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EOTW: Ryan Leone
October 31, 2018 | 34st.com
Life on the autism spectrum
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Guide to Queen Village
p.20 Dior at the PMA
October 31 , 2018 3 WORD ON THE STREET Abusive Relationship
4 EGO
EOTW: Ryan Leone, Beekeeping Club
6 MUSIC
Khalid, Ella Mai
8 STYLE
Queen Village, Zero Waste, Vernick
LOL
12 FEATURE
Autistic Students
LOL 15 FILM & TV
Camen Machado, Haunting of Hill House, Election Movies, Beautiful Boy
20 ARTS
PMA Dior, Holocaust Memorial
LOL 22 LASTPAGE
Overheards, Halloween Costumes 2
Nick Joyner, Editor–in–Chief Remi Lederman, Managing Editor Angela Huang, Audience Engagement Director Annabelle Williams, Assignments Editor Autumn Powell, Media Director Cat Dragoi, Word on the Street Editor Caroline Riise, Ego Editor Jamie Gobreski, Music Editor Colin Lodewick, Senior Features Editor Sabrina Qiao, Special Features Editor Andreas Pavlou, Long–Term Features Editor Naomi Elegant, Developing Features Editor Liz Kim, Style Editor Ana West, Film & TV Editor Sherry Tseng, Arts Editor Eliana Doft, Lastpage Editor Ethan Wu, Photo Editor Morgan Potts, Copy Director Christopher Muracca, Print Director Ego Beats: Sophie Xi, Amanpreet Singh, Michelle Shen, Misty Liao, Katie Bontje
Style Beats: Emma Moore, Jen Cullen, Molly Hessel, Valentina Escudero Film & TV Beats: Zovinar Khrimian, Maryanne Koussa, Anna Collins, Sam Kesler, Kate Lindenburg, Shannon Zhang Arts Beats: Michelle Wan, Christina Lu, Josephine Cheng Design Editors: Lucy Ferry, Gillian Diebold, Ben Zhao, Christine Lam, Alana Shukovsky, Ian Ong, Ava Cruz, Joy Lee, Jess Tan, Alice Heyeh, Nancy Kang, Isabel Liang, Gebran Abdulhai Lastpage Beat: Sami Canaan, Abby Goldstein Staff Writers: Margaret Zhang, Riley Wagner, Calista Lopez, Calais Cronin, Sarah Fingerhood, Katie Hartzell, Anjalee Bhuyan, James Morrison, Christy Qiu, Jordan Wachsman, Emily Gelb, Karin Hananel, Bebe Hodges, Claire Ochroch, Shunmel Syau, Rania Zakaria, Amanda Xu, Riley Kennedy
Music Beats: Arjun Swaminathan, Sammy Gordon, Sophie Burkholder, Melannie Jay, Aleksei Kuryla, Srinidhi Ramakrishna, Shriya Beesam
Illustrators: Anne Chen, Anne Marie Grudem, Brad Hong, Carly Ryan, Catherine Liang, Jake Lem, Reese Berman, Saranya Sampath, Jessi Olarsch, Diane Lin, Christopher Kwok, Cecelia Vieira, Jacqueline Lou
Features Staff: Angie Lin, Julia Bell, Paige Fishman, Hailey Noh, Chris Schiller, Katrina Janco, Sireesh Ramesh, Allison Wu
Staff Photographers: Emma Boey, Kaitlin Rowan, Chloe Schaefer, Eleanor Shemtov, Olivia Fielding, Riley Merkel, Sophia Dai, Sophia Zhu
Video Staff: Jean Chapiro, Abdul Sohu Copy Associates: Kate Poole, Kira Horowitz, Sarah Poss, Serena Miniter, Erin Liebenberg, Lexie Shah, Carmina Hachenburg, Luisa Healey, Agatha Advincula Sofia Price, Analytics Editor Marketing Associates: Brittany Levy, Carly Shoulberg, Daniel Bulpitt, Ha Tran, Lauren Donato , McKay Norton, Merry Gu, Lauren Reiss, Kat Ulich, Serena Zhao Cover Illustration by Jessi Olarsch Contacting 34th Street Magazine: If you have questions, comments, complaints or letters to the editor, email Nick Joyner, Editor–in–Chief, at joyner@34st. com. You can also call us at (215) 422–4640. www.34st.com ©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.
You'd be surprised by how spacious her nostrils are.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR H
alloween has always been my favorite holiday. And I think it all stems from my much too early obsession with horror movies. When I first visited the Hollywood Video in a strip mall in my suburban Texas neighborhood, I ran fearfully down the horror aisle. Their VHS covers were too scary for my young eyes I distinctly remember glancing sideways during one such flight, looking at Halle Berry looking menacing on the Gothika cover. I ran a little faster. Somewhere along the way, something changed. Let's place it at age ten. Maybe one day I lingered in that corner of the store a little longer, surveying the gruesome covers while still keeping down my lunch. I wish I could trace the beginning of this love affair. But soon I became that kid who likes horror movies. I didn't wear beanies or listen to Korn or anything, but I did develope a fascination with the lurid. I prodded my mom to rent Rated R films for me. Slowly over time, she acquiesced. I brought home The Silence of the Lambs in 7th grade, and squealed through the entire middle of the movie. I made her buy me tickets to the October 2009 premiere of Paranormal Activity. In my early adolescence, I watched the classics (Rosemary's Baby, The Evil Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Suspiria) and found early favorites of my own (Communion, Possession, The Wicker Man, Videodrome). I looked into foreign horror, and discovered giallo. I was in love. In fact, the first email I ever sent on my first email account
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(nickjoyner97@aol.com, which I still own and operate to this day), were my suggestions for a horror movie festival in San Antonio. It went as follows: "The movies I think should be featured in the Spookfest 2010 are: The Exorcist, The Thing, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, Se7en, Alien, The Shining, Let the Right One In (2008), The Changeling (1980). Thanks, Nick Joyner" No salutation. My digital literacy hadn't developed as quickly as my appetite for horror. In many ways, horror was my entry into cinephilia. I learned the ins and outs of the genre and its history and baggage, before I even learned how to drive. Horror was the most perfect of genres to me—it had B–movies that were critically recognized for camp alongside masterpieces of psychological terror. It had a visceral, unparalleled access to human emotion. It could do no wrong. As I got older, my taste got more refined, I got desensitized to onscreen gore and I moved on from the schlock. In this period of my middle teenage years, I found that it was time to leave the horror corner of Hollywood Video for more expansive film styles. The store closed down anyways. I'm sad to say I don't consume horror flicks as voraciously as I once did. But Halloween is always a good reminder of my roots, why I decided to go into cinema studies in the first place. Everyone needs a spooky walk down memory lane every once in a while.
WORD ON THE STREET
word on the
STREET
**Content warning: The following text describes sexual assault, violence, and substance abuse and can be disturbing and/or triggering for some readers. Please find resources listed at the bottom of the article.** “Drink this, it’ll make you more fun,” he chuckles. I hesitate. “Come on. I love you. You trust me, right?” The liquid burns its way into my stomach. I want to vomit, but I’m afraid of what will happen if I do, so I lie there. His hands grip around my neck as he thrusts in and out of me, but there’s no emotion behind his eyes. I stop screaming, my tense body goes limp as I succumb to the numbness. The pressure of his body on mine becomes overwhelming, and my eyes jolt open. I’m sweating, twisted in my sheets, and my watch asks me if I’m exercising because my heart rate is beating out of control. My breathing slows down. I’m in my bed. He’s not here. I am safe. I didn’t tell anyone about my first time having sex, or about most of the sex I had for about two years after that. I remember going to the doctor for my yearly checkup soon after that first time. I flinched when she lifted my gown and she asked me if I was sexually active. I paused and considered telling her, but I decided against it. She accepted my answer and moved on. That was only the beginning. What followed was a dark road of being addicted to a manipulative monster, and the ensuing self–hatred. I would go to his house, he would suggest a harmless activity like homework or watching TV, and I would breathe a quiet sigh of relief that I wouldn’t have to have sex. Then, like clockwork, he would reach under my shirt or
SURVIVING AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP After being manipulated and assaulted, it took me years to heal. But I know now that I deserve better.
Anonymous
Diane Lin | Illustrator
unzip my pants. I would move his hand away from me, and he would chip away at my self– worth, one insult at a time, until I would take my pants off myself and just lie there waiting for it to be over. But it didn’t matter. He always reminded me how much he loved me. Soon, the rouse of hanging out wasn’t even there. I couldn’t bear the insults any longer, so I’d just undress and wait for him in his bed. “You’re lucky you have me because I don’t know how anyone else would put up with that,” he’d say. People told me I was very lucky to have a boyfriend who really loved me. I convinced myself that this was normal, that I should be more grateful. When I was ready to go to college, a little bit of light flickered back into my eyes, and I had real hope that things would get better. They got exponentially worse. One of the best parts about college is the freedom to discover your passions and purpose—but we’re so focused on this excitement that we forget, or avoid talking about, the darkness it can
bring out in people. The frequency, roughness, and drunkenness of the sex increased. I couldn’t use my parents as an excuse for not coming over anymore. I don’t remember most of the sex I had that year, but there were days when I woke up alone, naked, writhing in pain. He used his freedom to smother mine. His anger seeped outside the bedroom and splattered all over the rest of my life. I isolated myself from my friends and never called my family, my grades began to slip, and I quit extracurriculars. He admitted to cheating on me with several people I knew—and many more that I didn’t—but he was my only lifeline. So I stayed. A lot of people did reach out to me—friends, family, professors, and advisors. I am thankful for all of them, and I wish I had allowed them to help me. But I didn’t crack until he finally broke up with me several months later. Things get better. We all say it, but no one talks about all of the time spent in between saying it and actually believing it. Some people take less time, others more. For me, it took two years. We’re all so conditioned to mute our feelings until we fin-
ish the next thing—a big assignment, getting a job, enjoying Fling. Except, those things are going to keep coming. If you’re like me, you’ll welcome them with open arms, to give yourself another reason to avoid thinking about how much you’re hurting. Accepting an offer in a field that I had always secretly wanted to pursue, mending existing friendships and forging new ones, trying new things, and putting myself out there all happened in those two years, which I am now so proud of. I didn’t really think about my pain because I didn’t have time to. Whenever I remembered it was there, I applied a new metaphorical band–aid and moved on. But one day I ran out of band–aids. I looked closer and realized that I had been convincing myself that my stab wound was more of a paper cut. I became sadder than I had been at any point during or after my relationship. I didn’t just finally come to terms with how much damage had been done. I was also so mad at myself for letting it fester as long as it did. And as much as that moment hurt, it was my breakthrough.
Healing became my full–time job. After such a long time wavering on the edge of the plane’s doorway, I jumped. I invited whatever memories or emotions surfaced, even if they scared me. I was ready to trust myself to pull the string and activate my parachute in order to land safely. I found a wonderful therapist, discovered a love for exercise, traveled, and admitted to friends and family that I was struggling. I learned how to find strength within myself rather than relying on others to validate me. I gained confidence, mended relationships, and pursued my passions. After a long time swearing off love at Penn, I met an amazing person who has shown me what a healthy relationship actually looks like, and who respects my past. I still have trouble talking about, or classifying my first relationship—I’ve tried about every adjective in the dictionary, from abusive to unstable. No word feels right. I’m still figuring that out, but there are a few things I know for certain. It is possible to take back the night, or too many nights to count. It is possible to stop feeling like it’s your fault. It is possible to fall in love with yourself and someone else when you are ready. I think we all deserve that, and we deserve better. This WOTS was written anonymously by a Penn student. Campus Resources: The HELP Line: 215-898HELP: A 24–hour phone number for members of the Penn community who seek help in navigating Penn's resources for health and wellness. Counseling and Psychological Services: 215-898-7021 (active 24/7): The counseling center for the University of Pennsylvania.
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EGO
EGO OF THE WEEK
A senior in the LSM program and former President of Pennʼs Kite and Key Society, Ryan Leone is always finding new ways to get involved at Penn. When heʼs not out at pop punk concerts or perfecting his newest magic trick, youʼll find him working hard towards his goal of becoming a physician for the US Army or eating in one of Penn's dining halls (yes, he is still on the dining plan).
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ence. But eventually, I decided “Eh, maybe not, I’ll be a magician instead,” and to this day, I actually still have a hobby of doing magic tricks. But all of this just made me reevaluate what I wanted to do, and I had never thought about medicine before, but I realized I love talking to people and I love being able to make people feel better when they are vulnerable, whether it be venting about a bad day they had or just helping them with their math homework, and I realized that medicine is the epitome of all of that. Street: What made you want to become an RA and how has your experience been? RL: I wanted to be an RA because I felt that over the past few years, I’ve really had the chance to get involved in a wide variety of activities on campus and they’ve all taught me a lot about what this incredible university has to offer. And these were things that I didn’t really realize my freshman year. I spent hours upon hours just researching all the different things that were available at Penn, so I figured I could take that knowledge and sort of provide it to freshman at an early age. I also really just wanted to help freshman navigate the big jump into college as easily as possible. Street: When you do manage to have some down time, what do you enjoy doing for fun? RL: I go to pop punk concerts, which sounds so nerdy, especially because I don’t fit the bill of what people think of when they think of pop punk fans. They typically think of people with piercings, crazy hair, all black attire, and chains hanging out—that was
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me in middle school. Everyone else dropped that whole idea of listening to angsty music when they were in seventh grade, but I am still here today doing the same thing. But yeah, I go to a lot of concerts, often times alone because I know that there aren’t a lot of people that listen to the same genre that I do, but it’s still so much fun. Street: What do you think you will miss most about Penn? RL: I don’t want to say the people. Because everyone says the people. But it definitely is the people. It’s something that you can’t avoid saying because it’s so true. You’ll never forget the types of encounters and situations you had, the late nights you spent either out with friends doing things that are bad for your health or in with friends watching movies or just having deep philosophical discussions that you didn’t plan on having when you have an exam the next day. You might regret it in the moment, but in the long–term you’ll realize that it was much more valuable to have that openness with people that you only get four years with. Street: What advice do you have for other students here at Penn? RL: Things will work out. When you’re stressed or when you’re not stressed, it’s really hard to see beyond what’s currently happening to you. That failed exam, that broken friendship, that ex who got with your former best friend, or whatever it is that’s going on in your life—just hold onto the idea that, in the long– run, this won’t matter to you. Thinking about a few years down the road when there are more valuable things that you’ll be
spending your time doing, it really gives you this sense of relief from all that’s happening. It pays off to just take a step back and say, “hey, I’m going to do my best while I’m here. I’m going to make sure that I don’t regret these years and have the best time I can.
RYAN LEONE MAJOR | BBB and Healthcare Management & Policy HOMETOWN | Long Island, NY ACTIVITIES | Former President of Kite
tor l | Media Direc Autumn Powel
34th Street Magazine: How’s your senior year been going so far? Ryan Leone: It’s been going well. I think it’s definitely a lot different than the previous years, not because it’s less busy, but because my approach to senior year has changed. I feel more comfortable in everything I’m doing, and I recognize that there’s a lot of things that you think matter during your first few years at Penn but in reality, aren’t quite as important as you think they may be. So now it’s all about trying to get underclassmen to realize the same thing earlier than when I did. Street: What made you decide to apply for the LSM program? RL: My interest in LSM comes from the fact that I hope to be a physician in the US Army and a medical commander. When you’re in the military, you serve clinically as a doctor for soldiers. But what happens is that earlier in the civilian sphere, you’re able to take the jump to become more of a manager. Basically, you get the opportunity to balance clinical medicine, where you’re seeing patients in a one–on–one setting and you’re saving lives, with management by changing the way a hospital overall is run and shaping the culture within that hospital, or even more broadly at the policy level. Street: Did you always know you wanted to become a physician in the US Army? RL: When I was younger, I bounced around a whole bunch of ideas. At first, I wanted to be a marine biologist. I was obsessed with Animal Planet, I always watched The Jeff Corwin Experi-
By Amanpreet Singh
and Key, Founder of Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, Authors@Wharton Committee, Varsity Sprint Football, RA in the Quad, Alpha Iota Gamma, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Synapse Health Care Journal, Founder of Student Group Armed, Penn Health–Tech Student Board, Friars Senior Society
LIGHTNING ROUND Street: Favorite animal? RL: Lemur. I love lemurs. I went to the Duke Lemur Center one time and I was on top of the world. Street: Best place to eat on campus? RL: Just Salad (don’t judge me). Street: What celebrity would you have play you in a movie about your life? RL: What’s the guy’s name who plays Deadpool? Ryan Reynolds. He’s just really cool and I wish I was even one–quarter as attractive and funny as he is. Plus, we have the same name.
Street: Any weird talents? RL: Magic tricks. I always carry a deck of cards on me. Street: Favorite movie? RL: I love Gattaca. I know everyone says that they watched it in 7th grade bio, and I’m just like, “Please, let me feel like I’m not just watching a middle school movie.” Crash is a favorite for me too. Street: There are two types of people at Penn… RL: Those who stay on the meal plan until senior year (like me) and those who get off the moment they can leave it.
EGO
what's with Penn's Beekeeping Club?
by Katie Bontje Penn Beekeeping Club co– presidents Abhi Motgi (W ‘20) and Joost Vanderborgh (C ‘21) are passionate about bees. But as of late, they're leading a beekeeping club that has no bees. Last winter, the club’s entire hive of 70,000 bees died because of the widespread varroa mite epidemic, which is responsible for killing over killing over 60% of Pennsylvania’s bee population in the last year, according to Abhi and Joost. “I think what happens is they infect the bees, the bees get sick, and to avoid infecting the other bees they either fly away or they’re killed by the varroa mites, said Abhi. “The varroa mites also weaken their immune systems. It’s cold outside, so they’re more likely to die.” Neither Abhi or Joost had previous experience with beekeeping before coming to Penn. Joost was first intrigued by the idea when he encountered two of the three of the club’s co– founders, Rebecca Composto (C ‘18) and Lucas Bolno (C ‘18). “When I first got here I went to the activities fair, and Rebecca and Lucas were there and they had a honey tasting,” Joost said. “I was under the impression
DP File Photo
that it was their honey; it was store–bought honey, but I still thought ‘wow, this is what you can do with bees.’” Abhi, on the other hand, had friends in high school who were a part of their beekeeping club. He always felt like he was missing out on the action, so he joined the board of the Penn Beekeeping Club as treasurer. He expresses how beekeeping is such a “niche topic” but “people are all fascinated by it.” “People want to come to our events to learn about what it is,” Abhi said. “The idea of sustainability and keeping bees in an urban environment is pretty cool.” Abhi added that they would love to someday harvest the first Penn honey, which they haven’t been able to do in the past. Even without bees, Abhi and Joost are not giving up on the dream. They are in contact with the university through a variety of channels to receive funding. They have also reached out to the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild to see if they could act as mentors to their club. Abhi and Joost are hoping to have bees by the time spring rolls around. Their lack of funding is the biggest buzzkill this duo are currently facing. The average bee sting does not faze Abhi and Joost. “If you do beekeep, you will get stung at least once,” said
Last winter, the club lost its entire hive to a mite epidemic. This semester, they're trying to rebuild.
Joost. “But it’s worth it. If you can harvest five pounds of honey, I think one sting is worth it.” Abhi and Joost explain the process they’ll have to go through to set up their new hive, and it’s quite the complex matter. The hive must be contained within a wooden, house–like frame with only a small hole at the bottom for the bees to fly out of. This hole must be very small so that mice and other rodents can’t entire the hive. Joost jokes that they wouldn’t want Winnie the Pooh coming in to steal their honey.
They also will need to purchase a nuc, which is a sugar cube that the bees eat in order to unleash the queen, whose larva contains the “royal jelly.” The rest of the hive are composed of drone bees, the male bees, and female worker bees, who compose 90% of the hive’s population. “Once they become their full form of a bee, they know what to do, and they do that task,” Joost said. “They inherently know it.” While they are still in the process of acquiring new bees, Abhi
and Joost are holding monthly events to keep the student body engaged. Two weeks ago they held an event for potting plants on College Green, and they said to look out for an upcoming screening of the Bee Movie and bee trivia. To stay tuned with the Penn Beekeeping Club, Abhi and Joost encourage everyone to email pennbeekeepingclub@ gmail.com with your name, year, and email address. They’re hoping other Penn students will get as buzzed about bees as they are.
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MUSIC
A Love Letter to El Paso and his Fans The seven–track release, out now, finds Khalid reconciling his old style with his newfound fame. Khalid has done it again. In his seven–track EP Suncity, which came out on October 19, he once again does what he does best: acting as the voice of the teenage generation. In a seemingly simplistic fashion, he magically makes teen recklessness and the problems they face, beautiful. Listening to his lyrics as a young adult, you somehow become nostalgic for this age even though you are in the midst of living it yourself. And Suncity, a "love letter" to El Paso, Khalid's
hometown, makes you miss the Texas town even if you've never set foot there. While the twenty–year–old artist has praised his hometown before, reminiscing about “the city of the 915, where all the girls are pretty and they’re down for the high” in American Teen, the EP reminds us of his love for Texas and the homesickness following his rise to fame. He's earned five Grammy nominations, collaborated with top artists like Logic, Halsey, Normani,
and Lorde, and had a certified platinum album. But our most relatable celebrity still misses home. Suncity begins with "9.13," an interlude that lasts less than a minute and features a recording of the mayor of El Paso granting Khalid the key to the city on September 18. The tape is played over a powerful, but soft and angelic hum that fades out and repeats. Right off the bat, we're focused on El Paso: the love Khalid has for his city, and vice versa.
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Chris Kwok | Illustrator
Bebe Hodges
But with love comes pain, as indicated by "Vertigo." The lyrics “I wish living life was easy / But mine has been a mess” and “I’ve been learning, I’ve been growing / But the worst is yet to come” demonstrates the struggles the platinum artist must face, like any teenager. The outro creates a sort of mantra repeating “Eyes closed, eyes closed / I’ve been falling with my” that is strikingly familiar to “American Teen"'s “We don’t always say what we mean” concluding chant. However, Khalid has a smooth, soulful spin that creates a more vibe–y hymn for Suncity’s listeners. Returning to this nostalgic, American Teen atmosphere, Khalid’s “Saturday Nights” is reminiscent of strumming a guitar on your front porch, messing around and having a good time. In fact, this is similar to Khalid’s own writing process for this EP. But when taking a deeper look at the lyrics, Khalid juxtaposes teenage casualty and recklessness “Saturday nights, blueberry cigarillos / Swishers make my throat hurt” with the severity of teen problems that are often unrecognized: "I guess there’s certain dreams that you / gotta keep / ‘cause they’ll only take what you let ‘em see” “And all the things that I know
/ That your parents don’t / They don’t care like I do / Nowhere like I do” “You’ve got plans wrapped in rubber bands / And that’s the only thing you’ll never lose” “Salem’s Interlude” provides a swift break in Khalid’s lyricism. Instead, a recording of his friend’s voice, complaining that fear has created an obstacle in the path to achieve her dreams, echoes the EP's overarching message. Once again, we're brought back and entertained by Khalid’s soulful lyricism and hypnotizing beat on “Motion” and “Better.” Both tracks describe a casual friends–with–benefits relationship. “Motion” shows us a Khalid who's in love with the moment and the rhythm. The outro provides a smooth transition to "Better," where he provides more detail of this relationship, but with a more pop and EDM feel. Khalid concludes Suncity by demonstrating his versatility. “Suncity,” featuring Empress Of, mixes upbeat, Latino influences with Khalid’s iconic, soulful sound that provides listeners with something new. The song reveals the Texan’s love for his city “where [he] left [his] heart” regardless of his rising fame. We're left with a final message: “I send you lots of hugs / And, hope to see you very soon.”
MUSIC
Album Review: Ella Mai's Ella Mai Her debut album is fun, but mostly unexceptional.
Srinidhi Ramakrishna
Credit Jonathan Mannion
The world was first introduced to British singer–songwriter Ella Mai upon the release of her debut commercial single, the breezy summer anthem “Boo’d Up”. As the first UK artist to top the US R&B charts since 1992, her style of pop–inflected R&B sung over snare–heavy trap beats proved infectious to everyone. Signed to DJ Mustard’s label after being discovered on Instagram, Mai’s three previous EPs contain songs asserting her confidence and desire, all while nodding to '90s R&B musical traditions lyrically and musically. While her previous songs sound more similar than different, Ella Mai’s eponymous debut album was highly awaited by fans. However, despite all its hype, Ella Mai leaves much to be desired. Upon first listen, it’s clear that the album doesn’t deserve its length, stretching to 16 songs. While every track is instinctually easy to jam along to, only a few are memorable. The album was executive–produced by DJ Mus-
tard, who infuses each song with the same melodic “hip–pop” sound and not much else. Many, like “Dangerous” or “Cheap Shot”, offer nothing new in terms of instrumentation, nor do they showcase Mai’s underlying vocal talent. In fact, the primary fault of this album is that it all just sounds the same—a squandered opportunity for someone as charming and with as much inherent aptitude for songwriting as Ella Mai. The album is interspersed with spoken interludes playing off of concepts and the letters in Mai’s name—for example, E for emotion, L for lust, L for love, etc. While interludes are often key to developing the theme of an album, in Ella Mai they feel forced, trite, or as Pitchfork puts it, like “vague Hallmark-isms.” The spoken–word piece at the end of “Shot Clock” (“L—Love...full of chuckles and cuddles and sometimes eye puddles”) is especially cringeworthy. Granted, Ella Mai has several
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highlights. Its singles—“Boo’d Up,” “Trip,” and the bonus track “Naked” are incredibly well put–together, emotional songs. Opening up with a beautiful piano melody repeated throughout the track, “Trip"'s soulful melody and haunting lyrics allow Mai’s talents to stand out. Catchy, memorable, and rhythmic, “Trip” is one of the best songs on the album, if not in recent R&B music. “Naked” is cathartic. Promoting body positivity, self–esteem, and empowerment, “Naked” reframes baring oneself within a context of self–love, not typical seduction. It’s a shame Ella Mai includes songs like “Naked” alongside songs like “What-
chamacallit,” featuring Chris Brown. While “Whatchamacallit” is musically one of the most lively, earworm–worthy songs on the album, Mai’s collaboration with a known abuser raises questions about her complicity with his actions and cheapens her message of female empowerment. While her lyrics are pro– woman, her actions betray her. Other songs also shine. With its stripped–down verses and mixing of two unique voices, “Everything,” featuring John Legend, is refreshing and soulful. “Gut Feeling,” featuring H.E.R., is reverberating and lamenting (“But the more we touch, the more it starts killin' me”), while
“Run My Mouth” is a gritty R&B–trap song that strays from Mai’s usual style. The songs that work on Ella Mai let her vocal ability shine. But, when the production overwhelms her crooning, the songs turn into tracks any R&B artist could sing. Overall, Ella Mai is a perfectly decent album. But its lack of focus and lackluster production mean that Mai’s inner musical gifts we know she’s capable of delivering have to be actively sought out. So listen to Ella Mai and keep on the lookout for her next singles, but beyond a couple of standouts, don’t expect anything too innovative.
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Your Day Planned
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A guide to one of Philly’s most underrated and cultured neighborhoods.
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The exterior of Hungry Pigeon in Queen Village
Karin Hananel
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If you’re like most Penn students, outside of the occasional jaunt to Rittenhouse Square for Instagram photos and that one time you went to South Street to get an impulse tattoo, you probably haven’t taken the time this year to explore all that Philly has to offer. One neighborhood often overlooked by Penn students and Philly natives alike is Queen Village, which has been experiencing a renaissance of sorts in recent years with young people and new businesses flocking to the area.
Here’s your day planned in Queen Village:
9:00 a.m. If you want a seat in one of the city’s trendiest and tastiest brunch spots adored by both locals and out–of–towners, get yourself to Hungry Pigeon right as they open at 9:00 a.m. They don’t take reservations, but it’s well worth the wait for their beautiful, freshly–baked pastries and relaxed vibes. While the menu changes often to incorporate seasonal
ingredients, we recommend getting one of their heavenly banana bread sticky buns with avocado toast.
11:00 a.m. To walk off the brunch and get in some retail therapy too, look no further than Fabric Row. There’s something for everyone in this stretch of independent shops on 4th Street, whether you’re in the mood for shoe shopping, picking up some fun pieces for your dorm, or getting a
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bike! Our favorites are Bus Stop Boutique for eclectic and stylish shoes, Yowie or Moon + Arrow for varied lifestyle picks like candles, stationary, pillows, clothes and more, or RareCo Vintage for antiques.
1:00 p.m. Looking for a quick bite after shopping and would enjoy the company of a feline companion while doing so? Get yourself to Kawaii Kitty Café and sip on a pastel–colored milkshake while playing with some adorable cats. However, slots on the weekend are usually booked a week in advance, so make sure to get a reservation if you’re going during a popular time!
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Feeling cultured? Take a short walk over to Paradigm Gallery + Studio to look at some art and Brickbat Books for used and rare books. If you’re willing to walk a bit further and wait with what can sometimes be hordes of tourists, make your way over to Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens on 10th and South Streets for indoor galleries and an outdoor mosaic labyrinth by artist Isaiah Zagar, whose mosaic murals are a trademark
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of the Queen Village area.
6:00 p.m. For dinner, there are tons of options in Queen Village and the South Street area. A neighborhood mainstay, Dmitri’s, serves Greek food that’s both fresh and affordable, and is located on 3rd and Catharine Streets. Keep in mind, the restaurant doesn’t take reservations or credit cards, so plan accordingly. Our favorites on the menu are the shrimp scampi and the orange almond cake. For a range of other casual dinner options in the area, look to Brauhaus Schmitz, MilkBoy, Alyan’s, and Lorenzo’s. Looking for a classy and pricey option? Go to Stephen Starr’s Serpico.
7:00 p.m. & Beyond As the sun goes down, nocturnal South Street is truly the place to be. Catch a show at the Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), get a tattoo at Philadelphia Eddie’s, and enjoy the electric vibes of the area on a weekend night. Who knows—you might even spot Lil Uzi or Meek Mill, who regularly stop by.
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Tips for Living Zero–Waste at Penn If you can't infiltrate the EPA, make a difference on an individual level Calais Cronin Rewind to the first week of October. The United Nations issued a dramatic report that we have just 12 years to prevent irreversible change to the Earth’s climate. If we let the average global temperature rise 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre–industrial levels, we should expect to see increased levels of extreme droughts, rising sea levels, climate refugee crises, famine, disease, and poverty. Pretty fucking terrifying. But a lot of us have probably forgotten just how scary it is. As much as I want to personally slash global greenhouse gas emissions, that’s not likely to happen. But there are other routes we can take, like voting, joining environmental clubs and organizations, calling our representatives to encourage them to take action on climate change, and voting (yeah, I said voting twice). But there is also more tangible action we can take on an individual level, like a zero–waste inspired lifestyle. The idea of a zero–waste lifestyle is to send nothing to the landfill. It requires a lot of adjustments of daily life. While it can be difficult to make such a drastic change in the busy everyday schedule of a Penn student, here are some steps you can take. Clean you, clean planet Toothbrush: If you followed your dentist’s recommendation to replace your toothbrush every three months, you'd be sending four toothbrushes to the landfill every year. While this might not seem significant, the solution
is too easy to ignore. CVS sells bamboo toothbrushes that can be composted. Plus, they’re a dollar cheaper than plastic alternatives. Handkerchief: Make more than just a fancy statement in the front pocket of your suit. Replace napkins, paper towels, and tissues with a good old– fashioned handkerchief. You can find these at the campus bookstore. Just remember to wash it periodically. Toilet paper: Now, I’m not planning on telling you to cut out toilet paper. But there are green options that are made with 100% recycled paper. Lush Products: Much of what we send to the landfill are containers from cleaning products. Lush makes shampoo and conditioner bars to eliminate the plastic waste. In fact, the whole website is a haven for the zero– waste lifestyle. Food and Drink Compost: One of the most critical steps is composting. Keep a reusable container in your kitchen as a compost bin for food waste. Fruits, vegetables, dairy products, egg shells, coffee grounds, grains, bread, and tea bags are all compostable. There's a compost bin behind Harrison College House as part of a pilot program. Meal prep: In a zero–waste lifestyle, it’s meal prep or starve. Eating out usually leads to plastic plates, bowls, or utensils in the trash. Make your food in advance and enjoy it throughout the week. Glass containers
Diane Lin | Illustrator
(think Pyrex or mason jars) are preferable to Tupperware, which can leach plastic into your food. Reusable Water Bottles: This one is pretty obvious. Add to it the responsibility to publicly shame anyone you see with a plastic water bottle. Reusable Straws: Straws are the devil. But because an iced coffee from Starbucks is hard to replace, a reusable straw is a great investment. You can buy one online or at a local coffee shop.
Sustainable Shopping Reusable Bags: Easily one of the most attainable and satisfying goals on this list is to bring reusable bags for all types of shopping (don’t limit it to just grocery shopping). You can easily avoid the guilt of coming home from grocery shopping with seven new plastic bags to cram under your sink and never use again—and look stylish while doing it. Farmers’ Markets: Not only do farmers’ markets help support local, sustainable business-
es, but they also cut down on emissions and reduce plastic use from long–range transportation of produce. Luckily, Penn has its very own farmers’ market every Wednesday outside the campus bookstore from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Don’t forget to bring reusable bags to hold your purchases. And remember, perfection isn’t the goal. If you can only accomplish one of the items on this list, that’s better than swearing climate change is a hoax.
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From Fine Dining to Casual Coffee Bar, Vernick Does it All Allie Shapiro
Allie Shapiro
Philadelphia just got a major revamp with the opening of the Comcast Technology Center, which will soon be the home to the new Four Seasons Hotel. But that's not all—the Comcast building is also home to Vernick Coffee Bar, and soon to be home of Vernick Fish. The original Vernick
is located on 20th and Walnut and is known for their creative take on New American food. However, Chef Greg Vernick was approached by the Four Seasons hotel in order to partner and open up both the Coffee Bar and the fish restaurant. Vernick Coffee Bar supervisor Andrew Kaufman
explains that people were surprised when Greg decided to open up a coffee bar because it's a tangent from his casual fine–dining restaurant. "He loves coffee, loves sandwiches, is very into things like diners—that good comfort food. So that was part of what drew him to [this]— being able to provide that
Late nite menu until 1 am Bar open until 2 am ADDRESS 3939 Chestnut Street phone 215-921-5377 website dimsum.house 1 0 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E O C T O B E R 31 , 2 01 8
high level of quality and product and at the same time, making it a little more casual to fill the void of a breakfast and lunch restaurant,” he says. While Vernick Coffee Bar's prices and ambiance are quite different from its sibling restaurant, by no means are its quality or service lacking. Since its opening, people have raved about it nonstop, telling me I had to go and try this restaurant. Its modern–chic building, with its open plan and white and silver colors, is balanced out by a homey feeling brought by the wooden furniture and the books and plants scattered around. The cafe also features beautiful art, including an indoor tree garden called the Winter Garden, a sculpture called "Exploiting Paradigm," and lines of scrolling literature projected onto the ceiling. There will also be other elements of the building that will soon be revealed to the public, but for now they are keeping the de-
tails private. But the most important part is the food. I ventured down to this coffee shop early in the morning, to be welcomed by a huge selection of pastries, juices, and coffee options. I was extremely overwhelmed and asked the incredibly friendly and helpful staff for some recommendations. They recommended a few of their favorites: the pretzels, biscuit, kouign– amaan pastry, salted caramel cookies, and the carrot cake pie. The pretzels were salty, soft, and extremely buttery—paired with the spicy mustard, this is definitely an incredible savory option. The next thing we enjoyed was a crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside biscuit, which we paired with melted butter and their unique grapefruit jelly. The kouign–amaan pastry, a croissant dough baked into muffin form, had flavors of strawberry and passionfruit underneath the coating of crispy sugar. We also enjoyed
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all the sugar–filled pastries. Later, I tried their most creative and unique drink—a Butterfly Pea Flower Matcha. This drink tastes like a normal matcha latte with its strong taste of green tea paired with milk, but combined with the floral undertones of jasmine tea. However, the butterfly pea flowers tint the entire drink's color into a beautiful deep blue. After experiencing the unique pastries, the strong and delicious coffee, and the incredible waitstaff, I truly cannot wait to go back and try everything else I didn’t get a chance to try, including their full breakfast and lunch service. So if you’re looking for a place to carb–load on delicious pastries and caffeinate on really delicious coffee, be sure to check out this new place.
2.5 .73
the salted caramel cookies, which were crunchier than I prefer but amazingly sweet. However, the pastry that stole the show was the carrot cake pie. This pie had a crunchy, almost graham– cracker–like shell, but was filled with moist, sweet carrot cake and topped with decadent cream cheese frosting. I could have easily eaten an entire pie, even after eating all the other pastries we enjoyed. Kaufman says, “All of the daily bakery items are baked fresh every single day. Juices are done fresh everyday, and we only outsource on a couple of things. But for sandwich bread, we use local companies, like Lost Bread [and others].” Their drinks are also incredible. Their simple iced coffee was thick and strong and paired perfectly with
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Life On the Spectrum at Penn
"I learned a lot of social skills growing up and that makes me appear neurotypical, like eye contact and learning how to maintain conversations. But it takes a lot of effort for me to do those things well." Malik Griffin (C '20)
We're more than blue puzzle pieces By Katrina Janco
Daniel Bergmann, an autistic alumnus who attended Penn in 2014 and 2015, currently attends Harvard Extension School. Daniel communicates by spelling, a form of nonverbal communication. He types out his thoughts on an iPad, with the help of various people in his life. Looking back on his Penn experience, he writes that Penn’s Student Disability Services, which provided him with spelling accommodations, provided inconsistent assistance. His dad, Michael, says there was “a radical change from one semester to another,” regarding his accommodations. Besides individual struggles, the lack of autism awareness at Penn is frustrating. Most media depictions portray autistic people like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, or Christopher in Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night– Time. “They’re always like smart in one thing, you know, socially awkward or obnoxious,” says Daniella. Stereotypes like this are not representative of how diverse autistic people are. “I wish they knew that autistic people can be different than we are often depicted,” Malik says. “I learned a lot of social skills growing up and that makes me appear neurotypical, like eye contact and learning how to maintain conversations. But it takes a lot of effort for me to do those things well.” That same sentiment motivated Daniella to write about having autism in her Common Application essay. “It has been a climb. I started out nonverbal. And it really has been, like, crawling every step of the way, in my internal development,” she says, hitting her hand against the table after each word. Daniella has lived in single dorms during her time at Penn. “I
Da nie lla
Malik Griffin
didn’t want to have any roommates. Sometimes, I talk out loud when I’m studying, and things like that, and I wouldn’t want to bother any people.” Most autistic students need a single to recharge, but Student Disability Services makes it difficult to get accommodation for a single room with a kitchen and bathroom. I applied for a housing accommodation last semester for a single apartment, but I was rejected. New College House and New College House West only have suite–style dorms—everyone does get their own room, but there are shared kitchens and bathrooms in Harrison, Harnwell, Rodin, and Stouffer–Mayer. Student Disability Services did not respond to an interview request for this article. Compounding the more ingrained issues surrounding housing on campus, Penn doesn’t have any programs specifically to help autistic students. There are also no on–campus neurodiversity communities. Penn, and most other elite universities, are not known for being sought–after by autistic students. In fact, no Ivy League university made lists of best colleges for autistic students. The universities listed typically had a specific program to meet autistic students’ academic and ss Ca social needs. Syracuse University, rated #1 on College Choice’s Best Schools for Students with Autism, has a Disability Cultural Center that “coordinates campuswide social, educational, and cultural activities on disability issues for students, faculty, staff, and community members with and without disabilities.” Other universities on the list have specific programs for autistic students that help with academics, organizational skills, and time management. The only undergraduate group related to autism is Penn Speaks for Autism, an organization that does outreach advocacy in West Philadelphia, which includes social events for autistic people, and the YouToo tennis program, where Penn students provide tennis lessons to autistic children. Co–president Rose Campbell (N ’19) admits there aren’t any self–identifying autistic members on its board. “I’m not going to force an individual to join
my club,” she says. Rose expressed interest in collaborating with autistic Penn students to create programming for them, and the group is also considering changing its name to clarify that it is not associated with Autism Speaks, a loathed organization in the autistic community, mainly for how the organization applies the “disease model” to autism. The organization is also often seen as helping despairing and intolerant parents of autistic children to “cure” their children of autism. Penn Speaks for Autism is also forgoing the “puzzle piece” imagery, which is contested by the autistic community for implying autistic people are incomplete and confusing. This is a major departure from how it operated in 2014, when they defended their name and using the imagery after being by criticized for not listening to autistic voices. One area where Penn is not lacking is autism research. Most notably, there’s the Center for Autism Research, a collaborative research effort between the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn. The homepage on its website features a child not making eye contact. He holds a sign that says, “1 in 59.” There’s also the Penn Autism Network, which aims “to identify, develop and disseminate resources to promote successful adaptation DANIELLA CASS and inclusion in the community; and to serve as a catalyst for positive programmatic and systemic changes,” though this is not targeted at Penn students. Penn is by no means unique; all the other Ivies also have lots of autism research, but no support specifically for their autistic students. For instance, Harvard has proudly profiled its researchers that found, using mice, that autism is more than just “a disorder of the brain.” At the same time, a Harvard student with Asperger’s felt compelled to write about being on the spectrum with an op–ed called “Autism With a Human Face.” Daniel writes that Penn’s focus on research is “missing the boat.” “Much research is about early diagnosis and genetics. How does that help me? And the emphasis on clinical trials depresses the individualist in me,” Daniel explains. 11
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Penn’s indifference to its autistic students was apparent before I lazy, when really, things just take more energy out of me than out even applied. of neurotypicals, or those who do not have neurological differences. I was at a college fair and wanted to know what life would be like When the average Penn student laments about the woes of social at the university. My high school certainly didn’t welcome autistic interaction, networking, and “Penn Face,” I think: “You cannot students, and I wanted to be accepted at last. My impression, be serious.” As an autistic person, it frustrates me that they don’t though, was that Penn saw autism in admissions in a legal light— see how much easier they have it. But it’s comforting to know not as something to necessarily celebrate. Rather than learn about my struggles are shared by others, something that Aidan Mayer Penn’s resources for disabled students, I received assurance that my Ahearn (C ’22), a Penn student with autism, agrees with. diagnosis would not affect my chances of admission. I was crushed. “[It] shows that being someone who is neurotypical doesn't Nevertheless, Penn was my dream school, and I applied early mean that every single thing that is related to socializing or the decision. Upon getting accepted, I was ecstatic. equivalent is a walk in the park,” Aidan says. “Yet at the same But I felt misunderstood the moment I walked on Penn’s campus. time...I don't think people, even my best friends at Penn, realize I was a part of the Pre–Freshman Program, which is designed to help that everything they do with regards to socializing, I have to work potentially vulnerable students adjust to college. Students asked me, three times as hard to get the same result because I was not naturally in tones ranging from well–intentioned curiosity to suspicion, why born a social butterfly. It was something I had to grow and evolve I, a white woman with college educated parents, would be there. I into.” understood their confusion. But it was still hurtful and Malik Griffin (C ’20), who is also autistic, says invalidating. My autism wasn’t obvious, but that Penn, “definitely [has] had its ups and downs.” didn’t mean I wasn’t struggling. I’m far from He notes that having exams in a different So p h alone. One study found that over 75% room or changing the setup of the ia Z hu of autistic students reported “feeling classroom for an exam can cause him | left out or isolated.” Another found to lose focus completely. Penn is that fewer than 20% of autistic also sensory overload; from the students were on the path to intense flyering on Locust to completing college five years Penn’s constant construction after graduating high school. projects, it’s hard to find a According to NPR, “those sensory neutral space. on the spectrum were more “Typically when I walk, I than five times more likely to walk with my headphones have a psychiatric diagnosis [on]. The sounds have always than typically developing bothered me,” Malik says. individuals.” Daniella Cass (C ’19), Autism spectrum disorder a student with autism is defined by the National previously profiled in Street, Institute for Neurological sometimes gets annoyed by Disorder and Stroke as “complex political protesters and canvassers. neurodevelopment disorders “One time I actually pulled out my Aidan Mayer Ahearn characterized by repetitive and phone and held up my phone to my characteristic patterns of behavior and ear and kept walking.” She notes that difficulties with social communication and through her years at Penn she has gotten interaction.” Some common autism traits include better coping with sensory overload. difficulty making eye contact, feeling easily overwhelmed, and Aidan admits, “midterms were definitely a learning difficulty reading social cues. period,” as he never had midterms in high school. “Now I know I find it difficult to express my needs. For instance, how do I what to do for next time,” he says, crediting Weingarten Learning explain to somehow that their eating in class is incredibly distracting? Resources Center, which provides academic support services at I’m always self–conscious of students and professors thinking I’m Penn.
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Malik echoes that sentiment, saying, “it seems like Penn is more interested in studying autistic people than actually helping us.” In a guest column published in The DP in 2014, Xeno Washburne (C ’16) and Amber Blaylock (C ’15), two autistic Penn students, criticized Penn’s treatment of neurodiversity. They attacked Penn’s association with Autism Speaks, Penn courses about autism that used stigmatizing language, Penn Speaks for Autism, and Dr. David Mandell, a prominent autism researcher at Penn. Mandell is the director of Penn’s Center for Mental Health and Policy and Services Research, and an associate director of the Center for Autism Research. He is criticized in the guest column for Autism Speaks funding his research. The news release for that research states: “Lifetime Costs for Autism Spectrum Disorder May Reach $2.4 Million Per Patient, Penn Study Finds.” Such a claim, according to them, implied that “autism is an expensive, undesirable condition, and research cures are cost–saving measures.” He also has taught a course titled, “Implications of the Autism Epidemic,” which he admits was “a bit of bait and switch,” and he didn’t believe there was an autism epidemic. Most of the students enrolled in the course were studying the biological sciences or nursing, and none of them openly identified as autistic. “My hope is that, by the end of the course, people left with a very different understanding of what it means to have autism,” he says. His knowledge and passion for autism research and advocacy were clear. He was also upfront in critiquing Autism Speaks, despite receiving funding from them in the past. However, his usage of sensationalist language was at best counterproductive, and damaging at worst. When I mentioned the course to Aidan, he replied that the title, “promotes intolerance, bigotry, and telling people they need to ostracize autistic individuals and bully and belittle them as if they aren't good enough or loved by other people.” Autism research is necessary and valuable. But it has had, at best, an uneasy relationship with the autistic community. Historically, it has focused on the neurological causes of autism, and not how to help or engage the community. “A big part of it is how research is represented, although I think there are problems [in] the research too,” says Dr. Chloe Silverman, director of Drexel’s Center for Science, Technology & Society. “Certainly, there’s a standard medical journalism narrative, that can be, I think, pretty toxic. Especially the like, the “cause of X found”
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story template that gets reproduced over and over again, as if that is the only interesting thing to be understood about autism.” Penn can look to Drexel’s Autism Support Program for establishing a program for autistic students. Founded in 2008 by Drexel psychologist Gerard Hoefling, DASP, as it is colloquially called, provides anyone who identifies as being on the autistic spectrum with help succeeding academically. “It’s kind of to fill in the gaps, so no one is falling between the cracks, because it happens a lot in universities,” says Dr. Amy Edwards, who has been the program’s director since September 2017. More recently, DASP has added more social events to help create a community, though more social events for autistic students occur in NeuroDragons, a group dedicated to raising awareness and acceptance for neurodiversity. Dr. Edwards’s advice to Penn: “If you have students who are self–identifying, talk to them specifically and see where their needs are, see what they’re looking for, see where they need the most assistance, and start from there. And then build a program based off of that. But again, it’s individual, so it’s all going to depend on what each student is looking for and needs.” There is overlap between DASP and what Penn provides. Career Services has an extensive list of resources for students with disabilities, though one webpage with a bunch of links can only go so far. DASP also has a lot in common with Weingarten. Aidan, who utilizes Weingarten’s services and is very grateful for their assistance, says that “implementing this kind of program could be incredibly helpful, since students on the autism spectrum don't all necessarily face the same types of challenges.” He’s certainly right; Dr. Edwards says numerous Penn students have reached out and ask if they can be a part of DASP, including as recently as last week. In fact, I was one of them. Feeling so isolated and confused, I reached out. I needed a space where I felt understood, because Penn certainly wasn’t it. Unfortunately, I never got a response, given the program was in transition. Armon Owlia, a member of DASP and the Vice President of External Affairs of NeuroDragons, said DASP has been great. Armon knew he wanted a good autism program when looking at colleges. “I had a lot support in high school, and it was a major part of my success. I wanted to have at least that same support, but not rely on it like a crutch,” Armon says. Armon has been a part of DASP since early in
his freshman year. He was initially skeptical of Dr. Edwards, but has found that she “is a voice of reason.” He has enjoyed Drexel generally, and feels comfortable studying and reading while others party on the weekend. He says, “[Drexel is] not necessarily the greatest school of all time. But, who has the better autism support program? Drexel, or the Ivy League school?” Despite Penn’s institutional indifference to autistic students, most of them have had truly positive experiences at Penn. Daniel writes that, “it is no exaggeration to say that without the supportive faculty and fellow students, I would not have been able to learn to sit in a classroom with other kids and participate. Penn enlarged my world.” In particular, he cites Al Fileris and the Kelly Writers House for his amazing experience. Compared to his experiences at Harvard’s Extension School, he felt welcome at Penn “from the first minute.” In addition to their differences, autistic students also have a lot in common with neurotypical students. Malik complains about Penn’s preprofessional culture, where, “I feel like everything I do has to be related to my future, and that adds a lot of pressure, which is something that I think most students relate to.” Most students at Penn talk about finding their family. I have not. Part of it is my personality; I have a very difficult time doing things for the sake of the group. After all, this is just a college club— why do I have to change my Facebook profile picture for this? But I also have never felt entirely welcome at any club meetings. Every club meeting I attend, I’m physically there. Socially, though, I feel like I am watching a scene from a movie. This more or less has defined my experience at Penn: neurotypical students and faculty misunderstanding me, having to explain myself, and feeling constantly isolated, confused, and exhausted by Penn’s preprofessional and hyper– neurotypical culture. While I don’t necessarily regret coming to Penn—being autistic is difficult anywhere—I often do wonder what my life would be like if I went elsewhere. I imagine what my life would be like if I went to a university that considered me someone whose differences make the world a better place rather than someone whose identity should be studied from above.
Katrina Janco is a senior
studying Communication from Audubon, NJ. She is a Features Writer for Street.
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‘Her Body and Other Parties’ To
Be Adapted into a Dystopian TV series
Penn’s former writer–in–residence Carmen Maria Machado discusses the adaptation of her collection of short stories to a show on FX. Cat Dragoi A couple of years ago, a friend and I fell victim to a harmless fixation on Salinger’s storytelling. We were sixteen back then and in hindsight, that obsession was a sort of collective mania that we were actually late to join. Late, I say, because it wasn’t The Catcher in the Rye that we read over and over. The culprits in our case were Salinger’s out–of– print publications, a collection of 22 short stories that traced his legacy starting from his time as a student writer at Columbia University to his later success in The New Yorker. As I read through the stories in Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties, I inevitably drew some parallels to those early days of short–story reading, and to the author that made me fall in love with a genre that is, much too often, not given enough credit. By the time she arrived at Penn as writer–in– residence in 2016, Machado had already built a career that would make others envious: her stories, published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Guernica, were already praised in the journalistic
and literary fields. This is why, when I try to ask Machado about her first book, I hesitate for a moment—“debut,” so suggestive of inexperience and clumsiness, doesn’t quite cut it. Her Body and Other Parties was a finalist for the National Book Award, and has won numerous accolades since its release in October 2017. It is already booked to be translated in 17 languages. Reviews were so stellar and moving that some—she told Penn Today in late 2017—made her wife cry. And now, as reported by Vulture in June, the stories are to be adapted into a “Black Mirror–esque” anthology–style TV series. It is set to premiere on FX, along shows such as American Horror Story and Atlanta. “A couple of the stories, I think, are pretty straightforward to adapt,” says Machado, but her statement will most likely leave readers who are familiar with her work questioning. Granted, most of her tales—with a chronological plot, some characters, and a clearly defined setting— are traditional. Her writing style is anything but.
Her Body and Other Parties is a book in which words are not just instruments, but one of the centerpieces in a composition so masterful, so harmonious, it resembles poetry. But there’s one key recurring motif in Machado’s stories—one that, due to FCC restrictions, is likely to strip the TV adaptation of a similar impact: sex. Though ubiquitous throughout the collection, sex is crucial particularly in the second story, “Inventory,” which is essentially a list of descriptive sexual encounters meant to draw a parallel between the physical and the emotional through sex with men, then women. “I think [sex scenes] are really fun, and I think they have a lot to tell us about our assumptions about gender and sexuality,” Machado says. “I'm not putting them in there to be like ‘whatever, I included a sex scene.’ I think that it's important to have it in there for some reason. It's not just for kicks.” Indeed, it’s hard to imagine the stories in Her Body and Other Parties without the sex. Machado’s words are graphic, powerful, and cleverly provocative. Her associations—she writes of an orgasm, “I felt like a guitar and someone was twisting the tuning pegs and my strings were getting tighter”—are meant to incite, to shock, and to challenge the male view on women’s sexuality. “The Husband Stitch,” the collection’s opener, was called “the strongest and scariest story” for a reason, and it is what probably inspired the association with Black Mirror. A feminist retelling of “The Green Ribbon” shouldn’t ever have had to be dystopian; but in 2018’s post–Harvey Weinstein world—
Photos Courtesy of Carmen Machado
Machado’s book was published only two days before his sex offenses were exposed by The New York Times—such tales don’t even seem fictional anymore. Had I read “The Husband Stitch” in a different context, Machado’s story would have probably passed as another—yet nonetheless shocking—fictitious tale meant to draw attention to the oppression and powerlessness of women, even in the modern world. But it was only a couple of days before I started reading Her Body and Other Parties that I came across a short Buzzfeed article detailing the practice. It was so disgusting it made me screech. What is even more disgusting is that it is still relevant. Written as a first–person narrative, “The Husband Stitch” tells the story of a woman whose only request from her boyfriend—then husband—is not to meddle with the green ribbon she wears around her neck. The man keeps asking why. The woman still says no. In spite of her protests, he tries and tries, until she finally gives in and he finds out that the secret she kept so deeply was meant to protect both of them. Anecdotes like the ones in “The Husband Stitch” are difficult to even incorporate into a story that’s already so short to begin with. Machado herself is unsure of how it can be done: “I'm always really interested in the way that people adapt books that feel unadaptable. It's almost like translation—you're taking the thing that you know, and
you're trying to fit it to this new place in a way that's meaningful and interesting. That's what's so cool about it.” Machado also knows other stories are likely to delay production. She describes “Especially Heinous”—the longest, novella– sized story—as “basically a Law & Order: SVU fan fiction. The structure of it is really unusual, and I could see that being a challenge for someone to adapt.” In “Especially Heinous,” Machado goes through twelve seasons of Law & Order: SVU episode by episode. The attention Machado pays to women’s autonomy—or lack thereof—is second only to the collection’s focus on inclusion. Challenging assumptions about race, gender, sexuality, and body–image is what Machado is particularly concerned with. “I'm thinking about the diversity of this book, and I want to maintain that. This book is obviously incredibly queer, and I also feel like there’s a temptation to put that white, skinny polish on it.” “I already told [the writers]. I want bodies that fall outside of the traditional…You know, I want fat women, and I also want lots of women of color. I don't just want a bunch of skinny white ladies.” That is Machado’s one and only request of the show’s producers. Other than that, she says she is “really excited for whatever happens. Even if they seem hard to adapt, I'm excited to see what all these other artists and other thinkers or do with the material.”
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FILM & TV
Netflix Delivers Binge– Worthy Horror in 'The Haunting of Hill House' A thoughtful show that delivers on genuine scares, 'Hill House' is the binge–worthy entertainment you need this Halloween. James Morrison
“Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House. And whatever walked there, walked alone.” So says the opening monologue of The Haunting of Hill House, Netflix’s latest horror series to drop during the Halloween season. A slow burn of anxiety that builds to smart and terrifying scares, Hill House is a meaty television series that explores family and the lasting effects of trauma. A re–imagination of Shirley
Jackson’s novel of the same name, Hill House centers on the Crain family. After having lived in Hill House as children and losing their mother there, the five Crain siblings return to the house. The series follows them struggling to come to terms with their past when a tragic event draws all of them back to Hill House. The stories of the five siblings structure the first half of the season’s ten–episode run. Steven (Michiel Huisman), the
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oldest sibling, is a successful author who had his first major breakthrough when he wrote about his childhood experiences in Hill House, against the wishes of his siblings. Estranged from his wife Leigh (Samantha Sloyan), he now travels and investigates the
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paranormal, writing about people’s supernatural experiences to turn a profit. Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser), the Crains’ oldest daughter, works as a mortician with her husband Kevin (Anthony Ruivivar). Theo (Kate Siegel), the next oldest, lives with her sister Shirley as she struggles to make ends meet as a child psychologist. The youngest and most troubled siblings are the twins, Luke (Oliver Jackson–Cohen) and Nell (Victoria Pedretti). Luke uses heroin to escape the figurative and literal ghosts of his past and estranges himself from the rest of his siblings. Nell is perhaps the most sensitive to the paranormal activities of Hill, and it is she who serves as the catalyst, drawing her siblings back to their childhood abode. Hill House fits squarely into the haunted house sub–genre, and yet its high production value and puzzle–box plot keep the story fresh and the viewer engaged. Although the first part of the season is short on genuine scares, it gives the show time to flesh out the five siblings and their deadbeat dad, Hugh. In each episode, the story weaves between their childhood and the present, painting a detailed portrait of each of the characters that
occupy the show. Returning to the same events but from different perspectives, the viewer is given a nuanced point of view on the story’s events, adding to the overall richness of the plot. As the season transitions into its second half, the scares come hot and heavy, but are all the more effective because they feel earned. Although the show does indulge in a few jump scares, its horror tends to rely on ghostly apparitions that lurk inconspicuously in the corner of the frame. Surrounding these scares from episode to episode is a host of uncanny imaging, ranging from a woman dancing alone through the empty halls of the mansion to a stolen bowler hat. Not every episode will have you staring at the screen wide–eyed in terror, but each one does excel at filling your stomach with dread. Although horror productions tend to rip the family unit apart, Hill House does the opposite. The Crain family was shattered by the events that occurred so many years ago. But ultimately, the story is about how the Crains come together to help each other overcome their trauma, elevating this series to something more than mindless horror.
FILM & TV
Five Election Movies to Get You Pumped to Vote Watch these classics to get in the voting mood on November 6 Reese Berman | Illustrator
So, if you haven’t been living under a rock for the past six months, you know that Election Day is coming up really soon. Like less–than–two–weeks soon. November 6, to be exact. I’ll be the first to admit that this election season hasn’t been the easiest to endure. But alas, there are two things that have helped me stay positive and motivated this election season: the notion that one vote does have the power to elicit lasting change; and movies. Specifically, election–themed movies. And lucky for you, I’ve put together a list of the five best election–themed movies for you to pick from.
Lincoln (2012)
The title says it all with this one. The 2012 film follows the life of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day–Lewis) at the height of the Civil War, as he harnesses his political skill and compassionate spirit to end the deadly debacle and abolish slavery. This movie captures a pivotal moment of progression in American history, and although (spoiler alert) Lincoln’s tragic assassination concludes the film, I can only hope that our current President learns from it or maybe even follow in his predecessor’s footsteps.
Election (1999)
This film is set in suburban Nebraska and stars Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick, an overachieving, high school student running for student body president. She faces an obstacle in the form of a popular social studies teacher, Jim McAllister, played by Matthew Broderick, as he attempts to sabotage her campaign. This biting political satire will have you questioning the dark, behind–the–scenes nature of
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Ides of March (2011)
George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Evan Rachel Wood star in this gloomy film about a social climbing junior campaign manager, Stephen Meyers (Gosling), who, in a series of twisted and secretive events, manages to strip the integrity and honesty from his boss, Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), during his presidential campaign. Once you get past this movie’s somber and all–too–relatable premise, you’re able to focus on Gosling—in a suit. That’ll make anyone want to vote.
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The Campaign (2012)
If you’re looking for a level of comedic crudity and ridiculousness that matches most political debates today, this is the movie for you. Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis play opposing North Carolinian Congressional candidates, Cam Brady and Marty Huggins. Chaos and hilarity ensue as their campaigns progress, exaggerating every political stereotype in the book.
Napoleon dynamite (2004)
I saved the best for last. In this American cult classic, Jon Heder plays Napoleon, an awkward high school student who forms an unlikely friendship with Mexican transfer student Pedro Sanchez, played by Efren Ramirez. When Pedro decides to run for class president, they join forces to secure both the presidential win and a standing ovation for the most iconic dance number of the decade. Napoleon’s deadpans and Pedro’s underdog victory make this movie the perfect comedic relief for a tense election season.
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O C T O B E R 31 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 17
FILM & TV
'Beautiful Boy' is a Dark, Simmering Tale of Addiction and Family Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet play father and son in this haunting drama. Zovinar Khrimian When handling difficult, disturbing subject matter, a truly affecting film finds a way of addressing the seriousness of its content without spoon–feeding it to the audience. Beautiful Boy is a portrait of addiction, but also an exploration of just how far a family can bend before it breaks. It's about dark matters that seem a little buried by the film’s glossy exterior. There are moments, however, so wrought with a quiet kind of pain that the film transcends its somewhat thin use of dialogue and lack of deep introspection. Instead of following a wholly linear narrative, Beautiful Boy lets viewers look through the eyes of
a father who watches his son fall into the merciless cycle of addiction by stringing together a series of moments. What saves this film from wasting its emotional impact is a structure that reflects the patterns of memory, transporting audiences into the headspace of a parent who feels growing dread and helplessness while he watches a person he loves destroy himself. Based on a pair of memoirs by David and Nic Sheff, a father and son portrayed by Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy is tasked with recreating the family’s struggles with addiction without being banal or taking a turn for the
melodramatic. The film succeeds in keeping true to the motions of life, neither forcing the story to fit narrative conventions nor attempting to create a standard build–up toward a momentous, dramatic peak. It all kind of simmers at the surface—the drama hangs in the air, just as Nic’s addiction is always just there, hanging over him, breathing down his neck. The film addresses the neurological basis for addiction, particularly when it comes to methamphetamine, which is the drug that spurs Nic’s movement from a casual user to an addict. The threat of relapse is always there, lurking in Nic’s
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psyche, etched into the pages of his journal, which is full of frightening imagery, fueling his father’s worries and helplessness. There are moments where David and Nic Sheff’s experiences are not as carved out emotionally as some audiences might expect; however, early investment in the characters provide fuel for an affecting emotional payoff. The passage of time isn’t always clear in Beautiful Boy, disorienting the audience and adding to the general uneasiness that hangs in the gorgeous Northern California landscape and soft, warm lighting that give the film such beautiful visual texture. The use of music is also a layered experience of many genres, a storyteller in its own right even if at times it feels a little heavy–handed. There is something about the jigsaw puzzle structure of the film that makes it feel real, which, given the truth of its source material, allows for the drama to be more subdued without losing sight of just how dark and, frankly, terrifying parts of this film are. The film, which is set over several years during Nic’s adolescent life, is characterized by the interaction between recovery and relapse, parent and child, and sobriety and chaos.
Through all of it, the shame and hollowness Nic experiences as a result of his drug use tints the present with coldness and distance. Essential to the emotional arc of the film is the intercutting of sequences from Nic’s childhood, introducing us to the son David thought he knew. This provides the dimension of tenderness necessary for audiences to invest themselves in the lives of David, Nic, and the rest of their family. Masterful performances from Carell and Chalamet allow audiences to sense all which is left unsaid, sift through the layers of lies and deception, and understand the shame and guilt felt by all parties. Beautiful Boy moves through the entwined stories of Nic and David Sheff with a carefully paced realism that, despite the film’s generally sterilized visuals, gives way to the darkness entrenched in every part of this film. The truth of the matter is that a lot of that darkness is kept away from the camera, and parts of Nic’s life remain untold in the film. However, Beautiful Boy seeks to illuminate the effects of addiction not only on individual lives, but also on the formative relationships that we hold dear, and does so with a haunting, visceral realism.
ARTS
The 'Heathers' Reboot is
Awkward and Tone Deaf
Courtesy of Paramount Press Center
Paramount’s Heathers has had a long journey before coming onto the small screen. The project, a modern adaptation of the famous 1989 film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, was slated to go up months ago but was scrapped in June following controversy around its poor handling of school shootings. It is described as a “black comedy” that is a sexier, modern reboot of the original film. Watching Heathers makes it obvious as to why the project was put on the backmost burner. As for positives, Heathers' best quality is its aesthetics. In fact, it seems that style was the only focus for the majority of the budget rather than, say, good writing or decent casting. The gritty high–school atmosphere which feels blatantly like a rip– off of Riverdale’s revamp of Archie Comics is charming at first but quickly gets heavy–handed. It matches in its heavy–handed, voice–over monologue, the funny gag of a student having sex with a teacher, and the most godawful dialogue I’ve ever heard in my life. Heathers is an amalgamation of the failures of modern high school television. The teachers are flat and rude for
seemingly no reason, the characters who we are supposed to like are fundamentally vile, and the picture of high school is so skewed that it feels like we’re in some misshapen collage between the eighties and the modern day. On that note, a whole issue in itself is the titular Heathers. Chandler (Melanie Field) is a fat woman, McNamara (Jasmine Mathews) is a biracial gay woman, and Duke (Brendan Scannel) is a flamboyant genderqueer person. There is an extended shot of the three of them walking through the halls while people watch like we’re in a John Hughes film. In the iconic high school cafeteria, they call out the jock Ram for wearing a shirt with a racist Native American caricature on it, and this is seen as the first example of their unnecessary cruelty (when actually, they had a point). This is emblematic of the corruption of the high–school comedy–drama: the “groups” are simply stereotypes with people that can be switched out with little care for its implications. What I ask is, in what world are the group of openly queer men and women of color bullying around the attractive jocks?
Even more so, in switching around the all–white female group of Heathers from the 1989 film, the message becomes lost. Veronica is no longer a less social girl who curls into herself
Paramount’s reboot of the 1989 classic falters where so many other high school shows do.
by Anna Collins
yet somehow ends up with the Heathers; instead, she’s a whiny white girl who bemoans the fact that she is basic and a cheerleader and too angelic for everyone around her. Ryder’s Veronica is interesting, flawed, and rebelling; this new version of her is skewed and annoying. Similarly, JD (James Scully) has none of the charms of Slater. He calls Veronica “my dear” like he is reading lines from a script and acts like the white guy in your philosophy class who smokes weed and only ever talks about vaguely about how his life sucks under “the man.” In the original film, Slater actually has some charisma, but this performance actively knows that he sounds like a raging asshole but believes every word of it. What is most unfathomable is that the show recognizes that
it seems odd in a modern–day world for the fat kids, the trans kids, and the gay kids to be popular, but does not try to clarify why this is happening here. Perhaps one can claim that it isn’t supposed to be realistic and is merely a way to critique PC culture, but frankly, it’s impossible to tell and this world which they have made is entirely nonsensical. In attempting to modernize a still–relevant classic, Heathers failed to realize any of the messages or critiques in the original film, and instead jumbled up its concepts in trying to make it seem cool, modern, and gritty. It is too caught up in its jokes and clever references to understand the true underpinnings of high school, teenagers, and our culture as a whole. For that, it is a fumble.
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·
ARTS
Reviewing 'Fabulous Fashion: From Dior’s New Look to Now' at the PMA
·
— The show features fashion from 1947 to present and is a must see for any style lover —
by Claire Ochroch
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As I got out of the Uber at the PMA, I saw the giant poster hanging on the columns of the entrance enticing me to come and see the exhibit I was currently headed to: Fabulous Fashion: From Dior’s New Look to Now. The first thing I saw was a video of runway shows, but I was too excited for the real dresses and didn’t stay for the whole thing. The first two outfits set the stage for the whole show. The ensembles were both by the brand Dior, but one was from spring 1948 and designed by Dior, while the other outfit was from fall/winter 1998 and designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior. The first ensemble was from Dior’s introduction of the revolutionary “New Look” and the second exemplified how much fashion changed in 50 years. The rest of the exhibit is broken up into five sections: Shape & Volume, Embellishment, Color & Pattern, Metallics, Drape, and Bridal. There are also two cases: one of shoes and one of hats. Grouping the clothes into different categories allows for comparisons of designers, shape, and interpretation of different concepts. The sections also show how fashion has changed through time. The first section I saw was Shape & Volume, which takes up the main exhibition room. It showcases amazing gowns: a purple tulle Oscar de la Renta from 2006, a Balenciaga black organza skirt with a white overdress from 1951, and a Chado Ralph Rucci stingray–inspired dress from 2001. A highly featured designer in the category is Pierre Cardin, who studied architecture, as shown in his sculptural dress designs. Next, I walked to a display case full of extraordinary shoes and bags. Two things stood out to me: a pair of 2010 gold and black Manolo Blahnik ankle
Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art Newsroom
boots and a clear and gold Judith Leiber bag from the 1960s. The next labeled section in the exhibit was Embellishment. The dresses in the category showcase beading, feathers, and appliqué. One particular look that I liked was a cocktail dress by Peter Som for Bill Blass Ltd. from 2008, which showed amazing mixing of curly and straight feathers to create contrasting textures. In the Color & Pattern section, I saw a beautiful shift dress designed by artist Ellsworth Kelly in 1952 that was reinterpreted 60 years later by Francesco Costa of Calvin Klein. Only a picture exists of the original. Then, I walked to the Metallics area and was blown away by Paco Rabanne’s 1966 dress made of plastic discs, linked by metal rings, and a Givenchy 1982 haute couture gold sequin and black tulle gown. Seven decades of fashion are represented in Fabulous Fashion: From Dior’s New Look to Now, which highlight how much styles have changed. The vast amount of unique garments highlight the Museum’s renowned collection of costumes and textiles. Many of the pieces in this show have been exhibited rarely, if ever before. For any lover of designer gowns, this show is a must–see, with pieces from both lesser–known and legendary designers. The choice of categories allows viewers to make connections between the different time periods, designs, and aesthetics of pieces. Fashion is an art, and the Philadelphia Art Museum does a great job of proving it.
ARTS
REMEMBRANCE OF HISTORY: THE PHILADELPHIA HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL PLAZA'S REOPENING UNDERSTANDING HISTORY AS IT SHOULD NEVER BE REPEATED.
Josephine Cheng
Hannah Lazar | Staff Photographer
A
t the intersection of Arch and 16th Streets, shadowed between buildings of glass and brick and facing the incessant traffic of Benjamin Franklin Parkway, sits the Philadelphia Holocaust Memorial Plaza. Newly opened after reconstruction by the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation on Oct. 22, 2018, the plaza is a sliver of history suspended within the fast flowing pace of Center City. In collaboration with architecturally acclaimed design firm Wallace Roberts & Todd, the Foundation officially broke ground for the Plaza's reconstruction on Nov. 28, 2017 as a means of restoring and expanding the original monument for a wider audience. Created by internationally renowned sculptor Nathan Rapoport and presented by a group of Holocaust survivors and the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia on Apr. 26, 1964, Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs was the first public monument in North America dedicated to the six million European Jews who had perished during one of the greatest genocides known to man. As such, the Foundation had been leading efforts since 2006 to preserve the Monument and revitalize the site as a center of education and memorialization of the Holocaust for future
generations. The memorial site, though unprecedented in American history, remained neither well–exposed to the public eye nor often–used, beyond hosting the annual Holocaust remembrance event in recent decades, until this recent reopening. We need not have been there to understand what had been done and what should never be done. Leon Bass, young black soldier serving in the army and one of the earliest witnesses of the German–abandoned Buchenwald camp, recalls his reaction towards the horrors of the Holocaust as one of epiphany. "Something happened when I walked through the gates...I began to realize that human suffering is not delegated just to me and mine. Human suffering touches everybody. All people can suffer." The centerpiece of the Plaza is Rapoport's original monument: a sculpture of men, women, and children engulfed in what appear to be thorn–infested vines. Legs scramble for purchase, arms flail for safety, hands grasp for freedom—each element of the body speaks of suffering and despair. Yet it is also a work of hope, hope that such atrocity may only ever appear in bronze and stone, never again in reality. Further in the Plaza are the Six Pillars, presented in pairs, representing the hor-
rors of the Holocaust and "... contrasting it with American constitutional protections and values." "Human equality" stands adjacent to "The Master Race;" "Protecting Life and Liberty" rests beside "Death Camps." The counterparts of each respective pair sit close together, yet idealistically miles apart. In front of the Tree Grove lie the Train Tracks. Uprooted from the railroad running adjacent to the Treblinka
Death Camp in Poland, the lengths of rusted steel bars are embedded in gray concrete— physical reminders of the millions who were deported to their deaths. Victims were stripped of clothing upon exiting the freight cars, forced into "showers," and poisoned with carbon monoxide. The tracks "...recall the industrial efficiency that defined the Nazi's 'Final Solution to the Jewish Question,'"—that is, extermination. On the narrowest side of the Memorial Plaza is the Eternal Flame. Flickering in the alcoved Remembrance Wall, the flame serves as "a
symbol of hope and light, embodying...commitment to never forget." So as long as light is shed and heat is given, so will people's memory of the Holocaust never die. Standing in the midst of the Memorial Plaza, immersed in this haven of remembrance, the spirit of the Holocaust victims' hopes and hardships live on. The Plaza is a memorial of all those lost who should not have been lost. But above all that, for those visiting or even just passing by, the Plaza is a remnant of history, never to be erased or forgotten, lest the cycle ever repeats itself again.
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