Mikalai (Nick) Makhalik

A New Kind of Speakeasy

On January 16th, 1919, The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was signed and ratified. One year later, on January 17th, 1920, the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol became illegal. This was a nationwide enforcement of Prohibition in the USA. The places where people went to drink illegally became known as speakeasies; they were places where taboos such as gambling, Black jazz, queer drag, and flapper feminism were able to exist openly. This thesis proposes a new kind of speakeasy — a virtual architecture of refuge and discourse within a purgatory landscape of censored and banned authors.

Advisors: Fredrik Hellberg and Lara Lesmes 46 Daniels Faculty Thesis Review