School by Spark Magazine

spark #4

“IN A MATTER OF TIME, IT WOULD SLIP FROM

my mind

in AND out OF MY LIFE, YOU WOULD SLIP FROM MY MIND IN A MATTER OF

time.”

WALK IN THE PARK — BEACH HOUSE

spark #3 SCHOOL

CONTENT 6. girl life school. again?

Spark is created by Riyandini Putri.

i quitted and life didn’t end (yet) high school, high fashion, high heels, and high hopes

Contact email : sparkzine@rocketmail.com twitter : spark_zine

my metamorphosis into a meadham kirchoff fan aka my obsession with school uniforms

14. fashion the joys of thrifting and editing your own clothes

my adventure with fashion

16. girl crush wednesday addams 18. taking pictures school’s day part i school’s day part ii 30. blogger feature golden mirrors

34. music

ON THE COVER

36. movie 39. book 40. teenage bedroom 42. place 44. mixtape

Photographer: Vicky’s little brother Location: near Sacré-Cœur, Paris Picture taken in front of a beautiful old-style carrousel during a trip to Paris in April 2012.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Maria Muriedas Diez Bilbao, Spain

Victoria (Vicky) Waba Vienna, Austria

Ane Aiartza Bilbao, Spain

SheÂ´ll love to work as a fashion photographer. She is very funny and optimistic person. She likes travelling mostly to citys whit artistic interest.

She has creative soul also loving history. She take her camera with her wherever she goes.

She is an art student. Photoraph loverand camera collector, dreaming about dedicating her self to designing and photographing everything posible.

Blog: golden-mirrors.blogspot.com

Blog: www.flickr.com/photos/ maria_muriedas/

Blog: inkandeyeliner.blogspot.com

Sarah Bogott London, United Kingdom

Dea Karina Yogyakarta, Indonesia

She love everything vintage and adore British designers like Vivienne Westwood and Lulu Guinness. Other things she love include cupcakes, Paris, berets, bags and everything British.

She is 18 year old astronaut. Serenity is her destination. Happiness is her motivation. Creativity is her meditation. Oh, and the whole cat population is her best friend.

Blog: sarahbogott.wordpress.com

Blog: otak-acak.blogspot.com

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CONTRIBUTORS

Jacqueline Chelales New York, USA

Phara Elsen Boom, Belgium

Agnieszka Zamorska Tarnów, Poland

She is an aspiring fashion designer. She’d attend Parsons The New School for Design in the fall of 2012. However, along with designing fashion, she also love wearing fashion.

She loves strolling aroung flea markets and thrift stores. Her passion is making her own clothes. She hope one day she can open her own shop. She enjoys a good cup of tea from time to time.

She is studying European relations and in the free times she plays with fashion. She thinks that recycled clothes can be much more interesting than the new one from the shop.

Blog: sewinginstilettos.tumblr.com

Blog:neonandmaria.blogspot.com

Blog: fashion-recycling.blogspot.com

Marcia Wong New York, USA

Cherokee Summer London, United Kingdom

She is an art student and fulltime procrastinator. She considers herself as a feminist and likes to write about fashion and cultures whenever possible.

She is your average hormonal 18 year old trying to awkwardly make her way through life. While horribly attempting to write short stories that people may or may not like.

Blog:: style-abuse.blogspot.com

Blog: feminisingfilm.blogspot.com

Have you ever felt like you are running very fast just to stay in the same place? Phoebe — Phoebe in Wonderland Hey, friends! How’s life? Great? Ah, good to hear that. I’m really sorry that it took such a long time to finish this issue. Everything’s happens. School (okay, I should admit that almost the time I forget to say college instead of school) is crazy, yeah we know that. And this issue theme is SCHOOL. How delightful. Ha! I am on Ihate-school-part of my life. So, I’m sorry if I’m being so rude. It was me feeling uninspired all the time. And I was so afraid if I’d be damn moody girl again because I thought I’m done with that phase. When I felt uninspiring all I do was worrying about everything. Plus, I got this thing so called over thinking since… I’m not sure. Life is hard. I’m very happy that on this issue, Spark has so many contributors. Thank you very much to dear contributors: Sarah (who draw the lovely watercolor drawings), Ane, Maria, Vicky, Dea, Phara, Jacky, Agnieszka, also Marcia and Cherokee (your second contribute, girls! Thank you so much). You all are so kind. Thank you very much! Also thanks to my friend Eishah who did the grammar-checking (but holiday is coming, she should fly to Malaysia and my articles were missed. Well, you can see how bad my grammar is). I can’t thank you enough for all of you, girls. And thank you for you who read Spark (you don’t know how happy I am). Thank you very much! Kisses and hugs from me, Riyandini Putri

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“SCHOOL IS PRACTICE FOR THE FUTURE LIFE, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT AND NOBODY’S PERFECT, so why practice?” —BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG

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Illustration by Dea Karina

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girl life

School. Again? by Riyandini Putri

chool. Do you hate it? Or love it? For me, school is sort of responsibility. I can’t say I wouldn’t because I should do that. And I’m not a good quitter, by the way. When I was a kindergarten kid, I had late too much for my class. Maybe you think that I’m just like Celine, “When I was a little girl, my mom told me that I was always late to school. One day she followed me to see why... I was looking at chestnuts falling from the trees, rolling on the sidewalk, or... ants, crossing the road... the way a leaf casts a shadow on a tree trunk... Little things.” Wrong. You’re totally wrong. I’m procrastinating too much. My sisters did all my preparation, but I was kind of lazy or something. I had taken such a long time for everything to be ready for school. When I was at elementary school, I used to skip school and said, “I’m so sick. I can’t go to school today. No….. I’m not lying. Can you see that I’m so pale? No? Well, you really need new glasses, my sister” whenever I didn’t do my homework. But there were times when I really sick, and my sister ended do my homework. Ha ha! When I was at junior high school, I couldn’t do that because my brother would said, “You should be really grow up, you know. Just because you didn’t do your homework doesn’t mean you shouldn’t skip school. When I was at your age, I used to think about the problems of this country. And you, what are you doing?” I couldn’t say anything. When I was at high school, I used to skip school because I was too lazy for everything (on weekend and Monday, I was home alone because my sister at the other house). My family didn’t know until, one day, my teacher said that my parent should come to school because they knew that I skipped school and made my friend, Anggi, wrote a letter which pretends she

were my mom. It was a great plan, until somebody told my teacher, I guess. And now, I’m in college. I’ll never ever skip class because there is some crazy schedule which doesn’t let me get another ‘additional’ holiday. Damn it. I become more serious now. Sometimes, I hate myself when I really worry about everything school related. I used to take it easy, you know. I really hate this ‘blue print’ of life. School, job, marry, and have child. How if I die at the school phase? Dang! I never have a real fun. And I do think it also matter with culture. My dad is kind of strict about it. My sister said that in Australia, college doesn’t look like here in Indonesia. The youth prefers to travel around after they graduate from high school. Cool, right. I know that one day, I’ll travel around (okay, I have to admit that I didn’t really enjoy travelling. But I’ll get myself used to it). Who knows? Until now, I’m not sure about what should I do next. I have this yes-no plans which are too confusing to think about. So, I didn’t have any for my future. But I don’t know if my dad already has plans for me. I think he is already giving up on me (I don’t know). I have this friend who said, “There are two ways. You could go with this way which your parent supports you. If you succeed, well it is your parent plans. But if you fail, they gonna understand it. Beside, you could go with your own way. If you fail, they gonna say, ‘I had told you that.’ But if you succeed you’ll say, ‘Damn it, I make it!’ and you’ll be damn proud of yourself.” Well, I don’t have any school advice here (of course I haven’t). But if I have, it is you shouldn’t become hard on yourself. Whenever you become hard on yourself, just say, “School is such a long way. Education could be everywhere, include at this party that I should come. Let’s paaarrrttttyyyyyy.” ♦

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I Quitted and Life Didn’t End (Yet) by Cherokee Summer

chool and I never got along. Heck, our relationship was rocky at best. That was how it always was. The two of us, we tried to make it work over the years. Things were alright before I turned 13, at least it was bearable. After hitting that important teenage age, though, it was just a downhill cycle from there, no turning back - not fully, anyway. I started to gain an interest in other things and different people. School, well, sorry to say it, but you took a backseat in my life - you were the last thing on my mind. You were just some place I had to go to because the law said so and even then it was a rare occurrence if I were ever to turn up for lessons. By the time it came to moving on from secondary school (in the UK, secondary school is like middle school/high school combined), I was more than ready for a new start at college. The last couple of years had been a disaster, but I’d still managed to get the grades I needed, and even exceeded my own expectations with the grades I did achieve. College was going to be the place where things would change. I’d grown up in the space of three years, things that had happened had made me a different person, and I was ready for the challenge - ready to meet new people, and see education in a different light. When college time came in September 2009, I lasted two months tops. At 16, I dropped out of school - for good. And, you know what? I didn’t regret a thing. Thinking back on it now, the first thing that comes to mind is how ungrateful, I guess, I seemed to education back in those days. Education is a great thing, don’t get me wrong. I love it, but it is not just for me and that, for the time being, isn’t going to change. Taking school for granted is one of the things I wish I didn’t do, since there are so many kids out there around the world that don’t have the luxury of education; they don’t have the chance to be educated for free from their governments. This is one thing I think we all agree on being universal - free education. When you come from a deprived background, sometimes, education is the only way to save yourself

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and to make money for you and your family, I get that I really do, and that is why I am such a champion for free schooling worldwide. In saying that, though, the way that society teaches us (in countries where we have the luxury of public schools) to run our lives, is more or less in the following order: 1. Go to school 2. Continue onto higher education in school or college (16 - 18) 3. Further your higher education in university (18-22) 4. Get a job 5. Get married 6. Buy a house 7. Have a family Though we live in such modern times where everything goes really, the list above is the blueprint of life that a lot of people have been taught to some extent and, apparently, the way that you’re really going to be content. And hey, I’ve already smashed that list into a million pieces; does that mean I am not going to be happy in life? Of course it doesn’t. Something that we’ve all come to learn from someone or other during our younger years is that university is the gateway to everything - it is the only way you’ll get a job, and with that you’ll buy a house because you are financially viable, and then, because you have that financial security, a family will come along the way. Wrong, oh so very wrong. Sure, this can happen for some people, but thinking that university is the way forward, and the only way where someone can secure a job and a good life is ridiculous, particularly if there are students who go back to university after working in the jobbing world when they’re older. Take a look at the job climate around the world for example - it is a tough time at the moment, for everyone. Here in the UK alone, millions of people - not just young adults, there are educated adults who have had years-worth of experience and university degrees - are unemployed. A degree isn’t the hot-ticket it once was, and only honestly and truly matters as much as it did, say, ten or so years ago, if you are going into a

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scientific or mathematical field. Experience can be the make or break for some, now, and that’s something that wasn’t in my favour at 16. When leaving college, I only had GCSE’s to my name. No one was going to employ me, which was the constant thought that ran through my head as I settled down to watch another re-run of Jeremy Kyle, sinking into the stereotype of the school leaver. And it was true - the chances of me being employable were next to none. As I had imagined, for a while, I wasn’t employed. It took until the following year, in July 2010, for me to secure my first ever real, paid job - working at McDonald’s. The time I worked at McDonald’s was a great learning curve for me. If anything, it made me more determined not to work there and to get where I wanted to be. At the time, I wanted to be a film director. My life was pretty much set around films. My determination ended up with me chancing upon a paid apprenticeship scheme, looking for people who didn’t have any experience, to forge themself a career in the film industry. I went for an interview with a company I may or may not have gotten to work with and I got the job. Safe to say that that apprenticeship, the 10 months I spent at the company I was working for, changed everything. I had experience, and not only that, I grew up. I grew up so much through all the stress that the job brought me. I grew up, personally, and began to trust people again - something that I had been lacking from since my dreadful time at school - thanks to two particular people I met at college (the apprenticeship entailed a day at college every Friday, which turned out to be the best part about it and something completely different from school, more relaxed and less regimented). In those 10 months, I found out that writing was the only thing I wanted to do. I loved film, but loved watching films - not making them. I started out my apprenticeship at 17, with rather innocent eyes, and finished it when I was 18 with a much clearer view on the world, with a more grown-up attitude and ready to take anything on. Feels stupid to say this part of the story, too, but it was the best thing to come out of those 10 months - I

met someone, someone I first didn’t get along with at all until one drunken night out at the pub. At a confusing period of my life, he made it less confusing for me. Now, I’m in love for the first time and even though it is terrifying, like everyone seems to tell you - it is the best and worst feeling combined. Some of those clichés seem to hit the nail on the head. All of this wouldn’t have happened had I not dropped out of school. I probably wouldn’t have entered the BBC writing competition looking for young writers for the spin-off online version of EastEnders: E20 (a course which I managed to get on, competing with 600+ applicants). I wouldn’t have had the experience of working somewhere else after my apprenticeship and all those places I worked during those 10 months that were linked to the apprenticeship job. I wouldn’t have had all those experiences, or the hilarious drunken and drugged nights out with college friends. And with that, I wouldn’t have met the two people who helped me breakout of my untrustworthy shell one of whom I am in a relationship with now. All of that wouldn’t exist in my world, none of it would have happened. To me, that’s kind of a scary thought. I’m someone who believes in fate in a way, believes that things happen when they need to, and everything will fall into place eventually. 2011 was that year for me, and without all that shit happening, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. I think this boils down to doing what makes you happy. If you have luxury to leave school like I did (I mean, my parents aren’t well off, and it was a struggle for them to support me while I wasn’t in full-time education, but they agreed with my decision because they could see the school system was making me unhappy), do what your gut tells you and forget what other people say. You may miss out on something, like I nearly did if you don’t - whether that is staying in education, or not. School wasn’t the place for me, and maybe it’s not the place for you too - it’s only up to you to make that decision. There are more things out there, more opportunities out there, than education - you’ve just got to fight for it. And hey, if I can do it, so can everyone else. ♦

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High School, High Fashion, High Heels, and High Hopes by Jacqueline Chelales

first moved to Indianapolis, Indiana in 7th grade. It was that year that I really got involved in fashion design. I started sewing my own garments by hand and then received a sewing machine for my birthday. Using the sewing machine, I was able to create many more garments and also handbags. I then launched my own business under the label Jacquelineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Designs, and sold my handbags at craft fairs, to friends, and online.

bye bye,

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During this time, while I was drawn to the creation of garments and accessories, my own sense of style was a little skewed. Everyone at school dressed in Aeropostale, Abercrombie, Hollister, and American Eagle head to toe. I felt a need to fit in with the crowd and followed suit wearing these labels plastered over all of my clothing. However, eventually, my pull towards fashion design helped me to see that this was maybe not as stylish as my peers seemed to think. After Freshman year, I stopped wearing labels and began to dress in clothing that I just thought was cute-and not because of the brand. Forever 21 and H&M became my new favorite stores as they offered cute clothing for affordable prices. I began experimenting with different ways of pairing things together-testing out different color palettes and mixing patterns. I was beginning to develop my own sense of style. Then, my shoe obsession really started. It was the summer after Sophomore year when I discovered Amazon Warehouse. Amazon Warehouse is where returns go to be resold again...and at much cheaper prices! I purchased four pairs of boots for a little under a hundred dollars-all together they retailed for eight times as much. I loved my boots, and from then on, I was addicted to shoes. I even borrowed my mom’s vintage field boots a couple times, which is what really started my love for vintage clothing as well. As much as I loved vintage clothing, I could only find it at Goodwill. However, I was hesitant at first to admit to my school friends that I shopped there since I thought they might look down on me for doing so. This was not the case. When I told some of my friends about my great thrift store finds, they all wanted to go there too. Now we all often make trips to Goodwill together. This experience really taught me to not care what people think and to just be confident with my own style. My new confidence with my own style led me to give heels a try. No one at my school wore heels, but while walking around in New York while taking summer classes at FIT and Parsons, I came across the most adorable pair of wedges at H&M. I couldn’t resist. They only had a four inch heel with a one inch platform, and I had to get them. After success-

fully walking around the city in them, I found some wedges on sale at a boutique for only twelve dollars. I bought a couple pairs, and I was officially hooked on heels. I bought some more pairs online and at thrift stores as well. When i got back to Indianapolis, I was a little nervous about wearing them to school at first, but my love for the heels outweighed any doubts I had. I wore them all to school, and people stared and some made comments, but I also got a lot of compliments, and after a while people just got used to it. Some people even began to wear heels as well! I really learned that as long as I love what I’m wearing, I don’t have to worry about what other people think. During my whole style transformation, I still kept up with my fashion design dreams. I kept sewing and sketching, and I took classes at FIT and Parsons in the summer. My fall semester of Senior year was crazy busy since I was working extremely hard on my portfolio and college applications while also trying to keep my grades up. When many people at school heard that I was applying to these well-known fashion schools in New York, they assumed that I would never get in-thinking that I was just a girl who loved clothes and shoes without any real talent. However, all of my hard work paid off in the end because I was admitted into FIT early and to Parsons and Pratt with a huge merit/portfolio-based scholarships. I am now extremely excited to be attending Parsons The New School for Design in the fall. I am happy to have graduated high school, and can’t wait to start at a new school in New Yorkstudying what I love and meeting people who love fashion as much as I do. Since there weren’t really many people at my school who were into fashion, fashion blogging really helped me get through the lack of a fashion community at my high school. I loved being able to talk to people online about fashion and to share my creations and my personal style. Now that I am moving on to my next phase of school, I know that my personal style will grow and that I will grow even more as a designer. I am so excited to share about my new experiences, and I hope that everyone can learn to be confident in their own style no matter what anyone else may think! ♦

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My Metamorphosis Into A Meadham Kirchhoff Fan aka My Obsession with School Uniforms

Collage by Marcia

by Marcia Wong

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>> Before I moved to New York, I went to this semi-private elementary school in Hong Kong. We were required to wear uniforms. All of us(or, at least the girls) complained about what a pain in the ass that is, but we probably were all secretly glad that we had uniforms, or at least, I was. As much as I love fashion, I’m the kind of lazy person who just absolutely have waking up early in the morning just to fuss over what to wear. >> When I was about 6 I became really obsessed with Harry Potter, and I still am. Anyway, who could not fall in love with this magical world full of spells and flying cars and Hippogriffs? One of the things I fall in love with was — you guessed it — the Hogwarts uniforms. Everyone(except for the teachers) wears black robes, sweaters and trousers/skirts. Oh, and pointy hats. Unless they are going to Hogsmeade to grab a Butterbeer or to the Yule Ball., that’s pretty much all Harry and his Hogwarts friends wear. Probably everyone in Britain wears some similar school uniform like that, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to dress like Hermione Granger or Luna Lovegood. >> Enters my melodramatic phase at the end of 7th grade, in which I exclusively watched Sofia Coppola films(mostly The Virgin Suicides) and read The Perks of Being A Wallflower. I basically spend my entire summer trying to perfect the way Lux/Kirsten Dunst casually tosses her hair, and how the Lisbon sisters just seemly float away on clouds of mysteriousness. They wear plain button-ups and skirts to school every day, with no flower crowns or barrettes or woven bracelets, because they don’t need them. All the Lisbon sisters need are their stacks of books and their self-satisfied smirks. >> Until I found Meadham Kirchhoff last year, fashion in terms of anything school-inspired is just horrible and completely far-fetched. Magazine editors can fool themselves for all they want, but in real-life girls don’t go around studying for chemistry in $4,856 tweed jackets. With its collections filled with suspenders and knee-length skirts(and did I mention puffy hairdos?), Meadham Kirchhoff probably designed with 90’s punk bands and schoolgirls in Alice In Wonderland in mind. After spending half my life trying to be a Hermione Granger or Lux Lisbon 2.0, rainbow ombres and ridiculously-high platforms seem ludicrous in comparison. Oh well, who said stupid ideas can’t be good ideas? ♦

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The Joys of Thrifting and Editing Your Own Clothes by Phara Elsen

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hen you walk into a school, most of the time you notice that the majority of youngsters wear sort of the same things, which basically are jeans and a shirt. These are mostly bought in high street fashion stores nowadays and are not as unique as some of you want them to be. That’s perfectly ok, but it’s sometimes hard to portray your personality and that’s why I wanted to share with you a few tips and tricks on how to make you stand out and spice things up a bit. Something that everyone needs to go to school is a backpack or some sort of bag (tote bag, leather satchel, etc) to put all your books and stationary in. My advice is to take a trip to your local thrift store or check out a flea market nearby, you’ll be amazed at the things you find. I once found a leather bag worth hundreds of “dollars” and it was just lying in a dusty old bin. Plus, it won’t cost you a whole lot, so you can buy a couple, and vary between them. Another item that just screams school is a nice blazer. It just looks good with anything and that’s the most important thing! You can just throw it on in the morning and it makes anything perfect. Again you can look for unique items in thrift stores, but you can buy just any blazer you want and personalize it yourself. One thing that’s really fun, is to change the buttons. Buttons you can buy everywhere, just go to sites like Ebay or Etsy, especially the last one is a goldmine to find antique and special ones. Last but not least a must have when you go to school is a tote bag. It can help you define who you are. You can buy them when you go to gigs and support the music you like, or a topic or project you are interested in, but the real challenge is to make one yourself. I made several ones, and it’s so much fun and very easy. If you have a sewing machine you can make a blank canvas bag on your own, but you can easily buy one too. Other things you need are textile markers or paint and that’s basically everything. You can use all sorts of accessories to make it extra special, like brooches, buttons, pins, even fabric. I hope this has inspired you to make your own things and especially to be yourself and be as creative as you can! ♦

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My Adventure with Fashion by Agnieszka Zamorska y adventure with fashion started a long time ago. I think that it was evolving in me gradually. Maybe, I am interested in fashion because my mum is also into it, probably? I think that might be it. She doesn’t work making dresses but sometimes she sews something for herself. When I was a child I used to watch her when she was sewing and making clothes. I was jealous that she can do it. I asked her to make over clothes for me very often, but she said that I had to learn it on my own (for example sew a button, or gum to skirt). I think it encouraged me to get interested in fashion. We decided to cooperate and work together. I designed a cloth and my mum sewed it with the sewing machine. I started my recycling with taking in old skirt which was given from my grandma. I couldn’t sew with the sewing machine, so I made it using my hands. On the beginning I had some difficulties, but now I’m getting better and better. A big influence on me has a blog of a girl who makes clothes by herself. There were a lot of photos with made- over clothes. Besides, she described how it is done. When I read it, I saw that she learnt it herself , just like me. I realized that I can do it, too. I learnt the basic rules of using a sewing machine and I liked it! Last year, I bought my own. A few months ago, I set up my own blog. So now, other people can watch my photos with recycling clothes. As a blogger, I ‘m green but still I’m trying to make a progress. This blog encourages me to further work on new ideas. The more I sew the more I learn and my experiments help me get better and better. I have never learnt dressmaking at school, so my recycling clothes does not always look perfect. Sometimes my mum will be laughing at me when she sees my homemade ways of remaking. I have no big abilities yet, so I don’t sew clothes from the beginning, just make over. I constantly learn something new and I hope, someday I will be better at it. I realized that even small changes can make an amazing look! Very often I make over clothes from my mum or grandma. Some-

times I go to the second-hand and find things which I can remake. Lately I bought a creamy, stretch trousers with label Marks&Spencer. They were very big and baggy but I took them in and sew gold zips. Now I have trendy and good quality trousers! I’m very proud of them! Certainly, like normal girl I enjoy shopping in the shopping centers and designer clothes but I’m more cheerful when I remake old ones and give them a second life. I’m not sure if you also like it, but I love having something unique and unusual. But I’m pretty sure-my adventure with fashion hasn’t finished yet. Maybe I will try to learn how to design professional clothes. Maybe I will go to the sewing course or maybe I will do these two things. ♦

YOUR CHALLENGE

MAKE

IT DIFFERENT

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girl crush

Wednesday Addams I

think all of you who Wednesday is. But I’ll pretend just like you have no idea who is she. Her full name is very impressive, eh? First I saw The Addams Family Values, oh I just can’t help myself to love the movie, especially Wednesday Addams (played by Christina Ricci). How can you resist loving her? Maybe because she hasn’t really exist in my life. But if she does, of course I’m gonna be really happy to be her close friend! I do think life would be easier with Wednesday around because we’re never gonna play mind games. Maybe she just would scare me to death. Ha ha. But my life should be more interesting. I’m rather go with that rather than my boring life now (yes, it is my fault!) Do you want to know who she played at Halloween? She played, “I’m a homicidal maniac, they look like everyone else.” Oh, so clever! As her teacher said, “Wednesday is an excellent student, but, frankly, I’m concerned. You see, this is our class bulletin board. This month our theme is our heroes— people we love and admire. But Wednesday brought in this picture— Calpurnia Addams.” Why it also sounds clever for me? Because Calpurnia is, “Wednesday’s Great-aunt Calpurnia. She was burned as a witch in. They say she danced naked in the town square and enslaved a min-

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ister.” as Morticia Addams said (Morticia is Wednesday’s mom). I do also like Wednesday’s Thanksgiving speech, “You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now, my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the roadsides. You will play golfs and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, ‘Do not trust the pilgrims, especially Sarah Miller.’ And for all these reasons, I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground.” Impressive, eh? For a 12 years old. Her family has impressive library too, so I guess I should mention it. I’ve never see the TV series, but I do think that it is very great too. Maybe I’ll watch it one day (sure I would!) on YouTube (never ever underestimate YouTube). Wednesday played Lisa Loring (oh, she is so cute!) Sometimes I pretend that I was Wednesday, but I always fail (not even close, really). It is so difficult to be like her. Especially the way she sleeps: with headless dolls and with her arms crossed somberly over her heart. That’s why, I really love her! ♦

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School Part Day I Photographer: Maria M. Diez Models: Paula Abaunza | Saray Ojeda Lorea Erkoreka

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SchoolPartDay II Photographer: Ane Aiartza Models: Edurne Eibar

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An Interview with The Girl Behind

golden mirrors Name: Vicky Hometown: Vienna, Austria Blog: golden-mirrors.blogspot.com Blogger since: September 2010 (blogging regularly since April 2011)

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blogger feature

Spark: How’s your typical day? Vicky: A typical day in my life is not very exciting, though quite varied at the moment. During the week I usually get up at 7am, then I attend the preparatory courses for my oral A-level exams at school, which can take place early or late, it’s different every day. How do you divide your time? Photography is my hobby and it’s directly connected with the whole blogger thing. Therefore it’s a fun thing to do, which I don’t want to do due to obligatory reasons. It should be something I enjoy doing. Whenever I need to devote myself to studying I resist touching my laptop and concentrate on the current priorities. It’s a good way to find the perfect balancing act between hobby and duty. How do you study? Visual learning helps me a lot, I want to understand what I’m reading and studying and I always try to underline important lines, make notes and connections with contents I already know. Unfortunately I tend to be easily distractible, but the less time I have the more I’m able to focus and work hard. What is your favorite subject at school? My favorite subjects at school are History, English, Literature, and Psychology. What are your favorite things about going to school? I don’t go to school in the usual way anymore, as I just have to visit some preparatory courses before taking my oral exams in about two weeks. My favorite things about going to school were seeing my friends- and of course my crush, but that was years ago ;)

What is the best thing ever as a student? The best thing ever as a (high school) student is probably that there are also subjects with not very strict teachers so that you don’t necessarily have to listen and can do fun stuff like playing hangman instead ;) Do you have plans to study abroad? I’m sure it would be amazing to study abroad for a term, but I don’t have any specific plans yet. Actually, what do you want to be? Is it something that you want since you were a kid? Actually I’m neither really sure what I want to become nor what I’m going to study at university. I guess that I’ll probably study history, psychology, media studies or something with languages. My dream job as a child was circus rider :) When I was a kid, I want to be astronaut. Hahaha. Ah, adventurous :D I used to be a really girlish girl when I was about 4, that’s when I wanted to become a circus rider in a pink costume and all that stuff. I even tried vaulting once a few years later, which was fantastic. Nowadays I’m not really into horses that much anymore. Is there anything you’ve learned that you’ll like to pass on? If there’s anything I’ve learned over the years, then it is that you should always be true to yourself and not let anything get you down. By the way, I heard that Vienna is very beautiful. Ah, it should be so great to live there. It is indeed :) sometimes the people here annoy me, but the city is very beautiful, though, and it’s great to live here. ♦

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Drawing by Sarah

music

Lana Del Rey A few months ago when I was browsing around Youtube to satisfy my auditory senses, I was intrigued by an up-and-coming American singer and songwriter that I’ve heard, Lana Del Rey. This singer whose real name is Elizabeth Grant, has made number one debuts in seven countries and was going viral. Before her internationally recognized album “Born To Die”, she had already released her first full-length studio album titled “Lana Del Rey A.K.A Lizzy Grant” in January 2010, released under Lizzy Grant on an independent label, 5 Points, but eventually she bought the rights back from her label at that time to “…stifle future opportunities to distribute it – an echo of rumors that the action was part of a calculated strategy.” Fast forward a few months to June 2011, Lana Del Rey signed with Stranger Records and released her debut single “Video Games”, which reached number one in Germany, leads to her winning the Q Award for “Next Big Thing”. Her latest album, “Born To Die” (under the labels Stranger, Interscope, Polydor) has reached Platinum 7 times which twice of them in France alone. So obviously I checked her music out and it was an interesting experience. Firstly, I saw her “Video Games”. The video was a mixture of vintage videos she directed and edited herself (Fun fact, she had to hire copyright specialists to make a few calls and ask for approval for those clips). Whilst this song won Best Contemporary Song at the Ivor Novello Awards

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2012, it wasn’t really my taste, so I clicked her other video of “Born To Die”, and oh yes, this song left me dead and gave me a rebirth. Hard to explain but it involves letting my inner Marilyn Monroe come out. Influenced by Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Elvis Presley, Antony and the Johnsons, Frank Sinatra, and Eminem, plus just the right mixture of Lolita, Las Vegas, and 1950s Americana, the songs in her album “Born To Die” might give you shivers or a great time driving to work. Songs I personally like are “Summertime Sadness” (peaked 56th in France), “Blue Jeans” (peaked 16th in France), and “Off to the Races”. Songs I like less are “Diet Mtn Dew” and “Lucky Ones”. If you’re thinking of a way to illustrate, Last.fm lists her similar artists: Marina & The Diamonds, Azelia Banks, Nicola Roberts. The music themselves left me in a satisfied taste. After listening to the whole album, the next thing I did was simple, repeating the album a few more times, haha. The whole feel of the album were seldom to be found on other artists, it was so unique I had to swallow it a few times more. Lana Del Rey has her lovers and haters, their haters quite stubborn as well, but I’ll tell you this, they did not hate her for her music (if you want to know what all the fuss is about, you should search on Youtube about her Saturday Night Live performance). Personally, I loved her music, but you should give it a listen yourself. I’ll give a 4 out of 5 for the album “Born To Die”. —Dea

music

Teen Dream Beach House 2010, Sub Pop Records One day, I woke up and decided to live in the internet. I did think, “Today, what do I gonna find? Love, of course!” I was so optimistic. It was me hearing to one of Beach House song, All the Years. I was loved. I am loved. I could feel butterflies in my stomach. And I believed that love exists. The universe looked beautiful and life seems so easy to deal with. I heard Beach House song first from Hazel’s playlist (or mixtape, you name it) on 8tracks.com. Beach House is dream pop duo consist Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. You know that I’m really love dream pop (I just can’t help it). And Beach House is too great to skip of (and I’m asking myself why it takes such a long time for me to get their album. To feel the magic). The songs are so beautiful. And I cried. It was Walk in the Park which made me cried. This song is so deep. It gets my soul (yes, I have this thing so called soul if you may ask). All the songs are very great, I tell you. If you do love them, you’re not wasting your time, my friend. ♦

Marry Me St. Vincent 2007, Beggars Banquet Records This is my favorite album of St. Vincent, or known as Annie Clark. The name is funny (I think) because Annie named hers St. Vincent is a reference to Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center where Dylan Thomas died. “It’s the place where poetry comes to die,” she has said. “That’s me.” Pretty! (Sometimes I think that death is beautiful, just like Wednesday do). Beside from that, Annie could play many instruments. Ah, how I adore her. Her music is, “I like when things come out of nowhere and blindside you a little bit. I think any person who gets panic attacks or has an anxiety disorder can understand how things can all of a sudden turn very quickly. I think I’m sublimating that into the music.” In their review of the album, The AV Club noted, “There’s a point where too much happiness turns into madness, and St. Vincent’s multiinstrumentalist Annie Clark knows this place well.” I do believe that happiness and madness is the same thing. It is not even different side of coin because it is on the same side. But this album is very great really. It doesn’t ask you to like it, but you just can’t help yourself love it way too much. And my favorite track is What Me Worry?, by the way. ♦

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movie Dazed and Confused (1993) This movie is about the last day of school. THE LAST DAY which doesn’t really mean the last day since there are college or something waiting for them (for us too). If I think about school, oh man come on, I hate it. I hate it almost the time, but sometimes I remember about what my dad told me so, “Whatever, Dad. Yeah, I’m going to school. And college of course.” And school is boring, really. Actually, I like routine. I just hate it when my routines include school grade that I should worry about.

700 Days of Battle: Us vs. Police (2008) This Japanese movie is very funny. Too funny to be true. The funniest movie ever! As you know, I always want to have friends who are fool enough to do some stupid things include prank with the officer. No, not drug and alcohol, my friend. But prank which gonna makes you laugh until your stomach get hurt. How come this ‘battle’ happened? Saijo was caught by an officer (he was new at that place) because of ‘speed trap’ as Saijo said (I do think it is a trap too. I mean, by the end of the hill is a good place to install a speed detector). So Saijo and his friends (Mamachari the leader, Chiba, Takaaki, Inoue, Jamie and Tsujimura) did something crazy. No, I don’t want to say anything spoiler. You really should watch this movie first and thank me later, I guess. I really like their friendship too. Ah, life is beautiful sometimes. ♦

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Mike: We should be up for anything. Cynthia: I know. We are. But what? I mean, God. Don’t you ever feel like everything we do and everything we’ve been taught is just to service the future. Tony: Yeah, I know. It’s like it’s all preparation. Cynthia: Right, but what are we preparing ourselves for? Mike: Death. Tony: Life at the party. It’s true. Cynthia: You know, but that’s valid, because if we’re all going to die anyway shouldn’t we be enjoying ourselves now? You know, I’d like to quit think of the present, like right now as some minor insignificant pre-amble to something else. Mike: Exactly. That’s what everybody in this car needs. Some good old worth-while visceral experience. But I don’t fully hate school. Something had happens, include the good ones. Well, all I’m saying is that I want to look back and say that I did the best I could while I was stuck in this place. Had as much fun as I could while I was stuck in this place. Played as hard as I could while I was stuck in this place. —Don Dawson The point is I don’t know how to have fun. I do really want to do something crazy when I’m young (like, now) so I’ll never regret anything. Watching this movie makes me really think about party. Their party is somehow fabulous. I mean, I’ll never throw that kind of party (which includes alcohol on it). I think I’ll never do that. But dance to a good music? For sure I want to do that! By the way, I think I don’t need to tell you about how’s going with this movie. Everybody seems like it. But if you don’t, please tell me why. ♦

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Dirty Dancing (1987) I know Dirty Dancing from New Girl, as Jess looked this movie too much after she broken up with his boyfriend. And no, I didn’t look at this movie after that. I did because I saw that it is on the greatest movie list. Well, I’m pretty like it (hi, Jess! We could hang out together watching this movie all day long) (I know you’ll say yes! Yay!). This movie is about Baby and her family vacation at Kellerman’s, a resort in the Catskill Mountains, in a summer. And yeah, she got the boy! He is a dance instructor (but he looked so young) (okay, I just watch it again, and he looked older) (and he is so hot, by the way). The best part of this movie is the dance of course. And how beautiful Baby is. Her hair is fabulous! Lisa, her sister, said, “I’ll do your hair. It could look pretty if-- You’re prettier your way. This way.” It’s true. She is so pretty. I think it is her inner beauty which speaks out loud. I also like that she is a daddy’s girl. And was a goodie good-girl. Especially, I like when Baby said to her dad, “You told me everyone was alike and deserved a fair break. But you meant everyone who is like you. You told me you wanted me to change the world, to make it better. But you meant by becoming a lawyer or an economist, and marrying someone from Harvard. I’m not proud of myself. But I’m in this family too. You can’t keep giving me the silent treatment. There are a lot of things about me that aren’t what you thought. But if you love me, you have to love all the things about me.” SHE GOT IT, TOTALLY. I think I sort of do what I want since I started college. Not 100%, but 25% is pretty good, okay. But well my point is she got the boy, enough said. ♦

Little Women (1994) First of all, I didn’t read the book. Second of all, I like this movie. Sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy) who are good to each other, as Jo said, “I could never love anyone as I love my sisters.” The greatest part is they didn’t go to school. Amy was, but after her teacher punished her because of limes, Marmee decided that Amy would learn at home and Jo supervised her education. All they do at home was playing script which Jo had written. It was so fabulous. But things changed of course. They were growing up. Jo was kind of afraid if everything never gonna be the same anymore. I think she refused to grow up (like I do!). It is so hard to accept the fact that your sister is married. I always feel that they’re never gonna be the same. Like my sister said, “Things changed, you know. We are not the same anymore. I have kid, husband, and extra family. Sometimes I just want to fool around, but I can’t. I have many responsibilities now. I’m expected to be full adult.” I feel very sad. Talking about the movie, everybody expect that Jo and Laurie would be together. I do not have any comment on this. But this movie is great. The cast is amazing too, I mean Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, and Trini Alvarado. Ah, they are so ahmazing. ♦

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movie

Mean Girls (2004)

A Walk to Remember (2002) A Walk to Remember, directed by Adam Shankman. The story takes place in North Carolina, in the town Beauport. Main character - Shane West is telling us the story from his own past. He is narrating about times when he was a student of a high school. In the high school he met and fell in love with a sick girl. This love made a complete revolution in his life. Jamie- was the girl from his high school whom he has fallen in love with. She came from an extremely conservative family. Her father was a pastor in Baptist’s church. For her, religion was the most important thing in her life. Landon – was her complete contrast. He was a sad and rebellious boy. He didn’t care much about religion and school. He and his friends didn’t think about their future life. They always drink alcohol and smoked. One of these meetings ended tragically. One of the boys got injured and had to be hospitalized. Landon was punished so he had to take part in a play which is being organized by his school. He was a horrible actor and he asked Jamie (who was taking part in the play too) for help. At the beginning he didn’t like this girl. But with time, as they worked together, he fell in love with her. She was different from all the girls he’d met. He was impressed by her ambitions and love for life. Although Jamie didn’t want to develop their relationship because she had leukemia, London didn’t know about that. He fell in love with Jamie and when she told him about her sickness he didn’t want to break up with her. Not long since then Jamie felt terribly wrong and she had to go to the hospital. London married her and was with her till she died. —Agnieszka

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I mean, c’mon, it’s Mean Girls! Nothing define American teenagers(or teenagers everywhere) better than this masterpiece. Written by Tina Fey and starring Lindsay Lohan back when she was still a red-head. Cady Heron just moved back to US after living in Africa for a long time. She meets the Plastics, the popular girls in the local high school who love their pink a bit too much. After Regina(the queen bee) steals the boy Cady likes, Cady decides to sabotage the Plastics(but mostly Regina) and give them a taste of their own medicine. Side note: don’t even bother with Mean Girls 2. Just don’t. —Marcia

Cry Baby (1990) Well, my favourite teenage movie is a rather peculiar one, as it is not very famous. The movie is called Cry-baby and features a very young Johnny Depp. It’s sort of a musical in fact, as it involves a lot of dancing and singing. Let me tell you a bit more about the story. It’s all starts out at a school, and you can clearly tell there are two crowds of people, the rich well behaved ones or “squares” and the rebels or “drapes”. The leader of those drapes is Wade Walker or Cry-baby (played by Johnny Depp). He is known for the fact that he can shed one single tear. He meets Allison, a square, but she desperately longs to be bad for a chance and he falls head over heels in love with her. You can probably tell the squares won’t approve and that’s what the movie is about. It’s all set in the fifties and you sure get that rockabilly style. I just love the craziness of the entire cast, how they all interact, it seems like a very wrong movie but it is in fact a true pearl, one you don’t come across very often. And of course who doesn’t like Johnny Depp singing and dancing all the time! One tip: beware of Hatchet face, you’ll know what I mean whenever you watch it! —Phara

book

Murder on the Orient Express I can’t really pin out one special book actually, it was more of a genre I was addicted to, and detective books to be precise. My favorite author, and she still is, was Agatha Christie. When I started reading one of her books, I was out of it for a couple hours and just couldn’t stop. I just had to know who did it. With her style of writing you got hooked and actually get involved. You try to put all the clues together yourself and search for the murderer, but let me say it was never the one you thought it would be. If I must choose one particular book, it has to be Murder on the Orient Express. The detective, Hercule Poirot, boards a train in Constantinople after he solved a case there and finds himself surrounded in another mystery, as someone is murdered the first night. He is of course is the best person to figure out who did it, as it has to be someone on the train. The build-up is really good, and finally everything does fall into place. I love the fact that you can read it several times and still discover new things and clues, which you hadn’t the first time, cause there sure are a lot of them. You really get sucked in to it and the tale won’t let you go. I truly recommend it to everyone. —Phara

The Harry Potter Series The story is set in Great Britain. Most of the action takes place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which has been built probably in Scotland. The plot is about a young boy, raised by his uncle and aunt. He had no idea that he was a wizard until his 11th birthday. For his whole life he has been convinced that his parents died in the car accident. It was a lie. His mum and dad were murdered by one of the most powerful wizard of all time – Lord Voldemort. He tried to kill little Harry too, but somehow no one knows why – the little boy survived while Voldemort unsucceeded, powerless and alone. First volume was about Harry’s first year in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Every volume is telling about one year which Harry had spending in Hogwarts, about his adventures and friendships and about that every year Lord Voldemort was more powerful and was killing more of Harry’s loved ones. When Harry was on the 7th year in Hogwarts, Voldemort gained back his strengths. Everyone was thinking that he will be back but Harry with his friends’ help killed him. —Agnieszka

The Perks of Being a Wallflower The book have been awfully overexposed ever since the movie trailer with Emma Watson(Hermione!) and Logan Lerman had been released, but it’s true. The Perks is a book that had changed my life. It’s basically about this guy named Charlie who had just started high school. Being really shy and sensitive, Charlie doesn’t have any friends until he meets Sam and Patrick. I would say this would be what The Catcher In the Rye would be like if it’s set in the 90’s and Holden is not such a loud mouth. —Marcia

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COOL is cool, it is just not when it is not.

This is just my place. I have almost everything that I want and need in here, and I am surrounded by things that are important to me. Everything has a place, even if the things are never where they are ment to be. If Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m feeling sad, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure I can find something that would cheer me up, otherwise, I could always take one of my cameras, my longboard, and go somewhere else, or just paint. Just close the door, and make it your own. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ane 40

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teenage bedroom

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place

Comfort Place That place is my house and nearby. I like where I live because it is around mountains, it´s a very peaceful place in a small village and I love that, I prefer that to the noisy city. I live there. I do mostly everything there but the only problem I´ve in these place is that in that village aren’t much things so I`ve to go to a nearby town to do so on.

—Maria 42

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Yet the planetary theories of Ptolemy and most other astronomers, although consistent with the numerical data, seemed likewise to present no small difficulty. For these theories were not adequate unless certain equants were also conceived; it then appeared that a planet moved with uniform velocity neither on its deferent (main orbit) nor about the center of its epicycle (second orbit) … Having become aware of these defects, I often considered whether there could perhaps be found a more reasonable arrangement of circles, from which every apparent inequality would be derived and in which everything would move uniformly about its proper center, as the rule of absolute motion requires.

—Nicolaus Copernicus

Lookuing at this pictures makes me realize that this world is very beautiful. Also, i remember about Nicolaus Copernicus. And his theory. The earth revolves around the sun along with the other planets, instead of the sun revolving around the earth. the sun was stationary in the center of the universe, not the earth. It also makes me think how we shouldn’t be selfish. We should be humble as our parents tell us. no matter how we hate school, at least, we learn something from there. ♦ Paris. Photographed by Vicky.

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mixtape

Words From A Teenager Teenagers — Department of Eagles White Night — The Postelles Bedroom Eyes — Dum Dum Girls Babies — Pulp Heather Heather — The Magnetic Fields Kiss Me on The Bus — The Replacement Teenage Kicks — Nouvelle Vague School’s Out — Alice Cooper Break It — Reigning Sound Teenage Heartbreak — We Are Trees Walk and Talk — The Velvet Underground Can’t You Tell It’s True — Another Sunny Day Dream Come True Girl — Cass McCombs All The Years — Beach House

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spark #5 Fantasy

Illustration by Dea Karina