RUSE MAGAZINE - 02 by Ruse Magazine

CONTENTS HOMESICK

BACK TO BASICS

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

HUNNY

TOWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RS

THE FRIGHTS

MALAIKA ASTORGA

ELIZA RUBIN

BLACK FOXXES

STELLA RAE

1973

HOMESICK

SEATTTLE STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAYCIE SAXTON

ately, I’ve been feeling extremely burnt out from my city. The places I usually spend my extra time haven’t quite been cutting it for some unknown reason. It could be that finding an apartment proved to be an absolute nightmare, so I constantly find myself questioning if staying here is even worth it, or if it’s because I’m not easily satisfied. I want something, anything, new. I don’t want to mislead anyone, though. Seattle is a wonderfully unique city, and if I ever did decide to leave, I would miss my old stomping grounds dearly. Part of me hopes that sharing them with all of you will help me fall in love with this city again, like I have so many times before.

WEST SEATTLE One of the first places I was introduced to when I moved closer to Seattle last year was West Seattle. I had never really spent time in this part of the city, but of all the places I used to frequent, this one seems the most exciting to revisit. Here you’ll find Easy Street Records, Talarico’s, and Cupcake Royale all within about a block of one another. First on the list is Easy Street, which is probably my favorite record shop in the area. It has two levels, with the vinyl upstairs and CDs downstairs. I’ve always loved the atmosphere there, but I can’t pinpoint what’s so special about it. There is just always so much to see. Easy Street also does listening parties and artist signings sometimes; they even had a booth at Sasquatch festival where they hosted signings. I probably only think that’s so impressive because I met Garrett Borns at one of their Sasquatch signings. Easy Street is also a cafe, which I have yet to take advantage of because it’s hard to sway me from Talarico’s and Cupcake Royale. That being said, let me introduce you to the best slice of pizza I’ve ever had, courtesy of Talarico’s. I don’t really know what to tell you other than the slices are huge and you can pick exactly what you want on each slice. They also have pasta and a bunch of other food and a decent bar, but I’ve never been compelled to eat any-

thing other the pizza and maybe a caesar salad. I can’t express enough how amazing this pizza is, though. I don’t want to spend too much time talking about food, because there are tons of other things to cover still, but Cupcake Royale is top notch. There are a few locations in Seattle, but West Seattletends to be the most convenient for me because it’s just across the road from Easy Street. They serve coffee and ice cream as well, which are as good as the cupcakes. First of all, if you’re into lavender at all, try the lavender cupcake. It’s absolutely heavenly. They also have a trio option where you can get a mini cupcake, coffee and a bowl of ice cream. I tried that once and it was really good. I would definitely recommend.

Another record store my best frined Maddie and I visit is Everyday Music. It’s right next to a few other spots we go to in Capitol Hill: Oddfellows, Lost Lake Cafe, Totokaelo and so on. Not to drag, but Everyday Music isn't anything super special. It’s fun and cool but it’s pretty much just a basic music store. Personally, I think the whole experience of being in that cute little street in Capitol Hill is what makes it so much fun. Oddfellows is probably the cutest cafe/coffeeshop/bar/whatever it is that I’ve ever been to. Plus, they serve the best Arnold Palmer. Picking up a drink at Oddfellows and walking through Everyday Music makes for a nice afternoon. Lost Lake Cafe is our favorite place to go after a night out. They have impressive poutine, but the vegan alternative is better than the traditional. We’ve gone to Lost Lake a couple of times after going to The Unicorn bar, but I won’t say much about The Unicorn though because they took my fake ID away and now I boycott them.. Totokaelo is probably the only store in Seattle that you can find Acne clothing. It’s a very photogenic find. My favorite store in all of Seattle is Red Light. It’s this cool vintage store on a cor-

ner in University District. It’s close to the Neptune theater, a venue that has slowly but surely become one of my favorites. There are a few other consignment shops in the area, but none of them compare. If you’ve ever been to Wasteland, Red Light is probably the closest Seattle gets to that, in my opinion. I could easily spend hours in Red Light, but I rarely actually have the time. The last place I want to mention is Etg Coffee. It’s not a place you can spend a lot of time, but the Fremont neighborhood is fun to walk around aimlessly. Etg is super small, so you basically get your coffee and go, but it has this “good coffee” light that I think is absolutely adorable. The coffee is pretty good too, I suppose. While I love these places, there’s tons more to do and see in Seattle. There’s probably someone who read this and thought “psh, I know way cooler spots!” Eventually, I’ll found those spots too, ya know, since I’m always searching for something new. As soon as I do, I’ll share them with you guys.Until then, I hope someone enjoys these places just as much as I once did. Happy exploring and welcome to my beloved city!

BACK TO BASICS STORY BY KASSIDY NEELY PHOTOS BY DAVID SMITH

sually, I contribute things like tutorials and makeup tips and tricks to the magazine. I'm happy to do this because it's my hobby and I value being able to reach out to young women everywhere and teach them how to be comfortable in their own skin. For now, however, I wanted to bring it back to basics. In the simplest way possible, I wanted to glorify and elaborate upon the fact that you are beautiful, and you are worthy of love and respect. I am talking directly at you. I don't want you to read this like a literary piece, but like a typed conversation between you and a friend. You are worthy of these things (love and respect) not only from everyone else in this world, but from yourself as well. You will never receive the feedback you want to hear from other people unless you can confidently tell yourself that feedback and recognize that it's true. You have got to recognize that the universe specifically created you and that you have a purpose to fulfill in your time on this earth, big or small, and you must use that knowledge as fuel for taking care of yourself. Do simple things, do little things, do things that will have a long term effect on your well being and change you for the better. Recognize what you lack and use it to

build yourself up. Drink water and take vitamins. Get active and be nice to your body. You will grow and you can become what you have always wanted to be while learning to love yourself and the ones around you. Repeat the widely used phrase "treat yourself like you treat your best friend" over and over in your head when you are feeling down on yourself. I want you to be inspired to take a step this fall. Go out of your comfort zone and find new things that you might enjoy. Break your molds and experience life a little bit more, get comfortable with yourself. Wear no makeup some days and take in the sheer pleasure of being able to rub your eyes when you're sleepy and not mess up your makeup. Drink some tea and do some yoga before bed to get your body ready to relax and reward it for its hard work every single day getting your the soul the places it needs to go to be fulfilled. Tell somebody that you love them and that you are there for them. I challenge you to tweet me something you're doing to be better and to come to your full potential this Fall at @therusemag using the hashtag #BETTERwithRuse. There will only ever be one of you. You get the honor of living out that lifetime. Be nice to yourself.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAYCIE SAXTON

an Francisco has held a special place in my heart since the first time I traveled there in 2014. Something about the city is so beautiful and welcoming that I can’t help getting lost in it any chance I get. When I’m here, I feel at home. Los Angeles, on the other hand, has always felt like another world, presumably because until recently, I had never actually been there. The Hollywood sign, movies and celebrities all seemed like an illusion to me. I could never conjure up a full idea of Los Angeles in my head because it just seemed so impossible that the whole thing must have been a cardboard television set. After visiting, I can confidently say it’s nowhere near the illusion I expected. The Hollywood sign does sit atop the hills, and the celebrities and movies are most definitely there. I saw all of it with my own eyes, and occasionally the lens of my camera as well. These pictures were snapped very quickly on my most recent adventures to San Francisco and Los Angeles.They attempt to catch just a little bit of the huge amounts of beauty I got to witness in these two cities.

HUNNY STORY AND PHOTOS BY SAM HSU

UNNY creates quite the commotion before they even take the stage. Hours before their second night of sold-out headlining shows at the Constellation Room in Santa Ana, Calif., dedicated fans are already waiting in line hoping to get a front row spot for the show; and it’s not hard to see why. The line stretches past barriers that have been set up, and HUNNY’s tour van stands as the only thing separating the band and I’s interview from concertgoers. Comprised of vocalist and guitarist Jason Yarger, guitarists Jake Goldstein and Jacob Munk, keyboardist Kevin Grimmett, bassist Greg Horne, and drummer Joey Anderson, the band definitely has their own style. HUNNY’s sound can only be explained as an effortlessly modern take on the 1980’s post-punk era, mixed with influences of today’s alternative rock scene. Japanese anime inspires a big part of their visual aspects and general vibe. Grimmett shares that “it influences the art direction a lot.” However, they don’t try too hard to fit into a mold - it’s essentially about creating music and an image that they like. “We’re not a hardcore band or a weird niche kind of thing, it’s just us trying to play and write catchy tunes. The writing process is no different. The band agrees that although they’ve had other projects in the past, HUNNY

has by far been the most collaborative. “HUNNY is the most ‘sum of the parts’ band I’ve been in, for sure,” Goldstein says. “It’s very democratic.” Released just over a year ago, Pain/Ache/Loving was the band’s debut EP that led to their newfound popularity. “I think my favorite part is playing it live and seeing how it comes into fruition,” Horne shares. Yarger notes that “a lot of current bands have trouble recreating what they do in the studio on stage.” However, that’s not the case for HUNNY. “The songs are definitely different beasts on the EP than they are live,” he says. “It’s hard to record our energy.” Since the release of Pain/Ache/Loving, the band has been touring almost nonstop. Grimmett shares that travelling with other bands “pushes you to play better, become a better band” and ultimately put on a better performance. “It’s not like ‘die!’,” Munk jokes, “although that would be an interesting dynamic.” The band’s personalities come out to play when it comes to the topic of touring. They begin to recollect their fondest memories of being on the road. “A guy asked me for a quarter… no it was fifty cents. He wanted fifty cents for a pop, and already had the cigar, was what he was saying,” Yarger recalls. “Either way, I didn’t have fifty cents, so Kevin tried

to give him a dollar. He wouldn’t take it, and then started rapping very off time. He kept stringing nonsense together with ‘my man’ as the glue to hold the whole thing together. ‘My man’ was his ‘Hotel California.’” Grimmett also shares that while on tour in Cleveland, they met a man named Texas. “He’s a swell guy,” Goldstein adds. “If he’s reading this, I hope he reaches out to us because we’d like to have him in the band for a few days.” At the end of the day, HUNNY are an amalgamation of a group of friends who love what they do, and whose personalities blend together to create music. “We’re friends who have shared diseases,” Munk admits. “Goldie gave us all mono last year.” Looking to the future, he and Goldstein note that they are looking into inventing flying cars “that run on water because we’re environmentally conscious,” Munk laughs. The band hinted to new music releases, playing Beach Goth and of course, going back on tour. As valley locals, Yarger states that at the end of the day, HUNNY are “all just trying to represent the 818 the best that [they] possibly can.” With a busy rest of the year and consistent success, it’s clear that we’ll be hearing more and more of HUNNY in the coming months.

TOWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RS STORY AND PHOTOS BY MAGGIE LAVENGOOD

t’s July and Chicago’s 606 trail is steadily filling with bikers, skaters, and hikers. It runs through the traditionally industrial and impoverished western neighborhoods of Chicago, now on the rise to full-gentrified glory. Newly planted trees, stainless steel benches and urban outlooks line the 2.7 mile trail, creating an oasis of fresh smelling air in the city’s heavy atmosphere. A more metaphorical breath of fresh air blows into the trailhead on that July morning, taking the form of Tow’rs, six lanky Arizonans with an affinity for acoustic, folky tunes. They sit in the grass of a school’s playground, feet from the end of the trail. Gretta and Kyle’s son, Solace, winds his way around us, laughing and clapping and screeching. Fittingly, music surrounds them. It blasts out of the speakers of bikers flying along the trail and filters through the headphones of runners stretching in the grass. It thumps out of the stereos of cars cruising down the block, and flows through Tow’rs’ five members, Kyle Miller, Emma Crislip, Kyle Keller, Ryan Smith, and Gretta Miller, as a force so prevalent, the influence it has

in undeniable. “[Music] builds something. It builds conversation, it builds communities,” Kyle says, tugging at fistfuls of grass. Music’s ability to build bonds moved the band so much that it formed their namesake. “The tower is that. It’s something that we hope constructs.” As for the apostrophe, the motivation was not just simple aesthetics. Keller came across it as he studied old English poetry, in which the apostrophe was a signifier of change in intonation and meter, an inflection that makes music possible. As far as inspiration, Kyle says most of his inspiration comes from observation.“Songwriting is outside of yourself,” he says. He speaks of Ray Lamontagne, the American folk singer, and his comparison of songwriting and sitting in a dark wood. “He says that there’s a fairy off in the distance and you’re trying to coerce it to come and be with you. That light is the song. My inspiration comes from observing that light.” Kyle and Gretta, the husband and wife pair, split the songwriting duties. Although the closeness of marriage might impair some people’s song-

writing ability, the duo insists that it makes them prosper. “Sometimes we’re arguing and as we’re arguing I realize that it would make a really great song,” Gretta laughs. “But really, marriage is about sharing. We share everything. We are inspired by our marriage and we have a closeness that enables us to write.” As a musical project, the philosophy of a community grounds Tow’rs. In their hometown of Flagstaff, Ariz., the band members grew up in a welcoming community. “We were made to be a community,” Crislip writes on the Tow’rs blog. In October of 2015, she took a semester abroad in Scotland, 5,000 miles away from her home. “I wanted to go to learn independence,” she says, “and I did, but I also learned the value that a community has.”She concluded her blog post that October with what she considered to be the deepest message she uncovered on her travels, “My purpose should be to love. I believe that is what we are meant to do as human beings. Love others because we were loved first.” Undertones of spirituality appear in every member of Tow’rs and every song the band releases. Kyle speaks about the fears that sometimes pop up when dedicating your life fully to music. “Fear comes from insecurity,” he explains. “In the end, you have to be unafraid in the face of insecurity. Thankfulness is so important.” Denouncing fear and insecurity seems difficult in a place like music, where scrutiny is constant. “It’s hard to try and be validated in the music industry,” he says. “Instead, I focus on being thankful for where we are and where we’re going.” Where are Tow’rs going? Though their folky sound doesn’t fit into the mainstream, they remain unfazed by this. “It isn’t really about how many people we’re playing to. As long as people love and support our music, that’s all we need,” Kyle says. As far as releases go, they feel no pressure to put out a release at any certain time. “We’re always writing and creating,” he explains. “But there’s no rush. When an album comes together, it comes together.” When I met up with them, the band was midway through a tour that concluded this fall. “Touring is interesting,” Gretta says. “It’s hard to be away from home, but we get to see all these amazing places.” She gestures around her, to a street filling up with Friday foot traffic. Although Flagstaff is considered a city, it lies in a cradle of nature, near the Ponderosa Pine forests and Elden Mountain. All this nature impacts Tow’rs’ music. Their self-titled album cover features a forest with the band’s name hooked through the trees. The cover of their most recent album, The Great Minimum, is adorned by a sketch of a person’s face shrouded in flowers. Their songs have titled like “Vanilla Pines,” “River” and “Two Sparrows.” The band’s most popular song “Belly of the Deepest Love” boasts lyrics with distinct natural influence. “The hill’s trembling throats sing hallelujah/ Like the flowers on the dogwood tree/ Blush with blame you took for me.” The band all feels comfortable in nature. “I love cities, but there’s a disconnect here,” Gretta admits. “I feel more at home when I’m surrounded by nature. The band’s roots are planted deeply in the spiritual and communal aspects raised within them by their hometown. It is a presence so strong within each of them that I can feel it, sitting in the lawn as the world revolves around us. Each person speaks with a gentle tone. They laugh with each other. They embrace each other. Solace dashes around the circle we sit in, and he is talked to and played with as if he were everyone’s son. The love that Crislip spoke of is very prevalent among the fivepiece. As they drive off to play more shows, I can see their tower and the community it represents growing before my very eyes.

THE FRIGHTS

STORY BY CLAIRE TORAK PHOTOS BY GILLY McKENDREE

arage punk is the future, man,” the Frights’ bassist Richard Dotson jokes with a laugh. He sits in a worn, oversized leather chair that practically swallows his tall frame. Dotson, along with singer Mikey Carnavale, drummer Mike Finn and guitarist Ryan Ward, are nestled into the corner of a small cafe in Jacksonville, Fla., trying to escape the brutal July heat. The music is loud, the air conditioning is on full blast and the bass vibrates the entire room from the soundcheck taking place at the 1904 Hall next door, where the band will be playing later that night. The playful banter between them flows naturally as they joke and drink wine from plastic glasses, displaying the kind of chemistry and comfort that can only come from four years of being a band. While he was still in high school, Carnavale and a friend started a band known as Black Hootie, but it fizzled out shortly after they split ways. Soon after, Carnavale went to community college and met Dotson. When Black Hootie crumbled, The Frights rose from the ashes like a surf punk phoenix, and Finn and Ward were added to the mix. From garages to small cafés, the band slowly started to gain momentum in their home town of San Diego. “San Diego’s a whole world of it’s own,” Dotson says. “It’s like a paradise.

No one’s mad, everything’s slow. It’s perfect, to be honest. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to live there.” Except for a band trying to make it, that is. After signing to Postmark Records, the foursome packed up and made the 120 mile leap to Los Angeles. After months in the studio, they released their debut album, Crust Bucket, in 2013. Since then, they’ve “literally grown up.” As people grow up, music does too. The maturity adopted by the sounds and the lyrics of their sophomore album, You Are Going to Hate This, marks a far cry from their whimsical debut. “We realized that there was nowhere else to go with what we were doing,” Carnavale explains. “It was getting old. We were getting bored of it. Everyone thinks that we made this big jump straight to just giving everyone the middle finger, but it was just way more fun to make a record that way.” At the back of their minds loomed one fear: the fans’ reception of their new style. “From the get-go, you’re pegged as a certain style,” Finn says. “People don’t really care what you last sounded like. It’s about how you sound now, so people who knew us as a certain band may not like that we were trying to move and do something different.” Their fans, who produce nothing short of head banging, mosh

pits and crowd surfing at their shows, remained steady supporters of the band despite the change. “I just imagined all those 16 year old kids that had been going to our shows being like, ‘Wow, you fucking changed, man,’ and then never showing up again,” Dotson admits. “Luckily, it was the opposite of that.” Fidlar’s Zac Carper, oversaw much of their change in style and produced the majority of You Are Going to Hate This. After experimenting with an acoustic demo of “Afraid of the Dark,” Carper started to lead the band towards their current style. “It was weird as hell,” Carnavale admits. “It never came out to be anything, but a lot of the production you hear is all Zac. We were very trusting.” No matter what, though, every song the Frights create is something entirely their own. “Every Frights album has been about what’s going on at the time,” Carnavale says. As they sit on the east coast and 2,400 miles away from home, the California natives are in the middle of a six week tour with Gymshorts and HUNNY. Barely a week in, the band has already experienced nothing short of crazy. Getting spit on by parrot-sporting pirates in New Orleans, post-show games of red rover and baseball and exploring dirty bars created what Finn calls “a big adventure.”

“We realized that there was nowhere else to go with what we were doing. It was getting old. We were getting bored of it. Everyone thinks that we made this big jump straight to just giving everyone the middle finger, but it was just way more fun to make a record that way.”

The nights grow longer and the endless stretches of miles in the van prove tiring, but playing crowded shows for adoring fans that are just as passionate about the music as they are has been the most rewarding part of the entire experience. “It’s cool to see the kids because we used to be those kids in the crowd,” Ward says. “We still are, and now they’re getting that same experience we had.” Still, the band itches to return back to the west coast as the tour reaches its final leg. “I like going home,” Carnavale says. “I appreciate it more.” While years of hard work are finally starting to pave way to success, and the nights spent playing small gigs in San Diego bars are over, the growing pains of a new band are far from it. In order to save money, the band directs and produces all of their music videos themselves. “There’s less pressure that way,” Carnavale says. The pressure, they joke, really rests on the members’ girlfriends, who once had to make 100 cardboard forks to be used as props. “Without

our girlfriends it wouldn’t have happened,” Dotson says. “In all seriousness, it’s really intentional to do everything ourselves, to have everything handmade and very pop art and very obvious about what the meaning is.” Whether that meaning be the perils of growing up or falling in love, it’s about the music. And at the end of the day, they couldn’t imagine themselves doing anything else. “I think all of us have played music our whole lives,” Dotson shares. “It’s been the easiest way for me to express myself. I’m so affected by it.” For all of them, music serves as the driving force in their lives. “I forget who said it, but they put [music] in terms of going to church,” Carnavale says. “Those people go to church and feel super spiritual and they get their release. That’s what music is for me. It’s the closest thing I have to feeling euphoric.” It’s that same euphoric release, the band feels, their music represents for their fans. And it’s clear that their fans feel it, too.

MALAIKA ASTORGA STORY BY ALLISON BARR ILLUSTRATIONS BY MALAIKA ASTORGA

he last time I visited Los Angeles, I stepped foot into the most quaint art gallery. One would think the epitome of angst and gushing girliness exploded inside of it - in the best way. I fell in love with the vast amount of pastel pink crammed into the small space, so much that I bought Christmas gifts for my friends from the young artists in the midst of July. It gave classic art museums competition. Once I finished raving about it to

my friend, I posted a picture of it on Instagram. Shortly after, I found out that Canadian artist Malaika Astorga had art hanging in the gallery. Glamorizing her youth through painting the inside of her mind, Astorga She made her thoughts look like a mess of beauty. I befriend Malaika three years ago; in which Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotten to see her hair change pastel colors and her art get picked up by exhibits around

North America. She has the power to turn her,states of emotional adolescence into works of art. “I make my art for myself and only myself, and whenever someone else loves it as much as I do, it really means the world to me,” Astorga explains about her project, “How to Hold Hands”. Her self-given assignment grew more than just the couple places lthat featured the intricate project. She expressed her care and immense value for hand holding, “Do you hold hands with your best friend? When do you hold hands with your partner? How do your hands fit into each other? Do you hold hands with the people you hook up with?” Inspired by her own questioning with those in her life, Astorga wanted her audience to relate to the series no matter where they stand in their own relationships. After her project was featured in Girl on Girl’s “NOT FOR SALE” pop up in New York City and in Pink Things Magazine, she wanted to hear back most from those impacted by what she had put her heart into. For the second half of her project, Astorga asked her viewers to send in pictures of how they hold hands, and recreated their stories through her drawings. Besides dictating the complexity of simple love, Astorga focuses her work on other personal experiences in her young adulthood. “My art is very personal and is entirely based on my own life,” she says. “It’s really my way of dealing with whatever difficulties I’m currently going through.” Lately, Astorga has been composing work at her desk cluttered in art supplies and surrounded by plants. The posters, polaroids and pages from magazines add to a source of inspiration for her, as currently she’s been focusing on word art from songs or her friend’s dialogue. They prove to be a huge source of inspiration in her work. Astorga also prints her artwork onto shirts, using a silk screening company she co-owns. Her clothing line has been picked up by local bands and a record label. This, and Malaika’s essence as a human, being is proof that art can take on more forms than just paper.

When she’s not channeling her daily mood into art in her room, she’s attending college in Montreal to study communications. Though not specifically focusing on a fine arts major, she still believes in intertwining her artwork with her world issue-oriented degree. Not only can you expect exceptional work from Astorga in the future, but also seeing her name in a variety of events: from several feminist art shows in her area, and when she someday fulfills her dream as an art director for an art magazine. Astorga and her love for art won’t go anywhere. “Art is not a chore or tedious in any way,” she insists. “It’s essential for my continued existence.”

ELIZA RUBIN STORY BY MAGGIE LAVENGOOD

liza Rubin is not a teenage Vine sensation, nor does she have hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers or cameos on reality TV shows. She is a just a regular teenager who worries about Physics tests and gushes about her friends and wears a T-shirt with a picture of her dog printed on it. All of this normalcy makes her refreshing anecdotes about life as a high school senior on Manhattan’s Upper East Side draw thousands of weekly listeners to her podcast, Eliza Starting At 16. Each episode runs about 15 minutes and includes recurring segments like “what I’m done with” and “what I’m obsessed with” and titles like “Makeup and My Breakup” and “In Which I Say Somber A Lot.” Her podcast’s fame grew out of the mud from which teenage girls are constantly being dragged. “Teenage girls everywhere are being shit on,” she says. “It’s unfair. Most teenage girls I’ve met are

angels.” Her eyes roll as she describes the ways in which teenagers are ruthlessly mocked. Musicians instantly lose street cred when hoards of girls show up at their shows. Fashions fall out of style as soon as the masses of teens grab a hold of them. Politically-interested girls are ridiculed in conversation for being “too young to understand.” Rubin aims to change that, one episode at a time. Rubin’s tell-all podcasts give insight into what life is really like as a young person. She removes the mystique surrounding young adulthood and reveals to the world that, shockingly, there are no secrets hiding behind the façade of girlhood. Luckily, news spreads quicklythrough the generations. A scroll through the comments on her iTunes pages shows that many of those who leave her feedback are older adult women, searching for nostalgia in her stories; many more with teenagers of their own, seeking a deeper understanding of their lives. “I appreciate the insight on life of a teen in today’s world...Thank you Eliza for being so open and honest,” one commenter raved. “Sometimes I feel like

I’m betraying girls to their moms,” Eliza jokes. “But, really, I’d do anything to make moms and daughters closer. We’re just people. We’re just trying to do what [they] do.” Her kudos don’t stop in the parental circles, and the scale of her podcast’s influence on younger girls is not lost on her. “I try to be conscious of the things I say,” Rubin says. I don’t want to swear too much or be a bad influence at all. I sort of feel like an older sister.” Rubin’s wise older sibling role expands to more and more people every day as her weekly listeners steadily climb through the thousands. She gets countless emails from listeners, many of which contain advice questions, some of which have developed into friendships. With each email, she can see the circle of her impact grow wider and wider, and hopes to make it a positive one. “Some people email me super personal things,” Rubin admits. “It gives me a license to be more honest in what I say. I was really nervous to talk about things like depression and anxiety but the response was so nice that it made me feel okay.”

The interaction between her and her listeners provides her with just as much comfort and support as it gives to others. “I know I’m not the only person with the thoughts I have,” Rubin says. Her weekly episodes often feel like a tell-all therapy session. The structure of her show comes from notes jotted down in her phone throughout the week, but beyond those ideas she is completely without script. “Sometimes I’m talking and I realize I’m describing things that nobody knows, so I have to go back and contextualize.” Her episodes make reference to her friends, her teachers, her family and her on-againoff-again boyfriend. “Before every episode I warn everybody, like, ‘hey I’m going to talk to a thousand people about you.’” It all feels very personal to the listener and to the creator. Rubin says that her recordings often feel like “conversations with herself,” which is the concept that fueled their inception. Eliza Starting At 16 began as a posterity project, a way for future Rubin to listen to her 16-year-old self, even though current Rubin admits she doesn’t do much listening to her own podcast. Although the response to her podcast has been positive, the internet harbors negativity nonetheless. Still, Rubin feels as though . “Podcasting feels like a family,” she says. “It’s just nice to have a place to say things and control everything.” If she has one critic it is her actual family, in the form of her grandmother, who leaves her half-critical, half-adoring insight on every episode. Within the halls of her school, she endures no teasing. “It’s just sort of like ‘okay, that’s the girl with the thing.’” She waited until she gained a substantial amount of content and listeners before taking to Facebook to tell her friends about her show and received nothing but support. As far as living on the Upper East Side goes, Rubin discredits any pre-conceived Gossip Girl stereotypes. “That’s not what it’s like,” she explains. “No one shows

off that much. There are some rich people in my school and we know who they are, but no one really cares.” Her days are not filled with galas and impromptu trips to Paris, but instead with homework, friends and wandering around undiscovered New York neighborhoods. The entirety of her interview feels like a Starting at 16 episode. Every question trails off into anecdotes as she describes everything from her life at school to her favorite things to do in the city. Although Rubin seems less threatening than her man in the park, I can’t help but be reminded of her as she tells his story. Every element of her speech is prepared to quickly dissolve into a tangent and her words become rushed as she hurries to fit all she’s trying to say into a sentence. Admittedly, she is also a chronic oversharer. Her email responses usually begin with ‘sorry it took me a YEAR to reply but…’ and trail off into narratives exaggerated with capital letters. She smiles and laughs and groans as she describes her college search process, one that is causing her large amounts of stress. “I have homework and studying all the time, when do teenagers have time to sit around and think about nothing?” Rubin groans. A focused listener to any one of her podcasts will hear the intonation in her voice become nervous, even a little annoyed, as she talks about college and the SATs. She spent the summer and fall researching different schools around the country, NYU and Northwestern were among her favorites. “I’m very introspective and analytical. I have so much I want to do, social justice, writing, the arts. I wish there was a something I could combine them all into.” Rubin sees her podcasting as a way to hone her speaking and social skills while still in high school, but she doubts that it will become her career. “I want to keep doing this forever, but not as a job.” Beyond that, her future remains undefined, but bright. “If you can be a 17 year old from the Upper East Side and put yourself out there, you can do anything.” And we believe it.

BLACK FOXXES BY SAM HSU

t’s a gloomy Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles, but British rock band Black Foxxes are far from gloomy. In fact, they’re just hours away from performing a headlining show nearby. “As a band, it’s our first trip here,” says Mark Holley, vocalist and lead guitarist of Black Foxxes. While Holley and I discuss how hot and muggy the weather is in Los Angeles at the moment, bassist Tristan Jane and drummer Ant Thornton are busy discussing songs and scrolling through their music libraries to find the perfect additions to the playlist they’ve created for us. The band agrees that the songs they’ve put together are ultimately just music they enjoy. “There’s a lot of nostalgia [in the songs]” muses Jane. “It’s music I’m really into at the minute.” Conversely, Holley adds his newer finds to the mix. “I’ve literally just put songs I listened to on the flight over from Chicago to LA. A lot of them are from new albums I haven’t heard before, but am now obsessed with.” Black Foxxes have been playing together for three years, and it’s easy to see how relaxed they are with each other. On the topic of Chicago, Thornton begins to talk about a Cubs game Black Foxxes attended in the windy city a few

days ago. “We didn’t get back to the hotel until four in the morning!” he recalls, only to be shut down by the rest of the band. They argue that it was twelve in the morning, rather than four. “He was still in the timezone back home [in the U.K.],” Holley laughs. “Or actually, he was probably in his own realm.” The band initially began as a project Holley started with two other guys. “At the time, we’d been playing in different bands that were in the same area,” Thornton recalls. “We weren’t really friends but we knew of each other. I was the glue that brought us together.” Still relatively new in playing and writing music together, the band’s first release was Pines, an EP they put out in November of 2014. Black Foxxes have grown immensely since then, despite the fact that there was only a one-year gap between Pines and their debut album, I’m Not Well. “Every night we perform, we chuck in an EP track, but there’s one track that we don’t touch,” says Holley. “It’s called ‘You Gotta Grow.’ We just hate it. Absolutely hate it.” At the mention of the forsaken song, the band grows dismay. As with all things, change occurs, and people grow. “We progressed and the song just wasn’t us, so we

wiped it from the face of the earth,” Thornton laughs. Now, they focus on presenting music that is raw and comes from life experiences. With a unique writing approach, their music is also nothing less than unique. Holley shares that he usually writes the instrumentals of an intro or verse, then brings it to the band’s practices, where the song will eventually change and grow into something entirely different. It’s not until the final processes of writing he begins to incorporate lyrics. “We don’t spend too long on the songs; it’s a really natural process, and I think that shows in the album,” he explains. Lyric-wise, Holley wrote “I’m Not Well” to veer in a direction “to-

wards mental health and physical illness.”The process of writing the album began very early on. “I look at it as a band who had been writing songs since the beginning,” Thornton says. “And for the album, Mark, with the lyrics, just helped pull it together to be more coherent.” With a headlining tour happening soon back home in the U.K, the band’s main focus right now is on playing more shows. “We change every time we play live. The show we did the other day at Township in Chicago, for me, was one of the best we’ve ever played,” Holley admits. “There’s no gimmicks with us. We’re not running a backing track. It’s just all very natural, honest music. For me, that’s how it should be played.”

STELLA RAE STORY BY BAY ROSE

8 year old Stella Rae is a beauty and lifestyle vlogger born in Seattle and raised in Bellingham. Rae started her channel at the age of nine, and has since shared her life journey with more than 190,000 subscribers. A journey she’s most proud of is her lifestyle switch to veganism in 2014, promoting and encouraging her viewers to see her stance and try it out themselves. “Veganism makes sense in every way. Why would I contribute to a system that exploits and kills so many beings? How could I say I’m living a spiritual life if I chose to be ignorant towards that? Discovering veganism made me realize how much information we as everyday consumers aren’t exposed to," she explains. "When so much rainforest is cut down, so many animals are being killed and so many people are obese or starving throughout the world, we definitely have a problem. Going vegan is the first step to creating a more peaceful earth.” Ever since, thousands of young teens have brought in the positive message, and love Rae carries through her channel into their own lives. She’s inspired by truth, by love and by bringing people together, and ensures to show that within her videos, stating, “My channel is ever-changing, and represents where I am in my life at this point.”

Considering Rae began her channel so early in her life, a lot has changed. Going from publishing videos about american girl dolls to makeup and fashion to greater issues and topics. Though, Rae states that her channel, as well as herself, are ever-changing, “who knows where I’ll be a year from now!” As a content creator, there are constant challenges that some may face, Rae explains that it can be difficult to put her own ideas first, “When you’re constantly bombarded with different opinions about yourself, some positive and some negative, it’s hard to not let that affect you. Realization is the first step though, so it’s a daily practice for me to remind myself why I’m doing this for myself.” Rae has accomplished many things at such a young age, from inspiring thousands of young teens to go vegan, publishing her ebook So Full of Love, and seen as an influential image to a great deal of people, but has she always seen herself going down a path like this one? “I’ve definitely seen myself doing something similar to what I’m doing now. Sure I didn’t have every single detail sorted out, but I’ve always known that I love trying to inspire others, and this is where that drive took me.”

1973 BY GABI BARRERA