AV E N U E Disposability Issue
May 2014
SO MUCH OF OUR WORLD HAS ACQUIRED A SENSE OF THE THROWAWAY. IN SOME CASES, IT’S SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS A NAPKIN; IN OTHERS AS REPERCUSSIVE AS EMPLOYMENT. THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE STABLE AND THE IMPERMANENT IS FASCINATING AND, WELL, A BIT TERRIFYING.
We at Avenue are asking: what marks an object or an experience for the discard pile? This issue explores the idea of disposability —material, mental, or otherwise. Many, if not all, publications interact with social media in a permanent way. However, we have decided to explore disposability via a Snapchat account (@avenuemag). This fleeting medium allows us to connect with our readers through the Internet, while simultaneously investigating our theme.
EDITORS
PAOLA BENNET RITU GHIYA KAMILA HOE
SONYA KOZLOVA CHUCK KUAN MOLLY SAFAR
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INTERNAL CONFLICT Paola Bennet
LOVE IS A LOSING GAME
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TINDER TALES Sonya Kozlova
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MODERN LOVE Paola Bennet
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BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO Ritu Ghiya
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DELIVERANCE Molly Safar 26
TRANSFAT TRANS SUBSTANCES Chuck Kuan
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CHANGING FORECASTS Kamila Hoe
INTERNAL CONFLICT Words by Paola Bennet Art by Ritu Ghiya
Mid-week evenings are quiet for me, consisting mostly of dense class readings and the more than occasional Internet break. At about seven p.m., my roommate Kate trudges in, and falls facefirst onto her bed with a groan. “So, what was your day like?” I ask, trying to stifle a laugh. “Guess,” she says, voice muffled by her bedspread. “Posters,” we say together as she sits up. Kate is an unpaid intern at the indie music label Mom + Pop, working three times a week. For the last few days, she’s been scribbling tour dates on poster after poster for a newly signed artist. “I’m just a broke college student,” she sighs. “Cause I’m spending all my money on tuition, so of course I want to be paid! It’s hard not to get compensated for hard work and time spent.” Kate is hardly the only intern to feel this way. In the last few years, legal controversies have erupted around the ethics of unpaid internships. To some, the give-and-take of intern versus employer seems sketchy and unfair; to others the experience gained outweighs the financial or day-to-day drawbacks. Several individuals have taken their concerns to court, not only for a chance
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at a settlement, but also to be one voice for many: lawsuits against Warner Music and Atlantic Records are being argued by one plaintiff on the part of a hundred and a thousand people, respectively. According to a profile by Helienne Lindvall of The Guardian, Britt’ni Fields, formerly an unpaid intern at Columbia Records, claims that her day consisted of largely clerical tasks and “did not provide academic or vocational training.” The chief dilemma seems to be one of presentability versus practicality— how good does an internship look to future employers, and how useful is it to the intern in the present? While the internship is nowadays a natural part of the track from higher education to real life, the concept itself is actually fairly young. As far back as the American Civil War, the term intern referred to medical apprenticeships. According to Victoria Davis, internship director for the Human and Organizational Development Department at Vanderbilt University, internships as we know them— jumpstarts for ambitious youth looking to enter the workforce early—didn’t start cropping up in the job market until the 1960s. Even then, into the 1990s, intern-
ships were few in number and most often were paid positions. Not so today. The average internship is extremely competitive, “less of an opportunity and more of a requirement,” as Meaghan Haire and Kristi Oloffson wrote in TIME. The actual substance of the internship seems to have shifted in a similarly businesslike direction, if we take Fields’ earlier testimony into account; the menial tasks she mentions are part of most internships currently offered. Besides signing posters, Kate has partaken in other versions of day-to-day uselessness: she answers phones, packages music, and sometimes runs errands that require half a day spent in taxicabs. More often than not, she comes home from her interning days exhausted, so I get the impression that she’s not necessarily enjoying it. But Cameron Keng, a business contributor at Forbes and former intern himself, sees the less glamorous part of internships as part of the professional package. In his article “The Era of Internships Is Over,” he argues that interns “need to earn the trust of their peers by working the menial tasks and doing them properly. If I can’t trust
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smaller company, where the interpersonal aspect is valued both in and out of the office. But what sticks out to me about her experience is that it seems focused on the transition, on the baby steps that will lead to something better. Perhaps, now, I can see Keng’s point in conjunction with Kate’s: an internship is a step, and not a leap, on the proverbial ladder of the professional world. What seems clear to me is that the image of internships needs to change; as they currently stand, they are closely intertwined with privilege, given that not just anyone can afford to work a position that is months long and does not pay. In relation to their short history, it’s clear internships have seen a dramatic surge in expectations—so perhaps it’s time that both intern and employer lower theirs. I have sent off five internship applications in the last month, all the while Keng and Kate’s voices nagging in the back of my mind. I am aware that given my lack of experience, I may not see many of those applications accepted—but the important thing is that I’ve submitted them. And when I do get hired (when, because I am optimistic to a fault), it will be the beginning of a process; that process is what I and other interns-to-be must keep in mind. Especially in New York, a place where everyone is always on their way to somewhere else, we should remember that an internship is no different: a stepping stone, a helping hand. It is up to us to decide to take the first step forward.
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you to make copies, how can I trust you with my clients?” However, Keng’s logic isn’t always quite so neat. Above all, he is a realist, insisting that interns that are hired should be paid— but the better solution is not to hire interns at all. “The issue is, why even bother providing them [with] the opportunity to build their resumes, if they’re going to be entitled and possibly slap us with lawsuits?” he asks. “Three months is not an eternity ... but it is just enough time ... to evaluate and determine whether they can be trusted to perform and work hard in the future if they’re brought back.” The problem is, Keng assumes an intern is automatically on a path to employment, when not every company considers an intern as a potential long-term employee. Having never been an intern myself, I have to take these risks into account in my own search. Why subject myself to a position where pay is rare, where the drawbacks and benefits don’t always break even, and where I may not even be considered for future opportunities? When, a bit bewildered, I ask Kate why she stays at her internship, she points out that an intern position does, very often, feel like a “real” job. “There will always be people willing to do it regardless of whether it’s paid,” she adds. “The experience is valuable. The owner of the label knows me personally and can tell future employers what kind of worker and person I am.” It’s possible Kate has had a better experience than most, because she works for a
LOVE IS A LOSING GAME T I N D E R TA L E S
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MODERN LOVE
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BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
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T I N D E R TA L E S Words and Art by Sonya Kozlova
Swipe left for no, right for yes. Tinder is the mobile dating app that matches people based on quick decision making, sometimes leading to love, other times not so much. We’ve assembled four first-hand accounts* of experiences (and non-experiences) with the smartphone dating application.
“I have 139 matches on Tinder and I can’t bring myself to go out with any of them. 139 chances for true love, an acquaintance, a new friend, and also for disaster. There are no prospective ladies lingering in my life or workplace, but Tinder seems too easy. It feels like a cop out. I’m not looking for a one night stand, I’m looking for the real deal. I don’t think I could handle telling my family and friends, ‘we met online.’ There is something so addicting about the application. I can’t deny that the short conversations I have with these good looking avatar-ladies are the ego boost that I need sometimes. They are little instances of desire I don’t get in my life. I’m going to keep my flirting limited to the depth of the app on my phone, and that’s that.” Mike - filmmaker - 26
*All names have been changed.
Tinde r Ta le s
“Two of my close friends have met their significant
“I was studying abroad in London, and after a
others online, which made me more willing to give
few weeks, my friends and I got frustrated that
Tinder a try. The amount of things this guy and I
we weren’t making enough local friends. We were
had in common were uncanny: we came from the
caught up in school and seeing the sights, but we
nearby suburbs of Long Island and even discov-
wanted to know what English people our age were
ered we had mutual friends. We had been speak-
up to. It really was a group affair: my two girlfriends
ing over the app for five weeks or so, which I guess
and I would sit in a trance of swiping cuties and
is a long time, and I didn’t feel comfortable making
losers left and right, literally for hours. The English
the first move. For a while, this guy was just a face-
boys loved the idea of taking an American girl out
less person to speak with over my phone when I
on the town. It was too easy meeting people. My
was bored. He finally asked for drinks, and it took
best friend and I planned to meet one guy and his
so much out of me to agree. I was a nervous wreck
friend at a pub in Camden, and it ended up being
for the few days leading up to the date. My friends
one of the best nights of our lives. We were lucky
calmed me down, saying things like, ‘What have
enough to find some really down-to-earth guys
you got to lose?’ ‘You’ve been talking for a while,
who were polite and friendly enough to introduce
how much of a creep could he really be?’ ‘You don’t
us to their other friends throughout our semester
have to sleep with him if you don’t want to!’ ‘Call
abroad. My best friend had ended up seeing one
me and I’ll pretend it’s an emergency and I’ll save
of these boys romantically for the following few
you!’ I should have listened to my gut, because
weeks. Tinder was a gateway to a social life that
this guy was horrible. Maybe he was nervous, but
was really easy to obtain, and I’ve used it plenty
the date was all about him. He didn’t stop talking
of other times since I’ve come home to New York.”
about his job, grilled me on my political and religious views, and drove the conversation back to his chaotic life. I can’t believe I got so worked up about this guy. I fumbled around in my bag, and said something came up and that I had to leave. I paid for my drink and left. I should have stayed home. I should have swiped left.” Julie - student - 20
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Melanie - law student - 23
“He had asked for my number after three sporadic days of chatting via the Tinder messenger. Good sign, I thought. We had been discussing all of our mutual favorite things. Prompt virtual responses and subtle flirtation. ‘What are you doing Friday?’ My first Tinder date. He was new to the city, so I picked a dive bar in my neighborhood. I hope he likes dive bars ... God, when was the last time I went out? I found him outside staring at his phone, leaning with one foot bent against the entrance wall. We sipped our drinks. I love Tinder! He’s buying, right? I just saved seven bucks. He looked like his five Tinder photos, very nice on the eyes—but he was super quiet, patting the bar table out of nerves. I drove the conversation, wondering: Where was the virtual personality I had so much fun bantering with over text? He was not there in person. What a complete disconnect. Keep drinking, maybe he’ll liven up. The next thing I truly remember is a piercing headache and this boy in my bed, not able to shut up. I shoo’d him out with a warning of a twelve o’clock meeting that I didn’t really have. I suppose I felt somewhat exhilarated with new company, but overall I was left disappointed. I haven’t been on a Tinder date since.” Charlotte - student - 21
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BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO Words and Art By Ritu Ghiya The break-up letter is a paradox, a permanent reminder of the impermanence of relationships. Read the raw material* that chronicles these emotional moments from major historical and cultural figures.
*All letters have been recreated by the author.
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Due to a misunderstanding, President Abraham Lincoln was once engaged to a woman he hardly knew and didn’t want to marry. So, he wrote up his own Emancipation Proclamation, of sorts, to do away with the union.
Actors Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton had a tumultuous marriage; when she left him, he wrote her this morose letter. However, sixteen months later, they got back together. . .and then got divorced again nine months after that.
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Adressed to a soldier nicknamed Jonny Smack-O, this scathing note from the Vietnam War era comes from a woman who just found out her boyfriend was cheating on her.
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This passionate bombshell to author H.G. Wells comes from journalist/author Rebecca West. For further context into this explosive affair, we can look back at the review of hers in which she called him “the Old Maid of novelists.� A year after this letter was written, they had a son together but ultimately split up nine years later.
DELIVERANCE Words by Molly Safar Art by Sonya Kozlova and Chuck Kuan
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It’s about 8:30 on a Friday night. As I walk across town on Houston Street, I see two men in the front cab of a Ford Connect van, sitting in traffic as they yawn. The van is black, and written on the side are the words “Net-A-Porter.com.” These men are transporting high-end fashion to Manhattan’s wealthy clients via Net-A-Porter.com’s “Premiere Evening” delivery service. For an additional twenty-five dollars, a Fendi bag can show up on your doorstep in a matter of hours. Founded in 2000 by Natalie Massenet, Net-A-Porter.com is a shopping website that caters to upper class women who have an appetite for expensive fashions. Massenet was inspired to create NetA-Porter when she noticed a clear gap in the fashion industry; while reading a fashion magazine, she saw a pair of Chloe jeans she wanted to buy, but when she looked for them online, she couldn’t find a single website selling them. She told Fast Company Magazine in 2010, “I blindly assumed [the retailer] existed because of how brilliantly companies like Amazon were revolutionising service.” She set out to fill this void in the fashion industry by creating a website—and as a result, also a business model—that allowed designer pieces to be more readily available online. Massanet realized early on that the best way to serve a high-end clientele was to present the fashion in a format they were used to: that of a fashion magazine. Items for sale on Net-A-Porter.com are displayed in a magazine-like spread: the images show completed outfits in a collage-like layout, styled by a professional, suggesting to the shopper how they should be worn. The aesthetic of the website looks like a minimal, simplistic magazine, with columns of black text on a plain white background, the only colors being those of the products. The layout of Net-A-Porter.com mirrors that of a fashion magazine; but instead of circling a cute bag with a red pen, you can buy it and have it delivered right to you with only a few clicks. However, in the fourteen years that have elapsed since the inception of Net-A-Porter, plenty of websites have emerged that carry designer
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The modern wealthy woman is busy, and looks for ways to make her life easier and Net-A-Porter can provide that for her.
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Molly Sa fa r
products, presenting them in a layout reminiscent of a fashion magazine. Net-A-Porter is no longer set apart from other shopping sites by its design or by the items that they stock, but rather, by the way in which they use a business model known as vertical integration, a way of streamlining different components of their business. Conventionally, businesses use vertical integration to save money, by doing things such as controlling access to their raw materials or by providing direct sale to consumers; for example, a paper company buying land in a forest, or an electronics store selling items directly to customers on their website. However, vertical integration helps Net-A-Porter the most not by saving them money, but by giving the customer an incentive to buy. While Net-A-Porter does ship items through regular mail services, their most popular method of shipping is same-day delivery, done in vans they own, driven by drivers on their payroll. Because Net-A-Porter owns their means of shipping, they can control when and where their products are sent, and the result of this is quick delivery. Net-A-Porter knows that a woman is more likely to buy something if it can be on her doorstep by the time she gets home from yoga class. They know that if a woman needs a designer gown for a charity gala tonight, that her only other option is to go into a store and start trying on clothes. The modern wealthy woman is busy, and looks for ways to make her life easier, and Net-A-Porter can provide that for her. Net-A-Porter knows
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that they are catering to a desire for quick acquisition and instant gratification. Today, Net-A-Porter is valued at over 350 million British pounds. Their average sale is roughly 500 British pounds, equivalent to over 800 dollars. Their same day delivery service costs an additional twenty-five dollars, a price some would pay for an item of inexpensive clothing and shipping from another retailer. But what do these numbers say about Net-APorter’s clientele, and more importantly what does the culture around this website say about the modern wealthy woman, and the society in which she operates in? The precursor, and yet the antithesis to the concept of Net-A-Porter is the Hermes Birkin bag. Named after the English actress Jane Birkin, these bags— which cost tens of thousands of dollars—are the status symbol of a woman of privilege. Eonline.com even has a slideshow entitled “Celebs with Birkin Bags.” Aside from being too expensive for the average woman, the Birkin bag is virtually inaccessible: to get one, you need to put your name on a waiting list, and wait—possibly for years. These bags show the owner’s status not only by their price tag, but also by showing the lengths they have gone through to get one. Given the lengthy and difficult process of acquiring a Birkin, they become treasures to their owners. Even if you’re wealthy enough to buy multiple Birkins, the supply is far from infinite. The women who own these bags have waited a long time for them, they have not shopped impulsively, and their purchases were not part of their daily routine of surfing the Web. On the other hand, using Net-A-Porter enables you to purchase and receive a bag worth tens of thousands of dollars in less time than it would take to cook a baked ziti. How does this change the value of the bag? Could it be that a beautiful expensive dress, bought impulsively, to be worn that night, would not be as valued in the long run? Would you value something more if you spent hours in the store looking at items, trying them on, and then admiring them in the mirror? While Net-A-Porter is used mostly by the very rich, it is just one service among hundreds changing how we all acquire goods. The
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Internet is evolving; and with it, the culture around purchasing the things we want is evolving as well. These services make certain aspects of our daily lives nearly effortless. Seamless Web brings you dinner in a matter of minutes with only a few clicks; it barely feels real. Before Seamless, a person would maybe order a pizza or Chinese food a few times a year, because they did not want to have to call the restaurant or hand over real cash from their wallet. Now, that same person is ordering delivery several times a week, without much thought. They click “reorder” and in twenty minutes, there’s a ring at their doorbell. The ease with which this is done dissuades some from actually cooking their own food! Other online merchants are expanding as well. Amazon is looking into drone delivery, and even the odd concept of shipping items to customers before they’ve actually ordered them. The retailers are fueling the consumption. What does the future look like for Internet services, especially those that deliver a product to us with less and less effort on our part? If Amazon begins to ship products before we order them, will we end up with piles of junk we probably would’ve removed from our carts after a few days, having decided we don’t need that new dog coat, or ten pack of iPhone cases? To avoid, this problem, we need to recognize ways in which we are putting ourselves at risk through this behavior. Clicking “reorder” on Seamless every night, and having to order enough food to meet the twenty dollar minimum, will not only hurt your wallet, but it will also hurt your health. We need to realize that while these online activities are much easier than physically going to a clothing store or actually cooking your own food, they can become habitual and detrimental. If, as a society, we want to avoid being broke and inundated with more junk than we know what to do with, we simply need to shut off our smartphones and close our laptops.
FATS SUBSTANCES Photography by Chuck Kuan
From factory to foraged, canister to canvas— a series of deceptions.
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Raspberry and Blackberry Gummies by Haribo
Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese Dinner by Kraft
Chips, Assorted Flavors by Pringles
White Sandwich Bread by Pepperidge Farm Peanut Butter and Jelly, Stylist’s own
Gelatin dessert, assorted flavors by Jell-O
CHANGING FORECASTS Words by Kamila Hoe Photography by Sonya Kozlova
As a native and loyal New Yorker—born in a hospital in Manhattan, raised in Queens, went to high school in the Bronx, and now attending New York University back in Manhattan—my first response when I hear that people want to come to New York City has always been to furrow my eyebrows, slightly tilt my head and look diagonally upwards at an imaginary thought bubble. I think of the unpleasant smells of the streets, the sardine-can subways
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during rush hour, and I question why anyone would want to come to this place that I’ve been trying to leave my entire life. But those thoughts only last nano-seconds; as after my initial reaction dissipates, I remember all the cliché promises, derived from books and media, of a certain New York City lifestyle; like the promise to have multiple opportunities to senselessly scream while sticking one’s head out of the top window of a spotless limousine, that miraculously drives highway speed through the tourist filled Times Square. I then allow myself to nod to show my understanding of why people would voluntarily migrate to New York City. Despite the many hackneyed assumptions about the city, I was positive that people came to New York City with expectations other than landing their “dream job,” riding in limousines they couldn’t afford, or finding their urban Prince Charming. I imagined that people who made the trip here must have had very specific goals in mind, so I set out to investigate people’s expectations of New York City. My original plan was to set up a booth in Washington Square Park, and ask people to tell me about their time in New York City from beginning to end. I pondered the plausibility of strangers gushing out life stories that they’ve been keeping captive deep inside the organ responsible for pumping oxygen rich lifeblood to every part of their bodies. As an incentive, I created a questionnaire on pretty pastel papers that gave people a starting point for their answers—“Tell me your NYC story”—with the bottom of the page bordered with the silhouette of the Manhattan skyline. The weather was supposed to be warm, not too hot, not too cold, with a light breeze, and the sun’s yellow rays would softly illuminate the park and all those in it. I’d find myself a nice, empty spot in front of the fountain and capture the interest of strangers when they saw me, a lone girl sitting at a makeshift booth with a rainbow of papers spread out. They’d approach me, I’d tell them my intentions, and give them a pen to write on the questionnaires. That was the plan. Except nothing went according to plan.
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In reality, instead of sunny weather and eager respondents, I was met with rain—lots of rain—in fact, so much rain that it went on for five straight days, which came with dark skies and of course, no people in the park. I panicked like a child who had fallen off a secure boat and into the waves of the unknown, the same way I reacted to my very own New York City plan falling through, since I have not yet completely “found myself.” I knew that there was no way that the original plan was going to play out, and so I improvised. I approached people in subway stations, waiting for coffee, in line for Shake Shack, and asked them about their expectations of New York City, and why they decided to come here:
“A men’s version of Sex and the City.” / “I came by accident. I didn’t plan this. I was living on Long Island. My husband decided that it was time we got a divorce, which was sort of a surprise to me but that was how it was. I had to figure out how to support myself.” / “Vague expectations. Openminded.” / “I expected to be busier. Busier than I was in Alabama.”/ “Something different. Better.” / “I came to New York City for graduate school.“ / “It’s the city that never sleeps. But no real expectations.” Some people treat New York City like a drive-by, a stop and go. Some place to get something they need; and once they get that, they can pack up and drive away. They’re motivated by temporary reasons: graduate school, getting their foot in the door of a career, “finding themselves” (as if they lost something in a place that they’ve never been in). Others remain open-minded and willingly embrace change with open arms: a new habit, a fresh sense of fashion, a different perspective. Either way, it’s as if New York City is something to add onto a resume underneath the “accomplishments” section, right above “skills” where one may list the level of proficiency held in Java or HTML. A badge of honor to show that they’ve survived New York City. New York City is often used as a test. A test of the wits. An assessment of determination. People flock to New York City to try something out: like a shirt,
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a phone, or a car that they’ve seen a commercial for on television. But unlike those products, there’s no single commercial for the city, instead, people see sets of commercials composed of: movies, television series, books, word-of-mouth and essentially the entire media anticipation around New York City. Some people decide to enter the city, the way they enter a store with these pre-existing images and expectations in their minds. If it fits or operates the way they want it to, they stick with it:
We all leave a temporary footprint; forming a faint impression, if any, on the gray, concrete sidewalks of this city. For some, New York City is but a brief moment in the timeline of their lives; a stage they go through and then outgrow, an outfit for a season that is no longer wearable in the next, because of change of climate or just preference. For some, the ever-changing nature of the city— both the fast-paced culture and eccentric weather—is too much to handle, too costly to handle; and so, after they’ve put in their allotted time in the city, they retreat back to the comfort of a less temperamental home, their time in the city a mere memory. For others, there is a home in this never stopping, hasty city that can shake and shatter one to the very core, and yet, manages to take those same fragments and create a stronger individual.
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“Living in New York City has definitely changed my perspective because I’ve learned not to be so naïve and think what everyone says is true. It’s true that New York City makes you more cynical of a person, but it also changes you for the better.” / “It was really an interesting life. Lots of variety. Lots of different kinds of people. When I look back I think I was very lucky to have all these experiences to have known all the people that I did.” / “I didn’t know anything. I never had a drink in my life. I learned to drink. I never had a cigarette. I learned to smoke. I didn’t know anything about people and all these things that went on. I learned a lot.” / “If you can face this challenge and overcome it, you can face anything.”
Are those who are drawn to the city seeking to throw something away; a part of themselves that they no longer want? Is it the inability to support oneself financially, an old lifestyle, or a narrow perspective that they attempt to rid themselves of? Those who flock to the city find change, and if they didn’t set out to find it, change happens anyway, as a side effect of the New York City experience. People don’t move to New York City to stay the same.
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Avenue Magazine
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