the VOLUME 40 ISSUE 2 14 FEBRUARY 2020
LOVE ADVIC E INSID E!!!!
06 FOUR FILM REVIEWS Wen Zhuang
09 TRUVADA BLUES EJL
11 LIBTERTORY MOSH Jaime Serrato Marks
Escaping the embrace of the Academy Awards
Frank Ocean’s PReP+ and the historic transmission of AIDS
A personal politics of moshing
Indy
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From The Editors
Lego Shell Station Carley Gmitro Graphite on Paper
It’s Valentine’s Day! “Love” is in the air, and the Indy has been torn into factions over a dire game of “Kiss, Marry, Kill.” The subjects? Who else, but our beloved Petes: Davidson, Campbell, and Buttigieg. Kissing testimonies have been cited from Mayor Pete’s husband, friendships have been broken over Mad Men minutiae, and as we approach midnight, a verdict is far from being reached.
News 02
Week in Being Sweet Amelia Anthony & Ella Rosenblatt
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Unchartered Territory Emily Rust
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Building Movement, Building Power Zach Ngin & Sara Van Horn
While I’m not sure where I stand on the Pete issue, there’s something more important I need to get off my chest: I’m tired of pretending that “Yummy” by Justin Bieber is not a good song. Hijacking Conmag’s aux cord has yielded such responses as, “Andy, no,” or “Is this a real song?”, and even “Yummy has forever been tainted by the legitimate possibility of going to war that coincided with its release,” but this time I’m not playing my feelings off as a joke. I like “Yummy.” In fact, in true holiday spirit, I like like “Yummy.” The days of turning my Spotify onto private mode, or going incognito just to see Justin’s silly pink hair, are over. This Valentine’s Day, I’m proud to be a Belieber.
Ephemera 05
Scaling Ma’aysra Justin Han
Arts 06
Spectacles of Insignificance Wen Zhuang
Features 11
On the Almost Liberating Possibilites of Moshing Jaime Serrato Marks
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Divine Narration Anabelle Johnston
Science+Tech 12
Truvada Blues EJL
Metro 13
Sirens, Camera, Action Miles Guggenheim
Literary 17
Dear Indy CT & SS
X 18
Stripes and Hanging Lights Alana Baer
MISSION STATEMENT
STAFF
The College Hill Independent is a Providence-based publication written, illustrated, designed, and edited by students from Brown and RISD. We are committed to publishing politically engaged and accessible work. While the Indy is financed by Brown University, we hold ourselves accountable to our readers across the Providence community. The Indy rejects content that explicitly or implicitly perpetuates racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism and/or classism.
WEEK IN REVIEW Emily Rust | NEWS Anchita Dasgupta Tristan Harris Peder Schaefer | METRO Ricardo Gomez Miles Guggenheim Deb Marini | ARTS Zachary Barnes Eve O’Shea Isabelle Rea | FEATURES Audrey Buhain Mia Pattillo Nick Roblee-Strauss | SCIENCE + TECH Bilal Memon Izzi Olive Andy Rickert | LITERARY Catherine Habgood Star Su | EPHEMERA Liana Chaplain Sindura Sriram | X Jacob Alabab-Moser Ethan Murakami | LIST Ella Comberg XingXing Shou Cate Turner | STAFF WRITERS Alana Baer Leela Berman Mara Cavallaro Uwa Ede-Osifo Eduardo Gutiérrez Peña Evie Hidysmith Kaela Hines Muram Ibrahim Anabelle Johnston Jennifer Katz Emma Kofman Evan Lincoln Zach Ngin Jorge Palacios Nell Salzman Issra Said Kion You | COPY EDITORS Josephine Bleakley Muskaan Garg Sarah Goldman Though this list is not exhaustive, the Indy strives to address Marina Hunt Christine Huynh Seth Israel Thomas Patti Ella Spungen | DESIGN EDITORS these systems of oppression by centering the voices, opinions, Daniel Navratil Ella Rosenblatt | DESIGNERS Anna Brinkhuis Amos Jackson Kathryn Li and efforts of marginalized people in Providence and beyond. Katherine Sang | ILLUSTRATORS Sylvia Atwood Leslie Benavides Natasha Brennan Bella Carlos Ryn Kang Eliza Macneal Sophia Meng Sandra Moore Pia Mileaf-Patel Claire Schlaikjer The Indy is constantly evolving: we are always working to Floria Tsui Veronica Tucker Katrina Wardhanna | BUSINESS Caín Yepez Abby Yuan | WEB make our staff and content more inclusive. Though our editing Ashley Kim | SOCIAL MEDIA Muskaan Garg | SENIOR EDITORS Ben Bienstock Ella Comberg process provides an internal structure for accountability, we Olivia Kan-Sperling Chris Packs Tara Sharma Tiara Sharma Cate Turner Wen Zhuang | always welcome letters to the editor. MANAGING EDITORS Matt Ishimaru Sara Van Horn Alex Westfall | MVP Thomas Patti +++ The College Hill Independent is printed by TCI Press in Seekonk, Massachusetts
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VOL 40 ISSUE 02
@THEINDY_TWEETS
WWW.THEINDY.ORG
week in being sweet
BY Amelia Anthony & Ella Rosenblatt ILLUSTRATION Veronica Tucker & Iman Husain DESIGN Daniel Navratil
cookie. Most people of the rocket travel era are familiar with the styrofoam-esque freeze dried foods astronauts allegedly enjoy. Similar to military “Meals, Ready-to-Eat,” (MREs), these meals stretch the limits of vacuum packing and preservative technology. Imagine months on end of only “freeze-dried roasted brussels sprouts” and “thermo-stabilized fish casserole.” The engineers of these meals work as hard as those developing new rockets to create foods catered to the quirks of zero gravity and astronaut health. Recently, astronaut food science has shifted gears to freshly baked cookies. This requires some adaptations: a newly engineered oven to cope with the lack of convection heat circulation at zero gravity and, they found, an excruciating 130 minutes of baking time, in comparison with the typical 16-18 minutes. In that time, our floating friends could watch just over two episodes of the “Great British Bake Off.” The pre-made Double Tree dough would leave bakeoff judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood a bit sour—if you’re gonna wait two hours for a cookie, you might as well start from scratch and deck them out with some gourmet chocolate dimes, vanilla paste, and follow Bon Appétit Magazine’s Best Recipe. The whole venture begs the question, why go to such lengths to bake a cookie, and why now? Following in the footsteps of Buzzfeed’s Tasty cooking tutorials and Youtube sensations like Maangchi, Bon Appétit’s casual Youtube snippets featuring the stellar chefs of the recipe development “Test Kitchen” have recently gone viral. Perhaps BonApp does deserve some credit. The otherworldly success and mass appeal of these channels along with everyone’s favorite wholesome (and well-scored—I can hear the orchestral theme now!) British baking competition might explain taking baking to new heights. GBBO contestants would have appreciated the full package Double Tree sent into orbit: cookie dough, oven, and even fully baked cookies for comparison, or to whip out in slick TV magic fashion. Food media no doubt has a broad audience, perhaps now even extending (at least its delecTHREE LIVES SAVED, NO SECOND DATE? need, take note! table results) to outer space. Dramatic rescues like Lonia’s, though spectacAlthough the risks are myriad—cookie dough Valentine’s Day creeps closer and you’re still waiting ular, will not be included in Tinder’s proposed new floating weightless and lodging itself in astronaut for your Datamatch results. So you swipe. Swipe to safety features. Tinder has been around since 2012; ears, contracting salmonella millions of miles from a fill the void of bae-lessness on a holiday created to sell since then, plenty of creeps have utilized the online hospital—these cookies reflect an investment in the greeting cards. Swipe to forget the recently tossed dating app because of its anonymity and ubiquitous- comfort and happiness of the International Space leftovers from cuffing season. Swipe to get validated. ness. (This Indy contributor has interacted with her fair Station team. Most technological innovations are Swipe to get disappointed. After all, what’s more share, including a recent guy who declared his intent to directed at hard, practical concerns. This is a decidedly consistent than any partner? Tinder. “take charge of [her] artistic, moral and sexual devel- soft (with crispy edges) pursuit, and it’s about time. Tinder will always be there for you—whether opment.”) The long-overdue safety plan, announced The discomfort of space travel might just be getting its you’re a dumper or dumpee—on a break or in an open in January, aims to address the inherent concerns well-deserved upgrade to first class. relationship. Through Oscar snubs, Iowa miscounts, regarding meeting up with a stranger from the Internet. and coronavirus warnings, Tinder offers its users the Currently, the app is rolling out a panic button to alert —ER same men holding freshly-caught fish and women emergency services with users’ locations in case somelooking for threesomes with their boyfriends. And, as thing goes wrong. Anti-catfishing technology will a group of German tourists in Norway learned in late allow users to become “verified” if they confirm their January, Tinder will even be there for you if you get photos by sending Tinder multiple poses. trapped on a remote cliff and need to be rescued. With nearly eight million users, Tinder is the Lonia Haeger, professional kite surfer and most popular online dating app in the United States. “Adventure Seeker,” according to her Instagram bio, These days, everyone’s doing it. Hopefully, these was traveling in Norway with two friends when they new features will make sure we’re all practicing safe found themselves in a precarious situation. Their swiping. Now if only they could roll out a feature to camper got stuck in the freezing rain, slipping down a ensure its users don’t match with every member of a cliff’s edge until it perched precariously between boul- friend group. ders and the ocean. They tried emergency numbers, but no one could help. So they put their fate in Tinder— —AA and its slew of desperate and h*rny strangers with push notifications on. SPACE COOKIES! The group created a profile for Lonia and swiped right on everyone they came across. Within a mere Since 1959, outer space has been a testing ground for five minutes, our group found love-at-first-swipe with the outer limits of human innovation. From martian a “bearded local,” Stian Lauluten. Stian was willing to farming to nuclear-fusion-fueled flight to Hubble telehelp and he just happened to have a bulldozer. Within scope images of the stretches of our galaxy, people’s five minutes, he was at the scene. He carved a path ideas have been, quite literally, far out. Alongside the out for the group and helped them get to safety. “I am towering achievements of human astro-ingenuity, new amazed @tinder can be so helpful!” wrote Lonia in her Everest has emerged among the otherworldly prosrecap post, sponsored by Tinder Norway. Hot girls in pects of the past: the first-ever freshly-baked space
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UNCHARTERED UNCHARTERED TERRITORY TERRITORY Charter changes illustrate the tightening restrictions governing academic life in China
BY Emily Rust ILLUSTRATION Liana Chaplain DESIGN Alex Westfall
Toward the end of 2019, three Chinese universities another significant, but predictable, revision, the the messaging app WeChat, which—despite common made international headlines for an event that some charter now states that the university must “equip its knowledge that it is closely surveilled by authorities— deemed a matter of semantics and others saw as an teachers and employees” with “Xi Jinping Thought.” became the site of other forms of protest in the afterencroachment on the fundamental rights of students This political theory, developed by the Chinese leader, math. In a letter circulated on the messaging app, an and teachers. On December 17, the Chinese Education was enshrined in the Party constitution in 2017. anonymous Fudan alum expressed their hope that the Ministry announced that it had approved new charters The charter changes are part of a greater trend in university be “less groveling, flattering, ingratiating.” for Shaanxi Normal University, Nanjing University, recent years signaling the Party’s increased omnipres- Needless to say, the letter was swiftly removed. A user and Fudan University. Prompting both outside ence in civil society. Over the last few decades, but of the platform Weibo asked in a post, “If I may dare to observers and members of the universities to raise especially since 2012, Chinese universities have not ask those who initiated the amendment of the Fudan concerns about academic freedom, the new charters operated with academic freedom. The charters' claims University charter, how do you expect our generanow include more language that insists on loyalty to of the opposite do not reflect reality—they are more like tion of Fudan people to face our ancestors?” Similarly, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). aspirational mission statements. In China, there are a hashtag relating to the school’s charter change Although a great number of revisions were made in often wide gaps between what is happening on paper garnered over a million views before it was censored. the university charters, the change most highlighted on and what is happening in real life: the Party insists on The announcement of the charter changes came Chinese social media and by foreign media outlets was being referred to as communist, for example, despite six months after the beginning of the Hong Kong the Fudan charter’s removal of “思想自由” (freedom of the Chinese economy’s blatant capitalism. With the protests, which were first triggered by a proposed thought). The coverage has focused on Fudan in part CCP’s tightening control over Chinese academic life, extradition bill that would have increased the Chinese because many see it as an unexpected move for that the fiction of academic freedom has become too inac- government’s control over the territory. Students school in particular. Not only one of the country’s most curate to maintain. The active decision to remove the and campus spaces have played a prominent role in prestigious institutions, Fudan is known to be liberal aspirational character of the charters makes explicit the protests—a connection that reached a climax in for a university operating in China. According to the the intellectual repression that has been obvious for a mid-November, when police besieged the Chinese Hong Kong Free Press, Fudan’s student body is “proud long time. University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic of its reputation for relative academic freedom.” University after protesters occupied the campuses. The reach of the CCP, China’s sole governing party, +++ While the process of revising the charters began long has increased across China's society since leader Xi before the eruption of the Hong Kong protests, it is Jinping came to absolute power in 2012. In addition Virtual and physical forms of resistance to the charter difficult to separate the Party’s tightening grip on to the removal of “freedom of thought,” over 40 revi- revisions were quickly stifled. On December 18, a day mainland universities from its feeble control over sions were made to Fudan’s charter—many of which after the revisions were announced, a small group students in the semi-autonomous territory. Mainland involve the addition of more bureaucratic, Party- of Fudan students gathered in the university’s cafe- publications have pinned the origins of the protests on centered language. In line with Xi Jinping’s goal of teria to sing the school’s official anthem in protest of the Hong Kong education system, blaming textbooks increasing Party influence, certain sentences that the changes. The initial charter’s heavily discussed and curricula for “brainwashing” young Hongkongers. previously suggested institutional independence were term “freedom of thought” originally came from changed. The word “independently” was removed this anthem’s lyrics. Although fewer than 25 students +++ from the sentences “the school independently and showed up, the group received widespread recognition autonomously runs the university” and “teachers and and support from Chinese citizens after a video of the The three universities, geographically dispersed, are students independently and autonomously conduct protest was posted online. not related in any significant way. Fudan University and academic studies while abiding with the law.” In Those involved in the protest had organized over Nanjing University are considered to be elite schools;
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Shaanxi Normal University is lower on Chinese rank- Cultural Revolution witnessed the Party acquire a less can be understood against. ings. What the three do have in common—along with friendly, more complicated relationship with student That said, these changes will have practical impliall Chinese universities—is their supervision by the movements. University and high school students mobi- cations, many of which are, paradoxically, more immeCCP. Though it has always been in the background, the lized and formed paramilitary units that persecuted, diately detrimental to the government than to Chinese Party was not seen as running universities in the early tortured, and killed millions of Chinese civilians— academic life. Although Chinese students certainly 2000s. After Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to power intellectuals in particular—at the behest of Chairman bear the brunt of the charter changes, the revisions do in 2012, however, the government tightened its grip on Mao. Although the Cultural Revolution swept across more to formalize than alter the state of affairs. The academic life. All Chinese universities are overseen by Chinese society as a whole, these so-called Red Guards Chinese government, on the other hand, is bound to a local party committee, which is in charge of moni- committed the fiercest violence of the time period. face more direct ramifications. toring campus activities. This increased ideological 20 years later, in June 1989, students found commuIn the 2010s, new ideas emerged in China control of Chinese campuses in the last decade has nity and momentum in a political movement that wors- regarding education. The CCP devoted a signifimade the notion of academic freedom obsolete. ened their relationship with the Chinese government: cant stream of investment toward making Chinese In recent years, students and professors have the Tiananmen Square movement. These protests, universities competitive on the world stage. This become exasperated by the Party’s politicization of which called for greater transparency and democratic mission was achieved to a significant degree—several universities. Some academics feel that the excessive reform, became the fiercest challenge to one-party rule of China’s universities can be found on world college bureaucracy under the current system is an insult to since the People’s Republic of China was founded in rankings. Experts like Harvard professor Elizabeth their intelligence—that too much of their energy goes 1949. On the night of June 4, the protests were brought Perry, however, see the Party’s increased infiltration of to ticking off boxes that prove their compliance with to an end through the army’s massacre of thousands universities as backtracking on this progress. Party values. When planning a conference or an event, of civilians. This coldblooded crackdown—ordered As other countries tune into events like the charter faculty members have to apply for approval from the by the Party—speaks to how vulnerable the Chinese changes and perceive them as infringements upon university’s Local Party organization months ahead leaders felt in the face of student solidarity. the rights of students in China, foreign universities of time. In 2018, Chinese authorities announced In the decade after the Tiananmen protests, increasingly develop reservations about entering the renewal of “patriotism education,” making it campuses remained relatively quiet. Toward the early into partnerships with Chinese universities. In addimandatory for academics to attend so-called “patrio- 2000s, however, the Party’s grip began to loosen tion, the revisions serve as a signal to academics that tism-themed activities.” somewhat. To the surprise of many, campus spaces outspokenness will continue to be punished. This Those defending the new charters argue that, from became slightly more permissive of sensitive debates alienation of China’s academic community will lead the outside, the revision process looks more top-down that might otherwise have been avoided or shunned. more professors, such as the above-quoted Qiao Mu, to than it actually was. Highlighting that university char- Certain campuses, like Fudan, became especially emigrate to other countries in order to avoid the choice ters are neither obligatory nor legally binding in China, known for their “relative academic freedom.” between self-censorship and a jail sentence. they make the point that it was in fact the universities Alongside President Xi Jinping’s rise to power in that rewrote and submitted the new charters. The the last decade, however, this limited freedom has +++ CCP, according to university administrators, merely once again diminished. In November, the New York approved the revisions. A Fudan academic told the Times published a report on the increasing number In a speech held at an education symposium in March Financial Times that the Party decided what to add to of Chinese universities that recruit students to act as 2019, Xi Jinping stated that “the Party must cultivate the charters while university administrators selected informants against their peers and teachers. Activism generation after generation of talented young people what to delete. This would mean that the strikethrough that should, theoretically, go hand-in-hand with that support the Communist Party of China’s leaderof “freedom of thought” did not actually come from Communist Party ideology—such as labor orga- ship and the socialist system.” This concern for young the Party. nizing—has resulted in arrests and censorship. Many people’s political leanings makes sense upon examAdditionally, supporters of the charter changes universities have established research centers devoted ination of the CCP’s history. From the formation of have blamed Hong Kong for the media attention, to “Xi Jinping Thought.” There is also a greater trend the Party in 1921 to the Tiananmen protests in 1989, suggesting that it only became news because of of universities firing dissident professors, such as student organizing was a key feature of the Chinese the protests. A similar charter change at Renmin Qinghua law professor Xu Zhangrun last year. 20th century. In only the past 20 years, Hong Kong University last June, they point out, went relatively December’s charter changes are part of a trend students have already left their mark on this century. unnoticed. Although it is difficult to determine the of Xi Jinping and his allies tightening their grip on all The CCP has repeatedly learned that student activism accuracy of this claim, one cannot deny the impact of sectors of society. The battle for ideological control in has the power to weaken government authority. the Hong Kong protests. While university administra- university spaces is not over. For now, however, CCP The new charters serve the purpose of further tors, Party officials, and others in favor of the charter ideology and bureaucracy is making it increasingly consolidating Party influence—top leaders evidently changes see the Hong Kong protesters as a nuisance, difficult for universities to operate as universities— view education as essential in their maintenance of dissidents of the recent revisions draw a tangible sense institutions devoted to critical thinking and learning. legitimacy. Although one can imagine hypotheticals of solidarity from them. Universities on the mainland Had it not been for student activism, the May in which Fudan administrators revised their charters have gradually been stripped of their “freedom of Fourth Movement would not have happened. to acquire an alibi rather than to institute pragmatic thought”; Hong Kong students are striving to keep the Unsurprisingly, contemporary CCP members are not change, the updated charters ultimately send the phrase as part of their realities. thrilled that their origins are based in radical student message that the Party dominates China’s educational A possible hypothesis about the charter changes, organizing. Last May, Xi Jinping celebrated the centen- system. According to a Fudan academic, China is suggested by an anonymous source, is that the univer- nial of the May Fourth Movement by politicizing it as a “entering a new norm.” sities—particularly Fudan—made extreme revisions to movement of patriotism and obedience—essentially In December, the fictional promise of academic their charters to get the Party off their backs. In other the opposite of what the students stood for a hundred freedom at Fudan, Nanjing, and Shaanxi was formally words, the administrations might have made such years ago. broken. These three charter changes merely represent comprehensive revisions to their charters—stressing the first wave of an impending deluge that is likely to Party loyalty above all else—for cover. In the current +++ continue in coming years. At Fudan, the aspirational climate, universities like Fudan that are known for quality of the former charter provided some hope. their openness are scrutinized by the CCP. By bowing Fudan administrators have emphasized that the Although the charter changes themselves are less down to the government’s wishes on paper, academics charter changes will have no practical implications concerning than the trend of societal chilling that has associated with the universities would get more leeway for how the university operates and that the changes produced them, there is nothing reassuring in this to operate as they wish. Regardless of who initiated are merely an adjustment of the document’s language. instance of the government’s deepened commitment them, however, these revisions illustrate the increased Reducing these sweeping changes to a matter of to honesty. politicization of academic activity on the Chinese semantics seems dishonest. Yet, ironically, perhaps mainland. there is some honesty to be found in such an argument. EMILY RUST B'22 is in the process of developing Qiao Mu, who formerly taught at Beijing Foreign Emily Rust thought. +++ Studies University, encapsulated this idea in an interview with NPR: “I think it is a good thing that the The CCP’s nearly hundred-year history has consisted charters now reflect reality more accurately...Why of a rocky relationship between academic institu- include all this pretty language about democratic tions and the state. The Party itself originated in the freedom and freedom of thought if there is none of student-led protests, which became known as the May that?” In an interview with the New York Times, Sun Fourth Movement and took place in May 1919. This Peidong, an associate history professor at Fudan, movement is recognized as an intellectual turning expressed a similar sentiment: “We don’t have to point in China and is directly linked with the establish- pretend anymore.” Although the charter changes are ment of the CCP two years later. alarming—and should be scrutinized—the revisions Between 1966 and 1967, the first stage of the themselves are less alarming than the backdrop they
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BY Wen Zhuang DESIGN Daniel Navratil
I work at the Harvard Film Archive twice a week, but of what makes Bong, as critics have hailed, a “genre with felt, a humble material elevated to a Lynchian calling it work would be unfair. It’s about 10% adminis- onto his own.” In both films, Bong does not invent new Eraserhead madness, its natural lint suspending each trative and 90% catching snippets of screenings. HFA’s sensation but instead teases out the amusement and movement on the verge of evaporation or disappeartheater is located underground, and movies are $5 and titillation of the quotidian—the jaded, often unremark- ance. Each character is undoubtedly captivating, not open to the public. Some days, every seat next to me is able realities of everyday life. In Parasite, it is not the least for the sheer reach of their individual iconoclasm: filled; other times, none are. Either Bresson or Herzog lives of the rich and the poor that are the cause for thrill, a troubled king, a middle-aged Pygmy working in a (maybe both, maybe neither) said once that we go to but the satirical consequences of economic inequality. luxury hotel, a failed businessman on an expedition, the cinema to be alone. It is true, we watch movies for Just as Memories is not a biopic in which a teen heart- a lost porter, and a young army deserter. There’s also a few hours of sublime solitude. But we watch movies throb grows up to be Ted Bundy; it is a sardonic portrait an astonishing depth of concept: the film’s title origiso the hours before and after them can be a little less of a provincial police team, who are themselves often nally derived from King Leopold II of Belgium, who lonely, so that we might travel when we can’t. I watched unsure of the grave responsibility placed on them. In proclaimed, in the late 19th century, “I do not want to Jiang Wen’s In the Heat of the Sun when I was 15 to try Memories, and then in Parasite, Bong believes there miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnifand grow up alongside my parents. I sometimes dream is never a need to imagine clowns or charlatans. His icent African cake.” Though it centers on the bitter of the Persian landscape, as if I’ve lived there, because characters, though absurdly cruel and perpetually milieu of Belgian-occupied Congo, it is not to be taken of the films of Abbas Kiarostami. self-obsessed, could very much be me, or you. as a historical adaptation of any kind. This Magnificent The Oscars last Sunday awarded Bong Joon-Ho’s Cake! is couched within something more profound, it Parasite Best Picture, the first foreign language film does more to alert than to educate. Absurd sudden to win this category and the 13th to be nominated. It [本命年] Black Snow deaths and endless “trick rooms” aside, one can’t help sparked dialogue around the act of reading a movie as Xie Fei, 1990, China but return incessantly to the duo’s choice to animate opposed to watching it, and subsequent praise has been with felt over the clay conventionally used in stop given to the Motion Picture Academy. Finally, they This year, the lunar calendar falls on the rat, first of the motion. There is a distinct devastation to the materisaid, the merit of foreign language film is recognized. repeating 12-year cycle of animals, and a sign of good al’s effect. It gives the illusion that each cascading tear, I, alongside many who have grown up with films fortune to those like myself, who have been branded every gust of wind, is like lint, or dirt, moving across a in other languages, our own languages, recognize that by the primordial zodiac symbolizing determination, squirming face. The faces themselves are perpetually Parasite’s historic win is merely Hollywood catching greed, and auspicious romance. It is said that your tan and fibrous dust balls, collecting debris, even as up. That the absence of foreign language films from birth year, or běn mìng nián in Chinese, will grant you they take the throne, or slams a cup. the gold-clad awards show isn’t a marker of their insig- an array of riches . I thought I’d test these premonitions nificance, but of Hollywood’s. Ultimately, the most on the eve of the New Year by catching a $5 screening [Ich war zuhause, aber…] I Was notable moment of the night was the five seconds Bong of a film of the same name Běn mìng nián (though its spent onstage, gazing at his glistening statues. English title Black Snow, is the name of the novel by Liu Home, But... In lieu of a still-dismal “International Feature” Heng, which this film was adapted from). Angela Schanelec, 2020, Germany category, here are four films from different parts of the I left the theater penniless, less in my pockets than world that have escaped the embrace of the Academy, in my psyche, or whatever faculty controls the feeling Angela Schanelec’s newest project is less a film than largely for the better. of hope, the certainty of desire—Black Snow rendered a long, drawn-out sigh. There is a hesitance that is these sentiments utterly undesirable. In hindsight, I deafening, as if we are anticipating what might arrive might have been greedy in anticipating fortune would after the ellipses in her title, only to realize that there is [살인의 추억] Memories of Murder simply find me in the coming year. But if the protago- nothing there—only eternal longing. Bong Joon Ho, 2003, South Korea nist in the film, Li Huiquan, is a testament to anything, Schanelec, once a theater actress, makes a movie it is that even humility and kindness, in the face of as if conducting a dinner party—choreographed I went into Parasite largely a skeptic: the Palme d’Or political corruption, can strip you of all wealth. poetics. She uses her own friends, family, and personal (the Cannes Film Festival's highest honor which was Li is a semi-illiterate corpse getting along in society spaces in her films, and it often seems she is either awarded to the film last May) has often felt like more of to the best of his ability. He is plagued by the terrors of meticulously directing each movement or it is all a prize for lifetime achievement of the director than for his time in labor camp but determined to pave some improvised. I Was Home, But… has a similar feeling of the individual films themselves. Before Parasite, there path, however desolate. He is a kind, simple man; he familiarity, but presents itself almost as a a ghost story: was Bong’s Okja (2017) and Snowpiercer (2013): films often gives his day’s earnings to the first person to ask people appear once, some disappear, families are that dealt with similar themes but fell short of actually for help; he shies away from past vices; he refrains from presented, are strangers even to each other. It begins presenting much, morally or aesthetically—maybe it advancing on a girl he falls in love with. We are aware with the emergence of a thirteen-year-old boy, damp was Tilda Swinton’s performance, reminiscent of her of his humility, as well as the austerity of his days. with soiled clothes, broken toe on one foot. He gives cameo in Joan Jonas’ 1989 absurdist short-film Volcano Black Snow was directed by “fourth-genera- no information of his prior whereabouts, not even Saga, where she plays a forest nymph. Or maybe it was tion” filmmaker Xie Fei and premiered in 1990, a a to his relatives. Nothing more is learned, with most that the story centered on taking a pet from a child. Or little more than a decade after the social and political of the movie focused on his young widowed mother, maybe it was Jake Gyllenhall. upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. This era was who has the gait of someone decades older. The film Yet, moments into the screening, I had joined the often depicted by Fei’s generation as bleak but never- is punctuated with snippets of an elementary class, ranks of Bong-converts. My mind raced with poste- theless a symbol of hope and of continuance. He once where different children are introduced each time, all rior revelations—the film had made me an adrenaline assured an interviewer at the 40th Berlin International performing scenes from Shakepeare’s Hamlet. The junkie. I wanted to stroke every rock I passed, walk Film Festival that “…although society has a light and pacing of the film is austere and elliptical, but it’s into the brownstones neighboring the IFC Center a dark, my characters still have hope to better their almost never overtly cinematic, vying instead for that in Greenwich Village, and eat from their pantries. I lives…to find love.” In Black Snow, however, the margin pristine and composed moment just before a photowanted to watch it twice over, but instead committed he leaves for this hope is so slim you almost have to graph is captured. to watching all of Bong’s previous films, pining for a imagine it. Ultimately, Xie subjects his protagonist I Was Home, But… is also uniquely spiritual, booksimilar, almost destructive overstimulation. Memories to a devastating fate and we are left pondering if Li marked by two long shots of animals. There is a wild of Murder, Bong’s second feature, is a 2003 crime- deserved it or, more ominously, that one’s reality might dog chasing a rabbit, and a donkey in the background. drama starring a younger Song Kang-ho (who plays never reflect one’s merit. Xie asks: given these realities, By the end, the rabbit is caught and devoured; the dog the father in Parasite) that is at times almost unrecog- how might you continue, virtuously? and donkey are asleep; and the boy and his sister walk, nizable as part of the Bong corpus. It trades Parasite’s piggy-backed, deeper into a lake. What ties each of immaculate modern mansion for pedestrian backthese together we might never know—with Schanelec, drops: a run-down ramen shop, wilting grass on the [Ce magnifique gâteau!] This conclusions are forever forthcoming. In I Was Home, sides of a train track, a municipal police office bathed But… Schanelec leaves this question open to the young in fluorescents, each site baleful in its neutrality. The Magnificent Cake! children, all of whom she describes as “somewhere horrors in Parasite don’t just sneak up, they are splat- Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels, 2018, Belgium, between being and becoming.” She tasks them with tered across the screen. In Memories, the horror is at France, Netherlands finding answers, even if those answers are only ever the core of the film, but perpetually out of reach. It is new questions. based on the true story of a slew of serial murders (the There is an exclamation point in the title of De Swaef first in Korea's history) that shook the small town of and Roels’ animated short. And never has a work of “Poems are made by fools like me Gyeonggi Province in the late ‘80s. It centers on the art been more deserving, or more representative of /But only God can make a tree.” repeated shortcomings of a classic ill-fated detective this punctuation mark, a marker for strong feelings, Joyce Kilmer, Trees duo with a Rush Hour dynamism. In the end, their emphasis, excess, or high volume. At 44 minutes, the investigation proves futile and the two separate, with film surpasses the standard time allotted for shorts, Song becoming an electronics salesman. Memories is but there is a distinct severity to each minute that [I Was At Home, But...has its New York City premiere nowhere near lethal in its pacing, more background leaves us surprised, at the movie's conclusion, that this Friday, February 14th, with a Q&A with Angela music than the symphony that is Parasite. The killer we’ve sat for so long. This Magnificent Cake! relies on Schanelec at Lincoln Center. The film will run through is said to only act on nights when there’s rain, so many a decadence that’s never removed from a gnawing Februrary 16th.] scenes are cloaked in a murky color—it seems we are claustrophobia, as if we were suddenly presented trudging through mud. However, where it does fall with a 10-layer cake and ordered to finish it. There are similar to Parasite ultimately spotlights a crucial aspect five characters, each rendered in immaculate detail
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BUILDING MOVEMENTS BUILDING POWER BY Zach Ngin & Sara Van Horn ILLUSTRATION Georgianna Stoukides DESIGN Daniel Navratil
Linda Sarsour is unequivocal. Whether addressing a presidential elections in particular—fit into the broader rally that he did with AOC in Queens, New York. He crowd at a Bernie rally or explaining the salient points work that you’ve done? What are the potentials and got up and was basically like, Are you willing to fight of Kingian nonviolence in an interview backstage, limitations of electoral politics as a strategy? for someone? Are you willing to fight for someone that is her purposeful energy—and thick Brooklyn accent— just not you? And that is what solidarity means to me. reflect her years of experience as a local organizer. Sarsour: Electoral politics for me is only a very small Solidarity is not about words. Solidarity is when you Sarsour might be best known as one of the part of my larger theory of change. Remember that are willing to risk and sacrifice something for someone co-chairs of the 2017 Women’s March, the largest there are many people in our country who are shut out else to live better and have access to something you single-day protest in the history of the United States. of our democracy: undocumented people, incarcer- have access to. But her organizing is rooted in two decades of commu- ated people, formerly incarcerated people. Any time nity-based work in Brooklyn. From 2005 to 2017, that you engage in a tactic or a theory of change about The Independent: Why do you think socialism is Sarsour served as the executive director of the Arab how we’re going to bring about transformative change an important political framework right now? What American Association of New York, a civil rights and and there are some people who can’t participate, then aspects of that word or vision are useful to you? And social services organization. She helped fight against that tactic is not enough. So electoral organizing in and why do you think it’s appealing to so many people right the biased policing of Muslim communities and of itself is not enough. For me, it’s a tool in our toolbox. now? successfully campaigned for the recognition of Eid And it allows us to alleviate some suffering—harm al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr in the city’s public schools. In reduction—and it allows us to create space, especially Sarsour: In our country, wealth should not be concenrecent years, she has organized in solidarity with the when we elect people who actually align with our prin- trated in the top one percent of the one percent while Black Lives Matter movement and is currently the lead ciples and values. We give ourselves just some room to there are people living in utter poverty. And socialism plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality continue to build power. really is about closing the gaps; it’s about investing of President Trump’s travel ban. So for me, movement building is not electoral and giving people the opportunity not to just survive Sarsour was recently in Providence for a panel on organizing. And electoral organizing in and of itself is in America but to thrive in America. So when we think the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement not movement building. For me, I still organize around about the policies that Senator Sanders is putting hosted by student organizers at Brown University. On issues. I organize with people who are unable to partic- forth, it isn’t in fact real socialism. Some of these poliJanuary 28th, she returned as the keynote speaker at ipate in our democratic process because I believe that cies are “socialist” policies, just like the fire departa rally hosted by Rhode Island ment or the libraries, you know. Students for Bernie. (Anchita The librarian doesn’t ask you Dasgupta and Peder Schaefer’s whether you are a billionaire report on the event appeared in or whether you are a workthe College Hill Independent last ing-class college student. We week.) Before the event began, all get access to libraries. You the Independent sat down with know, God forbid, your houseSarsour in the dressing room of hold’s on fire: you pick up the Columbus Theatre. We spoke to her about the Sanders everyone—in a real, true, inclusive movement—has phone and call the fire department. It’s a public good campaign, her vision of solidarity, and the potentials to have different ways to participate. And movement that we all get to share. And that’s why Bernie Sanders and limitations of electoral politics. building gives people other ways to participate in doesn’t equivocate or try to make things complicated. building power, even if they can’t do that one thing Everybody gets their student debt cancelled. There’s +++ which is voting. no formula for it. Because at the end of the day, Bernie Sanders understands reality. The reality is that the The Independent: Can you talk about your back- The Independent: I see Bernie as one of the only children of billionaires are not going to public univerground, your activist work, and what brings you to this candidates—as the only candidate—that’s calling on a sities. The children of billionaires don’t have college rally today? movement in addition to an electoral process. Do you debt. So these frivolous arguments being used against see that as something that sets him apart? The fact that us to paint us as some sort of radical fringe are not even Linda Sarsour: I am a Brooklyn-born daughter of he’s very explicitly calling on a wider social movement? true. Bernie Sanders is, in fact, not even a socialist Palestinian immigrants. I have been an organizer candidate. I think what we’re doing in this campaign for almost twenty years now. I started out organizing Sarsour: Absolutely. It’s one of the reasons why I’m is normalizing things that are seen as radical by a around hyper-local community issues, specifically part of this campaign. And a lot of the time people segment of our population but, in fact, are not radical around language access for my community, which was question why we’re supportive of this campaign, they at all. People should have healthcare. Healthcare is an Arabic-speaking immigrant community in New say, what are you doing, you’re an intersectional femi- a human right. People should not be graduating from York City. I was a leader of a non-profit that served refu- nist, you know, you have been organizing on crim- college literally shackled in debt and unable to start a gees, asylees, and immigrants, predominantly from inal justice reform and immigrant rights, you are one career or have a successful future. the Middle East, for about 15 years. And so I’ve been of those people who have pushed for representation really immersed in the immigrant rights movement and for supporting and centering people of color and The Independent: We’re here today at a rally orgaand, from there, found the intersection between immi- marginalized communities and you’re supporting nized by students in Rhode Island. Where do you grant rights and criminal justice. an old, white man for president? And what I say to see the power of student organizing and why is it I was an early supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders people is that I’m not supporting an old, white man. important? What do you see as the role of college in late 2015, when no one thought he was a serious I’m supporting an intersectional movement that students at this moment? candidate. I believed in his platform and he was my believes that the solutions to the ills of our country are primary protest candidate that I supported to help with the working class, with people of color, with the Sarsour: College students are literally the nucleus of push Hillary Clinton to the Left. Then, as I supported most marginalized people. I truly believe in my heart this campaign. I’ve been to Iowa, to New Hampshire, the campaign in 2016, I realized that we could actually that that’s what Senator Bernie Sanders believes. And and I’ve seen the power of college students orgawin this nomination. I was, of course, extremely disap- when we think about this campaign and who supports nizing. They’re enthusiastic. They’re also worried pointed with the Democratic Party and the ways in this campaign, it is absolutely reflective of the type about their future in terms of climate justice. And which this movement we were building was being side- of movement that I want to be a part of. The majority they are also students who understand what it means lined, although there was so much enthusiasm around of our donors are women. The majority of our donors to have student loans, knowing that the job market is it. I continued to fight for Medicare for All over the last are working class—nurses and teachers and fast-food dismal in America, particularly for college graduates. few years and really just continued to double down on workers. They are members of unions and immigrant And so for me, we can’t win this campaign without the conversation that Bernie Sanders helped ignite communities and communities that for so long just college students. It’s just the bottom line. They’re our back in 2016, and now I’m back again for Bernie 2020. haven’t felt heard. key constituency and it’s an opportunity for Bernie I’m a national surrogate with the campaign and I get Sanders to prove what it looks like when you expand really excited about coming to gatherings, canvasses, The Independent: I think that brings us to a really the electorate. rallies. I want to be amongst the regular folks who are salient topic, which is solidarity. Solidarity seems like The voting rate for college students during the supporting the senator and I’m excited about just being a common theme in your work, both with the Sanders 2016 general election was very low. This particular here in Rhode Island. I’m excited about the enthusiasm campaign and fighting against state violence, so we constituency has not always been a reliable voter base, of a younger generation that is committed to an inclu- wanted to ask what solidarity means to you and your and not all campaigns may be investing in this particsive, progressive society, including one that centers the work. ular voter base. But the Bernie Sanders campaign is. dignity of Palestinians. We see them not as low-propensity voters. We see them Sarsour: Senator Sanders defines solidarity in such as high-potential voters. Because literally they are the The Independent: How do electoral politics—and an accessible way and it really moved me. It was at the generation that has everything at stake—them and the
An interview with political activist Linda Sarsour
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generations that come after them.
like six of the new city council members are socialist. And you have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you have The Independent: I was speaking recently with a The Independent: In the last couple years, the Left Rashida Tlaib winning, people who are full-fledged student activist with Brown Divest who diagnosed has spent a lot of time thinking about the historical democratic socialists and really believe in Medicare much of the campus as supportive of Bernie but not circumstances that led to Donald Trump’s election. for All and the Green New Deal. Our failure has been necessarily supportive of the fight for Palestinian I’m curious about how you understand the historical in assuming we know what the American people care sovereignty. So what would you say to those who circumstances that have allowed someone like Bernie about. So I don’t blame “the opposition.” The opposisupport Bernie’s call for radical, political change, but Sanders to run for president. tion is internal for our communities. And in the politwho believe talking about the struggle for Palestinian ical sphere, now we are the ones with the political liberation is either too radical or too extreme for the Sarsour: You know, we’re always blaming people capital. They are losing steam and it’s evident when Bernie campaign or for the Left? outside the Democratic party on why we got Trump. we’re watching Bernie Sanders—the momentum he I blame that on the political Left, on “progressives,” has is unmatched by any other candidate. Sarsour: To be quite clear, as someone who’s a big neoliberals, and the Democratic party. Until Bernie supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders, we do not agree Sanders took us to this national conversation, we kept The Independent: Given the violence of the current on many things about Palestine. For example, Bernie trying to assume what moves the American people. We administration and of this country more broadly, what does not support the Boycott, Divestment, and shied away from talking about healthcare for all; we does it mean to commit to nonviolence as an ethic or a Sanctions movement. I do. Senator Bernie Sanders shied away from saying cancellation of student debt; strategy? supports a two-state solution. I don’t think that’s a we shied away from Palestinians deserve human rights viable solution anymore. I think it’s a pie-in-the-sky, and criticizing the state of Israel. We shied away from Sarsour: I’m actually trained in Kingian nonviolence never gonna happen. But I’d say to folks who believe universal daycare and shied away from calling for and I adhere to the six principles of nonviolence. One in the Palestinian people, who believe in Palestinian incarcerated people to be given the right to vote. We of them is to attack the forces of evil, not those doing human rights: this is the campaign for you. Because shied away from saying end cash bail and the dismal, evil, which is why I’m not an anti-Trumper. My work this is the only campaign where we can have that corrupt, racist criminal justice system that we have, is not about taking Trump out of office; my work is conversation. This is not the campaign where we’re assuming that the American people did not want to like Dr. Martin Luther King’s: attack the forces of going to find all those solutions. Senator Bernie touch those issues or were in opposition to those issues. evil. Militarism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transSanders is not going to be the savior of any people. And so Bernie Sanders comes along, a senator from phobia, islamophobia, xenophobia—those are the ills This is the campaign where there are people willing Vermont who had no idea that the minute he started of this nation. And what’s happened in this country is to hear you out, where there are people who unequiv- talking about these issues in a public way, everyone that the resistance has focused solely on one man who ocally believe that the Palestinian people at the bare was like, who is this man? I’m with you. We don’t even absolutely does embody those things. But if Trump is minimum deserve basic human rights. Bernie’s old, need to know who you are! You are speaking to our pain not the president anymore, those things still exist and but his ears are on the ground. And he has helped us be and to our aspirations as a people. will continue to exist unless we as a people rise up to able to talk about Palestine at such a high level in a way Bernie Sanders built an entire movement off of address those issues. that we haven’t done before. So to those who support talking about the issues that neoliberals told us for so Bernie but don’t agree with him on these issues, I say, long were radical and never going to be mainstream in This interview has been lightly edited and abridged for you know, that’s okay, there’s no perfect candidate. But America. They kept pushing us to vote for candidates clarity. for us, as a community, as a movement that supports that were maintaining the status quo. And then Bernie Palestinian rights, there is absolutely no other candi- comes along and shatters that whole thing. It’s been ZACH NGIN B'22 and SARA VAN HORN B'21 are date in this race that is the boldest and bravest on this shattered in local elections too. In Chicago, something high-potential voters.
THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT
issue other than Bernie Sanders.
NEWS
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TRUVADA BLUES
BY EJL ILLUSTRATION Gemma Brand-Wolf DESIGN Daniel Navratil
In October of 2019, the queer publication GAYLETTER specify how he imagines the invention of PrEP could new music from Ocean’s expected upcoming album. posted an Instagram advertisement depicting a shirt- have transformed the era; one possibility might be But the party’s seemingly grand visions fell short. less DJ surrounded by neon, fuzz-bordered lettering. the opportunity to have unprotected and uninhib- Inevitably, the event attracted fans, many of them The ad announced PrEP+, a dance party in New York ited sexual contact without the worry of acquiring white, heterosexual or without invitation, all chasing City hosted by openly-queer musician Frank Ocean. the virus, suggested by the erotic undertones in a glimpse at Ocean’s music or simply the associated The party, as suggested by its title, intended to serve the party’s announcement of its objective to “bring cool factor. Attendees afterward noted the pervaas an “homage to what could have been”: the 1980s people together and dance.” Nonetheless, the event sive lack of sexual tenor—the mazes and dark corners gay club scene as if PrEP—pre-exposure prophylaxis— was shrouded in mystery, both in its undisclosed time characteristic of sex clubs were simply used for had existed at the time. Although Ocean was not and location as well as in its obscurity of purpose. conversation. In its most blatant irony, one attendee explicit about the event’s ideological intentions, his Ocean’s party turned out to be an exclusive, invite- nearly had his PrEP pill confiscated by security. party announcement undoubtedly refers to the AIDS only occasion, specifically geared towards queer people The thirty-two-year-old musician immediepidemic of the 1980s and asks how PrEP could have of color. Attendees included LGBTQ+ artists, influ- ately received criticism from AIDS activists, most hindered or perhaps altogether stopped the spread encers, quasi-celebrities—all of them young. It was held of them older gay men. For them, the party should of HIV/AIDS, through the pill's ability to prevent the in the basement of a party venue in Queens, filled with have promoted awareness of the titular drug, contraction of the HIB. Additionally, Ocean does not flashing neon lights, live DJ music, and sneak peeks of which, according to the CDC, remains underused
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Prep and the historical transmission of AIDS
by millions who could highly benefit from taking on an unconscious level, shaping their present reality. cites Foucault, erotohistoriography presents an ars it. Many argued that the 1980s gay club scene Young gay men must also insulate themselves from erotica historical method because it focuses on bodily was still vibrant amidst the epidemic. Some even the traumatic realities of the AIDS crisis. Simple use pleasures as a source of truth—in this case, a historaccused the party of being funded by Gilead, the of prophylactic measures, such as condoms, might be ical one. Importantly, erotohistoriography marks a pharmaceutical company profiting off of the market insufficient—young gay men must psychically defend specific historical intervention away from objectivist form of PrEP, Truvada, which Ocean later denied. themselves by imagining, as a moral projection, their traditional historical methods that value information, In spite of the public critique of PrEP+, the party sexual practices as outside of the epidemic’s history. facts, documents, and discrete objects as gateways to marks a specific desire by Ocean—as a younger gay However, the material realities of gay sex neces- the past. Instead, erotohistoriography turns to embodman in a post-crisis era—to connect with the era of sarily compel an engagement with HIV/AIDS, iment, introducing the possibility to gain pleasure the AIDS epidemic, imagining himself and others producing a disorienting experience of temporality. from painful pasts. For young gay men, PrEP allows for transported to a historical moment. The contrast Whereas the figure of HIV is used to ensure death, worry-free bareback sex that enables them to erotically between Ocean’s party and its negative feedback antiretroviral treatments can successfully manage it if access lost ancestors through a historical mode of gay indicates two different methods of erotic histor- contracted. As a result, gay men’s sexual lives become sex, using their bodies to transport to a time before the ical engagement, described by French philosopher suspended in pervasive uncertainty, never really emergence of HIV required protection for “safe” sex. Michel Foucault in The History of Sexuality as ars knowing if they will contract HIV, and even if they The “historical and temporal disjunction,” as Freeman erotica and scientia sexualis. In ars erotica, sexual do, never really knowing if it will kill them. Therefore, puts it, of existing as a young gay man several genertruth is acquired through “pleasure itself,” measured young gay men become entrapped by a feeling of ations after the peak of the crisis, then, can be alleviin the degree of “its intensity, its specific quality, its simultaneous protection from and vulnerability to the ated through PrEP-mediated barebacking, making duration, its reverberations in the body and the soul.” historical legacies of the epidemic in their sexual prac- the epidemic available through pleasurable means (as Ocean’s party evokes the erotic historical pleasure tices. Queer theorist Tim Dean locates gay bareback opposed to, say, reading a historical account about it) of ars erotica by re-imagining a scene of the epidemic subculture—characterized by condom-less sex that and thereby erotically engaging with a troubling past through sensual encounters between bodies. This puts members at risk of HIV contraction—as a manner as transgressive pleasure. conception contrasts with scientia sexualis, where in which gay men achieve a sense of temporal certitude sexuality becomes a scientific discourse, managed by by obtaining control over their HIV transmission. Here, +++ religious, psychiatric, medical institutions—the mode unprotected sex allows them to assuredly contract the in which sexuality is often treated in the contempo- virus, solidifying a life with HIV that would have been In this manner, Ocean’s PrEP+ party primarily incited rary era. The AIDS-activist critics channel scientia ever-looming. However, for young gay men, the oppor- controversy insofar as it disrupted the regime of scientia sexualis in their expectations of the party to raise tunity to take PrEP proposes the possibility to engage sexualis over gay male health interventions. Under the awareness of PrEP as a pharmacological intervention in unprotected sex without the certainty of contracting regime of scientia sexualis, PrEP positions young gay of chemical prophylaxis, appropriately honoring those HIV; in this way, bareback sex no longer implies unpro- men within a history of medical interventions in the who fought for HIV treatment during the epidemic. tectedness nor temporal definitiveness. treatment of HIV, from the discovery of antiretroSimilarly, the division between ars erotica and PrEP usage is considerably lower among younger viral treatments to the development of prophylactic scientia sexualis can be found within the discourse gay men than their older counterparts. This is most methods to prevent contraction—and perhaps an even of PrEP usage. When young gay men, like Ocean, likely to due to lack of awareness, but there are other larger history of medicalizing homosexuality, starting are presented the opportunity to take the drug to possible moral reasons behind this trend. At its initial from the 19th century, from lobotomy to electroprevent HIV contraction, they become immedi- release, PrEP took the form of a reluctant object, convulsive therapy. While taking PrEP, one must be ately entangled between these two philosophies. defined by University of Sydney professor Kane Race continually monitored by doctors, ensuring that the as “an object that may well make a tangible differ- drug is not negatively affecting one’s health (which +++ ence to people’s lives, but whose promise is so threat- is quite rare) but nevertheless placing one under the ening or confronting to enduring habits of getting by surveillance of a medical regime. Certainly, HIV drugs Today, most American children learn about the AIDS in this world that it provokes aversion, avoidance.” were crucially important to dampening the crisis and epidemic not in their history classes but through PrEP ensures over ninety-precent—and in most cases have saved thousands of lives—their function defisex-education curriculums. While the curriculums nearly perfect—rates of preventing HIV contraction. nitely should not be criticized, nor directly compared focus on medical facts about HIV/AIDS, they often Yet this heavenly promise did not lead to immediate to violent homophobia of electroconvulsive therapy. address the epidemic to demonstrate the historical uptake, especially because the “raw” sex that PrEP Rather, under the cultural doctrine of scientia sexusignificance of the virus and the potential conse- safely allows held a heinous position in gay culture. It alis, sex only becomes legible under discrete scientific quences if students do not use protection. Through sparked a moral backlash among some gay men, many or medical discourses, leaving no room for fantasy or these classes, the children become interpellated of whom demonized PrEP users as socially irrespon- feeling in the discourse of sex. In this way, antiretroby what queer cultural scholar Kane Race calls the sible “Truvada whores” in their admission to condom- viral drugs or prophylactic measures are only one form “risk discourse” of HIV/AIDS. Not only do children less sex, even though its usage would entail extremely of many to “deal with” HIV. develop an understanding of the risks of unprotected high levels of HIV-prevention, sometimes even higher Instead, Ocean favored an approach to AIDS sex, potentially leading them to contract HIV, but than that of condoms. These gay men were not ready crisis-historicizing that could be described as erotothey also further moralize unprotected sex as socially to abandon this regime of the condom, which not only historiographic and evocative of ars erotica, moving in harmful. Thus, they become inundated with the past protected them materially as a barrier but further a different direction from the conventional discourse of the AIDS crisis as “other,” as a closed-off historical provided a psychological sense of safety, especially surrounding the epidemic’s history and HIV treatment. moment that cannot reoccur if they take appropriate in its historical associations with AIDS activism-en- Ocean’s erotohistoriographic visions did not exactly prophylactic measures; but also “other” as the crisis dorsed safe-sex education. The doubleness of the materialize within PrEP+; any erotic resonances becomes associated with homophobic renderings of condom’s protectiveness stands in for the way in which within the crowd were compromised by the chasing gay male sexuality, moralized as a hazardous set of HIV-prevention not only addresses the virus itself but of Ocean’s celebrity. But even if the mazes and dark practices warranting an aversion. As young gay men also the moral risk of bareback sex’s aberrant sexual corners were utilized, bareback sex under PrEP might grow into their sexual identity today, they confront pleasure. be condomless but is still pharmacologically-media dissonant moment in which the taught otherPrEP further marks one as a subject of history, ated. It’s not truly “raw.” Even under an erotohistoness of the epidemic contradicts the ways in which as shaped by the historical conditions of the HIV riographic approach, young gay men would always be their identity may impl cate them within its history. epidemic that made possible risk discourses and “bare- one step removed from accessing the AIDS crisis past, In this way, young gay men become traumatized backing.” If young gay men decide to take PrEP, they close but not quite. And after all, how can one resolve by the AIDS epidemic through its inherited history actively declare themselves to be part of the historical trauma that is not even their own? This is the sobering filled with violence, death, and decay. In their exam- lineage of the AIDS epidemic. Additionally, in their reality for young gay men today: the AIDS crisis exists ination of intergenerational trauma among Holocaust choice to take the pill, their ability to engage “safely” beneath deep layers, both historical and erotic, largely survivors and their children, psychologists Nanette in bareback sex brings them back to pre-crisis or early inaccessible, leaving ancestors to be longed for and Auerhahn and Dori Laub assert that large-scale trauma crisis moments in which HIV-induced virality had no never fully felt. can be passed down through generations, existing in a hold on gay sexual subjectivity. In this way, bareback nonchronological, formless manner that is “not defined sex is no longer dangerous—somatically, psychically, EJL wants you to go to breakthepatent.org and sign the by place or time and lacking a beginning, middle, and and morally—and instead becomes an act of possibility petition to end Gilead’s greed. end.” Auerhahn and Laub explore how children of for young gay men. Holocaust survivors attempt to heal themselves of Using queer theorist Elizabeth Freeman’s conceptheir inherited trauma through defensive mechanisms, tion of erotohistoriography, the act of young gay men becoming mental health professionals that have a taking PrEP can be viewed as a mobilization of the pill “need to decode [secrets] and help those who suffer into a mode of accessing history through bareback sex. from them” or becoming heavily involved as activists Erotohistoriography, according to Freeman, employs in social movements. In each of these cases, the chil- the body as a “tool to effect, figure, or perform” an dren of victims remain subject to historical trauma engagement with the past. In other words, as Freeman
THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT
S+T
10
BY Jaime Serrato Marks ILLUSTRATION Sandra Moore DESIGN Amos Jackson & Matt Ishimaru
ON THE ALMOST LIBERATING POSSIBILITIES OF MOSHING A personal politics of mosh pits
I was first introduced to moshing by the massive bruise the crowd to cleave down the middle. The moshers on my coworker Dannyboi’s cheek. Dannyboi shuffled retreated ten paces from the dividing line, forming into the ice cream shop where we worked two minutes two scrums that faced one another. It looked like the late and grabbed a pint from the freezer. He winced beginning of a dodgeball game. Runner’s stances. as he iced his chipmunky face. Service work is service Twitchy anticipation. work, and service workers talk. When Dannyboi “When I say go—and only when I say go—” Joe walked in, we talked bruise. Talbot said, “you’re going to show each other more “What happened?” we, the chorus, sang. love than you have ever shown a community. Because “Mosh pit. I took an elbow to the face, man,” he said. that’s what we are, a community. Do you understand?” “On the first song too! I was so pissed.” Learned moshers call this particular brand of “Did the elbower apologize?” I asked. chaos a ‘wall of death.’ But Joe called it love. And on “Nah, it was a great mosh pit. Too much chaos for his cue, I ran forward with all the love I could muster. I an apology, you know. It’s whatever.” have never known such turbulent intimacy. Dannyboi’s bruise lived two weeks and died a slow death. I shuddered every time I saw it. I knew I would +++ never mosh. At its best, a mosh pit is the most human, natural, and +++ exhilarating expression of intimacy a body can achieve. A mosh pit is the logical conclusion to a drum kick My first mosh pit was a birthday present to myself. or bass line. A beat prompts a push, which necessiI bought one ticket to an IDLES concert. IDLES is tates a push back, which results in the organic, lungmy favorite punk band, a screaming bastion of love and like heaving of the whole crowd. All natural, all alive. kindness. They sing of unity, respecting immigrants, Even choreographed movements, like Talbot’s wall of eradicating toxic masculinity and rape culture. The death, lack order. Although they begin with a sense of band’s lead singer, Joe Talbot, belts out raw, drunk-un- who should run into whom, I knew as soon as I sprinted cle-at-karaoke vocals. into someone sprinting into me that all order was lost. Joe Talbot’s first words at the concert: “Take care Mosh pits are all about shaking off the plan. of yourselves, alright?” Mosh pits allow one to embrace a childlike disreThe words were needed; a mosh pit had already gard for bodily consequence. While moshing, I formed. recalled a demonstration in my 4th grade classroom. Mosh: to dance frenetically, especially to rock Ms. O’Connell helped us visualize how particles form music, especially to collide with others. different states of matter by instructing us to move A mosh pit is not inherently violent, but it tests around on her fuzzy blue carpet. We each represented violence’s lower limit. Moshing shakes up the bound- a water molecule, we were told. aries of how bodies can interact. How hard can I shove “Solid,” she called. Everyone clumped together, a body and inflict no pain? How soft is soft enough to let vibrating. that body come tumbling back for another shove? From a bird’s eye view, the pit resembles the cross section of a beehive. From the crowd, it’s a freeform jazz version of WrestleMania in which all the ropes are human arms. The goal is not to pin, but to free oneself from stillness, boredom, gravity. The goal is elevation— bodily epiphany. In other words, a mosh pit is a bunch of bodies shoving each other and dancing like children mid-tantrum. At the IDLES concert, Joe Talbot made the pit more than bodies colliding. Joe Talbot is a bearded, shirtless punk with dyed pink hair, a man with a history of drug abuse and alcoholism, a father to a stillborn child, and a preacher of the motto “All is Love.” Joe Talbot asked
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“Liquid,” she called. We spread out viscously. We walked into each other and bounced off. “Gas!” We sprinted, giggling, our arms up to repel other molecules. One can find every state of matter in a mosh pit. The furthest from the pit shift minimally, walling, wallflowering. Solid. Further in, the moshers follow the waves of the rest of the crowd. They cohere to form bubbles of space, surface tension. Liquid. In the middle: the truly free. We who prance and thrash as we fling and are flung. Gas, where I found myself most alive. Gas, where I found myself with a body, and only a body, and that was enough. In the mosh pit, I found myself more comfortable in my body than I had ever been. I viewed my body not as a collection of parts I did and did not like, but as a means of delivering joy both to myself and strangers. A community formed around unorthodox care. We showed each other love by shoving with consent, by protecting each other from the shoves when needed. “Shoe?” I heard. “What?” I shouted. “Shoe!” A guy circled his arms around my untied shoe, smiling. I lifted my leg and tied my laces in the protective bubble he created with his body. I bet he would have tied it for me if I had asked. Later, I shouted, “Shoe!” The crowd opened. A crouching human with phone light ablaze grabbed their shoe from the empty circle the crowd formed. I waltzed into the center. Soft pushes greeted me. After the concert, I biked home safe to my then-partner’s apartment and peeled off my sweatdrenched clothes. Tiny bruises were scattered across my back like constellations.
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“I knew everyone there cared for me even as they shoved me,” I said. “That’s crazy,” she said. +++ Another concert showed me what it means to mosh without love. The band: Lightning Bolt. The crowd: untrustworthy. I saw five crowd surfers crash to the floor from a lack of supporting hands. Shovers did not account for the shoved. I didn’t realize what I had at the IDLES show until I was flung into an elbow and received no apology. Since the IDLES show, I’ve moshed at dive bars with tiny crowds huddled around unknown bands. I’ve moshed with art school kids who strained to shove me across the room. I’ve moshed with assholes who shoved anyone around them, whether they wanted it or not. The Lightning Bolt mosh pit was the most dangerous. At its worst, a mosh pit is a too-masculine, too-violent space for people who want to shove. At the Lightning Bolt concert, shirtless punks claimed the territory short kids needed to see anything on the stage. Anyone who did not want to mosh was forced away from the front of the crowd. I saw many men and few people of other genders. My hands grazed the shoulder or chest or butt of a stranger who did not want to be touched there, but couldn’t fend off the writhing crowd. I rolled my ankle and limped away from the center. As I limped, I was still pushed. To mosh, a body must surrender to the crowd. It is a privilege to donate your body to the masses for fun. It is a privilege to seek the fringes of violence for fun. I have known these privileges. I am a genderqueer person who grew up as a man for most of my life. This privilege feels distinctly male and white. A body without a societal history of harm may give itself to
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chaos more readily than other bodies. Thrill-seeking seems most desirable to those with fewer bodily concerns to contend with on a daily basis. Men (white men in particular) are not socialized to fear the hands of the public. I don’t believe it is wrong for people to seek spaces in which they may enjoy safe expressions of near-violence, but I take issue with the exclusivity of these spaces. It saddens me that I enter every mosh pit with fear that I might be pushed a little harder because of my brown skin or eyeshadow. I take issue with the many power dynamics which prevent women and femmes, people of color, queer people, and more from surrendering to the pit. Mosh pits have provided me with near-perfect experiences of bodily intimacy. I want these experiences to be available for all who seek them. I want my body, each body, to melt into the crowd without trepidation.
redesign moshing around love. Let the mosh pit expand to accept everyone who needs it. Let each body, whether in the pit or not, achieve ecstasy. Let the pit in all its nonviolent violence and care decry all forms of bodily harm. Let the pit pour into itself until each water molecule has loved its journey. Let it undulate. Like a body. Like a promise. Let it redouble its effort to stop violence from travelling anywhere else. Let the pit’s edges be the walls of a wave pool, where water can crash without splattering the world. Let this be the upper limit of our violence, the lower limit of our joy. Let us all dance until we bike home safe. JAIME SERRATO MARKS B'20 likes to collide with others.
+++ At the ice cream shop, my other coworker Charlie rushed in and said, “Be careful around Boston Common. My partner and I were just queer-bashed by some assholes.” “Are you OK?” We, the chorus, sang. “Oh I’m fine. But my partner got a nasty bruise.” +++ Despite its shortcomings, I have faith in the mosh pit. Compassionate mosh pits could be oases of care for those who want it. In a world which promises no safety for many bodies, mosh pits could grant curated bodily experiences. People can consent to pushing and nothing else, then experience pushing and nothing else. I believe the pit can grow to include those who are not included yet. With more bands like IDLES, more disciples of compassion in the punk scene, we can
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SIRENS, CAMERA, ACTION POLICING ENTERTAINMENT IN EAST PROVIDENCE
The sun is officially down, but a morose blue still lingers in the sky behind Sergeant Michael Rapoza. He’s driving somewhere, eyes forward, stern and focused. A camera films his profile. Rapoza speaks to the frame without turning his head. “We’re gonna go to this, uh, disturbance,” he says. Live PD cuts to a dark, gloomy yard in East Providence. Flashlights roam in and out of the camera frame as Sgt. Rapoza and the East Providence Police interview a man and a woman who have had a domestic dispute. The man wants the police to take the woman out of his house. The woman accuses him of being drunk. Sgt. Rapoza walks over to interview the woman while a younger, more apathetic officer, Ryan Cute, stays with the man. The man begins to rant. Somewhere in Manhattan, a team of editors cut out his curses as he unloads his troubles and biases. +++ For the producers of Live PD, this is expected content– segments of voyeuristic storytelling that make a particular episode good. On the ground in East Providence, however, these clips are more than just stories and often more than suburban interventions: they are filmed instances of police violence and surveillance. Because these interactions are broadcast as national television, Live PD provides the residents of East Providence with an opportunity to reckon with police interactions related specifically to privacy. +++ The man finishes his rant as Officer Cute looks off, tired. “Doesn’t sound like it’s going that well,” he says to the man. “No, it’s not. It’s been back and forth like this—but I love her; she loves me, you know–” “How long have you guys been together?” asks Cute. “Like four or five months, you know, it’s just crazy…” “Sounds like you’re in love,” says Cute. Cute’s delivery is like a punchline: sarcastic, welltimed. The man takes these words at face value, but like all forms of irony, the meaning is primarily aimed somewhere else. Watching Live PD on my computer, it is easy to see that Cute is working on two levels here: he’s responding to a man in East Providence while speaking to a national audience. "This is not love" is the subtext of Cute’s judgment. Beyond the word of law, beyond the testimonies of the man and the woman, Cute is offering a dramatic interjection. He’s playing to the camera. +++ According to Live PD's Head Producer Dan Cesareo, however, officers do not perform for the camera. In a 2015 interview following the show’s successful launch, Cesareo told IndieWire, “The cameras are there so much, and filming along a longer period of time, that people are who they are. Anyone who thinks they’re
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BY Miles Guggenheim ILLUSTRATION James Gately DESIGN Amos Jackson
going to behave differently when the cameras are Last month in East Providence, a woman sued actions. In a third person frame, the officer becomes present—that goes away very quickly.” Of course, this the city for one million dollars in emotional damages a character as much as an actor. By stepping outside is every documentarian’s ideal. No director or producer following an incident with the East Providence the subjective, procedural lens of a body camera into wants to interfere with the true, objective reality they Police Department (EPPD) and a Live PD camera. a larger frame broadcast to millions of people, they claim to portray. For Live PD, a show that attempts to According to the documents filed to the court, the climb onto a stage where action is expected even when formally separate itself from other “outdated” forms plaintiff had just stepped out of the shower when she it isn’t required. This is very different from the purpose of carceral reality television like Cops, the technical was called to open the door for what she thought were of body cameras, which aim to restrict police action, and aesthetic stakes are even higher. In practice they two East Providence police officers bearing urgent rather than incite it. can mean the difference between what is classified as news. Flanked by a Live PD producer and cameraman, Although the current lawsuit goes beyond the cheap reality entertainment, and what is classified as however, the officers were only there to confront her technicalities of consent and privacy on television live, earnest news. son for a 911 prank call she knew nothing about. in this particular instance, one cannot separate the Once upon a time, satellite trucks, wires, and To the disappointment of the officers and the film actions of the police from the actions of the camera. As on-site technicians were a necessary part of any live crew behind them, the primary source of conflict the camera’s demand for “real” content entwines itself television broadcast. Live PD, however, is one of the wasn’t home: the boy had made the prank call from his with the imposition of police authority, the two forces first shows to implement cellular camera packs, which friend’s house. The camera was without its intended bleed into each other so profoundly that their effects transmit footage wirelessly from 36 cameras, covering subject. Instead, forced to refocus its attention, Live are just as hard to delineate and unpack as the term 12 police departments across the country. This footage PD bore down on a disgruntled mother in a towel as “reality television” itself. streams all at once, continually, for three hours on she attempted to contact her boy, filming through the The words “reality television” form a paradox: Friday and Saturday nights. Although in the past, open door of the house. To her surprise, the woman one cannot see reality without the television, and one moments from Cops were cut together over months only noticed the cameras after she hung up the phone. cannot have television without reality. In this way, of post-production, Live PD offers a constant surplus “I know you did not just allow me to stand there in when television hits reality, both medium and content of real-time action. This way, if a story in Utah cools my towel, half naked, and be filmed without my knowl- inevitably converge into a feedback loop. This feeddown, producers can refocus your attention to a suspi- edge,” she allegedly told the officer. back loop can be controlled but not eliminated, effaced cious car pulled over in East Providence. “I told you there were documents,” replied an through aesthetics of journalistic immediacy but never Beyond intensifying the dramatic stakes on screen, officer. fully buried. Although it’s easy to dismiss Ryan Cute’s Live PD's immediate, decentralized apparatus of At that moment, it was unclear what the EPPD talented sense for dramatic irony as inconsequential, it production has allowed itself to claim a special status officer meant. However, later that night, a barrage of is proof of this entangled relationship between enterthat earlier examples of reality TV wouldn’t dream of. phone calls alerted the woman that Live PD had broad- tainment and state power. Subtle in the case of Officer Although footage on Live PD is delayed 20-40 minutes casted her, uncensored, in a towel. Neither EPPD nor Cute’s thoughts about love, but colossal for a worried for review and edits, the revolutionary speed of this Live PD asked for her consent. mother in East Providence. process allows the show to legally classify its content East Providence Police chief Chief Willaim Nebus as “live news.” With multiple monitors playing at the was hesitant to tell the College Hill Independent any +++ same time and a group of anchors and analysts itching specific details about the incident while the case is still to direct the viewer’s attention to the next “breaking pending. However, he expressed confidence in Live Two months ago, the East Providence Police event,” Live PD looks like a CNN desk. PD’s position, noting that all the content on-air was Department announced on Facebook that it would be These aesthetics wouldn’t be a problem if this first reviewed by lawyers who are trained to predict this “taking a break” from Live PD. Although this occured self-proclaimed genre of “objective journalism” didn’t sort of trouble before the footage is aired. Moreover, in after the lawsuit was filed, the EEPD made no indicaimbue the show with excessive privileges. In the past, spite of the charges, Nebus believes that Live PD has tion that the controversy had anything to do with the people who appeared on Cops had to sign release forms; the potential to reflect the EPPD in a good light. Unlike intermission. On the same post, they even hinted the airing live, Live PD has the unchecked ability to show Cops, he offered, Live PD is interested in more than just show might return to East Providence in the future. faces on screen, which means humiliating exposure on car chases. Many segments, in fact, show EPPD offiEarly this week, Chief William Nebus confirmed a national level for anyone who falls under the sights of cers helping the community, like the time EPPD officer with me that the break was only logistical. With new a police force working with A&E entertainment. Kyle Graves and a group of teenagers fixed a storm recruits being trained in the spring, there isn’t enough At a time where unchecked police brutality and drain at the public park. space in the patrol cars to hold Live PD crewmembers. violence has dominated the images and discourse Being filmed, according to Nebus, is a daily aspect Even with the lawsuit pending, Nebus told me that around American policing, Live PD’s journalistic sheen of policing in this day and age, whether it's a body EPPD is still open to working with Live PD in the future. has only helped its ratings. Escaping the question camera or a Live PD crew. Live PD, Nebus told me, This prospect brings up ethical implication for the City of glorifying police work as entertainment, Live PD considers itself an extension of the body cam system— of East Providence. In a court case where entertaincasts itself as moderator between the police and the the only difference being that it offers information to ment rights will be analyzed alongside police actions American public. In an official statement online, Live the public, faster than the usual bureaucratic steps it and civilian privacy, the community will likely have to PD goes as far as claiming that “Live PD viewers get takes to dig out footage from a database. When I asked come to a conclusion as to what Live PD’s mission really unfettered and unfiltered live access inside a variety of him if he thought officers acted differently in front is. Although the EPPD is proud of the way their officers the country’s busiest police forces.” of Live PD cameras vs. their own body cameras, he appear on camera, East Providence needs to reckon “Unfettered” and “unfiltered” are ambitious answered: “I don’t think so, you know, because you’re with its own status within the lens. In contrast to the words to describe a show that airs alongside Ghost still faced with the same—whether it's aggravation or EEPD, their status here is always subordinate to state Hunters, Neighbours with Benefits, and Storage Wars. the same set of facts in front of you. I don’t feel that force, an inescapable system of carceral power. Of course Live PD is filtered. The content it chooses they would act differently on camera.” to show and not show is curated by a staff of editors, But contrary to what Live PD proposes, their MILES GUGGENHEIM B’20 doesn't like when lawyers, and producers. Even still, taking inventory of camera perspective is quite different from a body cam. people refer to themselves in the third person. what is shown vs. erased, real vs. processed, or live vs. While body cams assume the first-person perspective late, distracts from the central question of how things of an officer, Live PD cameras incorporate the image on screen come to be. In other words, the problem with of the officer within the event taking place. As a result, Live PD is not in what the camera misses, but the events the officer isn’t just aware of the image their actions it compels. produce, but the image of themself producing these
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DIVINE NARRATION
The ethics and ethos of modern astrology BY Anabelle Johnson ILLUSTRATION Ryn Kang DESIGN Amos Jackson
By no fault but my own, I have retained very little rule. In the Ancient Greek period, the 12 tropical star astrology necessitates a level of critical self-reflection from my sixth-grade science class. Even so, I vaguely signs were established and utilized to predict both that I don’t engage in when writing emails, responding remember that tectonic shifts can cause natural disas- individual horoscopes and societal destinies. to Snapchats, and sending texts. It provides space and ters, that sound waves refract around buildings, and However, as astrology continued to evolve, the resources for introspection that can better inform that because of some combination of distance and separation between the human spirit and corpo- these outward projections. Simultaneously, each the speed of light, staring at the sky is simultaneously real presence grew fainter, and the physical being house and planetary motion can be spun to reaffirm staring at the past. On the few occasions that I am able has become increasingly relevant to the discus- how I see myself, allowing for complete autonomy of to trek away from civilization to view undisturbed sion of people and planetary placement. Ptolemy’s identity that still exists within a larger structure. The outer space, I marvel at the outstretched arms of the Tetrabiblos, written in the second century, can be act of placing oneself in a larger context and aligning Milky Way populated by stars that operate in their own considered the standard Western astrological text with a collective has long been integral to spiritemporal reality. This experience is adjacent to divine— dictating Earth as the fixed center of the universe tual connection, as established value systems have feeling connected to the universe in the largest sense encased by the spheres comprising space. Though later governed individual behavior long before the advent of of the phrase. I consider myself a skeptic and yet, am scientifically debunked, Ptolemy’s writing defined Signs As… listicles. However, modern astrology pushes compelled by the belief that even if the positionality of the Western conception of humanity’s place in the this system further, establishing a lateral structure the stars does not dictate my day-to-day life, the same universe for a millenia and continues to hold influence of belonging instead of hierarchical one, supposedly forces that govern planetary motion have the power to today. The modern language used to discuss astrology appealing to a different audience that values equality move me, even just a little bit. In the face of modernity, parallels this early explanation of space, regarding the even among difference. Astrology is then a palatable I still yearn for a connection to distant celestial bodies, individual as the unilateral Center in philosophical spirituality for a new generation, offering the outline nostalgic for a spirituality rooted in an ancient world disagreement with Copernicus, the Renaissance-era for a communal sense of identity while still allowing order. mathematician and philosopher who famously intro- the individual to self-apply the attributes that fit best. I’m not the only person engaged in this pseudo-sci- duced the heliocentric system accepted today. entific pursuit of a (partially manufactured) alignPerhaps that is what I like best about softly +++ ment between celestial bodies and myself. As one of subscribing to this divinity; astrology allows for over 5 million registered account holders on Co-Star, narrative construction that necessitates belonging to Unlike many spiritual practices or cultural superstia leading astrology app, I have let this practice embed a larger-than-life force. The mundanity of everyday tions, modern astrology is not generally inherited from itself in my daily routine through push notifications is replaced by broad statements about purpose and previous generations but often a practice stumbled and webs of alignment with friends. Contemporary potential. Turmoil can be explained away by uncon- upon by young people today through its ubiquity on practices of astrology offer a version of spirituality trollable bodies and success can be teased into fate. In social media. Instead of accepting my grandmother’s that still operates within the technological abyss I seek this vein, modern astrology compliments my current belief that whistling at night would summon spirits separation from. It appeals to a generation of youth view of the world as chaotic while allowing for an or sharing my mother’s fear of black cats, I sought out disillusioned with organized religion and hierarchical escape into the distant collective past. Similar to the my own set of erratic and abstract rules as defined by structures because it provides us with cosmic connec- cooptation of practices like yoga, tai chi, and crystal Mercury’s retrograde and the summer solstice. tion without demanding any significant changes to healing, astrology centers around the bond between Like many complacent followers, I choose what our consumerist lifestyles. Defining self meaning the body and being in the world with an emphasis on aspects of astrology I let permeate my daily life and through astrology is an act of rebellion reclaimed nature that is otherwise ignored in the fast-paced to what extent I believe in the marketing madness. because the practice reinforces early western ideology digital age. Today, approximately 84 percent of the Although I don’t feel like the archetypal Scorpio—my of humanity—and more specifically the individual—as United States population lives in urban areas, severed sun sign—I am always amused when a True Believer the center of the universe. from local food systems and surrounded by built envi- tells me I live up to the enigmatic and intense stereoronments. These spiritual practices offer a means of types. This blend of skepticism and spirituality defines +++ reconnecting with the Earth (and other planets) in an modern astrology, as many astrologists approach otherwise anthropocentric society, providing both readings with a self-deprecating sarcasm that has While astrology as we understand it today may take relief and a means of resistance against this structure. been incorporated into the discipline’s branding and more technological forms than traditional practices Astrology has also grown in popularity in queer adopted by both those creating and consuming astroonce did, human beings have long arranged their and activist spaces, viewed by some as a method logical content. On Twitter, accounts like @poetsaslives under the guidance of the sky. For many, ancient of deriving meaning for the individual beyond the trologers affectionately tease each sign with recurring astrological observances had both practical and spir- confines of the establishment. Perhaps this is because themes of vulnerability in romantic relationships and itual functions. Pragmatically, the rising of Sirius in it offers an alternative way of understanding ourselves therapy, utilizing meme-formats that reference pop mid-July allowed ancient Egyptians to plan for the that prioritizes our connections to each other as culture and liberal politics. The methodology works; annual flooding of the Nile, and centuries of travelers opposed to a higher power. Perhaps it is because it I chuckled slightly and resonated with a post made utilized the stars to act as a compass while exploring acts as a great equalizer of signs, stars, and people. In on January 16, 2020, reading “Crush: Into? Scorpio: uncharted territory. These early relationships between contrast with the strict impositions of many organized Universal healthcare & side to side burial plots.” humanity and nature contributed to many societies’ religions, astrology opens avenues for a connection to Astrology has been heralded as an internet fad by spatial understandings of themselves. Early astro- divinity that is not contingent upon the judgement of a the New York Times and The Atlantic, while Christine logical practices were also integrated into concepts of specific deity. For many members of the queer commu- Smallwood of The New Yorker posits that astrology spirituality, defined (within the context of astrology nity, the reclamation of labels and Zodiac signs is an is woven into millennial culture with much more and other non-religious practices) as anything related act of empowerment that marks the individual as the permanence. News organizations theorize why people to the human soul instead of the physical body. The ultimate determinant of how they are perceived by “believe” in astrology—some pointing to the new-age Assyrian Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa, for example, others. aesthetics that accompany the practice. Pastels and provided both observations of planetary motions and Complex contemporary astrology separates the finely drawn decorations of constellations appeal to their corresponding omens. Similarly, Zodiac signs set self into basic identity, emotions, and the mask I present an alternative brand of nostalgia that has emerged in by constellations appearing in the sky at a certain time to others, making it easy to isolate aspects of my being the face of the hypermodern digital age. In essence, of year existed as early as 1500 B.C. under Babylonian that otherwise feel impossibly intertwined. Practicing looking to the stars is not only an act of observing the
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past but a means of transporting back into it. Astrology Everyone to sit behind a screen and feel understood. presents fate as simultaneously prescribed and satiates a desire to outwardly reject bureaucratization Some psychologists theorize that the extensive malleable. Instead of placing limitations on the future and return to what is perceived as an older (and purer) personalization of technology-based astrology speaks or writing the present as a vehicle towards a definite world order, marketed through planners covered in to a newly compressed generation that emphasizes end, astrology offers a spirituality set in the moment. personal constellations and Zodiac candles. Stores individuality, while standing out becomes increasingly It allows its supporters to navigate the world with like Urban Outfitters market astrological spirituality challenging. Old-school newspaper horoscopes have divine assistance as opposed to rigid theological prinas something to be consumed, and my many Zodiac been replaced by readings that delve deeply into the ciples, and provides structural comfort in the face of themed catch-all dishes, t-shirts, and posters may be Zodiac associations for every planet (including Pluto) unpredictability. I like when Co-Star tells me that I evidence that I’ve bought into the branding. However, for each consumer, calculated by birth date down to love and am loved or that money isn’t real, enjoying the commodified blend of time and space that the minute. In the face of increased anonymity and the nonsensical affirmations stated with the same astrology provides is only accessible to those who can mass-everything, it is comforting to think that eleven authority usually reserved for fact. These 140-charafford it, removing much of the integrity of the original celestial bodies have aligned in a way that is entirely acter-or-fewer horoscopes help mediate how I move practice and folding it into the current capitalist struc- unique to me. through the world, on my terms. ture. While the practice is available to all, gift guides Regardless of its longevity and the exact rationale I don’t view astrology as a scientific tool or even tailored to each Zodiac sign and astrologists-for-hire behind its resurgence, astrology has become an act a roadmap towards my future when Uranus orients serve as a reminder that astrology is still an industry of spectacle in both my personal life and in the public opposite from where Venus was located when I was that, although accessible in some ways, operates for domain, as apps like Co-Star and The Pattern make it born. Although I spend hours scrolling through profit. easy to share this form of external validation and cate- Co-Star, absentmindedly watching the pages Buzzfeed quizzes and Instagram posts that flip- gorization. As I read through my daily horoscope, I am reload and fill with more information about how the pantly label “face masks and tea” as a Taurus trait and directed to the alignment between myself and every angles between planets impact my impulsivity, I am “scented candles for every room” as distinctly Cancer interpersonal relationship in my life. Often, the predic- consciously searching for resonance in the present. speak to millenials and Gen-Z, and repeat permu- tions fulfill themselves, not because they are exact but Some psychologists explain the apparent success tations of the same fundamentals of self-care. The because they are a filter through which the world can of astrology as “active manifesting”—the belief in value systems outlined by astrological categorization be viewed and narrated, a guiding set of storyboard impending good fortune wills many to prepare for it typically serve upper middle class women, providing principles instead of plot points. While a contradic- and work harder—but I find the most compelling truth superficial connections with the intended effect of a tion between my basic identity (Scorpio) and the basic to lie in what is, not what will be. Although my initial light-hearted “that’s so me.” This brand of astrology is identity of someone I met (Leo) may not have been the affection for astrology stems from a desire for spirinot unlike the personality archetypes determined by direct cause for the gradual deterioration of our rela- tual connection to space, nature, and effectively, the the Myers-Briggs tests or “tag-yourself” post formats tionship, the fact that she believed it would inhibit our past, the role it plays in my life is much more rooted that depend on the consumers’ desire to be seen as friendship did exactly that. This was not my first or last in the present. Astrology reflects the modern ethos they see themselves. Social media presences like the experience with blind adherence to randomness, and I of understandable chaos and a desire to explain the Astro Poets podcast and @astrobebs on Twitter paint have come to understand the consistency with which uncontrollable and impossible. So often have we been each sign in a flattering light without ever delving into these online platforms have predicted the success forced to choose between extremes of secularism and specifics, instead aligning signs with celebrities and of my relationships not as a reflection of divine inter- belief that astrology provides a much needed relief by outfits from the Oscars. My horoscope for the second vention but of my own internalization of a haphazard allowing both. My understanding of constellations and week of February tells me that I finally know what I narrative. Technology and modern astrology are not planetary motions is deliberately loose, as my underwant professionally (whatever that may be) and it’s forces in conflict, but ones that work with each other to standing of myself relies on the negative capability of time for real love, baby. That same day, @astrobebs cater to our generation, as the window it provides to the personhood and the space between the stars. posted, “one thing astrology emphasizes is that people past plants us firmly in the present. are perpetually going through something, perpetually ANABELLE JOHNSTON B'23 is still waiting for the at some kind of crossroads in their life. it makes salient +++ stars to align. the fact that we are all in this together, all need to catch a break, and would benefit from a smile/hug NOT For me, a large part of astrological appeal is the judgement.” This recognition is read by thousands as funneling of the divine through mundane chana sigh of relief and is written to allow an ambiguous nels. Like tarot cards and palm readings, astrology
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DEAR INDY
BY SS & CT ILLUSTRATION Leslie Benavides DESIGN Daniel Navratil
How do I know the difference between being friends with someone and having romantic feelings for them? I guess the traditional response to this question is: Do you want to see them naked? If so, the feelings are romantic. Obviously this answer has been more or less debunked—you can love someone like that without wanting to sleep with them, and you can certainly want to sleep with someone without feeling that way. But I think there’s still merit in that response, if you substitute in a different definition of naked. Let’s grant that everyone has parts of themselves that they would prefer no one see. You have probably at some point done or been something so evil and/or mortifying that you’re pretty sure it would kill you if anyone found out about it. Maybe you experience hatred more intensely than seems normal, or like attention in a way that seems pathological, or were partially culpable for the death of a class pet. Maybe you just don’t think you’re very smart. In any case, you don’t want anybody to know about this terrible thing you’re hiding, so you hide it as effectively as you can. It’s very possible to be friends with someone without letting them in on your big secret. Probably your friends can see some of it but not all; they might also politely ignore what they can see, for the sake of the friendship. You probably aren't dying for the chance to glimpse most of your friends’ most buried shames, either. In friendship, it’s mutually understood that you aren’t trying to strip away all of each other’s layers and get to whatever newly-revealed horror awaits. In other words: You aren’t trying to get each other naked. Sometimes, though, you want to see everything about someone. You want to know what makes them irrationally angry or sad, and you want to know what drives them to pathetic desperation. You want to know how this person would respond to absolutely anything What's a good thing to do on Valentine's Day if How do I cope with the fact that when I'm with that happened to them, even if their response was your person is away? the girlfriend, all I can do is think about all the objectively pretty terrible, because it would be them work I need to do? having it. You want to see what they’re like when they To be in a relationship is to always have a person away. aren’t concealing anything at all. Worse: You want Part of what makes someone lovable is the fact that There are plenty of pragmatic solutions to this problem: them to see everything about you. You want them you cannot have them all the time. There is some- rearranging your schedule, studying together, etc. But to look at you without whatever carefully assembled thing especially tragic about spending Valentine’s it seems like that’s not really what you’re asking for; outfit you usually have on, and you want them to like Day apart—it’s the one day couples are allowed, even you’re asking how to deal with the fact that you do feel what they see. encouraged, to be together in public. bad. You can probably tell where I’m going with this. If I think it’s actually a good thing that you see work everything you find out about someone just makes you - Sit on a park bench. When someone sits down next and your relationship as at odds. One pretty common want to learn more—if the best thing you can imagine to you, tell them the seat is taken. For your person, way to reconcile love and work, if it feels like there’s being able to do with this person is to know everything who is sitting both somewhere far away and very conflict between the two, is to concede to work. Some about them—then it’s my view that what you feel could close inside. industrious-minded people in relationships decide to reasonably be called romantic. Good luck! - Take yourself out for dinner. When the host asks see their relationships as work in the same way they for the size of your party, let yourself hold their pity, see schoolwork as work, not necessarily in that they -CT answer for one, eat for the two of you. put work into them, but in that they believe the rela- Go on a long train ride. Lean into the frame of the tionships check a socially necessary box and will, in Is a campus roof a good place for a first date? window. Do a crossword and leave a few blank the long run, get them something. This view of relaWhich roofs are optimal? for them. Calculate the new distance from your tionships can make it easier to prioritize them, if you’re person. Measure what, if anything, changes. inclined to anxiety about box-checking (as it sort of Roofs can be very good places for first dates, because - Leave them a voicemail. If they try to call you, sounds from your question, you might be), but it also in climbing onto them you show that you are either do not pick up. Let their voice arrive, so you may cheapens them pretty significantly. athletic or feel irrationally invincible of body, each of remember what it is like to hold at least one part of So: You could book “be with the girlfriend” into which can be very charming to a certain kind of person. them close. your Google Calendar and treat her like a box to check, This advice columnist has only ever brought love inter- Order yourself their favorite food. You under- but we’ve already established my perspective on that. ests to the roofs of off-campus properties, all reachable stand the power of a shot of vanilla syrup in your You could also spend less time with her and more in the by ladder or, at the very least, fire escape. But it always matcha latté. Still do not understand the allure of library, or whatever. But there are lots of people (again— went pretty well, and the same is probably true for a sandwiches brimming with olives. Pick up a pint of it seems, respectfully, like you might be one of them) university-owned building. strawberry ice cream for the day they are no longer for whom no amount of work is enough work. I’m not I’m going to offer some unconventional advice: away. convinced that changing the ratio of girlfriend to work If you can swing it, go for a roof that is almost impos- Make sure your person writes a list of the good would really help you quarantine work away from your sible to get onto but pretty safe once you’re up there. things to do when you’re away. The layout of this relationship. Really, my inclination is to tell you that You don’t want to worry about plunging to your death list, this way of being, is not reserved for one day interpersonal connection is the only meaningful thing mid-date, but you do want the opportunity to show off or a threshold of distance. Let them carry it with in the world, nothing else matters, and being good at upper-body strength, willingness to spot or provide a them always. work is never going to feel as good as being in love. If boost, and/or, of course, stupidity. you don’t feel that way, you could break up with her—or, -SS better, you could break up with work. -CT -CT
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LITERARY
14 FEB 2020
but my professor told me to stop and look. It used to make me sad that I can’t bottle up smells, but that doesn’t make me sad anymore. Probably because I still get a waft every so often. I found paint and other things like that to be good for past tenses.
The lines have a lot of me in them. I don’t have a good memory but I do remember those wood and wicker kitchen chairs. Or the hanging lights that painted a monster on my ceiling. The painting sang to the rhythm of my father’s footsteps. I dreamt about it all. I remember this one pair of pajamas, too, and the boredom. I was going to paint my pasts in between the stripes
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It’s all very romantic. The pink and white stripes are three layers deep and the lines have a lot of me in them.
lovebird
L I S T
2.14 - 2.20
Friday 2.14
Indy Valentine’s Day Concert Finlandia Co-op, 116 Waterman St. 8:30 PM Singles, smoochers, swingers: Ring out your Valentine’s Day at our famous pledge drive dance. Honeycomb, Charm, and Stamen and the Pistols will be playing songs that round all the bases of love from lust to loss. In seriousness: The Indy would not be in your hands right now if it weren’t for the readers who support our work. Give us a little cash and we’ll give you a great show.
Saturday 2.15
Fetish Fair Fleamarket Crowne Plaza Hotel, 801 Greenwich Ave, Warwick Goes all weekend Either you will engage in commodity fetishism in the marketplace or in the fetish festivities at this weekend-long fleamarket hosted by the New England Leather Alliance. That’s to say: there’s no way out, so choose the less horrible option. Sorry kiddos, this event is 18+.
Sunday 2.16
Police Unity Tour Fundraiser: Drag Brunch The Black Sheep Providence, 397 Westminster St. 10:30AM In honor of something called “police unity,” drag performers will be hosting brunch at a gastropub, $35 per person. Every part of the preceding sentence is really depressing—skip it and go to Fair Chance Licensing Canvassing instead. Fair Chance Licensing Canvassing Nonviolence Institute, 265 Oxford St. 12PM - 3PM Join the Formerly Incarcerated Union of RI and the Fair Chance Licensing Coalition in their fight to ensure work opportunities for people recently released from jail or with criminal records. The Coalition is working specifically to pass a bill that would reduce barriers to entry to career paths with occupational license—like plumbing, hair dressing, and social work—to people involved ensnared in the courts system. Help them gather signatures to demonstrate constituent support to legislators.
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Monday 2.17
Baby Yoda All Ages Paint Event Casey’s Fun Faces (4171 North Main St., Fall River) 5:30 - 7:30PM The canvas you will paint! Unclear it is whether this is an earnest event along the lines of “make your own Olivander’s wand” or if it’s more on the level of nyancat merchandise. Unclear it is, too, how much leeway you’ll have here—whether you’ll be able to paint Yoda holding something silly, or whatever.
Tuesday 2.18
Candidate Forum: Ward 1 City Council Special Election The Pavilion at Grace, 300 Westminster Ok, this oughta be good: Incumbent Councilman Seth Yurdin beat out DSA-endorsed Justice Gaines for the Ward 1 seat last fall and resigned a year and a half later (why, this List Writer has to wonder, did he run for re-election in the first place, edging out a more radical candidate, just to resign soon after?). Now, in the special election to fill the seat, there’s no one exciting running. You may have seen signs all over the East Side for John Concalves, a Fox Point native who was involved in political campaigns in Minnesota for some years but has most recently been sitting on East Side neighborhood boards since coming back to the city. He’s up against grim pickings: Nick Cicchitelli, a real estate developer, and Anthony Santurri, who owns the Coliseum night club. The forum will be moderated by BoGlo darling Dan McGowan.
Thursday 2.20
Stefano Bloch Book Talk Faunce House, Brown University, 75 Waterman St. Stefano Bloch, notorious graffiti writer turned cultural geographer, will be returning to Brown where he was a postdoc until 2017 to talk about his new book, Going All City. Out now from UChicago Press, the book describes Bloch’s life as it intersected with cultural phenomena of 90s LA, from graffiti subculture to the heroin epidemic. If you’re lucky, he’ll tag University Hall to show you that graffiti’s roots are in transgression, not expression.