Author Archives: Matt Steffanetta

hot diggity dope

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I love movies and film, as I’ve said before in my past articles.

Dope was a movie made for people like me. Dope was a parody that had a movie draped over it. Some scenes were almost exact reproductions of other films or TV shows, and when it clicked in my mind in the theater for some scenes and at home for others, I laughed hard.

Regardless, the films was also funny to me in its overwhelming cliche– the coming of age story for an underprivileged person in his attempt to get into Harvard, to score the princess, and to save the day. The protagonist seemed to tie up all three, which to some looked impossible.

Dope was funny where it needed to be and cool where it needed to be, while also keeping a 20-something’s ear entranced with key 90’s hip-hop. The fashion was fresh, the characters were refreshing; all in all, to me this was a movie that had deeper motif’s and easter eggs than you could catch in just the first watch.

HILLS!!111!!!!1

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When I awoke on Saturday morning, I got dressed and readied myself for my one true love: coffee. I realized shortly thereafter, as i descended the lovely Founder’s Hall stairwell, that I had slept through the entire event. I then looked down wearily at the event below it. “Sound of Music Sing-a-Long”. I’m pretty sure I cursed myself under my breath, but whatever.

I had never seen the Sound of Music, and the event was a Sing-a-Long. Sigh. So I went, and quickly realized what I was in for. Loud singing, dress-up, and obnoxious hand motions to accompany the songs/characters. As these movements were presented at the beginning of the movie’s presentation by a very jolly fellow, I thought to myself: “What if i just left?”

The movie started, and the hills rolled in. HILLS!1!1!1!!!!1!! 

The first song came on, accompanied by lyrics at the bottom. Being a person who, when backed against the awkward wall, fights the awkward with awkward, I thought of ways to possibly fight back.

And since I consider myself a man of character, I did just that.

I sang LOUDLY.
very loudly.

About an hour into the movie I was: (1) emotionally attached to the story; (2) very much admired the videography; and (3) became an opera singer.

Honestly, great movie and a great time. I’m very much happy I overslept.

mother

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A flower grows from beneath a blanket
Of fine and purest white
It reaches toward the sun for warmth,
For heat and for the light

My love for you grows stronger still,
Despite the surrounding cold
My heart is yours, bartered gone
For yours has it been sold

Its petals shine from morning dew
Its stem grows stiff and strong
It stands strong through the freezing cold
It stands the winter long

I long for you, for your soft touch
I miss the way you smile
The longer that we stay apart
The longer every mile[…]

when i read this poem i think about my mother. i miss my mother, and it is safe to say, i do, in fact, love my mother. it’s been quite some time since ive been home, and my mom has been the warm sun above my flower-blanket for some time.

but why do i love my mother?

she raised me, she taught me that the only bounds that i couldnt touch were the ones i thought i couldnt reach– she lead me to follow my dreams and to try things wholeheartedly, with headstrong gumption and passion. this is what im missing in my life now, here, alone. my mom is wind beneath my wings; the push to my pull. she taught me more than to be a decent human being, but also one with a passion to try new things and help those in need. and maybe, just maybe these are the reasons i love my mother. maybe it’s because she wanted me to grow, she wanted me to be all that i could, and knew; in her heart, that i could.

marshall curry with the shot

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empowering.

I’ve been doing videos for quite some time; in high school, my friends and I made interesting quasi-educational videos to pass our classes. Some were of our signature chemistry rock band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znQHIo6jhRk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KipbQCWENIw)– others of short funny marketing skits (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pb1pfUY2pc), others rapping tonguetwistingly in Spanish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJQjXErDvtM), and others secretly playing pranks on people in public places.

But what Marshall Curry was doing took videography a step further, he took the gritty and real rolling images to a new level by giving a powerful and interesting undertone: a story.

I ended up watching Street Fight, and hearing about Marshall’s incredible story over dinner. He pursued his interests wholeheartedly, and for that reason he was incredibly empowering, especially to a guy who’s really into film.

the fluidity of an entrepreneur in a mercurial market

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When one aims to create a business, there is generally a base, an idea– something unique that differs itself in the market somehow. For some, that is going into a market and keeping prices lower than the competition. For others, that is going into a brand new market and searching for consumers.

Something I found magnificent about Distinc.tt, Michael Belkin’s business and social networking app, is that it started as an idea for something in a completely different market, appealing to LGBTQ adults; but after lobbying to make his app appropriate for ages 12+ because of the basic mission of the finalized app, a brand new market opened.

Amazingly, due to both Michael’s genuine creativity and openness to change, the app became a networking app for LGBTQ people just opening up to the community. In my opinion, Michael’s business has more gravitas than an “app”. The app provided a medium for those coming out to have a collective that they can share issues that have tangibility to the LGBTQ community. People realized that they aren’t alone, there are others with similar issues.

So all in all, super app, super dude. I can only imagine how many people the app has reached and helped.

hái méi ne.

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This title was the response to, “chī fàn le ma?” which is a popular greeting in China. The question roughly translates to “have you eaten yet”. The answer–my title–and the words spoken on stage: “i still haven’t”.

I have been studying China a lot this year, and recently declared my CAPS minor (China and Asia-Pacific Studies). I have been learning the Chinese Language, and also taking a class called “China Under Revolution and Reform”. This art that i witnessed on stage took a swing at encapsulating the Great Leap Forward’s Great Famine, and the impression it left with me was something of disbelief, overwhelming sadness, sympathy, and anger.

The actors all went back to their families’ hometowns and interviewed the oldest person they could find, or older family still living there.

The amount of pure sadness that was still in the hearts of the interview’d was almost intolerable to even hear about. I tried to imagine living the lives that they were forced to live. I couldn’t.

Most of the art that was presented on stage also aligned perfectly with the history i had been learning in my class. The words i read in a book for that class however, prepared me naught for the sheer heartbreak and emotion raptured onstage. These were real people, i thought, and their stories aren’t in history books (they by all means should be).

Leaving the auditorium, i couldn’t talk. i was stunted in 1959-61 with the Zhōngguó rén (chinese people) i had just connected with. The most disturbing thing, possibly the most disgusting thing that hit me, was the thought that this famine wasn’t the central government’s fault. One of the interviewed said:

“Without the Communist Party, There Will Be No New China.”

– a popular communist propaganda song from the 1940’s

a pepper party / preceeds precipitation / procures flavortown

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For my very first expedition with Rose this weekend, I decided to venture into what I thought was my specialty. Handling the spicy world, enduring the heat, that are, peppers.

Now, I must preface this post with the fact that I had a very stuffy nose, as most of my scholarly colleagues at the time also did.

So we arrive, and gain access to 6 different pepper stations of our choosing– I map out my flight path: Mexico, China, Spain, Hungary, Thailand and good ole’ USA.

I grab Mexico and scarf it down, “This is easy enough,” I thought to myself as I stepped up to the China pepper station and dowsed my plate with Sriracha.

By the time i got to Thailand, my nose was running–no–sprinting down my shirt.  Luckily the rain provided me with some cover, dampening the entirety of my shirt. Regardless, the food was delish.

Long story short, the pepper party managed to clear my nose out completely, and in a spicy-sweet sense of irony; sweet, sweet relief ensued.

Oh, and I almost forgot– I got this very fashionable souvenir as an earpiece:

Screen Shot 2015-09-21 at 9.50.20 PM

All in all, a quirky fun time. Nodding wistfully to the Pepper Party, after my reception back into the Rose Founders’ closet (my affectionate name for my room), I cooked up some ghost pepper ramen and called it a day. A wonderful day indeed.