Stache December 2011 // Issue 07

STACHE KITKAT PECSON, KASEY ALBANO, ROB CHAM HYPERVODKA’S GOLDEN TRIO JUST SAID THE MOST AMAZING MESSAGE TO THE CREATIVE YOUTH + Adrian Gonzales Jennifer Avello Tintin Lontoc Afianne Cope DIY or Die Hrrthrr

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According to one famous musical, and I dare you to not sing, there are 525,600 minutes in a year but for us, we measure it through magazine issues. Exactly one year ago, we launched our first issue with the Afianne Cope. The response was unbelievable considering that we only had two months to do it and to advertise it to the market.

After six issues, we gained 85,000 unique views, 3,000 followers and we finally reached our dream cover.

This month’s issue is all about the design and its designer. It’s like being one with what you made and putting a piece of yourself in it, like Voldemort and his horcruxes. We invited Rob Cham, Kasey Albano, and Kitkat Pecson, collectively known as Hypervodka, to grace our covers and they were really fun to shoot. They created something a little different from all our other cover shoots so that was exciting. Afianne Cope also came back for another contribution and we also have Shutter Panda Photography, Adrian Gonzales, Jennifer Avello and Tintin Lontoc.

Also, if you’ve been following our updates for a while, you might remember that I promised that I’ll explain why I called the name Stache but after some thought, I decided that I’ll keep it a mystery.

So here it is. Our first anniversary issue. Exactly one year after we went online.

Maine Manalansan, EIC

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EDITOR IN CHIEF

Maine Manalansan (http://millimetrs.com/blog)

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Jared Carl Millan (http://carlxy-.tumblr.com)

FEATURES EDITOR

Elisa Aquino (http://thunderpopcola.tumblr.com)

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Ellie Centeno (http://ellie-on-lsd.tumblr.com)

LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Nessa Santos (http://nessaaaa.tumblr.com)

MUSIC EDITOR

Mare Collantesn (http://aninstantoutoftime.tumblr.com)

FASHION EDITOR

Ecks Abitona (http://ecksssy.tumblr.com)

BEAUTY EDITOR

Thea De Rivera (http://deriveraltheamua.tumblr.com)

ART EDITOR

Koji Arboleda (http://whatkeepskojialive.tumblr.com)

WEB DESIGNER

Mary Silvestre (http://dearmary.info)

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Pat Nabong (http://dorkoinvasion.tumblr.com)

WRITERS

Christine Exevea (http://poormistymariewilmot.tumblr.com) Karla Bernardo (http://bombastarr.blogspot.com) Kat Eusebio (http://walkwiththeu.tumblr.com) Coco Macaren Eddie Fuentes

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jelito De Leon (http://jelitodeleon.tumblr.com) Kaye Clarete (http://simplykaye.com) Gabriel Mangilaya Jeremy Marcelo

ILLUSTRATORS

CONTRIBUTORS

Afianne Cope Adrian Gonzales Jennifer Avello Tintin Lontoc Shutter Panda Photography Quisha Baterna Chi Solis Arianne Angelique Tolentino Teo Gaspar Nellie Cuevas Iris M. SPECIAL THANKS TO: Asian Vogue High Style Fancy Graffities Creation Extreme Finds H.E.A.R.T. Mauve Peaches on Top Kandi Treats Posh and Pretty Mixologist Beauty Dream A Little More Fab Manila Ferreted Crave More Pirouette, Mapleberry Charm Bin Pink Pum Shop Martina-Martina Ruckus Superfluously Hux Pinkaholic It’s All About Hue Toxic Candy Moonleaf Tea Shop Ellie’s Wicked Wednesday Mixtape Lambert Cruz Mike Libot STACHE Magazine Online does not claim ownership on any photos included in the magazine. They belong to their respective owners, which is quite obvious by now. If you see anything left uncredited, Please don’t hesitate on dropping us an email at admin@stachemagazineonline.com

Maura Isabel Rodriguez (http://mauraisabel.tumblr.com)

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hrrthrr words by kristel silang

If you love cute aesthetics and exploring through different forms of art, then Heather Peterson’s nook on the Internet should be where you are lurking.

Heather Peterson is a graduate of Interior Design from Utah State University. Aside from being an interior designer, she is also a graphic and set designer. Her hometown is in Salt Lake City but she is currently residing in Los Angeles, California.

She started blogging in 2007. Despite her busy schedule, she still manages to constantly update her blog, which has regular segments like 5 Things I Love, Gratuitous Picture of

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Yourself and Do-It-Yourself projects. This, together with the amazing content of her blog, has gained her a wide following base on the Internet. She has been featured on the Tumblr Staff and was one of the top blogs back in the days when Tumblarity still existed.

This creative never seems to run out of inspiration. We are more than lucky to “virtually” sit down and have a chat with her.

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When did your love for design start?

It’s definitely been something that I’ve always had a love for.

My mom is insanely creative and would always have projects for us to work on. She was always creating and involving me. I guess it stuck!

What is it about interior, graphic and set design that you love the most?

I love how different they are but how skills from each overlap into each other. With each project I’m being pushed in a different way and gaining new skills. It’s always fresh and new, so it’s almost impossible to get bored. And I get bored very easily!

What is your advice for budding designers?

Take risks, don’t be afraid to ask for help and always trust your gut.

Why hrrrthrrr?

An old friend used to call me hrrrthrrr and hrrrth for whatever reason. When I needed a quick name for my blog, I used that and then it stuck. I have to say though, it’s kind of awkward to try to explain the name to random people. “Oh, you know...it’s sort of like Heather...but with mostly r’s and no vowels, does that make sense?” But! I do love listening to people try to pronounce it.

What are your other interests aside from designing?

I love hitting up local flea markets and thrift stores. I’m a total movie junkie. And even though I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I love to bake. Oh, and have I mentioned I love Space Mountain at Disneyland? I once rode it seven times in one day. I’d definitely say that’s an outside interest.

Why did you put up this blog?

It started out as a way to share with friends and family what I was doing and working on. Then I started to really enjoy sharing and gained an audience. Now it’s a perfect outlet to share my life, my work, and the little things that make me happy. It’s also been a great way for future clients to see my personal aesthetic and decide if we’ll be a good match.

What are your Top 3 favorite projects so far?

Being a part of the design of a $13 million house from the ground up. I got to help pick out everything from the stain of the wood to the millions of dollars of art for the walls. It was completely intimidating and one of my first projects right out of college. Working on the Glee Project was so incredibly fun. I got to design a lot of graphic elements and props as well as create full sets for the music videos. It was the perfect project to use all my random skills. I even once spent a 12 hour day throwing slushee in the faces of the cast.

That was one of those, “I can get paid for this?” moments for sure. And probably redesigning my own blog. It was the trigger I pulled to start as a full time freelancer. I wanted it to be something that really made me want to keep sharing. I also wanted it to really reflect who I am and what my style is.

It was a real growing up project for me.

How did you conceptualize the layout and theme of your blog?

I think I mocked up 4 or 5 layouts before I was able to find the right direction. I wanted it to be very clean, but also show my love for color and handwritten type.

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Why did you choose Tumblr as your blogging platform?

At the time, Tumblr was still small and a lot of my friends started using it. It was a great way to keep up with everyone and also discover amazingly talented people. I have a great little community there now. *all photos courtesy of Heather

cafe maru words and photos by kaye clarete

In one of the busiest streets in Cebu lies a dainty coffee shop owned by a South Korean, Seo Hee Lee. The name of the coffee shop is Café Maru. Maru actually means sitting or wooden floor in Korean. It was named after their clever concept of letting their customers experience how Koreans eat their food—sitting on a wooden floor.

After getting inside the café, a feeling of being almost like a child again will suddenly overcome you; the place is simply adorable, with a homey, comfortable ambiance to it.

It’s adorned with cute things: car-shaped coffee bean jars, polaroids, outlets with cute animal prints, and more random stuff. They also sell accessories straight from Korea at reasonable prices. The café is perfect for a quick getaway without really being away. You can even have your alone time there with just a cup of coffee while reading a book, or some magazines that are there for customers to read.

Now let’s get to the real business: the food.

The café’s top picks are ice cream waffle (waffle topped with vanilla and chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, bananas, Stick-O’s, grapes that served as the cherry on top, and drizzled with chocolate syrup on top), honey butter bread, and real hot chocolate-mini fondue. With the ice cream waffle being so big, you would have to share it with a friend and the

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waistband of your pants would still get tight. Of course, that’s an option. You can still surrender to gluttony and have everything to yourself. Their coffee ranges from P90-125 while their sandwich meal priced between P150-160. They are also serving waffles with prices between P195-250.

After ordering and while waiting for your order, the owner will personally prepare it. You can play some games they prepared in the café like puzzles and the ever-so-famous Jenga while the aroma of the coffee and waffle start to permeate the shop and well, your senses. While you’re spending your time having a look around enjoying the café, you wouldn’t even notice that your orders are already ready. After letting your eyes feast on the endless endearing things in the shop, it is time for your taste buds to do the same.

Before leaving the place, don’t forget to leave a message on one of their message notebooks or a post-it on their adorable corkboard. The Maru experience will not be complete without leaving a message on it!

At such a young age, Miss Seo Hee Lee is already doing a great job in managing this dainty café. The place is a special haven in the middle of the city. So if you’re in Cebu, or if ever you get to visit the city, why not spare some of your time and relax at Café Maru?

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clean fun: the other side of manila’s night scene words and photos by katrina eusebio

It’s a Saturday night; you’re out of booze and tired of the replays shown on TV. Maybe we can help. It’s time to break loose from the normal and experience the Metro’s night scene, Stache style.

1. Food Night Markets Located in the heart of Fort Bonifacio, Mercato is heaven for food enthusiasts or for people with late night cravings. Open from 10PM-3AM every Friday and Saturday, Midnight Mercato is the perfect place for friends and family to bond, dine, and celebrate.

Inspired by the outdoor markets of Mercato Centrale in Florence and the Boroughs Market in London, Mercato houses over 50 concessionaires, offering a wide variety of food—truly the ultimate dining experience.

2. Ayala Triangle Lights Show Ayala Triangle Gardens has been the chill spot for most of the working population in the area since it opened to the public.

With a wide array of food choices like Banapple, Omakase and Wee Nam Kee, it offers a diverse dining experience. It also has a prime location since it is just behind the Makati Stock Exchange.

But what’s more interesting about this place is the magical lights and sounds show at night. Just imagine a wonderful park filled up with equally amazing lights—truly a breather from the usually stressful Makati scene. It does a symphony of sorts as the lights blink and dance to the rhythm of the music every 30 minutes from 6PM-9PM, everyday.

3. Night Bazaars Christmas may be over, but the Christmas season still has some weeks left, and it’s no excuse to stop shopping just yet.

With all the staple bazaars around the Metro, the Eastwood Bazaar is a real go-to. With a wide offering of products at affordable prices, this is surely a delight for the fashion savvy yet budget conscious populace.

Don’t underestimate the place as well. Eastwood is known for keeping people up at their game at nighttime so whether it’s shopping, drinking, or strolling around, this is a good place to invest your time into.

The next time you don’t know what to do on a Saturday night, it’s also safe to not leave it to chance and another round of beer. Brave Manila, you’ll enjoy what you’ll find.

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tales of fishy nature words by christine exevea

In today’s modern age, the internet has become a necessity to almost every individual. It has become a big help not only to students doing their home works, but also to young professionals who wish to expand public relations skills. Like everything else, the internet also has its own flaws, and this is when questions such as “Am I going to be safe here?” and “How accurate/true is this information?” arises.

Mia (Katie Jervis) lives with her mum Joanne (Kierston Wareing) and her sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffith) at a flat in Essex. Living with a mother who couldn’t care less about her daughter’s life, Mia is almost always left to her own thoughts and has become independent from parental care. Her sister acknowledges her presence with profound nicknames. Dance, her only escape from the wild, chaotic word she lives in.

Yaniv “Nev” Schulman is a young photographer in New York living with two filmmakers, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. After getting one of his photographs published in a magazine, Nev received a package from an 8-year old girl Abby, who turn his picture into a painting.

Like most other teenage films, Fish Tank tackles the main problems teenagers face nowadays: the struggle for identity. Through Mia’s dance, she was able to recreate herself as a new person who tries to escape the reality of what is happening around her and at the same time finding an effective means of survival in this wrecked, cruel world she lives in.

Many have speculated on the authenticity of the story behind Catfish but the answers remain uncertain. All that is known is that Catfish is probably one of the creepiest films in modern society; creepy in a sense that it sets out the realities that are happening in the World Wide Web. The documentary format of the film adds drama to the story making it more realistic than ever. Alternately taking shots from Nev, Ariel and Henry’s perspective, adds color to the story and also gives off an unbiased perception of Nev’s encounter with Abby, Angela and Megan.

Filled with a lot of exciting and eerie twists, Catfish is one movie that summarizes the problems most people would - and maybe already encountering online. After watching the film, viewers would have to think twice on whether who trust or who not to trust in the World Wide Web.

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Multi awarded director and writer Andrea Arnold, made sure that the story appeared in Mia’s perspective, focusing on her hurts, on her struggles. Had the story been written as a book, Mia herself would tell her story. Although the film centers on her struggle for identity, Arnold was careful making it not come off as a downer by mostly filming on a sunny weather, finding the perfect atmosphere.

This 2009 Cannes Film Festival Jury Award winner gives a brighter approach to the depressing issues society faces nowadays and a different angle on how teenagers usually tries to escape the reality they live in while trying to find their identity.

new year, new books words by jared carl millan

The students of Halisham are special. The guardians at Halisham say it. The people outside Halisham express it. The students of Halisham know it, but they do not exactly know how they are special and why. Particularly friends Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy.

The students of Halisham are taught many things, but what is given most importance were the students’ art. Every once in a while an enigmatic woman the people of Halisham simply call “Madame” comes and collects the best among the products of the students’ labor to be put into her Gallery. What it was and what was in it, the students could only guess. Another equally important matter that the guardians try to instill upon their students is their health. After all, it’s the students’ organs that are the reason why they exist in the first place.

When they reach the right age, eventually, every single one of them will be subjected upon what is euphemistically called “donations,” unless they choose to become “carers,” in which case their donations will be on hold until they cannot anymore care for the donors. Traditionally there are four donations until one “completes,” but for some, complications transpire and can only sometimes donate thrice or twice or, rarely, once.

In this atmospheric, haunting novel, Ishiguro delves deeper not into the minds of the “originals,” but into the minds of the “donors.” It tells of what life means for them, how they live in it, and how alarmingly resigned they are to their ultimate fate—which is to die. Ishiguro, by not focusing on the technicalities of the world he has created (how the donees are created, how originals know whether or not one person is a donor, why the they can’t escape or choose not to escape), taps deeper into the mind of the readers, making one question one’s morality. More than that, the novel aims also to discuss the question of equality by making the readers know how similar the “originals” and the “donors” are and how animalistic the latter are treated in the society they live in.

Ishiguro’s prose is effortless, embodying the voice of the protagonist Kathy as she recalls how life was at Halisham, then at the Cottages, then as a carer. This novel raises many questions, and how much you will like or dislike it would depend on whether or not you can answer these questions.

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You might have probably heard of her at some point or another.

She’s started out as a stand up comic, had since published three books, and has her own late-night talk show Chelsea Lately on E! Chelsea Handler was known for her quick wit, outstanding sarcasm, and unapologetic sense of humor.

In this laugh-out-loud collection she showcases her talents as a comedienne into text, making her stories completely her own, completely and outrageously hilarious. Are You There, Vokda? It’s Me, Chelsea recounts Handler’s pandemonium of an earlier life, how she inadvertently tells the whole school in third grade that she was planning a sequel to Private Benjamin with Goldie Hawn, experiences babysitting a fourteen year old sugar addict when she was twelve during one of their summers in Martha’s Vineyard, dating a read head, sojourn to Sybil Brand Prison for Woman that stemmed from a DUI arrest, and many other ridiculous situations she had woven herself in growing up.

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Never mind Handler’s not being a brilliant writer, forget the lack of nuggets of wisdom and sudden epiphanies; most stories in the book are clearly embroidered recollections, kneaded to make them as funniest as they could be. However, if you can establish a relationship with a book, however strange that relationship may be so long as you’ve enjoyed its company, then, by all means, it is a good book.

(That is the reason why jettisoning a dull read is not a crime; there really is no point in reading a literature you find no interest in. You wouldn’t learn from it, the same way you’ve never learned anything past Algebra in Mathematics.) The simple reason why Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea is a worthwhile read is this: it makes one laugh. It is a breezy read, undemanding, and simply hilarious.

If you don’t like her sense of humor, chances are you wouldn’t really enjoy reading this collection and might end up chucking it out the window; if you do, you’ll like it just fine.

NOBODY EVER SAID IT WAS ALL JUST ABOUT THE MUSIC words by

Ellie Centeno and Coco Maceren (with Eddie Fuentes)

Browsing through record stores without really knowing what you’ll be buying is the perfect excuse for knowing why having amazing album art is necessary. The cover art is the artist’s visual representation of the emotion that they want you to feel, with each colour and design so thoughtfully and intricately made or photographed to accompany the music it represents. Album art should be an entirely different experience on its own, and once mixed with the music it carries with itself, results are expected to be mind-blowing. Album art need not to match a Pollock painting or a Banksy piece, but it at least has to be interesting; it has to draw people in. Album covers should make a stranger want to listen to the music the cover represents. Album covers should give the music justice, because no one’s going to listen to your music if you’ve have a boring, banal album art. A lot of people say not to judge a book (or in this case, an album) by its cover, but people are visual beings by nature, which basically means album art is something people pay attention to. The music comes in later.

So we’ve compiled – in no particular order – twelve album covers that have caught our (and other people’s attention) over the years.

Right: Boris – New Album (2011) Similar Objects – Finding Astral Lovers (2011) // Art by Justine Espinueva Cream – Disraeli Gears (1967) // Art by Martin Sharp Opposite page: Top row Captain Beefheart – Doc at the Radar Station (1980) // Art by Don Van Vliet Wavves – King of the Beach (2010) Gallows – In The Belly Of A Shark [single] (2007) // Art by Dan Mumford Middle row Architecture in Helsinki – Places Like This (2007) // Art by Will Sweeney Funkadelic – Cosmic Slop (1973) // Art by Pedro Bell Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) // Art by Hipgnosis and George Hardie Bottom row Rafale – Rock It, Don’t Stop It (2008) // Art by Akroe Nick Drake – Pink Moon (1972) // Art by Michael Trevithick The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) // Art by Peter Blake

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14 /Tune Up

i do nails

words by christine exevea; photo by elisa aquino

The fast paced life of people, especially those of the youth of today, leaves most of them worked up or stressed out or both. Lucky for them, innovations have been made to make life easier for them to the point that almost everything is just one click away and then everything will be laid out in front of them, all in the comfort of their own homes.

I Do Nails is probably one of the best things that has come along since home services were invented. This venture started out as a school requirement for Monica Maceda, who was then an Entrepreneurial Management Program student at the University of Asia and the Pacific. Her inclination to pampering herself gave birth to the idea of bringing quality nail services to people in their own homes; I Do Nails was thus created and had then since guaranteed the best nail home service to its costumers.

It started with a lot of promotions and x-deals with different magazines and television shows, and the news spread like wildfire. It is not only due to the fact that I Do Nails offers excellent nail services for reasonable prices, but also because of its use of organic products and high class nail polishes

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such as Orly, OPI, Chanel, Deborah Lippman, Essie and Sally Hansen.

Its patrons need not worry because I Do Nails has a strict sanitation procedure on the tools its technicians use. Other than that, they are always among the first to release whatever is new in the market, leaving its customers’ nails as hip and fab as they can be. I Do Nails also makes sure that its customers’ nails are done just the way they like it.

I Do Nails cater to both men and women. “We are not focused on women only because we believe men should also have good hygiene.” They also offers spa parties a.k.a. “sparties” to bridal showers, pre-prom gatherings, and kiddie events. They can be found at Libis, Katipunan, Cubao, Greenhills, San Juan and Ortigas.

Aside from their quality services, I Do Nails also makes it easier for their customers to set appointments through Facebook, text, and email.

Like them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ Idonailshomeservice?ref=ts

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top 5 make up school in manila words by nessa santos; photo by elisa aquino

Gone are the days when make-up artists were confined in local beauty salons. Nowadays, more and more people are becoming interested not only in prettifying themselves, but also in having the power to prettify other people. The craft is now regarded as real art, so it’s only understandable that curious cats and hobbyists alike are looking into obtaining a professional certificate. If you’re one of them and don’t know where to go, this list is meant for you!

Now let’s just slow down and take a step back. Let me first share with you the things you need to consider. We don’t want to rush into things and leave you penniless and frustrated in the long run, do we? And yep, you read that right—penniless. Make-up schools can be pretty costly, and if you’re not that financially well-off, you might get surprised with how much you should shell out. I’m not only talking about the fees—which could range from Php 15,000 – Php 33,000. Most schools don’t provide the tools for study, or if

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they do, they only offer the basics. That basically means you may have to buy your own make up and skin care sets.

Additionally, what’s the use of make up if you don’t have someone to put it onto? You’re going to need different models for each session (to practice versatility), and if you can’t tag your friends to go with you, some schools provide models for a minimal fee. More important factors to take into consideration are the courses offered (whether you’d like a basic course, or advanced classes), faculty members (if such information is disclosed), your schedule, and your proximity from the school location.

I believe you are now an equipped beauty warrior and you are ready to go into the field with makeup brushes and eyeliners at hand, so without further ado, I present you the top reputable make-up schools in Manille.

HD Make Up Academy LG5 (Lower Ground), City & Land Mega Plaza, ADB Ave., Ortigas Center, Pasig City Tel. No. 571-3303 / 0922-887-8921 / 0917-828-8483 http://www.hdmakeupacademy.com/ Tuition fee: P18, 500 – Hi-Def (HD) Beauty & Fashion Makeup Course (Intensive Program) (32 to 40 hours) P20, 000 – Hi-Def (HD) Airbrush Makeup (32 to 40 hours) HD Makeup Studio and Academy is claimed to be as “the finest hi-definition makeup school in the Manila.” This kind of makeup is geared towards creating a perfect application even under the scrutiny of HD cameras. Handled by Hollywood and Singapore-trained artists that are well versed in conventional and airbrush makeup, students are assured of small classes to make sure that each would be taught with high-quality skills. They are also famed for providing own models, which makes it easier for the students to just focus on class, rather than stressfully looking for people who could model for them.

Center for Aesthetic Studies 2nd Floor, Franck Provost Bldg, 120 Jupiter Street, Bel-Air Village, Makati City Tel. No. 895-3401 / 897-0383 / 0918-897-0383 http://www.isdanco.org/cas/ TF: P22, 000 - Basic Makeup (108 hours) Center for Aesthetic Studies or CAS pioneered in producing professionals with the right technical skills and values to succeed in the beauty industry. They are committed in providing learning opportunities through their various course offerings that are designed for each student’s progress.

They are able to do this in cooperation with TESDA (Technical Education Skills and Development Authority), together with their highly regarded faculty members.

Make Up Design Academy Mother Ignacia St., Quezon City Tel No. 416-1730 http://www.make-up-design.com/ TF: P25, 000 - Beauty and Fashion Hair & Makeup (90 Hours) Also accredited by TESDA, Make Up Design Academy is dedicated in offering intensive training to students in order

to create an industry of competent and confident professional make-up artists—from those who haven’t laid a hand on makeup brushes, to those who are already an experienced make up artists. Their courses are designed in a way that participants go through the absolute basics to make sure that they can be adaptable enough to work with clients in fashion, film & TV, theatre or any other application of the profession. Students are also taught of proper values necessary to survive the glamorous jungle of fashion and beauty, such as professionalism and appropriate business skills.

Make Up For Ever Academy Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig Tel. No. 856-5243 / 0922-864-2461 / 0918-492-8851 TF: P30, 000 (exclusive of VAT) - Module I: Beauty, Fashion and Visagism (50 hours) P33, 000 (exclusive of VAT) - Module II: Beauty, Photo and Fashion Makeup (50 hours) Regarded as Harvard of Make Up in the industry, it is no wonder that MUFE is a popular choice among newbies and professionals. Conveniently located in Serendra at The Fort, one wouldn’t need to drag his/her butt off to school since they pride themselves in using their Make Up For Ever line (obviously!), which pretty much ensures that the class creates great results. With other academies in Paris, USA and Hong Kong, students are guaranteed of world-class training and the opportunity to learn from globally-acknowledged mentors.

School of Fashion and the Arts 55 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City Tel. No. 892-8807 / 491-5536 http://www.sofamanila.com/ TF: P15, 000 - Basic Makeup every Saturday (14 weeks) Being the first specialized Fashion College in the Philippines, it is only reasonable that SoFA also provides education for those who are seeking a career in the beauty industry. Students only need passion for the craft and raw talent. SoFA is the perfect venue for aspiring artists to hone their skills. The institution is seeking to shape the Philippine Fashion industry, thus opening a lot of doors for their students. They also boast of a very prestigious list of faculty members.

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Since when did cotton candy colored locks become an It-Girl thing? The craze that is dip-dyed or ombre hair struck me at first a very juvenile and pop culture joke that pokes fun at Harajuku street stylers. But as it has evolved from being “ohso-troll-ish” to Kate Bosworth worthy class, the bleached out and, most often than not, pinked out tips have come to be considered as “style.”

The trend has even divided itself into quite a number of classifications as if segmented by the level of creativity and technique and overall look of hue/pigment of dye used.

Exhibit A, in the form of Hipster princess (or queen) Alexa Chung, sporting the trend in what seems to be an all naturale look, as if she had just been outgrowing her first hair colour.

Similar to hers is blogger Rumi Neely, who has perfected not only the art of casual, no-fuss, yet undeniably sexy dressing, but has also maintained such overly bleached out ends.

On the other side of the color spectrum is Drew Barrymore, changing it up a little with the reverse of dark to light by abruptly blocking the ends of her blonde bob with a jet black tint.

Exhibit B: Tumblr scenesters. Not to stereotype—although when you google dip dyed hair almost 80% of the photos are hosted on a Tumblr blog—out of mere assumption, but there is a typical Tumblr dip dyed hair look that can be classified into 3 main characteristics. (1) Long and effortlessly messy

20 /Updo

hair, as though it had been dried straight off from a swim at the beach. Photos of such locks are usually ones where the model has her hair blown at her face; there are a right amount of strands present that somehow cover her facial imperfections and noticeably leave out the eyes (still resulting to a beauty shot, and not a “deliberately-taken-shot-of-myselfposing-for-a-profile-picture”). (2) Lisa Frank color scheme.

Fuchsia pink, aqua blue, sea green, and toxic purple—the brighter and more daring equals the geekier the better. (3) The shirt + denim/shorts combo. There is much sense in dressing up minimal when you’ve got a lot of action going on above or just below your shoulders. Just add on a pendant necklace and statement shoes, be it a staple Dr. Marten’s or an eye catching multicoloured/pastel pumps, and you’re ready to conquer the fashion world, or at least appease your followers.

Exhibit C: Project Runway. Not the show, sadly. But designers and brands that take on the trend with a high street mindset.

One of the first to play around with the color was Proenza Schouler, using a subdued and hazy gray hue of pastel pink, green, and blue for his SS2010 collection. Topshop’s SS2011 lookbook featured snakes skin, print-on-print, and shocking tints that were given a greater edge by the blonde model’s equally eye catching highlights. The most recent designer to get inspired by the street trend is Thakoon Panigchul. Instead of dying he painted on temporary hair color to achieve a cake like and cartoon-y effect.

Metamorfos photography by koji arboleda styling, hair and make-up by maura isabel rodriguez modelling by larissa alivio

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PAINT IT BLACK photography by jelito de leon styling by esme palaganas modelling by vannah pacis make-up by pael gutierrez clothes by saliva

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STYLE GUIDE: BLOGGER'S UNITED EDITION photos by jelito de leon

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Aie Corpuz.jpg

Aileen Belmonte.jpg

Aisa Ipac.jpg

Alyssa Dagamac.jpg

Bjorn Bedayo.jpg

Cate Valconche.jpg

Anina Rubio.jpg

Angeline Rodriguez.jpg

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Enzo Ladrido.jpg

Celina Valconche.jpg

David Guison.jpg

Charlene Ajose.jpg

Divin Lee & Victor Basa.jpg

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Gerd Perez.jpg

Gillian Uang.jpg

Ikiss Uson.jpg

Karl Leuterio.jpg

Kryz Uy.jpg

Krissy Cruz.jpg

Kirsten Rice.jpg

Kaye Awatin.jpg

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Kryzelle Patolot.jpg

Laureen Uy.jpg

Mae Pascual.jpg

Lissa Kahayon.jpg

Kookie Buhain & Paul Jatayna.jpg

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Raiza Poquiz.jpg

Raleene Cabrera.jpg

Stephanie Sol.jpg

Reese Lansangan.jpg

Seph & Shai.jpg

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Tin Iglesias.jpg

Tracy Ayson.jpg

Vern Enciso.jpg

Val Chua.jpg

Stacy & Danah Gutierrez.jpg

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Mariel Icban-Cruz.jpg

Marj Sia.jpg

Megann Jabola.jpg

Melai Entuna.jpg

Pearl Manalili.jpg

Patricia Prieto.jpg

Mildred Zapanta.jpg

Mikko Mahinay.jpg

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THREE IS NEVER A CROWD WITH HYPERVODKA words by maine manalansan and ellie centeno photos by pat nabong illustration by rob cham, kasey albano and kitkat pecson

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As soon as I got the theme for our anniversary issue, their names immediately came to my mind. Rob Cham, Kasey Albano, and Kitkat Pecson, collectively known as Hypervodka, happily accepted our invitation to be on our covers.

The date was set and studio appointments were made and we thought we were good. On the day of the shoot, a closed studio and a dusty waiting area welcomed us. We were running out of time to just had to make it work. Despite the disaster, the trio were still energetic for the shoot.

Rob, Kasey and Kitkat all came from Ateneo de Manila University and they are proud homegrown talents of the Loyola Film Circle. They wanted their promotions to be at par with professional ones even though they didn’t have any formal background in graphic design. Rob took up Management while both Kasey and Kitkat were Communications students.

LFC’s promotions were successful and beautiful, to say the least and it served as their training ground for the future.

Years after, they found themselves working for Create.ph and staring at a book called Unscripted Conversations which they all worked hard for. Kasey, alongside Christian San Jose, was the one responsible for the book’s overall look, while Rob and Kitkat contributed. Now, they are handling various design jobs from all over the world and it’s not an impossibility that they will take the world by storm.

---------Stache: What got you started in the industry?

Rob: What got me started in the general industry of where I currently work at is making illustrations and drawings, just you know, drawing at sketchbooks and notebooks then I discovered a knack on doing it and eventually, I kept on trying to improve. Which led me to various illustration jobs, various design jobs, and various comic work. I started a site on Tumblr and that’s what got me exposure with people, and that’s how I [grew] into it cause I saw how people found that I was something worth paying attention to. I found out that there was a market for my horrible humor and terrible illustrations so I decided to pursue it because what’s there to lose in pursuing your dreams and passion. I mean it’s not the safest thing to pursue but it’s better than, sort of, just settle.

Kasey: I think it was in senior year high school when I started tinkering around the pen tool in Photoshop and then ever since I’ve always looked into blogs, design books, etc and tried to develop my [skills]. My style is kinda vintage and nostalgic. Formally, in terms of work, I have a Tumblr that I rarely update, it’s just there and then there’s this one day that Dan Matutina came across my Tumblr and he reblogged

some of my stuff and he even tweeted about me and posted about me on his Facebook wall and that’s when things, sort of, started snowballing. He’s the reason why I have a job right now. Thank you Dan, you’re the coolest.

Kitkat: I started drawing because my family likes hiking, swimming and going to the beach so as I kid, I draw that.

Like, ‘oh I wanna capture the sunset’ and they thought it was a masterpiece but when I look at it, I was like, ‘god I suck’.

To think my parents encouraged this (laughs). Design-wise, I joined the creative team of Loyola Film Circle. That’s why I started focusing more on drawing for myself, for personal stuff. So I started doing posters and like, print design. I had a series of internships and that’s how I realized that it’s something I really wanted.

---------Stache: Do you have any experience in traditional art?

Rob: Yeah. I’ve been doing drawing since forever. My parents encourage the talent so they [enrolled] me in art lessons. I didn’t really like, pursue to traditional art. That’s when I got started finding passion for drawing and I used to do oil paintings and figure drawings and all that. The style that I have now developed are more on avoiding oil painting, I mean I applied the techniques but I don’t really use the techniques for what they are meant for. I had some training but not the whole deal.

Kitkat: I used to do watercolor and colored pencils. I really like experimenting with colors. I like mermaids, I like watercolors. I haven’t done any traditional art in a while.

Kasey: I don’t really do traditional art. When I was younger, I tried a little. I did watercolor, I did a bit of oil painting also, and pastels. But I didn’t really like it so that’s when I went digital.

---------Stache: Where do you get your inspiration for designing logos, websites and brands? How do you keep your ideas fresh?

Kasey: Me and Rob got into web design a few weeks ago.

I think generally, when you start working on something, the inspiration really comes from people who do what you love.

It’s like when you’re an apprentice and you’re learning under your master it’s like you’re trying to do what you’re master is doing and then trying to find your own way around it to make it your own thing or your own style.

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Stache: How do you keep your work different from other people’s?

Rob: By sucking. (everybody laughs) Cause like, my style, it developed because I was trying to emulate someone else, and because I can’t do what they do, it sort of becomes my own style, because it’s a spin-off someone else. Everything that I do is an amalgamation of something I try to emulate but then that becomes my own thing cause, of course I can’t copy them because I don’t know how they do it so I go about trying to do what they do in my own way. Figuring out, doing It in how I would want to do it.

Kasey: I agree with Rob. When you look at blogs and books and illustrations and various designs and stuff, it’s sort of goes into your subconscious, and it becomes a memory.

Sometime you just apply something subconsciously but when it comes from you, it’s different.

Rob: Take a little from everything. Learn from everything.

Kitkat: Well, you have to consistently do what you like even if though other people don’t like them because everyone has their own art style and when you start out, sometimes people think it’s amateur or it’s not really what other people are doing but that’s the beauty of It because you get to pursue expressing yourself. I like doing origami but I can’t do it in really life, that’s why I do it digitally and I’m trying to develop that. And it would really depend on your personality too because everyone’s art style really reflect the way they are like I’m an outgoing kind of person and then my artworks are super colorful. Like Rob is weird and awkward sometimes.

Rob: I’m not awkward man. I’m beautiful. (laughs) Kitkat: I mean you know, he’s funny. And Kasey’s got her own thing going on and her style is more modern and indie because I like her art style too. You can really tell it if you look at someone’s art work you’ll go, ‘oh that’s them’. So if you want to develop your own style, you can get inspiration from other people but [you have to make sure that when people look at something you do, they’ll know that it’s from you].

---------Stache: Do you have any personal projects?

because I love comics. Cause I want to tell stories to people and I have this weird sense of humor and commentary on life. You can buy my comics at my website, Sputnik at Cubao Ex or any Comic Odyssey branch. You can also buy them online at Punchdrunkpanda.com where you can also buy other merch from me like laptop bags, camera straps, and also at comicxhub.com.

Kasey: I have some illustrations but they are all half-done, all in the making because I’ve been swamped by other projects like Unscripted Conversations. It’s sort of like a personal thing already because I put a lot of work in it.

Rob: It was designed by Create.ph.

Kitkat: My blog is my ongoing project because I want it to be more professional. I have two personal projects at the moment, I’m doing photo-illustrations and another thing for tattoos. We try to make tattoos come alive. It’s spinonskin. tumblr.com.

---------Stache: Do you ever put a little bit of ‘you’ in whatever you project that you do?

Rob and Kasey: Always Kasey: Mine always have an easter egg somewhere, like a reference to something. When you see it and realize it, you shit brix. (laughs) Just kidding.

Kitkat: Even if the branding of the company is really unique to the company, like depending on the way you view art, it’s going to change the way you modify your work.

Rob: I put myself in my own comics so that counts. In illustration work, I do it in my own style and I inject my own humor into it and my own sensibilities. So yeah, everyone puts their own selves into their own art. Otherwise there’s no soul in it, man.

Kasey: It’s like it’s just there Rob: We’re hippies man. You gotta put a little love into it, otherwise it won’t grow.

Rob: For me, it’s my comics. They’re a way for me to spend time between projects, doing something productive and also

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Stache: One last inspirational message for the creative youth.

Rob: Fuck you creative youth! (laughs) No, no, that’s mean.

I’m just saying that because we want all the money for ourselves (laughs) Kitkat: Stop undercharging your clients. It’s not a creative message but it’s true, don’t bring down the rates.

Rob: Don’t underestimate yourselves. Don’t undervalue yourself.

Kitkat: And do whatever you like. Do whatever the fuck you want because you’re going to end up doing that anyway.

Even if your parents make you take like a Management just cause art doesn’t make money, you’re going to end up doing art anyway.

Rob: Support each other because you’re doing something that isn’t seen as conventional and it’s discouraging if you keep telling yourself, ‘oh it’s not gonna work out’, stuff like that. I think you should just pursue it, cause what’s there to lose?

Kasey: Mine would be a quote from The National, ‘be brave, be kind’. It’s really important, as an artist to just be brave enough to try and do your own thing and put your work out there. As designers, you have to do a lot of networking and at the same time it’s hard to work alone as a designer. I realized that working in a studio, you pass projects to each other even though it will pay more if I did it, but I know he can do it better so I give it to him. You have to support the other creatives as well because that’s how you could grow as a creative.

Rob: Support each other, the be brave thing, experiment, do stupid shit.

Kasey: Don’t be afraid to do something that other people haven’t done.

Kitkat: If you’re a rebel at heart, express yourself with art. http://create.ph http://hypervodka.tumblr.com http://robcham.com http://kitkatpecson.tumblr.com http://kaseyalbano.tumblr.com Special thanks to Gabby Cantero and Daylight Studios

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diy or die words and photos by elisa aquino

When you hear the word “thesis,” you probably think of serious, overwhelming, panic attack-inducing presentations that leave you wanting to punch someone in the face or worse, make you want to fall asleep.

unicorn, sugar, spice and everything nice. She is currently a student at the School of the Fashion and the Arts (SoFA) and is half of the music duo Reese & Vica. She is bound to prove that thesis projects and creativity go hand in hand.

For the seniors of Ateneo de Manila University taking up Information Design, punching someone in the face and a snooze fest won’t be necessary. Creativity and innovation is something essential and at the same time inherent to these students, thereby delivering the most unique and artistic thesis projects.

DIY or DIE, in the very words of the creator herself, is an experimental art book that curates how different people reinterpret the basic white shirt when presented as a wearable medium for self-expression. The project strives to establish the idea of creativity as innate, and aims to unravel the external factors that contribute to the creative process, such as time constraints, workplace, materials, medium and the environment.

For one artist in particular and a recent graduate of the course, her project will make you look at thesis projects in a different, great way.

Reese Lansangan is a 21-year old freelance designer, trendsetter, singer, blogger and fashion student who expels

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Amidst Reese’s very busy schedule full of rainbows and other pretty things, she opens up to us about her book, which has recently garnered an award at the recent Philippine Graphic Design Awards.

Who or what were your main inspirations to that have helped create the book? Early on, I knew I wanted to create an art book of sorts. I have a weird love affair with paper. I love touching it, folding it, cutting it - I love the fact that it can transform into art that is tangible. Therefore, I wanted to make a book that appealed to the senses in a more direct manner. A book could be cradled, overlays could be run through by the fingertips, pop-ups could be set to movement a thousand times over by opening and closing at the fold… I valued these details that could be felt and experienced by the audience over and over again.

I looked to my own collection of art and design books, and spent countless of hours on the floors of Fully Booked just to devour anything and everything that was ready to be eaten up. I lapped up inspiration like a sponge left in the Gobi desert for a millennia. Projects and design showcases off the Internet also inspired me, as these sources were free and only cost bandwidth. Sagmeister’s out of the box thinking was something I tried to adapt every time I made my pages. I tried.

How has your love for art, fashion and music influenced your choice for your thesis? Naturally, I wanted to cram in and incorporate as much things I love in my thesis project.

You’re supposed to work on it for a whole year, so you really have to love it like it was your firstborn. Come to think of it, thesis and giving birth to babies, there really is no difference. You experience labor pains, too.

Since Information Design rears one to become an effective graphic designer, I sort of was losing the art that I used to love creating - the organic, hands-on, paint-on-your-knees kind - in place of computers and vector points. I wanted to find a way to marry graphic design with traditional, mixed media art, and that’s basically how I went about making my pages.

Can you relay the process of its creation in the shortest way possible? I’d plan the layout of the pages in my head, transfer it to my notebook, execute the page by hand through painting, collage, and other weird techniques, scan and edit as necessary, slap the spread on InDesign, figure out where the typefaces and where the text will go, revise revise revise a thousand times, then move on to the next page.

All of these while listening to my thesis playlist.

How many people were involved in the project and what were your qualifications for choosing them? Originally, I wanted 100 participants and 15 chosen subjects for a more in-depth focus. However, TIME WAS THE ENEMY! I didn’t have enough of it. So I my thesis adviser and I decided on a safe, doable number: 50. There were about 72 shirts given out though - some haven’t made their way

back to me until this day :)) The book individually showcased 53 shirts in total.

Since I wanted it to be a diverse pool of people, I tapped different personalities from all walks of life. I had a house maid, a 7 year old, a former child star, a random boy in high school with raging hormones, a legit fashion designer, a priest!! (supposedly), a person with cerebral palsy, a collage artist, occasionally mixed with different varieties of your typical Atenean student.

I also advertised my thesis and had a call for volunteers who could express their interest via online emailing. I also responded to referrals by friends.

What/whose were some of your favorite creations? Why? There was this shirt with a face of a bearded man drawn on it. The beard was made out of his own hair, which the artist so kindly asked his salon if they could put his hair in a Ziploc after his haircut. That was definitely one of my favorites. It pays to be really memorable.

There was a shirt turned into a gold, glittered shoe, a shirt that had hanging paper crane origamis at the hem, a shirt that was printed with white ink (which I photographed under black light, it was pretty boss).

There were also shirts that were my favorites because of the people who made them. Because of my thesis, I was able to reach some of my Internet + real life idols and have them do shirts for me. I even got a world famous international blogger from New York to do one. The positive response towards it was really overwhelming.

Did you encounter any form of difficulty/problems during its creation? How do I even begin? Aside from the obvious, methodical problems such as volunteers not complying with my guidelines, losing shirts or not doing them at all, I actually had a much deeper problem prior to starting out.

I was actually one of the first few people who were sure of what she was going to do. Even before finishing my junior year, I had that white shirt project brewing in my head although it took a different form entirely. It had very different objectives from what my thesis is now. It used to be, I dare say it, superficial and self-satisfying. It was also barely socially relevant. This was definitely a concern.

I wanted my thesis to not just pass off as something that I did because I loved fashion and art and I was doing it because it was “easy” (seemingly easy). I was deeply concerned because looking at friends alone, they were creating new instructional methods for teaching music, and starting up online photo-uploading sites to address problems of local communities. Already, they were tackling huge, overwhelming societal issues. Their projects were

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relevant, and I knew that my existing idea for my thesis needed new direction.

I could do the book all over again, I definitely would. I just might.

I didn’t want to force any noble causes out of my project just for the sake of it. I wanted it to come from a sincere place, so I talked to one of my favorite mentors from Ateneo (my Theology teacher), as well as my design professor. Eventually, DIY or DIE became the project that it is now - aiming to reinstate creativity as innate in every single human being, and reinforce a desire to produce anything and everything, from anything and everything.

In the greater scheme of things, how do you think does your book change/influence the world, society or the youth? My book’s ultimate goal is, as I’ve said, to REINSTATE the fact that creativity is innate in EVERYONE. Every. One. No matter who you are or what your profession is, you are creative just by the simple premise that you are capable of CREATING things, be it paintings, sandwiches, or bar graph reports.

How long did you create the book? TIME was also the biggest problem I’ve encountered with DIY or DIE. Originally I imagined myself working on it endlessly, all year round. However, since I had to keep on finding a purpose and direction for my thesis that would work for me, I was poised to start already 8 months behind schedule.

Second is to INSPIRE people to create, as an initial reaction after encountering my book. Third is to DEVELOP a deep yearning to create as a way of expressing sentiments, thoughts, feelings, memories. I want people to just be driven and fueled by a conscious and burning desire for creativity and creative things. It might be a long shot, (and I’m not saying this can be achieved just by my book) but someday I envision a more empowered, driven, creative society that pools together ideas and marries them with available resources in order to solve small and big problems within the community, and perhaps within our own world.

A secret: I designed the entire book in two weeks. Two weeks, all 200 something pages of it, in its whole entirety. I did some designs months prior to those crucial two weeks leading up to our final exhibit, but I scrapped EVERYTHING because they were ugly and wasn’t worthy of putting up in front of people at all. A month before the exhibit, I was already thinking of dropping my thesis subject and retaking that single thing for an extra semester (and suffer being delayed) just so I could just focus on my thesis and my thesis alone. In my head, a month is NOT enough for all the (supposedly) great things I was planning for my book. But after sessions and sessions of “therapy” (pep-talks, brainstorming, draft exercises) with my teacher, I managed to crawl out of the bat cave where I purposely hid myself, with my FINISHED book in all its hand-embroidered glory.

Another secret: On the very day of our exhibit was the day that I brought the all the pages up for binding. I was still making new pages during that morning and had them printed and bound while I went to school. I got the freshly finished book by 5pm. The exhibit opening was at 6pm.

If you could name your book differently, what would it be? I don’t think I’d have the heart to rename my whole project. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. DIY or DIE has been my baby for two years now, and it has many connotations rooted in the cause and goal of the project. I’m keeping DIY or DIE. Was the finished product what you expected? YES AND NO! I definitely did not expect to come up with a work I am proud of presenting on time for the seniors’ exhibit, but I did. However, I planned the book to be even more interactive than what it is now. I wanted elaborate pop-ups, several overwhelming overlays, well-planned pullouts, but time didn’t allow me to pore over each and every page as much as I would’ve wanted to. It’s also funny how much my aesthetics have changed over the year that has passed. If

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How does it feel to have won in the Philippine Graphic Design Awards? It feels mighty flipping awesome. Just to be able to have that opportunity to present your work for judging in front of such accomplished pool of artists and designers is already a huge thing in itself. But to find out that they believed in it enough to grant me the Magenta trophy, the highest award for student work, it just feels unexplainable. Aesthetically I’ve had a lot of doubts about the way in which I executed my work cause I knew I could’ve done much better, but to actually be affirmed that your work is good, and your work is good enough to be awarded and recognized just ended my questions. Being able to read their comments (through a released article in BluPrint magazine) about my work was probably the best thing for me as well. I found that this award given to me wasn’t baseless - that great people have judged my work, scrutinized it and weighed it well. Winning PGDA made me realize that I am capable of producing even greater, more beautiful and more relevant things, and that my efforts should not end in awards or milestones but should go far beyond.

Any advice for people inspired by your work of art and your entire being? Don’t ever settle for anything that doesn’t feel right. Keep on finding that thing you love to do and firmly stand by it. Be inspired because inspiration is literally EVERYWHERE. It’s a cliche I’ve learned to hate hearing but doesn’t make it the least bit untrue. And write - always write. Don’t let words or ideas escape you. Lastly, act upon these ideas. It’s never enough for things to just be written on paper. They have to materialize, you have to make them take off from the page and turn them into

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the art of book designs words by jared carl millan

RUBEN TOLEDO Classic. Let us begin first with the matter of semantics. Classic: from the 17th century Latin classicus, meaning, “belonging to a class or division,” and later, “of the highest class.”

Classic, as defined by the Apple dictionary, is “a work of art of recognized and established value”; classic as in a piece of literature whose origin are from over centuries ago, classic as in Moby Dick, classic as in Les Miserables, classic as is Tess D’Urbervilles.

Teenagers have an aversion to classic literature, and sadly some many non-teenagers have, too. It may or may not be because of the unorthodox use of words and sentences and punctuations that filled their many pages, may or may not have something to do with English class making classic novels a required reading, may or may not simply be because they did not grow up reading them. To be fair, reading a classic book requires of its reader a demanding need of time and patience and commitment and research—unless the book is an annotated version, in which case the research had already been done for you and all you have to do is refer to them. The syntax is difficult to follow, the sentences so labyrinthine it does not take much for one to get lost in them. Another reason why the classics are not as appreciated, and one that is truly unfair, is because it is simply, in the minds of the young, “boring” and “tasteless” and “old.”

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But they are labeled “classics” for a reason. They are the best of their class. Their values have been established and validated and recognized for centuries. From the classics sprang forth the books that we now have, from Jane Austen to Ernest Hemingway to Doris Lessing to Stephen King to J.K. Rowling. If there are the books people should be reading, they are the classics.

What Ruben Toledo did with the deluxe editions of Penguin Classics changes that notoriously flawed perspective so many people have come to associate with the word “classic.” A Filipino fashion illustrator and artist, Toledo has created beautiful makeovers of the much-loved classics. He has rendered the books’ designs with grotesque, cartoonish illustrations, with Toledo’s expertise in fashion illustration lending itself into the mix. The covers are stunningly beautiful and fresh and they still have that distinguishing quality each of the book has possessed for hundreds of years. Toledo completely revamped the idea of classic literature with his fresh take on their covers.

JONATHAN GRAY (GRAY318) If there is one thing Gray318’s book designs are famous for, it is by being memorable. Known for his cover designs of Jonathan Safran Foer’s books, Gray318’s strengths as a designer lies in the versatility of his designs. He can create a book design that is purely typographical in theme or made up of largely collages or a combination of the two and it would still work, no matter the book, no matter the genre. But what is most distinct about his book designs is in the way he incorporates the bold color schemes and personalized typographies and subtle symbolic references from the books and how these elements mesh together so aesthetically stimulating the result almost always turn out beautiful, almost always turn out distinctly Gray318.

One of the most inconspicuous aims of book designs, and yet singularly the most important, is to grab the reader’s attention. Not judging a book by its cover, contrary to popular belief, is not a virtue; judging a book cover is establishing the first connection between the reader and the book, and if the cover has not managed to establish that, then probably it is not a book worth reading, which may or may not always be the case but is a great forecast. That is something Gray318’s book designs so effortlessly achieve; his works simply and clearly and gorgeously stand out.

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CAROL DEVINE CARSON What makes a successful book design is that it should be powerful. Carol Devine Carson, whose art direction is part of the first edition covers of the late Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, gave Joan Didion’s last two books of nonfiction precisely just that, a powerful book design incorporating the elements of simplicity and straightforwardness and, an element that acts as a cherry on top of an already good design, pitch-perfect sentimentality.

Joan Didion’s National Book Award-winning work of nonfiction, The Year of Magical Thinking, is her attempt to make sense of the world around her following the death of her husband, writer and critic John Gregory Dunne, in 2003. The couple had been a Hollywood power couple, a kind which now can be seen only rarely or not at all: both were intellectuals, worked behind the camera and wrote screenplays for some major films of their time, and earned some many hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. When Dunne was claimed by a massive heart attack, for many months after the particular Didion refused to do anything with his husband’s belongings, refusing to give away his shoes thinking he might need it if he comes back, when he comes back. Thus began

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her year of magical thinking: ‘’It’s the feeling that you can control events by wishful thinking: ‘The volcano will not erupt if we sacrifice such-and-such.’ ‘John will come back if I don’t give away his shoes.’” When Dunne died, their only daughter Quintana was in the intensive care, comatose.

In Blue Nights, Didion explores her role as a mother, particularly, as Quinata’s mother, and how she failed. In 2005, two years after her husband’s death, during which time her book The Year of Magical Thinking were at its final printing stages, when Quintana finally is showing signs of recovery (she had again been hospitalized the previous year after a collapse and a bleeding in the brain), she collapsed in an airport just as she and her husband are to go on a vacation, and died subsequently of pneumonia and septic shock. “‘We tell ourselves stories in order to live,’ Didion famously wrote in The White Album. Blue Nights is about what happens when there are no more stories we can tell ourselves, no narrative to guide us and make sense out of the chaos, no order, no meaning, no conclusion to the tale…it is a beautiful, soaring, polyphonic eulogy, a beseeching prayer that is sung even as one knows the answer to one’s plea, and that answer is: ‘No.’”

5 typefaces and where you might have seen it words by jared carl millan; photos by maine manalansan

Look around you. What do you see? Whatever implement or device or thing your eyes have landed on (that hedge outside your house, the roll of tissue beside your bed, your speakers and computers and pens, the carpeted floor, the potted plant), someone has designed it. Even a specific arrangement of food or flowers.

Typefaces, or colloquially known as “fonts,” is not a different matter. When the printing press was independently invented around 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg, typefaces had already been around, manually written on paper, designed by some person or another, reflecting something of its designer or the period it was created or the purpose for which it was created.

Since then typography has been as important as the meaning they convey, from advertisements to books and literature to product logo. They are effective mediums of communication, have extreme versatility, and most of all they are timeless. And we have their respective designers to thank for.

Listed below are the typefaces that have become iconic through time and usage, typefaces that has graced the “top” and “best” lists for their strength and versatility.

Origin: Helvetica was created in 1957 at the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei of Münchenstein, Switzerland. Based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk designs, the typeface was initially called Neue Haas Grotesk.

The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage.

Designer: Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann Variants: Helvetica Light, Helvetica Italic, Helvetica Bold, Helvetica Heavy, Helvetica Ultra Light, Helvetica Thin, Helvetica Roman Where you might have seen it: • Official wordmarks for such brands as Microsoft, AmericanAirlines, Jeep, TARGET, Philippine Airlines, verizonwireless, etc.

• The New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) subway signs uses the Helvetica typeface.

• The U.S. government uses Helvetica for federal income tax forms, and NASA uses the type on the Space Shuttle Orbiter.

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Origin: The German arts & crafts school/ movement, the Bauhaus, inspired the geometric shapes of the typeface. Futura, designed by Paul Renner in the mid-1920’s, was released in 1927, with additional weights being added in the years after.

Designer: Paul Renner Variants: Condensed ExtraBold, Condensed Medium, Medium Where you might have seen it: • LOUIS VUITTON uses the Futura typeface for its monogram designs.

• Sweden based liquor company uses the Condensed Extrabold for its brand ABSOLUT VODKA. • Futura had the honor of being the first typeface on the moon, chosen for a commemorative plaque left by the astronauts of Apollo 11 in 1969.

• In the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and Eyes Wide Shut, Futura has been prominently featured; it is the films’ director’s (Stanley Kubrick) favorite font.

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Origin: In the 1540s Claude Garamond came to prominence for a Greek typeface he was commissioned to create for the French king Francis I, to be used in a series of books by Robert Estienne. Later, the French court adopted the typeface for their printing. It has then influenced type across France and Western Europe.

Designer: Claude Garamond Variants: Garamond Bold, Garamond Italic, Adobe Garamond Pro Where you might have seen it: • American editions of all the Harry Potter books are set in a point 12 Adobe Garamond Pro, with the exception of the book Order of the Phoenix, which uses an 11.5-point Adobe Garamond Pro, because of its length.

• The first editions of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games trilogy are set in Adobe Garamond Pro typeface.

• Abercrombie & Fitch uses a variation of the Garamond typeface.

Origin: In the early 90’s Myriad was a typeface intended to be generic, a new sansserif for Adobe Systems; “We wanted to make almost a totally invisible type of letter, just very generic… something that really didn’t show anyone’s personality too much,” explains Slimbach in Adobe Magazine.

Designer: Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly Variants: Myriad Italic, Myriad Bold, Myriad Pro Light Where you might have seen it: • Most recognizable as Apple’s typeface since 2002 replacing the “Apple Garamond” font, from the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad to every character in Steve Jobs’ keynote presentation.

• The new logo for Chevron Cars LTD. uses the Myriad typeface.

Origin: This typeface is based on the typefaces used in American comic books.

Microsoft designer Vincent Connare released the font officially in 1994. It is classified as a casual, non-connecting script, and was designed to imitate the historical look of comic book lettering, for use in informal documents.

Designer: Vincent Connare Variants: N/A Where you might have seen it: • The first Sims game and all its expansion packs used Comic Sans, but were subsequently dropped in the latter installments.

• Works of the computer illiterate.

• Local stores near your house • Your parents mini-notes because they think it’s still cute

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Talent: Monika Tarnowski and Gregory Stellatos with Ford Photography/Post: Jennifer Avello Wardrobe Designer: Jacqueline Amezcua Art Directors: Jaeson Wilkins & Portia Rain MUA: Cathy Davis Hair: Portia Rain Assistant: Alicia Diamond

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Photography by Adrian Gonzales Modelling by Eric Alessi, Enzo Apacible, Aaron Asher, Robbie Becroft, Kryon Grant, Keita Lee

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AFTER THOUGHTS

by Tintin Lontoc

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Finding Snow White Photography by Shutter Panda Photography (Karen Dela Fuente & Mary Anne Collantes) Modeling and Styling by Slyvina Lopez Hair and Make Up by Sylvina Lopez

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LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS

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VERISIMILITUDE

by Carl Millan

NOT THE USUAL LOVE STORY

by Quisha Baterna

Having a world to yourself, a world of your own, is a beautiful thing. This is a world you make for yourself, one wherein everything you ever coveted and dreamed of are handed to you in a silver platter, every conversation a script you’ve written, every occurrence a scene you’ve spliced perfectly together; you always get the guy, always there is a silver lining, always a story with a happy ending. It is seamless. Perfect. Exactly the way you wish the world against which you had patterned it against appeared.

This is not about the pretty girl and the handsome boy. Or the insecure girl and the desperate boy. Or soul mates and perfect dates.

It’s not also about finding the perfect person. Or the whole world stopping when you kiss. Or laying under the stars. Or watching the sunset together.

It’s about two different people who have no idea why they’re still together. They fight and end up not talking. They argue over shattered glass. They find fault with each other. They struggle.

Nothing is wrong with that. The best and worst have at some point in their lives done that. But it does become a problem when you are one of the many people with soaring, insatiable minds and imaginations, people whose minds could rarely be But in the in-betweens—the little moments snatched between calmed and tamed and told what to believe and when. those fights and misunderstandings—they had a special relationship. The way she makes him laugh, or the way he makes People who share a similar mind render their worlds so deher smile. The secrets kept between them. The way he can tailed, so vivid the line between the world that is real and the explain his favorite sport to her; the way she can bring him to world that could have been real sometimes gets blurred. They her favorite shopping place. They would argue about things become so obsessed with the idea of the world they could and end up on different sides, but eventually learn to accept have instead lived in, might as well have lived in, they try to either side. They both want more out of this, but they both recreate it in the world where no one follows a certain script, weren’t willing to sacrifice. They were both scared about what where one rarely gets the boy or the happy ending. tomorrow will bring, also, it’s always better to have someone when you face the fright of life.

I am guilty of this. Sometimes I try so hard to make things happen, go out of my way to make it happen the way I They’re together because they have no idea how else to be, pictured everything in my head: The perfect turn of events, or they’re scared to know what else could be. But despite all, perfect friends, perfect drama, perfect life. Of course that is these violent fights, it makes the affection have so much more not possible. What I instead do, for my fantastic world to offer worth. verisimilitude the only way I know how, in my own oblique way, is promise to write myself a good story.

-Short Story -Essay

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MALATE STREETS AND ENDING

by Chi Solis She cannot see the long, dusty road unraveling ahead of her. Malate streets at Novembertime are eerily dark, occasionally illuminated, albeit dimly, by city streetlamps aloft the chilly ber-month darkness. Her eyes are fixated in such a way that she can only precisely see the tip of her nose, the road four feet in front of her, and the white half-moon tip of her bleached, worn-out Chucks.

She is deep in thought. If people can only see her as she saunters along the street of Maria Orosa, they will probably perceive her as one staring blankly ahead, donning the look mothers always warn their children about: Wag kang mukhang tatanga-tanga sa Maynila, maraming mandurugas dun! [“Always look like you’re on your guard, there are lots of bad people in Manila!”]

But tonight, she does not really care. She is lost inside a world only she can quite get into, savoring the last moment she permits herself to be in there.

Far away, three medical students are chatting about the Japanese restaurant they found in the Remedios Circle.

On one side of the street, a family of three - father, mother, and baby – are boarding into their prized kariton to call off the day; on the other, the ubiquitous mani and kwek-kwek vendors. Pedro Gil at nine.

Momentarily, she snaps into reality, wondering how she can manage avoiding the cars, pits, puddles, dogs, and people that goes along her way. Probably a special sort of reflex, she thinks. She makes a mental note to Google it once she gets back.

Aaah. The famous Taft. She does not dare cross this river of a street when the clouds of unending fury breaks loose. Tonight it is dry, but even if it isn’t, she will cross the intersection, still. The Chinese writings printed on the back of the black shirt of a middle-aged woman will lead her across. At this moment, the air reeks of a festival of smells she always associate with the infamous avenue: sweat, dirt, smoke, piss, bagoong, and fried isaw.

The forward jerk of the middle-aged woman’s right foot suggests that the green light is on. She follows her to the other side, then diverges when she finally has to go to the right. The middle-aged woman decides to eat at Mang Inasal.

Diiiing.

He opens the door to the house of his tita who allowed him to stay as he studies in Manila. A look of shock sprawls across his face as he sees her.

She goes straight to her business. She hands over the

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box, turns around, and starts to walk back.

She allows herself to smile. She is finally free. Inside the box, that orange-colored shoe box that once meant the world to her, lies all the things that had always reminded her of him.

-Short Story -----------A GOOD PERSON

By Carl Millan A good person does not have a particular religion. A good person becomes sometimes mad but does not get blinded by rage. A good person respects himself and the people around him, which is not to say he is ever so nice, ever so polite, does not say bad things, do bad things, but treats people the way they deserve to be treated. A good person has the courage of his mistakes. A good person has opinions and stands by them and does not shove them down others’ throats. A good person accepts defeat, however grudgingly and reluctantly. A good person acknowledges his flaws and imperfections. A good person knows his manners and etiquette and good graces and when to use them. A good person sees the bigger picture, that there is a world outside of himself, and does not ignore it, does his responsibilities to it. A good person tips.

-Essay -----------CIGARETTES

by Kyra Canumay I caught you puffing A beautiful imagery Of perfect longing, Through smokes of solitary.

I caught you inhaling A wicked thought, Not to consider expatriating From the selfish world you bought.

I caught you exhaling A lovely miasma Slowly revolving And polluting your angelic aura.

For each cigarette you smoke, A thousand molecules evoke.

-Poem

PHILIPPINE ROMANCE: IN RETROSPECT

by Arianne Angelique Tolentino

“You may fall from the sky, you may fall from a tree, but the best way to fall is to fall in love with me.” Did you see how petty guys can get?

In a world where everything seems to be speedy or instant, no one has ever given a thought that there existed a romance that involved fetching of water and chopping wood.

No one also has ever imagined a couple who are forbidden of holding each other’s hands and going out in public together. Most relationships start with what most people call “Stage One”, the courtship stage. According to the book Love, Sex and Intimacy by Elaine Hatfield and Richard Rapson, when couples first meet, they strive to make a good impression. They exchange carefully edited versions of their life histories. They size up one another. Courting a woman among the Filipino youth then is different from the Filipino youth now in terms of dating habits, role of parents and modes of communication.

Second, the role of parents then and now differs. In the past, courtship cannot start without the parents’ approval but now, even without the consent of parents, courtship happens. It is considered before that the couple must not be allowed to be left alone yet during the courtship proper and the suitor and the woman’s family can only have an informal chat. Now, couples can proceed to the “gettingto-know-each-other-stage” even without their families company. Most parents before ask someone they can trust to chaperon their daughter when the couple can start dating in public but now, the woman’s parents allow them to hang out by themselves.

There is a huge discrepancy between the old Philippine Romance dating habits and the Filipino youth today. First, a man who is interested in courting a woman before must initially be discreet and friendly in order not to be seen as aggressive or arrogant. But now, a man just approaches a lady and asks for her number and sooner or later, they are already a couple. The Filipino youth today have a speedy process of courtship.

Before, a man must fetch water and chop wood to prove themselves worthy or the woman’s love. But now, men use chocolates and flowers to woo women because they think it is romantic. But according to ehow.com, women do not really want stereotypical gifts because they think it is meaningless. It is the present with the most personal meaning that makes the most Moreover, suitors before compose songs and poems and let their creative juices do the work for their muse or inspiration which is a good way to court a woman because every woman wants to feel unique and special. Now, guys just use cheesy pick-up lines like, “If you were a booger I would pick you first.”, or “Do you have a map? Because I just keep getting lost in your eyes!”, or something like this,

Lastly, Filipino courtship has evolved in terms of communicating. Gone are the days when they just used telegrams, letters and even landline because now, mobile and online courting happen. In cases where a young man sees a woman he likes, he must seek the help of a go-between or “tulay”, to ask the father of the woman’s approval.

Once the approval is obtained, the suitor can then visit the woman.

Over the years, courtship had been modified by the influence of other cultures. Courtship among the Filipino youth then is far better than the Filipino youth now. Due to the liberalism of the modern Filipino courtship, we now have sky rocketing cases of premarital sex, high risk sexual behaviours, and even injurious behaviours (e.g. suicide).

Now I believe you can now understand why your parents or grandparents act so differently when it comes to your love life. Nevertheless, there is a big discrepancy on how to court a Filipina youth then and now.

-Essay ------------

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CHAPTER TWO

by Maine Manalansan

It’s kind of strange how this ‘season to be jolly’ is all about sunny morning and gloomy afternoons. The bipolarity of the weather is frustrating because it’s supposed to be cold 24/7, but who am I to complain? I live in an oven toaster of a country. The tiniest movement of air is a blessing from high up above.

The funny thing is, I kind of like the gloomy afternoons. It’s like the universe it telling me that, ‘hey I know how you feel’. Does it really? But the sympathy is touching my liver and kidneys in all the right spots and I suddenly become a little bit better. Maybe that’s why grey skies lifts sad people’s spirits. Just add a jar of Nutella to the setting and the appropriate folk-indie bullshit those hipster kids listen to and your life will instantly be a Murakami novel. Or a Tumblr post with 1,290 notes.

I’ve always been an introvert. I spend my beloved grey skies indoors with my laptop table against my yellow curtain, and just listen to whatever, just watch whatever, and just type whatever. It’s heightens my creativity and productivity to a very strange level. Just like now. I’m supposed to be studying a course I am not interested in, but I’m here writing this. One big ball of emotion in 815 words, so far.

I apologize for the lack of smooth-thinking. I’m a scatterbrain and I always have a hard time thinking of transitions in between paragraphs. Because my life lacks transition. It’s always up or down. I don’t have a grey area.

Unless it’s gloomy, then outside is my grey area. Which is not within me, still.

-Essay -----------TO A PEACEFUL DEATH Teo Gaspar the prayers in the breviary are kissed for fear is the bowing to the unseen face… to the Father, or the Mother, the Son, or the Daughter, the Spirit, holy or the Flesh, juicy oh, so juicy flesh …you haven’t tasted yet. ‘do’ should follow ‘re’

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and ‘la’, ‘si’. this is not jazz for fear is the croaking at high notes… face is all red, choking, choking, choking, the cigarettes that shouldn’t have been taken in …unsung still.

Thus far, fear became unfear of the things to write and not to write to love and to play with sip coffee, breath tobacco no sleep, no fear rest tonight.

-Poem -----------MASTERING BATHING

by Nellie Cuevas Once you enter the purity zone, at the speckle-framed divine corner, a soft hook or perhaps a reaper scythe: timble, tumble, japanese respect-come and go, back and forth, muscles reflex: bending, swaying, still. reasoned the moving images in the head; open and free: skinny, perfect people. once swaying, once a curved tool, now rock-hard mammoth standing pump-ready, springs finely attached elevates the circus: up and down slowly at first; but then this acceleration rapid rowing, elevator goes breaking pictures hurry, movies go perfectly still mammoth goes lashing, angry fat fitting-timely touch: a sipping pink-flesh tube delivers the baby’s want: calcium for bones even blood-driven, so-cold-then-it-freezes fountains away: a spectacular firework panting and screaming are quite heard-everything’s reverting, the usual way: once a rockhard mammoth, now a cloth-hanger closes the curtains, exits the pearl room.

THE KICK

by Jack Estacio I knew in my dream that I was only dreaming But then I dreamt of you and so I kept on streaming Down by this river into a tunnel of love And out to a paradise up to the stars above Picnics on green grasses and castles in white sand I moved in a little closer and reached for your hand But then I thought to myself “What was I thinking?”

Then again, you held my hand and looked at me smiling

Storms of my life Blur every line Happiness: so foreign Misery is fine.

A day in the life A life in a day: Do you see the joy That I can portray?

It’s so very simple Such an easy mask No one notices Such a solid act.

And so I looked back and saw twinkles in your eyes No words of description to this feeling would suffice Pounding like jackhammers, our hearts would feel the same Exploding like firecrackers when out those three words came

A day in the life A life to decay Living’s overrated When it’s done everyday.

On a sunset silhouette we find ourselves in A kiss to send us flying is waiting to give in Our eyes closed, lips closer, the moment inching in But I ended up waking from this dream I was dreaming.

But you never really live; We simply just exist.

From a day in the life To the ‘life’ known as this.

-Poem

-Poem

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

by Loren Martin

BREATHE IN STARS

by Iris M.

A day in the life A life in a day: A sea of emotions The sadness of waves.

She steps out of the world, answering the call of the sky, soaring past reality, overcome In tandem with her heart, beating fast as she flies Giving in to wanderlust, getting lost in her dreams, spreading her alabaster wings She’ll lay her head to sleep, and, tonight, breathe in Stars.

Constantly drowning Breathlessly scared Waving for mercy Grasping for air.

A day in the life A life in a day: Broken and raw I need to be saved.

Sinking deeper Not worth the cause Alone in my head And hopelessly lost.

-Poem ------------

A day in the life A life in a day: I’ve never known sunshine I’ve only had rain.

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photos by patricia nabong, maine manalansan, gabriel mangilaya, and jeremy marcelo

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UP Powercard Launch words by karla bernardo

It was a rainy Tuesday afternoon and upon Diliman loomed an overcast that enveloped the campus in a subdued gray tone. But amidst the downpour remained one tent, solid in its whiteness, unyielding in its resolve to remain standing in the middle of the drenched AS parking lot. It was the day of the WE Card and UP Powercard launch, and for the women of the Sigma Delta Phi sorority, not even the strongest of showers can mute the spectrum of their cause.

The Sigma Delta Phi, known as the society for the dramatics and fine arts, is not new to supporting causes worthy of their attention. Established in the University of the

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Philippines Diliman in 1931, the sorority has since produced notable alumni, distinguished and successful in their own respective fields, ranging from journalism to the arts. Tracing its roots to its dedication to socio-civic service, they have delved into numerous projects that reached out to a number of communities over the years, such as the Gawad Kalinga and Kythe Foundation. But more than anything, the Sigma Delta Phi continuously strives to put their kinship at the forefront, if only to get to a wider audience and bring about change to more lives.

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This year is no different. With the launch of the WE Card and UP PowerCard, the Sigma Delta Phi is aiming to extend its assistance in literacy and educational campaigns, particularly Project Bata, Mag-aral Ka, an effort introduced by the sorority in 2010 to support underprivileged Filipino communities. It focuses on instilling in the children of these areas the desire to learn and the willingness to strive for dreams through education. The project has been staunchly supported by various UP student organizations since its inception and as such has become a flourishing venture between the UP community and its beneficiaries.

The UP PowerCard, now on its third year, is a privilege card honored in partner establishments such as Banana Leaf, Birkenstock, Chelsea Market & Café, Fully Booked, Gelatissimo, Globe, Maldita, Lay Bare, Nail It, Slimmer’s World, the Spa, Via Venetto, and Yellow Cab. Discounts, freebies, and promos are exclusive to the club of 2,500 cardholders. Both students and faculty members of UP are entitled to avail of the PowerCard, the proceeds of which are placed in the Project Bata, Mag-aral Ka fund.

Meanwhile, the WE Card, much like your typical café card, is a sticker-collection card – but instead of frothy frappuccinos and iced lattes, the WE Card encourages its patrons to volunteer for the sorority’s supported foundations including Childhope Asia, Gawad Kalinga, Habitat for Humanity, Hands on Manila, Hands on Schools – Galing Mo Kid!, Kanlungan ni Maria, Kythe Foundation, PAWS, UP Mountaineers’ Green is Good and Sigma Delta Phi’s very own Project Bata, Mag-Aral Ka. The time spent for helping out in these organizations earns one a sticker; the completion of twenty (20) stickers entitles one to a Be One shirt and a chance to participate in the raffle draw. But more than that, one gains a trove of memories and experiences shared with different communities - definitely something more

remarkable and worthwhile than a new planner.

The launch started a little past noon, with the partner-NGO booths set up for the visitors to participate in and know more about. One in particular had a table filled with crayons and water colors, and sheets of paper filled with alphabets to be colored in. The completion of the letters would then be displayed along the tent, and would then be used by the SDP in their future outreach educational programs for the youth. There was also a freedom wall, where people could paint in their drawings and illustrations in support of children’s rights. In their own little space in between the cars and beneath the rain, the members of the sorority remained unfaltering in entertaining and welcoming the guests, asserting their collective devotion to the causes they are fighting for, and affirming their resolute unity against all odds.

Despite the heavy downpour, the entire booth was filled with students from different colleges coming together to share whatever time they had in support of the sorority’s worthy causes. Like a prism that opens up a myriad of different shades, the Sigma Delta Phi is never hesitant to open itself up to admirable endeavors – and not even the absence of sunshine can wash away their dedication.

For more information, you could visit http://upsigmadeltaphi. org/.

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