issue 1
THANKS TO
Gracefully (4) Grace The Normality Of The ‘Abnormal’ (9) Bradley Bunch Of Fives (11) Viola Lydia Chased By Prejudice (15) Anastasia 15 In 2016 (17) Loretta Maya Teenage Forecast (23) Jane Kellock Jon Savage (26) Lettuce Tell You About Veganism (27) Oliver Lesson Learned (33) Manor House (35) Viola Caitlin Hannah Lily The Pursuit Of Laughter (43) Cameron Luther Hello From The Driver’s Seat (47) Vida Alana Sam How Are You? Fine. How Was School? Boring. (55) Young And In Love (59) Sebastian Jake Jesse Dylan Alex Claire and James
EDITOR’S NOTE
It has been a journey full of conversations, unfulfilled expectations, excitement, surprises, missed chances and fun shoots. Today’s teenagers were on the top of our minds for several weeks. The ups and downs we experienced seem to be a mirror of the emotional ride teenagers are on during this important phase of growing up and figuring out. OK, CALM is for anyone interested in getting an insight into today’s teenage culture. Get inspired by them with featured trend forecaster Jane, relive the moment when you first passed your driving test, be amazed by the discipline and courage of individuals like Grace and Bradley, or just get a quick lesson in today’s must-know teenage slang. I have to admit, at 21 I am more than happy to not be a disoriented teenager anymore. However, I loved stepping into this extraordinary and partly mysterious world of these soon to be adults. And perhaps, at times, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take notes from their nonconformist, direct and energetic thinking rather than settle down in entrenched habits and apathy. ALENA HOELDRICH
2
Editors Alena Hoeldrich
Marios Mystidis
Fashion Promotion
Fashion Journalism
Harriet James-Weed Julie Greve Lydia Chan
Katharina Loebbert Maria Matveeva
3
GRACEFULLY
STORY BY HARRIET JAMES-WEED ASSISTED BY KATHARINA LOEBBERT AND ALENA HOELDRICH
BALLET COMES FIRST. THEN EVERYTHING ELSE. Ballet dancing reached its peak of interest in popular culture when Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Academy Award for her gruelling role in the 2010 drama Black Swan. The long training hours of sweat and blood were easily forgotten, as we slumped into our theatre seats and watched the actress-turned-ballet-dancer turn more and more neurotic with every pirouette. It takes an immeasurable amount of discipline and devotion committing to become a professional ballet dancer. Grace Reid is a young ballet dancer from the rural Walsingham in Norfolk. Two years ago, in support of her hobby, the Reid family packed their bags and migrated to London in order for Grace to be able to attend the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden. Moving for ballet was an easy decision and welcomed with open arms. Since overcoming the momentary wish to quit when she was eight, Grace has never looked back and has wholeheartedly devoted herself to the daily training. To her, becoming a professional ballerina is not about fame or fortune, but rather about the love and passion for dance. Other teenagers at 14 are usually more consumed with thoughts of the present; hanging out with friends later today, or homework they have to get done by tomorrow. The furthest that their futures stretch is the weekend, where plans for Saturday night are hungrily anticipated since early Monday mornings. Grace, however has a clear long-term vision for her future. ’Ballet comes first. Then school. Then everything else.’ Teenagers are often seen as slackers and lazy engulfed in the ‘awkward stage’ where they don’t know exactly where they are or where they are heading. Grace’s idea of her goals and ambitions are conspicuous and she is not afraid to give her all to accomplish them.
6
THE NORMALITY OF THE ‘ABNOR M
AL’
School is probably a never-ending battle between you and society when it comes to having a nonheteronormative sexuality. Kids and especially teenagers are unintentionally ruthless to people who are different in any possible way. This happens because the bubble they are living in has no space for something new and perhaps peculiar in their eyes. “I didn’t have the courage to say I am openly gay. There is no courage needed just to state your sexuality, similarly to when a straight boy doesn’t need to ‘announce’ liking
girls to the world,” Bradley tells me so naturally, and my teenage self is just constantly asking me “Why didn’t we just do it then?” Despite the fact Bradley and I have an age difference of only four years, it seems as though the world is finally turning into a much better and welcoming place. From stories of five-year-old transgender kids being accepted for who they truly are on the inside no matter what their body defines them as, to Caitlyn Jenner’s promotional transgender journey, society seems to have
9
finally understood the normality of the ‘abnormal’. “I think the progress of people and popular culture is incredible. I can walk down the street wearing what I like, doing what I like and not be told what I can or cannot do,” 16-year-old Bradley tells me, while looking at the chipped blue nail polish on his right hand. Bradley was born and is still raised in Scunthorpe, a small town in North Lincolnshire, England. A predominantly industrial town, also known as the “Industrial Garden
Town”, where the majority of the people, especially men, work in the steel works. The town’s identity heightened my curiosity concerning Bradley’s story as well as society’s reaction to it as it hinted a very oldfashioned way of thinking. “When I started high school, I always struggled to fit in. I was a very shy person, and I had very few friends. After a while I began making more friends and I met a girl. We started dating and ended up in a 13-month relationship. For me it was a roller coaster, as it was my first serious relationship. At points I was the happiest person alive and at other times I didn’t want to be with her any longer. After a while, we argued and broke up. We were both heartbroken but it was for the best. I started to get over the break up and after two months I was completely over it, and happy again,” Bradley explains, lost in his thoughts, as if he has already told that story a million times before. His tone is slow and serious, but not bitter. “After a few more months passed, I started having strange feelings - for a boy. He had recently come out as bisexual, and I thought I could talk to him, so I did. He spoke to me about being ‘bi-curious’ and that I could be having bisexual thoughts.
He gave me some good advice and I came out as bisexual.” “But how?” my 16 year old self interrupts him as if that part of me is still desperately seeking for advice, “How did you make that decision so easily?” “I felt free,” he tells me and in a peculiarly simple way, but surprisingly so convincing. However, Bradley makes it clear that things were not as easy as they sound now, “Of course, there were some people that decided that I was a ‘disappointment’ so they didn’t talk to me, which was hard. I still run into some homophobia every now and again, but I have the support that I need from my family and friends, which is the most special thing to me. I have learned to ignore negativity in my life instead of dealing with it.” He stops, checks a message on his phone for a few seconds in complete silence. Laughingly he says, “The funny thing is, a few months passed and I came out again, but as gay. But no one seemed to care much as coming out as bisexual was already big news to them.” Bradley and I have been talking for quite some time, and I know he has a biology project to start soon, which he is definitely not excited for. Somehow my teenage
10
self comes through again and asks him, “What advice would you give to someone your age that hasn’t decided to come out yet?” “I know it’s gonna sound cliché, however… Let everyone know who you are and let the homophobes be who they are, because you are beautiful on the inside and on the outside and no one can change that. You are the only one that knows who you truly are. Don’t hide it, embrace it! It’s better to be hated for who you truly are rather than to be loved for something that you are not.” Meeting Bradley was undoubtedly a conversation that I owed to my 16-year-old self. A young man, so mature and sentient about his identity and sexuality, despite the social norms, stereotypes and prejudices of the world. Bradley coming from a small old–fashioned town is proving once more that there are no excuses when it comes to just being who you are. For my generation, being ‘in the closet’ during the school years was mandatory rather than optional. It seems as though things have finally started to become ‘normal’.
STORY BY MARIOS MYSTIDIS ILLUSTRATION BY LYDIA CHAN
11
A BUNCH OF FIVES PHOTOGRAPHY BY HARRIET JAMES-WEED ASSISTED BY JULIE GREVE
FEATURING
VIOLA
AGED SEVENTEEN
/
LYDIA
AGED SEVENTEEN
CHASED BY PREJUDICE
There comes a point in our lives where we have to decide which way to go. It is not as simple as it sounds, we all know this; been there, done that. As a teenager, you want to try as many things as you possibly can, and only then you can decide what’s wrong and what’s right for yourself.
into her own world. That was just one of the challenges on her way. Some just don’t understand the struggle of being different, being free. “When I started dressing more alternative and dark, my parents weren’t happy about it. They weren’t used to it, because I was much younger. However, looking back, all the difficulties and misunderstandings seem very naive now. They don’t mind how I dress in daily life anymore, and I’m ready to compromise for a formal event” explains Anastasia.
“Throughout my childhood, I’ve always been interested in subcultures and I was so fascinated when I saw teenagers that looked unique”, remembers 16-year-old Anastasia, who has been through all the various stages of subcultures ever since being a pre-teen.
We are always being chased by prejudice. Most people think of metalheads as potentially aggressive and anti-social because they are a part of a subculture that includes not only listening to metal rock but also having a powerful dislike towards anything close-minded and mainstream. Truly, we’ve all had that thought when seeing a person wearing head-totoe black listening to heavy, and often political music which is even called “satanic devil-related noise” by elders, admit it. Asta shakes her head and laughs for a few seconds, “ When people get to know me, they always say something like ‘Oh you actually don’t hate everyone and you don’t want to watch the world burn!” It takes courage to go against society’s norms and standards. Each person has the right to look however they want if it makes them happy; plus it makes it easier to find people with similar interests. It is always exciting to be creative with clothes. When we’re young, too many rules and standards are forced upon us by society - but isn’t this the best time to have fun, try to define yourself and live with the “yolo” mantra?
It is tricky to say what my first impression was. A girl appears wearing #allblackeverything with that Taylor Momsen panda make up with a beautiful set of deep-blue sparkling eyes that hint she has a lot to tell. Living in Cyprus for the last eight years has vastly affected Russian-born Anastasia. When talking about her experience, she stops for a minute and only then continues to speak. Each word she says sounds very mature and well thought-through. Something one wouldn’t necessarily expect from a teenage girl.
I know that even when I am 30, I won’t regret my choices, after all it was something special to me at the time. She entered the subcultural scene a few years ago when she first purchased a band merchandise T-shirt but the interest was always there. “It all started with music. I loved everything about it - the rhythm, the lyrics, the vocals. Back then, I was eight years old, and already had a phone, which is how I downloaded songs. Later on, I started picking up on more bands such as Iron Maiden, Pantera, Metallica, Slayer, Venom” mentions Asta (named after a high fantasy game about myths and legends), an alter ego Anastasia has created for her web accounts to be, perhaps, closer to someone she wants to be seen as.
“I know that even when I am 30, I won’t regret my choices, after all it was something special to me at the time, something I was into – you can never go wrong with that,” Anastasia predicts before I even got to ask her. Being into something means being excited about newness, bringing some changes to one’s life. It doesn’t matter how old you are but rather how passionate you are about something - anything. In the end we all grow up and move on, so what is the point of living without having a constant change and living a life of joy?
Being into music was a way of expressing herself at the very beginning, as well as a way of slowly introducing her parents
16
INTERVIEW BY MARIA MATVEEVA
Fif TEEN
in
20 - sixTEEN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIE GREVE ASSISTED BY ALENA HOELDRICH