Student Magazine of the University of South Carolina
Spring 2017
so rr y, w e ’ re open
REDISCOVERING COLUMBIA’S CULTURE
FASHION AT ITS FULLEST
So u l s o f th e Ki t chen THE MAGIC BEHIND IL GIORGIONE
pap e r s h o e s
QUIET VOICE, LOUD SOUND
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Student Living: Redefined. Now Under New Management. Soon Full of New Updates. Welcome home to a new standard of student living! University Oaks is under new management and is excited to offer state-of-the-art amenities, exciting new upgrades, and new programs to residents. Our award-winning Students First™ program provides our residents with an exceptional living experience that will launch them to success now and in the future. At University Oaks, we strive to provide our residents with a community — not just four walls and a roof. Come check out all that’s new at University Oaks!
STUDENT MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JAKE MARGLE CREATIVE DIRECTOR CHARLOTTE PRICE PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR KELLI CALDWELL
ART ART DIRECTOR RACHEL JOHNSON STAFF DESIGNER ASHLYN MURPHY STAFF DESIGNER ALEX RUSNAK
EDITORIAL ARTICLES EDITOR JULIA HOGAN ASSISTANT ARTICLES EDITOR JULIETTE LAFERLITA COPY CHIEF MADELEINE VATH
PHOTO PHOTO DIRECTOR JOSH THOMPSON ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR BRENNAN BOOKER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER CHRISTIAN HINTY
STYLE STYLE EDITOR MYLEA HARDY STYLE ASSISTANT CLARA MARZOLF
WEB WEB EDITOR ROBIN HENDRICKS ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR ZOE NICHOLSON
DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA SARAH SCARBOROUGH
FACULTY ADVISOR SCOTT FARRAND
CREATIVE DIRECTOR EDGAR SANTANA
CREATIVE SERVICES WANDA FELSENHARDT ELIZABETH JENNINGS EMILY LOR
BUSINESS MANAGER KRISTINE CAPPS
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES JOLIE DELIA MORGAN MACLACHLAN ANDREW SNIGHT DREW THIEL CAMERON WHITE
Advertising: (803) 777-3018 To contact G&B, email sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or visit www.gandbmagazine.com Garnet & Black magazine is produced four times a year by students of the University of South Carolina and is distributed free to members of the university community. All editors and staff members can be contacted at (803) 777-1149. The office is located in Russell House room 339. Email letters to the editor to sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or to Garnet & Black magazine, Student Media, 1400 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208. Letters should be 250-400 words and must include name, address, phone number and academic information (if applicable). Garnet & Black reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published.
3
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CONTENTS 10
spotl igh t An in-depth interview with South Carolina’s poetic activist, Nikky Finney.
12
sp e a k on y o u r f eet
16
sp icy, sw eet , g o ne
A night out with Toast Improv.
This fresh and easy recipe will bring the spice of spring to any dish.
14
S OU L S OF TH E K I TC H E N The faces behind the food at Devine Street’s Il Giorgione.
27
S ORRY, WE’ RE OPEN
A tour of a few longstanding small businesses in Columbia.
17
c r a sh w i t h o u t s h at t er
18
fir st 10 0
22
cre atin g s p a c e
A poem from Cypress Knee.
Trump’s America: Overstated or unprecedented?
Poetry that fosters Columbia’s voice.
30
t h e tur n
40
a pa in t in g wo r t h a t h ou sa nd w o r d s
45
th e re ’s a z a p p f o r t h at
An opinion piece on the new presidency and its broader meanings.
Femininity and empowerment provide the spark for this USC painter.
The argument against USC’s greenest threat.
32
F U L L S PEC T RUM Exploring the ultimate style expression.
42
PA P ER S H OE S
This bedroom musician provides a quiet voice to Columbia.
46
e ve nts
47
o ve rhe ard at the s up e r b o wl
What to do when it’s not spring break.
“Well, I just lost $500.” 5
CONTRIBUTORS H OL LY H E AT O N
ELIZA BETH J ENNINGS
BE NJAMIN CR AWF ORD
I’m famous for my obsession with high-quality olive oil, ability to befriend puppies at outdoor markets and love for a champagne brunch.
I am famous for my ability to fall asleep anywhere, my comical facial expressions, and for knowing every Beyoncé lyric since “Irreplaceable.”
I’m famous for incessant babble. I’m damn hard to defeat at Scrabble. I can be loud in front of a crowd, if you need me to rouse the rabble.
B RI T TA N Y PYL E S
ERIKA RYAN
CARO L INE FAIREY
I’m famous for my love of watching YouTube videos, having my eyebrows on fleek and my outgoing personality.
I’m famous for the Karl Marx patch on my jacket, my bearded dragon Todd and my undying love for David Byrne.
I’m famous for my stove-top popcorn, my excellent Clash Royale gameplay and my unprompted political soliloquies.
J E N N A CO O L E Y
TAYLOR K ANE
CAS S IDY S PE NCER
I’m famous for my love of cheese and bread, casually namedropping places I’ve traveled, singing along to every song I know and some I don’t, and being perpetually late.
I’m famous for having a twin on campus that people get freaked out when saying hi because they don’t know if it’s me or not. Also, I love cats more than most things.
This is actually a recent discovery — I’m famous for being relentlessly sassy. I mean, get to know me first, but apparently once I’m comfortable enough with you — I just sass.
R ACH E L L AU RENC E
LINDSAY MACHA
JACO B S TE PHE N S
I’m famous for my heavy caffeine intake, my groovy dance moves, my love of wearing black and my mad Photoshop skills.
I’m famous for my obsession with student orgs, constant consumption of coffee and love of extra-large T-shirts.
I’m famous for my love of sleeveless shirts, funtional alcoholism, subtle eyeliner and referring to inanimate objects as “she.”
“
WHAT ARE YOU FAMOUS FOR?
THE FOLLOWING CONTRIBUTORS DID NOT OFFER RESPONSES: WANDA FELSENHARDT & ALEX FINLEY RESPONSES EDITED FOR CLARITY
” 7
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Letter from the Editor EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JAKE MARGLE
THIS ISSUE OF G&B has been the
strangest complex of emotions. I feel like we’ve really hit our stride in this semester, but it’s bittersweet because there’s only one issue left to put under our belts. For our spring issue, there seems to be a focus on current events, be it the political climate or current fashion trends. We’ve really stepped our game up when it comes to our fashion coverage, be it online or in print. Our style shoot, Full Spectrum, explores the shift in fashion toward androgynous style and the unlimited possibilities within it. Having the whole team in the studio was a great learning experience for all and really gave the style team a glimpse at how the professionals do it. People always ask me what the mission of G&B is and what we try to accomplish with what we publish. Between “First 100,” my attempt at examining Trump’s uniqueness, and our other features, “Sorry, We’re Open” and “Mind Gravy,” I feel like G&B has become an outlet to understand the world around us, both local and national. We were honored to be able to spotlight Nikky Finney, an award-winning poet and professor here at USC. Finney has always possessed such a valuable voice, one that is even more pertinent now. See what she has to say on page 8. Holly Heaton’s piece, “Souls of the Kitchen” on page 12, explores what makes another Columbia treasure, Il Giorgione, so magical. G&B is always trying to fill its pages with the work of inspirational people. Between Finney and our newest Artist in Residence (page 40), Lauren Chapman, our pages are brimming with inspiration. Chapman’s work touches on female empowerment and commands so much attention in McMaster that it’s only fitting she shares the spotlight. Another welcome voice on the scene is Marcelo Andrés Pérez whose band, Paper Shoes, has resurfaced in the limelight after Perez’s hiatus in Hong Kong. See what makes his act such a standout in Scene & Heard by Erika Ryan on page 42. It’s these standout acts and explorative stories that have helped shape G&B over the course of three issues. All that’s left is to see where the last issue takes us. 9
LOOKING AHEAD WITH NIKKY FINNEY
Award-winning poet and USC professor Nikky Finney explains how art brings to light the truth others are afraid to say. BY CAROLINE FAIREY • PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON • DESIGN BY ALEX RUSNAK
10 SP OTLI GH T
Nikky Finney is a South Carolina-born poet and educator who returned to teach at USC after spending many years teaching at the University of Kentucky. Here, she holds a joint position in the African-American Studies and English departments. Although we recently met in person for the first time, I have known Nikky Finney for years through her poetry. Finney’s “Head Off & Split” won the National Book Award in 2011. It is a collection that challenges the personal and the historical. It invites us into a world where famous politicians and family members interact like old, stubborn friends. As a teenager, I dreamed about leaving South Carolina for some utopia in the North that never struggled with racism, poverty or ignorance. Finney was the first South Carolinian I knew to marry acceptance with resistance, to instill beauty in all of our state’s flaws. Her poetry, in all its honest, messy, humble splendor, showed me a better way to love South Carolina.
During these dark political times, I encourage every reader to pick up a copy of “Head Off & Split.” But since I can’t reproduce her poetry in print, I thought that listening to Finney speak might work as well. Below are quotes from an in-person interview with Finney in her Welsh Humanities Building office. For anyone seeking wisdom, solace or beauty from a woman who knows what it’s like to fight for freedom firsthand, I hope that Finney proves as inspiring to you as she has to me.
ON GROWING UP IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: It made me who I am. Period. As a child, you come out thinking, before the world educates you otherwise, that people are the same, that people should be given the same rewards for the same work. I grew up in a time when I learned that wasn’t true. We call ourselves a country of freedom-seekers, but we don’t live by that in the ways that I believe we should. I was always asking a lot of questions, and I grew up understanding that you’re supposed to be responsible for being a part of the answer. ON POETRY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: If you’re listening to politicians talk, they will tell you what they think you want to hear. Good art has the opposite rule. Good art says, “You need to hear this, and I love you enough to want to say it to you.” That is one of the things I love about being an artist. Sometimes I have to take a deep breath and say something really difficult, not because I’m trying to win an election, but because I’m trying to have a conversation with a fellow human being. ON THE WOMEN’S MARCH: I can’t even go to sleep, I’m so excited. You can feel like you’re by yourself, and then you look up and see 10 million humans across the planet saying, “No, you’re not wrong. We stand in solidarity with you.” I was excited beyond words to watch the signage, the singing, the joy, the embracing of love and empowerment, and people putting their bodies in front of their words and gathering in the streets all around the world. We can’t just march one day. It’s a time to be vigilant and proactive and to use many of the tools that were used in the ‘60s and ‘70s, not just to change minds and hearts, but to change laws. ON HER FAVORITE POEM SHE’S WRITTEN: I don’t have a favorite. That would be like choosing between children.
ON BEING AN ARTIST: I think artists love beauty, but also when beauty is side by side with something that helps us as human beings, some notion of our complexity and our connection to each other. Discovering that is a really important part of my work as a writer. I didn’t know you before you walked in here, but when you said you’d read my book, I thought, oh, we’ve been in conversation before.
and yet we don’t feel compelled. It’s tough to be here and not be critical of that. I am still pushing for South Carolina to be better than it is, because I think it can be. I think sometimes it doesn’t want to be, willingly, and that’s why artists and others have to push for better days ahead. I think we have a lot of work to do. THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED
ON STUDENTS: I want my students to be critical thinkers. I want them to be close readers of essays and novels and poems. I want them to see themselves and where they fit in what they’re reading so they can make good decisions about what they want their lives to stand for. Here at the university, we’re responsible for academics but also for creating responsible human beings, humans who have ideas, who aren’t silent about them, who are powerful and present and engaged. This is a really important time for young people not just to engage in the rhetoric, but to engage in the honesty of who they are in 2017. ON HER FATHER (CHIEF JUSTICE ERNEST FINNEY): My dad is an amazing human being. He taught me so much about the human heart. Not a man who would write a poem, but a man who cares so much about people. I had this poem that was read at his inauguration called “The Justice Man,” and I feel that that is him. He has fought for justice in South Carolina for many, many decades. ON SOUTH CAROLINA: I was in Kentucky for 23 years, and I would come back and forth quite often, but it’s nothing like waking up here. South Carolina has good people. It also has a history of not including enough people who are marginalized. So many people struggling to live and to eat and to not be homeless, and I think we can do a better job at seeing them, at recognizing that they are valuable, about doing something to help their lives. These are our citizens of our state,
FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY.
“HERE AT THE UNIVERSITY, WE’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR ACADEMICS, BUT ALSO FOR CREATING RESPONSIBLE HUMAN BEINGS, HUMANS WHO HAVE IDEAS, WHO AREN’T SILENT ABOUT THEM, WHO ARE POWERFUL AND PRESENT AND ENGAGED.” 11
SPEAK
ON YOUR
FEET Improvisational comedy group at USC keeps actors and audience on their toes with in-the-moment art. BY CASSIDY SPENCER • PHOTOS BY JENNA COOLEY • DESIGN BY RACHEL JOHNSON
TO THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER
attended an improv show — it’s not just theater. It’s a thrill ride, a test of the human imagination, a sample of quick-witted snap decisions and plot building right before your very eyes. It is a show being created specifically for you, partially by you — in and only in that moment. Some of your favorite comedians probably got their start in the improv world — Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, Will Ferrell … the list goes on and on. Being an improv performer trains comedians and actors to invent and react off the top
12 S TU D EN T E X PE R IE N C E
of their heads — following the rules of improv to create a story and a show where seconds before there was nothing. Toast Improv, an improvisational group on campus, is no exception to this style of theater that is all about making it up as you go along. “My favorite thing about improv is that you have absolutely no idea what you’re going to do before you do it,” says Allison McHugh, a Toast member. “And that can be so funny for the audience but also so funny for the cast members, because so much can come out of left
field, and that allows for such a fun and on-the-fly experience.” Toast has a couple of shows scattered throughout the semesters, and any person in attendance may be incorporated into the show itself. When discussing audience involvement, Cala Adair, a member of Toast, says, “There are a few questions that some of the older Toast members ask to generate suggestions. For example, ‘What did I find under my bed this morning?’ or ‘Can I get a household chore?’ In a sense, we’re always working with the audience to create
shows. The suggestions the audience generates fuel our creativity and provide the backbone for whatever scene we’re about to do,” she continues. “There are some games that involve more literal involvement. For example, in the game ‘Texts From A…’ an audience member volunteers to give us their phone. Two improvisers start doing a scene based off a suggestion, and one improviser can only respond by using texts sent from the audience member’s phone.” This is a big contribution to what sets improv apart from
conventional theater. It is so purely spontaneous. Actors are not learning their lines from a script but more so learning how to think quicker, how to react to an audience’s energy and how to contribute to a story and a world that may be forming in somebody else’s head entirely. “The audience’s energy is huge,” says Andrew Freix, a four-year member of Toast. “Because if we think they are enjoying themselves, it gives us a lot of energy, and I think the overall show is heightened. One time we were in a new venue where we couldn’t hear the audience laughing, and we thought it was our worst show until everyone told us how much they enjoyed it.” It’s important that the members of Toast all work together in order to go out on stage with no script, plot or plan for how the scene will progress at all. In a way, teamwork is a vital component of improv. The experience is not only about one actor’s performance, but also about their ability to build off of their peers, to encourage them to be creative, to “say yes.” “The most important rule of improv is to ‘say yes’ to everything,” Adair says. “A lot of times, that attitude tends to extend to other parts of our lives. Toast is great because even if we aren’t necessarily doing improv, there’s an underlying camaraderie and hilarity that’s always present.” “Saying yes” in improv means that whatever decisions your castmates make about the scene, as wild as they may be, you go along with them. You say yes. If they say, “Hello, giant green octopus,” you would never respond, “Why, I am not a giant green octopus. I am a small purple giraffe.” Instead, you would agree and build off of that by saying something like, “Hello to you too! My fifth tentacle is really hurting today.” In a world where it is common for most people you walk by on any given day to be immersed in their technology, this experience is an amazing way to get out of your head,
“
THE AU DI ENC E ’ S ENERGY IS HUG E B EC AU SE I F W E THI NK THEY A R E ENJ OYI NG THEMSELVE S, I T G I VES U S A LOT OF ENER G Y. ”
out of your phone and into the present. Marybeth Gorman Craig, a theater teacher here at USC, weaves into many of her lessons the concept of “being present.” Not only in theater, but also in life — to be fully connected with the world around you, and improv is one of the most “present” actions we have the privilege of observing. Every performer is constantly aware, constantly participating in a give-and-take with every other performer on stage, and
constantly inventing and reinventing the circumstances of the world that his or her current character lives in. Improvisers are, without a doubt, very brave. At every show, they walk on stage with only each other, their nimble minds and an audience full of ideas. Still, they manage to produce some of the funniest, cleverest and most “present” shows you will ever see. And each show is absolutely one of a kind.
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SOULS OF THE KITCHEN
IL GIORGIONE How Il Giorgione brings authentic italian warmth into Columbia’s downtown
BY HOLLY HEATON • PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER • DESIGN BY CHARLOTTE PRICE
INSPIRED BY COLUMBIA’S BLOSSOMING FOOD SCENE, FOURTH-YEAR PUBLIC RELATIONS MAJOR AND LOCAL FOOD-BLOGGER HOLLY HEATON BEGAN HER PROJECT, ‘SOULS OF THE KITCHEN’, AS A WAY TO CONNECT WITH LOCAL CHEFS AND FOOD ARTISANS. HOLLY SAT DOWN WITH THE OWNERS OF IL GIORGIONE, GEORGE AND MONICA KESSLER, TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STORY BEHIND THEIR BELOVED ITALIAN CAFE.
14 S O U L S O F T H E K ITCH EN
“I’M NOT A DREAME R,” SAID MONICA, AS SHE T URNED TO LOOK AT GEORG E. “BUT I MARRIED ONE.”
SPARKLING WITH INSPIRATION
and eager to reminisce in the exquisite tastes and effervescent energy they had just said farewell to, George and Monica Kessler shook my hand for the first time after they had just returned home from the land of pasta and gelato. Anxious to share what they had seen, heard and tasted in their brickand-mortar Italian restaurant on Devine Street, they spent the first few minutes with me gushing over Italian delicacies. George asked if I’d like to taste his homemade limoncello to which I naturally obliged. I giggled to myself when I heard Monica whisper to her husband, “Are you sure she’s 21?” I smiled and assured her that I was. George met Monica in January of 2000 at a small church they both attended in Hoboken, New Jersey. Monica laughed when she mentioned that they met while volunteering for a welcoming committee, something she said was very unlike the two of them. Once they became briefly acquainted, George asked his now-wife of 15 years if she’d like a ride
home after Mass one Sunday. Monica politely declined, adding that she lived just down the street. After a short walk home together the couple went on their first date a few weeks later on Valentine’s Day. They both ordered the same thing, a burger and a beer, from the Mile Square Cafe in Hoboken — a date the couple would recreate for the following 16 years. In September of 2010, to celebrate George’s 50th birthday, Monica surprised him with a trip to the Casa Ombuto cooking school in a remote Tuscan town. He had just been laid off from his job as a travel agent and the couple was searching for where life would take them next. On the final evening of their stay, after feasting on fresh seafood and glasses of Italian wine, the culinary instructor, Paola, turned to George with an idea. She had been observing George throughout the week, noting his natural ability and evident passion in the kitchen. Paola insisted that the couple try to open their own restaurant. A moment in time in a centuries-old stone farmhouse plant-
ed the seed of a wild idea — a family-owned, Italian restaurant that would eventually be known as Il Giorgione. With bubbling excitement and clarity for what the future held, the Kesslers headed home to the states and started planning — but not without hesitance. Thanks to 30 years working as an accountant, Monica quickly became utterly risk-averse. “I’m not a dreamer,” Monica said as she turned to look at George. “But I married one.” In December of 2011, the Kesslers packed up their lives and George’s new degree from the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan and moved to Columbia, the city of George’s alma mater and a place he called home for 12 years. Nine months later, Il Giorgione opened its doors and has since been filled with the sounds of forks scraping plates clean, clinking glasses of chianti and bellowing laughter. The fresh mozzarella that is made in-house daily is stunning. The Rigatoni al Dorato will make you beg for the recipe. And the Italian wine selection will make any customer pretend it’s Friday night and order another glass, or three. But what really keeps Columbians coming back in religiously? What is it that could make someone come into Gio’s every Thursday and Friday night, week after week? The answer is a man in a USC baseball cap and his characterful wife and partner. It is no secret to Columbia locals and newcomers alike that the capital city is growing — filling quickly with new places and faces. And while Columbia is no Manhattan when comparing square mileage, it’s easy to feel like a very minuscule fish in a vast, continuously growing pond. Expanding surroundings can have us Cola-townies longing more than ever for the
kind of place where the owner knows you by name. This is what George and Monica have accomplished with Il Giorgione. The magic lies in an enthusiastic greeting from Monica when you walk through the door, a warm hug from George when he visits your table, your favorite glass of wine sitting in front of you before you have a chance to order. George and Monica Kessler have a unique gift, one that has transformed their tiny Italian eatery into one of the most beloved restaurants in the city. Just like the authentic trattorias that litter the streets of small Italian towns, all who walk under the awning lined with twinkling lights into Il Giorgione will leave as family. FOR MORE SOULS OF THE KITCHEN CHECK OUT @MESSYKITCHGIRL ON INSTAGRAM.
Sweet, Spicy, Gone BY TRISHA MANDES FROM TRISHA’S HEALTHY TABLE
Who said eating healthy was hard? An original take on cantina, this pineapple salsa will pleasantly surprise your guests with the full flavors of spring.
INGRE DIE N T S whole pineapple 1 (or a 20-oz can of rings) 1 small red onion 1 red bell pepper 2 limes 5 scallions Sriracha chili sauce 1 tsp 1 tbsp kosher salt
INSTRUC TION S Carefully cut the skin off the pineapple and remove the core (if using canned pineapple, drain well). Dice the pineapple into ¼ inch square pieces as best you can. Place in a large mixing bowl. Next, finely dice the red onion and red bell pepper (a little smaller than the pineapple dice) and add to the bowl. Remove the root end of the scallions and slice them into 1/8 inch rounds using the white and green parts. Add scallions to the mixing bowl. Juice both of the limes and add the juice to the bowl. Stir well. 16 RECIPE
Then, add the sriracha and salt. Mix a couple more times. Let sit covered for at least five minutes in the fridge. When ready to use, remove from fridge and stir a few more times before using. Add an optional diced jalapeño to the relish for added heat or honey or agave (to taste) to sweeten it up.
HOW T O USE:
It’s a great topping for many Asian dishes, soups, as a dip or on top of tacos. It’s great with rice and beans, too. Try it on whatever you want, and get creative. Have fun with it and enjoy. It lasts about three days in the fridge. The fresher it is, the better it tastes!
CRASH WITHOUT SHAT TER A POEM FROM CYPRESS KNEE BY ANANI AMAL
Once, we were pending by the mouth of the Atlantic and you touched my hand and all the world stood still enough to hear the birds slipping in and out of the ocean. Their plunges cracked the reflectiveness. The water behaves like a mother, kissing the slick feathers, pulling so gently as to embrace the heaviness
the electricity
within the warmth of their bodies. The water behaves like a mother and laps against tower foundation. The percussive splashing echos the healing, the song of black holes swimming into each other.
17
ARE THE BEGINNING DAYS OF TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY UNIQUE? BY JAKE MARGLE ∞ PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN HINTY ∞ DESIGN BY RACHEL JOHNSON
100
FEATURE 19
N o o n e k n o w s h o w ma n y p a g e s t e x t b o o ks w i l l d e vo t e t o P re s i d e nt Tr um p a n d h i s c a mp a i g n , b u t f ro m h i s d e s c e n t d o w n t h e e s c a l at or of h i s N e w Yo r k C i t y h o t e l t o h i s w a l k t o t h e p o d i u m b e fo re t h e N at i on al M a ll, w e k n o w t h e y w i l l a s c r i b e at l e a s t a s o l i d c h a p t e r. Tr u m p a n d h i s c o n s t i t u e n t s h av e g a r n e re d o ve r $ 3 b i l l i o n of f re e a d ve r t i s i n g , a n umb e r t h at h a s s u re l y s w e l l e d s i n c e h e re m o ve d h i s h a n d f ro m L i n c o l n ’ s B i b l e o n J a n . 2 0. H i s f i r s t fe w w e e ks i n of f i c e h ave , li ke h i s c a mp a i g n b e fo re , s p u r n e d a n o n s l a u g h t of t h i n k p i e c e s , b re a ki n g n e w s h e a d l i n e s a n d o t h e r m i s c e l l a n e o u s c o ve r a g e , t h e b u l k of w h i c h b e g t h e q u e s t i o n :
IS TRUMP UNIQUE?
I
f your Twitter feed is any indication, the answer is yes. Trump is a man whose first foray into politics has landed him behind the Resolute desk, whose campaign was built on pointed promises and insults and whose first 100 days has and will continue to be fraught with controversy. Since taking office, Trump has issued over 19 executive orders, actions and memoranda in an effort to uphold the list of objectives he set out to accomplish in the first three months of his tenure at the White House. Among these, the orders to enact a 90-day travel ban on citizens from seven terror-prone Middle Eastern countries and to resume construction on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline have been met with heavy resistance. On Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump’s questionable cabinet picks have raised the brows of many in Washington, most notably Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The exodus of officials and employees from the State Department and alleged censorship of published information regarding climate change from the National Parks Service have mired the intents of Trump, and it seems that in this regard he is very much without comparison. “The extent to which they’ve cleared house among government agencies is unique,” Professor Robert Oldendick says. He specializes in American politics and public opinion, and
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on the subject of parallels to Trump, he acknowledges that there are similarities to other presidencies, albeit few. “In my lifetime, all of the presidents come in, whether its Kennedy when he took over for Eisenhower, then Johnson and even Nixon when he took over for Johnson, and there was a change of parties, there was turnover, but there was always a recognition of continuity.” Oldendick offered up the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 as a comparison to Trump, and while the electorate was much smaller in those days since only white men could vote, Jackson’s rise to power echoes Trump’s in many ways. “It was the same type of transition from the establishment and the people that had been there. He came in and really shook things up,” Oldendick says. “He essentially fired everybody. All of his friends got jobs. It was a complete disruption and a complete turnover.” The American public has met Trump with an unprecedented response of it’s own. The day after the inauguration saw the largest protest in U.S. history as over 3 million people took part in the Women’s March on Washington D.C. and sister marches across the country. Fourth-year public relations major Cat Sullivan drove to D.C. to attend the Women’s March after a snap decision. “I had woken up on Friday as his right hand was in the air and I just snapped. I was like, this is happening. This is real. We have
to do something.” Sullivan says. This election has elicited outcries from all demographics, whether in wholehearted support of Trump or pure condemnation. Social media’s ease of engagement and spread of information has made for a seemingly endless discussion and takedown of Trump and his policies. Oldendick noticed a rise in engagement among his students, but the polarizing nature of the election prompted him to reconsider just how many were actually involved and active. “I would say that overall it kind of averaged out. There was not a great deal more interest among college students because there were some people who were really excited to vote for Trump, and some who were really excited for the opportunity to vote for Hillary and the first woman,” Oldendick says. “There were others who, given other interest, plus being the first campaign they could actually vote in, got turned off by all the negativity.” This “turn off” is quantified by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). They estimate that around half the number of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 29 cast ballots in November, coming in below the estimated general voter turnout rate of around 58 percent. According to CIRCLE about 55 percent of that same group supported Clinton, compared to the 60 percent who supported Obama
“I CAN DISAGREE WITH PLENTY OF REPUBLICANS, BUT THIS IS A SEPARATE ANIMAL TO ME.” in 2012. Millennial support for Trump was roughly the same as Romney in 2012, around 37 percent. “I’ve noticed people getting involved after the fact, more so than during. I felt like I was pulling teeth trying to get people to phone bank or knock on doors during the election,” Sullivan says. This is something that Oldendick echoes. Trump’s campaign promises seemed like empty promises on face value, but as he’s stuck to his guns — er, pen — and moved forward with his plans for the wall, travel ban and other egregious policies in an effort not to alienate his followers. His resistance has gained momentum as well. “If you voted for Trump because you’re fiscally conservative, you should be outraged that he wants to use your tax dollars to pay for this wall,”
Sullivan says. “The policies and things that he’s saying are not things that the Republican Party has historically valued.” She cites her father, a lifelong Republican, as an example who thinks Trump has deviated from the Republican ideals that his supporters associate him with. “I can disagree with plenty of Republicans, but this is separate animal to me,” Sullivan says. Trump’s divisiveness isn’t just being reflected in the polarization between Democrats and Republicans, but within the GOP as well. Sen. John McCain has been a vocal dissenter on the travel ban, while Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly deferred from Trump and supported the report by the CIA of Russian interference in the election. While these may be moral dissents rather than full policy opposition, they do in-
dicate something that the next four years may exacerbate. “I don’t think the divide is between [Democrats] and [Republicans] in Congress. It’s really going to be between Trump and Congress, and the Republicans particularly,” Oldendick says. “Trump put out this bold, expensive proposal to deal with infrastructure but without any indication of where that money is going to come from. I don’t think that the Republicans in Congress will stand for a tax increase, or a large enough one that would pay for that.” He says you’ll want to watch for the divide between which Republicans return to their ground on traditionally conservative views and which ones let laws roll through unimpeded. Sullivan hopes the protests are just the beginning of a greater mobilization. “I think
that most people will just do the minimum and show up,” she says. “But even that small percentage of people that have been lifelong avoiders of politics and are just now like, ‘Oh my god, this is going to affect my neighbors and me,’ those people matter. Potentially that will be enough to work locally and regionally and get the work done to block these orders and these actions and make a statement.” Trump’s administration has pulled intense reactions from every sector of the country, and while this is nothing unheard of from a presidency, it’s the scale of these reactions that is. Trump has uniquely impacted Washington, the GOP and the American people, and it’s only the first 100 days.
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C R E AT I N G
22 FEATU R E
S PA C E How a small spoken word community provides healing for all.
BY JULIA HOGAN • PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER • DESIGN BY CHARLOTTE PRICE
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A SMALL CROWD OF PEOPLE IN MISMATCHED CHAIRS SURROUNDS A MAN RECITING POETRY WITH HIS EYES CLOSED. AS HE SPEAKS, PEOPLE NOD OR CLAP SPORADICALLY, LOST IN THE MEANING BEHIND HIS WORDS. AS PATRONS ENTER THE COFFEE SHOP, THEY GLANCE AT THE MAN AND HIS MICROPHONE. SOME STOP TO LISTEN ON THEIR WAY UPSTAIRS. A WOMAN WITH A BABY STANDS IN A CORNER, COOING AS THE BABY GURGLES UNDER THE RHY THM OF THE POET’S VOICE. Mind Gravy is a small collective of poets, musicians and listeners who meet on Wednesday nights to read their work, listen to others and discuss the state of the world. The group was started in 2010 by founder and self-proclaimed “trophy husband” Al Black, a gregarious, giving man who greets new comers with a handshake and a smile. “I looked about for creative spaces to go to, and everything
I found was basically segregated every way you could segregate,” he says. “I decided that if I believe in unity, I must find a space and very purposefully foster and create it — this is how Mind Gravy was born.” The group currently meets in Cool Beans at 8 p.m. on Wednesday nights. However, they’re known for hopping around and have been at several different locations over the past seven years. “We move when we outgrow the space ... or more frequently, when owners or managers are not race or LGBT friendly,” Black says. “We like to stir things up.” “We don’t do bars,” Black says. “We want a space that the under-18 crowd is welcome at, and we do not charge because, for many, a small entry fee is a hindrance to attending.” This explains the diversity in attendance. College students, senior citizens, schoolteachers, activists and families can all be found at the Mind Gravy mic. Some wandered in. Some were brought by friends. And some are long-standing citizens of the Mind Gravy community. “I’m a senior citizen, and generally there’s a lot of older people too,” says Fran Cardwell, a regular at Mind Gravy. “We used to meet in Five Points and we had all sorts of people wander in. Students, people off the streets, older folks. We went through a while where we didn’t have any real set place for long. This looks like this is
going to be the place. And I love it. It’s in the middle of USC, and I have two degrees from here.” The first time Cardwell read at Mind Gravy, she said that she felt more than a little intimidated. “Getting up in front of a mic, in front of other artists, some of which are way better than you, that can be kind of nerve-wracking,” she says. But the ability to share her work with others has meant more writing. “It’s a very nonjudgmental, accepting group. So I’ve been a regular ever since. It’s got me writing poetry like never before. Hundreds of poems. You get better. Practice makes perfect.” Mind Gravy has also helped Cardwell connect to the community around Columbia and find a space for herself in the city. “I’ve made friends here and it spills over to all sorts of other Columbia things. Partly because of Mind Gravy, I’ve gotten very involved in the music community in Columbia. I mean I go to two or three things every day or night that I enjoy. It’s really enriched my life. Five years ago, I didn’t go out, hardly at all. Now, it’s like, all the time.” John Soreno, another Mind Gravy regular, agrees that the community aspect is what makes the group work. He shared his iconic “beer poem” with me, a humorous piece involving the mentions of several different drafts and brands woven into a story. He told it
“I DECIDED THAT IF I BELIEVE IN U N I T Y, I M U S T FIND A SPACE AND VERY P U R P O S E F U L LY FOSTER AND CREATE IT — THIS IS HOW MIND GRAV Y WAS BORN.”
from memory, his cadence and rhythm natural and song-like, as if he could recite this poem in his sleep. The night I attended Mind Gravy, the featured poet was a spoken word artist from the upstate who goes by the name Moody Black. Moody blends poetry and hip hop for his performances and is known throughout the South for his enthusiastic presentation style and unique rhythms. I spoke with him about his past as a writer and what the community of slam poetry means to him. “I’ve been writing since 11 years old. My mom made us read poetry books,” he says. “She’d be working second shift,
night classes in junior college and she’d bring home poetry books. I found this book called ‘This Time Called Life’ by Walter Rinder. It was written in the mid-60s, and the images were so soft and beautiful, and he wrote about being young and free and it really spoke to me. That’s what really pushed me to write more. “It became one of those situations where the poetry section in our English class came along and I got really excited for it. As I became a teenager, things would open up. Teachers would have little poetry contests or assignments I would enter in. Things at the church, or the community centers had
little functions and I would always read.” When I asked him about the performance aspect of his work, he laughed. “I love performing. It was really attractive to me, when I realized — hey, wait, they’re performing. I do that. And I was already writing so I was like, hey, I can do that. Hey, why not? I was a big Roots fan. Their second album, “Do You Want More,” had this last track, which was called ‘The Unlocking.’ It was a spoken word poem, with a hip-hop beat. And every CD after that they had Ursula Rucker, who was a poet, do a spoken word poem. So hey, you know, you gotta thank the Roots.” But besides the performance, poetry for Moody is a way of healing himself and putting his inner turmoil into words. “This is therapeutic for me,” he says. “I speak at schools, and I tell people, if I didn’t write I’d probably go crazy. In some cases, I tell other people a story, some-
thing that I’m witnessing. But a lot of my stuff is internal, just what I’m going through, taking what’s going on and trying to restructure it, and make it make sense.” And this sense of healing is what Moody wants others to glean from his work as well. “I want people to say, ‘Wow, that made me think.’” Poetry provides healing, and that thought isn’t new. Mind Gravy provides a sense of communal healing, beyond divisions of race, class or age. This small, rag-tag community exists within the larger tumble of Columbia’s city scape, and missing out on this group is to miss out on something visceral and real about our town. It isn’t about skill. It isn’t about craft. It’s about a group of people coming together to share what makes their hearts beat. As Soreno said right before I left: “There’s so many strong people in this town who share their energy, share their music and their passion and their poetry, and having the opportunity to do it is what makes all that magic.” 25
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HOW SOME OF COLUMBIA’S OLDEST BUSINESSES HAVE PRESERVED THE CITY’S ORIGINALITY BY JULIETTE LAFERLITA • PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON • DESIGN BY ASHLYN MURPHY
FEATURE 27
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AS UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, lost in a sea of Chuck Taylors and Bean boots, it may be difficult to spot originality. Nestled in the historic infrastructures of Columbia, however, are independently owned businesses that epitomize the word “original.” These businesses have been offering Columbia residents original shopping, dining and learning experiences for more than two decades … But why are they being overshadowed by corporate names? In the 102-year-old village neighborhood of Five Points, nearly 100 small businesses connect Blossom, Devine, Greene and Harden streets. These businesses help maintain the Five Points personality that we have all grown to know and love. What we often don’t know, however, is the history behind each storefront and its owner. “The day I turned on the ‘open’ sign was the first day I worked in a restaurant,” says Lloyd Reese, co-owner of Blue Cactus Cafe on Greene Street. “You go with your strengths, and mine has always been ignorance. If you don’t know you
can’t do something, you can do anything.” And so, he did. Lloyd and his wife, Mary, have been running Blue Cactus since May 1994, serving loyal customers fresh, “arrogantly slow” Korean and Southwestern fare. “Primarily, it’s hard to find original food,” Reese says. “Everyone who opens a restaurant wants to pull something out of the freezer, throw it in the oven, open a can of sauce and call it their signature dish.” But Blue Cactus does something that other businesses may not. “Here, we cut it, we cook it, we serve it,” he says. “It tends to be slow … but it’s just like mama’s house: When it’s on the table, it’s ready. No shortcuts.” As convenient as fast-casual and drive-thru chains have become, there is truly nothing like authentic, individually prepared dishes by business owners who care about their customers. So why do we continue to put these businesses on the back burner? “With undergraduate students, unless it’s a dollar beer and pizza, they’re not that inter-
ested,” Reese jokes. “But here, it’s not a squat and gobble.” Another reason is that we fear the unknown. More often than not, we would rather avoid an unpleasant experience than gain knowledge from it. This mindset, among other things, could negatively impact small businesses with unique attributes.
Take another Five Points staple, Gentleman’s Closet, for example. Gentleman’s Closet opened in 1999 and is Columbia’s only men’s consignment store. With competition from Men’s Warehouse about 100 yards down the road, 86-yearold owner Dean Ellison has described his business as “tough.” “It’s tough to make a
“SMALL TOWNS ARE DRYING UP. AS STORES DISAPPEAR, A LOT OF THE PERSONALITY DISAPPEARS WITH THEM.” buck,” Ellison explains. “If you have more than half a dozen employees, you’ve got a tax problem. You have to pay half of their social security, you’ve got a lot of expenses … and the government hasn’t helped us in the past couple of years. They’ve just given us more to do. They’ve given us more paperwork, more requirements and just been more involved in our business.” Reese agrees that the previous administration has made it difficult for small businesses to prosper. Not to mention the influx of large retail and restaurant corporations that took control of strip malls and other regions of Columbia such as Harbison and Forest Acres. “If you’re a large operation, you have one person who handles all of the requirements,” Reese says. “If you’re a small place, you have to set aside so many hours each week to meet those requirements. Sometimes you don’t really understand what they want, so then they want to fine you. It’s at the point where they’re really trying to get rid of small people who take too much time for them to look at,” he continued. For these reasons, small businesses have been closing
left and right all across the country. If ever pressed for money, reasonable consumers would first cut back on spending at restaurants and retail stores, resulting in lost revenue for these mom-and-pop shops which, too, are pressed for money. The problem is that these longstanding businesses influence a city’s character over time. “It really is a loss for America,” Reese says. “Small towns are drying up. As stores disappear, a lot of the personality disappears with them.” Across the Gervais Street bridge is another brick-andmortar business with a grandfather-like personality, one that quietly encourages you to pick up a book and read. Ed’s Editions on Meeting Street in West Columbia celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2016 as the premier buyer and seller of books that are then re-circulated through the city. The historic storefront is a temporary home to over 40,000 quality used and collectible books. Bookshelves pushing max capacity offer customers nearly 30 different genres of print books. After a short decline during the eBook and Kindle era, Ed
Albritton, co-owner of Ed’s Editions, noticed the resurgence of millennials who have returned to hard copy, an otherwise presumed “dying art.” “The interesting thing about our customer base is that it’s a wide range, age-wise,” Albritton says. “A lot of our customers are older customers who have been with us since we opened, but what’s encouraging is the constant stream of students. We’re appealing to a sizable group.” Albritton explains that the literature section sells well with students who are looking for required or supplemental reading at the university. Attorneys, young professionals, history and military buffs are also among customers who frequent the bookstore. “We’ve always been selling on the internet, too,” Albritton continues. “About 40 percent of our sales are online. It’s an important part of our business now because I’m not sure we would survive without it.” With online shopping on the rise, the small businesses in Columbia and around the U.S. may fear what’s in store for the future—no pun intended. Even prepared meal delivery services such as Blue Apron and HelloF-
resh have changed the way people grocery shop. Regardless of the obstacles that small businesses face in changing times, however, it’s important to remember why business owners do what they do: customer satisfaction. “Well, look around,” Albritton says. “I’m surrounded by books in a nice, comfortable setting and I get to do what I enjoy doing, which is working with people and helping others find something they are looking for.” It’s strange that while there are so many alternative spots to shop, eat and learn in Columbia, students tend to visit the same four or five businesses in the area, many of which are franchises or corporate chains. Again, the draw comes from familiarity. In every city you’ll find a Barnes and Noble—it’s an easy to locate, well-established corporation. But while we’ve become comfortable with these well-known companies, we may have forgotten about the unique storefronts and history-rich small businesses next door.
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NAVIGATING A POST-TRUMP WORLD
BY BEN CRAWFORD • ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX RUSNAK • DESIGN BY ASHLYN MURPHY
I FELT THE TURN HAPPEN around 9 p.m. She wasn’t winning the counties she needed to win. The New York Times election tracker, which, a few hours before, had confidently projected her chance at victory at somewhere around 90 percent, now put the election at a dead heat. CNN didn’t have enough data to call Florida for Trump, but you could see, in real time, the faces of the Clinton surrogates on the network’s panel begin to sag. It might have been different for you. For me, the experience was like watching the moral inverse of the moon landing. The polar opposite of that sense of wonder our grandparents felt as they as they rose from their living room couches, stunned by what their televisions had shown them, and went outside into that warm July night and looked up at the air-sharpened blade of the moon. Some time ago, the 20th-century poet W. H. Auden stood on the brink of the second World War and waited for the reasonable nations of the world to once again sprint toward horror. He understood, then, that all he had previously known — of literature, of history, of how one lives — was being evacuated out of reality through a hole in the sky. He felt the world turn. That November night, stimulated and in terror, we, too, watched as the sky ripped itself open and a new world descended, howling and full of teeth. ...
the fritz, sending the cafe into intermittent darkness. For nearly two years, Villwock was one of the most ardent Clinton operatives on campus. When we worked together at The Daily Gamecock, she would sometimes slip out of the newsroom during slow periods to make campaign calls. On the night the sky opened up, she was at a party with friends who had worked with her on the campaign — some of the senior members of the USC College Democrats, mostly. The night began as something of a celebration. And then it wasn’t. Some were crying over lost opportunities to work in D.C. Villwock lost something greater. “I don’t think that I can call my abuela in Panama and say, ‘We’re the best.’ Which hurts. If you grow up and had any connection at all to the country, you have this sense of American pride. I didn’t know that I did, until this election. Until you see the possibility that everything is slipping away.” … Here’s a thought experiment for the young: Imagine yourself some decades into the future. It’s a bright fall afternoon and you are sitting at a kitchen table. You can hear, through the window, a school bus approach and screech to a stop. Seconds later, a child opens and SLAMS the front door closed, storms into the kitchen, shuffles a book bag off of their back and plops down next to you. You — parent of the year — ask them how their day at school went, and, curiously, instead of giving you some glib answer and speeding off, they sit down next to you. “Dearest parent,” they say, “who has nurtured me and has cared for me throughout my short time on this planet, who has shaped the world in which I live, I was in school today and they taught us in history class about HISTORICAL EVENT. Where were you as HISTORICAL EVENT happened? What did you do about it?” Now, this hypothetical has problems, sure. It assumes a great number of things about the person who entertains it (and has a whiff of emotional manipulation about the whole thing). But it is a useful, if blunt, way of putting yourself into his-
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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE STATE AND NO ONE EXISTS ALONE; HUNGER ALLOWS NO CHOICE TO THE CITIZEN OR THE POLICE; WE MUST LOVE ONE ANOTHER OR DIE. — W. H. AUDEN, SEPTEMBER 1, 1939
tory. Of removing yourself from the present, hurtling decades forward and looking back over a long distance. I, myself, have run this simulation a couple times in my mind, and the question the hypothetical child asks changes slightly each time I repeat it. The current state of the question is something like this: “Dearest parent, who [etc.,] I learned in my history class about the election of Donald Trump. How is it possible that 27 percent of the voting populace cast their ballot for a man who boasted, to strangers and on tape, of pushing his fingers against the vaginal canals of young women without their consent? Who campaigned and was elected on a platform that spit on the most needful among us, who deserve, above all else, our empathy and support? How could he have been elected? What did you do about it?” I don’t have an answer for this child-phantom (although, if I did, it would have something to do with how quickly the American public is to act unthinkingly and “really feel bad about it,” later). More important than any answer, however, is the truth that sits underneath the hypothetical: that there are millions of soon-to-be people, who, cumulatively, represent the future of the world. We have elected someone who shares the mad,
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I am a descendant of a Lithuanian rabbi. He immigrated to New York sometime before 1900, fleeing from anti-Semitic pogroms that, over the centuries, periodically terrorized and murdered Jews across the continent. Far from his ancestral home in Eastern Europe, my grandfather was raised in Brooklyn as an American citizen. He attended the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and became a sociology professor. They were lucky that they arrived at a time when the American public wasn’t binging itself on Jewish ethno-hatred. Had my family waited a generation to migrate across the Atlantic during World War II, they may very well have been turned away at the dock by an America that held only disdain for Jewish refugees, an America that felt perfectly fine with sending them back to the gas chambers, an America that would rather send children to their deaths than be made, for a single second, to feel uncomfortable. (It shouldn’t surprise you that the Lithuanian Jewish community was virtually erased from the earth. America shares its shame for that.) Our country’s current state isn’t just similar — it is, in a broader sense and in its particulars, exactly the same. Conflagrations between dictators have driven millions, on foot, across entire continents. Before the Muslim ban, (let’s call it what it is, huh?) tens of thousands were already making their way through complex and rigorous refugee screening processes, looking for a way out. They waited, with gunfire at their backs, for the helicopters and boats to come and take them away. And then, consciously and with purpose, the American need for comfort strangled its empathetic response. It bent each of us under the power of man who, under even the most lenient definition of personhood, is less a person than a loose accumulation of social addictions. It was an act of boundless cruelty to give them hope. … I meet Kelly Villwock over a cup of evening coffee at Cool Beans. It’s nearly full, and the chatter around us hums at a steady pitch. The lights are on
authoritarian belief that he will never die and, therefore, cares nothing for the future. In his stead, it falls to us to do the thinking and acting on their behalf. … The protest ended 20 or so minutes before I got there. From what I could piece together from social media, the front lawn of the Statehouse had just hosted a hundreds-strong crowd in protest of the Muslim ban. Now the lawn stood virtually empty. A few dozen stragglers formed themselves into a line along the south of Gervais Street, one person deep. A few local PD and SLED agents stationed behind them, near the Confederate memorial. One was visibly bored, shifting pendulously on one foot, then another. Another was mesmerized by his phone and spent his time swiping horizontally and texting. Fed with attention from the honking of sympathetic drivers, the demonstrators stood and smiled and waved their signs. “No human is illegal!” “No human is illegal!” “No human is illegal!” Soon enough, they dissolved back into the city, trundling off to their parked cars. The moon was a swooping crescent in the clear winter dark and, beyond the light pollution, one could find stars, too, if one chose to stand and look for them.
OPINION 31
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SPECTR ANDROGYNY: NEITHER MASCULINE OR FEMININE; DISPLAYING TRAITS OF BOTH GENDERS. Androgynous fashion ignores traditional gender constructs regarding what clothing says about an individual. A man in a skirt is no less masculine, and a woman wearing a tie is no less feminine. If it wasn’t for Coco Chanel protesting against the constraints of corsets and skirts, we would not have relaxed fit trousers or even the popular skinny jeans most women wear today. Even the modern women’s pantsuit, made popular by Yves Saint Laurent in the 1960’s, would be nonexistent if androgyny was not a popular trend in fashion. Androgyny is not a concept to be afraid of, nor is it meant to disqualify genders. Rather, it’s a whole-hearted embrace of the equality of everyone and how an individual is free to express themselves in any way they choose. It blurs the lines. It makes fashion dependent on the wearer, not societal constructs. The wearer of the outfit creates the rules, the balance and the proportions for the look, meaning the combinations are wildly endless and unique. Feminine fabrics, masculine silhouettes, sportswear, or punchy prints and radiant colors are just as androgynous as a unisex T-shirt in neutral colors. Androgyny utilizes the fashion spectrum to its fullest extent.
STYLED BY MYLEA HARDY • PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRENNAN BOOKER, CHRISTIAN TOLBERT & JOSH THOMPSON DESIGN BY RACHEL JOHNSON & CHARLOTTE PRICE STYLE ASSITANT: CLARA MARZOLF • MODELS: COREY ROBINSON & DARYA ENLOW • HAIR AND MAKEUP BY KATE STUCKY
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Left: @thriftedsisters Red Baseball Jacket Steel Garden $58 | @thriftedsisters Calvin Klein Jeans Steel Garden $34 | Mesh T-shirt Stylist’s own Right: White Button up Model’s own “Leather laced up” crop top Wildflower Boutique $42 | “Moovin & Groovin” pants Wildflower Boutique $51 | “Woodstock” Shades — orange Wildflower Boutique $20
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Left: Beaded gown Stylists own | “Home for the Holidays” Sweater Vestique, $60 | “Hella Chella” earrings Vestique, $20 | Pin Stylists own Right Top: Vestique “Come as you pleats” top Vestique $39 | Adidas joggers Models own | Adidas sneakers Model’s own Right Bottom: Black “To the floor” top Bohemian, $129 | @thriftedsisters Calvin Klein Jeans Steel Garden, $34 | Black lace Bralette Wildflower Boutique $25 | Earrings Bohemian $148 | “Double Buckle Bangle” Vestique $18
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Shilla Grand Pleat Tank Bohemian $70 Shilla Grand Pleat Pants Bohemian $120 Silver choker Steel Garden $27 “Fourth in Line” cuff Vestique $22 Krewe Orleans Sunglasses Bohemian $355
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A Painting Worth a Thousand Words
LAUREN CHAPMAN INVITES VIEWERS TO SELF-INTERPRET A WOMAN’S WORLD. BY ROBIN HENDRICKS PHOTOS BY ALYSSA-LEIGH WILLEY DESIGN BY BRITTANY PYLES
LAUREN CHAPMAN is a senior
in USC’s BFA painting program. She’s an artist who conveys in a painting what cannot be conveyed through words. She understands what it is to be a woman and translates that directly onto a canvas for all to see. And she knows without a doubt that being an artist is exactly what she is supposed to do. “My entire career before college, like in highschool and everything, everyone was just like, ‘You’re an artist. You’re an artist,’” Chapman said. “Then you get to college and it’s like, ‘Okay, now, you can’t be an artist. Anything but an artist.’” In response to the change of sentiment regarding her future as an artist, she went into a business program and later went into art education. She almost finished the program before she had the opportunity to go to Italy to study abroad
40 ARTIS T IN R E S ID E N CE
for three weeks, a trip that made her change course. “Everything is just so old and historic and these beautiful statues everywhere, and amazing art that I’d never seen, you know,” Chapman said. “And I was just so inspired and like, ‘This is what I love. I really just wanna keep pursuing this.’” That, and an opportunity to have a solo exhibition in Spirit Lake, Iowa gave her the push she needed to change her course of study one last time to the Bachelor of Fine Arts painting program. Now she usually paints a piece in three weeks, with most of her paintings four feet by five feet. Her new project is an exception in size. It is a nine foot tall work that she describes as a “really large paper doll” with three hundred bees covering it. “And it’s just kind of like, ‘What would you feel if you had a bunch of bees on you,
stinging you?’” Chapman said. “I feel like a lot of times that’s how it feels being a woman... You always feel like there’s this eye on you.” Her paintings hold a power over the viewer, they enthrall. Many of her works, which can be seen on her website artbylaurenchapman. com, feature women painted in various styles, including Chapman’s own favorite of her works, “White Rabbit”, which can be found in McMaster. “It’s supposed to just invoke [the] anxiety of being a woman. Who knows what she’s going through,” Chapman said. In her last semester of college, with a solo exhibition and an art residency under her belt, she is now looking to graduate programs and art galleries. “You just paint what you’re feeling and you paint a lot. You have to paint a ton or you have to make a ton of sculptures or whatever you’re doing, just do a lot of it,” Chapman said as advice for aspiring artists. “Because that’s how you learn your style, your personal style... I would just say, ‘Jump in. Never question yourself, ‘cause you’re right. And if it’s completely different than what other people are doing, I think that’s a good thing.’”
"JUMP IN. NEVER QUESTION YOURSELF, ‘CAUSE YOU’RE RIGHT. AND IF IT’S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING, I THINK THAT’S A GOOD THING."
41
PAPER SHOES Treading softly through life’s struggles, Paper Shoes creates beautiful sound out of despair. BY ERIKA RYAN • PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON • DESIGN BY ASHLYN MURPHY
DESPITE WHATEVER MIGHT in-
spire an artist, creating artwork is deeply emotional. For Marcelo Andrés Pérez, writing honest music allows him to reclaim the sadness or loneliness that once ruled his life and turn it into something enjoyable. Pérez, a fourth-year international business student, is the frontman of Paper Shoes, a band he founded prior to his first year at USC. Pérez has spent much of his life moving from one part of the world to another. He split high school between Hong Kong and London, then later moved to Columbia for college. He continued traveling and spent three semesters abroad in China through USC’s business school. After playing solo with a rotation of different band members, Pérez most recently partnered up with drummer and USC alumnus Lee Garrett. As a result of moving from place to place, many of Paper Shoes’ recorded songs are slower and more expressive because Pérez wrote his tracks solo. Pérez calls himself a “bedroom musician,” wherever that bedroom might be at the moment. The loneliness of recording alone undeniably shines through his sound.
42 SCENE & H E A R D
Like many musicians, Pérez didn’t find himself musically until college. He and Garrett both admit they don’t think they would be where they are today without having joined WUSCFM. “People don’t give WUSC enough credit for being a weirdo fraternity,” Garrett says. While many bands crank out as many performances as possible, Pérez thinks of Paper Shoes as a band that’s “trying to support a bit more minimalism in music.” Paper Shoes is a change of pace for many of the local rock-dominated line-ups, and they’re happy to add that diversity. By acting as a “quiet voice” in Columbia’s scene, Pérez writes to create a connection. For Garrett, joining Paper Shoes wasn’t easy, but it’s a challenge worth rising to. After being a part of several other groups, including playing as the touring drummer for Elvis Depressley, Paper Shoes is a serious change in sound. Garrett views drumming as a band’s support system, so his primary role is playing along to what his bandmates need. “The best drummer just plays in accordance to what’s already going on,” Garrett says. “I think if a drummer is trying to
be in the foreground of a song, they’re doing it wrong.” Paper Shoes is gently powerful. Every track has the driving power of emotion through dreamy sequences and light vocals that compliment echoey acoustic melodies. Considering they could be labeled as anything from post-rock to shoegaze or emo, Paper Shoes is hard to nail down. But at the end of the day, it’s not about genre. To them, limiting their music to any single genre can actually be restricting. “Genre seems to be a critical response, but it’s not really up to the band to fit into a certain genre,” Garrett says. “It’s the role of a band to not fit into a scene. It’s the role of an artist to be true to their own tastes and metric of important musical values. Paper Shoes is a disruption, I would say. There’s not really anyone that’s doing it quite like us in this area, and that’s valuable.” A band’s signature sound is typically something decided by fans after the fact because it’s usually growing off something that initially inspired an artist. While many groups push away from their musical niche to stand out, Pérez and Garrett don’t see that as necessary —
“THE MORE YOU WRITE DOWN YOUR FEELINGS, CATALOG THEM AND LISTEN BACK TO YOURSELF SAYING THINGS, THAT HELPS YOU PROCESS YOUR THOUGHTS.” everyone has musical heroes. There’s nothing wrong with learning from role models because “there could never be another ‘Pet Sounds’ even if you had the exact same circumstances,” Garrett says. “We’re experiencing something universal.” Pérez looks at music from a theoretical — and even mathematical — standpoint, making it possible for Paper Shoes to do individualized covers of anything from Beach House to My Bloody Valentine. By embracing colorful artistic influences, Paper Shoes can cover a track and still provide a unique musical perspective. “It’s very difficult for you to only have one band in your mind — I think I’ve gotten better at realizing that there’s a time
and a place to be really influenced by something,” Pérez says. “When I have the opportunity to sing and write lyrics, my own voice will come through regardless.” And when it comes to songwriting, the process is cathartic. By channeling emotions into his music, Pérez views it as an avenue to get rid of those feelings. In fact, Paper Shoes copes with feelings of depression by transforming it into something others are able to enjoy. “I don’t think that has to be in a way that perpetuates sadness, but rather addresses sadness as an important and really relevant emotion,” Pérez says. “The more you write down your feelings, catalog them and listen back to yourself saying things, that helps you process
your thoughts. That is what the band is for: so I can take these negative feelings in music and they can stay there and I can enjoy things on my own.” As a result of bedroom recording, many of his finished tracks are acoustic, bringing an entirely different persona during performances. The atmosphere of an empty bedroom and the energy of a live show can completely change the mood behind the songs. Even playing an electric guitar over acoustic changes the mood. “These emotions are sad, these emotions are ones I don’t want in my life anymore, but reclaiming them gives you a certain power over them,” Pérez says. “These emotions ruled my life at one point, but they don’t have to anymore.“ 43
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THERE’S A ZAPP FOR THAT Sometimes going green isn’t all that great.
BY BRENNAN BOOKER • DESIGN BY WANDA FELSENHARDT
Driving in the city of Columbia is a refreshing, relaxing and rewarding experience. The roads are in immaculate condition, free of potholes, clean and rush hour traffic isn’t all that bad either, especially around campus between the hours of 5 and 7 pm. Just kidding, that’s a bold-faced lie. The only things worse than driving in Columbia is root canals without anesthesia and those tiny, neon-green tricycles that are plaguing the downtown area. Yes, I’m talking about Zapp Scooters. I’ll start by saying I certainly recognize the usefulness of these alien-like three-wheelers, but I can’t ignore the hindrance they’ve become. Let’s start with how ridiculous the people riding them look. You’d think the tricycle layout would impart some sense of stability, but I’ve never seen a Zapp rider who doesn’t look like they’re doing their best impression of a Weeble Wobble. They bounce off the lane markings like a bowling ball off the bumpers at AMF in Cayce. There’s nothing like the rage you feel when you have to pass a sister of Chi-Pot-Le or whatever on the right because she’s doing twenty under the speed limit on Blossom. Get it together sweetie, your lime green tricycle is inconveniencing the rest of us. Boys, don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. What is with the obsession men have with riding them around in groups? I know most of you don’t have the brain capacity beyond that of a pack animal (hence why you’d be willing to be seen in public on top of a scooter that looks like the aftermath of a long night of fishbowls) but really, you’re blocking the entirety of Main St. and I have places to be. And on the subject of brain power, for God’s sake, put a helmet on. You don’t need to lose anymore IQ points in a fender bender with a 4Runner. And finally, stop charging Zapp rides to your parent’s credit cards–they’ll thank you when they pay off your student loans for you.
YOUR LIME GREEN TRICYCLE IS INCONVENIENCING THE REST OF US.
EVENTS BY ZOE NICHOLSON • PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON DESIGN BY ELIZABETH JENNINGS
MARDI GRAS COLUMBIA FEB. 25
Before the raucousness of St. Pat’s in Five Points, celebrate Mardi Gras with your very own krewe (a Mardi Gras parade host) in Columbia. The festivities start with the Lagniappe 5K at 8 a.m. where runners are highly encouraged to wear Mardi Gras costumes. Parade down Rosewood with festival hosts Krewe de ColumbiYaYa and partygoers who formed their own krewe. The parade ends with a music festival at City Roots Farm. Once the sun goes down, the party is over, but all events except the 5K are free.
“MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY” LONGSTREET THEATRE FEB. 17-25
USC’s upcoming play is for anyone who enjoys pop culture as much as fine art. The Theatre department’s latest work combines the apocalypse and “The Simpsons.” The play, written by Anne Washburn and directed by Jeremy Skidmore, is a dark comedy that centers on a group of post-apocalyptic survivors who decide to recreate an episode of the long-running cartoon to pass the time. The play will be shown at Longstreet Theatre. Student tickets are $12 and general admission is $18.
ST. PAT’S IN FIVE POINTS MARCH 18
Columbia’s largest and wildest street festival is just around the corner. The annual St. Patrick’s Day party begins with the “Get To The Green” 5k, 10k or 1-mile Family Fun Run at 8 a.m. Watch the parade down Devine Street starting at 10 a.m. and then enjoy the food and drink vendors, live music, petting zoo and more around Five Points. Headliners for the event include St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Michael Ray, Superchunk and Drivin’ N Cryin’ in addition to the 20 other bands that will dot downtown. Pre-sale tickets are $15 and day-of tickets will be $20.
BLACK STORIES, THE NICKELODEON MONDAYS IN FEBRUARY
In a partnership with SC Humanities, The Nickelodeon Theatre on Main Street is hosting four film screenings every Monday in February. The series will feature films that explore cornerstones in the Civil Rights Movement, like the Freedom Riders and the Black Power Movement, as well as the current struggles African-Americans face. Each screening features a Q and A hosted by prominent USC professors and Columbia-area activists. Check out nickelodeon.org for all the details.
March 13th, 2017 CarolinaConnect is Coming!
CarolinaConnect is going to be the event of the year with our on & off-campus vendors that are planning to attend. The event will take place on Greene Street & will include giveaways, prizes and much more! Come meet our marvelous vendors and recieve information!
Barberitos Bikram Yoga Bi-Lo Black Bean Co California Dreaming Carolina Dining Cock Pit Barbeque CVS Domino's Donn's on Harden Fancy That Bistro Firehouse Subs Grilled Teriyaki Haircuts by Terri Murphy Harper's
IHOP Jersey Mike's Subs Jittery Joe's Main Street Public House Marco's Pizza Marble Slab Masala On Main McDonalds Moe's Ole Timey Meat Market Palmetto Pig Papa Johns Paul Mitchell the School Hair Haircuts PDQ
Parking Services Rita's Russell House Printing Salsarita's Fresh Cantina Scooopy Doo Gelato Smashburger Subway Sure Fire Tacos Tea pot Chinese Tripp's Fine Cleaners Uncle Maddio's Pizza University Bookstore Which Wich Yesterdays Restaurant & Tavern Yoga Masala
*as of 1/27/17, for a complete list vist sc.edu/carolinacard
4 ways to add
Add CarolinaCa$h online 24/7 anytime at my.sc.edu/carolinacard. ADMs are available anytime in Thomas Cooper, Bates House, The Law School, Russell House, and the Moore School of Business. Feel free to come into our office or call Monday-Friday 8:30am -5:00 pm to deposit funds on your CarolinaCard.
carolinacard.sc.edu 803.777.1708 ccard@mailbox.sc.edu
BY G&B STAFF • DESIGN BY TAYLOR KANE
“THE FALCONS HAVE IT WRAPPED. I’M GOING TO BED.” “TOM BRADY IS SINGLEHANDEDLY FORCING ME INTO ALCOHOL POISONING.” “I’M HERE FOR SAUSAGE BALLS.” “I HONESTLY CAN’T TELL IF THAT’S LADY GAGA OR THE GHOST OF DAVID BOWIE.” “THIS HALFTIME SHOW IS LIKE A GLITZY MAD MAX MOVIE.” “CONSUMERISM SURE IS ENTERTAINING.” “THERE IS AN ALARMING LACK OF PUPPIES IN THESE COMMERCIALS.” “WELL, GREAT, NOW I CAN’T GO TO BED!” “I HAVE NO MORE FINGERNAILS LEFT TO CHEW.” “WELL, I JUST LOST $500.” “CLYDESDALES LOOK LIKE A NORMAL HORSE THAT ATE THE MUSHROOM FROM SUPER MARIO.” OVERHEA RD AT 47
Aquatics
Bike Shop Strom Thurmond Wellness & Fitness Center Solomon Blatt Physical Education Center 803.576.9375 803.777.5261 campusrec.sc.edu University of South Carolina Campus Recreation @UofSC_CampusRec
Sport Clubs Group Exercise Personal Training
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