Peacock Magazine Spring 2019

The human effect

Spring 2019

How will we shape human experiences through technology?

SPRING 2019 | VOLUME 8.2

A MAGAZINE ON THE CULTURE AND ASPIRATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL YOUTH

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sage Theiss Sakata

DEPUTY EDITOR Lauren Williams

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Sophia Foerster

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Alizée Chaudey

MARKETING DIRECTOR Jacqueline Wegwerth

STAFF WRITERS

Shadi Ayoubi Mouminatou Camara Alizée Chaudey Olivia Cowden Ramsey Daunch Sofie Granberg Karina Harb Zakiyyah Job Kristina Kuznetcova Signi Livingstone-Peters Tatum McDonald Cristina Mendoza Samira Safarzadeh Thiaby Sow Jada Steuart Lauren Williams

PHOTOGRAPHERS Alizée Chaudey Lauren Domagas Sofie Granberg Oleg Kobtzeff Julian Mattia Jacqueline Wegwerth Katie Zambrano

ILLUSTRATORS

Sophia Foerster Taline Shahinian Jacqueline Wegwerth

MARKETING

Olivia Cowden Anneke Ivans Margaret Mixon Arielle Saglio Mariam Tamazashvili Lauren Williams

EDITORIAL ADVISOR Marc Feustel

This magazine is printed on recycled paper.

April 15, 2019 Photography by Julian Mattia Poetry by Jacqueline Wegwerth 2

It looked like fog Crawling through the streets.

Rows of buildings hid the source But we did not need to see where it started To know something was wrong.

It looked like a storm cloud But there was no rain.

It felt like a nightmare But we were awake.

The sirens broke the veil of silence That masked the city.

Hymns overtook the alarms And prayers echoed through the streets.

In a fraction of the time That was needed to construct the church It began to fall.

We watched and we cried.

We panicked and we mourned.

For a building that defined our city Had its future threatened.

It felt like the end But it is not.

She is rocked by the waves but does not sink.

She is engulfed in flames but does not crumble.

Our Lady will remain And our city will recover.

Notre Dame sits on an island But she is not isolated.

She is a beacon of hope for people from all over Who are now offering hope for her recovery.

She is rocked by the waves but does not sink.

She is engulfed in flames but does not crumble.

Our Lady will rise again.

3

CONTENTS 8

INNER PEACE THROUGH OUR SCREENS Four of the Biggest Apps in the Mindfulness Craze

24

#ONLINEWHILEBLACK

Black Twitter is More Than Just Activism

By Lauren Williams

By Ramsey Daunch

10

30

Is New Gaming Tech Blurring the Lines Between the Real and the Virtual?

People on the Streets of Paris Reflect on Technology and Love

LOST IN THE GAME

WHEN ARE WE MOST HUMAN?

By Kristina Kuznetcova

By Jada Steuart and Katie Zambrano

14

36

ARTIFICIAL INFLUENCE

Is the Next Biggest Instagrammer Going to Be a Robot?

By Mouminatou Camara

ARE WE “OVER-TECHIFYING” CLIMATE ACTION?

A $1.3 Billion Green Tech Initiative to Mitigate Climate Change is Threatening an Age-Old Way of Sustainability

By Signi Livingstone-Peters

18

43

The Fashion Industry is Embracing Difference

Are We Running in the Wrong Direction?

ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL

By Karina Harb

THE RACE TO MARS

By Thiaby Sow

47

64

A Controversial Gene Editing Experiment Raises Questions About Scientific Ethics and Eugenics

How We Are Losing Control Over Our Data

DESIGNER BABIES

DOES PRIVACY STILL EXIST?

By Shadi Ayoubi

By Cristina Mendoza

51

ARE WE GETTING LOVE ALL WRONG? Looking to the Ancient Greeks to Redefine Love

69

BEHIND THE SCREEN

AUP Students Spend Up to 10 Hours a Day on Their Phones

By Alizée Chaudey

By Zakiyyah Job

56

74

Is Online Dating Still a Taboo?

Pantin and Aubervilliers Are Paris’s 21st Arrondissement

MATCH MADE IN...

By Tatum McDonald

BEYOND THE WALLS

By Sofie Granberg

60

78

Alegra Kastens Debunks the Misconceptions Around This Disorder

How BTS is Breaking K-pop Stereotypes

OCD IS NOT AN ADJECTIVE

By Olivia Cowden

LOVE YOURSELF

By Samira Safarzadeh

6

I

n the final days before this issue went to print, I watched with the world the heart-wrenching devastation of the Notre Dame fire. As news outlets aired live video feed, social media platforms were flooded with postings from prior visits: loved ones posing in front of the towers, the bells ringing and breathtaking photos displaying the wooden Gothic architecture. Notre Dame is not just another cathedral: it is a symbol of the triumph of the human spirit. It has stood for 850 years, surviving a revolution, two world wars and the Nazi occupation of France. It stands for beauty, strength, art, history and what unites us across borders: our humanity. This issue of Peacock, The Human Effect, explores the power of the human spirit as well.

The rapidity of developing technology brings many ethical questions to light.

These dilemmas will need human consciousness to decide the direction, the magnitude and the effect technology will have in shaping our future.

In this issue, Jada Steuart and Katie Zambrano interview and photograph people on the streets of Paris. They demonstrate how, regardless of advances in artificial intelligence (AI), nothing can replace human emotion and connection. Mouminatou Camara and Shadi Ayoubi highlight the continued development of AI and its effects on the marketing industry as well as its effect on our privacy rights. As these technological advances continue to infiltrate our lives, we must be mindful of the compromises we are making.

These questions regarding the ethics of advancing technology do not exclude its benefits. Thiaby Sow explores the futuristic world of space exploration. Although there are many ethical questions which have emerged from these advancements, the work is calling forth voices who are working collaboratively not only between the governmental and private sectors, but also beyond borders. Signi Livingstone-Peters reveals the dangers of using technology to address climate change without considering the people it will affect. As we discover the power of technology, we must also accept

the responsibility that comes with it. This responsibility includes making choices that reflect our shared human values.

Throughout this issue, our writers explore rapidly advancing technology, our relationship to it, and ultimately, the tremendous power we have in shaping the future with it. As Lauren Williams writes, “the spaces we inhabit in the digital world remain complex and interconnected.” Her thought-provoking piece demonstrates the power inherent in our decisions with technology.

Each generation is characterized by defining moments. Our generation has the responsibility to define, coexist with and develop technology without destroying what we hold most dear: our humanity. May we always choose to hug our loved ones rather than talk to a screen; look someone in the eye and shake hands rather than click “I agree.” I look forward to the day I can stand once again in Notre Dame and experience the smells, colors, sounds, and people who stand together across nations, histories, politics, and ideologies; this is the real human effect.

Sage Theiss Sakata Editor-in-Chief

INNER PEACE THROUGH OUR SCREENS

Four of the Biggest Apps in the Mindfulness Craze

By Ramsey Daunch

HEADSPACE

Headspace is arguably the most prominent meditation app. It was created in 2012 by Andy Puddicombe, a former Tibetan Buddhist monk, and Richard Pierson, a serial entrepreneur and marketing specialist, with the goal of “improving the health and happiness of the world” by making mindfulness accessible to the masses.

The entire premise of Headspace is that through guided meditation sessions, users can achieve benefits such as reduced stress, improved focus and increased positivity.

The guided sessions are structured into numerous “modules,” each related to separate fields of wellbeing. These modules range from basic meditation to beating anxiety and dealing with life challenges to personal growth. Within each module, the co-founder, Puddicombe, provides a detailed, step-by-step narration on the appropriate meditative technique listeners should take. The narration is always specific to the theme of the module; for instance, sessions related to anxiety feature completely different guidance than those concerned with, say, athletic performance.

Evidence suggests that Headspace can truly be effective. In certain studies, users were found to have 14 percent decreases in stress after only 10 days of usage and 27 percent reductions in irritability. Additional studies showed a 23 percent increase in compassion and 57 percent reduction in aggression after a three-week usage period.

Headspace costs $12.99 per month or $95.88 for an annual subscription.

8

STOP, BREATHE & THINK

Stop, Breathe & Think is an application built from the idea that taking a few minutes each day to feel the calm is as important as regular exercise. It was initially born out of the philanthropy organization Tools for Peace, a group dedicated to strengthening and supporting emotional and social intelligence as well as academic and professional success in inner-city youth. Despite being aesthetically less polished than Headspace, Stop, Breathe & Think follows roughly the same module format, prioritizing specific areas of interest such as “Sleep Well,” “Slay Your Stress,” “Find Your Calm,” “Heal and Forgive” and much more.

Stop, Breathe & Think’s main strength is its immense, relevant library of guided sessions, and anyone having trouble in a particular area of life can likely find one for their problem.

Additionally, users can track their mood with daily emotional checkups, creating tangible data and useful insights on what practices are helpful and which are not. One aspect of Stop, Breathe & Think that sets it apart from other mindfulness apps is their pledge to donate 10 percent of profits to their mother organization, Tools for Peace. The app also has a separate meditation suite specifically designed for children—something you’ll be hard-pressed to find within any other big-name app.

Stop, Breathe & Think is free to use. However, unlocking the “premium” version of the app costs $9.99 a month, or $58.99 a year.

W

hether you want guided meditation, improving mindfulness, monitoring happiness or tracking and perfecting your sleep, there are a host of apps that are competing for your attention. The mental health app market grew to over 4 billion dollars in 2016 and continues to grow exponentially. We have profiled four of the major mindfulness apps that are leading this new online phenomenon.

SLEEP CYCLE

When it comes to using phone data to track and improve wellbeing, Sleep Cycle might just take the cake. The entire app is based upon the scientific premise that sleep is divided into cycles which are roughly 90 minutes in length. Sleep cycles consist of light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep—REM sleep and deep sleep being the worst periods during which to wake up.

By tracking sleep movements with the phone microphone and accelerometer, Sleep Cycle determines what stage of sleep users are currently in and wakes them at the optimal point in a specified interval of time.

Additionally, Sleep Cycle provides a suite of incredibly useful statistics such as average sleep time, sleep quality rating, minutes of snoring, along with detailed graphs to accompany everything. With these tools, Sleep Cycle users can easily tweak their sleeping habits and subsequently analyze the data produced from their changes. Sleep time and sleep quality are two leading drivers of mental wellbeing, and Sleep Cycle provides a valuable tool for ensuring that they can be adequately optimized.

Sleep Cycle is largely usable for free. The app offers a premium version for $29.99 per year. That subscription provides services such as snore detection, wake-up mood notes, wake-up weather and other luxury features.

HAPPIFY

Happify is a leading player in the wellbeing industry and it takes an alternative approach to Headspace and Stop, Breathe & Think. It was founded in 2012 by three New York entrepreneurs focused on distilling the field of positive psychology into an easily usable application.

Their vision “uses cutting-edge science and innovative technology to empower individuals to lead happier, more fulfilling lives.” Happify aims to improve happiness with an all-purpose slate of modules that could include anything from mini-games, wellness quizzes and writing assignments to, yes, guided meditations.

Through this holistic approach, Happify aims to chip away at unhappiness through the building of various attributes which contribute toward increased happiness. These contributors are called “positive interventions,” and studies have shown that the positive intervention practices supplied within Happify can notably increase happiness and decrease depressive symptoms in individuals. Happify believes that “all of us are hard-wired for negativity,” but also that our brains can be trained to “overcome negative thoughts.” With powerful scientific backing behind it, Happify might just be a valid solution for people seeking a small but significant positive boost in their lives.

Coming in as the most expensive, Happify costs $14.99 per month, or $139.99 per year.

A lifetime subscription will run you an eyewatering $449.99.

9

LOST IN THE GAME

Is New Gaming Tech Blurring the Lines Between the Real and the Virtual?

By Kristina Kuznetcova

11

H

ave you ever dreamt of becoming somebody else? How appealing is the idea of turning into Lara Croft, the dream girl with the perfect body, or a medieval assassin? Video games provide us with the illusion of being the real hero. It is not Indiana Jones jumping from a cliff and catching the edge at the last minute, but you.

AUP student Sofia Pimenova shared her impressions from the gaming process, “I like games which allow you to play as several characters, allowing you to enhance certain aspects of your personality. One day you are the town’s hero, and another day you are burning it to the ground. It empowers you on the level of God, well virtually, of course.”

In the 2000s the gaming industries attracted their customers by offering them the opportunity to embody a pre-set character.

Nowadays, users are increasingly becoming personally involved in creating the characters they play.

Video games are not just entertainment; they also have a strong psychological impact.

In The Ambiguity of Play, professor Brian Sutton-Smith, a researcher who studied gaming from a psychological perspective writes, “During the game, people experience strong positive emotions.” Video games are constructed to enable people to fulfill their craziest desires and reward them for creativity.

For Vitaly Kechik, a video game developer and software architect for Dice Services, that can become a problem, “If the person tries to fulfill his desires through the game, whether they are noble or vicious, he must understand them in full, as well as their consequences.”

People tend to suppress their habits and natural behavior according to social norms. On the contrary, games enable players to act in any way they want, and some virtual universes even reward them for cruelty and anger. Abdulillah Al-Guthami, a former AUP student, explains, “What’s the point of driving around in an old Ford, when through pressing a couple of buttons you can have a military jet that can explode any car on the highway?”

In some cases, gamers can fully engage with the character from the other side of the screen and absorb some of the features of their virtual personality, which blurs the fine line between illusion and reality. Al-Guthami noticed a similar type of pattern in his relationship with video games, “Sometimes, when I play GTA for a long time, I start to notice that my way of driving changes: I attempt to break the rules, neglect the speed limit, or catch myself thinking that I should hit the car of a slow rider, in the way I do it in the game.” Kechik is particularly concerned about this complication, “The problem is, that when the person receives a dose of dopamine after the game, he tends to bring his habits into the real society.”

Kechik highlights that “video games allow you not just to engage mentally with the character but also to literally visualize yourself in action.” The gaming industries spotted the attachment of players to their virtual character and decided to exploit this vulnerability.

They understood that for many of their customers the maximum visual resemblance with the game character is a vital aspect of the game. If the avatar visually resembles the player, the victories would feel sweeter, making them crave more of this pleasant feeling. For Pimenova this is important, “I believe people look for a visual resemblance with their avatar. It makes the game more appealing. If there is an opportunity to choose a character, I try to create if not the identical version of myself then, at least, how I would like to see myself specifically in one game or another.”

According to the GSA (Gaming Standard Association), since the option to customize your character was introduced into the gaming industry, the gaming market has drastically expanded to 134.9 billion dollars in market value in 2018, a 10.9 percent increase from 2017. The developers of Fall Out, for example, introduced the ability to adjust every feature of your character’s appearance at any moment of the game. If a person had a haircut in real life, they could immediately give the same haircut digitally to their character for the maximum resemblance.

The manual for the game states, “If all you want

“MY DIGITAL ME IS ALWAYS PERFECT.”

12

to do is to change your hair, including your facial hair, you need to head to the barber,” just like in real life. By adjusting every facial and bodily feature manually, the player can create an almost identical visual representation of themselves or any other desired person.

Pimenova says, “In the game, I’m not just imitating my real appearance, but rather upgrading it by getting rid of the features that can influence my feeling of insecurity: height, age, hair, body shape. My digital me is always perfect.”

Whatever the player envisions in his head can be reflected on his avatar. Beyond the visual resemblance, there is also a part of the identification processes in which gamers may start to associate their personality and behavior with the character. Igor Kuznetsov, a Russian businessman and avid gamer, explains, “For the game to be interesting, I need to be close with my avatar. I need to understand how he acts and thinks and I need to have the feeling that I would have done the same thing.” Kechik highlights that games offer people the alternative of being whoever they want without a judgmental look from others, “They can fully disclose themselves, through the absence of limitations caused by morality, law or personal responsibilities.”

In January 2019, Stanford University published research that “peeks” into the brain of gamers. Stanford’s scientists noticed that gamers’ neurons function differently from non-gamers’: the areas responsible for motivation and striving for new goals are much more stimulated.

According to Addictions.com, “Escape as a coping mechanism is one of the key components of an addiction.” Through the constant repetition of gameplay in virtual reality, gamers escape from their everyday failures. Eventually, they gain the desired points that replace the lack of satisfaction with their achievements in real life and sink them further into the fantasy world of gaming.

Gaming has come a long way from primitive arcade games to full-fledged virtual worlds where the player is able to make an extraordinary number of choices from every aspect of their appearance to their behavior. Whether we choose to insert ourselves into a game or to build a radically different personality, the question is raised of how we can distinguish between our two selves. Will we live here or beyond the screen?

“THROUGH THE CONSTANT REPETITION OF GAMEPLAY IN VIRTUAL REALITY, GAMERS ESCAPE FROM THEIR EVERYDAY FAILURES.”

13

ARTIFICIAL INFLUENCE

Is the Next Biggest Instagrammer Going to Be a Robot?

By Mouminatou Camara Imagery courtesy of Brud

W

hen Instagram was created, it was merely a space where people could share, like and comment on photos that their friends posted, but today, the platform is no longer purely social.

Teenagers in small towns post side by side with influencers who have created empires of followers. Influencers have played the role of marketers by promoting and recommending products on their social media. According to the State of Influencer Marketing 2018, 86 percent of marketers used social media influencers in 2017, of which 92 percent found it effective. Influencers have become an integral part of any marketing strategy, so much so that in 2018, 39 percent of marketers increased their influencer marketing budget. Influencers range from some of the world’s most famous celebrities to more niche bloggers and vloggers with solid social media followings. However, a new kind of influencer is emerging that may change the social media landscape for good.

The black model Shudu Gram, went viral after Fenty reposted a shot of her wearing Rihanna’s bright orange lipstick. Some 159,000 followers later—including supermodels Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks—Shudu has become the first CGI (computer-generated imagery) supermodel in the world. Created by British photographer, Cameron-James Wilson, Shudu is represented as a dark-skinned, South African woman in her mid-to-late 20s. Her name, which is popular with the Ndebele people of South Africa, was chosen by one of her early Instagram followers from that area.

A second CGI model, the Brazilian-

14

American fashion blogger Miquela Sousa, who goes by the name of Lil Miquela on Instagram, has achieved even more recognition and was named one of the most influential people on the internet by Time magazine in 2018. The 19-yearold virtual it-girl made her debut on Instagram in April 2016 and since has amassed 1.5 million followers, collaborated with Prada for Milan fashion week, posed in Chanel and even scored herself an editorial in Vogue. Lil Miquela speaks up about topics that she finds important such as the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQ rights and has also released two singles that are available for streaming on services like Spotify.

A few years after her debut, in April 2018, Lil Miquela revealed through an Instagram post that she was “not a human being,” but a creation of a company called Brud, an LA-based start-up specializing in artificial intelligence and “robotics talent.” This created an online storm after two years of debate in her comments over her true identity.

The story told to Lil Miquela’s followers was that a different CGI social media influencer named Bermuda hacked into her account and refused to give it back until she told the truth about her identity. Bermuda, who goes by Bermunaisbae on Instagram, is a creation of a company called Cain Intelligence. Both the account “hack” and Cain Intelligence were staged by Brud to promote their avatar character’s narrative and to attract social media attention.

After Lil Miquela admitted to being CGI, she took to Instagram to discuss her emotions, “I’m a robot. It just doesn’t sound right. I feel so human.” The Brud team, which is led by creator Trevor McFedries, released a public statement

shortly after Lil Miquela’s revelation, explaining that Lil Miquela’s consciousness is based on that of a human being. She’s programmed to “think freely and feel quite literally superhuman compassion for others.” Again, this is fiction; Lil Miquela along with Brud’s other creations, are in fact, simply “robots” or CGI created to sell to brands. Since 2016, the Brud team have been “managing and guiding the careers of our artificially intelligent talent.”

Both Shudu and Lil Miquela are unlike other influencers because they are CGI, designed using computer graphics to create a threedimensional image. However, like most notorious social media influencers, both Shudu and Lil Miquela’s Instagram feeds are filled with images of them posing in designer fashion in scenic locations, with detailed captions about their feelings.

The creator of Shudu Gram, Wilson, explains the process of creating a CGI character in an interview with Cosmopolitan. He begins by using software such as Daz-3D to create a very blank standard model to which he then makes subtle changes and adds specifics features such as the shapes of the eyes and nose. “You can change absolutely every aspect of this featureless base to create some really, really beautiful and striking characteristics,” says Wilson. This process can usually take up to three days.

The next step is the makeup or what Wilson calls “texturizing.” He explains, “After you’ve built your character, you then have to paint them. You can add skin and things like that.”

Wilson collaborates with a makeup artist to sketch and create a makeup look specifically for Shudu. He then takes that sketch and begins to paint onto the flat surface following the face chart and the makeup. In the interview, he shared that the most challenging aspect of creating Shudu is in the finer details such as her eyes. “You don’t realize that so much of what makes us look alive and there, is in the eyes and how they reflect the light,” he says. “You have to constantly be adapting and changing little things just to make sure that they look real.”

Both Lil Miquela and Shudu are representative of the fashion industry’s growing presence through technology.

“As we move into the VR space, it’s inevitable that companies will want to communicate to potential customers on these platforms,” Wilson told Vogue. This can already be seen

with Balmain’s release of a “Balmain Army” that features CGI models Margot, Shudu and Zhi for the launch of its Balmain BBox line.

Sponsors and advertisers have begun collaborating with virtual models due to the effectiveness of using a model whose opinions and actions belong to the creator. This limits the risk of a spokesperson tarnishing the brand’s name and gives them a creative opportunity to create an ideal avatar that perfectly represents their brands. Unlike real models, virtual models are malleable and can be anywhere at any time.

15

Although the concepts of artificial intelligence and virtual reality aren’t new, CGI models blur the line between fiction and reality. Much of the criticism of these models stems from the threat of artificial intelligence’s possible devaluation of humanity and some real-life models fear the potential of virtual models replacing them.

Model Dominique Robinson, who has campaigned with Tyra Banks, told the BBC ,“If it’s just that easy to hand a campaign to CGI models… what does the future of e-commerce look like for us?”

In 2017, the Federal Trade Commission updated its endorsement rights to require influencers to disclose their paid posts by using the hashtag #ad or #sponsored. According to Wired, it is unclear how this rule applies to virtual influencers whose backers are not disclosed. Adam Rivietz, co-founder and CSO of influencer marketing company #Paid points out, “If this influencer doesn’t disclose that a post is paid for, who is the FTC going to go after?”

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Lil Miquela tried to subdue the fears of virtual models replacing real-life models by sharing how similar the two are. “I think a lot of humans and robots like to present the best possible version of themselves on social media,” she says. Miquela uses Instagram the same way we use it: her feed is curated with meticulously edited photos just like those of her human peers.

The inclusion of CGI in fashion, Wilson believes, gives the ability to explore broader

16 regularly posts her #outfitoftheday on Lil Miquela her Instagram page.

realms of creativity in an inherently exclusive industry. Wilson explains in his interview with Vogue that “CGI could become a massive benefit to real-life models because there will be the potential for them to make very detailed scans of themselves.” Once scanned, they are immortalized, and their avatar can be sent to bookings and jobs without physically being there.

This could potentially extend models’ careers indefinitely.

Other careers within the fashion industry such as makeup and photography could be affected as CGI modeling could become the new way of working with models in the future. For makeup artists like Scott Osbourne Jr, who goes

by TheScottEdit on Instagram, it could be an opportunity to collaborate in the creative process of digital model-making by contributing makeup sketches. Osbourne, who’s only 20-years-old, has been in the makeup industry for five years and believes it could be a tool to extend his talent outside the realms of physical models.

“Although, I wouldn’t be able to touch her physically, I think it would be cool and interesting to see a CGI model in TheScottEdit with a glitter highlighter and a nice graphic liner,” he says.

“I would love to see how my makeup would look virtually considering I love using 3D objects such as gems, pearls and stones in my makeup looks to add a little more spunkiness.”

The fashion industry has traditionally favored white models, but more recently, designers and casting directors have been moving toward inclusivity. On February 22, Sudanese model Anok Yai, opened the

Prada runway show, over 20 years after Naomi Campbell in 1997.The New York Fashion Week Fall 2018 Diversity Report revealed that during the Fall 2018 season 32.5 percent of bookings went to women of color, a 2.3 percent increase from Spring 2018.

In an interview earlier this year with Harper’s Bazaar, Wilson revealed, “there’s a big kind of movement with dark skin models.” He explains that Shudu represents these women and inspires them. While Shudu has many admirers, many women of color have been more critical. In a tweet, British writer Bolu Babalola, called Shudu an image “contrived by a white man who has noticed the ‘movement’ of dark-skinned women.”

Shudu, although technically a woman of color, creates an additional barrier for black models because they are already underrepresented in fashion and beauty industries.

Major industries now have the options to work with a virtual black model rather than working with real women of color. The 24-year-old model, Louise Stone, shared in an interview with Radio 1 Newsbeat that “models, in general, have it hard enough with how competitive the industry is.”

She added, “models of color have an extra point to prove and have to work harder.” Shudu’s representation of a black model could further reduce opportunities for women of color by occupying spaces for real black women in the modeling industry.

In Vogue, Wilson admitted that there was a problem with the way he initially presented Shudu. While he claims to have never profited from Shudu, he believes the criticism of his artwork is a representation of the concerns surrounding fashion in general. “Many people aren’t aware that there’s a real problem with diversity in 3D as well,” he said concerning the lack of diversity in the digital assets, such as the textures used to create Shudu’s hair.

CGI influencers such as Lil Miquela are being monetized and their platforms utilized to sponsors and campaign posts. While this is not the case for Shudu, creator Wilson is looking

to generate income by designing models for brands who want a digital spokesperson.

Brud raised six million dollars last year from investors, including Sequoia Capital, BoxGroup and other investors according to a report

by TechCrunch. The company is now worth at least $125 million thanks to the backing of new business ventures led by Spark Capital. Investors are embracing these virtual avatars, considering them a new form of the studio system.

According to Danika Laszuk, general director of Betaworks’s startup boot camp, “The perception of what influential is, or who is an influencer, is changing.” He believes the future of influencers are digital beings who are powered by artificial intelligence.

Betaworks is exploring the role that CGI could play on entertainment and social media platforms. In mid-February, the company launched a Synthetic Camp, a combination of computer-generated imagery and AI capabilities and which Peter Rojas, partner at Betaworks calls “synthetic reality,” including virtual it-girl Lil Miquela.

“The celebrity part comes into play where we’re now at a point where you can create these photorealistic avatars and put them into videos and have them wearing clothes without having to spend millions of dollars on CGI,” Rojas tells TechCrunch.

CGI influencers are becoming more popular and there will be many more like Lil Miquela and Shudu, however the ability for a celebrity to share an intimate segment of their life is something a CGI influencer can’t do. “People like watching their favorite celebrity go out and get drunk – and be, well, human,” Wilson says. The future of CGI will ultimately depend on the consumers and whether or not they relate to human Instagram influencers or CGI influencers.

“I’M A ROBOT IT JUST DOESN’T SOUND RIGHT. I FEEL SO HUMAN.”

17

ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL 18 a transgender model, walking the runway at the Avie Acosta, Christian Siziano fashion show during New York fashion week.

Image Credit: Ovidiv Hzubaru/Shutterstock

The Fashion Industry is Embracing Difference

By Karina Harb

Image Credit: Ovidiv Hzubaru/Shutterstock

Ashley Graham, a plus-size model, walking the runway 19 at the Michael Kors fashion show during New York fashion week.

Image Credit: Broadly

Image Credit: Ovidiv Hzubaru/Shutterstock

A transmasculine model for the Broadly Photo Library.

H

ave you ever felt the frustration of having to go out of your way to find any clothes that fit, because the fashion industry deemed your body type not worthy of attention?

If so, you’re not alone. For years, the fashion industry has suppressed diversity. However, there is a shift towards acceptance, inclusivity and freedom. In the past couple of years, the inclusion of people defying stereotypes of what beauty and perfection look like has brought attention to the fashion industry’s inclusivity problem.

Just last summer, Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech Bior made history when she was chosen by the legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld to occupy one of the most coveted positions in fashion: the Chanel Bride. She closed the show wearing a gorgeous blue ensemble, becoming the second model of color ever to do so.

In 2015, during New York fashion week, FTL Moda, one of the major high-end fashion week production companies, had disabled models walk down the runway in collaboration with Fondazione Vertical, a research foundation for spinal cord injuries. Among them were people sitting in wheelchairs, walking with canes or missing a leg, all of them wearing

20

Lauren Chan walking the runway at the Chromat fashion show during New York fashion week.

various designers from all over the world.

Antonio Urzi, whose designs have been worn by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, reportedly chose the person who would be sporting his creations for the FTL Moda show himself. His choice was a personal trainer and fitness model from England, Jack Eyers, who was the first amputated model to walk in a runway show. Following the show, Eyers shared, “I want to show that having a disability doesn’t need to hold you back.” Having disabled people walk down the runway isn’t only a way of showing that they can in fact model clothes, it sends the message that their disabilities don’t prevent them from being active members of society and that what makes them different shouldn’t be considered a flaw, but should be embraced.

Events like FTL Moda’s 2015 show may make headlines and start conversations around diversity, but they do not reflect the reality of the industry and the requirements that come with modeling.

For so long, models who didn’t fit a size 0 weren’t even considered by most fashion brands.

Beauty was associated with thinness and symmetrically perfect features. A “crooked” nose or any other tiny imperfection could exclude models from having a job. In an industry where a small imperfection could cost you a job, it was

Image Credit: Broadly

Image Credit: Ovidiv Hzubaru/Shutterstock

A genderqueer model for the Broadly Photo Library.

hard to predict any form of inclusivity.

Like all movements for change, inclusivity in the fashion industry has faced its fair share of pushback. Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer at Victoria’s Secret who is responsible for casting, recently stated in an interview with Vogue, that he was against hiring transgender models for the company’s runway event “because the show is a fantasy.” He went on to add, “We attempted to do a television special for plus sizes in [2000]. No one had any interest in it. Still don’t.” Razek’s statement got so much negative feedback that Victoria’s Secret had to apologize on behalf of their CMO. People were quick to point out that the brand should be more considerate of its actual clients, who do not only constitute extremely thin women.

Fortunately, we have witnessed the development of brands becoming more inclusive of all body shapes over the last few years. Savage X Fenty, Rihanna’s underwear line, has been praised for making inclusivity an inherent part of its brand. The singer has made a point of challenging the idea of what it means to be sexy and beautiful. Speaking of her brand’s debut at the 2018 New York fashion week to Elle.com, “I wanted to include every woman. I wanted every woman on the stage with different energies, different races, body types, different stages in their

Ashley Graham walks the runway at the Prabal Gurung fashion during New York fashion week.

womanhood, culture. I wanted women to feel celebrated.”

A conversation about body positivity is nearly impossible to be had without mentioning Ashley Graham, a plus-sized model whose work has been advocating for the body-positive movement. She has appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle and Glamour and, most notably, was the first plus-sized model to have appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Speaking of her cover, Graham said she couldn’t believe she was on it until she had a printed copy in her hands, and for good reason. The magazine always portrayed unrealistic body types, images that have led women to develop mental health problems, self-confidence issues and eating disorders because they aren’t able to meet the unrealistic norms of what people with influence call thin.

Kate Moss once said, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” That statement by a world-famous supermodel is a worrisome example of the extremely unhealthy standards that women are put up against. Change is long overdue, so fashion brands have begun detaching themselves from unachievable standards of beauty by showcasing more realistic body types.

For his Spring 2019 collection, Off-White designer, Virgil Abloh, whose brand has been deemed one of the most popular in the world,

21

22 model for the Broadly Photo Library.

A non-binary

Image Credit: Broadly

included a set of real athletes on the runway.

With fuller, muscular forms, their body types were much different from the models walking with them. Still, they walked proudly side by side with supermodels and looked incredibly stylish. This was a groundbreaking moment in fashion because there has always been a stigma related to thinness and femininity in the industry. Muscularity didn’t fit the criteria of beauty because gender conformists have always conveyed the idea that muscular bodies should only be seen on men.

Beyond different body types, the fashion industry has also been conservative with other types of inclusivity. While there are millions of women around the world who wear the hijab, it took a century for Vogue to feature a model wearing a veil on the cover, but they finally did it in June 2018. On the cover, Halima Aden is wearing a hijab standing next to eight other models of all different sizes, shapes and colors.

The cover was spread all over social media and met with an outpouring of praise and support.

While the industry has been slow to change, Vogue’s October cover shows that mindsets are evolving.

Figures and brands who have made it a point to promote inclusivity, acceptance and selflove, no matter what size, color of skin, cultural background or disability you might have, are the ones who are enabling change to occur. Because of the visibility, these cultural shifts are getting, they are providing the younger generation with a whole new set of much more realistic and inclusive standards to look up to.

Perhaps the most promising events of all have been the Spring 2019 Fashion Weeks. The shows in each city felt more diverse than ever.

From plus-sized women to people of color, they were some of the most inclusive shows ever. According to TheFashionSpot.com, that fashion month, held across New York, Milan, London and Paris involved 36.1 percent of models of color, as opposed to 17 percent in 2015. In addition to this, the season was noted as New York’s most racially diverse ever as nearly half of the models were women of color. The 2019 Spring Fashion Weeks also included a total of 54 plus-sized models. While this is an all-time high, it only constitutes 0.73 percent of the casting.

Women with fuller shapes or darker skin weren’t the only diversity highlight. Transgender

models were much more present this season, scoring 91 spots on the runway, making it the season with the highest ratio of transgender models. As encouraging as it is, especially considering that as recently as 2016 only six transgender models walked the runway, these numbers are still meager compared to the number of shows a season. However, we can expect the number of transgender models to increase, thanks to several designers that have been using and promoting transgender models for a long time.

Marc Jacobs has made a habit out of including transgender models in his shows, even using Lana Wachowski, a transgender model and director, as a muse for his Spring/Summer 2016 campaign. Becca McCharen-Tran is the creator of Chromat, an inclusive luxury swimsuit brand and an advocate of the LGBTQ+ community.

She has included not one, but five transgender girls for Chromat’s Spring/Summer 2018 collection. Shayne Oliver, the creative director and designer of Hood By Air, released a capsule collection for Helmut Lang and brought the brand back in the spotlight by using a diverse array of models, including New York nightlife fixture and trans model Sophia Lamar.

Brands from Calvin Klein to Christian Siriano, have championed diversity by including transgender models, plus-sized models, models of color, and disabled models on the catwalk. While these developments are promising, there is a long way to go until the fashion industry becomes completely inclusive of all shapes, sizes and cultures. However, the initiatives that people have taken over the years show that there is a will to make sustainable change, and hopefully by exposing the younger generations to more and more challenging ideas, we might be able to trigger the permanent shift we want to see happen.

23

24

#ONLINEWHILEBLACK

Black Twitter is More Than Just Activism

By Lauren Williams Photography by Jacqueline Wegwerth

I

t’s a Sunday morning in the summer of 2007, and I’m sitting on a stiff wooden pew in a small church in Oklahoma. I’m sweating through a paisley cotton dress, and my grandfather is standing at the pulpit, shouting. “Amens” and “won’t He do its” fill the brief pauses in the sermon when my grandfather stops to gasp for air. After the three-hour-long sermon about the fate of our souls, the congregation lingers to discuss matters much less holy. From talk about the young couple in the neighborhoods divorce—to gossip around a young black presidential hopeful—to organizing dinner duty for an older widow in the congregation, the church came alive as it morphed into safe space for community-focused conversation. For black Americans, there are deep roots in the tradition of community organization.

Church, more than a house of worship, traditionally served as a place where blacks were encouraged to vote, engaged in arts and music, learned about the importance of civic associations, economic development and leadership at a time when we were not afforded equal rights to public spaces. Instrumental in the tradition of activism, it helped blacks to become proactive in making changes in American society for the better. Sixty-five years after the start of the civil rights movement with the introduction of technology and social media, the methods in which black people interact with one another and mobilize has changed, but the spaces we inhabit in the digital world remain just as complex and interconnected.

Twitter has reshaped many facets of modern life, from the way politicians interact with their constituents, or the way news is broken, to the way Americans find out who our president’s chosen enemy of the day is.

While the social media site is huge, it’s not

25

one single community. There’s Feminist Twitsupporting actor categories, and #YouOKSis, a ter, where discourse is focused on gender equalhashtag started to raise awareness about street ity, there’s Sports Twitter, where people spar harassment, not only went viral but became over who will win the national championship, globally recognizable movements. Through there’s Academic Twitter, where free syllabi are Twitter, the cultural tradition of activism can created and shared between the inquisitive, reach further and organize more quickly than there’s even French Twitter. However, perhaps was possible in the past. the most talked about “Twitterverse,” is Black However, on Black Twitter conversations Twitter. Because people’s feeds are tailored to are tied to the specific cultural context of living whom they follow, you may never see the daily in America while black, and as they are all discourse that takes place there if you aren’t coming from one community, they are able to looking for it. be archived and built upon.

The term is used to describe a large network Meredith Clark, a professor at the Mayborn of black Twitter users and their interactions that School of Journalism at the University of North often accumulate into trending topics due to Texas, explained the idea behind normal parthe network’s size and interconnectedness. ticipation within Black Twitter in an interview Black Twitter is its own microcosm amongst stating, “In order to understand the conversathe many users and identities tion, you have to have what one within the social media plat(James C. Scott), “BLACK TWITTER researcher, form, and it has become a force has called a ‘hidden transcript.’ to be reckoned with.

You must have the cultural IS ITS OWN One of the moments that background to understand MICROCOSM carried the online commuthe conversation as it’s playing nity into mainstream media out. There’s use of metaphor, AMONGST THE was the summer of 2015 after there’s use of culturally resoMANY USERS AND nant language.” a 28-year-old woman named Sandra Bland was found IDENTITIES WITHIN While important social hanged in a jail cell three days movements have been started after she was pulled over by a THE SOCIAL MEDIA on Black Twitter, some of the Texas police officer in a routactics used to shed light on PLATFORM, AND IT tine traffic stop. Her death injustices have been critiqued HAS BECOME A was ruled a suicide, but those as an overreach. Alexander who knew her remain unconHurst, a journalist, living in FORCE TO BE vinced. What really happened Paris explained that he had to over the span of her final days RECKONED WITH.” refocus his Twitter because of is still a mystery. The confuthe constant “culture wars” sion around how a woman going on within the platform. could go from getting a speeding ticket to He finds that “Black Twitter has formed this being dead in prison over a span of 72 hours kind of vigilante culture,” because of the lack sent shockwaves through the black commuof institutional justice black Americans have in nity. Soon after, along with the hashtag #Sayreality.

HerName, a call to validate and include black It’s not uncommon for a discussion on women’s narratives in the Black Lives Matter Black Twitter to quickly form around “cancelmovement, #IfIDieInPoliceCustody was ing” someone, no longer morally, financially or tweeted with sobering descriptions of what black digitally supporting someone, because of somepeople hoped their friends and family would thing distasteful resurfacing that they may have know if their fate mimicked that of Bland’s over said years ago.

16,500 times in just seven days. The hashtag was Amari Bing-Way, a black American student trending on Twitter for days, forcing the reality said, “I’m scared of it. Black Twitter is ruthof black American life into the larger public. less. It’s interesting because people will fight for Following this, hashtags like #OscarSoWhite you, but then they will also try to fight you at the following the 2015 nominations where not a same time. It’s a difficult platform.” single person of color was nominated for lead or It’s true that because of the viral nature of

26

the platform, sensational arguments and negthe platform as well as gauging their audience’s ative discussions can quickly get out of hand. reactions to each episode in a way that feels With only 240 characters, it’s nearly impossiauthentic. For many, the show is a comedic, ble to contextualize topics. “It’s not the place realistic depiction of black American lives, and for profound nuanced discussion. If you are the connections viewers make with the characreading a 3,000-word article, even if you disters overflow into their interactions on Twitter. agree, the argument is completely laid out, you There is beauty in the kinship that can be can see what the person is trying to say. Sure, found across the diaspora thanks to Twitter, but Twitter has threads, but there still aren’t enough the idea of such a strong shared cultural idencharacters to tackle issues that may span across tity raises some questions about individuality. decades,” Hurst said. This is a problem for all of “There’s this pressure to keep up that comes with Twitter, but it becomes even more blatant when black online spaces. I feel bad for scrolling past issues with historical implications like institucertain things, I know no one’s watching me, tional racism are up for debate. but I feel like there’s a silent judgment if I don’t While Twitter, for better or worse, has been retweet or repost something that’s happening an environment which promotes the loudest in the black community,” Bing-Way continued, users, sometimes creating an “Sometimes it’s like why do I environment where problemto ‘cancel’ people, just “YOU MUST HAVE have atic voices can rise to the top, it because Black Twitter says so?”

THE CULTURAL is an environment where users She feels that with so much vishave an equal playing field. there is a pressure to be BACKGROUND TO ibility, This allows black users to constantly representing and in meaningfully connect with UNDERSTAND THE align with the accepted ideas on one another across borders, Black Twitter.

CONVERSATION education levels and socioecoWhile there may be pressure nomic lines. Users find solace to conform in some instances, AS IT’S PLAYING in almost suspiciously similar Black Twitter allows black users OUT. THERE’S USE childhood memories through to talk about stories that aren’t hashtags like #GrowingUpnecessarily always considered OF METAPHOR, Black, or through discussing in mainstream media as well as THERE’S USE OF cultural moments like the BET control the discourse around Awards. The interactions on their own narratives.

CULTURALLY Black Twitter are powerful, so For a long time, the only RESONANT much so that television shows places that black people could with black audiences are delibdo this was within designated LANGUAGE.” erate about engaging with their spaces in their own communiaudiences on Twitter. ties. Traditionally, spaces like “I’m more of a ghost Twitter user, so to say, barbershops, churches and ‘cookouts’ have been but I tend to spiral into the depths of Black the holy grail of spaces for black connections.

Twitter to see what’s going on in my commuThese conversations were held in safe spaces nity, my worldwide black community,” Alyssa where families and neighborhoods could let Belton, a black American woman living in loose, talk about politics, and the realities of Paris explained. For her, it’s something that being black in America when discourse of that she feels is extremely useful for connections nature wasn’t necessarily welcome in the public throughout the diaspora, “It would’ve been nice eye. to have when I was a bit younger being from a Along with new spaces allowing for larger, very diverse, yet very non-black area. I think it’s more interconnected interactions, deciding really cool.” which conversations should be public becomes The actors and producers from the HBO much more complicated. On the one hand, hit “Insecure,” a show following the life of a many of the discussions had on Black Twitblack twenty-something living in California, ter are purposeful calls to action; on the other live tweet about every moment along with viewhand, others may be more like everyday coners. It’s an easy way to get the show trending on versation. Because all discourse takes place on a

27

public platform, what may have been something said to a friend in a barbershop with cultural and physical context, now becomes privy to dissection. Who is allowed to engage and benefit from those conversations is debated.

Hurst feels, “You can’t force people out of a public discussion. If someone walks into the middle of the street and starts screaming out obscenities, the people that are around are by default involved in that conversation. Is it not the same on Twitter?”

On the privacy of the discourse that takes place within Black Twitter, Clark calls them, “public-private conversations,” she explains that although they are happening, you do not necessarily have the right to use it in any way you’d like. She explains that they “give you an opportunity to learn from someone where you don’t necessarily have to interact with them.”

Twitter not only serves as a new connecting platform for blacks all over the country but has taken our lingo, ideas and thoughts mainstream in the United States and abroad. Amir Baylly a model of French and Rwandan descent, explained, “In France, we don’t talk about race.

We don’t even have the vocabulary for it, unlike Americans. We can use Black Twitter and the way black Americans have used the platform to mobilize, as a map for how to talk about activism. It can help us create new ways to talk about race in Europe, but we can’t base our activism solely on American tradition, because our plights, while similar, are not identical.”

Black Twitter is a place to which we can turn to see black people being political, hilarious, concerned and celebrated. It’s an interwoven alliance of black people throughout the world.

“Twitter is only a jumping off point, there has to be more action and more representation of the diversity within blackness because while we have similarities, we are our own people and we don’t all think the same,” said Bing-Way. Black Twitter, like black America, is complicated, diverse and eager for change, and that is worth celebrating.

28

“THERE IS BEAUTY IN THE KINSHIP THAT CAN BE FOUND ACROSS THE DISAPORA THANKS TO TWITTER, BUT THE IDEA OF SUCH A STRONG SHARED CULTURAL IDENTITY RAISES SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT INDIVIDUALITY.”

29

WHEN ARE WE MOST HUMAN? People on the Streets of Paris Reflect on Technology and Love

I

n an age when the distinction between artificial intelligence and human capabilities is becoming smaller and smaller, it is becoming more difficult to say what elements of the human experience cannot be replicated into a technological form.

The tech industry is continually discovering ways for advanced technology to carry out human activity, from self-driving cars to automotive manufacturing. On the one hand, this can seem like a benefit to humans as it supposedly makes human life easier but on the other hand it questions what elements of being human are unique to us and us alone.

Especially within industrial societies, where productivity and efficiency are of the utmost importance and are used to measure human worth, it can be difficult to remember the elements of the human existence that solely belong to humans.

When we asked people on the streets of Paris what they think humans have or can do that can never be replicated by robots or advanced technology, many of them agreed that it was human emotion and connection. While companies like Microsoft are heavily investing in the development of emotional intelligence in AI,

30

By Jada Steuart Photography by Katie Zambrano

the objective isn’t to connect it to humans, but rather to read their emotions to make efficient answers. Authentic connections and emotions still belong to humans and their relationships.

We asked people when they felt most loved and each of them responded with the moments they spent with close friends and family members, recalling memories of when they felt connected to others.

It may seem like an obvious answer, but the things that robots can’t do are the things that tend to make us feel the best. What makes us human beings are the things we feel and the people we feel them for. It’s the conversations that make us feel better; they are the moments we have while traveling when we feel connected to the world or when we connect to the people within it. And while technology will continue to grow and make people’s lives better in some ways and worse in others, this is for sure: there are still elements of life that can only ever belong to humans.

Anthony Williams, 23 What do you think humans can achieve that robots can’t?

Imagination, human imagination. We have the ability to think outside the box. We can think about why or why not something happens, whereas robots are meant to just answer the question. For humans, even if they don’t find the answer it’s the talking part and doing it that counts.

When is the last time you felt most loved?

Probably around Christmas with my mom having a cozy dinner. Having that family connection, and just sitting together. It’s nice to get together, especially because we don’t all live in the same place.

31

Darryl Tonkin, 64, Airport Manager

Emily Guzy, 19, Student

What do you think humans can achieve that robots can’t?

What do you think humans can achieve that robots can’t?

Well the distinction is getting smaller and smaller isn’t it? Legitimate feelings of love and friendship are primarily what life is all about, and I don’t think that will ever happen for robots.

When is the last time you felt most loved?

When is the last time you felt most loved?

Recently, with my young grandson back home.

32

Emotions, I think it’s almost impossible to completely mimic human emotion.

I was really missing my friends the other day and I facetimed my best friend from home.

So, talking to her and catching up with her was definitely a moment I felt loved, even though she wasn’t physically there.

Hannah Blewitt, 21, Retail Salesperson What do you think humans can achieve that robots can’t?

The feeling of affection. it doesn’t matter how much you program what a human does into a robot, it will never be the same.

When is the last time you felt most loved?

Probably anytime I come home to my dogs.

Whenever I see my girls I feel loved.

33

Aayush Sharma, 24, Consultant What do you think humans can achieve that robots can’t?

Humans can think abstractly and robots can’t. Humans can achieve this (looking at the Louvre).

When is the last time you felt most loved?

Most loved? Everyday.

34

Madison Villanova, 20, Student

Angele Bilien, 22, Student

What do you think humans can achieve that robots can’t?

What do you think humans can achieve that robots can’t?

Personal connection. I have worked in sales in the past, and I think the best way to be successful in that is to make a connection with someone right off the bat. A robot can’t do that in the same way that we can.

Love, probably, I mean, I hope so. There was a manga and it was about a robot who was able to express and feel love, but when I was reading it, I thought it was quite disturbing and could actually be a huge problem.

When is the last time you felt most loved?

When is the last time you felt most loved?

Probably when I left home to go abroad. My mom is not super emotional, but when I left, she (almost) cried. I was like, “yeah, I know you are going to miss me.”

This morning, because I woke up with my boyfriend who was sweet as usual.

35

ARE WE “OVERTECHIFYING” CLIMATE ACTION? A $1.3 Billion Green Tech to Mitigate Climate Change is Threatening an Old-Age Way of Sustainability

By Signi Livingstone-Peters Photography by Oleg Kobtzeff

36

T

here is no cutting-edge climate technology inhumed in the blanket of white snow that covers the tundra in Jokkmokk, Sweden—a small hamlet in the Swedish Lapland. Nor are there glossy climate research centers – let alone people at all—but according to Scandinavia’s indigenous Sami people, the snow is nowhere as abundant as it used to be. “When I was young, the snow used to be up to our shoulders. Years later, up to the belt. Eventually, the knees. Now look, it’s up to the ankles.” An old Sami woman motions down toward her booted feet outside of her home.

Even though it’s mid-February, the snow hardly covers them.

The Arctic region where the Sami live, along with the polar bear, has long been the poster child for the environmental crisis. The symbolism is there for a reason—with its high proportion of ice, the region acts as an amplifier of sorts for the global heat engine as the ice melts and the consequent higher sea levels absorb the heat.

The results are catastrophic—causing significant global socio-economic, psychical and ecological impacts. Once triggered, they may continue for centuries and cause irreversible effects on ice sheets, global circulation and sea level rise.

Indigenous people, like the Sami of Lapland, are at the forefront of unprecedented environmental changes that are forcing them to shift how they live and work on their land. For the Sami people, climate change is not a debate—it’s a daily reality.

The Sami people (also spelled Saami) are a Finno-Ugric tribe that encompass large parts of Sweden, Norway, northern parts of Finland and the Murmansk Oblast region of Russia. Although Sami ancestral lands are not well defined, they are present due to the meticulous work of their ancestors—and the fight for generations to preserve their identity.

A longstanding model for a progressive approach to economic development, the windswept Nordic countries of Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark all boast low unemployment, high levels of equality and sophisticated social services. Perhaps most importantly, Scandinavia is a leader in operating primarily off of renewable energy—a crucial pursuit as we face another decade in a rapidly exacerbated environmental crisis.

In early April 2016, Norway took one of the biggest global steps forward in terms of renewable energy—six wind farms with a combined

The snowy mountains of Sami Lapland.

37

capacity of 1,057 MW at the cost of 11 billion crowns—roughly $1.3 billion. That’s enough to nearly double Norway’s wind potential.

Wind and solar energy require virtually no water to operate. Because of this, they do not pollute water resources, nor strain resources by competing with agriculture, drinking water or other essential water needs. On the contrary, fossil fuels have a significant impact on water resources: both coal mining and natural gas drilling can pollute sources of drinking water and all thermal power plants, including those powered by coal, gas and oil, withdraw and consume mass amounts of water for cooling. The Norwegian project is not about the big bad government going to drill holes in the land searching for oil and contributing to climate destruction. This is one of the largest, most progressive renewable energy projects in the world. So what’s the catch?

The project lies in the middle of a crucial Sami reindeer grazing area, leaving traditional herders concerned for the future of their culture that they have fought for generations to preserve—local herders have said that the sight and sound of the turbines would disturb reindeer herding.

Although UN calls to suspend the project to study the impact on indigenous herders livelihoods, the Norwegian Petroleum and Energy Ministry will proceed with the wind park, compromising Sami land, livelihood and identity.

Oleg Kobtzeff, a Franco-American professor, journalist and researcher studies the interface of civilizations and their relationships with their natural environments. Kobtzeff has worked for the U.S. National Parks Service, the CNES, (a French space agency) and scientific institutions in Alaska where he lived for four years in an indigenous community. He is a specialist in Arctic regions.

Kobtzeff believes that with a shift in the relationship between the government, the “rest of the world” and indigenous groups, “the Sami could eventually tell us where and how to build windmills that would not create a problem for them.”

Although wind farms boost high wind potential and a promising renewable future for Norway, the Sami have opposed these plans, seeing them as unprecedented land grabs and a fundamental threat to their culture. Not only this, but the Sami have been living sustainably for centuries, without the use of science.

An estimated 80,000 Sami live in the frigid northern lands of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia—where reindeer herding has long been the crux of their livelihood and culture.

But warmer winters mean less snow. Less snow means more rain. Due to the freezing temperatures, the rain then freezes into ice, making it impossible for reindeer to reach the vegetation that is crucial to their diet and survival. In turn, many reindeers starve or are born stunted.

This puts the traditional way of herding reindeer under pressure, as rising temperatures threaten the size of the herds and cause financial stress. In addition to these money woes, many young Sami feel the pressure of being the last remaining faces of a dissolving culture, while facing the first-hand effects of a warming planet.

With the new wind farm, this dilemma is only being amplified.

“The Sami may know much more than we do about climate change,” Kobtzeff says.

“In fact, we know they do. The whole difficulty is to get them to share the information that they have.”

From an anthropological perspective, it is the indigenous people that have a rather robust track record of maintaining intimate, sustainable relationships with the world and ecosystems around them. These relationships have nourished their communities and sustained their culture for centuries—all without ruining life providing environment itself. This is the track record that they fight to maintain. Ironically, a solution from the “developed world” meant to mitigate climate change has threatened their age-old way of sustainability.

Many Sami have an innate relationship to their environment and land; they can fathom things that engineers, scientists, zoologists and meteorologists who study climate and nature

“SAMI HAVE BEEN LIVING SUSTAINABLY FOR CENTURIES, WITHOUT THE USE OF SCIENCE.”

38

“WHEN I WAS YOUNG, THE SNOW USED TO BE UP TO OUR SHOULDERS. YEARS LATER, UP TO THE BELT. EVENTUALLY, THE KNEES. NOW LOOK, IT’S UP TO THE ANKLES.” A Sami festival 39 in Lapland.

are not aware of. They possess a certain education that has come from centuries of experience, observation, trial and error from living off the land. In particular, sustainable solutions. Generations of reindeer herding have taught them how to use meat sustainably. How to use snowmelt for energy, free of industrial production.

There are thousands of more traditional, less harmful methods toward climate action that we could learn from indigenous groups such as the Sami. “But for this to happen,” Kobtzeff says, “fundamentally, the relationship between the indigenous groups and the rest of the world needs to change.”

Unfortunately, the relationship between government, the “rest of the world” and indigenous groups such as the Sami in Norway, or the Inuit in Alaska has not exactly been convivial.

For centuries, they have been mocked, referred to as savages or primitive, based on the notion that they simply cannot know better than those who have learned mathematics or climate science in official universities.

Indigenous groups have long featured on magazine covers and in documentary films.

Their culture has been turned into a spectacle, an image.

In addition to this, a growing number of Sami have been exploited for their traditional medicinal remedies, further fueling the hostile relationship between indigenous groups and the rest of the world. This exploitation is known as “biopiracy” in which large companies, often pharmaceutical, commercially exploit naturally occurring biochemical or genetic material.

Often, these companies will obtain patents that restrict the further use of these materials while failing to pay fair compensation to the community from which it originates.

“For all of these reasons, these are populations that are extremely wary of sharing traditional knowledge,” Kobtzeff says. “They know a lot about the climate because of the patterns of animal behavior. They are probably hiding a lot of this information because all of this has been mocked,” Kobtzeff suggests. “Because of that, they are shy. There is an attitude about keeping the information to themselves.”

While native peoples only constitute 4 to 5 percent of the world’s population, they use almost a quarter of the world’s land surface and manage 11 percent of its forests. “In doing so, they maintain 80 percent of the planet’s

40

The Sami Lapland under snow.

biodiversity in, or adjacent to, 85 percent of Raygorodetsky believes that in addition to the world’s protected areas,” says Gleb Rayscientific technologies—progressive as they may gorodetsky, a researcher with the POLIS Projbe—we should look to the people who are still ect on Ecological Governance at the University closely connected to nature, not solely as the of Victoria in British Columbia. From a small backbone that sustains them. Finding solutions village in the Bering Sea, Raygorodetsky has to the impacts of climate change is much more worked with indigenous communities around complicated than everyone having the mindset the world on traditional resource management, and positive incentive of “wanting to save the sacred sites, climate change adaption and mitiplanet.” It requires probing into a deep, mulgation and biocultural diversity for two decades. ticultural, multi-knowledge perspective and “After all, it is they who have a robust, understanding of the people around us who millennia-long track record of maintaining intihave lived sustainability for centuries. mate relationships with the natural world, which Perhaps the most efficient path toward drivhas nourished their communities and sustained ing climate change resilience is to secure and their cultures, without devouring the life-giving support indigenous peoples’ rights to their environment. This is the track lands and waters, and mainrecord that they continuously tain a close relationship to “FINDING strive to maintain, despite them so that they can conformidable odds, including SOLUTIONS TO THE tinue to support the majority fierce opposition from the of Earth’s remaining biological IMPACTS OF ‘developed’ world,” Raygoroand cultural diversity in the detsky says. The ‘accomplishway that they have done CLIMATE CHANGE same ments’ of modern society, for centuries.

IS MUCH MORE however, are a lot more recent, The more we paltry, and have had much increase the multiculCOMPLICATED more destructive consequences tural, multi-knowledge for life on Earth. The most THAN EVERYONE perspective on what’s happenefficient path toward enhancing with us and the planet, the HAVING THE ing climate change resilience better it will be for us. Science is to secure and support indigis certainly one—crucial—way MINDSET AND enous peoples’ rights to their to solve the issue of climate POSITIVE lands and waters so that they change, but it is not the only can continue to support the one.

INCENTIVE OF majority of Earth’s remaining biological and cultural diver- ‘WANTING TO SAVE sity,” he adds.

THE PLANET.’” A potential solution for the wind farm is compensation— not necessarily financial, but the possibility of giving ownership over more land or allowing for more political representation by giving more power to local Sami institutions. Despite their strong identity and decades of lobbying since the 1960s, according to the Climate Institute, an institution aimed at discovering and implementing climate solutions by advancing research, sharing information, and collaborating with U.S. and international partners, “the ancient custom of reindeer herding represents one of the last means by which the Sami can support themselves with a traditional pursuit, providing one of the few remaining outlets for sustained cultural expression and pride.”

41

AI WRITES POETRY TOO ‘MY DESIRE BEAUTIFULLY LUSTS AFTER YOUR SEDUCTIVE ENTHUSIASM. MY FOND INFATUATION SEDUCTIVELY HUNGERS FOR YOUR AFFECTION. YOU ARE MY COVETOUS YEARNING. MY CURIOUS DESIRE. YOU ARE MY BREATHLESS INFATUATION.’ -BOTORNOT (an AI generator)

42

THE RACE TO MARS

Are We Running in the Wrong Direction?

By Thiaby Sow Illustrated By Sophia Foerster

43

F

or my parents’ generation, the Apollo 11 launch vehicles and cargo spacecraft. In the moon landing was one of the biggest mainstream media, Musk has been a big supevents that happened in their lives. Just porter of the idea that humans will be able to as World Wars and the Great Depresbuild a community on Mars, placing SpaceX at sion marked prior generations, sucthe forefront of Mars colonization. Musk has cessfully landing a man on the moon was what announced publicly that they want to send their characterized their youth. rocket by 2022 or possibly sooner. In addition Space was cool; they grew up watching the to their successful launch orbit and recovery of news rave about the new rockets that were Falcon 1 in 2008 and their first propulsive landlaunching and how scientists were creating ing of Falcon 9 in 2015, they were the first private innovative components to ensure the astrocompany to launch an object to orbit the sun: nauts’ survival. New technology was marveled at Falcon Heavy. and appeared to be so futuristic that anything NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space beyond it seemed unimaginable. Subsequent Administration, an independent agency of the generations have experienced an even more United States’ government that sent the first rapid advance in technology. However, instead man on the moon. They have sent multiple space of the excitement of space, millennials have vehicles to roam Mars, most notably the Mars been able to experience amazing technological Rover, made popular in pop culture movies, advances; touch screen phones, television and books. In 2017, self-driving cars, virtual real- “MANY SCIENTISTS NASA announced their projity. In the past, technological ect Mars 2020. This project THINK THAT WE advancements seemed to be out focuses on identifying whether of this world, but today they are WILL BE ABLE TO there is any signal of prior life more accessible and used every and whether Mars has inhabINHABIT MARS day. Today, we don’t have time itable conditions for humans. to gather around the TV and They will be sending a rover in WITHIN OUR watch the achievement of the 2020 to test pure oxygen from LIFETIME BECAUSE latest technological wonder. In Martian atmospheric carbon the years preceding the Apollo 11 dioxide and to understand the OF THE launch, NASA spent 40 million hazards of Martian dust.

INCREASING dollars in their annual budget, The rover is supposed to whereas now only half of that is launch between July 17 and DEVELOPMENT IN August 5, 2020 and scheduled allocated towards space exploration. This is all changing to land on Mars on February TECHNOLOGY.” with the Race to Mars.

18, 2021, it will stay on Mars The Race to Mars is the for one Mars year, which is 687 competition between private and governmental days, before coming back to Earth. agencies that want to colonize Mars to make it These two competitors, SpaceX and NASA, inhabitable for humans. Many scientists think are the most well-known but there are various that we will be able to inhabit Mars within our national space agencies and private companies lifetime because of the increasing development such as Boeing, Blue Origin (Amazon) and in technology and the success of private agencies Virgin Galactic (Virgin Airlines). such as SpaceX, a private American aerospace Two leading figures who have emerged in manufacturer and space transportation serthe debate on pursuing exploration to Mars are vices company. Since SpaceX’s successful rocket Neil deGrasse Tyson and Elon Musk. launch, more companies are announcing that Tyson is an astrophysicist and a firm believer they will start their projects exploring Mars. that humans are better off on Earth and too The two big competitors that seem to be the much is unknown in Mars to make it a safe closest to achieve the goal of colonizing Mars place to live. Tyson believes going to Mars may are SpaceX and NASA. SpaceX’s Elon Musk, be compelling but not beyond an exotic vacaa technology entrepreneur and engineer, is tion destination. “I’m skeptical that you’ll find the CEO of Tesla. In 2002, under the goal of legions of people that will go there and want the colonization of Mars, SpaceX developed to stay,” explains Tyson in an interview with

44

Futurism. In his view, Mars is not likely to be perthe 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change manently inhabited by humans. mitigation. Even if the current president has Musk argues for the colonization of Mars. not made climate change a priority, Americans He supports the election of officials that will believe that this should be NASA’s top priorlaunch a rocket by 2022 to Mars. He is very ity. In the Pew Research Center survey of 2,541 confident that SpaceX will be able to transform people, 63 percent said that monitoring key Mars to resemble Earth and support human parts of Earth’s climate should be a top NASA life, otherwise known as terraforming. priority.

Based on their calculations, NASA is skepAlthough Americans are interested in space, tical that a planet that old can be terraformed. they are not willing to make it a financial priorThis skepticism was based on a study released in ity. Using tax dollars to fund projects to explore August 2018 confirming that terraforming Mars space rather than funding programs that directly is not possible using present-day technology. help the public and environment is not in the Musk has not been deterred: “There is a maspublic’s interest. In our pursuit of space, are we sive amount of CO2 on Mars absorbed into soil neglecting our own planet? Critics of colonizing that’d be released upon heating. With enough Mars argue that our resources should be spent energy via artificial or natural (sun) fusion, you on Earth, while supporters argue that colonizcan terraform almost any large, rocky body.” ing Mars will save our planet. In October 2018, In addition to the challenge the Intergovernmental Panel of terraforming, colonizing “TODAY, ADVANCE- on Climate Change (IPCC) Mars raises moral questions. In released a report urging drastic MENTS HAPPEN SO changes to save the Earth from the past, colonization has led to the exploitation of people and FREQUENTLY THAT extreme heat, drought and resources for the advancement floods caused by global warmWE DON’T HAVE of other countries. The word ing. Musk argues that colonizcolonization still has connotaing Mars may be our only hope TIME TO GATHER tions of slavery and land pilfor escaping this devastation.

AROUND THE TV laging. Although there are no Additionally, Musk warns people on Mars, preventing that beyond climate change AND WATCH THE displacement or exploitation is the rapidly growing threat ACHIEVEMENT OF of life, the long-term conseof artificial intelligence withquences of affecting the ecoout regulation. “To survive an THE LATEST system of Mars is not known. inevitable extinction event, TECHNOLOGICAL History has shown us that colhumans would need to ‘become WONDER.” onization comes at a cost that is a space-faring civilization and too difficult to rationalize the a multi-planetary species.” He potential gain. Running the risk of disrupting believes the mission to Mars will allow humans the balance of a planet for an exotic vacation for to escape the “existential threat” from artificial the wealthy does not seem wise. intelligence which will wipe out human life on According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the earth. percentage of Americans who think that NASA The Race to Mars has presented many chalshould focus its energy on sending humans back lenges for the future. The technology available to the moon is 3-percent. “Most Americans to explore Mars and colonize another planet said NASA’s top priority should be to monitor separate from ours raises many scientific, politthe world’s climate. This is reflected, to some ical, financial and moral questions. How we extent, by NASA’s own Earth Science initiadecide to use this technology will define our tives—all of which are targeted to be axed by the generation. president.” President Trump has referred to climate change as a “hoax of the Chinese government.” He has expressed little interest in addressing it as a major threat to our future. In fact, under President Trump’s administration, America is the only country to withdraw from

45

“IN OUR PURSUIT OF SPACE, ARE WE NEGLECTING OUR OWN PLANET?”

46

A Controversial Gene Editing Experiment Raises Questions about Scientific Ethics and Eugenics

By Cristina Mendoza Illustration by Sophia Foerster 47

I

magine a world where we strive for perfection to create the ultimate utopian society. A world where we could control and decide exactly what we want our children to look like and their interests a world where humans were designed to be “superbeings.” Take it a step further beyond just physical characteristics and imagine a world where we edit our genes to prevent our bodies from contracting diseases. This Frankstein-esque world seems only possible in a sci-fi novel, but it has started to become a reality. Dr. He Jiankui, a Chinese scientist, is the first to successfully create a gene-edited human baby using CRISPR technology in November 2018. Although Dr. He defended his experiment by insisting it was for medical purposes as he cut out the CCR-5 gene responsible for HIV, has been met with universal condemnation from the global scientific community. Because the technology’s use on human embryos to edit babies is new, scientists do not yet have the proper research to fully understand the repercussions it could have on future generations and the possible ways its use, for good or bad, could change the human race forever. Dr. He has proved that if the technology is available, it’s going to be used.

CRISPR was first developed in 1993 as a way to study the immune system but wasn’t used for

48

gene editing until 2013. The technology works by using enzymes to target and cut out specific parts of genes, thus altering the DNA. Genetics is a highly complex domain that is still not fully understood by scientists—single genes are not directly connected to a single trait and they interact with each other in unique ways. The technology is mostly used in laboratories for studies, which is another reason for the backlash Dr. He’s experiment has received.

His experiment was privately funded and took place outside the research facilities of the university he worked at in China. Acting as a rogue scientist and carrying out this experiment without official permission, regulations or supervision has raised red flags about the capabilities that scientists have. While scientists are held to certain ethical standards, it is impossible to keep track of absolutely every experiment that is being conducted around the world. In the eyes of the global scientific community, Dr. He violated those standards and ethics by using the technology to alter and create human life.

In March 2019, a group of 18 scientists published an opinion article in Nature, a science research site in response to Dr. He’s experiment, calling for a moratorium on gene editing embryos until there is an international framework setting conditions for the technology to

be used in which they state, “this is a crucial moment in the history of science: a new technology offers the potential to rewrite the script of human life. We think that human gene editing for reproductive purposes carries very serious consequences—social, ethical, philosophical and theological. Such great consequences deserve deep reflection.”

It’s important to clarify that the scientists calling for the moratorium are not calling for a complete block on the use or research of CRISPR technology and its uses on gene editing. The technology is striving for a world without pain and suffering. Having the capability to cut out diseased sections of DNA could ultimately lead to a completely disease-free world.

In reality, this gene editing can lead to increasing our chances of contracting other diseases that we otherwise might not have, new diseases developing, and different conditions caused by genetic abnormalities. Because the use of CRISPR technology is relatively new in the gene-editing domain, scientists have not fully been able to identify how modifying genes for one purpose, such as Dr. He removing the gene linked to HIV, can have adverse effects and to what extent. While Dr. He successfully removed the CCR-5 gene which prevented the baby girl from being born with HIV, Zhang

Feng, a CRISPR pioneer for gene-editing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology notes that removing the CCR-5 gene “will likely render a person much more susceptible for West Nile Virus.” According to a study published in Nature Biotechnology in July 2018, researchers in Britain discovered that using CRISPR technology might cause more harm than good as the possibility exists for it to harm healthy genes rather than just removing the ones in question.

The controversy surrounding Dr. He’s experiment is two-fold—not only is the scientific community concerned about completely changing the human genome and the possibility of creating new diseases and abnormalities, but they have also identified eugenics as a threat to society.

Eugenics is defined as “the science of improving a population by selective breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.” The concept was first introduced by Plato in 400 BCE in order to create a master guardian class. In 1883, the term “eugenics” was first used by Sir Francis Galton, a British scholar, to mean “well-born.”

In the early 20th century, countries such as Belgium, Brazil, Canada and Sweden implemented eugenics policies to prevent mental institution patients from procreating in an attempt to

49

prevent a mental disease from being passed on.

Gene editing for the purpose of “improving” the human race raises the question of the dangers associated with eugenics for society. Is it our place to design our children based on our own desires? Kazuo Ishiguro wrote in his book Never Let Me Go, “a two-tiered society with elite citizens, genetically engineered to be smarter, healthier, and to live longer, and an underclass of biologically run-of-the-mill humans could evolve.” Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World also depicts a rigidly stratified dystopian society determined by one’s genetics and intelligence.

The panic that Dr. He’s experiment has created is similar to the one incited by In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) in the second half of the 19th century. The first successful embryo using the technology was created in 1944 but did not result in a viable pregnancy.

Critics argued that humans should not “play God” by creating babies in scientific laboratories—even the Vatican spoke out against the use of IVF. Others countered saying the technology was beneficial because it allowed people to have babies who otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

The first successful IVF “test tube” baby was Louise Joy Brown born in England in 1978. Since then more than five million babies have been born throughout the world because of the technology.

While IVF is more widely available and the technology has advanced significantly since it was first developed, it is not accessible to everyone and cannot guarantee a viable pregnancy.

Each cycle of IVF is physically and financially draining—the process takes a heavy toll on a woman’s body with large doses of hormones and each cycle can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars. All moral, ethical and scientific concerns aside, IVF technology would have to be advanced even further to make it faster, easier and more reliable and affordable as the first step for couples seeking to genetically modify their children. Although Dr. He has proved that CRISPR can be used to create actual gene-edited human babies and not just for experiments that remain in Petri dishes, being able to make

the CRISPR technology readily available to the public would also be necessary and is not likely to happen for a while.

With any new technology or scientific advancement, concerns and opposition are going to result from uncertainties. In IVF’s case, people were concerned about our power to create life “unnaturally.” Gene edited babies take it a step further by raising ethical and biological issues about how far science should be allowed to go in controlling a natural process.

Following the alarms raised by the scientific community, countries around the world now need to implement legislation regarding the allowance or prevention of the use of CRISPR to create genetically edited humans. Currently, 30 countries have legislation that either directly or indirectly bans the use of the technology to genetically modify embryos.

While there has been concern expressed by scientists all over the world, there have also been discussions regarding possible allowed circumstances for the technology to be used. Overall the scientific community has agreed that the technology should not be used for eugenics purposes such as choosing the baby’s eye color, but rather in cases where the baby’s life may be in danger once it is born due to genetic abnormalities. In July 2018, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics declared the technology was “morally permissible” to use if it added to the child’s future and didn’t add to the inequalities that already exist in society.

Being a newer technology, CRISPR’s full abilities are still unknown. Although it is important for regulations and guidelines to be put in place while the scientists continue to experiment with CRISPR, the technology exists and is not going away. The possibilities for this technology are endless and will depend on the restraint of human beings who tend toward impetuousness.

“A NEW TECHNOLOGY OFFERS THE POTENTIAL TO REWRITE THE SCRIPT OF HUMAN LIFE.”

50

ARE WE GETTING LOVE ALL WRONG? Looking to the Ancient Greeks to Redefine Love

By Zakiyyah Job Photography by Lauren Domagas

51

I

n the age of Tinder where love is increasingly found through technology, it can seem like the search for “real” love is never-ending. However, maybe we should be asking a different question: not whether we can find love or whether it still even exists, but how we understand it.

There are over one thousand ways to say I love you. But today, romantic love is often prioritized over other types. It’s clear from just turning on the radio or television that romance is the main form of love expressed in pop culture. Our modern definitions of love aren’t all-encompassing, and the understanding of it differs from country to country and from generation to generation. Some show love through flirting, prioritizing familial relationships or by simply connecting with others.

The Ancient Greeks devised a system which could incorporate all types of connections, broken down into seven different categories: Eros: love of the physical body, Philia: platonic love, Ludus: Playful love, Pragma: often referred to as Romantic Love, Agape: Universal Love, Storge: Family Love and Philia: Love of the self.

I set out to explore how this more complex definition of love plays out today by asking different people to describe these various aspects of love and how they play out in their individual lives today. Their responses are in categories below.

Eros: Love of the physical body Zakiyyah Job: Do you prefer to be single or in

a type of partnership?

Ian Feldman, 23, American University Paris:

Single, I’m moving back to New York. It’s hard to date a girl when you’re three thousand miles away.

Z: What attracts you to a person?

I: If they are hot. When you are far away, that’s the first thing you notice. But of course, personality matters as well. I love a person with a good personality, someone that is vibrant and not too shy.

Z: Today people are becoming less monogamous, why do you think people are seeking to have other connections with people?

I: Relationships are time-consuming, and more and more people just find themselves too busy.

Also, with social media, it’s easy to find women

52

quickly. If you make an account on Tinder or Bumble, you could chat with a couple of girls in just a few hours. It’s easier for guys who want a connection or want to have sex without necessarily being in a relationship.

Z: Do you use dating sites?

I: I did for fun when I studied in Montreal, but I don’t use it for dating in Paris. I still prefer to approach a woman or to meet them through friends, but I know many use it to meet women.

Good for them. There are many beautiful women out there, and there shouldn’t be taboos around how you find them.

Philia: Platonic love Z: What makes your relationship with your best friend Peter unique?

Rosa Björk, 21, Stockholm: Peter takes his time to get to know people, while I’m the opposite. We took some time to get the stage of friendship where we could call each other best friends.

I didn’t know that we even had the potential of being best friends until last October when we were both living in Paris.

Z: Is there an assumption that guys and girls can’t be friends without it leading to something more?

R: Yes! Especially with guys and girls. It’s so hypocritical because that question is hardly asked to two friends of the same sex. In Sweden when I was younger, it was an accomplishment to sleep with a best friend. Something to be kind of proud of. Even today when I hang out with Peter, some of my friends assume something else is going on between us. But times are changing.

Every day people decide what relationship they want to have with one another—it’s not weird if people decide that they want to remain friends with someone without having sex.

Ludus: Playful love Z: What is your most flirtatious experience with someone?

Haylee Cluett, 21, Monmouth University: A while back, I went to a bar with some friends.

One of my friends Bobby said to Rob (my current boyfriend) that he should buy me a drink.

He asked why, and Bobby said just to do it. So, Rob approached me at the bar as I was waiting to get my Corona and asked if he could buy it

for me. I agreed and we sat down at the bar and started talking. We started to really hit it off, and it gradually got more and more flirtatious.

We started facing towards each other, and his legs were touching the outsides of my legs. Our faces got closer and I grabbed his face to tease him. We made out and then I went home with him, and as we were leaving the bar, my friend Bobby saw us and told Rob good luck.

Z: Why do you think in this new age of technology and social media, more and more people are moving away from standard forms of romance and are seeking other types of relationships?

H: I think there’s a lot to learn and explore in the world. The younger generations are getting really curious about people as opposed to trying to live the “standard” life of marriage, kids and settling down.

Pragma: Romantic love Z: How did you and your girlfriend meet?

Shayla, 22, New Jersey: Sofia and I started talking online when we were both still living in Seattle. My first impression of her was that she was a very relatable person and I liked that. I felt like I could talk about anything with her and I wouldn’t have that feeling of being judged, so I was intrigued by her. I moved back to New Jersey shortly after and for the most part our relationship has been long distance.

Z: Is there too much focus on the romantic aspect of relationships?

S: I feel like everywhere on social media, we see couples doing what today’s youth call “relationship goals.” It’s usually when couples post photos and videos of them traveling together, showing off their toned bodies or wearing nice outfits and posting the cutest selfies they can take. That’s modern-day “romance.” These things aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but I feel like sometimes the people of today forget that relationships actually require hard work, good communication, support for each other, patience and trust.

Z: Do you feel romantic love has changed over time?

S: I think romantic love has changed because of the technology we have today. I’ve met a lot of people who found their love through social media and dating apps. With a few clicks, you could potentially meet the person you’re going

53

to go on dates with. In the old century, they had courtships. I was born and raised in the Philippines and we have a courtship tradition called harana. It’s when a person sings to the one they have a romantic interest in with the hopes of making the person fall in love with them. I can’t picture anyone doing that today.

Agape: Universal love Z: What is your experience with universal love?

Vera Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir, 23, American University of Paris: I’ve done work for United

Nations Women, the Red Cross and Planet Without Borders. I feel a particular connection with women. I love to help solve the issues of violence against women and gender inequality.

Z: What made you decide to help other others?

V: It’s just an instinct. People are social; people need other people to survive.

Z: In 2019 is it easier or harder to form connections with others?

V: We are becoming more globalized. I come from a small country that used to be very isolated, but I think we’ve gotten more international. You can especially see this change in the younger generation. For example, my grandparents don’t believe in a more globalized world. Their horizon isn’t larger than Iceland.

But the younger generation is starting to think more universally. We are concerned and even protest for issues happening abroad. We want to help people no matter where they come from.

Philia: Self Love Z: What does self-love mean to you?

Clarke Audrey, 23, American University Paris: Self-love is a lack of comparison to

others.

Z: What do you love about yourself? What fulfills you?

C: I love so many things about myself, as we all should! I love that I’m super passionate about sex and sex education. I love that women and men open up to me about sex. I love that I sincerely do what I want to do and I go for the things I want. I am fulfilled by the people in my life who I love, the things that I accomplish and silly things like cooking. Oh, and I love my boobs.

Z: What positive habits/activities can people

54

develop to improve self-esteem? I think now more than ever it’s quite difficult to build self-esteem.

C: At least for me, social media makes it so difficult just to like myself. People nowadays get eyelash lifts and threaded eyebrows and lip injections and then after all that they still edit their photos to not look like them. For me, it’s about taking time for yourself and being thankful for what you have. Take five minutes out of every day to stretch or do yoga or be in your body or just breathe. Recognize what you have and be happy that you have it.

Storge: Family Love Z: Tell me a bit about your relationship with your mom.

Jamie Nyqvist, 21, American University of Paris: I am my mother’s only daughter. My

parents are divorced, and my mother took custody of me and decided to raise me in Finland.

Despite not speaking Finnish, despite having no other family and despite not having a job just so that I could be closer to my dad. She basically raised me as a single mother.

Z: Do you think the word love has a romantic connotation to it?

J: The meaning of love depends heavily on the context of the language. In Finnish, love is taken very seriously and reserved for romance. You don’t say “I love food” in Finnish, that means that you have a romantic connection to it. That’s why family relationships are so formal in Finland. My grandma, for example, would never say I love you to me and our relationship always felt cold because of it. But things in Finland are starting to change and the younger generations are saying it more towards their family.

Z: If you had one last conversation with your mom what would you say to her?

J: I would tell her that I owe everything to her. I wouldn’t be in Paris without her. I wouldn’t be a happy person without her. I wouldn’t even have a good body image without her. She’s taught me so much. She’s genuinely a great person, and it’s so special to have someone like her so close to you.

55

MATCH MADE IN...

Is Online Dating Still a Taboo?

Written and Photographed by Tatum McDonald

F

rances Eby, a twenty-one-year-old student at AUP, sits in a window-lined atrium on a Sunday afternoon telling me the story of how she met Stephen, her boyfriend of two months. The first time they met, she was in North Dakota visiting the university she plans to attend for grad school. Laughing, she says that they met on Tinder. She changed her location settings on the app before she got to school to check out the scene. They matched and hit it off talking about the places they’ve been and their mutual love of the Louvre. Now, they’re about 4,000 miles away from each other and in a relationship entirely facilitated by technology.

56

Adoration is the only thing in her voice when she talks about Stephen but when she talks about the fact that they met on Tinder, her tone changes. She starts off sure that she feels no embarassment about how they met, but then reveals the idea of having used a a dating app does bring up some other feelings. “For me, I have a little bit of shame. I met my boyfriend on Tinder. It’s not as classy as if I ran into him at the grocery store and our eyes locked and I just knew.”

There is a certain negative perception about online dating that casts a shadow over many of the relationships that are born from it. Meeting online is now the second most common way

Americans start relationships. In 2017, 39 percent of heterosexual couples met online. However, 41 percent of millennials would say they are embarrassed to admit that they date online.

Some people who have benefited from online dating sites feel shame about using them for fear of coming off as desperate. This fear creates a certain taboo around talking about online dating.

When most people picture a romantic relationship, they think of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks or Nicholas Sparks. They see the “meet cute” of two people who have just the right interaction at just the right moment that blooms into a romance of the ages. Online dating pushed the potential for a “meet cute” out of the picture and the image of a serendipitous moment is replaced by one of two people separately sitting in solitude swiping on their screens.

Eby described it as “choosing out of a catalog,” something that creates almost an entirely opposite image than the one of a romance of the ages. Online dating can feel impersonal and formulaic. People spend hours instantaneously making decisions on perfectly pieced together profiles hoping that someone else will like the best version of themselves that they have presented on their profile. This kind of presentation makes it seem like people must create a tailored version of themselves to find love, and it’s not surprising that they don’t want to want to talk about it.

Twenty-five-year-old AUP student, Ali Benzerara sits across from me in the campus’s main

57boyfriend Frances Eby, a 21-year-old AUP student met her on Tinder.

hang-out spot. He says he uses Tinder to find friends but knows that there’s always the possibility of finding romance. He and his friends from home are open about the fact that they use dating apps. It has just become a piece of normal, everyday life for them. According to him, though, that’s not the same story at AUP, “People here seem a little more closed off about it. There’s a stigma about it. Like, oh, they’ve really resorted to online dating.”

Online dating has a sense of desperation attached to it, as if it’s the last resort for people who couldn’t hack it dating in the real world.

It conjures up an image of a sad single person throwing in the towel after a series of incredibly unsuccessful dates. No one wants to be that person and some people go as far as lying about how they met their significant other to distance themselves from this image as much as they possibly can.

Match.com, one of the first major online dating platforms, launched in 1995 during a time when the internet was nothing more than a novelty, not something that our entire world revolved around.

At that time, someone who needed to resort to meeting people online would have been seen as an oddity. Now everything we do is done through technology, but the remnants of that same belief are still woven into our opinions of people who date online and the platforms themselves.

Last spring, Facebook announced the launch of a new feature called “Dating.” This feature will allow members to use the website not only as a social media platform but also as a dating website. It is part of their on-going campaign of facilitating deeper relationships. One of the key features is that it is completely separate from your regular profile. Users won’t be matched with people that they’re already friends with and none of their friends can see their dating activity, something that might come as a shock to people who are used to seeing posts from friends of friends of friends cluttering up their feed.

Twenty-four-year-old AUP student Alice Preat has been using dating apps for a few years and is currently looking for nothing more than

people to make a connection with. She has no doubt that she can find the kind of connection she’s looking for online just as easily as offline.

“Love is love, and it doesn’t matter where you found it, it matters how it grows and blossoms into love and a healthy relationship!”

Preat sees online dating in a similar light as Eby, but she also recognizes the benefits of this new way of meeting people. “Sometimes it does feel a little bit like a shopping mall and a little dystopian, but it can also be a great sexual liberation and emotional liberation tool, which I think is amazing.” To her, the catalog of people presented on these sites doesn’t offer a series of impersonal opportunities, but more chances to grow and learn something about herself.

She thinks the taboo around online dating websites comes from the fact that they have a reputation for fueling hook-up culture. “There’s the idea that these apps are primarily used for sex, which can cause shame for certain people using them, especially women.” It is a double-edged sword, people who use online dating to find love are seen as desperate, and people who use it for nothing more than a casual hook-up are seen as trashy. No one wins.

The same year that 39 percent of heterosexual couples met online, 65 percent of same-sex couples met online.

Platforms, like Tinder or Hinge, allow members of the LGBTQ+ community a wider pool to choose from, especially if they live in a place where it might not be safe for them to be out and open about their sexuality.

Nathan Owenby, an eighteen-year-old student at AUP, met his boyfriend Ilan on what he calls a “knock-off” Tinder. They matched on the app and talked for no more than two-hours when Owenby asked Ilan to meet him at a nearby fast food restaurant before the end of the day for their first date. Owenby visibly becomes more energetic as he describes the perfect person for him. He wants someone who is “smart, kind, caring and thoughtful.” Ilan checks off all of those boxes. His advice to people who want an outcome like this from online dating is to “go in there with a clear plan of what you want.”

“OUR ENTIRE WORLD IS RUN ON TECHNOLOGY, WHY SHOULDN’T OUR LOVE LIVES BE INCLUDED IN THAT?”

58

Owenby has no shame about the fact that he uses online dating platforms. At their core, dating websites are supposed to do nothing more than help people meet people. No matter what you’re looking for, whether it’s the love your life or simply a friend you like to see movies with, dating apps offer the possibility of making that connection. He believes that to get full use out of apps like Tinder, people need to be willing to use them outside the comfort and privacy of their home. “You should use it in public. Going to places and finding people works.” He also recognizes that for this to truly work, there needs to be a balance. “You have to be realistic about how close you are, but also be adventurous.”

It’s now 2019 and, to Owenby, online dating has been around long enough that it has just become a fact of life. “I think it’s become normalized because we’re not the first batch of people to have access to it. To us, it’s just an option.”

People don’t want to be ashamed of dating online. It has become so common that many people like Preat and Owenby don’t see why they should be ashamed of it. Our entire world is run on technology, why shouldn’t our love lives be included in that? Technology lets Eby’s relationship flourish despite the distance, and it allows Benzerara to meet people that he otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to. It creates all kinds of new opportunities for relationships, but the shame is still there. Everyone does it and everyone knows, but it is still something that goes unspoken.

59Tinder to Ali Benzerera, a 25-year-old AUP student, uses find friends and maybe romance.

By Olivia Cowden

Illustrated

by Jacqueline Wegwerth

OCD IS NOT AN ADJECTIVE

Alegra Kastens Debunks the Misconceptions Around This Disorder

60

F

rom the moment you wake up, there it is. Those horrible thoughts are sitting in your mind. They’re nagging, maybe even yelling. You feel this irresistible urge build up inside, begging you to do something, anything, to curb the anxiety. Some days it’s the same compulsion of checking to see if you accidentally poisoned someone. On a different day, you start thinking about blinking and focus on each individual blink. The new compulsion sticks around for whatever feels just right. It must always feel right, so you do it. Your brain is telling you that it’s the only way to make the anxiety stop, and yet, you are consciously aware that’s not true. You feel trapped in your own mind. Regardless of the apparent truth, the compulsions bring a fleeting sense of peace. And that’s what drives you.

“OCD is not a personality quirk. It’s not a cute trait. It’s debilitating, exhausting and life-changing.” These are the words of Alegra Kastens. Kastens is a Marriage & Family Therapist (MFT), as well as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), Trainee.

Based out of Los Angeles, she has turned her struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) into a positive by working as an OCD advocate.

Her Instagram, @obsessivelyeverafter, is a big part of this, but she doesn’t plan on stopping there; the end goal is to open OCD treatment centers around the world.

It is difficult for anyone without OCD to imagine what it must be like. Empathy has become even more difficult with the widespread, blatant minimization of what OCD means. Kasten works to debunk the many misconceptions surrounding OCD with the goal of allowing others to see they are not alone and begin treatment. To many, their only exposure to OCD is through false claims in marketing and digital media, such as advertisements for organizational products and simplistic videos on various social media platforms that claim to “satisfy your OCD.” The biggest myth about OCD is that it means being particular, liking things a certain way and keeping things

extremely clean. While it’s true that these are ways OCD may manifest, there is not a limit to the ways obsessions and compulsions take form.

Another pervasive myth is that everybody is a little bit OCD. This is not true. Kastens explained, “It’s not an adjective. It’s a torturous mental illness that destroys the lives of those suffering.” People should understand that OCD is a disorder, not a personality trait. Perhaps in part to this misconception, it is also widely believed that people with OCD can simply turn off their thoughts about their obsessions. There have been many studies on OCD brains, such as a 2017 study at the University of Cambridge, which proved that the brains of those with OCD actually work differently. Therefore, it is impossible to make obsessive thoughts stop suddenly. The brain receives false alarms that it perceives as danger and compulsions are the only thing that seems to help relieve the anxiety resulting from the “danger.” These false alarms are why OCD is very uncontrollable.

Further misconceptions have led many people to believe compulsions are solely physical, such as washing hands or checking that the door is locked. This is not true. They are physical and mental; just because someone is not engaging in visible compulsions does not mean they aren’t suffering. Kastens shared, “Mental compulsions are common and include rumination (thinking about their thoughts and trying to solve them), avoidance (avoiding people/places/situations that may trigger them), repeating phrases or counting in their head, “checking” their emotional responses to see if they “like” their thoughts.” The brain is a playground for OCD, and it can completely take over an individual’s thoughts.

OCD is a varying disease, so there are many different subtypes. They manifest in very different ways but are all incredibly real and crippling.

Several of these subtypes include fear of harming yourself or others, unwanted pedophilic thoughts, scrupulosity (doing the right thing),

“THE INTERNET, AS A NEARLY UNAVOIDABLE PIECE OF OUR LIVES, HAS MADE OCD MORE UNIMAGINEABLE THAN IT HAS TO BE.”

61

somatic (hyper-awareness of bodily functions), all-consuming doubts about relationships, and obsessing over existential thoughts. These are not all the ways that OCD can manifest, but merely a sampling of lesser-known, yet common, subtypes. Because OCD attacks what you value the most, it can take many forms. Kastens shared, “You wouldn’t engage in compulsions to try and get rid of the anxiety if you liked your thoughts.”

This is why OCD is so debilitating. Not only do sufferers have fears based on something they care deeply about, but they often have compulsions that reflect those fears. For example, someone with somatic OCD who fears their automatic bodily functions will stop working may pay attention to every single time they blink or concentrate entirely on each breath they take. It leaves no room in their mind to focus on things like work, social life and hobbies.

It’s already hard to imagine how consuming these thoughts can be. The internet, as a nearly unavoidable piece of our lives, has made OCD more unimaginable than it has to be. For those with OCD, social media and other online platforms are a massive part of why many do not understand what is happening to them or feel embarrassed and diminished. On any given day, someone could be scrolling through Twitter or Instagram and see a post saying, “I’m so OCD, look how organized my room is!” or “Watch this to satisfy your OCD!” That is like someone saying that the most consuming problem in your life is cute and easily solvable. Each post and each share are telling its viewers that this is what OCD looks like. It is not a word that can be thrown around as an adjective, yet that’s exactly what people are doing. It seems that the only way to reverse this damage is to use the internet as a positive source.

This has been done successfully before, most notably with anxiety and depression. People have shared their stories and helped others via social media and other online mediums. A small bud of this is appearing within the OCD community, and Kastens is one of those emerging leaders.

In fact, the reason she even got to that point was through social media.

The therapist and OCD specialist who began Karstens’s treatment, Sheva Rajaee, uses her own Instagram (@theshrinkwrap) to share “daily therapy bites,” as her bio states. “She posted about so many things that I was experiencing, such as sexually intrusive thoughts and mental compulsions,” Kastens reflected, “I thought to myself,

62

‘She gets it.” Education regarding OCD is gaining traction, and it’s precisely what the community needs. Social media can be used to gain access to educational resources and brings solidarity to those who feel scared and alone because of their OCD. Currently, there is not an end-all cure for the disorder. However, it is completely possible to receive treatment and gain control over obsessive thoughts. Kastens is proof that through seeking treatment, OCD is manageable. She emphasized, “I’ll have occasional thoughts, but that’s okay. I can live with them!”

In a time when we have the internet and can reach people across the globe in seconds, it should be easy for people to feel understood.

Media has gone down the path of being too reductive in many aspects, including mental illnesses, creating stereotypes left and right. There has been a gain in social responsibility to correct this, flipping the internet from being the downfall to the solution.

63

DOES PRIVACY STILL EXIST?

How We Are Losing Control Over Our Data

By Shadi Ayoubi Illustration by Taline Shahinian

I

n today’s hyper-connected world, some people believe that complete confidentiality is unachievable. Growing concerns surrounding data privacy have made internet users more cautious with the information they give out on social media platforms. Making our Facebook profiles private is not enough to protect all our data. The issue is not just having intimate details about our lives revealed but rather that all the data we share online such as GPS data, apps used and contacts is being used to produce a monetized good, sold for consumer specific advertising. At a time when it is increasingly difficult to control what data we

supply and who gets access to it, we need to consider what the major issues are for online data privacy today.

Smartphone use has become essential in our daily lives. Since 2011, the number of people who own smartphones nearly quadrupled, with an estimated 2.5 billion smartphone users. Data from USC Annenberg shows that since 2000, the time spent online every week by an average American rose from 9.4 to 23.6 hours. The growth in mobile phone users and time spent online coupled with social media’s ability to capture data about our online behavior, means that we are sharing unprecedented amounts of

65

data about ourselves each day. This has given warehouses of personal data tend to become tarcompanies in Silicon Valley much more pregets for hackers, as Google stores people’s data cise information on our preferences, allowing in a fully identified form before making them them to develop a whole new form of advertisanonymous upon release. Indeed, more than ing known as ad targeting. The data we share 500,000 Google+ users were subject to such a through our social media platforms is gathered breach in Spring 2018. The software glitch in by software programs, enabling advertisers to the site allowed outside developers to potentially target their audience by offering products and access personal Google+ profile data. The data services based on their online preferences and of hundreds of thousands of users was exposed, behaviors. however, Google decided not to notify its users This industry has skyrocketed, with $46 bilin fear of damaging their reputation. lion put toward programmatic advertising in While incidents like this show just how inse2018 and an estimated $65 billion in 2020. cure our data already is, a recent announcement The most powerful example of ad targeting

by Zuckerberg reveals that things may be about is Google Adwords. This monitoring system to get worse. In mid-January 2019, Mark Zuckuses machine learning to display ads coherently erberg, Facebook’s chief executive, confirmed with someone’s browsing. The goal is to make his plan to unify the messaging infrastructure the computer categorize user data, create assoof the three networks: Facebook Messenger, ciations between elements and ultimately learn WhatsApp and Instagram. Zuckerberg said that from successes and failures. this would not happen before 2020, explaining Now, Google is running that the process was aimed at “LARGE WAREHOUSES ensuring end-to-end encrypartificial intelligence that goes beyond analyzing what you click tion, like WhatsApp. ZuckerOF PERSONAL DATA on or where you go, to probe berg explains that the goal is TEND TO BECOME the videos you watch, the songs to create “the best messaging TARGETS FOR you listen to, the text you read, experiences” for the users.

HACKERS, AS and even data on the people you Essentially, all messages would interact with online. Marketers be able to travel across the GOOGLE STORES and advertisers can use the data three platforms.

PEOPLE’S DATA IN to make algorithms react to the Facebook alone has over A FULLY IDENTIFIED consumer’s behavior, in order 2.32 billion monthly active to determine the ideal time to FORM BEFORE MAKING users, while WhatsApp has 1.5 show a specific ad. billion users who send 60 bilTHEM ANONYMOUS Many people think Goolion messages per day on and UPON RELEASE.” gle’s servers are impenetrable Instagram has 1 billion users and that they would never sell who have shared over 50 bilpeople’s data. However, “there is a growing senlion images. timent among Americans that our federal laws Following Zuckerberg’s announcement, need to reflect that we have fully entered the era there have been widespread antitrust, privacy of big data,” says Congressman Hank Johnson and security concerns, as Facebook did not give (D-Ga.), who recently proposed two data profurther information on how people’s data will be tection bills in the U.S. Congress. used. In May of 2018, the EU put into effect the The need for laws protecting privacy was General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) brought to the forefront by a series of data and shortly after the ePrivacy regulation. The breaches in 2018, including T-Mobile, Quora, GDPR is based on Article 8 of the European Google, Orbitz and Marriot Hotels. These Charter of Fundamental Rights: Everyone has breaches affected over 100 million users, whose the right to respect for his private and family data was either viewed, copied, stolen or used by life, his home and his correspondence.” While third parties.

GDPR is focused on the protection of perData breaches like these can occur for differsonal data, ePrivacy protects the confidentiality ent reasons. First of all, data can sometimes be of communications. For example, this would partially or fully de-anonymized using various require user consent to track a user’s data files statistical analysis techniques. Secondly, large based on website visits stored on a computer,

66

otherwise known as “cookies.”

In response to Zuckerberg’s announcement of using the data from the three platforms, the UK Information Commissioner Office (ICO) declared that sharing user information between different social media platforms is illegal.

Sandra Wachter, a lawyer and Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, explained that there will be a single point of vulnerability for malicious actors to target to access information, with all your past data from all three platforms. This is called data processing, and it is illegal if they do it without asking for the user’s permission.

To comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), WhatsApp voluntarily committed to only share data with its parent company. Elizabeth Denham from the ICO explained, “WhatsApp has assured us that no UK user data has ever been shared with Facebook.” This ensured she would not issue a fine under the Data Protection Act, a UK law essentially implementing GDPR. Perhaps the most problematic thing Zuckerberg has implemented is a legal basis for data processing. He will simply renew the users’ consent, just like Snapchat did in 2018 when it created the Snap Map, a feature that allows you to share your locations with your friends.

Snapchat only asked for people to “agree” and most people continued using the app without a thought. “There’s a real concern that consumer protection law is basically being swallowed by click-to-agree clauses,” said David Hoffman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

In the long-run, initiatives such as the creation of the GDPR and ePrivacy may impact how data is manipulated in Europe by implementing stricter and more transparent rules against data sharing and data processing. However, we will never be sure if we are actually in control of our privacy if we are not aware of what forms of personal data is shared with marketing companies.

As internet users, it’s important that we assess the value of our online privacy, with special attention to the fact that our private information could end up in anyone’s hands.

68

“NOW, GOOGLE IS RUNNING AI THAT PROBES THE AUDIO IN THE VIDEOS YOU WATCH, THE SONGS YOU LISTEN TO, THE TEXT YOU READ, AND EVEN DATA ON THE PEOPLE YOU INTERACT ONLINE WITH.”

BEHIND THE SCREEN

Written and Photographed by AlizĂŠe Chaudey

69

Christopher Turner, 19.

AUP Students Spend up to 10 Hours a Day on Their Phones It has become a normal part of life to use our phones throughout the day, whether that be to connect with friends, for directions or just to scroll through social media.

With Apple’s Screen Time, this time is now measurable. Among AUP students, social media apps seem to grab most of our attention—and hours.

70

Lauren Domagas, 22.

Marly Phillips, 21.

Maya Sankoh, 24.

71

72

Lauren Williams, 21.

Evan Floyd, 20.

Johnny Alphonso, 21.

73

BEYOND THE WALLS

A mural in Aubervilliers.

74

Pantin and Aubervilliers are Paris’s 21st Arrondissement Written and Photographed by Sofie Granberg

W

alking the streets of Paris reveals hidden gems tucked away around every corner.

Cafés, parks, boutiques, museums and historical sites exist in abundance in all of Paris’s arrondissements. But the city is not only full of gems, it is also full of people. With 2.2 million inhabitants living within the city limits, Paris is one of the world’s most densely populated capitals and number one in Europe.

One of the main reasons for overcrowding within the city is the border of the 75 area code which separates the center from the peripheral suburbs. While big cities like London expand outwards seamlessly, the Paris city limit stays put, and the communes outside of it have a reputation for being poorer, shabbier, maybe even not “Parisian” enough. However, as Paris heads toward full population and housing capacity, expansion into the peripheral areas has become unavoidable.

In 2007, then-president Nicolas Sarkozy announced a project to develop Grand Paris, which includes the city center but focuses on its outskirts. The goals of the ongoing project are to improve transportation as well as the economy and living conditions in the suburbs surrounding Paris. Since then, plans have been proposed for new metro lines that will connect the city to its neighboring towns. Communes around the periphery have also begun their own projects of building housing, offices and jobs, as well as improving public spaces to attract new citizens that want to settle in proximity to the inner circle of the capital.

Some are concerned that this urban development will force out old culture and gentrify the areas touched by the project. Regardless, the expansion of Paris is more or less inevitable.

The population keeps growing and the option to building higher isn’t possible without compromising the characteristic Parisian architecture.

Whatever your take is on the expansion, Grand Paris development is already underway.

As of now, the suburbs still have much of their spirit. I visited Pantin and Aubervilliers in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, where development has begun, to give you a look into one of the most interesting areas in the Grand Paris.

Pantin Pantin was originally an industrial area used for production and transportation but has changed greatly over the last decades. After the meat and textile production that dominated the city moved further away from Paris in the late 20th century, empty factories and other industrial buildings were left behind. Today, these buildings are gradually finding new inhabitants and being turned into theaters, concert venues, galleries, offices and apartments.

There is a lot to do in Pantin, depending on your interests. On a nice day, you can walk along the canal down to Parc de la Villette and admire street art, stop at cafés and get a glimpse of leisure suburban life on the way. If you want to take a pit stop, Dock B, a bar and cultural center that hosts a wide array of events, does a great job of capturing the essence of Pantin.

This restaurant and bar is located by the canal in the Magasins Généraux, a newly renovated industrial building that used to be a graffiti-covered ruin. Today, it contains the offices of a variety of creative companies as well as an event hall and the Dock B restaurant. The inside of Dock B has a chic hipster vibe, while the outdoor seating area is simply a stack of deck chairs. Traces of old train tracks are still visible in the square in front of it.

Outside of Dock B, you can see the canal to your right while run-down, graffiti-decorated buildings on your left juxtapose the new creative space. You can take in the old, the really old and the new Pantin all at once.

If you want to check out the emerging arts scene in Pantin, there are plenty of options.

Famous gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac has a gallery dedicated to large scale artwork and sculptures located in an old industrial space by the RER tracks, a ten-minute walk east along the main road from Gare de Pantin. The gallery hosts a diverse range of artists, including an exhibition of paintings by Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi running from May 19 to July 27, 2019. Outside of the gallery there is a nice seating area and a café, making it a relaxing spot to hang out even if giant sculptures are not your thing.

If you are interested in music, Le Dynamo de Banlieues Blues should not be missed. It is a beautiful small venue focusing on experimental music like jazz, instrumental improvisation and more, making every show unique. This scene is

75

located in the north of Pantin, only a few minutes from the metro stop Quatre Chemins on line 7. With the city of Pantin’s proximity to Parc de la Villette which is packed with concert venues like Le Trabendo and Le Zénith, it is likely that more interesting scenes will appear in Pantin as the area continues to develop.

Lastly, if beer is at the top of your list, you should definitely stop by the Gallia brewery.

This combined bar and brewery located on Rue Méhul in the south of Pantin produces all of their own beer. They have everything from IPAs to blondes to stout beers, and you can try each one out at the bar. They also offer tours of the brewery itself to see how they are made.

Though currently closed for renovation, Gallia is expected to reopen in the early summer.

Depending on your location of choice, Pantin can be reached by metro on the lines 5 and 7 and by the RER E. The latter runs horizontally through the Pantin map, right above the Canal de l’Ourcq dividing the commune’s northern and southern halves. This divide marks a visible economic difference between the two parts. With some exceptions, most of the best spots that have popped up in Pantin so far are located south of the railway.

Aubervilliers In the North, Pantin is connected to the neighboring commune of Aubervilliers. The two towns have grown together, now sharing the central area of Quatre Chemins, and they share a multicultural suburban identity. Aubervilliers has not yet experienced the level of gentrification of Pantin, but with the cities extensive plans to upgrade and transform the central Quatre Chemins area, this could change in the near future. Development of the area is funded through the French “Nouveau Programme de National de Renouvellement Urbain” and its planning has been going on for more than a decade.

It is important to note that this area is not the safest place to travel alone at night, but don’t let this discourage you from visiting the vibrant area. Just bring a couple of friends with you because there are some interesting spots to check out in Aubervilliers. One of them is the outdoor concert scene and club concept, La Station, that has opened up in a closed down charcoal station right above Porte de Aubervilliers on the Paris

76

city limit. The project is run by Le Collectif MU, a company focusing on art and expression and urban development, and here you can discover underground artists across genres.

Aubervilliers is also a cool place to just have a walk around and look at suburban life. While a lot less polished than Paris and the south of Pantin, the small-town pace of your surroundings is a pleasant break from the big city, and there is so much charm in little details like houses with wooden window shutters, beautiful street art, foreign supermarkets and restaurants.

While most communes on the Paris periphery are developing, with new housing being built to meet new demands from an expanding Paris, the north-east area has something special.

With the new cultural influences that take root using the cities’ industrial past as a foundation for urban development, Pantin currently has a unique mix of locals and their traditions, Parisian families and fresh young creativity, with Aubervilliers likely following in its footsteps.

Pantin is in many ways a classic case of gentrification, but as of right now, there is still a mix between the old and the new. As Gaella Gueraini, a local woman, put it, “People who come from this place give a spirit in the new culture.” As the area is developing day by day, it might just be that the best time to visit Pantin and its neighboring suburbs is right now.

Pantin

Magasins Généraux: 1 Rue de l’Ancien Canal Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac: 69 Avenue du Général Leclerc Le Dynamo de Banlieues Blues: 9 Rue Gabrielle Josserand Bar Gallia: 35 Rue Méhul

Aubervilliers

La Station: 29 d’Aubervilliers

Avenue

de

la

Porte

Dock B, a bar in Pantin.

A skate park in Pantin.

Railroads in Pantin.

77

Image Credit: A Jeong JM

BTS receiving a Bonsang award at the 31st Golden Disk Awards in Seoul on January 14, 2017.

How BTS is Breaking K-pop Stereotypes

By Samira Safarzadeh

LOVE YOURSELF

N

o matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin color, your gender identity, just speak for yourself,” says BTS band leader “ Kim Namjoon (whose stage name is RM). In September 2018, the Korean pop (K-pop) band spoke before the United Nations to promote their self-love campaign. BTS was the first Korean boy band ever to address the UN. The three-minute speech during the launch ceremony of UNICEF’s global partnership Generation Unlimited BTS encouraged the youth to believe in themselves. The month before, BTS partnered with UNICEF launching the ‘Love Yourself’ campaign. “True love begins with loving yourself,” said Namjoon in the UN press statement.

BTS, the Korean boy band, consisting of seven members, V, Jungkook, RM, Suga, Jimin, J-Hope and Jin, formed in 2013. Since then, they have been making waves in the pop industry, breaking major records, receiving numerous RIAA gold certifications, charting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and selling out stadiums within two hours. Their latest album, “Map of the Soul: Persona,” broke the record for the most number ones on Korean charts, forecasted to get No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 as well as breaking record, for the most viewed video on YouTube in 24 hours with their music video “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey. These feats are unheard of as the band sings only in Korean with occasional phrases in English.

78

The typical K-pop artist has what Korean society sees as the “perfect body and face” and are held to extremely high standards, with members often undergoing extensive plastic surgery to keep up with beauty ideals. Even if BTS doesn’t break the perfection mold in terms of their look, they do it relation to their messaging. Unlike other bands in the genre who have been engineered for success, BTS writes and produces many of their own songs and are adamant about remaining authentic. While K-pop bands are known for perfect looks, synchronized choreography and trendy outfits, BTS goes above and beyond, often using their platform to speak out about sensitive matters.

In South Korea, politics and pop-culture typically remain separate. However, the band doesn’t let societal pressures of keeping up with a squeaky-clean ideal stop them from standing up for what they believe in. BTS discuss topics beyond the repetitiveness of love and heartbreak that is often heard in pop music. The band’s lyrics speak out about mental health, self-love, challenging bureaucracy, suicide, the K-pop idol stereotype-system and female empowerment.

In December 2017, BTS member Suga said in an interview with Billboard, “If we know that everyone is suffering and lonely, I hope we can create an environment where we ask for help and say things are hard when they’re hard, and day we miss someone when we miss them.”

“In Korea, there is no mental health,” says

Korean-American mental health professional Jin-Hee. She further explains in an interview with Forefront that one with mental health symptoms is seen as “weak” or “crazy” and must overcome these symptoms. “It is not a clinical issue in Korea. It is, rather, seen as a burden on a family’s reputation,” she says.

The suicide rate in South Korea is one of the highest in the world. Thirty-six South Koreans commit suicide every day, according to a report from Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare. RM and Suga opened about their mental health and struggles in their mixtapes.

In the mixtape Agust D, Suga talks about his battle with depression, OCD and social anxiety that has plagued his life. During their Entertainment Weekly interview, Suga explains it’s important for people who have platforms to speak out. “if they talk about it openly—if they talk about depression for example like it’s the common cold, then it becomes more and more accepted if it’s a common disorder like the cold. More and more, I think artists or celebrities who have a voice should talk about these problems and bring it up to the surface.”

The most significant breakthrough for the band was after the release of their album series “Love Yourself,” a groundbreaking record advocating self-love and acceptance. While the group champions self-love, they are also vocal about the acceptance of others. South Korean culture can be intolerant of the LGBT community, and they often face hate and isolation from society. Although the LGBT community is a taboo topic in Korea, BTS have openly expressed support for them. Back in 2013 the group’s leader, RM, tweeted out his admiration for the song, “Same Love”, by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, stating, “This is a song about homosexuality. The song is twice as good when I listen to the lyrics.” When asked about the tweet during an interview with, Suga replied, “There’s nothing wrong. Everyone is equal.”

The group makes a point to incorporate gender-neutral terms in their songs, making fans feel included and acknowledged. The members are not afraid of challenging traditional gender roles, and it’s common to see them embracing their more “feminine” side, breaking loose from notions of masculinity that society imposes on men. By being themselves and embracing diversity, they encourage others

to do the same.

Because of BTS’s genuine commitment to inclusivity and self-love, they have amassed a huge amount of fans, spanning across nationalities, gender, religion and sexualities. They are known as ARMY, and they are fiercely loyal to the band, often camping out before events and filling up massive venues.

For their fans, BTS is not just a band of good-looking men, rather, a group who have helped them feel loved, happy, encouraged them to love themselves and even saved them from dark times with the messages in their music.

Jenna Hannan says she is a fan of BTS because of how real and open they are, “They make incredible, thought-provoking music that reflects their views and opinions on real issues like mental health, society, self-identity, all while maintaining this positive, embracing vibe, that can draw anyone in.”

For Cindy Friebertshäuser, a 20-year-old from Germany, becoming a fan of BTS was natural, as they talked about real issues they experienced themselves. Friesbertshäuser said, “BTS is an inspiration. They set an example we, in my opinion, should all follow. Be kind. It’s okay to struggle. Put yourself first. Get out of toxic relationships. Since I’ve become a fan, I’ve been way happier. BTS isn’t just some band, they really want to make the world a better place.”

The band keeps not only breaking K-pop stereotypes but also Korean stereotypes by discussing issues many steer clear of. They give their fans a sense of belonging and acceptance, a safe space which some of them don’t have during their everyday lives.

Although the band’s numbers are growing every day, their success is not self-serving.

With a commitment to promoting positivity and acceptance amongst everyone who listens to their music, they are changing what it means to be a K-pop star. Their international success proves that BTS has reached a global audience.

BTS has lead the way for other K-pop bands to break into the western market and has encouraged other them to be more transparent with their fans about their struggles and opinions.

BTS is pushing the limits of what K-pop is allowed to be, and they will continue to speak out about the need for openness and honesty in Korean society.

79

80 “Just Breathe,” Acrylic painting by Sophia Foerster