – apothecary-acolyte, sister-scion, healer, penning prayers and letters from your cell: blasphemous star-science, alms for your Church.

Galileo, sun-mad helioeccentric, gives deference up to the stars, and you, his holy daughter, never give him up, hold belief/innovation, impossible union, and I shall emulate your trust.

The hyacinth’s birth is a gift of the dawn, the daylight returning, the earth spinning back, around the bright sun that has kept us alive.

You’ve taught me that truth is a product of love.

Verse III – Fire O Ursula,

Saint Ursula led eleven thousand virgins to their martyrdoom, and you, loving your abbey, leading your lover-nuns, write her hymns because she moves in you,

I envision your eye as sardonyx, earth-attuned, attenuated heating, made from stuff of molten cores and stemming from the start of every earth.

and I shall take your lead.

The sapphire stems from the fiery earth, the verdant and starlit and holy, the sea, mystique, yet revealing to those who it would.

You vivisect, cut to the middle – author-anthropologist, sister-seer and critic, combining methodology/emotion: your fiction tells our histories, which history refuses.

You’ve taught me transcendence begins with a word.

Your characters cross a billion miles of ice and empty space, and you, seeing our suffering, spinning true stories, offer your hand to the lonely and lost,

Verse II – Air O Maria Celeste, I envision your heart as a hyacinth, formed in warm air where sun breaks from horizon, halcyon daughter of Helion brilliance, burning, blazing brighter than that star.

and I shall inherit your insight.

Sardonyx derives from the sun’s hottest fires, primordial powers before and within: a stripping, revealing the root of all things.

You’ve taught me that feeling is truer than sight.

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Glossary

Hildegard von Bingen (c. 1098–1179) – Bene-

astronomy.

dictine abbess, writer, and natural scientist in Medieval

-

Saxony. As a visionary, Hildegard wrote texts combining

Christian saint, known for dying alongside her 11,000

Catholic ideas with her own radical interpretations of divinity; as a scientist, she set the foundation for German natural science. She founded two abbeys throughout her lifetime and wrote dozens of poems, plays, and scientific works, including the Scivias, a compilation of her visions, and the Physica, a compendium of natural science.

-

Maria Celeste (1600–1634) – apothecary, Catholic

sister, and daughter of astronomer Galileo Galilei in Renaissance Italy. She maintained a lifelong correspondence

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him make or at least transcribe his breakthroughs in

Saint Ursula (died c. 383) – Romano-British

handmaidens on a pilgrimage before a forced marriage to a pagan governor. Several of Hildegard’s hymns take Saint Ursula as their subject, emphasizing her unique wisdom and goodness.

-

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) – prolific and

widely celebrated contemporary author of short stories, essays, science fiction and fantasy novels, and more. Le Guin set the foundation for the modern sci-fi genre,

with her father Galileo, who the Inquisition found guilty

inventing many of its core technical concepts and heavily

of heresy for his writings on heliocentrism. Although

inspiring peers Frank Herbert and George Lucas. Her

little is known about Maria Celeste, many of her letters to

works are studied in modern academia for their anthro-

Galileo survive, and historians speculate that she helped

pological depth, literary quality, and queer theming.◆

Z o o i n g Ou t m

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Q u e er n e s s

and

the

R en a i s s a n c e

by Jean Campbareri art by Belle McDonald The history of male homosexuality in the Renaissance is pretty commonly known. I mean, like every fucking statue these guys made was of muscular, handsome men with large penises, and many of them never married, preferring to live with their younger, male “apprentices.” What I’m trying to say here is that for a lot of revered Renaissance icons, the closet was made of glass (I’m looking at you, Da Vinci). Actually, as hard as it is to believe, there may not really have been a closet to begin with back then; the concept of homosexuality as we now know it did not exist. In fact, it was relatively commonplace for men in their 20s to have sex with younger men, often teenagers (as long as the older man was topping), before getting married to women in their 30s. There was some pushback against these sexual relationships, but not necessarily because they were between two men, rather because they were engaging in sodomy and unable to procreate in this way (which was perceived to be the main value of sex at the time). Yet, there was no real conception of homophobia at the time because there was no concept of homosexuality. Men who were convicted of sodomy paid a fine and went on living their lives.

All of this is well-documented and corroborated by historians.

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However, when I tried to find information about female homosexuality in the renaissance, I was not met with the same plethora of sources. In fact, there is nearly no mention of same-sex relationships between women or female sexuality in general in this period. Partially, this has to do with the fact that at the time, sex was only known as penetrative, leading to a general inability to comprehend samesex female relationships as a form of sexuality.

The only remaining source describing anything related to female same-sex relationships comes from Sappho, a Greek poet from thousands of years before the Renaissance, hailing from the island of Lesbos. And before you ask, yes, that does mean she is responsible for inspiring both the English words “sapphic” and “lesbian,” meaning she was the original queer girl boss. Her poetry mentions unnamed female lovers, and while it is of course possible that her work should not be read as autobiographical, I’m going to read it all as pure fact anyway, because I can.

While a lot of her work has been destroyed, her surviving poems are deep reflections on queer love and loss. In one poem she writes of her lover, “I have not had one word from her Frankly I wish I were dead When she left, she wept a great deal: she said to me, “This parting must be endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly.”

I said, “Go, and be happy but remember (you know well) whom you leave shackled by love” So while Renaissance art and writings certainly remind us of the power of same-sex male relationships during that time, it should also make us think of the invisibility of female queerness, both in the Renaissance and throughout history in general. Sappho is an example of a poet that wrote about her romantic interest in women in a time long before the idea of homosexuality was conceived, and her works are honest, personal representations of queer female love that should be celebrated in the same way that we celebrate the works of figures like Michelangelo and Da Vinci.◆

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How

to

T re a t

The

Black

Plague

by Medha Bulumulla art by Christina Lee bad air. If you need your hands to ward off evil, wear a beak mask filled with herbs and flowers. It covers your face, but no one wanted to see that anyway.

If you feel a cough coming on, do not fear! We have the best treatments in all of Europe for treating the Black Plague. Well, actually, you should fear because the demon has taken over. You brought this on yourself with all of your human sins so you deserve all the suffering, but there are ways that you can ease the pain.

First off, beware of outsiders who know the dark arts, the devil is probably polluting your air. Never forget the handy rhyme: “Ring around the rosy, a pocketful of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!”

It’s important to fill your pockets with flowers so you can put them in front of your face to ward off the 38

You can try different animal remedies. You could chop up the devil’s animal, a snake, or a pigeon, and rub it on your swollen body as it will suck the evil out of you. Or you could try the Vicary Method: first, pluck all the feathers from a healthy chicken and strap it to your swollen nodes. Once it’s sick, this means the chicken is absorbing your evil.

Remove, wash, and repeat until you or the chicken dies.

If you’re rich, you’re in luck because you can use the best remedies that money can buy. You could purchase unicorn powder. As you probably know, the steep price accounts for the fact that a virgin maiden must lure the unicorn so they can get the unicorn’s horn. A more expensive treatment is getting emeralds that have been ground down to a powder using a mortar and pestle and drinking it with water. You might get intense digestive issues, but this is a sign that your body is flushing the evil out.

There are many ways to suck the devil’s control out of your body. You could get a leeching treatment where a professional will dispose of your tainted blood so pure blood can fill your body. You could try cupping, where hot cups are applied to your buboes to draw the sickness out. Remember, do not let the evil reside in your flesh for too long!

If you prefer natural and vegetarian remedies, there are options for you! You can use human feces and apply them to your buboes or get human urine from a specialist to bathe in or drink. If you’re looking for a way to make money - and you have clean urine - contact your local doctors to provide a sample to help the people in your community!

Listen to your doctors (but mostly us) and stay safe.

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P in k

R en ai s s ance

by Grace Lee art by Belle McDonald You’re six years old and you love the color pink.

You adore princesses and Barbie movies, anything with copious amounts of frills or sparkles. You enjoy dressing up your American Girl dolls and playing house, and life is good. And then it happens— someone (probably the mean boy from your first grade class) says pink is stupid. You feel rage well up inside you, but when all your classmates laugh along and chorus their agreement, it burns into a silent shame. And you change. You decide that all of the things you once loved are for babies, and at the ripe old age of six, you will no longer partake in those silly whims. So begins a lifelong tug-of-war. You believe you can either be feminine or be respected, but never both. And it starts with this, with your rejection of tutus and glitter.

How do we separate ourselves from the society that we live in?

I have this memory. I imagine many women do. I remember sitting around in second grade, whispering about how immature the girls who liked pink were, about how stupid Barbies seemed. And I’m sure all of us know other girls who never got over that mindset, the ones who believed their interest in sports or culture or masculinity made them better than everyone else. It’s frustrating. It’s also sad. Their perceived closeness to masculinity did not protect them from misogyny; their vehement rejection of femininity did not convince men to respect them, to see them as three-dimensional human beings. It is a form of self-preservation, but it steps on the backs of other women to get there. How can we fault them? How can we not?

Personally, I grew out of the “knowing the rules of football makes me better than other girls” mentality pretty early. But I still never managed to fully embrace the things that our society has deemed “feminine.” I don’t like makeup or dresses, and while I have never thought that this makes me better than anyone, it’s still a mindset entangled 40

with internalized misogyny and a desire to separate myself from my femininity. And though I don’t think I would particularly love those things even without those patriarchal standards, there’s just no good way to know.

So that raises the question: Do I hate makeup because I fundamentally do not like it or because I have been conditioned to associate it with narcissism? Do I dislike dresses because that’s just how I am or because I’ve been taught to see them as a symbol of vanity? On the other side of the coin, how many women wear makeup because they feel like they have to? How many wear dresses because it’s “lady-like” and “proper?”

How do we separate ourselves from the society that we live in?

There’s no good answer, no real way to measure where you end and your misogyny begins. Everyone has been pelted with misogynistic media and language from the moment they were born. For some, even before they took their first breath, there were baby showers full of hair bows and expectations of how pretty and beautiful they would be, with no mention of their kindness or their intelligence. Misogyny is woven into everything we do, everything we say, everything we see, and it is impossible to tear out those threads centuries after they were created. So when we talk about dismantling the patriarchy, it’s also necessary to try to examine our behavior, its origins, and the effects that it may have on other women, even if there are no conclusive answers to be found.

Take another example — plastic surgery. Women are absolutely entitled to do things with their body that empower them, that make them feel happier, more confident, or safer in their own skin. And it is undoubtedly true that even in a vacuum, there would be people who choose to get plastic surgeries for their own preferences and confidence. But at the same time, many plastic surgeries perpetuate the ideal beauty standard, creating an expectation

that is unrealistic and often unattainable, especially when the person in question is a wealthy celebrity.

It isn’t the responsibility of any individual woman to go against their desires in order to try to reduce centuries of misogyny, but what, if anything, do we owe each other to try to relieve that overwhelming pressure?

Obviously, shaming women for the decisions they make for their bodies and their minds is not the solution. But complacency in systems that demand visual perfection harms all women, and feeding those unrealistic expectations with makeup and plastic surgery, especially when these procedures are hidden, targets the young and the naive. Imposing beauty standards onto women leaves many feeling as if they have no option but to uphold these systems, and they cannot be blamed for wanting to be treated better in a society that deems a woman’s appearance the most important part of her existence. Both these individuals and women as a whole are victims here, two pieces of a larger cycle that seeks to dismiss and marginalize women.

conservatives view the existence of these couples as “inappropriate,” an intersection of misogyny and the constant policing of queer bodies. By nature, undoing internalized misogyny requires unlearning racist, homophobic, and colonialist perspectives on women.

In spite of all this, femininity still holds so much value. The way that women view themselves and express themselves are all tied up in this concept,

“An equitable future isn’t one where femininity doesn’t exist and everyone embraces masculinity; it’s one where women can abide by and adjust their idea of femininity to their own desires and needs while earning the respect and humanity they deserve.”

Of course, though these factors affect all women, they intersect with issues of race, colonialism, and sexuality as well. To group all women together and treat them as a singular monolith does a disservice to their unique lived experiences, and examples of these variations exist everywhere in our culture.

The fetishization of Korean women by American army personnel resulted in the popularization of double eyelid surgery in the country as these men sought to make their new wives look less “Oriental” and “emotionless.” Centuries of racism specifically targeted black women’s natural hair; workplaces and schools continue to police these hairstyles and demand that black women alter their appearances to fit a eurocentric and outdated ideal of professionalism. The sexualization of women has led to the objectification of lesbian relationships, and

and femininity can empower women to be themselves. An equitable future isn’t one where femininity doesn’t exist and everyone embraces masculinity; it’s one where women can abide by and adjust their idea of femininity to their own desires and needs while earning the respect and the humanity they deserve. But it’s clear that we need to redefine femininity for the modern world – to create a version that includes marginalized women and that starts to undo the threads of internalized misogyny and centuries of propaganda. We need a renaissance, and it begins with figuring out whether we actually like pink or not. ◆ 41

T he T a le o f T he I n ven t o r

by Stacie Dressel art by Lilly Bjerke An evening of walking through the woods

“Heresy this is and I’m in exile.”

Had led me where I do not think it should.

“Thine work could change the world; thou knowst this,

A tree of brass which made a chiming sound

right?”

From stumbling on its root amongst leaf-strewn ground.

“The priests don’t care and put me in this plight.”

The chiming of the trunk brought a great surprise.

“Thou cannot leave. Hast seen too much,” he said.

I had to knock again to trust my eyes.

The clang of metal soon became a creak.

A voice from inside hissed, “What do ye seek?”

I leapt back and attempted to retreat, But curiosity froze my panicked feet.

I cleared my throat and ventured a reply Which prompted the mystic voice to give a sigh.

A passage in the underbrush revealed I couldn’t help but quest; my fate was sealed.

The hole became a staircase filled with light Though strange, twas more perplexing me that night.

‘Bout midway through a room of whirring gears There posed a man of age beyond my years.

His hair was long and plaited with a brooch His outfit buzzed and whined at my approach.

I hesitated whilst I took the view My int’rest in each trinket only grew.

A printing press that functioned on its own.

A looking glass that showed me things unknown.

A box where chorus sang, but no one there.

A light shined colors of which I was unaware.

I could’ve watched the gadgets ‘til they broke, And would’ve if the maker had not spoke.

“What does thou think?” he questioned, voice quite raw.

“I-” I failed to speak, still filled with awe.

“Did God do this?” at last under my breath And “No,” he said. “They sentenced me to death.”

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“But how?” was my reply after a while.

Starting in fright, I thought that I was dead.

“Thou will not die, but thou will leave this den.”

My last words were “I’ll come back once again.”

Awoke I sometime later to the sun.

It looked as though the day had just begun.

I don’t know how or where for sure I left.

I couldn’t find the tree though I was deft.

I’m still convinced this was no fantasy.

I’ll find that old inventor; that bronze tree.

G l oba l

Gol den

A ge s

by Stacie Dressel art by Stacie Dressel “a period of great happiness, prosperity, and achievement”- Merriam Webster “a period of time, sometimes imaginary, when everyone was happy, or when a particular art, business, etc. was very successful” - Cambridge Dictionary “the most flourishing and outstanding period, especially in the history of an art or nation”- Collins Dictionary Obviously, the European Renaissance spanning from the 14th to the 17th century counts as a “golden age” in history as this was an era that prompted art, literature, science, and other innovation. However, this is not the only “cultural explosion” or period of advancement that has ever occured in the time frame of human civilization. The US just happens to focus on predominantly white history, and the Renaissance of Europe was the precursor to the formation of America. But this golden age is just one among many. Long before the golden age of central Europe and even after were other prosperous times around the globe. There were many eras that could be defined as a “golden age” in different areas of the world, but here are a few very notable periods.

A Golden Age of India: The Gupta Empire When: 4th-6th century Where: East India and Southern Asia The Facts: • Shilpa Shastras (Treatise on Art) existed in some areas and encouraged a period of beautiful architecture and constant music.

• The written language of this empire was Sanskrit, which allowed for the expansion of literature and medicinal practices.

• Iron was developed to a state where it didn’t decompose, a huge advancement in metallurgy.

A Golden Age of the Middle East: The Abbasid Caliphate When: 7th-13th century Where: Northern Africa, Arabian Peninsula, and Middle East (Baghdad was its center) The Facts: • Baghdad was located near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as well as between Europe and Asia, allowing for expansive trading.

• The Abbasids took papermaking to a whole new level, building paper mills which made books easier to access.

• Ibn al-Haytham, an incredible scientist in this time, made many developments in math, physics, and science. He is perhaps most notable for his theory about optics and creating the first camera known to exist.

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• The czar compiled ideas into a document called the Nakaz, or Instruction, which outlined her idea of a progressive Russian nation. It was too controversial to adopt but displayed Catherine’s goals for Russia.

A Golden Age of China: The Tang Dynasty When: 7th-10th century Where: South-east China

A Golden Age of Russia: Catherine the Great When: 18th century Where: Russia (later acquiring parts of Poland and Crimea) The Facts: • Catherine was originally named Sophie from Germany but through family ties became engaged to the heir to the Russian throne.

Six months after he acquired it, she staged a successful coup which made her acting czar for their eight-year-old son.

• Russia’s first state library was constructed under Catherine’s reign, and her collection of art and literature was vast.

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The Facts: • Initially with Emperor Taizong (mid-7th century), China made peace with or conquered populations north of it, providing safe overland trade routes that stretched as far as Syria and Rome.

• China developed an examination system that allowed educated men to serve the government without family connections, replacing the aristocracy that was once in place.

• The art and literature of the Tang Dynasty were more “classical” and set the standard for more contemporary art succeeding this era.

A Golden Age of Peru: The Inca Empire When: 13th-16th century Where: The west coast of South America (capital was Cuzco) The Facts: • The Inca established a 14,000-mile road system which connected people living in the mountains and lowlands to the urban areas over around 100 conquered nations.

• This empire had a universal language and religion, with the sun being the deity of the religion.

• Much of the architecture and religious art had precious metals integrated within their structure, which was ultimately what sparked the destruction of the Inca empire by Spanish conquerors.

A Golden Age of Western Europe: The Moors When: 8th-15th centuries Where: Iberian Peninsula (al-Andalus was the center in the earlier centuries)

A Golden Age of Japan: Heian Period When: 9th-13th century Where: Japan (Heian-kyō was the capital at this time) The Facts: • At this time in Japan, Esoteric Buddhism (a combination of Buddhist thoughts) was the primary religion and was very influential to art at this time. The Amida Buddha (Buddha of Western Paradise) dominated the art and the concept of death and heaven, said to bring believers into Western Paradise when they died.

• The Fujiwara family ran the regents of Japan for the emperor, making them the most powerful family at the time. Under them, trade with China halted.

• The Oie style of calligraphy was developed during the Heian period, which displayed separation of writing from Chinese-style calligraphy.

The Facts: • This was an Islamic empire in Western Europe, although there was a wide mix of religion and culture.

• “Moor” is a problematic title for the people occupying this area as this term describes the skin color of the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula.

• One of the biggest advancements of this time was paved and lit roads, which was not seen in other parts of Western Europe until much later during the Renaissance. Taking “burning the midnight oil” to a whole new level!

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T he C a t holic C h u rch T oday

by Sofia Paredes art by Christina Lee

My whole life, I’ve been amongst the least

“fashion icon” for wearing a sheer form-fitting,

practicing Catholics you’ll ever meet. Sure,

cut-out dress during her visit to the Vatican.

I’ll pray before a big exam, and I’ll go to mass

This isn’t to say that I haven’t worn my fair share

every once in a while for special occasions,

of revealing outfits in the past (“the past” being

but I’ll never observe with the fervency that

last weekend), but if I were to visit the Vatican,

has traditionally defined the Catholic Church’s

I would adhere to its clothing regulations. Any

followers. Moreover, the recent scandals and injustices perpetrated by the Church have further alienated me. Yet, recently, I’ve begun to feel a renowned sense of respect for the religion and an urgency to defend it.

Now, I’m not saying that I’ve experienced an epiphany or felt a closer connection to the religion I’ve practiced in a sort-of background way, nor will I change the way I worship.

Nevertheless, it is one of the biggest religions in the world, and it has brought a sense of spiritual fulfillment to many’s lives. Its worshippers, ideally, use it to preach love and kindness. You’d think this would earn it some universal respect, regardless of individual belief.

Believe it or not, my desire for a healthier public attitude towards the Catholic Church started with a Daily Mail article on Snapchat. The protagonist? Kim Kardashian, as per usual. I give credit to Kim for her work ethic, and I don’t find anything wrong with her as a whole. Still, I 46

was disappointed when fans applauded her as a

person with the least bit of respect for any religions’ sacred sites should adhere to the site’s regulations. The Vatican, a site sacred to the 1.34 billion Catholics around the world, asks that every visitor dress conservatively.

Regardless of the Kardashians’ status, public image, or who designed said gown, it is disrespectful to disregard these policies. If a visitor willingly chooses to go to the Vatican, even if they are not Catholic, at that moment they are choosing to also respect the Vatican and what it stands for. This is not the time and place to make a fashion statement or break standards that are centuries old. Kim Kardashian, as iconic as she is, should realize that the sacredness of the Catholic Church goes above and beyond her fame, her image, and her usual sense of style.

At the end of the day, if the Church asks her to cover up, she should do more than just treat it as a photo-op; she should adhere to these age-old

rules like anyone else.

This is just one example of the growing antagonism and close-mindedness that has been directed at the Catholic Church today. During the Renaissance, the Church served as both a catalyst for reform and discovery, as well as a tradition that was cherished. Nowadays, I’d like to think that our society has reached a point of rejuvenation and modernization. Granted, this often means growing apart from religion, but we could instead begin to adapt it to modern life. Never will you hear me advocate for the Church’s justifications for homophobia, sexism, pedophilia, etc., but I still think that it should be respected for the core messages I believe in: love, community, and a sense of respect for a higher power than yourself. Though I’m sure Kim Kardashian did not mean for her outfit in the three hours she spent in the Vatican to hold this much meaning, it is symbolic to a bigger picture.The goal right now should be to keep the beneficial aspects of the Church and fit them into modern society, which will help to mitigate the complete cultural disdain for Catholic traditions and beliefs. Let’s celebrate Kim Kardashian for her cutting-edge fashion and achievements in the media field, but reprimand her for her disregard for the practices of important religious institutions. Let’s remember that the Vatican should be more than just a place for the papparazzi to hang out in, hoping to snipe a photo of celebrities in designer couture. ◆

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