2024-2025

2025 Jan-April

Switch 2 Games Are $90…What’s Next? Global Economic Collapse?

The first official trailer for Nintendo’s successor to the infamous Switch system was released as I wrote this introduction, generating surprisingly mixed reactions. Usually, Nintendo’s news is met with incredible backlash from fans across their wide selection of titles. Pokémon fans cursed a lack of voice-acting in the upcoming Pokémon Legends: ZA, The Legend of Zelda fans complained that another installment had not been teased (even though Tears of the Kingdom came out barely two years ago), and, until now, all viewers watched with bated breath in preparation for the announcement of the Switch 2. Now that information has escaped from the triple-locked safe behind Doug Bowser’s desk (yes, that’s the name of Nintendo of America’s President), audiences did not know how to feel. Joycon drift, a fault that caused players to move without input, seemed to be done away with, storage increased, and the graphics were of much better quality: all indicative of a generally improved product. However, one aspect of the new model caused outrage across the board: the price. 

Not of the console itself. I found that most fans, although grumbly as ever, felt the Switch 2’s projected price of $450 was fair enough. The Switch 1 on launch cost $150 less, but the added features and novelty of the second seemed worth it. Physical copies of the games, on the other hand, were expected to sell for $90, an increase from the general $70 the original Switch games fetched at your local Target or Game Stop. Even the lower price left a sour taste in consumers’ mouths. However, Nintendo fans were known for their compliance and supported this stereotype by buying games despite their dissatisfaction. With this announcement and subsequent price increase, these same fans claimed Nintendo has gone too far and their patronage will be sorely missed by one of the wealthiest companies in the world. 

I do not believe gamers have the self-respect or the knowledge of activism to boycott effectively, nor do I believe they will support those who do. It’s a scary thought when taken into a broader context. Are people really willing to pay $90 for the sixteenth installment of Mario Kart? I believe so, and with little more than a salty Reddit post between laps on Moo Moo Farm. If people spend this much on a video game, how much price gouging will they accept for their rent, gas, or, God forbid, eggs? Where does the acceptance of corporate greed end? 

A lack of acceptance assumes that there is a way to escape corporate greed. We are collectively barreling at full speed toward a society where every product has a price tag quadrupled by the cost of manufacturing, transportation, and the quality payment of those involved in the process (That is, if we are not there already). And a quick look at any internet platform proves that people are disgusted by this, and vocally so. Does this outcry dissuade corporations and CEOs from permanently raising prices whenever the slightest global issue hits mainstream news? Definitely not. Even if gamers boycotted the Switch 2’s release, there is no telling whether Nintendo would relent and lower prices. Fans would inevitably, as seen in many recent protests, relent and return to their beloved hobby, no matter how deep a hole it burrows through their pockets. 

My conclusion is we’ve been hit by the economic equivalent of a blue shell. Funniest thing is, we’ve been in last place since the race started. Sudden, yet predictable, price jumps have been part of life since the pandemic, and Nintendo’s are further proof that they are not going away anytime soon. It’s difficult to find a bright side, but what I can do is offer advice. Although I’m not an Economics or Business major (I’m a Creative Writing major, which, financially, feels as far from the two as one can get), I am a human being who has to buy groceries and sobs about Arcadia’s tuition price approximately twice a month. 

In fact, those tuition prices feel eerily similar to Nintendo’s price jumps between systems. However, when universities force students to pay extra, there are rarely new features to justify it. Not to call any establishment out in particular, but enacting, let’s say, a sudden and poorly-timed roommate increase with little warning is the exact ploy I am critiquing: little warning, little justification, and big profits for corporations. The difference is that you can choose not to spend more money on Switch games, but you have no choice when the institution you rely on for housing, nourishment, and education decides on a whim that they want more from you. 

I suggest you all reevaluate what you want to spend your money on. Think to yourself, “Is the newest Hades game worth two weeks' of groceries? Should I buy Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream instead of a birthday present for my mom?” If you answered ‘yes’, consider purchasing your favorite titles second-hand a few months after they release. And if you are truly dedicated to playing games at midnight the day they come out, follow the advice of my roommate and “start saving now”.

Swan Dive by Ani DiFranco and What it Means to Live

Ani DiFranco is a folk musician and activist who rose to popularity in the 90s, and, in this post, I particularly want to look at one of her songs, “Swan Dive” , which was released on her 1998 album Little Plastic Castle. It can be read as being about her foray into the music industry. She sings about her chances being one in a million, references sharks aka people in the music industry, but, for me, it has always resonated as being about that yearning for what is outside your life. That thought that there has to be more than this. And being reckless in order to pursue what is beyond your own world with little care for your own survival. 

In this piece, Ani uses second person at some points, but I believe she is singing to a past version of herself. She is, “Cradling the softest, warmest part of you in my hands / Feels like a little baby bird / Fallen from the nest.” These are some of the opening lines to the song. She begins by holding herself and recognizing how new she is to the world. She has left the nest and lost some of that support. This motif of falling repeats throughout the song, and both falling and the bird return in the third verse, “'Cause a little bird told me / That jumping is easy, falling is fun / Right up until you hit the sidewalk / Shivering and stunned.” There is something exciting about allowing yourself to be reckless, but you will find yourself hurt in the end. She is saying that this boldness has value, but you should also consider your own well being. 

There is also the motif of the ocean, drowning, and a ship. Ani once again shows recklessness leading to harm with the lines, “I'm just gonna get my feet wet / Until I drown.” Though there is harm and she knows it, she is going into the water anyway. The ship that is referenced throughout the song serves as a metaphor for her life. She sings, “That I can jump ship and swim / That the ocean will hold me / That there's got to be more / Than this boat I'm in.” That life outside her own and her ambition, she believes it to be enough to carry her through in the beginning of the song. She knows there is more out there for her and wants to find it. In her pursuit, her life begins to fall apart in certain ways; “‘Cause I've built my own empire / Out of car tires and chicken wire / I'm queen of my own compost heap / And I'm getting used to the smell.” She has built something for herself upon a rotten foundation, but stays because she has gotten used to it. We all can find ourselves settled into our own misery.

For me, the most potent lines in the song are, “I'm going to do my best swan dive / Into shark infested waters / I'm going to pull out my tampon / And start splashing around / 'Cause I don't care if they eat me alive / I've got better things to do than survive / I've got the memory of your warm skin in my hands / And I've got a vision of blue sky and dry land.” She makes the choice to give up her own survival in pursuit of what lies beyond her own life, and uses the memory of herself, new to the world, the past, to carry her forward. She may be hurt at the end, this may be her swan song, but at least she tried. At least for a moment she flew. Isn’t that what it is to be alive?

The Art of Charcuterie (In a University-centered Lifestyle)

A rose made out of salted ham, a hollowed out block of cheddar, and a small jar of berry preserves… whether you are hosting a grand party for sophisticated art critics, or treating yourself after a long day of studying, charcuterie is an age old art that brings sophistication to any table.

My youth was full of extraordinary dishes– for this I am quite lucky– such as escargot at Christmas, beef wellington on Sundays, and even handmade pierogies all Winter long. Now, I have grown with a rather versatile palette, and one that rather favors a blend of meats and cheeses! I have begun crafting my own spreads for my friends and I to enjoy as a break from university stresses– here are my best tips for top tier charcuterie. 

First– treat yourself to a nice decorative platter!

If you have to do some dollar store paper plate charcuterie, we’ve all been there, but it tastes much better if you can dig out the old Thanksgiving platter with the silly turkey feathers. My favorite way to enjoy a charcuterie spread is a solid wood board, sealed with food safe varnish, of course. Whether it’s a thrifted plate or a family heirloom dish, keep it fancy to elevate your spread!

Second- Separate the cheeses!

Once you throw in cubed cheddar, slices of swiss, and goat crumbles, things get a bit messy– especially when you add the staple of melted brie (with or without rind). I like to use a variety of crackers to keep everything nice and neat, whether that be in a swirl pattern or nice straight rows. A whole grain option is hearty and healthy, paired well with the oils and sugars of cheese and jam– but if it's a Ritz crackers sort of platter, who are we to judge!

Third- Salty and sweet!

What is a good bit of goat cheese without a dried apricot? Might as well be a brie slice without some raspberry preserves. The best way to elevate your charcuterie board is to not be afraid to add some sugar! My favorite is to sample some local honey and jam, often purchased in small glass jars that you can add without any extra prep work, just an itty bitty spreading knife! And if your sweet fix comes from yesterday’s bag of M&M’s, be my guest. 

Charcuterie means more than fine dining to me– it has a piece of my heart and childhood. Creating boards of yummy foods and letting creativity shine is the best part. I recall sharing charcuterie boards with my MomMom during her painting open houses, and it was always a staple of family holidays. Now, I try to engage in some cheese and bread nights with my friends in university to bring some of that joy to a busy schedule. If you try out your own charcuterie board this finals/thesis season, I hope it brings you bliss!

A Switch Send Off: Nintendo’s Ten Best Games from the Last Eight Years

The Era of the Nintendo Switch is coming to a close. With the Switch 2 bringing Nintendo into the ninth generation, we can expect an array of games to follow. In the meantime, let’s look back on the best games the first Nintendo Switch had to offer.

#10 Super Mario Party Jamboree (2024)

Quite a late entry in the Switch library, Super Mario Party Jamboree is considered the best Mario Party by many fans. The game offers a lot of content including over 100 minigames, 7 new boards, story mode, daily challenges, and of course, Mario Party! Both couch co-op and online multiplayer are available for hours of gameplay. What holds Jamboree back from a higher spot is that it’s only at its most fun when playing with others. The CUP players are fine in a crunch, but they can’t quite match the real thing.

#9 Metroid: Dread (2021)

Metroid fans everywhere rejoiced when Dread announced. It was the first original Metroid game (excluding spin-offs and remakes) in 11 years. This is a game for players who are skilled at platformers. It is considerably more difficult than Mario games and harder than the previously most difficult Metroid game, Fusion. It controls really well and the graphics are incredible. Perfect for those who are up to the challenge. Even though I’d love to place it higher due to my own bias, it is still a very niche title and seasoned Metroidvania players may not appreciate the linearity of the map.

#8 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)

Mario Kart 8 originally started on the Wii U, and back then, it would not have made the list. It contained the standard 32 courses, but it had an incomplete battle mode and ran poorly on the hardware. However, when the Switch launched, Mario Kart 8 got ported with a major upgrade. The base game has 48 courses, a complete battle mode, 200cc race, more kart parts, and with the Booster Course Pass, an additional 48 courses, new characters, and custom gameplay settings. There is a tone of content! Like Jamboree, Mario Kart is best experienced with other players. However, the CUPs act considerably like the real thing and provide a challenge for any game mode.

#7 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)

After many delays, Tears of the Kingdom finally released, and it was well worth the six-year wait. The story and characters kept people invested, but many feel it was too similar to its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. But it is in the game’s mechanics where Tears of the Kingdom shines. This is the first Zelda game to boast so many physics-based puzzles in a 3D environment and a sandbox to create all kinds of solutions with Zonai devices. The vast open world allows the player to explore all of these puzzles and various side quests.

#6 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)

Everyone’s favorite pandemic pastime, New Horizons, released prior to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it could not have been at a better time. Many players flocked to the game which allowed all kinds of creativity. Online multiplayer allows players to visit each other’s islands and share their creativity with others. The 2.0 update introduced even more content, including a new game mode in Happy Home Paradise. The only thing holding this game back is it missing some content from prior games, most notably New Leaf, where it got rid of features such as the Roost minigame, Happy Home Showcase, fortune cookies, the Re-tail Store, among other things. Fortunately, New Horizons still has plenty to offer for fans and casual players alike.

#5 Pokémon Legends: Arceus (2022)

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the peak of Pokémon on the switch. It shakes up the gameplay enough to make it stand out from the main games, yet its core is still the “gotta catch ‘em all” model which defined the franchise from the beginning. There are plenty of new and returning Pokémon in the semi-open world of Hisui. Returning fans will be treated to references to previous games, and new players will be treated to the exciting world of Pokémon. Arceus is also compatible with the other main-line Pokémon games on the Switch with Pokémon Home.

#4 Splatoon 3 (2022)

Everyone was surprised when Nintendo announced a new Splatoon game for the Switch after Splatoon 2 had been added to the library in 2018. Despite the apprehension, Splatoon 3 took the world by storm. More stages, more rank modes, more weapons, and seasonal updates to gear and other customization are only the beginning. Turf War, Rank Battle, and Salmon Run all return. A new minigame called Tableturf is introduced alongside a brand-new single player campaign based on the gameplay of Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion. DLC adds new plazas, returning characters, and a brand new mode called Side Order for even more styles of play. And online multiplayer events are the cherry on top. This game is for fans of shooters, platformers, roguelites, and all fans of Nintendo.

#3 Super Mario: Odyssey (2017)

The first holiday release for the Switch. Super Mario: Odyssey continues the 3D Mario series from Wii’s Galaxy 2. The same classic gameplay returns, collecting moons instead of stars, in new worlds full of different areas to explore. Both new and returning characters make an appearance. Minigames make a return. And for the first time, players are able to customize Mario. The art looks stunning, and the controls perform really well. Fans still debate if this is the best Mario game of all time, but one thing’s for sure, it’s the best Mario game for the switch.

#2 Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

Edelgard. Did. Nothing. Wrong. Three Houses sees the player become a player at the Garreg Mach officer’s academy. They can choose one of four paths, five with the DLC. Each one has different characters and experiences to explore. The game offers two styles of gameplay. It is a combination of classic Fire Emblem turn-based tactics and, in between missions, players can explore the Garreg Mach Monastery to attend classes and build relationships with the characters. This is the first Fire Emblem game with so many choices and customization that affect the outcome of the story. Every unit can be customized to suit the character’s strengths, or they can be taught new skills to bring out hidden talents. There is also an incredible story, the entirety of which cannot be uncovered without playing all of the game's paths. The only reason this game is not #1 is because the next game exists.

#1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

Did you expect anything else? Breath of the Wild was the last first-party game to release on the Wii U and the first to release on the Switch. Initially, it was met with criticism from classic Zelda fans due to a lack of linear progression and traditional dungeons, but the numbers speak for themselves. The story is uncovered in snippets as the player progresses in any order. There is a large open world that allows the player to complete the game in whichever way they want. There are tons of options for character customization including weapons, armor, and mounts. Despite the freedom, all of the classic Zelda tropes return in characters, minigames, side quests, lore and story references, and even the music. If you like anything from the previous titles in this list: fighting evil, home design, collectibles, racing, completing the PokéDex, or interacting with story and characters, you will like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

So…When do I Become a Francophile?: My Thoughts After Spending a Week in Paris

Posted March 22 by Allison Hendershot

This past Spring Break, I took advantage of Arcadia’s Preview Program, as do most students here, and begrudgingly chose Paris as my week-long getaway. Sure, it’s a notorious bucket list addition, but it’s such an obvious choice that I planned to ignore it out of spite. However, when my roommate expressed her excitement for the city, I followed because my fear of not knowing anyone abroad triumphed over my hatred for Paris. Concealing my bias, I tossed away the city of brotherly love for the city of plain, all-encompassing love. 

It’s funny how quickly tourists forget Paris’ status as a city when it so clearly is one. Covered by graffiti and unintelligible stains, the streets are more akin to a cottagecore Philadelphia than to the storybook retelling commonly found online. While not populated by skyscrapers or towers of glass, Paris is still filled to the brim with snazzy entrepreneurs, children on scooters, and mothers hopping from store to store behind a stroller. People carry around baguettes but nibble on them for an easy snack, not for the aesthetic. Walking around, for the time I was there, felt more like a trip to Boston’s cobblestone streets than entering a fantasy world. And I was completely satisfied with that. 

As a class, we used the Metro incredibly often. Just about every destination took multiple stops to get to, so I quickly became accustomed to the motion of tapping my card against the purple target and moving quickly to avoid being Flat Stanley-ed between the clear plastic gate. Organized by numbered lines, the Metro is like a metropolitan game of connect the dots: The cafe you want to go to is near Concorde on line 12 but your hostel is on line 4? Just take 4 until a stop that meets at 12! Easy peasy! 

The worst part about the Metro is the environment. As far as public transport goes, Paris’ is fairly clean and doesn’t smell bad (SEPTA, step up your game), but almost every inch of the underground tunnels’ walls were covered in advertisements, many of which are partially or completely AI-generated ‘art’. And I say art very lightly because the ads I ran into were so blatantly computer-generated that it made me scowl whenever I passed them. The most ironic example advertises the dreamlike and desirable qualities of the city. A pink idealized subway car with walls and parts of the floor replaced by fluffy pink clouds and rays of sunlight. What says “Visit Paris! It’s the best city in the world!” like support poles that end in mid-air? 

Maybe that’s what makes me the most bitter: The fact that Paris’ reputation chucks coal onto the fiery egos of city officials, locals, and business owners and compels them to produce garbage. After all, who’s going to stop them? Who cares if there are AI ads in the Metro: if you’re seeing them, you already fell for the city’s charm and whoever hit “imagine” on Stolen Art Generator 3000 has their crème brûlée and eats it, too. 

That’s a cynical way to look at things. Part of my processing since landing back in Philly has been viewing Paris as objectively as possible. Before I arrived in the city, I disliked it without seeing it with my own eyes. I hated the principle of it, hated francophiles, idealists, and people who booked flights based on Pinterest boards of empty cafes within a stone-throw of the Eiffel Tower. So, while I was there, I treated it like any other city: not the ‘City of Love’ or the worst place in the world, just Paris, France. And a city it was: flawed and amazing like any other. 

And I did post an aesthetic photo dump on Instagram. It’s still Paris!

Things: why do we have them?

Posted March 21 by Payten Collins

I like to think of myself as a little bit of a gatherer of things. I don’t think I’d go so far as to call myself a collector, it just seems a bit pretentious. Also, being a collector just seems like a lot of work. I just like to buy things because I think they’re cool and fun, as a lot of people do.

That being said, here is a list of my four favorite things to gather:

1. Vinyl records

I first began collecting records on my sixteenth birthday when my mom gave me a record player and the Green Day album Dookie as a present. Since then I have bought an exorbitant amount of records myself, growing my collection to about 65 records. This number does also include ones I have been given as gifts, which makes me feel better about how much I’ve spent on them. Now, I am about to turn 20, so that averages out to getting about 16 a year, which is a little crazy to think about. Since I’m telling you about my favorite things to collect, I think it’s only just to also tell you my favorite vinyl records that I own.

The Used by The Used – The thing I love the most about this one is the actual record itself. It’s a red and white split with black splatter and I just think it’s absolutely gorgeous.

Take a Vacation! by The Young Veins – I love Ryan Ross!

The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance – I actually have two versions of this album because my mom forgot that I already had one, but I love and appreciate the thought regardless. I love the first one I got because it’s a picture disc (the disc is album art) and I just think picture discs are so insanely cool.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift – This album is one of my favorites of hers so I love owning it. I have loved this album since it came out when I was a kid so it holds a very special place in my heart. Fall Out Boy is also featured on one of the vault tracks so I am very partial to it for that reason as well (I love Fall Out Boy!).

The original soundtracks to both Twilight and The Twilight Saga: New Moon – To be frank, I think the Twilight movies are absolutely hilarious in a “so bad they’re funny" kind of way. Because of that, I just thought owning the vinyl for them was super fun and funky.

2. Concert t-shirts

I absolutely love music (if you couldn’t already tell) and I find so much joy in going to concerts. I have seen a good number of artists more than once – Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce The Veil, The Used, and Conan Gray just to name a few – and every single time, I find myself buying another shirt. I just think they’re a great way to remember the experience and also to connect with people. I love when I see a person around campus with a band/artist or concert tee of someone that I also like. I just think they’re a great way to say something about yourself without actually having to speak.

3. Books

What kind of English literature major would I be if I didn’t have a ton of books? I have at least 25 different books in my dorm room right now, all of which I have amassed during this school year. Bear in mind, about 14 of those books were required readings for classes. I love a physical book as opposed to an ebook or something like that because I feel like I just get more from that. I also love to just write silly notes in the pages of the book which is something that is hard to do with an online copy. Have I read all of the books I have in my room? No, absolutely not. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

4. Yarn

One of my favorite hobbies is to crochet. It is something I picked up from my great grandmother and have been doing for years. Even though I’ve been doing it for years, some of my creations were really ugly and funky looking. Despite that, my family, specifically my great grandma, loved them and was so proud of them. I enjoy making things for people to either use or for decor. I always have yarn in my room because I never know when I’ll need to make something. At this point though, I have far too much yarn, I don’t have enough room for it. It’s truly a problem but I simply do not care.

After all those secrets I just spilled about myself you may be wondering, “why have so much if you just have to move it back out at the end of the school year?”, and for that, I actually have an answer. Although I try to not spend a whole lot of time in my dorm room (I voluntarily work 16 hours a week), I still want it to be a place that feels like home. By having all the things I love with me, it does that. Physical ways to express our personalities are kind of rare in this digital age which is why I think it’s cool to have ways to do that. I love that when someone walks into my room, they can instantly get a big picture look at all the things I do and enjoy. So with that, I implore everyone to be collectors – or gatherers – of the things you enjoy. There is no one right way to do it so make it your own.

Timothee Chalamet Vs. The Oscars

Posted March 16 by Alicia Daywalt

As a fellow Letterboxd addict, film connoisseur, and movie theater lover, I find it my duty to be obsessed with the Oscars. A whole night dedicated to a year of every aspect of film. Where directors, actors, cinematographers, and every member of the crew are recognized for their hard work. You get to see all of your favorite people sit together through an awards show as they are honored for what they have created. Unfortunately there are some years where many people are snubbed and the show can seem staged to many viewers. No matter the outcome, I still find myself glued to that screen once a year on thay sunday night. 

The nominations this year were interesting and honestly not that shocking to anyone who goes to the movie theater at least once a month. The horror genre was mostly ignored yet again, and they glazed over Luca Guadaginimo’s tennis masterpiece. The main focus was on Wicked, Anora, The Brutualist, The Substance, Emilia Perez, and A Complete Unknown. Anora was a big hit at the 97th Oscars, taking home a total of five awards. These awards included film of the year, and actress of the year. Now I’m not going to give you a run down of who won what, who cried, whose speech was too long, but rather I want to talk about a frequent issue that I have strong feelings towards.

Timothee Chalamet has yet to win an Oscar in his lifetime. Yes, you read that right, he has not won a single oscar for any of the best selling movies he has been in. His life has been dedicated to his acting career and even though it is so noticed through the media, it is never recognized at this awards show. My opinions may be biased, since  two of his films are in my top four on Letterboxd(Beautiful Boy and Call me by your Name), but I think these are still very valid points. He had been nominated previously for his roles in, Call me by your Name, Dune, Dune:Part two, Beautiful Boy, and now A Complete Unknown. All of these nominations since 2018, but yet he has never gone home with a single trophy.

Personally I think Beautiful Boy alone should have won at least five awards, but that's a whole other story. The big picture is that he has dedicated his entire life to every role he receives but he gets nothing in return. Yes, I know that this is what many actors and actresses do but that is not always the case. Adrien Brody used AI for his work in The Brutalist, and still won male actor of the year, over Timothee Chalamet. To clarify it was a very small usage of AI, just to perfect his Hungarian accent in the film. Brady Corbet, the director of the film, defended these actions by saying it was used to enhance not replace his performance. I can clearly see both sides of this statement, but I do find it disappointing for Chalamet. He spent 5 years perfecting the role of Bob Dylan, watching press conferences, growing his nails, gained weight, trained with vocal coaches, learned the guitar, and so much more just so he could be as identical as possible. That dedication was lost to a man who had to use technology to enhance his performance.

I could spend all day nitpicking the Oscars and declaring that someone was snubbed from an award, but it is not worth it. This is just how Hollywood and how life goes. Some people will do absolutely nothing and get everything, while others will try their entire life to be the best they can. Personally I just wanted to state my love for Timothee Chalamet and film as a whole. I think he does an amazing job at whatever role he is given, and truly brings each story to life in a different way. I will continue to go to any film he is in and support it, and I encourage you all to do the same. As a film nerd, I am going to give you a movie recommendation if you have absolutely no idea who I’m talking about right now. Please go watch Bones and All, or Call me by your Name(these are two life changing films that he stars in). Don’t forget to support your local movie theaters either!

Of Thee I Sing: Synopsizing My College Experience in Five Musical Artists 

Posted March 3 by Julianna Reidell 

I’ve just about reached the halfway mark of my last semester at Arcadia. At this point, the concept of graduation, of a life that doesn’t involve getting dropped off by the curb at Taylor Hall 3-5 times a week, has been subsumed by the more pressing concerns of senior theses, health issues, and political calamities — but the end of my days as an undergrad is manifesting in the ways in which I’ve started to reflect on my college experience. 

I’ve always linked periods of my life with the media I was consuming at the time — movies and tv shows, on occasion, but more regularly books and music. After starting college, I decided to standardize this informal tracking system in two ways: I now keep both a journal for the books I read and an ongoing list of my musical tastes during a certain period of time — usually divided by semesters and summers. And as the number of days on the “countdown to graduation” email gets progressively —and  intimidatingly — smaller, I’ve begun to mentally synopsize this list — to create, essentially, a definitive ranking of the literature and the music that embodied my Arcadia experience. Since I’ve spent several previous Quiddity blogs exploring some of my favorite books, I thought I would take this last blog to reflect on music — a realm in which I have little knowledge and even less talent, but one which I nevertheless find essential to shaping my world. Out of a reasonably large list, I’ve selected the artists or bands below as those most emblematic of the past 3 ¾ years. I now present them, with a bit of context, for your reading — and listening — pleasure. 

5. Billy Joel 

I start the list off strong by essentially cheating: Billy Joel’s discography has been incredibly present and impactful throughout the vast majority of my life, not just at Arcadia. I first heard many of his assorted CDs in my mother’s and my grandmother’s cars, and while as a kid my preference was for the more fast-paced or upbeat (to use the modern parlance) bangers — We Didn’t Start the Fire, Only the Good Die Young, Tell Her About It, etc. —  I nevertheless remember, at nine or ten years old, growing contemplative as my grandmother drove me home from school to the rhythm of “This is the Time.” In 10th grade, as I struggled through a series of physical and mental health crises, “Summer, Highland Falls” was a balm, even if I first heard it in autumn. But for some reason, the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Arcadia was the first time I listened to the entirety of Joel’s last non-classical album, River of Dreams. It was a great summer — filled with my first GFS trip, a plethora of newly-discovered and quickly-beloved books and shows, and a foray into French podcasts — but it was also a period of transition, and I was struggling in particular with the loss of an old friendship. 

River of Dreams was just what I needed. The album is a fundamentally transformative one — the first five songs find Joel grappling with his own feelings of burnout, rage, and betrayal, and it’s clear that he, too, has reached an age that demands some uncomfortable introspection. I deeply appreciated the angsty “No Man’s Land,” and found myself listening again and again to the central chorus of  “The Great Wall of China” — “We could’ve gone all the way to the Great Wall of China/Now all we’re gonna be is history” — with my old former friend in mind and all my hurt and anger seething in my heart. But the second half of the album sees a shift;  it’s here that the tracks become about gratitude, creativity, spirituality, and — especially in the case of “Goodnight, My Angel” and “Two Thousand Years” — hope for the future. I was never able to find much faith in Joel’s dreamy vision of the new millennium in “Two Thousand Years” (after the last 25 years, I wonder if he does either), but it’s a beautiful song, and it brought me comfort. The album’s last track, “Famous Last Words,” is very much a sign-off — “These are the last words I have to say/That’s why it took so long to write” — but it’s a calm one too, a recognition of the boons of the past and an embrace of the unknown future. Closure, Joel seems to say, is not necessarily the same thing as loss. It mimicked a transformation I’m still undertaking, a message I’m still working to embrace; it was exactly, for that summer, what I needed to hear. 

4. Taylor Swift 

Also somewhat cheating, perhaps; it wasn’t as though I came into college without a clue about Taylor Swift. But I’d spent most of my childhood and adolescence being the kind of kid who — simultaneously both uninterested in fitting in with the popular kids and feeling rejected by them — tried her hardest to disdain anything remotely related to popular, contemporary culture. I enjoyed “Shake It Off” and “Out of the Woods,” somewhat shamefacedly, but that was it. 

Around the release of Swift’s 2022 album Midnights, however, I began to slowly modify my stance. Curiosity compelled me to give some of her songs a listen; intrigued to find that I could in fact appreciate some of her songwriting skills and her ability to capture the same emotion — romantic love — in so many diverse facets and dimensions, I began to dabble further. 

To this day, I’m not a Swiftie; I don’t think I’ve ever listened to one of Swift’s entire albums, and I deliberately avoid any era before Red (along with most of the tracks on The Tortured Poets Department). But the songs I cherry-picked, I very much enjoyed, and they, too, became part of the fabric of my time at Arcadia. “August,” “epiphany,” and “betty” all fed nicely into my end-of-the-semester malaise in Spring 2023; later in the summer, after both a GFS trip and whirlwind trip across Europe with a dear friend, I took some pleasure in listening to the giddy “Paris” and savoring my own memories of three days in the City of Light. The bubblegum-bright pop of Lover, the moodiness of Reputation, and the more somber, nostalgic atmosphere of Evermore (particularly “Dorothea,” my top-played Spotify song for that year) have stayed with me in various increments throughout the rest of my time at Arcadia. I even saw the movie version of The Eras Tour with a friend; as I did so, I could picture the scorn and betrayal flashing across the face of my brittle younger self. She would be horrified. I was kind of pleased with that.  

3. The Lumineers 

I’d heard “Ho Hey” sporadically on the radio for a while by the time freshman year at Arcadia rolled around — but when the song “Flapper Girl” popped up on the playlist at my first-ever meeting of Writers Bloc, I was entranced. I spent the rest of the year soothing the stress of a totally new educational setting and experience with the Lumineers — “Flapper Girl,” “Stubborn Love,” and “Cleopatra” in the fall, “Sleep on the Floor” and “Life in the City” in the spring (it was angsty, but so was I). A year later, I discovered “Gloria.” I have a notorious soft spot for songs whose tempo and sound is wildly different from the tone of the lyrics, and “Gloria,” with its somber story of a woman in the grip of alcohol addiction, was right up my alley. It accompanied me through the end of sophomore year, and across the ocean on GFS — where, attempting to decompress amidst days of train schedule catastrophes, I would risk using up the remaining 3% battery life on my phone and listen to it again and again as the German landscape flew by. 

Did you know me when I was younger then

I could take the whole world with me-  

Stumbling over nostalgia while — very literally, on a train and in a foreign country — moving forward: to this day, when the song pops up again on my Spotify playlist, I am transported back to that moment, that sensation, that place. 

4. Josh Ritter 

In Junior year, I happened to mention Edgar Allan Poe at the end of a class not remotely connected to Edgar Allan Poe. I don’t even remember, now, how it came up — but when I mentioned that my favorite Poe poem was “Annabel Lee,” the professor — the wonderful Adam DePaul — suggested that I listen to Josh Ritter’s “Another New World,” a song which apparently played with many of the same rhythms and motifs. Sometime in the next week, I found the time to check it out, and was instantly spellbound by Josh Ritter’s gift for dense, gorgeous lyrical narration. It was a one-way journey from there: down and down the gifted songwriter’s folk-rock rabbit hole. 

I am truly awed by Ritter’s versatility. From the palpable rage and pain of songs like “Friendamine” to the joyous, liberatory “Young Moses” to the complete, surreal narrative beauty of “The Curse” (which has made me cry at least once), I’ve come to puzzle over and savor his lyrics like the best poetry. “Strangers” in particular has become one of my favorite love songs of all time (which I do, on occasion, break out to indulge my sentimental side) — and throughout much of Fall 2023, my life ticked on to the tune of “Lantern” — one of the songs on So Runs the World Away, the first album I listened to and the one that absolutely convinced me I’d struck a heretofore-unimagined musical gold mine. After a family dinner out to celebrate my 21st birthday, I posted a few pictures to my Instagram story; the song to accompany it, of course, was “Lantern,” and the lyric, specifically, was:

So throw away those lamentations

We both know them all too well

If there’s a book of Jubilations

We’ll have to write it for ourselves  

It’s a message I work hard to carry with me, even today. 

5. Les Cowboys Fringants 

I couldn’t describe my time at Arcadia without including at least one testament to my transformation into a full-fledged Francophile, and this is it. Introduced to the Quebecois folk band Les Cowboys Fringants (the word “fringant” translates roughly to dashing or frisky) during my 2022 five-week study-abroad stay in Quebec City, I slowly expanded my familiarity with their enormous body of music throughout the next 3+ years. Their song “Les étoiles filantes” will forever serve as my connection to my time in Quebec, probably one of my favorite experiences not only in college but throughout my life thus far.  The upbeat “Tant qu’on aura de l’amour” is a close favorite as well — but the song that has come to resonate both in good times and bad is without a doubt the slower, more sentimental “Sur mon épaule.” It’s a bittersweet tune, dealing both with the breaking and the strengthening of bonds that come as youth, vivacity, and blissful ignorance begin to fall away — and made all the more bittersweet by the death of the band’s lead singer, Karl Tremblay, from cancer in the fall of 2023. But it’s a song of comfort all the same — in which the singer implores the (implied female) listener to put her head on his shoulder, reminding her “ensemble, on n’a peur de rien.” Together, we’re afraid of nothing — another message difficult to believe in the present moment, but an essential one too. I’ve dealt with peaks and valleys as I navigated the often-lonely experience of being a commuter student, involved enough to make many friendly acquaintances but few close friends — but (though I’m not, as the song mentions, anyone’s blonde), it’s always a comfort to reach the last line of the chorus — to hear, again and again:

Dis-toi que ce soir, ma blonde

T’es pas seule au monde. 

I’ll leave you, as necessary, to look up the translation. 

How to make the most of this Valentine's Day

Posted February 14 by Olive Hannigan

Valentine’s Day– or Saint Valentine’s Day if you have exceptionally strong feelings about the holiday– is one of the small, lesser celebrated holidays celebrated yearly. Still celebrated, but not nearly as widely as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the wide variety of winter holidays throughout December. It’s in the buffer between winter and summer– when it’s still too cold to go outside to celebrate. Not the fun, “bundle-up-and-be-cute” cold. Moreso the horrible, bitter windy cold. The exclusively gray months of the year– in Pennsylvania, at least. And, as I noticed, a very polarizing holiday. 

It’s a holiday surrounded by a lot of mixed feelings– I’ve talked to many people who love the holiday given the fact that their partners take them out, shower them in gifts and smother them in affection. I’ve also talked to people who never received flowers or a small, cheap box of chocolates. I can’t particularly relate to either– my mom always buys us boxes of chocolates on Valentines Day. It’s not from a partner, but it still counts!

That is, until my first year at Arcadia. I was abroad for the spring, and would have to celebrate many holidays alone for the first time. I had expected celebrating Easter alone to sting a little bit– but I was not prepared for my first Valentine’s Day without the chocolates from my mom. It was then that I decided, on that chilly day in the middle of London, that I was going to make my Valentine’s Day worth it!

So I did. I went out between classes. I got on the tube, spent a few hours in a nearby bookstore, and made the long ride home. Headphones in one hand, books in the other. I stopped at the Aldi right across the street from Archway station and bought myself mango chutney, crackers, brie, and a whole cheesecake. 

I had a picnic in Waterlow park, despite the chill in the air and yapping of the dogs that people were letting off their leashes. I read, ate crackers and berries and spoonfuls of cheesecake right from the box. I’d returned home feeling full, but not just because of the food. For the first time, that holiday wasn’t full of the bitterness of being single as an adult, but love for myself! So, here are some ways you can celebrate Valentines Day by yourself:

1. Have a self-care night

This one might feel a bit obvious, but have a self-care night! Self-care looks different for everyone, so do whatever makes you happy! Do you like to cook? Cook yourself a big meal! Like skincare? Go out and buy yourself face masks and some new headbands. Take a good everything shower, bundle up, watch your favorite movie, whatever makes you feel best!

2. Go shopping

This may also vary depending on your personality, but a little bit of retail therapy always helps. Willow Grove Mall is a short bus ride from Arcadia, and it’s an amazing place to go if you need to burn some energy and grab good food! Go to a few stores and dress yourself up, or hit the Lego store or Build-a-Bear if you need something fun to do at your dorm or apartment. Browse the clearance bins and see if you can upcycle any clothes into something unique that’s made just for you! If you need to get schoolwork done (because, let’s face it, school doesn’t seem to stop for anything), hang out in the food court for an hour or two!

3. Play games

It’s easy to get wrapped up in school and neglect your hobbies and the things that make you happy. Take an hour or two out of your schedule and play a few games! Whether that be a card game, board game, or video game! The act of playing is incredibly good for one’s focus and mental health, so spend Valentine’s Day playing games! 

4. Embrace your inner child

This one is my personal favorite and something I do every Valentine’s Day. Make a pillow fort and sleep in it, watch your favorite childhood movies, and surround yourselves with stuffed animals and pillows and all the fun things you can get as an adult! The best part about having adult money is being able to spend it (wisely, of course). Walk to Lahasa Mart or Produce Junction and get candy and fruit to snack on! It’s important to remember how far you’ve come and to treat yourself with kindness on this day!

Can we "seperate the art from the artist?" 

Posted February 12 by Razan Ismail 

You might have heard the phrase “separate the art from the artist” or you might have not. This phrase essentially means to separate an artist's work from the artist themselves. I, however, do not agree with this statement. I do not think it is possible to do this as an artist's views are often reflected through their work. The context in which I’ve seen this phrase used is typically in the context of books. For example, someone could recommend a book by an author who is known to be problematic, and when they are called out on it they quickly say, “ I believe that we should separate the art from the artist”, or something along those lines.  Well, I would argue that this is simply impossible. J.K Rowling wrote a worldwide famous children’s book series and while this book series is part of many peoples childhood (including mine) , it's important to acknowledge that J.K Rowling (amongst other children’s authors) is problematic. One of her many problematic actions was the way she depicted Asian characters in her series, Harry Potter. The series is not that diverse to begin with and she included an asian girl and named her “Cho Chang” which is just a mix of Korean and Chinese surnames. Many people argue that this is racist. I personally stray away from reading any work by problematic authors because I do not feel comfortable doing so. Many authors that were popularized on BookTok or have written what is known to be a “BookTok book” have done/said problematic things. To watch people defend authors like J.K Rowling, Sarah J. Mass, Rebecca Yarros, Chloe Walsh, etc. is disheartening to say the least. We as readers need to understand that many of the books we read hold problematic themes in them and even if the books themselves are not outright problematic the author still could be problematic. Now, I do not believe that authors cannot redeem themselves but many authors do not take accountability for their actions/ ignore people who call them out and that is different from an author who takes accountability and apologizes for their actions. Reading books by authors who are known to be racists, zionists, xenophobes, etc. is problematic in and of itself. It's one thing to read a book not knowing that the author is problematic but it's an entirely different thing to know and still read and recommend that author to others. We as readers should do better and be aware of who the author we are reading is.We should strive to read and recommend more diverse books and authors and avoid the problematic ones as it is simply not possible to “separate the art from the artist”.

Porn addiction, kink, dark romance, our country's spiral towards conservatism and the sexualization of violence against women by women faciliating this shift

Posted February 3 by Riley James Russo

Credence – Penelope Douglas. Haunting Adeline – H.D. Carlton. It Ends With Us – Colleen Hoover. What do all of these incredibly popular ‘BookTok’ phenomena have in common? They all feature some graphic and heavily romanticized depiction of sexual, emotional, or physical abuse. 

Ballerina Farm, Nara Smith, ‘Sprinkle Sprinkle’ mindest – now, what do these have in common? They’re all indicative of our country’s spiral towards conservatism. And what does abuse-infested BookTok have to do with the spiral towards conservatism? Because the existence of undiscussed violent kinks have always been poorly masked attempts to pull the wool over our eyes — men hate women. Men get off on inflicting violence upon women. And once it became illegal, they made it a porn category or result on an online BDSM test. 

It is important to clarify that claiming any sort of unconventional sex as inherently bad, wrong, immoral, or dangerous is also a form of conservatism, and is an incredibly slippery slope into some terrible ways of thinking. I want it to be known that I understand some folks discuss their dynamics thoroughly, and it means something special to them, and I respect that. It is important to educate rather than shame, especially when it comes to our bodies and what we choose to do with them. My concern does not lie within consensual, discussed, and individual relationships or dynamics. My concern lies within the movement en masse and how accessible it is to children, largely through the mass-markets of TikTok’s BookTok. In addition, by conservatism I mean the scold’s bridle, Cleavers-esque era of the 50s and 60s. We’re seeing more and more folks condemn sex before marriage, say a man should be the provider, etc. That is what I’m worried this is indicative of. 

It is also important to establish what specifically I am concerned about – BookTok has books where characters stalk their love interests, rape them violently, or even physically abuse them, all without verbal consent or a previously discussed dynamic, and these books are being mass marketed to young girls who are going to think violent kink is not just a small, well-discussed and consent-heavy sector of sex, but the whole thing, and there are men who are going to take advantage of this perception. I am also calling into moral question not the women who are the “willing victims” – but the men who oftentimes fail to explain what it is exactly about choking, hitting, or pretending to rape a woman during sex that arouses them. Because, to be frank, I understand the women – they might genuinely like how pain feels, or use sex as an unhealthy, but not immoral, coping mechanism. But what is left for the man? You like hurting her? Exerting power over her? I am not saying it is impossible for men to do it just because their girlfriend likes it, but how often is that the case?

I am also worried by the rise of kink in younger people in general. High school students are taking BDSM kink measuring tests, participating in violent kink they don’t fully understand, and are getting themselves wrapped up in things they truly cannot wrap their minds around because they are 15, 16, and 17. I personally do not believe a high school freshman or sophomore can understand what, for example, being slapped during sex means for them. 

This has always been an incredibly interesting and important topic to me, and thus is a driving force behind the plot of purpose of my current WIP, a professor/student piece in which a professor lures his prodigious student into a killing spree through grooming tactics. The professor, meant to represent porn and violent kink, coddles the student’s violent tendencies and promotes something he calls “situational wolfness” — a concept in which something that might be predatory in one context is not in another — until the student is a full-fledged sexual sadist. That is a very brief overview, but it is one nonetheless. Again – violence in sex, when discussed and went about carefully, is not immoral. I am talking about a specific phenomenon of romanticizing assault and abuse, not merely engaging in unconventional kink. 

While I’ve been working on this piece, I’ve been terrified that readers might wrongly interpret it as dark romance rather than an abusive relationship, despite explicit scenes of sexual assault and the very nature of a teacher/student relationship, and that hits the nail on the head in quite an ironic way, doesn’t it? I’m writing a piece critiquing BookTok, undiscussed violence in kink, and the promotion of abusive dynamics, and here I am — terrified my critique will be viewed as what I am criticizing. 

I remember I posted something about this on Reddit (terrible mistake, Reddit is a rabbit hole of the worst folks you’ll ever meet.) and I got a comment to the effect of — “kinks are amoral, don’t get preachy.” I was baffled, honestly. How are kinks amoral? If kinks are amoral, sex is amoral, and that is certainly not true. Sure, morality and immorality are relative, but very few things are amoral, and kinks are certainly not one of those few things. While I do agree it is dangerous and conservative to assign immorality to someone who participates in specific kinks, the morality of it general is, to me, up in the air. How far are we going with this, exactly? If pretending to rape someone under the guise of kink is okay, how far do we go until we get to snuff films? That might be a reach – again, I want to avoid any sort of shaming or accidental pendulum back to conservatism here – but I truly do wonder. Anyways, this experience further disheartened me that my piece designed to give folks pause when they look up “barely legal” on a mass market sex website was being called “preachy.”

So how do we avoid this, especially as creatives? Well, we can’t. Porn addicts and those romanticizing abuse and assault are always going to be out there, and they’re always going to insist that kinks are amoral, because it’s what helps them sleep at night. There are always going to be terrible people who slide ride down that slippery slope and make everyone else look bad. What can help us sleep at night is writing as well as we can, writing what’s true to us as creatives, and, perhaps most obviously, use content warnings and disclaimers liberally. 

In our day to day life, we can call out this behavior. If it is in your power, don’t allow sexual partners to physically harm you in the name of kink without intense and informed discussion beforehand. Cut back on your viewing of porn. Research porn addiction and the rise of conservatism in our country, especially in the unfortunate wake of the 2024 election. And remember that all art, including novels and other forms of literature, is political, and on the moral spectrum. Ultimately, take this piece and apply it to you, whatever that means. Maybe it’s rehashing your dynamic and rules with your partner to ensure respect, maybe it’s cutting back on your Colleen Hoover – a decision I would surely support – or maybe it’s simply sitting with the thoughts in this piece and deciding how you might feel on it, whatever that means for you. At the end of the day, you choose what you want to do with your body – just be sure those choices are informed.

The Metropolis vs The Village: Choosing the Best Place to Study Abroad 

Posted January 26 by Emma Ambrose

Arcadia’s vast catalog of study abroad opportunities can be an exciting yet jarring journey to embark upon— there’s so many different cities and countries to choose between that your decision can be a daunting one. However, my decision to go abroad, or in other words, where to go abroad, was not mine to make. As a commuter from Glenside, Pennsylvania who still lived in her childhood bedroom, I was not mentally ready to live alone without my parents, let alone go off to a different country for three months. I wanted to study abroad with my friend, who had a calling to connect with her family’s Italian culture. I shrugged and said “why not?” and a couple months later, I found myself in the heart of the Italy called Perugia. 

But after a semester of Italian countryside and aglio e olio, my thirst to study abroad had yet to be fully quenched. I wanted something different: something new and completely unlike the fortress village of Perugia. So the following semester, I booked a 13-hour nonstop flight that would take me to Seoul, the metropolitan capital of South Korea. 

When I tell people that I studied in both Italy and South Korea, most people begin asking me an age old question “Which one was your favorite?” But, this answer is not like when someone asks me if I prefer spaghetti or gimbap. This answer is one that involves much more thought and understanding of the two places: the differences, similarities, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. I cannot simply choose one over the other.

I wanted to use this blog post to give study abroad hopefuls the advice and direction that they can use when choosing what kind of places makes the best sense for them: a big metropolis or a tiny cultural village? In my opinion (which is purely subjective), I will be providing pros and cons of each, as well as the overall effect these places had on me.

Small Cultural Village

Pros

- The village was, in fact, small, which led me to make so many connections with locals much more easily. I went to the same places everyday so I made friends with shop owners, waiters, professors, and Italian students!

- The school, The Umbra Institute, was small; it enrolled only about 100 students and a handful of professors. I became closely tied to all of the students there and many I still stay connected to today,

- There was not a dorm since the city and school were so small, so I lived in an actual Italian apartment. This place gave me the freedom to live like an adult, cook meals on my own, and have house parties all the time.

- The food was authentic and not catered to tourists. While there was tourism in Perugia, it is not the same as Florence, Rome, or other Italian cities. This lack of tourism made the food more “Italian” so the chefs put more love and care into the food; they were not just mass serving to Americans trying pasta. 

Cons

- So. Much. Walking. Perugia is located on a mountain and there was not any transportation within the city..so if you did not have a car, walking everywhere became quickly tiresome.

- There was little to no English spoken since this was not a tourist city. While I enjoyed that aspect in terms of cultural immersion, it sometimes made my life harder when I needed medicine from a pharmacy or needed help finding an ATM to pay my apartment bill.

- While authentic Italian food is incredible, leaving America for so long for the first time led me to crave and yearn for American food. But since Perugia was so small and far from major cities, there were no major global franchises like McDonalds or Starbucks nearby. On top of that, Italians only drink hot espresso or cappucino; there was a severe lack of iced tea, soda, lemonade, and iced coffee. And most Italian food is variations of pasta, dessert, and pizza so after a month I was sick of Italian food.

- Everything closed early. By the time it hit 8pm, you were lucky to find food or even a convenience store open. As a committed napper between the hours of 5-9PM everyday, I would always risk skipping dinner that night. Even the bars closed at around 2 AM in Italy so the nightlife ended pretty early.

Overall Impact on Me

As someone who loves learning foreign languages and other cultures, living in a small village presented me with such a rich opportunity to immerse myself in a language and culture I had never engaged with. It gave me the experience of understanding firsthand what it’s like trying to assimilate into a brand new place where there was little to no American-ness around. While I was still privileged to be a white American, it was still an experience that shaped how I perceive immigrants in American society. 

Large Metropolitan City

Pros 

- Transportation: all the time and everywhere! There were three bus stops close to my dorm and two subway stations. On top of that, a subway or bus ride was only about 1,500 won, which is about $1 USD. I even could get unlimited rides on all buses and subways for only about $40 a month! The transportation could take me anywhere around Seoul, even at 3 in the morning after a night at the club.

- My school was Ewha Womans University; it was all women and there were about 30,000 students, with so many opportuntiies to get involved with Korean students on campus.

- FOOD. The vast variety of Korean food was limitless! I think I only tried about 25% of all Korean food despite living there for three months. Furthermore, there was food from all countries in Seoul. I ate Mexican food, Thai food, Japanese food, and even American food.

- Cafe culture was the best part of Seoul. They all served iced coffee, lattes, iced tea, flavored teas, and sodas.

- So many places were open late. There were 24-hour convenience stores that were open if you needed a quick meal late at night and there were even study cafes open for 24 hours.

- Nightlife was so much fun! Soju was so cheap, and the lesbian clubs were well hidden and for women only which made my experience feel much safer and more inclusive.

Cons

- Tourists were everywhere and it was always crowded, especially during rush hour or at 1 AM in Hongdae.

- Trying to use my Korean was hard because most places were accustomed to tourists so they would hear your accent and immediately switch to English. I would try ordering my coffee in Korean and the barista would respond in English so it really hindered my ability to practice the language.

- There were a lot of strange differences in the food thats in Korea vs America. Pickles were always covered in sugar, the pizza sauce and garlic bread were always sweet, “lemonade” did not exist and was always carbonated, and there were not many typical American veggies around. Produce was also extremely expensive compared to  America, despite everything else being cheap in Korea (including healthcare!). 

- Everything was made with meat and you could not really modify your food, especially if you did not know Korean. So for my vegetarian girlfriend, Korean eating was a tumultuous task.

Overall Impact on Me

Despite its downsides, Seoul was an amazing and perfect place to live. It felt like a dream and felt like America, if it were a little more perfect. I learned so much Korean, tried so much food, and connected with so much of Korean culture. I did not feel homesick once and even when I missed America, there was always English everywhere and American food for me to eat. Living was so easy, everything was cheap, and the people were so kind. 

2024 sep-dec

The Contest for the Song of the Summer is Over, What About the Film of the Fall?

Posted December 9 by Ryland McGinniss 

I spent a good portion of my spring and summer listening to Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet, Charli XCX’s Brat, Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us, and many more albums that I’m probably forgetting to count right now on repeat. I found new artists to listen to, watched some of my favorite artists grow or resurge, or started to like artists whose music I once disliked. I usually have one album on repeat all summer, but this summer, there were at least ten albums in my Spotify rotation.  Many of them had songs that wouldn’t leave my head for like a solid month, their catchy melodies, slithering in and out of my brain. I mean, I still find myself humming HOT TO GO! and humming “I’m working late, cause I’m a singer”, as the sound takes over my TikTok feed. When I was originally thinking about this blog post, I thought I would pick one song of my summer and write about that, but it has proven impossible. My summer was chaotic, and my rotation reflected that, so I want to just let the pop chaos live in peace, without competition. If I had to nail down the vibes of “songs of the summer”, they were either campy, fun, and  dance-worthy, or heart wrenching four chord ballads flared with pianos or acoustic guitars. I guess I could say I had a summer full of songs that deserve the title, so the best I can do is describe the vibe. If I’m using Gen Z- Tik-Tok lingo here, I had a summer full of headphones blasting “girly pop” that had me “screaming, crying and throwing up”, and I loved it. I know, I can feel the judgmental eyes cringe from this side of my computer screen, so that’s why I’m not going to talk about the songs of the summer anymore, but I am interested in how the aesthetic that I was immersed in gets encapsulated at the Grammys.

If you know me though, you know I love all things media and pop culture. I am the chronically online friend who will tell all his other friends about the latest trends, controversies, scandals, and upcoming releases in the entertainment world. And this may seem shocking, given my indecisiveness with the song of the summer, but I already have a clear winner for the film of the fall, dare I say film of the year?

The award shows are already giving this film its due praise and it has been out in the world less than a month—- yes, I’m talking about the cinematic masterpiece that is Wicked: Part One. From everything to its beautifully terrifying political relevance in the themes it brings to life on screen, to the detailed costuming, to the delightful soundtrack, I was blown away by this interpretation. As a fan of both the book and stage musical, I was a little skeptical of a screen adaptation of the first half of the musical that was going to be double the length of the first act on stage, but this film made three hours feel like ten minutes.  Any fan can immediately tell from the second Ariana Grande is on screen singing the first note of “No One Mourns the Wicked” that this adaptation was done with such care. Such care for the characters, the audience and the arrangements that made the source material popular. (Pun fully intended.)

This adaptation effortlessly breathes new life into Wicked in so many ways, and this couldn’t have come at a better time. In a time when a good portion of people are terrified as to the future of our country, this movie speaks to those deepest uncertainties and leaves one with a lasting impression. I went in the theatre feeling nervous and excited, and came out of the theater feeling comforted, feeling spoken to, feeling mobilized, feeling dread, but most of all, feeling a triumphant sense of hope. I came out of the theater with teary eyes, changed for good. (Again, pun fully intended.) 

For me, this life-changing experience did not only come from the most explicit themes and narratives told in Wicked through Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda. It came from the place where I felt most seen, with Marissa Bode’s nuanced portrayal of Nessarose. I know people have negative opinions about the character of Nessarose because of her morally questionable actions surrounding her defense of her sister, but I think her character not being constricted to a binary description of fully “good” or “evil” speaks to the human experience.  Not only that, but this portrayal of Nessarose still speaks to what it feels like to exist as a disabled person, specifically a disabled wheelchair user in the world, but specifically in a world engulfed in ableist ideas. The way Nessarose is weaved into the fabric of Wicked would make one think that every portrayal of her speaks in this way—- but, sadly, the film adaptation has to correct much of the ableism present in the previous forms. This is the only time Nessarose has ever been played by an actual wheelchair user. Rather than having Nessa serve as a plot device for Elphaba, in this film, Nessa becomes a complex person in that she is trying to navigate independence and survival in an oppressive world not built for her. I felt Nessarose’s struggles deep in my core, and was overwhelmed by emotion every time she came on screen. This is why representation matters.

All that being said, Wicked was a necessary watch for me andis a necessary watch for anyone as it gives a whole new perspective on the binary ways we view people, while also remaining deeply rooted in the source material and themes of hope, empathy and friendship. Definitely my film of the year.

Now, if you’ll excuse me… I have to get back to the movie theater to watch Wicked for the fourth time. 

Why Be Productive When You Can Spend Hours Sorting Cakes? | The Psychology Behind Puzzle Games 

Posted December 2 by Ven Mubarak

If you’ve spent any amount of time on your phone, you’ve likely been the target of ads for puzzle and sorting games. From sorting colored water, to rescuing that King guy from whatever troubles he’s gotten himself, these mobile games either have the objective to sort objects into categories or a puzzle to solve. There may be a bigger goal the player has to work towards or it may just be an endless chain of levels to play. Personally, the two ads I’m most well-acquainted with are: the merging objects game starring the evil grandma plotline, and the bus stop game that I just can’t beat the ad for no matter how many times I’ve played it. (Seriously, I’m convinced that ad has to be rigged! And I refuse to cave and download the game. Out of spite.)

Currently, I have 4 of these games on my phone; what started as one game to occasionally cure my boredom has become a collection of apps taking up both a chunk of my storage and the time that I should be using to do more productive things… like my homework. (Which is what I should be doing now, yet here I am writing about the games that I play instead of doing my work. Ironic, isn’t it?) The current number of games on my phone is also why I refuse to download any more - and why I am determined to one day beat the bus stop ad and show it who’s boss. (I would like to note, in my defense, that all four of these games differ in some way. I may be easily swayed by advertisements, but I can spice it up and remove screws in one app and rescue cats in another, thank you very much.)

What is it that’s so enticing about these mindless little games? How do they suck you in and then hold you hostage? I’m no scientist, but I am easily entertained and a victim of whatever psychology these games are using, so here’s my thoughts on the matter:

There is something inexplicably satisfying about organizing things and putting them into their correct places. You get to tap or drag items to group them together, often sorting by color, though some games use shapes. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, sure, but I think, as humans, there’s a part of our brains that is scratched when we do The Sort Thing™. These games capitalize on that and offer positive reinforcement, whether it’s clearing the objects off the board (and who doesn't like a cleared board?) or moving you to the next level once you’ve done all that was needed of you. 

Speaking of rewards, these games are often more complex than they first seem. Many will offer sub-games or missions in addition to the main game to give you a goal to work towards. Completing missions gives you in-game rewards and currency, which can often aid you in your future sorting endeavors, which then means you can complete more missions. It’s a cycle of gratification. Not only are you entertained by the game itself, you’re motivated to keep playing it because you know that the more you play it, the more rewards you’ll earn.

Many of these games get you by having a “free sample” interactive advertisement. In these, you’re given a round of the game to play through. Sometimes these may be straightforward levels that aren’t very stimulating to play, other times they may be challenging, rigged levels that leave you feeling a sense of defeat if you don’t beat it. (Not speaking from personal experience, of course…) Regardless, much like the free samples at the supermarket or in a mall food court, these bites of the game are meant to grab your interest, and once you try it, you’ll want to keep playing it. Hence how I ended up with 4 of these games on my phone. I spent long enough on the Cake Sort ads that I realized it would probably just make more sense to download the game myself.

These games, though often free to play, come with their own boatload of ads and absurd pay-to-get-more-resources prices that only reveal themselves once you actually do download it. If you’re not keen to spend $7.99 to get rid of ads, then the cycle continues as you’re exposed to more puzzle games and their knockoffs. That’s how they get you.

Though they’ve saved my life on flights (I love when a game works on airplane mode) and are mindless entertainment when I need a brain break, it’s easy to get consumed by the game to the point where it starts to occupy all your free-time, regardless of your other obligations. Maybe that’s just a personal issue of mine I have to work on though. But in my defense, these games are weaponizing psychology and using my own brain against me… and if I wasn’t playing them, I’d still find other ways to procrastinate, so I might as well enjoy my cake and eat it too, right?

Autumnal Anniversaries- Ten Years of Over the Garden Wall

Posted November 19 by Haylie Jarnutowski

Over the Garden Wall is ten years old– and that’s a rock fact!

The animated short series aired on Cartoon Network in early November of 2014, debuting a world of fantastical folk horror that became beloved by many. As its run length is short, about two hours to watch the entire series, many now treat it as a movie and re-watch the series beginning to end each autumn as a tradition (I myself have taken to watching it at least twice each season). What makes this series such an autumnal staple? Well, I may be biased- as I spent my last birthday turning my house into the eerie fictional town of Pottsfield– but the color palette, soundtrack, and overarching themes of childhood innocence mixed with melancholy have stolen people’s hearts. 

The show itself has ten episodes, each taking us to different realms of ‘the woods’ (with the exception of the ninth, which gives us the backstory as to how the dear brothers Wirt and Greg became lost in the woods). Within these episodes, we see everything from skeletons donning vegetables for their harvest celebrations, to a snapshot of a sickly cursed woman in what seems to be late 1700s fashion, to the cloud city of Greg’s dreams as he naps. As the episodes go on, the tale dives deeper into the horror element, revealing the larger threat at hand– the beast, who seeks children’s souls to keep his own lantern burning. The episodes we see are only a bit of the fantastical world that the brothers find themselves in, and many fans were left searching for more these past ten years. As it would seem, finding bonus content and certified merchandise for this mini series proves quite difficult, and quite expensive. The most popular items sought out by collectors are the soundtrack on pressed vinyl, a beautiful item that will run you about $80 depending upon the pressing, and of course, the illustrious art book– a bound hardcover containing all original work from the animated show, running about $400 secondhand. In my own ventures, I have discovered a few comics and short graphic novels that expand upon the canonical story, and those would also have dug a hole within my pocket! How are fans to get around this financial block, and continue sharing in their love for the series?

Luckily, Over the Garden Wall draws all sorts of folks, and many have wonderful artistic abilities. A search upon Etsy or across Instagram will find you with tons and tons of small artists sharing their graphics and fan renditions, some available for prints, stickers, and wearable merch. The community that this show has created is one of personal expression and fantastical imagination, a very wonderful place to be. One I must highlight is a clothing brand entitled Knock Thrice– their recent line called ‘Into the Unknown’ had many stunning pieces inspired by characters and themes of the show. They are exquisite– and quite cozy, if I dare say so!

For fans of the soundtrack, news that a live concert would be held in the show’s honor is quite a thrill, considering it had many of the original cast mates involved to create a wonderful tribute. The soundtrack, created originally by The Blasting Company, includes many tunes aligned with the cozy ambiance of the show. “Patient is the Night”, playing while the brothers and their befriended bluebird Beatrice work in the hay fields of Pottsfield, is one of my favorites. As we venture back to modern day, we get a snapshot of Wirt’s teenage longing tunes with “The Fight is Over”. Even Greg’s tunes, and the infamous “Potatoes and Molasses”, are included on the soundtrack. The live show featured performances of the music, and, most wonderfully, a reading of Wirt’s poetry by none other than his voice actor Elijah Wood. 

The tenth anniversary stop motion short was well anticipated by many, and it did deliver! Watching the behind the scenes elements shows just how much artistry was applied to the animation, with the meticulous hand painting and moveable joints of each character, capturing the beloved likeness of the folks in the woods. The short runs about five minutes, running adjacent to the canonical plot, opening upon Wirt and Greg waiting by an Adelwood tree for Beatrice to return to them. Greg keeps up his antics and sings a clunky song, while Wirt begins a wistful rant as he lays by the tree, keeping in time with their characters. As Wirt speaks, we see bits of other beloved characters, such as the Woodsman making his rounds with the lantern, the frog ferry sailing by, and the Pottsfield residents dancing about. When Beatrice returns, they set on their way again, and the short ends with beautiful landscapes and a small shelf adorned with each hand carved character that we viewers know and love. This short was a wonderful celebration of such a masterful piece of television, and knowing it was crafted with love by those who dedicated themselves to the series makes it even better. Now, the stop motion short must be added to the end of the autumnal re-watch for every true fan! 

A Ranking of Hobbit Meals

Posted November 3 by Dylan Burkett

Any fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing know that Hobbits, the tiny heroes of Middle-earth, sure do love to eat . . . a LOT, far more than (most) humans do, in fact! Most humans like to eat three to four meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and perhaps maybe a snack, dessert, or tea if you’re British. However, Hobbits eat seven square meals a day! and each of them have their own unique foods to go along with them. Here’s my personal ranking of all seven hearty Hobbity meals.

7. Luncheon

Luncheon is probably the most bland of all the meals. It takes place at 1:00 PM, right between the far better elevenses and afternoon tea. Foods found at your typical luncheon are light and cold. Hobbits might enjoy a salad made of veggies, macaroni, or tuna fish. Sandwiches are also popular, including cold meats and cheeses. Sometimes, cold meats are even eaten by themselves or with a side of eggses, gollum gollum. 

6. Supper

Supper, like luncheon, is another lighter meal. It takes place at 8:00 PM, just in time to make your way to the Green Dragon for a night with the Old Gaffer. You might find yourself with some cold meat pies, beef or pumpkin pasties, eclairs, cream puffs, or perhaps even some cake. Supper is a balanced mix of sweet and savory, and it pairs well with the home-brewed ales of The Shire. Unfortunately for supper, there are far more interesting meals.

5. Elevenses

What humans might call brunch, elevenses takes place at, you guessed it, 11:00 AM. It is a meal in the perfect place to hold a hungry Hobbit over till luncheon. It is by far the smallest meal on the list, consisting of some toast, coffee, and perhaps a muffin or two. But what elevenses lacks in stature, it makes up for in charm by being a cozy way for very old friends to have a late-morning chat and discuss party business.

4. Dinner

The first big meal makes it on the list. Served around 6:00 PM, dinner is at the center of Hobbit social gatherings. Whether it be birthday parties, neighborhood gatherings, or unexpected company, dinner parties keep Hobbit society together. It’s where all the folks of The Shire can gossip about the latest comings and goings of daily life. Consider yourself lucky to be invited to a Hobbit dinner party! Expect your halfling host to serve cooked meats like ham and fish, hot soup, casserole, and breads. Careful not to blunt the knives!

3. Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea is probably what big folks picture when they think of a stereotypical Hobbit meal. It is complete with scones, jams and jellies, clotted cream, biscuits, and, of course, tea.While not as big a social gathering as dinner, afternoon tea boasts as yet another way for Hobbit friends to gather and gossip. It ranks only slightly higher than dinner for the aesthetic. Drinking tea and reading a book in the garden is the epitome of life in The Shire. It is considered polite to have tea at 3:00 PM, but at Bag End, tea is at 4:00 PM!

2. Breakfast

The most important meal of the day, serving it up the Hobbit way! Breakfast begins as soon as a Hobbit wakes up, typically around 7:00 AM. This other big meal consists of a variety of filling foods like quiches, eggs, cooked ham and bacon, pastries like croissants, muffins, and doughnuts, and who could forget po-TAY-toes: boil ‘em, mash ‘em, and stick ‘em in a stew. A filling breakfast is the best way to start a Hobbit’s day.

1. Second Breakfast

We’ve had one yes, but surely another can’t hurt. This favorite Hobbit meal is sadly forgotten by humans quite frequently, especially Rangers. While 9:00 AM is the norm, it is okay to bend the rules a little on an adventure. Making time to eat is important to keep a Hobbit going on their quest. Hobbits love to eat pan fried toasts and cakes, eggs, pastries, and fruit. An apple may come in handy if the pickings are slim. Eating on the go is not unheard of, but second breakfast is best enjoyed at the table in dry clothing.

A Very Abridged Review of D&D's Most Controversial Edition

Posted October 27 by Seth Casel 

I never thought I’d be living in an age where Dungeons & Dragons went mainstream. As someone who got into the tabletop roleplaying hobby just before the game’s fifth edition released in late 2014, I do have a fair amount of memories of a time where tabletop roleplaying games were looked at condescendingly as a hobby for social outcasts and sweaty nerds. The fifth edition of D&D changed all of that. It’s fairly easy for anyone to learn even if they haven’t played role-playing games before. The game is also playable just with books, paper, and dice- or not even that, if the myriad available online resources for the game are utilized by playgroups. The game is also just really good! 

Unfortunately for my ten-year-old self back in 2014, I didn’t have access to D&D’s fifth edition. I didn’t have access to any of the positives that edition provided, such as the ease of access, popularity, or online resources. I didn’t even have access to a good game. I was stuck playing the forbidden game, the one that is only spoken of in whispers in tabletop RPG circles: D&D’s fourth edition. 

For readers who are not well-versed in D&D meta-lore, the game’s fourth edition is essentially persona non grata in D&D discussion. I believe this view of the edition started because of what it replaced. D&D’s third edition is still one of the most popular tabletop roleplaying games to this day despite being over twenty years old.  Pundits of the edition often say it is even better than the game’s fifth edition (and I’d actually agree with them.) Fourth Edition made a variety of changes to the base gameplay of Third Edition that many Third Edition fans did not like. (In fact, some 3E fans did not like the changes so much that they published their own TTRPG based off of 3E named Pathfinder, which is the second most popular TTRPG of all time behind only 5E.) 

In particular, the spellcasting system was significantly overhauled. One of the main complaints about Third Edition was that spellcasters such as wizards and druids offered significantly more utility both in and out-of-combat than their weapon-wielding counterparts such as rogues and barbarians. This was because these spellcasters had a vast variety of spells to choose from, from healing to throwing fireballs to going invisible to flight, that they could cast many, many times per day whenever needed at medium to high levels, and weapon wielders just had what boiled down to “swing the big stick.” 3E tried to alleviate this somewhat in their supplement Tome of Battle, by releasing classes with access to “stances” and “maneuvers” that acted somewhat like spells, and it did somewhat work, but this had the side effect of making the previous weapon-wielders even more pathetic in comparison. 

Fourth Edition overcorrected for this spellcasting difference by removing almost all utility from spells. Utility spells do exist, but they are often extremely hamstrung when compared to their 3E counterparts. Martial characters and spellcasters now also have the exact same style of play, since all martial characters have access to Tome of Battle-style “powers” that are only usable once per fight or day- the exact same mechanic that spellcasters now have, as well. Martial characters also have utility powers that can act similarly to out-of-combat spells. This results in all of the game’s classes feeling very similar, except for their flavor and the actual, specific powers they possess. As a consequence of this, Fourth Edition is very, very balanced. The only things in the game that are “broken” are specific powers and not entire classes, making it very easy for a DM to simply just ban those powers. 

Another unappreciated change from 3E to 4E was that out-of-combat mechanics were absolutely gutted. The game went from 134 (yes, 134) published skills in 3E to just 18- another overcorrection from one of 3E’s problems that hurts the game, as those skills are now rarely used. Those skills (along with a minority of utility powers) are the game’s only out-of-combat mechanics. It is essentially a combat simulator. This feeling is exacerbated by the fact that the game essentially requires miniatures and a map. There’s no theater-of-the mind possible here; many abilities have an exact range that needs to be manually counted out. The replacement of 3E’s measure of “feet” to describe distances with 5x5’ “squares” also lends to this feeling. The accessibility that made 5E so popular is nowhere to be found here.

In summary, Fourth Edition is a mess. It’s hated, it overcorrects for its vastly more popular previous edition, the classes all feel the same, there’s basically no mechanics that aren’t combat, someone needs to spend a king’s ransom on miniatures in order to even play it, and it’s also been supplanted by the most popular TTRPG of all time that is infinitely more accessible than it.

Fourth Edition has also resulted in the most fun I’ve ever had playing D&D.

Everything about it sounds terrible, conceptually. Yes, the classes don’t feel that different from each other. Yes, there’s a high barrier to entry. Yes, there’s nothing but combat here. But once you actually get past all of that and play the game? It is an absolute blast.

As I alluded to earlier, the combat is so well-balanced. The game manages to nail the perfect D&D difficulty of having fights be challenging but winnable. What’s more, the fights require teamwork. No longer can you simply blast through a fight because the wizard can do everything. The classes are the same in concept, but each class’s individual powers bring such a unique bevy of effects and abilities to the table, and they synergize with each other in such unique ways that each perhaps not each class, but each combination of classes feels entirely unique in how they play off each other. I didn’t even find myself missing out-of-combat mechanics that much. The lack of these mechanics really forces players to stop using them as a crutch and actually roleplay their character to get through difficult social situations instead of just rolling through everything.

Fourth Edition is the epitome of a beautiful disaster. While I dislike 5E but recommend everyone play it, and love 3E and recommend no one play it, 4E is the only edition of D&D that I can say that I both like and would highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t tried it out.

Well, if you can get past the eye rolls, that is.

What's the Deal With Theme Songs?

Posted October 20 by Harley Bray

Pretty much every show ever made has theme songs, from The Office to Sliders to Breaking Bad. They’re so commonplace it’s probably something you have never thought about that deeply. Which makes me wonder, why put in the effort to compose one? Shows like Phineas and Ferb use Bowling for Soup, or Psych using the Friendly Indians, these creators are putting a lot of effort into a short song at the start of a daytime television show. It is especially intriguing when you consider the ‘Skip Intro’ button is a lot more commonplace with streaming services taking the spotlight of the public psyche. Thus the question stands, why put in the effort? Why create something that will more than likely be skipped?

Through reflection, the usefulness of the theme song is obvious. First and Foremost, they act as a trailer or advertisement for the show. In most cases, we see the main characters doing things that are normal for them. Shawn Spencer of Psych is seen fighting someone with a fake sword, or poorly hiding behind a potted plant in his wild antics. On the other hand, House MD shows Greg House and his crew hard at work trying to save people, thus showing newcomers what this show is about. The music can also be a giveaway as its tune allows for the setup of the tone of the show. Breaking Bad gives us an amazing example with the deep tune that hums in your ears, relating to the darker and more serious themes the show depicts.

However, when I am watching a show in full, I do not need a trailer for something I have stuck with for four seasons. So I, naturally as a human being, skip some of the intros to shows I watch, but there are those few shows that have stood the test of time and are never skipped by me. Those shows are Psych, American Dad, and Parks and Recreation, all are shows I revisit from time to time. In my opinion, the intros to these shows are massive elevators to the experience and enjoyment of watching them.

But why do I watch them? The skip intro button is not broken in these massive shows on massive platforms. I think the reasons I continue to watch the repetitive songs that cover things I already know are varied. To start, Psych and American Dad are never skip intros to me because of their iconic status. The songs they use for the shows are genuinely the best songs written for a tv show ever. I am jamming out every time I listen to the songs shown on screen, and the joy of the visuals with the lyrics are endlessly entertaining and enhance the show for me. Second, in the case of Parks and Rec especially, the intro is used to enhance the jokes. Its purpose feels as if it is the punctuation to the punchline, this in my opinion makes the show more humorous, and I think cutting that punctuation short can often diminish the joke it ends and can make the next joke feel too rushed.

All in all, a lot of care goes into the creation of TV shows, and there is a purpose to every aspect of a show. I feel that we could all take time to respect each part of the shows we watch, especially the ones we do not think about as often.

On Imposter Syndrome

Posted October 7 by Gabby Cacciatore

I may still identify myself as a reader and a writer when someone asks me about my hobbies, but sometimes I don’t feel like it anymore. I guess it’s impostor syndrome because I know that there is no true technical requirement for either (besides being able to understand words on a page or to create them) but it still feels like I’m failing right now. I go through periods where I get so busy and bogged down by everything else in my life that I lose track of my time and my hobbies but writing especially seems to be impaired. Maybe it’s because it requires creativity, effort, motivation, and more or maybe it’s because it doesn’t come as naturally to me. Maybe it’s actually because I put so much pressure on myself to do it a certain way that I procrastinate until I have to spout it out under pressure. However, I will argue that I indeed work better under pressure but I think we both know that’s a lie. Reading is different because it comes almost as naturally as breathing, which is why I turn to it on days like today where I feel a little more lost than usual. If I need to take a break from this world for a little while, it keeps my mind busy enough but I can still lay horizontally in my bed with my glasses on the nightstand. I cherish both in their own ways but unless I have a specific reason to write or a specific time to read, I lose track of them both and my creativity. It comes and goes in waves and I always feel better after turning a page. All I know is I keep coming back to it after however long it's been, despite the distance life created. So maybe, just maybe, I’m not quite an impostor or it’s not up for me to decide. Better yet, maybe it doesn’t actually matter.

What This Summer Taught Me About French Women and Myself

Posted September 21 by Julianna Reidell 

Summer 2024 was a good time to be a Francophile. After all, the Olympics had everyone turning their gazes toward Paris — and while I didn’t engage with the actual event besides watching occasional clips of Simone Biles and the “Pommel Horse Guy,” I did spend a decent amount of time tracking down the many references to French history featured in the Opening Ceremony. What captured my attention the most, however, wasn’t Lady Gaga’s glamorous rendition of “Mon truc en plumes” or even whatever was going on between Gojira and the headless Marie Antoinettes (can she still not catch a break?). It was instead the unveiling of ten new statues, all of notable women who had made significant contributions to French history. Paulette Nardal, Gisèle Halimi, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone Veil… I was entranced. As I write this, I’m trying to remember if I’ve seen any statues of historical women in my own country, the good old U.S. of A. — and the fact that none comes immediately to mind seems eminently problematic. 

But the new French statues weren’t just of more modern women, like Nardal or Veil, figures I’d already been introduced to in classes or through my own research. The collection also included women like Christine de Pisan, a medieval-era poet and potentially the first European woman to earn a living solely through her writing (!!!), and Jeanne Baret, who became the first woman to sail around the world between 1766 and 1774. Faced with women who’d Done Cool Things, I dove eagerly into learning their stories. 

At the same time as the Olympics, I was also attempting to head off the traditional summertime reduction in my French abilities by listening to a podcast on RadioFrance. The ten-part series was entitled “Dans le tumulte de la Révolution française” — In the Tumult of the French Revolution — and each episode featured a spotlight on a specific personality or event during the long, messy years of the French Revolution. Familiar figures were included — Danton, Desmoulins, the assassination of Marat, and of course, Robespierre — but also highlighted were lesser-known stories, including those of two women who might have merited statues of their own. 

Olympe de Gouges and Théroigne de Méricourt, both outsiders in one fashion or another and both unconventional for their day, were eager participants in the early stages of the French Revolution. Théroigne, whose lower-class origins inspired her to participate in discussions of liberté and égalité (liberty and equality, two-thirds of the French national motto), spoke before the National Assembly, the newly-formed governing body of what was transitioning from a monarchy to a republic. In addition to her passionate speeches, she was made notable for her distinctive clothing: a more masculine riding outfit with a sword at her side, often in the colors of what would become the French flag (an ensemble called à l'amazone at the time). 

Olympe de Gouges, meanwhile, had been attracting scandal even before the Revolution. Born Marie Gouze in the south of France, she had been married off against her will as a teen to an older local man. When he drowned a little over a year into their marriage, Marie — with a baby son by now — left her hometown for Paris, restyling herself Olympe de Gouges in the process. In the city, she attended balls and social events, potentially with the support of wealthy lovers — but she also began to write. Her most notable works include a play protesting against the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the treatment of enslaved Africans in France’s Caribbean colonies: when the piece was staged for performances, protests and riots caused its abrupt closure, particularly after the 1791 Saint Domingue slave uprising that would grow into the Haitian Revolution. In addition to her abolitionist beliefs, De Gouges was also an advocate for women’s rights. After the publication of the Déclaration des Droits de L’homme et du Citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen), she created a revised version, the Declaration of the Rights of the Woman and the (Female) Citizen; the work was dedicated to Marie Antoinette.

There is something particular about being a member of a group whose stories are often told as an afterthought. My assumption is that this is a feeling common to all identities with some degree of marginalization; as a white cis woman, I’m also aware that people who look like me still often receive a bit more of the “historical spotlight” than women of color, white trans women, trans women of color, etc. Nevertheless, through high school, my encounters with women’s history were often confined to one or two throwaway sentences in the pages of a textbook: the wives of a few influential presidents might be name-dropped, while the American Suffrage Movement was a brief blip in the history of the 19th and 20th centuries. I think I always knew, inherently, that not all historical women had been content to adhere to the roles allotted to them by the powerful men in their lives (those roles being principally daughter, wife, and mother, of course). After all, I wouldn’t be content with those limits, and surely there hadn’t been some sudden, drastic shift in perception in the year just before my birth. I knew enough to know that there had been “waves” of feminism; the fight for women’s rights had been a long, long struggle, and it wasn’t anywhere near done yet. 

But there is always a difference between recognizing something in an abstract sense and being presented with concrete examples. And here were my examples: Christine de Pisan, Jeanne Baret, Théroigne de Méricourt, Olympe de Gouges, and more. To me, they represented a fundamental validation. They were proof, laid out in explicit detail, that “empowered women” — intelligent, brave women with a deep investment in the fate of their nation, their sex, and other populations deprived of traditional power — were not some unholy construct of the 20th and 21st centuries, a danger that arose from giving women too much voice and one that could be erased by limiting their rights, as certain Internet trolls and dudebro politicians continue to posit today. There have always been talented women interested in challenging the status quo, interested in contributing as full citizens to a cause greater than themselves. There have always been non-conformists; there have always been women like me. We have always been here. 

It was a marvelous feeling, this sudden rush of summer empowerment. But I also can’t sugarcoat these women’s struggles, or pretend that they all had happy endings. Jeanne Baret, in order to sail around the world as a botanist’s assistant, had to disguise herself as a man on a ship full of inquisitive, suspicious sailors. This was an era where women were forbidden by law from traveling on French naval ships; when Jeanne’s true sex was revealed, it was likely as a result of assault by her fellow crew members. She and her botanist employer (and lover) were left behind on a French trading post halfway across the world; when he died, it took her several more years and an advantageous marriage to make it home to France. Meanwhile, both Théroigne de Méricourt and Olympe de Gouges eventually fell prey to the violence of more radical Revolutionary factions. After imprisonment in Austria and a humiliating public whipping once back in Paris, Théroigne began to struggle with mental instability. She spent over a decade of the last years of her life in a mental institution; in moments of lucidity, she appeared to be frozen during the years of the Revolution, attempting to contact fellow revolutionaries who had by that point been put to death. And Olympe de Gouges, who had insisted that if a woman had the right to go to the scaffold (to be executed), she deserved the right to vote, only saw half of that wish fulfilled. Accused of supporting the monarchy (and, more importantly, not supporting the Reign of Terror instigated by Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety), she was sent to the guillotine in November of 1973. These are stories of extraordinary women, with extraordinary courage — but extraordinary women are threatening to those who most benefit from the power of the patriarchy, and their stories do not often end in glory. 

Despite the tragedies each of these women endured — and the ways in which they have been slandered or overlooked in the centuries since their deaths — it would still be a mistake to see their lives as cautionary tales. In a centuries (probably millenia)-long battle towards progress and equality, giving up is not an option. And in an era in which women’s rights (to terminate a pregnancy, for example, particularly in life-threatening situations) and women’s choices (to own cats instead of birthing children) have been increasingly been limited and ridiculed, perhaps the best thing that Jeanne, Théroigne, and Olympe can do is serve as reminders — both of what women have been, have faced, and could face again. Making change as a woman — and not just making change for women, but for everyone — is possible. There have always been women who wanted this, and there always will be. We were always here. And we’re not going anywhere.     

Want to Learn More? 

• Find brief overviews of Théroigne de Méricourt here and here! 

• More on Olympe de Gouges

• The life of Jeanne Baret 

• A bit on Christine de Pisan 

And for a full list of the new statues in Paris, see here.