December (2009)

<”WHO WE ARE”></a>

The Prattler is your magazine. Send images, articles, ideas and anything else you’d like to contribute to theprattler@ gmail.com. Make it rain!

EDITOR IN CHIEF Gray Hurlburt GRAPHIC DESIGN Jaci Kessler ART DIRECTION Anthony Cudahy WEB EDITOR Benjamin Korman

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Matt Nadolny Dean Raoofi Gina Capozza SPECIAL THANKS Gabrielle Bush for copy editing PRINTED BY Lenny Koch @ Conceptual Litho

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Natalie Apuzzo Jody Buchman Jackson Hunt Aaron Francis Long Colleen Morrison Sofia Ramsay Dean Raoofi Julie Schott Colleen Stufflebeem Emerald Rose Whipple Photo by Jaci Kessler

<”IN THIS ISSUE”></a>

03

05

07

Editor’s Letter

PrattBucks

The twentyten

11

12

13

Burning Man

Born to Death

The Price of College

15

16

17

Restaurant Reviews

Cheap Perspective

Woman of the Night

20

21

22

The Yoga Machine

Cannabis and Cambridge

Good Art Shit

Illustrations by Anthony Cudahy <02>

<”EDITOR’S LETTER”></a>

“Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive.”

—George Bernard Shaw

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR I

’ve been here for a while, probably longer than many of you guys. So I’ll go ahead and be the highand-mighty dick to call a Pratt Rat like he or she is. When it comes to us, a few superlatives come to mind without any effort: drug addiction, political ennui and the taste for ironic expressions. These things we tend to do pretty well, and people outside 200 Willoughby Ave know this. These three traits are just what the professional world sees when it reads over our resumés. Yeah, we’re just a big muck of conceited assholes, we Pratt students. Maybe that’s why we gravitated to here in the first place. But hey, at least we aren’t held to any big standards—not like the SVA and RISD kids are.

Just kidding.

The truth is, I don’t know anything sufficient about the character of our student body; it’s way too big and varied to explain away in one sweeping description. There is this ostensible caricature, of which I’m sure every one reading this has encountered before, whether at a bar in Williamsburg or someplace on the internet, that Pratt students are snooty, scenester transplants with hands deep in their parents’ savings accounts. Sure, that representation can fit with some of our peers, but it hardly applies to the great majority. I don’t need to rally off a litany of the cultures, styles, majors, etcetera represented here to show you that Pratt Rats are multifarious individuals. The only real things that bind us together are our locale, our knack for creativity and a penchant for inexpensive alcohol.

But there’s still more that can be learned about who we are as a unified community. That’s where math comes in. With this singular issue, The Prattler has kicked open the door to statistics like Steven Seagal in any one of his films (after this we’re wiping our hands of math, because it gave us a case of high school algebra migraines). Inside you’ll find several articles with information on how many of us did what, what we like to do and even how we like to do it. But reader, be warned, the truth of statistics is like that of religion: it’s open to interpretation.

With that in mind, I leave you to traipse through the pages of the Statistics issue. Have a good time!

And while I’m at it, go ahead and check us out on the web. You can find us at www.theprattler.org. We also want you to send us anything you fancy, from articles to money. Just give it to us.

You can reach The Prattler through email at theprattler@gmail.com. The Prattler Online is reachable through prattlerblog@gmail.com.

–GRAY HURLBURT, EDITOR IN CHIEF

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Photo from Gray’s Facebook profile <04>

<”THE PRATTLER”></a>

/ written by Colleen Stufflebeem / title illustration by Anthony Cudahy

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W

ith a new year comes new additions, and all over Pratt’s campus improvements are being made. From the main gate makeover to Pratt’s unfinished building appearing right before our eyes on Myrtle, Pratt is working hard to expand its image.

In sync with the augmentation, the PrattCard will be receiving a convenient service in its PrattBucks feature. As Vice President of Information Technology and CIO at Pratt, Joseph Hemway is the catalyst behind this new service. He says, “This will make having multiple cards easier.”

The purpose of this service is to offer students an account in their PrattCard that allows them to use their ID at participating stores and restaurants in the area. The appeal is the simplicity.

This new feature will make purchases easier because it eliminates the hassle of cash and the annoyances and complications of credit cards. Hemway says, “It’s another tool to help students manage money.” It is also a relief for parents because it provides better knowledge of where their money is going.

Hemway points out another benefit, saying, “If anything happens with [the card], you can go kill it yourself online. No one can take your money if you lose your card.” Unlike Pratt’s meal plan, once you put money in the account it is yours until graduation. This means at the end of the semester, left over money won’t dissolve, it will remain untouched. And unlike credit cards, it is impossible to overdraft the account. There are currently no maximum or minimum amounts placed on the account either.

Though convenience for students is the main goal, Hemway states, “Definitely it’s the merchants that benefit.” The idea for the program came after local universities suggested it to Pratt, and upon hearing this, merchants came swarming to President Schutte to be a part of it.

The requests from merchants came from their desire to increase “foot traffic,” says Hemway. Vice President Dr. Ayres adds, “It’s like advertising for them.” “We would take any merchant that asks”, Hemway continues. He identifies Myrtle Avenue as the main contender, noting that “Bergen Bagels is the poster child for this card.” He goes on to say that the program will also include Dekalb Avenue and has an “obligation to chain stores such as CVS.” Dr. Ayres feels the program will “bring neighborhood and students together.” Connecting students and the neighborhood is a reoccurring theme for this new service, and it seems this will be happening in many different ways.

“Some merchants will be able to text specials to students, like lunch specials,” notes Hemway. Another feature to look forward to is the delivery system under development. This feature will allow students to place over-the-phone orders using their ID numbers and will be verified by delivery men once the orders arrive.

Students may find the inability to purchase tobacco, guns or alcohol with this card as a drawback, but it comes from an obvious discordance with school policy.

It’s important for Hemway and Ayres to note that it is almost entirely students and merchants that will benefit from this service, but the question must be asked as to how Pratt benefits financially.

According to Hemway, Pratt “only gets a small percentage of the money from the transactions..funds are reconciled on a nightly basis after payments are made and a small portion of the processing fees goes back to Pratt,” he concludes. The main source of income comes from the cost merchants pay to have

Pratt ID readers installed in their businesses. Overall, it’s the merchants that benefit from this “collateral effect” as Hemway calls it. The program does not cost Pratt much to add either. It does not come out of student tuitions and is “self perpetuating by merchants,” says Hemway. It’s virtually free for Pratt because it’s “just tacking on new services to your ID card.”

As this upcoming feature will provide students with easier offcampus food access, it leaves one to wonder how this will affect CulinArt, Pratt’s food provider. Hemway believes “it shouldn’t affect CulinArt,” but Dr. Ayres gladly professes that “it might put CulinArt on their toes. They need some competition.”

Dr. Ayres also believes that this will “elevate the merchants and keep them on their toes” as well. Her theory is that Pratt students will become the participating businesses’ main body of income and that businesses will have to respond to students’ demands. For instance, stores may want to provide more vegan options for vegan students.

Another pressure this may put on CulinArt is that “they may want to respond by allowing students to use PrattBucks, too,” says Hemway. Ideally, this would mean off-campus students, or any student or faculty member that doesn’t want a meal plan, can use PrattBucks new feature to buy items in the dining hall or the Pi Shop.

Updating the PrattBucks system has been a three-year process. Many services have been added throughout this stint and it wasn’t until last year that this one was explored. “We did a kind of grassroots day in the cafeteria and asked students for their opinion,” says Hemway. More than a year since that day in the cafeteria, the debut of this service is anticipated for spring 2010. Dr. Ayres say, “This is a hope, not a guarantee.” The release of this program is currently in waiting because “it’s still going through attorney,” says Hemway.

The other biggest challenge in getting the service out there is communication. He makes an observation that is typically pegged as the reason for little student response or involvement: “Students are busy.” He and Dr. Ayres wish for student feedback before the coming of the PrattBucks service, but acknowledge that once the addition has been made there will be an increase in phone and email traffic from students, parents and merchants alike.

“It will quickly become expected,” Dr. Ayres says. She anticipates that student reliance on the system will happen almost immediately. Pratt’s message is simple; the card is a medium for convenience and a tie between students and the community. Look for the service in spring and decide what it does for you.

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the twentyten Here Be Styles / interview by Julie Schott

THere are among us at Pratt a number of early bloomers, those precocious few who are already making a name for themselves in their fields of choice. It seems that every program has a few of these über-talented students in their ranks.

Enter the twentyten, an independent clothing label founded by fashion students Nina Zilka, Jeff Dodd and David J. Krause. The talented trio debuted their third seasonless collection at New York Fashion Week earlier this fall. They have been featured in Women’s Wear Daily, and they count singer Keri Hilson as a fan. Not bad for designers who are still fashion students in training.

The designers, who named their brand after their upcoming graduation date, are known for their use and incorporation of bold, architectural shapes that don’t sacrifice comfort for form. They say their fashions are for “the woman and man who always like to look sophisticated, but never look like they tried too hard to get there.” A motto any of us would get behind. Wanting to know more ABOUT their brand, I reached out to Nina, who sat down with me in September to talk trends, tips and the future of the twentyten.

Photos courtesy of the twentyten

The Prattler: Congratulations on your recent showing! Describe your “I’ve made it” moment.

Nina Zilka: Thanks so much! I’m not sure I’ve quite felt that “I’ve made it” moment yet. Or maybe I have, but part of what makes us work so hard is the feeling that we haven’t made it far enough yet, so we’d better keep on trying. But I was very happy the morning I woke up and saw that we were in Women’s Wear Daily. I literally stopped all my plans for the day and ran to four different newsstands in Manhattan to grab any remaining papers they had. It was terrible because I had a bad cold and I couldn’t breathe because I was running around so much and sweating. The newsstand guys thought I was crazy. And definitely not attractive.

WWD was definitely a goal much further along in our five-year plan, so we were pretty happy about that.

What items from your closet can you not live without?

I just got these pony-skin 8-inch platform wedges, and I’ve already formed a big attachment to them. I’m 5’3” and most of my job is spent with 6-foot models, so any shoe that makes me taller and doesn’t hurt is golden. Also, we have a black “bug” jumpsuit from our last collection. It’s very simple and easy to wear, but sophisticated, and goes with everything, so that’s my go-to piece right now.

What are you dying to get your hands on for Spring?

Usually, I’m most excited by what we do. It’s hard to get excited about other designers when we are trying to do the same thing for a living. We made a ton of awesome mesh pieces for this current collection. There's one amazing one-sleeve blocked-mesh shirt, and I wore the sample out once, and people were so into it.

But I won’t be able to own the actual garment until we go into production for spring, so I’m most excited about that.

Are there any fashion rules that you live by?

No, none. Usually the things I hate most, I end up loving a year or so later--even velvet. So no rules. Rules in fashion make no sense.

What designers inspire you?

The three of us are very inspired by designers like Alexander Herchovitch for his incredible patterns, Rick Owens for his moody, drapey pieces (although everyone is inspired by him these days, the New York Times just wrote a big article about that), and Jill Sander (designed by Raf Simons) has the most incredible, smart, sophisticated but cool collections. And we get a lot of inspiration from architects like Mies van der Rohe. Also this season we really liked Phi’s collection and Gucci’s collection, which was surprising, since typically Gucci doesn’t really impress us. Both had a lot of interesting cutouts in white and black, and a good mix of drapey and architectural.

Your line, the twentyten, is seasonless. How did you arrive at this approach?

That just makes more sense to us with the way people dress today.

I have almost nothing that is strictly for winter, except my one really warm winter coat. But I wear my shorts all year long; I just

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throw tights under them. People wear much more layers than they used to, and things are less formal in general. Fashion has less defined rules, so it doesn’t make sense to us to arbitrarily decide in what season someone will wear our clothes. Still, the fashion industry does show twice a year, and stores buy accordingly, so we are going to be in stores for specific seasons because that’s still the way the industry works.

What designers do you wear?

Sadly, I’m not at that financial point yet where I can afford to wear designer labels, so mostly it’s the twentyten, or Topshop. But I can’t think of a label I’d rather wear than the twentyten anyway.

What trends would you like to see disappear?

I don’t really hate any trends. Even trends I don’t find aesthetically pleasing can be inspiring. Like I may not love Ugg boots, but I can think of fabrications that would make the concept pretty cool.

The twentyten has already been seen on singer Keri Hilson. Who is your dream client?

We love Lady Gaga’s clothes, and we would love to put her in some of our less wearable pieces, since she’s all about that. We also love Grace Jones.

The twentyten has already achieved so much success, what do you hope for the future?

I don’t know if we have achieved that much success yet. We want so much more. I think the biggest thing we hope is to make the company viable, which means being in a ton of stores in the very near future. And then we’ll think global. Basically, we plan on world domination. / Follow Nina Zilka and the twentyten online at www.thetwentyten.com.

<”THE PRATTLER”></a>

/ written by Aaron Francis Long / photos by Jaci Kessler + Chris Nosenzo

A

t a culturally diverse school like Pratt, it isn’t surprising that 1 in every 21 students has attended the Burning Man Festival, held annually in the desert over 100 miles north of Reno, Nevada. Associated with the blistering fires of Hell, its paramount slogan—as it is in another infamous Nevada destination—is, “What Happens at Burning Man, Stays at Burning Man.” Though many who condemn this hypersexual retreat have themselves never participated, it carries an aura of mystery and seduction. Though notions of all night orgies coagulating into sun-dried narcotic binges have some bearing on reality, it is a connotation that many who have experienced the festival discredit. Kate E., a 24-year-old sculptor and freelance artist, discussed her first experience at the Burning Man Festival this past summer: “I’d been wanting to go for years and when I was finally able to afford it, and get the time off work, I jumped at the chance.

To be honest, I was nervous, but I had heard amazing things from so many of my friends and new I had to check it out.” Kate

LUST + LEVITY

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continues, “The truly amazing thing about Burning Man though is the way everyone interacts with each other...We were just walking down the strip and a very large, topless woman with long blonde braids came up to us with a keg of wine over her shoulder. She asked us if we wanted some wine. I then found myself lapping up wine with my head upside down about two inches from her enormous tits.”

The most common misconception about the Burning Man is that it is only for drug users and nymphomaniacs. However, 30% of Burning Man participants are over 60. Jack, a member of the “Tribe of Elders” at the festival as well as a 26-year teaching veteran of math and physics at Kingsboro Community College, discussed first attending Burning Man in “later life” and his experiences. “I am just myself there and I find people to play with me, like me, and hug me. What else could I want?

I came to the conclusion that I like to be myself. Let my light shine and find out my boundaries. People will ask you ‘What are your boundaries?’ and the most common

response is ‘I have no boundaries.’” He described one of his favorite activities at the festival, called the Human Carcass Wash. “About 100 to 200 people——men and women, young and old—–take off their clothes and let themselves wash and be washed by strangers. Most take off all of their clothes. I would walk up naked, raise my arms in the air and say ‘no boundaries!’ Where else can you do something like this?”

More than 40,000 people attend the festival annually, nearly 75% of that number being return visitors. The Burning Man Festival has managed to create an environment that is completely unique. A celebration of the most extreme ways of living, this summer getaway in the desert, held every year before Labor Day, is the closest thing to a nirvana most participants get. Despite its faults and perils, one idea resounds across most who go there, “I would gladly go back. It’s a fresh start. You burn the past and try again.”

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/ written + illustrated by Dean Raoofi

BORN TO DEATH

D

octors and scientists at John Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore, MD have uncovered some frightening news for all those planning for or expecting children. In an unprecedented and extensive study, one out of every child born will die from issues related to a shocking new disease, which experts have started to call Post-Birth Death Syndrome.

Post-Birth Death Syndrome, or PBDS, as it is being referred to clinically, is a genetic disorder, and the leading killer of matured infants and toddlers today. The fatal disorder gets passed down by parents, but does not begin to develop in the child until 12 weeks into the incubation period.

PBDS is fully realized upon successful delivery of the infant.

Although it is uncertain at this time, it is thought that PBDS is closely linked to the most terminal, if not all birth defects. Experts warn that PBDS is extremely fatal, that all babies born with PBDS will die of PBDS itself or some form of PBDS-related issues.

However, in many cases PBDS remains dormant for many years after infancy.

According to Dr. Philip Voughler, PhD, one of the world’s leading researchers of PBDS, “Even after all these years, little is known on how to prevent or cure PBDS. Since PBDS can remain dormant for so long, it is possible that a large percent of our youths and teens may still be at risk of, or even suffering from, the effects of PBDS as we speak.” Some researchers even feel that PBDS can remain dormant even into later years of adulthood, however research on the topic has yet to decide if adults are in significant danger.

What is known of PBDS is that every

child being born right now has already contracted the life-ending disorder. New preventive treatments are being researched

by Johnson & Johnson, Heckler & Koch and Pfizer. These treatments (which still await approval from the FDA) come in various forms. Johnson & Johnson has designed a series of prenatal and postnatal shots, “Water,” they say, “which is drawn directly from the Fountain of Youth, located in a cave somewhere outside Waco, TX.” Pfizer is developing a luminescent white pill, which is said to prevent future cases of PBDS through causing Erectile Dysfunction in male offspring. This pill would be given to the mother during the second trimester, and it is to be swallowed with a cup of brandy.

Heckler & Koch is promising a pill for infants, which is still in very early production. Their treatment works on the same principle as Phizer’s, by keeping the disorder in its dormant state to prevent PBDS from developing into its mature, terminal form. So far, only minimal side effects have been reported in test subjects. However, PBDS has evaded each drug company’s effort to prevent PBDS deaths among test subjects. Heckler & Koch reports that an unfortunate case of PBDS occurred when a couple, leaving the testing facility in Boston, was struck by a speeding vehicle.

Faced with uncer tainty from the drug companies, some parents are resistant to new treatments. Sonny and Sage Newyuppy’s child, Glendale, was diagnosed with PBDS seven months into Sage’s pregnancy. Glendale survived birth and has been living with the PBDS for

the past five years. “We treat our child like anyone else’s. We don’t want him growing up different from his friends. It would be demeaning to him, so we treat his PBDS holistically.” Says Sage, “During my pregnancy, I made sure to have ample nutrients to help lil’ Glendale fight his PBDS. When he was born he ate nothing but kombucha, goji berries and acai. He still fights his PBDS daily, and it causes him to yell out during action movies, to hold his breath whenever we drive by a cemetery, but our nanny agrees, Glendale is still the happiest child in the world. It just hurts me to know that he won’t be around here forever.”

Thankfully, for those who cannot wait for FDA approval of PBDS treatment medicines, and are aware that there is no way to cure anything holistically, there are other alternative measures. The only methods endorsed by The Prattler are the colloquialisms Plan A and Plan B. These simple treatments are highly effective ways to prevent PBDS. Simply use a rubber before the act, or take a Next Choice Pill within 48 hours after unprotected sex, and forget about any chance of having a child born with PBDS. A n o t h e r u n p r ove n m e t h o d fo r preventing the disorder is for men to drink one gallon of Mountain Dew per day.

Though, our only point of reference for this method is Dan, who is also addicted to videogames, so that may be a good way to go, too.

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THE PRICE OF COLLEGE / written by Colleen Morrison

O

ver the three years and two months I’ve attended Pratt, I’ve had the same conversation with countless students about their process and decision to attend this college above all others. The programs, staff, and location are always mentioned and agreed upon as positives, but the conversation will inevitably end with one person sighing and saying, “I really can’t afford any of this.”

And each time, every single person agrees, usually accompanied by, “Who can?”

Not many of us. Eighty-eight percent of the student body is receiving a form of financial aid, whether it is through the school or loans. Along with tuition, lab fees, dorm rooms and deposits, new campus printing fees, meal plans, and general supplies costs have all been raised and need to get paid somehow. Now, with the economy being as it is and not looking like it’s drastically improving, there are only a few options for Pratt students to deal with the monetary consequences: 1) Suck it up and take out more loans, 2) Suck it up and get a job, 3) For twenty-two percent of you, say thanks and buy something nice for mom and dad, 4) Transfer, 5) Drop out.

Despite the overwhelming costs and recession, more students came back this year than they did two years ago when the economy

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had yet to go to shit. Less freshmen enrolled in 2007 than 2009, and in 2009 there were only two less freshmen enrolled than the year before. In three years, the amount of international students has dropped from 15% to 12%, yet there are more graduate students enrolled in 2009 than any other year in the past eighteen years.

Pratt did raise its freshman acceptance rate from 39% to 40%, but that is still a giant step down from 51% five years ago.

Don’t confuse freshman accepted and students enrolled. Pratt does accept more students continuously every year, with over 2,000 accepted in both 2008 and 2009, the highest amount of acceptances yet. However, an average of two hundred more students than the year before are accepted every new school year, and though 2,000 acceptances sounds like a high number, the number of people who applied for the 2009 school year reaches higher than 21,700 applications. And although about 2,000 were accepted in the past two years, 649 enrolled in 2008. In 2009: 647.

The number of people enrolling has remained pretty consistent over eleven years, with the highest enrollment being 649 in 2008 and lowest being 525 in 2001, though in 1999, 645 new freshmen were enrolled, only two shy of the amount of new freshman ten years later.

With more than six hundred new freshman choosing to arrive every year, and a consistent 80% return of full-time undergraduate students each year, are Pratt students really feeling the effects of the recession?

By this I don’t mean do some students have to sacrifice a weekend at American Apparel to buy film for their cameras, or buy two drinks at $14 a glass at a trendy rooftop bar in Manhattan as opposed to their normal four? I mean, are some students not returning because they need to choose between coming to school or staying at home to help out their newly laid-off father or mother? And of the students who do come back, what sacrifices, if any, are they making to continue attending their over $40,000 a year college?

I’ve lost quite a few friends over the years due to their dropping out or transferring to different schools. Of the ones I still keep in contact with, I asked them what their reasons were for leaving Pratt: L., 2006 – “My mom and I were fighting a lot, and she finally snapped one day and said she wouldn’t pay for school anymore.

There was no way she or anyone else in my family would co-sign a loan, but even if they did, it’s going to be too hard to pay for everything myself. The easiest thing to do was to not come back.”

Z., 2006 – “I was floating through all of my classes, not trying at all. I did ok, but I was driving myself crazy.”

M., 2006–2007 – “I got offered a well-paying job in my major, so staying for two more years wouldn’t really have mattered.”

J., 2006–2007 – “I missed my friends and my boyfriend. None of them left my town. I went home every weekend anyway, so I figured I should just transfer somewhere closer to home.”

G., 2007–2008 – “New York wasn’t right for me. California is better.”

Two others said they had family emergencies, and one went abroad and decided not to come back at all. Out of eight people, only one specifically pointed out that money was the route of the problem; for the most part, general apathy and family played a much larger role in deciding to not return to Pratt than money.

Pratt does not market itself as a cheap school. The facts and figures of tuition and housing aren’t hidden and even when applying, hopefuls are reminded constantly of the amount of money they will be pumping into the school. Right from the beginning, we all knew what we were getting into. 75% of students are from out-of state. If we wanted to go somewhere cheaper, we would have stayed closer to home. I’m from New Jersey. I could have gone to Rutgers as a writing major for $7,000 a year. I’m well aware that I am paying seven times that to be at Pratt, but that hasn’t stopped me, and neither has it stopped the current 3,025 students that comprise Pratt’s Fall 2009 student body.

One current student who relies almost entirely on financial aid weighed in with her opinion during one of our many discussions on the price we were paying by coming back to Pratt: “Both of my parents are unemployed,” she said. “No one is buying boats, and it’s getting to be impossible for teachers to find jobs since most schools have hiring freezes right now. It sucks, but none of us have considered asking me to not go back. I have work study, a lot of financial aid, and loans that I probably will never pay off completely, but my parents have always put education above money, so I’m just going to keep that in mind and get as much out of the school that I can before I graduate.”

I asked her if she thinks she’s going to regret this decision in ten years. She said, “Nah. I couldn’t imagine not being here.”

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<”THE PRATTLER”></a>

/ written by Sofia Ramsay + Natalie Apuzzo / photo by Leah Brizard

RESTAURANT REVIEWS BATI

BUILDING ON BOND

THE SPEAKEASY

747 FULTON ST, FORT GREENE

112 BOND ST, BOERUM HILL

132 GREENE AVE

On a walk down to the popular burger joint at the axis of Fulton Street and Lafayette Ave, a new site caught my eye and stole my attention. It was the non-descript looking facade and bustling dining room of Bati, which drew me in.

This new restaurant offers traditional Ethiopian cuisine, and the exotic menu was a turn-on after rejecting four loud, slaughter-happy spots. The dining room is clean with selectively decorated walls, so the tight space feels more communal than claustrophobic. The genial crowd and staff enhance this comforting feeling. They also make the place a little sexier.

Bati’s menu is largely vegetarian, as per cultural tradition, and the platter allowed us to enjoy four savory samples. The collard greens, cabbage, lentils and split pea we selected came on injera, a huge, flat piece of spongy bread that serves as your utensil. My lamb stew (ye beg alicha) came rich with bones and all, and was spooned onto my injera in a beautiful performance by my waitress. What we initially perceived to be sparse, aromatic snacks turned out to be filling meals perfect for sharing.

We were given the full experience.

Sweet pear mead complemented the hearty wares, but if honey wines are not your style, Bati invites you to bring your own. This place is a well-kept secret; bring a sophisticated date here to learn some Ethiopian vocabulary words.

Just beyond Fulton Mall lies Boerum Hill, a comparatively college-kid free town with several good eats. On the corner of Pacific Ave and Bond St, there is a quiet place to enjoy a meal with friendly service and good company.

The crowd seems young and professional without looking like a fraternity reunion, but the décor is reminiscent of academia past. You eat at school desks, which feed old-fashioned scratch paper across the surface to function as placemats. Flat files line the walls and the chairs are tagged with hastily scrawled names, plucked from a classroom of naughty kids. I was drawn back into childhood, while I sipped my delicious grown-up latte and currant scone.

The thirty-minute walk is the means to a top-notch coffee. The breakfast pastry was sweet, fresh and generous in size.

Brunch isn’t available until the weekend, so lunch was in order promptly after breakfast. Extra special care was put into the soup of the day, smooth roasted red pepper and coconut, which took an extra minute for perfection’s sake. I couldn’t turn down their Cubano sandwich, but was a little disappointed that the interpretation strayed pretty far from tradition. Carrot slaw tried to replace pickles and made it taste like a salad. The breakfast trumped lunch, but the quiet morning at Building on Bond was productive and an excellent change of scenery.

The Speakeasy is a little-known, Asian inspired American soul food spot on the corner of Greene Avenue and Waverly Avenue. It opened two years ago, with the assistance of Top Chef contestant Josie Smith-Malave, because of a need for a restaurant between Dekalb Avenue and Fulton Street. The global comfort food menu includes Asian-influenced misoglazed salmon and curry coconut mussels, along with stick-to-your-ribs food like macaroni and cheese and gnocchi.

A recent visit elicited the tasting of finger-licking good sweet and spicy chicken wings, the aforementioned cheddar cheese topped macaroni, short ribs and the jerk chicken sandwich with pineapple chutney.

The extra-garlicky spinach that topped the short ribs (along with the accompanying gnocchi) were delicious, and nicely offset the taste and texture of the ribs.

Pratt students should venture off Myrtle Avenue and try this small restaurant and bar. Students get ten percent off, and you can get the food to go or delivered for no fee. If you feel like just hanging out there, or studying during the day, there is free wireless. The restaurant crowd picks up late-night, and offers events like karaoke on Wednesdays and Thursdays. There is also a lounge in the back, which is good for private events like graduation parties.

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/ written by Jackson Hunt

CHEAP PERSPECTIVE Roxy Paine: “MAElstrom” Metropolitan Museum Rooftop through November 29th This season the Metropolitan Museum’s rooftop plays host to a large sculptural installation by artist Roxy Paine.

The work shown is a large metal skeletal structure that resembles tree branches.

The structure is made entirely out of industrial metal pipes and rods, which vary in thickness and are bonded by rugged welding that is in plain sight. The sculpture creates an interactive web-like form, sprawling across the entire rooftop of the Met, which no one can keep from touching.

And that’s what is so refreshing about the Met’s yearly rooftop installations, it gives a break from the serious demeanor of the rest of the Museum’s collections and allows you to go outside, have a beer, enjoy the view of Central Park and touch the art!

Roxy Paine’s piece, entitled “Maelstrom,” is a sculptural installation that displays aesthetic traits resembling delicacy and elegance without the literal preciousness of a Rembrandt!

THE LENS AND THE MIRROR METROPOLITAN MUSEUM THROUGH DECEMBER 6TH “The Lens and the Mirror,” a collection of modern self-portraits from the Met’s collection, brings together a wide variety of approaches and executions of selfportraiture from the 50s to now. In the rather small exhibit you see everything from photos to sculpture to paintings and drawings.

The work is not only differentiated by the medium but also by the definition of the portrait. With the timeframe of this exhibition set between 1957—2007, we are placed in an artistic setting where the traditional ideas of portraiture are gone. If elements are still present, they are most often done as a means of reference, as Jimmy Wright’s “Portrait of the Artist,” composed in 2001, is clearly an homage to the works of Degas and Renoir.

Viewers are given new technical and

conceptual approaches to portraiture, as with Lucas Semaras’s drawings. These works are based on cranial x-rays, which combine visual elements of collage, geometric abstraction and traditional drawing, all in one.

Surprisingly, certain images in this collection exhibit a strong conceptual tie to the digital art movements of recent years, even though they were made over forty years ago. While the exhibition is small, it exists in two spaces and can be somewhat tricky to find, but nonetheless is worth seeing. ”The Lens” displays oddball contemporary works that will most likely not be on display in many other circumstances. Go to see classic contemporary works like Chuck Close’s self portrait (if you haven’t already seen enough of him), and the photograph of Yves Klein leaping face first off of a building ledge, entitled “Leap into the Void.” This is one of my personal favorites in the exhibition. Even though it is merely a cheap trick of collage and photo editing, the result remains beautiful. This exhibition does an excellent job juxtaposing modernity with tradition and then flipping that once again.

JOHANNES VERMEER: “THE MILKMAID” Metropolitan Museum Rooftop through November 29th Honestly, I ran through this collection.

The works are beautiful, yes, but it never ceases to amaze me how both the Met and the Museum of Modern Art can build so much hype around a single painting.

“The Milkmaid” is an exhibition dedicated to Vermeer’s eponymous painting, which only 18” x 16” in size. All that results from this is an overcrowded hallway filled with wealthy geriatrics.

What I suggest, however, is to not waste your time wading through crowds of tourists who feel the obligation to be there, but to go for a stroll through the European paintings in the Met’s permanent collection.

In this section, you will find far less people and far more variety in the work on display.

Each time I go I find new favorite works, such as a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which I was most recently captivated by.

In the classical permanent collection we forget how many artists are left out of our textbooks having created numerous masterpieces worth fawning over, while at the same time displaying masterpieces we are familiar with. I am now a true believer— after months and months since my last visit I have been converted once again!

RELEVANT ART REVIEWS

BY THE PRATTLER KEEP YOU IN THE KNOW!

“The Infant Sa

muel” by Sir Jo

shua Reynolds

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/ interview by Jody Buchman / illustration by Jaci Kessler

A

few weeks ago, I was awoken in the night by a loud argument between a man and a woman. Their rumpus came up from the courtyard outside my window. It appeared that he stiffed her out of the money she was owed for having sex with him in the vestibule leading to the courtyard some moments earlier.

She was a hooker. The fact that she was bringing her johns to our courtyard didn’t alarm me as much as it fascinated me.

I’ve been interested in the pimp-prostitute dynamic for years since I got the book The Pimp’s Bible for my birthday. Lately that interest was refueled when I read several erotica books written anonymously by famous French writers who frequented brothels at the turn of the twentieth century. Was it fate that brought this hooker to my courtyard? I was determined to find out more about her and the business she’s been operating behind my house.

The superintendent of my building said that she lived in our building, that her name was Monique, and that she had a kid. But no one else around the building seemed to know much about her, until I ran into Will, a guy from my building, coming home from a party at about 3 am.

I was drunk and on top of the world, because I recently solved the Rubik’s Cube. I walked up to him and dangled the puzzle in his face. He congratulated me on that and we talked for a while.

The conversation led to my current infatuation with the business of Monique. I told him how I wanted to interview her for an article in my school paper. Will is a man of action—if he was in prison, he’d be the man who gets things done, like Clint Eastwood in Escape From Alcatraz—and before I knew it he was leading the way outside to where Monique was presently working.

Will and I found her on a street corner not far from the building.

Will was kind enough to introduce me and stated my intentions.

Monique listened to us and came across as being receptive.

And I’m pretty sure she understood what was happening here: a young, naive white man attempting to glean information about her occupation, without seeming seedy or perversely interested. It mattered to me that she knew I was only there for an interview out of genuine curiosity.

I had spied her silhouette in the courtyard before, but had never seen her in adequate light. Monique was my height: about 5’6’’, roughly forty pounds overweight, had large features, and spoke at an unnaturally loud level. She didn’t wear the clothes stereotypical of her profession—halter dress, pumps, and heavy makeup—just jeans, a tight-fitting black t-shirt, and sneakers.

She was dressed casually for Friday perhaps, but nevertheless, Monique looked unsuspecting. <18>

<”THE PRATTLER”></a>

THE PRATTLER: Is Monique your real name?

Monique: Yes. I ain’t got nothing to hide. Everyone around here knew me before I started working.

is mine. My pimp only gets money when I need him. He’s just performing a service.

How long have you been doing this?

Six years.

How many other girls do what you do?

What? Don’t work in a house?

What did you do before this?

Hold on, I gotta get into this car real quick. I’ll tell you what. I’ll meet you at your apartment in ten minutes.

And just like a movie cue, a gold mini-van parked beside us.

Monique got in, and the vehicle drove away. Will and I purchased some beer and went back to my house. Will and I waited about twenty minutes in my living room, during which time, Will thought it would be a good idea to smoke a little crack. I didn’t respond.

Twenty more minutes went by.

My interviewee came in the room, sat down on the couch, and did some things with her hands. I’m pretty sure one of those things was smoking crack.

So, you like what you do?

You know I can’t see myself doing anything else. I used to work in an office at the Navy Yard, but that sucked ass. Having a boss and stuff. At least now I work when I want, wherever I want. And the money is better.

Do you have a pimp?

I have a pimp. He’s really nice. No honestly, he’s got his own family, wife and three kids. He bails me out of jail and shit like that. When I need him, I call him. He leaves me alone otherwise.

Have you ever been beaten up?

Most of these assholes around here are assholes. So they try to fuck around with my money here and there, but I’ve never been in the hospital or anything like that.

I’ve overheard you outside my window arguing over money. You only get ten dollars for a blowjob? How much do you get for the full business?

I get twenty-five if I let them stick it in. And, yeah, ten dollars for a blowjob. But, you know, that’s the best I can do. Ain’t nobody around here gonna pay anymore than that. I have to feed my kid. I know girls that work out of houses...

Brothels?

Yeah, brothels.

Because that’s what I thought was the new standard of prostituting. When I found out you were still working the streets, I thought that was interesting.

I could have worked in one of those places, but then the money is not mine. I have to have control. When I get paid, the money <19>

WILL: There’s a couple around here. Angie, Chanice.

Wow, I didn’t know that it existed like that still. I know ten, twenty years ago that was pretty regular. But I just haven’t seen it around. You know, women standing on corners and stuff.

We have to move around, work the street, ya’ know. That’s why I’m dressed like this. I blend in. So a cop can’t just come to my corner whenever he wants and arrest me. That’d be stupid.

How many times have you been arrested?

A lot. Giuliani was no joke. That’s why you don’t see girls like you used to, because Giuliani was such an asshole.

At this point, Monique received a phone call. She said “yeah” into the receiver a couple of times, and then there was a knock on the door.

Will, you have any money?

No.

[To me] Do you have any money?

No. I got up to answer the door, but Monique informed me that it was for her and that’ll she’ll get it. I had no problem with this. It was her crack dealer. Monique rejoined us when she was through.

Will and I didn’t pretend not to be listening.

Let me see that pipe.

Do your johns have your number, and do they call you to set up an appointment?

I try to work like that, but it doesn’t happen enough. I can’t sit in my house and wait for people to call me. I wouldn’t make any money.

What about the cops around here, do they know you? If they saw you would they harass you?

Yeah, they know what I do. But, unless they ask me for sex, they can’t do nothing. I’m just walking down the street. [Jokingly] You’re not a cop are you?

My man is cool. He’s with those crazy kids who used to live upstairs.

You mean Jesus?

Yeah, Jesus.

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/ written by Emerald Rose Whipple

THE YOGA MACHINE

Y

oga is the essence of body mind control; as a human being it is very difficult to settle a restless mind, however it is possible by a suitable practice of detachment.

Through emphasis of yoga practice, as well as renunciation, one will obtain the empowerment of body mind control.

For the majority of the world population, it is nearly impossible to renounce anything.

It has become habitual nature to gratify the senses in a pleasurable manner. Despite a led life of uncontrolled sense indulgence, yoga is the first step to complete mind control. If one is to obtain a controlled state of consciousness, then the true state of enlightenment is understood. Enlightenment as a state of freedom, from desire and ignorance, complete acceptance of the properties of the universe.

At right are three locations in Brooklyn in Manhattan that offer yoga classes. Pratt Institute provides a basic practice through their Yoga Club. Also in Brooklyn, located a few blocks from the Institute, is Move With Grace. This studio offers Vinyasa practice (Vinyasa flow yoga is the practice of Sun Salutations). This form is also offered as a class at Yoga to the People in Manhattan.

PRATT YOGA CLUB WILLOUGHBY AVE DORMS, FLOOR 17 The yoga class offered at Pratt teaches basic breathing techniques and positions.

It is a designer introduction to yoga, as the pace is sympathetic to the comprehension of the student. Through repetition of each position and the alignment of breath with movement, it allows memorization of proper practice. This yoga setting is casual and a nonjudgmental energy lingers in the atmosphere. e.rmiller6@pratt.edu Mondays 6:30 PM Free

MOVE WITH GRACE 469 MYRTLE AVE Vinyasa flow creates heat inside and throughout the body. As one stretches the body, the exercise lengthens the muscle.

The pace is rapid in comparison to the yoga offered at Pratt and is meant for someone with the basic knowledge of yoga.

Although the class is slightly intermediate in comparison to Pratt, the teachers do walk through and check that everyone understands each pose.

718.230.0013 / 917.627.2307 Monday through Saturday $49 for thirty days

YOGA TO THE PEOPLE 12 ST MARKS PLACE 2R Yoga to The People offers a class in Vinyasa, which is accessible to everyone regardless of fitness level, finances or flexibility, as the purpose of yoga is to be attentive to the breath and to explore the body’s limitations. Although Vinyasa yoga is not gentle, one should be aware of their body and its individual limitations. The idea is not to force the body to obtain the pose. info@yogatothepeople.com Mondays & weekends Free ($10 suggested)

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<”THE PRATTLER”></a>

/ written by Francis Aaron Long

CANNABIS + CAMBRIDGE

T

hrough the evolution of urban culture many issues have remained taboo despite their ever-increasing commonality.

From life choices to unexplained phenomena, differing opinions have generated invisible walls separating humanity. A consummate example of such a division can be seen in the heated discussions over the legalization of the commonly used substance marijuana.

Nearly 90% of Pratt Institute students have admitted to smoking marijuana, 60% of which claim to be chronic smokers of Chronic. The active ingredient of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), has been known to cause relaxation, increased creativity, alleviation of pain, decreased stress, and an overall sense of euphoria.

Why is this a bad thing?

“When we went to Pratt, a part of my daily regimen was smoking anywhere from three to five joints a day. I would wake up in the morning and roll three joints.” An anonymous source explained her renegade smoking schedule while rolling a joint in her apartment in Boston. “I would smoke one joint before class, leave one on my coffee table, and put the third in my cigarette package. After my morning design classes I would walk home and smoke the second joint with (or for) lunch before returning to class. After my evening class I would go up to the roof and smoke my secret stash before going to studio and work. When I was in my thesis year I would spend around 20 hours a day at Pratt. If it wasn’t for weed, I would have lost my mind.”

This source, who wishes to remain anonymous, graduated from Pratt with a 3.85 GPA and was selected for the Pratt Archives every single year of her five-year program. “At the time it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. Everyone that I was friends with smoked as much as I did, so I didn’t really think of myself as a poster girl for the positive effects of smoking.”

After graduating she began preparing for the GRE. “I studied all night and half the day for months and still didn’t feel that I was going to do well at all. In the end, I just decided to see how I did and at least get a

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feel for what the test was like. I bombed.”

Her scores, falling in and sometimes above the ‘average’ category, dissuaded her from graduate study programs. “I was like, damn. There is no way I’m gonna get into a decent school with marks like this, but I don’t have time to take the test again before the deadline for this year.

So, I took a chance.” She submitted her name for consideration at some of the best architecture schools in the country including Yale, MIT, Berkeley and Harvard.

“When the first acceptance letter came I read it for about twenty minutes before I realized what it said. I can’t be sure, but I think I squealed a little bit.” By the end of the month she had been accepted into every school she had applied to, save for one. One of the acceptance letters came from Harvard University. “Harvard was a lark. I decided I had to apply, just to say that I had. The possibility that I would get in had honestly never occurred to me. I know I squealed when I read the Harvard letter; in fact, I screamed.”

After talking with her admissions advisor at Harvard about her acceptance she was told that she had received nearly perfect scores on her portfolio interview weeks prior. “She told me that my thesis work at Pratt was so original and innovative that they knew I would be a valuable asset to their program. I wanted to ask her if I set some kind of record for lowest GRE scores on admission to Harvard, but I didn’t want to chance it.”

She was placed in the second year program for selected major. At 23, she was the youngest person in her studio by a margin of nearly ten years. “Moving away from Brooklyn was scary. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find a weed supply line in Boston. On my first day a woman named Virginia (a thirty-four year old student in my class) came in obviously stoned. We smoked together on the roof of Harvard that night.” She learned that nearly half of her graduate studies class smoked, including her professor, a doctor of Landscape Architecture and designer of national parks across the world. “I found

Mecca, and I wasn’t even looking for it!”

Less than a year into her program she has already found her place among the top of her class, and is still riding her illegal habit to within an inch of sanity. “I know that weed has helped me come up with most of the ideas that I have turned into projects, but I would never feel comfortable telling people that it works the same for everybody. I know a lot of people who smoke less than I do and don’t get [their work] done. I think that marijuana works just like any pharmaceutical drug. It depends on the person taking it.”

Though legal for use as a medical alternative in many states, marijuana is still listed as an illegal substance by the federal government. Organizations like the Connecticut Legalization of Marijuana Campaign and Grow Green have been attending economical summits for years attempting to legalize the highly taxable commodity. “I understand the argument against the legalization of marijuana. I know that if it was legal people will start using it more and younger. I can already get what I need, and I know how to be safe about what I have. I just don’t want to be persecuted for doing what I need to do to be an ‘active member of society’. If I don’t smoke, I know I’ll still be able to design, but I doubt I would be able to come up with things that I feel can really change this place.”

The problem with two sides fighting over a controversy is that they lose sight of what they are fighting for. The majority of the people that fight to ban something are not affected if others utilize it. Contrariwise, the majority of the people who fight to legalize things are fighting for their own interests. If only we could look at the base arguments and find the best course of action to protect our own liberties: the right to be happy without hurting others, the right to be protected without constricting others, and the right to express ourselves without having to justify our actions each step of the way.

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/ compiled by Jackson Hunt / illustration by Matt Nadolny

GOOD ART SHIT

New Museum

GAVIN BROWN ENTERPRISES

235 Bowery

620 Greenwich St, NYC

Nikhil Chopra: Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory Drawing IX October 28th – February 2nd Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty October 28th – February 2nd

Laura Owens: New Paintings Through November 21st

MoMA 11 West 53 Street Claude Monet: Monet’s Water Lilies Through April 12, 2010

ppow gallery

GAGOSIAN W 21st St, NYC Richard Serra: Blind Spot & Open Ended Through December 23rd

MADISON AVE GALLERY Roger Ballen: Boarding House Through December 23rd

W. 24TH ST GALLERY

511 W 25th St, room 301 Dottie Attie: What Would Mother Say? October 29th – December 5th

pierogi 177 N 9th St. Brooklyn Johan Nobell November 20th - December 20th

Mike Kelley: Horizontal Tracking Lines Through December 23rd

METRO PICTURES 519 W 24th St Olaf Breuning: Small Brain Big Stomach Through December 5th Robert Longo: David Maljkovic and John Miller December 12th - January 30th

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