February 15, 2022

February 15, 2022 | 34st.com

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

LETTER FROM THE 'LOVE, ACTUALLY' EDITOR

04 The city of non– romantic love

06

A book for every Greek love

12

Love in activism

15

First–place essay

I

On self–growth, love languages, and love, actually

’ve never been more in love than I am right now.

No, I’m not in a committed relationship, nor do I have my eyes on any particular person. If there’s one thing absent in my life, it’s romance.

A year and a half ago, I was devastated to say goodbye to my summer fling as he headed halfway across the world, leaving me to my childhood bedroom and Zoom classes. For some reason I couldn’t get it through my head that we were over—I clung onto the idea of him because I thought, somewhere, that it would ground me. Unsurprisingly, it did the opposite, and I spent most of my time feeling miserable and longing for things I didn’t have.

I was lonely because I convinced myself that that’s what happens when there’s a lack of romance in one’s life. It wasn’t until after a few months of moping that I emerged from my depression den and stopped taking other forms of love for granted.

I’m sure many people are aware of the five love languages: words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, physical touch, and acts of service. These don’t just apply to couples. But I’ve come to realize that these five groups can be too general, and each and every person loves in their own way. For my friend Sarah, love is leaving a sweet voicemail if I can’t answer her call. For my dad, it’s the hand– drawn cards he gives me on every birthday. My roommate Emma is the queen of gift giving, always accompanied by the words “I saw this and thought of you.” My mom gets me my favorite ice cream cake to celebrate any achievement, no matter how small.

Even that summer fling, now just an old friend, sends me song

recommendations every now and then.

Reciprocating that love has become one of my daily goals. I make soup for my roommates on cold days, I compliment my friends to make them smile, I call my great–grandma every Friday afternoon.

I show myself love, too. I wear matching pajamas to feel a little more glamorous. I collect perfume samples because the scents make me happy. I go on walks by myself, and I end every night with a cup of tea to unwind before bed.

When I say I’m in love, I don't mean romantically. I mean that I love and feel loved every day, by my family, my friends, and myself. I’ve learned to observe closely and admire the many ways in which those around me choose to demonstrate their love, and I find new ones all the time. My heart became so full when I took note of this. As this issue's namesake movie says,“If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.”

Illustration by Becky Lee SSSF,

Arielle

34TH STREET EXECUTIVE BOARD Emily White, Editor–in–Chief: white@34st.com Eva Ingber, Campus Editor: ingber@34st.com Walden Green, Culture Editor: green@34st.com Arielle Stanger, Assignments Editor: stanger@34st. com

34TH STREET STAFF Features Staff Writers: Sejal Sangani, Angela Shen, Jiahui (Emilee) Gu, Avalon Hinchman

Staff Writers: Natalia Castillo, Chloe Hunt, Xinyi (Cindy) Jiang, Emma Marks, Shahana Banerjee, Jack Nycz, Mame Balde

Focus Beat Writers: Gabrielle Galchen, Sheil Desai, Connor Nakamura, Lina Chihoub, Sruthi Srinivas

Multimedia Associates: Roger Ge, Max Mester, Derek Wong, Andrea Barajas, Rachel Zhang

34TH STREET EDITORS Mira Sydow, Features Editor Meg Gladieux, Features Editor Julia Esposito, Word on the Street Editor Jean Paik, Focus Editor Kira Wang, Style Editor Alana Bess, Ego Editor Evan Qiang, Music Editor Irma Kiss–Barath, Arts Editor Cindy Zhang, Film & TV Editor Andrew Yang, Multimedia Editor Kira Wang, Audience Engagement Editor

Style Beat Writers: W. Anthony Pérez, Anna Hochman, Shelby Abayie, Naima Small

Audience Engagement Associates: Kayla Cotter, Yamila Frej, Vidur Saigal, Caleb Crain, Katherine Han, Daniel Kochupura, Emily Xiong, Gemma Hong

2

Music Beat Writers: Derek Wong, Grayson Catlett, Kate Ratner, Samara Himmelfarb Arts Beat Writers: Jessa Glassman, Kaliyah Dorsey, Emily Maiorano Film & TV Beat Writers: Jacob A. Pollack, Kayla Cotter, Julia Polster Ego Beat Writers: Anjali Kishore, Vidur Saigal, Grace Busser, Ariella Linhart

34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

THIS ISSUE Copy Editor: Brittany Darrow Design Editor: Tyler Kliem Cover Design by Becky Lee

CONTACTING 34TH STREET MAGAZINE If you have questions, comments, complaints or letters to the editor, email Emily White, Editor– in–Chief, at white@34st.com. You can also call us at (215) 422–4640. www.34st.com © 2021 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 Tuesday. glossy mag! gimp

LOVE ISSUE

Love Lessons

On grammar, semantics, and love | MEG GLADIEUX In English class, the teacher explains that everything you need to know about grammar can be learned with the word love— Love, actually, is a feeling and can describe action and show action and act and be acted upon and thus can take the form of just about any part of speech at once, colliding in endless syntactic possibility, a semantic wonder of the English language.

In lesson one, you learn that love is a noun which means it can be both the subject and object of a sentence— you can send love and take love and let love take you; you can grow it in gardens and package it in heart–shaped boxes to be sold in grocery store aisles.

Lesson two covers the verb to love, which can be conjugated based on the subject of the sentence— you love and they love and he loves and she loves and we love and I love and later, the analogy lesson will explain that love can really be any verb, a definition of referents— to love is to collide is to grasp is to to love is to hope is to worry is to love is to dance is to struggle is to to love is to carry is to open is to to love is to exist.

You learn that love can be a prepositional phrase and a portmanteau and an interjection— with love and lovesick and I love you! shouted into the void in one hundred different tones to convey a hundred different things.

And the final lesson is that run–on sentences are okay as long as they convey stylistic meaning, and, in fact, these lessons on love, actually, have just been run–on sentences themselves, and when all of the lessons are over, when you think you’ve learned love in its every turn of phrase and grasp every facet of its definition, the teacher stops writing on the chalkboard and the whole class holds its breath and you wonder if any of this has had any meaning at all and you wonder if you’ve just been obscuring love in grammar and semantics to hide that love, actually, has no definition at all and our hearts beat and our muscles tense and we realize that this discomfort, this tension, this constant questioning, might just be love, actually, and we exhale.

In the lesson on adjectives, the teacher explains that love can describe anything— love songs and love letters and love poems, too, but also that the empty street is love and your warm bed is love and that sensation of being surrounded by people and laughter is love is love is love is love, love, loving love.

Your favorite lesson covers figurative language— you learn to grow love on vines and call it a metaphor, and are instructed in the similes of loving like glue like sugar like rain like gardens like guitar strings like lampshades like anything.

Next is the lesson on imperatives— you’re taught to love well and love often and love carefully and love unapologetically and love with every part of yourself.

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE

3

Philadelphia: LOVE ISSUE

The City of Non–Romantic Love A glimpse into the platonic relationships cultivated in our city | KATE RATNER

T

wish them a fantastic weekend as they set off to explore the city.

here's no single way to experience, feel, or define love. Love doesn't need to be candlelit dinners, first dates, or red roses. In fact, I owe many of my most beautiful and dramatic love stories to the feelings that are just platonic. During a time of year that is often only dedicated to romance, we can take a step back to celebrate the relationships that don’t just come and go. A few weeks ago, I spent the afternoon meeting some of Philadelphia’s platonic pairs, hearing stories of the unique love they found in one another.

Cassahndra, Sierra, Sol, and Troy

Illustration by Lilian Liu do turn into, sort of, real friends, not just work friends.” I admire Terrence and Matt’s friendship.

Their backgrounds in software engineering brought them together, but the comfort they found in each other's guidance established more than a strictly professional relationship. They can now laugh together on a cold day over a cup of coffee.

Terrence and Matt

Photo by Andrew Yang | Matt (left) and Terrence (right)

During my stroll through Rittenhouse Square Park, I approach Terrence and Matt, sitting on opposite sides of a park bench. They’re both wearing green pants and black jackets, engaged in casual conversation with one another. I ask Terrence if he feels platonic love for Matt, his former colleague–turned– friend, and he responds enthusiastically, “Yes, I’d say so.” Matt lives in West Philly and Terrence lives in Center City, so they usually find a place to meet in the middle that Matt can access by bike. Matt tells me that he’s lucky to have a friend like Terrence who reaches out from 4

time to time, and Terrence is lucky to have found a mentor figure in Matt. The two worked together at a software engineering firm for six years and now rely on each other for friendship, professional advice, and a shared love for their field. When Terrence stopped working for the firm, Matt had to adjust to “not [having] him around and not [seeing] him.” When I share anecdotes of my experiences with frustrating former co–workers, Terrence responds, “There are going to be co–workers that maybe you won't connect with. But the ones that you

34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Kathryn and Hallie

Photo by Andrew Yang | Kathryn (left) and Hallie (right)

I continue on my walk and find Kathryn and Hallie, a mother–daughter duo on a weekend “staycation” in the city. When I

approach them, Kathryn is chasing Hallie around the empty fountain at the center of the park. Hallie is impossible to miss, clad in brown and white polka dots and pink snow boots. Kathryn does most of the talking as Hallie clings to her leg, safely bundled in her mother’s love. When I ask Kathryn and Hallie their agenda for the day, Kathryn tells me that they plan to get a hot chocolate, walk around the city, and spend the night in a hotel. Hallie becomes less shy, exclaiming that she’s “getting her nails painted tomorrow.” When I ask Hallie what she loves most about Kathryn, she raves about how her mom is always willing to play with her.

We agree on our love for our moms and all that they provide for us. Kathryn loves that “Hallie is adventurous and always wants to try new things.” This weekend trip means more to Kathryn and Hallie than the quick drive from their suburban neighborhood to Center City—it's a celebration of Kathryn loving her daughter and Hallie loving her mom. I

Photo by Andrew Yang | Sierra (back, left), Troy (back, right), Cassahndra (front, left), and Sol (front, right)

I find Cassahndra, Sol, Sierra, and Troy in a perfect patch of sunlight on 13th Street in the Gayborhood. Cassahndra, who's wearing a matching baby pink dress, a hair bow, and eccentric red eye makeup, is the first to catch my eye. The group just finished a gig and is taking pictures on the front steps of the venue.

When I ask Cassahndra about the role they play in their friends’ lives, they quickly respond, “I’m a top,” to which we all laugh. “This is my girl,” Cassahndra says, gesturing to Sol. “We met at Tabu [on] our first night performing. We both performed that night.”

Sierra and Troy are the self– proclaimed entourage of Cassahndra and Sol, but the latter two beg to disagree. Cassahndra believes Sierra and Troy stand “right up front” next to them. Sierra admires how confident her friends are. “They always make me feel confident

LOVE ISSUE

[about myself ], and I love that,” she says. Sol agrees, telling me about the first time she met Cassahndra.

“When I met Cassahndra that first night,” she says, “what attracted me to them was their confidence and how they really don’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks of them.” Sol loves Troy for his friendship, and Troy loves Sol for her passion. “Sol is always out there pursuing her interests with one–hundred percent,” Troy says. The group is quick to pose for the camera, Sol extending her leg and leaning against Cassahndra. I walk away from my new friends feeling inspired by the beautiful love they have built.

The sun continues to shine on them and the relationships they’ve built in the queer spaces that brought them together.

ally anything,” says Justin.

“I’m from Los Angeles, and I never [knew] how to approach other Asian people because I never knew, for sure, if they [had the same interests] that I did. And then, Eason was the first person [where I realized], oh shit, we have the same hobbies.” Eason and Justin were able to find both a video–game adversary and a true friend in one another. “We can really bond over anything,” Eason says, “and Justin works so hard at everything he does. I really like seeing that side of him.” I'm glad Eason and Justin found each other.

The two friends will never not have someone close– by to play video games or study with when they’re feeling lonely.

Carolyn and Colette

Eason and Justin

those three [original] girls, and she’s the fourth roommate,” Carolyn exclaims.

“She joined us!” Colette and Carolyn are taken by surprise when I ask what they love most about each other, as they’ve never quite expressed those feelings.

Colette looks forward to watching movies with Carolyn and designating time to spend together in their living room, the gathering place of their apartment.

Carolyn admires Colette’s wisdom. “Some people are just so stupid,” Carolyn remarks, “but [Colette] is very knowledgeable of what people should do. She knows what she’s talking about.” I think about my own non–romantic roommate love, comparing my experience with theirs. The pair embrace each other to snap a picture and continue on their walk. Colette and Carolyn cultivated a platonic love in the apartment they share, and it was beautiful to watch them vocalize that love for the first time.

Kiara and Saniyah

Photo by Andrew Yang | Colette (left) and Carolyn (right) Photo by Andrew Yang | Eason (left) and Justin (right)

I stop Eason and Justin during their walk in Chinatown. When I ask if they're willing to tell me about their non–romantic love, they respond with a mutual, “Sure, why not!” Eason and Justin, sophomores at Swarthmore College, met last year when they were both living on campus. The two met through a friend of a friend, and they’ve stuck together ever since. “I can talk with Eason about liter-

Carolyn and Colette met during their first year at Temple University. Colette didn’t have any roommates and met Carolyn’s roommate in a group chat online. “I messaged Carolyn’s roommate,” says Colette, “we got Panda Express, and then I met Carolyn and all of [the girls who are] my friends today.” Carolyn and her two friends lived with another roommate who they didn’t get along with, joking that Colette was their ideal fourth roommate. “Now we’re

Photo by Andrew Yang | Kiara (back) and Saniyah (front)

I meet Kiara and Saniyah as we pass each other on the street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Kiara and her daughter are heading home but stop and chat with me to escape the wind. Saniyah is holding a black plastic bag which I later learn is filled with hair products.

Giggling with excitement, she brags that Kiara will spend the rest of her day doing her hair. Not only is Kiara an amazing mother, but she is Saniyah’s live– in personal hairstylist.

Changing Saniyah’s look takes many hours, but the pair sees this monthly process as a time to relax and enjoy each other’s presence. “We get to watch TV shows and eat snacks together,” Saniyah says.

Before I met this duo, they were deciding what show to watch while Kiara does Saniyah’s hair. “My mom is nice,” Saniyah tells me, “and when somebody bothers me, she sticks up for me and helps me out.” Kiara is grateful that Saniyah is respectful and doesn’t talk back. She is proud to be the “cool mom” who Saniyah’s friends admire almost as much as she does. The two pose for a picture, radiating their confidence and mutual protection for one another. Kiara leans against the brick wall, and Saniyah stands in front of her, showing off her neon pink puffer jacket. I feel the pure love between Kiara and Saniyah as they part, returning to the pressing conversation about what show they should watch together that afternoon.

As I returned to campus, I reflected on the day’s journey. I have always been comforted by the presence of platonic love when romance feels unreliable or unattainable. In hearing the stories of the people I met, I remind myself that non–romantic love can exist and be found anywhere: a family home, a college apartment, an office, or a gay bar. Love does not need to be romantic to be real.

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE

5

LOVE ISSUE

The Greeks Had Six Words for Love –

Illustration by Joanna Xiang

Here’s a Book for Each One

According to the ancient Greeks, love isn't just romantic.

Check out these six books to learn why. | SHELBY ABAYIE

I

n western culture, the concept of love has multiple meanings depending on the context. From describing friendship to hobbies to romantic partners, it seems clear that love is all around us. But while the word "love" is often connoted with romance in modern English, the ancient Greeks made the idea of love more specific by establishing six different words to describe different dimensions of love.

In the spirit of the ancient Greeks, here are six books that embody each Greek aspect of love. From all–consuming, uncontrollable love that almost drives you mad to love through charitable giving, each novel will give you something to reflect on this February and all year round.

After all, it's time we recognize that Valentine's Day isn't just for lovers.

that almost drives you insane.

Eros was considered all–consuming to the point where it could almost control your actions, meaning that the Greeks approached this sort of love with heightened fear and caution.

With the all–consuming nature of eros in mind, The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch is a fitting embodiment of the idea of being romantically obsessed. In this novel, Murdoch weaves a fascinating tale about an egotistical playwright who decides to cement his greatness by writing an elaborate memoir. Along the way, he meets a woman from his past and spirals into a deeply unsettling obsession. In a matter of days, the playwright falls madly in love and nothing will stop him from eloping with the love of his life.

The obsession of the main character highlights the dark side of eros—how it can be, at times, a debilitating form of love. While it's easy to say that we want a love so deep it drives us insane, The Sea, The Sea proves otherwise.

Eros — The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch Eros, also known as uncontrolled love and sexual passion, was often viewed as dangerous and irrational, the kind of love 6

34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Philia — A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Oftentimes, we say that we "love" our friends. But what does that deeply intense, yet purely platonic love even mean? The Greeks described this sort of love through the word "philia," which is often translated to "brotherly love" or love between friends.

However, compared to our conception of the word "friendship," philia denotes a love that is warmer, deeper, and far more loyal—it means to have a non–sexual love so deep that you would die for the other person.

A Thousand Splendid Suns details the harrowing journey of two women over 30 years in Afghanistan during the height of the Taliban.

Their bond remains steadfast despite the raging turmoil that pulls them apart and back together. The relationship between the two women is awe–inspiring, and a testament to the infinite love that can be shared between friends.

The deep bond between these two women in spite of the obstacles they face epitomizes philia. Despite these two women undergoing constant trauma, instability, and violence, their shared philia is enough to help them persevere.

ing the page and laughing.

While everything in the book seems deeply dramatic and life–altering, it's told from a teenage perspective that epitomizes ludic love.

With A Bad Boy Stole My Bra, Price puts into words the simple young love that we've all been searching for.

Ludus — A Bad Boy Stole My Bra by Lauren Price From casual summer flings to young puppy love, the playful love that we often use to define our youth was termed "ludus" by the Greeks. Ludus is love for love's sake—it's flirty, uncomplicated, and often seen as frivolous. But nonetheless, ludus can be deeply formative and healing.

Initially posted as an original story on Wattpad, a website known for its user– contributed fanfiction, avid Wattpad users may remember A Bad Boy Stole My Bra in its infancy. Although this novel has since been officially published, it has lost none of the overdramatic, convoluted fun from its Wattpad past. This playful story about a "good girl" and a "bad boy" is sure to keep readers turn-

Agape — A Billion Hours of Good: Changing the World 14 Minutes at a Time by Chris Field Agape is unconditional, sacrificial love that is often motivated by charity and devotion. Also known as the "highest form of love," agape has been used in many Christian teachings to denote the love that comes with humbly serving others. Agape isn't romantic and doesn't have much to do with emotions or sentimentality—it's

LOVE ISSUE

the kind of love that's shown through action.

In A Billion Hours of Good: Changing the World 14 Minutes at a Time, Fields shows that charity doesn’t have to be difficult—all it takes is a little time and effort. Fields uplifts and inspires readers to dedicate 14 minutes of each day (or 1% of their life) to make the world a better place. In his personal life, Fields continuously embodies agape through extensive charity work in Ghana to stop child trafficking.

Fields' passion for charity shines through in every page, and will undoubtedly touch readers' hearts.

This motivational novel highlights how agape must be practiced deliberately and decisively, showing how the so–called highest form of love is a continuous choice that we must make every day.

Pragma — Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford Pragma is defined as practical love founded on long– term interests—it's seen as stable and places an emphasis on "making it work" over the fiery passion that eros embodies. Serving as the root of the modern word "pragmatic," pragma is essential for successful lasting relationships, where partners

often have to invest in creating shared goals and keeping their relationship alive.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a particularly pragmatic love story that follows a Chinese American boy, Henry, and a Japanese American girl, Keiko, navigating the prejudice and discriminatory treatment faced

by Asian Americans during World War II. However, as the book progresses, the two lovers separate, causing Henry to move on by marrying Ethel, a girl who fell for Henry after witnessing his devotion to his former lover. While Henry constantly thinks of Keiko, he remains Ethel's loyal husband until the end.

In this book, readers are shown that even in the face of insurmountable adversity, love will thrive if both parties put in equal effort and

time, highlighting the importance of pragma in all relationships.

Philautia — Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner While we often conceive of love as something that happens between two or more people, the most important form of love is self– love. This final form of love, known as philautia by the Greeks, consists of uncon-

ditional self–acceptance and appreciating oneself.

Good Morning, Monster highlights the importance of philautia by chronicling the stories of therapist Catherine Gildner, who has seen many people throughout her years of experience. In this book, she pulls together the stories of five unforgettable patients who she considers to be "psychological heroes."

What stands out about this book is the intricacies of the featured personae. Each patient has their own traumas and battles to face, but through steadfast perseverance and hope they are able to overcome their struggles.

Through Gildner's retelling of her patients' stories, Good Morning, Monster shows us that through philautia in the form of radical self–love, we can forge the path to healing.

Live the Radian life.

Reserve your spot for Fall 2022 and you can have it all: Full kitchen Granite countertops In-unit washer/dryer High-speed internet

Apply free today Limited availability 215-222-4212 | theradian.com

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE

7

LOVE ISSUE

Tarot Tuesdays

Your Valentine's Day Horoscope for Feb. 15

Now that the chaos is over, what did you learn? | W. ANTHONY PÉREZ

W

elcome back to a rather romantic Valentine's Day rendition of Street's Tarot Tuesdays! We've got yet another special treat for you—the universe says that love is in the air.

Aries (March 21 – April 19)

Single: It's all about you, Aries. Some of you might be feeling well–grounded and sure of your worth. Keep this up!

Whether you're looking to be in a relationship or not, this self– assurance will make everything easier. With the Empress and the Magician in your cards, I see you focusing on what really matters to you and willing it into life. Be sure to cut out any toxic, unhealthy, or troubling connections. You'll be making space for bigger and better relationships.

Dating: This is so cheesy but so good! It's time to accept intimacy and let this energy in. You are so emotionally balanced and happy. Don't let doubts or second opinions get in the way of building something great with your partner(s).

There is both victory and wealth in your cards, so open yourself up to receiving the love and support you deserve! See the Four of Wands and Ten of Pentacles.

8

34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Single: It's time to ascend, baby. If you want to be happy, start prioritizing the people and things that bring you peace.

You have a big heart, Taurus. Don't let the challenges of life take it out of you. With the Hanged Man in your cards, I see you learning to live life your own way. Whether you're looking to date someone or not, you'll have to make peace with yourself and the situations ahead. Just take a deep breath and cultivate the gratitude that feeds your heart and soul.

P.S. One of your soulmates could be right in front of you, so it is even more important that you're in the mental space needed to make important decisions.

Dating: Honesty is the best policy here, and you gotta pump the brakes, Taurus. You might be feeling like there's a lot of uncertainty about your future, especially with regard to your finances. Be assured that things will work out. However, there is a Tower moment in your cards, and this breakthrough will require you to carve out some space for yourself. That said, be open to what others have to say—you don't always have all the answers. is both victory and wealth in your cards, so open yourself up to receiving the love and support you deserve! See the Four of Wands and Ten of Pentacles.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

Single: Gemini, you are more than capable of giving yourself all of the love you need right now. You have heard the Judgement call and are operating on High Priestess mode. Listen to your instincts. Remember that opportunities will come to you eventually. For now, find your own sources of joy.

Dating: There's too much at stake here, Gemini. Now is not the time to ruminate on bad blood and arguments, focus on yourself instead. Do the best you can and leave the rest to the universe. See the Six of Pentacles and Eight of Pentacles.

LOVE ISSUE

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Single: Cancer, you know everything will be okay, right? You might have had a Tower moment, but you'll be back to being your best self once you let go of that resentment. To that end, focus on nurturing yourself. Buy yourself something nice and truly become your own best friend. This will help you embrace your inner High Priestess. Keep floating, Cancer—the current will lead you to where you need to be.

Dating: You are in a great position, Cancer. Not only are work and finances going well, but you are also coming towards the end of a cycle with the World in your cards. Everything is coming full circle, so be sure to pay your blessings forward.

Share them with your partner(s) and they'll share theirs with you.

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22)

Single: Leo! As per usual, you are Miss Independent. Not only are you manifesting wealth and love with the Empress in your cards, but you are also implementing structure and order into your everyday life as the Hierophant. Don't stop now!

You'll find everyone and everything you've been looking for along the way.

Dating: Leo, stop holding yourself back and turn over a new leaf. You're not like other people and shouldn't worry about what they're preoccupied with. It's important to remember that you can have the spirit of a Fool while also having the wisdom of the King of Swords. Focus on what you want from the future and be willing to put the work in.

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22)

Single: Virgo, Virgo, Virgo … you are so magical! You're the one who got away for pretty much anybody you've crossed paths with. Not only are you driven, but you are also on the verge of closing an important cycle. You have learned a lot along the way and things are coming full circle. Be sure that whatever you've been working towards will come to you very soon. Chin up, Virgo! See the World.

Dating: Once again, Virgo, you are bound for greatness.

You've been doing your research and considering where to allocate your time. Invest in yourself and the people who invest in you. Be sure to draw the line with those whose opinions do not matter. See the Six of Wands and Six of Pentacles.

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)

Single: Libra—and I mean this in the nicest way possible— stop making things so difficult for yourself! Get out of that scarcity mindset. Figure out what it is that you want, and then tap in to your High Priestess. You are almost at the end of a cycle, Libra. Finish strong. See also the Five of Pentacles.

Dating: Good for you, Libra. You are so balanced out and centered that everyone around you works with you seamlessly.

Not only are you putting in the work for yourself and your relationships, but you are following your Star by doing so.

Remember to look at things objectively and take them as they are. Keep it up!

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21)

Single: It's about time, Scorpio. In addition to knowing your worth, you are also figuring out who is worth investing in.

With this mindset, you can focus on the things that heal your inner child. That said, be open to people's opinions and take a good look at what they have to offer. See the King of Swords.

Dating: Scorpio, I hate to break it to you, love, but somebody has got to go. If their energy is making you doubt yourself beyond reason, try to find a reasonable way for moving forward. See the Eight of Swords and Ten of Wands.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21)

Single: As you should, Sag! Let that epiphany come in and watch all of worrying fade away. You are experiencing a Death/ Rebirth that will help you shed all of the insomnia you've been dealing with. Let go of the drama and agony.

Dating: It's time to boss up, Sag. You need to walk away from whoever doesn't want to see you win. You are an Emperor, and therefore, you can rule alone. You have so much success in your future and can only afford to mingle with those who see your vision.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19)

Single: Stop being stubborn, Capricorn. It's okay to feel like things didn't work out, but do not let that get in the way of new opportunities. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and you can get what you want if you embrace the Hierophant. In the future, move with practicality.

Dating: This is lovely, Capricorn. Not only are you coming closer to everything you've been working towards, but you still have your sense of spirit and focus. Keep on being a Fool and trust that all of the awe and beauty life has to offer will make you a believer.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18)

Single: Aquarius, get excited for all of the love and abundance coming your way. If you could see your cards for this week, you'd be in absolute euphoria. Not only are you balanced out emotionally, but the people coming your way are too—and you all will want to share the love. There is a Death/Rebirth in your cards, but believe it will be for the absolute best. See the Ten of Cups.

Dating: Tighten up, Aquarius. The Devil can have a strong grip on you, but you have all the power you need to fight back.

Tap into your King of Swords and assert your needs. It will help you cultivate the stability you need to capitalize on the Wheel's opportunities. In this situation, it is essential that you remain calm and centered.

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20)

Single: I know that's right, Pisces! You are magnificent and triumphant. Anyone who gets the pleasure of meeting you can see it. There might be a lot of uncertainty with the Moon—that is, your sign's card—in your reading, but you can be successful as long as you stay grounded. You're gonna get yours, Pisces. I can feel it!

Dating: Pisces … walk away from all the pain and self–sabotage. Take the lessons you've learned and use them as wisdom next time. By setting your intentions and releasing the Ten of Swords, you'll be joyous again.

Like what you read?

Stay tuned for more Tarot Tuesdays.

Until next time!

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE

9

LOVE ISSUE

Why Do We Learn About Love?

Two Penn professors give their takes on what love is, why it's important, and how we can approach it. | ALANA BESS

W

hen I think of love, I don’t picture myself sitting inside of a classroom. Maybe that’s just me, but my mind goes elsewhere. I imagine my younger brother letting me kiss him on the cheek, slightly leaning into my all– too–forceful hug. I think of couples laughing at each other while doing another dumb TikTok challenge. I hear my friends knocking on my door a little too late at night to see if I want to pick up some frozen yogurt. Love manifests itself in limitless forms.

But what really IS love?

How do you even define it?

And frankly, who gives a shit?

Turns out, a lot of people do. The curiosity to understand love is a year–round focus, and it doesn’t only find its way onto college campuses around Valentine’s Day. Assistant professor of Philosophy Sukaina Hirji defines love as “a feeling that involves a desire for intimacy and two–way knowledge: for you to know another person and have another person know you.” Hirji believes that this definition of love will hold true for all different kinds of love: romantic love, platonic love, family love, and the like.

“It will look a little bit different in each of those contexts,” she says, but the sentiment rings true.

According to Jean–Michel Rabaté, professor of English and Comparative Literature, love is the sense that you are with someone you want to be with forever. “Maybe it sounds corny, and maybe it sounds kitschy,” he says, but at the end of the day, “love has to be something beyond sex and desire.”

Why should we even care about what love is? Weekends are filled with one too many DFMOs and unanswered text messages. It’s definitely way easier to not care—or at least pretend not to—about love in college.

But it’s nonetheless on everyone’s minds. “It really seems like a human need: that desire for connection, part-

en are in the workplace. “The queer community has had a huge impact on how people are thinking about love,” she continues. There is an increasing interest in conversations around what loving relationships can look like, along with their never–ending variety across the spectrum.

According to Rabaté, love isn’t something that can be

novels generally show how difficult it is for love to really find a place, given the possibility that [someone’s] social life is regulated by cynicism,” he explains. Since our childhoods, love has been everywhere. Do you remember the first book you read that included a romantic relationship? What about the first rom–com you ever watched?

Illustration by Lilian Liu nership, and community,” Hirji explains. In her course “Philosophical Issues around Love and Sex,” Hirji examines ethical issues that arise when discussing questions about love and sex, largely through a feminist philosophy lens.

Every other year, her class fills up with students yearning to satisfy their academic curiosities about that ever–so–feared L word.

“Right now, there’s a lot of reconsideration about what love can look like in a person’s life,” she says. The world has changed a lot. We find ourselves less reliant on the nuclear family structure. Wom-

10 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

calculated. “There is no element of surprise if love is just something you can order on Amazon,” he says with a twinkle in his eyes, throwing his head back in laughter. Rabaté’s course looks at love from a different perspective: the cynical one. “Love in an Age of Cynicism” tackles the way love frightens people today.

Real love implies risk. Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble can only go so far. Today, it is easier to reduce love into something it isn’t: the art of seduction.

Rabaté counters this with his close examination of love in literature. “Love first appears in the novel because

It’s all too relevant in our lives today, a point to which Hirji attributes the academic interest in love. “I like to teach courses where every student is going to have a kind of point of view or some experience with the material because it can attract a diverse range of students,” she says. “Every student is going to feel empowered to have opinions or engage with the material.” Love is a central part of mainstream media, so nobody is immune to thinking about it. It’s almost impossible to find zero interest in the discipline.

Rabaté also offers an opin-

ion as to why we enroll ourselves in classes exploring love as an academic subject—and it’s not because we finished all of the love–themed movies on our Netflix homepage.

“When people are workaholics their whole lives, they suddenly discover the difficulty of interpersonal relationships,” he says. Pursuing love through the academic angle adds another dimension that prevents us from divorcing it from real life concerns and questions.

“Academic life should not just be seen as a parentheses of four years,” Rabaté says.

There is, in fact, a way to connect our educational careers to love, an emotion that seems worlds away from the characteristic stress, boredom, and anxiety associated with school. Hirji encourages us to examine our personal love and sex issues from a more critical, deliberate place. “I really encourage people when they’re thinking about love in their own lives to take that kind of philosophical attitude and ask themselves what they’re absorbing from the culture or taking for granted,” she urges.

Love is something of indescribable beauty and value, and it's dangerous to engage in that rationalistic refusal of it when life gets too crazy.

“Often, love is a cure,” Rabaté says. “People despair without love."

The pursuit of love—or at the very least, to identify and understand love—is not dying down any time soon. So consider picking up Plato’s Symposium (per both Hirji’s and Rabaté’s recommendations), enroll in a course about love, or read an eye–opening article about it. You may be surprised by what you discover.

LOVE ISSUE

Treat Yourself This Valentine’s Season to These Five Philly Stores From candle–making to do–it–yourself pottery, spend a day at these five Philly stores that celebrate self–love. | NAIMA SMALL

I

f you’re finding yourself getting ready for Galentine’s Day or just searching for a peaceful way to spend Feb. 14 solo, there are many ways to have an undoubtably amazing day in Philly. From facial bars to bookstores, here are the best places to check out if you and your friends are looking to enjoy a Valentine’s Day filled with self– love and care.

Loomen Labs This do–it–yourself, BIPOC–owned, zero–waste candle–making shop in South Philly is the perfect place for a creative group (or solo) activity. Visitors have the opportunity to select candle scents, wax colors, and glass molds to create a uniquely customized candle. Loomen Labs even offers several themed events, such as the “Manifestation Candle-making Experience,” which comes with a bundle of sage, ethically sourced crystals, and a lesson on how to set intentions. These special eve nts are booking fast and all visits require a reservation, so be sure to grab your spot in time for Valentine's Day. If you can’t make it in store, Loomen Labs also has an at–home, Valentine’s Day– themed candle–making gift set for $45.

Location: 620 S 5th St. Reservation Hours: Mondays and Thursdays: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m.; closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays Price: $$

Yay Clay!

Yay Clay offers no–experience–required pottery making classes in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philly. Each booking is for at least two people, cleverly referred to as “Clay Dates.” These events are BYOB, but all needed pottery materials are available in the studio. In just three weeks, you can come to pick up your handmade pottery pieces—all of which are microwave, dishwasher, and oven–safe. Yay Clay is a great spot for groups looking to express their creative side, all while creating a gorgeous, practical finished product in the process.

Location: 3237 Amber St. Hours: By appointment. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays: 2 pp.m. – 7 p.m.

Price: $$$

Skin House Facial Bar Skin House Facial Bar was founded in 2018 with the mission of creating customizable and approachable skin care services. Some of the services offered include the 50–minute “OMG Breakout” facial designed to combat maskne, or the exfoliating hour–long “Glow–Getter Facial.” If you aren’t sure what’s right for you and your skin, you can always go with the “Skin House Signature,” which allows you to consult with a skin coach to find the best products for your skin.

If you’re unable to visit the store, Skin House also offers numerous products on their website for a DIY spa session or a gift for a friend.

Location: 1238 South St. Hours: Mondays and Thursdays: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m.; closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays Price: $$$ - $$$$

Duross & Langel Located in Center City, Duross & Langel has homemade soap and spa products for all of your skin and hair care needs. Shop their website to ship customizable items right to you or visit the store to smell over 20 unique aroma blends and browse items more directly.

The best part about Duross & Langel is that they are committed to using organic

Illustration by Joanna Xiang ingredients whenever possible and wrap all of their soaps in biodegradable, eco– friendly paper.

Location: 117 S 13th St. Hours: Wednesdays – Saturdays: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Price: $ - $$

Harriett’s Bookshop Named after abolitionist Harriet Tubman, Harriett’s Bookshop is a Black–owned, independent small business with a focus on selling books that celebrate “women au-

thors, women artists, and women activists.” According to a 2021 Travel and Leisure feature, founder Jeannine Cook has made it her mission to give every customer a new experience each time they visit the shop. Not only is Harriett’s a good spot to gift yourself a great novel, it also has comfy seating and a relaxing atmosphere for the perfect self–care day.

Location: 258 E Girard Ave. Hours: Thursdays – Sundays: 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Price: $ - $$$

NOTHING SAYS I love you

We Deliver!

Open 7 days a week!

LIKE A CASE OF BEER! springfield beer distributor

22nd & Washington Ave. || 215-546-7301

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE 11

F E AT U R E

F E AT U R E

Leading with Love

“I think a lot of that is because many of our core leaders are strong Black women, who at the root of their work [center] love.” – Clarice Brazas, Racial Justice Organizing

With warmth and care, these grassroots organizations show how their work for social justice is a labor of love. | JEAN PAIK

"The more [that] people have [love] at their core, the more they’re willing to risk and the more they’re willing to do." ­– Clarice Brazas, Racial Justice Organizing

Illustration by Lilian Liu

W

e often don’t think of love as a radical act. From varying depictions of love in cheesy early 2000s rom–coms to the complex love we hold for our friends, our family, or even ourselves, love is something that is shared with another. But what does it mean to have love for a communi-

ty—to practice love and care through advocacy and collective action?

In her work, author and feminist scholar bell hooks often writes about the importance of centering love in social justice. She explains that there has long been a societal obsession and longing for love, but also a deep cynicism

1 2 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

toward it. Love is increasingly cast aside as empty sentimentality, reserved only for the naive and hopelessly romantic, not movements for social justice. But hooks argues that it is precisely these spaces that have strongly emphasized a “love ethic” in their work. Particularly in a country that prides itself on ide-

als of rugged individualism, there is power in choosing to move instead with care and compassion for one’s community.

Love isn’t expressed with ambivalence or complacency toward the status quo; it’s firm in its resistance while unafraid to envision a better collective future. As ar-

ticulated in the words of bell hooks herself, “The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom.”

For Racial Justice Organizing, The West Philly Bunny Hop, and VietLead—three Philadelphia grassroots organizations—love is the cornerstone of the work that they do in their communities.

"We are responding to the dynamic needs of the community and making sure that those needs are for and by the community."

– Chris Kane, West Philly Bunny Hop

Racial Justice Organizing is a coalition of activists working toward the abolition of racism and white supremacy in schools and communities.

Its work ranges from various mutual aid initiatives to antiracism trainings, and is grounded in supporting Black and brown students in the city of Philadelphia.

Clarice Brazas, a core organizer at Racial Justice Organizing, has been working with the group since she moved to Philadelphia five years ago.

Brazas says that the organization’s work is very local—all of the coalition members are centered in Philly, and many of them are educators or former educators in the School District of Philadelphia. For years, Racial Justice Organizing has called attention to the need for radical changes in the education system and beyond, pushing for the district to hire and retain more educators of color and to develop clear policies for protecting students and staff when incidents of racism happen in schools.

Brazas also explains that a fundamental part of Racial Justice’s work is based on the understanding that Black lives matter—not just in the sense of the political movement, but also in practice within education. She points to the many ways racism manifests itself in schools, from the school–to–

prison pipeline to how students across the United States are denied learning about Black history.

Every year in the first week of February, the group hosts a Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Philadelphia schools, inspired by the Day of Action led by Seattle educators in 2016. Although the event started in Philadelphia, the Black Lives Matter Week of Action is now a growing national event.

In many ways, love is what brought Brazas to the Racial Justice Organizing community, and what has continued to drive her in her work.

“When I entered the organizing [space] for the very first Black Lives Matter Week of Action that I was involved in, I wanted to be there because it was very clear that it was such a loving, caring environment,” Brazas says. “I think a lot of that is because many of our core leaders are strong Black women, who at the root of their work [center] love.”

Like much of the work that Racial Justice Organizing does—which centers the needs of its communities— Brazas sees love as “finding ways to provide for others, and working together to create a system where people can provide for each other.”

At the same time, Brazas acknowledges that the idea of

“love” can be a double–edged sword. There is a danger that love can be manipulated to prevent people from setting necessary boundaries or prioritizing health and rest.

“I think we see this a lot in education. We do it because we love the students, so that means we work longer hours than we might need to.” The same is true for organizing— it’s easy for people to become burnt out when they aren’t given the space to take a step back if they’re exhausted and drained, Brazas explains.

She argues that it’s important to find joy in organizing work, while also taking the time to have breaks. For Brazas and other leaders at Racial Justice Organizing, this can be as simple as having a meal together or joining a reading group to discuss the books they’ve been enjoying. “[This] time is really valuable as well … [It’s] time to build yourself up, to build your knowledge, and to keep building community,” she says.

However, Brazas ultimately sees love as a crucial force in activism. She argues that the potentiality of love is often downplayed because it’s so motivating and powerful. “The more [that] people have [love] at their core, the more they’re willing to risk and the more they're willing to do,” Brazas says, which be-

comes very dangerous for the oppressive institutions that groups like Racial Justice organize against.

Love can be expressed with resistance, but also with transformation. The work to dismantle systemic racism also involves envisioning a world that can be built from the ground up. For any world that Brazas hopes for, she wants that future to be founded on love. Specifically in schools, Brazas imagines what education could look like if classrooms weren’t overcrowded, and were instead composed of close, intimate groups where teachers would have the time and resources to really get to know their students. She wonders how conflicts could be resolved if they were to be addressed by mental health counselors instead of police, and what could be cultivated if students saw themselves reflected in culturally responsive curricula that affirm their lives and experiences.

In her work with Racial Justice Organizing, Brazas recognizes how interwoven systems like racism, capitalism, and patriarchy are, and how “at the root of all these things is the goal of dividing people. … I think love [instead] calls for us to be interlinked and dependent on each other.”

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE 13

F E AT U R E

The West Philly Bunny Hop’s mantra, “Free Food for the People,” aptly describes what the organization is all about. Launched in 2020 by co–founders Jena Harris and Katie Briggs, the community–funded and led mutual aid network arose out of necessity from the COVID–19 pandemic—deriving from the chaotic breakdown of supply chains, unreliable access to food and resources in stores, and for many, serious economic hardships. In these circumstances, Bunny Hop started organizing food distribution pop–ups throughout Philadelphia, initially focused in West Philly due to the locale of most of its volunteers, and then expanded to different parts of the city.

The distributions typically take place in parks and public green spaces, but they’ve also been hosted in front of local businesses and people’s front porches. The site locations are organized with various considerations, including the level of traffic of people moving through the area and its accessibility.

Chris Kane, a volunteer and core administrator at The West Philly Bunny Hop, shares that the organization’s work has taken multiple forms. Volunteers would come together every week to cook around 300 to 500 meals for ready–to–go distributions, and at one point, they would also deliver fresh produce boxes to people’s homes. But Bunny Hop is now leaning into a more decentralized form of work. Kane explains that part of this decision was “realizing that we don't have to be the only ones doing the work, we don't have to be at the center of the work. … It never should be that way.”

The mutual aid network continues to organize food distributions, but it has also been important for it to assess and address gaps in need. This means focus-

ing on expanding Philadelphia’s existing community fridge network so that areas with a lower concentration of fridges, such as Northwest and Northeast Philly, are properly resourced. Ultimately, Bunny Hop is working to empower people to take action for themselves and see where they can plug into food access work in their communities. The group particularly helps with logistical support for those that are interested in hosting their own neighborhood pop–up distributions.

Kane says that Bunny Hop is guided by the belief that everyone deserves access to free and nourishing food, no questions asked. “Under capitalism, we have seen that the way food is distributed … the way basic human need, in terms of resources, [is] distributed is inherently flawed,” they explain. In their work, Bunny Hop strives to get people what they need in the immediate, while recognizing the need for systemic change.

For Bunny Hop, working to provide an unconditional source of food for people is an act of love. Regardless of lived experience or circumstance, everyone is welcome to come to them for a meal. This is the central belief that drives the organization to lead its work with compassion and care.

This year, the group hopes to establish three new community fridges in different parts of the city that are regularly stocked, and create a zine on how people can get involved with food access and mutual aid work—collaborating directly with volunteers and other community groups to compile resources on what practices have worked for them.

Rather than sticking to a single form of organizing, Bunny Hop embraces the prospect of collaborating with each other and with different mutual aid groups

14 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

to envision the many directions in which their work could lead them. “We are responding to the dynamic needs of the community,” Kane emphasizes, “and making sure that those needs are for and by the community.”

"Practicing love...[is] building our ability to imagine and empathize for people that we can’t see, for people that we’ve never met...Love is being able to imagine [with them] what healing and thriving [can] look like." – JamieClaire Chau, VietLead VietLead seeks to empower its communities through healing and challenging systems of power. Based in Philadelphia and South Jersey, the organization works primarily with Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities in those cities, organizing around food sovereignty, health, youth, civic engagement, and community defense work.

Through both direct action and political education, VietLead’s initiatives aim to develop leadership, political power, and self–determination with the communities it works with.

For Jamie–Claire Chau, the youth projects manager at VietLead, the group’s mission is fundamentally driven by answering the question: “What does it mean to keep our communities safe when policies and our country’s leaders don’t?” Witnessing how money and capital continued to be prioritized over human lives during the pandemic, VietLead mobilized to organize vaccine clinics, distribute information on community health, and care for those in quarantine.

In its community defense work, the organization has spear-

headed anti–deportation campaigns and pushed for the release of Southeast Asian community members detained by ICE and at risk of facing deportation. VietLead explicitly identifies love as the driving force behind its organizing efforts. The love that its has for its communities, and the dedication to care and protect one another, is what strengthens its commitment to its advocacy.

Chau shares that they’ve learned and reflected a great deal about love through their own organizing work. “When I first started getting into social justice movement work, I don't think I was driven by love,” she says, “I think I was driven by anger and sorrow.” Chau, however, acknowledges that anger and grief are important pieces of advocacy as well. They explain that anger is what happens when we recognize the forces of oppression that we’re confined to, and it’s the energy that pushes us to dismantle these systems—but it doesn’t end there. “I had to learn very quickly, especially from VietLead, that if you only fight against injustice, you may have broken the chains, but you still haven't learned how to dance.”

Being driven by love means helping to build a foundation for a world that is restorative. “We're not trying to build an island, we're trying to transform the world that we [are] currently in.

And that doesn't happen by disposing people,” Chau says. They recognize that many community members, parents, siblings, and cousins aren’t always aligned with VietLead’s beliefs and values. This doesn’t make them unworthy of learning or being invited to work with them in building a better future, but it necessitates setting limits—choosing to center and support those that are, and could be, harmed. According to Chau, this culture of care has been built

within VietLead with the understanding that “what we’re trying to transform is holistic persons, not just material conditions.”

Especially in its youth programming work, Chau has witnessed how love can be transformative. VietLead works with youth who are queer, who are transgender, who grew up hating their racial identity or feeling disconnected from their ethnic backgrounds, she shares, and what has been the most energizing and heartening part of their work is seeing these youth truly “celebrate the wholeness of themselves.” Chau likens this to a ripple effect: Witnessing love can touch across generations and mobilize people to also be guided by these values of collective care.

Grassroots organizations like Racial Justice Organizing, The West Philly Bunny Hop, and VietLead emphasize the importance of care in the work that they do. Their love for their communities is ultimately what grounds their vision for collective liberation—in building movements for social transformation and affirming our commitments to one another.

Love is leading with compassion; it’s practicing what bell hooks called the art of loving: forming collaborative relationships based on care, trust, and responsibility.

Toward the last few moments of our conversation, Chau reflects on what organizing with a “love ethic” has meant for them.

“Practicing love … [is] building our ability to imagine and empathize for people that we can’t see, for people that we’ve never met. … Love is being able to imagine [with them] what healing and thriving [can] look like.”

F I R S T P L A C E E S S AY

Ph oto s y of rtes cou

Sudeep B h a r ga va

How to Fall in Love Again

Post–Romance | SUDEEP BHARGAVA

Y

eah, I took a rather big bite of the pineapple, but I didn’t expect it to be so sour. My face contorted as I bit into the gooey yellow flesh, and the enzymes attacked my taste buds. It had been sitting on the counter for at least a week. Too early? Or likely too late. Diced so carefully, I considered it good practice as I ushered the perhaps–rotten fruit into the open mouth of the trash can.

Let me try to explain the situation, though it’s full of contradictions. It was spring again, and briefly, anything was possible. My return to Philadelphia a few months prior had been anything besides momentous, though in the absence of fanfare I found true love (which, for anyone wondering, often takes the forms of stability and safety). We practiced falling in and out of each other in my bedroom in the house where I lived on Baltimore Avenue. For a time, the world was so small that the acts of navigating it and creating it became one and the same. The seasons only changed when I was ready for them to. Devastation was no longer serving me, so I shed myself of all romantic expectations and everything I had once looked forward to.

Though I now know this to be impossible, I then knew how to make time stop, how to remove a space entirely from context and create meaning for every object within its perimeter. A January night on the phone with my mother, a picnic with a stranger one morning in May, and every moment in between are existing at the same time. I once tried to exist in all places at a single point in time, but maybe I got it wrong back then. This house holds onto so much of me and anyone else who’s ever uttered a word within its walls—and we never leave.

If there is something left for me to

obsess over, it’s tracing tension across maps of people, lands, and bodies. The center is not always a place, but is just as tangible in every iteration. As I begin to forget the names of the months and what order they come in, I will consider turning this house into a home. It seems prudent, though unnecessary. I’ll buy fruits and eat them in a timely fashion. (Though I’ll give up on ever finding a good avocado in this city.)

I’ll do all this without thinking about how long it’s been or what I have have yet to accomplish. Good practice.

No one told me that romance and devastation inevitably go hand in hand. Neither did anyone mention that love can exist without either of them. Instead of defining romance, let me describe a moment in its absence. Aalia stood against a plain white wall one night in February, and I’d never seen anything so beautiful.

How effortless it is for me to fall in love with this image of her; I do it again and again.

These images are memories as objects, objects as memories. This infrastructure has no expiration date besides the end of reality itself, making it no less precious but so much more valuable. Jaden sits on our stoop holding a bouquet of baby’s breath.

Even when I see her in July in New York, and she tells me about apartment hunting and starting salaries and the city’s complicated real estate market in the second year of the pandemic, she is still sitting on that stoop, clutching the bouquet.

In another universe I’ve vanished without a trace. It’s not a question of where I went, but of how I got there. Like a knot that finally comes undone, everyone who ever loved me is struggling with a profound loss (selfish of me to imagine this, I know). Old lovers and those who still hold onto pieces of me find each other

and form an online support community that extends across political aisles and the limits of materiality. They attempt to reconstruct me, each one contributing pieces of me varying in size and significance, but no matter how they position the parts, the result is unsatisfying—which is to say there exists something beyond desire.

In its purest form, love is unattached and unbothered. Admittedly, I don’t know if that brings me more comfort or anxiety. What I do know is that loving is easy, but that it must be done over and over again. I reconstruct nights in my bedroom with all the people I love and practice retelling my secrets. Tension, tangible as ever, rests within floors and limbs; it makes its own language, a tongue that taught me to love and love and love un-

person to sleep in this bedroom of mine, the ghost of the relationship captured in the hallway, the tilt of Ashna’s head as it leans against her arm, propped up against the edge of my bed. This image is evidence that some version of her is always there. The worst part of losing something is perhaps losing all its future versions, too. I, therefore, engage with futility as an attempt to immortalize a memory which hasn’t been formed yet.

And what of love? One day, the house on Baltimore Avenue will confess. One– night stands and every trapped soul who was covered up with layers of paint and new carpet will lean in ever so slightly to hear what the house has to say. I doubt it’ll be earth–shattering, or if it’ll even be something that no one’s said before. (In

Photo courtesy of Sudeep Bhargava conditionally. It doesn’t mean anything, and it never will.

I often joke that the house is haunted or has a mind of its own; it takes and gives on its own terms just like the rest of us. Things go missing only to show up right when I need them. And yet, some go missing only to never be found again.

What of the lives of lost things? The last

fact, most things that are said in this house have been said before.) If it grants peace to even one soul in the world, will all the hoarding, the inability to let go—will it have been worth it? When the time is right, I will slice open some sweet, round, lovely thing. I’ll cut it down carefully and place it in a bowl to be devoured, won’t let it sour.

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE 15

S E C O LNODV P E LIASCSEU EE S S AY

Hey Batter Batter, Swing A baseball game is always being played, somewhere. | KATHRYN XU

Illustration by Amy Krimm

I

start watching baseball in my older sister’s apartment during Baltimore’s spring.

It’s not for entertainment—every day, I breathe and sigh and occasionally eat and I am tired of it; for three hours, I would like not to exist. Baseball, with its droll and stretched–out minutes, offers that reprieve.

The past few months have been torrid. To put it gently, I am not okay. To put it frankly, my suffering feels sharp in the moment—sobbing myself to a headache and then to sleep, fighting a scream from Philly to Jersey to Philly to Jersey to Baltimore—but after a few months pass it will soften into a blur, pathetically simple in retrospect: I feel bad more often than I feel good.

It doesn’t take very much to set me off these days. Investment in another sports team beyond the Flyers (hockey, which I can no longer bring myself to watch) and the Sixers (basketball, likewise) is objectively a bad decision. But hey, the Phillies are starting off the season with a win streak! The half–hope, half–jokes write themselves. Perhaps they will simply go undefeated right into the playoffs, the year I have started to watch baseball. Per-

haps they will actually be good.

This is where the dramatic irony kicks in, for you and me.

Baseball is a sport of non– happening, which is both its highest–paid critique and compliment.

Put less kindly: Baseball’s boring. But as the season drags on, I start to get it. I mean, really get it. One day I don’t understand force outs, and the next I can say that Baseball Savant marks Andrew Heaney’s xBA on home runs slightly lower than it probably should because it counts the three homers he gave up at the Field of Dreams game (where Statcast was not available) as having an xBA of .000. I know this because I like Lucas Giolito and Shohei Ohtani. Creepy? Sure.

Beyond the numbers, though, I get the non–happening. Feel it. The steady drone of failure. If you’re good at hitting the baseball, you’ll succeed maybe a third of the time, and even that’s a stretch. Ruts build easily, the Phillies lose. Some days are just bad days, with no canned–and–ready–to–crack– open explanation or solution.

But man, when there’s happening in baseball, it’s special.

Some people can force the odds their way and make a third of

16 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

the time feel like a hundred percent of the time, like they can warp non–existence into a vivid impossibility, burning static into a spark, a maybe.

Hey, did you know that in 2021, Ohtani batted and pitched at an elite level, an overall performance unmatched by even Babe Ruth? Well, now you do.

I am in Baltimore because, as previously mentioned, I am not okay, and my mother is worried, and we all agree that while I could use a change of scenery, I shouldn’t be alone. My older sister, also busy with college, offers two weeks, her particular infinite kindness, Baltimore, and, incidentally, baseball.

My days mostly play out the same, just in Baltimore with baseball. Except on one very windy day, we celebrate my sister’s roommate’s birthday, and on the bus back from the picnic, the man sitting in front of us is wearing an Orioles mask.

A bizarre empathy strikes, and I inexplicably want him to understand that I watch baseball too. But what can I even say— ‘I’m sorry that your team sucks so bad’? or ‘Guess we’re both kinda miserable, huh’?

When we step off the bus, the wind whips my hair across

my field of vision before snatching my hat from my head (backwards snapback, Flyers) and flinging it toward the newly–leaved trees across the road.

My sister and I share a brief, ludicrous stare, and then I’m sprinting carelessly across the bus and incoming traffic and the man with an Orioles mask, still mostly unable to see, to reduce the damage from a tragedy to an almost–loss, snagging the hat and reeling it back in. It is absurd; I am laughing.

After the two weeks end, my sister admits that she was worried Baltimore would make me worse, more stressed, and I tactfully do not admit that the first night I arrived, I cried in the shower, thinking that I wouldn’t make it because the water pressure was poor and it doesn’t take very much to set me off. But I did it, didn’t I? Made it those two weeks? Spent an afternoon giddy, half–blind, chasing after a hat my sister gave me, laughing, laughing, laughing?

A baseball game is being played. A baseball game is always being played, somewhere.

Hear that? I am laughing. In Anaheim, Ohtani is bringing about a revelation.

As tidy as it would be for

baseball to play Mr. Fix–it perfectly, it doesn’t. Baseball makes me happy. Baseball breaks my heart. Spring ends. I feel better and worse and worse and better and worse. Ohtani wins MVP. The Phillies do not make the playoffs. MLB locks the players out.

But the baseball stays. And some things stay until you begin to notice them everywhere.

Your brain can take something that is not yours and turn it into something that is. It doesn’t take very much. For example, I see ice skates and think of my little sister’s stories that loop in on themselves a hundred times. I come across Baltimore, and I think of my older sister’s infinite kindness.

I see a Phillies cap and suddenly I am thinking of the joy eked out from a catalog of numbers, the elastic–band snap of misery, a generous answer to a stranger’s strange question, a one–sided kinship and ‘I hope the Orioles will finally get better,’ static set aflame, the trajectory of a struck baseball that cannot possibly stretch any further but somehow does as if there are pockets of existence where miracles are possible, I think of all of it. Every single ounce of it. All of it.

SE S UEES S AY T H I RLDO VPEL AI C

Three Maybes and a Definitely Our friendship persists across 869 miles. I doubt his beat–up car can travel that far, but our love certainly does. | ERIKA ACOSTA

Illustration by Tyler Kliem

H

e might be the person I’ve cried to the most.

But he never comforts

me.

He was there in the driver’s seat, his once–shiny, now– beat–up white car parked in front of my house, after the first of our friend group had left for college. And then again after the second. He sat there and stared at me, eyes never looking away, and I knew he was thinking the state of our friendship akin to his car: once shiny, now beat–up. “It’s the end of an era,” he would say again and again. I always scolded him for that, choosing to see the shiny silver lining in our beat–up white car even through the tears clouding my eyes. But he only saw grey. I never saw the tears on his face, but I heard them in the words from his mouth.

He was there on the tiny screen I held in my hand at two in the morning. Sometimes three, sometimes four. I would be in tears over something stupid, and he would

reply with something equally stupid, something random, something that made me laugh. He knew that comfort was a stranger to both of us, so he invited our dear friend laughter to my pity party instead. The three of us always had a feast.

He might be the person who gives the worst hugs I’ve ever had. But he knows that.

He towers over me. A difference of one foot and two inches had him always leaning down to the side to give this awkward, one–armed hug. If you could even call it a hug.

After many more complaints on my part, and many more rolling eyes on his part, our hugs now constitute his bony arms wrapping as loosely as overused saran wrap and his hands patting my back twice before releasing. He would smile brazenly afterwards, and I knew there was no point in complaining.

He might be the person who cares about his friends the most. But he never admits it.

He would drive forty minutes to pick up one of our friends, and another forty minutes back, all after leaving tired from work. When I would send him my poems, he’d talk to me about them, compliments flowing from the cracks between the lines. He’d make us laugh, he loved to make us laugh, once claiming he would survive the apocalypse if Greta Thunberg was by his side. He gave us a cookie cake and a handwritten card on Valentine’s Day, but you’ll never hear him say those words out loud.

He is, however, definitely my friend, and definitely 869 miles away from me.

There’s a bubble tea store right next to our high school where we used to go very often. When he found out that I sometimes go to another bubble tea store on the other side of town, his mouth fell, and he shook his head.

“So much for loyalty,” he sneered.

“I go to ours way more of-

ten!” I gasped.

“Still. Disloyal,” he insisted.

We’ve had this argument often, in many different places, at many different times. And every time I walk into TeaDo, I could almost swear I see him standing in line next to me. I hear his voice in my ear, scoffing at my decision to get bubble tea somewhere other than “ours.” Ours.

Yes, ours are the nights we stayed up talking to each other on the phone. Ours are the terrible hugs and rolling eyes and cheeky smiles. Ours are the late night drives, the tear– stained laughs, the unspoken words.

Ours is that once–shiny, now beat–up white car that has no functioning temperature control and had to get mold removal for a whole two weeks.

But ours is not the love that was once shiny, now beat–up.

No, our love is the love that shines so bright I can see it from 869 miles away.

When I came home for

winter break, our first stop was our bubble tea store.

After months of not seeing each other, I had expected the warmest embrace in the world. He did, in fact, disappoint. But maybe deep down, I appreciated his sloppy, clumsy, fleeting hug. I had feared change—a change to him, to me, to our friendship, really a change to anything.

But that remained constant.

I haven’t properly talked to him in a few weeks now, both of us living busy lives. Sitting in that once–shiny, now beat– up white car parked in front of my house, he was right. It really was the end of an era. It was the end of our late night drives, brazen hugs, bubble tea hangouts.

But it was the start of our funny Instagram memes, call– out TikToks, random pictures.

And maybe in the summer, we can begin the era again.

Until then, I’ll continue seeing him at TeaDo, arguing over definitions of loyalty and good hugs.

F E B R U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 2 2 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 17

LOVE ISSUE

Overheards 02.15.22

"Who eats salami? Like, a sausage I can get behind.

Oh, I can get behind a sausage."

THE

ORE–SCHACH TEST WH

"It’s giving softcore porn rabbit."

MA

LE MONICA LEWINSKY

"This suit may be giving bar mitzvah, but at least I look like a fuckable intern."

STAR LESBIAN ER

"Did I date a man for a year and half? Yes. Did I ever swallow his cum?

Absolutely the fuck not."

WI L

THE

UTERIE CONNOISSEUR RC

SIL V

CHA

This week: political scandals, psychoanalysis, and even more meats

L

FUCK FOR PROJECT PAGES

"Engineers are always in that 'heteroflexible– until–proven–otherwise' category."

Now leasing 5 & 6 Bedroom Houses Available for June 2022!

4000 block of Locust · 39th & Pine · Great Prices Renovated kitchens and bathrooms, laundry facilities, decks!

(215) 222-5500 university 4019 Locust St. enterprises info@uerealestate.net Apartments & Townhouses Serving the Penn community for OVER 50 YEARS! www.uerealestate.net

UE

1 8 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

3D Virtual Tours Available!

Family-run business for over 54+ years in student housing!

“Your mother will be happy!”

LOVE ISSUE

Taylor Swift and Moses Sumney: Studies in

'Aromanticism' On two of their respective albums, these seemingly disparate artists explore a love that exists beyond sex, relationships, and marriage. | EVAN QIANG

“I

t’s a love story, baby, just say, ‘Yes.’ ” A very optimistic statement, but one that won’t always come true.

Taylor Swift's “Love Story,” one of our generation’s most iconic love songs, describes your typical teenage romantic affair, full of carefree ambition and innocent adoration. But what happens to our youthful daydreams when love hurts just as deeply as it once healed?

If anyone had to answer this question, Swift would be the perfect candidate. Today’s biggest pop star is no stranger to living through the peaks of attraction and the despairs of heartbreak, and her love stories can be pieced together from the nine studio albums in her discography. Besides her signature “Love Story,” Swift has a whole album, Lover, filled with doting praises of her boyfriend Joe Alwyn. But when Swift faced her first romantic challenges and obstacles, she too internalized love’s double–edged nature.

Speak Now takes a sharp turn from Fearless, the parent album of “Love Story,” and its high school romantic tropes. It showcases an artist at her most vulnerable moments, her fleeting instants of euphoric bliss, and her

Illustration by Kilahra Lott journey navigating through the confusion of her desires. Even if the album isn’t completely devoid of Swift’s affectionate yearnings, the love stories told are more reflective than fervid. For instance, “Enchanted” is a nearly six–minute power ballad about the first moment she met Owl City's Adam Young, and “Sparks Fly” paints a magical scene of Swift’s romantic interest meeting her “in the pouring rain” and kissing on the sidewalk.

Swift’s highly publicized relationships and subsequent breakups with John Mayer and Joe Jonas played a role in this shift in perspective, but Swift's identity also became more complex in their wake. She’s no longer content with her previous depictions of love, instead opting for alternative, nonconforming definitions. On “Dear John,” a track about her feelings surrounding Mayer’s betrayal, Swift feels loved and empowered by writing “this song” as a response. After Mayer gave love but “[took] it away,” the only thing Swift can do is to escape his “dark, twisted games” by making music.

In general, Speak Now’s angst and embrace of the unknown gives Swift the chance to leave her comfort zone and find what truly makes her feel loved. She

finds it in forgiveness on “Back to December” when all she wants to do is to “turn around and make it alright” after leaving her lover's roses “to die,” and she finds it in her fans on “Long Live” when acknowledging their unconditional support for her on tour. Familial love and relationships are also a highlight on “Never Grow Up,” in which Swift recalls her fondest childhood memories. By exchanging romantic love for its other permutations, Swift is able to move on from the past. She’s not just looking for romantic interests— she’s searching for opportunities to understand who she is, and that voyage takes her to friends, family, music, and ultimately, herself.

If Swift considers her young adulthood to be more satisfying without love’s volatility, then is the pursuit of intimacy really worth it if it's just a waste of time? Moses Sumney argues exactly this on his 2016 debut album, Aromanticism, which takes society’s understanding of love and turns it on its head. Instead of seeing romantic love as one of humankind’s necessities, he believes that normative love is irrelevant, merely a time sink.

Taken from his own experience as an aromantic who has loving

urges but no desire to develop them further, Sumney offers a glimpse into a life where sexual pleasure is second to developing more fulfilling platonic relationships.

In this “Lonely World,” love is nothing more than a manmade creation that we learn to accept as truth from those around us. However, Sumney makes the case that we're meant to be lonely, and to listen to the void that speaks to us more than any human can.

After all, if we’re “born into this world without consent or choice,” why are we meant to trust others?

Although isolation might be innate, that doesn’t prevent Sumney from craving affection from time to time. On “Indulge Me,” Sumney becomes frustrated that “all [his] old lovers have found others,” suggesting that he feels left out. Most of the song features an atmospheric synth accompanying soothing guitar plucks, heightening the tranquil state that comes with normative love. Sumney eventually calls out for others to “indulge” him, with a disclaimer that he doesn’t “trouble nobody.”

Much of Aromanticism, however, deals with coping mecha-

nisms in this loveless world.

Sumney learns to find consolation and love in his closest friends, sometimes even seeing them as “[silhouettes]” and relying on them to keep his secrets in “Plastic.” Even more crucially Sumney teaches himself how to love himself. The closing track, “Self–Help Tape,” ends with Sumney wondering what it’s like “being free,” “tasting free,” and “feeling free,” a freedom that comes only from periods when he's alone.

Sumney and Swift are actively searching for their homes on these respective albums. Neither is pleased with their experiences in past affairs, but the impulse to participate in affection never leaves. Nevertheless, both artists are experimenting with new forms of love, ones that value deep relationships both with others and with the self.

Star–crossed lovers can sometimes be a fortunate coincidence, but there’s more to love than a fateful attraction.

From the moments spent in our bedrooms loving and taking care of ourselves to the precious minutes spent with our family, love stories are all around us. It’s our responsibility to discover them.

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE 19

LOVE ISSUE

In Defense of Che Diaz

Yes, Che Diaz sucks. But the most controversial character in 'And Just Like That...' also brought the 'sex' back into the city. | JACOB A. POLLACK

Illustration by Lilian Liu

I

’m Sorry.

I Can’t.

Don’t Hate Me— But Che Diaz was an excellent addition to And Just Like That...

Don’t get me wrong—Che is awful. As a podcaster and stand–up comedian, they're selfish, narcissistic, and most importantly, not funny. Their fictional “comedy concert” was just woke jokes that fell flat.

Every. Single. Time.

HBO Max's limited original series And Just Like That… picks up 20 years after the landmark Sex and the City, with the characters navigating life and friendships in their fifties. And while Che Diaz might suck, the creative decision to introduce such a controversial character in And Just Like That… has its merits.

Che brings the chaotic and wild energy that would’ve otherwise been missing from the show due to the absence of Samantha Jones, after actress Kim Cattrall declined to join the revival. It was Samantha who put the “sex” in the city, and now the mantle has been passed to the one and only “Hey it’s Che Diaz.”

For one thing, Che provides some much needed representation and diversity to the And Just Like That… cast. As a queer, nonbinary, and Irish– Mexican comedian, Che is a welcome addition to a show that, in its past iterations, failed to represent anyone who wasn’t rich (Carrie writes one column a week and lives in a million–dollar brownstone apartment) or white.

“I’m really proud of the representation that we’ve created.

We have built a character who is a human being, who is imperfect, who’s complex, who is

not here to be liked, who’s not here for anybody’s approval.

They’re here to be themselves,” Sara Ramirez—who plays Che—says in a New York Times interview.

It's understandable that many critics of Che see them as a caricature of a nonbinary person, rather than a nuanced individual whom the audience can relate to and root for. You could look at Che’s “X, Y, and Me” podcast with its “woke moment” button or their comedy special that hinges on their nonbinary experience and see Che as an amalgamation of nonbinary stereotypes instead of a developed character.

Nevertheless, there’s no denying that they've done the nearly impossible, for a show that premiered in 1998, of keeping it a cultural phenomenon. Whether you hate or love Che, you’re talking about them, and Sex and the City has always been a driving force behind pop culture discourse. Among all the things Che has done in their

20 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

short time in the Sex and the City universe, none have been more dissected and criticized than their budding relationship with New York’s favorite cynic: Miranda Hobbes.

Che changes everything about the Miranda viewers had come to know: faithful, confident, and career–oriented. It’s with Che that Miranda has her queer sexual awakening, which disrupts her mundane yet stable marriage with partner Steve Brady. Sex and the City addressed Miranda’s sexuality a few times before, including a storyline where she is set up on a blind date with another woman and confirms that she’s “yep, definitely straight.” And Just Like That… rectifies Sex and the City’s limited exploration of sexuality, more than two decades later, by presenting Miranda’s sexual identity as fluid. While Che and Miranda’s hookup in Carrie’s kitchen might be a tad horrifying to watch, especially as Carrie is awake and mere meters away, it frees the show and lets Mi-

randa and Che explore a relationship unlike any other in Sex and the City’s history.

Even the creators of And Just Like That… have acknowledged that Che is the catalyst to Miranda’s life upheaval. “Miranda is making choices to be Miranda, and Che is a conduit to that, and making Che not perfect highlights that,” co–executive producer Rachna Fruchbom tells Vulture. “Che is not the perfect solution, but the representation is that Miranda is embracing chaotic change.”

Cheating on your partner might be immoral—even hypocritical in Miranda’s case, as she practically crucified Steve in Sex and the City for doing the exact same thing— but Che’s introduction into Miranda’s life lets her become the semi–replacement of Samantha and the sexually adventurous one of the trio.

For most of Sex and the City, the four female leads were single. The appeal of the show lay in watching these women navigate the tricky

streets of New York through friendship, fashion, and of course, sex. The reboot brings back this sense of unpredictability; Mr. Big’s infamous Peloton death opens the door for Carrie to be single again and the introduction of Che lets Miranda explore an open and undefined relationship.

With the exception of Charlotte, who’s always been the most monogamy–focused, the main characters are single again and free to explore sex and friendships on their own terms.

Sure, Miranda and Che’s relationship is messy, but that’s what makes it fun. If someone wanted to watch another show about middle–aged people dealing with traditional married life, they could just turn on Modern Family or This Is Us. What else was Miranda going to do, just splurge on sundaes and watch prestige TV with Steve every evening?

Having Miranda lose her moral compass is more interesting, and resembles much of the original show’s sexually liberating storylines.

The spirit of Sex and the City has always revolved around the single life and the freedoms it carries, so if this revival was ever going to be faithful to the original, it had to take some wild risks and have the characters back out dating, which is what led to the stroke of brilliance that is Che. Che is nowhere close to perfect. But for a show nearly doomed from its beginning with Samantha out of the picture, Che brings back the bold attitude, fierce independence, and unforgettable moments that made the original series so riveting to watch.

LOVE ISSUE

Give These Romantic Tropes A Second Chance Revisiting some of the most perfectly executed romantic tropes in film | CINDY ZHANG

P

eople seem to have a love–hate relationship with romantic tropes: They’re frustrating yet satisfying, predictable yet comforting, cringe–inducing, and yet, you can't peel your eyes away from the screen. The best rom– coms and romantic dramas have shamelessly embraced romantic tropes and made them their own, resulting in a plethora of timeless classics at one’s disposal around this time of the year.

Granted, romantic tropes are not universally salvageable. Netflix’s holiday rom– com Love Hard, starring Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang, is predicated on the fake relationship trope and begins with male protagonist and social recluse Josh catfishing Natalie into spending Christmas with him. Naturally, they fall in love, despite being entirely incompatible. Josh’s insecurities about navigating the online dating realm as an Asian man, grounded in real–life examples of categorical discrimination against Asian men on dating platforms like Tinder, are magically fixed by the validation of a conventionally attractive white woman. Even without the problematic plot, movies that employ the fake relationship trope often refuse to dig any deeper, insisting that all differences are conquerable with love.

However, when executed well, romantic tropes can serve as candid reflections on the natural progression of relationships, and delight their audience when paired with compelling characters. You find yourself rooting for the star–crossed lovers, sobbing about the missed connections, and screaming at the character

who's too oblivious to dump their toxic, longtime partner.

For those wishing to curl up with a film that’s a tolerable level of cheesy this Valentine’s Day, here are some romantic tropes that top the list, along with the movies that best encapsulate them.

Right person, wrong time

Soulmates The soulmates trope is a classic. It permits serendipitous encounters, like in Before Sunrise, which depicts two strangers who meet on a train in Europe and spontaneously decide to spend one night in Vienna simply talking and enjoying each other’s presence. The plot is uncomplicated yet emotive, and the movie is essentially one long, fascinating conversation.

Your Name is a particularly creative interpretation of the soulmates trope with an otherworldly premise: two high schoolers with no prior relation to each other and from two different timelines suddenly switch bodies and form an inexplicable human connection. Known for its breathtaking skylines and attention to detail, this beloved Japanese animation will make you nostalgic for experiences you’ve never even had.

The right person, wrong time trope is inherently bittersweet, differentiating it from typical romantic tropes that lead to a happily–ever–after ending. The audience is forced to reconcile a potentially perfect pairing with the reality of their situations, leading to a more realistic understanding of love. 500 Days of Summer Illustration by Lilian Liu begins by declaring that “this is not a love story.” Tom is a hopeless romantic; Summer is a cynic when it comes to love.

Despite their opposite worldviews, they bond over their love of The Smiths and begin casually dating. However, their passionate romance is short– lived, and the movie ends up devoting as much attention to $725 per room + utilities the breakup as it does the relaAvailable June 1st, 2022! tionship.

For another example, in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women, one can’t help but wish that Laurie’s courting of his childhood best friend Jo comes to fruition, seeing as they bring out the best in each other and form a bond unlike that between any other characters in the movie. Instead, the film eventually goes the route of exploring the social forces that shaped Jo’s decision to remain unmarried, and the ending is one that truly tugs at your heartstrings.

Belated love epiphany The belated love epiphany trope hinges on a charming moment of realization in which a character discovers they were deeply in love with someone the entire time. The critically acclaimed rom–com Silver Linings Playbook takes this tried–and– true formula and applies it to its protagonists, a man with bipolar disorder who’s intent on winning his ex–wife back and a young widow who’s slut–shamed and ostracized. Both are so focused on their respective dysfunctional love lives that it’s almost comedic how blind they are to their developing feelings for each other.

The trope patiently waits for the characters to realize their compatibility, resulting in poignant, slow–burn stories.

Large 10 bedroom house on 41st and Pine Streets • 10 spacious bedrooms • 4 baths • 3 small kitchens on each floor • Large main kitchen on the lower floor • Beautiful hardwood floors • 4 zones central air conditioner • Large patio • 2 car parking • 1, 2, and 3 bedrooms available

Call or text: 215-768-5051 FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE 21

SL O P IVTEE I ISSSSUUEE

Spread COVID–19, Not Love: How I Gave 1,500 Penn Students the Novel Coronavirus This Valentine’s Season Margarita Matta

A

h yes, Valentine’s Day. A day meant to commemorate love, relationships, and most importantly, bring warmth into the otherwise frigid, hopeless month of February. However, what about all of us without a relationship to commemorate on Feb. 14? This Valentine’s season, I made it my honorable duty to celebrate a little differently.

Here’s how you can do the same: Successfully contract the novel Coronavirus Personally, I hosted a stakeout mission outside of the Houston Hall COVID-19 testing center. After circa 5.86 hours of waiting, I came out of my super secret hiding spot (I chose to dress in a ghillie suit and bend down in the bushes because I’m super small and skinny and petite so it was really easy to do). I then broke into the testing site and proceeded to lick every single used testing Q-Tip in an effort to ensure a positive result. In order to be 100% confident that I would contract the virus, I then broke into the quarantine dorms, picked the lock of several rooms, and licked every corner, counter, and person I came into contact with (consensually).

Start being the super spreader you were destined to be This is where things get fun. After receiving my positive results, I did what any conscious neolib would do - I unmasked, I breathed on everyone, and proceeded with my licking. I licked my friends, my teachers, my friend’s teachers, my teacher’s friends, my RA, everyone on my shit list (you know who you

are). It was the best day of my life. No, it was the best week of my life.

M a k e s u r e to target anyone in a relationship The goal of my mission was to put everyone celebrating Valentine’s Day into quarantine, and I must say I was extremely successful.

After cross referencing my extensive Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, I was able to confirm that I had a 96.2% success rate, with 1,526 positive cases on my belt. I would like to also mention the 428 people who I gave Covid to who weren't in a relationship, and thank them for their service in fighting this noble cause. You’re welcome, Penn community!

Celebrate your win After a week of hard work, I decided to pat myself on the back and take myself out on Feb. 14 to celebrate. After some red wine and a bubble bath, I read some erotic poetry before putting on my silk pajamas and resting my gentle angel head on my pillow to sleep. Not only did I sleep, but I dreamed.

I dreamed of a better future, where little girls and boys can grow up to do the charity work that I do every year. I look forward to continuing to spread my mission each Valentine’s season, and am ecstatic at the opportunity to do so.

QUIZ: Have You Ever Passed the Bechdel Test?

Grace Ginsburg & Ashna Yakoob 1. Are you a girl?

1. Yassss!

2. Nooo 2. Have you ever spoken to a girl?

1. Yeah and then we banged!

2. Yeah and I tried to bang and it didn’t work 22 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022

3. Yeah she’s my mom 3. What do you guys talk about :) 1. Boys 2. Texting boys 3. Kissing boys 4. Hating boys

SLPOIVTEE IISSSSUUEE

4. Do you think women should work? Be honest 1. Yassss girlboss 2. Noooo they are so dainty and they might break!!

3. Yes, but they should do a girl job like marketing or kindergarten teacher 5. What is the purpose of women attending college?

1. HUSBAND! JEWISH HUSBAND! 2. Getting steps in walking around campus 3. To get a job to find a jewish husband 6. What are your thoughts on boys (yay)?

1. BOYS BOYS BOYS 2. Sooo cute 3. I like their hair <3 7. What are your thoughts on girls (boo)?

1. Hot. Nice tits 2. Pretty cool but need to talk less 3. I hate girls!

8. Do you support LGBTQ? 1. Absolutely not 9. Should women have passions/interests?

1. Sure, like texting or drawing little pictures 2. Only if they don’t talk about them. Keep it to yourself 3. Being pretty :) 10. Fill in the blank. On the airplane, I get a drink from a ___

1. Stewardess 2. Girl servant 3. Flight attendress 11. What’s your favorite sphere?

1. Domestic 2. Circular (like boobs) 3. Atmosphere (astrology) 12. Are you friends with girls?

1. Does my mom count?

2. Yeah, but I fucked her ex boyfriend 3. Did you mean boys?

13. Thoughts on Virginia Woolf?

1. Would like her better if she shut her trap 2. I liked her husband, Leonard Woolf 3. She was kinda cray 14. Thoughts on the glass ceiling?

1. The other day I broke a wine glass is that what you mean 2. We need more female CEOs who are married to hot male actors 3. I prefer the stained glass of the Catholic Church 15. Do you know the name of more than one woman?

1. You’re asking too much of me :( Congrats, you did not pass the Bechdel test!

If Professor Old, Then Why Sexy?

Grace Ginsburg & Chaily Derecskey

I

t’s a Tuesday afternoon. You make the hajj to the fourth floor of College Hall, devastatingly winded by the act of walking up more than one flight of stairs. You are so eager to learn whatever it is this class is about that fulfills the history & traditions sector. The moment you walk into class, you are greeted by your certified DILF (or GILF, if we are being precise): Dr. Albert Bernard, who is flicking the lights on and off in an attempt to turn on the projector.

But ultimately, you are plagued by one trying question: if professor old, then why sexy?

How do I concentrate on revolutionary ideologies when all I wanna do is cause an uprising in his lower class? How am I to learn about the 20th–century wage gap, when all I can think about is our age gap? What is it about his strong and authoritative voice when he talks about how very naughty it is to plagiarize and says how very, very angry he’ll be if he catches me?

What is so deeply erotic about the way his tortoise shell reading glasses slide down his nose when he reads off his printed lecture notes because he physically cannot operate a computer?

Only a professor’s combination of graying hair, softly wrinkled skin, and comments that make you say, “Wait, is he a Republican?” could so perfectly satisfy both my sapiosexuality and my Oedipus complex.

You snap out of an erotic dream sequence, realizing you knew the answer to your question all along: professor sexy because professor old.

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 34TH STREET MAGAZINE 23

24 34TH STREET MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 2022