This is where I live and have lived for 14 years. It’s impossible to cut the ribbon on Now Haus without first introducing you to my haus. Bennington Corners is where it all began; and in the crude city of New York that can seem to have no heart, I know that mine is here.
My mother found this notebook from my elementary school days at P.S.87. It reminded me of the “indepent” work I’ve been consolidating here, like a cyber Five Star notebook.
Sometimes people forget that a song can be judged on immediate face value. It makes you feel good regardless of its deeper analysis or validation. I can play The Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me” over and over again.
I went running in Riverside Park this morning and it reminded me of when I used to play there at the dinosaur playground when I was just a lil’un. Pogo harkens back to my generation’s preschool days with compositions mixing Disney movies and creating catchy tunes from these very clips. I recommend checking out his YouTube channel Fagottron to explore further.
//////////////AMIS/////////////////////////////////////////////
Cosas Bonitas /// Captivating images of anything and everything, even the kitchen sink (she’s into interior design among portraits of unique landscapes, mysterious men, and impish models)
Hamster Feed /// Quirky, cute, and silly material that keeps you hungry for me of that hamster feed. (yum?)
Cerulean Blue /// A Columbia University student’s log of her studies abroad in Turkey. She skips around to other fabulous places, but takes her camera and observant eye along for the ride.
Stitch & Line /// My fellow Interview Magazine intern’s meditation on fashion and literature. If our shared desk discussions are any indication of her ability to keep a dull day fun, Stitch & Line will keep you watching and thinking about the progression of all that is beautiful.
Burning Lilac /// My dear friend explores the fashion world by modeling her latest finds and documenting her work organizing NYU’s biggest fashion show EXPO and interning at Harper’s Bazaar magazine.
////NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH///////CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN///////////
As an intern at Interview magazine, I am asked to do some cool things like transcribe interviews or research important people for articles. Other times, however, I am sent to messenger items across the stretches of New York City. My mission to bring a pair of shoes and two books to a photo shoot yesterday brought me to Crown Heights in Brooklyn. As I exited the Sterling St. subway stop, I felt a sudden urge to keep my guard up and protect the goods I was responsible for protecting! However, as I ventured towards the walk-up apartment on Lincoln Road, I couldn’t help myself from gaping at the sweet streets and families going about their daily lives in this verdure! Brooklyn as a whole is so green, it’s like an oasis of youth and peace outside of Manhattan isle. But seriously, where do these little cottages come from? Detached Victorian style houses, verandas, “Beware of Dog” signs, families bringing groceries from the car, grandmas sitting outside reading, kids running through sprinklers…Getting on the Q train from the Prospect Park station was a bit embarrassing as I snapped photos while neighborhood girls listening to their walkmen strolled through the beautiful wrought-iron platform like it ain’t no thing but a chicken wing.
It’s been months. Summer eroded and Fall fell but as the air frosts into winter, I begin packing up my things and preparing for a hiatus. Berlin looms in the Spring and I will spend the wintertime at home in new york. I’im packing up summer clothes to ease the stress of my nearing move out. Deciding some heavy books would be useful to ship home, I carefully packed my most prized piece of literature, Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal, a 1917 edition that I bought for $2 at my university’s library. As a gesture of goodbye, I cracked the book open for a last time, and was struck with kismet. Perhaps I will keep the book around just a bit longer.
Madrigal Triste
Que m’importe que tu sois sage?
Sois belle! et sois triste! Les pleurs
Ajoutent un charme au visage,
Comme le fleuve au paysage;
L’orage rajeunit les fleurs.
Je t’aime surtout quand la joie
S’enfuit de ton front terrassé;
Quand ton coeur dans l’horreur se noise;
Quand sur ton présent se déploie
Le nuage affreux du passé.
Je t’aime quand ton grand oeil verse
Une eau chaude comme le sang;
Quand, malgré ma main qui te berce,
Ton angoisse, trop lourde, perce
Comme une râle d’agonisant.
J’aspire, volupté divine!
Hymne profond, délicieux!
Tous les sanglots de ta poitrine,
Et crois que ton voeur s’illumine
Des perles que versent tes yeux!
Je sais que ton coeur, qui regorge
De vieux amours déracinés,
Flamboie encor comme une forge,
Et que tu couves sous ta gorge
Un peu de l’orgeuil des damnés;
Mais tant, ma chère, que tes rêves
N’auront pas refleté l’Enfer,
Et qu’en un cauchemar sans trèves,
Songeant de poisons et de glaives,
Éprise de poudre et de fer,
N’ouvrant á chacun qu’avec crainte,
Déchiffrant le malheur partout,
Te convulsant quand l’heure tinte,
Tu n’auras pas senti l’étreinte
De l’irrésistible Dégoût,
Tu ne pourras, esclave reine
Qui ne m’aimes qu’avec effroi,
Dans l’horreur de la nuit malsaine
Me dire, l’âme de cris pleine;
“Je suis ton égale, ô mon Roi!”
-Charles Baudelaire
//////////// MIXTAPE SERIES //// PART I ///////////////////////////////////
† MALIBU † BARBIE †
I wish I could say that this Mixtape comes ironically to the blistering cold season, but December and January have been real climate bores. I had been compiling a playlist for this mixtape for months and finally got my technicalities straight to do it fo’ real. Think of neon lights, Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion, rollerskating down a boardwalk, and sweet ‘90’s youth. My Malibu Barbie’s hair changed color in 1995, but now all I want is for this New York student’s climate to be lightened.
TRACKLIST:
SWIMMING THROUGH THE BLUE LAGOON // SALLY SHAPIRO
FEEL IT ALL AROUND // WASHED OUT
SEA SEX AND SUN (DEMON RITCHIE MIX) // SERGE GAINSBOURG
LAST ONE AWAKE // MEMORY CASSETTE
SUMMER OF LOVE (IAN CAREY REMIX) // SUNLOVERZ
MIEN // MILLIONYOUNG
BIG LOVE // CFCF
HOT (WIN CLUB MIX) // INNA
THE SCARLETT EMPRESS // COLLEGE
Having cheaper rent in Berlin means walking up six flights of stairs alongside an untouched elevator. The elevator company hasn’t been paid yet and thus remains the elevator off. It just means I get a roof (Dachgeschoß) patio and an excuse to eat massive amounts of küchen on it.
Happy Pi Day (3/14) and 2 week mark of my new home in Berlin!
Have you ever wondered what English sounds like to Italian TV show hosts from the ‘70’s?
///////////////////TANZ IN DEN MAI////////DANCE INTO MAY//////////////////////////
Yesterday was the first of May. In America we call this day “May Day,” which I believe derives from some sort of military event…or the summer solstice harvest. In either case, we celebrate May Day by attaching ribbons or daisy chains to a central pole and dance around it until the pole has been sufficiently wrapped in spring colors, flowers, and love. In Berlin, however, we celebrate nonstop from the last day of April until the end of May 1st by filling the streets with Minimal Techno and Electric Swing beats, bratwurst barbecues, Socialist demonstrations, and 2€ beers. Just replace the porn-star chicks in “Pump up the Jams” with overweight German men in leather and you should have an idea of how to “keep the party pumpin’.” Let’s dance into May 2nd, shall we?
