^ Word.
A Graphic Representation of My Mid-20′s Angst
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Reaction: “Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Create A Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?”
Photo: Anthony Harvey/Picture Group, taken from BET
Being a 26-year-old woman with a low tolerance for idiocy, I begged off from watching the much-tweeted and ballyhooed 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. (I also don’t have cable.) But I would have had to be living in a cave without Internet access to avoid the big news of the evening: Beyoncé Knowles is pregnant!
The 29-year-old singer (and Patron Saint of Wronged Women Everywhere) proudly displayed her baby bump on the red carpet Sunday evening, whipping her fans into an ovarian frenzy. Even if Beyoncé wasn’t dominating the charts with her fourth solo album, this news was sure to capture the media and world’s attention, what with our fascination with celebrities’ reproductive systems. I’m surprised we haven’t added a “FERTILIZATION ALERT!” to the “BUMP WATCH!” features in gossip rags.
But out of all the coverage popping up on my news feed, I have to say BET’s cringe-worthy post “Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Create A Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy” gave me the most reason to cock my head to the side and say, “Wha?”
NO99 Straw Theater by Salto Architects
One of the coolest things about my internship at Fast Company is the chance to uncover stories I would never have found on my usual Internet jaunts (which these days looks something like: Gmail > Facebook > Google Reader > OKCupid! and repeat).
While working on a blurb about the upcoming World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, I stumbled upon this amazing structure in Estonia envisioned by the geniuses at Salto Architects.
Photos by Martin Siplane, Paul Aguraiuja & Karli Luik, taken from Salto Architects site. Click for larger images.
Made primarily of spray painted bales of straw (with trusses lending support), the NO99 Straw Theater is as much an art installation as it is a theater space. The theater is built on the former grounds of the Soviet Navy’s recreational area and summer theater stage, which civilians were restricted to use. NO99 reflects the number of performances that will be held in the space; it will only be open for 5 months before it is taken down.
In the last 20 years it has been ” a closed and neglected spot in the centre of town with real estate controversies and several failed large-scale development plans,” according to Salto. Though I’m not fluent in Estonian, I think the architects and theater groups’ intentions were to create a visual representation of the void the space had come to represent for people in the town. Check out the video below for more information and to see some of the shows staged in the space.
Fast Company’s Newest Intern — A Timeline
There has to be a record for how fast (pun not intended but enjoyed nonetheless) this happened.
Before my first week in New York could even come to a close, I’ve secured a three-month, paid internship with Fast Company, a gorgeous magazine that profiles innovations in business, technology and design. I’m beyond excited and can’t wait to start on March 14. To get a sense of just how fast I went from New York transplant with no job to gainfully employed magazine intern, read on.
“What Do You Want To Do?”
It’s a question that I get asked a lot, one that you think — what with years of schooling and experience — would have a hard and fast answer by now.
“Oh, dahling,” I should say, swishing the contents of my martini glass around while buffing my nails. “I want to follow the Bedouin tribes of Egypt for Vanity Fair while shooting an accompanying documentary on the effects of khat on peripatetic journalists.”
Instead it comes out more like, “Oh, gosh, I don’t really know. I mean, I have so many experiences in print, online, and radio. I really love to write and yet, I love editing audio and video… I would love to work for an NPR station as a producer/reporter or maybe a staff writer or online news editor for New York Magazine…and there’s still a part of me that wants to write long-form narrative non-fiction pieces for Vanity Fair…I just want to find something that combines all those loves, you know? ”
Which, of course, eight times out of 10 the person doesn’t know. Because apparently one must have a steadfast and unshakable answer to this question. A question whose answer the wavering economy and competitive (although slowly opening up) job market makes even harder to define.
But until the Journalism Gods touch my forehead with a golden finger that immediately presents THE ONE POSITION THAT WILL MAKE ME THE HAPPIEST JOURNO ON THE PLANET OH MY GAWD, I’ll continue to smile over my overpriced drinks and ignore the wide array of concerned expressions my nonanswer tends to illicit. It works for me.
I’m Having a “Sistah Moment”
Growing up, I rarely got the support other girls found in their monthly subscription to magazines. I actually had to make a conscious effort to stop picking up Seventeen or Teen magazine when I was in middle school; the sparkling blonde hair and vacuous copy just didn’t reflect my then chemically straightened black hair and Daria-age cynicism.
As I grew older, Black women’s magazines didn’t fit either. Essence and Ebony were for an older generation, one that remembered the Civil Rights Movement as more than just a chapter in a history book.
Thankfully, there is a rise of great online publications catering to a hipper, more connected and cosmopolitan black woman. Clutch Magazine Online is one of them — a site for intelligent black women to discuss community issues like the jailing of an Ohio mom trying to do good by her children to interracial dating. While applying to become their Daily Editor, one of the editors reached out to me to write up one of the stories I pitched to them in the application.
The result is here. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Bright Lights, Big City
I’m moving to New York, a decision that has me emotionally ricocheting from one conflicting state to another: excitement and toe-curling fear. On the surface, most things are in place: I’ve bought my one-way ticket; I’ve found a cheap and amazing sublet in Bushwick, Brooklyn; I’m working on establishing a transfer to a New York outpost of my retail job; I have a definite place to live in May with one of my closest friends from college; and I have freelance money coming in from (gasp!) Glamour magazine and the textbook publishing company I worked for after college.
And yet… and yet…
This is a huge move for me. I’ve never truly been on my own (college is an expected rite of passage I ran towards with open arms) and the high cost of living in New York has me shaking in my boots.
So until I get to the concrete jungle where dreams are made (screw you, Alicia Keys, and your poor grammar) and until I’ve secured employment in a job that at least is on the borders of my professional interests, I’ll just keep bouncing around in the inflatable moon jump that is my brain.
Video: Testing His Metal
I am not a metal fan by any means*. But when the music editor of The Pitch asked me to videotape one of our staff writers ingest fire I was there, FlipCam and a bottle of beer at the ready. Here’s the result — I promise no journalists where hurt in the making of this video. Though some taste buds may have been seared.
(Ok, ok. There was an embarrassing period where I wrote angsty journal entries to a soundtrack of nu metal “giants” Papa Roach, but don’t judge me.)
So You Want to be a Journalist
Oh man, oh man. So funny. So true. So awfully, painfully true.
Friends in High Places
To put it bluntly, my friends are cooler than yours. That’s not to put down your acquaintances and loved ones — I’m sure they are very lovely people. But the number of talented people I know is mind boggling, awe inspiring and jealousy inducing. Take for example Ian Monroe. Within seconds of me posting a plea for WordPress design help on Twitter and Facebook, he was on the case.
Within a few hours, he had fixed the faults in my blog design and coding that months of staring at my (increasingly mocking) screen couldn’t shake. See, what did I tell you? Super cool. Check out Ian’s website for his resume and a gallery of his web design work in case you find yourself needing his services.