Overheards 04.19.2022
Serfs Anonymous: "I think I was a peasant in my past life. I have peasant taste."
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Serfs Anonymous: "I think I was a peasant in my past life. I have peasant taste."
I almost didn’t run for this job.
If there’s one thing that stands out about Beatrice Forman (C ‘22), it’s that she tells the best stories. I don’t just mean in terms of material, although she often seems to find herself in the midst of truly mind–boggling dating nightmares that later become a series of hilarious texts. Bea is able to craft the most compelling narrative I’ve ever heard, whether the events happened to her or someone she just met.
“Bon Appetit!” Have those words ever been uttered more lovingly, tenderly, or warmly than by Julia Child as she signed off on an episode of The French Chef? It’s hard to say. Perhaps in France—by a maman to her bébé as she ladled some delicious concoction into a shallow bowl, or by a gourmet chef as he placed the finishing touches on the meal that would earn his Paris restaurant its third Michelin star. But in America? Not one other person can take so much credit for popularizing French cuisine and making it accessible to all as Child, who returned from France with the seminal 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
In Philadelphia politics, there's little room for shakers and movers—that is, until Kendra Brooks made room for herself at the table.
It was 2008 and the day of the first–grade soccer tryouts for the local travel team. My mother, a Korean woman in her early 30s, watched apprehensively as a crowd of 7–year–olds stampeded after a rolling soccer ball, her daughter among them. She didn’t know if she wanted her to play soccer. Being a soccer mom was a big commitment. Hell, she hardly knew what a soccer mom was—she was new to the United States, and the culture surrounding youth soccer was a mystery to her.
Beautiful homes. Epic Hans Zimmer scores. White women in all–white outfits. Lots of white wine. Divorce. Diane Keaton.
Camila Cabello has always hovered between the A–list and B–list of pop singers. She debuted with the girl group Fifth Harmony via X Factor in 2012, creating hits like “Worth It” and “Work from Home,” but never really having household recognition unlike the similarly formed One Direction. Cabello left the group at its peak, and her first few solo singles didn’t quite latch on to the public, but “Havana” took over the world by storm, becoming her first number–one song as a solo artist. Her second album Romance was riddled with media gossip thanks to her relationship with Shawn Mendes, and it spawned the summer hits “Señorita” and “My Oh My.”
2022 is shaping up to be a big year for indie and mainstream music fans alike, with releases from Harry Styles, Angel Olsen, Perfume Genius, and Pusha T in the works. As the anticipation builds for these exciting albums, Street's taking a look at the songs that are making the wait a little bit easier. From covers that are getting us through the hardest midterms to singles that are complementing the start of spring and the return of warm weather, these tracks have undoubtedly redefined our perspective on life.
Enter any intro–level Wharton entrepreneurship class, and you’re drilled with the legend of Warby Parker. In 2010, four Wharton MBA students were awarded $2,500 from the Venture Initiation Program at Wharton Entrepreneurship—they then founded an eyewear startup that eventually grew into a market–altering powerhouse now valued at $6 billion. Since then, the story of Warby Parker has been passed down through generations of Whartonites, told and retold within the startup community. From all over the world, Elon Musk wannabes flood to the Wharton School to pursue the prospect of replicating this dream themselves.
There's a genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist taking the world by storm, and it’s not Tony Stark. Instead it’s the man that inspired the character of Tony Stark—Elon Musk. Unsurprisingly, Musk is constantly innovating and seeking out new avenues to make daily life more efficient. However, Musk has also made a name for himself through his promotion of COVID–19 misinformation, hypocrisy regarding artificial intelligence, and transphobic memes. But this time around, Musk isn’t making the news over his controversial persona or technological prowess. Rather, it’s something unprecedented—taking over Twitter.
The internet is a ruthless place: Twitter wars, harsh memes, and ferocious fights in comment sections are the norm. For four days beginning on April Fool's day in 2017 (and revived for its fifth anniversary at the beginning of this month), Reddit’s r/Place subreddit was the home of much of this intensity. Instead of up– or down–voting one another’s posts, users both cooperated and competed for space on a virtual canvas as part of this online initiative.
“Po–wa–ha (water–wind–breath) is the essence of life. Existence is determined not by a physical body or other physical manifestation but by the breath, which is symbolized by the movement of the water and wind. It is the breath which flows without distinction through the entirety of animate and inanimate existences. … We flow in the Po–wa–ha along with all other manifestations of life.” — Rina Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo), 1993
Although climate change has gained more mainstream public attention in recent years, the meaning of terms like sustainability and eco–friendly have become increasingly nebulous. Many of the reasons for this issue aren’t mere coincidence. For years, greenwashing has been used as a tactic by corporations who co–opt the language of sustainability for advertising purposes, while failing to make actual changes to their environmentally unsustainable business practices, and continuing to cause material harm to the environment and marginalized communities across the world.
After 30 seasons, ABC announced last week that it had dropped network darling Dancing with the Stars following a steep decline in ratings in the coveted 18–34 demographic. However, loyal fans have nothing to fret over. Disney+ announced that it had acquired the ABC staple in what may initially seem like a surprising investment for the kid–oriented streaming service. Shock aside, its implications are vast for the platform, which has seen its subscriber growth stagnate due to a lack of adult programs.
In 2020, Merriam–Webster dictionary chose “pandemic” as its word of the year, and it’s hard to argue with that. In fact, given the way that it's followed us around relentlessly for the last few years, one could argue that it’s more the word of an era. Or, if you ask Max Strickberger (C ‘22) and Alan Jinich (C ‘22), the word of a generation.
In high school, I aspired to be a beer girl. A beer girl hung out with guys and played pong at parties—she wasn’t one for girly chatter, and perhaps looked a little intimidating. She wore baggy clothing and no makeup, yet looked stunning nonetheless. She was chill. The beer girl was the first of many types of girls who are “not like other girls"—girls who were considered "unique" and didn’t fit the mold of what most other girls were doing.
Every year when the weather starts to get warm, it seems like everyone feels an intense need for change. We make vows, sincere or otherwise, about entering and exiting hoe phases, binge productivity YouTube videos, and begin our spring cleaning—all in service of our obsession with wanting something new.
God to the Egyptians: "Jinx! You owe me your firstborn child."
On a brisk morning in February 2022, Michael Cogbill was mounting a campaign. The 32–year–old union organizer knocked on hundreds of doors in North Philly to collect signatures that would secure his spot on the ballot for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District in the May primary. In Philly’s unpredictable winter weather, the task proved easier said than done, but conversations with eager voters kept Cogbill hopeful.
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