__ Sexy CostumeIdeas Chris Ware, NiceGuy OCTOBER 2015 F GRANT The F NEWS Mini-Grant! Last month's winner of the Mortal Kombat Competition: Dalton Carter

„ Jarad Solomon

2016 Fatalities, Dalton Carter

Every month, F Newsmagazine challenges the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's community of students, faculty, staff, and security guards to submit artwork within a certain theme.

or this month's F Newsmagazine F mini-grant, we are asking for a design or plan for Donald Trump's border wall. All interpretations and art forms will be accepted. The winning submission will not only receive the $50 prize from us, but will also be featured in F Newsmagazine, and tweeted to Trump for his consideration.

02 fnewsmagazine.com illustration by Priyoshi Kapur TABLE OF CONTENTS OCTOBER 2015

“PUT ON THE GLASSES, JEB! THE CULTURES — THEY LIVE!”

SHORTCUTS STUDENT VOICES

04 In Brief and 8 Tips for Art Panelists 19 Remembering Yuan Song Caleb Kaiser and Ryan Blocker Megan Byrne

05 What the F Are You Doing? 20 LUMA at 10 A look at unfinished student works Loyola University Museum of Art celebrates Jarad Solomon its first decade with “greatest hits” exhibition KT Hawbaker-Krohn 06 How to End Your Dry Spell Social experimentation in the name of Tinder 21 #SAYHERNAME Priyoshi Kapur Chicagoans gather to demand justice for Rekia Boyd Cover: “New Monsters” by Amber Huff 08 Five Questions Steven Ford Alicia Everett Paula Calvo 22 Turning Our Backs The people we let starve at Dyett High School 09 Responsible Birding for Caleb Kaiser OPINION since 1984 the Modern Progressive Prepare for the fall migration with 24 The Trash We Inherit these helpful, self-loathing tips Dorothy Allison’s short story Sophie Lucido Johnson collection proves itself a classic Managing Editor Megan Byrne Megan Byrne Web Editor Sophie Lucido Johnson ENTERTAINMENT Arts Editor Ryan Blocker 25 One Day’s Prayers Comics Editor Alex Kostiw 11 Wes Craven: A Legacy of Horror Shane McCrae’s necessary new poetry collection Entertainment Editor Rosie Accola Remembering the man behind Caleb Kaiser News Editor Caleb Kaiser our favorite monsters Photo Editor Sevy Perez Rosie Accola COMICS Webmaster Daniel Brookman Art Director Jarad Solomon 12 Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz 27 Life, Death, and the First Year at SAIC Designers Zach Cooper, Amber Huff, Provocateur Miley Cyrus bores A reaction to a found illustrated letter Priyoshi Kapur, Alex Kostiw, Sevy Perez with latest album project by SAIC alumnus Louis Ferstadt Social Media Manager Sarah Wheat Rosie Accola Alex Kostiw and Megan Byrne Ad Manager Ana Maria Gonzalez Sierra Staff Writers KT Hawbaker-Krohn 13 From Mixtapes to Mainstream 28 The Obsessively Beautiful Chris Ware Staff Photographer Steven Ford A review of the Weeknd’s latest album Just beyond the spotlight’s edge Contributors Paula Calvo, Ada Wolin Ada Wolin Sophie Lucido Johnson Comics Artists Rachel Bard, Sky Gelbron, Jenna Kang, Sophie Lucido Johnson, Jarad Solomon, Dena Springer 14 Annalise in Shondaland 29 Costume Ideas Editorial Advisor Paul Elitzik Exploring the politics of hair in Halloween at art school is unexpectedly sexy Design Advisor Michael Miner “How to Get Away with Murder” Zach Cooper, Priyoshi Kapur, Ryan Blocker Alex Kostiw, Jarad Solomon

Starring... FEATURE 30 Comics 1 Donald Trump

2 Jeb Bush F News Comics 16 Air Sex Is Surprisingly Cooler Than You Think 1 2 Coming to (the thought of you) soon Sophie Lucido Johnson

illustration by Alex Kostiw fnewsmagazine.com 03 OCTOBER 2015 SHORTCUTS

Irving, Texas Is a Clusterfuck A Different One Percent of Racist Teachers In a section of the Israeli-occupied West Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, an Bank, an area which according to the inventive ninth-grader, deconstructed a Oslo Accords should have been under In Brief clock this month. In an ideal world, that a Palestinian control over a decade ago, sentence would be the entirety of this the Israeli government has issued orders „ Caleb Kaiser story. However, we’re talking about to tear down over 13,000 Palestinian Irving, Texas, where paranoid white buildings. In this section of the West people believe themselves relevant Bank, called Area C, there are designated enough to merit terrorist attention. zones for construction, set up by the Ahmed’s clock went off during class, Israeli government. If you remember two prompting his engineering teacher (and sentences ago, the Israeli government the rest of the school’s administration) should have ended their occupation to accuse Ahmed of building a bomb, decades ago. because he is Muslim and this is Irving, Texas. Ahmed was arrested by five police His Tears Dry On Their Own officers and questioned at length before being released to his parents. NASA, John Boehner, a fearless leader and President Obama, and a host of other public crier, has just announced his national figures have joined most of the resignation as the House Speaker. nation in supporting Ahmed and asking, Despite President Obama’s reassurance “Where the fuck is Irving, Texas?” that Mr. Boehner, a Republican, is a “good man,” his own party seems Godspeed You, Pope Emperor less convinced. Over the last few years Boehner has seen his control hampered Pope Francis, also known as “Cool Pope,” severely by crumbling bipartisan just dropped enough hot fire to extend relationships and waning support from summer through December. Traffic was an increasingly far-right Republican shut down inside the seventh circle of party. According to Boehner, the Philadelphia as Pope Francis made his way decision came naturally to him. In a through the city, and much of America video posted by CNN of his speech waited with anticipation for the Pope’s Boehner said, “I decided today is the day address. Nothing in any address he made I’m going to do this, simple as that.” while in America — not his messages of charity, equality, or environmental reform — could measure up to his announcement of a prog rock, multilingual opus titled, “Wake Up!” scheduled to drop in November. No word on a possible Kendrick feature. 8 Tips for Art Panelists

„ Ryan Blocker

You’ve been invited to be on an art panel. No need to panic. Remember that throwing shade isn’t just for Real Never test any of your presentation materials Here are eight simple, easy-to-follow tips to help you look like 3 Housewives and drag queens. Whenever possible 6 prior to speaking. Fumble around with the a bonafide expert. subtly suggest that someone isn’t well-read or is a computer for at least five minutes. Insist that sellout. In an extreme situation you may need to suggest that PowerPoint “looks different on your computer.” Being Never agree with someone else’s definition. It makes you someone’s research project has been done better by someone angrily confused by technology suggests that you have 1 look weak. When the moderator asks you to introduce more famous. This insult is especially biting because studied your topic so intensely and for so long that you yourself and state your name, reply with, “Well, we have a publisher has likely already told them the same. missed the technological developments of the past decade. to think [air quotes] critically about what we mean by [air quotes] name? One answers to a number of [air quotes] names over the Be a cisgendered white man. If you are not a Think of Q&A as a second panel. People will talk at course of one’s life?” I cannot overstate the importance of air 4 cisgendered white man, you may often find yourself 7 length about their own research projects masked as quotes. It shows you understand everything is subjective. being talked over, interrupted, or dismissed too questions. Be prepared for this: “What do you think frequently to contribute meaningfully to the conversation. You about this narrow research focus? You didn’t talk at all about Name theorists and philosophers as often as possible. should practice being white as often as you can prior to the this very narrow research focus. I think it’s a shame that this 2 It’s not crucial that you actually form an argument. panel. Mention to friends how much you love “The Wire.” Enjoy very narrow research focus was overlooked. My current book Simply mentioning that Foucault was person who the comedy of Sarah Silverman. Practice makes perfect! project is about said very narrow research focus.” wrote things suggests to people that you read the things that Foucault wrote. It’s not even necessary that your sentences Be nostalgic. Art history tells us there was once a time It all comes back to the question, have verbs. Just a list of theorists makes you sound like an when everything was perfect. Artists were free to be "What is [air quotes] art?" intellectual badass. 5 artists and criticism was critical. 8

04 fnewsmagazine.com illustration by Jarad Solomon SHORTCUTS OCTOBER 2015

„ Jarad Solomon

very month F Newsmagazine features the unfinished work of three School E of the Art Institute of Chicago students, faculty, staff, security guards and I don’t know, local animals? Just someone please just take a photo of what you’re doing and send it to me. Anything, it doesn’t even matter! Please just art here now. Somebody, anybody! Then there's the super cool follow-up: a month from now I check on you. How’d it go? Did you finish it? Is it dope? Wanna take a photo of it again and send it so it can be right here? Or did you have an existential crisis about it and take care of some plant instead? I guess we can put your plant here? I don’t know? Or art? YOU DECIDE.

Jarad is a second year graduate student in the Art and Technology Studies Dept at SAIC. His email is [email protected] — send him something

I deal with obsession. Through this work I try to talk about my experience and what I feel causes my obsession. I’m currently trying to make fingers out of plaster which HAERIN will be tapping together. RYU Some of the fingers will be fine, but others will be broken.

I am a second year MFA in Art and Technology Studies. I am currently working on a project that began this summer where I mapped and traveled the length of a recently completed NATHAN oil pipeline. The work BRAUNFELD is progressing through photography, sculptures, and perhaps a written text.

This is actually my first comic, it's about Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star. All of the background images are from a Life magazine from the '50s. At times, I prefer zines to more ROSIE traditional prose formats, ACCOLA it's so open as a medium ... you can do anything.

artwork courtesy of the artists fnewsmagazine.com 05 OCTOBER 2015 SHORTCUTS

tinder personality types sensual man animal lover

outcast gym rat frat dude

How to End Your Dry Spell Social experimentation in the name of Tinder

„ Priyoshi Kapur

ey, let’s face it: Those of us who are you post along with your profile. My goal At the end of the three weeks, I created H single likely have this mischievous little was to test each stereotype in order to see an infographic that showed how far each I identified five major app downloaded on our phones. Even if you which kind of guy got the most dates, or even stereotype got in their race to date. As you haven’t downloaded Tinder, you probably at swipe-rights (i.e., matches). I was hoping to can see, the Sensual Man stereotype achieved categories most men on least have a friend who is constantly swiping see a trend that would be able to help guide the most swipe-rights. However, the winner Tinder fell under: Frat Dude, left, looking for a hottie. Tinder gives us all my peers to get a date on Tinder. of the entire race was a shock. While the the chance to find our ultimate one-and-only, I asked five of my close male friends Outcast received the least number of swipe- Outcast, Gym Rat, Animal all with the swipe of a thumb. to change their set of photos to match a rights, he actually ended up with the most If you’ve used the app, you are probably specific stereotype. Each friend was given actual dates. Lover, and Sensual Man. familiar with the term “dry spell.” Urban one of the five stereotypes; I provided the I took this as a chance to re-think how Dictionary defines the term like this: “A photos. Their corresponding biography people are using Tinder. Most people tend dry spell is where you go for a length of paragraphs were identical: “University of to post posed and unnatural photos, like the time without getting any.” Replace “getting Illinois Chicago (UIC), 20 years old.” Over Sensual stereotype, but they rarely get very any” with “getting any matches,” and you’ve the next three weeks, each friend was asked far. I figured that this must be one of the defined one of the most common problems to swipe right 100 percent of the time. They reasons why my peers suffer dry spells. In people have with Tinder. If you have ever run would wait until a girl swiped right, and order to get dates, you have to post photos into this problem, it’s most likely because then they would provide this standard of yourself being yourself, which is what the you aren’t playing the game correctly, or you conversation to ask a girl out: Outcast did. He is able to get more dates aren’t including enough dogs in your pictures. because girls find him interesting. After hearing that many of my close Hey It turns out that in order to win the Tinder friends and family suffer from Tinder dry race, you just have to be yourself. spells regularly, I decided to create a social (wait for response) experiment to test what kinds of people How are you? get the most dates; and I wanted to focus specifically on men. I identified five major (wait for response) Priyoshi Kapur is a third-year undergraduate student categories most men on Tinder fell under: I am only in town for 7 days, would at SAIC. She studies Visual Communication Design/Art Frat Dude, Outcast, Gym Rat, Animal Lover, you like to grab dinner sometime? and Technology, and Motion Graphics. Her friends dared and Sensual Man. I drew my stereotype her to get a Tinder for five days, and she received 40 conclusions from the five photos Tinder lets (wait for response) swipe rights within that time.

06 fnewsmagazine.com SHORTCUTS OCTOBER 2015

NAIOMI NADIA

Hi, How are you? hey :) Hey Good you? how are you? Good Good,:) I don’t you? know if this Good, you? is too forward but I wanted Im good and you? to see if you wanted to get good good! also, I’m in dinner sometime. I’m only town for a week and was in town fora few days and I wondering if you’d want to think your really cute ;) grab dinner sometime? u r really qt :) Um That sounds great. Lol you seem really funny from your pics

VETA LIZ

Hey Hi Your dog is adorable Why hello there ;) Lol thanks. Not as Good, you?What’s Up? Good,cute you? as you :) Ive got nothing Haha well aren’t you sweet better to do so Haha tankssssss. Wanna heres my number meet for coffeeeee? Ur so XXX-XXX-XXXX cute Aw that’s sweet, but I’m getting my wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow and idk if ill be okay after

illustration by Priyoshi Kapur fnewsmagazine.com 07 OCTOBER 2015 SHORTCUTS 5 QUESTIONS

Check out the rest of her work at aliciaeverett.com Alicia Everett 5 Questions profiles SAIC students and faculty at work, in the school, and beyond. This month, F Newsmagazine spoke with Alicia Everett, an MFA candidate.

Paula Calvo

What drove you to explore narratives that include pornography’s use I was motivated by a visit with Sean 1 sexuality from a technology- in healthy relationships, body acceptance, Fader to the Denny Gallery during last "My abstract body of based perspective? sexual empowerment, and the ability to winter’s New York study trip. Sean’s use body image to manipulate the standard work, #CollectiveAuthorship, a response work is quite different and I have been a social whore since I could smile. language of sexuality. to Richard Prince’s appropriation of his consists of digital prints of A career in sales of commercial software and My new 3-D work combines and extends work, altered my perspective and enticed hanging out with programmers exposed the concepts of the photographic work. It me to experiment with Instragram as a video stills from cybersex me to the !rst forms of social networking is a coming home, materially, because I platform for artistic expression. When I in a DOS-based environment well before am a sculptor at heart, and I needed to !rst logged back on, I was reviewing my performances." the likes of AOL existed. I have met dig my !ngers in clay. Ceramics are made old posts and remembered my mother thousands of people in person from social of the earth. "ey are carnal, molded with once said it disturbed her to see images of networking online. You could say I have an the hands, and one of the oldest forms of her children beside those of sexuality. It ethnographical obsession with technological art. "e history and qualities of ceramics conjured ideas of motherhood in reference interactions from a pro-sexual, hetero, cis as a material, layered with the concepts I to societal expectations and led to my !rst female perspective. At its most basic level, study, are intended to create parallels and series of postings, #MyMomOnceSaid. "e my work explores how forces of a graphic, juxtapositions that integrate historical postings are examples of the juxtapositions sexualized, and visual techno-culture exert context and conceptual breadth. My in the documentation of my life as a mom power over the way we share and interpret ceramic forms mimic the bodily parts of my and as a woman. Instagram also provided information in our electronic interactions. abstract still prints and will include imagery the perfect platform to share images of that requires viewer interaction, further work related to #GiftsFromFriends, which How does your photographic complicating ideas of public and private. I receive frequently and always wanted to 2 work di!er from your new show in some way. I am not sure how this will 3-D pieces? What are you reading or progress, but I am enjoying my reconnection 3 working on this summer? with Instagram. My new 3-D work is an extension of my photography, which started with my "is last year was spent heavily researching What are some of the authors ongoing, archival collection of “dick pics.” a wide variety of history and theory related and artists you have explored I began a campaign with shareyourcock@ to my work, so I am going light on reading 5 during your time at the School yahoo.com because I regretted not having for the summer. I am working in the o%ce of the Art Institute of Chicago? saved all the images I received over the of Continuing Studies, assisting [School of years. For me, dick pics are the veritable tip the Art Institute of Chicago photography Not in any particular order, some of the of the iceberg. "ey are a direct reversal of professor] Ollie Rodriquez with a few projects, authors I have explored are Ariella Azoulay, the gaze and an entrance into the depths of and enjoying the extra time in my studio. I Andrea Fraser, Sadie Plant, Claire Bishop, our constantly evolving systems of personal am spending time with family, connecting Judith Butler, Boris Croys, Guy Debord, communication in techno-culture from a with friends, and playing online. Linda Alco#, Hakim Bey, Susan Sontag, feminine perspective. Michel Foucault, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, My abstract body of work is quite di#erent What social media do you use? Betty Friedan, Maggie Paley, Michael and consists of digital prints of video stills 4 What kind of content do you post? Paraskos, Kayt Sukel, Mary Roach, Ariel Levy, from cybersex performances. "e abstraction Kelly Dennis, Maud Lavin, Georges Bataille, of the motion references the perceived I mostly use Facebook, since almost David Harvey, Matteo Pasquinelli, Jacques intimacy and autonomy of technical everything makes its way to Facebook, but Rancière, and Walter Benjamin. communications, the tangled conditions of I also Reddit occasionally. I use social media Some of the artists that come to mind degradation and empowerment, and the gray to keep up with news and events and to are Hito Steyerl, Ryan McGinley, Andrea area between public and private. I think of participate in cultural discourse. I attempt Fraser, Oliver Laric, Maria Llopis, Frances this work as painting with virtual life, and to manipulate the algorithms on Facebook Stark, Jason Briggs, Betty Tompkins, Judith I attempt to use color, line, and movement to achieve a prioritized feed of my interests Bernstein, Yayoi Kusama, Jason Salavon, to create a sense of the feminine tensions like art, politics, feminism, and sexuality. Arturo Herrara, Ron Geibel, Richard Prince, underlying the work. "ese tensions, within "at means I don’t comment or ‘like’ many Claudia Pajewski, and of course many faculty, personal pornography and my research, posts of kittens, babies, or other irrelevant among others. include the negative in$uences of the content. For the most part, I post content industry of pornography, revenge porn, and that might be of interest to my “friends” and social conditioning of the female body in the has not already saturated the Web through Paula Calvo is a second-year MA Art History candidate forms of objecti!cation and degradation. "is other postings. I have also just recently at SAIC, a writer, critic, curator, and photographer. is, at the same time, contrasted with positive returned to Instagram. She is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

08 fnewsmagazine.com photography by Alicia Everett SHORTCUTS OCTOBER 2015

Responsible Birding for the Modern Progressive Prepare for the fall migration with these helpful, self-loathing tips

„ Sophie Lucido Johnson

ou’re a progressive. You’re thoughtful. they call themselves (due to the inevitable your wings are so shiny and your neck Y Let’s just say it: You’re a good person. language barrier), then try to use bird-first moves so imperceptibly fast!” You’ll just So it makes sense that the last time you language. “Parrot” might become “bird have to unlearn those tendencies. A bird is You’ve already done the found yourself bird-watching, something who is large and lives in the rainforest and more than her body, and she deserves to didn’t sit right with you. We’ve all had eats nuts and can imitate the human voice, see that echoed in her interactions. most difficult thing, which the moment: You’re looking through your which can be a little unsettling, especially Here are a few more don’ts. Don’t ask is to understand your own binoculars, spying on a blue jay, when you at night.” By putting the bird first, you’re to touch a bird’s feathers. Don’t use labels realize that you’re looking through your recognizing that the bird is not merely his like, “beak,” “rump,” or “breast.” Don’t shortcomings. binoculars, spying on a blue jay. Now you characteristics. He cannot be pinned down. suppose that just because a bird has a want to know: How can you love birds It’s also integral that you completely certain kind of plumage she comes from without objectifying them? do away with your binoculars. If you're a particular habitat. Don’t make puns You’ve already done the most difficult hesitating, ask yourself what you use with the word “talon” in them. (Example: thing, which is to understand your own them for. Do you use them so that you “Wow, you’re very talon-ted!”) Don’t tweet shortcomings. It’s not really your fault: can spy on birds while they have sex with (actually or technologically). We were all born into a species of privilege, each other high in trees? Or perhaps to Finally, a note on all the images of and it will take a long time for us to undo gaze into their nests to glance at their birds that I’ve seen cropping up on the wrongs of our forefathers. That said, newborn offspring? Talk about an invasion jewelry, clothing, tote bags, and pocket there are steps you can take right now to of privacy! Birds build nests because flasks lately. We’re already alarmingly be a better birder. they don’t have opposable thumbs and complacent in the blatant biological First, do away with the labels. can’t build houses. They want to be left appropriation that is plane travel. (Wright "Mountain bluebird?" "Scarlet tanager?" alone, just like you do sometimes. Would Brothers? More like, WRONG, brothers!) Birds don’t see color, and neither should you ask a person in a wheelchair to run a I beg you: let’s not wander down the road you. Don’t even get me started on “tufted marathon? These points are closely related. of avian exploitation any further. The titmouse.” How would you feel if a bird If you want to look at birds, let the other day, I saw a girl who was wearing called YOU a tufted titmouse? Think about birds come to you. If they don’t feel like BIRD-PRINTED UNDERPANTS. This has that the next time you start to pull out it, too bad! Birds don’t owe you anything. gone too far. (Otherwise, that was a good your field guide. They’ve been mercilessly slaughtered by date, though.) The key is to ask yourself: "Would your family members for thousands of this bird identify himself this way?" For years. Don’t act like you don’t know where instance, do you think any bird would chicken sandwiches come from. Yes, Arby’s. self-identify as a “splendid fairywren?” But also, birds. Probably not. I mean, the bird might call When a bird decides to trust you himself that at a party in front of his enough to approach you willingly, honor Sophie Lucido Johnson is the web editor for F, peers, but that’s probably just a semi- her as an individual. Ask her about her and has written for Jezebel, The Nation, McSweeney’s, ironic reclaiming of the term. It’s only family and what she wants to do over the and more. She is also the editor-in-chief of the literary empowering when he says it about himself. weekend; avoid focusing on her physicality. humor magazine Neutrons Protons. She is in the If you can’t call the birds by the names It’s easy to want to be like, “Oh my god, MFAW program at SAIC.

illustration by Sophie Lucido Johnson fnewsmagazine.com 09 JUDY RADOVSKY, TERRANE 1 (DETAIL), 2015, PRINTED AND MOLDED POLYSTYRENE WITH PROJECTION

GRADUATE OPEN HOUSE EXAMINE BELIEFS. Meet with faculty, tour the school and our state-of-the-art facilities, and learn about our graduate departments. RADICALLY RETHINK THEM. Sunday, October 4 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.* For a listing of all programs visit saic.edu/gradapp SAIC Ballroom 112 S. Michigan Ave.

GRADUATE PORTFOLIO DAY Bring your portfolio and receive feedback about your work. Faculty and admissions representatives from more than 40 schools will be present. Sunday, November 8 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. 280 S. Columbus Dr.

RSVP today. saic.edu/grevents *Check-in begins at 9:30 a.m.

Need a study break afternoon snack or caffeine fix? You can use your arti card and meal plan across the street at

We’re packed with the deals and deliciousness you need to stay focused!

1579 N Milwaukee Ave 55 E. Monroe Basement Level ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 2015

Wes Craven: A Legacy of Horror Remembering the man behind the monsters we love

„ Rosie Accola

hen Wes Craven passed away on escaped convicts while on their way to a classic “virginal babysitter.” It gleefully W August 30 this year, he left behind concert in New York City. The film was mocked what makes horror so great, the In a way, the Freddy’s a prolific body of work—and a man so relatively well-received by critics. Famed bumps in the night and the foolish bravery. disturbing he could slash his way into your film critic Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars out The genre-wide mockery also opened up a dynamism could serve as a dreams. Wes Craven forever changed the of four saying; “What does come through market for horror parodies like the “Scary metaphor for the expansive landscape of horror movie villains with in ‘Last House on the Left’ is a powerful Movie” series. the advent of Freddie Kruger. Previous narrative, told so directly and strongly that Scream also plays on the idea of the nature of Wes Craven’s horror villains like “Friday the 13ths” Jason the audience (mostly in the mood for just duplicability of horror movie killers. Vorhees or Michael Meyers were static. They another good old exploitation film) was Ghostface’s costume is simple, within days career, which spanned crept about silently with a menace that was rocked back on its psychic heels.” of the first killings students of Sidney’s both awkward and emotionless. Freddy, on After “Last House on the Left” Craven high school are already sprinting down the almost four decades. the other hand, was undeniably alive. He went on to direct a string of horror-genre hall dressed in billowing black cloaks and had a cache of witty comebacks as sharp as staples like “The Hills Have Eyes” and white plastic masks. It looks like a literal his knife-pronged glove, and a sense of style. “Swamp Thing.” In the early ‘80s Craven read representation of the eight sequels that He had charisma, and that dynamism gave an LA Times article about an American “Nightmare on Elm Street” spawned (not way to a sense of humanity (complicated by family who had escaped the Killing Fields in counting the 2010 remake). his career as a child murderer). Freddy could Cambodia. The young son had been having “Scream” plays on the one aspect of horror go anywhere; he wasn’t just quarantined vivid nightmares about the ordeal which left that no one really wants to admit, horror at summer camp. Most terrifying of all, him afraid to go to sleep, so he tried to stay is marketable. Gore sells, we as a culture he existed in the one place not governed up for days at a time. When he finally did are fascinated by it. The TV journalist in by reality, where people are typically free go to sleep, much to his parents’ relief, he “Scream” is constantly trying to catch her of consequences—their dreams. That’s died...in the middle of a nightmare. Craven “big break” as Ghostface flails around slaying where the brilliance of “Nightmare on Elm stated that, “here was a youngster having a the entire town, because she knows that if Street” lies, Krueger loses his powers when vision of a horror that everyone older was she’s the one to break this story, fame will people refuse to succumb to the fear he denying. That became the central line of follow. Ghostface is the product of a culture incites. Craven was painstakingly aware of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street.’” that Wes Craven (and Freddy Kruger) the reciprocal nature of fear itself, fear only In addition to functioning as a must-see created. Though the “Scream” franchise was grows when we give it the power to do so. slasher flick, “Nightmare on Elm Street” not written by Craven himself, Craven’s In a way, the Freddy’s dynamism could also acts as a brilliant showcase for teen influence is felt throughout. “Scream” is serve as a metaphor for the expansive angst, pushing the us vs. them mentality the direct result of a Halloween season nature of Wes Craven’s career, which that teenagers harbor to a breaking point, saturated by rubber Freddy masks and life- spanned almost four decades. His death on by involving a charred child molester in a sized Jasons peeking out of Halloween store August 30 shocked Hollywood and horror weirdly Christmas-esque striped sweater. windows, a holiday shaped ostensibly by buffs alike. Johnny Depp credited Craven It’s got all the components of a classic killer culture ... and the idea that these crazy, as “the guy who gave me my start, from “teen” movie: a hunky jock (Johnny Depp), campy films could seep into someone’s my perspective, for almost no reason.” a “bad” boy (Nick Corri) and a resourceful, reality, into the halls of their high school Long before Johnny Depp served as the smart protagonist who ultimately saves even, is what makes “Scream” so great. dictionary definition of “heart throb,” he the day (Heather Langlefield). Craven’s People dismiss horror as a genre with a was a struggling musician picking up understanding of teen social dynamics seasonal expiration date, but Wes Craven acting jobs along the way to support his gives his films the air of a gory John knew that these films had the potential to music career. His role as Glenn in 1984’s Hughes flick. This is not to say “Nightmare shape our cultural discourse and to force us “Nightmare on Elm Street” served as his “big on Elm Street” isn’t campy, it is the to examine what frightens us the most. break” into the mainstream media. epitome of camp, but Craven is surprisingly Overall, Wes Craven’s impact can be felt Craven, on the other hand, was originally self-aware as a director. in nearly every corner of the film industry. a humanities professor at Clarkson College In 1996’s “Scream”, which he directed, His casting finesse brought us the great gift of Technology. He started working in the Ghostface (the film’s enigmatic slasher) of young Johnny Depp in a crop top, and his film industry in post production and wrote, references the “Nightmare on Elm Street” awe-inspiring imagination left us sleepless for directed, and edited his first film, “The Last franchise in the opening minutes saying, weeks on end. He was truly, a horror maestro. House on the Left,” in 1972. “The first one was good but the rest of them The Last House on the Left is a gruesome sucked.” Craven’s sense of self-awareness film centering around the kidnapping in “Scream” also translated into a wider Rosie Accola is a sophomore in the BFAW and sexual assault of two teenage girls acknowledgment of tropes that the horror department. She makes too many zines and who were kidnapped by a gang of recently genre collected over the years, like the loves punk rock and petting dogs.

illustration by Jarad Solomon fnewsmagazine.com 11 OCTOBER 2015 ENTERTAINMENT

Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz Provocateur Miley Cyrus bores with latest album project

„ Rosie Accola

s time goes on, Miley Cyrus devolves Unlike Spotify or Apple Music, Soundcloud that are quite literally about her “dead petz.” A into an increasingly frustrating cultural allows artists to upload their tracks for free, “The Floyd Song (Sunrise)” is a meditative In reality, it’s an annoyance paradox. She touts the benefits of solitude thus making it popular among unsigned tribute to her deceased husky, shrouded and inner peace while steadfastly flooding artists and bands. Cyrus’ decision to release in flowing guitar riffs and an unwavering at best. Miley Cyrus the Instagram feeds of the masses with an her latest album on the platform is indicative bassline. At one point, Cyrus’ voice breaks as certainly tried to expand endless stream of selfies and sculptural art of her efforts to assimilate herself into the she sings seemingly on the verge of tears. It’s pieces covered in tiny toys. Miley has the Indie music scene. In an attempt to seem a brief glimpse of genuine sincerity that gets her musical boundaries as potential to enact positive social change. truly DIY, Cyrus dropped $50,000 of her lost throughout the rest of the album. According to their website manifesto, the own money to release the album outside The most poignant track on the record an artist, but that doesn’t proceeds from her Happy Hippie foundation of her label. is Miley’s heartfelt ode to her deceased go towards providing “homeless youth, The record itself is a staggering 23 tracks, blowfish, Pablow. In a moment of borderline mean they moved. LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable youth ranging in length from 46 seconds to five existential absurdity Miley notes that going populations with consistent support services, minutes. It’s an arduous listen requiring out for sushi after watching one of your education and employment opportunities.” almost infinite patience and stamina. It’s aquatic pals go belly up isn’t the best decision Miley is capable of empathy, yet her steadfast the sonic equivalent of trying to put your noting, “I got soup/ and I ordered rice/ but refusal to acknowledge the culturally appro- drunk friend to bed, nonsensical with milli- watching my friends eat my friends ruined priative nature of her actions (everything seconds of lucidity frustratingly interspersed my appetite.” She also suggests that Pablow from the twerking to the VMA dreadlock throughout otherwise underwhelming tracks. should attempt to find love with a seahorse extensions) just makes her seem petulant. Throughout the album, the influence of named Sadie in the big sea in the sky while She’s a happy hippie, as long as your the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne is clearly ignoring that interspecies post-corporeal analysis of her is devoid of any sort of apparent. The little jangly sitar-influenced lovin’ isn’t super-possible. constructive criticism. Even though in guitar riffs that pops up throughout the Tracks like “Pablow the Blowfish” indicate 2015, we are two years post-Twerk-seen- album are a Flaming Lips’ calling card. Coyne that Cyrus’ grasp on both lyricism and reality ’round-the-world, the authenticity of Cyrus’ and Cyrus’ unlikely friendship is visually itself is tenuous. The awkward nature of actions is constantly questioned. Perhaps documented on Instagram and other social the lyrics could indicate Miley’s attempts to our inquisitive nature towards her is only media plat-forms. It’s a vexing bond that be more involved in her own songwriting reflective of the sense of cultural ownership produces glitter-smeared selfies and singles process. The unpolished lyrical structures that often accompanies child stars. We have like “Dooo It,” which Cyrus performed live at lend themselves to a more “indie” feel for the watched Miley grow up from a gangly and this year’s MTV VMAs alongside draguates of album as a whole, but they’re also awkward seemingly good-natured teen to a seemingly “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” for the listener. brash, sexually liberated twenty-something ... The album seems gimmicky at best. Cyrus’ Overall, “Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz” we know Miley, don’t we? attempts at authenticity, like the mumbly is an underwhelming musical endeavour. In If “Bangerz” was her club beats saturated monologues about being “fucking homies theory it sounds good — Miley singing about bildungsroman, “Miley Cyrus and Her Dead and shit” on tracks like “BB Talk,” read as dead fish ... sure, why not? — in reality, it’s Petz” is her sloppily penned attempt at a caricatures of a carefully constructed per- an annoyance at best. Miley Cyrus certainly philosophical treatise. Unlike “Bangerz,” stona that Miley has spent years concocting. tried to expand her musical boundaries as an which was definitely a pop project, “Dead There are moments where she aches to artist, but that doesn’t mean they moved. Petz” attempts to combine psychedelia with be seen as alternative, and what should You can listen to the album at mainstream pop sounds. The result is a be seen as a sincere effort in the name of www.mileycyrus.com/andherdeadpetz. genre-confused record that sounds more art comes off as so cringeworthy that I like the musical equivalent of Forever 21 reflexively close the Soundcloud tab on my selling Woodstock-inspired sweatshirts than browser. Lyrics like “I had a dream/ David a successful co-mingling of two musical Bowie taught us how to skateboard/ but he genres ... it’s definitely not the best of was shaped like Gumby” sound more like both worlds. a magnetic poetry set sponsored by Urban Cyrus released her latest project on the Outfitters than an artistic revelation. Rosie Accola is a sophomore in BFAW. She can’t have free music streaming service, Soundcloud. The only stand-out tracks are the ones any petz in Chicago, but her air plants are going strong.

12 fnewsmagazine.com illustration Alex Kostiw ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 2015

From Mixtapes to Mainstream A review of The Weeknd’s most recent album

„ Ada Wolin

eauty Behind the Madness,” the latest is hard-living, disaffected, jaded and self- way or another, but hey, she helped him B album from Canadian singer The aware. At Tesfaye’s strongest lyrical moments, grow as a person. So why is this relevant? Weeknd, is suddenly everywhere. This is Abel we feel that melancholic urge to lose Tesfaye’s songs are cinematic. The Weeknd, as The Weeknd is a character, Tesfaye’s 2nd studio album, following on ourselves, at its center an intriguing poetic a character, is as curated as can be. Tesfaye the heels of 2011’s “House of Balloons,” as loneliness. But even taking this character is presenting an edited version of what it’s “with the hair, singing well as numerous mixtapes. However, it is into account, there are moments when the like to be him, and he’s choosing to take ‘bout popping pills, fucking only a slight exaggeration to call Tesfaye’s poignancy wears thin; “I only call you when his introspection on a detour through his rise to notoriety ‘meteoric,’ with a VMA it’s half past five, the only time that I’ll be by interactions with this woman. As she rides bitches, living life so trill,” performance under his belt, an appearance your side, I only love it when you touch me, the wave of Tesfaye’s ‘trill’ life, she presents a in the “50 Shades of Grey” soundtrack, and not feel me, when I’m fucked up that’s the subtle, perhaps more humble way of proving a self-created mythos that a vast amount of critical and commercial real me,” he sings in “The Hills,” a song a little just how crazy his life really is. All in all, success, all within the last year. Fans of too heavy in its’ themes of dissipation not to though, Tesfaye’s use of this female character is hard-living, disaffected, Tesfaye’s trademark narcotic sensibility will prompt some eye rolling. as a device is tolerable in comparison to jaded and self-aware. see it fully realized in “Beauty Behind the The bad boy persona has grown more the instances when she takes a little more Madness,” a lush and dreamy soundscape of self-aware on this album, as Tesfaye seems shape. In those fleeting moments, she is an album. Tesfaye has hit his aesthetic stride to lean back a little and assess his sudden almost always at one end of a hyperbolized this time, and that alone may save the album fame. “My cousin said I made it big and spectrum: shallow and desperate, or perfect. from some of its flaws. It just sounds so good. it’s unusual, she tried to take a selfie at my Either way, she is not really human. The album starts off strong with “Real Grandma’s funeral,” he sings in “Tell Your Fortunately for Tesfaye, however, his Life,” a track that is simultaneously dark and Friends.” This self-reflexivity is a welcome aesthetic instincts are so sound that these satisfying, sprawling and concise, edgy and change from the unending tales of hedonism lapses into banality are masked. The music accessible. Then on to “Losers,” one of the and debauchery that Tesfaye hammers home possesses a subtlety that the lyrics at times strongest songs on the album, which features in much of the album. But more difficult still lack, and the result is always striking, even a nice break from the oft-monotonous vocal is Tesfaye’s elusive female anima, who, while if a little redundant. It will certainly be flow of the album. A catchy clap-track and continuously shape-shifting, is ever-present interesting to see Tesfaye’s songwriting, piano verse set the song nicely off-kilter, in the vast majority of the album. She is already starting to reflect on his change of and the whole production sounds like it’s a type, she is every woman that Tesfaye’s circumstance, evolve with his elevation to coming from the bottom of some murky character seems to circle in perpetuity, as pop icon. It is reassuring to see him remain depths, maintaining the mysterious haze he scrapes at the surface of emotional true to the dark and hazy sound that got pervading the album as a whole. “Losers” connections. She is frustratingly one-sided, his foot in the door, even as he forays into touches upon a rare moment of genuine a mere prop for Tesfaye’s loner plight. For far poppier material. Tesfaye has created a emotional intensity, a breaking point in the amount of airplay she gets, she seems to world with his music, and it is nothing at all Tesfaye’s concernedly aloof demeanor. “Can’t deserve a little character development. like real life. Feel My Face” is just as catchy as it’s cracked Let’s be real for a minute and address one up to be, of course, and because of this can fact: the female-as-a-prop phenomenon is be politely called an ‘homage’ to Michael not new to pop culture. It exists in almost Jackson, complete with breath catches and every form of mass entertainment, and has dancey bass. for a long time. Take for example the ‘manic But the sweet and murky haze can’t pixie dream girl,’ a term coined by film critic hide the weak points of the album, namely Nathan Rabin to describe a movie trope that Tesfaye’s lyrics, which occasionally reach uses a quirky, ultimately idealized woman points of unpardonable shallowness. to shake up the plot of the introspective The Weeknd is a character, “with the hair, (male) protagonist. Ultimately, she does not singing ‘bout popping pills, fucking bitches, really exist outside of the hero story, and Ada Wolin is a second year student in the living life so trill,” a self-created mythos that usually ends up disappointing him in some BFAW program.

illustration by Priyoshi Kapur fnewsmagazine.com 13 OCTOBER 2015 ENTERTAINMENT

Annalise in Shondaland Exploring the politics of hair in “How to Get Away with Murder”

„ Ryan Blocker

n September 2014, critically acclaimed role on the show, Davis became the first intimate moments of their lives are seldom I African American actress Viola Davis gave African American in history to win an presented on screen. Black female characters an interview with Whoopi Goldberg and Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a My friend Dana offered, “It’s not just Rosie Perez on “The View” to promote her Drama. Davis’s acceptance speech consisted that it’s a black woman’s hair. It’s a certain are not purely the product new television series, “How to Get Away with of some of the most powerful words kind of texture. Tracee Ellis Ross wears her of harmful and negative Murder.” In the show, Davis portrays the sexy, uttered on the Emmy Stage. hair natural all the time, and it’s beautiful. conniving, and brilliant attorney Annalise Much of the talk around the show in my But it’s a more understandable kind of hair. stereotype or stifled by the Keating. Davis, a Juilliard-trained actress with own life and in public dialogue has centered Viola’s hair is the kind of hair that you fix or multiple Golden Globe/Oscar nominations around the character’s hair. In several manage. It’s the kind of hair that you solve.” burden of respectability. and two Tony Awards, spoke of her pivotal moments of the show, Annalise’s Consider that the TSA has only recently enthusiasm and gratitude over being chosen hair is used to serve the story’s narrative. loosened restrictions on searches of black by television writer/producer Shonda Rhimes There have been such strong reactions to women’s hair. Even the U.S. Army rolled back to lead the show. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg these moments within public discourse that recent bans on a number of hairstyles for not turned to her to ask a question. Davis clearly it became clear that hair — black women’s being representative of Army standards of seemed to know what was coming. hair in particular — represented so much grooming — most of which were hairstyles Just a few days before the interview, more than aesthetic choice. Because of this, commonly worn by black women. television critic Alessandra Stanley at the I decided to speak with black women about However, for all of the work the scene New York Times wrote about television, their opinions of the show and their own does in validating black women’s hair, the Shonda Rhimes, and her primetime shows, hair journeys. character’s natural hair is revealed for the “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” In the episode “Let’s Get to Scooping,” first time in a moment of deep personal In the article, Stanley wrote, “As Annalise, Annalise discovers that her husband has pain. My mother, Nevetta, claimed, “People Ms. Davis, 49, is sexual and even sexy, in a had a sexual relationship with one of his were saying ‘Now [Shonda] didn’t have to do slightly menacing way, but the actress doesn’t students. Horrified and saddened, Annalise all that with taking off the wig.’ We are so look at all like the typical star of a network goes to her room, removing her makeup embarrassed by our own hair. That’s our hair! drama ... Ms. Rhimes chose a performer who and wig to reveal her natural hair. It is That’s what it looks like.” is older, darker-skinned and less classically short, coarse, and matted from being Sydney Stoudmire, executive director of beautiful than Ms.Washington or for that underneath a wig. The whole Internet lost Women Made Gallery and owner of a hair matter Halle Berry, who played an astronaut its collective mind. Upworthy featured an business, offered similar insights. She said, on the summer mini-series ‘Extant.’” interview with Davis and Ellen Degeneres “People are very protective of those moments. The article faced a lot of backlash on titled “Her Character Was Only Supposed Some people don’t want to see it. ... I was social media and even from Shonda Rhimes To Remove Her Makeup Before Bed. Then happy because I know how many people herself. Davis laughed when the question Viola Davis Made It Real.” There was saw that.” For some, removing the wig came, but her face and tone gradually turned a Buzzfeed post called “Nothing Else represented a vulnerability that went too far serious. She calmly stated, “I’m glad that Mattered After That Wig Came Off On and that couldn’t be entertaining. Shonda Rhimes saw me. I think that beauty ‘How to Get Away With Murder.’” Hair was linked to a personal journey is subjective. I’ve heard that statement In an article on NBC News, Yaba Blay, for everyone I interviewed. Each of the [less classically beautiful] my entire life. co-director of Africana Studies at Drexel and women has “gone natural,” meaning Being a dark-skinned black woman, you author of “(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens” on they have stopped using chemicals or heard it from the womb. And classically not Race describes the scene as “unapologetic” heat to straighten their hair. Sydney has beautiful is a fancy term for saying ugly. And and “powerful.” She writes, “In so many of been heavily involved in the natural hair denouncing you. And erasing you. Now ... it the media images around black women, they movement since her time in college when worked when I was younger. It no longer come to the space as is. Audiences hardly she started a support group for black women works for me now. It’s about teaching a ever get a three-dimensional look into them. with natural hair. “I had this weave on my culture how to treat you. Because at the end We never see Olivia Pope do her hair, touch head, and it felt like a weight. I just cut it of the day, you define you.” her hair, anything.” The power of the scene out. I felt liberated,” she said. “I started a “How to Get Away with Murder” is now lies in the reality that although black women Facebook group as a support group for girls a history-making television show. For her are frequently represented on television, the with natural hair. The group was called

14 fnewsmagazine.com ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 2015

Supernatural.” In the Supernatural Facebook the scene highlights that Annalise’s low group, women talked about the stigma of self-worth and deep shame are related to this natural hair, their concern with being seen traumatic moment. What’s the sign of her as attractive and professional. “It was more profound shame? Her natural hair. than hair,” she said. Before Ophelia leaves, she and Dana has gone natural as well. Dana is Annalise exchange an intimate moment of biracial and grew up in a predominantly reconciliation. Ophelia says, “Let me at your white community in the Seattle area. She hair. Your kitchen is tired.” spoke of her experiences wishing she had In this moment, Annalise sits bedside hair like those around her. “I was the only while her mom combs her hair. Her natural one with hair like mine,” she said. Dana hair this time is the symbol of resilience, spent years undergoing chemical hair intimacy, and the maternal bond. Up until straightening but grew tired of the time this point, Annalise’s natural hair has been commitment and cost and saw going natural a signifier of separation from others and as both a personal and even financial brokenness. liberation. She said, “When you go natural, We are starting to see black women you have to redefine what is beautiful to represented in novel, intimate, and you. If you thought that long hair was complicated ways on primetime television. pretty, you have to learn that short hair can Black female characters are not purely the be pretty. If you thought that straight hair product of harmful and negative stereotypes was pretty, you have to learn that coarse, or stifled by the burden of respectability. tight curls are pretty too.” They are queer, trans, sexy, villainous, heroic, In another episode entitled “Mama’s flawed, and have undeniable agency. Perhaps Here Now,” Annalise is distraught over the we come closer to liberating black women as loss of her husband. She is more vulnerable a whole when we complicate the ways that and helpless than she has ever been, and they are understood in public space and by she cannot leave her bed. In a moment of encountering varied portrayals of black women. exasperation, she calls her mother, Ophelia, In speaking with my mother, it was clear played by Cicely Tyson. Ophelia also wears she was acutely aware of how her natural a wig. The symbols of Annalise’s depression hair may affect her professional life and may are her unkempt house and her natural hair. even cause some to deal in stereotypes about Sydney explained it this way: “It became her suspected criminality. She said she gets clear there was a pattern. Her natural hair followed by store security if she wears her was with a fight with her husband, she’s hair natural or in braids. My mother did not drinking alcohol, or she’s crying. I remember know what her natural, unprocessed hair feeling that and recognizing that.” looked like until she was in her 50s. Her Despite having called her mother, personal journey highlights the struggle to Annalise seems disappointed and upset by define individuality as a black woman. I think Ophelia’s presence in her home. One of the it is appropriate to end this exploration with emotional climaxes of the episode erupts her words: “I do not conform, and I love it.” in an intense argument between Annalise and Ophelia in which Annalise reveals that she was sexually assaulted by a man she calls “Uncle Clyde.” Annalise confronts her mother, demanding to know why she did not Ryan Blocker is a second-year graduate student adequately protect her since she was aware in the Arts Administration and Policy Program, of the assault. Without revealing too much, his loves his mama.

illustration by Amber Huff fnewsmagazine.com 15 OCTOBER 2015 FEATURE

Air Sex Is Surprisingly Cooler Than You Think Coming to (the thought of) you soon

„ Sophie Lucido Johnson

he lights dimmed, and I heard the crowd type of animal, and, in one case, “The fist come back up to perform in tandem to a T begin to throb. The 300-person-plus of the Universe Herself.” People use props surprise song. Finally, the audience chooses a I have seen people make audience had outgrown the small front bar (sometimes invisible, although not always); champion, as determined by applause. stage at Portland’s Hawthorne Theater, and people get dressed up; people practice all year I spent two summers on tour with Trew imaginary love to mimes, we had moved our operation into the much long. It’s always a spectacle, no matter what and Air Sex, and fell completely in love with giants, every type of larger main stage in the back, which was size the crowd. the whole thing. My grandmother wasn’t normally reserved for all-night post-punk Here’s how the show works: for about an thrilled with it (“People will find out, and you animal, and, in one case, shows and mosh-ridden hardcore sets. This hour leading up to the main event, Air Sex will be unemployable”) but I was on a sort of was not that. The DJ started playing my producers walk around the venue gathering YOLO kick so I didn’t care. At first, like most “The fist of the Universe track — an elaborate homemade mash-up sign-ups for the show. Anyone can sign people, I didn’t know what to make of a show of “I’ll Make Love To You” by Boyz 2 Men, up — all you have to do is write down a song called Air Sex. When you hear it described, Herself.” “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus, and “Put (an example is “Pony” by Ginuwine – which it’s kind of hard to understand how such a It In Your Mouth” by Akinyele. I walked is what pretty much every girl who has weird idea can be an entire touring enterprise. on stage, looked up and out at the curious dabbled in sorority life chooses), and a stage First-timers who end up at Air Sex shows on faces, and unzipped the (imaginary) jeans name (this is a challenge for people, but it’s a Friday night — usually because they had a shorts in front of me. It wasn’t until I took usually a sex pun, like “Ding Dong the Legs moment of incredulousness when they saw out the (invisible) man’s (make-believe) (and Are Spread” or “Puss-Seamonster”). Then it advertised in their local indie weekly and enormous) penis, though, that the crowd Chris Trew, who hosts the show and travels had to see for themselves — are unanimously went completely wild. around the country with it, comes up with a awkward and giggly. On tour, I was often Air Sex is like Air Guitar, but instead of show order, and contestants are brought to tasked with walking up to strangers and shredding a nonexistent Gibson to your the stage to perform their routine in front asking if they wanted to compete. Ninety- favorite hair-metal band, you climb up on of a panel of celebrity judges ­— usually nine percent of the time, people would let out nonexistent torsos and do, well, whatever consisting of comedians, sex shop owners, a stupid guffaw before saying, “Um, NO. I just you want. (Hair-metal bands are optional, porn stars, minor sports personalities, and came to, like, see what this was all about. I but by no means discouraged.) In the years Twitter superstars; once David Arquette did have to drink more before I can even WATCH I have been a judge at Air Sex competitions it, and another time Amy Heckerling (who this thing.” (yes, there are judges), I have seen people wrote “Clueless”) sat on the panel. The three For those who have been around the make imaginary love to mimes, giants, every best contestants are chosen, and then they Air Sex block, however, there is something

16 fnewsmagazine.com FEATURE FEATURE OCTOBER 2015

Air Sex Is Surprisingly Cooler Than You Think

almost religious about the show. I didn’t when women perform honest, unabashedly and my sister (whom we dubbed “DJ BJ”) understand this at first — I was in the sex-positive routines in which you can tell ran the sound. I spent some time beforehand awkward, giggly set myself. But then I that they enjoy having (invisible) sex, and writing down what my biggest fantasy would started watching people perform their Air that they take ownership over their own be, because I wanted my routine to be the Sex routines with a sort of enthusiasm that preferences. There is something deliberately most honest and awesome performance of surpassed the typical zeal with which people and unapologetically feminist about Air Sex my life. There were strap-ons and girls of participate in other forms of comedy. People in those moments; if I’m being honest, it can all shapes and sizes. There was a man who really got into Air Sex. It took me some time get me almost teary-eyed. I knocked to the ground and tried a reverse to understand that this was because Air Sex The greatest example of a feminist and cowgirl on. There was even an explosive gives people the chance to make public their sex-positive Air Sex routine I have ever seen orgasm composed of pure glitter. It was one deepest desires and fantasies; to dwell in came (no pun intended) right out of Chicago. of the most rewarding experiences of my life. their unabashed sex-positivity; and all-the- Her stage name is Cuntastrophe, and after My mom told me she was “really proud.” while to acknowledge the potential inherent winning the Chicago Air Sex Championship Air Sex will be making its way through silliness of this whole intercourse thing we in 2013, she went on to win the Air Sex Chicago again as part of its East Coast Tour. all spend so much time thinking about. At its Season 5 World Championship (which is The show will take place on October 25 at 8 best, Air Sex is, oddly, incredibly beautiful. documented in the fantastic documentary, p.m. at the Chicago Underground, and tickets Of course, that’s not always the case. “Air Sex: The Movie.”) In her award-winning are $12. I’ll be there, relishing in what has Sometimes men (and yes, they are always routine, Cuntastrophe believably plays with become one of my favorite shows on earth. men) openly objectify women who perform. an array of invisible dildos and vibrators, Sometimes men (again, yes, always men) trying to find the best orgasm possible. There come on stage and start to initiate clearly is something so earnest and beautiful about non-consensual sex with their invisible watching her explore her sexuality on stage, partners. Trew, however, is an expert at and hearing her talk about how proud it keeping the space safe, positive, and loving. I makes her to be able to do it. Sophie Lucido Johnson is the web editor for F, and have watched him kick people out who come Cuntastrophe inspired me to create my has written for Jezebel, The Nation, McSweeney’s, to Air Sex shows with lewd intentions faster own Air Sex routine, which I debuted in and more. She is also the editor-in-chief of the literary than those people probably come. (Burn.) Portland (where I am from) last Christmas humor magazine Neutrons Protons. She is in the MFAW The best part of an Air Sex show, in fact, is vacation. My mom and dad came to the show, program at SAIC.

illustration by Sophie Lucido Johnson fnewsmagazine.com 17 OCT 15 Event Start Up Your Web Presence Highlights Saturday Skill Share Sat, Oct 10, 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. Sharp Building, RM 327 In participation with Crain’s Small Business Week #SBW15

HARVE ST What’s My Job? Alumni Conversations Mon – Wed, Oct 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. The LeRoy Neiman Center In collaboration with Nick Lowe and the Work Experience: What’s My Job? Junior Seminar #SAICWMJ

Documenting Your Work Saturday Skill Share Sat, Oct 24, 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. YOUR Sharp Building, RM 327

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Portfolio Review with Co-op Internship Fair Curators, Dealers & Writers Thurs, Dec 3, [with Student Union Galleries] 3:00 – 600 p.m. MacLean Ballroom Wed, Nov 4, 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. MacLean Ballroom

To see a full list of workshops and events, please visit our website. POTENTIAL

Exchequer Restaurant & Pub (312) 939-5633 exchequerpub.com 226 South Wabash Avenue chicago pizza - ribs - classic american dining STUDENT VOICES OCTOBER 2015 Remembering Yuan Song

„ Megan Byrne

31-year-old second degree student silly. His designed objects, all of the furniture A at the School of the Art Institute of he made, that work was so elegant.” Song Chicago, Yuan Song, passed shortly after worked as an assistant for Lee Weitzman, completing his BFA degree this summer. who runs a furniture studio near the Pilsen Song seemed to have an impact on the lives neighborhood. of almost everyone he took class with. One Song was a skilled mathematician, using long-time friend and classmate, Shuting programs like Grasshopper, which is an Zheng a student in the Designed Objects algorithm for the program Rhinoceros, he department, said, “He was always trying created complex 3D images that frequently to make someone feel better, always using looked like photographs of sculptures. His humor, always lending a hand and helping art practice was informed by his degree in out.” It seemed to be agreed among many mathematics. Song explored his practice that Song’s willingness to help those around alongside some of his friends who were PhD him was so rooted in his practice. Amanda candidates, and together, they developed a Taves, who was one of Song’s closest friends, start-up project called iFind, a battery-free said: “He would do anything for you, he was tag you could apply to purses, keys or cats engaged and tried to help with your practice (among other things). The startup raised in whatever way he could. He was so sure, close to $550,000. smart and giving.” Song was always trying to teach other Yuan Song graduated first with a students how he created his work, calling bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the for an open dialogue with them. Zheng University of Science and Technology in said, “Yuan posted photos to his social media Hefei, China, China’s premier school for of the things he was making, he wanted to scientists and mathematicians. After his teach people how to replicate what he was graduation, Song began working at the China making.” Above all things, Song was loved for Photography Publishing House as a translator his dedication to improving the art practice and editor. According to Shuting Zheng, it of those around him. At SAIC, when Song was during this time that Song became very would walk down the hall with Amanda Taves, interested in creating art, influenced by the “Everyone was so excited to see him, they famous Chinese artist/activist Ai Weiwei. wanted to tell him what they were working Song created some art as an homage to on, and he was always interested. He always 1 Weiwei that “got him in trouble with the wanted to contribute, to exchange ideas.” police. They didn’t want him to create this Song seemed to be endlessly giving, always kind of thing.” In response, Song applied interested in helping those around him; his to school in both London and Chicago. light-hearted presence “extended beyond the Choosing Chicago, Song came to SAIC to classroom,” according to Taves. Song’s legacy study photography. is still very present at the school, as it is the He took classes in Photography at first, intention of fellow classmates like Zheng eventually branching out into different to try and collect his work and to put it on departments like Art and Technology and display so that people might come to know Designed Objects. Song’s work, much of Song’s brilliant, complex work. which can be found on his Instagram account, is rife with humor. Zheng said, “His art reflected who he was. His fine art, things like photos and drawings, those were kind of Megan Byrne is a fourth-year in the BFAW program.

3 2

1) Yuan with a table he made in Erik Newmans’ “Fundamentals of Furniture” class 2) An image created by combining mathematic algorithms and coding 3) Created on Grasshopper

photography courtesy of Erik Newman fnewsmagazine.com 19 artwork by Yuan Song OCTOBER 2015 STUDENT VOICES

LUMA at 10 Loyola University Museum of Art celebrates its first decade with “greatest hits” exhibition

„ KT Hawbaker Krohn

oyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) through karma and end this cycle. “I learned about God through pop L is on a mission from God. Take that “We inflate the Buddha at beginning of culture, in the big, sweeping epics from This Western understanding however you want. In celebration of its the day to evoke life, and then we deflate Hollywood,” she described, recalling the 10th anniversary, LUMA brought together it to symbolize death at the end of the day,” grandiose, Technicolor productions that once of faith shouldn’t be the a “greatest hits” sampling of most-loved Ambrose illustrated, her bangles brightly entertained audiences on a biblical scale. only one at work. exhibitions that could defy understandings clinking together as she drew out the “But, this Western understanding of faith of Jesuit culture. sculpture’s pathway. shouldn’t be the only one at work.” Upon looking through LUMA’s 10th In the same room as “Paranirvana” Ambrose believes that the goals for anniversary celebration, the resonating floats Andy Warhol’s “The Silver Clouds.” LUMA’s next 10 years include coming out concept of “reconciliation” surfaces. Also brought to LUMA first in 2006, this of its “infant” phase and building its niche Here is a museum trying to reconcile installation is the result of Warhol’s audience to include the diverse population a beginning with a future, faith with collaborations with Billy Kluver, an engineer that a city university allows. curiosity, divinity with humanity; strained with Bell Labs. Comprised of Mylar, helium, “It’s been a big challenge to reach out to the pairings that lined up well with this and fans, “Clouds” looks like wild clusters communities we’re trying to represent, but I institution’s mission of “illuminat[ing] the of silver pillows. With the fans blowing think the nature of our exhibitions and their enduring spiritual questions and concerns from the different angles of the room, these leanings towards social justice will invite that of all cultures and societies.” featherlight “clouds” barely touch the ground in the future,” Ambrose said. “Most don’t know about other faiths,” said as they move about, inviting interaction from Upcoming exhibitions for LUMA include LUMA’s founding director, Pamela Ambrose, the audience as they stroll through. a project that addresses the problems of who also serves as Loyola University’s This piece truly fits the exhibition’s flavor global slavery and sex trafficking, and Director of Cultural Affairs. “We try to show profile. Warhol’s interest in the emerging another that looks into the “seriously creativity that deals with spirituality, whether space technologies of the 60s informed religious life” within a Brooklyn-based it’s found in abstractions or in the form of the choice of materials and echoed in the Hassidic community. Ambrose hopes that narrative. Our exhibitions deal with the artist work’s atmospheric theme. In the piece is these diversified exhibitions will help foster who wants to express spiritual concerns. the hubris of space exploration, the idea of the museum’s growth, as she envisions “Of course, you’ll meet some who will humankind pushing the limits of nature to expanding both the space of the museum argue that all art is spiritual, but I think that become conquerors. and its outreach programming. we’re putting out artwork that intentionally Without the interaction of visitors, the During the interview, Ambrose noted explores broader aspects of spirituality.” “clouds” will waft naturally within the space, that “really good art reveals itself slowly,” Ambrose pointed to Lewis deSoto’s pushed by the “wind.” When patrons interact, and through its complicated, deliberately “Paranirvana (Self-Portrait)” as a piece in the however, they disrupt this movement and intersectional programming, “LUMA at 10” exhibition that draws a vivid line between push the “clouds” according to their desires. fits this definition beautifully. intentional and unintentional spirituality. So, here is another tense reconciliation, Originally part of LUMA’s 2006 exhibition one between nature and humanity, where “The Missing Peace,” deSoto’s enormous participants control the atmosphere and, sculpture depicts Buddha as he lay dying of in a sense, become God. In a fit of post-undergrad “excitement,” food poisoning. In this story, Buddha gives It’s a misrecognition that Ambrose KT left her retail career and is a Master of Arts lessons on samsara, the circle of life, death, recognizes in the classic, cinematic depictions candidate in New Arts Journalism. She enjoys and reincarnation, with the hope that one of Christianity that sparked her own career as watching “The Golden Girls” and collecting loyalty day all living things would eradicate suffering an artist engaged with spirituality and religion. points from the gyro delivery place like it’s a sport.

20 fnewsmagazine.com photography courtesy of Loyola University STUDENT VOICES OCTOBER 2015 #SAYHERNAME Chicagoans gather to demand justice for Rekia Boyd

„ Steven Ford

n an overcast Thursday night, protesters O gathered at the Chicago Police Department (CPD) Headquarters at 35th and Michigan. The protest was organized by Black Youth Project 100, a group whose stated goal is “to create justice and freedom for all Black people.” About 200 activists gathered to demand that the CPD fire Det. Dante Servin, who shot and killed 22-year- old Rekia Boyd in 2012, be fired. Servin is the first CPD officer in twenty years to face charges for a fatal shooting. The Independent Police Review Board (IPRA), which investigates claims of misconduct by Chicago Police officers, announced yesterday that it is recommending that Servin be fired. At last month’s hearing, BYP100 protesters packed the meeting and effectively shut it down. Speaking before the meeting started BYP100 member Jason Ware said, “The recommendation isn’t the end, it’s the beginning of the process.” Activist Todd St. Hill said of IPRA, “This accountability mechanism is a scam. It’s illegitimate.” St. Hill went on to say, “We want accountability that people in the city have a say over,” not a hand-picked board that he says favors police During the IPRA meeting, Board President Lori E. Lightfoot stated that even though the board has issued a recommendation, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy still has 90 days to issue a ruling on the matter. After the board restated its ruling, members of the public were called to the podium to speak to the board, most expressing sustained anger at the 2012 killing. The final speaker was Rekia Boyd’s brother, Martinez Sutton. Like many other speakers before him, Sutton demanded that Servin be fired and that he be denied police pension benefits. The portion of the meeting that was open to the public ended, and the board adjourned until October. Protesters left noisily, again calling for Servin’s firing. The protesters gathered outside CPD headquarters and headed east on 35th Street, chanting slogans as they marched into the night.

Steven Ford, a former middle school English and ESL teacher, is a prior-degree student currently studying photography.

The members of the Independent Police Review Board unanimously recommended Dante Servin be fired.

photography by Steven Ford fnewsmagazine.com 21 OCTOBER 2015 STUDENT VOICES

Turning Our Backs The people we let starve at Dyett High School

„ Caleb Kaiser

unger striking —willfully starving In 2012, Walter H. Dyett High School man given such a heartbreaking task, Mr. H yourself as an act of protest — is a tactic was scheduled for closure by Chicago Public Campbell does his best to make it difficult. associated with the most desperate and Schools (CPS). The process, as designed, Parent and hunger striker Irene Robinson, deprived, reaching out for some semblance lasted four years, with no new students when asked about Charles Campbell, of equality. Historically, this act calls to mind being allowed to enroll. Jobs were cut, answered quickly: “He needs to be in jail, the Gandhi fasting to protect the independence students were pressured to transfer, and way he treated our kids. He never supported of India; 10 Irish prisoners dying to protest the building fell into such disrepair that them. He never fought for them.” She political persecution under Margaret students were forced to enter their school detailed the way he, and by extension CPS, Thatcher; Cesar Chavez starving to establish through the back door. Historically, this treated the students, saying, “They tortured fair wages and workers’ rights for Latino neighborhood was the famed “Black them their whole senior year, making them and Filipino farm workers. Now, there is Metropolis,” which Gwendolyn Brooks, take classes online, degrading them. They another group to include among these icons: Louis Armstrong, and Ida B. Wells all called [the students] had to watch other children 15 parents and community members from home. Dyett provided the only realistic enjoy their pool and their basketball court.” Bronzeville, a neighborhood on Chicago’s educational option for many neighborhood This man revealed how seriously he took South Side, who starved themselves over 34 families, and with its closure, children of Dyett students when CPS put out its call days in order to protect their children. As this historic neighborhood were left without for proposals for a new school. Where the a city and nation, we all must endure the any legitimate access to quality education. Coalition to Revitalize Dyett pushed for a shame of admitting this crime: We ignored As you might expect, a community this rich curriculum which treated its students as an entire neighborhood so thoroughly that in history and tradition refused to let its children capable of the highest academic they were forced to go 34 days without food children be abandoned. achievement, Campbell submitted a proposal before officials would take notice. Many In 2013, the Coalition to Revitalize he called the Washington Park Athletic narratives have emerged in the media Dyett High School was launched, comprised Career Academy. The school, for lack of a regarding the Dyett High School hunger of concerned parents, teachers, and better word, would teach children statistics strikers, also known as the Dyett 15, but for community activists who saw the loss of the by having them enter a fantasy football What sort of role in society all Chicago’s complications and nuance, this neighborhood’s only open-enrollment public league. This is not satirical. This is actually issue is clear. Chicago cares so little about school as unacceptable. After announcing the position of the man chosen to educate are we conditioning kids residents of poorer, predominantly minority Dyett’s closure, the coalition pressured CPS Dyett’s children. for when they eat lunch neighborhoods that the city government into accepting proposals for a new high A tier above Charles, in terms of was willing to watch 15 people die before school, to be established at the site of the authority, is Alderman Will Burns. As the on the floor? agreeing to give their former Dyett High School. The Coalition alderman of the 4th ward — which consists children a quality to Revitalize Dyett High School brought of Bronzeville, Oakland, Kenwood, and education. together members of the community as well parts of Hyde Park — Burns should be as education experts to draft a proposal for the Dyett protesters’ most immediately what they called the Dyett Global Leadership accessible political outlet. He is perhaps the and Green Technology High School. The most complicated person on this list, as he proposal, which drew a great deal of support, has a track record of being pro-education. would focus on world studies and sustainable However, he is very close with Mayor technology, preparing students for modern Rahm Emanuel, and therefore will not society both in terms of business and culture. come down on the same side of an issue as The coalition also demanded a fully elected the mayor’s opponents. With the Chicago local school council be put in place, and that Teachers Union (CTU) backing the Dyett the community be guaranteed meetings Global Leadership and Green Technology with local alderman and CPS officials. If High School, Burns has moved quickly to you sense a theme in how the city handles characterize the protesters as a political neighborhoods like Bronzeville, you’ll see group who are “holding the community this coming: CPS ignored every demand. hostage” with their hunger strike. In 2014, At its core, this is a situation in which the coalition had to camp out on Will Burns’ citizens were actively ignored by public lawn just to secure a meeting with the leaders on every level before, during, and alderman. Meeting with and representing after a 34-day hunger strike. What is missing community members is an alderman’s from many distracting narratives offered by primary function. Chicago media outlets is that the people who Even Burns undermine this community are the same supporters, people who claim to serve it. The man most immediately reachable for students at Dyett was interim principal Charles Campbell, assigned to Dyett to oversee its closure. While it is easy to sympathize with a

22 fnewsmagazine.com STUDENT VOICES OCTOBER 2015

such as the Chicago Sun- Times, admit the alderman “can be arrogant, not listen closely enough to community concerns and is often tightly aligned with the mayor.” Parents involved in the hunger strike were not as soft in their criticism. “Will Burns sat idly and did not want to meet with the community. Where was Will Burns when our 13 children even if that means were going in the back door of at Dyett? abandoning what should Where was Will Burns when we went to jail be the city’s primary protesting? There was no engagement from investment — its children. the board, the mayor, or Will Burns. Every In Chicago politics, all roads lead effort that was made concerning Dyett to Rahm. Throughout his career, Mayor came from the people, it came from the Emanuel has been responsible for the community.” closure of over 50 schools. Being so busy Speaking of the board, it is difficult to displacing over 12,000 students, Rahm discuss CPS without mentioning its CEO, obviously has little time for 15 starving Forrest Claypool. Recently appointed in people. Following years of refusing to meet July 2015, replacing the controversial Tim with the coalition, including one incident Cawley, Claypool was brought on not for in which protesters chained themselves to his experience in education, but for his the fifth floor of his office, Emanuel only sat political and financial prowess. A former down to talk after protesters threatened to chief of staff for both Mayor Daley and shut down more town hall meetings. At one Mayor Emanuel, Claypool is also the former point, during a speech in which protesters head of the Chicago Park District (CPD) yelled out for the mayor to answer their and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). questions, Emanuel condescended, “I have Claypool has moved quickly to present three teenagers at home. I’m really okay with himself as the face of compromise in the this.” For members of a predominately black Dyett fight, while simultaneously belittling neighborhood, having a Mayor ignore and children, will spread to communities all over and ignoring the protesters. On September insult them by comparing their concerns to and into other children.” 13, Claypool announced that CPS would that of a wealthy teenager is doubly painful. And yet, even as they are ignored, the Being so busy displacing re-open Dyett as an open enrollment arts In 2013’s historic school closings, which community remains hopeful and tenacious. school, portraying this decision as a great shut down 50 of Chicago schools, 88% of Robinson went on to say, “It’s our vision over 12,000 students, compromise on the part of the city. What displaced students were black. When looking that our kids will have high quality green Rahm obviously has little Claypool did not mention in his speech was at the difference between how Emanuel technology, where we would be building that as he spoke, the hunger strikers were handles minority neighborhoods and leaders. All kids should have the right to time for 15 starving people. locked out of the building under police wealthier white neighborhoods, it is hard to a quality education. The community stood guard. Irene Robinson commented on this, disagree with Irene Robinson when she says, with us because we are the community.” saying, “For the last four years that’s how “This is a hate crime.” This is a shame the whole city must we’ve been treated — like criminals.” No matter how complex each official bare. We’ve allowed people of color to be Jitu Brown, one of the hunger strike’s is, in this situation there is a clear line persecuted, degraded, ignored, and denied leaders, said Claypool only informed him of one can draw through them all. They each, representation on such a level that even a his decision 15 minutes prior to the public individually and as a group, have denied the hunger strike was not enough to help them. announcement. Even after the coalition’s people they are supposed to represent any As Robinson said, “It’s like telling a mama proposal garnered significant community agency, and have consistently dismissed to give up on her child. How can you tell a support, its key elements were noticeably the outcry of parents, even as they starve. mom to just give up? I’d die for my kids.” absent from the arts school announced by As Robinson said, “Who allows parents Claypool. The parents involved in this fight to go 34 days without eating? They have believe that an arts school is not a solution disrespected us, but most of all, they’re for the community’s problems, as without hurting our kids. What parent in their right the elements proposed in their Global mind loves their kids and allows this to Leadership and Green Technology High happen? We love our kids.” School, their students will not graduate with What sort of role in society are Chicago the same quality education that students officials grooming children for when they in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods will eat lunch on the floor? When they take enjoy. Forrest Claypool is a politician and special needs classes in a stairway? What businessman who, in his recent threat to is at riskhere is, as Robinson says, the layoff 5,000 teachers, made it clear that his possibility that “the hate that they have Caleb Kaiser is an undergraduate in the BFAW aim is to nurture the city’s fiscal interest, spread among these schools, into our program. He is from the Kentucky/Cincinnati area.

illustration by Zach Cooper fnewsmagazine.com 23 OCTOBER 2015 STUDENT VOICES

The Trash We Inherit Dorothy Allison’s short-story collection proves itself to be a classic

„ Megan Byrne

or as long as Flannery O’Connor has grandmother died, and she put that on paper. “River of Names,” Allison commemorates one F been read, America has been enamored She created a story that, for all purposes, of her many dead cousins: with the stories of the South. It’s a world so created a legacy for her grandmother. “Caught at eighteen and sent to prison, foreign to the rest of America, ripe with salt So then, it only makes sense that I Jack came back seven years later blank-faced, marshes and the densest foliage. It is this would love Dorothy Allison who writes understanding nothing. He married a quiet ability to smother and obscure, to grow from that “the central fact of my life is that I girl from out of town, had three babies in even the barest soil, that makes the South was born in 1949 in Greenville, South four years. Then Jack came home one night so alluring. Beyond that, there is the concept Carolina, the bastard daughter of a white from the textile mill, carrying one of those of legacy, something many Southern writers woman from a desperately poor family… .” big handles off the high-speed spindle take seriously. So much of Southern writing Dorothy Allison released her short-story machine. He used it to beat them all to death grapples with this idea of inheritance, of collection, “Trash,” in the late ‘80s, published and went back to work in the morning.” belonging to this mystery. At the same time, initially by Firebrand Books, a feminist and This story is a part of a list, where this tradition of storytelling has contributed, lesbian publisher out of Ithaca, N.Y.; it was cousins slit their wrists after giving up in some ways, to a false notion of a charming subsequently purchased by Penguin and children, get used as human shields, are and quaint South, where simple people then published with new content by Plume spun around by abusive elders as their believe in ghosts and naïve romances abound. in 2002. This collection was awarded Best limbs pop out of sockets. Abuse is a part of With this in mind, we are forced to take Lesbian Small Press Book and Best Lesbian life, so is death, so is humor, and Allison notice when a writer willingly takes part in Fiction by the Lambda awards in 1989. isn’t afraid to discuss any of it. this tradition, only to wield an ugly realism In the introduction, Allison talks about I had the privilege of seeing Dorothy not in keeping with “Southern charm.” It is what it is to be outraged white trash, the Allison speak at the Chicago Humanities for this reason that Dorothy Allison’s “Trash” kind of poor American Ronald Reagan Festival in 2012, where she talked about is an American classic. would have loved to broadcast on network many things: her part in the early-feminist My mothers’ family, who are from all television. Allison holds nothing back, or at movement; being a lesbian from the South (a over the South, consist of dairy farmers, least it appears that way, in her collection concentration for many of the better stories car mechanics, marines, and mine-workers. “Trash.” She tells stories of growing up a in “Trash”); and most touchingly, how much Mom took us to West Virginia twice a year lesbian in a time where she couldn’t get a she loves storytelling. Allison has the mystery to see her grandmother, who would regale credit-card without a male co-signer, stories and meanness that Southern women often us with stories of her husband, who caught a about being poor, stories about being a do, but she holds nothing back. Her intention Abuse is a part of life, man looking at her from his car at a red light, bastard. Allison pens stories that would isn’t to be polite — it isn’t to guide you gently pulled him out of his open window and beat make a classic Southern writer like Harper through a charmed childhood in the South so is death, so is humor him half to death, calmly getting back in the Lee blush, whose books ring of the sort — her intention is to tell you honest to God and Allison isn’t afraid to car and waiting for the light to turn green; of new-Southern democracy that shames stories, it is to give voices to people she fears that same husband hiding canned beer in the white trash, trash who according to Allison might be forgotten as time goes on, it is to discuss any of it. freezer behind old fish to “mask the smell,” so are: “men who drank and couldn’t keep a job; make the memory of these people, of these my great-grandmother would never find it. I women invariably pregnant before marriage, times survive. experienced some of the niceties of Southern who quickly became worn, fat, and old from Not long ago, I heard from a friend that storytellers, the long-drawled ramblings working too many hours and bearing too “Good literature isn’t in conversation with of aunts who ran brothels for Confederate many children.” other good literature. Good literature in is soldiers from hundreds of years ago, The legacy Allison belongs to, then, is the in conversation with the world.” If these are meanness and vengeance being well intended legacy of good stories that have tough female our standards, and I hope that they are, then on each syllable of “Bless her heart.” protagonists and tougher humor. One of the Dorothy Allison is one of the best storytellers Allison as well is a Southern woman many amazing parts about Allison is that in modern American literature. capable of conjuring the unspeakable in a she understands what it takes to construct casual tone. In fact, “The Meanest Woman a good story. She understands point of view Ever Left Tennessee,” is a story she wrote and musicality in sentences, she understands about her grandmother, whom she never shame, that “we knew ourselves despised.” Megan Byrne is the Managing Editor for F met. Allison imagined her grandmother She makes her family human, even if Newsmagazine, former writer for The Daily Meal, and from the details she inherited; she imagined villainous; the reader understands the villain loves buttery carbs. You can find her fiction work on what she might’ve said, re-imagined how her as a product of survival. In one of her stories, Necessary Fiction.

24 fnewsmagazine.com cover image courtesy of Penguin Group STUDENT VOICES OCTOBER 2015

One Day’s Prayers Shane McCrae’s necessary new collection

„ Caleb Kaiser

ow much of ourselves can we escape? his poetry is the driving meter of each line, limitation of language, its inability to fill shane m c $15.95 (CAN. $17.95) H It is not uncommon to hear terms how the poems become hymns, how your the same space as this physical intimacy, the animal too big to kill like “reconcile” used in discussions of head nods as you read. For example, while is explicitlyWith named his unmistakable cadences,when Shane McCrae McCrae interrogates, says unflinchingly he and crae big-heartedly, some profound contradictions of faith and righteousness from the quagmire of his upbringing: half-Black, he was raised by White supremacists. identity, language that presents identity as explaining his experience as a person of color doesn’t wantWinner of“a the 2014claiming Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s language,” Choice Award, The heAnimal wantsToo Big to Kill is an indispensable inquiry into belief, race, and poverty in America by a shane mccrae poems an equation to be balanced intellectually. raised by white supremacists, he talks of his the languagepoet of “remarkablethat urgency“our and bodiesempathy” (Publishers used Weekly). to free

Shane McCrae suggests something different childhood drawings: each other.”“Shane McCrae’sWe Thesee Animal so Too manyBig to Killis a reminderdifferent of why so many pointscontem- the animal too big to kill porary poets try to heist his style. His provocative and broken histories, his remixed in his new collection, “The Animal Too Big of culturerhythms touched and stutter-step upon anaphora—a inpersonal this confluence collection, of language and music reminiscent of Frank O’Hara and Wanda Coleman—build upon themselves in ways To Kill,” (out this Fall from Persea Books) Swastikas everywhere Lord / and you believe each intuitivelyboth mesmerizing flowing and unsettling. These into poems arethe McCrae’s next. fragmented litanies,The liturgical interrogations of family and religion inside of America’s exacting and uncer- tain racial constructions. In this much-needed collection, he gives a glimpse of what which begins with a quotation from Hebrews somebody said it on TV blacks ethics of itowning means to be black eachinside an American other culture throughthat’s still not sure it wantslanguage, us here.” 13:3: “Remember those who are in prison, had it easier / In Germany than in the U.S. as in the just-quoted “Claiming Language,”—ADRIAN MATEJKA “It’s called clinching when a boxer holds tight to an opponent for rest. In these poems, addressed again and again to a Lord, it’s as if Shane McCrae is doing just that. His as though you were in prison with them; in the 30s and connectspoems naturally are punishing, intimate to prayersa discussion about family, belief, and theof brutality slavery of ‘race.’ In The Animal Too Big to Kill,McCrae is willing to reckon with the nearly unsayable those who are being tortured, as though you in “I Knowin astonishing, It’s Hardurgent language. for He is Youa man singing to for Believe his life.” You yourselves were being tortured.” Throughout You want to live there then to not be —ARACELIS GIRMAY Still Benefit fromSHANE Slavery.” MCCRAE is the authorThis of three conversation previous collections, most recently Forgiveness Forgiveness. His poems have appeared seventy pages of poems, McCrae shows us Hated by whites to kill with them gives room for McCrae’sin many publications, discussion including African Americanof Review, AGNI, American Poetry Review, and Fence, and in Best American a line between what we can and can’t help growing up “blackPoetry white. He is the trash,” recipient of a Whiting which Writers’ Awardgives and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and being, and how that line fluctuates. This meter is organic, an unending rhythm way to a heartbreakingteaches at Oberlin personal College in Ohio. narrative Questions of faith, race, class, and which models the constant conversation describingCOVER hisIMAGE: GOLUD, mother’s MARTIN WITTFOOTH. slow deathPOETRY and his USED BY PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. responsibility form the foundation of “The going on in one’s mind. This endless nature thoughtsCOVER on DESIGN: faith. SARA EISENMAN persea A Karen & Michael Braziller Book Animal Too Big To Kill,” and yet these is pushed to the extreme in the poem “The The brilliancePERSEA BOOKS of / NEWMcCrae’s YORK form allows poems again and again resist the realm of Seven Last Words of Christ,” a 23-page these conceptswww.perseabooks.com to bleed naturally into each winner of the lexi rudnitsky editor's choice award political critique. In the title poem, McCrae poem broken into sections according to other and for every poem to hum into the addresses the Lord directly, admitting, “And Christ’s seven statements from the cross. next like a record left spinning. It is in this I accept I need to be reminded/ I can’t escape With a great deal of repeated language and complicated concept of identity that we responsibility/ for being the kind of creature rhythm, McCrae discusses not only faith, come to know McCrae’s understanding of that requires signs Lord from You.” Faith trauma, reality, and dreams, but how this freedom, that it exists between two people, is not a question to be answered; it is a intense personal dialogue translates into be it the Lord or be it a lover. You would You do not simply invite condition that cannot be escaped. McCrae physical intimacy. The poem details (among be hard pressed to name a book more doubly admits to being the sort of Christian many other things) a man who has the same important to the conversation of race and someone into your personal who needs signs from the Lord, as well as repeating, terrifying dream, and describes a identity in the last five years than “The world. You consume them. the kind of person who sees signs from the hypothetical conversation between him and Animal Too Big To Kill,” or an account of love Lord. These poems are not arguments, they a new lover, the type “Of conversation/ New more compelling than McCrae’s. Only after are conversations, the kind we cannot help lovers have/ Naked people/ Together who seeing him experience the safety provided by having in the backseat of our minds. This is have/ No history to-/ gether except/ They intimacy, the space to accept what we cannot apparent in more than just McCrae’s content, have consumed/ Each other talking/ And it escape and stare down trauma with frank but in his form itself. might be/ You haven’t met/ The person you/ honesty, will you understand his book’s A traditional understanding of polished Will fuck tonight/ And for the next/ Six years dedication “To Melissa, who frees.” form and meter, at least in historical context, I won’t/ Record the con-/ versation here.” might lead someone to characterize McCrae’s This is at the heart of these poems. You form as “fractured” or “fragmented,” neither do not simply invite someone into your of which do justice to McCrae’s brilliance. internal world, you consume them. You are One of the most recognizable features of not informed by them, you are freed. This Caleb Kaiser Zach Cooper spits hot fire.

cover image courtesy of Persea fnewsmagazine.com 25 illustration by Zach Cooper FNews_abmeyer_Layout 1 9/24/15 8:24 PM Page 1

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„ Alex Kostiw and Megan Byrne

letter courtesy of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago fnewsmagazine.com 27 OCTOBER 2015 COMICS

The Obsessively Beautiful Chris Ware

Just beyond the spotlight’s edge

„ Sophie Lucido Johnson

he corrigenda on the back inside cover of Chris himself to comics, which came out multiple times in T Ware’s first graphic novel, "Jimmy Corrigan, the conversation, is that comics are unpretentious The Smartest Kid on Earth," offer an apology. It is and accessible. They aren’t to be marveled at on a difficult to tell what exactly Ware is apologizing gallery wall, or thought about for long periods of for: The note is a brief, heartbreaking essay on how time; they exist to be consumed quickly and without closely (and somewhat accidentally) the details a lot of mental energy. They make art and story in “Jimmy Corrigan” align to Ware’s own life and available to all. estranged father, with whom he briefly reconnected. “The difference between comics and visual Ware had intended to give the book to his father art is that visual art is meant to be looked at, after it had been published, but couldn’t: His father and comics are meant to be read,” Ware said, died of a heart attack before Ware had had the responding to a question about whether he ever chance to spend more than a few hours with him. had competing interests. “It’s like the difference It’s a weird apology. It feels more like a tiny shout between speaking and singing.” into the dark cruelty of the world. Ware wants to make the kind of art that someone Weird apologies, however, are a strong suit can take home without having to spend a lot of for Ware. He apologized a lot throughout his money; he wants art to be open and available to conversation with Hamza Walker at Thursday’s everyone, without the distance that seems to exist Visiting Artist Program (VAP) talk. He apologized at between a painting and the viewer at a museum. length when he took a sip of water. He apologized “When you see a painting in a museum, and you when he felt like he was misinterpreting a question. don’t understand it, you blame your own lack of He apologized mid-sentence at one point, adding, knowledge. When you see a comic strip, and you “Anybody who wants to leave, can. I won’t be don’t get it, you think the guy who made it is an offended.” In fact, the first thing that came out of idiot,” Ware said, smiling. Ware’s mouth when he sat down for the talk was, Something immediately apparent about Ware “I profoundly apologize for whatever I bring here.” in watching him talk is that he is exactly the type After the audience laughed, he said, “One of the of everyman he wants to make art for. He squarely reasons I became a cartoonist was so I wouldn’t eschews pretension, refusing to talk about “the have to do this.” art scene.” When he spoke about his influences, he Sitting on the huge stage in front of a full came off more like an excited, nerdy fanboy than audience and a grand projection of a sample of his anything else. As he clicked through slides showing work, Ware looked strikingly approachable. He wore the work of George Herriman (Krazy Kat), Charles khakis and a button-down shirt with his sleeves Schultz (Peanuts), Frank King (Gasoline Alley), and rolled up, and he kept sitting on his hands and Charles Burns (Black Hole), he spoke exclusively in shifting his feet. He looked a lot like an optimistic superlatives. Even as he showed work by up-and- guy at the beginning of a promising first date. coming artists who are less established than Ware, If you didn’t know differently, you’d never guess he waxed on in reverence and awe. that he was one of the most celebrated living artists, It is exactly this quality which makes Ware such or that he had had a massive impact on the way an exceptional artist: He has a deep empathy and people worldwide saw comics. love for his fellow man, and he seems to feel a sense Ware is one — and a significant one, to say the of responsibility to create art that is deserving of least — in a line of cartoonists who transformed the eyes of others. This is why he spends an entire the word “graphic novel” from a superhero- week drawing just a page of comics, and apologizes comics-digest term into something with a lot for work that is all-but flawless: He believes in It feels more like more possibility and breadth. In the shadows of humanity, and wants his work to be a contribution. Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, and Art Spiegelman Ware’s conversation with Walker served as this a tiny shout into (who became a mentor for Ware when he was at year’s William and Stephanie Sick Distinguished the University of Texas), Ware and others began Professor lecture, and also marked the inaugural the dark cruelty exploring narrative, memoir, and realistic fiction in event in SAIC’s VAP — a public forum that will this comic form. Ware published "Jimmy Corrigan" in year feature Jeff Koons, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Kunle of the world. 2003, which was named one of Amazon.com’s 100 Adeyemi, Sarah Vowell, Rona Pondick, Richard Books to Read in a Lifetime. He published "Building Mosse, and Christian Boltanski. Ware will be Stories" in 2012: An unprecedented box set made up teaching at SAIC this year as a part of the William of 14 gorgeous color comic books. and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Professor program. Ware’s technical skill and obsessive attention to detail are unusual for a comic artist. That makes sense, considering his training: Ware studied painting and printmaking at the University of Sophie Lucido Johnson is the web editor for F, and has Texas and later pursued his MFA in printmaking at written for Jezebel, The Nation, McSweeney’s, and more. the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She is also the editor-in-chief of the literary humor magazine Perhaps the main reason Ware ultimately committed Neutrons Protons. She is in the MFAW program at SAIC.

28 fnewsmagazine.com illustration by Sophie Lucido Johnson COMICS OCTOBER 2015 Costume Ideas Halloween at art school is unexpectedly sexy

„ Jarad Solomon, Alex Kostiw, Zach Cooper, Priyoshi Kapur

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