4.4.18

p.10 Penn Closet

April 4, 2018 | 34st.com

p.15 Investigating Penn's Campus Tours

p.22 Penn Create

APRIL 4, 2018 Nick Joyner, Editor–in–Chief Remi Lederman, Managing Editor Angela Huang, Audience Engagement Director Annabelle Williams, Assignments Editor Autumn Powell, Media Director Haley Weiss, Word on the Street Editor Jamie Gobreski, Word on the Street Editor Emily Schwartz, Ego Editor Zoe Albano–Oritt, Music Editor Julia Bell, Senior Features Editor Sabrina Qiao, Special Features Editor Colin Lodewick, Long–Term Features Editor Dalton DeStefano, Developing Features Editor Lily Snider, Style Editor Catalina Dragoi, Film & TV Editor Sherry Tseng, Arts Editor Daniel Bulpitt, Lastpage Editor Ha Tran, Photo Editor Danny Rubin, Video Editor Lea Eisenstein, Copy Director Chris Muracca, Print Director Ego Beats: Valentina Escudero, Sami Canaan, Caroline Riise, Caroline Curran, Maryanne Koussa Music Beats: Paul Litwin, Amy Marcus, Arjun Swaminathan, Isabella Fertel, Holden Caplan, Chris Troop, Natalia Joseph

3 WORD ON THE STREET I'm Ready to Take Off My Penn Face

4 EGO

EOTW: Ben Gargano, Yael Krigman

6 MUSIC

Daft Punk, Arctic Monkeys

Features Staff: Emily Rush, Angie Lin, Sharon Christner, Annika Iyer, Emily Cieslak, Naomi Elegant Style Beats: Liz Kim, Frankie Reitmeyer, Molly Hessel Film & TV Beats: Ana West, Avneet Randhawa, Bella Essex, Zovinar Khrimian Arts Beats: Sophie Burkholder, Lizzy Lemieux, Margaret Zhang, Xinyi Wan

9 STYLE

MIUCHA, Penn Closet

Design Editors: Lucy Ferry, Gillian Diebold, Ben Zhao, Christine Lam, Alana Shukovsky, Zack Greenstein, Morgan McKeever, Teagan Aguirre, Judy Zhang, Katie Waltman Lastpage Beat: Eliana Doft Staff Writers: Sophie Xi, Cass Phanord, Tamara Gelband, Jennifer Cullen, Isabella Simonetti, Shinyoung Noh, Emma Moore, Anna Callahan, Sammy Gordon, Sydney Gelman, Charlotte Bausch, Jacob Winick, Alix Steerman, Sara Merican Illustrators: Jessi Olarsch, Brad Hong, Anne Marie Grudem, Reese Berman, Judy Choi, Carly Ryan, Saranya Sampath, Catherine Liang, Anne Chen Staff Photographers: Dayz Terry, Virginia Rodowsky, Christina Piasecki, Bill He, Avalon Morrell, Emma Boey, David Zhou Video Staff: Megan Kyne, Jean Chapiro, Anab Aidid, Abdul Sohu Copy Editors: Kira Horowitz, Kate Poole, Anna Waldzinska, Serena Miniter, Sarah Poss, Amber Auslander, Kimberly Batista, Riley Wagner, Morgan Potts Sofia Price, Analytics Editor Cole Bauer, Senior Marketing Associate Marketing Associates: Lauren Donato, Chae Hahn, Brittany Levy, McKay Norton, Hanniel Dizon, Carly Shoulberg, Merry Gu, Paige Fishman

LOL

12 FEATURE

Male Eating Disorders, Kite and Key

LOL 17 FILM & TV

Movies and Classes, Political Correctness

Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by Dayz Terry, Virginia Rodowsky, Ha Tran, and Christina Piasecki.

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

20 ARTS

Terrill Wallenberg, SPEC, Penn Create

"DaAaAAaaAaAAaAaaAaaAaAAaAaAaaAaaAady" ©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.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Life comes at you fast. And life hit my formerly sweet– smelling apartment like a truck last week.

Last Saturday night, I was cooking shrimp pasta, as one does on a Saturday night. I finished all of the prawns, and froze what was leftover. No shellfish were left unattended.

I went to bed full of scampi, ready to take on my Sunday.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

First came the flies. They were big, they were fat, and they were everywhere. They were in my window every morning and buzzing around the house, mocking me. I wished I had remembered to water my Venus flytrap plant, because that botanical assassin would've been feasting last week.

Two days after the first plague, my apartment started smelling like Pike's Place Market. This, coupled with the sudden manifestation of bugs, was enough to convince me that someone put a hex on my household. But I was busy, and I chalked the smell up to a particularly stinky garbage bin and told myself that the flies were seeking asylum from the cold.

Two more days passed. I was home for no more than twelve hours over the two days, and all I did was sleep. But the smell did not abate, and it began to transform to rot. I called my landlord. No help. The next morning I woke up to a burly handyman in my kitchen, and boy did he have news for me.

"I think a squirrel died in your wall," he conjectured.

"We had to open up the roof for some maintenance, and one must've snuck in before we sealed it up. They get in and go towards the light and then just die there. It's pretty common."

His advice?

"Ya know that air spray stuff? I'd use some of that until it passes."

And with that, he was gone. Armed with his suggestion to Febreeze my apartment until the squirrel carcass finishes decomposing, I was ready to take on the week. But I found myself asking, how did it get to this point? How did I let this animal stew in my walls for so long before taking action?

I knew the answer. I hadn't been home for days, much less spoken to my roommates since the weekend. I was beginning to feel like a subletter in my own apartment (Note: Please sublet my house this summer. Mail in for details).

It took a rotting animal for me to realize that I need to take more time for myself this semester. I've always been the one to sit in coffeeshops or the library in my down time. If I'm gonna be relaxing, I might as well be productive while I do it. But it's so important to nest, to head home and take care of yourself when the going gets tough and you need some chocolate–covered almonds.

My advice? Let this be a warning. Don't wait until an animal dies in your walls to realize that self–care is important.

It's much less smelly that way.

WORD ON THE STREET

word on the

STREET

“Wait, why aren’t you drinking tonight again?” my date to a fraternity formal quipped.

“Oh, I’m on antibiotics, remember?” I lied to him.

That was such bullshit. I wasn’t taking penicillin; I was taking escitalopram. I had started the Lexapro the day before, and didn’t want to occlude its performance with so much as a drop of alcohol. I was desperate for the medication to work, for my serotonin to level. Plus, as was, I was in no state to be drinking. The real answer to his question would have been along the lines of, “Oh, well, I actually have severe clinical depression right now, and my two therapists and also my psychiatrist told me not to drink on my new meds, especially because sometimes I take a half of my prescribed Klonopin, too, and you really shouldn’t drink on that. Oh, and also I’m making a conscious effort not to self– medicate with alcohol through this mess.” But who the fuck says something like that?

“Oh yeah that’s right. Sucks,” my date shrugged. Thank GOD, I thought. Awkward conversation evaded; secret concealed.

No one at the formal knew that I was miserable—no, not because my date was terrible.

He was perfectly pleasant. I was just a proper hot mess at the time. I had, by that time (May of freshman year), faced almost five months straight of severe and wildly incapacitating mental illness. I already had help: a psychiatrist, and not one, but two therapists, but I was still struggling. Something needed to change. So, I had gone to my psychiatrist’s office in Center City a few days prior to the

I'M READY TO TAKE OFF MY PENN FACE When going out becomes a form of self–medication Ellie Wynn

formal and told him that I was finally ready for an antidepressant prescription, something my New Mexican granola and sometimes downright hippie self had seen as useless, and even harmful, for years.

Earlier in the semester, I ran into a friend near Spread Bagelry while I was on my way to CAPS. He was off to SHS for pinkeye. He asked me where I was going, and I stopped in my tracks. Fuck, I mused to myself.

I can’t say I’m going to SHS because he’ll notice that I’m not walking in the doors with him. What I pulled out of my ass was “Uhh I’m meeting my cousin for lunch. She goes to Penn Law.” I do have a cousin, and she does go to Penn Law, but where does one eat on 36th and Market? In my twisted mind, pinkeye was okay, but chronic depression and anxiety were absolutely not. They were unspeakable. In reality, I can hardly control the fact that I have genetic predispositions for depression any less than my friend could have controlled how the petri dish that is Quad housing would affect him.

This didn’t just happen with one or two people. It happened with at least half my friends and with every other peer or acquaintance. My fellow Quaddwelling classmates didn’t see my face before the tears were wiped dry. They never heard my voice cracking mid–sentence at sessions with my therapist.

They couldn’t hear the conversations I had with my mom on Skype, about whether or not I could even finish college at Penn, and if I should just drop everything and fly all the way home to Albuquerque for another weekend.

Anne Marie Grudem | Illustrator

Hardly anyone knew I was struggling, and of those that did, even fewer knew the extent of my illnesses. I made sure of that. I have been hiding my mental illnesses since the eighth grade. Anyone who doesn’t know me personally wouldn’t think that I take daily antidepressants—it’s an act I’m happily resigned to doing for the rest of my life.

Going through my absolute worst bout of depression during the aforementioned freshman spring, I tried my best to act and appear “normal.” I maintained composure even when I felt at times that my own mind’s hostility was breaking me from the inside out. I made sure to perform academically and, more importantly, socially. I could hardly order a bagel and coffee at United by Blue without my eyes welling up most mornings, and yet I made it to mixers and late nights out of sheer terror that someone would notice my absence and question it. Acting as such only made me feel worse—I felt even more like a pariah with a tacitly unmentionable disease. Every single action of concealment tore me down further, deepened my depression.

I wish I could tell my fresh-

man self that depression IS normal. It’s common—on this campus and all over the world. Depression and anxiety are my normal, at least, and that’s okay—it’s something I’ve learned to accept and take on the challenge of. I wish I could tell the Ellie of February 2017 or June 2017 that the Ellie of March 2018 wants her to stop wasting time and energy on pretending to be okay by drinking and self–medicating. That time and energy spent towards shaping a “Penn Face” could be better spent engaging with your therapist, or meditating, exercising, or FaceTiming your family—whatever makes you feel better, whether you're mentally ill, or just the run–of–the– mill stressed college student.

Especially at Penn, where people work hard and play harder, it’s important to remember that the life of the party may find vigor in only that aspect of his or her life. Self–medication becomes more and more obvious to me with every passing weekend. It’s not uncommon on this campus for people to joke about “blacking out” to forget their stress or their worries or their shitty midterm grades, but at times it seems even deeper and even darker

than that.

At times this perhaps borders on addiction, and other times, they seem to be experiencing alcoholism. That’s not funny, that’s not “savage,” and that’s not something to be taken lightly or to be normalized. It is bad enough that I have at times drank despite being depressed, which is so dangerous for the obvious reason that alcohol is a depressant. Worst of all, that sort of behavior is still downright encouraged here.

And when someone starts to go overboard with drinking or using, I always think to myself that maybe that person shares a brain chemistry frankly pretty similar to mine. Maybe they’re depressed, too. Far too often, I see Penn Face in the form of being shit–faced.

So, please, check in on your friends. And I don’t mean a quick and insincere “How are you!? Let’s get lunch”—I mean really check in on them, privately and genuinely, whether it’s the friend with whom you share a Quad hall, the friend you see at club GBMs, or the friend you only ever see blasted at Recess.

Maybe I know another Ellie of Spring 2017, and maybe he or she really needs my help. Maybe he or she really needs yours.

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EGO

EGO EGO OF OF THE THE WEEK

MAJOR | Philosophy, Politics, & Economics

ACTIVITIES | Locus

Initiative, Vice President of Events for Penn Microfinance, Big Brothers Big Sisters, ZBT

This week, Street spoke to Ben Gargano, one of the founders of the Locus Initiative.

While he might not be a good person to share a room with, he's the guy to hit up for West Philly recs. Here's everything you need to know about Ben...

HOMETOWN |

New York City, NY

34th Street Magazine: What is the Locus Initiative?

Benjamin Gargano: It’s a pledge–based platform built to connect and mobilize the next generation of givers. It’s very high level. So, the idea is, upon graduating, people will pledge to donate at least one percent of their working time, one percent of their income, or some combination, to a cause that resonates with them.

Street: What made you want to start Locus?

BG: I went abroad junior year, and when I got back, I kind of had this existential crisis during which I just didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life, and I realized that while abroad, it had been a great experience for learning more about myself, but I didn’t feel like I was doing that much for others. I knew that for the next year and a half, I wanted to at least be somewhat involved in building something. I worked with about six other people to bring the idea to fruition and we’re still working on it today.

Street: How did your work with Locus affect the end of your Penn experience?

BG: My senior year has definitely not been as relaxed as a lot of other people’s. I’m part–time, but even though I’m only in two classes, we’re really working hard at making it sustainable. Right now, we’re hiring two full–time people to run Locus next year because, out of the six co–founders, two are currently juniors at Penn and four of us are seniors who are going into other areas after graduation, so we can’t run the initiative full–time. So the hope is, we’ll find two people who are really willing to take it on and 4

run it for next year.

Street: Which movie best describes your personality?

BG: I’d say Big. Tom Hanks.

So basically, he’s a kid who turns into an adult overnight with some magical spell, and he just doesn’t yet know how to be an adult. He’s just bubbly and, sort of, still figuring things out. So that’s the way I sort of like to see myself.

Street: What kind of music are you currently listening to?

BG: I love classic rock. That’s sort of my foundation. I love The Beatles, The Who, the Stones, Bruce Springsteen. And then, as far as new music goes, I love Coldplay, I love Kanye, love Kendrick Lamar. Sorry this is a long list, but yeah.

Street: What’s been your least favorite thing about Penn?

BG: I’d say the silos that Penn has broken off into. Often times you hear about the importance of meeting new people and branching out in college, and I think it is a really important thing to do, but at a school like Penn, it’s hard to do that unless you actively chase it. I’ve tried to sort of extend an open arm to people outside of my immediate social scene and join clubs that allow me to do that, but it’s still tough.

Street: What should every Penn student do before they graduate?

BG: Explore West Philly.

I’d say there’s this notion that you can go to Center City, you can go to Old City, but it’s not necessarily as popular to go past 41st or 42nd Street, and see places that aren’t necessarily associated with the common notion of exploring Philly. But that area of Philly is so great,

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and so vibrant, and so interesting. There are so many great restaurants, so many great people you’ll meet. I did a program called Big Brothers Big Sisters and that’s a great way to go see what elementary schools, middle schools, high schools are like in that area. It’s a good opportunity to mentor kids who are from that area. I think it’s really important to see all sides of Philadelphia from Center City to Old City to West Philly. And West Philly is often times, from what I hear, the area that people decide to sort of explore last, and I think it’s really, really important that by the end of people’s college careers, they make an effort to go.

Street: If you could meet any fictional character, who would you meet and what would you do?

BG: That’s a tough one.

Huck Finn. This sort of goes back to the notion of the movie Big. I think he’s just a kid who has a really good heart and is really playful, so we’d probably just play sports together, or adventure together, and sort of explore different areas.

Street: Favorite memory from college?

BG: One of the things I’ve loved the most about Penn is how special the people you meet here are, and I’ve met some of the smartest, most dynamic, most interesting people in my lifetime in the last four years.

So really, one of my most fond memories is just staying up until 3:30 a.m. just discussing life with all these people from different backgrounds, sort of people’s takes on everything, from what you want to do in five years to what do you think

BEN GARGANO

Autumn Powell | Media Director

the meaning of life is. We got really deep and broad, but because the people you meet here are so interesting and so dynamic and so smart, you’ll get different perceptions and different perspectives from every person you meet, and it’s great to just dig in and have these deeper existential conversations with the people around you.

Street: What’s been your wildest rooming situation?

BG: My friends will probably tell you I’m not necessarily the neatest person in the world, so my sophomore roommate, who’s not a full–on neat freak or anything, but just like very organized, very clean. I went

into that year basically leaving my clothes all over the place, definitely not the most respectful roommate in the world, and I was sort of transformed. That was probably my biggest change throughout college, going from someone who would leave their stuff everywhere to being, like, cleaner. I mean, now, I’ve kind of settled back into the old ways a little bit, now that I don’t have a roommate anymore, but he definitely kicked me into shape a little bit. We were great roommates. He’s one of my best friends, we’re on the same sleep schedule, there wasn’t anything that crazy other than that transition for me.

LIGHTNING ROUND Street: Favorite show right now?

BG: The Wire.

Street: Guilty pleasure?

BG: Banana Whip from Hip City Veg. It’s a good one.

Street: Celebrity crush?

BG: Jennifer Lawrence.

Street: There are two types of people at Penn…

BG: Those who smile at you on Locust and those who stare you down.

Street: And you are…

BG: I try to be a smiler. I don't know what people would say.

Street: First AIM name?

BG: gorgie455. So, my friends in fifth grade called me gorgie as a variation of Gargano and it stuck until 12th grade.

EGO

Penn Alum Yael Krigman Quit Her Six–Figure Job To Make Cake Pops Being a high–powered lawyer wasn't as fulfilling as owning her own bakery.

Sophie Xi Photos courtesy of Yael Krigman

Huntsman Hall this time of year teems with students and recruiters. It’s on– campus recruiting season.

Hopping from information sessions to on–campus interviews, hundreds of students suit up to impress the employers from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and their ilk.

Yael Krigman (C '02) was once one of those students.

Her focus was in the field of law. She graduated from Penn with a double major in communication and Spanish, earned her law degree from Georgetown University, and worked in White & Case LLP as a law associate. But then, about eight years ago, she gave up her six–figure income at a top law firm and opened her own business in Washington D.C., Baked by Yael.

In an interview with The Inquirer, Yael said, “When I was a law firm associate, I pulled all–nighters for the firm’s clients … Now, when I pull an all–nighter, it’s for my own clients.” Yael didn’t intentionally plan to become a baker or an entrepreneur, but she finds that, unlike law firms, baking

can make people happy, not just selling cake pops and bagels, but rather "experiences."

Nut–free and kosher, the magic of Baked by Yael’s cake pops and bagels is demonstrated through photos on its website featuring alluring cake pops glazed with beautiful colors and authentic bagels made from scratch. Whether it's fancy deserts or basic breakfast foods, Baked by Yael knows how to treat you (and your Instagram) well. To celebrate Passover, Baked by Yael is currently offering a special series that include Matzah Bliss and gluten– free cake pops.

Baked by Yael also has initiatives to support local nonprofits. Yael explained that they donate unsold bagels to Bread for the City, a social service organization in D.C. This initiative is a product of Yael’s studies at Penn, where she says she learned the importance of giving back to the community. She loves seeing the smiles on her customers’ faces.

Unlike the stiff timetable she kept as a lawyer, Yael’s

schedule now is different every day. She can be running from meeting to meeting or staying in the kitchen to prepare for a big order. While she is working more hours now than before, entrepreneurship gives Yael more control over her destiny as she is working for herself, not others.

Penn has helped to shape Yael into the person she is today. Through her majors in communication and Spanish, she was able to develop critical thinking, build a network of mentors and friends, and even study abroad. Despite her pursuit in law, Yael enjoyed the marketing courses that she took at Penn. “At the time, I had no idea I would own a business that would become a case study for the next generation of college students.” Through realizing her hopes and dreams, Yael has left a legacy for many other students who aspire to be an entrepreneur.

When envisioning the blueprint of her business, she is filled with excitement. “Being a small business owner is an adventure,”

she said. Her current goal is to consolidate their store across the National Zoo, their four weekend farmers’

markets, and their online shipping business.

“Beyond that, who knows!”

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MUSIC

Daft Punk's Albums, Ranked

Nearly every one is amazing, but that doesn't mean we can't rank them.

Paul Litwin When you're listening to Daft Punk, you can't really go wrong.

Whether it's their work from 1997 or 2013, Daft Punk has consistently put out some of the best house music to date, yet their incredible influences and sounds range far beyond just house and electronic music. That being said, some of Daft Punk's work is better than others. And I'm here to set the record straight on their five albums (excluding live and remix albums).

5. Tron: Legacy

I love what Daft Punk tries to do here, I really do. Daft Punk (made up of French artists Guy– Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter) captures the electronic–noir theme of the Tron: Legacy movie very well. I understand it’s a movie soundtrack, so to expect a signature Daft Punk performance is

simply irrational. But Tron: Legacy is likely what people who claim they “don’t like electronic music” picture when they think of electronica and house—a rhythmic, but non–musical, collection of glitchy sounds.

4. Human After All

Human After All suffers from some of the same issues as Tron: Legacy, but to a much lesser extent. This is the worst non– soundtrack album Daft Punk has put out, and it will likely be better than 90% of EDM available on Spotify in the next year.

Human After All is an exploration of technologic and comparatively roboticist themes, but Daft Punk lets the robotic sounds overtake the passion of their typical music. Part of Daft Punk greatness is that they don’t sacrifice the melody, fervor, and intensity of their music even when they’re empha-

sizing an inhuman, electronic sound. But in Human After All, it feels like Daft Punk struggles to find that balance more often than not. Some glaring exceptions are “Robot Rock,” featuring a vigorous back–and–forth of a guitar and robotic voice repeating “Robot Rock,” and “Technologic,” another fast–paced stand out.

3. Homework

The one that started it all still stands up to the test of time over 20 years later. “Around the World” will never not be a great song, and it offers an excellent introduction into the brilliantly auto–tuned world of Daft Punk.

At the same time, “Rollin’ and Scratchin’” is an example of the ingenuity of the (young) French duo early in their careers, as the inspiration from the song itself came from the noise of unplugging a turntable. Legend has it

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that the “scratching” noise in the song itself came from unplugging a cable, but in reality, they were able to replicate the sound using a Roland Juno–106 and MT–2 Distortion Panel. Regardless of the myths of some particular songs on Homework, the album is both a strong work of electronic music in of itself and a strong indicator of the greatness of Daft Punk that had yet to come.

2. Random Access Memories

If a random artist were to put out an album like Random Access Memories, chances are, it would indisputably be the best possible musical work in their discography. So don’t be fooled—just because Random Access Memories (a nod to RAM, the Random Access Memory of computer data storage) is at the number two spot doesn’t mean that it is undeserving of heaps of praise.

My personal favorite Daft Punk album, Random Access Memories is chock full of smooth hits from top to bottom. “Lose Yourself to Dance,” featuring Pharrell, is quite easily one of the grooviest songs of the 2010s—a beckoning, if not a command, for the listener to engage with their music in a way that Daft Punk fans hadn’t experienced in years.

Pharrell lends himself as the vocalist yet again on “Get Lucky,” and if you haven’t found yourself getting up, singing, and dancing with yourself to “we’re up all night to get lucky” on at least multiple occasions, you’re probably living under a rock. And although the two songs with Pharrell features are easily the most popular, many of Random Access Memories’ other

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Brad Hong | Illustrator

songs should not be overlooked.

“Doin’ It Right” and “Giorgio by Moroder” are both excellent.

1. Discovery

Discovery isn't one of those albums that builds itself up as you work your way down the track list—it starts off unapologetically firing on all cylinders. The easily recognizable, auto–tuned, opening track “One More Time” is a dance jam that has inspired countless future dance artists. It set the standard for Discovery, a standard of excellence in craft that Daft Punk never really deviates from through the whole album. The following song, “Aerodynamic” is more of the same.

The synthesizer–heavy electronic sound featuring a “guitar solo” is flawlessly crafted, yet also raw, and glittery. In Discovery, Daft Punk somehow manages to walk the line between polished and primitive so well that it feels like this album could have required either 10 years or 10 days to make. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” yet another famously brilliant song of the album, essentially repeats different cuts of the same 25 words in a way that makes each new assembly feel like a rollercoaster ride. “Something About Us,” an unusually sensual song for the album, manages to be both atypical enough to make the song stand out but not to the point where it is a detriment to Discovery’s cohesiveness. Collectively, the songs of Discovery each contribute to the sound of the album as a polished and unrelenting collection of songs that will go down as a classic—not just in electronic music, but in the greater catalogue of modern music as a whole.

MUSIC

The Arctic Monkeys Are on an Epic Comeback

Don't go 'Crying Lightning'—your fave post–angst band is back

Reese Berman | Illustrator

Isabella Fertel new album being a hit, the group is set to go on an international tour over the summer, hitting up the European festival circuit—the Monkeys are set to take the stage at Rockwave Festival in Athens, Les Nuits de Fourvière in France, and Osheaga to name a few—and coming into the U.S. only for a quick bit to play Chicago’s Lollapalooza and Firefly before heading back across the

pond.

With four years of anticipation on their shoulders, the pressure is high and the bar raised. It would be hard for any band to live up to the expectations, let alone a band with such a cult following and critical acclaim.

And with such speculation over sound and release one thing is for sure: this album is about to (and better) be freaking killer.

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croon to match the new, hip– hop influenced sound. This new album should even further explore new genres and influences, perhaps meshing their newfound groove with their psychedelic and post– punk roots into something we haven’t even heard yet.

Ahead of the May drop, Alex Turner has hinted at some singles being released in the next few weeks.

Clearly anticipating their

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Pop Depression, with Dean Fertita and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. After four years, fans (myself included) began to reconcile the fact that following Turner’s blossoming solo career was the next chapter.

That was, until last December. The Arctic Monkeys confirmed in December 2016 that they were beginning to work on a new studio album, beginning to record last September. And, through a series of now–deleted Facebook posts, both Turner and Helders—as well as the band’s official page— have hinted at a May drop.

So, what can we expect from this new record?

Between Turner's and Helder's extracurricular recording efforts, it's clear that the band is starting to gear more towards the experimental, moving away from the classic Arctic Monkeys sound. AM signaled a departure from Turner’s trademark snarky, fast–paced and witty lyrics a lá “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secure” or “Fluorescent Adolescent.”

AM featured more ballads, with Turner still chronicling relationships and breakups but this time with a smooth

C

Ah, 2014. ‘Twas the year that Pharrell started wearing those giant hats on red carpets, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin decided to ‘consciously uncouple,’ and How I Met Your Mother (finally!) finished airing.

More importantly, right after their 2014 AM Tour, it was the year that the Arctic Monkeys announced their formal hiatus.

After a killer performance at Tokyo’s Summer Sonic festival, the last show in a whirlwind of selling out international arenas and rushing from one festival to the next, drummer Matt Helders declared that “There isn't any rush to do something else yet. For now this album seems like a place to leave it for bit."

And so that was that. Everyone’s favorite post–teen angst rock band was off the grid. Frontman and songwriter Alex Turner went to work on his hell of a pet project, the English supergroup The Last Shadow Puppets, alongside Mini Mansion’s Zach Dawes, Simian’s James Ford, and The Rascal’s Miles Kane. Drummer Matt Helders worked on Iggy Pop’s latest studio effort, Post

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MIUCHA Masters More Than Bubble Tea Chinatown's new shop offers teas that are ALMOST too cute to drink.

BY Molly Hessel Ethan Wu | Photographer MIUCHA might be one of the most photogenic places in Philadelphia. While the storefront is located in the Chinatown district only blocks from the likes of Ken’s Seafood and Banana Leaf, MIUCHA looks nothing like the hole–in–the–wall BYOBs for which Penn students more likely frequent the neighborhood. Instead, the interior is baby pink with white orb lamps, circular mirrors, and an entire wall of grassy green fabric. It is spacious inside, with plenty of area to sit and sip in the back.

MIUC H A opened just a few months ago, but already has a following. “The place is popular with students.

Especially high schoolers after class,” employee Samuel Sze said.

I visited at 3 p.m. on a warm Saturday afternoon. Inside, a girl posed against the pastel backdrop, along with her matching drink. MIUCHA specializes in freshly–made tea drinks with quality ingredients like Uji matcha imported from Japan. According to Samuel, the most popular drink is the King of Tea, an oolong tea topped with sweetened foam. The drinks are highly

customizable, from the add–ins to the sweetness to the ice level.

What differentiates MIUCHA from campus bubble tea shops like Ochatto are the creative toppings. MIUCHA offers marshmallows and crispy jelly for 50 cents extra and sea salt, matcha, taro, or cheese cream foam for 75 cents extra.

I ordered the Marshmallow Milk Tea topped with cheese cream foam ($4.60). The foamy topping is a popular choice for bubble tea traditionally and has recently caught on in the U.S. While cheese and tea might not be the most likely combination, the flavor is more like a cheesecake than a cheese plate. The drink is a pretty pale pink, with a heavy handful of mini pastel marshmallows on top. I expected it to taste like Lucky Charms cereal milk, but I was delightfully proven wrong.

Despite the sugary name, the milk is surprisingly light, allowing for the sweetness of the foam and tiny marshmallows to take center stage. The drink is a delicious, yet not too decadent, treat.

Ethan, the photographer, opted for the colorful Mixed Fresh

sert came complete with an Oreo, two poke sticks, chocolate syrup, a n d ,

Fruit Tea. Sadly, the amount of fruit pieces did not live up to the menu picture which depicts plenty of cubed fruit mixed in with the beverage. However, the drink made up for it in sweet flavor. “It's like juice,” Ethan said. For $4.35, MIUCHA does not pull a Starbucks by putting too much ice in the drink. The cup is fully filled with tea so you get the most for your money. (Pro Tip: This would make a killer cocktail if you find yourself in Chinatown without a mixer.)

After the drinks, I treated myself to the Matcha Ice Cream Egg Waffle ($7). The giant des-

of course, rainbow sprinkles. While there is nothing special about the ice cream,

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the egg waffle itself was amazing—crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle, and not too sweet. Unlike traditional waffle cones that get soggy as ice cream melts, the egg version tastes even better when the liquid soaks into the waffle’s bubbles.

I left MIUCHA with a mild sugar high, but not a full–on sugar coma. MIUCHA is well worth a trip downtown, and not just for the pictures. Whether you are studying (they have free Wi–Fi) or hanging out (they have cards and Jenga), MIUCHA is the perfect spot to stop for a cold treat on a warm spring day.

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Shopping Sustainably at Penn Closet Penn Closet aims to promote sustainability in style, straight from Williams Hall.

Shinyoung Hailey Noh

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When you walk out of your French 140 class and stop for a latte at WilCaf, you probably don't expect to stumble upon a thrift store. But—surprise!— nestled right next to WilCaf is Penn Closet, a student–run secondhand store.

Penn Closet has several racks of colorful clothing, a small stack of books, and a whiteboard outlining some of the most affordable prices you can find around campus. Prices are still subject to change, but as of now, most items cost from $5 to $15, and the most expensive item costs around $25. The store is full of fashionable finds, and some of them—labeled “boutique”—still have tags on them or are from an upscale brand.

Zoë Weissberg (C ‘18) and Damien Koussis (CW ‘20), co–founders of Penn Closet, met as members of a student club called Kinetic that focuses on the issues of sustainability, food insecurity, and homelessness.

After reading The Story of Stuff, Zoë realized she had to do something. At first, she and Damien wanted to focus on the staggering amount of waste left behind at the end of the school year, but PennMoves was already collecting them and donating usable items. That’s when they started looking into creating a space for students to share secondhand items year round.

They soon drew up a business plan for Penn Closet and pitched it to Penn Student Agencies, which Zoë said was a huge help. PSA helped them secure the space next to WilCaf for the next year Virginia Rodowsky | Photographer and a half. They were also supported by the Penn Green

Campus Partnership (Zoë and Damien recommend that any interested students apply for the Green Fund grant; it's very accessible and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis).

Organizers of similar projects, including the Clark Community Thrift Store, gave them advice as well.

Penn Closet has seen enthusiastic student response.

When it finally opened its doors on March 12, the store was full with items donated from just two days of drives. It continues to accept donations through a box in the store, which is kept outside after hours.

Although Penn Closet is a great place to get clothes for an affordable price, Zoë and Damien hope that it could also be a place where students can learn about sustainability.

The textile industry is the second most polluting, right after fossil fuels. Creating a pound of fabric pollutes 200 pounds of water. If you’d like to learn more about what you can do as a consumer, you can visit Penn Closet for their education events and screenings of documentaries.

Another mission of Penn Closet is to break down stereotypes about environmentalists.

“You don’t have to be a hippie to be an environmentalist. You can be an environmentalist and also be a Whartonite who dresses really sharply,” Zoë says.

So whether you’d like to find some affordable clothing, donate some shirts, or just learn more about sustainability, visit Penn Closet in Williams Hall; it’s open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and it accepts every form of payment except Venmo.

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Charcoal is Suddenly in Tons of Beauty Products: Here's Why The only kind of coal youʼd want for Christmas. Or any day, really.

Liz Kim Think of it as a vacuum. Activated charcoal, or charcoal that has been heated or otherwise treated to increase its absorptive effect, has a magnetic effect on toxins. It’s such an effective detoxifier that it’s sometimes used to help treat emergency situations such as certain types of poisoning or a drug overdose. But activated charcoal has transformed into a beauty trend, with many skincare and haircare brands boasting products containing the all– natural ingredient. You can even

drink it! Try this miracle worker yourself and use activated charcoal to...

1. Whiten your teeth

While it’s not recommended to use this more than once a week due to its abrasive properties, you can mix activated charcoal powder with water and dab the concoction onto your teeth to lift surface stains caused by substances like coffee.

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2. Cleanse your pores

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3. Detoxify your body

Drinking activated charcoal juice is an amazing way to pull unwanted toxins, such as pesticides in food, out of your system.

There are a few drawbacks to

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this, however. While it’s completely safe, activated charcoal will also bind to healthy vitamins and minerals inside your body (as well as medication like birth control—wait at least two hours between consuming charcoal and the pill!), so it’s important not to drink it more than once or twice a week.

Carly Ryan | Illustrator Pineapple Charcoal Lemon-aid at Sip–N–Glo Juicery for $8

4. Clear your scalp and hair

Is your scalp oily, itchy, or flaky? There are several brands of charcoal shampoo out there to naturally purify your scalp.

HASK Charcoal Clarifying Shampoo at Ulta Beauty for $5.99

The Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Announces Two Annual Phi Beta Kappa

Prizes for Honors Theses Two Phi Beta Kappa Theses Prizes of $1000 each and the

Frederick W. Meier, Jr. Thesis Prize of $1000 The competition will be conducted by the Executive Committee and Electorial Board of Phi Beta Kappa, with judging by ad hoc committees.

Essays may be submitted for consideration by faculty or by student authors.

A written evaluation by the thesis advisor must be included with the nomination.

Students must submit two (2) copies of their thesis for review.

One need not be a member of Phi Beta Kappa to submit an entry.

The deadline for submission is

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Sammie Yoon | Illustrator

Content warning: The following text describes eating disorders and can be disturbing and/or triggering for some readers.

Please find resources listed on the next page.

A

EATING DISORDERS DON'T DISCRIMINATE

w h irlwind freshman year of BYOs (calories) and socials (calories) and Friday nights (liquid calories) had set George Cary’s (W ’19) sights on weight loss. Nothing extreme—no juice cleanses, no Crossfit, just the distinct silhouette of getting fit. The summer, breezy and internship–less, would prove to be the perfect, three–month window for goal–setting and goal–reaching. He downloaded MyFitnessPal, tracked his meals, counted his steps.

Come fall, George was 30 to 40 pounds lighter and plastered in praise.

He maintained his new weight through a reliable pendulum of weekend revelry and weekday restraint, hovering at a happy 155 pounds. Then came sophomore spring. It was a semester shaped by stress: intense classes, a friend break–up, and the pounding pressure to lose more weight and lose it fast.

Sophomore summer was neither breezy nor internship–less. It was easy for George to isolate himself in his work; the months were hot and miserable and devoid of friends. He’d eat a protein bar or a salad for lunch, and the weight tumbled off. Then RA training slid around in mid–August, and with it came the social obligation of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Three meals is normal for many, but “my metabolism was completely 1 2 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E A P R I L 4 , 2 01 8

Men comprise roughly one third of people living with eating disorders. They represent significantly less of the dialogue.

men who shared similar narratives, but for one reason or another, stayed silent.

In 2011, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) estimated that 20 million women and ten million men in the United States live with an eating disorder. These ten million men often face a “double stigma” for seeking psychological help for a disorder characterized as “feminine or gay.” Although these approximations aren’t perfect—several assessors for eating disorders are geared towards females—they differ from past estimates.

Ten years ago, eight million Americans were estimated to have eating disorders, with only 10% of them being male.

Surprisingly, this statistical skyrocket actually indicates progress. The jump in male diagnoses can partially be attributed to better resources and awareness. It’s a tentative baby step in the right direction.

Still, there are leagues to go. Even media milestones—like TV storylines in which eating disorders aren’t used strictly as punch lines—suffer from their fair share of narrative problems (case in point: how Gossip Girl handled Blair’s bulimia). Netflix’s 2017 release of To the Bone, a film about an anorexic teenager on her fifth round of in–patient treatment, which vowed to spark conversation, met mixed reactions. Portrayals of eating disorders seem to fluctuate between offensive and sensationalized. And at a very base level, there exists an issue of representation: a disproportionate majority of these characters are young, affluent, white women with anorexia. Minimal airtime is allotted to the narratives of people of color

BY Angela Lin

shot,” George recalls. The pounds packed on. What had once been a point of pride—of healthy, measured weight loss—soon shriveled into a source of shame—binging, fasting, purging, binging again.

“It’s affected a lot of things. Eating is very social, in that you go to BYOs, dinners, lunches, brunches, whatever,” he says. “I say no to a lot of things, but it’s been a cycle, because unfortunately that has led me, when I don’t go, to be depressed. And being depressed leads to another binge.

And now I don’t want to go to events even more.”

On a Sunday night in late February, George spilled ten months of disordered eating into a 501–word private post on Facebook.

“Tomorrow starts National Eating Disorder Awareness week,” he begins, and soon dives into his own documentation of binge–fast cycles, of stress eating and restrictions, where “skinny felt fucking good” but soon spiraled into a seesaw of underweight, overweight, and rarely healthy.

“I was surprised by how many people reached out to me to say that they struggle with similar issues. That’s why I’m open about it,” George says, then pauses. “I’m not gonna lie—all the people that did reach out to me were female, and it sucks.”

Among the 300+ likes on George’s Facebook post, there were likely

" YOU CAN'T FIX THEIR HORRIBLE MARRIAGE, BUT YOU CAN GO NOT EAT FOR A FEW DAYS. YOU CAN LOSE WEIGHT. "

or LGBTQ+ people, who often struggle with disordered eating at higher rates.

It's not uncommon for men at Penn to cut and bulk, endure mandatory workouts during pledging, crash diet for sports, or engage in weight– loss tactics conventionally viewed as “feminine.” But somewhere between the pamphlets in Student Health Service and the crooked cobblestones of campus, the dialogue on eating disorders still fails to include them.

“It is definitely a stigma males may face, because this is classically known as a female issue or a female concern,” explains Deborah Westerling, a registered dietician at SHS and member of the Eating Concerns team.

“But the reality is, males get eating disorders, too. Eating disorders don’t discriminate for gender, for race, for ethnicity, for socioeconomic status.”

Eating disorders didn’t discriminate for Dan* (C '20). When his childhood chubbiness snowballed into borderline obesity in high school, Dan dove into a strict regimen of cardio and calorie counts, some days only eating 1300 calories.

“There was a point where even I knew that I was pretty healthy, but I didn’t like how I looked,” Dan recalls. “I wanted to keep going. And I don’t think that would’ve happened if there wasn’t some kind of societal pressure.”

Instead of food, Dan would drink milk. Other days, he’d eat 1300 calories worth of fruit, far from the 2800+ calories the Institute of Medicine recommends for a male of his age and activity level. It didn’t take long for his mom to notice his curtailed appetite, or for his brothers to make jabs about his new and gaunter frame.

“It seems almost dismissive when they joke about it or make com-

ments. It’s very encompassing. It takes over your life, in a way. And so, to have it be just a snide comment—it’s very frustrating.”

Dan hasn’t sought professional support within Penn, and he isn’t open about his struggles, either. If he were to tell his fraternity, he doesn’t know how supportive or dismissive they might be.

“I’ve never seen anyone be open about it,” he explains, “so I don’t know how others around me and myself would react if someone else were to.

People keep it so personal. It’s not one of those things that have become culturally supported.”

Most health trends—kale smoothies, spin class, FitTea—target women. Given that women are the primary consumers of the $240 billion U.S. health and wellness market, this is smart marketing. But beneath the economics lay differing expectations of gender, differing preconceptions of how acceptable it is for a man versus a woman to be conscious of their body.

“You see a lot of girls going to Sweetgreen or HipCityVeg. There’s not a lot of stigma against it,” Dan remarks. “I just remember really vividly, early on in my freshman year, I got chicken breast instead of fried chicken, and one of my friends who is a girl was like, ‘Really? You’re not getting the fried chicken?’”

Through mental and environmental shifts, Dan has improved his relationship with food. But it isn’t perfect and might never be: “There are the psychological after–effects that I feel to this day.”

So when the urge to diet–restrict resurfaces, Dan finds it surprisingly easy to mask the reality of restriction. If friends ever question why he so often refuses lunch invites or drinks, he writes it off as being too busy.

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“Even if I’m not being that unhealthy in my diet, it’ll be like ‘Oh, I just want to be healthy this week.’ I wouldn’t go out. I wouldn’t be drinking with friends or anything.”

It’s an excuse, reflective of the hyperactivity of Penn culture, that almost always works.

Zach Fox (C ‘17) went to weight loss camp for the first time when he was 12.

Like George and Dan, Zach grew up chubby; he wore t–shirts to the pool and cracked jokes about his weight so other kids wouldn’t. Around that time, his parents wrangled through a messy divorce.

“You can’t fix their horrible marriage, but you can go not eat for a couple of days. You can lose weight,” Zach says. “You can control your happiness through something that seems easy— it’s easy not to eat at a certain point.”

When he started seventh grade 15 pounds lighter, he felt accomplished.

But the pounds kept falling off, and his weight loss spiraled by the winter.

Measured weight loss turned into hiding food under tables and lying about eating. He was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa later that year, before he turned 13.

For Zach, his anorexia served as a method of control and an outlet for what he deemed “perfectionism.” But there is no set origin for developing an eating disorder. Risk factors result from genetics; others are the product of one’s environment.

As the weight dropped, compliments morphed into worried observations.

Zach started seeing a nutritionist once a week. He’d chug water before weigh– ins to inflate the numbers on the scale.

In eighth grade, standing at 4’9” and with four desperate gallons of water pooled in his stomach, Zach failed to meet 50 pounds at his weigh–in. He was hospitalized at CHOP, tube–fed, then bounced from a residential treatment center in Wisconsin to an outpatient program in Chicago, whose methodology of heavy monitoring Zach credits for “rewiring” his brain.

Still, his mom ate lunch with him in the parking lot every day at the start of ninth grade, which he now finds a “bit embarrassing.” Zach also credits comedy for saving him. He diverted his “perfectionism” into stand–up, “took that energy and poured it into something that could actually help my life.”

There are moments his “perfectionism” overwhelms him, but unlike anorexia, comedy “won’t kill you.” It’s manageable.

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, only 46.9% of patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa are “cured.” Zach falls

" It's NOt like you can take a pill and get rid of it. " within this minority. He channels his perfectionism, once an obstacle to his recovery, into his comedy.

NEDA lists “perfectionism” as a dominant psychological risk factor for an eating disorder, and Westerling pinpoints this characteristic in much of the Penn body.

“Putting a ton of high–achieving people who are constantly worried about the way that they’re perceived by others in the same spot is going to generate some sort of hypersensitivity to your own personal weaknesses,” Ryan Leone (CW ‘19), a member of the varsity sprint football team, notes. “And that can manifest itself on a physical side as well.”

According to NEDA, 33% of male athletes in weight–class sports (wrestling, rowing) and aesthetic sports (gymnastics, figure skating) are affected by eating disorders. Within this subculture of weigh–ins and the Bod Pod, a screening device that measures body fat percentage, some Penn athletes temporarily upend their lifestyles to even qualify to play.

In Ryan’s experience, “diet, fitness, exercise—it’s on the minds of people most times, but it’s particularly on the minds of people in sports that require weight limits.”

Some players resort to measures reminiscent of disordered eating: diet restriction, over–exercise, not eating at all. They may not drink anything the

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day of a weigh–in and will frequent the sauna in hopes of losing water weight.

Marcus Jones (C '18), also a member of the sprint football team, must cut 20 to 25 pounds in the span of six weeks in order to meet the newly–increased 178–pounds weight limit. He subsists on small portions of salad, lean meat, milk, and water, with no bread or sugar. When the weigh–in date nears, Marcus stops eating altogether.

These restrictions add to his stress, and come midterm season, he’s often too tired to stay awake and study.

Marcus shrugs off comments from those who have a hard time associating his masculinity with the traditionally feminine notion of diet restriction.

His mom worries about his health, but Marcus doesn’t see it as disordered eating—only a means to an end, something he’s willing to undergo because he loves the sport. Ryan, too, doesn’t think any of his teammates have eating disorders. “That I know of,” he appends.

Penn does have resources for students with eating disorders, men included. But finding a more permanent solution might be more difficult. The Eating Concerns team at SHS follows a procedure of assessment, pattern identification, goal–setting, and individualized support. CAPS hosts a weekly support group. RAs and GAs are equipped to screen for eating disorders.

David Zhao (C '19), an RA in Fisher–Hassenfeld, commends CAPS for using a male resident as the example in the training. Student groups like Project HEAL (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law) offer mentorship and awareness initiatives.

But men who seek out or are referred to off–campus professional treatment face a very real manifestation of the gender stigma: many eating disorder centers, like the Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, only treat females.

George meets with a nutritionist at SHS, a medical doctor, and has utilized CAPS. He’s found Penn’s resources helpful. But he says, “This is an issue you have to deal with on a daily basis. I meet with them once every two weeks, but at the end of the day, it’s my decision as to what happens at 9 p.m. every night. They’re not there to hold my hand.”

A support system of friends, on the

other hand, can check in with him more frequently than professionals or parents. Actively pursuing self–care and positivity has helped. “It’s not like you can take a pill and get rid of it,” George says. “This isn’t something you can just turn off.”

Dan has also experienced the tenacity of his eating disorder. “Not to dismiss alcoholism, but you can avoid alcohol, cut it off. You still have to deal with eating food. It’s a daily thing.”

“It’s very important to be surrounded by other people who are encouraging,” Dan said. “They don’t have to know about it, but it’s a worthwhile thing to just be around people that can make you happy and more confident.”

Being around supportive people helps even if you don't talk about the eating disorder, "which you should," Dan says. It's one way to bring the idea of men with eating disorders out of the doctor's office and into the dialogue. *Indicates name has been changed

Angela Lin is a freshman from Eden Prairie, Minnesota studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. She is a Features staff writer.

Campus Resources The HELP Line: 215-898-HELP: A 24–hour– a–day 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.

Student Health Service: 215-746-3535: Student Health Service can provide medical evaluations and treatment to patients with diagnosed eating disorders or who think that they might have one. Both male and female providers can perform a 30–minute examination that includes reviewing medical history, doing a physical exam, and possibly arranging for lab work or other studies needed.

Reach–A–Peer Hotline: 215-573-2727 (every day from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.): A peer hotline to provide peer support, information, and referrals to Penn students.

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Packaging Penn:

What your tour guides don't tell you when you visit campus Investigating Penn's promise to the class of 2022 through a campus tour Sharon Christner “Here we are on College Green,” our guide exclaimed in a sing–songy voice. “There’s always tons of events and activities happening here—everyone always comes together and hangs out on College Green.”

Around us, students were rushing to class in 40–degree slush. Faces blank, earbuds in, hoods up, heads down. College Green was empty except for a probable freshman cutting across to get to College Hall, and another tour group staring reverently at the bronze Ben Franklin.

A little while earlier, seven high school students flanked by parental entourages (and me, sans entourage, in a borrowed high school hoodie) had been herded out of Cohen Hall into the bright afternoon sunlight to get our first glimpse of the University of Pennsylvania.

Our tour guide, a posh and peppy Wharton sophomore, was determined to show us the very best of what Penn has to offer.

Kite and Key tour guides are on the front lines of the University’s marketing campaign, showing thousands of visitors every year that Penn is the place to be. With

2,445 newly–minted Quakers wondering what life at Penn is really like, now is an important time to consider the truth content in our school’s sales pitch.

While many Penn students may have mixed feelings about the University, the Kite and Key guides have made it their job to convince prospectives otherwise. But making Penn look good can conflict with an honest representation of the school’s problems with academic policies, campus culture, and mental health.

On this particular tour, our guide told us how “we all” go to the football games, about homecoming, toast–throwing, the engineer who built a toast zamboni. Topics which, while charming, seem largely irrelevant to the day–to–day life of the typical Penn student.

I knew I couldn’t blame this specific guide, since all Kite and Key members are trained to give the same tour.

As we approached Van Pelt, one prospective student asked our guide if she had applied Early or Regular decision. She had, in fact, been deferred and then waitlisted by her top choice school. In the meantime, she got accepted to Penn.

She pitched it as the best thing that had ever happened to her. ___________________ At that first stop on the steps of Penn Commons, our guide told us all about the College’s sector requirements. They’re not really any extra work, she emphasized, and you can always find sector classes relevant to your interests. According to data from Penn Course Review and interviews by the Daily Pennsylvanian, many Penn students and professors strongly disagree.

Courses that fulfill Physical World and Natural Sciences and Mathematics sectors, for example, were respectively rated 0.4 and 0.8 points below the College average on Penn Course Review’s 4.0 scale.

She had only good things to say about the Critical Writing Seminar. “It helps you get your writing from high school– to college–level right when you enter Penn. There are so many options, so you’re bound to find a class that you like.” Even better, “you get really close with the people in your writing seminar.” She let slip that she was putting it off until senior year.

On study abroad: “Penn wants you to study abroad.

They’ll make it happen, no matter what school you’re in.”

But according to 2015 study data, only 7% of engineers and 5% of nursing students were able to study abroad due to cramped academic requirements.

While we strolled toward the Engineering Quad, someone asked about the difference between on– and off–campus housing.

“The reason people move off campus is just because the maximum number of people you can live with on campus is four, and you can live with more people off campus,” she said.

But Penn students have cited the cheaper alternatives and limited freedom as the main reasons for getting off campus quickly.

Alison Thompson (C ’18), calculated that she “could save a couple thousand dollars a year” by living in a house on 39th and Pine Streets. “It was an easy tradeoff.” ___________________ Noah Lobell (C’20) wanted to be a tour guide since high

school, and joined Kite and Key soon after arriving on campus freshman year. “Every tour guide is ‘selling it’ to an extent,” he said. For example, “I didn’t really like the food in the dining halls. It’s all about painting bad things in a good light.”

But he doesn’t think it’s all about ‘selling.’ “Each semester, I get progressively more honest.

As people go longer in Kite and Key, they see Penn more for what it is.”

He does his best to portray life at Penn as happy and balanced. Especially since changing his major from Biological Basis of Behavior to Urban Studies, Noah is honestly happy with his Penn experience—so much so that he draws a blank when prospective students ask him “What’s your least favorite part of Penn?”

I posed that same question to the Kite and Key panelists leading an information session, which was held as an alternative to a campus tour. After an uncomfortable pause, one guide piped up.

“The worst part of Penn is honestly how many, like, opportunities there are. It sounds

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F E AT U R E

cheesy but it’s literally true.

Like, for me, do I want to be pre–med? Or just finance?”

After all, Noah remarked, “Kite and Key looks for the happy people.”

Ryan Leone (CW ‘19), the current President Emeritus of Kite and Key, agreed. People who are “genuinely happy with their life here” he said, make the strongest applicants.

“A good amount of self– selection goes into who applies in the first place,” Ryan said.

“There are plenty of people on campus who, the last thing they’d want is to be a tour guide.” To those people, he would admit that, “Once [prospectives] get here, of course it’s not going to meet expectations, and it will be disappointing in some ways. We’re not trying to brainwash people … but we are trying to put Penn in the best possible light.”

Our guide moved on to “ways to get involved in Philadelphia,” but didn’t mention

the Netter Center or Civic House. She named only one: Restaurant Week.

Next, a spiel on academic resources. “Every class has a free tutor.” I blinked. The only courses guaranteed to have open tutoring available through the Tutoring Center are intro– level STEM and business classes, and even those fill up almost immediately. Tutoring Center Director Donna Brown has told the Daily Pennsylvanian, “We don’t have a tutor for every course.”

When I tuned back in, the topic was faculty. “All professors are accessible and want to help you. If you want to get involved in research, literally just reach out to any professor.

They will find you a spot in their lab.” She gave an anecdote about a friend who was handed a research position without even asking.

Alexis Gutierrez (C ’18) had a different experience getting started in research. “I started

filling out applications at the end of August when work study jobs were being posted … of around 15 applications I got a response from three.”

Of those, two turned her away before she finally got a lab position. She’s found this experience to be common among her peers in STEM. Our guide moved on to mental health resources. “We know coming to a new school can be stressful, so it’s one of our priorities that everyone is happy and healthy.” She listed some mental health student groups, and mentioned that CAPS is great about seeing students who are “a little stressed” right away. But students have often complained of long wait times before they’re seen by a CAPS clinician, and many struggle with more than just “a little stress.”

Ethan Terner (C ’18) describes one CAPS encounter as a “nightmare”: distressed enough that he was about to

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drop out of Penn, Ethan called CAPS’ weekend emergency line.

“Well, are you about to hurt yourself?” He remembers them asking.

He told them no, but that he really needed help.

“You’ll have to wait and call us during the week." ___________________ “When someone asks about mental health, even in the wake of a student suicide, I just talk about Penn’s mental health resources instead of specific events or challenges,” Noah said. “I don’t want to lie and paint Penn as an idyllic place where everyone’s happy—but, most people aren’t committing suicide.”

As Penn has seen 14 students who have died by suicide since 2013, mental health can be a difficult issue for tour guides to address. Reagan Bracknell (C ’21), a member of Kite and Key since her first semester, takes the same approach when asked about the state of mental health at Penn. “Though the actual suicide has a negative effect, it almost makes me look at Penn in a better light, because of how they respond to it.”

According to Ryan, Kite and Key leadership works closely with the admissions office to decide how to address sensitive issues. He hopes that guides are “upfront” about mental health, but encourages Noah’s and Reagan’s approach “so guides don’t have to give opinions; they can just give facts about university resources.”

“Everyone gets involved in so many clubs and activities. Our clubs are so social. It’s, literally, insane.” Suddenly she became more excited than she had been on the entire tour. “We also have lineages!” She talked enthusiastically about her bigs and littles in her consulting club and sorority until voices came behind our group.

Two guys, clad in Patagonia

sweatshirts and backwards baseball caps, had come to embarrass our guide.

“Hey! Hey! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” “It’s not my birthday,” she assured us.

They yelled the birthday song loudly and out of tune, and swaggered out of sight.

At the Quad, we joined four other groups atop McClelland to hear about freshman housing. I decided to test the waters.

“Are there any cockroaches in the dorms?”

She laughed nervously. “I’ve only seen one bug in my time here—you can always call maintenance and they always come like immediately. They’ll come kill the bug for you if you happen to see one.”

With a record–smashing number of high school students vying to attend Penn— and top colleges vying to attract these applicants—Kite and Key guides show off the shiniest sides of Penn. But the convincing power of our sales pitch can’t come at the cost of honesty.

As we left the Upper Quad Gate, I wormed my way to the front of the group. I put on my shy–high–school–kid voice and asked how people’s mental health is at Penn. Is everyone really stressed out? Are people mostly happy here?

“We have so many mental health resources,” she repeated, but this wasn’t what I had asked.

I pushed again.

“We are an academically rigorous university, so of course once in a while it can get a little bit stressful—like any school,” she equivocated. “But yeah, I think everyone’s happy here,” she laughed. “I don’t know.”

Sharon Christner is a junior from Lititz, Pennsylvania studying English. She is a Features staff writer.

FILM & TV

r? e i s a E g n i n ear L e k a M s Do Movie You don’t have to be in cinema studies to watch movies in class at Penn.

Across many departments at Penn, film and other forms of media are implemented as ways into analysis and discussion.

They channel popular culture and arts in a way that books simply cannot replicate and relay that information to students in a captivating and immersive way.

Well outside Penn’s cinema studies department, there are courses that take advantage of film as a cultural resource and incorporate movies into their syllabi.

Berlin—History, Politics, and Culture In this course within the German studies department, film is used to unpack the complex history of a city at the crux of 20th–century world politics.

In this course, students watch Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis, The Murderers are Among Us,

and The Life of Others. Brooke Krancer (C '20), Social Media Editor for the DP, emphasizes the depth of knowledge these movies provided. She said, "Each film really spoke a lot to different things we learned in the course, like how people viewed Berlin after WWI, how the Nazis used propaganda, how German civilians psychologically dealt with the aftermath of WWII, and what Berlin was like during the Cold War.” Given that this course is designed for students planning on attending a study abroad problem in Berlin, the incorporation of cultural resources like film mirrors the kind of preparation some tourists use to gain familiarity with a foreign place.

Movies provide insight into

history and culture often more effectively than lectures or texts.

Contemporary Native Americans Film and other forms of media are readily available to relay information of social, political, and cultural importance. In this anthropology course, the rich diversity of the culture and experiences of indigenous North American communities are emphasized through film. Emmie Gocke (C '21) said that "film definitely helped with the learning process because it showed many Native Americans talking about their experiences, as well as [demonstrated] artistic representations by native people.”

Film and media effectively encapsulate pieces of popular culture, identity, modern life, and politics, which are crucial

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to understanding the complexities of a diverse contemporary community.

Medical Missionaries and Partners This health and societies freshman seminar used movies to illustrate the interaction between colonialism and volunteerism overseas. One of those movies is the 2009 science–fiction blockbuster Avatar. Chioma Duru (C '21) remarks that the seminar “was an extremely thought–provoking class [that] made us analyze different systems in healthcare which impacted global health in some

Zovinar Khrimian way. We also analyzed history, bioethics, and rhetoric, and how it was used to form problematic narratives in history.” Film is an excellent means of representing the narratives that are alive in a particular time and place, and for that reason can be used to challenge and inspire students across a range of disciplines.

These three courses are just a few examples of how instructors have found ways to incorporate film into courses outside of cinema studies, and the potential movies have to elevate study beyond the pages of a book.

The Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa will award the

Elmaleh Prize for an undergraduate essay in the Social Sciences, and the

Humanities Prize for an undergraduate essay in the Humanities.

The competition will be conducted by the Executive Committee and Electorial Board of Phi Beta Kappa, with judging by ad hoc committees. Essays, which can not be senior theses, may be submitted for consideration by faculty or by student authors.

The ad hoc committee may seek the opinion of other members of the faculty in evaluating entries.

One need not be a member of Phi Beta Kappa to submit an entry.

Each award will carry an

Honorarium of $150 The deadline for submission is

Wednesday April 25th Essays should be submitted to:

The College Office 120 Claudia Cohen Hall, 249 South 36th Street

www.ConstellarCorporation.com | Emily@constellarcorporation.com | 215.387.2712 ext. 101 A P R I L 4 , 2 01 8 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 17

FILM & TV

How Did Political Correctness Change Comedy?

You could never make anything like 'Scary Movie' today.

Zovinar Khrimian You only need to watch the first ten minutes of Scary Movie to make two very clear observations.

First, you realize that a campy parody like this is going to rely on an abundance of overplayed gags, many of which will hit, and a handful that won’t.

Second, you will remind yourself that no one could ever get away with making a movie like this today. The film’s mockery of intellectual disability is practically unwatchable, as are the abundance of sophomoric closeted–gay–man jokes. Is the film entertaining? Absolutely. But to me, someone who was much too young to watch it upon release, it already feels like a cultural relic less than two decades later.

A lot has changed in the 18 years since Scary Movie was released, and many comics feel that the public has lost touch with the soul of their craft because of those changes. When a joke rubs someone the wrong way, it isn’t uncommon to see them package up their feelings on the matter through tweets or online essays. Every individual’s response is driven by their own experience or personal relationship with the subject matter. With this in mind, who should determine where the line of offense is drawn?

I propose taking a step

back and looking at humor contextually. What's its purpose? Who does it serve?

Needless to say, just because something makes someone laugh doesn’t make it okay.

Cruelty can make people

ingly problematic, satire Tropic Thunder eight years later. One could argue that the latter took more risks, particularly in the use of a form of blackface on Robert Downey Jr.’s character Kirk

heinous as blackface in such a recent film.

It isn’t fair to say that, simply because Tropic Thunder is self–aware, one shouldn’t be offended by a reference to an under-

Annie Marie Grudem | Illustrator laugh; a joke can be the first stepping stone in an ugly chain of hatred. But, in many cases, the key to finding balance on the edge of an offensive joke is about keeping it smart and making it hit the right chords. Offensive humor can’t be deemed passable just because it’s funny—an initially benign joke can become something sinister if it isn’t executed properly.

What came off as passable in Scary Movie can be judged against the far superior, though seem-

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Lazarus—a method actor who undergoes plastic surgery to portray a black man in the film within the film. But much of what made Ben Stiller’s comedy a critical success was the context in which these satirical gags were pulled off. Tropic Thunder aimed to satirize the film industry, and with it the excessive nature of method acting, award–baiting transformation roles, and the use of white actors to play people of color. Even so, it’s difficult to picture something as

standably painful piece of cultural history. Offensive humor may not even be the best word to describe comedy that dances on the line of what is acceptable, as its goal is not to offend outright, but rather to tease audiences. We all draw the line somewhere— playing with that line is something comedians do to get us to think. To discuss comedy with an open

mind and in the appropriate context is what a satire like Tropic Thunder encourages audiences to do.

Eschewing ignorance and looking at every piece of comedy in the context of our flawed system doesn’t necessarily mean rejecting it on the basis of political incorrectness.

One can be socially aware, while simultaneously accepting that being a little bit offended is okay. The so–called “War on Comedy” will likely pressure comedians into being smart with their provocative humor. Good jokes tend to bite into some kind of truth, and the truth is that there is a lot about the way we live and the world we live in that is wrong. Humor that challenges us to recognize that, even if it makes us feel a bit uncomfortable, has its place. While it’s important to know where to draw the line between funny and offensive, audiences must also remember why a potentially insulting joke was made in the first place.

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ARTS

Terrill Warrenburg's Artistic Life After Penn The artist and alum curates some of the best art in Philly.

Photo Courtesy of Terrill Warrenburg

Sherry Tseng For those who break from the traditional finance or tech route at Penn, their lives are substantially different. And particularly for those working independently in the arts and

creative fields there is an even a larger divergence from the norm. One such person is Terrill Warrenburg (C ’16), a recent Penn grad who has pursued and found success in her art.

A curator and artist, Terrill has a unique day everyday, considering the multifaceted nature of her work. To put it simply, there’s no routine.

There’s no sitting at a computer

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in an office from 9 to 5 every day counting down the minutes till the end of the workday. The common thread to her everyday is the creativity and novelty she constantly pushes out.

Her role as a curator actually began at Penn. After working for the ICA on the curatorial side (see: an inflated latex pig at the current exhibit) for a year, she then interned at Locks Gallery (600 Washington Square South), one of the first commercial galleries in the city centered around contemporary art. There, she now works as the art fair and exhibition coordinator, working with the director on the curatorial pitch.

In addition to this, she curates at Little Berlin (2430 Coral Street), a self–run artist collective, home to Philly’s largest zine library and occasional pop exhibits, poetry readings, and performances.

It was there at Little Berlin where Terrill curated her first big show, FOUND, which was inspired quite literally by the garbage she would regularly see on the MFL subway line passing through Kensington. The idea was to create art from waste.

Organizing a community clean up with RAIR (Recycled Art in Residency), she collected some of the waste (mostly steel or glass) and invited artists around Philadelphia to find the art in what is seemingly trash, hence the title FOUND. Her second exhibit, titled EST & UTC + 5, was a collaboration between ten artists from Philadelphia and ten from Karachi, Pakistan, the title referring to the time difference between the two settings. Conceptually, it centered around building relationships between the artists and building a joint project together—all online,

the artists never meeting. At the end, the artwork came together, exhibited simultaneously on opposite ends of the world and showing the relationship between art and empathy. On her own piece, she and Sadia Khatri documented their meals: the flavor, the atmosphere, the smells, everything, narrating as they ate. In a way, the food and presentation served as the art itself, a window to the typically “concealed and internalized dialogues with ourselves,” Terrill describes. “By the end, I felt so close to Sadia after doing this.

We know things about each other probably more so than if we had sat down and had a meal together.”

As to the rest of her personal art, it, too, is a creation out of the mundane, starting with an accident: an ink spill. At the time, she was working on a separate art project when she knocked over an ink bottle.

Looking down at the paper towel, she could only think, “Wow, this is so much more beautiful than whatever I had just been working for ten hours.” From that one spill, she saw an opportunity to “counter this unnatural strive for perfection which is facilitated by digital technology,” she says in a statement on the piece. It’s to highlight, as cliché and cheesy as it may sound, the perfections of the imperfections.

Terrill says Penn "grounded" her a lot. "It made me think of things more practically and about the intersection with different fields,” Terrill says. While the arts may not be the most popular field to enter after Penn, the school does a pretty good job producing artists and allowing creativity to thrive. And Terrill is living proof of that.

ARTS

SPEC Art Collective Presents: "Art in Translation" An exhibit That Bridges the past and present

By Xinyi Wan

Virginia Rodowsky | Photographer

The first time I looked at a Rothko painting, my mouth fell open in awe. Not the kind of awe where I was astounded by the genius of the work, but the kind of awe that a piece like this was worth millions. If I had drawn a block and filled in with colors on a canvas, what would be the difference? This is just one of the many criticisms modern and contemporary art receive: its abstractness is almost too abstract to make an ounce of sense. In comparison to art of the past, which was very much characterized by portraitures and landscapes, there’s no definite object, no definite figure, or even a definite shape in modern art. How can the two ever be connected?

That’s what this year’s SPEC Art Collective exhibit, Art in Translation: Present Reinterpretations of Art History was all about: the connection between the art of the past and the present.

As one of the committees of SPEC, which hosts campus wide social activities, among them Spring Fling, the Art Collective aims to “introduce and engage students to the thriving art scene on the university’s campus and greater Philadelphia area.” Opening last Tuesday on March 27 in the Fox Art Gallery, the show, co–curated

by Caroline Miller (C '19) and Yasmin Gee (C ‘18), features artworks by 21 students. The

title alludes to the relationship between each piece of art and other masterpieces or ideas from different periods of art history from the Renaissance to the contemporary movement, whether that relationship be a direct reference or even a tangential commentary.

One such piece was by Madison Greiner. At first look, Madison’s portrayal of two masks seems conventional, nothing really out of the ordinary. But on closer examination (and with the explanation printed beside it), it’s obvious that the piece is meant to be a tribute to Grant Wood’s "American Gothic," the infamous painting of an Iowa farmer, pitchfork in hand, and his daughter (not his wife, as most people believe).

Madison’s masks, which once belonged in her parents’ antique collection, resemble the relationship between the father–daughter duo. In her artist statement, she says, “Thirty years later, after their divorce I always felt like these weird masks somehow demanded their own almost human–like presence both individually but especially as a pair.” The masks demanded a life of its own, one to share with another—just as "American Gothic" focused attention on the pairing between the two characters.

This link between the past and the present is also evident in Carson Kahoe’s (C '19) pho-

tography series. Each photo of the series captures an American Muslim student holding a painting in order to “construct an image of Muslims and ‘Orientals’ as a monolith,” his statement describes. Beside each photo is an interview excerpt with the student featured on his or her experiences in the States.

Delving into the phenomenon of Orientalism, his photography explores the the way the East is presented in the West, specifically how the paintings reduce the identity of Muslims to fit a European mold of what they should look like. “In to-

day’s period of global political and social upheaval...the depictions of Muslims in Orientalist paintings established stereotypes that continue to inform and influence modern patterns of bias,” he continues.

One distinction about this exhibit is perhaps not the works themselves, but the specificity and detail in the printed labels and artist statements. Contrary to some exhibits, which display only the most basic information of title, artist, date, and material, Art in Translation gave the whole story. As Caroline explains,

part of this comes from trying to increase the accessibility of the exhibit to students, such that ambiguity and openness don’t deter students from coming in and appreciating the art.

In that sense, “translation” as it appears in the title is both a reference to the dialogue between works of art in the present and past as well as one between the artist and viewer.

The show was all in all a bridge to the past. As history gets rewritten more and more to incorporate more voices, it is reinterpreted again and again.

In this case, it is recreated.

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ARTS

Club Spotlight: Penn Create is an Outlet for the Arts Feeling those creative juices leaking?

Hit up Penn Create.

Sherry Tseng Photo Courtesy of Penn Create

Look around campus and Penn Create was the brain- ation of art. Maybe the closyou’re bound to see a laptop child of Rachel Brodsky (C est thing was Art Club, but sticker or a mug from Penn ’19), the current president. that was largely organized Create. The people who have Actually, to be more precise, around mural painting sesthem probably aren't in the it was founded even before sions, field trips, and public club. But the fact that they then—while Rachel was at art projects. There was nothhave them should says some- Penn for Quaker Days. As ing that was just to create.

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Individual Leases andArts Utilities Included into existence. It’s a Maybe the word “club” here• All an Amenities English and Fine ma- came isn’t even used correctly. Penn jor, it isn’t all too surprising “fine arts club on campus Create is more of an environ- that Rachel looked into the geared towards being in an ment, one that brings togeth- existing fine arts resources, Call environment where people er artists from across campus hoping to find her communi- draw and paint with other years. But people,” Rachel describes. to create both art and a com- ty for the next four 215.662.0802 munity. back then, there was no club That’s it. As simple as it is, cre- it’s a setting for people to creFounded two years ago, dedicated solely to the Email

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ate together, with the club providing the materials. In each of their weekly meetings, the members are given a different prompt, designed as a source of inspiration for them to create. One time, it was a game of Telephone.

As the word or phrase passed around the room, each member would receive a version of the original idea, which they would then translate into a form of art. At the end of the session, the club members shared their art, seeing how each idea evolved into another. Another time, it was each member bringing in a sentimental object and then placing it into the center to form a still–life. Because each member was seated at a different angle to the still–life, each had a different perspective, showing how one thing could be viewed through a multitude of lenses.

The point of the club, though, is to foster a sense of creativity, often overlooked in the spirit of Penn culture.

It’s not a formal setting for artists. In fact, the majority of its board does not consist of art students. Rachel herself is now a physics major, Joy Sun (C ’19), the social chair, is a biochemistry major, Adina Singer (C ’20), the fundraising chair, is a chemistry

major, and Grace Ringlein (C ’20), the marketing chair, is a physics major as well. And for all of these people, who are relatively removed from the academic arts, Penn Create has been their outlet.

“One thing I got from Penn Create is that it’s built my muscles because I have to carry around so many pots of paint,” Grace laughs. But, in all seriousness, the club is a homecoming, bringing its members back to their simple and pure love of brush and paint. “Art class was always one of the fun things in elementary school because you got to play with clay and paint,” Joy says. “And now I have that again.”

Though not currently a SAC–funded club, Penn Create nevertheless provides all the materials so that the members can have the same sort of experience Grace and Joy have had. “That’s the beauty of the club,” Adina chimes. To do so, they fundraise, selling laptop stickers and mugs—all hand–made and designed by the members of the club. Their next operation? Shot glasses for Fling.

Meetings for Penn Create are open to the public and are held weekly on Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m. in JMHH F65.

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