Student Read and Led Since 1940
Spring 2020
Community
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When Recovery Isn’t Possible Words — Keithly Vite Illustration — Sarah Kanu The Sick and Disabled Student Union is a new club on campus created to provide a space where students with mental and chronic illnesses can receive support that they can’t find elsewhere at Pratt. “How are you doing mentally, emotionally, physically?” president of the club, Merlin Sabal asked the group on the day I visited. As students trickled in, they shared their problems, gave advice to others and above all, received support. One member, who relayed how painful they found it to be in class for several hours a day, highlighted the issues with Pratt’s three absence policy, which dictates that after three absences, a student’s grade begins to be impacted. Those who are chronically and mentally ill are already familiar with the failings of the policy and how impossible it is to work around without disclosing sensitive information to professors. Another student said that when her sexual assault trauma was affecting her mental health, the only way she could find to get leniency on absences from her professors was to hope they would be sympathetic to her story. This is because there are no federal protections for students with temporary disabilities or mental health issues, so Pratt does not legally have to excuse mental health days or provide other accommodations.
It has become clear to me how necessary the SDSU is on campus. The support group and discord server does its best to provide the kind of support the counseling center can’t in three sessions. Sabal also explained that the club has plans to make a guide to building accessibility at Pratt. North and South Hall aren’t accessible at all, and many of the other buildings are only “accessible” through other buildings. For example, the machinery and engineering buildings are only accessible through the back of the chemistry building, and students have to go through studios with sawdust floating around in the air, which makes it a nightmare for people with respiratory issues. When the support group meeting ended, Sabal asked those in the circle to state one thing they did to care for themselves in the past week. Answers varied from eating a homemade meal to dropping classes. Pratt should ask itself every week what more they could be doing to care for its population and recognizing where it has failed and made life harder for students. The SDSU meets on the second Monday of every month from 3PM - 5PM. More information about the discord server, other resources, and the club in general can be found on their Instagram page @prattsdsu.
COMMUNITY
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Why Can’t We Quit? Words — Patrick Hill Illustrations — Mugdha Duorah Hi, I’m Patrick, and like so many of us here at Pratt, I’m a nicotine addict. You’ve heard it before—ALL of us are nicotine addicts. Whether it’s the occasional vape or the last cigarette of the pack, it seems like the mark of a Pratt student isn’t a logo on a hoodie, it’s that craving that settles in after class. You’ve undoubtedly seen herds of exhausted students crowded around Pratt’s steel gates between classes, or stumbling out of Willoughby Hall at night. I should know. I’m one of them, and I’m not planning on stopping any time soon.
” It’s evident to me that a school that prides itself on rigor must deal with rigor’s consequences.” I’d been a smoker on and off for pretty much every year you could consider “teenaged,” and in my hometown of St. Augustine, Florida, smoking’s not exactly common among youth—after all, only 10% of high school students nationwide smoke. In fact, I’d gotten so tired of sneaking cigarettes that I considered myself done with the habit. Then came Pratt’s Accepted Student Day, where I watched masses of weary students huddled around the clunky butt-collectors, and I shrugged off any hint of a craving. “I don’t need it anymore,” I thought. “This isn’t high school.”
With September came my first writing workshop, and I was (rightfully) torn apart. I remember my first drag of a friend’s Camel Blue fondly. Then, midterms, and a few more. Then, finals, and the next thing I knew, I was right back on the wagon. I started buying my own packs... then a JUUL for when it rained... And just like that, nicotine became a necessity. When I’m feeling frustrated by a heady piece of literary theory, or stuck on a piece of language, smoking helps me focus and de-stress more effectively than just about anything. Nicotine withdrawal is marked by sweating, irritation and mental fog, and it can last for days. Why try dealing with that when I’m being asked for work all the time? If I’ve got world class studio, elective and gen-ed courses, what should I say to my professors? “Sorry, can’t quite finish that paper—my head is throbbing from lack of cancer stick?” You’d be hard pressed to find a Pratt student who isn’t at least aware of this trend. I’m not here to blame Pratt for our unhealthy habits—though I do believe a poster by the elevator isn’t enough to stop anyone—but it’s evident to me that a school that prides itself on rigor must deal with rigor’s consequences, and when kids who hadn’t touched a cigarette before are nearly pack-a-day, that sounds like a problem quitting won’t solve.
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Culture just keep walking. NYC has so many interesting places to walk around—botanical gardens, the boardwalk at Coney Island, narrow alleyways in the Lower East Side, the waterfront in Long Island City. You’re bound to find something that inspires you. Lastly, let go of the reins and focus on being in the moment. Don’t worry about how many photographs you’re taking. Think about your surroundings and what draws your attention as you explore an unfamiliar environment. Any good photos you may catch are just bonus finds from your journey.
The Photowalk As Recovery Words & Photographs — Nicholas Busigo Constantly producing creative work for your classes can become tedious overtime. Maybe the magic of attending a top art and design school has faded and the passions that existed in foundation year have started to wane. You might experience a feeling of emptiness when trying to squeeze the last drop of creative juices from your frontal lobe. These are all symptoms of being human. However, there is something you can try that might help bring back your spunk. When I found myself at my lowest, I picked up a camera. It was through photography that I was able to recharge and recover. The photowalk can be quite effective at relieving stress. Not only are you flexing your creative muscle, you’ll be getting some exercise, fresh air and a welcome dose of vitamin D. The first thing you need is a camera (your phone, point & shoot, mom’s old film camera, etc.). What’s important is that the camera you bring is fun to use (for me, that means light and quick to click). Next, create a general plan for your adventure. Don’t think too much, just follow your impulses and explore. I usually pick a direction I don’t usually go in and
The most important thing is to be present. Consciously observe your surroundings and see them from a new perspective. If I’m walking down the street in Chinatown instead of traveling a conventional path, I will try to get lost in the nooks and crannies that would normally be overlooked by workers and tourists. Being present also means limiting distractions. The rules I hold myself to are: no phone (unless you’re using it for photos), no music (it’s difficult to be fully present with one sense subdued), yes cafes (a coffee can be a peaceful moment of rest). If you’re feeling social, welcome interactions. Wave at a truck driver. Strike up a conversation with someone passing by. Sometimes the camera can be a starting point for more than just pictures.
CULTURE
Recover with Acupuncture Words — Alexandra Doyle Illustration — Cameron Schroeder After a long semester of school, we’re all looking for ways to recover and relax. Acupuncture is a form of anxiety and stress reduction that can help you start your summer off right, like pressing the restart button on your body. Acupuncture doesn’t just calm the body, but the mind and spirit as well. In a 2013 study conducted by the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies, students who underwent a 20-minute acupuncture session were found to have reduced anxiety and better memory immediately afterward than those who didn’t. “Whether treating anxiety, depression, or insomnia, acupuncture is one of the best tools to help train the mind to be as clear and stress-free as possible,” explains Juhi Singh, an acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist and medicine specialist and founder of the Juhi Center in New York City. And while Acupuncture is only one thing you can do to relax, it’s an important one when workplace and school burnout is officially kicking in.
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Not too long ago, I tried Acupuncture for the first time. I personally went to The Brooklyn Acupuncture Project, but two other places in New York that are reasonably priced are Ming Health and Joyce Acupuncture NYC. When you go in for your first appointment, your Acupuncturist will start by asking you which symptoms you’re looking to treat. They’ll also ask about any medications you take, your medical history, and any other health concerns you have. During the session, they will insert long, thin needles into different pressure points on your body. Depending on the pressure points used, this could take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. You likely won’t feel instant gratification. Most acupuncture treatments are intended to be repeated. Some people say they feel immediate improvements, but most notice subtle and gradual changes with repeated visits. I’ve only been once and will definitely be going back since I felt less anxious after. At first, I was worried it was going to hurt since the Acupuncturist sticks needles into your face, but as I laid there, I felt a surge of relaxation throughout my body. Once you’re there for a few minutes, you slowly forget that you are lying there with needles sticking out of your skin. Which don’t hurt, by the way. It just feels like a little pinch.
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Sleep & Studio Culture Words — Nina Martinek Illustration — Emily Goto
The best way to let people know that the work you produce isn’t the best is to tell them that you get eight hours of sleep a night. We all know that it’s completely impossible to be at the top of the class and be well-rested, right? The harder you work, the better your work is, and the less sleep you get, right? No. That stigma is more dangerous than any X-acto knife or CA glue. We have been conditioned to think that the less sleep you get, the more successful you will be in studio. We try to out-awake each other constantly, wearing our sleep deprivation like a crown of wilting laurels. Tell someone you got four hours of sleep last night, and they’ll tell you that they only got three. You feel guilty for that extra hour of rest—could you have pushed another hour of work out and added something better to your project? How have we become caught in this illusion that a lack of sleep is synonymous with success? It seems awfully contradictory when you’re first presented with the idea, but think about it— we all know it’s true. I’ve been here for a little less than one school year and it’s already ingrained into my thoughts. As an architecture major, this stereotype precariously persists. We’re stigmatized as people who never sleep. This is true, since we have a pretty heavy course load. But maybe the reason we don’t get enough rest is because we consistently feel like we need to live up to the chips on our shoulders. Maybe we don’t sleep because we feel like we shouldn’t, like we aren’t true architecture majors if we do. The “get some sleep” advice from
RECOVERY FEATURE professors is always followed by dry laughter. The “go to bed” warnings from TAs are ignored because we know they don’t follow it themselves. Does our environment force us to adapt to less sleep? Is our deprivation self-inflicted? Or, most likely, is it some twisted combination of both? Out of the architecture students I talked to, only 23 percent of them think that the less they sleep, the better their work will be. Yet, a staggering 83 percent of them say that they’ve felt guilty for sleeping instead of working. 60 percent think that the stigma around sleep itself actually affects their sleeping habits.
” Even if I don’t feel well, or I know I can finish in the morning, or if I just don’t have it in me, I find it difficult to leave my desk at the end of the day knowing that there is still something for me to do.” “Professors preach the importance of sleep,” one student says, “but then overload us with work.” Another confesses that they “will come to class looking like shit just so my professors won’t think I didn’t try.” Multiple credit their best ideas to sleep deprivation, though one admits that “when it comes to completing the project, you need to be attentive.” Others have mostly accepted their perceived fate. “You could always sleep in studio lol,” one comments. Another declares, “We need more comfortable horizontal surfaces to sleep on in studio.” “Actually,” another counters, “desks are surprisingly comfy, when you’re too exhausted to care anymore.” This student once slept on a table in a seminar room and woke up to a section pinning their work up in there, preparing for a review. However, not everyone seems to feel like sleep has really affected their studio experience. “I will die knowing that I don’t need to be in the studio at 4 am . . . time management!” one student says. Another sees correlation between someone who watches movies or shows while working and who pulls all-nighters: “People have different ways of working . . . I’m just pretty sure that if you’re complaining about no sleep while distracting yourself while working then you should try to be focused instead.”
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We all know people who can walk into studio, sit at their desks, and leave four hours later with their projects completely done. Granted, they don’t move for hours at a time, talk to no one and sometimes don’t even have earbuds in. Then there are the people who literally never leave, but who spend their time socializing or scrolling through Instagram or spending an hour on three individual basswood sticks. Though most of us seem to linger somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, we veer far enough to either end that we, as a major, have wildly different studio experiences. My experience: Studio is fun. Sometimes the fun is in finishing a project I’m passionate about. Sometimes the fun is in being with my friends, spending hours talking outside the café or singing too loudly in an empty classroom. I sacrifice sleep for one or both of these things—work and friends always seem to come first. But I have yet to pull an all-nighter, since I believe that it is not only possible, but necessary, to get through architecture school without pulling an all-nighter. There is always time to sleep, even if it’s just for a little bit. But, like most of the people I’ve talked to, I’ve felt guilty for leaving an assignment unfinished and going to bed. Even if I don’t feel well, or I know I can finish in the morning, or if I just don’t have it in me, I find it difficult to leave my desk at the end of the day knowing that there is still something for me to do. Which is the problem: There is always something else to do. Being so driven and so dedicated to making our work the best it can possibly be means that we are the ones who are able to end the stigma around sleeping. Even if we try to ignore the fact or pretend that we don’t care, we’re smart enough to know that not sleeping enough is beyond detrimental to our lives. So, how do we fix it? We stop caring. We stop competing and comparing and watching people out of the corners of our eyes to catch when they abandon their desks. We’re here to better ourselves, to make good work and have fun doing it. None of that is possible on two hours a night.
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Thoughts Reading As Recovery Words — Carly Tagen-Dye Illustration — Amber Duan I’ve been spending time with friends every day since fleeing New York to my home in suburban Maryland. There are at least twenty of us—old friends and new—in my bedroom at any given moment, constantly bumping into one another and crowding each other’s space. It’s strange, as I’m not usually a social butterfly. If I’ve learned anything lately, though, it’s that unexpected things happen whether we like it or not. We go out a lot. The newer faces—the ones I haven’t encountered before—urge exploration the most. I’ve traversed around London with Eleanor Oliphant (who is completely fine) in Gail Honeyman’s book of the same name. Zadie Smith showed me around her stomping grounds in Italy—her personal place of reconnaissance and rediscovery—through her essays in “Feel Free.” I’ve congregated in Tokyo with Keiko Furukura in “Convenience Store Woman,” and paraded through my favorite DC hangs alongside the Bloch family in “Here I Am,” finding solace amongst characters completely like and unlike myself. It’s tiring jumping from place to place within a matter of days. The escape is worth it. As wonderful as these new experiences are, I still like familiarity. I’ve been surrounding myself with souls who’ve been there since high school: J. D. Salinger, Stephen Chobosky, Patti Smith. We talk frequently, their stories are just as comforting as I remember them to be. I’ve grown a lot since our first get-togethers, and see their words from a new place of experience. I’m more sympathetic to Holden Caulfield’s behavior, more understanding of Charlie’s anxiety in “Perks.” They still mean something all the same, bringing me back to past moments and memories. It’s nice, especially now, to know that some things don’t change. All of us always end up back home. We stay together as the sun hangs in the sky outside my window. We watch it rise every morning, illuminating my bookshelf and all its inhabitants first. We watch it set every night too, when it feels like we’re the only ones left in the world. It’s been hard to sleep lately. They’re good at keeping me company when I’m awake when I shouldn’t be. Their words are my only adventure and biggest comfort, second only to their mere presence, the fact that they’ll always be here. In the midst of chaos, that’s the sweetest relief of all.
THOUGHTS
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On Break - Recovering and Relaxing Between Semesters Words — Parker Sublette Illustration — Amy Jia Every time I come back from break, I hear the same phrase from my friends: “Ugh, I didn’t get anything done!” How lamentable! You mean you didn’t spend the few precious moments of time you have away from the pressures and stresses of Pratt doing more work?! But I can’t say I’m not guilty of the same. We spend so much time and money to come to this school and hone our crafts, we should put it to use when we can, right? It seems wasteful not to use the time free from assignments to pump out more content. But burnout is real. The amount of work we are expected to produce during the semester is, in a few words, a lot. On top of all the work we produce ourselves, we’re also in the process of critiquing our peers’ work, fulfilling general ed requirements and doing all sorts of extra readings. I don’t know about you, but after a few months of classes, the last thing I want to do is even think about writing. And there shouldn’t be shame in that. It’s called break for a reason, so take one. Don’t beat yourself up for giving your brain a moment to relax and recover from the non-stop rigor of classes. If you don’t, the more tired you’ll get and the more you’ll resent the work you once loved doing. So I’ll offer a few tips on what I do to relax over break that don’t in any way involve critical thinking, intelligence or effort.
” Don’t beat yourself up for giving your brain a moment to relax and recover from the non-stop rigor of classes.” Eat a burrito! Every break, as soon as I get home, I head straight to my favorite restaurant, buy a burrito, and eat it in my car like a savage animal claiming their hunt. Nothing is a better “Welcome Home” than good, nostalgic food.
Try something new! Instead of throwing yourself against the wall of making the same thing you always do, look into something that’s always interested you. For me, it was cocktail mixing. A completely “useless” skill that serves me in no particular way as an artist, but it was something I always thought looked fun, and I had a way better time drinking Kamikazes than I would have hunched over my computer flailing my tired brain over a project that doesn’t need doing til classes begin. Watch, read, listen to whatever you like! Instead of beating yourself up for not being productive, take some time to re-engage with media—new or old—that you love. Remind yourself of the works that first inspired you to create. Find new things to inspire you if you can. Nothing makes me more excited to create than when I find something really good, and am reminded that art is a pursuit of joy, not productivity.
Letters From Us
Table of Contents
Prattlers,
Community • Pg 2
Originally, The Recovery Issue was simply meant to help students relax and unwind after another long but normal school year. A recovery from the normal stresses at Pratt leading us into yet another normal summer. Of course, when we thought up the Recovery Issue, we had no idea that the Spring 2020 semester would turn out the way it did. As I am writing this, Pratt campus is completely empty aside from a handful of essential workers and of course, the cats. Much of the student body has left the state of New York. The usually booming Myrtle Ave is empty. For the first time in any living person’s memory, Pratt Institute has been closed for an extended period of time, all due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. In truth, we don’t know exactly what recovery looks like anymore, not in a broad sense. We have absolutely no idea what a recovered world looks like after this pandemic. The horizon is foggy. But, if it’s any consolation, if it is any form of solace at all, we hope this issue gives you comfort. We hope it helps you relax and take on this uncertain summer a little bit easier. We hope it helps you think about recovery in all of its forms, and helps you recover just a little bit in any way you might need. In strength, Aliza Pelto Editor-in-Chief
When Recovery Isn’t Possible Keithly Vite visits the meeting of the newly founded Sick and Disabled Student Union, learning about the ways in which Pratt neglects to stand up for disabled and chronically ill students. Why Can’t We Quit? Patrick Hill examines the smoking culture at Pratt, attempting to figure out what makes it so hard for us art kids to quit.
Culture • Pg 4 The Photowalk As Recovery Nicholas Busigo gives his tips on how roaming around the city taking photos can be the perfect way to relax, recover and reconnect with your craft. Recover with Acupuncture Alexandra Doyle recounts her experience with getting acupuncture to aid her anxiety, convincing us as to why we should try it out, too.
Art Spread • Pg 6 Recovery Coloring Page by Calyn Pickens Rich
The Cult Feature • Pg 8 Sleep and Studio Culture Nina Martinek finally acknowledges the elephant in the room: Our obsession with losing sleep over studio. What do a group of architecture students have to say about the topic? And how can we break free from the age-old art school trope that lack of sleep equals success?
Prattler Staff Creative Directors Danielle Wilson Josh Weinstein
Advisors Christopher Calderhead Eric Rosenblum
Editor-in-Chief Aliza Pelto
Archivist Aaron Cohen
Thoughts • Pg 10 Reading as Recovery Carly Tagen-Dye gets by with a little help from her friends in a journey through literature during this trying time of isolation. On Break: Recovery and Relaxing Between Semesters Parker Sublette encourages us to use Summer Break to focus on the things that truly make us happy, rather than focus on creating new work that can often be stressful.
Managing Editor Lexi Anderson
Cover by Danielle Wilson prattleronline.com Instagram: @prattler theprattler@gmail.com