Affiliated With Creativity By Claire Fairtlough

(POWER), where Director of Student Accessibility Services Diane Paxton said she was making pillowcases as holiday gifts. McCallum thought that creating homemade gifts was more sentimental and less expensive than buying store-bought gifts. When thinking of what she could make, McCallum was also inspired by her friend Jalyn Cox’s jewelry brand Raw Intention. McCallum had crystals already, so she began making wire-wrapped crystal necklaces in December for gifts and selling them in late January.

Since McCallum began selling her necklaces through her Instagram page (@necklacesbyeryn), she’s had a variety of customers, including her friends at Emerson, her friends from home in Chicago and even people she hasn’t talked to since high school.

One challenge she’s encountered so far is finding the right price for her products, as she found she was not charging enough at the beginning.

“When I first started, I was only charging $10 per neck-

Having a creative team has made communication smoother, which has led to a stronger line of communication between sta members. Malicdem emphasized that the focus in creating for PieFace is someone showing their interest: “It’s the most important thing. It’s important to have dedication. I’m super grateful because everyone so far has been really open for collaboration.”

Malicdem remarked that PieFace is exible to the needs of the sta , since when it comes down to it, PieFace is for fun. “It’s a place for Emerson students to express what they value, as we’re all just trying to gure out what we want to do with our life.”

Malicdem has an extremely unique voice in her writing. When reading her articles, you can tell it’s her, even though you may not necessarily know her. When I asked her about this, she remarked that she had actually heard this before from her professors. She usually is asked who her literary and journalistic inspirations are, and never knows how to answer. She doesn’t really have any hard-hitting journalistic inspirations, revealing that her writing style developed through musicians and how they express their feelings through songwriting.

Malicdem, just like so many Emerson students, is a force to be reckoned with. Her unique artistic expressions all emphasize her personal voice in a multitude of formats. Her talent, creativity and passion are truly exempli ed in her writing.

“Malicdem, just like so many Emerson students, is a force to be reckoned with.”

Another medium that I explored was Fettucine, a zine created by Noah Schulte and Christine Park. According to their website, Fettucine is “a multi-platform artistic zine focused on giving a voice to our generation. rough editorials, photoshoots, and dorm-ready pasta recipes, we hope to express the unique experiences and perspectives of our friends and peers.” e general idea of Fettucine is to “create a space to let creatives do their thing,” and that’s exactly what they do.

Fettucine explores a multitude of themes through mediums such as poetry, prose and photography. Fettucine creates a space for all creatives, especially Emerson students. Park, co-founder of Fettucine, noted that the inspiration behind its inception was having a sudden urge to create a writing platform. Park explained, “At rst it was an urge to create a political opinion website of sorts, but that was swept under the rug for a bit. And when quarantine happened, Noah and I decided to bring back the idea of Fettucine, but make it into something that would be a way for us to express ourselves creatively instead of limiting ourselves to one speci c topic.”

Something that you notice right away when stumbling across Fettucine is the aesthetic. Park mentioned that aesthetics are something that she’s extremely passionate about, and enjoys having the creative freedom to make what she wants, when she wants it.

“With running your own publication, you take on a lot more responsibility than what you expected, and doing everything from planning photoshoot dates or publishing stories or laying out the zine in general can be exhausting and rewarding at the same time,” Park said.

Park would de ne Fettucine as “one of a kind.” She recalled that when she bought the domain for their website, she misspelled “fettuccine,” typing “fettucine” instead.

“I honestly think it adds to the charm of the whole publication. It’s not necessarily put together in the sense that everything looks the same: we want anyone to create anything they desire without putting a limit on their creative freedom. We do things from FaceTime photoshoots to writing about sports media to publishing poem after poem. We encourage all sorts of creativity, and I think this limitless aspect of the zine really adds to the overall charm. As for the future? Who knows. But for now, we’re just having fun running it.”

ere’s truly a creative place for everyone, inside and outside of Emerson. e choice to create a publication outside of Emerson is a riskier one. Having to create your own budget, seeking out sta and guest writers and deciding on what the ultimate aesthetic and purpose of your work is a massive responsibility. However, being independent from Emerson has its own advantages.

In having their own publication, creatives can truly be free. ey won’t be representing Emerson College, they’ll be representing themselves as artists. With the association to Emerson gone, possible pressures and fears dissipate. It’s possible that pieces that are created outside of Emerson are more reminiscent of the student experience than ones published by Emerson-supported clubs. Either way, both PieFace and Fettucine are beautifully crafted mediums of artistic expression, that work towards capturing the inner workings of a student’s voice.

“When I rst started, I was only charging $10 per necklace, and I realized that wasn’t really yielding me any pro t, so I was kind of making a ton of necklaces for a cheaper price because I felt bad, like I didn’t want to increase my prices, and I didn’t think my skills were good enough yet,” she said. “I had to have a lot of pep talks from a lot of friends who were like, ‘You can charge as much as you want, Eryn, people will buy it.’”

Like Dixon, McCallum has plans to expand her range of products, since her main focus now is necklaces.

“A lot of people have asked me if I make earrings, and I also get asked if I make anklets and rings, so I want to start making those,” McCallum said. “It’s de nitely not going to be necklaces only because there’s demand for other stu .”

Since her shop is temporarily closed to restock products, McCallum hopes that with the reboot, the brand will expand. She’s also considering selling through a website like Etsy to increase her reach.

At Emerson, everyone has a creative side that sets them apart from others. So if you have a talent or passion, consider creating your own small business. After all, the Dunkin’ co ees won’t pay for themselves.