REVIVAL REVIVAL REVIVAL REVIVAL REVIVAL REVIVAL
REVIVAL REVIVAL REVIVAL REVIVAL
F A L L
issue no. 7 E
REVIVAL RAW MAGAZINE FALL 2019 Editor-In-Chief Suzannah Koop Senior Editor India Ambrose Creative Director Kate Montgomery Editorial Director Makaia Smith Photo Director Daniel Square Advertising Director Tyra Jonas
Co-Public Relations Directors Ashlyn Delaney Alexandra London Te’Aira Carter Public Relations Avery Jackson Alex Klaus
Advertising Brand Director Riley Reich Advertising Anne Marie Bryant Courtney Greschke Michael Kostus Event Management Amari Hughes Catherine Tolbert
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Stylists Hunter Burns Brynna Gani Shannon Murphy
Photographers Haley Ayotte Mackenna Kelly Kate Montgomery Autumn Pinkley Rickey Portis Trinity Walker
Lead Graphic Designer Emily Alspaugh Graphic Designers Catie Carnaghi Kate Montgomery Bri Poole Cole Phillips Alea Rollenhagen Sam McNeal
Writers Mark Elgersma Allyssia Grayson Sean Herpolsheimer Sam Shriber Makaia Smith
THERAWMAG.COM Facebook: The RAW Magazine Instagram & Twitter: @rawmagcmu FOUNDERS Jordan Moorhead Kaitlyn Lauer Alexis Kelly
REVIVAL
Table of Contents 6.......... Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
7......... Letter from the Senior Editor 8......... Letter from the Creative Director 10....... Our Frontier 17....... Pastel Innocence 23....... Growing up in the club 29....... Wes Anderson 33....... Fitting In 37....... A Growing Change 43....... Like a Virgin: Forbidden Fruit 50 ...... Modern Recreation 57........ Retro 63....... [R]EVOLUTION 69....... Eyes on Me 73....... The Original Unoriginal 81....... Metamorphosis
Letter From The Editor-in-Chief I’ve re-written this letter dozens of times because I can’t find the words to describe how grateful I am to be a part of this Magazine. I started with RAW my sophomore year, and have worked my way up through the years to the position I hold now as Editor in Chief. I never would have imagined being here, and I am so humbly thankful to everyone who supported me along the way. This is the largest staff we’ve had working for RAW, and I have had the immense pleasure of getting to know and getting to work with everyone on our team. These are some of the most brilliant, creative and dedicated individuals I have ever met. I always loved how RAW brings you together with the coolest people you never knew existed. This issue is about revival. We want to appreciate what RAW has been and how we got to this point, while also continuing to push forward to become something new. We are using this issue to allow ourselves to start over and to set the foundation for our future. It may be a messy process, but new beginnings always are. I was inspired by the Renaissance Era during my study abroad trip to Florence, Italy this summer. This sparked the idea for Revival as well as the opportunity for Kate, India and I to bring more art to the Magazine. Along with stories by our amazing writers and photographers, you will see next-level graphic design work throughout the issue. We hope you enjoy the Revival Issue, and we hope you discover something new about yourself as well.
Suzannah Koop Editor-In-Chief
Letter From The Senior Editor When I think about revival, I think about something being born from an already great blueprint. RAW Magazine has always been a great addition to this campus and this community. We have grown since our first issue with the addition of more staff and more fantastic ideas, and it gives me great pride to watch it flourish. Revival expresses what RAW represents at its core: the place for content to grow and for people to grow. Revival is the improvement and strengthening of something and you can find that within our issue by way of our new staff members and our new head staff. These new faces bring talents and ideals that RAW has never seen before, which keeps us fresh and relevant. I am so proud of this issue and so grateful for the opportunity to bring my ideas to life with my team backing me. This magazine has created a space for me to expand my knowledge of leadership and editorial work along with accessing other talents I did not know I had. Starting as a general member then making my way to writer and event manager, I am grateful for the opportunity that was given to me by our past Editor-In-Chief and Creative Director, Rachael Thomas and Nick Sullivan, and all the way back to Jordan Moorhead, one of our founders. We hope this issue not only entertains you, but that it also inspires a revival in your own life. Through photography and text, the theme is executed in such a way that anyone can relate to the content and witness the revival happening within RAW and within themselves. Welcome!
India Ambrose Senior Editor
Letter From The Creative Director I never expected RAW to become such an important part of my life, but here I am, approaching graduation and this publication has been one of the happiest parts of my college career. I think that RAW is such a creative outlet for every member of the team where we can all express ourselves separately from our coursework. Being in an environment and creating something like this with people who share the same ideas and goals as you is an unmatched feeling. Revival isn’t just an aesthetic, it’s a concept that I’ve been thinking about for a while now that means much more. It began initially playing around with aesthetics of renaissance art and snowballed into an entire idea. The renaissance time period was a revival in itself, and to me, this theme means starting fresh and revamping our content with stories that we haven’t seen before. I always wanted to be able to push the magazine into even more of an artistic and a truly high fashion direction. I feel that with that sort of extended creative content, it just makes RAW as a brand more interesting and unique. The team has done an amazing job bringing this theme to life. The story [R]EVOLUTION on pages 61-66, explores the evolution of skateboarding and its impact in fashion. The action shots, aesthetic, and overall topic of the story are unlike anything RAW has released before. The photo story Modern Recreation, on pages 48-54 takes the literal concept of renaissance art and is something completely new. These are just two examples of the drama that was so well portrayed throughout this issue. Looking at our 7th issue, The Revival Issue, I hope that each reader can see the passion and hard work that our dedicated staff has put forth to create this wonderful piece of art.
Kate Montgomery Creative Director
Painted Turtle Pottery Studio Written by Alexandra London
Painted Turtle has been an established downtown creative spot in Mount Pleasant sincethe fall of 2012. Whether it is a night out with friends, on a date or just having quality time with the family; Painted Turtle is versatile for any occasion. Allowing customers to express themselves in ways that can’t be found anywhere in the Mount Pleasant area. Paint your own pottery, wooden signs, even a book or host a canvas party! These are even just a few of the opportunities that Painted Turtle offers for customers to express themselves. The owner, Michelle Klingensmith, aims to create an environment with her pottery studio where customers feel serene and at home, as if they were in their own living rooms trying to unwind after a long day. After finding creative therapy as a positive outlet for her daughter, Michelle uses art, creativity and a judgement free zone with Painted Turtle to revive the inner child of her customers, while allowing them to freely create something original and meaningful.
Written by Sean Herpolsheimer Photographed by Kate Montgomery Model: Suzannah Koop
Every person moving, coming from or going to, restless in a time when opportunity still waited to be found.
The sun rises on a sleepy little town in California. A cowboy sleeps, drunk or exhausted, on a stool outside a saloon. His hat is tilted over his eyes. The sun, still low in the sky, gleams across storefronts where shop owners and merchants ready for a day of business. Horses trod down packed dirt streets, ridden or led by strangers in wide brimmed hats with guns on their hips and spurs on their boots. Women in long dresses glide from shop to shop, their hair tied in elaborate buns, braids and bonnets.
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The Gilded Age is what many consider to be the greatest per iod in American history, beginning around 1870, and enduring until the turn of the century. Then, America was still a chunk of raw material waiting to be carved into. These were times of wild country, extreme financial pressure and unprecedented development that are often romanticized, even today. Put simply, this was the era of the Wild West, before many of our rudimentary technologies were commonly available. Running water was a luxury, electric light bulbs were still a work in progress and the most common explanation for disease was “bad air.� Life was dangerously simple back then and people were driven by fear, curiosity and sheer boredom to change this. Industrial development made machines more reliable and readily available. In 1869, the first transcontinental railroad was completed. In 1885, the American Telephone and Telegraph company established a telephone network reaching from New York to Chicago. By 1900, economic concentration had branched into many industries, allowing Wall Street to keep American industry both profitable and affordable. Out of chaos, structure began to form. These structures still stand today and, in many ways, dominate our everyday.
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Though many of these structures brought eventual freedom to the common individual, they did so at extreme costs. Common labor laws did not yet protect unskilled workers. Economic concentration allowed monopolies to develop and for Wall Street to gamble with borrowed money, creating systemic financial injustices that still plague us today. Perhaps worst of all, corporations began to truly exhaust the natural resources of the land in order to sustain such industrialism, a practice that has yet to halt. Today, this country is a better place for the common individual, who is safer, more efficient and more technologically advanced than ever before. No longer do we take covered wagons cross-country, and children generally live past the age of four. We cannot regress, either; if we did, we’d welcome back all the things we sought to escape so long ago.
So, what is left of this Gilded Age that can still be appreciated?
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Those people yearned for a better life for themselves and for everyone, to bring the people of this nation closer to one another. They pushed forward at all costs. They laid do wn their lives knowing that their grandchildren’s grandchildren would live a better life than they did, humble as it was. Because of those people, just about every facet of our society has been improved. However, it was done in a way that caused immen se damage to the planet’s environmental wellbeing. The job is no longer to find ways to advance American industry, but to find ways to sustain it. Our lives are what they are today because those people, dead and gone, put in work that they’d never see finished. If we do the same, the people on Earth 150 years down the line will look fondly upon us. If we succeed, we will be the ones who saw the problem and solved it. We will be the ones who, despite what little we had, kept our grandkid’s grandkids in mind.
If we don’t, there will be nobody to remember us at all. 16
Photography by Trinity Walker Models: Ellie Podgornik, Elijah Hankerson, Ashley Hendryx
PASTEL INNOCENCE 18
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THE
ART
OF
Written by Samantha Shriber Photographed by Kate Montgomery
The social jungle of public universities, succulent in White Claw variety packs and bodysuits spread out across the comforters, is made ultimately sweeter by the sacredness of getting ready. Preparation is much more than the practice of sprinkling lip glosses on top of bathroom vanity tops or licking droplets of UV Blue Vodka off of wrists. It is an artwork, flavorsome and draped in Forever 21 gift cards and smudges of mascara, which has been made flexible to fit the development of time. There is a special type of beauty to be uncovered by deconstructing how a young woman gets ready for the night. It’s as though the mirror is a polaroid camera, capturing her fashion as she advances from a cautious freshman to an embodiment of fire and occasionally spontaneity. In this collection of fragments, a story of achieving self-love is exhibited. She allows water to downpour from the shower head, cleansing her skin to emphasize she is as blank as a canvas. While steam envelopes her body and her closet is stripped down by aspirations to select the perfect outfit, she can hopefully begin to accept she is a masterpiece in the making. When throwback jams erupt from the bluetooth speaker and their fingertips crack open their spiked seltzers, a ceremony nearly divine commences amongst women. These women float from the parental guidelines once restricting them and journey closer to understanding they are phenomenal, similar to the masterworks and vibrant creations designed to make Western civilization bow. There is an art of getting ready, colored in by blossoming and a belief in limitless possibility.
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It was essentially the ambiance of Marie Antoinette and her entourage of bombshells twirling around in voluptuous dresses and ornamenting their wigs with peacock feathers and chains of lapis lazuli, before the French Revolution shut down the Palace of Versailles as if it were a blacklisted brotherhood on fraternity row. It was also the unholy scene, drenched in flat-ironed hair, middle fingers and skinny jeans of 1990s riot grrrls preaching the grace of third-wave feminism and smoking Camel cigarettes in tribute to Bikini Kill. Modern women baptize each other in compliments and photograph themselves, aiming to transform their Snapchat memories into a treasure chest of mementos. It’s as though every movement in front of the camera was composed to highlight the simplicities of youth often overshadowed by the moment. Sensations of being liberated enough to love insatiably and without reason are cherished, but almost veiled by a yearning to have a good time. The fear of friendships inevitably dissolving along with the virtue of a college career is silenced by body sprays glorifying the air. During this time, the featured parties have allowed themselves to melt into Smirnoff shots and puddles of disrupted nail polish, which are far more savory than acknowledging the existence of reality and its future.
GET TING READY:
GROWING
UP
BEFORE
Girls are kneeling in front of mirrors, clipping their bodysuites together and adjusting their choice of either spaghetti straps or a neckline so v-shaped it’s as unapologetic as Kanye West lyrics echoing off the walls. They’ll flip their hair and possibly exhale at memories from the time they weren’t so eager to allow their true skin to brush against the air. For their first Welcome Weekend, a freshman will swirl her hands through the ocean of clothes their mom hung up before leaving a too-innocent-for-comfort daughter behind for the first time ever. Although she’s owned the orchestra of slippery rompers and fleece-lined leggings for years, they feel entirely foreign. It’s as though the bizarre steele of the dormroom drowned them, dragging her items to an abyss made deeper and foggier by new beginnings. Girls, beautified by their daily jogs and highlighter routine, scooped her into the security of their wings. They taught her how to wear a pair of high waisted jeans, mix alcohol with 99 cent teas and to master the art of contouring. Together, they wobbled out into the collegiate world, understanding the thrill of ironing each others hair and giggling on the dormroom carpet is an energy incapable of being created nor destroyed.
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THE
CLUB
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As a young woman rolls over in her twin-size dorm bed, smiling at the vintage jewelry, high rise mini skirts and sheer tops mingling and fraternizing with Franzia bags on the floor, a question is elevated into the atmosphere during its transition from festivity to nostalgia: did she actually enjoy her expedition to the nearby nightclub where she was subjected to subpar pints of Busch Light and a makeout session with a 20-year-old in Tommy Hilfiger sweatpants? Or did she significantly prefer the hours devoted to testing out eyeshadow palettes and dancing to 2000 Britney Spears with her friends? Now the same girl, fluent in the language in highlighter palettes and foundation, is stretched across her bed in a tight white dress. She embellishes herself with specks of glitter, a pair of clout goggles and a crushed velvet scrunchy around her wrist. Although her senior-year home is filled with new people and more beer than $13 bottles of vodka, the love for preparation still offers her favorite type of intoxication. In the same way the build up to sex is occassionally better than actual sex, an evening of partying is sometimes best appreciated before the Ubers pull up and drunk hands attempt to to lock the front door. Euphoria is best emphasized by empowered women empowering one another with curling irons and over-the-knee boots they would never have been comfortable wearing if it weren’t for the apartment full of girls howling in praise, similar to a pack of glitter-doused wolves preparing a rising alpha to lead the hunt--whether this hunt be in pursuit for $1 vodka cranberries, the confidence to show off their body in a see-through dress or to finally latch onto their freshman year crush, the universe may never know until the adventures of the evening finally conclude.
WES ANDERSON Photography by Rickey Portis Models: Zoie Van, Thao Nguyen
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Fitting In
Learning how to find the perfect garment fit
Style is something that everyone has. We use it as a nonverbal way to communicate who we are to the world. There’s a lot of focus on style, and how to come up with your own “signature look�, and how to better it. While style populates many different avenues such as magazines, television shows, and even self-help style books, one thing a lot of people forget to take into consideration is fit. Sure, everyone wants their clothes to fit well based on their body type and level of comfort, but no one really dives into what that means. There are a lot of ideas out there on fit and what people with different body types should do to achieve the best one. Stylists, tailors, and ateliers are all people who can provide sound advice on simple methods for making clothes
that you already have or would like to purchase look best on your figure. As a fashion design student, one of my main focuses in my curriculum is fit. Fittings are a weekly occurrence in this stage of my life, so I am no stranger to what certain styles should look like on a human form. While I am familiar with the basics of fit and the tailoring methods in adjusting a garment, not everyone else is. There are so many less intimidating styling and fit methods that many people don’t know about.
Written by Makaia Smith Photographed by Rickey Portis
Sizing One of the key elements to fit is sizing. Everyone should not only know their size, but their measurements too. With the number of online retailers and fast-fashion suppliers out there, a size medium is not going to be the same in every store. Most, if not all, online retailers have sizing charts. You can use that chart to determine what size you need to purchase because, let’s be real here: how many of us ship return items that don’t fit back to its retailer? Instead of wasting your money and letting that ill-fitting jumpsuit hang shamefully in the back of your closet, pick up a $5 tape measure from the store, grab a friend, and ask them to measure your bust or chest, waist, and hips. These are the main measurements most websites use to size their garments. If you’re not sure how to measure those parts of your body, here is some helpful information:
Chest: Wrap the tape measure around the largest or widest area of the chest. This area is usually in the middle of the chest. Waist: Wrap the tape measure around the smallest area of the waist. Hips: Wrap the tape measure around the widest part of the hips and bottom. With information like this, you can check the sizing chart next to the garment you’re considering purchasing to figure out if you lean more towards one size over another.
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Tailoring The simple term, “tailor�, scares a lot of people. Most people assume the only items that need to be tailored are gowns, suits, and uniforms. Just about anything can be tailored for the right price. Jeans and slacks are common items that are tailored, especially if they are expensive. If you buy an expensive pair of jeans and get them tailored to the right length and fit, the perfect pair of pants can last you years. The only downside to using tailoring services is the cost and time consumption. If you own a pair of jeans, or pants that are too long, there’s an easy fix for that! You can find permanent double-sided garment tape at your local craft and fabric store, or online. Cuff your pants under and press with an iron. Make sure your pant legs are at even lengths by folding the pants in half and laying one leg on top of another. Place the tape on the inside of those cuffs and, depending on the instructions, iron again. The tape should last several washes and will be easy to replace when it wears out. With sizing and a minor tailoring solution in mind, you can take your look from an eight to an easy ten.
A
Growing
Change
Story by Allyssia Photographed by Trinity Walker Models: Sienna Rogers, Kelly Medley, Zoie Vanderbush, Janeigha Cummings
Growing up, African American girls aren’t given much of a say on how their hair is managed. From a young age, they go through various hairstyles. From individually braided ponytails with daisy barrettes at the end, buns and relaxers. Over the years, young Black girls are taught that their hair is their crown and glory. They are often told by their mothers and grandmothers to take care of it. When you see a Black woman go from long hair to a beautiful short afro, people often think, “what made them cut their hair?” They’re even asked what caused them to make such a drastic change. Keep in mind, that natural hair hasn’t always been seen as attractive and acceptable. It has been seen as unkempt and unprofessional. Some women have straightened their hair to be considered perfect and “acceptable” to people in their life, including themselves. African-American women have different reasons of why they big chop their hair. They tend to cut their hair off because it was damaged. Damaged hair doesn’t allow your hair to grow to its full potential.
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Working as an artist called for a needed change for Central Michigan University junior Sienna Rogers. She chopped her hair early last June, after taking time to gain knowledge about cutting her hair. “I just needed to get rid of it because you know if you part yourself away from something that you’re attached to,” Rogers said. “Then you can kind of see yourself changing maybe you can find your personality more through big changes.” For the first two weeks she didn’t like the haircut. That’s when she realized the effect that cutting your hair has on you. She feels that hair is part of your identity and getting rid of it makes her want to find a new identity or refine her identity. “It definitely made me more confident,” she said. “I don’t have to rely on my hair to be feminine.” Rogers has dyed her hair from blonde to red and now a coppery blonde color. Dying her hair helps her creative flow by knowing that she isn’t limited in expressing herself. When cutting hair, most people don’t realize the effect it may have on them. They don’t think that afterward they would get a sense of relief. A relief that feels like everything that was old is becoming new. They begin to rethink the idea of perfect and acceptable. This can lead them to cut their hair and allow it to regrow in its natural state.
Identity can be a reason as to why Black women cut and color their hair. Because when some women were given relaxers when they were young that’s all they know. So, cutting their hair allows them to redefine and create an identity they didn’t know about. When they keep hanging on to damaged hair, they will not see the growth that they have accomplished. African-American women often have a hard cutting off their hair even if it’s damaged. Some would rather have long hair over healthy hair. But not all are like that. They often feel that their hair defines who they are. But once they detach themselves from their hair they start to notice and see growth within themselves they never noticed. Feeling trapped is what led junior, Ahlexis Cole to cutting her hair about a year and 5 months ago. From transitioning from high school to college it called for change. Cutting her hair was something she needed to do to make her feel capable of handling decisions on her own. “This one impulse decision forced me to look at every decision as my decision,” Cole said. “And to feel good about it because chances are it was meant to be anyways.” Although, she did hesitate about cutting her hair. With the help of a friend cutting off a section before she could, she had no choice but to finish. Her hair is growing from cutting it but when it was short, she felt more free. “I would say cutting my hair took away from what everyone sees,” Cole said. “So to me, it hasn’t changed me physically, but to others they notice other aspects of my face or body.”
After cutting her hair people noticed her natural beauty more instead of focusing on her hair all the time. They noticed that she has begun working out more and how great her skin looked. She’s had experience with different hair colors from blond to burgundy. When she big chopped she bleached her hair blonde. To her it represented her “wild side.” “The side of me that was fun and carefree and new,” she said. African-American women use hair color as a way to express themselves. Coloring your hair can be you wanting to redefine yourself. When someone dyes their hair they tend to do it to because they wanted to do something new to their hair. Some people associate different hair colors with a person’s personality, but that person may be dying their hair to form a new identity. They may be dyeing their hair to restore and bring light back to their personality. In the natural hair community, Black women tend to dye their hair as a sign that they are moving on and growing. Some dye their hair just because they like exploring with different colors. Dyeing your hair can be a sign of a “wild side.” When cutting your hair and even coloring it you have to make sure you are 100 percent okay with it. And when you consider other people’s feelings about your hair you think about satisfying them than satisfying yourself.
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Forbidden Fruit
Photographed by Haley Ayotte Written by Sam Shriber Model: Catie Carnaghi
I’m afraid I’ve always been persecuted with a derogatory relationship to my virginity; although I served my virtue away almost three years ago to an upperclassman with a body pillow and a lofi playlist, it still comes back to pluck parts of me I strive desperately to make submissive. When I was 10-years-old, my mother illustrated sex as an act of male supremacy. She said young men, made to appear like bronze sculptures defined by the hungriness of their sexual pursuits, had the power to lay women on wooden platter boards and demolish their internal gold. Her analogies immediately reminded me
of a cold cut tray at a holiday party, surrounded by men shoving slices of provolone and salami down their throats, licking their fingers with self-issued righteousness and washing their snacks down with Bud Light. My first drawing of sex anatomized a woman having a luminosity carved out of her with a butcher’s knife. She’d no longer walk through life in pastel panties and high pigtails because she essentially lost her ownership of sweetness the moment she allowed sexual nature to adventure outside of its case.
Open legs are instantly branded, tearing apart the skin’s softness and initiating flesh to erupt. As the air fraternizes with swooshes of blood and tarnished underwear, a woman is expected to whimper because its suggested her body will never be the same.
Women are taught sex is like a nuclear fire forcing bouqets of white orchids and succulent vines to not just decay, but to be morphed into something discomforting and smeared in maroon discharge.
I was afraid of sex because I thought it was the same as being eaten alive. While some highschoolers were terrified of their parents discovering their marijuana stashes or not having their driver’s license in time for joy ride season, I was ultimately and entirely petrified of someday being devoured by a man. My innocence was my most profound attribute. I was the doll-like homecoming
queen in a white dress, best appreciated for being too delicate for the debrisfilled tsunami that was delinquents attempting to master of art of sex. Because simply not being sexually active was so associated with my identity, it was equally as easy to believe allowing my cherry to be popped would also bite into my existence.
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“If I’m not a virgin, what even am I?” I actually asked, assuming without my virginity I’d be similar to the cracked-open zebra mussels cutting open feet at the beach. I don’t even think I was privilege with the same narrative about sex as many of my peers were. While they were taught to regard themselves as elegant and timeless roses or luscious tulips designed by the stars to be groomed until a mate presents themselves draped in a cloud of divinity, I felt more trapped than vibrant. As opposed to a fresh fruit or flower, the means of my virtue were the life force furnishing me to be good. I never wanted the perfect mate to arrive because I was incapable of imagining anyone being worthy enough to surrender my power to. As a heterosexual female, I saw the boys I admired as black holes distinguished by their insatiable
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appetites and an ability to knock down my defenses with a brush of their fingertips. Their hands could graze the line of my spine and I’d be enveloped with a desperation to be loved and remodeled to match the preferences and desires for someone other than myself. My expectations would evacuate my soul as if it was on burning down and only their ambitions would rise from the flames. A man once told me the biggest issue withholding gentlemen from losing their virginity is a tendency of “putting the pussy on a pedestal.” On the other hand, I’ve unveiled women are fearful of swiping their V-Card because of an inability to elevate their own pussies onto higher ground. When I was a freshman at Central Michigan University, I encountered a girl with a golden mane and voluptuous features. She’d flip her curls and apply her lip gloss as though it were a practice of worship. She
would paint her lips into sparkling petals of cherry red or shimmering cerise, smirking at the mirror as her sexual aspirations of the evening were drawn out with a radiance of strategy. She had the aura of glimmering goddess, summoning sex as if it were a sunflower eager to slurp up the sunshine. Ultimately, she thrived in the satin fabric of her sexual nature, taking the crown once belonging to the male gender and licking its gems. “Virginity is just a social construct designed to keep us trapped,� she’d giggle while tampering with the puffiness of her breasts, framed by black spaghetti straps and being graced by the opal specs dispersed by her perfume. My experiences with her, sitting on a bean bag chair as she swiped through Tinder and sprinkled Trojan condoms into her Coach handbag,
paved the way for me to anatomize the potential of my own sexuality. Was my sexuality a white petunia? Was it fundamentally frail and a creation dependent on monitored sunlight and security for survival? Or was the essence of my body as sensational and ripe as a pomegranate? Was it abundant in color and an explosion of enticing flavor? Such awakenings allow for only one thing to be said: maybe it was finally time to start placing my own pussy on a pedestal.
Photographed by Mackenna Kelly Models: Shannon Murphy, Olivia Rose, Kate Montgomery, AiZhae Moore Photo 1 based on the painting, The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli Photo 2 based on the painting, The Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci Photo 3 based on the drawing, The Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo da Vinci Photo 4 based on the painting, St George and the Dragon, by Raphael
RETRO Photographed by Rickey Portis Model: Boluwatife Ogungboye
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As I walk into Ponder Coffee Company, rich smells of coffee beans, espresso, and tea leaves put me at ease. There’s chatter around me, each conversation punctuated by the hissing of steaming milk and the rolling of percolating coffee. It’s gorgeous here. The white walls have beautiful, hand-painted artwork. Plants hang from shelves and soft lighting illuminates the pale, wooden tables. Every few minutes, a name is called, and a Cortado, an iced tea, a coffee, or some seasonal beverage is given out. Smiles are shared between the barista and the drinker, and a mutual understanding takes place. Thank you. You’re welcome. I sit down with Christie Cromar, one of Ponder Coffee’s founders and owners. She carries warmth in her eyes and Ponder’s coffee drip in her hands. She asks me what I’d like to know. I ask her to tell me about coffee. Their coffee. At this, Christie lights up. She and her husband, Aaron Cromar, started years ago; they began roasting coffee out of their basement and selling coffee beans at the farmer’s market. They had grown sick of the routinely unethical, burnt, mass-produced coffee that plagued the mugs of the world. Instead, they would buy specialty coffee beans, analyzing and experimenting with the roasting process to bring out each type of bean’s natural qualities and flavors. They never asked the coffee to be anything. Instead, they asked it what it already was, and they lived into that. And they still do. After telling me their process and values, Christie smiles and offers me a drink. I take it. It’s Guji, an Ethiopian bean that has a whole, natural flavor. Caramel, fruit, and flowers swirl in the crevices of my mouth, as hints of sweet coffee find their way into the deepest recesses of me. I am rejuvenated. Thank you. You’re welcome.
Written by Mark Elgersma
LOCATIONS 110 E. Broadway St, Mount Pleasant, MI 48858 1027 S. Fraklin St., Mount Pleasant, MI 48858
SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: pondercoffeeco
Facebook: Ponder Coffee Company
[R]EVOLUTION Ever since 2004, skateboarding has been in a slump. People lost interest in the sport, or maybe mischief simply lost its fun. Skateparks lay cluttered with dead leaves, Slurpee cups and cigarette butts. Shops and companies went bankrupt, and thousands upon thousands of skateboards began to collect dust in garages across the world. Skateboarding is punk rock. It’s rebellious, badly behaved and because of that, it’s absolutely enchanting. Parents hate it and kids love it. Still, when rebellion is played on for too long, it becomes the mainstream. Once skateboarding became featured on Target billboards, skaters left it in search for another way to piss off old people. Today, though, skateboarding is gaining traction in places it never had before. Instagram was launched in 2010, and skateboarders took it and ran. Amateurs, professionals and businesses started posting content to Instagram, where it could be incorporated into a steady content feed. Today, #skateboarding has over 13 million posts on Instagram; THRASHER Magazine has 5.3 million followers. Thanks to the opportunities that Instagram, as well as other social media, have provided, skateboarding is more accessible than ever before. According to professional skateboarder Jason Park, who has over 200k followers on his Instagram, there are advantages and disadvantages to this.
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“Social media gives everyone the chance to be seen and noticed which is a huge opportunity that previously wasn’t available for people who didn’t live in the right area or know the right people.” Understandably, Park has his qualms with the oversaturation of skateboarding that takes place on the platform. Now, in the age of instant gratification, skaters have taken to posting single trick clips to Instagram rather than waiting to compile longwinded video parts as they once did. For better or for worse, skateboarding is seemingly in it for the long run on Instagram. The sport’s popularity on the platform has caused it to fuse with even more popular trends. For example, fashion is the most popular topic on Instagram, with more content and activity than any other. Fashion and skateboarding are popular because of their visual appeal, and both are complimentary to the other. This is financially crucial because clothing is fuel for the skate industry. Lots of skate shop owners would love to sell skateboards, but the percentage of people who would actually purchase them is pitifully low. Thankfully, though, skate clothing has always been popular among the general public. Consider how many people own Vans and Converse shoes, THRASHER, RVCA and Primitive T-Shirts. Consider how sought-after brands like SUPREME and Dime have become. Skateboarding is wound into the DNA of our streetwear, and thus is part of that industry which is, and always will be booming. For years, skateboarding has grown in international popularity. For the first time ever, skateboarding will be included in the summer Olympics in Tokyo.
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Olympic skateboarding has long been subject to controversy; some believe the sport is in dire need of the publicity. Others think Olympic fame will warp the freedom of the sport; some skateboarders are extremely averse to exploitation, and especially to the idea of winning and losing. Professional skateboarder Cody McEntire weighed in on this subject. He himself was in developmental talks for the U.S. Olympic Skateboarding Team. McEntire supports Olympic inclusion, but not without due consideration. “Skateboarding is this place where you can just do what the fuck you want to do... Olympic skaters have coaches, they practice eight hours a day so they can beat other skaters. It feels unnatural. I just don’t want to see the thing I’ve loved my whole life become something else.” Whether anyone likes it or not, skateboarding is changing. Today, it’s much more than a pastime; it’s a media phenomenon, a fashion statement, a competitive sport and a business. All these things provide skateboarding with more publicity, more opportunity for participation, and for once, more money. While some participants fear it, skateboarding can’t resist change forever, nor can it ignore the positivity that comes alongside.
Now that so many people are welcomed into skateboarding, there’s a greater level of inclusivity overall. It’s no longer just a club for skinny white teenage boys. Skateboarding is personal expression, a statement that one can fall and get back up again, and this spans across time, culture, distance, demographic and ability level. More representation is found at the skatepark than ever before. Most significantly, women of all ages have found freedom, individuality and success as skateboarders. There are no rules in skateboarding, no standard routine to the experience, and as more and more women add their personal touch to the sport, the better it gets. In 2019, the professional skateboarder is no longer a man. Women skate in the X Games, and they will skate in the Olympics. Women’s inclusion in the sport is both proof that skateboarding has grown in a positive direction, and that it will continue to do so for years to come.
Written by Sean Herpolsheimer Photographed by Mackenna Kelly Models: Jamie Harrison
Eyes On
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Photographed by Ashlyn Delaney Models: Maya Braithwaite, Madison Collier, Charde Goins, Jazmyne Radford, Tiera Radford Makeup by Briana Hicks-Jones
The Original Unoriginal Written by Mark Elgersma Photographed by Daniel Square Model: Mark Elgersma In artistic realms, there are no vacuums. Any artist, given the ability to consume the work of other artists, will be influenced. Paul Gaugin’s Spirit of the Dead Walking was inspired by Manet’s Olympia, which was inspired by Titian’s Venus of Urbino, et cetera, et cetera. Half of everything is just an amalgamation of what’s already been done and what the artist has seen. It’s the curse of unoriginality. But don’t worry. That’s okay. When an artist takes something for their own, they do just that. They make it their own. This is, of course, as long as they do so respectfully and with proper knowledge of what is and isn’t tied to identity, ritual, or some other deeper meaning. Cultural appropriation is not cool. Acknowledging and incorporating other ideas and cultures in informed ways, however, is decidedly, very cool. Take, for instance, post-World War II Japan. In the 1950s, many people in Japan began to integrate Ivy League style and prep Americana into their wardrobe. Japanese companies quickly stepped up to make their own goods, sidestepping the steep prices that importing American goods required. Moreover, as American goods began to be mass produced stateside and dip in quality, Japanese companies started creating painstakinglydetailed recreations of the original pieces. Then, as time went on, this “American Traditional” style in Japan, or “Ametora,” developed and progressed. It began to include other American subcultures, including workwear, punk, and more. This progress was most seen in denim production. Japanese companies began producing raw selvedge denim both with intricate recreations of past jeans and, later, their own styles and fabrics. These jeans, having been woven on special looms and not having been distressed after the initial dying process, fade and mold to the wearer’s body. Even today, there are “denimheads” all around the globe who search for interesting fabrics and well-constructed jeans.
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These companies then further influenced new brands, and those brands influenced newer brands. Now, with companies like Kapital, Sugar Cane Co., Visvim, Oni, and more, Japanese and American style have morphed and mixed in interesting ways. And now, again, American companies have once again picked up the practice of producing American workwear, but many of them have been transformed by the style’s journey across the Pacific and back as well. Sometimes this is in the tradition of interesting, untraditional fabric, and sometimes it’s in the painstaking reproduction of past clothing. What’s more, menswear companies around the world have felt a ripple effect from that journey as well. Chinese denim companies such as Sauce Zhan, Malaysian denim companies such as Sage Denim, and Canadian denim companies such as the now-dominant Naked and Famous Denim all incorporate elements that were preserved or are influenced by 20th century Japanese companies.
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And, luckily, we got a chance to get in contact with Bahzad Trinos of Naked and Famous Denim. In recent years, Naked and Famous Denim has been one of if not the most influential companies in the world of jeans. One of their early products, a pair of jeans made of a super-heavy 21 oz fabric, was the world’s heaviest denim at the time. Following that, many companies began developing and releasing similarly weighted jeans to compete. Naked and Famous has since re-set the record for the world’s heaviest denim several times. This isn’t to say that jeans are only getting heavier. Naked and Famous has also pushed the envelope with lighter weights as well. They’ve released featherweight jeans with sub-10 oz fabrics, which promote wearability through the warmer months. Other companies have followed suit, and now are offering jeans in comparable weights. Moreover, Naked and Famous is great at integrating Japanese cultural influences into their clothing while still remaining true to their Canadian roots. They’ve collaborated with Japanese denim companies such as Kamikaze Attack, ONI Denim, Big John, and more. Beyond this, they’ve also crafted jeans with Japanese elements, including Sakura-pink wefts, kimono-printed interiors, Dragon Ball Z and Streetfighter II themed fabrics, and jeans actually manufactured in Japan. Bahzad Trinos, Sales Manager of Naked and Famous and certified lover of jeans,
speaks with such passion that it’s hard to not get excited about whatever new project or product that Naked and Famous releases. He’s at the forefront of the brand, and he has become quite a popular figure in this devoted subculture. On a personal note, I’ve watched Instagram Lives and videos hosted by Bahzad for years, so, as a denimhead myself, being able to speak to him a bit is something that I’m very excited for. When I got a chance to get in contact with him, I wanted to focus on denim specifically. First of all, I’d like to say thank you, Bahzad. It’s an honor to be able to connect with you. As a kind of introduction, can you give us a bit of insight into how you view denim culture? It’s my pleasure. I’m always happy to talk denim. I could probably talk about denim culture for hours and hours, as it’s a pretty deep question. If we’re talking about specifically raw denim culture, I think we’re in the middle of the golden era. Nowadays, customers have infinite choices, lowered prices, and tons of good information. I remember when I first got into raw denim, information was very hard to find. You basically had to rely on online forums, which, at the time, were quite hostile. They had lots of gatekeeping, lots of misinformation. The kind of stuff that would turn people away. Nowadays, the online raw denim community is really welcoming and kind. If you’re just getting into this hobby, there are so many people who will encourage you along the way. Raw denim has never really been that mainstream. For a short time, like 8 years ago, we had that heritage workwear trend come and go. Since then, I feel the vast majority of the newcomers to raw denim come from online. I can imagine somebody going down the raw denim rabbit hole by doing some research on finding a good pair of jeans and coming across an article about raw denim. I think this hobby tends to attract people who like to research and make smart decisions about the things that they buy. It probably explains why the community tends to be very educated about the products that they are buying. I could easily have a conversation with a customer using technical terms, and they’d totally get it. Aside from high end leather boots, you probably won’t be able to do that with any other customer base.
Where do you think denim culture is headed? If fashion is a conversation, how do you think it will progress next? I think we’re going to continue to see growth. When you wear raw denim, you really don’t turn back, and, at the same time, you become that person your friends go to for denim advice. It’s through passion and word of mouth that the raw denim industry has been able to grow. Nowadays, people are also more conscious about the purchases that they make. Fast fashion is dying. People want to make good investments. A good pair of raw jeans is an investment of your money, but also your time and passion. What you put into these jeans is what you get out. Those fades belong to you and only you.
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And finally, what makes denim special to you? Denim, especially jeans, are the most versatile garment you’ll ever own. They haven’t changed all that much in 100 years, and the more dusty and beat up they get, the better they look. No other piece of clothing works that way. When I destroy my sneakers, those holes are a shame, but when I finally bust though the knee on my jeans, it’s something to enjoy. Do I let the hole get bigger, or do I repair it? In both cases, the damage was caused by me, but I take joy when my jeans get worn in. Not so much for anything else.
Again, we’d like to thank Bahzad and everyone over at Naked and Famous Denim for this opportunity. They’re integrating cultural elements into their clothing in aesthetically amazing ways, and they should be celebrated. Ametora (Book) Ametora: When Cultural Appropriation Becomes Fashionable
METAMORPHOSIS Photographed by Daniel Square Models: Mark Korankye, Madison Collier
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