March 23, 2017 34st.com
"WE ARE NOT AN EXCEPTION"
march 23
LETTERFROMTHEEDITOR
2017
LOL
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I walk to 16th and Walnut. It doesn't matter if it's raining, snowing, sleeting, winding (that's what I call the Philadelphia–specific phenomenon when the wind blows hard enough to push you back a few steps both physically and mentally). I put on a beanie, gloves, snow boots, whatever I need, and make my way downtown. Three days a week, I go to my yoga studio. Mat slung around my shoulder and water bottle clutched in a glove–covered hand, I walk the thirty–eight minutes (sometimes forty–five if I'm taking my time) down to Center City. It's my time to be by myself, to walk down with just my thoughts and my music. I love yoga. It's been my main source of exercise for the past five years. It's the only workout during which I can clear my head, really and truly, and just focus at the task at hand. Once I finally found a studio I liked in Philadelphia, I decided to take the plunge and dedicate the two hours it takes to walk down, practice, and walk back—three days a week. I don't care if I could be more productive doing something else. I don't care if I have to wake up early to do it, or if it's a huge time investment. For two hours, all I have to do is block out the noise and focus on what my body can do and what it needs, and not what I have to do later. Self care is important, and it begins with acknowledging that you need it at all. Whether it's completely rebuilding yourself from the ground up (pg. 4), finding small ways to relax (pg. 9) or just stopping to smell the roses (pg. 16), take the time to take care of yourself.
3 HIGHBROW
no chill, hit it or quit it, overheards
4 WORD ON THE STREET brain infection
5 EGO
eotw, hospice nurses
7 MUSIC
portugal the man
8 VICE & VIRTUE
relaxing, gourmet grocer
LOL
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LOL
LOL
10 FEATURE
the racist groupme
12 TECH
good street, tedxpenn
15 F&TV
superhero movies, destructive masculinity
17 ARTS
flower show
19 LOWBROW LOL
alternative news
SPRING HAS SPRUNG, AND STREET HAS STRUNG. WANT TO GET INVOLVED? COME TO OUR WRITERS' MEETING TONIGHT @ 6:30, 4015 WAL(NUT).
Orly Greenberg, Editor–in–Chief Dani Blum, Managing Editor Chloe Shakin, Audience Engagement Director Sofie Praestgaard, Design Director Corey Fader, Photo Director
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Staff Writers: Emily Rush, Haley Weiss, Lily Snider, Meerabelle Jesuthasan, Michelle Pereira, Shilpa Saravanan, Steph Barron, Bowman Coo-
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per, Emily Cieslak, Lauren Donato, Sabrina Qiao Zack Greenstein, Design Editor Carissa Zou, Design Editor Teagan Aguirre, Design Editor Gloria Yuen, Illustrator Anne Marie Grudem, Illustrator Autumn Powell, Photo Editor Brinda Ramesh, Photo Editor Young Lee, Video Editor Emily Hason, Video Editor Kyler McVay, Copy Director Paola Ruano, Copy Editor Erin Farrell, Copy Editor Lea Eisenstein, Copy Editor Perren Carillo, Copy Editor Sofia Price, Social Media Editor
Cole Bauer, Social Media Editor Maya Rosenberg, Social Media Editor Blake Brashear, Social Media Editor Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by Corey Fader, Autumn Powell, Brinda Ramesh and Dayzia Terry Contacting 34th Street Magazine: If you have questions, comments, complaints or letters to the editor, email Orly Greenberg, Editor–in–Chief, at greenberg@dailypennsylvanian.com. You can also call us at (215) 422-4640. www.34st.com "I thought my mom was going to send me a picture of a newborn baby, but instead she sent me a photo of some sexy shirtless man!" ©2017 34th Street Magazine, The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc. No part may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express, written consent of the editors (but I bet we will give you the a-okay). All rights reserved. 34th Street Magazine is published by The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc., 4015 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19104, every Thursday.
PENN HAS NO CHILL HIGHBROW
Photo: Creative Commons
CAROLINE HARRIS If we take shots, we take seven; if we study, it's for seven hours. When the professors are away, the students will play. St. Patty's came early this year when last Tuesday's classes were canceled for Winter Storm Stella. Students showed up en mass to snarties (snow day parties, duh), proving that even when temperatures are in the low 20s, Penn has no chill whatsoever. The fact that a day off means a darty says a lot. Just in case you didn't drink your body into oblivion during spring break, we'll make sure you start your week off with a good, clean blackout. Caricaturing themselves, and Penn culture, some students stumbled home day–drunk to apply to summer internships (Ed. note: can confirm this really happened). Some
intrepid warriors built an igloo outside the High Rises. On the other side of the spectrum, finding a seat at Saxby's became harder than finding a treadmill on Pottruck's first floor. Life at Penn is life intensified. Chill days don't exist at Penn. After a night out, we rally, get coffee and head to the library. No room for bubble baths or binge–watching Parks and Rec on the couch. It's back to the routine. Don't show weakness. Don't show vulnerability. Only mention you're so hungover to everyone in VP to show your strength and proceed. Face it: A lot of Penn students don't know how to chill. If we take shots,
HIT IT OR QUIT IT HIT IT: BRACKET QUIT IT: FRACKET With college basketball hitting its peak entertainment potential, going out is starting to get a lot less fun since every boy’s (and the ~chill~ girl's) eyes are glued to their phones for game updates. The rest of the non–sporty Penn people should all stay in and start watching because if you can’t beat ‘em, you might as well join ‘em. Who knows? Maybe you’ll make some quick cash on a bet or two...
we take seven; if we study, it's for ten hours. If we post on Instagram, it's the perfect bikini photo. We will one–up someone on almost anything, and we will do it until the new standard is as high as our caffeine levels on a Sunday night. Penn's work hard/play hard mentality can be exhausting, especially when it's pushed to its extremes. Chill—take deep breaths and just be. Go out without blacking out. Stay in Van Pelt for only two hours. Jog at Pottruck instead of entering treadmill wars. What's that? Midterms stress? We can't hear you over the sound of communal om– ing in yoga.
over heard PENN at
Wall Street–bound Whartonite: Ugh, these jobs are all public interest, and I have no interest in helping the public. Die–hard try–hard: No emergency could stop me from studying for this midterm. If a family member died, they'd still be dead, and I'd still have this test. Self–aware MATH– 170 prof handing out worksheets: I didn't think this many people would come to class. Devout worshipper of St. Fratrick: St. Patrick's should not be during Lent, it's impossible. I gave up texting boys who aren't into me and I texted three of them on Saturday.
HIT IT: 3 PARENTS QUIT IT: 2 PARENTS
HIT IT: WINTER IS COMING QUIT IT: SPRING IS COMING
Science is taking a crazy turn and no, we aren’t talking about Bill Nye asking Trump to send humans to Mars. Instead, we’re talking about the new initiative in the UK that allows scientists to start “creating” babies from three DNA sources instead of the usual two. While this would allow for children to avoid certain weak genes or mutations, it could also lead to a mutant species that could potentially take over the world. A species even more mutant than the boys you saw dartying this weekend. But hey, at least when you want something from your parents you’ll have one extra person to annoy for it in the hopes that they'll give in. The real question is: will Amy Gutmann sell her DNA, and for how much?
You might think this is in reference to the post–Spring Break blizzard that knocked out the much–wanted warm weather and replaced it with a cold front instead. But, dear reader, we’re not that predictable. News just came in that Game of Thrones will return on July 16th with bigger, badder and ballsier dragons (the size of a 747 jumbo jet supposedly). Why the upgrade? You might ask. Because when it comes to the Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons, size most definitely matters.
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WORD ON THE STREET
word on the STREET Five years can mean many things to us. A birthday. A reunion. An anniversary. A reminder of time. Tomorrow marks the five–year anniversary of when time almost ended for me. 57 days and nights in the hospital. 15 of them spent in the Neuro ICU, and this was all during the last three months of my senior year of high school in 2012. It began as a terrible migraine, simply dismissed as a virus during my first visit to the ER in the middle of a Saturday night. The next thing I vividly remember was waking up in the hospital five weeks later with a helmet on my head and multiple IVs and a feeding tube hooked up to my body. But I didn’t— and still don’t—remember everything in between. I was lost, confused and scared. All of this made no sense to me, so my parents tried to explain. My condition continued to worsen after I returned home from the ER later that Saturday night, and three days later I was rushed back to the hospital after becoming unconscious. When I first got there, the doctors didn’t know what I had—maybe meningitis, maybe West Nile Virus. After a series of tests, my internist called in an infectious disease specialist and neurologist as I began to drift, sleeping most of the day, slipping out of my state of consciousness. The neurologist ordered an MRI for me that night, and we received the results and diagnosis the next morning. The MRI showed us that I had viral encephalitis, the inflammation of the brain due to a virus tracking the nerve pathway to the brain. A two in a million chance, and it happened to me. At that point, I was totally out of it. I wasn’t getting out of bed because I couldn’t get myself out. I began losing my ability to speak. I wasn’t eating because I couldn’t swallow, and although I was put on an antiviral medication, the brain swelling from the virus continued to worsen. On Saturday, March 24, 2012, I had an emergency craniectomy procedure. Part of my skull was removed and placed under the skin of my stomach to relieve the pressure from my brain. None of this was easy. I felt stuck. I just wanted everything to go back to the way it was before I got sick. It was the middle of April, and I had already been in the hospital for more than a month, yet it felt like a lifetime. I wanted to go back to school. I wanted to be dancing with my high school dance company and competing with my dance studio. I missed my
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FINDING CENTER HALLIE BROOKMAN friends. I wanted to be home. I felt like everything had been ripped out of my hands, and I was just starting all over again. I wanted my life back, so I had to fight for it. I had to learn how to walk again, talk again and swallow again. I had my second and final surgery in June, when they reattached my skull plate that had been kept alive and well under the skin of my stomach. After
the surgery, I chose to defer Penn in order to give myself the time to make a full recovery. Yes, going through a life–changing experience changed my life and me forever, but I want to remember these past five years as five years of courage. Of getting up every day and not being afraid of what may happen, but instead, holding my breath and just going for it. Of being grateful for every day I have to live, of not being afraid because I have already fallen, and of not being afraid because I have nothing to lose. Instead, being brave, feeling honored and lucky to have had the opportunity I fought for: to get up and keep going. Everybody has their story, and this is mine. As soon as I had my second and final surgery in June to put the removed skull plate back in my head, and found myself slowly and carefully taking the barre portion of a beginning ballet class about a week later, people asked me when I was going to write my story. I knew I wanted to write it. I knew I needed to call it “Finding Center,” something that I’m doing every time I dance—digging deep to get in touch with my inner core, and my true self within. By maintaining that center, we can remain mentally balanced. However, we can lose that balance too, and that’s what
When the clock almost stopped for me.
happened to me, and it was completely out of my control. I got knocked off my feet and had to fight like never before to find my center again. This story doesn’t have an ending. The doctors called my recovery a miracle, and I was able to come to Penn and have the full college experience going beyond what I dreamed of, but this story does not have an ending—it continues on just as we do, but I will not let this story define me. I am not “the sick girl.” I am a fighter and a dreamer. I will not give up. I will not let this obstacle set me back. Instead, I recognize the good that it’s done for me. It helped me find my voice. It helped me understand my passions. It helped me find my courage. The courage to be present. The courage to feel alive. And the courage to feel free. In seven and a half weeks, I will be graduating from Penn. Last year, I wrote a piece about the courage that I wanted going into my senior year, making every second count. I did that when I got up onstage at my first dance competition following the recovery from my illness, just as the one year anniversary was approaching, dancing the solo I would have competed senior year and dancing another solo I choreographed inspired by this story. That’s where my courage lies. We all have it, it’s just how we find it. Understanding that it’s true, we only live once, so we should start or continue living like that too. Making every second, smile, kiss, laugh, and leap count. Leaping without fear— living with no regrets. Doing what we would do if we weren’t afraid. Five years ago, I performed in my last high school dance concert the week before I got sick, and this weekend will be my last dance show with Arts House Dance Company. Twenty years of dancing, fifteen years of competing, and four years with Arts House. This is it. Five years ago, I was being rushed into the Operating Room to have a surgery that saved my life. Five years later, I will be cheering “Whose Haus?! Arts House!” just before we walk onstage and begin the show. This time, my cheering and dancing will be different. I won’t just be cheering for another dance show. I will bravely be cheering and dancing louder, harder, and stronger. Cheering for five years of fighting, five years of courage. Losing myself in the moment onstage dancing fearlessly, present and centered, and exploding with life.
EGO
EGOOF THE WEEK: SOPHIE BEREN She might just be the next Amy G. BY ANNIKA IYER
“This is basically the culmination of my time at Penn,” Sophie says, cupping a steaming Saxby's drink. She laughs and leans forward. “How exactly does Street pick its Ego of the Week anyways?” Sophie is curious by nature, a quality that shows itself again and again throughout our interview. She tries to gain new perspectives from any experience. As Sophie says, she “was always the kid freshmen year trying to meet as many people as possible, stopping them on Locust to chat, and getting coffee with someone new each day.” She was the only Jewish person in her high school back in Wichita, Kansas, and she was excited to connect with the Jewish community at Penn. She quickly became involved in SDT, Penn Hillel board, and Penn Shabbatones. “I felt that this was awesome," she says, "But at the same time I realized that after second semester freshmen year everyone finds their performing arts groups, their Greek organizations, their sports teams, their halls, their groups and then they just stop branching out.” To combat this segregated Penn culture, Sophie founded TableTalk her sophomore year. The group provides "a framework for conversation
between people who would not interact under ordinary circumstances," according to its website. TableTalk is responsible for the couches on College Green where people can sit and meet someone new by creating another open space on campus where people can feel comfortable, and free from pressure. Table Talks, which typically last one hour, are geared towards more specific dialogue. Topics that students don’t usually have time to talk about such as mental health, religion, sexuality and the election are addressed in a judgment free and relaxed environment. The most recent TableTalk, “Beyond the Ban,” dealt with the current immigration and refugee crisis. She has facilitated its expansion onto 15 other college campuses, and hopes to make it a non–profit during her remaining time at Penn next semester while she finishes up her master's degree in non– profit leadership at Penn's School of Social Policy and Practice. The club has grown in size to include nearly 50 members. “We all retreat into these echo chambers of like– minded individuals, and there is no vehicle to bring us back together,” Sophie says. ”It wasn’t just me feeling swept up in the hustle of Penn, but a lot of people. TableTalk is my
Street: Biggest warning for fresh- I’ve been asked are whether I start school late because of the men? harvest season, and whether Wichita is a restaurant. I like to SB: Don’t take astronomy!≠≠ mess with people a bit though, and tell them I got my tractor Street: Are there seasons in license at 14. Kansas? SB: That’s a new one! I get so many different questions about Kansas, so when there’s one I haven’t heard before its refreshing. I think the last question I was asked is if we have wifi. Everyone just thinks of Kansas as this farmland and that I’m Dorothy. The most ridiculous things
Street: Best breakfast spot on campus? SB: Honest Tom’s, sweet potato breakfast burrito. Then you can just hop on over to the Little Pop Shop and do a little combo action.
way of attempting to push people out of their comfort zones.” “I’m a huge believer in taking everything Penn has to offer, seizing the moment and running with it. Penn has the resources, so just do it. Some people are afraid to make changes, but it can become something beautiful,” Sophie exclaims. Her voice takes on a pensive tone as she describes the legacy she hopes to leave on the Penn community. She wants to be known as a go–getter, who never passed up an opportunity to do something meaningful with her time. Sophie is the President of Osiris Senior Society. This past year, she founded Osiris's philanthropy event, “Collabs for Charity,” an open–mic, cabaret style evening with different collaborations that raises money to fund West Philadelphia High School's choir program. Sophie has been a music teacher at West Philly High School for four years now, working to elevate the students' arts experience. She is also a member of Friars Senior Society, the Performance Manager for the Shabbatones a capella group and a member of SDT. Realizing very early on that she was not the cliché internship–seeking Penn student, Sophie spent most of her Street: Most spontaneous thing you’ve done at Penn? SB: Last week on that beautiful 70 degree day, I skipped my three–hour class to go get margs at Mad Mex with Rich who is a previous EOTW! Street: There are two types of people at Penn… SB: Those who were extremely devastated when Allegro changed their 24/7 hour policy and those at Penn who didn’t even notice. My roommates and I were literally crying.
summers working at the summer camp she used to attend. She also worked at the Penn Admissions office, running their social media and promoting their events. She continues to run their social media accounts, in addition to the accounts of Penn Hillel, Shabbatones, TableTalk, and the A Cappella Council. Given Sophie’s track record of active involvement here at Penn,
it is only natural to wonder what she will do after graduating and receiving her masters. “If there were no limitations then I would definitely want to be on Broadway. My cousins are all on Broadway, so I’ve always just looked up to them. I love musical theatre,” she says. “Ideally, though, one day I’ll be running some non–profit. Maybe I’ll even be the next Amy G!”
GET TO KNOW SOPHIE IN HER OWN WORDS:
NAME: SOPHIE BEREN HOMETOWN: WICHITA, KANSAS otherMUSIC, alive. Sorry, that escalated MAJOR: COMMUNICATIONS, SUBMATRICquickly. ULANT AT PENN'S SCHOOL OF SOCIAL POLICY AND PRACTICE SB: Dogs. I was never allowed to Who is your celeb crush? Street: Cats or Dogs?
have a pet growing up. At most ACTIVITIES: PENN SHABBATONES, SB: Josh Hutcherson. I met him my brother and I wereTABLETALK, allowed SOCIETY, SENIOR SOCIETY, when I was younger because toOSIRIS get a betaSENIOR fish, which was a FRIARS PENN PENN HILLEL, CAPPELLA my cousinAused to play on his huge deal.ADMISSIONS, One night my dad basketball team. said they were SDT, probably lonely COUNCIL, WEST PHILLY HIGH SCHOOL'S MUand needed a friend, but when SIC PROGRAM, HUFFINGTON POST CONTRIBUTOR we woke up they had eaten each What is your go–to drink?
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EGO
LIFE, DEATH, &GBMs
JULIA BELL
Ogul Uner (C’17) has never seen a person die. But the group of students who volunteered a year before him did. For the members of SHOOP, the Student Hospice Organization of Penn, death is part of their routine. Thy volunteer at hospice centers in Philadelphia and Wissahockon, Pennsylvania to provide comfort and company to patients. People are admitted to hospice wards when their doctors have diagnosed them with less than six months left to live and they decide to stop pursuing medical treatment. SHOOP volunteers must assume that each person they talk to in hospice will pass away within a few months, and they make it their mission to take the patients’ mind off of their prognosis. Because the focus of hospice care isn’t on getting physically well again, there is a greater importance on emotional well–being and security. “We’re really just a friend for them at the end of their life,” said Sophie Pan, the current SHOOP Co–President. Many Penn students who aspire for a career in medicine can expect patient death to be an inevitable part of their career, but most don’t actively embrace that aspect of the field. SHOOP 6
boasts between 20–30 active volunteers, most of whom are pre–med. Students in the club frequently lose patients they have volunteered with— sometimes for months—but they search for a silver lining. “Instead of saying it’s the end of life, we say we’re celebrating life,” Sophie explained, “because when you have so few days left you want to make the most of it.”
INSIDE A HOSPICE WARD Unlike other medical volunteerships, which often require prescribed duties (clean bedpans, file paperwork, replace sheets, etc.), most of hospice care is simply closeness and connection. You can't really teach how to be a good hospice volunteer. Eric Trumbower, the manager of volunteer services at Penn Wissahickon Hospice, has overseen several SHOOP members. He tried to describe the common thread between all hospice volunteers. They are old souls, he said. They are compassionate and are generally the least anxious person in the room. “It attracts people who realize what it means to be human, what it means to be alive,” he finally settled on.
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Few of the patients can walk, so the volunteers usually bond with them from their beds. If a patient can’t speak, the volunteer may talk to them or just keep them company. Although a hospice ward generally resembles a hospital environment, SHOOP volunteers try to distract the patients from their surroundings. Ideally, a hospice ward will be calm and reflective, but it can also be tumultuous. “It is by no means a happy place. Our patients are dying, and there is a lot of death that occurs there,” said Trumbower. “Now, with all that being said, it can range from a peaceful, calm and quiet space to sometimes a little bit more tumultuous and erratic.” Many of the patients that enter hospice are in chronic pain and anxious about the end of their life. These strong emotions can create a hectic atmosphere. It's the job of the volunteers to make that chaos more welcoming.
tion. When working in a long–term care facility, he even formed relationships with patients’ family members. However, some patients are unable or unwilling to talk. Cathy Liu (C’19), a member of SHOOP, defines patients in two ways: responsive and unresponsive. Most unresponsive patients can no longer understand conversation. Cathy sits with them and sometimes tells them about her day. Even though they can’t communicate, she thinks that just seeing a volunteer can improve their surroundings. In similar situations, Ogul has devised ways to break through to uncommunicative patients, such as making flashcards with symbols like happy and sad faces. Hospice volunteer rules state that workers cannot have recently experienced the death of a loved one within one year of working in palliative care, as the circumstances are too personal. For both Sophie and Ogul, the death of a close relative— a grandparent, each—was a pivotal factor in their interest in hospice care. This is a common narrative between many members of SHOOP, and hospice volunteers in general.
BECOMING A VOLUNTEER
AFTER HOSPICE
Ogul, a board member of SHOOP, described most of his volunteer experiences as one long ongoing conversa-
Although the expectation for patients is that they will end their lives in hospice, that isn’t always the case. Some hos-
Student hospice volunteers are friends to the dying.
pice patients recuperate enough to graduate from hospice care. Studies show that the benefits of hospice—less anxiety, comfort, constant monitoring—can actually lengthen lifespans of terminally ill people. However, volunteers have to deal with their patients who confirm their doctor’s prognosis and pass away within six months. Hospice volunteers are coached not to form an emotional attachment to their patients. “You definitely feel something when you come in and you don’t have that patient in anymore,” Ogul said. He stressed the importance of setting professional boundaries with patients. When Cathy first started as a hospice volunteer, she struggled not to become emotional when her patients died. Now she limits her time, spending no more than four hours a week with a patient to maintain some distance. “I learned my lesson, and I try not to go too often,” she said. Ultimately, most hospice volunteers are interested in medicine because of the potential to cure a disease, repair an injury, and restore health. But the realities of hospice can be humbling. “We want to be doctors because we want to save lives, and that is the ultimate goal,” Sophie said, “but it’s also important to recognize that medicine is limited and we’re never going to cure everything out there.”
MUSIC
AN INTERVIEW WITH PORTUGAL. They’ve oh–so–casually dropped THE MAN eight(!) albums in as many years, before
A quick Google will tell you they’re a “rock band,” but we’ll respectfully disagree—Portugal. The Man is so much more. Think a prog–rock (read: progressive rock), indie band, with influences from hip–hop to Bowie to Ghostface Killah to the Beatles and then some.
ON WHAT’S *THE* ESSENCE OF PORTUGAL. THE MAN... “All Your Light" from In The Mountain In The Cloud. I really feel like that’s the one, if I had to show somebody, this is what our band does in one song It has a little bit of everything. It’s got a hip–hop beat influence, it’s got the vocals that we had during Church Mouth days, it’s got a spastic prog–jam and several covers which range from anything like David Bowie to Ghostface Killah and the Beatles, it kind of has a little bit of everything. I think that, the live version, it gets upward of 10 minutes. But that’s pretty much the song that just has the most memories for me. We wrote it, we recorded it, and it keeps continuing to grow and change and live and I really like that.” ON THE NEW ALBUM WOODSTOCK... “It’s very, very different. It’s kinda all over the place. We’ve got a good mix of everything going with it. It’s hard to explain. It’s fresh. It’s by far the freshest album we’ve ever done. We’ve tried a lot of new tricks, and we learned what to do, what not to do.” ON HOW THEY MAKE MUSIC, AND GOOD MUSIC AT THAT... “Right when we’re done, while it’s fresh in our mind, we note what we know what to do and what not to do. We start working on a new one as much as possible. We don’t like sit-
ting still very much.”
what we love.”
ON HOW WOODSTOCK'S LEAD SINGLE "FEEL IT STILL" CAME TO LIFE... “It was a side session, we were in the studio working on another song, and just in another room, John started humming the melody and playing the baseline. And we said you know what, let’s just throw that down real quick. It’s very strange how those things work, and just the lyrics, the 'rebels just for kicks' we had done a long time ago, but nothing else. So we borrowed that and started singing and said you know, that’s the one that works. And so we jump on it, and that ends up being our first single.”
ON THE CRAZIEST THING A FAN’S DONE FOR THEM… “I guess I’ll bring up Salzberg, Austria. I had a birthday. This was 5 years ago. I turned 30 there. My friend that happened to live there...A couple of them worked there at an old salt mine, that’s the largest, the oldest salt mine that is still available for tours and stuff. So we had a birthday party a mile or two underground, and they pretty much gave us the tour except we had a bunch of people, a bunch of their friends, a bunch of bands we’d met and we did an underground party in this thousand–year–old salt mine, and we brought a ton of beer down there and a birthday cake and it was pretty unbelievable. I ended up...my phone died, I think I got lost, we were at dive bars until very, very late...”
ON THE FACT THAT MY MOM LOVES IT... “That is very good to hear.” ON THEIR LIVE PRESENCE... “We’re particularly reserved. We don’t have a long of the theatrics, John especially, our frontman, isn’t a very classic frontman, he hardly speaks at all. He plays mostly with his back turned. We kind of get into our own zone. We have our own fun—lot of shots, lot of beers, lot of improvising, we like to think we have more fun than anybody on stage. And that’s what comes through. It’s always not very planned out. It’s always hanging by a thread, and can come crashing down at any minute, but that’s what we find the magic in and that’s
ON WHO’S THE BEST SONGWRITER OUT THERE… “Check out Tobias Jesso Jr. He’s amazing, he writes unbelieveable songs.” (Ed. note: Confirmed.) ON WHO YOU SHOULD SEE NEXT (AFTER THEM, OF COURSE)... “Savages, I’ve seen them several times over the past couple years. They are bad motherfuckers. They are so much fun to watch live. They are so pumped, and goth, and cool. I have so much more fun at their shows. You get jaded a
spending three years producing their upcoming project, Woodstock. If you can’t tell, we’re buzzing about it. With not one, but two shows coming to the City of Brotherly Love, we caught up with the band’s OG member, bassist Zach Carothers, about all things life: what we know (the world’s just about lost it), what we wish we knew (how to make *good* music) and how to get on their good side.
lot and I’ve seen so many great acts and it does tend to lose its luster a little bit. When I find a band that makes me feel like a teenager, I rep it hard. Go to a show. It’s more about the energy than the specific songs for me.” ON WHY THEY MAKE MUSIC... “Because that’s what art is all about, it’s the connection. It’s a selfish thing that we do to where we want our own level of originality but we also want to share where all our ideas come from, because everybody gets their ideas from somewhere and we don’t like to hide it. I don’t mind ripping off The Beatles, I mean they paved the way for any and all progressive rock and roll. That’s a very important thing to us. We have to let the people know we’re not just doing it for them, for the listener. We’re doing it for us. You have to keep a little bit of that alive. You can’t just write music for other people, that just doesn’t work—at least it doesn’t work for us. So we have to do it for ourselves and we hope the people will agree what we like.” ON HOW THE BAND’S CHANGED OVER THE YEARS... “John and I have been playing music forever. John and I are the original, orignal members and we’ve been playing music together since we were teenagers. We’ve lost a couple people along the way to girlfriends, college, jobs that played well. We’re al-
ways bringing in new people to breathe new life into the live set and the studio setting. Not all of us go down to the studio, when there’s too many cooks in the kitchen, it makes things difficult—the smaller the amount the better. Everyone has their different roles in the band. Right now we’ve got a really good team…It’s a special time for us. We’ll probably stick with this setup for quite a while.” ON WHAT THEY EAT ON TOUR… “Lot of coffee, lot of things from home, and a lot of jerky... We venture out. We are not the kinda band that likes to sit in hotel rooms or sit backstage. We like to get out, see the city, get out of the city whenever we can, so we don’t sleep very much. We get off the bus very early, find a good local breakfast spot. We search around to find everything good. We love getting emails from fans on where to eat, what bars to go to, what shops to hit. So we don’t have a thing we prefer to eat right before we play, but it’s always something good and close and local, and fun. In Philly, we’ll probably do the normal tourist thing, and go get cheesesteaks in Philly, I’d imagine. I heard Lorenzo’s burned down, it’s terrible. A bummer man, I loved that pizza.” Continue reading online at 34st.com /music
TALIA STERMAN
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7
'WE ARE NOT AN EXCEPTION' I
t’s Friday, November 11 at 4:30 pm. I wrap up my weekly seminar at Perry World House and stand in the conference room along with few other students chatting. As her face turns red, a student asks, “Have you seen the racist GroupMe on Facebook?” I respond, “No, I haven’t yet.” She appears to hold her tears back. “It’s disgusting with images of lynchings, and it’s all over Facebook.” We stand quiet for a moment, scared, confused and realizing that Penn cannot shield us from the venom of those who wish to hurt us. We are black, white, Middle Eastern. We are overwhelmed. That Friday, six Penn freshmen were added into a GroupMe chat titled “Trump is Love.” The chat was rife with racist content, including a calendar event titled “daily lynching,” messages like “Never be a N----r in SAE,” and a graphic photograph of a lynching. Screenshots of the GroupMe quickly circulated amongst students through Facebook. Calvary Rogers (C’19), who is the co–chair of UMOJA and also works as a DP columnist, found out in real time about the GroupMe account through a student who was added into it. “I never thought something like this would happen at Penn,” he said. Around noon, the Division of Public Safety became aware of the messages. Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush later said that there was no evidence that Penn was targeted specifically for being Trump’s alma mater. By early Friday evening, Penn President Amy Gutmann sent an email to the student body, acknowledging the event: “We are absolutely appalled that earlier today Black freshman students at Penn were added to a racist GroupMe account that appears to be based in Oklahoma,” the statement read. “The account itself is totally repugnant: it contains violent, racist and thoroughly disgusting images and messages.” DPS would later work into the night with black student leaders, trying to identify those freshmen who were added into the chat, as well as coordinating interviews with the FBI. Early the next day, the University announced that a student at the University of Oklahoma had been suspended due to his suspected role in sending the messages. Two other students have also been investigated by the FBI in connection with the GroupMe chat. All of the students attended the same high school, Rush said. One was a Penn admit to the class of 2020—he was able to gather Penn students’ names and add them to the 1 0 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E M A R C H 2 3 , 2 017
GroupMe chat through the official Class of 2020 Facebook Page, which he was still a part of. Penn’s Chaplain Rev. Charles L. Howard works closely with Student Intervention Services and public safety on a range of crises and was among the University’s administrators who handled the GroupMe incident. “We all did what we could, whether it was pulling together the students who were threatened, getting food or talking to students one–on–one throughout the day and being at the gatherings to say a quick word of encouragement,” Howard said Now, four months later, the FBI investigation is still ongoing and no students have been charged.
AFTERMATH
H
oward noted the incident reverberated well beyond the black community. “The entire school was devastated, let alone several hundred black students,” Howard said. “As a black administrator here, my biggest hurt is the pain that I have seen it cause my students, and to see my students crying really hurts my heart,” he said. For Calvary, the GroupMe incident took an emotional, psychological and physical toll on him. Though Howard said the administration notified the professors and counselors of the six students who were added to the chat, other students struggled with their academics in the wake of the event. “The hardest part was trying to be a student through it all,” Calvary said. “I was missing a lot of classes. I was trying to handle the situation first and be a student second.” Aisha Bowen, a first–year graduate student at Penn’s Graduate School of Education, also had problems focusing as she coped with the GroupMe incident and the way the school addressed the situation. “What concerns me the most with this follow through is anybody can do things in the moment as far as support goes. But what happens after the fact?” she asked.
Kassidi Jones (C’18) thought being surprised by the event would be naive considering the results of the election and the current tense atmosphere in the country. “[The incident] wasn’t really shocking but more of a reminder of the climate that we’re in already,” Kassidi said. She emphasized that it would be impossible for Penn to “protect us from things that are going on in the outside world.” From Aisha’s perspective, most of what the administration did was send out emails to students explaining moment by moment the developments of the GroupMe incident. “The administration kept the students informed rather than saying we are here for you,” she recalled. Miebaka Anga (C’18) recognized similar flaws. Instead of providing support, he wished the school took more preventative measures rather than offer reactionary support. Aisha agreed, questioning the actions Penn has taken since the incident occurred. “What actual tangible changes that have happened?” Aisha asked. “There have been a lot of emails, meetings and community organizations who come and say let’s talk and let’s share, but what is actually being done to change the culture that is causing black people trauma?” Kassidi said that Penn has more work to do, but she feels supported by the people around her, such as individuals in the Africana Studies department and Makuu, the black cultural center on campus. Though many students who were added into the GroupMe did not respond to requests for comment, a few of them told Aisha that there “hasn’t been much follow through from the University in regards to supporting black students.” Figures in the administration like Howard are sympathetic to these complaints. “I can see the frustration with the lack of follow–up with the
NOW, FOUR MONTHS LATER, THE FBI INVESTIGATION IS STILL ONGOING AND NO STUDENTS HAVE BEEN CHARGED.
entire black community, and that’s a good check on us,” he said. “We should have another large gathering. We can all come together to follow up as a community.”
RACISM AT PENN
O
ne night, Miebaka was at a party off– campus with other Penn students when he says police officers told them to leave. He was standing outside along with a white friend, waiting for the rest of their group to come out. One of the officers asked what they were still doing there and allowed his white friend to go. Meanwhile, he continued to ask Miebaka questions and shouted at him. Miebaka remained calm and apologized to the officer multiple times. “The next day, I felt that if I was not apologetic toward him,” he explained, “I could have been harmed in some way. That may feel like a big assumption, but that’s how I felt reflecting back on it.” His father had warned him about the prevalence of racism in the U.S. before he came to Penn from Nigeria—warnings that Miebaka initially didn’t fully understand. “I didn’t read into it much,” he said, “and almost approached it with the mindset of what is he talking about?” Miebaka is still coming to terms with the concept of racism. “I didn’t realize how much of a big deal it was,” he said. In Nigeria, “pretty much no one is black,” he said. “You are just a person; you are not made aware of the fact that you are black until you come here. Then, it’s a thing.” Aisha said she has endured both overt and covert racism on campus. She has been, for instance, mistaken at the University as a student who doesn’t attend the school. She noted that “the racist culture and this type of aura is not something that’s new on campus for a lot of these black students because we experience it ourselves.” Just three years ago, for example, the Phi Delta Theta fraternity recieved backlash for taking a Christmas photo of mainly white males that included a black blow–up doll. In 1993, Penn was similarly wracked by a racial scandal when a white freshman called out to a group of black women to “shut up, you water buffalo.” These are more than mere isolated incidents—they are part of the often daily struggles that black students and faculty alike are forced to confront. Howard was
THE GROUPME INCIDENT & RACISM AT PENN
called the N–word to his face as a high schooler, “No matter how far I go, what school I get into, and to this day, when he writes articles, he of- what job I take, I am always going to be subjected ten hears the same racist language in emails and to this racism that doesn't even see me as a perphone calls. son,” Calvary said. “I didn’t have the same surprise that I do think Part of that racial climate at Penn stems from some other people felt about this still happening demographics. As of fall 2015, among the tradiin 2016,” he said, “but I did feel the sting of it tional Penn undergraduates only 7 percent were still.” black Americans while 44.3 percent were white. In the aftermath of the GroupMe messages, For the non–traditional undergraduates, just 5 protesters marched in solidarity to the evening percent were black Americans while 45.6 percent football game at Franklin Field. Aisha recalled that were white. Black faculty were even more undermany white students did not welcome their black represented; only 3.8 percent black, compared to peers’ outrage. “The response that a lot of students 76.6 percent white. gave to the marchers was ‘I don’t understand why In a recent talk at the World Cafe Live, Mathey are acting this way. You guys need to be more rybeth Gasman, a professor at Penn’s Graduate calm,’” she said. “That is telling black students School of Education, pointed out that “not hiryou are not ing as many faculty of color allowed to is just as bad. People have respond with a hard time understanding "AS A BLACK the emotions how bad systemic racism is.” of a human Vice Provost for Faculty ADMINISTRATOR HERE, being.” Anita Allen wrote in an MY BIGGEST HURT IS THE email to Street that “Penn For Kassidiligently seeks to always PAIN THAT I HAVE SEEN di, the racism abide by legally prescribed IT CAUSE MY STUDENTS, she has expeaffirmative action / equal rienced has opportunity policies. I am ANDTO SEE MY STUDENTS been more proud that women and peoCRYING REALLY HURTS MY subtle. Some ple of color contribute to our HEART." of her Penn inclusive and increasingly diclassmates verse campus. Faculty diverhave complisity and inclusion are stated mented her priorities of the university.” for being “arGasman noted that for ticulate,” even though she already attends an Ivy the white community, the whole Penn campus League university. is their space. These spaces were built for white “Some are surprised by the fact that I know how men, and still exhibit their sculptures and porto talk well,” Kassidi said. “It should be expected traits to this day. Aisha shared a similar thought. that I am on the same level of intellect that my “That’s a privilege that a lot of white students on peers are.” this campus have,” she said. “The people that they Calvary has also experienced numerous hid- read about, the books that they read are people den forms of racism on campus. Many Penn staff that come from a culture that they ascribe to. And members have assumed that he is an athlete be- when they do learn about themselves, for the most cause he is black, often singling him out while he’s part, it’s very positive.” with his white peers to ask what sport he plays. Once, as he passed by a group of high school students with their Penn tour guide, a white parent asked the guide whether “blacks” are allowed on campus. ver his 21 years at the school, even with “There were times that I thought people didn’t the enduring grip of racism both open want me here,” he said. The people who sent those and hidden at the University, Howard has witmessages “literally wanted to lynch me, but I re- nessed progress on the issue. minded myself of the bigger picture.” “We are not there yet; we are nowhere near the
O
WORKING TO CHANGE
promised land, but we are a whole lot better than when I was a freshman,” Howard said. “Again, kids are still being called the N–word. There are still racist parties. That’s not okay. We are still working on it, and we have to keep working on it and not be comfortable where we are.” While people are hoping for progress in the University, many have also expressed disappointment in the aftermath of Trump’s election. Though many Americans have spoken of leaving the country, Kassidi has no intention of leaving. “I don’t want to uproot myself to make white supremacy feel more comfortable in America,” she explained. “I’d rather stay in the place that I know, fight the same demons that I know.” Gasman pointed out that white people need to be just as engaged participants in the struggle against racism. “The best way to be a good ally,” she said, “is to listen, to believe people, to confront people who might be perpetuating these things in society. Because as white people, we need to do that.” She added, “We need to acknowledge that for many, many people, Trump’s election equated to a kind of comment about their value in society.” Aisha echoed Gasman’s sentiments and encouraged people to work against the message that Trump’s election conveyed. “A lot of black students on campus, specifically black freshman are looking for support,” Aisha said. “They are looking for people to show them that their lives and their experiences are just as important as anyone else’s and that fact is shown through action.” She added, “This place needs to have black students who will fight and who will come together to make change happen.” Even if Penn makes improvements, Kassidi is cognizant of the fact that Penn is not a bubble and will always be subject the racial context nationwide. “We are not an isolated island where we can all be inclusive and open,” Kassidi said. “We are not an exception.”
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You can change the world with the change in your pocket, thanks to an online–based giving platform called Good St. The self–described “community” (rather than company or organization) works simply. Members purchase a monthly subscription to donate 25 cents per day to one of two featured charities. They receive an email detailing the causes and choose which vetted charity to support. Members have 12 hours to choose which cause to support or the money is automatically allocated to even out donations. Causes span from alleviating poverty in a certain city to promoting education to performing research on a certain type of cancer. Founded by Ariel Sterman, Jeff Dobrinsky, Joe Benun and Joe Teplow, this subscription service makes charitable giving accessible and personal. As for the name “Good St.,” it refers to a place where the community members can gather—a fixed place for people to do good. Street spoke with cofounder Joe Teplow to get a sense of what Good St. does and where it’s going. He spoke about his previous experiences with charity crowdfunding, which led him to pursue a more sustainable philanthropic model. The problem with crowdfunding is that it only works over a finite time span. Good St. eliminates that issue, Joe explains. He and the team work to vet charities and choose causes, which can be submitted by “Streeters,” as Good St. staffers are known. They've chosen themes for causes of the day, like breast cancer awareness
or disaster relief. For the more timely causes, the team functions a bit like a newsroom. Kelly Sterman (C '20) identifies as a “Streeter.” Kelly’s official duties are centered around content marketing; her sister Talia, also a Penn student and Street's music editor, shares similar duties. Their older brother is a co–founder of Good St., and the Stermans have kept it in the family. With regard to Kelly's position, she explains that she chooses “actions” and quotes, which fill the landing page post–donation and encourage Streeters to do something good. She uploads a quote encouraging people to do good each day, as well as a tangible action someone can do to positively impact others, like encouraging people to smile at strangers when they walk down the street. Kelly also recalls the launch of the company in Washington Square Park a few years ago. She and the founding team walked around with quarters, explained the idea behind the business, and asked passersby to allocate the quarters to the charity of their choice. This experience segued into the online platform and the daily email. Streeters, both Joe and Kelly explain, have the unique opportunity of shaping their community and its future. Good St. accepts nominations for causes and charities, though a vetting process is in place for all charities selected. Both also spoke about the possibility of a tangible Good St. hospital wing or research center down the line. You can sign up for Good St. on their website.
TECH
TED X PENN IS READY TO
BLOW YOUR MIND Seriously. Mind blown.
At 9 a.m. every morning, Julien Advaney (E'18) gets the same email: an automatic count of how many tickets have been sold to this year’s TEDxPenn conference on April 1. Each sale is proof that the late night emails, meetings and spreadsheets are finally coming together. “I think beyond just physical time spent together, TEDxPenn is a huge emotional commitment,” said Helen Nie (C'18), who is the event’s co–curator with Julien. “I am constantly thinking about ways we can improve. At the end of the day, we [students] don’t get any of our names on the program, but it’s not about us. It’s about the speakers and putting together a conference that is really badass.” Founded in 2010, TEDxPenn has grown from a 100– person lecture to a 1,000– person conference. As an independent, student–orga-
nized TED event, the program follows the TED Talk format in which leaders in technology, entertainment and design take the stage to share their ideas. Julien and Helen became involved with TEDxPenn when they were freshmen, and today, they lead the 30–person team of undergraduate and Ph.D. students. Highlighting some of the boldest minds at Penn and the world, TEDxPenn allows students to step back from focusing on exams and applications and to remember the power of learning that brought them to a research university in the first place. “I think the big thing that makes us different from a professor giving a lecture versus a professor giving a TED talk is that TEDx is really about learning for the sake of learning,” Helen said. “You will have a professor that is teaching intro physics, but his real day–to–day research consists
of measuring the diameter of the universe. You never really hear that professor talking about those cool things, so this is another venue to hear professors talk very passionately about what they do.” Featuring 12 speakers from a range of industries and walks of life, this year’s lineup is their strongest yet, according to Helen and Julien. L. Scott Levin, the chair of the department of orthopedic surgery at Penn Medicine, performed the world’s first pediatric bilateral hand transplant. “Logo prodigy” Sagi Haviv has designed some of the world’s most iconic logos. Photographer Araba Ankuma (C'17), the only current undergraduate speaking at the event, has taken on a new project exploring and documenting Cuba to promote cross–cultural understanding. “We like to pride ourselves on that we are TEDxPenn, so we are focused on the Penn
community. When eight out of 12 speakers are of the Penn community, it makes more of an impact. We have more of an identity as a school, and I think that is one thing we want to get across,” Julien said. “We are not TEDxPhilly, which also does exist. We are trying to pull from what represents Penn as a research institution and the diversity we have here on campus.” He said they get a lot of submissions from interested speakers, and as early as August, they begin their audition process to narrow down the list. Once speakers are chosen, both sides work together to develop a 12 to 15 minute talk catered to the audience and yearly theme. “It took lots of cold emailing,” Helen laughed. Helen and Julien attribute the success of the event to the students working behind it, with each member bringing
their own skills. Getting to know the speakers and leading the team has been one of the most rewarding aspects for the duo over the three years. By opening these conversations up to the public, they hope more Penn students will experience this wealth of knowledge. “Being associated with TEDxPenn, you are constantly working with people that are passionate about what they do and that in itself is inspiring mentality,” Helen said. “You really engage with people that at their core are passionate about making the world a better place by whatever medium that may be.” Students can buy tickets to TEDxPenn for $17 online or at the Annenberg Center Box Office. Read more online at 34st.com EMILY CIESLAK
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FILM & TV
LOGAN
Logan is three films at once—a rare feat in the superhero genre. First and foremost, it’s the first R–rated Wolverine film, featuring all the bloody violence you’d expect. However, it also manages to be two classic on–the–road movies for the price of one: the first is about a middle–aged deadbeat son on the road with his deteriorating, dementia–ridden father, and the second is about
AND THE SUPERHERO MOVIE'S REDEMPTION ARC
a middle–aged deadbeat father on the road with his rebellious preteen daughter. But breaking with tradition again, Logan isn’t fun to watch. It’s wrenching; certain scenes elicit horrible, visceral reactions that are all the more powerful because nobody expected them from a film in the longest–running superhero franchise. Hugh Jackman (Wolverine himself ) and Pat-
rick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier, the patriarch) said earlier this year that they were done with X–Men. Logan is the farewell they deserved. Wolverine has always been the least conventional, most independent (and most popular) member of the X–Men, so perhaps it was fitting that the title of his final, redemptive turn was the first X–Men film to ditch any associations
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They're starting to make the superhuman human.
with mutants whatsoever. This man is more than just Wolverine, the name given to him for his indestructible adamantium claws. He’s Logan, and fittingly, this film’s about far more than what Logan does with those claws. Logan is character–centric in a way that no previous Wolverine movies, despite their single–character focus, have managed to be: it makes the superhuman human. The critical and commercial success of Logan and last year’s Deadpool signal a long–awaited shift in the typical superhero movie—that is, soon there won’t be a typical superhero movie. The superhero revival of the 2000s and 2010s featured more smash–‘em–ups and origin stories than any one viewer could possibly want, but they tended to be low on imagination. In some cases, such as Spider–Man and Fantastic Four, someone in Hollywood was so low on imagination that a franchise was rebooted within that two–decade span. The most recent Captain America films made huge strides in that direction. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America:
Civil War featured the ensemble casts and globetrotting plots we’ve come to expect from Avengers films, but they addressed issues larger than simply how to defeat the latest villain. Winter Soldier came directly on the heels of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA, and Civil War called on our heroes to take responsibility for their actions. However, what really got audiences was the films’ exploration of the decades–old friendship between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes—in short, the human element. Now, studios are beginning to realize a fact that should’ve been obvious: Though fans can be counted on to pay to see the latest huge, formulaic blockbuster (hope springs eternal), they actually prefer to watch good, unique movies. A big deal’s been made out of the “R–rated superhero film” phenomenon, but the most important quality Deadpool and Logan have in common isn’t their rating; it’s that they’re small, personal stories that subvert audience’s expectations of what a superhero film should be. SHILPA SARAVANAN
FILM & TV
T2 TRAINSPOTTING AND DESTRUCTIVE
MASCULINITY
Trainspotting was one of the definitive films of the 1990s. A brash, gritty story of Scottish heroin addicts featuring a unique soundtrack and memorable, idiosyncratic characters, the movie hit independent cinema like a meteor. It was essentially Pulp Fiction for our friends across the pond. Almost exactly 20 years later, we have T2 Trainspotting (an admittedly bizarre title), in which director Danny Boyle and the whole cast have decided to revisit these characters as they enter middle age. It's extremely rare to find a sequel made 20 years after the original in which the entire original cast comes back to participate. For that reason alone, this film is fascinating to watch: doing a double feature with these movies invokes a Boyhood–like feeling, where time seems to have passed before our very eyes. Of course, creating a sequel to such an iconic and beloved story is a risky move. Street spoke with
Boyle, who explained the initial fear he had with returning to these iconic characters and storylines. He chuckles, “If this is bad, we’ll get absolutely hung drawn and quartered!” At my screening, a viewer told Boyle that he had never seen the first Tr a i n s p o t ting and that this movie worked well as a stand– alone film. He may have thought so, but T2 Trainspotting is so packed with music cues, lines of dialogue and even footage from the first movie that, without seeing the first one, would be almost impossible to get a full grasp of. This sequel loses none of the original film's entertaining chaotic energy. I don’t
think I have ever seen a sequel before that was so directly intertwined with the original; while some may find the stylistic similarities lazy, it only enhances the repetitious, cyclical nature of these men’s lives. Boyle admits that this sequel “did strip the early film of some of its glamour, deliberately, because they’re 46, and they’re fucked.” Each character is essentially in the same position as they were 20 years ago— still drug–addicted, still purposeless or still violent. Only Diane (Kelly Macdonald), the one prominent woman from the first film, has shed her young, irresponsible shell and become a high–powered
"This movie functions as a love letter to that past, but also reveals just how pathetic it can be to wallow in what once was."
Director Danny Boyle talks drug addiction and his sequel fears
attorney. Though the film never telegraphs it, at its core there seems to be a subtle commentary on gender and male social interaction. In one scene, Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle) concoct a scheme and end by roaring at each other in a fit of masculine, aggressive self–expression, like a couple of boys on a playground. Boyle attests to this, stating, “Every scene I watched, it was all about how men behave…really, men hang on to this golden period.” He goes on to explain, “It’s the golden period of your 20s when as a man, you emerge into kind of power.” Though Boyle never directly states it, it feels as though this movie is as much a product of the characters’ aging as his own. This movie functions as a love letter to that past, but also reveals just how pathetic it can be to wallow in what once was. The gang getting into bar fights and gallivanting about
Edinburgh with reckless abandon feels inspired and charged when they’re 26–years–old; when they’re in their 40s with wives and kids, it suddenly feels much more reprehensible. Essentially, this is Trainspotting, but louder and more extreme—but perhaps that was intended. Perhaps every callback to the first Trainspotting is there to show us how little these characters have progressed. Maybe their reunion at the beginning of the sequel shows how desperate they are to return to the old days, when they could pump their veins with heroin in someone’s dilapidated apartment without a care—but the world is different now. T2 Trainspotting is a commentary on the sequel's own existence. It teases just how fun it can be to wallow in nostalgia, while simultaneously revealing how detrimental that can really be. DALTON DESTEFANO
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ARTS
STOP TO 2017 SMELL THE TULIPS THE
PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW I love me some flowers—call me DJ Khaled.
LAUREN DONATO
There's a floral oasis blooming near Reading Terminal Market. Each year, the Philadelphia Convention Center transforms into a gardener’s slice of heaven: 10 acres of floral exhibition space. The Flower Show has been around since 1829 and is the oldest and largest flower show in the United States. It was founded by a group of gentleman farmers, botanists and gardeners who got together to share knowledge with each other and other parts of the world. They used to gather to show off their favorite plants and prized fruits and vegetables. Today, you can walk into the Horticourt, where amateurs can be a part of the flower show. Even if your idea of gardening is growing a plant on your windowsill, you can compete in the show and possibly walk away with a blue ribbon. And if you're not the best gardener, you can check out the Design Studio to create your own flower crown or flower arrangement before or after
the show. When guests walked through the entrance of the exhibition hall, they found themselves immersed in an infinite field of flowers—a staple of Holland. A never– before–done floral canopy hung over the entrance garden. Four thousand multi– colored strings were hung from the rafters of the convention center, each with a ball of dried–cut flowers at the bottom. This emulated the view of the field of flowers stretching infinitely into the horizon. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society spokesperson Alan Jaffe said the goal of the entrance was to make visitors “feel like [they were] surrounded by this floral beauty above and below.” Jaffe believes they captured the theme precisely this year. The Horticultural Society had three designers from the Netherlands come to design exhibits. Inspiration for the other exhibits stemmed from different ways of traditional Dutch landscaping and gardening,
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as well as interpretations of Dutch history and art. The Dutch approach gardening and landscaping in innovative ways, and designers adapted those techniques to their exhibits. Jaffe confirmed that show visitors from the Netherlands, particularly individuals representing Dutch media, said that the “show expresses the nature and feelings of the Dutch very well.” The Flower Show also emphasized environmental sustainability, from talks from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to bicycles hanging within the venue. Holland's latest green technologies were also displayed at the show; a highlight was the Dutch Ecodome, a massive tent–like space for agriculture. The dome had to be broken into 100 pieces and shipped to the Flower Show for its first American appearance. The 70–foot–wide, 30– foot–tall exhibit was covered by a moss that filters vehicle exhaust. Other features of it included a dust reduc-
tion system, solar energy, methods of converting rain water into drinking water, climbing plants, bio–based furniture, an insect hotel and more. Jaffe says the Ecodome is “about living in a better way on planet earth”—something we all can take part in, horticulturists or not. Guests also had opportunities to learn about ways to repurpose, recycle and use organic practices. Jaffe claims, “No matter what level of gardener you are, you can come [to the show] and learn how to improve your horticultural skills.” On the Gardener’s Studio stage in the middle of the floor, talks took place, and their topics included container gardening, attracting pollinators, growing orchids and more. On your way out of the show, you can shop until you literally wilt, like the tulips on Sunday (Ed. note: Don’t wait until the last day to go.) Over 180 vendors lined up to sell everything garden–related, ranging from gardening tools to botanical art to
jewelry. You can also purchase Gold Medal plants at the PHS’s own big shop. If the price of the show ($22.00 for students) is preventing you from wanting to attend, the use of the proceeds might convince you to dig a little deeper into your wallet. “Everybody who comes to the show has an impact on the greater Philadelphia region," Jaffe said. The proceeds of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s biggest fundraiser of the year go toward donations of fresh, healthy food and produce to our neighbors in low–income areas, the creation of community gardens, the planting of trees that have been lost due to city and regional development, land care efforts, neighborhood transformation and the beautification of the city. So if you’re looking for a beautiful and educational way to spring into spring next year, carve out a few hours, wear comfortable shoes, pack your camera and check out the Flower Show.
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LOWBROW
WHARTON PRE-FROSH BEGIN RECRUITMENT FOR SUMMER “I’m just grateful for another opportunity to fulfill my stereotypes.”
In a disturbing move, consulting firms and investment banks have begun recruiting for Summer 2020. Their targets? High school seniors headed to Wharton in the fall. A spokesman from An Important Fancy Bank said in an email that they were “just trying to ensure that the college experience is a miserable hunt for internships for as long as
2020
possible.” The high schoolers have options to attend networking events, coffee chats and LinkedIn workshops throughout the spring and summer before they arrive at Penn. For those who are still not allowed to drink caffeine, there are options to meet recruiters for pizza chats. Street spoke with high
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school seniors who were enthusiastic about the initiative. Jake Greenstein (W ‘21) from Short Hills, New Jersey, told us, “I’m just grateful for another opportunity to fulfill my stereotypes.”
There were even some participating seniors who had not officially been accepted to Wharton. “I’m just hedging my bets, if you will,” said one senior who had been deferred, but whose dad had been taking many “important phone calls” recently.
We asked current Whartonites if they were surprised at this preemptive recruiting. One M&T junior said between sips of Red Bull, “You could say I’ve been recruiting for McKinsey since I was born. So no, it doesn’t seem premature. If anything, they’re already too late.”
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LOWBROW
REASONS TO DARTY ON THE WEEKENDS BETWEEN ST. PADDY'S AND FLING Like anyone at Penn *needs* a reason
The sun rose in the east and set in the west. You did well on a midterm. You did badly on a midterm. Booker T. Washington's birthday (April 5). You want to maintain your carefully curated social media brand which screams, “I’m sceney but also self–deprecating so you don’t think I’m obsessed with my social media brand.”
6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
FroGro is still open. You want to avoid going to your friends’ performing arts shows.
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It’s almost Fling.
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