Everyday People, Extraordinary Choices

The two legged postage stamp is a representation of human ideology. To represent each of the agents of counter cultural change we have profiled, a stamp was used because they leave a permanent mark while also representing the ability of ideas to spread across populations. The two legged postage stamp also represents each of us that has contributed to this project because we are hoping that each of our profiles inspire those who view them to initiate some kind of social change.

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Profile of Sean Azzariti

"Every day, and absolutely, I love cannabis. I may or may not be high right now." 

    "@Seanazzariti hi, kinda random but I was wondering if I could email you about a project for my school? It would be really appreciative" Could that tweet have been any more awkward? This is the tweet I had sent to Sean Azzariti to see if he would be willing to be interviewed by me. I had never really expected to get Sean's attention by this tweet, it was a long shot. If I had known I would have gotten a response I would have put a little more thought into it.

     Sean Azzariti is a former United States Marine who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the past couple of months he has been in the news for the work he has been doing in Colorado advocating for legalization of cannabis. Sean's work has been a huge success, not only has he been a huge part of the legalization movement but he also has brought to light the issue of PTSD, and finding effective alternative methods of treatment.

    Sean had first enlisted into the United States Marine Corps on August 22, 2000. At the age of nineteen he left for boot camp. When he had first enlisted it was something he was very motivated to do. "I served for 6 years from August 2000-October 2006." Sean deployed to Al-Qaim Iraq in 2003, and Al-Asad Iraq in 2005. It was not until a year after his return home that he noticed something had been off with him. Not everyone who experiences a trauma will develop PTSD, but because of the heightened amounts of stress, trauma and emotions, experienced while in the military, the risk of developing PTSD is greatly escalated.

   I asked Sean, not knowing if he would be willing to talk on the subject, about what the most rewarding and not so rewarding aspects of his military service were and some of the difficulties he faced. "At the time, it all seems rewarding. You really think that you're doing good for all, and not really thinking much about if what you're doing is right or not." He also said, "You're at war, in a country where you can't really tell who is your ally, and who is your enemy. Living with the constant threat of being killed, or having one of your brothers or sisters hurt, or worse, really takes its toll on you." Sean mentioned being shot at, bombed, and the loss of his friends and fellow soldiers.

     Something Sean said really stuck out. He said, "In the early to mid 2000's most of America was quite patriotic, and for me anyways, it was easy to just accept all of the "thank you's" and not really think of the consequences of what we were really doing over there." Oftentimes we go about, thanking veterans for their service. In our minds we are thanking them for protecting us and our country, but when we thank them does this drudge up the past for them? Military service is a soul battering experience, especially for Sean and many other veterans who suffer from PTSD. For these men and women, it can be much harder to deal with these simple "thank you's".

     Reading that specific response from Sean, my stomach felt like it had dropped to the floor, in one of my initial emails to Sean I had thanked him for his service. At the time I had thought I was being polite, now I feel as if I unknowingly insulted him in some way.

    "It wasn't until about a year or so that I really realized something was off with me, and started to seek treatment." PTSD is not just something you can go to the doctors for, take a pill, and be all better. It takes a lot of strength for someone to be able to work through those memories. Sean's list of medications he was first prescribed is as long as a grocery list. Doctors had only prescribed to treat the symptoms, not fix the problems. "It wasn't until 2009 that I went on temporary disability, and had to see a therapist 5 days a week, for 4-6 hours a day to finally get my PTSD under control."

     It was not until he left the military and returned home that Sean had started to use cannabis regularly. He used cannabis in combination with his medications for PTSD. Sean also spent a lot of time on research to figure out what strains of cannabis worked best for the PTSD symptoms he was suffering from. Once he had figured out which strains worked, he began to substitute cannabis for the prescription pills he was taking, until he no longer needed the prescriptions at all. For Sean, cannabis alleviates his symptoms of PTSD without making him into a person incapable of functioning properly. That was exactly what the prescription pills he was taking were doing to him. To Sean, cannabis is a lot of things. The experience is hard for him to explain but it helps him heal, to laugh, to sleep, and to break the ice in social interactions when the time is right.

   In 2007, once Sean had become familiar with cannabis and realized it worked for him he attempted to obtain his medical marijuana license. This is how Sean's activism began. Sean had not been familiar with the laws in Colorado at the time, he had no idea that PTSD was not a qualifying ailment. "I was denied, and pretty disheartened by that, and asked myself thequestion "How many veterans is this happening to?", and how many of them are ending their quest for cannabis with that denial?" Shortly after he began reaching out to activists and organizations such as MPP and SAFER. He began advocating in Colorado for veterans and cannabis use for people suffering from PTSD. Sean knows that everyone is going to be different and cannabis will not work for everyone suffering from PTSD. But he thinks that it is something that is definitely worth trying as an option to help treat PTSD symptoms over prescription pills.

   Sean believes that PTSD should have been covered by medical marijuana policies in the first place and that the 'fight' should have never happened. But he thinks that marijuana being completely legalized in the state of Colorado was for the best. His ultimate goal is to help make cannabis available to not just every veteran with PTSD, but anyone suffering, or anyone that it could benefit in general. People over the age of 21 now have safe, legal access and he hopes that in the near future that cannabis can be provided safely for everyone in the world.

    On January 1, 2014, Sean has watched this journey come full circle in Colorado. Sean made the first legal purchase of cannabis in the state; his total purchase was $59.74. "It was pretty intense to have the whole world watching you do something legally for the first time. It was a feeling I really can't describe other than amazing." For Sean it was the culmination of what people have been fighting years and years for, even way before his time. Work Cited "Sean Azzariti Personal Interview." E-mail interview. 16 Jan. 2014.

-Ally Small

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Civil rights demonstration outside GOP convention hall. Chicago, IL, 1960

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Profile of Daniel Schall

“Life is juggling all your obsessions.”

Daniel Schall, a man with much to say and even more to write. Either it being about his life, or about a painting. Nothing is off limits to him, when it comes to his writing. His magazine, which he runs with seven other people, is a showcase for the obscure kind of subject matter that people write about. Obsession is the name of the magazine, which deals with poetry and short stories. These stories can be about anything that the writers heart desires, but they have to be the person’s obsession. A favorite TV show, or something a little bit creepier. Nothing is off limits, regarding the matter that the person is writing about.

The written content, like how much is submitted, is a little different because the amount of pages in a short story can be up to 75 pages long of single typed material. That is unheard of when submitting for a literary magazine. It is hard enough to read ten pages of single page typed material, but 75 is insane. Most of the time you can see if the short story is good for the magazine at twenty or so, but it is still an incredible long story to put into a literary magazine.

Being in a class with Daniel Schall, is something that does not just have to deal with teaching the material. He likes to see his students grow in front of him, no matter how small of a growth it is. Doing little activities instead of lecturing for a straight hour or more. Lecturing to him is bothersome because who wants to hear the same person talk for that long of a time. Being in an engaged classroom brings grades up more than talking about some boring topic for the hundredth time. It gets boring, and not even a teacher likes something that is boring. That kind of teaching does not bring out learning, it only brings out memorizing until they do not needed it anymore. For english, it is not necessary to memorize anyway but constantly talking does not help anyway. of us may have lost to the façade of urgency and importance in our own selfish lives.

-Ryan Carry

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Klu Klux Klan burns cross at 1st National Meeting In 1867

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Profile of Rynn Ailes

"Her entire outfit is a product of her own hand as a direct refusal to allow an aggressive fashion industry to other her in image, or force her to change herself into a prescribed standard shape.”

    This is Rynn Ailes: at only 22 she is an artist, writer, proud geek, and prouder feminist. She was the lone, sharp female perspective on the podcast Geek-EZ, which deals primarily with nerd culture, often bringing on famous guests and articulating on popular geek media. Rynn continues to be a voice on the podcast Beyond the Veil, which is dedicated to the massive multilayer online role playing game The Secret World. The majority of her wardrobe is of her own design, and she even makes jewelry as another side job in addition to being an active college student.

     As a child, Rynn found herself outside of the societal paradigm very quickly, and has embraced her unique perspective. Being bullied for her weight became the backbone of her support for the body positivity movement once she found it and became involved in her late high school years. “It's always been a part of my life. I couldn't ignore it really.” Society’s reaction to being overweight “points a finger at the failure of women to control their control their weight, control their appetites, and control their impulses.”[1] This invalidates such women's struggles by claiming all is a failure of personality, and therefore of person, which extends further into degrading her intelligence, choices, and actions beyond her body. Harmfully, “food refusal, weight loss, commitment to exercise, and ability to tolerate bodily pain and exhaustion have become cultural metaphors for self-determination, will, and moral fortitude.”[2] This immediate tendency to blame, shame, and bully was especially wrong in Rynn's case as she has a skin condition and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a harmful hormonal condition that causes obesity and is further exasperated as weight is gained. Neglecting health conditions in this strict misunderstanding of female bodies is an ablest issue in itself; not all bodies work the same way, and it is cruel to assume someone with a legitimate health problem be able to treat their body with such a blindly universal expectation.

    “When I made the decision to get weight loss surgery, I was kind of sad. I made the decision solely on the fact that my severe skin problems and PCOS needed to be treated. I didn't want to lose weight; I just wanted to be healthy.” She points out that other than those conditions she was born with, she is perfectly healthy in her weight. But her larger than average body meant that the clothes available to Rynn were not meant for fashionable young women like herself, but generally, for women of an older age. “Women are urged to conform, to help out the economy by continuous consumption of goods and clothing that is quickly made unwearable by the next season,” due to the shifting nature of standard beauty expectations. [1] While currently the industry standard of feminine beauty is fat-less, hairless, and large breasted, in the past women have shown they were too skinny, too big chested, not petite enough, always with the wrong hair and wrong makeup. Right now Rynn’s entire outfit is a product of her own hand as a direct refusal to allow an aggressive fashion industry to other her in image or force her to change herself into a prescribed standard shape.

   Rynn believes it is unnecessary to have to step out of everyday life to make things interesting in only an escapist fashion, firmly believing that each and every day is important and interesting. For her personal works, she is planning several graphic novels that tackle such themes of equality and normalization. Rynn smiled as she talked about her philosophy on inspiration for such independent re-imagining productions. She sees her decisionsand favorite media existing in a circle of influence. She works with expanding the typical cis, white, hetero, male dominated casts of media, and so enjoys the work of others who do the same,leading them to inspire her. Rynn always has more to say, teach, and inspire in the world aroundher, but only for those who want to listen. For every subject, there are endless dialogs that can stem from them, and Rynn is the perfect woman to start that dialog, with friends, on podcasts, through the stories that she shares with the world. [1] Orbach, Susie. Fat Is a Feminist Issue: The Anti-Diet Guide for Women. New York: Random House, 1998. Print. [2] Bordo, Susan. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and The Body. Berkeley: University of California, 1993. Print.

-Nicole Frost

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Profile of Adrienne Mackey

Picture of Adrienne Mackey (Copyright © Arden Theatre Company)

“I’ve made an active point to try and foster positive and supportive relationships with young women coming into this community. I had no female mentors when I first started working in Philly...and I’d love to make that different for the next set of Philly women artists.”

Adrienne Mackey is the artistic director of Swim Pony Performing Arts in Philadelphia. The company was formed to create new works of theatre that break out of the traditional conventions of the field. Through this company, Adrienne has fostered a love for devised theatre in the Philadelphia area. Devised theatre is a piece of theatre that is created through collaboration. The writing and the physical motion of the piece come from both the actors and the director. In this way, everyone has a hand in the creation of the work. Survive, the first piece produced by her company, was critically acclaimed and considered one of the best works of theatre that year. From there, Adrienne went on to create a production called Lady M. This production was an all-female adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

   Upon noticing a lack of female representation in the Philadelphia theatre community, Adrienne wanted to find a way to change this.  “I measured the numbers for a variety of company sizes for the past six seasons and found that in general, despite being a slight majority of the population and an even larger portion of the subscription purchase base, women were generally outnumbered 2 to 1 in my field. Even more frustratingly, the more well-funded the company, the more extreme this trend seemed to be,” said Adrienne. So she created “The Awesome Lady Squad”.

          The Awesome Lady Squad is a venue for female artists to voice their frustrations with the field as well as their opinions on how to make a positive change in the theatre community. Adrienne hopes The Awesome Ladies will make a difference by “creating a code of ethics for female artists that values support over competition, engaging in dialogue with a variety of companies who are the worst offenders in the city for gender parity, writing articles on different topics relating to women in the arts, and most excitingly, crafting a grant that will actually fund those companies whose track records meet a standard of equality for women directors, actors, writers and designers.”

-Damien Figueras 

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Profile of Issak Oliver Wolfe

“I can be called a lot of things, but I am no queen.” –Issak Oliver Wolfe

       Issak Wolfe wanted to run for Prom King at his high school in Red Lion Pennsylvania, but his chance was taken from him  by our principal, Mark Shue. Issak thought everything was in order for him to run when, on the day of elections, he saw his name wasn’t on the ballot--but his birth name was listed under “Candidates for Prom Queen”.  Mark Shue didn’t believe that a transgender person should run for prom court because it isn’t “traditional.” When Issak tried to see him after the incident, he refused. He didn’t realize it then, but his actions would spark a giant controversy.

       As Issak’s sister, I helped him and his girlfriend, Taylor, take action against the school for publicly humiliating him in front of his class and the entire school. We spread his story through all the social media. I made a petition on change.org and gathered signatures to present to Mr. Shue. I set it up so that he would get an email to his school account for every time someone signed the petition. Suddenly news stations wanted to cover the story. Red Lion became the topic of news all over our local Fox and ABC stations. It blew up so fast, it was hard to believe. It started to get bigger than we could handle with all kinds of people approaching us for interviews.

When Issak returned to school that following Monday, he was called out of class to the principal’s office. Mr. Shue finally wanted to talk. His inbox was clogged with emails for every person who’d signed the petition and he was less than pleased. Mr. Shue threatened to bar Taylor from Prom unless he took the petition down, as well threatening to sue our family for libel, since within our petition Taylor and I had referred to Shue’s decision as “bigotry”. Issak was unnerved and scared, but he didn’t back down. “At the time I was just scared. I didn’t realize until I talked to a lawyer that the petition was free speech and protected under the first amendment,” Issak revealed to me during our interview. Taylor changed the wording of parts of the petition, but because of pressure from me, did not take it down. But it was still not to Shue’s satisfaction.

Shue and the administration continued to bully Issak, but he stood his ground. They tried to cajole Issak to read a scripted statement to the media, but he refused. It was getting to be enough-- and finally Issak snapped. “I finally stood up. I said, ‘this is a violation of my first amendment rights. If you want to continue this discussion you can speak to my lawyers,’ Then I walked out.”

We had the American Civil Liberties Union on our side. The same law firm that has handled many historically significant cases chose to represent Issak.  It was overwhelming to think that the decision made by Mr. Shue could lead to so much attention that it can accurately be called a media circus.

Since it was too late to change any outcomes for prom, we shifted our attention to graduation. The ACLU wrote a formal letter to the school district asking for a public apology to Issak from Mr. Shue, and requesting that during graduation, Issak have his preferred name be read and  he be able to wear the robes that corresponded with his gender identity--and, finally, that Red Lion amend its policies so that this would never happen to another student. The school wouldn’t respond to any of the requests that the ACLU made, but they did step back and grant that Taylor would be allowed to attend prom with Issak.

Leading up to graduation, it was a three-week standoff between the ACLU and Red Lion school district. During that time, Issak attended prom and was able to forget about the incident and have a good time with his friends. It was a good distraction while the ACLU leaned on the media exposure to pressure the school into making the right decision. Issak posted another petition on the ACLU website to present to the school as a final effort to persuade the school. After the school board meeting, the school declared that Issak would be allowed to wear the black robes that the boys wear, but his name would not be read, and that there would be no changes to the school’s policies, because they were “good enough.”

Even though Red Lion refused to change their decisions for Issak, the efforts of Issak, the community and the ACLU did not go without notice. The effect will be long lasting. The surrounding districts saw all the media attention that Red Lion had to endure, and will not want to go through the same thing. The case helped to keep more children from receiving the same treatment. It also set a precedent for the state in that now all students will be able to wear the graduation robes that correspond with their gender identity. Issak is now a representative for the community of all transgenders, and he is proud to have made a difference. “I know I can do something to make a difference…I want to do bigger things.”

Issak’s struggle for his rights in our little rural Pennsylvania town is not something that is new, and it is not all that uncommon. Gay men and women have been shunned and discriminated against in the United States since the establishment of our nation. There is a stigma against these identities. Transgenders are not only misunderstood within our town, but on the outside as well. They sometimes even experience rejection and exclusion from the gay community itself.

The attention Issak’s story got was able to bring transgender issues to the mainstream media, even if only for a few months’ time. Issak has made himself an example for future children not to accept being treated unfairly in schools, and to speak out. No one deserves to experience the same humiliation at the hands of his or her high school as he did. He plans to pursue a career in educating people about sexuality and gender identity, helping to create a sense of understanding and empathy for people through diversity and sensitivity trainings--the same training that the ACLU recommended for Mr. Shue. Issak Oliver Wolfe is no queen, and he reminds us that what makes you a man or a woman is not determined by the parts under the clothes, but by what’s inside you.

-Cheyenne Stambaugh

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March on Washington for gay rights, 1987

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Protest demonstration against the Vietnam War

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Profile of Morley

Morley (copyright © Morley)

“This isn’t something you win” -Morely

  Morley is your everyday casting editor in L.A who helps keep reality TV interesting for those of us who prefer to watch it. He’s a down to earth husband, great friend, and a happy cat owner. However, by night (and sometimes during his downtime), he applies wheat paste to hold up an image of himself beside a quote of his choice. These usually tend to be positive, uplifting or humorous to create a form of street art. This street art can be found around L.A in various places and in different heights.

One may wonder, why does he do this? Why would a average every day Joe take time out of his busy life to do street art? Well, it’s most certainly not for fame or publicity. And it can’t be  for himself since he does not get paid for any of his work that he puts up. So in interviewing him, the answer to these questions became clear. He does all of his street art for the sake of us, the masses. Because of these motives, his work is very different from most street artists. Morley’s works are countercultural in the sense that they help to make a slight difference in one’s day, and hopefully it spreads from that person to the next to hopefully make a greater difference in the long run.

Some quotes that he post such as “This isn’t something you win” and “I promise you you’re  not just a waitress” are intended to give a passersby something to think about and possibly apply it to their own lives and others.  Morley’s approach is minimalistic, his pieces  being mostly in black and white. Because of this simple modus operandi, the works tend to stand out in the places he puts his posters up. Morley is a truly admirable individual for his works as well as his true mission: changing the thinking of individuals and providing better and brighter days for individuals who may need it.

-Brianna N. Smith

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1967 Gay Day Protest March, in Tucson Arizona 

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Poster for the Health Education Council, issued by the Family Planning Association. UK, 1969.

Released by Cramer Saatchi advertising agency

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A couple sleeping on a car during Woodstock 1969

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Profile of Rosella Coyne

Rosella (on the right) at Arcadia University's Slutwalk 2013

"Beyonce is my home girl!”

     Some call her Rosella, others call her home girl, but I enjoy referring to her as a Polymath. A polymath, if you don’t know, is someone that can do anything or be anything. I believe that this is the only term that fits her unique personality and her diverse knowledge of the world. Her biggest role models include Hillary Clinton, Beyonce, and Oprah (of course). My dear friend’s name is Rose Coyne. Rose, a senior and soon to be graduate of Arcadia University, enjoys many different things such as coffee, music, the arts, and sports. Rose shows an affinity to just about everything and anything under the sun. Whenever you see her on campus, Rose is sure to go out of her way to shout out a hello or ask you how your day is going. And from setting up student events to hosting a Slut Walk through Glenside, Rose exhibits qualities of a powerful female leader.

    Rose’s influence is far reaching; promoting awareness of social and gender inequality has been her goal since her freshman year at Arcadia. With the internet and social media at her disposal Rose has been able to reach audiences that the feminist movement in 60’s would have never dreamed of. Today, Rose has set up many interesting events on campus, such as Coming out Night and The Vagina Monologues. She also founded a club on campus called “For the Women.” In this club, Rose empowers women and men to become aware of their strengths as people and helps to enlighten her group members with knowledge of how the modern American woman is viewed in our society. Through all of her work for social change Rose has had an impact on both the Arcadia community as well as the surrounding Glenside community. She exemplifies the fact that it does not take political or popular figures to change the community, but rather everyday people making incredible choices.

-Ben Hayward

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Profile of Sutie Madison

Photo of the Beautiful Band of Artists

Initially I laid eyes on Sutie in September of 2012, during Band of Artists’ first show at Arcadia University, “Tourette’s: A Dancing Disorder”. There is an epicenter of love and beauty out of which I cannot help but believe her work radiates. Sutie shows us a great way to bring the best of the 1960s counterculture into 2014 through a journey from suffering to healing. Sutie Madison brings us flower power via Tourette's.  

        All you probably need to hear in order to form an impression of Sutie Madison is that she’s a performance artist who choreographs and performs dance pieces based on the bodily tics of Tourette’s syndrome. Sutie, born in 1980, was diagnosed with both Tourettes and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as a young child. She took up dance when she was a teenager, eventually developing an unhealthy fixation that led to her mother pulling her from classes. Sutie told me that at the time, she felt as though her mother had “ripped my heart out of my chest”.

        As an adult, she eventually learned channel her passions and pains into Band of Artists, the performance art collective that she formed. According to Band of Artists’ mission statement, “Being an artist not so much about the ability to paint, write, or play an instrument, but more the ability to understand the angst of one’s existence and express it any way that makes others look longer, think wider, and live fuller” (“Our Mission”).

I would not be surprised if Sutie wrote those words herself. They tally with much of what I learned about her during our interview, as well as what I have come to understand of her work and philosophy. These values that Sutie lives and works by in her artistic mission reflect core qualities of many countercultural movements. Out of angst and frustration, people seek to open their minds, broaden and enrich their lives by finding new and original ways of doing things.

Works Cited:

"Our Mission." Band of Artists. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://bandofartists.org/about-us/mission-statement/>

-Ian Kertis

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Profile of Willis Humphrey

AMBER art & design copyright © 2011

"I kind of know the way imagery affects the paradigms or perspectives we create. There are not a lot of positive portrayals of black men and I enjoy being able to put strong imagery of my demographic into the public sphere."

The sky is a sickly gray color and every once in a while a raindrop knocks against my window. My neck is craned to the right, burning my phone into my shoulder. My left hand glides furiously across my notebook trying to keep the pace set by the man on the other end of the line. Listening to him speak is like watching molasses drip down a cold spoon; it’s slow, deliberate, each word elongated by his slight southern drawl.

“Coming from a graphic design background and marketing, I kind of know the way imagery affects the paradigms or perspectives we create. There are not a lot of positive portrayals of black men and I enjoy being able to put strong imagery of my demographic into the public sphere.”

The man with the molasses voice is artist Willis Humphrey and he has been putting his art “into the public sphere” for almost two decades. In Philadelphia, his solo work and affiliation with Steam Work Philly, Amber Art and Design, and The Mural Arts Program have allowed Humphrey to leave his distinctive mark on gallery and building walls alike. His work is colorful and bright, a physical manifestation of the liveliness of the subjects he portrays. It’s vivacity is impossible to ignore.

In a culture that is incredibly visual, Humphrey asks us to look beyond appearances, quite paradoxically, by painting portraits. Each portrait is made up of adjectives that describe their subjects, Humphrey’s attempt to strip away the stigmas and the stereotypes associated with different groups of people. His twist on the traditional portrait forces people to look at every person as an individual as well as a member of a group. Along with his portraits, Humphrey also painted a thirty-foot mural of W.E.B Dubois located at 6th and South streets. He hopes that through murals like this he can reach a wide audience and instill a sense of pride and confidence in the minorities that view his work.

            We talk for over an hour before exchanging pleasantries and “keep in touches” and hanging up our phones. As I lay down my pen and close my notebook I can’t help but feel a sense of hope. Hope that positive change can be made, that with artists like Humphrey in the world, it has to be. So often it seems like change is impossible, like the machine has become too big to unplug. What people like Humphrey prove is that you can always make a difference. It may not be a huge difference, but it doesn’t have to be. If we all do something small, together we can make a big impact. We’re all just painted bricks in a mural. Alone we don’t look like much, but all together we make one hell of a big picture.

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Profile of Heidi Forney

“It’s not about taking power and getting more power than men. It’s about being on equal footing with men. People confine [inequality] to other countries when there’s still inequality in America.”

    The espresso machine churned, grinding up roasted beans and spewing them out into a thick and dark substance. It made its old familiar groan as the last drops of piping hot, caffeine-packed liquid fall from the spout. Easton Café seemed so much different from this angle. Usually I’m positioned behind the register; taking orders and frantically making cappuccinos, skinny caramel macchiatos, and dirty soy chai lattes. It is here that I waited for Heidi, an Arcadia University student whom, even though I remember her to be soft-spoken and introverted, emerged into the café with a walk that suggested a purpose. She sat down across from me at the chessboard table in her polka dotted blouse and round sunglasses and asked, “So what exactly did you want to talk to me about?”

    “About your blogs,” I replied, “More specifically, about your blogs and how they incorporate different aspects of feminism.”

    At first glance, one might not think Heidi’s blogs are of feminist nature at all. In fact, Heidi herself had to question whether or not her blogs could be put under the feminist label: “I wouldn’t say that my blog is explicitly feminist because it doesn’t talk about female power or any sort of tenets of feminism, but I would say it is implicitly [feminist] because it has more to do with sexual themes. It has sort of a voyeuristic theme, like looking at the female body from an outsider’s perspective. It’s more so about the empowerment of the woman through that sexual expression.” For reference, a link to all of her blogs can be found at http://theflowersofromance.flavors.me/ 

    Our conversation quickly took off when I asked Heidi about the pornographic nature of what she posts and re-blogs. “I choose what feels authentic- what feels sensual and erotic as opposed to pornographic,” she said, “because I feel like a lot of pornography is fake and not based on anything real in sex. What I do is I try to look for images that convey this intimacy or this sensuality beyond what you’d normally see in modern day pornography.” I started to wonder if there was porn out there created by women and for women that had not been plasticized and commoditized for a specific male audience. Luckily, Heidi was there to answer this question before I could even get the chance to ask it. The quiet girl I thought I knew disappeared, and before me sat a well-educated and opinionated woman.

     She introduced me to what she deemed as the “smut movement” of the 1950s. “Basically, pornography was so chastised in the 50s that it had to go underground,” Heidi explained. She has a specific blog (smutgarden.tumblr.com) dedicated to this movement, featuring a plethora of vintage smut and erotic images. Female sexual expression has always been an issue for society to come to terms with, and sexual expression is undoubtedly an important aspect of both past and present feminist movements, as it is an important component of her overall freedom. Unfortunately, “when a woman expresses herself sexually, it is viewed as an open invitation rather than as an act of free agency by that woman—an act of her own expression. Sexual expression should not elicit any sort of harassment.”

     Heidi’s blogs effectively illustrate such feminist issues as sexual expression and rape culture through the majority of her content being image-based. Images can have a powerful way of communicating important messages, whether they are of a countercultural nature or not. Educating others about the importance of feminism is something I think Heidi feels strongly about, for it could potentially put an end to the inequalities that women face on a daily basis.To conclude, she had the following to say about the power of blogging: “[it] is the movement of our generation. I hope that it brings people past the Internet, past the cyber world where they can take action in the real world. And I think that it definitely does happen where something starts online and it spreads and affects social change. Provided that there is an outlet, people will use that to voice their opinions... and I think it has a lot of potential to make an impact. I think blogging is a medium that could facilitate that kind of social change.”

-Amanda Goodrich