Art Movie Divides Audience, Defies Description

June 24th, 2011

Earlier this week, when I saw the very new, very ambitious, and very polarizing Terence Malick film, The Tree of Life, with a couple of friends, I did not know what to say, beyond “what just happened?” More than any film I’ve ever seen on the big screen, The Tree of Life defies not only explanation but even plain description. It is the kind of movie that your most pretentious friend would love, and marvel that you didn’t enjoy, while your friend who likes Transformers would likely fall asleep in the first half hour, or leave. It includes (so far as I can tell from reading a few reviews and seeing the film itself) the beginning of the universe, and its end; dinosaurs; dinosaurs being merciful; Brad Pitt being an emotionally abusive Southern father; lots of mysterious new age-y religious narration; and Sean Penn as a depressed modern day architect, on screen for about ten of the film’s 138 minutes.

Despite (or thanks to) the film’s expansive weirdness, it has received the kind of glowing reviews that are usually reserved for films with more than minimal dialogue, plot, and character development.  When it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, some viewers gave it a standing ovation while others booed, and the film then won the festival’s highest prize, the Palm d’Or.  This seems to be the simplest encapsulation of the film and the kinds of responses that it provokes. Some of the country’s most prominent film critics have called it a masterpiece, but others have accused Malick and the film of a certain high-minded pretension that seems to sneer at the very idea that people might seek nothing beyond entertainment from the movies. But all critics, pundits, bloggers, and my friends agree that the movie is, as they say, visually stunning.

Let me attempt a few expository words, to give an idea of what viewers are in for when they sit down for Tree of Life, although the difficulty of doing so probably reveals more about the movie than whatever description I can come up with. The film opens with a wavering, pink, flame-like light, that appears to represent the early universe, or whatever preceded it. It is beautiful but inexplicable, like much of The Tree of Life. Then Brad Pitt and his redheaded wife, played by Jessica Chastain, get some very bad news, and we meet Sean Penn, their eldest son all grown up and tormented by the death of his brother from many years ago. Penn talks to his father on the phone, stares pensively at his very modernly appointed office and its parking lot, and then the film cuts to the big bang, complete with pseudo-religious narration by various members of the family, followed by a volcano-studded Earth and the origin of all life. Dinosaurs ensue (as promised). The film returns to the framing semi-plotted story, of the young and growing Pitt-Chastains. As the family’s three sons grow, more mystifying existential shots are intercut with regular family movie moments, and the exact chronological order of the different family scenes seems to be unimportant.  Boys act like boys, Pitt acts like an oppressive 1950’s patriarch, and Chastain acts as his comforting and graceful counterpart.

Consider yourself warned.

Although I’m afraid I couldn’t really explain more of the film’s plot even if I wanted to, I can assure you that it is always very pretty, and, if you let yourself stop waiting for something to happen, often mesmerically beautiful. The astrological sequences are breathtakingly strange, and the lights and colors of Malick’s imagined genesis are a sight to see, resembling abstract photography in motion more than a movie. But the more conventional domestic parts of the movie are shot no less carefully, and the boys’ growth is presented with a tender precision that movingly evokes an age when blades of grass can be something to stare at and study, and the rectangles of sunlight created by windowpanes can be a source of wonder.

When I walked out of the Sunshine theater on Houston St. after seeing The Tree of Life, I was more bemused than anything—kind of tickled by the film’s oddness and the tidal wave of breathless sentiment among critics and movie lovers. But over the next few days, nearly every time that I thought about the film, I’d recall a particularly gorgeous shot or puzzling moment, and I couldn’t help pondering the whole weird movie. I was honestly bored for parts of it, and some of the more heavy-handed existential bits were almost comical to me (dinosaur mercy?), but the movie stuck with me, and I’m sure I’ll watch it again, just probably not in theaters. With The Tree of Life, Malick aims about as high as a filmmaker can aim, and if the movie isn’t perfect, I can hardly imagine another film being even glancingly similar. Don’t expect to love it or even to understand it, and it just might take your breath away.

—Aaron Brown

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Students and Their Baggages

June 24th, 2011

Being a student comes with a lot of baggage, literally. It is highly unlikely that students in a city like New York drive from place to place or even own a car. They take the train or the bus everywhere and that means carrying every possible thing that they might need while they are out, along with them, which, of course, leads us to the topic of bags.

If you are a student too, then you would know that there is almost a comically complex science as to what goes into a handbag as the number of items a student has to carry is not just limited to textbooks. Depending on the weather and their schedule students have to carry an umbrella, a jacket, sunglasses, snacks, ballet flats, cell phone chargers and laptops and the list goes on and on.

You also have to decide which textbooks you will need that day. And, using one notebook for all your classes might be good idea. You can also start carrying the pint sized bottles of water instead of the bigger ones and just fill them up from the campus’s drinking water fountains when you run out of water. It also involves making certain sacrifices, for me it was giving up my habit carrying around a book or a magazine with me.

The easiest way to carry the heavy load would be to start using a backpack. But that is easier said than done. Finding a non-hideous backpack that may go with most of your outfits and is affordable can be very difficult especially as the designer backpacks can be too expensive for most students. Using a large handbag with a cross body strap is helpful too.

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If you get tired of carrying around your heavy bags all week, you can relax your muscles by going to the Vada Spa where you can get a 20 minute body message for just $18 with a student discount.

Bushra Tawhid

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Unlikely Game Heroines

June 24th, 2011
©Nintendo

Remember me? ©Nintendo

Samus and Lara may be classic, but the video game world is full of laudable female characters, not all of them so obvious. Beyond the busty beach volleyball and high-heeled martial arts lay hidden jewels of model femmes.

King (Art of Fighting & King of Fighters)

Compared to other SNK fighters, the androgynous King is an oddity in the midst of characters like the overtly sexualized Mai Shiranui or the “cute but deadly” Yuri. It may seem obvious to gravitate towards such an unfeminine character when attempting to break out against sexist depictions of women and to idolize the complete opposite of mainstream ideas of what it means to be a girl, but this isn’t what I’m trying to do by choosing King. While it’s a given that a worthy heroine should subvert popular over generalizations of femininity to some degree, she should also be comfortable enough with her sex that she can reinvent her gender on her own terms.

Early in her storyline, King dealt with the limitations of her gender in a male-dominated world by pretending to be a man. Her manner of dress and behavior reflects an inclination towards masculinity even after she no longer needed to cross-dress to be a fighter. However, she was always secure with her sexuality and interacting with men on a romantic level, i.e. Ryo Sakazaki, without worrying about power struggles. And what I love the most about her is, as a member of the Women’s Team, how comfortable she is interacting with other women as well. Her masculine style is not a complete throwing off of what it means to be a woman; she embraces her sex and merely chose to reinvent her gender role.

Despite the dubious depictions of many of their characters (Mai’s chest is pretty bouncy for a flying ninja), fighting games are a favorite of mine for female role models since, as a mechanic of the genre, all characters are naturally equal in power regardless of their sex.

Misty (Pokémon)

For once, it’s time that someone lauded the travails of the friend-zoned girl instead of the usual friend-zoned guy. In the Pokémon games, Misty’s character is hardly a character at all since she only appears as a gym leader, but her manifestation in the anime became one of the most realistic, likeable, and admirable women from a gaming franchise. Firstly, she possesses the requisite multi-faceted personality that refutes the popular opposing archetypes of overly girly loyal sidekick and hardened but kickass bitch. Also, she is so confident in her identity that her roiling temper and her romantic personality are not in conflict with each other; both are integral parts of her complex self regardless of their gender in/appropriateness. For her, doing her best to accomplish her goals and become a better gym leader is the purpose for her life, and being a girl is the spice that adds variety and challenge to her journey.

If only Ash wasn’t so oblivious, and Misty’s successors were underwhelming at best. It really is true when people say the show peaked with its original seasons, and not only because Team Rocket’s jingle got super old.

Pamper your feminine side with a Campus Clipper coupon for a $7 manicure at Floris Day Spa. Your inner heroine deserves it.

-Avia Dell’Oste

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onValues: Beating the Summer Mean Reds

June 23rd, 2011

I’ve been tearing up a lot lately.  Usually, I’m not the type to become visibly emotional; it’s a special movie that can make me cry, and The Notebook is not it.  Without turning this blog (and my first post in it) into an uncomfortably personal emotional dump, I’ll just say that these verges of tears and waves of crippling depression had their roots in something almost every college student will encounter: rejection.  Not romantic rejection, but professional rejection.  I had applied for summer thesis funding, a creative thesis, various summer project awards, internships, apartment leases—all the things I’d need for a summer in the city, preparing myself for senior year and beyond.  I was rejected from every one.

Of course, we can’t always get what we want, but in my defense, this felt like a long buildup of confirmations that I was going nowhere with my college education and that the talents I thought would help me post-graduation actually were worthless.  It felt like the start of a movie-perfect midlife crisis: what am I going to do with my future? What can I actually do with my future? How am I going to occupy my summer now? What am I going to do for three months if I go home to North Carolina (I don’t even live in the interesting parts of North Carolina)? Why am I living in a tent outside one of the university buildings, taking a shower on a narrow fire escape, and sitting on facebook stalking my friends’ more interesting, employed lives?  (The partial answer to that last question is that I belong to a club that owns a house property unaffiliated with the university—so technically I can stay for free.  I chose a tent because the house has no air conditioning and gets stuffy at night.  The shower—we’re just remodeling the third floor shower so we hooked a hose between the faucet and nozzle and attached the nozzle to the roof, then rigged up a shower curtain over the stairs.  It’s actually very refreshing, if seemingly precarious.)

Typically, we get out of these funks with some swift TLC; a movie marathon, or a massive party, or an extra long session at the gym.  Once we get that quick boost of endorphins, serotonin, or dopamine, we’re fine again, and we can make new plans.  I typically take a night to bake cupcakes and watch trashy movies with girls who beat up bad guys.  Another one of my friends locks himself in a bathroom and sings opera at the top of his lungs.  These are some ways to battle through.  But for me, this avalanche of rejection started in mid-April, and now, two months later, I’m still biting my lip and getting bleary-eyed at work.  I’m still living in that tent ever since dorm housing kicked me out after commencement, the commute expenses to my new job in the city will build up, and there are only so many nights I can spend with the rest of the displaced housemates in the house watching HBO and getting slowly drunk.  Even though I did find a job and I’ve been through a whirlwind of reunion parties with scattered friends passing through the city, the sadness is still there—this insecurity and student-adult crisis sticks around and it sticks through our usual solutions.  Now the issue isn’t that we have foolish plans and that we’re ill-prepared—we’ve just been trapped in a mood.

These mean reds (not just the blues, as Holly Golightly would specify) might take something a little more drastic or public to break out of the months-long mold of dissatisfaction and hopelessness.  Take an impromptu trip (really, your schedule of job searching and apartment hunting can afford it) to the beach.  Book a train to Philadelphia and go to Wayne—Valley Forge is there.  Or, for more of a more city-based escape, there’s always Karaoke Boho (25% off on weekends, 50% off during the week), where another friend of mine gets brave and belts Adele when she’s feeling the mean reds—the extreme public performing snaps her funk like nothing else.  Or you can go to BLICK art materials, which has a 20% discount on art supplies, and stock up on some inspiration material.  If you can’t get inspired, you can always do what I did for Halloween last year:

KOKO

Jackson Pollocked my entire body, then sat for therapeutic hours peeling strips of paint from my skin.

I might just do that this weekend.  For the rest of you in my same position of life:okay, and mind:rough, I wish you luck in feeling good!

x
Robin

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Attention Shakespeare Fans!

June 23rd, 2011

As an English major and book-lover, I have (of course) a secret nerdy obsession with William Shakespeare. I’ve seen all the movies, been to shows, taken classes focusing on ALL of his plays and memorized countless lines from them. And every year I try to make it to a Shakespeare in the Park show, but with work and summer classes, sadly, I’ve never been able to. This summer, however, I vow to make it to a show. The only problem is picking which one to see!

This summer’s featured plays are Measure For Measure and All’s Well That Ends Well. The plays run for about two and a half hours with a fifteen-minute intermission. The cast is the same for both plays, and includes some movie and television stars such as Annie Parisse and Dakin Matthews.  Measure For Measure is one of Shakespeare’s problem plays (meaning it is not easily classified as a comedy or tragedy) about truth, lust and justice.  Also generally considered a problem play, All’s Well That Ends Well focuses on trickery, social class and marriage.

The performances started on June 6th and the last show will be on July 30th.  Tickets are free (!) and are distributed at 1 pm on the day of each performance. They are given out on a first come, first served basis, so getting there early is essential. Every show is at 8 pm in the Delacorte Theater in Central Park (the nearest entrances are 81st Street and Central Park West or 79th Street and Fifth Ave). A friend of mine went and said that even though she had to wait on line for a few hours, it was worth the wait and was even “kind of fun to stand with everyone and anxiously wait for tickets.” Take note, however, that tickets are limited to two per person and there are rules to follow while waiting on line (scalped tickets are not accepted and if you cut the line or cause a ruckus they have the right to remove you from the line—basic stuff, really). But food is allowed in and they also have concession stands with sandwiches, snacks and drinks. The hard part is just getting the tickets. Once you have them, the day can be spent picnicking in Central park, visiting the Met, and seeing the show at night. Even for someone who isn’t a Shakespeare buff like myself, this could be a day to be remembered. It’s a rare opportunity to not only see a Shakespeare play for free but see one put on by such an amazing production company—they have been performing Shakespeare plays in the park for fifty seven years to crowds of 1,500 people a night! Personally I’m leaning more towards All’s Well That Ends Well, so if any of you make it out maybe you’ll see me there. I’ll be the goofy girl intensely watching and most likely cheering and screaming at the end. Listed below are the dates that each show is playing:

All’s Well That Ends Well

June 6, 7, 13, 15, 18, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29

July 11, 12, 18, 19

Measure For Measure

June 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25

July 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 20, 25, 26, 27

—Jackie Aqel

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To Plan or not to Plan?

June 23rd, 2011

As students, we are often told by more than one well-meaning parental figure that planning is a major factor in achieving success or failure. We’re supposed to have a plan for selecting a major; we’re supposed to have a plan to thwart the dreaded freshman fifteen; we’re supposed to have a plan for what we’re doing after school while we’re still in school…With so much planning, sometimes it’s nice to just give into a random impulse or spontaneously do something simply because the idea popped into your head.

I did just that last week, and now, I have a nose ring.

In the words of John Lennon: "Life is what happens when you're busy making plans."

Let me start at the beginning. It was nearing 11:30pm on a weeknight and my friend and I were craving pasta. We were supposed to go to bed early because we both had obligations the next day, but the more we thought about fresh vegetables sautéed in olive oil and served on top of ziti, the more our initial plan to go to sleep seemed absurd. So with aspirations of an impromptu pasta party for two, we began searching for ingredients.

First, we tried a Duane Reade, and were disappointed by the lack of produce. Additionally, there was no ziti to be found, only angel hair and elbow macaroni. By the time we trekked to Gristede’s, our fears that the grocery store had already closed were confirmed as the automatic doors refused to open no matter how much we jumped, waved, and stomped, hoping to trigger some sort of motion or weight sensor.

Close to giving up, I suggested we make the best of the minimal selection at a 24-hour CVS, but that’s when my friend recalled a grocery store on St. Mark’s that she though might be open all night. Hopeful, we power-walked east, soon immersed in the eclectic counter-culture that gathers on St. Mark’s.

Eventually, we reached what looked like a design for a tattoo parlor; an underground shop brandishing a logo of a heart with giant angel wings and a halo suspended above its “head.” But, it wasn’t a tattoo shop; it was our destination, St. Mark’s Market. A gourmet godsend with the promise of “Open Always.”

As I attempted to select the perfect garlic clove to flavor our midnight feast, my friend blurted, “Hey, isn’t that piercing place you always go to close by?”

When I confirmed that her suspicions were true, we somehow came to the conclusion that she should get a new ear piercing. After minimal badgering on her part, I agreed that pending the cost of our snacking spree, I would also get a piercing.

Thankfully, the bounty we selected from St. Mark’s Market was so well priced I was able to afford a stud for my left nostril. Sure, I woke up with a slight soreness from my fashionable puncture wound. And yes, I was a little more tired and full than I planned on being when I woke up for work. But the bonding session I had with my friend thanks to pasta and piercings was worth the minor inconveniences. Sometimes, it’s worth it to scrap the plans, and just go with the flow.

-Alex Agahigian-

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Endorphins

June 23rd, 2011

When I started college, I had the same fears as everybody else: will I be able to handle my class work? Will my roommate and I get along? And most importantly, will I make friends?! But after settling into my routine d finding a group of people I love to hang out with, one college horror still haunted me: the Freshmen Fifteen.

Although my high school years had been filled with volleyball and other recreational sports, in college I suddenly stopped exercising. I didn’t even have the long walks to school like I had in high school, and having an unlimited meal plan definitely didn’t help. In October I finally got my act together and headed to the gym.

I had all the regular reasons for going—stay fit, lead a healthy lifestyle, stress reduction, etc. But after my first day I discovered an entirely new reason for going to the gym: endorphins. Cardio activity gave such a boost to my mood it was incredible. Leaving the gym I couldn’t help but smile at how great everything was—the sky, the people around me, the feeling of doing something great for my body. Although I had started going to the gym just because it was healthy, it turned into something much more personal, a form of medication in a sense. It’d lift my spirits when the long winter days seemed to drag on, or put a smile back on my face when classes or social drama tried to wipe it off.

Endorphins are a neurotransmitter released during exercise (as well as during times of excitement, pain, danger, the consumption of spicy food, love, and more) and create a feeling of happiness. I called it ‘self-medication’ before because it’s like taking an instant anti-depressant, yet naturally—and legally.

I know you’ve heard all the reasons for why you should exercise more before: it reduces health risks, improves brain functions, etc. But try exercising for endorphins instead; it might be more motivating than attempting to avoid that heart attack when you’re 60. Your school is a great place to start, colleges often have free gyms available, and free or cheap classes that you can take if you want something more than a treadmill. Public gyms around New York also have great deals for the summer and/or for students, so don’t be afraid to try those out. Synergy Fitness Clubs have a student promotion of $39 monthly; Crunch has a summer student special for $199 for the entire summer; New York Sports Club has an all-year student discount for $20 a month. Other gyms in the New York area include Equinox, David Barton, Bally Total Fitness, Lucille Roberts, and more. Campus Clipper also offers more discounts to a wide variety of fitness locations, so check them out.

/elizabeth Kaleko

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Posted in onHealth, onLife | 2 Comments »

DVP in NYC

June 23rd, 2011

As we continue to enjoy the changing of the seasons in 2011 and welcome the warmer weather, one group of people will be embracing this change through dance. Dances For A Variable Population (or DVP) is a dancing company headed by choreographer Naomi Goldberg Haas. As the name implies, DVP is a group that knows no boundaries when it comes to the gender, race, or age of its members. Polished dancers and enthusiastic amateurs grace the stage together, led by Haas, orchestrating performances in contemporary dance.

This week, starting on Wednesday June 22nd and running until Saturday June 25th, DVP will be performing in the newly renovated Washington Square Park, located downtown in Greenwich Village at the base of  5th Avenue. The eastern side of the park had been closed since late 2007 because of a continuing restoration project, but was re-opened June 2nd of this year. The re-opening was delayed as the eastern end renovations were originally supposed to be finished by Fall 2010.

DancesForAVariablePopulation

DVP performing "Autumn Crossing" in September 2010

In any case, DVP welcomes the changes the park has undergone and will have this sentiment on full display throughout the week as they stage their performances on the re-opened eastern side of Washington Square Park. Each day’s performance will begin at 6:30 P.M. with a pre-show beginning at 6:00, occurring throughout the entire park. Any and all can come view their performance free of charge.

The free shows will consist of a dance ensemble performed to remixes of “In C”, the well-known Terry Riley composition of 1964. Those who are familiar with “In C” know how shocking it was when first composed, since the nature of the composition leaves much to chance, making any given performance of the piece different from every other. The composition’s improvisational nature should make DVP’s remixed interpretation and their accompanying dance arrangement distinctive, surprising, and an exciting performance to see in person.

Most unique about this performance, however, will be DVP themselves. Since DVP as a group does not restrict participation to pros, their corps of dancers is composed of New Yorkers from all walks of life. The group’s ethos is best articulated on Haas’ website, which states that DVP consists of everyone from “children who think dance is only on MTV, to persons with disabilities who think dance is denied them, to seniors who think dance is beyond them.” More information about Naomi Goldberg Haas, DVP and the events and classes that they organize can be found at www.naomigoldberghaas.com.

–Christopher Cusack, Hofstra University

Photo Credit: David Kimelman

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Super 8

June 23rd, 2011

The other day I was fortunately able to convince my friend to go see Super 8, the new movie written and directed by J. J. Abrams. The movie follows a few pre-teens in a small Ohio town in 1979 as they try to write and film their own zombie movie to submit in a contest. But one night as the kids are filming they witness a fantastic train derailment, which then throws the town into a frenzy as air force militia try to keep the incident under wraps.

As the kids attempt to overcome their parents’ proscriptions and grudges so that they can finish their film, they delve deeper into the mystery behind the train accident and discover that the U.S. Air Force is attempting to hide something mysterious and terrifying from the townspeople. This movie is a great portrayal of a family trying not to fall apart and the bonds of friendship being tested, as well as a young budding romance—all tied up with a classic Steven Spielberg-style alien encounter, which makes perfect sense since the king of the blockbuster is one of the producers of Super 8.

Although I found the final scenes slightly predictable, I feel I definitely got my money’s worth from the great mix of emotions that the movie provokes, ranging from desperation, infatuation, fear, anger, and joy. I strongly recommend this film, and even if you’re not willing to pay the outrageous $13 NYC ticket price, try going to a matinee showing instead—they’re often half price, just check out the theaters near you to see which ones offer this discount.

And after, if Joe and his friends have inspired you, maybe you can try to write and film your own homemade zombie flick—or a romance, whichever you prefer! It’s a fun project to do with friends, and screening the finished product is a great way to bring people together and show off. Phototech can cover all of your camera repair needs if things get a bit heated and your lens cracks, as Charles’ does in Super 8, and all for a 10% off student discount.

/elizabeth Kaleko

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Posted in Movies, onEntertainment | 1 Comment »

New Age Breakup

June 22nd, 2011

The click of a mouse and now everyone knows you are single!

Everyone in their life experiences that dreaded moment of breaking up with someone or being broken up with, yet in today’s world this process has become even more complicated. There was once a time when you simply ignored phone calls or forced yourself not to call that past love or mistake, but now a clean break is almost impossible because of social media as well as texting.  Nowadays it is common for an ex to be merely a text away and oddly enough your “friend” on facebook, which can easily and constantly remind a person about their past relationship because of mutual tagged photos.  This makes it all so hard to completely disconnect with a person and stunts the process of closure that is usually very necessary at the end of a relationship.  Texting and the hyper-connection of social media are all fine and dandy if you can handle remaining friends with an ex but for most people it’s usually a source of upset and drama.

The event of breaking up has become in many ways embarrassing because “everyone” knows about the failure of a relationship when a person’s facebook status changes from “In a Relationship” to “Single”. The worst part is people can comment on the situation and facebook friends can even “like” your entrance into singlehood.  Instead of a reassuring phone call or face-to-face talk explaining to friends what happened, many times texting replaces what I feel is essential to moving on, which is just talking about it, especially with close friends. The times have changed and people have changed too. It has become a social norm to be insensitive to others during a never easy experience and to make moving on so much harder than it really needs to be.  It’s for that very reason that I feel when changing your relationship status on facebook you should immediately delete the post after doing so or make it private, unless it’s something you’d like to share with your facebook friends. But for most part, the experience is quite the nuisance, so to avoid the possibility of hurting your own feelings or your ex’s it’s probably not the best idea to advertise your breakup. However, when the times comes that you’d like to make others aware you are single, make it public on your info page to get the point across.

Heated debate exists around whether or not it’s okay to remain friends with an ex on facebook, my feelings and advice depend on whether the break up was “bad” or not. Everyone is curious as to what their ex is up to after breaking up but it’s not healthy to be updated every passing second of your life! If you find yourself checking their page obsessively and notice it pretty much always leaves you with a feeling of discomfort then I suggest not being friends with your ex on facebook. To forget someone these days you need to delete him or her from your electronic life, cell contacts, as well as from your own biting reality. On the other hand, if you find yourself not caring about your ex’s life appearing on yours newsfeed then you can leave it alone.  It’s usually okay to stay facebook friends if the breakup was mutual and ended without hard feelings.  It can be nice to see how people grow and change by checking out their facebook profile. But let’s be realistic the majority of breakups are messy and emotional catastrophes, so it’s almost a guarantee that your facebook wall could end up looking like a battlefield of love.

It’s important to do what’s best for you in a time were your discovering life on your own, or preparing to successfully share it with someone new. Some say it’s harsh to delete a person representative of your past but here’s the truth: they broke up with you or you broke up with them already, which is as harsh as you can get, so why not take the extra step to make yourself feel better? You need to get away from it all but that doesn’t mean you have to book a super shuttle ride to the airport and hop on a plane. I’ve also been told that deleting an ex from your contacts is necessary because many people text their ex’s at emotionally unstable times causing confusion about the state of the relationship. Being happy is what matters most and if you can’t find happiness while constantly being reminded of your ex then you should make the change that is necessary to evolve on your own, and free yourself from that particular relationship. After all, there is so much more out there than the simulated life you “live” on facebook and so much more to say when you’re not constricted to 180 words or less by text.

-Anjelica LaFurno

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