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(06/16/19 7:00am)
My best friend’s feet rest on the dashboard of my dad’s old car as we drive around in an attempt to escape the heat. My high school years were spent almost exactly like this—summer days stretched between coffee shop chess games, aimless visits to Target, and poorly planned trips to the city. Behind the fragments of our conversation and the hum of the air conditioner has always been the latest song to emerge from the shuffle of my summer playlist.
(06/09/19 4:00pm)
It is 2008 and I carry a copy of Taylor Swift's "Fearless" album in the front pocket of my suede leopard–print backpack. Pulling it out between history lessons and rocket math races, my friends and I pore over the lyric sheet as if preparing for the biggest tests of our lives. In a life characterized by experiences, there is no milestone similar to that of receiving your first album.
(04/30/19 2:02am)
Like many great relationships, it began with “Sex." When The 1975 released that single in 2012, it quickly became popular with teenagers and gave the Manchester band attention that their prior releases had not. With the song’s dynamic drum beat under the aggressive narration of a vapid girl explaining how she's using the lead singer, Matty Healy, to cheat on her boyfriend, how could it not? It perfectly captured the sad–but–satisfied emotional themes that colored the teen ethos of the time, when we all reblogged pictures of cigarettes and our favorite John Green quotes onto each other’s Tumblr dashboards. The group consists of four members: Healy on vocals, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniel. With a band name originating from a Jack Kerouac scribbling, The 1975—in all of their grunge glory—arrived at the perfect time.
(04/22/19 11:28pm)
It’s not every day that you get to open for the Rockettes, live at Radio City.
(05/25/19 7:00am)
In a world riddled with social media handles and unearthed scandals, chances are your favorite celebrity has been canceled. "Canceling" refers to calling out public figures for past behaviors that may be problematic or insensitive. What began as an act of correction has grown into an entire movement of “dropping” public figures and using their past actions as justification to consider them and their career entirely unsupportable. Often times, such actions resurface in the form of antiquated tweets— fans and haters sift through celebrities' tweets from years prior until something controversial appears. An example of this search for the problematic can be seen in Kevin Hart’s Twitter archive, when in 2011, he tweeted a stream of homophobic thoughts and slurs. After fellow social media users exposed this part of his past, he immediately became the center of a Twitter storm as the public called to cancel him—causing him to step down as host for the 2019 Oscars.
(04/09/19 5:49pm)
“Welcome to Funktoon NetWURQ!"—the voice in the introduction video booms to the audience. Excited shouts burst from the crowd—the show is about to be one to remember. It is Saturday night, and I am sitting front and center in the Iron Gate Theater, about to get my first taste of Strictly Funk’s energy and talent. The urban dance group has been rehearsing for their premiere show since the beginning of the semester, and has dedicated countless hours toward perfecting their pieces. It's their time to put this perfection on display.
(04/07/19 10:04pm)
“I love you, baby, and if it’s quite alright, I need you baby,” Heath Ledger mouths to an audience of gym class students, marching band members, and—behind the screen of a 2012 Dell laptop—my best friend and me. It is one in the morning, and we are trying not to whisper too loudly in our sleepy hometown. This was my first introduction to 10 Things I Hate About You: the spring break of seventh grade, when I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to hold hands, let alone touch tongues.
(03/27/19 2:27am)
At five in the evening, cars cruise down Chestnut Street, tourists stroll around Center City, and locals make their way back home after work. Meanwhile, Helm Rittenhouse is just getting started for the night. The restaurant walls, decorated with portraits of Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar, greet you upon entrance. String lights adorn the bar menu, and the seating area is incredibly intimate, with an array of tables facing large windows welcoming in the Philadelphia evening.
(02/26/19 6:05am)
At four in the afternoon, students stream into the Starbucks below 1920 Commons. Muffled by orders of cold brews creamed with coconut milk and toffee syrup, “Take Five” croons softly through the speakers on this late February Friday. The weekend slips by and soon, teenagers trudge along the second floor of Fisher–Bennett Hall, where the sticky–sweet melody of “In the Mood” playing through an open office door alleviates Monday’s somber atmosphere. Jazz music—especially in settings teeming with life such as a university campus—often does not beg to be listened to. It instead fills the cracks where silence doesn't suffice and other genres do not fit. However, the space it once inhabited was vast.
(02/16/19 6:37pm)
While the rest of Philadelphia drifts into slumber at 3 a.m., a group of Penn students spend their twilight hours rehearsing, rehearsing, and rehearsing. Since the beginning of the school year, the university’s first and only all–male dance team, Penn Dhamaka, has been preparing nonstop for one weekend; more specifically, for three shows. This year, their sixteenth annual production “DMAK High” takes us back to the hallways of first days, class clowns, and detention—all while combining western dance styles with South Asian dance styles in their signature fashion. I was fortunate to attend their opening night this past Friday (2/15) to see what all of those hours and sweat were about.