Your Magazine Vol. 4 Issue 15: March 2015

MARCH 2Ø15

INTRODUCTION

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Volume 4 Issue 16 • March 2015 DANNY LEMAR

CLAUDIA MAK

Editor-in-Chief

Creative Director & Head of Design

CHRIS GARCIA+ NOUR BASSAD

CHRISTABEL FRYE

RIANA ODIN

CHRSTIAN LOPEZ

Marketing Director

CAITLYN BUDNICK

Head Copy Editor

A&E Editor

CHELSEA TREMBLAY

Living Editor

Managing Editor

PEYTON DIX

Asst. Editor-in-Chief

Photo Directors Romance Editor

MATTHEW MULLEN

PERI LAPIDUS

Head of Beauty & Talent Manager

PIMPLOY PHONGSIRIVECH Art Director

HANNAH PERRIN+ RIVKA HERRERA YMtv Directors

ANDREA PALAGI Style Editor

HALEY SHERIF

Asst. Creative Director

MADELINE BILIS+ KAREN MORALES Web Editors

Copy Editors JACQUELYN MARR, PAULINA PASCUAL, KELSEY PERKINS, JAMIE KRAVITZ, CHRISTABEL FRYE, ARIELA RUDY, DIANA DILORETO, ISABELLA DIONNE, JULIA ROBERTO

Marketing KATJA VULJIĆ, SYDNEY HANNIBAL, KATHY BAIK, EVAN MCCRORY

YMtv AMANDA GOMEZ, LINDSAY GUALTIERI, TERRENA SCANNELL, MEGHIN HEWITT, RORY MCCANN, WILLIAM VICKROY, STEPHANIE PUMILIA, JAIME TOSCANO, ALEXANRDA JAMES, TATIANA OCHOA, ANDY KEYES

Layout Design by CLAUDIA MAK AND CLAIRE TORRES Editorial Styling by PAULINE HEVIA

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

AT 7:25 P.M. ON THURSDAY, FEB. 26, I was

trapped on an inbound green line train between Copley and Arlington. My knees were bouncing and my head was twitching. I was wearing a skinny wool grey tie, a black cardigan over my button-down, black trousers, and dress shoes I had only worn once before (to prom). I was sweating and could smell my own deodorant. Everyone else on the train looked just as annoyed and pinched as I must have been. I might have been moving, but the train was not, and I was going to be late for the ballet.

As you will find in this issue of Your Magazine, Boston Ballet’s 51st season continued with Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias. I was honored to be invited to attend opening night for Your Mag, but perhaps I could have left my home earlier.

After what felt like hours, the train started moving again and I sprinted to the Opera House, Moleskin and pen in hand. I made it with a minute to spare. I settled into my red velvet seat and took in the opulence of the room. The Boston Opera House has a very old world romantic feel to it, the kind that I imagine when I think about Anna Karenina. An older woman sat next to me and we exchanged polite smiles, as if to say, “I’ll stay on my side if you stay on yours.” We were both there alone.

Then the house lights dimmed, people turned their phones to silent (at least some of them did), and the curtain rose. I’ve only ever seen one other ballet and that was Swan Lake, also at Boston Ballet in the fall. It was beautiful, with the dancing and the costumes, but I knew the story and thus I found myself trying to catch changes they might have made from previous versions. With Lady of the Camellias, I watched with fresh eyes. Everything was special; everything was important. Dance is a different kind of art than painting or theatre.

It’s so out of reach and yet so tangible. I used to dance when I was younger. It was just tap and jazz, but it felt so good to move, like I was really expressing something. I truly wish I had stuck with it.

By the end of the performance, I didn’t want to move from my seat. I was completely transfixed with what I had just seen that I could have spent another hour just watching. The woman next to me leaned over during the curtain calls and asked, “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?”

It might not have started out that way, but my night concluded in a very, very good place.

XO,

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THE PLASTIC PARADISE

BRINGING THEIR A-GAME

SHAFTED

SKATE STEEZE

EMERSON’S TOP SHELF

MY BIRTHMARK SIXTH PERIOD

LATE NIGHT SNACK

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JULIA WOOD

CABOT PETOIA

CHELSEA TREMBLAY

KAREN MORALES

MEGAN CATHEY

ANDREA PALAGI PHOTOGRAPHED BY MICHAEL THORPE

LINDSEY GONZALEZ

PARENTING A PET

PUERTO RICAN CUISINE

EVOLUTION OF CROWDFUNDING

LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS

HARPER LEE IN A POST-FERGUSON WORLD

ON DIRECTIONING...

IS FRANK OCEAN COMING BACK? PUBLISHING POSTHUMOUSLY

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RIANA ODIN

ESTHER BLANCO

KENDALL STARK

DANNY LEMAR

DIANA DILORETO

ALYSHA BOYNTON

KATJA VULJIĆ KATJA VULJIĆ

HE

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plastic paradise ROMANCE

By Julia Wood Illustration by Claudia Mak

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I’ve had the humbling experience of placing my feet into stirrups that were so far apart that the only feasible thing that I could be doing was riding a horse. This was not the case, though; rather, I was riding a table. I was trapped in a cramped room that smelled of latex, rubbing alcohol, and baby powder. Detailed maps of vaginas, cervixes, and labias decorated the walls; latex gloves, condoms, and hand sanitizer filled the nearby counter. It felt like I was waiting forever in there with a small paper blanket placed awkwardly over my naked lap. If you haven’t guessed where I was by now, you’ve never experienced the glory of a trip to the gynecologist. Here’s everything—and maybe more—you’d ever want to know about the gynecologist, my vagina, and—even more specifically—what every woman must know about putting a noose around her uterus. I must warn you this is not for the faint hearted. The following information will be bloody and open—both literally and figuratively.

The intrauterine device, better known as the IUD, is a form of contraception used only by women. Let me be straightforward—the IUD is a plastic noose that your lovely gynecologist puts through your uterus that is nearly—emphasis on nearly, ladies and gentlemen—100 percent effective at preventing any little swimmers from getting through and creating life within you. It’s like a friendship bracelet for your vagina. You and all of your besties can have one—and just like the ones made of string, this one is a real bitch to take off.

The IUD is one of the most effective types of birth control on the market today, and it didn’t earn that reputation by being easily knocked out of place, which many women worry about. Don’t let the seriousness of this contraceptive scare you; it is extremely easy to get.

One simple conversation with your gynecologist can begin the process of getting the IUD. I inquired about the IUD because I was not great at remembering to take my daily pill, and as a result, I had my period for three weeks out of every month. In my opinion, 252 days was too many visits from Mother Nature in a year. (Yes, I did the math and, yes, I do go to Emerson). Thankfully the conversation with my gynecologist was simple; she informed me that my situation made me a great candidate for this method. The IUD does not protect from STDs or STIs—the only thing it does is

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prevent pregnancy (queue Coach Carr). So basically, it’s best if you are only fooling around with one person whom you are sure is clean of STDs when getting this little piece of plastic.

The procedure is easy but I wouldn’t go alone; to be completely honest, bring someone who can handle having their hand squeezed until it basically falls off. The insertion of the IUD takes about three minutes, but be prepared. The first key step when having the IUD inserted is to be on your period. Don’t go unless you’re prepared to bleed all over your gynecologist—it’s actually highly recommended because your cervix is already open when you are bleeding, therefore, making the insertion a teeny weeny bit easier.

To begin, you will fully undress from the waist down.

I recommend you wear sweatpants and take a Midol before your appointment. You may feel silly walking in, but you’ll be thanking me when you are walking out. You will lay down on the table with your legs up in the stirrups just like you would if you were having a pap smear or a regular exam.

The gynecologist will insert a speculum, which is a metal device to crank your vagina open. This sounds unpleasant because it is (but it only lasts for a brief few minutes.) The doctor cleans your cervix and may or may not numb your lady parts, depending on your tolerance of pain. Mine was not numbed, but after the experience, I would recommend numbing. Next, the doctor inserts the insertion tube loaded with the IUD through the cervix and into your uterus. This is the briefest part of the procedure and yet the most painful.

It feels like the longest most painful cramp of your life. This pain—for the most part—subsides once the doctor is completely removed from your vagina.

The following days after this you will want to be on the couch, in sweats, with a heating pad and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. You’ll be sore and crampy, but I promise this only lasts a few days and then the fun part begins—the sex.

As I’m sure you’re wondering, no, he will not feel it. If your boyfriend or partner says they can feel your IUD during sex, they need to seriously check their ego. Your IUD is tucked safely inside your uterus. There is no penis, dildo, or finger long enough to penetrate that far inside of your uterus (unless you’re into some freaky stuff, in which case, refrain).

More importantly, you won’t feel it, either. This allows you

two (or three, or whatever you’re into) to get into the heat of the moment worry-free. I still, however, do recommend that you wrap it before you tap it. I’m not trying to be anyone’s mom, but it is important to remember that the IUD doesn’t protect you from sexually transmitted infections or diseases.

Less than one out of 100 women get pregnant each year when using the IUD. The intrauterine device is the most effective form of birth control on the market to this day—top shelf, if you will. Its like the Grey Goose of the birth control world. The IUD also lasts for five years. Throughout these five years you can just absolutely forget that it’s there! If need be, you can have it taken out by your doctor at any time. In the event that the device gets bumped around or, for some reason, wiggles out of place due to horseback riding or something, it can cause some discomfort for its owner. The plus, however, is even though it may not be positioned optimally, it’s still providing the same amount of protection against pregnancy. No pills, no patches, no needles, no nothing. It’s that easy. And last, but not least, the best pro of them all. The intrauterine device can completely diminish your period. Gone. Poof. You will no longer have a monthly period with the convenience of not having a child nine months later! Until the IUD came around, this was only found in girls’ dreams across the globe.

Now for the cons. These cons suck, but it would be unfair of me not to share them with you all. Other than the ones previously mentioned, there are also side effects that are highly unlikely but possible. The IUD could cause a pelvic infection or issues with menstruation. One in 1,000 women suffer from these issues. The last thing is the cost. If your IUD is not covered under your insurance (which they normally are) it can be quite expensive—up to $1,000 dollars. So while it may be the most effective form of birth control it is not the cheapest.

Call me biased, but these are the only known issues the IUD may cause.

So imagine a wondrous night with your guy. You’re in the heat of the moment, the lights are dim and you don’t have to awkwardly interrupt with, “Do you have a condom?” Instead, you get to have a worry free night in the sack. From one college girl to another, that sounds pretty good to me.

IUD FACTS There are three different types of IUD’s available in the United States. What you choose depends on a number of factors such as your age, the intensity of your periods, and if you have had a child before.

It is by far the most effective (99%) and most cost efficient method of birth control. Although the initial price can be up to $850 depending on your insurance, the cost over time is much less expensive than other methods of birth control.

The insertion might be the number one reason why you are most afraid of this method... but fear not! Many compare the pain to that of a routine pap smear.

Just don’t google ‘IUD pain experiences’ before your visit!

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G TH EIR GIN BRIN ROMANCE

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-game

By Cabot Lee Petoia

AS AN ENTHUSIASTIC MEMBER

of the LGBTQIA community, I try to familiarize myself with letters other than the L. I recently realized, however, that I knew next to nothing about the letter on the other end of the acronym. The A in LGBTQIA represents asexual/aromantic/agender (an individual could identify with just one, two, or all three of the representations of ‘A’). After speaking with two lovely ladies about their experiences with identifying on the asexuality spectrum, I realized that most people don’t fully understand the A either. Here’s a look into the world of the “wantless” in a society so entirely wrapped around “want.”

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Sierra Valdez ‘16, hails from Spokane, Washington.

She informed me that people who identify as asexual don’t come out of the closet like other members of the LGBTQIA community, they “come out of the pantry, pre-prepared with cake batter.” Valdez started her process of “coming out of the pantry” a couple of years ago. She explains that as a teenager, she was just as boy crazy as all of her peers, but later realized that this was a product of peer pressure and social norms, and the actual thought of sex made her extremely uncomfortable.

Navigating difficult and confusing emotions, she found her answer on the wondrous world of Tumblr when she accidentally came across a page called Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN). Before discovering AVEN, Valdez says, “I was trying to figure out sex, like the rest of my friends… but then realized that maybe I didn’t have to.”

Valdez explains that a lot of people confuse asexuality with immaturity. Jesse Bering debunks this myth in her 2009 article for Scientific American Mind magazine by saying, “By all appearances, most asexual people are normal, healthy, hormonally balanced and sexually mature adults who have always found sex to be one big, bland yawn.”

Of course, Valdez doesn’t needs some scientist to validate her identity—she was perfectly comfortable discussing it with me, despite the fact that we had spoken before she

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responded to a post I wrote on the EAGLE Facebook page.

Valdez identifies as biromantic, meaning she finds romantic connections with both men and women. She told me that to her, romance means “having a life partner that would look like any other relationship, just probably without the sex,” unless she changes her mind under different circumstances later on, which is totally plausible. Asexuality, like any other identity, can be fluid.

Meghan Cortess ‘18 has been coming out of the pantry for about a year. She explains that coming to terms with her asexuality was “a period of wrong assumptions, then one big realization.” Similar to Valdez, she felt that sex was a requirement, but one that she did not want to meet. Cortess’s “one big realization” was also sparked by Tumblr, where she came across a simple definition of the word “demisexual,” and thought, “That sounds just like me.”

People who identify as demisexual would only ever have sex with someone whom they had an intense, long-term emotional bond with. Cortess stresses that it is not simply the need to get to know someone first, which many people who do not identify as asexual often experience. She says, “People just can’t get a grip on the concept. In such a sex-oriented society, sex is like the greatest thing. But you have to look at it from my perspective.” She says that, for her, “sexuality is just

a bunch of shrugs,” and she could die a virgin and be perfectly happy. Like Valdez, Cortess points out that romance does not need to include sex. She identifies as heteroromantic, meaning that she feels romantic attraction to men.

Cortess says that even people within the LGBTQIA community have a hard time understanding demisexuality, because they think that you can’t be “asexual with exceptions sometimes.” She explains that when she came out to her gay male friend in high school, he responded by saying she was “broken.” But it is important to remember that everything has a spectrum and can be fluid, and there is nothing weird about that.

Cortess explains demisexuality with her own “Cheeseburger Theory.” She instructs you to picture the most delicious cheeseburger in front of you. It looks amazing all the time. But sometimes you just aren’t hungry at all. And then sometimes, occasionally, you might want to take a bite.

And you shouldn’t need to justify taking that bite.

Cortess’ interview was peppered with jokes and tidbits that were both funny and informative. She said that she and her friend, who also identifies as demisexual, came across a comic that read, “If you keep up this asexuality thing, no one will want to fuck you,” and they both cried with laughter.

Roughly one percent of the world’s population identifies as asexual, not including those who have yet to come out of the pantry or have yet to realize that asexuality “is a thing.” Cortess says that one percent seems like a miniscule number, but one percent of seven billion people is 70,000,000, and that doesn’t seem so miniscule of a number anymore.

Cortess wants to increase visibility of asexuality through her work in television, hoping to one day write, direct, and produce a TV series featuring an asexual character. Needless to say, this will not be easy, since prime time TV primarily buys into sex appeal. But Dennis Leary ‘79 does feature an asexual character on his series Sirens, which Cortess feels is a positive start.

As we all navigate our personal love lives, it is important to be aware of the wide spectrum of emotional possibilities. Our Earth is full of beautiful people of all kinds, and romance comes in countless forms. So, hats off to Valdez and Cortess for contributing to the public dialogue in a college that is striving for ultimate acceptance and understanding, and may many others continue to sing the asexuality anthem loud and proud.

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! d e t f a sh ROMANCE

By Chelsea Tremblay Photo Art by Chris Garcia

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“They smell, they’re sticky, they say things that are horrible, and there is semen all over everything. Disgusting. I cracked a blanket in half.”

–Rita, Bridesmaids (2011)

In modern Western culture, the male is basically a walking, talking penis. Girls have been trained to believe that all men want is sex. Schools feel the need to make strict dress codes because “boys will be boys” and just can’t stop thinking about sex. Will we ever give males the credit to be anything more than that? Males are, in fact, the gender we insist on reserving for the role of presidency.

The growing recognition and involvement with feminism today is taking the gender dialogue and focusing it on women when we should be talking about everyone. Yes, women have been severely mistreated throughout history, but men have been reared to allow this to happen. It’s time to recognize this and change it. It’s time to take the discussion a bit further and widen the lens, beginning with male sexuality.

Most people recognize male masturbation as a common occurrence; it makes cameos in numerous movies and TV shows, yet men’s arousal is never spoken about. Men aren’t portrayed as feeling erotic; it is the woman who is supposed to be vulnerable, supposed to be wanting. Think of TV advertising—the woman is left running after the man, mouth agape, eyes aglow because of his…cologne? Magnum ice cream bar?

The man is supposed to be the provider, the one doing the action, never the feeling. When he performs any resemblance of feeling it’s a bad thing—he’s a “pussy,” or a “little bitch.”

And if he can’t respond to another’s wanting, American culture has made sure to shove the solution down consumers’ throats: Viagra. Because god forbid if you’re 75 and can’t get a hard on at the drop of a dime. Flaccidity is next to sacrilege in our culture—we literally call it impotence, a.k.a useless. This very unrealistic idea of men has been cultivated in advertise-

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ments and mass consumed in all forms of media: the idea that a man is always ready for sex. And when he’s not, well, he has a problem. Erectile dysfunction, a problem that can, conveniently, be fixed by calling this 1-800 number and popping 10 pills a day! Or, if he can’t keep it up long enough because, you know, his junk is performing its anatomical duty, we call it premature ejaculation. So if you can’t perform, it’s an issue, but if you perform too well, it’s an issue. You guys can’t win!

Also, men must keep in mind that in order to even get in the sack with someone, they’ve got to be ripped. Magazines, movies, and music videos notoriously enhance arm width, protrude mystery ab muscles, and enlarge the, um, “bulge.”

Take Justin Bieber’s recent Calvin Klein advertisement. Unfortunately, he played into the pro-Photoshop culture, claiming that the ads were untouched because, you know, he works out. No one is arguing that you’re fit, Justin, just that readers shouldn’t be given false ideals of men’s physique (although the alleged Photoshopping is technically not confirmed). In 2009, tennis player Andy Roddick was more outspoken about the generous retouching he was given on the cover of Men’s Fitness, saying, “I’m not as fit as the Men’s Fitness cover suggests…little did I know I have 22-inch guns and a disappearing birthmark on my right arm.”

Photoshopping is a major issue when it comes to body image today. In 2013, the American Medical Association even recognized the practice as hazardous and encouraged advertising agencies to adopt new policies on photo enhancement.

A member of the association, Dr. McAneny, publicly stated, “We must stop exposing impressionable children and teenag-

ers to advertisements portraying models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software.”

Interestingly, the public dialogue around Photoshopping has primarily revolved around females. Statistics on male Photoshopping are practically non-existent. Ironically, this highlights the problem. The absence of concern over how men feel about unrealistic, unattainable body images only reinforces the notion that men are supposed to be emotionless. Men developing eating disorders or having self-esteem issues because they don’t look like Ryan Gosling or The Rock is seemingly “ludicrous”…but it’s not. Take for example, this quote taken from an article on Beautyredefined.net discussing the harm of retouching: “Perhaps even more startling is the 119 percent increase in the number of children under age 12 hospitalized due to an eating disorder between 1999 and 2006, the vast majority of whom were girls.” Why is it unimportant how many boys were hospitalized? Are females the only human beings with emotions? In the 2009 New York Times article, “Smile and Say ‘No Photoshop,’” only nine words out of the 1,400 word article were used to discuss male photoshopping, and the article was written by a man.

Thinned and smoothed body images target women in a hurtful way because they attack their self-esteem—making them think that they won’t be wanted if they aren’t poreless and a size 00. Toning and refining men’s bodies targets the core of their very self—because in 2015 America, true manliness is something men are convinced they have to work to achieve (and that’s hard to do when society’s idea of true manliness is a GQ model).

“According to sociobiology models, women are, by virtue of their biology, ‘true women,’” Emerson gender studies professor Tulasi Srinivas explains. “As the anthropologist Sherry Ortner tells us, they are ‘closer to nature.’ Men, on the other hand according to anthropologists, have to work

for masculinity; it is a battle for them. They are not born ‘real men,’ it’s something they have to earn by being strong, or brave, or doing something reckless or violent.”

Just think of all those feel-good movies where the father places his hand on his son’s shoulder and says, “Today you are no longer a boy, you’re a man.” It’s usually after the kid goes hunting or saves the day or something heroic--but it’s a specific, defining moment. Girls simply become women by being crampy and wearing pads.

“The moment I became a man?” Anthony Mastracci ‘15 pondered. “I guess it was when I started paying my own car insurance. When I was finally independent of my parents.”

When faced with the question of what it means to be a man, Charlie Greenwald ‘16 and Mastracci agreed on one thing.

“A man is someone who is comfortable in his own skin,” says Greenwald. “If you want to be a man, care about something and be comfortable in your skin.”

“There is nothing in the rulebook that says men have to be unfeeling and heartless anymore; those are old rules, those are from two generations ago, you can throw those out,” says Mastracci. “Society progressed—we are moving along. Civil rights, women’s right, gay rights….but you know, there really hasn’t been a general talk about strictly men anywhere, and maybe because men have been the standard for so long.”

And because men have always been in that top-dog position, they have been villainized. Perhaps the only way to achieve equality is at the source and (as cringe worthy as it may sound to my fellow feminists) stop the unfair treatment towards men.

“When we talk about old rules for men—heartless, unfeeling, dominant—if those are who you are, if that’s your personality then fine,” says Mastracci. “But it’s not a definition.”

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SKATE STEEZE

By Karen Morales Photos by Jordan Gustafson Pictures from Orchard Skateshop, 156 Harvard Ave.

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kateboarding has come a long way since it started in the 1950s. Not only has it changed drastically in its technique, but also in its relevance to mainstream pop culture and fashion as well.

Skateboarding started when California surfers wanted to “surf the streets” when the waves were too low to surf and began riding boards or planks with roller skate wheels strapped to the bottom. When it first caught on, skateboarding was more similar to figure skating or ballet on wheels than what we see today, and the sport became a dying fad for some time.

It wasn’t until Frank Nasworthy invented urethane skateboard wheels in 1972 and the skateboarding group the Zephyr Team, or Z-boys, introduced the world to a new aerial and low-to-the-ground style in 1975 that skateboarding exploded again.

This rise in popularity and cult status of the Z-boys paved way for the monetization of skateboarding through competitions and brand sponsorships. The latter was what edged skateboarding style into the fashion scene with brands like Supreme and Obey popping up with Adidas and Nike joining in on the skate gear market later on.

Mainstream or not, skateboarding has always had a style component. Skating has always been a means of expression, a declaration of being anti-establishment and what skaters choose to wear is an extension of this statement.

Just like how each skater’s tricks are their own, their style is individualized as well. “When you compete, you compete for yourself,” says journalism major LuLu Romano ‘16, who skates in her free time. “No two skaters have the same style.”

Romano describes her personal style as feminine, but she tones it down to a more gender-neutral aesthetic when skating. “I do have different identities and skating is just one of them,” she says.

“When you skate it’s important to consider the safety and there’s no way in hell you can skate in heels,” she says “When I skate, I dress in a chill ‘I don’t give-a-fuck mode’,” says Romano.

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She describes a typical outfit she skates in: her favorite pair of faded and ripped Genetic Denim jeans, a thrifted vintage shirt, a pair of Polo Ralph Lauren sneakers, and a BDG jacket.

Abe Dubin, a MassArt alumnus, is part of a skating group with his friends who call themselves Fancy Lad. They document their skating escapades and tricks in creative and visual ways.

“We see it as a performance art, rather than just a sport,” he says. “That’s why I personally invest so much in fashion philosophy because if you’re performing, you’ve got to come in costume.”

Dubin’s costume usually revolves around the the place he chooses to skate. “I like to wear something that complements the spot I’m skating at because that’s my setting,” he says.

Dubin says that if he’s planning to shoot a skate video for Fancy Lad and he knows that the spot is grey cement and dark asphalt, he’ll intentionally wear neon colors to contrast with the setting. “Matching an outfit to a spot seems kind of garish and over the top,” he says. “But in video it seems more theatrical and almost surreal.”

Dubin’s favorite color to wear when skating is bright orange. “My stage name is Orange Man,” he says. One of his preferred outfits is a bright orange jumpsuit with the sleeves torn off that his friend picked up for him from the Army Navy store.

When wearing his color Dubin says he feels energized, wild, and untamed.

A big influence on Boston’s skate scene is Orchard Skateshop, located in Allston and on Newbury Street. Founded by two Boston skaters, the shop not only sells skateboards, apparel, and footwear but the two locations often host video premieres, art shows, and pro signings.

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Erick Pickard, an employee at Orchard’s Newbury store, says that skating has a fashion-based culture because “You gotta make sure all your gear is on point.”

Romano, who is from New York but transferred to Emerson after spending a year at the University of Miami, began skating because she was attracted to the lifestyle and attitude of skaters. “What fascinated me was the image,” she says. “Every single one of my friends [from UMiami] who were skaters were chill, relaxed, and loose.”

This carefree attitude translated into her friends’ clothing through loose T-shirts, flowy fabrics, and sneakers like Vans or Converse.

Vans and Converse reign high as the top shoe brands skaters like to shop for in Boston as well, according to Pickard.

Through these top brands, skating style has infiltrated the global fashion scene. “Do you think half the people would be wearing a ski cap or a flannel?” says Dubin. “That’s a very skater thing.”

Pickard attributed the influence of celebrities in the rising popularity of skate style. “Skateboarding style has gone pretty mainstream,” he says. “ Especially when people see Lil Wayne and Justin Beiber skating around.”

In a similar vein, skaters tend to represent a particular genre of music from hip-hop and rock, to house music and grunge, says Dubin.

For example, someone who is influenced by hip-hop might wear big clothes and skate smoothly. Or someone who dresses punk with studs and a leather jacket will probably skate in a fast and aggressive style, says Dubin. “And maybe mouth off to the police, if they’re getting kicked out.”

Skateboarding is an artistic and culture based movement, and for Dubin, fashion is a big part of it. “Fashion is the art form that everyone takes part in, whether they know it or not.”

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EMERSON'S TOP SHELF Check out your peers’ top beauty picks

By Megan Cathey Illustration by Pimploy Phongsirivech

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Becky Brinkerhoff ‘16

Olivia Rodbell ‘17

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Becky Brinkerhoff’s secret weapon is a drugstore gem: the Maybelline Line Stiletto liquid eyeliner ($8.50, CVS).

The felt tip applicator is perfect for easy, precise application, while the formula’s pigmentation packs a punch. “It makes me eyes look like daggers,” says Brinkerhoff. “I feel like I’m putting on war paint.”

For eyeshadow, Brinkerhoff reaches for the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette ($54, Sephora). The palette features twelve shades that range from light neutrals to deeper taupe shades perfect for a smoky eye. Brinkerhoff loves it for the variety of looks you can create. “[Your makeup] can not be naked, or it can be naked,” she says.

When it comes to skincare, Brinkerhoff isn’t too picky. “I switch around… honestly I usually get whatever’s on sale,” she says. However, Brinkerhoff is a fan of Clinique skin care, in particular their Clarifying Lotion for dry to combination skin ($23 for 13.5oz, Sephora). The exfoliating properties of the clarifying lotion combined with Benefit’s The Big Easy Liquid to Powder Foundation give Brinkerhoff a flawless complexion ($38, Benefit Cosmetics).

Olivia Rodbell loves to try out lesser-known beauty brands, like Weleda, a brand that uses fair trade partners to source their ingredients. One of her favorites from the brand is their spray-on deodorant in “Wild Rose” ($14, Whole Foods). “I saw that they featured this on Cupcakes & Cashmere [a blog], and I was like ‘I’ve been wearing this for years!’” she says. She likes the scent so much that she’ll use it as perfume in a pinch.

To combat dry skin, Rodbell uses the Shea Moisture Argan Oil and Raw Shea Body Lotion ($8, Target). “When I use this my roommates say I smell like a cupcake or dessert item,” she says. For her face, she uses the Embryolisse LaitCrème Concentré ($28, embryolisseusa.com). The thick formula is perfect for the drying winter months. “It’s my Boston winter face crème,” she says.

Rodbell wears minimal makeup, but she’ll always wear brow gel. Her Holy Grail brow product is the Benefit Gimme Brow ($22, Sephora). The small wand provides easy application that shapes brows while making them appear fuller.

“Even if I don’t wear other makeup, I’ll wear this every day,” she says.

Mae Toohey ‘17

Mae Toohey gravitates toward natural products that fit into her vegan lifestyle. One of her favorite natural cosmetics brands is Lush. She’s a convert to their shampoo bars, in particular their Jumping Juniper bar ($11, Lush). “[It’s] loaded with herbs to help combat oily locks which is ideal for people like me with very thin, fine hair,” she says. In between washes, Toohey will use Lush’s No Drought Dry Shampoo ($14 for 4.6oz, Lush). The cornstarch formula gets rid of excess oil while the grapefruit scent leaves hair smelling fresh.

“It’s ideal to just throw it into your purse or gym bag,” she says.

An unconventional beauty pick for Toohey is Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar as a facial toner ($5, GNC). She’ll mix it with water and dab it onto her face to help keep her complexion clear. “Apple cider vinegar in general has many health benefits, it’s great for digestion and bloating if you drink it. It also helps with acne,” she says. To moisturize her skin she’ll use the Nourish Organics Moisturizing Face Lotion, which is lightweight but effective ($17, Target).

A staple in Toohey’s makeup bag are the Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatments ($22.50, Sephora). The blend of natural waxes, oils, and sugar leaves lips feeling soft and nourished.

“It’s not very pigmented but that’s what I like about it,” she says. “It gives you just a hint of color on your lips.”

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MY BIRTHMARK

By Andrea Palagi Illustration by Claudia Mak

IT’S A BIRTHMARK, OKAY? When I was 12 years old, my sixth grade English teacher (a well-intentioned Irish woman named Mrs. Ackaway) assigned Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark for our class to read over April vacation. With that short fifty-page reading assignment, Mrs. Ackaway single-handedly changed my middle school life forever.

The Birthmark is the story of a poor, misguided scientist who becomes obsessed with a strange birthmark on his beautiful wife’s face. The birthmark is a perplexing and unnatural flaw that taints the scientist’s wife’s otherwise perfect physical being. The hideous birthmark drives her husband mad. Ultimately, the scientist tries to use his profession to get rid of the ugly blemish on his wife’s angelic forehead and ends up killing her in the process. No more birthmark, though! And while sweet little Mrs. Ackaway intended to make this a literary lesson about the clash between science and nature in American literature, she actually drew the attention of my entire 6th grade class to the 3-inch-long, dark brown, clementineshaped splotch on the inside of my left calf, my birthmark.

I’d had this birthmark since I was born, but I never really gave much thought to it until it was all anyone at Cumberland Middle School could talk about—What’s that thing on your calf? Does it hurt? Hey, you’ve got some chocolate pudding on your leg. Oh my god, there’s a huge bug on you! Ew. I wore long pants to school every day for the rest of the

year. I begged my mother to let me get it surgically removed.

I cried. It made me feel different, and I wanted it gone. It was ugly and I was ugly. For the rest of my middle school career, I was the girl with that thing on her leg and, to me, it felt like that’s all I would ever be.

Then, I got over it. It was as if I woke up one day (after my overly sensitive, shy, self-conscious middle school girl phase) and that birthmark was the most unique, badass thing on the face of the earth. When people asked me what was on my leg, I would snap back with something like “chocolate pudding” or “a very small woodland creature.” Granted, I wasn’t exactly the queen of comedy, but I was comfortable with my birthmark. I liked my birthmark. Thus began the phase of my life when having something that other people didn’t have made me feel cool and also kind of beautiful.

And so while I spent a few years being pretty horrified about the birthmark on my leg, I now get to spend the rest of my years being horrified at how foolish I was to hate something that was so naturally beautiful and such an important part of me.

All in all, my seven-year-old watches-too-many-PG13-action-movies cousin puts the whole ordeal into perspective best: “Yeah it’s kind of weird but it’s kind of awesome too.

And if aliens ever abduct you, wipe your brain clean and then return you to earth, we will be able to identify your body all because of that birthmark. You’re kind of lucky.”

Yeah Owen, I guess I kind of am.

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Featuring: Carly Reynolds Zack Filkoff Bailey Tamayo Pauline Hevia

Sixth Period

Photographed by Michael Thorpe Hair & Makeup by Peri Lapidus Styled by Pauline Hevia

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L ATE NIGHT SNACK

By Lindsey Gonzalez Artwork by Edward Hopper, “Nighthawks”

IT’S MIDNIGHT

on a Saturday. You’re sitting in your dorm room, having a movie marathon with friends. As the credits roll on your first film of the evening, your stomach grumbles. You place a hand against it in an effort to muffle the noise but your friends turn and look anyways. Blushing, you ask if anyone else is hungry. Everyone nods their heads in unison. You look to the clock on the bedside table and sigh, knowing that nearly everything in Boston is closed at this hour. Someone suggests New York Pizza. Another person whines and recommends Maria’s Taqueria, but your stomach growls in protest. Is nothing else open this late?

While Boston isn’t very accommodating to the college diet, there are a few restaurants that keep their doors open for late night snackers. We at Your Mag scoured the streets in search of the best late night eateries and compiled a list of places to check out the next time you’re looking for a late night snack.

178 Kneeland St., Boston, MA 02111 LIVING

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1.

SPIKE’S JUNKYARD DOGS

108 Brighton Ave., Allston, MA 02134 Sunday-Saturday: 11:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m.

If late one night you find yourself in Allston, you should definitely stop at Spike’s for one of their famous hot dogs. This small, local dive guarantees that every dog it serves is 100 percent beef. The hot dogs are then placed inside hot, soft French rolls, which are baked on site each day. Their menu offers a huge variety of fresh toppings, so whether you like your hot dog plain or loaded they’ve got you covered. No one can beat their prices. Spike’s is the place to go for speciality hot dogs late at night.

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SOUTH STREET DINER

178 Kneeland St., Boston, MA 02111 Open 24/7

South Street Diner is Boston’s only all-night dining destination seven nights a week, making it a staple in the city’s after-hours scene. Its traditional 1950s decor separates it from the rest of the city, making you feel as though you’ve traveled back in time upon entering the restaurant. Its menu features a variety of classic diner food, with staples such as an order of “Burger, Beer & Fries.” They also offer an assortment of submarines, wraps, and clubs. Their dessert menu features themed treats such as pies, ice creams, frappes, root beer floats, and milkshakes. With tons of delicious diner classics to choose from at reasonable prices, this local diner is the perfect place to eat with friends in the early hours of the morning.

3.

CHAU CHOW CITY

83 Essex St., Boston, MA 02111 Monday–Friday: 8:00 a.m.–4:00 a.m.

Saturday and Sunday: 11:00 a.m.–4:00 a.m.

If you get cravings for Chinese food late at night, Chau Chow City is the place to dine. Wrapped up in the midst of Boston’s Chinatown, they offer customers a wide variety of classic dishes, specializing in dim sum and seafood. Their menu is filled with fairly priced items like egg rolls, crab rangoon, scallion pancakes, and orange-flavored chicken. Their hearty selection of seafood platters is sure to entice the more adventurous eater. Whether you decide to dine in or take out, Chau Chow City will surely satisfy your midnight munchies.

MAX BRENNER

745 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116 Monday–Thursday: 10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.

Friday–Saturday: 10:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m.

Sunday: 9:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.

Although it’s only open late on Fridays and Saturdays, this chocolaty paradise is definitely worth the wait.

Tucked inside this swanky restaurant is an oasis of sweets, encouraging the little kid inside you to eat dessert before dinner. Their menu overflows with divine desserts, like speciality crepes, ice cream sundaes, waffles, and, of course, chocolate fondue. In addition, they offer a full menu of dinner items like hot and cold sandwiches, pizzas, and pastas. If you don’t mind paying the often steep prices, Max Brenner is definitely the place to visit for a sweet late night treat.

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P

ARENTING A PET FOR many Boston-area students, the option to move off

By Riana Odin Illustration by Pimploy Phongsirivech

campus is too appealing to pass up. Far from the watchful eyes of Resident Assistants, freedom and opportunities abound. Some opt to throw raucous parties while others just want to finally hang the Christmas lights that were banned by college housing offices. Still others see their new living situation as the green light to adopting a pet.

After a long day shuffling from class to work and back again, imagine the comfort of having a furry companion always eagerly awaiting your return. In the most stressful times—when your responsibilities weigh heaviest and the people around you let you down—a cat or dog would be the one entity you could expect continuous unconditional love from. After all, even Netflix craps out at some point. Such a prospect is no doubt enticing, but anyone who has owned a pet knows the multiplicity of complications that come with bringing home a cat or dog.

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WE WENT IN NOT REALLY EXPECTING TO FIND THE PERFECT CAT ON OUR FIRST TRY, BUT JOEY WAS HIDING IN A CORNER AND LOOKED LIKE HE NEEDED LOVE

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Vanessa Desiato ‘16 knew the potential struggles of buying a baby French bulldog. In fact, she encountered the first one when, after answering an online posting, she was conned out of $600. At that time, then-sophomore Desiato had already spent copious amounts of time researching breeds and breeders and saving up money, only to have to save up even more to bring home three-month-old Lola.

“I had always had pets growing up, so when I moved into an apartment I felt like something was missing,” says Desiato. For her, this made the decision to adopt a dog simple, even if the process wasn’t.

Stephanie Yackovetsky, a senior at Suffolk University, and her three roommates had more luck when adopting their cat Joey.

“We were lucky because Broken Tails, a pet adoption agency, was having an adoption event at the PetSmart in Cambridge,” says Yackovetsky. “We went in not really expecting to find the perfect cat on our first try, but Joey was hiding in a corner and looked like he needed love,” she says.

Yackovetsky and her friends felt an immediate connection with their new pet. Even as a rescue, Joey was still a pricey addition to their group.

It is important to be realistic about the financial requirements of taking on a cat or dog. Breeds like the French bulldog have seen an incredible rise in popularity in recent years, meaning their ticket price has inflated as quickly as the number of fan accounts on Instagram. The American Kennel Club ranks these bat-eared little dogs as the ninth most popular breed in the country, and purchasing through a breeder can range from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars. This is simply the initial price. It is, in essence, the entry fee to years of food and supply costs, veterinary bills, and half-eaten shoes. Desiato is Lola’s sole owner and therefore takes on the cost of her furry friend alone. In addition to the essential requirements, Lola has also needed training classes, toys, doggie clothing, and pet insurance. The list adds up quickly and can seem daunting for those who have only begun to pay rent for the first time. This, however, is just an average tally of the financial requirements. Your time, energy, and patience are a whole separate consideration.

“Although having Lola has a lot of benefits, when I’m

working eight hours in a row I’m worried that she’s at home eating my television remotes, carpet, or shoes—all of which have happened,” Desiato says. On days when she knows she will be away for long stretches of time, Desiato, an Emerson cheerleader, finds time to head back to her apartment and check on Lola. Despite this, Desiato does not see her fulltime commitment as an annoyance. “It’s more of a challenge than it is ‘hard.’ You do have to watch her, play with her, and make sure she’s happy and healthy—and not eating rubber bands, grapes, or rolling in your clean laundry,” she says.

It’s a reasonable conclusion that the life of a dog-owner is not for every full-time college student. The four years, give or take, that go into earning a college degree can be overwhelming enough with just the papers, readings, and exams required of you.

“If you’re looking to get a pet, a cat is one of the easiest to take care of because they tend to be self-sufficient,” says Yackovetsky, 21. Yackovetsky and her three roommates share the responsibility of their rescue cat Joey—a responsibility notably less cumbersome than that of bringing home a dog.

“Joey’s not a hard cat to take care of. He keeps himself happy for the most part; we just have to feed and clean up after him,” Yackovetsky says. As for said food, Yackovetsky and her roommates each enthusiastically agreed to adopt the cat, partially in response to their apartment’s mouse problem, so his bills are shared amongst the group. This joint-venture set-up can drastically reduce the pressure of owning a pet, but it can also be a source of future dramas. If your living situation is subject to change, all caretaking parties should discuss

custody options in advance as a precaution.

As for other helpful tips, Yackovetsky notes the value of rescuing an older cat, as they are usually already vaccinated and spayed or neutered, know how to use a litter box, and are used to being around people. Rescue animals are also significantly less expensive than their purebred counterparts and come with the added satisfaction of giving a better life to a creature in need. Additionally, many adoption agencies place calls to the landlords of prospective owners to gain insight into their reputation and living situation.

No matter how much you love animals, there is a critical difference in petting a dog on the street and having one depend on you day in and day out. For those who meet the challenge, though, it can be an incredible new facet to your life.

“It’s nice to have a pet around. It makes things less lonely, especially if you ever have to be by yourself in the apartment for whatever reason,” Yackovetsky says. For her, Joey has become an integral part of daily life and a decision she is very happy with.

Desiato, too, has never felt a sense of regret about taking on a pet during her college years. “It has made a huge impact on my life for the better,” Desiato says, relating the experience to Emerson’s use of therapy dogs. “I don’t feel restricted. I knew I wasn’t going abroad anyway and I planned my schedule so that I can have two jobs, be a full-time student, be involved with clubs, and still have time to take Lola on walks before sunset.”

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ON YO U R P L ATE:

TRADITIONAL PUERTO RIC AN CUISINE

By Esther Blanco Photos by Dirk Haun, Josh Puetz, and Denish C, Flickr Creative Commons LIVING

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BECAUSE OF Puerto Rico’s rich ethno-diverse history, Puerto Rican food is an amalgamation of the different tastes of Spanish, Taíno (Puerto Rican natives), and African cuisines.

Like every other culture, we like to think that our food is unparalleled to any other and that nothing beats a plate of Arroz con Habichuelas (rice and beans) that your abuelita made. Our Criollo, Spanish influenced, cuisine includes many savory dishes such as Arroz con Habichuelas, Mofongo (fried dome-shaped plantains), Tostones (fried plantains), Amarillos (ripe plantains), a variety of fried finger foods, a great deal of seafood, and an even more considerable amount of pork in all shapes and sizes. While not the most health-conscious compilation of dishes, they sure are mouth-watering.

Although some of these ingredients are uncommon in American cuisine, don’t be afraid to experiment with them!

They can be purchased at any supermarket (Market Basket, Stop and Shop, etc).

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ARROZ CON HABICHUELAS Whenever you feel like eating something flavorful, but easy to prepare, remember that Arroz con Habichuelas is a great go-to option. On days that I’m feeling homesick, I whip up this recipe because it is quick to prepare, and because there is nothing like a little comfort food.

INGREDIENTS Salt ¾ cups small or medium size rice (jasmine rice is the tastiest!)

4 tbsp olive oil 2-3 tbsps. sofrito Goya (found at any Hispanic food market) 1 can Goya pinto beans.

1 ¼ cups of water 1 chicken (or vegetable) bouillon cube ½ can Goya tomato sauce.

4–5 leaves cilantro/recao (also found at any Hispanic food market) PREPARATION Boil water in a small sauce-pan (non-stick pans work best).

Add salt and rice. Allow rice to cook at medium-high until water is ¾ gone. Drizzle 2 tsp. of olive oil and cover the pan with a lid.

Lower heat for 15-20 minutes.

Rinse beans thoroughly.

In a separate medium-sized pan, at medium heat, add the rest of the olive oil, the sofrito, and sauté for 2-3 minutes (stirring constantly).

Add clean beans to the sofrito mix.

In a measuring cup, dissolve the bouillon cube in water by placing it in the microwave for a minute and stirring.

Add dissolved “broth”, tomato sauce, recao leaves, and salt into pan. Stir and cover over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.

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TOSTONES Crunchy, salty, and oh so scrumptious! Green plantains are a gift from heaven. If you do not live in the tropics, just take one bite and be easily transported to the warm weather and the salty air. They can be cut, fried, and baked into anything you want.

The two most popular dishes are Tostones and Mofongo (but I am biased). Tostones are usually eaten with a plate of meat or Arroz con Habichuelas, but it does not really matter what you pair them up with, they are the perfect side dish (I have not tried anything that they do not go well with yet). Any Puerto Rican can tell you that, if it’s on the menu, it’ll be on our plate. The best part is, if you want something sweet instead of salty, all you have to do is wait a couple of days until the plantain ripens and turns yellow. When this happens, they become “amarillos” (literally, means yellows) and you can make Tostones, but they’ll be sweet!

INGREDIENTS 1 or 2 whole green plantains Canola oil Salt PREPARATION Peel plantains and cut in half- inch pieces.

Bring a deep skillet half filled with canola oil to medium–high heat. When oil is hot, carefully drop the plantain pieces.

Flip pieces until they feel “crunchy,” but not fully cooked (takes practice, don’t worry).

Remove plantains and place on a plate covered in paper towel.

While still hot, squish pieces individually until flat and circular (not too thin!) with a tostonera (a typical wooden tool to make tostones), or a cutting board and the bottom of a cup.

Drop the pieces again into the oil and flip until each side is crisp and golden.

Remove and place on a plate with paper towel and pat to remove excess oil. Salt to taste.

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THE EVOLUTION OF

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$ $

$

HOW A SIMPLE INTERNET PLOY MORPHED INTO ONE OF TODAY’S MOST VITAL INVESTMENT TOOLS - AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT IT TO BE.

CROWDFUNDING $

$

By Kendall Stark

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In July 2014, entrepreneur Zack “Danger” Brown launched a Kickstarter campaign with one modest objective in mind: to make a potato salad. Though Brown’s end goal was a mere $10, the campaign quickly gained attention thanks to social media and grossed a whopping $55,492—all of which he donated to charity. Sites such as Kickstarter, Gofundme, and Indiegogo have made it increasingly easier to spread ideas, communicate, and make money however bizarre, beneficial, or simplistic the end goal might be.

When it comes to the practice of online crowdfunding, or sourcing projects through online donors, the numbers don’t lie. In 2013, the crowdfunding economy grew to over $5.1 billion, according to Forbes. Though many well-known crowdfunding sites have gained momentum in recent years, the first was called Artistshare. The site allows music fans to fund the creation of new artistic works and emerged in 2003.

Since then, numerous niche crowdfunding sites have emerged, catering to filmmakers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and everyday people, making it startlingly simple for anyone to promote their personal projects.

Kickstarter, which launched in 2009, hails itself as “a new way to fund creative projects,” touting the fact that since their commencement, 78,000 projects have been successful.

The site employs an “all-or-nothing” model in which customers must reach their end goal within a set time period in order to keep any of the funds. This non-flexible funding model creates a sense of urgency, which some argue makes potential donors more inclined to donate. John Depa ‘17, a visual and media arts major, has worked on several Kickstarter campaigns for both short films and video games. Using the service, Depa successfully crowdsourced his 2014 film, “A Story Without Words.”

“A true crowdsourced funding campaign is one in which you don’t know the people contributing,” says Depa. “As a producer, I refuse to use my friends as a crutch. My personal goal is to market to an audience.”

A year after Kickstarter’s launch, GoFundMe was founded and has since become the world’s number one personal fundraising platform, according to the site. The site encompasses a wider range of users than Kickstarter and serves as a network for raising funds for personal causes and LIVING

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“

I think that people really support young people trying to fight for their dreams, which is exactly what I was and am doing life events, which could encompass anything from a family vacation to rehabilitation from an injury.

And with the “broke college student” cliché still prevalent today, many young people have taken to GoFundMe to raise money for tuition costs and studying abroad. Scrolling through any Facebook news feed, there are numerous links from students looking for financial help. For Kai Grayson ‘17, a visual and media arts major, GoFundMe served as the perfect platform for raising money for her semester abroad in London this Spring.

“Crowdsourcing is an excellent way to allow people to experience life in the way they want to,” says Grayson. “It makes money less of a problem because there may be someone out there who wants to help and can.” Grayson says the hard part of her successful GoFundMe campaign was having the courage to bombard people with constant Facebook posts.

“In this day and age, talking about socioeconomic status is a major taboo and to forcibly shove that in everyone’s face was extremely nerve racking,” she says. “But hey, now I’m in London and I couldn’t be happier.”

Like Grayson, performing arts major Sawyer Fuller ‘17 took to GoFundMe last summer to raise funds for her tuition, saying that it seemed the most accessible out of the popular crowdfunding websites. She reached about half of her initial goal of $6,600, which was enough to cover two months of her tuition at Emerson.

“I was really pleasantly surprised that tons of people

$

$

I hadn’t spoken to in years sent me a lot of money,” Fuller says. “There were also some really kind donations from total strangers off of Tumblr and from friends of friends.” Fuller says that although people asked her questions about her family’s situation, she faced zero criticisms regarding her decision to crowdsource. “I think that people really support young people trying to fight for their dreams, which is exactly what I was and am doing,” she says. “I felt really honored throughout the experience.”

In contrast to the broad scope of users on GoFundMe, Indiegogo harbors not only creative ventures but business start-ups, charities, and more. In order to produce their European travel documentary Tritty in the City, filmmakers Trenton Hoshiko and Tristan Donaldson ‘17 consulted Indiegogo’s more relaxed funding model. Donaldson, a visual and media arts major, says that he and Hoshiko opted for flexible funding as it meant they could keep the majority of the money in case their goal was not reached.

“I think Indiegogo is actually more donor-friendly, because people won’t feel obligated to give as much money if they know that the campaign won’t lose everything if it doesn’t reach the goal,” says Donaldson. Donaldson says that he and Hoshiko did not base their campaign solely on raising money to study abroad in the Netherlands.“Tritty in the City is a business venture that we ultimately intend to sell,” he says. “The donors are investing their money so that they get something in return. In our case, we’re providing people with a form of entertainment.” By the end of their month-long campaign, Hoshiko and Donaldson raised approximately $4,000—just $2,000 short of their original goal.

“In spite of not being able to make our goal, we were actually able to pay for all of our transportation to 12 different

$ cities with the $4,000 and still have some money left over,” says Donaldson.

For potential donors of crowdsourced projects, the incentive to donate to depends on more than just words. Alex Powell ‘17, a visual and media arts major, says that his decision to give money to online campaigns mainly depends on how the project or cause is presented and the reputation of who is in charge.

“I wouldn’t consider donating to a project that didn’t outline where the money goes,” says Powell. “I want to know they’re a competent filmmaker, and I want to see that the person making the film has credibility. And if it’s someone posting their tuition or study abroad, it would have to be someone I know really well in order for me to donate.”

Powell says that overall, he has a positive view of crowdsourcing as it allows people to obtain the resources they need.

However, some believe that crowdsourcing websites encourage artists and filmmakers to raise money merely to see how much they can earn. Pablo Vaca ‘17, a visual and media arts major, says that his motive to donate to a campaign depends on how well the budget is outlined.

“Sometimes I think Indiegogo and Kickstarter give filmmakers an excuse to ask for more money and have a larger budget,” says Vaca. “Some people think that having more money will make their project better, but that’s not necessarily true.”

In early February, a single father raised over $500,000 on GoFundMe in support of his newborn son with Down syndrome. With heartwarming stories like these prevalent in the media, it’s difficult to deny the benefits of crowdsourcing.

Whether they are used for worthwhile causes or potato salad, the reality is that the crowd is in control.

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LADY OF THE

CAMELLIAS

By Danny LeMar Photos by Chris Garcia

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FOR ITS 51ST SEASON, Boston Ballet presents Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias. First performed at the Boston Ballet in 2004, the tragic story of love, redemption, and loss resonates as timeless with audiences of all ages.

If you have a heart, it will flutter like the pointed pink shoes of a ballerina, break for the characters as their stories unfold, and ultimately be moved to a new range of emotions by the end of the wildly captivating performance.

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HARPER LEE IN A POST-FERGUSON WORLD

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By Diana DiLoreto Photo by James Keivom, New York Daily News

YOU MIGHT CALL IT the shot heard round the literary

world: the news that Harper Lee is publishing a novel, Go Set a Watchman, has shaken the publishing world to its very core.

In a year filled with racial tension and protest, the release of Watchman could mean something much more, if it lives up to what might be too-high expectations.

Lee once again returns to Maycomb, Alabama in Watchman. Scout Finch, now in her twenties, is visiting her father from New York, where she now lives. The book was written and finished before To Kill a Mockingbird; Lee’s editor wanted her to rework several flashback passages from Scout’s childhood, which eventually turned into the now famous novel.

To Kill a Mockingbird was released in 1960, winning a Pulitzer Prize among numerous accolades and becoming a true American classic. Mockingbird is set in the mid-1930s, during the Great Depression and is told from the viewpoint of an adult Scout Finch recounting her childhood. The book, while covering many issues of life in Depression-era Deep South, revolves around the trial of Tom Robinson, an AfricanAmerican man charged with sexually assaulting Mayella Ewell.

The most famous scene in the book is Tom Robinson’s trial, where Atticus Finch—a local defense lawyer who took on the job willingly, despite hesitations from others—proves without any doubt that Tom Robinson is innocent. The man has a crippled left hand and, judging by the bruises on Mayella’s body, the man who beat her had to be left-handed (likely, her father). And yet, despite all of this, the jury finds Tom guilty of the crime.

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To Kill a Mockingbird was hailed as a classic shortly after it was published. The book was also Lee’s only published novel, until now. Go Set a Watchman is currently set for a July 14 release date and while we have what some are calling the official cover art, we know very little else concerning the plot of the story. Upon hearing the news, one might easily assume that Lee’s new novel would, once again, face the harsh truths of a racially prejudiced and, indeed, often racist America.

To Kill a Mockingbird deals heavily in themes of racial tension in the Deep South, as well as race in a broken court system. These are themes the American public has dealt with plenty in the past several months. After the events in Ferguson, Missouri, where an 18-year-old African-American teenager was shot to death by police officer Darren Wilson— who went without being indicted—protests against police brutality have popped up across the country. A movement largely led by young African-American adults, there seems to be little slowing them down; watching the protesting unfold has felt like history being made.

Jabari Asim, a professor in writing, literature, and publishing in both Emerson College’s Undergraduate and Graduate programs, says, “My initial reaction [to the news] was shock and skepticism. The story sounded questionable from the beginning, considering the long span in which we’ve seen nothing new from her and her stated resistance to publishing again.” Lee has stated before that “one book was good enough” for her. With Lee losing both her hearing and sight, a new manuscript cropping up seemed like it was coming out of left field. The literary and publishing worlds have wasted no time in creating speculations and some of these speculations have led to controversies of their own.

Watchman according to Lee’s publisher at HarperCollins, was a manuscript that Lee supposedly lost years ago and was only recently found when her lawyer and good friend Tonja Carter was cleaning out Lee’s old home. Reportedly found in August 2014, Lee has spent months sharing the manuscript with friends and family, only coming to the decision to publish this January. Or, supposedly.

Some friends and neighbors of Lee have mentioned that the aging author, now 88 and in an assisted care facility,

is starting to lose her mental faculties. This, combined with a strange press release from HarperCollins has led many to believe that Lee is being strong-armed by her lawyer and HarperCollins into releasing an old book that she never meant to see the presses, as she doesn’t have the awareness to sign off on any kind of contract. “Publishing is a business, part of the entertainment-industrial complex,” says Asim. “The publisher will have no reluctance to promote the book as long as there is money to be made. The only thing that could stop the launch at this point is the emergence of solid evidence that Lee has been taken advantage of.” Despite a second press release which reported Lee as saying she was “happy as hell” about the discovery of the lost book, as well as Carter going on-the-record to say that publicity-shy Lee is “humiliated” by the rumors, the controversy has not yet been quelled.

HarperCollins would have a lot to gain from the release of the new novel: the mystery surrounding its discovery, the allure of an American Classic, the rising attention the public is giving to racial politics across the country. But Asim isn’t so sure HarperCollins would go so far as to exacerbate racial tension for publicity: “HarperCollins, like any mainstream publisher, is not above cashing in on a social movement if the opportunity presents itself. However, I’d be somewhat surprised that editors inside HarperCollins are astute enough to take note of what’s going on in the streets. Usually mainstream publishers lag behind social-justice trends and catch on to them woefully late. I think Harper Lee is such a huge name in American literature that the subject matter and its timeliness are almost secondary considerations.” With a belief in the goodwill of a well-known publishing organization, Asim believes Watchman’s release in relation to the recent media attention surrounding racial protests and police brutality is largely coincidental, but we have yet to see whether this is a happy coincidence.

The novel, according to Lee, her family, lawyer, and publisher, was written before any draft of To Kill a Mockingbird was complete. Watchman is going to be the writing of a significantly younger Lee and perhaps not as polished. It is unclear at the moment how much of the book is going to be edited

and by whom. Lee, in her current state of health, is unlikely to take the reins of editing. Likely, the editing of the book—both on the substantive and copy editing level—will be handled by HarperCollins.

Such a prospect doesn’t hold much water for Asim. “I doubt if [Watchman] can live up to the hype,” he says, “because I can’t help thinking that if Harper Lee thought the manuscript was worthy of publication she would have released it before now. The analogy for me is Ralph Ellison, who labored long and hard after the publication of Invisible Man, intent upon repeating his success. He died without publishing another novel, yet two, Juneteenth and Three Days Before The Shooting have appeared since his death. I have great respect for the editors who worked on those manuscripts but I have a hard time taking the books as seriously as the world takes Invisible Man. Did Ellison really want them published? How satisfied was he with the work he had done? The same questions will swirl around the arrival of Watchman.” If the editors of the novel can’t come up with a finalized manuscript just as polished as Lee’s original work, Watchman could quickly fall from the good graces of not only the general public, but minority readers and those who identify strongly with the protest movements.

Is now even the right time for the release to be made, considering the scope of the racial tension in America today?

As much as To Kill a Mockingbird has been praised for its writing, there are those who claim that the racial slurs and treatment of its African-American characters are more hurtful than helpful. School districts have banned the book, while it remains required reading in others. Interestingly, a swathe of public schools in the South have banned the book not because of slurs, but because of its treatment of the white southern community.

Asim says, “[To Kill a Mockingbird] is an important book that belongs in conversation with books that cover similar ground, such as Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying.”

Many argue the lessons outweigh the otherwise controversial language. To Kill a Mockingbird has even been quoted by

those protesting in Ferguson and beyond, with famous lines showing up on social media feeds and protest signs. Without real information on what the new novel might hold, it’s too early to decide its worth. “I’d be reluctant to speculate on its subject matter,” says Asim, “and I’m equally hesitant to accuse a writer of missing an opportunity because she declined to address a subject of interest to me.”

Perhaps there’s something more poignant here. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is set in 1935, the middle of the Great Depression, in the Jim Crow South. It was released in the 1960s, when the Civil Rights movement was on the cusp of national attention. Go Set a Watchman is to be set in the mid1950s, an era where racial tension in the South was finally coming to a head and it will be released at a time where we see some of those same issues reappearing. Or maybe those issues have never truly left us. Perhaps nothing has really changed in terms of how our society sees race and perhaps Watchman proves this. Even if the book’s writing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be—shouldn’t the fact that racial tension is as present today as it was decades ago say something to us, as a nation?

Only time will tell come July when the novel is finally released and the general public can get a look between the covers. Says Asim, “If any writer has earned the right to express herself as she pleases, it’s Harper Lee.” There is hope for the novel to turn out well. One of the most memorable scenes of To Kill a Mockingbird is when Scout watches her father sit on the steps of the local jailhouse, guarding Tom Robinson inside from a lynch mob at the doorstep. The men wouldn’t dare kill a respectable, white, gentlemanly lawyer such as Atticus Finch, and so they leave, insuring that Tom will at least get to see his trial. He serves as a watchman himself in this scene, and if Go Set a Watchman can evoke the same sort of emotional response, then it definitely has to be worth something.

Books, unlike the titular bird of Lee’s original novel, are not always quite so harmless. But in some sense, Lee is like a mockingbird; something we have no good reason to hurt. In that spirit, readers will want to keep watch themselves, and see what’s to come in July.

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on direc

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By Alysha Boynton Photo by Caitlin Stassa

THE TRIALS + TRIBULATIONS OF A 20-SOMETHING

ONE DIRECTION FAN FROM THE MOST supercilious film-school culture snob to the most guileless trend-following

tween, almost every person on the planet can recognize the first few notes of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” when it inevitably comes on the radio—whether they want to admit it or not. I have an extremely clear memory of the first time I heard it, which might seem odd if not for the fact that it was a bit of a turning point in my life. I was 16, sitting on my bedroom floor as my friend Meaghan played the music video on YouTube and gushed excitedly about One Direction and how cute they all were, and how she couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of them yet. I can admit that back then I was a complete hipster, especially when it came to music. I remember not being able to stand them and how much I enjoyed mocking them and scoffing at all those who openly liked them. Then their single “One Thing” was released and for some reason I decided to actually give it a chance. I listened to it (alone in my room, of course) and I realized, much to my own horror, that the upbeat, repetitive tune made me feel genuinely happy. When I didn’t have to worry about the guilt over liking mainstream pop music it became a very pure experience, but I could never fully allow myself to enjoy them without hating myself for it.

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So why is it that admitting to liking a band who has achieved such global, overwhelming success is so taboo, especially for those over the age of 16? I believe it has to do mainly with the twisted media perceptions that are the basis for most people’s opinions on them. To the uninitiated, the members of One Direction, Harry Styles (21), Louis Tomlinson (23), Zayn Malik (22), Liam Payne (21), and Niall Horan (21), are nothing more than a bunch of talentless, overstyled automatons; cogs in the machine of mass culture whose only purpose is to exploit young girls and make as much money as possible. Even though I would argue there’s nothing wrong with loving One Direction’s early music, I can also understand why it might leave such a bad taste in your mouth that you wouldn’t want to listen to their more recent work. Bo Burnham took a jab at One Direction in his song “Repeat Stuff,” which is an admittedly spot-on look at how their early songs were designed to shamelessly appeal to teen girls (“I also hope that you don’t see through / This cleverly constructed ruse / Designed by a marketing team / Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem / And girls’ desperate need to feel loved”). In some cases, though, the fact that they have a mostly female fan base is enough reason for people to write them off and refuse to give their music a chance. The overall distaste for the band amongst adults is fuelled even further by an impression that their music hasn’t evolved or matured since 2011. As with anything, it does come down to a matter of opinion, but by judging One Direction without listening to an entire album, especially their most recent studio outing, Four, a large percentage of the population is willingly depriving themselves of a distinct and highly enjoyable musical experience.

One Direction did indeed start out as manufactured bubblegum pop with the slightest hint of rock ‘n’ roll. However, as they started exerting more creative control over their lyrics and sound, the quality of their music began to rise. On their first studio album, Up All Night, only five of the 13 tracks featured lyric writing from any of the boys. Their fourth album (yes, their fourth album is called Four), featured their input on 12 of the 16 tracks—with the remaining four being some of the weakest on the album. It seems that the largest obstacle in the way of One Direction being taken seriously as a band is the fact that they don’t play their own instruments. This leaves them floating around in an undefined subsection of musical classification; they no longer fit into the cookie cutter stereotype of a boy band, but they also can’t be lumped in with singer/songwriters or traditional rock bands. It makes sense, then, to say that One Direction is truly in a league of their own, drawing aspects from all corners of the music industry to create an unstoppable force of boyish charm, lyrical maturity, commanding rockstar stage presence, and a fan base that could take over the world (if given the proper incentive).

Speaking of the fans, it wasn’t until college that I met any my own age; people who shared my unironic love for both the boys and their music. We even went to see their movie, This Is Us, as our first official outing as a friend group. Two of these friends in particular were much more unabashed in their “Directioner” status than me, and had been active in the fandom since the inception of the band. I had always been a very casual fan; I liked their music and thought they were adorable, and from the few cute pictures I had seen on Tumblr I was aware of a bromance called “Larry Stylinson” between Louis and Harry, but One Direction was never a large part of my life. Essentially, I didn’t know my basic facts. Who the boys had dated, where their hometowns were, even their ages were relatively unknown to me, most likely because I didn’t want to allow myself to become part of a fandom that had a reputation as a bunch of hysterical pre-teens. I definitely owe it to my college friends for showing me that if I like something, I shouldn’t have to suppress it just because I fear the judgment of my peers.

The fandom is a major factor in understanding One Direction and their power over young women all around the world. It was through Twitter that they rose to fame, due entirely to the devotion of the fan base that they gained from The X-Factor UK, and the fans continue to be a force to be reckoned with. Involvement with the fandom is crucial if you want to get the full “1D experience,” as I learned only recently when I finally started delving deeper into the Tumblr side of the fandom. There are endless videos, masterposts, fanfiction, and even essays about the boys, and once you fall down the rabbit hole it’s nearly impossible to climb back out. When you watch hours of interviews, behind the scenes footage, music videos, and live performances, you start to feel like you know every member of the band, and this sense of attachment makes the music even more powerful. A perfect example of this is the relationship between Harry and Louis, and what it means to many of the fans. “Larry Stylinson” is, for all intents and purposes, the most popular ship in the entire world, with many people very deeply invested in the belief that the two boys have been secretly in a relationship since 2010. There’s enough

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“proof ” on the internet to convince just about anyone of the legitimacy, ranging from their multiple sets of complementary tattoos, to their countless longing stares, to the lyrics they wrote themselves. Whether or not you believe that the band’s management has forced Harry and Louis to stay in the closet for all these years doesn’t change the fact that the support for their relationship is completely astounding, and a knowledge of it makes listening to Four about a million times more interesting, as well as painful.

The standout tracks from Four all share a tangible sense of sadness, while their lyrics tell the story of a love that can conquer even the most insurmountable obstacles. They’re all about fighting for that one person who means everything, which, when put side by side with albums that strove mainly to make all the young girls listening think that the songs were about them, is a gigantic leap forward in terms of artistic integrity. “Fireproof,” “Ready to Run,” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?” feature lyrical highlights such as “There’s a lightning in your eyes, I can’t deny / Then there’s me inside a sinking boat running out of time / Without you I’ll never make it out alive / But I know, yes I know, we’ll be alright” and “Counted all my mistakes and there’s only one / Standing out from the list of the things I’ve done / All the rest of my crimes don’t come close / To the look on your face when I let you go.” The entire album also has this sense of gritty heartache that is painful yet utterly cathartic to experience, sprinkled with upbeat, carefree tracks like “Steal My Girl” and “Act My Age.” The album also shows its maturity with “Stockholm Syndrome” and “No Control” which both blatantly explore sexual themes that the first three albums would never dream of delving into.

The rebranding of One Direction as a band for older teens and adults is essential to their continued evolution and success. Unfortunately, there is a huge disconnect between the band and their management, and this is part of why the overall media image of the boys is disorienting to people who don’t closely follow the band. Their management is still trying to market them to tweens, but in reality they no longer appeal to or are even appropriate for that age bracket. Zayn and Louis have been caught on camera smoking weed, Harry routinely grabs his crotch and gyrates obscenely while performing, and “Stockholm Syndrome” is about a nympho, according to Harry; “No Control” features the amazingly blatant lyric “Waking up beside you I’m a loaded gun.” I could go on, but all you really need to understand is that they’re 20-something-year-old men, and they’re bound to get a little risqué. If they were allowed just a bit more freedom to be themselves, both musically and in their personal lives, I have no doubt that most of the remaining stigma that One Direction is for teeny boppers and losers would disappear completely.

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IS FRANK OCEAN COMING BACK? ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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By Katja Vuljić Photo by James Whiting/ Flickr Creative Commons

THIS HAS TO BE IT. This has to be the year

Frank Ocean will finally release his second album.

I’m calling it right now with the kind of blind optimism and hope that comes from two and a half long years of near silence. I’m not alone in my optimism, though—Ocean’s name is on every list of albums to anticipate in 2015, including Pitchfork’s, and music writers like Eliza Berman of Time Magazine and Tom Barnes of Mic seem to be expecting an album very soon.

We know from a 2012 GQ interview that Ocean has been working on this album since right after the release of Channel Orange. In another interview, this one in 2013 with BBC radio, he stated that he was “10, 11 songs into this next thing.” The sophomore album was predicted by many to come out in the summer of 2014, but that obviously didn’t happen, leading some to say that he’s done, ready to let Channel Orange represent his legacy, but I’m going to have to strongly disagree with those people.

That’s not just my blind optimism talking; things are looking up. Just recently, in December 2014, Lil B, who is said to be featured on the album, posted a photo of himself and Ocean in the studio.

In addition to his collaboration with Lil B, Ocean is rumored to be working with producers and artists Hit-Boy, Rodney Jerkins, Happy Perez, Charlie Gambetta, and Kevin Ristro. At the end of 2014, he released lyrics and a snippet of a new track called “Memrise” on his Tumblr. Also released on his Tumblr was a cover of “At Your Best (You Are Love),” a 1976 Isley Brothers single that Aaliyah covered in 1994—he released his own version on Aaliyah’s birthday, as a tribute to her.

He’s got to be busy with something—after all, he was left off of former Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s justannounced album, No Pier Pressure, due to scheduling issues.

Here’s the thing about Frank Ocean: he’s a perfectionist. He isn’t going to release an album unless every single track on it has been worked on and improved relentlessly; he’s said as much in multiple interviews. Every individual track must be a work of art in and of itself, and the album overall must be an experience. And he won’t release anything unless he thinks it will have an impact that is significant. It may create frustration for impatient fans, but it also results in the kind of music that goes down in cultural history. It makes sense that this album is taking a while, but 2015 is definitely the year.

Ocean was just featured on Tyler, the Creator’s single, “She,” and he’s also featured on Chance the Rapper’s new album, release of which is confirmed to be in 2015. In June of 2014, Nas released a snippet of “No Such Thing as White Jesus” which featured Ocean’s vocals and writing and was also produced

by Hit-Boy. And of course, we can’t forget “Superpower,” his collaboration with Beyoncé on her December 2013 secret album. Who knows? Maybe he’s planning something similar and just didn’t want to steal Queen Bey’s thunder.

An artist who is constantly collaborating with fellow creative minds and occasionally dropping tidbits of his own work is not one who is done with music. Mark my words, 2015 will definitely see Frank Ocean drop his long-anticipated album. Channel Orange was released mid-summer, and he seems to be a fan of summertime releases, so I’m thinking it’ll be either right before or right after music festival season. I’m not expecting anything before then, but after/during summer, it could be at any given moment. Maybe Frank is watching us all beg him to release new shit and cackling, or maybe, and more likely, he’s in the studio right now trying to make a song as perfect as humanly possible.

Frank Ocean is many things: reclusive and private, creative and interesting, a complete and total genius. But there’s one thing he is definitely not: finished.

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publishing post humousl y pu blish in g post h u m o us l y

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By Katja Vuljić Stock Photography

JD SALINGER’S CATCHER IN THE RYE is the

kind of book that is either intensely loved or intensely hated.

Whether you’re in the love or hate camp, it’s undeniably one of the most influential novels published in the 20th century.

Fans of the book are famously disappointed that there’s not much else out there by Salinger. A few short stories, three novellas, and many years of reclusivity with no published works to speak of left the people wanting more.

However, in 2013, Shane Salerno and David Shields published an extensively researched biography of JD Salinger, creatively called Salinger, accompanied by a documentary-style film of the same title, directed by Salerno. The book and film provide insight into Salinger’s life, containing interviews with close friends and women he had pursued and dated. The biographers cover an enormous amount of information, both new and old, about Salinger. At the end of both the book and film, they announced something that put the literary world into a tailspin: there is more Salinger work, a lot more, and it will—according to them—be published It seems that Salinger made an arrangement which entailed that his currently unpublished work could be published between the years of 2015 and 2020, after his assumed death. This was cutting a little close; he died on January 27, 2010. The list of works is pretty impressive: it includes a collection of five new Glass family stories (from Franny and Zooey and other short stories), an edited version of The Last and Best of the Peter Pans (a publicly known story that was never published), new stories about the Caulfields, a World

War II novel based on his scarcely-mentioned first marriage, a novella based on his war experienced, and a book of stories that collectively are a manual for the Vedanta religious philosophy.

This is exciting news and now that it’s 2015 we will find out whether these claims hold any merit. Salinger hated the spotlight that was shined on him after he reached literary celebrity, and spent most of his life attempting to avoid his fellow humans as much as possible. But according to Salerno and Shields, along with many others, all evidence suggests that he continued writing during his solitude, and it seems to me that he wanted to publish posthumously in order to avoid the media attention that would follow. The last story he published before disappearing into the New Hampshire wilderness, Hapworth 16, 1924, was widely criticized and, in the opinion of many, not very good. Some Salinger fans, such as Telegraph writer Allan Massie, are expecting the same from the stories to come: “However, the little now vouchsafed about them doesn’t encourage optimism. Except for one title, “A Religious Manual”, which seems to be about the variety of Hinduism to which he was attracted late in life, all the others either hark back over old ground [...] or treat of episodes in his early life.”

Whether the work is up to Catcher in the Rye standards cannot be predicted by anyone. The only way to know for sure is by reading it, and hopefully that will be possible within the promised next five years.

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INTRODUCTION

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