1.30.2018

p.8 QTPOC Rappers to Watch

January 31, 2018 | 34st.com

p.16 69th Street: Say Cheese

p.18 Be Green in 2018

Inside the Graduate Student Fight for Unionization

january 31, 2018 Nick Joyner, Editor–in–Chief Remi Lederman, Managing Editor Angela Huang, Audience Engagement Director Annabelle Williams, Assignments Editor Autumn Powell, Media Director Haley Weiss, Word on the Street Editor Jamie Gobreski, Word on the Street Editor Emily Schwartz, Ego Editor Zoe Albano–Oritt, Music Editor Julia Bell, Senior Features Editor Sabrina Qiao, Special Features Editor Colin Lodewick, Long–Term Features Editor Dalton DeStefano, Developing Features Editor Lily Snider, Style Editor Catalina Dragoi, Film & TV Editor Sherry Tseng, Arts Editor Daniel Bulpitt, Lastpage Editor Danny Rubin, Video Editor Lea Eisenstein, Copy Director Chris Muracca, Print Director Ego Beats: Valetina Escudero, Sami Canaan, Caroline Riise, Caroline Curran, Maryanne Koussa Music Beats: Paul Litwin, Amy Marcus, Arjun Swaminathan, Isabella Fertel, Noah Kest, Michelle Pereira, Holden Caplan, Chris Troop, Natalia Joseph Featues Staff: Emily Rush, Angie Lin, Sharon Christner, Annika Iyer, Emily Cieslak

3 WORD ON THE STREET Sports Culture

4 EGO

EOTW: Madeline Leonard, Colored Girls Museum, NCH Owner

7 MUSIC

Penn Records, Queer Rap

LOL

Style Beats: Liz Kim, Frankie Reitmeyer, Lily Zirlin, Molly Hessel Film & TV Beats: Jonnell Burke, Ana West, Avneet Randhawa, Naomi Elegant, Bella Essex, Zovinar Khrimian Arts Beats: Sophie Burkholder, Lizzy Lemieux, Christine Irmen, Michaela Tinkey, Margaret Zhang, Xinyi Wan Design Editors: Lucy Ferry, Gillian Diebold, Ben Zhao, Christine Lam, Alana Shukovsky, Zack Greenstein, Morgan McKeever, Teagan Aguirre, Judy Zhang, Katie Waltman Lastpage Beat: Eliana Doft Staff Writers: Sophie Xi, Cass Phanord, Tamara Gelband, Andreas Pavlou, Jennifer Cullen, Isabella Simonetti, Eliana Doft, Vanessa Wanyandeh, Shinyoung Noh, Caroline Harris, Emma Moore, Anna Callahan, Sammy Gordon, Sydney Gelman, Charlotte Bausch, Jacob Winick, Grace Leahy, Alix Steerman, Sara Merican

9 FILM & TV

Drag Race, Penn in TV Shows

LOL

12 FEATURES

Grad Students, Kelly Writers House

Illustrators: Jessi Olarsch, Brad Hong, Anne Marie Grudem, Reese Berman, Judy Choi, Gloria Yuen, Carly Ryan, Saranya Sampath, Catherine Liang, Anne Chen Staff Photographers: Dayz Terry, Virginia Rodowsky, Ha Tran, Christina Piasecki, Bill He, Avalon Morrell, Emma Boey, David Zhou Video Staff: Megan Kyne, Jean Chapiro, Anab Aidid, Sophie Pelosi, Abdul Sohu Copy Editors: Kira Horowitz, Kate Poole, Anna Waldzinska, Serena Miniter, Sarah Poss, Amber Auslander, Kimberly Batista, Riley Wagner, Morgan Potts Sofia Price, Analytics Editor Cole Bauer, Senior Marketing Associate Marketing Associates: Lauren Donato, Chae Hahn, Brittany Levy, McKay Norton, Hanniel Dizon, Carly Shoulberg, Merry Gu, Paige Fishman Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by Dayz Terry, Virginia Rodowsky, Ha Tran, and Christina Piasecki.

Contacting 34th Street Magazine: If you have questions, comments, complaints or letters to the editor, email Nick Joyner, Editor–in–Chief, at joyner@dailypennsylvanian.com. You can also call us at (215) 422–4640. www.34st.com

"I'm going to order heroin just for the beanie baby." ©2018 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 Wednesday.

2

3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

16 STYLE

Sex Column, Beiler's Donut Dispatch, Green Fiend

LETTERFROM THEEDITOR I have a tense relationship with the snow. Just last week, it did me dirty. I was walking home from the DP office late at night, and I slipped on ice and fell. I sat in the middle of Delancey Street, nursing my cut hand and brushing the slush off my jeans. An opossum hobbled along the other side of Delancey, seeming to taunt me. Precipitation had gotten the best of me once again.

Back home in San Antonio, snow was a treasure. In south Texas there are only 16 days a year when the temperature dips below freezing, when the air is cold enough to support snowflakes. It’s even rarer for moisture to be present on one of these two weeks each year.

When it snows, the entire region shuts down. A half–inch of snow can cancel an entire day of school if the ground’s cold enough for it to stick. I don’t think the city of San Antonio owns any salt. On the four snow days of my youth, I remember stripping all of the snow off of the ground and rolling it into a muddy snow lump. I don’t think I’ve made a proper snowperson to this day.

In my junior year of high school, I was granted the fourth and final of my snow days. I decided to take a trip to the San Antonio Museum of Art to enjoy some Matisse with my hot chocolate. Upon opening the door to the building, a frantic reporter from our local newspaper, the Express–News, stopped me to get a quote for a story about students enjoying their day off. I definitely fit the bill. I let the spotlight get the best of me and started to overshare. I told the journalist “I’m glad we have a snow day because I didn’t do any of my homework.”

I didn’t think they would print that as a pull quote on the frontpage of the next day’s paper. I never could’ve guessed that my calculus teacher would bring in a copy of the newspaper to leave on my desk. I made sure to have my problem sets done from then on. Checkmate, snow.

Superficially, I hate the snow purely for the wetness that it causes and the stains it causes in my front hallway. But I could be more forgiving. Maybe snow is my guardian angel, teaching me to walk on salted paths like a normal person so that I don't embarrass myself in front of back alley opossi.

Maybe snow is the reason I’m at Penn today, and tonight's the flurry is a gentle reminder to finish all my readings, in case any of my professors are reading this.

19 ARTS

Mask and Wig, Preprofesh and Arts, Ultraviolet Color of the Year

LOL 23 LASTPAGE Penn Matrix

o: it t

m sub

WORD ON THE STREET

word on the

STREET

IN DEFENSE OF PHILADELPHIA SPORTS FANS JAMES KONOPKA

I remember the exact moment that I first got to experience the genuine devotion Philly fans have for their teams. It was Wednesday, October 21, 2009, when the Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10–4 to return to the World Series. I was there at the game, sitting down the third base line about 20 or so rows up from the field. This was the closest I had ever sat to the field—typically I'd be in the nosebleed seats.

Going to a playoff game was usually out of the question, as tickets were expensive. Lucky for me, the Phillies team doctor was friendly with my mom, and, knowing how big my family was on Philadelphia sports, he’d offered her two tickets to the game.

The game was wild. Everywhere I looked, all I saw was the red of Phillies hats, jerseys, and those silly rally towels.

The fans were glued to every single pitch.

For over three hours, there was never a moment of silence. There was always a cheer going on throughout the crowd, reminding the Dodgers that they were in Philly. When that final out came, there was complete pandemonium. Everyone was on their feet, yelling, screaming, and high–fiving. People were hugging Illustration by: Brad Hong complete strangers. As my mother and I left the stadium I distinctly remember high–fiving everyone we passed as we walked towards our car. Every person either offered out a hand or a yell. The entire city seemed to have joined together to celebrate this moment.

This win was exciting because it was uncommon. It’s tough to be a fan of teams that don’t win often. Being a Philly sports fan requires a thick skin. Nothing ever comes easily for Philadelphia teams. Even when we think we’ve finally figured it out, we typically find a way to make it come down to the wire. The Phillies were last in the World Series in 2009, haven’t been to the playoffs since 2011, and last year had the third worst record in baseball. The 76ers are getting better, but even so, their last championship win was in 1983. The Flyers have not won a championship since 1975, and have been in and out of the playoffs for the last few years.

And then, we have the Eagles. The Eagles, as I’ve been reminded countless times by most opposing sports fans, have never won a Super

Bowl. This year, though, they have the chance to change that. This Sunday, they’ll be playing against the team the entire country loves to hate, the New England Patriots. They are the underdogs and far more than just the Philly fans are rooting for them this time.

Being a Philly fan takes a lot of patience. We don’t get the same liberties that, say, Boston fans get. Our teams aren’t in the playoffs that often, and we certainly don’t have many championships. Unlike other teams’ fans, we aren’t happy to just be there. We want to be winning; in fact, we expect to win even if we shouldn't.

Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins last Sunday voiced what all of Philadelphia was thinking when he said, “We ain’t just going for a field trip.” Some fans would be content to just be in the Super Bowl, but in Philly, we won’t be content until we've won.

When the Eagles won the NFC Championships and earned their Super Bowl spot last Sunday, I felt that same feeling I’d felt back on that Wednesday night in 2009. As soon as that game clock hit 0, all the Philly fans knew where they were going: Broad Street. I called my friend— there was no question as to whether or not we were going. I forgot to ask him where to meet, and when I got down to Broad Street, it was complete mayhem.

It is estimated that there were between 5,000 and 10,000 people down there. Eventually, I was able to find my friend, but only after having embraced and cheered with countless people—strangers apart from the fact that they were also Eagles fans. Everyone was hugging and cheering. Finally, the Eagles were back in the Super Bowl.

Moments like these make me proud to be a Philly sports fan. Sure, we’re a pretty obnoxious fan base at times. But we’re obnoxious together. We always have faith in our teams, and always expect the best. All that we ask is that each player plays their best. If they do that, the fans have no issue. If you half–ass something, we won't be afraid to tell you. But Philly fans are loyal, and stick with their teams through thick and thin. This is what it means to be a Philly fan. When I wear my Eagles or Phillies hat around campus, I’m proud to let people know that I’m from Philly and am a diehard Philly sports fan. I’ve seen the good, bad, and the ugly, but I’d never trade it for anything.

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E

3

EGO

EGO EGO OF OF THE THE WEEK WEEK Street’s newest pick for EOTW comes from a town of one square mile that has upwards of 15 nail salons and pizzerias—and that’s basically it. Here, Madeline Leonard discusses her club involvement like a true Penn high–achiever and reflects on the weightiness of being a senior.

34th Street Magazine: Tell me about your role in Alternative Spring Break (ASB).

Madeline Leonard: ASB has programs that send Penn students on service trips over winter and spring break. But rather than just focusing on the one week, we try to expand the experience and engagement with different social justice issues through pre– and post–trip education. The week of service includes reflection, both during the trip—on the dynamics and the work we are doing—and then after the trip, asking how we can take what we’ve learned and bring that back to Philly. I don’t go on the trips anymore, but I plan them along with the student leaders we train throughout the year.

Street: What made you want to get involved with ASB? ML: I first found out about ASB through an info session during my freshman year and thought it seemed like a cool opportunity to meet people and do something different. I ended up going on a trip to Key West, Florida, focusing on environmental conservation, and loved it. I was the only freshman, and I think it was important for finding my place at Penn. It was the first time that I had heard people talk about how they weren’t entirely happy at Penn, or that Penn was hard, and I was like, “Wow, I didn’t know other people were feeling this way.” It became a place for both personal growth and growth through the projects and the work that we were doing.

Street: Any standout memory from an ASB trip?

ML: I led a trip my sophomore year to the Workers Defense Project in Austin, TX. They work with laborers and on immigration policy, and we got to go to a series of their meetings and shadow different legal workers to really see the work that they do. I think one of the best things about ASB is that it allows the people who are experiencing injustices themselves to truly speak about their experiences so that we 4

can best learn how to help them, rather than having others speaking for them. I’ve also been so fortunate to form so many genuine relationships. I think having the opportunity to bond with people outside of the Penn bubble and really create genuine and vulnerable relationships has been one of my favorite parts.

Street: What about Table Talk—what do you do with them?

ML: Table Talk is an initiative at Penn to create opportunities for conversation among groups and individuals who otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to talk. It’s based off the idea that you come to Penn and want to meet so many different people and hear all these different perspectives.

While I think everyone’s really committed to that, it becomes harder to do once you go through Penn and section yourself off, whether it’s through people who study the same thing as you or who are in the same organizations. It becomes increasingly harder to have those conversations. Table Talk is a way to bring people together and have them get to know each other through casual conversation.

Street: Looking back to freshman year versus senior year, how have you changed?

ML: Coming from high school, I was coming from an environment where so much of my identity was academically focused. Having that as such a core part of my identity and coming to a place like Penn, where people are academically focused across the board, really forced me to consider other parts of my identity—just figuring out what I value and prioritize, not only how I theoretically value things but how my actions reflect my values and the life I want to lead. Also, right now I’m studying public health and, coming into Penn, I don’t think I even knew what that was.

Street: Best and worst of Penn. Go. ML: My favorite thing about Penn is the amount of opportunities. There are so

3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

MAJOR ACTIVITIES

HEALTH AND SOCIETIES PENN ALTERNATIVE BREAKS, TABLE TALK

HOMETOWN

PELHAM, NY

MADELINE LEONARD PHOTO BY AUTUMN POWELL

many. I’ve gotten the opportunity to study abroad, and by the end of college I’ll have studied in six different countries and a bunch of different states. I also appreciate being able to engage with the city of Philadelphia, but I think I’m still figuring out what that means as a Penn student.

As for the worst, I think a lot of people have issues about the pre– professional environment and my least favorite thing about that is that people almost perceive that it’s larger than it is. There’s a huge population of people who aren’t necessarily interested in those fields or opportunities and feel really discouraged about seeking out other things.

Street: Are you ready to leave Penn?

ML: Well, I’m here for an extra semester because I’m getting my Masters. I think this semester has been a challenge because it’s Feb Club and all of these other big things and everyone has their bucket list. I definitely have all that, but someone told me once that rather than trying to get as much out of an experience as possible, you really have to trust that that experience has given you what it needed to. That’s what I’m trying to do with Penn, is know that the relationships and experiences I’ve had throughout Penn have had their impact on me and that’s a gift in and of itself.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Street: What was your Common App essay about?

ML: An anonymous compliments page that I ran my senior year of high school.

Street: There are two types of people at Penn…

ML: The people who walk into a room and say, “Here I am,” and the people who walk into a room and say “There you are.”

Street: And you are…?

ML: I try to be a “There you are.” I’m working towards it.

Street: Your Oscar pick for best film?

ML: Haven’t seen that many, but I’ll go with Ladybird.

Street: #1 item on your Penn bucket list?

ML: I have two number ones. I have a cat at home that has several health problems, so my goal is to be able to walk her across Locust.

We’re getting there. Also, Allegro has a flounder platter. It’s $7.99. I don’t eat flounder but this flounder platter is a deal and I have a short list of people that I am recruiting to help me eat this flounder platter. It’s a goal.

EGO

The Colored Girls Museum: Philly's Hidden Gem How Penn parent Vashti Dubois transformed her home into a museum.

Children outside leap playfully, it’s warmer than usual, and cloudier. I can feel the ambiance changing from comfort to a sort of suspense as I see a small sign with the title “The Colored Girls Museum.” I realize that despite brief research, I don’t know what to expect.

Vashti Dubois opens the doors of her home, which doubles as a museum. She greets me with a smile and welcomes me inside. Immediately, I feel at home. Maybe it’s the warmth, maybe it’s the faint smell of tobacco, maybe it’s the heavy presence of the art surrounding me and Vashti’s casual ease around it, as if she’s used to living with all of these entities. I’m prompted to sit down in what I would later discover is the reception area.

After a series of brief introductions, she tells me about how the idea was essentially inspired by Urgent Care, or the lack thereof in disadvantaged communities. “[Our] Artists think of every room as if we were in an Urgent Care facility designed by the Colored Girl herself. So if you were coming into our hospital system: ‘What would our reception area look like? What would our drugstore look like? What would our triage look like?’" Vashti tells me.

"We really think about [the art] in terms of what’s their curative power. It’s more than a contemporary art space.

We think about how the work functions in different ways,” she continued.

This purpose is what provides the essential narrative spine to the story Vashti’s museum tells. Every room has,not only a curative purpose, but a symbolic one as well.

Vashti discusses the reception area.

“It can be such an upsetting thing when you realize you’re not welcome. You try to figure out how to get yourself into a place that you think you’re already in.”

I peer into the “reception desk,” a cradle of herbs. Inside is a quote: “we are the ones you’ve been waiting for.” Vashti explains that you have to welcome yourself into the space if you’re not welcome.

Immediately, I think about Penn’s community. I think about how as a First– Genration/Low–Income student, Penn

did a decent job at admitting me, along with others in my position, but once we’re here, not much is done to help with the process of integration.

Vashti proceeds by showing me sculptures of girls, vessels. They’re tributes to the girls who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist church bombing in Birmingham in 1964. “Our mission is Protection, Praise, and Grace. We hold these girls in reverence, and then symbolically all girls of color.”

The tour continues, and the smell changes from tobacco to a musky sandalwood. A beautiful tent of old, torn bed sheets offers privacy and introspection in the triage room. “The physical is always related to emotional, the spiritual. It’s a tent for the colored girl, where she can sit in a basket (made

by African weaving technique), with letters dangling from the top which contain whispers of dreams, thoughts, and hopes.

Next we enter the exam room. A mural (“Riverbed”) by Intisar Hamilton adorns the walls and ceiling. Blues and oranges in swirls created by a self–taught artist bring to mind feelings of nature, of divinity. The narrative proceeds, and the experience entails what it’s like to be examined as a woman of color, and the importance of self–examination.

I ask Vashti, a mother and a widow, about how her children felt about her project. “They were just really happy that I had something to focus on. While I was figuring out what next person I would be, I was on this thing, and that’s what I was doing. They were just glad that I had somewhere to invest my artistic energy into, because, my husband was my art partner. So then there was the question: will she continue to create art now that he’s gone? And if she doesn’t, who’s she gonna be?”

She recalls fondly, “We usually worked on big–scale projects together.

Valentina Escudero

We also did some things in NYC. I was working on a one–man show for him because he was a wedding singer and his stories were hilarious. So we did stuff like that. It was a funny household.”

I inquire, “Where do you see it going?”

“In terms of the evolution of the Colored Girls Museum, I’m gonna use the words university and campus. I see it as part of a bigger system, I see it as the necessity of having a space that really celebrates the ordinary, extraordinary colored girls because there are no spaces like that which are really for and by and about us.”

So what kind of people does she usually get visiting? “Well, our target audience is the Colored Girl. But it’s not for the Colored Girl only, it’s for anyone who’s ready for a consciousness revolution."

The tour continues as we enter what came to be my absolute favorite room. It is a tribute to the washer woman, the only permanent exhibit in the museum.

“We think of the washer woman as foundational to the story of the black community.” Vashti explains, “So, after emancipation, black men couldn’t get work. People didn’t want to hire them because they had been getting all that labor before for free, so rather than pay them they would arrest them as vagrants. The only people that would get work were the women, so we went back to doing the work that we had been doing during enslavement: taking care of children and doing laundry. And this is very, very, very, hard work. But this hard work built churches, it built houses, it kept people from getting lynched, it put food on the table, it is foundational. We would not be here but for that work.”

This is when my eyes swelled to the brim with tears.

I think back to my own history as a Latina. I think about the centuries of pain and sacrifice that only women can know. I think about my grandmother. I think about my mother. I think about the lengths she’s gone to to ensure that I grow strong, resilient, and unapologetic. I think about all the mothers of the girls of color that I know, and how difficult it must be to have a daughter knowing well the complications that skin and stereotype entail.

Vashti hands me an ancient iron. It is heavy, heavy with history. For the purpose of the exhibit, this is the historic records room.

Vashti describes the impact of her museum with a phrase she hears from her visitors. “People say, 'I didn’t know I needed such a place.' That is principally what we hear.”

Meanwhile, for her “it’s been very healing. Colored girls, we’re all walking talking museums. We’re full of the arts and artefacts of our lives.”

We enter the penultimate room, the apothecary. It is adorned with hair pieces, mostly comedic ones such as hair tucked in a frame titled “Now you can touch my hair” and a chair upholstered with hair.

Despite the humorous undertones, this room speaks to the very intimate experience between a colored girl and her hair, a theme of constant conversation and struggle. A centerpiece of identity, in a tangled and tangible form.

The final room is a sort of outpatient facility, brightly adorned. Vick’s VapoRub stands out; flashbacks to my childhood ensue. Feeling renewed, Vashti offers me a mandarin.

“Art is not about pretty shit on the wall, it’s about creating a story, having an intention, and understanding how it can very powerfully move a conversation and change a circumstance. And that’s why my favorite point in any theatre is when the lights go down, because at that moment you’re joined in a very intimate experience with a bunch of strangers. Where else are you gonna go and let people turn off the goddamn lights, right?” Vashti jokes, “And you’re gonna sit there. Where else are you gonna do that? And then the lights come up and you’re in somebody’s story.”

We exit, the curtains drop.

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E

5

EGO

Meet the Greys: New College House's Live-In Family They deserve a sitcom.

I don’t think I’ve ever met a family with such instant infectious energy as the Greys. As I entered through the glass doors of New College House on Friday to meet the house’s faculty director, Classical Studies Associate Professor Campbell Grey, I could barely utter a greeting before I was overtaken by the excitment of his two children upon seeing a new face in their midst. Connor, age four, couldn’t wait to show off his light– up snake toy and dangerously fast monster truck. Isabel, nine, confidently strutted alongside me through the dorm halls in her pajamas. Their self assurance was undeniable, one of many positive traits that Grey attributed to the unique structure of living in the college house system.

“I think they are really powerfully nourished by the experience,” Grey said as I watched Isabel and Connor run after Connor’s toy truck behind their fa-

ther. “They have all of these really powerful and positive role models who validate them and take them seriously as people. They are, as a result, very socially confident.”

Grey and his wife—Ann Vernon–Grey, the Associate Director of Undergraduate Research at CURF—have lived on Penn’s campus for 12 years, originally serving as residential faculty members at Kings Court English House before transferring over to NCH in 2016. Isabel and Connor, born in 2008 and 2014, respectively, have never known a life outside of the college house system.

“You can see how my children are completely comfortable with all of the public space,” he says, looking over his shoulder. “It’s their home. But,” he concedes, “it’s not the suburban neighborhood that I grew up with in Melbourne.”

While recognizing that many

consider his family’s lifestyle to be outside of the norm, Grey has nothing but positive things to say about the experience. “A lot of my colleagues and friends ask me, ‘Why would you do this? I don’t like people enough to do this,’" he says. “But c’mon, it’s so cool.”

The Greys are luckily not subjected to living in the cramped dorm rooms that many undergraduates call home in NCH. They, instead, live in a “grown–up house”, as Grey calls it, complete with a kitchen, multiple bedrooms, and a large living room designed for entertaining. It is in this living room that many students come and go throughout the day, comfortable enough with the family to just stop in, chat, and play with Isabel and Connor.

“The opportunity to interact with [students] outside of the classroom has completely changed my attitude toward education in a really powerful and

Lunch Special - $12 Mon - Fri 11:30AM - 3:00PM Choice of Soup and Entrée

3939 Chestnut Street | 215.921.5377 | www.dimsum.house 6

3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

Caroline Riise

profound way,” he says. “Living with our students is inspirational, and also just super cool, because we are able to go to shows and dances and plays and sporting events and be going because we know the people and are supporting them. What do I know about tennis? Very little. But I’m heavily invested in the women’s tennis team because they’ve lived with us for nearly ten years.”

Grey insists that very few of the challenges you may expect from living with 18–22 year olds are actually apparent. “For all the sort of images one might have of large, loud parties—communities don’t really work like that. There’s an in–built, collective respect that a community ideally possesses and instills. This isn’t a fraternity house.”

The one difficulty that Grey does acknowledge is addressing Penn students’ mental health as a live–in faculty member. “We are very explicitly a resource for every member of our community,” he says. “You talk to any Penn student, and, when they take their Penn face off, you learn that Penn is a challenging place to survive.

It’s intense, it’s high energy. There’s lots of opportunity, lots of things grabbing your attention. For us, helping to create and to sustain an environment where Penn students can meet those challenges most effectively is an ongoing challenge itself.”

In totality, Grey’s disposition is clearly one of contentment; with his easygoing attitude and endless praise of his own living situation, it is apparent that he would recommend the setup to anyone.

“Life is learning. Life is family. Life is community,” he says.

“What I think having faculty families in the college house system really does is it communicates that all those things are a package.

All of those things go together.”

Grey’s daughter, Isabel, also had eloquent opinions to share on living with college students. She concedes that she gets FOMO sometimes with so much going on around her. “My least favorite thing is that they stay up late and I miss most of the parties because they’re past my bedtime on school nights,” she tells me. However, she has managed to develop some strong bonds with the students who live with her.

“Last year, I had a homework buddy with a college student,” Isabel says. “She would help me with my homework and I would sometimes help her with hers, because I’m really good at addition.”

Overall, Isabel gives living in NCH a big thumbs up. “I tell my friends that I have 336 brothers and sisters,” she says. “Can you beat that?”

MUSIC

MEET PENN RECORDS AND JOHNNY VITALE JENNIFER CULLEN

The new club represents Penn bands for a good cause.

Philadelphia is one of the best cities for live music in the country. Unfortunately, many Penn students have a hard time finding ways to enter the music scene. Penn Records is trying to change that. In just a few months, Penn Records went from an idea to a full–force organization with over 40 members, an executive board, and a list of successful live shows. But for president Johnny Vitale (C ’20), this is only the beginning.

An avid music lover and member of the band Pico, Johnny realized that the live music scene at Penn was lacking. To fill the void, he decided to make his idea of creating a middleman for student musicians a reality.

He considers his greatest success so far to be “forming the group and adding members and creating an executive board.” More major successes are the concerts held during the fall semester, one of which took place in October 2017 and featured a partnership with the St. Elmo Club. The aim of the shows was twofold: expose the larger student population to bands and to raise money for charity.

The October show benefited the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Johnny aims to make Penn Records shows an inclusive experience, where all students can come to relax, unwind, and listen to some good music.

Even though success for Penn Records comes in many forms, like the monetary success of having more shows and reaching out to the larger community, Johnny says that for him, success is “just having a coherent, cohesive group that works well together and the members enjoy one another, and seeing a collective effort towards promoting music which we all love.”

Johnny has been extremely impressed by the talent he’s seen from Penn’s student musicians.

One of the biggest surprises was hearing the band Ratio, which consists of all freshmen.

Upon hearing them in rehearsal, and later in their first show, Johnny was “blown away by how talented and well–practiced they are,” and became committed to helping them develop.

Some other bands Penn Records represents in addition to Pico and Ratio include Brew, Peachy (which recently performed at Fishtown’s Kung Fu Necktie), and Acrillics.

This semester, Johnny hopes to represent new groups in order to expand the group’s portfolio and range of musicians. Johnny encourages more student musicians to reach out to the group, even if they don’t have a full band behind them. The label hopes to form bands by connecting talented musicians with others by having them list their tastes and goals. It's mostly looking for live music acts, and preferably those with their own

original music. Johnny hopes to give every musician on campus the opportunity to play in bands, which he considers an invaluable experience. He wants to let students know that careers in creative fields are possible, saying that “the entire group is structured to, one: serve those musicians, and then two: create a group dynamic and develop skills that might be applicable to later creative or media industry careers.”

Next up for Johnny is tackling the music scene of Philadelphia by setting up an increasing number of gigs in the city. In addi-

Johnny Vitale (second from right) and his band Pico tion, the group plans to record their bands and begin to release singles and albums in the future.

Johnny hopes that through streaming sites like Apple Music, Spotify, and Bandcamp, the groups will “extend beyond Penn and Philadelphia’s reach.”

Penn Records' next show is coming up in early February and

will be a collaboration with the on–campus group V Day, which raises money for Women Organized Against Rape, the only full–service rape crisis center in Philadelphia.

As a group whose motto is “good tunes for a good cause,” Penn Records continues to deliver.

$$$ GRANTS AVAILABLE FOR YOUR GROUP $$$

The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW) is accepting applications for its Annual Grants Program and encourages members of the University community to apply.

Grants ranging from $1,000-$4,000 will be available to individuals or organizations which promote: • women’s issues • the quality of undergraduate and graduate life for women • the advancement of women • the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of women Favorable consideration will be given to projects that: • affect a broad segment of the University population • foster a greater awareness of women’s issues • provide seed money for pilot programs that have the potential to become ongoing self-supporting programs To apply, visit the TCPW website at www.alumni.upenn.edu/tcpwgrants and download the application from the grants page. Applications must be submitted no later than February 12, 2018. Awards will be announced in the Spring of 2018 and funds will be distributed in July/August 2018 for projects in the 2018-2019 academic year.

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E

7

MUSIC

THE QTPOC ARTISTS THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR QUEUE RIGHT NOW

ISABELLA FERTEL

Paint that playlist rainbow.

It’s no big secret that the

music industry has a toxic culture of heteronormativity and homophobia. No matter the level of notoriety or success achieved, nothing makes queer artists immune to intolerance, mistreatment, and outright hate (I’m looking at you, Migos). Artists are pressured to be less gay, less feminine, less their true selves. And in an industry where your persona is your everything, being told to essentially suppresses your true identity and put on a mask for society is incredibly demoralizing.

That being said, there are a lot of powerful non–conforming artists who are building careers and fan–bases off of their unapologetic determination to

be themselves in every way, In celebration of these brave and trailblazing folks, here are some of Street’s favorite out–and– proud QTPOC (queer and trans people of color) artists.

African American community, you can always bet on Abstract to deliver scathing lyrics that are as real and powerful as they are great music.

Songs to add: "Echo," "American Boyfriend," "Seventeen"

Clifford Ian Simpson, aka Kevin Abstract Probably best known as the founder and leader of California–based music group Brockhampton, Abstract first came up on the music scene in 2010.

As the leader of “the Internet’s first boyband,” Abstract doesn’t shy away from writing about his homosexuality and queer identity in the group’s work.

Whether it's tackling the lack of queer rappers in the industry, violence directed at queer folks, mental health, hyper–mascuLe1f linity, or homophobia in the Illustration by Jessi Olarsch

Authentic and Classic Italian foods served with only top-shelf ingredients

Sun - Thurs Special: 2 Course Meal for $23.95* Party of 12 and up Cash Only BYOB friendly! lafontanadellacita.com | 1701 Spruce Street | 215-875-9990

* not including tax and tip 8

3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

Le1f Khalif Diouf, better known by his stage name Le1f, was a classically trained ballet and modern dancer who studied at the prestigious Concord Academy before deciding to become a musician. Initially a producer for the hip–hop group Das Racist, Diouf first became known as a solo artist in 2012 with the critically acclaimed mixtape Dark York. Diouf has been outspoken about the injustice queer folks and people of color have to deal with in the music industry, most notably criticizing Macklemore for his song “Same Love,” saying that the song was an appropriation of LGBTQ rights by a heterosexual for financial gain (and he’s not wrong, y’all). But what is most striking about Diouf is not his critiques of the industry or his support of fellow QTPOC artists, but his ability to capture the feelings of love and lust in his music in the most genuine and pure way.

Songs to add: "Buzz," "Change," "Koi" Angel Haze Rap isn’t an easy area to break into for anyone who isn't a hyper–masculine person or heteronormative male, but Angel Haze has managed to make their mark with ease and grace. Pansexual and agender, Haze has been open about their stance on love and the fluidity and growth of gender identity, often using their experience as a queer person of color

as the inspiration for some of their greatest bangers. Always the enigma, Haze uses their poetry background to write lyrics that are simultaneously brash and demure, vulnerable and hostile. Their lyrical talent and raw style have allowed this boss to make their mark on the rap world at only 25 years old, most recently releasing two singles (“No Limits” and “Candles”) in the past six months.

Songs to add: "Black Dahlia," "No Limits," "Weapon" Mykki Blanco Arguably the biggest genderqueer rapper in the biz right now, Mykki Blanco gained international notoriety for her book of poetry released in 2011.

The book, From the Silence of Duchamp to the Noise of Boys, eventually morphed into the music for her first studio release, Mykki Blanco and The Mutant Angels.

The transfeminine (as she described herself in an MTV interview) artist has used different pronouns throughout her career, using her own personal journey of gender identity and personal growth to inspire fans and struggling QTPOC alike.

It’s her “two–spirit side of herself ” that makes her music so soul–grabbing and moving—it’s impossible not to feel the raw emotion and intense care Mykki pours into every lyric, every album, every performance.

Songs to add: "Wish You Would" (feat. Princess Nokia), "Wavvy", "Coke White, Starlight"

FILM & TV

RUPAUL,

MEET NANCY PELOSI. DRAG RACE IS BACK. Illustration by Brad Hong As the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars was announced for January 25, fans were faced with interesting news: Nancy Pelosi, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, will be a guest judge in an episode this season. Other guest judges will include Vanessa Hudgens, Marc Jacobs, Shay Mitchell, and Adam Lambert.

What is RuPaul's Drag Race and what is an “All Star Season?”

RuPaul's Drag Race is a reality TV competition produced for LogoTV that features drag queens from all over the U.S. competing in many different challenges to win the title of "Amer-

TAMARA GELBAND

ica's Next Drag Superstar."

Some of their challenges include clothing design, runway walks, lip syncing, impersonations, and photoshoots. The All Star season is simply the return of the public's favorite characters from past seasons who didn't win but had entertaining personalities.

Which queens are coming back for the All Star season?

The competing drag queens are Aja (Season 9), BenDeLaCreme (Season 6), Chi Chi DeVayne (Season 8), Kennedy Davenport (Season 7), Milk (Season 6), Morgan McMichaels (Season 2), Shangela (Season 2 & 3), Thorgy Thor (Season 8), and Trixie Mattel (Season 7).

Who is Nancy Pelosi?

Nancy Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the Unite d

States House of Represen- very political, and I believe tativeness. She’s a congress- that.” Even reality TV towoman from California day is politicized; if the and previously was the first star of The Apprentice can woman ever to be named be president, why can’t the Speaker of the House. And process work in reverse? And Tune in on Thursnow, she’s the first national politicians are becoming indays Single media–savvy and Doubleand Rooms • at 8 p.m. ET for politician Flexible to judge Leasing on Ru- • creasingly the first episode of a Amenities and Utilities Included Paul’sIndividual Drag Race. Leases • All looking for new channels dragtastic season! to connect to constituents.

Nancy Pelosi is using Drag Why is this a big deal?

Race as a message of support Call Ellie Hoffman (C ’21) to her LGBT constituents ways of sees a natural progres- and leveraging new 215.662.0802 sion from politics to drag. connecting with voters. And see “There’s a lot of queens who hopefully, we’ll get to Email say that drag is inherently her in a lip–sync battle.

Now Leasing!

AxisLeasing@AltmanCo.com

Stop in

NOW LEASING

20 South 36th Street

Now Leasing!

ThetoAxis on 36th Street Today learn how to make The AxisUniversity your home away City Call from home!

Furnished Rooms • Flexible Leases 215.662.0802 Email• Utilities and Great Amenities AxisLeasing@AltmanCo.com Housekeeping included

Flexible Leasing • Single and Double Rooms • Individual Leases • All Amenities and Utilities Included

Stop in

South 36th (9am Street – 5pm) Monday20 – Saturday 215.662.0802 Today to learn how to make www.universitycityaxis.com The Axis your home away 20 S. 36th Street Philadelphia PA 19104 from home!

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E

9

FILM & TV

TV'S BEST PENN REFERENCES

TAMARA GELBAND

Penn doesn't grace the small screen as often as some of its Ivy League counterparts (looking at you, Gilmore Girls), but we've got a wide range of representation in more shows than you might expect.

2 BROKE

GIRLS

Did you know that the Addams Family mansion was modeled after College Hall?

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY

IN PHILADELPHIA

Probably the first show you think of when you think of Penn, although Dennis and Dee are not the smartest of characters. Dennis was in Delta Omega Lambda, and even though we do have a million frats with quirky nicknames, it definitely does not exist here. Even if it did, no Penn student would write "I CHUG DICK" over a former member's pic, because that would risk their chances of getting a job at Paddy's Pub. Finally, Dee apparently failed all her classes at Penn (actually failed, not just got a B), which is also not a very Penn thing to do.

PRETTY LITTLE

LIARS

Coming from a family of lawyers, you could only expect Spencer Hastings to go to a top school like Penn. I think a lot of people were surprised when the smartest girl in the group was rejected from her early decision school after putting so much work into her application. Even though the college process is sometimes unfair, I really think she should've gotten in. Some people even believe that A had something to do with her rejection. Of course, she would be controlled by As even at Penn.

1 0 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

If you've seen this show, you know Caroline is the most typical Wharton student ever. For starters, she reminds everyone she went to Wharton at every possible opportunity, which is almost a requirement for being a Whartonite (@Trump). In addition, she's very competitive, especially when people say they went to “other schools”—aka Harvard. Most importantly, she's determined and business–oriented, and we all know Max's Homemade Cupcakes would be doomed without Caroline's help.

ADDAMS

FAMILY

No, this is not because everyone at Penn only wears black clothing. Charles Addams, a cartoonist and Penn alum, seems to have based the Addams Family mansion on College Hall. In fact, he drew a cover of the Penn Gazette in 1973 with the Addams Family in front of College Hall. In my opinion, they don't look too much alike, but if the internet says so, I'll believe it.

THE

SIMPSONS

Even The Simpsons gives us a shoutout with their character Lindsey Naegle. Lindsey is a child–hating alcoholic who is a member of the Springfield Republican Party. She's more commonly known for having an astounding amount of jobs, including but not limited to: network executive, marketing researcher, financial planner, and venture capitalist. Every time she appears in the show she has a new job that's always somehow in business, which is unsurprising considering she went to Wharton.

OPEN LATE & LATE NITE DELIVERY

Domino’s

TM

SUN-THURS: 10AM - 2AM • FRI-SAT: 10AM - 4AM

WE MAKE ORDERING EASY! CALL DIRECT OR CHOOSE YOUR ONLINE OR MOBILE DEVICE

215-662-1400

4438 Chestnut St.

Smart Tablets Phones

215-557-0940 401 N. 21st St.

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 1 1

F E AT U R E

F E AT U R E

Inside the Graduate Student Fight for Unionization Penn's grad. students have campaigned for a union for over two years. Here are their stories.

By Naomi Elegant

E

Photo by Julio Sosa

Graduate students congragated outside College Hall last year to call on Gutmann to "protect" them from the GOP tax bill.

Relations Board to decide whether they could form a union. On December 19, after months of legal rebuttals from Penn, the board granted GET–UP the right to hold an election. This spring, Penn graduate students will vote to decide if they want to unionize. If they do, and if Penn recognizes the vote, they will be legal employees of the University with the right to contracts of employment, collective bargaining, and “a seat at the table."

Making ends meet from 3,000 miles away

Over the phone from California, graduate student Victoria Gill breaks off mid–sentence to address the squealing noises in the background of the call.

She apologizes, laughing. “Sorry, I just had the baby,” she says. “One second.”

Though she’s still in her third year at Penn’s Graduate School of Education, Victoria moved to California when she got pregnant. Because Victoria is earning a Doctor of Education degree, she receives less funding than her PhD counterparts, though both are doctoral degrees in the Graduate School of Education.

While living in California with her partner makes sense financially, it comes at a cost for Victoria. She can afford to take care of her child, but she’s 3,000 miles away from her colleagues and Penn’s campus.

“Graduate students are not just students, we’re also workers,” Victoria says. “We’re TAs, we work at Weingarten, we work at the Writing Center, we work at different offices on campus. We’re working to have our voices heard so that our conditions are fair and livable.”

Unlike many of her peers, anthropology and GSE PhD student and GET–UP organizer Miranda Weinberg has not had major funding issues, problems with advisors or other superiors, or suffered from severe medical problems.

Miranda remembers a friend in her program who contracted tendonitis from the typing–heavy coursework required of graduate students. It was severe enough that he had to take a leave of absence to recover—but since he was on leave, he lost his Penn health insurance.

An administrative cold shoulder

Victoria is a member of GET–UP, Penn’s graduate student union. She shares the belief—along with an increasing number of her peers—that her issues with the University will be solved by forming a graduate student union.

GET–UP, short for Graduate Employees Together at the University of Pennsylvania, was formed in the fall of 2000. In 2003, GET–UP held an election for Penn graduate students, and according to DP exit polls from that day, a majority voted to unionize. But the results were never released—Penn petitioned to have the ballots impounded.

Current GET–UP members have already noticed parallels between the current Penn administration’s behavior and that of the administration that quashed unionization in the 2000s. They’re worried there might be a repeat of history.

The morning after this spring’s election was announced, the administration sent out an email, signed

by Provost Wendell Pritchett, urging students not to support unionization, noting that a union “would in fact be counterproductive to the goals for graduate student success that we all share.”

Miranda points out that numerous Penn faculty had signed a letter in support of unionization.

The Provost also wrote, “President Gutmann and I believe strongly that graduate students are our students, mentees, and future colleagues rather than our employees.”

Some students agree with the administration’s opposition. Shortly after GET–UP went public, a counter–group formed: “No Penn Union.” They believe a single union representing several graduate schools would be detrimental to some schools.

On their website, No Penn Union cites signatures from 550 PhD students who oppose unionization.

No Penn Union member Ian Henrich, a PhD student in Biomedical Graduate Studies, says in an email that many students in his school are happy with how it’s run and “don’t want a barrier between them and the [BGS] administration.”

He notes that he and other friends are also turned off by GET–UP’s aggressive recruitment tactics and concerned that strikes might interrupt students’ research, possibly delaying their graduation time.

These experiences have caused him to “completely lose faith” in GET–UP’s ability to run a union.

Small reward, big risk

After GET–UP went public, Aaron notes, Penn announced three things: it was going to increase funding for graduate students with families, reduce the annual cost of the dental plan from around $400 to $200, and provide free gym membership for graduate students.

Aaron believes that Penn has tried to quell support for

unionization by offering material benefits to students.

Aaron views this as an attempt to “buy the support of PhD students against unionization.”

Miranda also noticed the peculiar timing and sudden arrival of the extra benefits: “[The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly] has been asking for free gym access for years, and we were given it last year, coincidentally right after GET–UP became a public campaign.”

Penn alum and former GET–UP organizer Joanna Kempner remembers Penn deploying similar tactics during the push for unionization in the early 2000s.

When Kempner started at Penn in 1998, health insurance was not available to graduate students. After GET–UP was formed in 2000 and then started gaining traction, Penn “suddenly provided health insurance” and “significantly” increased stipends.

“You know, that’s great, but the cynical part of me thinks of that as a union–busting tactic.” Kempner says.

“Those advances didn’t occur until [we] began to organize and apply pressure on the administration.”

Miranda says that although these benefits are “great,” they also display the gross imbalance of power that exists between Penn and its graduate students. A union, Miranda says, would obligate Penn to consult with students on the kinds of benefits they receive, instead of deciding for them. The lack of discourse can also lead to policies that aim to improve students’ lives, but actually fail to do so.

Referring to the dental plan, Aaron remarks that even though Penn provided a 50% discount for it, the cap for the actual insurance still stood at $1500, and so was not able to help him afford his procedure.

“On closer inspection, it didn’t change anything,”

Aaron said. “It’s still not a plan that’s designed to cover dental emergencies.”

An even more worrying aspect to this is if the University can dole out gym memberships and dental plans without warning, then the reverse is true, too. “Maybe five years from now they’ll decide to stop [providing the benefits].

The advantage of a contract is we can say, ‘no, this is really important to grads, and it needs to be written down that we can have this,’” Miranda said. “[Otherwise] the same way that it’s given to us, it could be taken away.”

The puppet in College Hall

On February 27, 2007, roughly 55 GET–UP supporters trudged through the snow from 40th Street to College Green. They crowded outside College Hall, which houses Amy Gutmann’s office, chanting “Amy, don’t you run away, listen to what we have to say!” They were armed with a ten–foot–tall puppet—a terrifying caricature of Gutmann with giant reddish fists, a grimacing papier–mâché face, and billowing strips of yellow paper hair. The protest was not successful.

GET–UP staged the protest in an attempt to convince Gutmann to meet with them and discuss their demands, something she had promised to do in a letter she wrote to GET–UP when she was a Princeton professor. 2009 graduate Stefan Heumann, who was in GET–UP while earning his PhD, remembers the atmosphere of optimism among GET–UP activists when Gutmann became Penn’s president in 2004. They thought Gutmann’s influence might “change or at least soften [Penn’s anti– union stance], so that dialogue would become possible.”

Ten years later, Gutmann has still never met with the group, and GET–UP still sees Gutmann as the primary emblem of the administration’s hypocrisy.

“We decided to make a puppet of Amy Gutmann and symbolically chase her across campus, as she was cowardly, always running away from us instead of engaging,” Heumann recalled in an email.

As president, Gutmann has discouraged support for GET–UP on the grounds that a union would “adversely affect both current students and faculty members, and future students for years to come.”

“To this day, I remain very disappointed in her behavior and poor leadership,” Heumann, who is now co–director of a Berlin think tank, wrote. “We knew that getting her to drop the University’s opposition to our union would be hard, but she could have at least mustered the courage to talk to us.”

“With a president like Amy Gutmann who values deliberative democracy so much, I would expect that she would like to sit down and deliberate with us,” Zach said.

“There’s nothing more we’d like.”

Naomi Elegant is a junior from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia studying History.

She is a Film & TV Beat for Street and a Graduate Student & Alumni Beat for the DP. 11

10

nglish PhD student Aaron Bartels–Swindells played a lot of rugby and basketball growing up.

When he was a child he had three teeth knocked out during a game. He got them replaced, and he was fine.

But when Aaron, who is now 28, was in his second year at Penn, he went for a dental checkup where he discovered the teeth were breaking down. They needed to be extracted and replaced immediately before painful abscesses or root damage occurred.

Aaron was enrolled in the Penn Dental Plan, which he thought would fund the procedure. But he found out its annual coverage of $1,500 was not enough for the surgery—he was about $3,000 short.

He scrambled to save $3,000 in the two months before the dental plan expired. He was working as a Graduate Advisor in Harrison to save money—the University does not pay GAs a wage, but the position meant he didn’t have to pay rent and had a partial meal plan. Even so, “it just wasn’t possible” to save up so much money in such a short period.

Two and a half years later, he still hasn’t had the procedure.

“I could show you the parts of the tooth that are breaking down,” he half–joked. “It’s quite noticeable. It’s sort of shedding, ever so slowly.”

For Clint Williamson, English PhD student and member of GET–UP, Penn’s graduate student union, the foremost benefit of unionization is “the ability to combat precarity,” so that students with medical problems even more urgent than Aaron’s can have some reassurance about their health while trying to earn their degree.

“You have people doing very large amounts of work … but making what amounts in many cases to poverty level wages,” Clint said. “They’re one emergency away from not being able to continue with work, not being able to pay their bills, being potentially evicted.”

Graduate students at Penn live off stipends and sometimes grants, but students rarely finish their degrees before their fixed stipends run out. Sudden medical emergencies can drastically delay their academic careers.

They work as teaching assistants—and sometimes even instructors—on top of rigorous course loads. But they don’t have a contract of employment, so Penn can change their working conditions and give or take away benefits whenever it wants.

Last year, a group of students revived GET–UP, a group that tried and failed to form a graduate student union over a decade ago. The new GET–UP rallied support and brought their cause to the National Labor

“Right now they sort of hold your fate in their hands, and so it ends up being about luck. I’ve been lucky,” she says, “but I don’t think you should have to be lucky.”

1 2 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 1 3

F E AT U R E

BY EMILY RUSH “Klaus Neuenberg is a clown associated with several premier German circuses. He specializes in juggling and unicycling. He does not write this blog.” Nor does he attend Penn. But Charlie Sosnick (C ‘19) does.

Charlie is no poet or novelist, but he was recruited to Penn through the Kelly Writers House.

He’s the author of an extensive humor blog from which we learn about Klaus and similarly absurd characters. In high school, Charlie posted regularly, updating his website with “Today’s Random Thoughts,” short scripts, and even quizzes. He had quite the fan base: his “smile counter” tallied upwards of 24,000 “people satisfied.”

When Charlie toured Penn as a junior, he visited the Writers House, where he met with faculty director Al Filreis. “I showed him my website, and I guess [he] liked me,” he says. After his initial meeting with Al, Charlie stayed in touch through email. He ended up at Penn in the fall of 2015, thanks partly to his ties to the Writers House. He currently works as a comedy writer for Under the Button.

Kelly Liu (C ‘21) was just eight years old when she wrote her first story on a too–big keyboard, excitement and imagination outpacing her tiny hands.

“I remember bits and pieces [of the story],” she laughs, try-

ing to recount the loping, decade–old adventure tale, which featured mountain climbing and “something about noodles.”

But what she vividly remembers is finishing the story, fumbling with the printer, and bounding into the room where her grandparents sat, ready to show off.

Kelly stuck with writing stories. Throughout high school, her free time was spent writing science fiction, but it was nothing more than hobby. She never considered pursuing creative writing in college. At least, not until she found herself at a summer camp presentation about the Kelly Writers House. Later, when she visited Penn, Kelly met with Jamie–Lee Josselyn, recruitment director at the Writers House, and discussed Kelly’s interest in Penn and writing. After this meeting and her subsequent contact with Jamie–Lee, Kelly felt that the Writers House might be the community she was looking for.

When she applied, she did so as a Writers House recruit.

In April of her senior year of high school, Jessica Zuo (C ‘19) received an unexpected email recently after being accepted to Penn. It began: “We at the Kelly Writers House are thrilled to learn of your acceptance—my colleagues in Admissions took note of the strength of your writing in your application and they thought you might want to learn more

1 4 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

about the writing–related opportunities on Campus.”

Signed Jamie–Lee Josselyn, this email came as a surprise to Jessica. She had no background in creative writing, nor had she expressed interest in Penn’s writing programs. Admissions, it seemed, had drawn some inferences.

Jessica has not gone on to be involved with the Writers House on campus, but the email sends a clear message: Admissions is on the lookout for creative writers.

Candid and charismatic, Jamie–Lee is the Writers House version of a travelling salesperson. As recruitment director, she visits schools, writing programs, and camps across the country, presenting KWH (and Penn) to high school students.

Jamie–Lee is the first official recruiter for the Kelly Writers House. Unofficial recruitment has been present since the space opened its green doors in 1995, when Faculty Director Al Filreis began building the community.

“He has always been a magnet for writers of all kinds,” including high school writers, Jamie– Lee says. Al would meet with talented young people who were interested in Penn. And occasionally, he would write letters of advocacy to Penn Admissions on behalf of an applicant.

The New York Times eventually got word of Al’s magnetic properties. They ran a particularly well–lit profile on the Writers

House, describing it as an “oasis for the arts” with a unique process of recruitment. “If things could have gone viral in 2007, we would have gone viral,” Jamie–Lee jokes, and recounts the resulting flood of phone calls from high school teachers, parents, and young writers calling for Al. For Jamie–Lee, the NYT article was a catalyst. “It got my gears turning to think, now that we have a little exposure, people are finding us, but it’s only really the people who read the New York Times. I thought, how else can we find these people, even if they don’t ultimately come [to Penn]?”

In 2017, upwards of 500 students contacted KWH recruitment in some way.

As Jaime–Lee’s assistant, Ian McCormack (C ‘21) spends a lot of time parsing through the Scholastic Arts and Writing Award lists, a nationwide contest for young writers and visual artists. He picks out winners of prizes related to writing, and from there, he does some investigative Googling, and searches for a contact at their high school, like an English teacher or guidance counselor. He documents his findings in a spreadsheet for Jamie–Lee, who makes annual trips to schools which repeatedly appear. Specialized arts high schools are a KWH recruitment dream.

Schools like The Governor's

School in South Carolina and the Orange County School for the Arts in LA boast rigorous arts curricula. They offer guitar classes, musical theater, and instruction in the culinary arts, and thus allow students to hone their craft.

The creative writing departments at these schools breed Scholastic winners, and Kelly Writers House tries to woo them.

It helps to come from a prestigious arts high school that JamieLee visits. It provides access, a hand to shake. Rather than being just another anonymous email, students at these schools are able to meet Jamie–Lee in person without stepping foot off campus.

Amanda Silberling (C ‘18) has “weird, sort of negative feelings” about competitive, merit–based writing competitions like the Scholastic awards. “I think that judging people that are so young and developing creatively is really counterproductive,” she says.

Like many recruits, Amanda attended a writing summer camp. There, her eyes were opened to the world of high school writing contests, but she felt uncomfortable that opportunities for high school writers are based on “merit” rather than community–building.

“It seemed like you only got access to the communities by winning prestigious awards or by randomly being privileged enough to go to a big private school with creative writing classes,” she adds. Many students are connected to the Writers House

F E AT U R E

through these often–inaccessible groups.

However, many of the schools on Jamie–Lee’s travel itinerary are public magnet schools. Even so, these schools are competitive, often requiring auditions or writing samples upon applying. Amanda went to a public school where she found that “no one cared about writing.” Searching for a supportive community, Amanda turned to the internet. She found a space called the Adroit Journal, which was at the time managed by a fellow high school student and eventual Penn graduate Peter LaBerge (C ‘17). Through these internet communities, Amanda learned about KWH and contacted Jamie–Lee. Jamie–Lee is aware of the limited scope of her high school visits. “Even if I worked 24/7, I would never know every writer or literarily inclined student who wants to be involved. We take our advocacy work very seriously, but it only goes so far,” she says.

Trips to elite schools aren’t

the only form of recruitment.

More often, it takes place in the well–furnished living room of the Writers House, where prospective students meet with Jamie–Lee or Ian. And like Amanda, many students begin their recruitment process online. A simple Google search for “best creative writing colleges” and an email to Jamie–Lee is a often enough.

When Ian visited Penn for Quaker Days, he stopped by the Writers House. Excited to explore the space, Ian didn’t quite know what to expect.

When he walked through the front door, he found an empty house. As he meandered through the living room, he found no one reading on the couches, no one sprawled at the dining room table.

Then, he paused at the closed kitchen door, Ian heard voices, laughter. A nervous high schooler, Ian couldn’t bring himself to open the door.

He just turned around and walked out. Despite becoming a fixture in the writers house as Jamie–Lee’s assistant, he still feels a bit on the outside.

“That experience is one of the experiences that I channel when I work as an assistant to Jamie–Lee. I like to look for people who are a little too shy to go into the kitchen, where people seem like they're already friends,” Ian says, adding, “I want to make people feel welcome.”

Kaitlin Moore (C ‘18) was no recruit. She came to the Writers House after her freshman year, a fresh convert to the English discipline from the field of physics. At first, she felt similarly to Ian during his failed visit, “because I didn’t know anyone, so I felt like a bit of an outsider that summer.”

Now a senior, Kaitlin is thoroughly part of the Writers House kitchen, and friendly with other staff and students.

However, she hasn’t forgot-

ten the feeling of being on the fringes. “I realize what people mean when they say that they want to go to the Writers House but they feel like there's a bit of a wall,” she says.

“One of the things about a close community is that it’s possible to feel like you’re not part of the close community,” notes Jamie–Lee. Even from her perspective, she notices the “wall.”

Many recruits, like Amanda, Kelly, and Ian, find jobs at the Writers House, physically occupying space there. They are inside the kitchen, so to speak, where everyone is already laughing. Student staffers have a reputation for being fast friends.

The majority of KWH staff are hired through the work– study program, which provides subsidized jobs for students with financial need. It’s no surprise that recruits with work–study grants often end up at KWH, a space they already feel connected with.

Rodney Dailey (C ‘20) spent the past summer in London. He spent his days breakfasting with professors, writing poetry, and researching Virginia Woolf. By the end of the summer, he had produced an extensive book of poetry, exploring the spaces the author occupied.

His project was made possible by the Terry B. Heled Travel & Research Grant, and is just one example of the grants, awards, and scholarships available through the Writers House.

Amanda Silberling, now a music writer, has a KWH– supported passion project as well. It was conceived during her sophomore year: an annual event titled "Shifting the Gaze," featuring musicians who will “explore the intersectional challenges that women and other marginalized people face in the music industry.”

The Writers House has incorporated this event into their repertoire. It’s another program they financially support and provide space for.

The Writers House’s resources come mostly from individual donors, giving the institution more financial mobility than a regular academic department. For this reason, KWH has the institutional ability to provide “individualized care for creative minds,” as Rodney puts it. These opportunities are open to all undergraduates, but can be more difficult to find for students who don’t spend time there and aren’t on a first name basis with the administrators who write the checks. On the other hand, for student staffers, the opportunities are often in front of their faces.

Liv Lynn, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was a KWH recruit who did not end up at Penn. She notes via text that she met with Jamie–Lee during a visit to campus, remembering that “[Jamie–Lee] held onto some of [her] writing samples, and followed up with extra resources related to [her] interest in women’s studies.”

Despite the warm welcome at KWH, financial factors drove her decision to attend UNC. There, Liv has found creative spaces. She’s dabbled in documentary–making and edited for the The Siren, a feminist magazine, but notes that there’s nothing as “well– defined and extensive as Kelly Writers House.”

Still, she remembers Jamie– Lee and the Writers House and speaks fondly: “I got the sense that there was someone in this huge machine of a school that was rooting for me."

Emily Rush is a junior from Gladwybe, Pennsylvania studying English. She is a Features staff writer for 34th Street Magazine.

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 1 5

ST YLE

69TH STREET

CHEESE SAY CHEESE

I love watching myself have sex. Looking in the mirror while canoodling makes me so lusty. I would like to approach my partner about the possibility of inviting a professional photographer to take in–action boudoir shots, but I don't want my partner to feel weirded out or think I have a voyeuristic thing. I just really want quality pictures of us having sex! What are your thoughts and/or advice on this situation?

— Female, 2020, Heterosexual

First of all, kudos to you!

Hannah is fairly sure that if she saw pictures of herself having sex it would be like seeing inside her rawest self, and it would not look pretty. John often wishes he was flexible enough to see what was going on from behind, but he’s not!

We think it’s incredible that you feel so turned by your own sexuality, and that you want to really capture it.

That being said, let’s talk about the things you might want to keep in mind.

First of all, a totally candid conversation with your partner comes before anything.

Explain why this is something you want, and make sure

springfield beer distribu tor

Studying

ORDER YOUR BEER too hard?

FOr YOUR

SUPER BOWL PARTY

Take a break with us.

WE DELIVER! 2206 Washington ave, Philadelphia 1 6 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

(215) 546-7301

they are being honest and open with you about their feelings toward it. It’s alright if they aren’t comfortable with the idea, and neither of you should feel embarrassed. Sometimes, kinks don’t totally align, and maybe you can compromise on something that makes you both happy (audio recording, photo booth computer recording that you can ditch after watching, who knows).

Believe it or not, honest and open communication throughout the entire process will be key.

Our photographer friend, Johanna Matt–Navarro, gave us some important advice surrounding the logistics of a photo shoot. First, you may want to discuss what kind of photographer would make both of your experiences feel safe and comfortable.

Age, gender identity, or sexual orientation might be considerations in such a discussion. Then, make sure to do your research, and find photographers who would shoot you through a human, artistic lens, rather than an exploitative one. An artist who will take this seriously will not be cheap, either, so think about how much you’re willing to pay for a quality and professional experience. Be prepared to reach out to multiple photographers to find one who will work best for you.

Now, let’s put ourselves in the bedroom. Johanna

brought up another good point: taking quality photos takes a lot of work. There’s special equipment and lighting involved, and having to work with the subjects in order to get the right positioning and angle can be tedious. This might mean in order to get some sexy shots, you might end up having some unsexy sex, and the third party might seem way more present than you would have hoped them to be. It’s worth considering how this would impact the mood.

Finally, in this Internet day and age, it can sometimes feel like nothing is private or sacred. Make sure you feel in complete control of what is being photographed and saved. When we first read your question, "revenge porn” was one of the first things that popped into our minds.

First and foremost, how much do you trust your partner?

Additionally, where will you store these photos? Will they be prints or digital? You should make sure all these details are clearly planned between you, your partner, and the photographer in order to ensure your safety and privacy before you seal the deal.

Maybe a photographer who is well versed in Polaroids is the answer to all of this. All we’re saying is, live out your sexy dreams, but always be ten steps ahead of potential problems. It never hurts to be too careful.

Have fun, and say cheese!

ST YLE

WE TRIED THE WEIRDEST BEILER'S DONUTS SO YOU DONT HAVE TO ELVIS DELIGHT

Elvis is dead and this donut is dead to me, too. This Elvis is filled with peanut butter cream, topped with banana and sprinkled with bacon, based on The King’s favorite sandwich (Ed. note: Ew). Peanut butter and bacon are individually delicious, but these foods should not be mixed.

Ever. The peanut butter cream was too fluffy and thick, and the mini bacon chunks just felt wrong. This donut earned the superlative “most likely to make you sick.”

APPLE CIDER

First thought: this donut flavor is not weird. Apple cider is an autumnal classic, featured in candy, chocolate, pies, and more. Second thought: it’s disingenuous to name this donut Apple Cider.

The cinnamon–apple flavors barely come through, making “Notes of Apple” or “Apple– Enhanced” more apt descriptors. The donut is cakey, plain, and solidly mediocre, lending itself to cries of, “I would rather get any other donut.”

MAPLE BACON

The combination of maple and bacon seems radical, but according to my foodie friends, this flavor’s trending on the donut circuit. One of Beiler’s most popular flavors, Maple Bacon is perfect for unleashing your inner Canadian and satisfying a very specific craving. The maple flavored cream is heavy, so Street advises sharing this donut with someone. Overall, the Maple Bacon donut is flavorful, fun, and much better than the Elvis.

COCONUT CUSTARD

Key Lime, Maple Bacon, and other farfetched delicacies.

By caroline harris

One day at Beiler’s, I couldn’t help but wonder: are the weird donut flavors really so bad? By sticking to a routine of chocolate, m&m’s, hazelnut, and peanut butter cream, are Penn students denying themselves a world of doughy deliciousness? In the name of journalism, I decided to find out. I, along with some other taste testers, asked the Beiler’s cashier for their six weirdest flavors, then hosted a donut–tasting extravaganza featuring Apple Cider, Vanilla Fruity Pebble, Elvis Delight, Maple Bacon, Key Lime, and Coconut Custard.

KEY LIME

The most niche flavor on the list, the Key Lime donut is filled with a homemade cream made with fresh lime juice, then drizzled with mint

toothpaste–colored frosting.

From a distance, the cream– to–donut ratio looks very off, but if you’re obsessed with cream, you might be obsessed with this donut, too. The do-

nut is tangy, with a strong punch and a bold aftertaste.

The Floridian of the group confirms, “it definitely tastes like key lime, but I’d rather have key lime pie.”

Filled with Bavarian Cream, topped with white icing and dipped in coconut, the Coconut Custard donut earned the designation “Best–in–Class.” Packing a strong flavor, gentle cream and the ideal amount of shredded coconut, the Coconut Custard donut is an unexpected crowd–pleaser.

VANILLA FRUITY PEBBLE This donut features vanilla icing dipped in Fruity Pebbles. Marrying childhood nostalgia with college cravings, the donut tastes like a better version of the much– loved cereal. There’s a lovely juxtaposition between the softness of the donut and the crunchiness of the Fruity Pebbles. Be warned, though: if you don’t have a sweet tooth, this donut is not for you.

Major Dinners February 5 @ 6:00 PM | RSVP by January 31

School of Social Policy & Practice Du Bois College House Multipurpose Room

Each semester, the College in collaboration with the College Houses and academic departments and programs holds a series of dinner discussions on majors, minors and academic programs. These dinners provide an opportunity to meet with faculty and upperclass students in a small, relaxed setting, and are free of charge. Please RSVP by the required date at the URL below.

Contact Tanya Jung, Assistant Dean for Advising, at jungt@sas.upenn.edu with any questions.

http://www.college.upenn.edu/dinners/ J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 17

ST YLE

bE gREEN in 2018 It’s not easy being green?

Think again. Little changes can make a big impact in creating a greener campus. Representatives from student environmental clubs and the Penn administration shared their tips on how to easily go green.

Reduce

Going green can also mean eating greens: more and more people are adopting “flexitarian” diets to reduce their meat consumption, one of the biggest contributors to carbon dioxide emission. “I am a big proponent of reducing meat consumption. I know it’s hard for a lot of people, but I like to say, even make one meal a day meatless,” said Susan Radov (C ’18), former head of Penn Environmental Group (PEG).

Last year, Penn Dining

Services introduced Meatless Mondays during lunchtime in the dining halls. On these days, a handful of Penn dining halls stopped serving meat at lunch. On other days of the week, there is always at least one vegan entrée.

“Students can make that choice to eat only plants, and they have that option. If students want to eat sustainably, they can,” Dan Connolly, Registered Dietitian for Bon Appétit, said.

The University launched the program not only for eco–friendly reasons, but also health reasons. According to the Sustainability Office, “reducing your intake of meat reduces heart disease and stroke, limits cancer risk, and curbs obesity. It also minimizes water usage, reduces greenhouse

gases and lowers our fuel dependence.”

There were mixed responses from students: “It’s tough because a lot of the rhetoric from our side is that it's so easy, but some people took it as preachy and self–righteous. There is a big problem with encouraging people to be vegan. People will write it off without trying it,” Jisoo Kim (C '18), one of two student coordinators for the Eco–Rep Program on campus, said. With the growing number of vegetarian eateries on campus, like the soon–to– open Goldie Falafel, it is easier (and tastier) than ever for Penn students to eat less meat.

Reuse

Perfect for a college student's budget, another way to be more eco–friendly is to

$9.99 FAJITAS - THURSDAYS 5PM - 10PM 10 PM to 1 AM

40th & Spruce St., University city • 215-382-1330 • copauc.com 1 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

Simple ways to be more sustainable.

MOLLY HESSEL

reuse instead of disposing.

In your house, invest in a set of silverware instead of plastic utensils and cook in large batches instead of buying single servings. “If you have your own kitchen, invest in Tupperware to keep your leftovers.

You’ll save money and food,” Susan advocates.

Reusable bottles can also be a small change that save the planet and your money.

BYO mugs at coffee shops like Starbucks are super useful, and on campus, they help students save big bucks. Last year, the Undergraduate Assembly approached The Dining Advisory Council with an initiative to reduce coffee cups on campus. Together they developed a program called Keep Our Campus Brewtiful that sells reusable coffee cups in retail locations for $7.99, and it is a dollar refill at any non–franchise location. The Dining Advisory Council includes one member of PEG to represent the student body’s sustainability interests. “They are very vocal. We have made changes because of them, like the reusable bottles,” said Pam Lampitt, Director of Business Services for the University of Pennsylvania.

Recycle

Struggling to decide where to toss your trash? Penn uses a single–stream recycle system on campus, making the decision a whole lot easier. Most items can be disposed of in the recycling bins, such as glass, plastic, metal, paper, and cardboard. The only materials that should go in the landfill are Styrofoam, food–soiled items, and food waste when there isn’t a compost bin. The worst offenders are what Lampitt describes as “the flagrant five:”

condiment packets, straws, stirrers, napkins, chopsticks.

These items cannot be recycled and lead to excessive waste.

“While students can’t completely stop using napkins," she said, "the chopsticks, the stirrers and the packets, students can try to avoid.”

On campus, Penn’s Sustainability Office has created initiatives to decrease trash contamination in the recycling bins, like color–coded bins and adding lids to make it harder to just toss your trash.

“We conducted a trash audit to see if people were recycling.

If there is enough trash in [the recycling bin], it all has to go to the waste,” said Jisoo Kim. In your off–campus home, recycling can create revenue for the City of Philadelphia that is reinvested in public schools, parks, and libraries. While you might be doing your part, your favorite coffee shop or restaurant might not: Philadelphia businesses have recently come under fire for not following the city's recycling laws. Almost four–fifths of businesses operating in Philadelphia have not filled out and submitted the required recycling plan.

Still, one of the best and only ways to fix this is by demanding recycling as customers.

How to Become More Involved

For students that want to create a bigger impact, there are 17 different clubs on campus dedicated to environmental causes. They are connected under the Student Sustainability Association at Penn (SSAP), an umbrella group that also works alongside the University. For more information, visit their website.

ARTS

MEET MASK AND WIG'S SPRING SHOW

MICHAELA TINKEY

Tucked away on a quaint side street in the heart of Philadelphia's Gayborhood is a Pennstitution like no other. Many Penn students are familiar with the Mask and Wig Club from their fall show at the Iron Gate Theater or their infamous Fling performances. Fewer know of the group's clubhouse in Center City, located at 310 S. Quince Street, and their season–long spring musical performed there. This is what makes M&W so unlike the many other performing arts groups on campus.

Because it has its own clubhouse in the heart of Philadelphia, M&W functions more like an entire theater company than a campus group. Each spring, they choose the theme for the next year's show and start to work on it over the summer. The time

commitment is relentless. Before NSO, all the writers meet to write the first draft of the script.

Towards the end of semester, all of M&W—cast, crew, business staff, and the band—spend about half of Penn's already–short winter break rehearsing for opening night. This year, while the rest of campus was home with the bomb cyclone raging outside, the M&W crew was braving the cold to construct the perfect elementary school in their clubhouse.

The 2018 spring show opened on January 20. Titled Juice Box Hero, it centers around a grade school science fair, meddling helicopter parents, and interference from D.O.E. special agents. How any of this could possibly come together—that's for the audience to find out. But perhaps the knockout performance of the night was

Photo by Ha Tran

by Eric Calvo (C '19) during his number “At the D.O.E.” Playing the conniving, spurned villain in his first lead role, Calvo belted out an impressive range of notes all while tap dancing. Other notable performances came from the chemistry between Sam "Jessica" Korn (C '18) and Nico "Toby" Carrino (C '18), with the former displaying exceptional vocal tone during “Is He Holding Me Back.”

As professional as the production seems, of course, being a student company comes with its own challenges. Typical theatre or performing arts companies retain their artists for an extended period of time. So while the production of M&W resembles that of these professional companies, it still faces the mounting challenge of their cast and crew not only leaving the show, but graduating. Ev-

Pizza, Wings, and Beer for YOUR SUPER SUPERBOWL BOWL PARTY Fast + On Time

Allegro Pizza

ery year, one –fourth of the troupe leaves every year, and new writers take on the task of reworking the script. It's a built–in fresh start.

For example, the group's spring 2017 show, There's No Place Like Rome, relied heavily on the acting capabilities of the graduating seniors. However, in contrast, the show this year relied more so on its script, allowing for a true ensemble performance. M&W, unlike its all–female counterpart Bloomers, does not have a separate writing staff for its shows, and the cast members are able to gain experience in many different realms of theatre. As Tyler Bloom (C '18), Head Writer of "Juice Box Hero,"

puts it, "Our people grow into their writing roles." They're true renaissance men: dancers, actors, singers, and writers.

In addition to performing every Friday and Saturday until April 7, the group also tours the country. Their spring break tour will take the cast around local college campuses, performing in New York, Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago. “Everyone's goal for the tour is to reconnect with alums and to bring the Wig experience to various communities,” said Bloom. It's an experience not to be missed, especially by Penn students.

Live music • Film • Dance • Theater Art Education • Community FREE Workshop! Taxes for Artists Jan 29 @ 6:00 PM Vision Driven Consulting has teamed up with The Rotunda to bring resources and capacity-building workshops to selfproducing artists/musicians, arts organization staff, and event curators in all disciplines. Refreshments provided. No sign-up necessary.

9th Annual Family Music Festival, brought to you

by Hope for the Hood Voice of the Streets Feb 3 @ 1:00 PM FREE ADMISSION Basket raffle to support the show, sponsors & vendors.

Performances by: The Diva Dollz and Company, Rally Gang, Joe Becton, Antalytical, Cash Back, Laceone, Udini La’Voz, The Remnant, BlacknBlessed, Karen Meeks and Marina Gilbert, Runnet “Ni A” Ebo-Grey, Victoria Higgins Peurifoy. The Axiom, Diamonds and Pearls, Princess Pageant Contestants. With: Sabrina Cuie and Jeremy Issa. Hosted by Shameka S. Sawyer

Super Philly Chili Bowl II: Best Vegan Chili in the City Feb 4 @ 12:00 PM GENERAL ADMISSION: $15 KIDS UNDER 5 ENTER FOR FREE Ticket includes chili tastings from competitors, hot sauce samples from Tamerlaine Farm, music, entertainment, giveaways, fun & FOOD! 25% of each ticket sold goes to Tamerlaine Farm Sanctuary!

YOUR EMCEE: Dustin Harder, host/creator of The Vegan Roadie, YouTube series

As an alcohol-free/smoke-free venue, The Rotunda provides an invaluable social alternative for all ages.

4014 Walnut • TheRotunda.org J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 1 9

ARTS

STUDENTS MIXING PREPROFESSIONALISM WITH FINE ARTS BY SOPHIE BURKHOLDER It’s a running joke just how preprofessional Penn is. The number of times we make fun of OCR and the memes we make of Goldman Sachs and McKinsey are almost countless. Being a bioengineering major, it would be hypocritical of me to say that being career–oriented is a negative quality. But in such an intense environment, there’s something to be said for the students who major in something different than their long term goal. Visual studies majors who plan on going to med school may be hard to come by at Penn, but they are definitely a group to be admired.

One such student is Ellie Cheng (C ’19), a pre–med visual studies major who is currently the president of Penn Art Club. Ellie came into college knowing that she wanted to be pre–med, but also knew that she “didn’t want to do a major that was science–

based, because I would already be taking so many science classes.”

Then, in a meeting with her advisor, she found the visual studies major. For those unfamiliar with the major, it’s essentially an intersection between a number of fields, from the neurobiology of vision to the fine arts to the psychology of seeing.

While the choice to simultaneously take classes for visual studies and pre–med might at first seem like an incompatible pairing, Ellie said that each actually complemented the other. For example, her background in art helped her to enjoy organic chemistry, one of the notoriously difficult pre–med classes. She describes it as “a lot of visualizing and knowing mechanisms, and there’s multiple solutions to a problem, which I really like.”

Cathy Shang (C ’20), a fine arts major and chemistry minor,

also liked the idea of incorporating fine arts into her biology and chemistry classes. She had always planned on pursuing a fine arts minor, but after an intense cell biology class, she realized that she “wanted to do art before going to med school.” A drawing class with Deirdre Murphy only solidified her choice. “Drawing was fine, it was just the basics.

But Deirdre’s just so inspiring because she’s just so into art.”

While introductory science and math classes can still have quality professors, those within the arts seem to be consistently more zealous. “I think the art professors here are so genuinely passionate about art. And the environment in the classroom is just a lot more collaborative and inviting,” said Cathy.

The thought of fulfilling all of the pre–med requirements in addition to those for a major

Call today to schedule a tour.

Limited 1, 2 & 4 bedroom apartments available.

215.222.0222 2 0 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

www.apartmentsatpenn.com

ILLUSTRATION BY GLORIA YUEN that doesn’t overlap much can be daunting, but both Ellie and Cathy argue that it’s not only doable, but enjoyable. “It’s a really nice break from all of my more uptight and really intense pre–med classes,” says Ellie. And though some courses like photography or sculpture are known for their heavier workloads, Cathy says that she sometimes prefers her art homework because “it’s a lot more enjoyable than just straight–up studying for bio.”

There’s something to be said for the way that the study of art informs medical practice. It requires repeated practice in what’s called close looking, or the idea that every aspect and detail must be engaged with and analyzed.

When applied to medicine, this kind of perspective makes it easier to understand biological systems at large, because it focuses on the connection between smaller characteristics to broader ideas and meanings. Thinking ahead though, Cathy actually has some ideas of more direct ways to relate the two fields of study. “For example, there’s an art class here called biological design. I think that’s a really cool way of intersecting the two. I’ve also thought about plastic surgery.”

Though the combined art and science path isn’t one of the more popular choices for students at

Penn, if not among the least popular choices, both Cathy and Ellie recommend studying something unrelated to pre–med for those who are interested in it.

“I always think people should try something new in college,” says Ellie, “and pre–med gives you a really good opportunity to explore something else.”

More than anything, Cathy sees it as a chance to widen one's perspective before completely focusing on medicine. “This is going to be the only time that you can major in what you actually want to major in. It’s like you’re getting a little bit of both, and I think that’s really important.”

The study of art requires the development of a variety of skills that are relevant to medicine, namely patience and visualization. And for those concerned more with their resumé, a major in the arts on a medical school application will definitely set you apart, but that shouldn’t be the only reason you do it. In the words of visual artist and film director John Waters, “Choose to study art for prestige or spite,” but also recognize that an undergraduate dedication to a passion field can help you grow more profoundly in both focus and contemplation, qualities that are too often forgotten in the typical pre–med path.

ARTS

It's so much more than a color.

SOPHIE BURKHOLDER

How do you describe the feeling of a color?

To me, “Ultraviolet” is that iconic song at the end of Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging, a Nickelodeon classic.

Ultraviolet is the color of the swirling night sky from my stargazing days in the fields of dairy farms in Upper Turkeyfoot, PA. It’s the color of the candles in the Advent wreaths I saw in my Catholic grade school every year. It’s the hue of the hyacinth that I grow in my backyard garden at home. It’s the mood of dad’s old lava lamp from the 1970s.

Ultraviolet is, in my experience, a color that’s captured feelings and not things.

It’s intangible, representing a spiritual power of the beyond that contrasts with the greed of a material lifestyle.

It’s about feeling and believing in something, even if you can’t physically touch or see it.

But that’s hardly characteristic of the world we live in today. It’s no secret that the rampant rise of the technological era helped contribute to a widespread culture of materialism. Sometimes the buildup of socioeconomic turmoil feels as if it’s gaining momentum toward some greater movement, another revolution of culture and spirit—the likes of which we haven’t really seen since the psychedelic power of the 1960s and 1970s. Pantone’s

choice of ultraviolet as the color of the year for 2018 reflects the need for a shift away from excess consumption, whether it be a perceived need for designer labels or an addiction to self–representation on social media.

It’s such a cliché at this point, but this color choice serves as a reminder to be more mindful of both yourself and those around you.

The common use of ultraviolet and other shades of purple in religion and music is no coincidence­­—it has long held a certain mysticwwism as a symbol of spiritual energy and individuality. If Pantone is acknowledging ultraviolet as a color of significance for our generation, perhaps it means that the world at large is beginning to lean toward a renewal of a lifestyle with a mental (as opposed to material) focus.

While for me, ultraviolet mostly elicits feelings of happy nostalgia, it also reminds me that there are more of these kinds of moments in my life that have yet to come. Whether that means starting a journal, reading more often, studying at cafés on Baltimore Avenue on the weekend, or even picking up a hobby like knitting, let ultraviolet help become a symbol of the next year by focusing more on experiences over materials, and remembering to find little ways to take time for yourself.

ULTRAVIOLET NAMED PANTONE'S 2018 COLOR OF THE YEAR: WHY IT MATTERS

Welcome CLASS OF Exp.2/23/12 4/11/12 Exp.

2016

For Fast Delivery Call 215-386-1941

4004 chestnut street | (215) 386-1941 Exp.2/23/12 4/11/12 Exp.

All You Can Eat Buffet Every Day!

For Fast Delivery Call 215-386-1941

$2 beer special!

Welcome $3 beer! shots! wine!

CLASS OF

student discount with I.D. | order online @ newdehliweb.com | closed mondays Exp.2/23/12 4/11/12 Exp. J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 2 1

For Fast Delivery Call 215-386-1941

G N I S A E L now 8 1 0 2 L L FA

ELEVATE YOUR EXPECTATIONS

215.222.4212 | THERADIAN.COM 2 2 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8

L A ST PAG E

J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 2 3

shopping, dining, and more of what you need today, JUST STEPS AWAY ADOLF BIECKER STUDIO • ANN TAYLOR LOFT • AT&T • BLUEMERCURY • BEIJING RESTAURANT • BEN AND JERRY’S • bernie’s • BLARNEY STONE • BONDED CLEANERS • BRYSI • CAMPUS HAIR, SKIN & NAIL SALON • CAVANAUGH’S TAVERN • CINEMARK THEATER • CITIZENS BANK • COMPUTER CONNECTION • COSI • CVS • DUNKIN DONUTS • EYEGLASS ENCOUNTERS • FEDERAL DONUTS • GREEK LADY • HELLO WORLD • HIP CITY VEG • HONEYGROW • HOUSE OF OUR OWN • INN AT PENN • JOSEPH ANTHONY HAIR SALON • KITCHEN GIA • KIWI YOGURT • LAST WORD BOOKSTORE • MODERN EYE • METROPOLITAN BAKERY • NATURAL SHOE • O’CHATTO • PENN BOOK CENTER • PENN BOOKSTORE • PHILADELPHIA RUNNER • PHILLY PRETZEL FACTORY /PHILLY IS NUTS! • PIPER BOUTIQUE • POD RESTAURANT • QDOBA • SAXBY’S COFFEE • SMOKEY JOE’S • TD BANK • UNITED BY BLUE • URBAN OUTFITTERS • U.S. POST OFFICE • UPS STORE • VERIZON • WAWA

shopping

dining

services

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF RETAILERS, VISIT bit.ly/upennretail 2 4 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 31 , 2 01 8