Spring 2021|Flat Hat Magazine by The Flat Hat

FLAT HAT MAGAZINE

The “Big Scoop” Issue A CONVERSATION WITH JEN PSAKI MUSIC AT THE CINEMA WILLIAMSBURG AS WE KNOW IT THE LAND IS MY BRIDGE TO HER LA VIE EN ROSE LIFE’S A DRAG

volume 2

FLAT HAT MAGAZINE

The “Big Scoop” Issue

Letter from the Editors Over winter break, we made plans to make every single piece of content in this magazine as hard-hitting and topical as we possibly could. We wanted to give our viewers what we thought they wanted to read and watch. Over time, after working with our staff, we found that not everything we wanted to cover fit that standard, and yet, those ideas sounded irresistible, nonetheless. So, it was time to reassess our priorities. This is a student-run magazine all about culture — whether that’s pop culture, campus culture, or students’ own culture. We couldn’t forget that. When it came down to it, we had to ask ourselves, “What really is the ‘big scoop’ here?” That scoop, of course, includes those once-in-a-lifetime stories, such a profile featuring College of William and Mary alumna and White House press secretary, Jen Psaki. They also include those current, important articles, such as one highlighting the current struggles that businesses in Colonial Williamsburg face or how drag fashion has influenced Gen Z culture. But these newsie stories don’t paint the whole picture. Whether it’s our own review of french fries or trying Chromatica Oreos for the fun of it, ironic photoshoots from the “Jamestown Riviera,” or an emotional story about reconnecting with one’s own culture, these pieces all make up the “big scoop” we want to share with the campus community. As a relatively new publication, launched in fall 2019 and relaunched in fall 2020, it has been important for us to assert our editorial independence while cultivating a voice that represents the hopes and aspirations of our staff as a whole. Every bit of content that we put out — whether it’s a written story, an Instagram post, a video, a TikTok, or even a podcast — has been a collaborative effort on the part of our team with multiple voices involved in decisions and execution. There is a beauty to the freedom that we have to explore our interests and voices through this platform without any impediments to our creativity. Of course, we have our staff to thank. Their hard and diligent work was instrumental in the completion of this magazine issue. As the Flat Hat Magazine family continues to grow, so do our capabilities. Without further ado, we welcome you to the second instalment of Volume II of Flat Hat Magazine, The “Big Scoop” Issue.

Gavin Aquin Hernández and Alyssa Slovin Flat Hat Magazine Editors-in-Chief

TABLE OF 3

A Conversation with Jen Psaki

A Conversation with Dr Alicia Andrzejewski

Campus Secret Societies

Guillermo y María: Part I

C(r)a$h Course in Mon€y

The Art of Collecting Vinyl

Exploring Lana Del Rey through Haikus

Music at the Cinema

Williamsburg as We Know It

Religious Freedom at Home

Welcome to My Island

La Vie en Rose

CONTENTS 71

The Land is My Bridge to Her

I Spent a Year Learning Irish

Pomme de Terrible

AvocaDOs and DON’Ts

104

Finding a Balance

Business is Booming

109

113

Life’s a Drag

TikTok and High Fashion

115

119

Mask Masquerade

Sizing Scam

122

124

To All the Exposed Ankles I’ve Seen Before

Dreaming of the French Riviera But All We Have is Jamestown Beach

A Conversation with Jen Psaki

Story by Will Kobos ’24

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It was a chilly 38ºF on the afternoon of February 8th in D.C., the day after Tom Brady and the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary and a graduate of the College of William and Mary’s Class of 2000, who at 42 is a full year younger than the star quarterback, had given the daily press briefing at noon. In it she discussed the nascent stimulus bill that had begun its long journey through the halls of Congress, and which still contained the provision mandating a $15-per-hour federal minimum wage. The spotlight of the day remained the impending impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, the finalized rules of which congressional leaders would announce later in the day. It was 3:30 when I rushed up the stairs in Tucker Hall to find an empty third-floor classroom. The room on the west side was unoccupied, so I went in, set down my backpack, put my phone and my notes on the table in front of me, and waited for the phone to ring. After exchanging emails with Ms Psaki’s chief of staff, I had given her my number, and it was agreed that she would call me for a 15-minute interview. Eight minutes later, the phone rang with a 202 number; I answered, and Ms Psaki was on the other end, calling from the West Wing of the White House. We exchanged greetings; she asked how school was going, an inquiry which every student from three to twenty-three is almost certain to receive upon meeting someone older than they are. I delivered a typically unsatisfactory answer; in returning the pleasantry, I didn’t have the same sort of ready-made question, so I had to take the more general tactic of asking her how her day had been. “Good,” she said. “Busy,” she added, laughing, “but good.” The clock was already ticking on the 15 minutes I had been allotted, and I shifted over into interview mode as quickly as I could. The following conversation has been edited for clarity. Will Kobos: Just sort of to start off, what is your favourite memory from freshman year at William and Mary? Jen Psaki: Oh, boy. You know, I always fondly remember the beginning of the school year, and the traditions that every freshman takes part in. I remember very specifically the welcome by President Sullivan outside of the Wren Building. I have a lot of great memories of being a swimmer on the swim team there. I have great memories of late nights in my freshman hall — I lived in DuPont, which was a great dorm back then, still is, I’m sure. WK: What was a class or a professor that you really loved? JP: I was an English major, and I really loved a lot of different English classes I took. I remember taking some classes maybe my junior or senior year on African-American authors that I remember especially

enjoying. They took place at the time, I don’t know where they take place today, in the upper floors of Tucker, so they were in these cozy rooms, and we would just discuss these incredible books that had been written in history, so I remember that fondly. I remember, I think it was Professor Kate Slevin, who was one of my sociology professors — I remember those classes fondly. I was a sociology double-major, so I also remember those classes as being really interesting and learning quite a bit about movements and societies, and I just really thought that was interesting. Before I knew it, I had a sociology double-major because I enjoyed those classes so much. WK: Moving on a little bit, when did you know you wanted to go into political communications as a career, and what experiences at W&M steered you towards that? JP: Well, I wouldn’t say I knew what career path I 4

wanted to follow then until I was a couple of years out of college, so this is I guess a lesson to anyone who’s reading that you don’t have to know what you want to do for the rest of your life the moment you graduate — at least that wasn’t the case for me. I always loved writing and always loved books and discussion and debate, so for me that was a good basis for different career paths I explored moving forward. I interned between my junior and senior years on Capitol Hill, and so that was probably a formative experience for me, but I didn’t decide to go into politics until a couple of years later. So I would say, I didn’t know what I wanted to do the day I graduated — I didn’t really know what I wanted to do a year after I graduated. It took me a couple of years to figure it out. For people who are seniors now, my unsolicited advice would be to figure out what your passions are, and try to follow them, but it may not be the first job that is the job that you’re going to do forever. It took me a little bit of time to get there.

“I always loved writing and always loved books and discussion and debate, so for me that was a good basis for different career paths I explored moving forward.” WK: How did you come to join John Kerry’s 2004 campaign? 5

JP: So, I actually worked for the Iowa Democratic Party in 2002, and I had worked for the state party when there were two competitive — or at least we thought they’d be competitive — elections happening, one for the gubernatorial race, where then-Governor Tom Vilsack was up for re-election, and the second was the re-election of then-Senator Tom Harkin, and I was just bitten by the political bug. I was doing everything from door-knocking and making phone calls to putting together creative protests at events, and I knew that I wanted to stay engaged in politics. The Iowa caucuses were getting started just a couple of months after the 2002 campaign, and so I interviewed with a couple of different campaigns, but ultimately John Kerry was the best candidate. I was most excited about working for him, and I was fortunate that there was an opportunity for me to work on the Iowa campaign for him that kicked off just a couple months after the 2002 campaign cycle ended. WK: And then, when did you first meet President Obama, and what was that like? JP: Well, it’s funny, because [when] I got a job on his campaign — probably in January of 2007 — I was one of the earlier campaign hires for his press office, but I didn’t move there the week he announced his intent to run because my dad got remarried that same day. So I’ll always remember his anniversary.

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I didn’t actually meet him until several months later, when I travelled with him to an event in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the same day I met him for the first time was the first time I met my future in-laws — it was quite a day, in October — who were also from Cincinnati. So the first time I met him, I was sitting in his car because I was going to staff him for this series of events, and he opened the door and I said, “You may be wondering who I am, and why I’m in your car.” So, I’ll always remember that, but then I of course went on to work for him for almost 10 years after that, in a variety of different roles. WK: So skipping almost to the present now, when and how did you find out that you’d be the Biden administration’s press secretary? JP: I had joined the transition in October, because I wanted to play any role I could in helping out in what I hoped would be a transition to a Democratic president. I had worked quite a bit in the past with [senior White House advisors] Jeff Zients and Anita Dunn and others who were co-chairs of the transition, so they brought me on to help with the confirmation process for the confirmation of nominees to serve in the president’s cabinet. I was in that role and I was happy to be serving in that role for a couple of months, and then I figured I would go back to my life — and I have two preschool-age kids and also just doing a variety of the different roles with a bunch of clients, and I was a contributor to CNN, etc. And then at some point in November I was asked if I’d be open to talking with then-President-Elect Biden about this role, which of course was an honour to be asked to have that conversation with him. I went to Delaware right before Thanksgiving for an event and had a conversation with him and Dr. Biden about the role, and what he was looking for, and how we could work together. Then it happened very quickly and an announcement was made maybe a week or two after that, so that was the timeline of how it all went down. WK: And in what time you’ve had in your job so far, what strikes you about the atmosphere in this administration, and in what ways does it differ from the Obama administration? JP: You know, I think every presidential administration is different, because you’re serving at

different moments in history, and because we are all here following up on an administration, the Trump administration. A primary part of my job is to rebuild trust with the American people because trust has been really frayed within the public with institutions, and the media, and there’s really a lack of trust of what people can rely on, and what information they can rely on. That’s always the role of the press secretary, but it’s even more the role now because of the administration we’re following. There are some different steps we’ve taken, and there are different aspects of the environment, including the fact that we all wear masks around the White House every day, and we all get tested for COVID every morning when we arrive here, so there are certainly protocols that were not in place when I worked for President Obama. So there were fewer people in the West Wing than there were at that period of time — that will change over time — but we try to do everything that’s COVID-safe, of course. And I also think there’s more of a reliance now on trying to lift up policy experts — I mean, there was then too, but in a more public way. You know, how cabinet members and people who were playing lead policy roles are the face of administration policies, and that wasn’t something that we did as well early on in the Obama administration, and I think it’s something I think we’re trying to do a better job of now.

“A primary part of my job is to rebuild trust with the American people because trust has been really frayed within the public with institutions, and the media, and there’s really a lack of trust of what people can rely on, and what information they can rely on. That’s always the role of the press secretary, but it’s even more the role now because of the administration we’re following.” WK: What is your favourite part of your job? JP: I actually have a great deal of respect for the role of the media, and the role they play in communicating with the public, and on most days — and I’ve only been doing it for less than three weeks — most days the White House Press Briefing is fun. You’re communicating on behalf of the president of 6

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the United States and the White House on what the president’s thinking, the policies of the White House, and you are kind of showcasing what democracy should look like. And that could be engagement with people who disagree with you, who are pushing you hard, that’s kind of the role of the press. So I enjoy that, but I also enjoy, you know, I have a great team around me of really talented, hard-working people, and I really enjoy the opportunity to work with them, but also to look for moments for them to grow and shine as well, because I’m certainly not going to be here forever. Being back in the White House again is an opportunity to help lift up the next group of people who will have my current job, and a range of other jobs in this White House, in the years ahead, and in future White Houses. WK: When your time as press secretary is over, what do you hope will characterise it when people look back on it? JP: You know, I hope that people will see this period of time as one that restored transparency and honesty and truth to the briefing room. And hopefully, I made policy cool again, or made some progress doing that. And that I also helped lift up a bunch of new faces and voices that were not household names previously, whether that’s members of the Cabinet or policy experts, or even members of my own team. WK: What is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned over the course of your political career? JP: That there are days when you are going to wish you handled things differently, you said something differently, you said it more clearly, you articulated it in a different way. And that, just like most careers, it’s not about how you handle your best days, it’s how you handle your worst, right? And do you get it the next day, and keep plugging along? And there’s not a lot that fazes me at this point — I’ve been through almost an entire eight-year administration, and then a lot of different jobs in government and in different agencies. But that’s one of the lessons that’s held with me, and I think coming back to work here for a second time — actually, this is my third time back, I guess, because I came back during the Obama administration after leaving — is that I appreciate things even more. I’m just trying to value the moments in the front seat you have to history and, you know, writing things down just 7

for your own memories and things that I can tell my kids and grandkids one day about funny things that happened or things I experienced, or amazing moments that I was able to witness. I didn’t do enough of that the first and second time around.

“I’m just trying to value the moments in the front seat you have to history and, you know, writing things down just for your own memories and things that I can tell my kids and grandkids one day about funny things that happened or things I experienced, or amazing moments that I was able to witness.” WK: And also, who have been your political role models? JP: I’ve had a lot — I mean, I’ve talked to a lot of people who have had this current job I’m in in the past. So, I took their advice, and they’ve had some common things to say, some different things to say. I’ve been fortunate and had a number of people in my career who have been advocates of mine — [Obama-era Communications Advisor] Linda Douglass, Anita Dunn, who works here now as a senior advisor, [former Press Secretary] Robert Gibbs, [Obama campaign Chief Strategist] David Axelrod. There are many more beyond that, but those are some of the people who have been

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mentors at moments, and people to bounce things off of in other moments, and been supporters of mine, and people that I’ve continued to stay in touch with and touch base with as things come up. WK: One more thing is — and I think you touched on this a little bit before — having gone from William and Mary grad to White House press secretary and everything else, what would you say to current W&M seniors who think they might want to go into a political field? JP: That there are many paths forward, but I will never ever regret going and trying out a political campaign, and that is the fastest way to know if this world is for you. Most of them are just a couple of months long — you’ll learn a lot and get lots of different experiences. And you know what, I’ll never regret trying something new or taking the opportunity to try something new, and that’s certainly led me to a career that I’ve really enjoyed, and learned a great deal, had incredible experiences in, but I would say my best advice would be, go try a campaign, go try to get a job on the Hill, don’t worry about your title, just work your tail off — it’s not more complicated than that — and D.C. and political campaigns are great places to be, at any point in time, but certainly when you’re young.

say on the best day, working in the White House is like the West Wing, and on most days it’s like in an episode of ‘Veep.’” Having set my conscience at ease by asking that final question — and knowing that I’d deprived the country of one of its senior officials for nearly three full minutes more than anticipated — I had to let her go on with her day. Standing up and looking around the now-empty room in Tucker which could well have held one of the classes that Ms Psaki had just spoken of, I could not help but wonder who else would pass through the classrooms of the College and go on to reach such heights — I certainly do not think that Ms Psaki will be the last to make the trek from the Wren Yard to the upper echelons of the White House.

“I’ll never regret trying something new or taking the opportunity to try something new, and that’s certainly led me to a career that I’ve really enjoyed, and learned a great deal, had incredible experiences in, but I would say my best advice would be, go try a campaign, go try to get a job on the Hill, don’t worry about your title, just work your tail off...” We had already passed the 15-minute mark, but as an avid watcher of “The West Wing,” there was one last crucial question that I had to get off my chest. “This question could be hit or miss,” I said after hearing that she hadn’t watched the show in a long time, “but can you do The Jackal?” (For the uninitiated, The Jackal is the song that fictitious Press Secretary CJ Cregg famously lip-syncs in Season 1, Episode 18.)

Images courtesy of the White House, the Colonial Echo.

Psaki laughed. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve never tried it. That’s a good question though. I would 8

A CONVERSATION WITH DR ALICIA ANDRZEJEWSKI Story by Mary Beth Bauermann ’24

Two years ago, the College of William and Mary’s English department welcomed a new professor, Dr Alicia Andrzejewski, who has captivated the attention of students from all backgrounds thanks to her passion for the subject she teaches and her innovative ability to accentuate the modern-day implications of works written long ago. I sat down with Dr Andrzejewski, known affectionately by her students as “Dr A,” over Zoom for an exciting discussion of her path to the College, Shakespeare’s plays from a modern perspective, and the degree to which centuries-old literature can help us think about critical problems that we face today. The following discussion has been edited for clarity. Mary Beth: You first started teaching at William and Mary in 2019. I know the last year has felt like an eternity, but what specifically drew you to William and Mary at the time? Dr Alicia Andrzejewski: I was working to complete my PhD at The City University of New York’s Graduate Center. I really appreciated that programme because it is known for American Studies. I applied there to work not specifically on Shakespeare but Lady Mary Wroth and other early modern authors, but it was really in one of those American Studies courses that I started thinking about “Titus Andronicus” in conversation with critical race theory. At the time, I really wanted to be in New York. My partner had a good job in publishing; I knew that I would be on the market for a long time, especially because there are just so few tenure-track jobs. But I went in to have my annual committee meeting, and I told them that I was only going to apply to places 9

in New York, and they responded, “Well, you know, it’s near impossible to get a job without a PhD in hand these days. So why don’t you just apply everywhere and get your work out?” I did five interviews, and it came down between a three-year postdoc at Barnard and a tenure-track position at William and Mary. I didn’t grow up in the US, so honestly, I’d never heard of William and Mary. I had no idea it was “the alma mater of the nation” — this historic, prestigious school. Up until the very end, I looked at it as just a wonderful experience. Then I got the call, and I mean, I’ll admit, it was such a shock. I guess that’s a long way of saying it was just serendipitous. What drew me to William and Mary, other than this really beautiful and unexpected chain of events, is the students. You all are brilliant. I’m still just trying to get over how many neuroscience and English double majors there are — they’re just wonderful. The

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English department here is just so warm and such a community. It’s not that it wasn’t that way in New York, but things are just so fast-paced — you’re all over the city all at once. I’m really enjoying the communities I form with students here and in my classrooms, as well as the support of the English department.

professors told me I’d end up as an English major, and I was like, “Whatever.” Being a professional musician requires a lot of alone time, and it wasn’t that music education didn’t appeal to me but rather teaching in general did. I did end up staying in the bands, but I switched my major to English.

MB: Yes, that’s definitely something I’ve noticed during my time here — it’s such a great community. I was wondering if you could speak a little bit about your background in deciding to pursue English at the collegiate level?

My interests are just generalist — I was hired by William and Mary as an early modern professor, but I wrote my undergraduate thesis on Virginia Woolf and Taoism. For my master’s programme, my thesis was actually on Richard Wright as a playwright and his relationship with “Othello.” Certainly, English since about my sophomore or junior year of undergrad had been my main focus, but I brought music in — I did a lot of work on jazz and Black playwrights’ writing. In my master’s programme, I stuck with Eastern religions, Taoism, and modern fiction. I’m not really sure how I landed on Shakespeare; all of my

AA: I actually started out as a music major. I knew that I loved English. I knew I loved reading. But I sang vocal jazz, and I played alto and bari saxophone. When I started at Mars Hill College, I went to the music major meetings but, out of curiosity, the English major meetings as well. I remember during my first year, one of the

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interests just fit in his canon. I was a psychology minor too — I was trying to decide between going to graduate school for psychology or English. The deciding factor for me was, first of all, that I could bring all of my interest in psychoanalysis, which is kind of a dying field, to English, and also my passion of connecting with other people. It felt like I would do better as a professor than a psychologist. I think that was a good choice. I always loved reading; I always loved Shakespeare, but it took me a couple of years to land on English.

“As I worked more, I realised that I was not only interested in the obvious, pregnant characters and the young boys that played them onstage, shoving cushions under their costumes in order to do so, but also these pregnancies that are kind of whispered in the margins, and how reproduction is culturally organised.” MB: I wanted to ask you about your research and your book which explores the topic of queer pregnancy in Shakespeare’s works. Could you speak a little bit about that topic? What drew you to it? AA: It was actually in my master’s programme that I started noticing the tensions between feminist theory and queer theory, which troubled me. One of my mentors there helped me work through this question: “What’s the relationship between feminist theory and queer theory, and how has queer theory built off of feminism?” I consider myself a feminist scholar. I noticed that feminist scholars in my field really wanted to hold on to concepts of binary women. When it came to pregnancy, that was almost like the last foothold — what I noticed was that queer scholars in the field were totally avoiding pregnancy as almost a symbol of heteronormative relationships and marriage. Feminist scholars have done gorgeous work on pregnancy, but there’s little engagement with queer theory. It was nobody’s fault, but it seems like reproduction and pregnancy are at the heart of that division, and how we imagine them could be informed by both. I was inspired by this divide that I felt even within the department I 11

was in for my master’s programme. I was working on representations of abortion, which is why I went to New York, because my dissertation advisor had published one of the only big articles on abortion in Shakespeare’s plays. As I studied more, read more, and thought more, I realised that this idea of queer pregnancy wasn’t just theoretical. It wasn’t just trying to bring together two fields of study, but it was an activist issue. Entrenched in the language that we use to describe pregnancy and pregnancies that don’t meet the promise of having a healthy child is patriarchal gender language. “Miscarriage” suggests that the pregnant person has done something wrong — it’s that idea that they carried and failed a pregnancy, when miscarriages are normal. Abortion is common and was common. I found that pregnancy and reproduction was just a really fruitful space to rethink how we imagined pregnancy in our own cultural imagination, and then take that lens and put it on Shakespeare when it doesn’t fit. My book project now is called “Rude-Growing Briars: Queer Pregnancy in Shakespeare’s Plays,” and that’s a quote from “Titus Andronicus.” I noticed that obvious pregnancies in Shakespeare’s plays are pervasive; they’re everywhere, from Hermione to his more famous pregnant characters. “All’s Well That Ends Well” is a pregnancy play. There are a lot of representations of pregnancy, but they’re also at the margins, such as the Indian votaress in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Tamora’s hidden pregnancy in “Titus Andronicus,” and Ophelia, whose herbs connect her to witches and other subversive figures for reproduction. As I worked more, I realised that I was not only interested in the obvious, pregnant characters and the young boys that played them onstage, shoving cushions under their costumes in order to do so, but also these pregnancies that are kind of whispered in the margins, and how reproduction is culturally organised. They resist those ideas of what pregnant people should look like, should be, and should do. Ultimately, if my scholarship doesn’t work to change how we see things more broadly, beyond Shakespeare, then I’m not sure what I’m really doing when I’m sitting by myself and writing

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about how I articulate this because there’s a huge problem with tying contemporary stories and literature back to Shakespeare when we all know that Shakespeare pulled from other people. I’m not trying to say that studying Shakespeare is important to understanding contemporary literature because he inspired those authors. The way I design my classes and what I would say to students about taking Shakespeare is to be open about his influence, not just on other authors or on literature, but on how we tell stories, how we think of happy and sad endings, and how we think about family drama. It’s also just to think deeply about why we can’t get out from under Shakespeare. What is good about Shakespeare? What doesn’t matter? What does matter? about him. I see it both as an intervention in Shakespeare studies and a larger intervention. Shakespeare is this canonical author, an institution almost, and if I can help people see pregnancies in Shakespeare in a different way, maybe they’ll see all pregnancies in a different way. MB: It’s evident that Shakespeare is a prominent figure in both your professional research and the literature that you teach in your classroom. Most non-English majors aren’t necessarily chomping at the bit to take a Shakespeare class. Why do you think students should be excited to take a Shakespeare course? AA: That is a question with which I start all of my Shakespeare courses. Why are we here? Why are we doing this? I remember the first time I got the opportunity to teach a course just on Shakespeare at Queens College. When I went around the room, [the students] all said, “Well, I’m an English major. I have to be here, right?,” or “I’m going to teach high school, so you have to know Shakespeare.” I don’t think that we should ever be meeting or experiencing an author just for the sake of knowing them. I really try to ask that question every time I teach Shakespeare because there’s this idea that, even outside of English, to be a learned person or whatever, you have to be able to talk about Shakespeare. My answer to that question evolves as I teach and talk to students. I’m going to be very careful 13

I like to tell the story about when I was in my PhD programme and took a class on Shakespeare’s comedy. I was exhausted, and I had forgotten that we were going to go see a production of “Twelfth Night” at 12 that night. And I was like, “I can’t get through this,” but I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. I just remember thinking that it’s magical that he can still make us laugh because comedy is so topical. I guess I would invite students to take my class, explore that question with me, and pay attention to everything from his language to his way with words. Often, I’m reading a monologue out loud to my students and in my head, I’m just like, “This is really good. Why does he have to be so good?” I like to make those discoveries with students. I like to see what they see. I guess a way of reframing that question would be to come join me. Let’s see what we can find out about what Shakespeare still has to say. I’ve never had a class where we conclude that he has nothing to say to us. MB: This semester, you’re teaching a class called “Black Bodies in Shakespeare,” and in the past, you’ve taught “Queer Theory” and “Acts of Care in British Literature” at William and Mary. These courses deal with critical social issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, as well as violence and race. Why do you feel that it is important to discuss these contemporary topics in the context of Shakespeare or other literature? AA: I would say that one of the most influential

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books I read at the Graduate Center was Bruno Latour’s “We Have Never Been Modern.” His argument concerns the Enlightenment period and that we can even look at that word and see light in it, and see how it contrasts itself to darkness. [There are] issues with that, but there is this kind of illusion that we move forward in all things because of science. I think that the best authors really do challenge those ideas of progress. Where have we moved forward or made progress in ways that are important? Where are we paralysed or stagnant because we think we’ve made progress, or think we’re modern, but not really? I think Shakespeare is a really exciting place to look at what social issues that we still face are plaguing his characters. The first Shakespeare course I taught at William and Mary was around acts of violence, and the reason I started teaching courses around violence was because now, it’s almost like we’ve forgotten how many mass shootings there were before the pandemic. I started teaching it during the Black Lives Matter movement and the #MeToo movement, thinking about all of these kinds of violence — all of the kinds of not just physical violence, but emotional violence, that we face. I think about looking at Shakespeare’s plays not for answers, but as a way to meditate more deeply on the issues that we’re facing, and how people were marginalised and continue to be marginalised. When we hit the pandemic, I just thought students were facing enough when it comes to those images; that’s why I decided to switch it and think about, well, how do characters care for each other in these pre-modern texts? What can that teach us about how to care for each other? I think that it’s really important. Toni Morrison is one of my guiding lights on this. It’s really important to think about politics and aesthetics together because there’s no author — not Shakespeare, not Chaucer, not Milton, not anyone — that wasn’t thinking through the political issues of the time. What ends up happening with these canonical authors that are so revered and respected is that there’s this like, false bifurcation with contemporary literature. Like Morrison and what she talks about in “Sula” — she basically says, “If I write, or Phyllis Wheatley writes, ‘the sky is blue,’ the critical questions are ‘Why is the sky blue? Why does the slave woman

see the sky is blue?’” But when it comes to Shakespeare, he’s revered for aesthetics — his gorgeous language and how his plays are organised. It’s really important for me to show students that you can talk about politics and not just early modern politics alongside aesthetics. That is just as important in Shakespeare as it is in later authors that I assign and study as well.

“Really anything I read and I love, the first thing I want to do is give it to my students. I just finished ‘Detransition, Baby’ — it’s a new text about a particular trans woman’s desire to be a mother and have a family.” And honestly, just going off of that, in terms of your past questions: “Why teach Shakespeare?” and “Why take Shakespeare?” my answer would be that pre-modern texts are crucial, and they inform our understanding of these concepts that translate. And so, how we think about care and how we imagine care isn’t just important in how these authors are representing it, but it’s just adding information to our ideas and adding knowledge about the history that got us to how we think about care. I think pre-modern texts are crucial, and I made this argument a lot in my graduate programme because the idea is that those authors are overstudied. I had a lot of students and colleagues joking with me about how pre-modern texts are pointless. What they were really doing is just turning the argument that a lot of stuck-up Shakespeare people put on them — that contemporary lit hasn’t stood the test of time. My whole career is based on trying to help people see how we can talk to each other and inform each other’s understandings of things like care, violence, race, gender, and sexuality — I think that’s really important. MB: Absolutely. I wanted to ask, what has been your favourite course to teach at William and Mary so far? AA: Honestly, I’ve loved and adored all the courses. I taught my “Queer History” and Hauntings course last semester, and it’s continuing into this semester because we formed such a tight community as a senior

seminar. It was based on this idea of looking backwards to pre-martyrdom periods, but also beyond there, and thinking deeply about what it means to identify characters or historical figures as queer — what that says about our own desires and identifications. And, on the other hand, and this is a big question in my work too, how much does it matter what Shakespeare intended, or thought, or meant, or, I always hate this phrase, what early modern people thought? I think I say it in every class — we don’t all think the same way about issues. Early modern people didn’t. We really thought in that class theoretically, about those critical moods in literary studies and why they’re important, what it means to evidence them, and what methodologies we’re using when we do that. My best friend from the Graduate Center is a medievalist, so they study trans people and trans lives in the medieval period. And I think both of us are fighting for that history because it means a lot to queer people today to know that since medieval, classical times, there has been a history of people like them. We really dug deep into that in class, and it was really, 15

really wonderful. Now, we’re doing a one-credit class on queer life writing and memoir. I just love how vulnerable authors of memoirs are in offering their pain, struggles, and joys to us. In “Queer Histories and Hauntings,” there is this idea of queer ghosts that live with us, whether they were documented or not. Like, here’s a queer life on the page that’s making us feel less alone. We can talk about that in class — the Indian votaress in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that appears in just one monologue. Can we evidence that her pregnancy in a relationship with Titania was more intimate? And we have Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir “In the Dream House” — a queer, bisexual woman of colour who is offering herself to an archive with so many gaps. Even though it started with older literature and now has moved to contemporary literature, it’s still the same. What guides all of my work is those connections between then and now, and I always tell my students we’re living with history whether you want to study it or not. MB: If you could teach a course on any subject or author, what would it be?

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AA: Oh, I have so many. I am going to be on a social medicine podcast soon, and it was funny because I wanted to talk about race and reproduction specifically. “Titus Andronicus” is always my go-to for that, but I wanted to think about it in conversation with Cooper Owens’s “Medical Bondage,” which talks about Black slave women in that period who were adding to medical knowledge and working with gynecologists who published research and scientific journals. She calls them “super bodies,” and she’s trying to acknowledge that they had agency and medical knowledge that they offered these gynecologists, but at the same time, they were experimented on and were thought to not feel. I started mentioning “Titus Andronicus,” and the creators of this podcast were saying, “well, let’s just do Octavia Butler’s ‘Dawn’” because they thought tying it all back to Shakespeare feels like it’s been done. I’m more than happy to talk about Octavia Butler instead of Shakespeare, and so I would love to teach a course on Black women authors and science fiction and fantasy. There are a lot of authors that mean so much to me, and I’ve already taught a lot of my dream courses here, but in every one there’s a Shakespeare play — he just always shows up.

There’s a rather negative stigma surrounding the English major — it’s often viewed as impractical. What advice would you give to a student interested in pursuing an English degree?

AA: I guess what I’m trying to say is that every course is my dream course because I have the freedom here at William and Mary to teach anything I love and give that to my students.

AA: Tom Petty has this quote: “Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I’m concerned, that’s success.” I met my partner in graduate school. We were in the same English master’s programme. It wasn’t advised then to get a master’s in English and go straight to a PhD. We’ve both made our life on books, and it hasn’t been easy. But I know that this is a romantic answer, and it’s a very privileged answer, but I’ve just heard too many stories of lawyers and doctors dropping out and going to grad school. One of my favourite short stories I’ve ever read was Nam Le’s “Love and honour and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice....” He was a very successful lawyer and quit to become a writer. In the story, he’s struggling all the time with it. He has this one line, something like, “When I was a lawyer, I would have written however many words by now, and they would have mattered for someone.” It’s very hard to get out from under what it means to be a successful, productive person. Most people don’t imagine me rereading “Titus Andronicus” for the 18th time as what that looks like. But what I would say to students who want to be English majors is that there are many who have come before you, and there are many who will come after you in being brave and not listening to what anyone else is telling you to do. To circle back again to my PhD programme, I had a lot of different choices. I knew I wanted to go to New York, and I didn’t have funding, but I went to the open house anyway. My dissertation advisor stood up to give a speech, and it was still so inadvisable to get a PhD in English at the time. His speech was like, “You’re sitting here, despite the advice of parents, professors, teachers, authority figures, statistics, math — you’re still sitting here. And that’s very brave.” And so I say, celebrate that bravery and know that narratives are what we live by — the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell others. There’s no shame in wanting to study, deconstruct, and generate new narratives.

MB: My last question is about English majors.

Images courtesy of Dr A.

“But what I would say to students who want to be English majors is that there are many who have come before you, and there are many who will come after you in being brave and not listening to what anyone else is telling you to do.” Really anything I read and I love, the first thing I want to do is give it to my students. I just finished “Detransition, Baby” — it’s a new text about a particular trans woman’s desire to be a mother and have a family. It came out this year, January 17th, and I got it on two of my syllabi this semester! MB: That’s awesome!

Campus Secret Societies

Story by JR Herman ‘24 Graphic by Angela Vasishta ‘21

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JR Herman explores campus lore regarding the College of William and Mary’s many secret societies. Continue reading to learn more about the history of these societies, presence throughout the decades, rumoured membership, secrecy levels, and objectives.

he College of William and Mary is home to a plethora of student organisations and clubs — around 500 can be found on TribeLink accompanied by descriptions of the organisations’ activities, constitution, information about whom to contact about membership, and links to the clubs’ social media pages. In addition to these well-known and easily identifiable clubs, the College has its fair share of secret societies, which, of course, are not listed on TribeLink — these clandestine organisations, whose members, founding principles, meeting times, locations, and activities are shrouded in mystery, include the Seven Society, Ladies of Alpha, Flat Hat Club, Bishop James Madison Society, Members XIII, Wren Society, and more.

Lucky Number Seven The Seven Society is presumed to be the College’s longest, continuously-running secret society, consisting of seven members, most likely seniors. The Seven Society is perhaps the most recognised of the campus’s secret societies, and although members are anonymous, the group is not shy about flouting their emblem, a seven accompanied by a crown and dagger — their insignia has often appeared around campus. The Seven Society is mainly philanthropic, with the apparent goal of performing random acts of kindness for those who serve the community. In 2003, the Seven Society secretly donated 14 umbrellas to the Admissions Office. The umbrellas, all emblazoned with the crown and dagger seven, appeared shortly after a member of the admissions team mentioned how helpful umbrellas would be in the rainy weather. In 2008, the Seven Society donated a plaque in honour of retiring Vice President of Student Affairs W. Samuel Sadler B.A. ’64, M.Ed. ’71 and also purchased a banner to be displayed on campus to congratulate Sadler on his retirement and thank him for his service to the College. Rumour has it that the Seven Society first began operating in 1826 but was interrupted by the Civil War, several campus fires, and the temporary closing of the College. However, it was continually revived. In the September 19th 1939 edition of The

Flat Hat (a scanned copy of which can be found in the College’s Digital Archive), the Seven Society claimed to be the only secret society on campus, although that is certainly a questionable claim, given the clandestine nature of these societies — the reasoning seems to be that the other organisations should be classified as very selective clubs, rather than secret societies. According to the same statement by the Seven Society, their constitution vaguely states, “The purpose of the Seven Society shall be to discuss such affairs of proper import as to bear directly upon the welfare of the student body at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and, after due consideration by the members of the Society, to work to bring about the results desired at the College.” Since no such other official statement from the club has found its way into a school publication in recent years, it is unknown whether the club has an updated constitution or if its goals and founding principles have changed in any way. Interestingly, the Seven Society in the past revealed members’ identities, with one batch of members even being listed in a 1942 Flat Hat article. This revealing of identity has since come to an end — today, membership is of the utmost secrecy and is rumoured to only be revealed after a member’s death. The seven are said to meet at Shields Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg, but given the state of the pandemic (and the temporary closure of Shields 18

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Tavern), the seven could very well be meeting on Zoom. A Presidential Legacy The Bishop James Madison Society is named after the College’s eighth president and is responsible for hosting the Last Lecture, an event during which a beloved, retiring professor gives a final lecture at the end of the spring semester in Wren — words of wisdom, as well as reflections on life and being part of the community, are shared with former students, colleagues, and friends. The society began in 1812 but was eventually discontinued due to the Civil War. It was later reestablished, and David Holmes, professor emeritus of religious studies, is credited with helping revive the society. Membership is strictly confidential, as are the criteria for entrance, but members supposedly can (discreetly) reveal themselves at commencement by wearing the society symbol. The Bishop James Madison Society has in the past posted flyers and posters, many of which are available for viewing in Swem’s Special Collections, as are the David L. Holmes Papers, which include information related to the reviving of the society. In addition to the Last Lecture series, the society has also been credited with other campus goodwill gestures, including banners welcoming new classes during orientation, hidden treats and Easter eggs on campus, and other random acts of kindness to promote connectivity and community. The group has also sponsored events in the past like Eight Days of Mirth, a set of video challenges featuring faculty and members of the administration in the hopes of encouraging members of the community to appreciate those around them — one video challenge asked students to go out of their way and thank a professor. Alpha Females The Ladies of Alpha, also known as the Alphas, is a secret society said to have been created in 1918 by alumna Martha Barksdale ’21. Barksdale was a member of the first class of women enrolled in the College, as well as the first president of the Women’s Student Council and the first house 19

president of the original Tyler Hall. The College notes on its website that Barksdale was also the first woman to graduate from the College, given her name was first in alphabetical order of all the women in her class. The contents of Martha Barksdale’s diary are available for viewing in the Special Collections Research Center. In 1918, while women were able to receive an education from the College, they were unable to participate in most of the College’s extracurricular activities, being barred from fraternities, athletic teams, and many clubs, so Barksdale hoped to create a group where women could not only socialise but hopefully impact the community. In 1918, the first Ladies of Alpha were pictured in the College’s yearbook, The Colonial Echo, a trend not continued by later generations of society members, as the society has become increasingly secretive. The goals of the Ladies of Alpha are not only to provide an all-female secret society to complement the all-male secret societies on campus but also to promote female empowerment and recognise outstanding women on campus, done by anonymously presenting them with yellow roses and notes. Current membership and the group’s methods and criteria for choosing women to recognise are unknown. The group did not respond to a Flat Hat media inquiry regarding this subject, so it is safe to assume that even selection is based on secret criteria. We Swear We’re Not Related The Flat Hat Club is a revival of the F.H.C. Society which was founded in 1750; the F.H.C. is to date not only the College’s oldest secret society but also the oldest recorded secret society of a college in the country. While the purpose of the original society and their objectives are unknown, the members of the F.H.C. are thought to have met regularly for meetings at Raleigh Tavern, distinguishing members from nonmembers with handshakes and a special medal. President Thomas Jefferson was a member of the F.H.C. society, evidenced by a June 14th 1819 letter (which can be found online in the National Archives). Jefferson wrote, “when I was a student of Wm & Mary college [sic] of this state there existed a society

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called the F.H.C. society, confined to the number of six students only, of which I was a member, but it had no useful object, nor do I know whether it now exists.” At least in its early days, the F.H.C. Society appears to have just been a social club, rather than having concrete objectives. Other well-known members include St George Tucker and George Wythe. F.H.C is thought to stand for the Latin phrase “Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio” (fraternity, humanity, and knowledge). It is rumoured that the number of members is now 12 (or perhaps even more), and that this secret society has continued the tradition of only recruiting men for membership. Another unconfirmed rumour is that a high-ranking Flat Hat editor is inducted every year. Don’t Forget Unlucky Number Thirteen The Members XIII, also referred to as the 13 Club or the 13s, is a secret society at the College which aims to promote connectivity and appreciation for the college experience. According to their extremely difficult to find website (which has not been updated since 2015), the society was originally founded in 1890 and revived in 1994 by three students. Membership is strictly confidential — their website states that “Membership is undisclosed solely to promote the spirit of anonymous acts that benefit our campus and society at large.” The Members XIII has established the “Be Here Now” campaign which seeks to discourage students from feeling the need to constantly prove themselves. The group hopes to promote the mindset of savouring experiences to help students truly live in the present. The group also seeks for students to value the “imperfections and beauties, failures and successes, sorrows and joys” of their college experience.

and Mary students about absolutely anything, what would it be?” While the pandemic forced the “One Last Thing” series to be completely online in 2020, last year’s featured seniors’ speeches can be found online. The process is so steeped in secrecy that at the time of writing, the current leadership of Humans of William & Mary is not sure who traditionally chooses the speakers or if there will be a Spring 2021 collaboration. If Found, Return to Wren The Wren Society was founded in 1832 to commemorate Christopher Wren. The Wren Society’s most public contribution to campus is the 1832 Award, given annually to a student organisation, eight seniors, three professors, and two staff members. The 1832 Award seeks to recognise exemplary academic achievement and community involvement. Little else is known about this society. Secret Even for Secret Societies Other secret societies on campus almost certainly exist, but even less is known about them. Some rumoured secret societies include the Phi Society, the Cord, and the W Society, although there is very little evidence of their existence. For those hoping to be inducted into a campus secret society, best of luck — chances are you will need it. To read more about the research that went into this article, check out the online version at flathatmagazine.com.

The Members XIII also hosts the “One Last Thing” series in conjunction with Humans of William & Mary. Every spring, toward the end of the semester, ten graduating seniors are selected to speak before classmates and friends in the Sunken Garden, their lecture being on any topic, with the exact prompt being: “If you could speak to a group of William 20

Guillermo y Maria

Part I An Exploration of the Lives of Latine Students on Campus Story by Georgia Thoms ‘23

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Georgia Thoms delves into how student organisations at the College of William and Mary uplift Latine voices and how many Latine students have struggled with their ethnic and cultural identities. Continue reading to learn more about the Latin American Student Union on campus, community, privilege, identity, and student voice. he scent of bubbling sauces accompanied by a flurry of movement and a consistent din may have seemed chaotic to a bystander, but as a child, there was nothing comparable to the hustle and bustle of my nana’s kitchen. As she stirred six pots at once, slipping between Spanish and English, all I could think of was her warmth and comfort in association to my culture. I identify as “Latinx” but am quite a mix — I am Puerto Rican, Italian, and a mix of various other European countries, but I am racially White, which has made my journey through ethnically identifying as Latine tumultuous. I grew up around Puerto Rican culture, but I never learned to speak Spanish, and I am not first generation. In understanding my privilege, I oftentimes feel as though I am an imposter to the Latine community. However, after coming to the College of William and Mary, I learned I was not alone in my apprehensive thoughts.

At the College, there are many organisations for minority groups, and a few specifically promote the Latine and Hispanic community. The Latin American Student Union has created an environment that not only welcomes Latine and Hispanic members but also encourages them to use their voices to advocate for empowerment and community. Alexia Kaelber ’21, co-president of LASU, explained in an email interview that being involved in a club with other Latine students has helped him gain a sense of identity and has helped him understand his privilege as a White Hispanic man. “As a White Hispanic, I do not face challenges due to my ethnicity — I have a European background, last name, and speak fluent English,” Kaelber said. “I am a dual citizen, and am much more likely to be targeted due to my gender or sexuality, than my ethnicity.” Privilege was also an important note for Arami Chrystal ’23, a member of LASU and their performing arts group subset El Arte. “As a White Latinx, I do not think I face any 23

discrimination for being Latinx,” Chrystal said. “When it comes to Latinx based-discrimination, we have to make a distinction between race and ethnicity. At the end of the day, White Latinx are still White and therefore hold the same privileges and power as White people do. I think any White Latinx that tries to act oppressed for being Latinx and does not recognise their privilege can be dangerous.” Another student and member of LASU and El Arte, Kameryn Arispe ’23, who identifies ethnically as “Latinx,” furthered the discussion of race. “Though I am a minority, I must first acknowledge that while I may not be considered White-passing, I am light-complected, and this is a factor that shields me from a lot of struggles that Latinx face in regards to colourism,” Arispe wrote. “On campus, I have found that in spaces where Latinx aren’t present, there have been several instances in which White non-Latinx individuals have attempted to explain my own culture or my own cultural experiences to me, as if they are not experiences I’m constantly living. I would say that this is what I have encountered most, both on and off campus — White, nonLatinx individuals hearing me speak about my own experiences, deciding my perspective is invalid, and then explaining these experiences to me, as if they understand them better than I do.” Ethnic and racial microaggressions underscore the entitled ignorance of privileged individuals. “Latinidad” is another example of a common, problematic term involving the Latine community. It refers to the supposed various attributes shared by Latin American people and their descendants, without reducing those similarities to any single essential trait. Co-president of LASU alongside Kaelber, Sara Martinez ’21 discussed how mainstream media’s portrayal of Latinidad is heavily flawed and much more complicated than just checking off a box entitled “Latino/a/x.” “LASU was a place for me to feel less alone at a

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PWI [Primarily White Institution], but it has also taught me to question my identity and the notion of ‘Latinidad,’” Martinez stated. “It’s something much more — Latinx communities, either in the U.S. or in Latin America, have often oppressed indigeneity and Black Latinx people, so I’ve had to keep revising my idea of Latinx peoples and the intersectionality between many identities.” She explained that in addition, a majority of people have recently rejected the idea of Latinidad due to its exclusivity. As an overarching term, Latinidad brings together a large group of people and labels them, preventing people from expressing their individual connection to their Latine identity. “Lack of representation and discrimination against Latinx people is [sic.] rampant,” Kaelber said. “There is an erasure of Latinx people, particularly Black Latinx people, queer and trans Latinx people, and an oversaturation of narratives about White Latinx people. There needs to be more nuance and representation of Latinx communities.” Martinez agreed, noting that Latine people are often viewed as a monolith. Martinez hopes for more Latine individuals to be highlighted in popular media, but in order to do this, the notion of a Latine person looking a certain way in order to be validated as Latine needs to be dismissed. Another member of LASU, the Black Student Organisation, and the NAACP, Chance Jimenez ’23 identifies as a Black Latinx person and explained how once she shared their ethnic identity with peers, they were bombarded with questions. “Before getting to college, I’ve felt like I had to prove myself as a Latina person” Jimenez said. “Every attempt to put me in a box was a slap in the face. Sometimes it was my skin and my hair — too dark and too coily for me to possibly be a Latina woman. To others, it somehow made sense that I wasn’t ‘just’ Black. I’ve had these things said to me as if they’re compliments — as if I’m supposed to be disrespected as a Latina woman and as a Black woman, and just take it in stride.” Jimenez continued, explaining how struggling with identity for such a long time made her question if she deserved to claim an identity, if it did not fit the

societal mould. “I wouldn’t say that I was Latinx — I felt like I needed to invalidate my own identity before giving someone else the chance,” Jimenez explained. “It makes me sad that I saw the box they made for me; I saw the pieces of me that wouldn’t fit, but I squeezed in anyway. It took me a long time to realise that as Black women and Latina women and everything in between— we are not a monolith. We come in many shades. Our hair can be 1A or 4C or something in between. Our beauty will no longer be restricted to Western beauty standards.” Another group that struggles to find a voice within the Latine community is the queer community. Amber Cantú ’24, a member of LASU, explained some reasons behind this lack of representation. “Much of the Hispanic/Latine community is very religious, and because of this, newer ideas and being accepting of others’ differences is still hard to come by,” Cantú said. “Also, ‘machismo’ culture, gender roles, and patriarchal views dominate much of the culture.” LASU member Naomi Marin ’24 seconded this, stating that many queer people, despite being multidimensional, experience restraints in being put in a box. “Being a single variable that defines individuals — I think this is an exclusionary tactic to divide and exclude members of our community” Marin noted. “I felt as if maybe I didn’t even qualify to be part of LASU, for example, because my ancestry is only partially Latine. However, time and time again, I and others have reminded myself that this is a way to weaken our collective agency, and including all voices, diverse as they are, is a great way to amplify everyone!” Change is possible only by addressing the alarming trend of non-representation and alienation. The LASU co-presidents have a few ideas for the College to make a local impact on campus, including renaming all buildings. Additionally, the pair emphasised the need for the College to not only acknowledge its racist past but to address it at every event and in every email in order to make tangible changes to restructure itself to best serve 24

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Black, Native, and other minority communities that have been structurally oppressed and discriminated against by the school. “White cis men dominate too much of the discourse on this campus and are too ready to speak over others,” Chrystal said. “Sit in on any class on this campus, and you will see what I am talking about — 80 per cent is just White men talking. Part of it is statistics, but also part of it is also that minority groups do not always feel comfortable speaking … We have to create a place where they feel comfortable doing so.” Arispe had a different point of view, explaining that it was not lack of respect or acceptance from the College that was the problem but whether the College was prioritising marginalised students. Bella Ortiz ’23, a member of LASU, Salsa Club, and the new group “Political Latinxs United for Movement and Action in Society” specifically questioned the hypocrisy of the College’s promises. “Too often, William and Mary preaches diversity and inclusion through statements and promises but never acts on their word,” Ortiz explained. “They’d rather continue receiving money from racist alumni than listen to their underrepresented students on campus. They leave the actual action up to multicultural organisations and refuse to do the bare minimum by listening to them when they beg the school to change. As for the students, I wish the predominantly White student population cared more about their diverse peers and educated themselves on the issues we must face. I also wish that they’d show up to our meetings/events to use their privilege and listen to what we have to say.” While Latine organisations on campus give marginalised students a platform to express these demands, they also act as a comforting community to share both similar and different experiences. The terms “Latinx” or “Latine” themselves encompass a multitude of cultures with their own unique struggles and experiences. As an organisation, LASU has a mission to form an open-armed community in order to embrace, bring awareness to, and celebrate Latine culture at the College, despite the hardships of being a minority.

“I’ve experienced many microaggressions and being stereotyped,” Ortiz said. “I’ve had multiple experiences where people, both on and off campus, have called me ‘spicy,’ ‘exotic,’ etc. once they’ve found out I’m Latina. I also find it challenging to relate to a lot of students here, given that our school is a PWI, and many White students do not have the same experiences and cultural backgrounds that I do. LASU has given the opportunity to share my experiences and become friends with people who I can relate to.” Changes can be made at an individual level by holding uncomfortable conversations. LASU is known for social activism in order to define the Latine community as multifaceted, and those that are not part of the community can do that too. “I believe that people can improve by listening to those who are affected by stereotyping and microaggressions and [by] trying to understand the effects of the issue, not only personally, but on a larger scale,” Cantú said. Marin seconded their peer, explaining that talking to people individually who beforehand one might view as one-dimensional can be helpful in transforming the understanding of people’s identities. They also acknowledged that the College’s implementation of the COLL 300/350 is a great step, along with the cultural competency training within clubs, in addition to organisation talks with different clubs and speakers. While there is still a long way yet to come, students in LASU have shown that passion and resilience are the starting ingredients for acceptance. Images coutesy of Sara Martinez ‘21. Editor’s Note: Flat Hat Magazine uses Latine over “Latinx” outside of direct quotes to be more inclusive of gender-non-conforming individuals in Latin America who prefer the -e ending. The -e ending is easier for native Spanish speakers to pronounce and is much more common in countries where Spanish is the spoken language. We encourage the further adoption of inclusive language amongst Latine communities in the US.

C(R)A$H COURS£ IN MON€Y Story and Photo by Gavin Aquin ‘22

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In the wake of the GameStop investing craze, many students got swept up into the hype without necessarily understanding how finances work. Though he is not an expert by any means, Gavin Aquin has been managing his own money without help for the past three years and has found a decent modicum of success. Here are his quick financial tips to get ahead of our capitalist overlords who want you to be poor. Let’s talk money. We have such a taboo around talking about money in the United States, and honestly, it is a shame — often, it feels like all of the best-kept secrets surrounding the accumulation of cash are being hoarded by the Jeff Bezoses and Bill Gateses of the world. Meanwhile, the rest of us run around like chickens hoping that one day we will be able to buy a house or whatever material goods we happen to desire. Fortunately, we live in a digital age where information and learning resources are freely available. Over the past year, I have become enamoured with the idea of tracking my spending, accumulating points, and watching the stock market. The economic shock of the pandemic had me pinching pennies left and right and encouraged me to ensure that the money I was spending gave me significant returns. I have become quite good at navigating the system — I have so many rewards points that I plan to use for travel; my stock portfolio is great; I do not pay fees that I do not need to pay — all without the help of my parents. For legal reasons, this article is for entertainment purposes only — I am not your financial advisor! These are simply the tactics that have worked for me, and your mileage may vary. Banking If you are a college student paying for banking, you are getting ripped off. Actually, I want to amend that. If you are anyone paying for banking, you are getting ripped off. Unless you have a fancy, private client relationship with a bank, you do not need to be paying to have money. Many people I know just use the same bank as their parents and pay a $10+ fee a month because they simply do not know that there are other options. Thankfully, you do not even need to leave your bedroom these days to open a bank account. With the advent of online banking — and online-only banks — many of the costs associated with branch networks are

no longer passed onto the consumer. This is great because for me, the lobby of Chase Bank is quite literally the closest thing to Hell on Earth. With that said, everyone reading this who does not have both a checking and savings account should go online and do so right now. No, I do not mean that 0.01 per cent APY interest-bearing savings account your parents signed you up for as a child. Those do not make you money. Online banks including, but not limited to, Discover, Capital One 360, and Ally Bank offer great high-interest savings rates that are consistently higher than those of brick-and-mortar banks. I strongly encourage you to shop around and consider your options; keep in mind, however, it might be more convenient for you if your online savings and checking accounts are at the same bank. If you are employed, make sure to update your direct deposit information with your employer so your paycheck can be automatically deposited into the proper accounts. The split I currently use is 25 per cent into checking, 25 per cent into brokerage, and 50 per cent into savings. Ideally, you send the money that you need to pay for your rent, credit card bills, car note, and other necessary monthly expenses into your checking and then pocket the rest. My spending has been lower recently, so I have been mainly focusing on saving/investing, but I encourage you to consider your circumstances so that you can craft a budget which best suits your needs. Credit Cards Oh, credit cards. Everyone loves to talk about how horrible and dangerous they are. Yes, if you treat credit cards like free money, you can very quickly rack up a bill that you cannot pay and will end up hurting yourself in the long run. Alternatively, you can stick it to the big banks by using your credit card so well that you pay nothing in interest and reap all the rewards. When I turned 18 and got my first job at a retail store that shall not be named (it might have had something to do with a whale, but who 30

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knows), I immediately signed up for the Discover it® Student Cash Back Card. For three years, we have been through thick and thin, and the company is always eager to increase my credit line without my having to ask for it first. Although I have since acquired nicer credit cards with fancier rewards systems, I will always appreciate my first. The key to using credit cards, I have found, is to treat them like cash. I exclusively use my credit cards to make all of my purchases and not my debit cards. When I carry both a debit and a credit card, I get tempted to use my debit card to pay for things when I should be using my credit card for two reasons: 1) I get rewards points for purchases on a credit card, but not my debit card; 2) the money in my checking account should only be for bills — if I spend it all, then I will have trouble paying for my credit card. Ideally, you should be paying off your credit card in full every month. Obviously, that is not possible for everyone all the time; when I have to carry a balance on my credit card, I make sure that it is not higher than 30 per cent of my total limit. This all sounds complicated, so why even bother? Simply put, your credit score determines so much about your adult life — for better or for worse. As much as we may not enjoy it, we live under a peculiar sort of consumerist capitalist system where those who play it smart get ahead in life. A good credit score and history will make it easier not only for you to get home and car loans at lower rates but also to rent apartments, and in some cases, even get employed at certain companies. There is more to personal finance than just having a threedigit number next to your name — the length of your credit history matters as well. For example, by having three impeccable years of responsible credit usage to my name, I am already ahead of those who have not been using credit cards and building up their credit scores. The longer you wait to establish yourself in the financial system, the greater your disadvantage will be. Investing I am sure you are all aware about the GameStop stock saga. Since I have unofficially become the money-guru of my friend groups, many people have texted me asking for advice about investing. Investing is much more than just hopping onto the latest trends and hoping for large, short-term 31

returns. In fact, the sort of risky, credit-financed options trading involved in the GameStop shortsqueeze is not only detrimental to your mental health, but it also has the potential to ruin you financially if you are not fully knowledgeable about the process. If you are interested in investing, the main roadblock is that you first need to find a brokerage. I encourage you to shop around and find a company whose pricing and services best match your needs. The success of applications such as Robinhood and Webull have made investing accessible to the average person, with the added benefit of more established firms such as Fidelity and Charles Schwab loosening their restrictions on pricing and required capital in order to compete in the evolving market. When you purchase a stock, you are essentially buying partial ownership in a company, allowing you to benefit from the financial gain of the company but on the flip side, passing down losses when they arise to you, as well. Most of the time, this kind of investment will not make you rich in the short term, but if you shop around and do market research, you will find that the value of your investments has the potential to grow over time and enrich you down the road. A less risky investment (lower risk does mean though that there is a lesser chance of a large positive return) is that of a bond which is essentially a loan to a business or a government. Additionally, if you are not sure if you want to invest in a certain company, you can invest in mutual funds, which use your investments across many curated assets. However, this option is more expensive, as you are passing on the labour of research to a third party. There are more advanced investment strategies, but you likely won’t be interested in them to start with. Whether you are a growth and numbers-oriented person or hoping to graduate college without personal debt (or at the very least, not broke from partying multiple nights a week at Precarious Beer Hall), it is important to have your finances in check. If you are a junior or senior, it might help to get your finances in order (and your bad habits under control) before you graduate. I definitely had to learn that I can indeed live without more than one Wawa run a week.

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The Art of Collecting Vinyl Story by Callie Booth ’24 Photos by Rebecca Klinger ’22

In a digital world, most forms of physical media for music have all but died out — that is, except for vinyl. Join staff writer Callie Booth on her exploration into just what makes vinyl so everlasting almost a century after its invention and how the industry has adapted vinyl to keep up with the trends.

n the new age of digitisation, streaming, and Zoom meetings, one physical commodity saw significant sales increases in 2020: the vinyl record. According to Pitchfork, there was an almost 30 per cent increase in vinyl sales last year, while other forms of physical music platforms, such as CDs and cassette tapes, declined in sales. These recordsetting vinyl sales statistics weren’t surprising, though, and help demonstrate how vinyl collecting is becoming more of an art form rather than a hobby. It’s not a coincidence that vinyl sales drastically 33

increased last year in the midst of the pandemic. People were abruptly forced to move their lives online and were spending countless hours a day looking at screens. Vinyl records proved to provide an escape from the endless screen time. Records were in their heyday between the 1970s and 1990s, and owning a vinyl record reminds people of a simpler, pre-pandemic life when they didn’t need to rely on a computer to complete everyday tasks. Vinyl collecting witnessed a resurgence before 2020, with many retail stores beginning to have

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whole sections dedicated to records. However, a combination of social media and artists selling vinyl helped significantly expand the market in 2020. TikTok has become a major outlet for vinyl collectors to show off their collections, with many boasting collector’s editions and rare records. These vinyl-related videos have accumulated thousands of views on the platform, and could easily be contributing to an even greater resurgence of interest in vinyl collecting. Popular music on TikTok has also helped make certain records bestsellers. For example, “Dreams” from Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” went viral on the platform last year, and the album subsequently became the most popular vinyl record sold in 2020. Musicians themselves have also contributed to increasing sales and the rise of record collecting as an art form. Many new album and single releases from artists are not only available on digital and CD platforms but are also released on vinyl. One unique example of this new release pattern is Taylor Swift’s first release of 2020, “Folklore.” Early on, Swift announced that her album would be available on major streaming platforms with eight unique collectible editions available on vinyl. Each vinyl edition would feature different cover art, and each pressing of the vinyl would be a different colour from the standard black that most records are. These editions of “Folklore” sold out immediately and became collector’s items for vinyl collectors and Taylor Swift fans worldwide. Collecting different editions of the same album on vinyl is a popular way for collectors to grow their collections. Like Swift, many artists will release multiple editions of their albums that differ from the standard edition record, with some of the

main differences being the colour of vinyl, cover art, or additional bonus songs. Some artists will release special anniversary editions of their albums on vinyl, such as Harry Styles’s one-year anniversary box set for his sophomore album, “Fine Line.” This collectible edition included the original album on vinyl along with 10 limited edition photo prints of Styles and a set of gloves akin to those seen on the album cover. Many vinyl collectors have several editions of their favourite albums, which makes special editions of popular albums especially rare. Another way vinyl collectors expand their collections is by purchasing vinyls that are out of pressing. These are albums that are no longer in production, which makes some of them incredibly rare. Less popular out-of-press records are cheap to get at many thrift stores and garage sales; however, others have become expensive and difficult to find. Two popular examples of this are One Direction’s “Made in the A.M.” and Frank Ocean’s “Blond” — released in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Due to their popularity, it is difficult to find these albums for sale close to their retail price. Both of the albums are commonly sold for around $150 on reselling sites such as eBay, which makes them inaccessible for casual vinyl collectors to add to their collections. Vinyl records can also come in different shapes and sizes, other than the standard 12-inch size for albums. There are three main sizes of vinyl: the 7-inch single, 10-inch single, and 12-inch. Different sizes of vinyl exist to maintain the sound quality of the songs on the record. The grooves on a record can’t be placed too close together, so larger sizes were developed to place more music on one vinyl piece. 34

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Records also differ in their speed, which is measured in revolutions per minute. The three main speeds are 33 rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm. The fastest speed, 78 rpm, was the first developed, but isn’t popularly used anymore because it moves so fast that it can cause damage to the record’s grooves. Both 7-inch and 10-inch singles typically use 45 rpm, while 12inch vinyls tend to use 33 rpm. The switch to 45 rpm and 33 rpm has helped to drastically improve sound quality and allows records to last longer because they don’t wear out as quickly. In line with current trends, vinyls are expected to only increase in popularity over the next few years. Social media, artist sales, and a growing number of stores selling vinyl have been huge contributing factors in these trends. More music releases are becoming available on vinyl, and combined with collector’s editions and events like Record Store Day — an annual event that promotes local record stores — reaching new audiences, vinyl sales will continue to increase. Vinyl is changing the modern music industry and may become a permanent fixture in an increasingly digitised world of music.

Exploring Lana Del Rey Through Haikus Story by Nina Raneses ‘22 and Gavin Aquin ‘22 Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, otherwise known as Lana Del Rey, has been our problematic fave ever since she popped on the scene with her raspy vocals and dramatic instrumentals. We can both certify that, as angsty teenagers, we definitely thought that her raunchy music was extremely relatable applied to our lives. What can we say? Tumblr used to be a personality trait. Though her music has matured over the years, her entire repertoire is worth a gander. Inspired by the poetic nature of Lana Del Rey’s new release, “Chemtrails Over The Country Club,” we wanted to rank our top 22 songs in haiku form.

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1. “Off to the Races” from “Born to Die” (2012) I wanted to be a Vegas LA baddie just like lizzie grant

2. “Ride” from “Paradise” (2012) Recall — we once wished to be on that tire swing daddy issues, gone

3. “California” from “Norman Fucking Rockwell!” (2019) For missed connections or for when you miss someone dreams of nostalgia

4. “For Free” from “Chemtrails Over The Country Club” (2021) Boundless fame, glamour when others toil for free is consumption just?

5. “West Coast” from “Ultraviolence” (2014) This song brings me back to smoothies from Urth Caffè along Coast Highway

Courtesy Image Neill Krug // TIME

6. “Gods & Monsters” from “Paradise” (2012) I’m in a new town what will I get into there? more than bargained for

7. “Born to Die” from “Born to Die” (2012) Lana Del Rey, thank you there were lonely Friday nights but now, no longer 38

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8. “Ultraviolence” from “Ultraviolence” (2014) Sad, sultry, longing mixed feelings, but now I know I’m better than him 9. “Old Money” from “Ultraviolence” (2014) Sniffling. I’ll run ... did you say blue hydrangea cool, crying again

10. “The Blackest Day” from “Honeymoon” (2015) When you break up and you deal with raw emotions you accept it then

11. “National Anthem” from “Born to Die” (2012) Summer love (maybe) your eyes — in them no heaven heartbreak new anthem 12. “Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind” from “Lust for Life” (2017) When you break up and you deal with raw emotions you accept it then 13. “Cherry” from “Lust for Life” (2017) My dog likes this song we sing it on the 15 when we venture off 14. “She’s Not Me” from “Unreleased” (2010) He’s sees someone new even though I am better I’m his ride or die 15. “Lolita” from “Born to Die” (2012) Hate to love this song always thought she said “mom here” instead of “long hair” 39

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16. “Young and Beautiful” from “The Great Gatsby (Soundtrack)” (2012) Will the marriage pact help me find grace, body, face that makes me party?

17. “Cinnamon Girl” from “Norman Fucking Rockwell!” (2019) I’m SAD and NEEDY like, if uwu was a song but also frown face

18. “Yosemite” from “Chemtrails Over The Country Club” (2021) When relationships can stand the test of time and be steadfast in love

19. “Beautiful People Beautiful Problems” from “Lust for Life” (2017) I hope to one day love akin to sugar rush, forget wasted love 20. “Cruel World” from “Ultraviolence” (2014) I knew this girl who did not get a Birkin bag and played this for days

21. “Cola” from “Paradise” (2012) Girl, get that checked out you know which line this about … let’s forget Harvey

22. “Florida Kilos” from “Ultraviolence” (2014) ode to florida where all quirky things happen including covid 40

Music at the

Cinema

Story by Matthew Kortan ‘22

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o you ever have one of those days where life feels like it could be a film? Where in the heat of a given moment, you find yourself in a world with such visceral enchantment and infinite possibility that you can feel your windpipe gulping down helium like a flesh-laden straw as you float away to your new reality? I don’t. But I used to enjoy going to the cinema. In particular, I enjoyed how loud the audio could be inside the cinema. I miss the speakers opening their mouths wide and hurling stray pellets of saliva all over my face like an angry drill sergeant. I’m a big sucker for getting snug as a bug in my PJs in front of an open fire for a midnight screening of the spooktacular silent film “Nosferatu” around Halloween time. But, the incorporation of sound into films was probably the best thing to ever happen to the industry, minus the birth of Katherine Ross. Without audio, how would Jack Black have ever

made a career for himself? All he really does is spew abnormal noises. You wouldn’t want Jack Black to beg for cheeseburgers on the median of a Los Angeles highway, would you? The streets are so wide there — even he would fail to stand out to the common passerby. All this got me thinking: Films — powerful. Music — cool and nice. What happens when they combine forces? To answer this question is why I write to you today. Unlike the actors on screen or the musicians that compose the songs, the marriage between films and music lasts forever. So without further ado, here are the top 10 uses of songs in film scenes.

he t & n g o n s i k n c t a h J g i y L c r a e e h g P T a “ : s n yG a d i a p L Olym (2010) + ” f e i h e” T c a F r y not e k ion b emember t a o r e gen “P h dly r to my , but I fon Thief” wit d e c i v s r e g

. 10

ant ciou tnin disse ng a ting is atro “The Ligh e while I p t the i o d pag as a y of e ac ld be I wou g this. Th er my cop ining each dy Gaga w ports, in v a re ta includ hunched o e sweat s og. Also, L ording to h, t c a d s ac o yea . u , S o d . ) v sitting of passion n r o a a ne vide is list s time bead uealed like rs at the ine’s Oreo lace on th lipped e z s p q and s of her pow Hat Maga egitimate ers being tch l t g to wa t a a a l h n d F g s e i e d e c e e l r t t h h o lso fo e. So wha (see t Jackson h up of a o s r i s l a g l i w d a ts st Percy e depicts sino, but I he 7th gra My paren k n i h en It ca d? in t the sc verte se’s. sson s at a Sure, ting drug /sex-ed le rently per rybody el ve ry ita he ”— debil as a histo y is just in d so did e Thief n ” g g y a o n l i , o r o n p t i T h t “ sl Ligh ek my ission “The d if Gre the perm e n ndo d ga co hildren. signe a G y c d se, La priate for l e g ro hin If not ust be app m so it

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“Train spott ing” ( Reed 1996) - “Per + Lou fect D Reme mber ay” whe upo n n? Ne ither d putting a s aroun pike oes d to s ee CO Lou Reed. into your v Good e VID-1 9. thing in was frow he did n n’t sti ed ck

“Say Anything” (1989) + Peter Gabriel - “In Your Eyes” Lloyd Dobler, the lord of the Simps. “How I Met Your Mother”’s Ted Mosby? Jim from “The Office?” Every single male character in “Friends?” None of them could have existed without the legendary Lloyd Dobler. And the legend of Lloyd Dobler never could have existed before the very un-legendary Peter Gabriel circa 1986. How was Lloyd supposed to know he would spark a romantic revolution by hoisting a little boombox over his head? He’s not Gavrilo Princip. Although it is somewhat disturbing to think that they’re supposed to be the same age. How is it that two young men can take such different paths in life? How do we extract historical context from the nature vs nurture debate? I really wish I could tell you, but I’m just here to talk about films. And you’re only here to read about them, stupid.

As for the scene, it represents the last pop culture pinnacle John Cusack or Peter Gabriel would ever really reach. Although for those of you that have seen Cusack and his snarly ponytail in “Being John Malkovitch,” his work in Hollywood was hardly done. He even stayed active in the simp community, starring in “High Fidelity” as a down on his luck record store owner, prompted to revise his immature and self-absorbed attitude after “the one” walks out on him. Peter Gabriel’s fame should have fizzled out long before the release of “Say Anything.” Luckily it was more of a death-rattle than a renaissance. He could very well have become a raving lunatic in the foothills of Bavaria after the film’s release, whistling old folk songs under a harvest moon and devouring his faeces with a spoon coincidentally welded into the same shape as Phil Collins’s head. Nobody really knows.

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“Ferr is Bue ller’s (1986 Day O ) + Th ff” e Bea & Sho tles ut” “Twis Am I t h t really e only one

that fi th n to Pet ink about it, Ma ds Ferris in e Dav t to i th d that w ill kee son. Don’t ew Broder lerably pes tic p you w prota go up to orry — thi k is kind o like? If you night. f a pre s isn’t is a lo nist of this Th cu th ya fi the ty l friend to lm (despite e way I see e last of m rsor y idea ra F it, Cam his Re s flat ha nnical rule erris until t he ve d Wings fa eron is th of his t at so e r n y end father dom). guy fo me po ,d ,a r H in like th his abnorm t in the film nd can be efiant towa e s rd e a een d . Plus, onnin s engin Cameron F lly narrow I just g face. e that p rye of a i t y the Ge ke is Geo T rge d pt the mac he Beatles orge Harris poor id .T outsid o h e in a n’t crash it ine running he unsung n is a lot ! Ever nd sa Ferris h — ero. T the y, “ yb ,” if you “They’re s Wow, look ody wants only differe he to loo o e a k from nce that b valuate the intelligent t John Len n a oth m the a o n c n d tions ” or “ charis e sensa of bo Look m a tions n were mo t t i c.” Al at h the ra tiv anoth er hum ther than r ated prima se figures, though at it ri Came a ron Fr n being. S ional thoug ly by their is clear o, her g yes of h enital t or mo e’s to the w r a l t e o h m Then e rld, ou ag r unsu George Ha pathy for parad ain, I can’t ng he rrison e roes. s and d of-tho to lip-sync eny Ferris’s “ u d Guita sands stron Twist & Sho ecision to r Gen crash g u t w ”f as a p tly We same retty or an audie the street eps” shiny ball nc or lustre , sorry “Taxman” in’ move. “ e hundreds W j ust w Georg ouldn hile My e! ’t hav e had the

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“Pul p Fic tion” Dick Dale (199 4) + - “M I rea lly w isirlo an of th e wo ted to le rld c what u” ave T an a t it co hey wan unders rantino

ta m o t goog es to ma , but dam nd how ff this lis t it k l n it, in “R ey-eyed ing up a the m feels wh so all the over eser e s art h a o n th n is un v on-s cree oir Dogs “Stuck in dtrack. I kind of ey don’t oes n gy abom ratin .” They h the Mid realise c a genius get i n ritic a g re dle wh ave ble throa t pin the son ally take a point With You s get all en nam ched g act s the —M ”’s sp e u r distr really re gargling ally is. O attention Blonde otlight ’s le a o r brilli ction fro vant in 2 f Stealer maybe off just h ant fi m th t s 0 ow h 2 W e 1? W e lm abou as it heel’s fro tar-soake t this either. fact that eve d, ntm E “ film or th ither way Reservo r?) is a fa an (is hi ir s Unlik is so n , I’m ng. e mo not s Dogs” is cy little ass. s n u t of t ’t ppos M ed to such a Beac ost dire he surf r be w ct o h riting does Boys int ors wou ck from ld’ve its d n’t p o the a lay t of hi simp y ir so ha s u ly stu , “Misirlo reco flair for t t way. Ta ndtrack f u” ki fed a an g h c r yes, nise the e obscu antino sh d called ll five-to ks re pa song you s o i t even w a da su sh yin pairs a splen ould be a s the Bla g divide s a prem y. But Q have ck Ey T ium nds. sham didly in t e befo o sit thro with the ed of yo d Peas’ Most of stance yo re u “ u “JOH you can gh any film’s ope rself for Pump It. u will o t ” n h f Tar com N TRAV sit back antin ing cred at. “Mis And OLTA pelle and irlou i o t ’ s scen po en d ” first. ” This to get u flash acr joy it. Su mpous d e; you d p an is co you o oss t re, w irect n’t d sq mple i h h tely leave or e screen en you ng Just uare in no se th c v , he’s lose you e face a rmal. Bu omit, wh you mig e nd b r eye h prob i t ch tf then lo ably s the s ever com eel more and pre ws you l es i de rig te afrai d of nd he’s n ht out o horns hi t you f than ot there your se at. . Rem you are o f him ember, .

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“Apo calyp se No + The w” (1 Door The h 979) s - “T orror … th e hor he En ror. d”

“The Graduate” (1967) + Simon & Garfunkel “The Sound of Silence”

Okay, I’m breaking my own rule, but I can’t help it. I alluded to the fact that I love Katherine Ross. I’m more or less indifferent towards Dustin Hoffman, though. (For those of you with strong opinions about Dustin Hoffman, please, for the love of God, get a life. Maybe go for a walk once in a while or try some yoga. Something, anything. Please.) Art Garfunkel might have an ass for a brain, but he makes it all okay with that glorious head of hair. Paul Simon’s brain is securely in his head, but his ass is nowhere to be found. Good song, great film. Some might say it should be the other way around. Others will say it all sucks and should be thrown in a dumpster and set ablaze. Fun fact: this is not the only film on this list to culminate in an interrupted wedding. See? It all evens out.

“Fight Club” (1999) + Pixies “Where Is My Mind?”

I met the Pixies at a very strange time in my life. Then again, isn’t that the only way to discover the Pixies in the first place? There really isn’t much to say about this scene that hasn’t already been said. Except I will say the Pixies deserve far more love than they’ve gotten beyond this film and their cultural foothold as that band Kurt Cobain admitted to ripping off in pretty much all of his interviews. Also, “Where Is My Mind?” is very easy to learn on bass for my fellow failed guitar players out there.

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“Silence of The Lambs” (1991) + Q Lazarus - “Goodbye Horses”

Time to tuck it and dance. Say what you will about Buffalo Bill, but the dude has a great taste in music. He also has a very cute dog, but that is the last of the compliments I will give him. The eerie synthpop tune fits the mood of the scene flawlessly. The song’s writer and producer William Garvey described it as being about “transcendence over those who see the world as earthly and finite.” It isn’t hard to imagine that is exactly what Buffalo Bill thinks he is doing by assembling a suit made of human skin so he can dance naked around his disgusting basement and feel like a woman. However, he is doing the exact opposite. He is taking life from others while simultaneously depriving himself of a genuine sense of self-worth. He is too afraid to identify as a woman, so he chickens out. His skinsuit is a superficial form of self-expression. “Goodbye Horses” underscores Buffalo Bill’s hypocrisy as the camera pans from the screaming woman he has trapped in his cellar to Bill himself shamelessly dancing around like an idiot, draped

in the rotting vestiges of his victims. His desire to adopt feminine forms of self-expression isn’t genuine. It is literally covering his malnourished body like a cheap disguise. Buffalo Bill is clearly unhappy with the body he is born with, but he doesn’t do anything to really escape from its tyranny. Instead, he kills — demonstrating the finite nature of his attempts at self-actualisation and symbolising the very antithesis of the song he is dancing to. But for those of you who aren’t sociopathic cannibals with corpses soaking in your bathtubs, this song is really a hidden gem. You should check it out if you haven’t already. And speaking of self-actualisation, this provides us with a perfect segue into our number one spot ….

sh a m S + ) ” 1 r 0 a t 0 S (2 l l ” A k “ e r h h S t “ u Mo

Fooled ya, didn’t I? An indie kid like myself could never! Those last few entries involving war crimes, the seducing caress of a mature woman, hallucinatory domestic terrorism, and a dancing cannibal doubling as a skinsuit tailor got you to let your guard down a bit. I know they did. Heavy subject matter will do that. But honestly, what did you expect? This scene from “Shrek” tops them all. Anybody that has done their homework on this film knows that “Shrek” is basically just one drawnout critique of the traditional fairytale narrative 47

employed by Disney again and again during its ‘90s renaissance. Even just casually watching the film, you’re bound to pick up on one of the countless not-so-subtle jabs “Shrek” takes at popular Disney characters, tropes, and the over-commercialisation of the Disney brand. Yes, in many ways “Shrek” is the perfect anti-Disney propaganda film. So, it stands to reason that Shrek’s use of pop music — such as “All Star” — serves to undermine the theatrical nature of Disney’s stage musical soundtracks of the 1990s. Name a Disney film from the ‘90s in which characters don’t utilise musical numbers as a platform to

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communicate their deepest desires, intentions, challenges, etc, to the audience. When you see enough of these films, the song-and-dance routine comes off as overused and predictable. Therein lies the brilliance of “Shrek” and its opening credit scene. In the opening scene, we are first introduced to Shrek as wanting for nothing. He is completely content living alone in his swamp, where he can truly be himself. He doesn’t need to sing a song because he seemingly has nothing to express. However, as the film unfolds, we learn that Shrek is far more complex than the perfectly content ogre he tries to project himself as to the outside world. The one character that does show a penchant for musical routine throughout the film is Donkey — who, uncoincidentally, is the most sincere character. Fiona spends most of her time trying to convince herself she is a real princess despite the fact she is under a curse that turns her into an ogre. Lord Farquaad is so self-absorbed in trying to tailor the perfect princely life for himself that he constantly brushes aside the more simplistic origins of human happiness, and we all know about Shrek’s insecurities by now. However, Donkey is different. He is far more earnest than any other character in the story; this is why he does not refrain from expressing his feelings through song. The pop music sprinkled throughout the film represents the external pressures that face the other characters that prevent them from truly expressing themselves. “All Star” is a perfect example of this. The song features lyrics that very explicitly convey an enhanced sense of self-worth, something we as the audience know Shrek lacks. We know he secretly

longs for a friend but is living under the burden of a constant fear that he cannot exist beyond society’s stereotypical expectations of what an ogre is supposed to be. Thus, Shrek devotes effort to cultivating a self-image that adheres to the way others see him, rather than expressing how he truly feels. It all culminates with another iconic musical scene at the end of the film. Finally, we see the other characters join Donkey in his theatrical performance of “I’m a Believer,” signalling to the audience that the characters have reconciled their insecurities and feel genuinely accepted by society. Only after their harrowing journey do the characters feel the way Donkey felt all along: free from all expectations placed upon them from society. The all-inclusive participation we see in this final musical act suggests that the protagonists have finally attained their fairytale ending through self-actualisation and the defiance of societal norms. Shrek realises that he doesn’t need to put up a façade — he should simply remain true to himself and do the things that make him happy. Pop music is inherently designed to appeal to a mass audience, and that is why the “All Star” scene is such an effective introduction for the protagonist. Not only does it appeal to a large number of viewers as a catchy tune, but it symbolises the external pressures that Shrek faces to conform to what society wants him to be in order to appeal to those around him. The song itself is not meant to convey how Shrek truly feels at the beginning of the film. Rather, it is foreshadowing the obstacles he will ultimately need to overcome to attain his true happiness. Well, that’s all from here. Now get out of my swamp.

Which film/song duos would you add that I neglected to include? Do you find my list offensive to the good name of cinema and the arts? Great! Let’s get together and scream at each other about it sometime. I’d do anything to feel like I’m back in the cinema with the drill sergeant giving me a piece of his mind again.

Image courtesy of Hollywood Reporter. 48

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Our Big Scoop Flat Hat Magazine staff have been trudging through time with the help of the songs here in this playlist. We may not be famous or worthy of big-time gossip, but here is our “big scoop.” Check out our playlist entitled “OUR BIG SCOOP” by scanning the Spotify code above or clicking the link on our website.

“Hypotheticals” by Lake Street Dive

“Not How It’s Supposed To Go” by Ashe

“Hypotheticals” is the perfect song for a postCOVID-19 world. A little bit soul, a little bit funk, a little bit 80s synth-pop, this is a song about possibilities and new beginnings, and there’s nothing more joyful than that. -Mary Trimble ’23

Ashe uses this track to fight her own passive self with an intensity that inspires me to do the same. We have to be the driving force in our own lives. -Alyssa Slovin ’22

“L.A. (Looking Alive)” by Madison Cunningham We all get caught up in the whirlwind of everyday life, going through the motions. The lyrics give you that chin-up and “Hey! Look alive!” that we all need sometimes. -Mary Beth Bauermann ’24 49

“Treat People With Kindness” by Harry Styles A great motto to live by that reinforces the feeling of loving who you are and appreciating those around you. Feel free to dance away your worries. -Sabrina El Shanti ’22

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“Pay Your Way in Pain” by St. Vincent St. Vincent is BACK baby and she’s here to remind you that choosing between surviving and dignity is what life is about. This song disorients and centres you simultaneously, in the ways that life’s struggles can shake us around but strengthen us all the same. -Nina Raneses ’22 “Roll it Back” by LUTHI Over the last year, I have been listening to anything with some good brass in it. “Roll it Back” by LUTHI scratches that itch and then some, with the vocalist’s smooth voice and the driving with the windows down screamability of the chorus. -Rebecca Klinger ’22 “Talia” by King Princess Not to be melodramatic, but this song reinforced the persistent melancholy within my nonexistent soul. Just kidding. It’s a bop and a half though. -Gavin Aquin ’22 “Broken Clocks” by SZA A flawless song with a beautiful meaning, the feeling of losing time while experiencing an imbalance between social and work life. The meaning of “Broken Clocks” foreshadows the importance of being independent. -Bushra Bablu ’24 “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo A four-minute flashback to our high-school, preCOVID-19 selves — to who we were when we learned the rules of the road and got our hearts broken for the first time. “Drivers License” reminds us it’s OK to miss people and better

times — it’s OK to feel feelings. - JR Herman ’24 “The Adults Are Talking” by The Strokes The amount of joy this chorus gives me is indescribable. This song perfectly captures the frustration of being a young person and trying to be heard by the “adults” or authority figures in the room. -Ellie Kurlander ’24 “Schizophrenia” by Sonic Youth The key lyric here is “Schizophrenia is taking me home.” If schizophrenia is what takes him home, could anything on earth possibly compel him to stay there for an entire year as he wastes away in his crud-infested basement drinking ungodly amounts of RC Cola until everyone he has ever loved has forgotten about him entirely? We don’t know. -Matthew Kortan ’22 “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Last year, my parents sold my childhood home; I moved across the Pacific to a country I had left eight years ago. This year, I’m in Williamsburg. My family is in three different countries. Home has always been a mindset, never a fixed location. - Linda Li ’24 “Feathered Indians” by Tyler Childers Country and alternative melt together beautifully in this upbeat, feel-good song. Childers captures the essence of cigarettesmoking, wanderlust young lovers while painting a vision of the rolling mountains of West Virginia. A perfect song to listen to while driving with the windows down and the volume up. -Grace Olsen ’23

Williamsburg as we know it all about Struggling small businesses in Williamsburg during COViD-19 23 le ’ ’24 b m Tri utzky y r a yL y M achar b ry yZ Sto tos b Pho

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There’s more to Williamsburg than the College of William and Mary and reenactors in breeches and tricorn hats. Small businesses make up the fabric of the town; facing intense hardship, this is how these ’Burg institutions have navigated the pandemic. t the dawn of its 49th year, there was doubt whether The Cheese Shop, that beloved Williamsburg institution, would make it to 50. In March 2020, as the whispers about a pandemic were growing into increasingly frantic shouts of alarm, the owners of The Cheese Shop — Mary Ellen Powers and her siblings, Cathy Pattisall and Tom Powers — were trying to brace for impact.

“We thought it was going to last like a week or two,” Mary Ellen Powers said of fears that businesses would have to close as part of a slate of public health measures put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “So that was very nerve-racking. We were very anxious about the possibility of having to close our business for a week or two.” Two weeks turned into two months of mandated closure, with capacity restrictions remaining a year on. Small businesses, especially restaurants, have been at the center of the tug-of-war that has characterised policymaking in a pandemic — how to balance public and economic health, all while compromising both as little as possible. The pandemic has thrown the value — tangible and intangible — and precarity of small businesses into sharp relief. Employing locals and students alike, these Williamsburg establishments are economic engines for the local community. But these businesses have social value, too, especially for students at the College of William and Mary. They are the sites of lunches with friends, first dates, study sessions, and afternoons spent searching for the perfect reading material. They populate students’ college experiences. Some businesses have survived with grit and the help of the Williamsburg community. Others, despite those things, were not as lucky.

“TH E W R ITI N G WAS ON TH E WALL” “The writing was on the wall on March 10,” said Gray Nelson, owner of Mellow Mushroom pizza franchises in Williamsburg and Newport News. It’s a phrase that Powers used, too. They were preparing for the inevitable — and the unimaginable. Gray remembers March 10th 2020 as the day his sales began to slump and COVID-19 began to dominate the news. That day, the Dow Jones saw its largest one-day percentage drop since 2008, and oil prices had their biggest singleday decrease since the 1991 Gulf War. Italy, at that point the worst-hit country in the world, instituted a nation-wide lockdown. Harvard University told its students not to come back to campus after spring break. On March 11th, the College followed suit, informing students via email that the return from spring break would be delayed by two weeks, only to take the entire semester completely online a week later. Michelle Sieling and her husband own six restaurants in the Williamsburg and Newport News area, including Aromas on Prince George Street in Williamsburg and the two Aromas locations on-campus, Aromas Daily Grind (formerly The Daily Grind) and Swemromas. When the campus closed, they had so little notice that they were locked out of their oncampus locations with perishable products still in the fridges. Then, on March 23rd, Governor Ralph Northam issued the order to close restaurants to in-person dining effective at midnight on March 24th. “It was surreal,” Seiling said. “My team asked, ‘What are we going to do?’ I said, ‘We’re only going to plan for the next week.’ And then the next day it was like, everything changed so quickly overnight, so it was: ‘We’re only going 52

to focus on the next day. If it’s not in 24 hours, we’re not talking about it.’ And then on the third day, I came back and said, ‘Now we’re only focusing on the next 60 minutes!’ Hour by hour.” “We went from having six vibrant businesses and, in less than a week, we had only two,” she added. The normally lively, almost European-esque Prince George Street — home to Aromas, Mermaid Books, Retros, The Blue Talon, and other frequent haunts of tourists, students, and townies — was quiet. “It was eerie,” Sieling said. Hatley Mason, former owner of Mermaid Books, called it “desolate.” “OU R BU S I N ES S HAS B E E N BU I LT BY OU R LO CAL C U STOM E RS” Restaurants and businesses, including The Cheese Shop, closed their doors to diners in accordance with the governor’s order, but doing so meant letting go of valued employees, with little way to know when they might be able to rehire them. Powers and her siblings were handing employees food from the restaurant fridges as 53

they left for the last time, worried about how they would put food on the table with the store closed. “They’re part of our extended family,” Powers said of the 60 to 70 employees of The Cheese Shop and its sister restaurant, The Fat Canary, her voice filled with emotion. “We have folks who’ve worked for us 10, 20, 30 years. We were very anxious about how they would continue to make ends meet. The ripple effect of how it would impact not just them but their families, their children. They’re family.” “Between the two stores, I probably laid off over 100 employees,” Nelson said. “It was horrible. When I built these stores, the whole idea was that I had been in the military and served for over 20 years, and I wanted to build a business to create jobs, to create economic activity in an area and give people an opportunity to work in an environment that is awesome.” Mason, who made the decision to close Mermaid Books in December, believes there is value in giving students and locals an opportunity to work in a bookstore and form connections with each other over a love not just of reading but of discovery.

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“We’re participating in the economy,” he said. “It’s small, but students really need an opportunity to work from the ground level — a starting job — to get experience.” More importantly, he worries that the pandemic has hurried the demise of stores like his and the service he sees them providing: enabling simple, “serendipitous interactions” that happen when people spend time with each other face-toface. Just like the “ephemera” he used to sell in his shop — those old objects that will pass away with time — time spent with each other organically, and the joy that comes from it, is passing away, too. “Serving others — trying to help them — that’s what we were about,” Mason said. Williamsburg residents and businesses alike found ways to help each other as the pandemic wore into the late spring and summer months. Several businesses donated perishable products and meals to local nonprofits and community organisers helping provide COVID relief, including House of Mercy, Breaking Bread, and Grove Community Outreach, which provided free lunches to local children who would normally benefit from subsidised school meals. Others gave free meals to frontline workers like

health care professionals and teachers buying meals for their families. Around April, Aromas started to fill one of the more bizarre needs created by pandemic panic buying and supply chain interruptions: toilet paper. “Because we get it in such bulk and our supply chain was different, as opposed to fretting and going to multiple places looking for toilet paper, just call us,” Sieling said. “And I can’t tell you how many people would call and be like, ‘Can I get a turkey on focaccia — and three rolls of toilet paper?’” They sold other hard-to-find items — paper towels and rubber gloves — at cost to give residents another avenue to get the essentials that had disappeared from grocery store shelves. Williamsburg residents rallied around its local businesses, too. “People were going out of their way to support us,” Sieling said of when Aromas was open for takeout. “We had some people who came in every single day to get a cup of coffee or a sandwich.” Things could have gone differently, Nelson said,

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“were it not for the CARES Act, were it not for the landlord saying, ‘Hey, if you can’t pay your rent this month, don’t pay your rent this month. We’ll figure it out on the other side.’” “I’ve established a lot of really good connections and friendships within the 17 years that I’ve been here in Williamsburg,” said Scott Hoyland, owner of the Culture Cafe on Scotland Street. “And oh my goodness, when there was even a chance that the restaurant wasn’t going to make it — my gosh, the people just calling and saying, ‘What can we do to help? Can we give you money? Can we do this?’” “OU R MOST I M PORTANT RE LATIONSH I P I S W ITH W I LL IAM AN D MA RY” Every six months or so, the owners of The Cheese Shop get a call from out of town. It’s a customer, placing an order for a jar of the famous House Dressing for his wife, a William and Mary alumna. They live in Italy. “He says it’s the best thing that he’s ever been able to give her for Christmas or her birthday. Italy — the greatest food country in the world, and we’re shipping them House Dressing!” said Pattissall. One former football player of the College who lives in New York City once ordered seven cases of House Dressing — 84 jars — to give as gifts to fellow alumni. Calls for the Williamsburg staple only increased when The Cheese Shop closed its doors to diners. “If we were to query all of the customers who placed orders for the House Dressing on our website, I wouldn’t hesitate to put down big money that 75 per cent of those people went to William and Mary,” Pattisall said. “Some of the very best sandwich online orderers have been the students, and I would say that’s been our one growth category of this year,” Powers said. “And we’re grateful as all get-out.” It’s no wonder, then, that each successive 55

announcement from the College — that the spring 2020 semester would be online, that Commencement was virtual, that the fall 2020 semester would be delayed, that homecoming would be virtual — struck fear into the hearts of these entrepreneurs, whose livelihoods, and those of their employees, depend on business generated by students, staff, and visitors to the College. Scott Hoyland and his wife, Louise, opened Culture Cafe five years ago to give themselves a retirement project. He worked as a chef in other local eateries for 17 years, until the demands of keeping a restaurant afloat in a pandemic forced him to resign and focus on Culture full-time. “We’ve applied for 65 different grants just to try to keep the doors open,” said Hoyland. “I don’t think I have hardly any fingers left for chewing them with worry.” His reliance on the College for business is even greater than other establishments because his restaurant is so far removed from the beaten path for tourists in Merchants Square and on Duke of Gloucester Street. He said the worst part wasn’t closing, but reopening in a ghost town. “When we reopened, all the people — between the students and the patrons that come here — all the faces we had become so familiar with were gone,” Hoyland said. “It was basically like we were starting a new restaurant during a pandemic.” Mason, too, tucked away on Prince George Street, did his best business when students were on campus. When the College closed for the spring and the governor’s closure mandate was lifted, he reduced Mermaid’s hours to weekends. But every month that passed without students — and when students were back on campus in the fall but with such uncertainty over whether or not they could stay — made his situation more precarious. “Every month it was like, ‘What should we do?’” he said. Mason bought Mermaid Books from the previous

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owner in 2009 to save it from the same fate as the four other bookstores in Merchants Square that had closed since 1977. When he finally made the decision to close his doors, it was with a heavy heart. “I was hoping to keep it going for another 20 or 30 years,” he said. “It just killed me. People were so upset. I was so upset.” “I F E E L I N MY H EA RT THAT WE W I LL MAK E IT.” “Last weekend was freaking awesome. It was like the Culture of old,” Hoyland said of a sunny weekend in early March that gave him hope that things are inching their way back to normalcy. The other restaurateurs are optimistic too — some point to the vaccine, some to the warmer weather, others to the relatively low case numbers in the area. All of them are seeing glimmers of light at the end of a year-long tunnel that almost collapsed on top of them. “We’re such fighters,” Sieling said, when asked if she ever looked around and asked if they would make it. Hoyland echoed that sentiment: “I don’t have a

lot of quit in me.” Nelson remembers a conversation with his sister from early in the pandemic. He predicted, based on the 1918 influenza pandemic, that it would be 18 months before things got back to normal. Back then, he hoped he was wrong. After 12 months of pandemic conditions, now he hopes he was right, and that life and business will be back to normal by the end of the summer. There’s also a sense that running a restaurant in a pandemic, for its challenges and heartbreaks, has made these entrepreneurs better businesspeople. “Pandemics are never things you think you’re going to battle,” Powers said. “We’ve all learned an awful lot, and we think we’re better business people because of it. We think we’re a better business because of it.” Indeed, none of the 100 members of the Williamsburg Area Restaurant Association closed as a result of COVID-19. But the pandemic has still left its mark. “It’s a memory,” Mason said of Mermaid Books. “It was a lovely place.”

Religious Freedom at Home An Exploration into Neopagan Communities Story by Lucas Harsche ’23 Story by Fred Nunnelley ’22 Photos by Rebecca Klinger ’22 Photos by Gavin Aquin ’22 Modelled by Laila Kennedy ’23 Modelled by Joanie Sceppa ‘23

Lucas Harsche and Fred Nunnelley investigate the College of William and Mary’s neopagan communities. Hear from pagan students and alumni and learn more about paganism on campus and in the local area — what it entails, the challenges practitioners face, and the best ways to learn more about the movement.

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n Newport News, there is a certain store indicative of an emerging trend among Generation Z; indeed, a trend unlike anything that has been witnessed before. As more and more young people are growing disillusioned — for better or for worse — with organised religion, many are moving towards a new belief system which contrasts sharply to familiar dogma and creeds. Within shops like The Magickal Attic, there are plenty of options for those wishing to explore the umbrella of non-organisational belief systems known variably as paganism and neopaganism, among other appellations. Walking in, one is immediately struck by the enormous crystals on display in the center, as well as the paintings, dreamcatchers, and candles which line the purple walls. On wooden tables and shelves are stones, wands, incense, and books dedicated to witchcraft and paganism — but that is not all; the store features so much more. The Magickal Attic is owned by Melissa Kepley ’05, a Certified Clinical Transpersonal Hypnotherapist. Kepley opened Magickal Attic on the advice of a colleague who said they needed a new location “on the other side of the water.” Kepley explained the services her shop provides. “I do readings — and there is very much a neuroscience background to the readings,” Kepley said.“I am a licensed minister in the state of Virginia, so I also am a pastoral counselor. I also do one-on-

one student tutorials— we have a lot of beginners who come to the shop,” Kepley said. It is important to distinguish Kepley’s shop, The Magickal Attic, as well as paganism in general, from the New Age belief system best encapsulated in stores like Stick, Stone & Bone on Richmond Road in Williamsburg. And while Melissa Kepley, due to her popular store, may be one of the first pagans (in her case, New England witchcraft practitioner) who comes to mind when considering the alumni community, she is by no means the only alum who practises, past or present. While many people use terms like “pagan” or “neopagan” to identify themselves and their religious practices, these terms refer less to any one organisation or set of beliefs but rather function as catch-alls for a host of modern religions that fall outside of more mainstream and established religions. Two individual neopagans could, hypothetically, have nothing in common with each other in terms of practices or beliefs and still both identify as neopagans under the umbrella term. This open-endedness can make discussion of paganism difficult, as generalisations across the entirety of the community are few and far between. Whereas some individuals may identify and practise with organised groups, others have formed their personal religious identity from the ground up, borrowing from any number of sources, all while adding new elements 58

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that are uniquely their own. Some seek to revive the specifics of old religions; others build their practices from entirely secular, humanistic perspectives. Because of this diversity, details and specifics can vary wildly — an open mind is essential when discussing and considering contemporary paganism. At the College itself, finding groups of individuals who consider themselves somewhere along the lines of these faiths can be rather difficult. For one, the eclectic and often highly personalised nature of practices and beliefs of members of this community generally make the formation of any sort of cohesive group challenging. One student, Laila Kennedy ’23, described the extant group not as an organised religious community in the same way that a church or student-run club might be but more of a loosely affiliated group of individual practitioners. “I have not seen any kind of central authority to it as an organisation,” Kennedy said. “By nature, this makes finding new members a slow, natural process, as people bring in similarly minded friends and acquaintances. The lack of any central authority or leadership also prevents the group from becoming a registered student organisation or anything of the like. However, as many people who identify

themselves as pagan or neo-pagan may prefer to keep their religious beliefs private, this obscurity can make it easier for them to feel comfortable being able to practise with others in a group setting.” This decentralised structure and personal nature seem to be part of what has been drawing people to pagan faiths in recent years. This decentralisation also allows for a far greater adaptability, allowing individuals to build their own practices and beliefs, rather than strictly conforming to the teachings of any particular religious figure. Even within more organised types of pagan faiths, there is often still ample room for individual interpretation and exploration in ways typically not found in mainstream religions. Social media also is drawing young people to pagan faiths. Many platforms have provided places for people to find others that may share their beliefs or hold similar ones. This feeling of community can help prevent those just beginning their personal exploration of pagan faiths from feeling completely isolated or peerless, allowing them to learn and grow. While many welcome the spread of awareness and acceptance made possible by social media, some have noted an accompanying rise in

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misinformation. Discrimination against those who practise paganism, Wicca, New Age, and the like is nonetheless on the decline . This seems to be both a result of not only a more tolerant youth — Kennedy observed that “People tend to be accepting, albeit a little bit confused by it” — but also the increasing apathy toward organised religion among young people. However, such acceptance does not always come from acceptance of belief alone, as Kennedy noted.

my husband there — and I don’t want to sound, you know, inferior — but I was just gobstruck, completely, because I bought into this guy thinking he was open-minded. He was there to take me down.”

“There’s a bit of trendiness to paganism among Gen Z, although I think sometimes people tend to be a bit more tokenising of it,” Kennedy explained. Unfortunately, dedication to freedom of religion is not always the case among members of our College community. For instance, when the College hosted Wiccan priestess Selena Fox ‘71 as part of a COLL 300 lecture series, she spoke of a time when she had to act in defence of her right to religious freedom against students that wished to silce her.

“TikTok and Tumblr are not very good resources!” Kennedy exclaimed. “Usually, it’s teenagers who have just started out.”

Discrimination and outright hostility toward nonorganised religions can particularly be found in older generations, as Kepley can sadly attest. A few years ago, Kepley was invited to engage in an open dialogue with a local church in Hampton concerning her beliefs; on the surface, it seemed to be a promising opportunity. “I was thinking just the good of people — maybe people were changing their minds,” Kepley explained. “That young minister came in very openminded. I thought he was trying to adapt, trying to say, ‘There are other philosophies out here, and let’s learn about other philosophies so our people understand it.’ So I thought maybe he brought some people who were interested in other possibilities.” After a brief pause, Kepley confirmed what many might suspect happened next: “I was attacked for my beliefs. I thought that this was a young, openminded minister. Nope. I got blindsided, and my husband had to shut him down, quickly.” However, the night was not entirely lost. “When the meeting ended, I found a couple of ladies sitting at the table, and one came up to me and said, ‘You know, I went to a psychic a while ago, and now everything they said came true!’” Kepley recounted. “‘It came about,’ I said. ‘It’s a real thing.’ So that was kind of comforting. But if I had not had

Kennedy and Kepley have some pointers to steer newcomers in the right direction. Curiously, both guides emphatically agreed on what sources not to use in beginning a journey into pagan religions.

Likewise, Kepley observed that many recent calls made regarding Moldavite (a long-established crystal) to her store seem to originate from a common source: “Tiktok videos, as I roll my eyes.” Counterintuitively, in this increasingly digital age, the best way to learn more about paganism is the oldfashioned way. “From experience, read everything you can get your hands on, and don’t buy one bit of it,” Kepley suggested. “Read what anybody has to say, listen to what anybody has to say, but stay within yourself. It’s all about your connection to what is higher to you, and it is going to vary person to person.” Kennedy agreed: “Start with books.” In keeping with the individualistic nature of pagan traditions, even Kennedy and Kepley slightly disagreed on the best sources to trust. Kennedy, for instance, suggested newcomers “find a reputable source who has been practicing for decades.” On the other hand, Kepley suggested that letting go of preconceived notions about relative expertise allows newcomers to best judge for themselves what resonates with them and gives them the option to choose and discard practices as they see fit. “Think for yourself, learn for yourself, feel for yourself, experience for yourself, and take it from your point of view,” Kepley elucidated. This may be the core tenet surrounding this new phenomenon, and as our society continues to increasingly foster individuality and tolerance, maybe this is something, regardless of religious beliefs, that everyone can appreciate and learn from paganism. 60

Welcome to My Island Playing “Animal Crossing” to Relieve Stress Story by Sabrina El Shanti ’22 Photos by Rebecca Klinger ’22

Welcome to the world of “Animal Crossing,” a Nintendo game that originally came out in 2001. In 2020, Nintendo released the newest instalment, “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” and it attracted fans new and old. The game is relaxing and adorable, but beware of its addictive qualities! Play at your own risk. 61

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020 was a rough year for many reasons: continued social injustice, a pandemic, and another year lived without a One Direction reunion. The one constant that helped me make it through the year, besides the support from my friends and family, was the one and only Tom Nook and my villagers on the island of Eroda (previously titled Froot). “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” is a Nintendo Switch game that took the world by storm, and definitely flourished as a result of the great increase in time everyone’s spent staying home. In the game, you are tasked with establishing a community on a deserted island under the direction of Tom Nook. You complete tasks that include setting up a home, paying off loans, adding to the island’s museum collection, and reaching best friend status with your villagers. You can even invest in the “stalk” market. What exactly is it that makes so many people dedicate many hours and sleepless nights to this game? Is it the adorable villagers chatting with you and giving you words of encouragement? Is it the euphoric feeling of paying off a home loan? Or maybe it’s the endless possibilities you have to decorate the island however you want. To me, it is all of those things and more. For my 20th birthday last year, a little over a week after the world shut down, I decided to splurge and buy myself a Switch Lite to join in on the “Animal Crossing” craze. Admittedly, I was experiencing FOMO from seeing everyone rejoice in the fact that a new “Animal Crossing” game had been released. Was this purchase slightly impulsive? Yes, but what can I say, I’m an Aries. With this being my first step in the “Animal Crossing” realm, I had no clue what to expect. You are welcomed to the island with two other randomly-generated villagers, a sisterly and jock personality type, but more on that later. Immediately, you are tasked with collecting tree branches and setting up plots. The game progresses through setting up plots of land to have more villagers move in, building up the infrastructure, and beautifying the island. The goal is to reach a 3 out of 5-star rating in order to have the world-renowned K.K. Slider visit and perform on the island — think Harry Styles but as an “Animal Crossing” icon. Once you’ve reached a 3 out of 5 star rating and have K.K. visiting every Saturday, the real fun begins: terraforming! It is one of the best things to happen since sliced bread. You can build or demolish cliffs, build waterfalls, and so forth to make your island a unique paradise to enjoy with your villagers. If you have a Nintendo Online membership, you can visit your friends and send them gifts, which was super helpful over quarantine. The possibilities are endless with regards to the super extravagant structures and landscapes you can have on your island. What had me spending almost all my free time on the Switch perfecting my island over the last few months was exactly that — I was in control of this island. During a time when everything around me changed rapidly every day and was beyond my control, “Animal Crossing” provided an outlet to make decisions that were within my control. Cheesy, I know, but after being separated from my best friends and having to adjust to a completely online learning format, feeling so alone and thinking that everything was out of control began to consume most of my days. When I play “Animal Crossing,” I can express my creative side and let my imagination take over, allowing me to forget about the real world for a moment. I can decide where a building goes and who moves to my island, and I am allowed to make this imaginary world 62

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my own. It gave me some comfort knowing that no matter how my day went, I could hop on my island and it will be exactly how I left it, ready for my next project. There is no deadline to complete tasks, no pressure to make the island look a certain way; it is just another way to escape my real-world responsibilities for a bit when TikTok gets boring. Another thing about “Animal Crossing” that has me keep coming back is the villagers. Not only are they absolutely adorable, but they all vary slightly in personality and have unique catchphrases. There are eight different personality types: sisterly, jock, peppy, normal, lazy, cranky, snooty, and smug. Having villagers of different personalities on your island helps increase the amount of DIY recipes you encounter and the reactions you can collect. I am partial to peppy characters because they are always the cutest of the bunch, as they talk about being pop stars. Rosie is by far my favourite peppy character — she is the

cutest purple cat that always makes you smile when you see her, and she was on my first island before I restarted. My next favourite personality type is normal, with Maple being the most adorable of them all. She is the cutest little bear cub that makes you long for your old teddy bear, and her catchphrase is “honey,” only adding to the level of utter cuteness. Fun fact: she is the name inspiration for a Squishmallow I bought recently, but that’s a story for a different day. Each villager is part of a certain species, which adds to the variety. A few are cats, elephants, monkeys, koalas, penguins, and wolves. There are many villagers in “New Horizons,” almost 400 to be exact, to “collect.” After a villager moves to the island, you can talk to them every day and give them gifts. The more you interact with them, the more friendship points you get and the closer you are to receiving their photo — the ultimate token of friendship. I currently have seven photos and am nowhere close to stopping, because receiving the first photo is the official

seal of signing your soul away to this game. While “Animal Crossing” is all fun and games (literally), the main thing I want to stress here is to find a way to take care of yourself. This past year has been hard on everyone for a variety of reasons, and everyone deals with, is affected by, and processes traumatic events differently. Finding time throughout your day to take a break is very important and serves as a reminder to prioritise yourself. You can go for a walk, swipe aimlessly through Instagram, or just lay down for a moment. Do whatever you need to in order to to recharge for the rest of the day. Playing “Animal Crossing” is just one of the ways I take a break from the day and clear my head before getting back to work. Another wonderful way to check in on yourself is therapy. It takes a lot to make that decision, but it helps in more ways than none. Again, finding what makes you comfortable and recharged is what matters most. Take care of

yourself, drink water, and hang in there, you’re doing amazing. There you have it, a look into the world of “Animal Crossing.” Nintendo played all the right cards at the right time to create a community where everyone can share their excitement over “dreamie” villagers and island layouts or themes. Because of my dedication to the game, I have not ruled out the possibility of becoming a streamer that exclusively plays “Animal Crossing,” because dental school is expensive. Check me out on Twitch, and if I give in to my temptations, we can visit each other’s islands. The “Animal Crossing” trend is reminiscent of the Nintendo DS days full of Kirby, Mario, and Nintendogs — a journey back to childhood days at home, playing for hours on games that required little brainpower. If you’re looking for a sign to jump on the “Animal Crossing” bandwagon, this is it. 64

La Vie en Rose A Photo Journal from France

Story and Photos by Jamie Holt ’22

Paris

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’m a natural planner in life. As much as I love to say I’m spontaneous and wild, I’m really not with most of my big life decisions. Sure, I’ll take an expected road trip or change plans at the drop of a pin, but with anything bigger than that? I need a checklist, calendar, and time to plan. So naturally, being the stubborn person I am, I was not going to let the pandemic ruin my aspirations of studying abroad in France since eighth grade (literally). To say getting here (aka Paris) was hard would be a gross understatement. From constantly checking for approval from the Reves Center, to changing my entire course enrollment literally on the train back from my visa appointment, to stressing over testing and maintaining safety during the travel process — it was quite truly one of the most difficult processes I’ve gone through. Now, of course, the question remains: was it worth it? Simply put, absolutely. (I should note, this is my first time in Paris and in Europe, frankly, so as someone who has dreamed of traveling and seeing the world my whole life it would have to be pretty terrible if it wasn’t worth all the trouble.) While yes, it is quite disappointing given the current lockdown measures and how terribly France is handling vaccinations, if I had to be stuck anywhere during this, I’m glad it’s here.

Paris

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Paris

During my time here, I’ve been taking a French language and phonetics course at the Institut Catholique de Paris with other international students. While I was initially terrified at the prospect of being surrounded by an entirely new cast of people, my classmates welcomed me as if I had always been there. Many of them have studied there for a few semesters so they already know each other pretty well, but they welcomed me into their group with open arms (and lots of questions about America). They come from all corners of the world: Poland, Egypt, China, Japan, Colombia — the list goes on and on. And all of them are learning French for unique reasons. Getting to know them and learn about their lives has been a highlight of my time here, and I cannot even imagine the day when I’ll have to say goodbye. Outside of class, I have met the most wonderful cast of other “Americans in Paris”: my roommate, Annika, and my friends from ICP that are here with another study abroad programme. Outside of learning and refining my French, which has vastly improved since I began living here and speaking the language daily, there have been so many other personal growth opportunities. No, I am not going to sit here and go, “Ooh study abroad changed me” (I mean it has, but I’m going to try really hard not to be THAT person), but in the last two months, I’ve 67

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had the chance to reflect on my upbringing and think about my place in the world. Coming from a tiny town with next to no diversity, I think a place like that can cause two reactions in people: comfort in staying or the drive to leave and explore. For me, it has always been the latter. Paris has given me the chance to learn about different cuisines, religions, and cultures from those around me and close to me like my classmates, and even the people I meet in the local Monoprix (French Target). These new experiences have encouraged me to step back and reflect on how and why I approach things the way I do from a cultural standpoint and question how I want to move forward. It’s so weird for me to step back some days and take a moment to acknowledge where I’m from and where I am now — my young self never could have imagined actually living and being here. My dad jokes with me when we chat on the phone that he can’t believe his kid

is in France, and I love to laugh and tell him I always dreamed of doing this, but honestly, it’s shocking to me too. Outside of the personal growth and revelations, what has been more shocking to me is my artistic reawakening. For those who don’t know me or my work, I’m a photographer and have been for roughly five years now. While I adore photography and the work I’ve made so far at the College of William and Mary, I felt like I was in a rut creatively. Every week felt like I was photographing the same topics and subjects, and I was finding myself unexcited to pick up my camera save for every now and then. Coming to Paris and feeling free to photograph whatever I wanted in an entirely new environment has sparked my creative drive again. I carry my camera everywhere and have photographed more in the last two months than I have in a long while. The images

Paris

Lyon I’m producing are different from anything else in my portfolio and are really the first work I’ve made outside of an assignment or for a client. These are images I am really creating for myself. Paris has long been hailed as an artist’s paradise, and I now understand why, especially for someone like myself who has never experienced living in such a large city where everything is new. The subjects I’m drawn to photographing may be overlooked as everyday life for some, but for me, it is often an entirely new experience. From friends picnicking out in a park to people carrying their groceries home on the metro (especially

the metro), all of these things I’m drawn to documenting are fresh to me, and I think that’s what makes the work I’m developing here so enticing to me artistically. So overall, while studying abroad in the COVID pandemic era has posed some difficulties and some disappointments (France, please just reopen museums), I’ve had a very unique experience this semester. While I haven’t been able to travel much, Paris is a city one can live in for years and not fully discover, so restrictions have encouraged me to really appreciate where I am to the fullest. Paris has not only given me new opportunities but new friends and a new outlook on life and my artistic pursuits.

Marseille

The Land is My Bridge to Her My Journey Back to My Filipino Heritage

Story and Photos by Nina Raneses ’22

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Confronted by the sudden passing of her grandmother, Nina Raneses delves deep into her own identity as a Filipino American after spending years unsure of what it meant.

an. 1, 2018 — as I stood on the balcony of our 21st-floor apartment, tiny explosions studded the skyline from Manila Bay to the distant mountains and lakes. The honking of cars and muffled cheers from backyards below registered for a brief moment as seconds flew by after the stroke of midnight. The rest became white noise. In the moments that my corner of the world revelled in the promise of new beginnings, I was faced with the harsh reality of the end. For me, that past year was characterised by unexpected change, loss, and separation. I’ve never been one to channel that much energy into New Year’s celebrations, but it was all I had. Instead, in the first moments of 2018, I was holding my phone, eyes welling with tears. My grandmother had just unexpectedly passed, and I could not hold her hand and say goodbye. We were separated by over 8,000 miles of land and sea and a 13-hour time difference. Like so many grandmothers, she was a storyteller, a caregiver, a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on. I looked forward to the summer days I’d spend at my grandparents’ house, and spent so much of my childhood in her care. And from a very young age, my grandmother represented everything I knew about my heritage. Through her actions and her words, I’d get glimpses into a land and a history that I was separated from because of time, culture, generational differences, and what I would learn later in life was a fear of how the world perceived me based on my cultural identity. I am a secondgeneration Filipino American, but for the majority of my life, that hasn’t “felt” like the case. I’ve always wondered what it was like to have your cultural and ethnic heritage be a centerpiece of your identity. For the longest time, that was not my reality — to have one of those unchangeable characteristics of your being foster so much joy and community. Filipino Americans are an admirably resilient group. They always find the means and the courage to

celebrate and share their culture with others despite the struggles faced by the diaspora. Through the complicated relationships and harsh realities brought on by American colonialism, immigration law, and harmful stereotypes and generalisations, they mourn and reconcile. They savour the present while they look towards the future. “Fil Ams” have every right to be upset — and I would be remiss to say that they’ve never been — of what they’ve suffered as a collective. In the United States and throughout the world, the Filipino spirit carries on in an unwavering commitment to family and community. Throughout my life, I’ve always felt like I’ve watched from the sidelines, looking at the beauty and familial nature of the diaspora and wondering what it would be like to be a part of it. I love my Fil Am family very much, and I am grateful for all that I’ve learned through them about my cultural heritage, but I could feel an obstacle between myself and the greater community. I respected the pride that others felt for their culture, for their heritage, but somehow believed I was not afforded the same chance.

“My grandmother had just unexpectedly passed, and I could not hold her hand and say goodbye. We were separated by over 8,000 miles of land and sea and a 13-hour time difference.“ From an early age, my relationship with my heritage became intertwined with my relationship with my grandmother. This relationship has always been complicated, simultaneously revolving around my own unfamiliarity and guilt and the feeling of my grandmother’s love. So much of what I know about the Philippines — even after living in the country for a year — I know because of her. I was always greeted by the sound of Filipino news shows in my grandparents’ living room as I entered their Lorton, Virginia, house, and Filipino soap operas were the last thing my grandmother and I watched before we went to sleep. Before I drifted off, she 72

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told stories of Japanese occupation and Philippine mythology. She introduced me to the Filipino dishes that to this day bring me warmth, comfort, and memories of childhood. It’s been impossible to discuss my heritage without mentioning the role my grandmother played in it. To me, she was the Philippines — all of the stories, the food, and the culture. My connection to my heritage lived in her, and when she passed, I was afraid it would leave with her. I’ve grieved for my grandmother in the hopes that I would not have to grieve the loss of the strongest connections I’ve ever felt to my roots.

“My connection to my heritage lived in her, and when she passed, I was afraid it would leave with her.” Those that know me have heard me talk about my complicated relationship with my heritage. It’s one of those unavoidable facts of life for me and so many generations of immigrants’ children. For over two decades, coming to terms with my identity has felt like tackling the world’s most stubborn clump of

yarn. Some days, I put in the effort to pull the strings apart, as hard and difficult as it may be. Other days — or rather most days, it’s easy to throw it in a corner and forget the problem exists. The cold, hard truth for any generation of immigrants in this country and their children is that removing ourselves from our family’s past makes life “easier.” Especially in the times that it’s felt “easier” to act as if there are no implications and history behind the way that I look, the pronunciation of my last name, for the religion I was raised around, for the second language that my relatives speak. I always thought it was “easier” for me to just be American, with no other identifier, as if it would prevent ignorance and curiosity and all other forces in this world from taking one look at me and asking: “Where are you REALLY from?” Growing up and going to predominantly White schools in a predominantly White neighbourhood, I thought I’d never have to consider my ethnicity as a part of my identity. It was not something I’d considered as a child, and in adolescence — as conversations of race and ethnicity became more relevant among my peers — I strayed away from it even then. But it hurt all the same. I hated when people asked why

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I couldn’t speak Tagalog, or why I didn’t do certain things or act specific ways “since I was Filipino.” At the same time, I’ve always been uncomfortable with assertions that the way I speak or that my interests or career aspirations make me “whitewashed.” I never felt like “enough” of one thing for anyone, and moving to the Philippines only exacerbated these feelings of uncertainty.

“I always thought it was “easier” for me to just be American, with no other identifier, as if it would prevent ignorance and curiosity and all other forces in this world from taking one look at me and asking: “Where are you REALLY from?” Growing up and going to predominantly White schools in a predominantly White neighbourhood, I thought I’d never have to consider my ethnicity as a part of my identity.” My grandmother’s death was a turning point, but so were all of the moments that followed immediately after. I was in Manila when my grandmother passed, but in the days following we’d planned to visit Baguio, a city tucked in the Cordillera mountain range in the northern part of the island Luzon. High above the pollution and bustle of the city, Baguio is filled with pine trees and street vendors that sell strawberries and flowers from small carts. Almost everywhere you look you can hear the echoes of farm animals from the mountain villages below. Closer to the edges of the mountains, the air is sweet and fresh, something that I hadn’t been accustomed to since I arrived in the Philippines. On the car ride from Manila to Baguio, I experienced the Philippine countryside for the first time in my life. We passed fields scattered with carabaos and saw the first instance of wide-open sky I’ve seen since I came to the Philippines — untouched by skyscrapers or aeroplanes or lights from nearby cities. From the beauty of the countryside to the stories my mom told me of her visits to Baguio as a child, I’d never felt more connected to the land that I’d only heard stories about when I was a child. I realised that even though I’d never get my chance to explore it alongside my grandmother, it was worth exploring for myself — which is something I knew she would have wanted.

“I have never been able to get over the cruel irony of me being in the Philippines and her being in the United States when she passed. A foreigner on the soil that she grew up on, it felt wrong for me to be there, without her with me, as she died.” I have never been able to get over the cruel irony of me being in the Philippines and her being in the United States when she passed. A foreigner on the soil that she grew up on, it felt wrong for me to be there, without her, as she died. From the moment I arrived in Manila, I dreamt of the day my grandparents would visit us there. It would have been such a full-circle, second-generation-immigrant dream come true to have my own grandmother visit me in the Philippines after spending my childhood learning about the town and province she grew up in. At this point, I was still uncomfortable with exploring my relationship with the country of my heritage but recognised the privilege of being able to even dream of visiting our family’s ancestral land, 74

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let alone know where that land was. I clung to the hope that travelling around the Philippines with my grandparents would bring to life the stories they told me when I was a child and somehow ignite this deep love of the country I’d always been missing. But that moment would never come. Those who know me personally know that I am never easily in touch with my emotions. In fact, it is almost impossible for me to confront them. Every few years I think it’ll finally be the year that I get a journal and commit to writing my feelings and experiences down, but every time I end up staring blankly at empty pages, afraid of putting thoughts onto paper, scared to make them tangible and therefore acknowledge them in a way I never wanted to. My relationship with my heritage is perhaps the most private, most difficult of all of my thoughts to articulate. And yet here I am, writing and publishing thoughts that, for most of my life, I could never even force into the pages of a private diary, to every stranger, mentor, friend, and loved one who reads this piece. I chose to get this reflection out on paper and for everyone I care about to see because I doubt there will be a more poignant time in my life for me to write it. I took my first APIA studies course at the College of William and Mary on a whim, not thinking about the real impact it could have on how I view myself and what role I have to play as an Asian American at this school, in the context of my friendships, in the majority-White industry I am working hard to break into after graduation. But through all of the historical, legal, and theoretical contextualisation I’ve studied in my APIA courses, I’ve already grown so much in terms of what I think of my heritage and how that translates into my role as a part of both the Filipino and Asian American communities. For the first time in my life, I see myself as part of it. I understand now what my family talks about when they say that my grandmother is watching over us — watching over me — with her warmth and her support. It lives on in the people and the experiences I’ve been privileged enough to meet and witness in her absence. It lives on in the support and genuine care of those around me who would educate and include me in conversations about heritage rather than be judgemental or exclusive in the ways that I’d (irrationally) feared. Today, I am no longer watching from the sidelines. I 75

feel the welcoming presence and the warmth of the Fil-Am community and the diaspora everywhere I go. Being “enough” is a concept I’ve struggled with in many aspects of my life — my identity is hardly the only facet of my personality that I’ve had trouble convincing myself is adequate. However, I’ve found that accepting myself for how I am is the first step in this process, with the key being to truly understand what “acceptance” means. For much of my life, I’ve tried to sweep conversations about my identity and my heritage under the rug. I know I’m not alone. I’ve found solace in reading and hearing about others’ experiences with not feeling “American” enough for their peers but not in touch enough with their roots that they feel disconnected from family. Put simply, I am done being apologetic. Not knowing Tagalog was never my fault, and having a surname that turns into a pronunciation guessing game whenever I meet someone new is also not my fault. I will no longer beat myself for the gaps in cultural knowledge I still have, but rather look for the friendly faces I’ve met along the way to share in the experiences I’ve had instead.

“Being “enough” is a concept I’ve struggled with in many aspects of my life — my identity is hardly the only facet of my personality that I’ve had trouble convincing myself is adequate. However, I’ve found that accepting myself for how I am is the first step in this process, with the key being to truly understand what “acceptance” means.” I am incredibly grateful for the people and the experiences that have helped me find my way, but it never ceases to upset me when I think about how I found myself here. How and why did this sense of self-discovery and self-acceptance have to come from the most heartbreaking and traumatic experience of my life? My grandmother’s passing has been the most influential loss in my life, and I learned quickly what’s meant when people talk about the grieving process not being a linear one. When she was still alive, everything about the Philippines reminded me of my grandmother, and with her passing, these reminders and feelings have been amplified — and I took the opportunity to take my grief and channel it into something that could help me grow as a person. And the added

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layer of shared trauma in the wake of hate crimes and scapegoating Asians due to the pandemic has forced me to realise how important this sense of community is — both as an Asian American and as a Filipino American. Between my own feelings of grief and those of the community around me, it is a shame that so many people have finally been brought together by shared tragedy. I look forward to the day that we can come together under better circumstances. It’s taken me two decades to even attempt to find my place in the complicated, resilient, and beautiful

tapestry of the Filipino American diaspora, but I feel a shift occurring that I’ve done all I can to welcome. My grandmother may be gone, but her kindness and warmth have lived on in some of the people I’ve met and the experiences I’ve had since her passing. In the same way that I breathed the fresh mountain air of Baguio days after her passing, I hope to one day visit my grandmother’s home province of Bicol. I look forward to the day I can take the steps she took, see what she saw, and thank her for the journey that led me all over the world and ultimately back to where we all came.

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i spent a year learning irish Story by Gavin Aquin ‘22 Photo by Rebecca Klinger ‘22

One year ago, I sought out to learn Irish — a beautiful and vibrant language whose legacy has suffered under the yoke of British imperialism and colonisation. Thanks to online resources, language revitalisation is possible for Gaeilge, as well as for other threatened languages across the world. Introduction – Réamhrá ver since I was little I have been fascinated with the Emerald Isle. It’s not that I’m some “Plastic Paddy” — in fact, according to a recent DNA test that I took, I’m zero per cent Irish. Yes, I did voluntarily send my spit to some company that could potentially clone me in 30 years, but honestly, the kit was on sale and that’s their loss if they spend research and development money to clone me of all people. Regardless, an individual such as myself — of Mexican, North African, Italian, Greek, and Turkish descent — can have an interest in a culture that they have quite literally no relation to of any kind.

So then, why Irish? There are actually several reasons why I have undertaken the process of learning Irish since the beginning of last year’s quarantine. Did you know that almost every student in the Republic of Ireland is required to undertake courses in Irish — yet that the vast majority of those same people finish school without being able to string 77

together complex thoughts in that language? If you have received foreign language education in one of the many school districts in the United States, you probably know the feeling of spending years learning Spanish, French, or Mandarin Chinese only to pop into a college-level language course as a freshman, completely and utterly lost. The difference between Spanish, French, or Chinese education over Irish education, however, is the lack of urgency in learning. The aforementioned languages are not on their proverbial deathbed — they have millions of native speakers and many more that speak them as a language other than their first.

“Due to a long and lasting legacy of England — and subsequently British — colonialism and imperialism in Ireland, the native Celtic tongue of the Irish was supplanted by the Germanic tongue of the English.” For the Irish language, that story is much different. Due to a long and lasting legacy of English — and

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subsequently British — colonialism and imperialism in Ireland, the native Celtic tongue of the Irish was supplanted by the Germanic tongue of the English. Though Ireland re-instituted its native language to an official status after full independence in 1937, the Irish language did not experience the same revival and widespread adoption that Hebrew did during the same time period. Of a nation of nearly 5 million people, it’s estimated that only 70,000 people in Ireland use Irish on a daily basis. I determined then, that in my quest to be fluent in 10 different languages by 2028 (a promise I made to myself on my 18th birthday), I would include Irish in that group.

“Of a nation of nearly 5 million people, it’s estimated that only 70,000 people in Ireland use Irish on a daily basis.” The Process - An próiseas How does one go about learning a language that not too many people speak? This was the question that I asked myself at the start of my journey —

after all, when I started learning French in middle school, I was able to easily find books and podcasts and even enrol myself in courses. Entrapped in my bedroom in Las Vegas, this whole endeavour felt futile. Traditional advice says that in order to pick up Irish, one must travel to the western countryside of the island where the language is the healthiest and live within these communities collectively known as an Ghaeltacht. This was an impossibility for two reasons: 1) This was in 2020 and travelling to another country across the ocean seemed like a not-so-great idea and 2) even if somehow the first problem was alleviated, my passport was expired, and I had no money to travel to or stay in Ireland. At least I have Derry Girls and the Cranberries to hold me over until that day comes. It was time to get resourceful. Nowadays there are so many resources available to people trying to learn a language on the internet. I remember the day when I would go to Borders and Barnes & Noble and look at all the French-English, German-English, 78

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Italian-English, and Russian-English dictionaries only to feel despair that I knew all these words but not how to use them. For the fundamentals, we have Duolingo now which is great for vocabulary. Google makes it so that you can find so many grammar books on the web. Amazon.com will send you books that you couldn’t dream of finding in stores on the high street. YouTube has many recordings of native speakers speaking, making it easy to mimic and learn accents. After all, unless you’re learning a classical language, there comes a point where you have to be able to speak and not read your target language.

“I spent the summer reading and trying to understand An Hobad, nó Anonn Agus ar Ais Arís, which is the Irish translation of ‘The Hobbit’ as well as video-chatting with Irish-speaking friends that I made online.” Books and media in hand, I continued my journey. I immediately learned that in Irish, the word order is much different than in English, French, or Spanish. You start a sentence with the verb, then you say the subject and the object: Itheann an cat a bhia. “Eats the cat his food” — or in English, we would say “the cat eats his food.” This was an interesting concept to wrap my mind around, but it would soon become second nature to me. I spent the summer reading and trying to understand An Hobad, nó Anonn Agus ar Ais Arís, which is the Irish translation of “The Hobbit” as well as video-chatting with Irish-speaking friends that I made online. Shout out to Siobhán for listening to me while I strung together barely coherent sentences in Irish! My Reflections - Mo smaointe Irish certainly isn’t the only language whose future is not secure. In a globalising world, there are many languages and cultures that will not survive the 21st century as we continue to encourage the usage of the largest languages as linguae francae. If you have a passion for indigenous, minoritised, or endangered languages, I strongly encourage you to follow through and learn them — whether it’s a Mayan language from Central America, Kurdish, Berber, one of the Chinese dialects, or yes, even Irish. I have found it incredibly enriching to immerse myself in another language while not having to worry about papers, projects, and grades deriving from performance in that language. 79

“Irish certainly isn’t the only language whose future is not secure. In a globalising world, there are many languages and cultures that will not survive the 21st century...” Though 2020-me didn’t have the resources to run off to Ireland, now that I am only a semester and a quarter from graduating college, perhaps a month or two in the Gaeltacht isn’t too much of an impossibility. Slán!

A turtle made it to the water Video by Zachary Lutzky ‘24

Sheeeeesh, Lake Matoaka is polluted as heck! Join Multimedia Editor Zachary Lutzky ‘24 and local environment enthusiast Elizabeth Ashley ‘22 as they discuss the issues of conservation and waste in our beloved lake.

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Less Flavour

Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

The Belgians might have invented the illustrious “French” fry, but it is the United States of America that turned it into the greasy mass-produced spudtacular saline experience that we crave each and every day. In a political climate that often finds itself devoid of real and genuine, hard-pressing journalistic content, we wanted to bravely channel the College of William and Mary’s genius “For the Bold” slogan by discussing the most controversial question of all — a question some might say is unthinkably outside of the Overton Window and in the realm of extremists — that which french fry reigns superior, and which french fry is a “pomme de terrible.” Story and Photos by Alyssa Slovin ‘22 and Gavin Aquin ‘22

et’s set the scene. It’s 2pm on a Friday. A food journey is imminent, but the rain threatens to prematurely end the spudventure of a lifetime. Nevertheless we persist. Lizzy W would be proud. We start our day outside of the Richmond Road Chick-Fil-A, mapping out our route. Where would the smell of industrial grease take us? Only the potato fates and our Google overlords could tell us. We film an Instagram Story update for our adoring fans and begin our enlightenment.

Some snags in the road:

1. Pulling up to Wendy’s on Richmond Road, asking for small fries, and only receiving the response, “Sorry, we aren’t taking orders right now.” Immediately, we had to change our route and venture to the Wendy’s on Monticello. Another tragedy in America. 2. Gavin, a newly minted 21 year old, wanted a plastic pint of Stella Artois (another fabulous export of Belgium) at Paul’s. Sadly, he did not remember this until after we left. 3. Driving on Francis Street, a car with the tags stating “DISOBEY” was ahead of us. Tragically, they chose to obey traffic laws by going ten under the posted speed limit on a one lane road — and they say that humour and irony are dead in modern America. We were eventually able to return to campus after they decided to drive on the wrong side of Confusion Corner. In America, we drive on the right, mate. Maybe they were more subversive than we gave them credit for. Enough dilly-dallying. Let us explain our methodology. We went to every french fry place

we could think of off the top of our heads. We endeavoured to taste each wedge and rate them based on the categories of texture and flavour — taking into account the salt and seasoning of each fry for our very scientific study. Potatoes were harmed in the writing of this article. Come after us, tuber rights activists.

McDonald’s Where do we begin? McDonald’s french fries are arguably the most well-known taste in America, if not the world. Think about it — is there any other french fry whose taste you can recall from memory? Unless you are a grade-A certified liar, the answer is probably no. The perfect amount of salt, and the perfect shape. They are the kind of french fry that you could keep eating forever, no matter how many you have already consumed. No amount of McDonald’s fries is too much. Our only issue is that we were egregiously and unbelievably notified that the location we went to did not sell Shamrock Shakes on St. Paddy’s Day. The literal audacity. Gavin cried. Do better, Richmond Road McDonald’s.

Chick-Fil-A Although these fries are the exact opposite of McDonald’s fries in terms of potatosity, the fries fulfil a similar need in terms of saltiness. In all honesty, we probably would have ranked them higher than McDonald’s if we literally didn’t hate the company and everything they stood for. Waffle is a cool shape though. 82

Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

Cookout Cookout fries literally taste like someone went to a farm and murdered a literal potato, and then sold it to us — but in a good way. Do not fret. This is a Cookout household, and we respect their french fries. By this, we mean that they are overflowing with potatoey goodness — thereby titillating our taste buds — in a way no other drive-thru could. Consensually, of course. Extra points for the low prices, big portions, and the presence of Cheerwine. Marry us, Cookout? Please?

Wendy’s Wendy’s is like that ex-boyfriend that you didn’t really like, but you go back because it’s kind of convenient, not gonna lie. Their issue, however, lies in the quality of the experience. Bland, kind of salty, and lacking that ultimate oomph to make you actually want to return with permanence. At least they cut their hamburgers in a square. Otherwise we might not ever think to distinguish them from literally any of their competition.

Wawa Wawa is playing hard to get with their fries. They’re only available from 4pm to 12am, which leaves out just about all of the times we would ever want fries. Wawa needs to understand their target demographic, especially close to a college campus. 83

When will they cater to us 2am lost souls who just finished a midterm paper and want the amazingly seasoned Wawa fries? Maybe we’ll have to keep taking our business to McDonalds…. But really quickly, let’s just say that the fries had a surprisingly tasty smoky flavour. If only we could ever eat them at a time convenient for us.

Arby’s Gavin wants us to just write “ugly,” but let’s give Arby’s some credit. At least their checkout till worked, unlike the Wendy’s right next door. But for real, it was a curly fry that was surprisingly not too greasy. Not a bad experience all around.

Paul’s Deli Restaurant Paul’s Deli have great cheese fries. Amazing cheese fries. Spectacular cheese fries. Shareable cheese fries. Cheese fries so good that they inspire you to walk through questionable paths in the woods and call your boyfriend saying you want a divorce even though you aren’t married. The only issue with these amazing cheese fries is that you need to have had an unhealthy amount of “the devil’s water” before the experience is an enjoyable one. Also, just between us friends, we recommend you eat them in just a few minutes because the cheese congeals incredibly quickly. Otherwise, your oesophagus might turn around and ask you for a divorce.

Flat hat magazine x chromatica x oreos Video by Rebecca Klinger ‘22

Blast off to the Planet Chromatica with the Flat Hat Magazine staff as we endeavour to determine whether or not Gaga’s pink Oreos are worth the hype. Full disclosure: ARTPOP was better than Chromatica; forward all lawsuits to Katherine Rowe.

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Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

have had a lifelong love affair with the province of Québec since I first found out that there was a place in North America where residents speak French. You mean to say that I don’t have to go to Europe to hear français but that I could go to La Belle Province instead? As cliché as this sounds, over my trips to the Great White North I have long cherished the taste of gravy and cheese curds on fries more so than other “stereotypically” Canadian things such as Timmies or Nanaimo Bars. If you ever go to Québec though, don’t pull up to a McDonald’s and order a side of poutine with your MacPoulet or your McCroquettes (due to Law 101 in Québec, all companies are required to directly translate their product names into French) — there are so many better places for you to acquire the plate of savoury potato goodness. Anyway, I’m in Williamsburg, not Montréal, so here’s the recipe that I use to cope with my reality.

Ingredients (serves three people): • • • •

Chicken gravy of your choice 2 lbs of Russet potatoes Frying oil, preferably peanut 1-2 cups of cheddar cheese curds or chunks of mozzarella cheese

Directions:: 1. Make your gravy hot. 2. Prepare and cut your potatoes. I like to make my wedges thick but it’s your choice. Place into

3. 4. 5.

a bowl and soak the potatoes for an hour. When they are ready, heat your oil in a deep fryer to 375°F. Remove the potatoes from the water and blot off the excess moisture with a paper towel. Fry the potatoes for 5-6 minutes, until golden. Remove the potatoes and put them in a towellined bowl. Lightly season the potatoes with salt while they are warm. Add a ladle of your (hopefully heated gravy) to the bowl and use tongs to toss the fries in the gravy until sufficiently covered. Add the cheese to the mix and continue tossing. Add pepper to your satisfaction and eat immediately!

Story by Rebecca Klinger ‘22 Graphic by Angela Vasishta ‘21

Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

Black Bean Brownies W

hen I was 13, I visited my maternal grandma in Brazil and my sister had the idea of making brownies. We had been visiting Brazil every summer break since I could remember, and it never occurred to me that brownies weren’t the regular dessert item there that they are in the US. Without a premade mix, young Becca and her sister had to scour the grocery store for ingredients to make them from scratch, and still didn’t find everything we needed. Flash forward to last semester when a friend, who knew I had my own kitchen and an affinity for making weird recipes in it, sent me a recipe for brownies made of black beans. I was excited because it reminded me of my Brazilian brownie failure of 2013, in a country where I eat black beans (and rice) nearly every day but have never successfully made a brownie. Since I haven’t been able to travel to see half of my family in over a year now, I have been hit with major emotion; saudade is what they would call it. I miss Brazil, so I made black bean brownies.

Ingredients (makes approximately 32 brownies):

Directions::

• • • • • • • • • • •

1. Mash/blend beans into paste. I did this using a potato masher but any method should work. 2. Mix all the ingredients into a bowl. 3. Pour batter into a sheet and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes, add time until you can insert a toothpick and pull it out with a couple crumbles on it.

1/8 cup honey 1/8 cup stevia 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup cocoa powder 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/3 stick melted butter 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 15 oz can drained rinsed black beans Chocolate chips

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this recipe — making a dessert out of beans sounds like something I would do to follow up the Botetourt Squat’s Mountain Dew and Nacho Cheese Doritos cupcakes recipe. This was not that, I made good, gooey brownies. My housemate even gave them a thumbs up of approval. Would I make these again? Yes. I love brownies and it was honestly quite a simple recipe. I probably am going to make them again because I bought an extra can of beans so now I can perfect the recipe to my personal taste.

Shake & Bake that Pineapple Cake

Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

Story by Kennedy Hess ‘22

Graphic by Tara Vasanth ‘23

ineapple sunshine cake is by far my favourite dessert to make. My mother taught me to make it when I was 10 years old, and her father taught her when she was a child, as well. This recipe is a token of family bonding and a go-to for special occasions. While nothing too fancy, it is absolutely delicious. My favourite story that comes to mind when I make this cake is the time that I made it for my boyfriend for our late Valentine’s Day celebration. It was our second Valentine’s Day together, and I wanted to do something special for him, so I of course made him a pineapple sunshine cake. This was the Valentine’s Day right before we got sent home for quarantine, and unsurprisingly, I forgot to throw away the cake before I left. Since I could not come back to campus during the original allotted times to gather my belongings, that cake sat in the refrigerator for about three months. I ended up hiring movers at the end of the semester to pack and ship all of my belongings since I was unable to return to campus myself. These movers were apparently unable to take anything to the garbage when they packed my boxes, so I just told them to leave it in a bag on the floor so my roommate could throw it out when she moved out. Now here’s the kicker: the cake wasn’t there when she moved out! I really hope the movers did not try to eat three-month-old cake! I have bothered you with my stories for too long, so here is the longawaited recipe:

Ingredients: • • • • • •

1 box of yellow cake mix 4 eggs 1/2 cup oil (canola or vegetable is fine) 2 8 oz cans of crushed pineapples with juice 1 8 oz container of whipped topping, thawed 1 box of instant vanilla pudding

Directions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Add the cake mix, eggs, oil, and 1 can of crushed pineapples. Stir well. Pour into greased pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow cake to cool for 30 minutes or until cool to the touch. In another bowl, fold together whipped topping, the box of vanilla pudding, and the other can of crushed pineapples. 8. Once the cake cools, top it with the whipped topping mixture. 9. Do not wait three months to enjoy! 90

What’s All That Stuff in My Mushrooms ? Story by Alyssa Slovin ‘22

Graphic by Angela Vasishta ‘21

Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

know that mushrooms can be very polarising, so if you just thought, “ew,” I see you. But, please give this a chance! Maybe you’ll surprise yourself and realise that you loved mushrooms this whole time, and just had yet to experience their greatness.

I’m sure you can fill mushrooms with anything that your heart desires, but this recipe is very Italian — it makes up 50 per cent of my heritage and 90 per cent of the recipes I know how to cook. I was a little unsure about which recipe I wanted to write about here, but I chose this recipe, over the oftenmore-desirable Pinterest concoctions, because of its familial ties. Around the holidays, we eat this all of the time. Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the occasional birthday request — not to

mention the endless leftovers! As I’m writing this, I’m not exactly craving stuffed mushrooms because I maxed myself out, but I always yearn for them by the end of the semester when I need my fix of Italian breadcrumbs. Spoiler alert: Italian breadcrumbs are the best smell ever and make an appearance in many of my family’s recipes. As true with all of my favourite recipes, follow the steps how you see fit. If you hate garlic, maybe don’t add it, even though that would be treasonous. I tried my best with being as exact as possible, but please keep in mind that my mother’s directions for cooking often sound like, “add eight seconds of oil,” which is the least helpful direction known in this universe. At the end of the day, who really needs to measure?

Ingredients:

Directions:

• 2 large packs of button mushrooms • 1 jar of tomato sauce (for this recipe, I like Wegmans’ Grandpa’s Sauce which is flavored with sausage, sweet peppers, and wine) • 2 cups of Italian breadcrumbs • 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese • 2 tsp garlic powder or 4 garlic cloves, chopped finely • 1/2 tsp onion powder or 1/4 of an onion, chopped finely • 2 tsp dried parsley • Extra virgin olive oil • Freshly cracked black pepper • Sea salt

1. Clean mushrooms and separate the stems from the caps. This is a very important step, and you don’t want to eat dirt (or COVID-19!). Also, preheat the oven to 350°F. 2. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs and olive oil, with just enough olive oil to create a thin layer. To know if you added enough, when you mix it together, the breadcrumbs should appear physically darker, but still fairly dry. Then, add the cheese, garlic, onion, parsley, and several shakes of black pepper. 3. Take about half of the mushroom stems and chop them finely. Add those pieces to the bowl and stir well. 4. Take out a large roasting pan and pour out enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add a few shakes of salt. Then, add the mushroom caps and the remaining stems so the caps are hole-side-up and the stems are standing in the gaps between mushrooms. 5. Fill each mushroom cap with the breadcrumb mixture and pat it down tightly with the back of a spoon. After you’ve filled all of the mushrooms, pour any remaining filling over the top of the pan, sprinkling everything with the deliciousness. 6. Cook the mushrooms for about 20 minutes in the oven before adding about a teaspoon of tomato sauce on each mushroom. Place them back in the oven for another 20 minutes. 7. “Buon appetito!” — Ann Marie Slovin 92

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ts D on ’ Story and Photo by Ellie Kurlander ‘24 Graphic by Angela Vasishta ‘21

Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

vocado toast has become a staple for millennials, soccer moms, and, unfortunately, elitist pricks. A simple #avocadotoast search on Instagram will land you over 1.7 million hits. Avocado toast takes many forms; people enjoy it diced, sliced, and spread with toppings stacked so high you have to play “eye spy” just to spot a sliver of that marvelous green fruit. The “avocado craze” that we’ve been stuck in for the better half of the 2010s has also received its fair share of criticism. Many argue that two slices of bread with avocado should not be reserved solely for those who can afford it. Data reviewed by TIME Magazine found that avocado toast prices range anywhere from $2-$18, with an average price of $7. While this may not sound like much initially, it adds up over time, especially if you’re as obsessed as I am. However, I believe that you should be able to enjoy your fancy little toast without breaking the bank. While avocado toast may be more commonly associated with Williamsburg, Brooklyn than Williamsburg, Virginia, I still held out hope that our quaint city would offer something worth talking about. Since beginning my college journey, I have been on the prowl for avocado toast that surpasses my own recipe. During my quest, I visited three local restaurants and assessed their toast on four qualities: price, serving size, taste, and presentation. I have recorded my findings below.

First Watch

The first stop on my toast hunt was First Watch. Just a five-minute drive from campus, First Watch is the perfect occasional weekend brunch spot. The thick, whole grain toast contained a beautiful mosaic of oats and the avocado-to-bread ratio was just right. Unfortunately, the dish lacked textural diversity. The absence of the quintessential crunch I expect from toast ultimately dulled the rest of the dish and left me disappointed. The textural blandness was redeemed slightly by the hint of lemon and flaky salt which assisted in enhancing the overall flavour palette. The two basted eggs were a fine addition, but they were plain and did not contribute much to the dish as a whole. I also have to dock points for price. Coming in at $11.43, this toast was the most expensive option out of the three restaurants I visited. First Watch had the most stripped down version of avocado toast. There was nothing exciting about it, but it is a safe choice nonetheless if you’re looking for a brunch option on the healthier side.

Tipsy Beans My second stop was Tipsy Beans and let’s be honest, this place isn’t known for its artisanal avocado toast. The coffee and wine bar is one of the newest additions to the Williamsburg restaurant scene and has gained popularity among younger crowds seeking a unique dining venue. Unfortunately, the only descriptor that came to mind upon ordering their avocado toast is, bland. The bread was thin and flavorless, the avocados were sad and the only “novel” factor was the flecks of chili pepper which added the slightest hint of spice. The menu’s description claimed that lemon was included in the toast, but my taste buds would say otherwise. For $8, the small serving size and underwhelming flavors left me unlikely to order their toast again. While my visit left me feeling uninspired, if you’re above the age of 21 and looking for a “tipsy” treat, why not try this unique experience (maybe just don’t order the toast). Score: 3/10 avocados

Lokal Cafe

The last and most conveniently located place I visited was Lokal Cafe. Just a stone’s throw from campus in Colonial Williamsburg, this ended my hunt for the perfect toast on a high note. Lokal’s toast was undoubtedly the most original-tasting of the bunch and included flavour-filled twists and turns I did not expect. I could have eaten the vegan sourdough toast on its own, but it complemented the avocado and symphony of spices beautifully. The house-made za’atar spice blend meant that there was never a dull moment from the first to very last bite. The “wow” moment for me, however, was the hummus spread. Sandwiched between the sourdough and avocado slices, the hummus was an element I didn’t expect to work, but the garlic and chickpea were the perfect sidekick to the avocado’s subtle sweetness. At $6.45, this was also the most affordable toast of the bunch, and I was left feeling physically and emotionally nourished. While the price point may prohibit you from visiting Lokal on a daily basis, it still makes for a great occasional weekend treat. I would also recommend their oat milk latte while you’re at it! Score: 9/10 avocados

Score: 6/10 avocados 94

Flat Hat Magazine • Food + Drink

My personal recipe Now for the pièce de résistance, the moment I know all of you have been waiting for: my thoughtfully manufactured, flavourful, simple-yet-nourishing take on avocado toast. Of course, all good recipes require a story, and this toast is no exception. I hopped onto the avocado bandwagon after one fateful encounter at Le Pain Quotidien in New York City. Remember the scene from “Ratatouille” when Remy eats the cheese and grapes and his whole world subsequently erupts in colour? My “aha” moment wasn’t too far off from that. The hunt for a more perfect version of that toast became a mission for me and my mom. Our search became a source of bonding for us in the kitchen. We were like mad scientists trying to find the perfect balance of flavours. Finally, after much trial and error, we had done it.

Here is the recipe: Directions: 1. Take two thickly-sliced pieces of white or wheat bread. 2. Toast in a traditional toaster for 2 mins until browned. 3. Spread a teaspoon of olive oil on toast until the entire surface is saturated. 4. Thinly slice half an avocado and use as a spread on the toast. 5. Add ½ tbsp of lemon juice overtop avocado Include dime-sized amount of salt and pepper to taste. 6. Sprinkle a generous serving of chia seeds on top. 7. (Optional) Feel free to fry an egg or add your choice of hot sauce to give your toast that extra kick.

The toasted crust of the thickly-cut wheat bread and its modestly olive oil-soaked center combined with the generous avocado spread provide textural contrasts, ensuring that no bite is boring. The dichotomous sourness and sweetness of the lemon also demand to be heard. Lastly, you’ll find a layer of chia seeds sprinkled over the avocados which contain large amounts of fibre, protein, and essential antioxidants. One added benefit of this recipe is that it costs significantly less than any of the restaurants listed above, only about $2 for two slices. The entire recipe takes less than five minutes from prep to plate, so you’re saving time and money all while making delicious memories along the way. Score (in my completely unbiased opinion): 1000/10 avocados

Ingredients:

• White or wheat bread • 1 tsp. Olive oil • Half an avocado • ½ tbsp lemon juice • Salt and pepper (to taste) • Chia seeds

Finding a Balance Student Frontline Workers navigate school, social, and Professional lives

Story by Alexandra Byrne ‘23 Photos by Zachary Lutsky ‘24

Flat Hat Magazine • Insight

Many students at the College of William and Mary are more than students, balancing full academic course loads with part-time or seasonal jobs. Continue reading for a glimpse into the life of student workers, how they balance their schedules, and the difficulties they have faced while working during the pandemic.

cross the country, those working in essential industries and public-facing jobs have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. From health care to retail, they have kept society moving, often risking their health and well-being doing so. A number of students at the College of William and Mary have been working during the pandemic — on campus, in Williamsburg, and beyond. For this subset of essential workers, the difficulty in balancing work, school, and the stress of the pandemic is especially pronounced.

As is the case with the population as a whole, student workers often cannot afford not to work. Whether it is paying off student loans or supporting their families, many students do not have a choice. At the College, students work for a variety of reasons, but one thing unites them all: the pandemic has certainly not made working any easier. The pandemic has devastated business, particularly service industries. This burden falls heavily on hourly workers, who are particularly prone to layoffs and closures. Many go long periods without working, struggling to provide for their families and keep up with bills. Others risk contracting the virus in high-contact workplaces. Reports of grocery store workers grappling with customers over mask-wearing and distancing protocols have become ubiquitous — signs of the country’s intense politicisation affecting even the most basic public health measures. Student workers are not exempt from these trends. In 2018, 43 per cent of full-time undergraduate students nationwide were employed, working anywhere from under 10 hours to over 30 hours a week. It remains unclear how many students were laid off during the pandemic, but polls indicate that as many as 40 per cent reported losing a job or job offer. Emily Pozniak ’22 works at DoG St Pub in Colonial 99

Williamsburg as a server, a job she started amid the pandemic. Getting acquainted with a new job and COVID-19 protocols presented an added challenge — DoG St Pub has a number of protocols in place, including mask-wearing when not at a table, limited hours, and reduced seating. The staff learned along the way and adjusted their best practices. For example, early on, servers wore gloves, Pozniak said. As the pandemic wore on, it became clear that gloves can easily spread germs if they are not changed, so the staff stopped wearing them. Along with protecting themselves from the virus, Pozniak and her coworkers are responsible for enforcing COVID-19 guidelines to protect other customers. Sometimes, it can prove difficult to get unwilling customers to comply. “I had this guy come in, and he would like, lean in and pull down his mask to talk,” Pozniak said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ and he was being super rude too. So yeah, when people don’t comply, it’s annoying.” Like many student workers, Pozniak adjusts her work schedule based on her classes and schoolwork. Generally, she enjoys her job and the flexibility it provides. “Oh, it’s definitely a balance. I only work once a week now that I’m in school,” Pozniak said. “So I feel like working less, it makes it easier to keep up with classes.” While working for a small business during the pandemic, Pozniak realised the severity of the financial situation that many businesses and individuals currently face. “I think one of the things that I really learned was to check my privilege,” Pozniak said. “I’m super lucky. I had the option of working during the pandemic, and I wanted to, but a lot of people didn’t have

Flat Hat Magazine • Insight

that choice. They had to keep going. And it’s a local business, so there weren’t that many customers, so people weren’t making as much money. It was really eye-opening to me, how lucky I am that I don’t rely on these tips and stuff for paying my bills and supporting family. Because I know that’s been really difficult for other people during the pandemic — even the owner of the business keeping everything afloat.” Josh Murray ’24 also started his job during the pandemic, working as a retail sales associate at the North Face outlet in his hometown of Freeport, Maine. Murray worked from late November to early January during the College’s extended winter break. “I had never really worked a formal job before this, so it was interesting,” Murray said. “I don’t really have much of a baseline to know what it was like beforehand, but there were a lot more things to keep track of in addition to learning the new job duties. Also, keeping track of sanitising and distancing, we could only have one person in the break room at a time — stuff like that.” Like Pozniak, Murray experienced difficulties with customer compliance with COVID-19 protocols, particularly mask-wearing. “We definitely had a fair number of folks come in with their masks improperly worn,” Murray said. “Occasionally, we would have folks come in without any masks at all. Usually, the managers would talk to them. Usually when you ask people to follow a policy and wear their masks correctly, they were compliant — sometimes they were a little bit grumpy about it. I never personally had a bad experience, although I know some of my coworkers did have some people who were pretty argumentative.” Though working in the retail industry proved to be anything but an easy experience, Murray said he gained much experience from working during the pandemic. “I learned a lot about how to work as a team with other people,” Murray said. “Though that probably would have come with the job not during the pandemic as well, but particularly having your coworkers’ backs if they were dealing with a difficult customer.” 101

Through the wearisome months of the pandemic, many, including Murray, sought solace and escape in unique ways — from new hobbies to outdoor activities with close “pods” of family and friends. Murray said these moments helped him get through long days at work. “I had my family close by, so they were a big help with that,” Murray said. “During breaks, I would just focus on stuff I was interested in outside of work which helped. I would go outside for lunch to get a nice clear airspace. But also just because it’s nice to go outside.” Murray characterised himself as only a moderate hiker but said he enjoys being outside. From his vantage point at a sporting goods store, Murray witnessed an increase in people purchasing equipment for outdoor activities. With people hitting the beaches, slopes, and trails to get out of the house and away from crowds, the outdoor sporting industry saw the lowest impact due to COVID-19 shutdowns in April, May, and June 2020 and beyond. “Yeah, it was interesting,” Murray said. “Our customer traffic was way down, but overall people were buying more, which was sort of surprising to me. It suggests that probably people were doing more stuff outside and looking for gear to match that.”

“Through the wearisome months of the pandemic, many, including Murray, sought solace and escape in unique ways — from new hobbies to outdoor activities with close “pods” of family and friends. Murray said these moments helped him get through long days at work.” Since Murray did not work while classes were in session, he said it was easier to balance his job with other obligations and the stress of the pandemic. Though his experience was constructive, he said he does not plan to go back. “Not if I can help it,” Murray said. “It was a good work experience, but there are aspects of retail that I’m just not a huge fan of — the feeling of having your performance watched all the time. If I can, I would like to do something more in agricultural

Flat Hat Magazine • Insight

work. It definitely gives me a lot more empathy than I had before, being on the other side of that experience.”

or anything like that. It’s nice to feel like I’m doing something, especially in a time where a lot of people feel out of control.”

Those working in health care perhaps feel the effects of COVID-19 most heavily. Liza Craig ’24 began work as a pharmacy technician over winter break, filling and selling prescriptions and sorting insurance issues. During the pandemic, she also has been administering COVID-19 tests and helping with vaccine distribution at her pharmacy. As demands for COVID-19 testing and subsequently COVID-19 vaccination ramped up nationwide, pharmacies were often the first points of contact for those wishing to be tested or vaccinated. Keeping up with demand can be taxing, although Craig described her work as straightforward.

Craig has seen the vaccine’s rollout firsthand. She was inoculated as a requirement for work, which she equated to mundane tasks like filing taxes. For something that has been seen as having the power to end the COVID-19 pandemic, Craig’s take on the vaccine was refreshingly humble. To Craig, it is simply a given — a common sense measure to protect herself and others.

“I actually started out by administering COVID tests and from there, I started picking up more and more of the regular work that a technician would do,” Craig said. In addition to that, now — with the vaccine coming out — helping with billing and administering for the vaccines and getting everything sorted.” From pharmacies to hospitals to primary care physicians, workers in health care settings are most at risk o contracting COVID-19, mainly because they administer COVID-19 tests and treat those suffering from symptoms brought on by the disease. Craig said sometimes her proximity to the virus was worrying, but ultimately, the work is rewarding. “Since the work that I was doing was so central — it was mainly COVID testing is what I was doing, it was kind of exciting,” Craig said. “It was a little worrying at times, just whenever people would cough or sneeze in my face. Honestly, it wasn’t too bad — it was work. It was something to do. It’s all pretty cut and dry. It’s giving people tests so they can go on vacation and tests so they can see their families, or vaccines because they’re in the age group.” She was aware, too, that this work was her opportunity to do her part to end the pandemic, especially as someone who is young and healthy. “If anybody is to be just fine getting infected, it probably would be me,” Craig said. “I may get sick like the flu, but it’s not really as detrimental as if it were for someone with high-risk conditions

“It’s actually kind of exciting just because a lot of times, we’ll have extra vaccines at the end of the day from people who don’t show up,” Craig said. “And they’ll expire in a couple hours after they’re opened, so any time there’s extra vaccines, and we’re trying to look for people, I can call up people at school and be like, ‘Hey, do you want to get vaccinated?’ It’s kind of exciting to see an actual impact of what I’m doing, especially amongst the people that I live with and go to school with. [Vaccination] was a requirement to go to work, so it was just kind of — okay, I guess I need to get stabbed in order to keep working and make money. Just sort of another one of those boxes to check for me.”

“‘It’s actually kind of exciting just because a lot of times, we’ll have extra vaccines at the end of the day from people who don’t show up,’ Craig said. ‘And they’ll expire in a couple hours after they’re opened, so any time there’s extra vaccines, and we’re trying to look for people, I can call up people at the school and be like, ‘Hey, do you want to get vaccinated?’” For Emily Slack ’22, who works in a store in Merchants Square, the end of the pandemic cannot come soon enough. The store they work in is part of a small chain based in Vermont. With the Williamsburg branch being far from the main store, Slack said they had to fend for themselves. Although stimulus money helped the store’s owners somewhat, all employees felt the burden of these difficult times, particularly in early spring of 2020, when the store was in state-mandated closure. Slack said it took the store some time to define 102

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boundaries for COVID-19 precautions, as each regulation ran the risk of frustrating customers. Slack, who transferred to the College last fall, has worked three jobs at a time in the past, sometimes upwards of 30 to 40 hours a week. At the College, coming up with a new work-school balance was challenging. “I’m sure a lot of students who work have this experience where it’s like, do I work more and have the money to afford gas and extra groceries?” Slack said. “Or do I work less and do well in school? And so, it’s always kind of a give or take, and my situation isn’t dire, but I can’t not work. It’s very difficult to kind of balance both. I think I’m doing okay.” Slack said they have learned to appreciate their coworkers during the pandemic, as they seek to create a safe environment for each other. They also noted greater appreciation for their time, which is all the more valuable in the fleeting pandemic-ridden years that college students currently face. “I kind of expected well, I’ll get here, and I’ll have time to do all the social things that I want to do,” Slack said. “And I have to an extent. I’ve gotten really involved on campus. I have lots of amazing friends. But I had to definitely change my mindset. And I was like, okay, that means I cannot work as much because then I would lose so much of the college experience, and I would be miserable.”

“Be nice to student workers.” Their advice to peers? “Be nice to student workers,” Slack said. “Not everyone on campus has to work, but a lot of people do. And it’s very difficult to balance schoolwork and work, no matter how many hours you’re working. And it can be difficult to get that support. So, you know, keep an eye out. Make sure that everyone has time to do things — make sure they feel included.”

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Business is Booming Student Entrepreneurs Inspire Peers to Shop Small

Story by Madeleine Harris ‘24 Photo by Zachary Lutzky ‘24

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Madeleine Harris explores the businesses and journeys of female entrepreneurs at the College of William and Mary. Continue reading to learn about their goals to positively impact the community, as well as the difficulties of starting and running a business as a student. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to buy local the next time you’re looking for the perfect gift.

eople often prioritise ease over impact, economy over quality, and short-term solutions over large-scale answers, brushing aside small businesses. This has been especially true in the age of COVID-19. Fortunately, the College of William and Mary is home to a wide array of thriving businesses led by diverse student entrepreneurs — many of whom embarked on their entrepreneurial journeys during the pandemic. Historically, entrepreneurship has been a male-dominated field, but recently, more and more women have been joining the movement. Below are a few examples of female entrepreneurship at the College. Bryonna Elliott ’22 sells hair and skin-care products through her business Cloud Eleven Hair (Instagram: @cloudelevenhair). The business seeks to address a need in society that Elliott noticed — the need for educating Black women about how best to care for their natural hair, rather than chemically altering and harming it. “I created Cloud Eleven because I wanted African-American women and people with naturally curly hair, who many times couldn’t find what they were looking for on the widescale market, to not only be happy with (and in a comfortable, blissful place with) their hair, but I wanted them to be knowledgeable about why certain things are better for their hair than others,” Elliott said. Elliott came up with her business’s name when she was about 14 — if Cloud Nine is bliss, then Cloud Ten should be education, and Cloud Eleven a combination of the two. According to Elliott, natural Black hair is often difficult to manage without proper education. Like many other Black girls, growing up, Elliott’s mother used a relaxer in her hair to chemically change its makeup in order to make it easier to straighten. When Elliott was about 12, she decided she wanted to stop putting chemicals 105

in her hair, go natural, and accept her hair in its natural state. Elliott switched to a host of new products designed for curly hair, but they still contained harsh, damaging chemicals. “These products that I thought were better for my hair really were harming it even more,” Elliott said. “And so I saw a lot of breakage in my hair. So I decided to just go back to the basics of three ingredients that I know for sure worked well for naturally curly hair — shea butter, coconut butter, and olive oil.”

“I created Cloud Eleven because I wanted African-American women and people with naturally curly hair, who many times couldn’t find what they were looking for on the wide-scale market, to not only be happy with (and in a comfortable, blissful place with) their hair, but I wanted them to be knowledgeable about why certain things are better for their hair than others” It was around this time that she first became aware of the general lack of knowledge and education about Black natural hair. This observation served as an inspiration for Elliott. “I took that as a challenge to not only educate myself, but make sure that my sister could grow up knowing all that she could about her hair, make sure that my little cousins could grow up knowing all they could about their hair, because many people don’t make it their business to teach it to you,” Elliott remarked. Elliott pointed to Black celebrities like Halle Berry and Monique Coleman who have shared their struggles with having natural Black hair in the white-dominated film industry — often due to a lack of training on Black hair in cosmetology school for hair stylists. Black hair is diverse, and Elliott explained that as a child, accepting the reality that you don’t look like others around you, or even those who love you the most, is one of

the hardest things young Black girls face. Elliott began her business in 2016 only selling hair products. About a year later, she noticed that customers were buying multiple jars of her product at once, and they explained they were using it to moisturise their skin in addition to their hair. After researching her ingredients, Elliott discovered that her product is safe for skin as well, and she soon began marketing her products for both hair and skin-care. To this day, Elliot’s central mission revolves around helping Black women embrace their natural hair and providing them with the knowledge to ensure their hair is as healthy as possible. “I wanted to make it my mission to be a cushion of support and a source of knowledge and education for young girls, like my sister was at the time, like my little cousins were, but then also people who were my age and older who hadn’t had the foundational instruction and support during their formative years of what it means to love yourself in your hair as a Black woman, and that was really the driving force of starting an educationally-based business,” Elliott remarked. “I experienced it firsthand, the lack

of information education that exists on the topic of Black hair, so I wanted to be a resource for people like me in that arena.” Lemai Vo ’21, owner of Lemaiknits (Instagram: @lemaiknits) is a self-taught knitter and crocheter who creates sustainable and colourful knitted clothing. While most of her work involves sweaters in eye-popping colours and varying designs, she also creates scarves, beanies, crop tops, produce bags, and more. Vo works to make each piece original which involves creating designs that reflect her experiences in the world and the nature around her. “A lot of my things aren’t really symmetrical, or inline, or perfect, because I don’t like how that represents me,” Vo said. “I know I’m imperfect, so I like to make art that’s imperfect in this sense.” Vo added that sweaters from fast fashion companies cost less because they often are either mass-produced in environmentally unfriendly factories or produced in sweatshops (frequently with the aid of unethical labour and unsafe working conditions). Vo prides herself on her use of either ethically sourced or secondhand 106

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material. Sustainability is of the utmost importance for her brand — about 80 per cent of her tools are secondhand, and she tries to use every strand of her yarn. She even has made sweaters from yarn scraps from other projects. “I really want to be part of the solution to solving some of our environmental problems,” Vo said. In January 2021, Mayada Hassan ’22 launched her chocolate-covered sweets business Made by Mayada (Instagram: @madebymayada). Her first sale was to one of her former residents from when she was a resident assistant. The girl messaged Hassan saying she wanted to buy some treats for her girlfriend. Knowing that her former resident not only was doing well and in a great relationship, but also that she wanted to support her business, put a smile on Hassan’s face. “It was really incredible because the last time I had spoken to this girl she was telling me about how she was going through such a hard time in her life, and now she’s messaging me wanting to order a sweet gift for her girlfriend of almost a year,” Hassan said. As a student entrepreneur, Hassan must balance not only her academics and social life but also her business, further complicating her time management. However, for Hassan, running a business is well worth the time commitment, due in part to how she sees her business positively impacting others in the Williamsburg community. Creating products that people love is her mission. “I was dreaming about strawberries last night, I kid you not,” Hassan said. “I was thinking about it when I slept because I want it to be more than just good — I want it to be great, and I want people to be satisfied with what I sell them.” Hassan added that as a Black female local business owner, purchasing from her is much more impactful than purchasing from big companies, and she greatly appreciates the support she has received from the community. “It costs $0.00 to support small businesses,” Hassan said. “A follow, a like, a share, a repost, a word of mouth like, ‘Hey, have you heard 107

of Made by Mayada?’ All of those things are supporting a small business.”

“It costs $0.00 to support small businesses,” Hassan said. “A follow, a like, a share, a repost, a word of mouth like, ‘Hey, have you heard of Made by Mayada?’ All of those things are supporting a small business.” Trinity Bea ’22, owner of baking business Treats By Trin (Instagram: @_treatsbytrin), made her first sale when she was in the sixth grade. Bea was known for bringing her signature mini cupcakes to class on random days, and one day, her teacher asked her to make 108 cupcakes for her baby shower. Bea casually accepted, at the time not realising the magnitude of the endeavour she had agreed to undertake. However, Bea greatly enjoyed the challenge of decorating the 108 cupcakes in the luau theme requested. “The person that ordered that batch was the person whose cake I made this past weekend, actually,” Bea said. “So, you know, 11 years later, she’s still ordering.” Despite all this baking, Bea cannot even taste most of her own food — three years ago, she was diagnosed with celiac disease. Her four siblings serve as her taste-testing team to evaluate new recipes. Bea prides herself on culinary excellence, typically making three batches for each order — the first batch using an online recipe, the second using what she thinks the recipe should be, and the third batch a hybrid of what her siblings liked from the previous two batches. Bea can make gluten-free, dairy-free, and nutfree desserts, but unfortunately, many allergyfriendly ingredients are much more expensive than regular ingredients. However, Bea hopes to make both regular and allergy-free treats as affordable as possible; this affordability is one of her businesses’ central missions. Bea’s cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and potentially, other treats as well, can be ordered and delivered in Williamsburg. Celeste Phillips ’24 sells crochet plushes — platypi, lady bugs, chameleons, frogs, jellyfish,

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starfish, crabs, parakeets, bats, cows — you name it. The first item she ever designed, a very large chameleon, served as the inspiration for the name of her business — The Crochet Chameleon (Instagram: @the_crochet_chameleon). Phillips carefully created the chameleon referencing books with photographs of chameleons in order for the stuffed animal to look as realistic as possible. “It took me a while to get it done, but once I did, I was really proud of it,” Phillips said. “And I just kind of like stepped back for a bit and admired it until I could think of something to make for another project.” Phillips began selling her crochet creatures at a craft show in high school and loved watching people interact with her work and appreciate the items she made. The Crochet Chameleon is a seasonal business for now, with the Etsy store reopening for sales in May. Phillips currently is taking custom orders and item reservations, which will allow animals that have found buyers to be shipped at a later date.

occasions like that one where you really made an impact on somebody else.”

“Something that maybe doesn’t have any significant value to me, for somebody else can really just help them through a hard time, or give them confidence, or just that feeling that they’re not alone, which I think is extremely special” Albert puts a lot of attention to detail and thought into each item she makes, an aspect often overlooked when people view pricing of items from small businesses — customers are paying both for the material and the time it takes for hand-crafted items to be made. For Albert, starting her own small business has been incredibly rewarding. “If anyone has like a sort of talent, per se, and they’re considering selling, I say go for it, because there’s really no worst case scenario to it, besides that it just didn’t work, and that’s okay,” Albert said. “I feel like a lot of things in life require a leap of faith, so, you know, why not take that one?”

Love of crocheting at the end of the day is Phillips’ motivation: “Whenever I crochet something, it’s more for the fun of it,” Phillips said. “I just kind of enjoy it.” Freshman Bayleigh Albert ’24 recently started her business called BayCoast Charms (Instagram: @baycoastcharms) where she sells scrunchies, masks, key chains, and jewelry. The positive feedback Albert has received from customers has inspired her — she loves being able to learn how her products affect people. One of her customers bought a lemon keychain and explained that her grandmother, who recently passed away, used to wear a shirt with lemons on it, so the keychain reminded her of her grandmother. “Something that maybe doesn’t have any significant value to me, for somebody else can really just help them through a hard time, or give them confidence, or just that feeling that they’re not alone, which I think is extremely special,” Albert observed. “And what’s so amazing about having a small business is you get to experience 108

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Life Life s Lifes sa a Drag Drag

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Story by Ellie Kurlander '24

#DragAndGenZ

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hen someone brings up the term “drag race” what’s the first thing to come to mind — motor racing, or the Emmy award-winning show “Rupaul’s Drag Race?” If you asked Generation Z, it’s safe to assume they would think of the latter association. Before going any further, it’s important to broadly define drag and discuss all that the term encompasses. “Drag” refers to the exaggerated performance of gendered expression. A drag queen is someone who presents themselves through a stereotypically feminine lens while a drag king dresses and acts in an overtly and stereotypically masculine fashion. Drag performers are known to dress up in highly stylised ways while entertaining audiences with comedy sets, choreographed dances, or lipsyncing routines.

It’s no question that drag has become mainstream in recent years. The season 13 premiere of RPDR landed just over 1.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched episode in the franchise’s history. Winners and popular contestants from the show like Trixie Mattel, Bianca Del Rio, and Violet Chachki have gone on to have lucrative careers in the performance and fashion industry. Dozens of queens, including the three mentioned above, have recorded albums, collaborated with makeup brands, strutted down the runways of New York Fashion Week, and landed fashion spreads in magazines like “Vogue” and “Paper” — all while amassing millions of followers on social media. Due to this massive spike in popularity on social media, it is no surprise that drag has caught the attention of tech-savvy Generation Z. Sites like Instagram and TikTok have become platforms that allow young people to intricately curate their identities and experiment openly with different forms of expression. The “mainstreamification” of drag combined with Gen Z’s aptitude for social media has resulted in the two forming a unique bond. Generation Z has been dubbed as one of the most fluid and open generations in regards to gender expression and sexuality. A survey released by Gallup found that one in six adult members of Gen Z identifies as part of the Courtesy of @violetchachki

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Courtesy of @benjikrol

LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, roughly 75 per cent of the Gen Z population use some form of social media to communicate online. As young people begin to cultivate their identities, they have pulled from drag as a source of inspiration and utilised social media as a way to showcase their gender and fashion expression. One recent example of this manifests in the rise of “e-boys” and “softboys” on TikTok. This new trend carries a mixture of punk and drag influences. Those who fall into these categories are known for their dyed hair, painted nails, and androgynous style. Most softboys and e-boys who use TikTok fully embrace their gender-blurring roles and are regarded by their followers as aspirational figures both in aesthetics and attitude. To be an e-boy or a softboy is to exist on a screen and perform a role for their audience. This form of expression is similar to drag, as they are both exaggerated caricatures that seek to challenge gender norms and entertain an audience.

There is also a greater shift among Gen Z towards androgynous fashion in the real world. Members of Generation Z are not letting their gender identity dictate their style. Young people have begun to highlight the importance of freedom in fashion, something which has 111

been emphasised repeatedly within the drag community for years. In late 2020, Harry Styles graced the cover of Vogue in a floor-length, ruffled gown — making him the very first man to appear on the cover solo. Similarly, Jaden Smith, who identifies as gender-queer, has been photographed by paparazzi wearing brightly coloured skirts and dresses. While normalising fashion that rejects binary gender stereotypes is important, it is equally critical for younger generations and prominent cisgender figures who draw inspiration from drag to acknowledge the trailblazers who made it possible for them to express themselves openly online and in their day-to-day lives. Young people and the commercial fashion industry have found drag easy to love because of its self-aware tone. The world of high fashion has traditionally been known for taking itself too seriously, but drag throws that notion out the window by highlighting the extremes of the industry while simultaneously mocking its pretentiousness. One student at the College of William and Mary, Alex Sklar ’24, offered their input on the impact drag has had on society as well as their personal style. “Part of me just likes to confuse people,” Sklar said jokingly. “I think that drag and androgyny has that sort of effect because it’s so different from binary gender socialisation. In drag, there’s this mismatch between the gender presentation and the body underneath. There’s also androgyny where they are mixing masculine and feminine and that’s something that brings a lot into my own personal fashion,” Sklar said. For Sklar, the future of drag is a bright one. This leaves the door open for more forms of expression to flow into contemporary fashion both online and in the real world. Sklar goes on to state, “I think that the gender-binaries and the gender categories are going to keep getting more and more broken down. Not that it’s going to go away, I think there’s still a place for those binary drag performers, but I think that this conception that we have of drag being almost like a cross-dressing performance art is going to be broken down, it’s going to be a lot more about the charade aspect of it. It has the potential to be almost a mockery of gender.”

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Courtesy of @desmondisamazing

and multifaceted culture. Makeup trends popularised by beauty gurus like contouring, baking, cut-creases, and overlined lips all find their origins within the drag community. These techniques allowed queens to reconstruct their faces and transform into entirely new characters with unique personas.

As queer culture gains mainstream acceptance, the number of establishments where drag is welcome has grown considerably. Story hours facilitated by drag queens have become staples in public libraries all across the country, introducing drag to the youngest members of society. In recent years, parents who actively challenge traditional gender norms have allowed their children to begin expressing themselves through drag. Young drag performers like 13-year-old Desmond is Amazing and 11-yearold KweenKeeKee got their start by watching Rupaul’s Drag Race, and both gained strong followings on social media. “It’s 2018 there are going to be drag kids in the world … and I’m one of them,” said Desmond after rising to fame. Earlier, Desmond won the Marsha P. Johnson “Don’t Be Outraged, Be Outrageous” Award in 2017 for his activism, inspiring other gender non-conforming young people to experiment with drag as a form of expression. While Gen Z is notorious for their openness and total embrace of trends initiated by drag culture, it is important to highlight the history that made this unapologetic approach to style and identity possible. It is also crucial to discuss how certain widely-adopted mannerisms and fashion trends have become misappropriated over time as drag culture enters the public sphere. The history of drag dates back centuries and originally began as men cross-dressing in theater productions. Today, drag is a nuanced

Queer vernacular is also highly popular among young Gen Z members. The term “yas” was originated by queer people of colour involved in drag balls during the 1980s. The expression was then introduced to greater society following the release of the acclaimed documentary “Paris Is Burning” (1990). Phrases like “Bye Felicia” and “tea” also hold their origins within drag and queer culture. While appropriating drag slang and mannerisms may represent progress and general acceptance towards the queer community, the lack of understanding surrounding their historical significance should not be ignored. There is a history of hard-fought activism, politics, and race that goes behind each saying and they should not be utilised by younger generations simply because they are “trendy.” “It can erase the origin,” said Jeremy Calder, drag performer and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado, to Wired Magazine. “Misappropriation comes when people lose sight of its history, and when it becomes a commodity that the originators don’t benefit from.” Drag in its purest form is a way to free oneself from traditional social norms and have fun through various means of expression. Because of this, it is not surprising that Gen Z is so drawn to drag. Conversely, our generation must understand that queer culture isn’t simply a trend; historical context is important, and those who paved the way should not be subject to erasure. For many Gen Z people, their perception of the self exists outside the restrictions of binary gender. This gives them the freedom to manufacture and play with their identities as often as they want. As Rupaul states, “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag.”

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Tik Tok and High Fashion Story by Molly Parks ‘24

hree years ago, I had my first exposure to the world of high fashion. I had always been interested in the pieces celebrities wore and the upcoming trends in the latest issue of Vogue, but it wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I owned my first luxury piece. I was in my grandmother’s house looking through her closet when she pulled out a vintage black Chanel crossbody bag with gold hardware and offered it to me as a gift. “I have nothing to wear it to anymore, Molly. I want you to have it. It was your Great Aunt Helen’s originally, from the ‘60s,” she told me. This bag had a story. It wasn’t just a bag — it was a piece of art that travelled through a family. I could tell it meant so much to my grandmother and I felt honoured that she trusted me with one of the only designer pieces that she collected in 91 years. This is what high fashion should be. It should be defined by pieces of clothing or accessories with a deep culture and a significant story behind them. However, as our world becomes faster paced and our attention spans become shorter, consumers today want to see their favourite celebrities sporting styles they can wear in quick images. Consumers don’t have time to listen to the long histories of various fashion houses or the stories behind certain pieces. Our accelerated society is changing the way luxury and high fashion brands have to market themselves. Brands are turning to influencers from platforms such as YouTube and the popular short-form video app TikTok to reach a younger audience and thus engage in contemporary marketing strategies. That being said, the relationship between TikTok and high fashion is certainly a double-edged sword. The consumer-based trend that is now occurring 113

raises an existential question to fashion houses themselves: Is it worth potentially sacrificing the traditional sophistication and history of their house in order to access a younger audience and instant sales? This question is rooted in an in-depth analysis of the positive and negative effects of the current relationship between TikTok and high fashion. On the one hand, TikTok can serve as an amazing platform to quickly popularise certain items or brands and social media influencers can really help bring in a younger demographic to a brand. Adversely, this relationship can cause consumers to disregard the respectable history behind these fashion houses, encourage an inauthentic side of capitalist fashion, and make inaccessible products appear to be accessible to those who cannot actually afford them. With a format built to make videos go instantly viral, TikTok can be an incredible platform for making products and brands have a sudden and great spike in sales. For example, on January 8th, 2021, a TikTok user Natt.Cova made a video about the Kate Spade Heart Crossbody Bag that received almost 40,000 likes. The viral

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TikTok led users to flock to the Kate Spade market and the exact bag was subsequently sold out in every Kate Spade store in the United States. In instances like these, the accelerated consumer culture that social media platforms like TikTok provide offers a great way to popularise certain items and gain quick fame for a brand. In the long term, influencers can help brands gain a substantial younger audience. In order to gain a more professional perspective on this, I spoke to the associate manager of global marketing strategy for Kate Spade New York, Elisa Fenter. I discussed with Fenter how Gen Z influencers like Emma Chamberlain, Dixie D’Amelio, and Addison Rae all work with various fashion houses, but in different ways. More specifically, we talked about how Emma Chamberlain has been a reliable marketing source for Louis Vuitton. “You have Emma Chamberlain noted as an example which is great. I personally think Louis Vuitton is doing a great job of staying true to their brand while also engaging with a Gen Z audience by working with Emma,” Fenter said. However, the use of social media influencers can also have an adverse effect on consumers of fashion. Young Tik Tok stars like Chase Hudson, Addison Rae, and Tayler Holder wear high-end, luxury fashion brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton. These influencers appear as relatable to many teens, making their fashion choices also seem accessible to those who do not know much about fashion, when in reality these brands are too expensive for most people. This causes two

downstream effects. First, young consumers start to normalise uber-expensive clothing, which in the long run hurts those who cannot afford luxury pieces. Second, it makes these influencers the faces of these brands to young consumers. This may ultimately spoil the history of these fashion houses, as young teens begin to associate Chanel with Dixie D’Amelio instead of Karl Lagerfeld and Miu Miu with Addison Rae instead of Miuccia Prada. On TikTok, there is also a “dupe” trend of purchasing goods that look exactly like luxury items but are really knockoffs at much cheaper prices. People post TikTok videos of the fake Gucci belts they purchase and the websites where other users can find them. This enforces an up-and-coming trend of teens not caring about the quality or historical significance of luxury pieces; they just want the status symbol of the “double G” logo. In my opinion, this encourages an inauthentic, disingenuous side of capitalist fashion. Ultimately, those in the luxury fashion industry have existential questions they need to answer when moving forward with marketing strategies in the 21st century. “I personally believe that luxury brands will have to engage with Gen Z consumers in order to build awareness and capture lifetime customers. Brands will have to balance maintaining their current brand fans while also acquiring younger more digitally active ones as well,” Fenter added. In balancing the relationship between young consumers, new social media platforms, and high fashion culture and history, fashion houses need to decide whether to embrace progressive trends of fashion communication or ardently stand by established traditions.

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Mask Masquerade Care to join?

Photos by Zachary Lutzky ’24 Produced by Grace Olsen ’23

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Modelled by Linda Li ’24

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Do you ever wonder why all of your clothes are different sizes? Do you ever struggle to find something that fits without trying on multiple options first? No? You must be new to the world of women’s sizing. Sit back and join Alyssa as she tears apart the industry-standard manipulative sizing tactics geared toward female shoppers.

’m sick of my body being used and manipulated as a marketing tool by brands who think they can outsmart consumers with their strategic sizing. In a time when people rarely make their own clothes or enlist others to customise clothing for them, sizing exists to make shopping easier. However, sizing has become a mind game, often running large in some brands that use vanity sizing techniques because they think it will boost body positivity while other brands run small to promote exclusivity. Sizing is no longer about measurement, at least not for women’s clothes. Just to note, when I speak about women’s and men’s clothing, I am referring to how clothing is categorised in stores. Of course, anyone can buy clothes from whichever section they want, and it’s also important to note that gender is not a binary. However, clothes are usually targeted for one gender or the other in this binary. In women’s sizing, clothing sizes are never consistent between brands, and sometimes not even within one brand. There are countless ways to size a piece of clothing, but for ease, I’ll focus on pants. First, there is the classic categorical sizing, which includes small, medium, large, and plus sizing. Most pants aren’t sold like this since pants need to fit pretty well and the few options in categorical sizing would not accommodate that many body shapes. Most often, only sweatpants and some leggings are sized this way. Then, there is numerical sizing, which would be 0, 2, 4, etc, usually sticking to even numbers. Sometimes there will be the occasional brand that wants to be different and really confuse their shoppers by also throwing odd numbers in there. Numerical sizing is very common in all pants, especially more structured pants like jeans or dress pants. Then we have the pants based on waist measurement, such as 25, 26, 27, etc. Again, this is much more common than categorical sizing for pants, especially for jeans.

Already, this is too much to handle for me. But that’s not where it stops. Some stores have their own sizing systems, such as one of my mother’s favourite stores, Chico’s. Chico’s sizing for every single piece of clothing ranges from a 000 to a 4, but they’re not just for petite women. Sizes progress as such: 000, 00, 0, .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4. Good luck trying to figure out that extreme vanity sizing. Just one example on the other end of the spectrum is the famous athleisure and exercise brand, Lululemon. I cannot speak for every size or every person of course, but when trying to find a pair of leggings in my size, the size guide instructed me to size up two whole sizes. This type of note is common on brand websites, which I find strange because if they are aware that their clothes do not fit correctly, I’d assume that they would want to resolve that problem. Of course, though, that would not spread their brand’s message. As a workout brand, I would not be surprised if the purpose of such small sizing is related to how the former CEO from 2013 claimed that women with large thighs were to blame if they did not fit into their leggings or if they were too sheer. In the same year, The Huffington Post exposed them for purposefully keeping larger sizes in the back instead of being displayed in the main part of the store, rarely restocked those sizes in current designs, and sometimes the larger clothes even ended up in piles instead of folded stacks for easy access. Despite their apologies, Lululemon’s heavily skewed sizing still fat shames their potential and existing consumers. If it’s not exclusionary behaviour, their intention is to at least encourage their consumers to exercise more with the message that they must lose weight and that their bodies are bigger than they believed themselves to be. Clearly, the problem is that no two brands use the same patterns to design their pants, so every purchase is a guessing game unless it 120

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involves a dressing room. One question that I desperately want someone to answer is what those numerical sizes mean. They are not based on any measurement and differ store to store, so what am I supposed to do with that information? According to research conducted by True Fit, a company that helps consumers find their correct sizes across brands, sizes can vary about five inches in waist measurement for just one style of jeans. Their data indicate that a woman’s high-waisted size 6 or a 28 can vary between 25.5 inches to 32.0 inches around the waist. Considering that a size 28 should already be based on measurement, I wanted to doubt the validity of that statistic. However, I know that I have several different sizes in my own drawer right now, even when the sizes claim to be the measurement themselves. I pulled out my tape measure from a sewing kit I use once a semester to sew on rogue buttons, and sure enough, the sizes on a couple of the waistbands differed by one to one and a half inches, depending on the brand. I recently went shopping with my co-Editor-inChief, Gavin, because he needed some new jeans. We ventured into American Eagle, to the men’s side, and scoured the shelves for jeans in his size that he liked. Once we found two acceptable pairs, he paid, and we left. I was shocked at how sure he was that they would fit. Yes, he shops at American Eagle for jeans, but I also often buy their clothes. And yet I feel the need to try on everything I buy there or risk returning it because there is never any consistency even within one brand. Also, how am I supposed to remember what size I am at each and every store when it differs so much? You might be wondering where I’m going with this. In my Consumer Behaviour class, we discussed how many stores that sell men’s and women’s clothes organise their stores with women’s clothes in the front and men’s in the back because they know women — such as mothers, wives, girlfriends, etc — often shop for the men in their lives. The thought is that on the way to the men’s section, they stop when they see something they like for themselves. Stores are aware that men often do not do the shopping for themselves, thus their sizing is simple. As a point of comparison, men’s sizes for pants, specifically jeans or other structured pants, are almost exclusively based on the measurement of the waist and the measurement of their inseam. Clearly, a major

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reason why men’s sizes are so straightforward and consistent is because brands know that men are often not there in the store to try it on themselves. In my experience, when I try things on, whether it is in the store’s dressing room or at my house after ordering several options, it can go one of two ways. The first is that nothing fits. I find it really difficult to find clothes that fit me, so shopping is often incredibly frustrating. But sometimes when trying on several options, multiple items will fit. It feels like a score, and if I have the means and I feel like I will actually wear the pieces, I buy or keep those items because I played a game of chance and won. Also, in terms of online returns, sometimes they are too much of a hassle to follow through with, so if the item is pretty good, I’ll keep it, too. I believe this is also part of the mind game that brands play on consumers. If we do not settle for good enough, we may not find anything. And then, many people continue to shop after they have already bought one item in case they can find something better. Inconsistent sizing leads to overshopping, which leads to extra purchases. Coincidence? Now, what would be this article without a solution? I have rarely ever seen women’s pants marked by their inseam as well as waist, and that seems like an easy start to the solution. However, since women’s body types are more likely to vary around the hips than men’s, I suggest we add a third size indicator, hip size. I also suggest we stop lying about the measurements and actually measure the fabric in the way the tag suggests, instead of in whatever method the company sees fit. Something as important as sizing should not be a subjective decision that brands can make for themselves. If they want to include more sizes, they should expand their size range in both directions instead of adjusting every size to mean something new. Shopping is not this difficult for men, and it’s time to stop treating women like an entirely different species. Everyone deserves wellfitting clothes that do not require hours to find. Time is money, and women’s time is just as valuable. But, of course, that is a different issue for a different day. To read more about the research that went into this article, check out the online version at flathatmagazine.com.

St o Ph r y b oto y by L i n Elli d a eK L url i ‘ 2 4 and er ‘24

To All the Exposed Ankles I've Seen Before

Flat Hat Magazine • Style

illiamsburg is perhaps more notorious for its sweltering summers than, in my opinion, its godforsaken winters. Snowfall is indeed rare, but the wind chills don’t mess around. “Bundling up” is a must, unless you enjoy the feeling of the wind biting into your cheeks or your hands showing more cracks than Provost Agouris’s defence of her comments in a particular office hours session. And yet, scenes of exposed ankles wedged between tapered mom jeans and low-top white sneakers are ubiquitous when the temperatures dip below freezing. Today, I will deconstruct some of the most popular arguments in favour of bare ankles and offer alternatives that cost little to no money — so the next time you see your grandma, she won’t feel compelled to knit you a pair of argyle socks. For starters, people like bare ankles because it’s casual. As work from home and remote schooling still dominate many people’s routines, bare ankles, or no-show socks seem like a natural choice to match our unstructured tops and elastic-waist bottoms. I’m all for the laid-back vibes, and on a college campus especially, nobody cares about how you dress. But in the winter months, all practicality flies out the window when you show off the skin around the talocrural joint. Since our ankles happen to be right above the body part we use to walk, how do you focus on anything but the freezing cold attacking your general area of lower-body movement as you trod along the red brick paths? Sure, our campus is quite small, but getting from Yates Hall to Merchant Square can feel excruciatingly inconvenient any time it’s below 40. Why do we embrace hats, scarves, and gloves — which all protect essential body parts — but act as if our ankles and legs have to fend for themselves? If you couldn’t care less about what you wore, my suggestion for a bare ankles alternative is to take a pair of full-length pants and cuff the hems — not to make them hit your ankles, but to make them hit the sweet spot that grazes the top of your shoes without leaving your ankles to face the elements. If you’re a little more fashion-conscious, do not worry because this tip applies to you as well; cuffed jeans and sweatpants have been all the rage for quite a few years. You get to retain visual interest at the ankle area but in a relatively warmer manner. The next argument for bare ankles that editors and stylists stress all the time is that it helps lengthen your 123

legs. In their view, socks can disrupt what was originally a streamlined view from the waist down; consequently, the outfit looks less put-together. At my grand stature of 5’1,” I can’t help but roll my eyes at the fashion world’s obsession with looking taller. But style YouTuber Tim Dessaint (who’s 5’6”) is correct when he pointed out in a video that “hacks” intended to make you look taller only work when you’re posing for a photo alone. The illusory magic of bare ankles ceases to exist as soon as you close Instagram and step into the real world to mingle among people of various heights. While you shouldn’t be concerned with how people perceive your height, I understand that the pursuit of appearing taller is here to stay on social media. So, if you’re not ready to ease out of that mentality yet, an easy alternative is to wear socks that match the colour of your shoes. If you’re wearing multi-coloured shoes, pick the dominant shade to match. Not only will your ankles thank you, but you also have room to inject personality by choosing a pair of socks with an interesting design or made from a textured fabric. And on the topic of cool socks, let me emphasise that socks are a powerful fashion staple. Ever since I said “fuck it” to content creators telling me I should stick to wearing three colours in an outfit, I’ve had loads of fun using socks to make an otherwise plain outfit feel like myself. As a good deal of the clothes I own are a shade of blue, I like to contrast sun-bleached blue with yellow socks, navy with burgundy socks, or even green socks with any shade of blue because I also say “fuck it” to the no-green-and-blue-together fashion rule. But don’t stop there. How about a pair of mesh socks to add sparkle to an all-black outfit? Or striped socks with checkered Vans? Oooh — match your socks to a bag, cap, or scarf. And pizza socks are always appropriate. I’m also a sucker for white socks with black loafers — call it bookworm-chic. Novelty socks aren’t only worn as a joke; the vibrant colours and whimsical patterns can brighten up your day, and the relatively obscured position of socks can make it feel like a small secret kept to yourself. I am once again imploring you to stop baring your ankles in the dead of winter. The skin around your ankles happens to be quite thin; wearing socks can stimulate circulation in your legs and propel you further on your merry way. Moreover, you are not stuck with bare ankles as a singular fashion formula — listen to your heart (and check the weather too).

I’m Dreaming of the French Riviera But All We Have is Jamestown Beach

’24 Photos by Zachary Lutzky ’23 Produced by Grace Olsen

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Flat Hat Magazine • Style

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Modelled by Leah Green ’22 and Izzy Lenna ’22

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f l a t h a t m a g a z i n e . c o m

CONTRIBUTORS EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Gavin Aquin Hernández ‘22 Alyssa Slovin ‘22

MANAGING DIRECTION Judith Renée Herman ‘24

WRITERS Alexandra Byrne ‘23 Daisy Garner ‘21 Madeleine Harris ‘24 Lucas Harsche ‘23 Kennedy Hess ‘22 Jamie Holt ‘22 Ashley Huang ‘24 Will Kobos ‘24 Olivia McCarthy ‘23 Fred Nunnelly ‘22 Molly Parks ‘24 Georgia Thoms ‘23

DEPUTY DIRECTION Linda Li ‘24

AUDIO/VIDEO Elizabeth Ashley ‘22

BUSINESS MANAGER Bushra Bablu ‘24

GRAPHIC DESIGN Tara Vasanth ‘23 Angela Vasishta ‘21 Chris Schneider ‘23

CREATIVE DIRECTION Matthew Kortan ‘22 Ellie Kurlander ‘24 DIGITAL DIRECTION Rebecca Klinger ‘22

COPY DIRECTION Christian Borio ‘22 Sabrina El Shanti ‘22 Nina Raneses ‘22 SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Mary Beth Bauermann ‘24

MODELLING Leah Green ‘22 Laila Kennedy ‘23 Izzy Lenna ‘22 Joanie Sceppa ‘23

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Zachary Lutzky ‘24

COVER DESIGN Rebecca Klinger ‘22

LOCAL EDITOR Mary Trimble ‘23 SPANISH EDITOR Andrés Bencomo-Magaña ‘22 STYLE EDITOR Grace Olsen ‘23