“Poetry speaks to everyone,” says Glen Roven, co-founder of GPR Records, a record label that produces Broadway, classical, and children’s music in addition to spoken word poetry compilations. “Far too many people had poetry rammed down their throats by bad English teachers. For them, I recommend Daniel Okulitch’s reading of Tony Hoagland’s poetry about oral sex.”

“Self Improvement” by Tony Hoagland is just one of 100 poems read by 100 well-known performers, actors, actresses, and even celebrities on “Poetic License“, the latest release from GPR Records. Hoagland’s poetry collection What Narcissism Means to Me (Graywolf Press, 2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Okulitch, who reads Hoagland’s poem in his characteristic bass baritone voice, is an opera singer who won great acclaim as Schaunard in Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway production of La Bohème.

The poetry showcased on “Poetic License” spans hundreds of years worth of great literature and includes selections from classic writers like Shakespeare to more contemporary writers like Mark Strand and Adrienne Rich. Fans of poetry will recognize poems by John Milton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edgar Allen Poe, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Names like A. A. Milne and Shel Silverstein are childhood favorites that should spark old memories.

In order to transform the idea for this compilation to an actual recording, Roven, an Emmy Award-winning composer, lyricist, and conductor, had to call upon his many professional contacts and friends. He says, “The first people I called were Patti LuPone, Jason Alexander, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Cynthia Nixon. They all agreed. Then I put the call out to more of my friends. And it snowballed!”

“Poetic License” was released on April 2nd in honor of National Poetry Month, a month-long poetry celebration first established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Throughout the month of April, participating poets, booksellers, librarians, and teachers attempt to increase the awareness of poetry as a vital and vibrant art form being practiced in the United States.

(Pictured at left: cover of “Poetic License”)

Poetry is dynamic. By presenting a poem in a new medium, the poet can bend a reader’s expectations.

Alexander Grabau is a race car driver and the co-owner of Dent Sport Garage, located in a suburb of Boston, MA. A racetrack is probably the last place a reader would expect to encounter a poem, but 32-year-old Grabau applied “Factory Love” by James Daniels to the roof of his white Mitsubishi Evolution II CE9A. This month, he will debut the car in its first race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

(Pictured at right: racetrack, by Alexander Grabau)

“I’m so surprised and happy at the reception of my idea among the writing community,” says Grabau. “Sometimes, drivers in Japan tape a verse or a photo to their dashboard or a photo.”

Readers better identify with poems when they feel the poet has spoken directly to them. In 2006, at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, poet Li-Young Lee was one of many poets to publicly read poems. After Lee’s reading, a member of the audience stood up from his seat and admitted that he has kept “From Blossoms” in his wallet for years. Lee’s message was so memorable and meaningful to him that he wanted it nearby at all times.

Members of the Miami Poetry Collective (MPC), a poetry group co-sponsored by the University of Wynwood and Louvetian Industries, have attempted to connect more personally with readers by starting Poem Depot. Launched on March 14, 2009, during Wynwood Second Saturday Art Walk, an arts event in Miami’s arts district, Poem Depot gave visitors a chance to buy custom-written poems.

During the first Poem Depot, MPC set up two typewriters on a folding table with a hand-painted sign reminiscent of the orange Home Depot logo. One man took the orders.

(Pictured at left: Poem Depot, by Nick Vagnoni)

“We had a sliding scale menu that first time (Petrarchan sonnets were $20 or something), but pretty quickly we settled on two dollars as a price for run-o-the-mill free verse, which is usually what people want,” says Scott Cunningham, co-founder of MPC. “We made around $120 that first night and wrote 40 or so poems.”

Poem Depot at the Art Walk became a regular event, but Cunningham soon started receiving requests to perform elsewhere. Terry Riley, director of the Miami Art Museum at the time, asked MPC to bring Poem Depot to the museum for a monthly event called JAM@MAM. Poem Depot has appeared at libraries, fundraisers, and even happy hours.

(Pictured at right: Typing a custom poem, by Yaddyra Peralta)

“We’ve had people cry after reading the poems we wrote them. Some people ask for poems about some pretty heavy topics. Other people will come back and get four to five poems in one night,” says Cunningham. “We have one girl who always orders a poem about David Bowie. Other people have told me about how they have their Poem Depot poem hanging above their desk at work or in the kitchen.”

Grabau admits that Daniels’ poem “Factory Love”, which captures the reliability and sensual appeal of machinery and tools, moved him profoundly. One stanza reads:

And you, you hardly ever break down,
such clean welds, such sturdy parts.
Oh how I love to oil your tips.

In order to republish the poem on his car, Grabau had to contact Daniels, an English professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsgburgh, PA. “Factory Love” was published in Daniels’ book Show and Tell: New and Selected Poems (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003).

“I didn’t know how to get in touch with Jim, or how old he was, or even if he was still alive! It’s weird how someone can be familiar with an author but not really know anything about them,” says Grabau. “Luckily, I found Jim. I was nervous about writing, but I’m glad I did. We e-mail now.”

Most readers, exposed only to classic poetry in requisite high school and undergraduate literature classes, would be surprised how much great work is being written by poets living and breathing today. Accessing contemporary poetry through new media is a way for curious readers to appreciate the way these poets capture and represent life as we know it.

Now, anyone with an iPhone can read and share poetry via Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Launched in February, Poem Flow is a poem-of-the-day application available as a free download from the Apple store. The standard version includes 20 classic and contemporary poems curated by The Academy of American Poets, but additional poems can be purchased for less than a penny each (100 poems are $.99, and a full year of poems costs $2.99).

Robert Peake, a poet and blogger from Ojai, CA, reviewed the application on his personal website. Peake writes:

“When we got around to the iPad, I mentioned its potential to bring some sizzle to literature–possibly in ways the Kindle cannot. I whipped out my iPod Touch, fired up the new Poem Flow for iPhone application that just got released today, and we all sat around for a few minutes watching ‘The Second Coming’ by W.B. Yeats elegantly fade, in measured lines, across my tiny screen. The implications for the larger iPad seemed obvious.”

The application has more than one reading mode so that readers can experiment with the ways they experience the text. Says Dennis Downey, founder of Poem Flow, “As a culture, we are reading increasingly on screens. The ‘form of conventional text’ has been inherited from the requirements of a static medium, but the screen is an electric (fluid) medium. A flow provides a pace, a forward motion through the discourse.”

Grabau’s race car may not inspire a casual reader to become a die-hard poetry fan, but the poem on the roof of his car has definitely attracted attention. Says Grabau, “Choosing stickers, stripes, or special wheels for a car shows how we feel. Publishing this poem is a chance to just do something different, something to get people talking. In racing, the sponsors keep you going, but sometimes that washes out the experience. I want to keep it about my experience.”

Cunningham and MPC have benefited from Poem Depot in practical ways. At a 2009 Art Walk appearance, the president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation approached Cunningham. In January, the Knight Foundation awarded him a $250,000 grant to organize and execute a poetry festival in Miami. The festival, called O Miami, will take place in April 2011.

“Our goal is for every resident of Miami-Dade County to encounter a poem during that month. We will be doing a few traditional readings, but we’ll be focusing on bringing poetry to audiences that probably wouldn’t go see Robert Hass or Louise Glück,” says Cunningham. “The name ‘Hass’ may not mean anything to them, but I’m guessing poetry does. We’ll find out.”

When poets and enthusiasts share poetry through new media, readers outside of the close-knit literary community can access work in unprecedented, exciting ways. Says Cunningham, “Since 2006, I’ve been submitting poems to literary journals regularly and have had 12 to 14 poems published. I doubt any of them has been read as carefully as any of the 40 or so poems I’ve written at Poem Depots. The poem has been hand-made, specifically for that person. It has more meaning, but that’s just a theory.”

After falling in love with the play, I did some research (stalking) and found Berman’s e-mail address. I e-mailed her with questions about her creative process and about friendships/relationships in general. She seemed like a wise, intelligent woman, and I wanted desperately to pick her brain.

Though Berman was busy traveling at the time, she was gracious enough to answer my questions by e-mail. This interview was first published on July 17, 2008, on the original Too Shy to Stop website (no longer available online). I have edited it for clarity and ease of reading. Berman’s insight has influenced my life profoundly; I reread this interview frequently, and I think about her wisdom almost every day.

Laryssa Wirstiuk: Someone I met at a bar once asked me what kind of stories I write. Before I could think of a proper response, he said, “I hope you don’t write relationship stories.” (I do). How would you have responded? Do you find yourself writing “relationship stories”?

Brooke Berman: Yeah, this is a tough one and also, an inherently misogynist question. Men are never accused of writing “relationship stories” even when, I mean, really, most of Western literature are “relationship stories” in one way or another. Isn’t Anna Karenina a relationship story? Tender is the Night?

My questions are: What determines the intellectual substance of a story? Is it only the relationship, or is there another dialogue occurring? Are we talking about desire? Sex? Loss? Courage? History? What questions are being raised? Is there an intellectual backbone? A living argument, with more than one side, fully formed?

I’m interested in relationships (domestic arrangements, how we conduct our heart-selves) but also, for me at least, I’m not writing “just” relationship plays.

For instance, A Perfect Couple isn’t about who gets the guy. Which is why we end up with Amy and Emma alone on stage, re-living their past and then, questioning their future, learning to let go, step away from each other and “not know”. We witness a character move from lines like “I like to know what’s what” to “lets just not know”. That sounds like a spiritual parable to me.

A “relationship story” would focus, instead, on who wins Isaac’s love. A Perfect Couple is also about information: subjective, objective, and intuitive. And it raises questions about gender and societal expectation. For my money, it’s a play about female friendship. And anger and desire and memory.

Laryssa Wirstiuk: Where do you find your stories? Can you briefly describe your creative process?

Brooke Berman: My creative process is holographic and collage-based. I start collecting impulses - visual impulses, textual impulses, bits of arguments, ideas, thoughts, pieces of dialogue - and then, without imposing any order or logic, I let the disparate pieces talk to each other, almost as if they were guests at a really good party.

I keep really good notebooks and journals, often making literal, visual collages in these books. I collect the pieces, then move them around until the story comes.

I also, and I’ve been told this is unusual, involve actors as early as possible so that I can start to imagine these pieces as three-dimensional and sensual - really HEAR them - rather than “think” them.

This particular play, A Perfect Couple, was a commission from Arielle Tepper Productions. Arielle (and Bill Haber) asked me to write a play about contemporary marriage, which is why Amy and Isaac are about to be married. At the time, I confessed to Arielle, I was obsessed with the way single women in their 30s are pathologized by culture, told there’s a problem, something to fix. Or, they are treated as outsiders, dissidents (especially if they’re sexually active, which they often/usually are!). So, we agreed that would be a part of this play.

I was also obsessed with the way in which ideas around domesticity and partnership separate women from one another, altering friendships. Also, I wanted to know why people stay in relationships that clearly aren’t working.

And then, a remarkable thing happened. I was in a peer-led writing workshop, and in the middle of an exercise (led by the amazing Karen Hartman, a NYC-based playwright who was teaching, at the time, at Yale) in which we led characters from “safe” foods/liquids/relationships/places to “unsafe” foods/liquids/relationships/places (or the reverse, unsafe to safe).

The entire story for this play “dropped” in. Literally dropped in. As if through channeling. I saw the entire plot (which is unusual with me, more often things come in a piece at a time; this one came in fully formed).

So, I wrote that story and took it to London, where I workshopped the first draft at the National Theatre Studio in London, which means I spent a week working out the logic of the play and hearing pieces out loud, cutting and rewriting while working with a group of actors and a fabulous director (Orla O’Loughlin, who currently runs Pentabus Theatre in Ludlow, UK).

LW: How do you manage to write such believable dialogue?

BB: Playwrights have to train their ears. Listen to real speech! Real speech is amazing. And it’s not naturalistic. Forcing dialogue to be “natural” kills it. Also, working with actors over a long period of time helps tremendously.

So I don’t try to write believable dialogue. I try to find the character and then, let him or her speak. And then, I write down what she or he says. If you find the soul of your character and are faithful to it without imposing any of your own writerly ideas, the dialogue will sing.

LW: Have you found your own answers to the questions your characters raise (i.e. Are romantic relationships worth the effort? Could a person find love like a pair of shoes? Does the thing you want really want you back?)?

BB: The thing you want really does want you back! And sometimes, this involves waiting. And sometimes, waiting includes “sitting through” uncomfortable periods where you fear that your desires will not be met. But to compromise those desires, ie, by “shoe-shopping” is to compromise love itself.

I recommend focusing on your self - your work, your calling, your soul – and trusting that your partner (who is doing the same) will show up at the right moment. And that you will be bold and honest enough to recognize each other and take the risk of loving. I personally don’t believe in making dating a project or the sole focus of one’s life, regardless of gender.

We’re here to create and to experience creation in the world and there are many, many ways to have relationships and know love. For me, during the years I was single, I felt that I had to recognize that I was surrounded by love and by connection all the time - and let go of a lot of fear - before I could be partnered.

LW: Should a young person seek fulfillment in relationships or elsewhere? If so, where?

BB: Seek fulfillment through self-discovery. Go have brilliant experiences, relationships and otherwise. Develop fully. Learn to communicate responsibly. Have a blast in the world!

Travel, see art, listen to great music, eat great food, enjoy the world around you and inside of you, including relationships and love affairs. And then, love can find you. Don’t try to force people who aren’t ready to be anywhere other than where they are. Learn from them. And wait until they grow up.

With Double Life, Kiéslowski has not reinvented film, but rather, offered a superlative example of the medium’s admirable elasticity. The film champions images, colors, and, ultimately, the ambiguities of everyday life over character and plot.

The first 25 minutes of Double Life center on Veronika (played by Irene Jacob), a Polish woman living in Kraków, Poland. While the film reveals few details of Veronika’s life, her attributes — a haunting singing voice, a cultured disposition, and a miraculous, almost celestial beauty — are celebrated in every frame, as the film follows Veronika’s vocal auditions for a symphony conductor to perform at an upcoming concert.

Veronika gets the part, but, immediately after, as she walks across the Main Market Square of Kraków, Kiéslowski offers a pivotal scene. With the faint yellow of a sunset coating her figure, Veronika comes upon a tour bus. Among the last people to board the bus is a woman frantically taking photographs of the Market — a woman who appears to be an exact copy, or double, of Veronika.

Who is this woman? What is she doing here?

We are as perplexed as Veronika, her deep, dark eyes fixated on the tour bus in a potent mixture of confusion and dreamy pleasure. But that is all, really, that we get from Veronika. Shortly after, as she sings at the concert (the remarkable score of Zbigniew Preisner soaring before a full house), she collapses and dies of a heart problem alluded to in an earlier scene.

Veronika says early in the film, “I feel that I’m not alone in the world.” After her death (which culminates in a spectacularly-shot funeral sequence where the camera, looking up from the hole in which Veronika’s grave sits, stays stationery as dirt is piled on the lens), Kiéslowski produces another incredible shot that answers Veronika’s musings. This shot, mimicking the dream-like, disorienting view of looking through a glass, watches as Veronika’s aforementioned “double” — whom we soon learn is named Veronique and also played by Jacob — engages in slow, sensual, passionate sex. Afterward, Veronique lies in bed, feeling as though a part of her has been lost. The next day, she visits her vocal coach and quits, for reasons she cannot define.

As vague and free floating as the Veronika story can be, it seems utterly straightforward compared to Veronique’s story, which fills the remaining 70 minutes of the film. While we also learn information about Veronique at a sporadic rate (she lives in the French city of Clermond-Ferrand, is indeed French, and teaches music at the grade school level), her story introduces the pivotal character of Alexandre Fabbri, a children’s book author and puppeteer who drops subtle hints that he may very well know the truth about the seemingly double life of Veronique. Kiéslowski follows the interactions of these two characters up to the film’s final shot, one of wonder, intrigue, and definitive sadness.

Interpretations of The Double Life of Veronique cover a wide range of topics. Is Kiéslowski commenting on the nature of the human spirit, and how, despite our greatest efforts for non-conformity and individuality, we really are all pieces of a grand, supernatural puzzle, all serving our part?

Or, is Kiéslowski making a determinist argument, presenting a world in which all events, no matter how small or inconsequential, are determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences?

Or maybe Kiéslowski is musing about religion and free will, where Veronika and Veronique are engaged in a parable overseen by Fabbri who, as the puppeteer, controls the actions and motivations of his gorgeous subjects?

Or, is Kiéslowski’s motivation political, where Veronika, of Poland, sacrifices her life for the future of Veronique, of France, much like Poland was sacrificed during World War II and its subsequent Soviet Union membership for Western Europe’s prosperity?

Contemplating Kiéslowski’s intentions with The Double Life of Veronique is equal parts frustrating and thrilling, an exercise of rhetorical analysis for only the most patient of viewers. That is, of course, if such analysis affects the impact of the film. Hint: it doesn’t.

To succeed as a work of art, Double Life does not necessarily need to be explained, as all the various components of the film demonstrate breathtaking ambition and vision. Much like the modernist poetry of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot — works that confound understanding while offering images and language of ferocious beauty — Kiéslowski works on a visceral level, producing an art form that succeeds because of its visual virtuosity, not its narrative coherence. Kiéslowski creates broad canvases of stunning color palettes and sets of understated beauty with cinematographer Sławomir Idziak . Preisner’s musical score swells, creating majesty and tension in even the simplest of circumstances.

And Jacob stands front and center before it all, serving as the nucleus of the film before Kiéslowski’s adoring camera; indeed, the film could not succeed without her, as Jacob balances mystery, wonderment, and frustration (sometimes all in the same scene) in a superb performance that won her the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In a film of such loose construction, there must be one concrete element present to sustain its vision, and Jacob certainly provides this.

And then, these pieces coalesce into images, mesmerizing images of beauty and splendor that defy explanation, demonstrating a Terrence Malick-esque sense of the vital, organic nuances of everyday life. One example is the image of Veronika, after receiving the solo in the concert; she is standing in a hallway wearing a black coat and red turtleneck. The green paint on the walls is cracked and worn, and faded yellow color is streaming in through the windows and comforting her light, brunette hair. Her long, white neck is stretched, and her head is bent back in rapture.

Or the shot of a table, simple and unadorned, but on the surface stands a glass of tea, blood red in color, with the teabag inside the glass, spinning as if suspended on an axis — and the camera sits, steady, allowing the red of the tea, the black of the bag, the deep brown of the mahogany to mesh.

Or the image of Veronique looking through a stained glass door of red and green and white, her face swaying side-to-side as the colors, powered by sunlight, beam on her silent, beautiful face.

In an interview from a few years ago, British director Peter Greenaway harped on the overrated nature of American director Martin Scorsese: “However we may admire somebody like Scorsese as a grand old man of American cinema, he still makes the same films as Griffith.”

Greenaway’s point was that Scorsese, despite the many accolades and (arguably misplaced) superlatives bestowed upon him by American critics and viewers, the films Scorsese directs do little to advance the art of filmmaking, and in the end, his films do not differ in the slightest from that of D.W. Griffith, whose Birth of a Nation was made in 1915.

While one could certainly criticize The Double Life of Veronique for its narrative ambiguity and perplexing mystery, to do so would miss Kiéslowski’s (and, implicitly, Greenaway’s) most elegant point: that behind wonder, behind the unknown, lies a spectacular vision that is exciting specifically because we do not hold all the answers. This ambiguity, in all its uncompromising boldness, represents what should be the future of film.

Schofield, a marketer and television personality from Los Angeles, CA, describes herself as a homebody but hides that part of her personality from her online friends and nearly 25,000 Twitter followers. She says, “I do not like to drink. I do not like to party. But everyone thinks I’m a raging Hollywood club girl.”

Home-schooled from fifth grade until college and part of a family that has frequently relocated, Schofield had few opportunities to create lasting relationships with her peers.

Attracted by the possibility of friendship, AOL chat rooms and early forms of social media became her outlet. She says, “I am much more confident online and much more positive! Like attracts like in the universe so I try to stay as uplifting and positive online because I know I will attract similar people.”

Even before she moved to Los Angeles, while chatting and blogging from her bedroom in Scottsdale, AZ, Schofield referenced Hollywood. From an early age, she cultivated an image for herself and now believes that more people recognize her on the streets of Los Angeles than they would in Scottsdale, where she lived for 10 years.

Emily Liebert, author of Facebook Fairytales: Modern-Day Miracles to Inspire the Human Spirit, was so fascinated by the ways people act and interact on Facebook that she wrote a book about it. Her 25 real-life stories describe people who have connected and helped one another in unique ways.

“In some professional and social circles, people can be mean and unwilling to help, but it really shocked me how generous people are on Facebook,” says Liebert. “They are willing to put you in touch with connections and help you. In a world where everyone is overwhelmed and stressed out, Facebook is a happy place.”

Liebert believes that the kind of content shared on Facebook encourages a relaxed mood and an encouraging, safe environment. Says Liebert, “The site is very human, and that’s what makes it as successful as it is. People are connecting with friends and family and seeing photos. To a certain extent, everyone wants to put their best foot forward on their Facebook profile. All of that fosters a happy environment.”

“I generally don’t say negative things on Facebook,” says 28-year-old Mikey Rox, owner of Paper Rox Scissors, a creative consulting company in New York City. “I reach out to people to say nice things to them, and I try to be a good person online. I think it’s certainly a reflection of my real personality, but I feel like I have a bit more control. In life, sometimes circumstances dictate the outcome.”

On social networks, users learn by example. When positivity is the norm, those who post negative comments with regular frequency are generally ostracized, “defriended”, or blocked.

“Who wants to hear people whine about their girlfriend or boyfriend, medical problems, or money woes? Deal with that stuff privately, or, if you want to handle it publicly, at least lighten it up,” says Rox. “I know several people on my Facebook list who consistently update their profiles with the most dreadful details. Every day is worse than the last for them.”

However, as 28-year-old Arash Afshar has learned, creating a persona using social media can be more about breaking cultural stereotypes and less about satisfying other people’s expectations. Raised Iranian-American, Afshar felt he was challenging cultural norms by using the Internet to express his opinions on film and music.

“This is a culture where people tend to gossip and put you down if you’re not a doctor, lawyer, or engineer,” says Afshar, who is passionate about the arts. “I did go through a phase where I was pretty much raging against the machine by being more ‘outrageous’, but I have since developed a healthy middle ground.”

Afshar’s parents eventually embraced social networking tools like Facebook but only with the purpose of getting to know their son better. According to Afshar, his mother joined Facebook with the intention of spying on him. He shares almost everything with her, but she always thinks he is hiding something. Recently, his 65-year-old father also created a Facebook account. Says Afshar, “I hesitated adding my dad as a friend, but then I remembered one of my mantras: better to be loathed for who I am than loved for who I am not.”

His social media presence has even affected his relationship with his girlfriend, who maintains a blog as well. He admits that she has fought with him over things he has revealed online about their relationship, but he encourages her to embrace social media. He wishes she wouldn’t be so “proper”.

Social networks have encouraged these young people to highlight aspects of their personality that are already well developed. Says Rox, “Sometimes I feel like a narcissist for promoting my own work or things that I have going on in my life. But based on the feedback I receive from my online community, I feel like they’re genuinely interested in the sort of stuff that I choose to disseminate on Facebook and on other social networking sites.”

Afshar has received compliments as well. An old fraternity brother admitted that he had no idea how talented and creative Afshar was before connecting with him on a social network. A prospective employer commented on Afshar’s writing capabilities, and a jealous best friend finally admitted to himself that Afshar is indeed talented.

Afshar has been lucky enough to avoid negative feedback. He says, “If they’re out there, they’re keeping silent.”

However, as Liebert maintains, social networking tools like Facebook are very “human”, meaning that people showcase their best and worst qualities, despite all efforts to portray a consistent image.

“I cuss, I drink, I smoke. I’m a real person. But that doesn’t mean I can’t also be a positive person,” says Rox. “As positive as I try to be on Facebook, there are times when I need to vent. I can scream, yell, and throw a tantrum with the best of them. But those faces are better left behind closed doors. The only one you’ll ever see on Facebook is the one with the big smile.”

On her first day, Farrell learned that she would not be able to access the Internet. In fact, the counseling center’s tight budget meant Farrell would not be able to have a personal computer.

“When you start a job, you assume that you will have a computer, that it will be a given,” says Farrell. “In the year and a half that I’ve been there, I’ve brought it up no less than 20 times, even during our annual review. I keep asking: when is this going to change? My boss told me to give it a few more years.”

At her previous job, Farrell completed almost all administrative tasks online. She could even log contact notes from patient meetings.

At her current job, Farrell is definitely the youngest person in her office, and she admits that she is the only one who complains about the lack of Internet. Every day, she must complete a significant amount of paperwork by hand.

“I think my handwriting is really good since that’s all I do all day,” says Farrell. “I worry that I’m going to lose my computer typing skills because I’m hardly ever on the computer.”

The hardest part about working at a counseling center without Internet access is finding resources for patients. Sometimes locating a phone number or address can be a grueling task. Says Farrell, “Most people in my office use a phone book. A major aspect of my job is locating resources for patients. I might need to find a list of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or outpatient counseling centers. Having access to the Internet would make things much more efficient and make a lot more sense.”

While Farrell could benefit from Internet access for practical reasons, many young people can’t imagine spending their work day without the Internet simply because they can’t sit still for eight hours. The Internet is a great distraction, and it can help refresh the creative brain. Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, and Pandora are all websites that can break up the monotony of a highly-structured work day.

But even before the creation of social networking sites, workers welcomed most distractions: reading material, cigarettes, and conversations with coworkers.

Ken Denney from Atlanta, GA was a news reporter and editor at a major southeastern newspaper between 1979 and 1986. He says, “In the late 1980s, those of us who were bored at our desk could look at Associated Press stories as they came over the wire, or read long feature stories that would be stored on the AP system for future use by its member newspapers. Needless to say, the diversity of that material was nothing compared to the Internet.”

In the 1980s, the decade during which many young people who today can’t imagine work life without the Internet were born, offices were buzzing with strange jargon and phrases that signaled significant changes in connectivity and communication: ditto masters, photocopying slide materials on acetate, and ARPANET, the earliest version of the Internet as we know it today.

Before e-mail mishaps and employees terminated for inappropriate content posted to Facebook, employees wrote memos and spoke on the phone.

Says Rob Bedell, owner of Bedell Media & Consulting, “In some ways, it worked better before the Internet. It was easier to understand a person’s tone and there was less of a chance for misinterpretation. There were still distractions, though. A co-worker might have wanted to tell you every detail about their life, and it was harder to avoid them since they were in front of you.”

Wanda Fischer, a public information officer from Albany, NY has watched technology change and evolve in the workplace since 1968, when she began working as a secretary at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“We spent a great deal of time on the phone, writing messages on little pink slips, and trying to keep track of the people who worked with us,” says Fischer. “We had an overhead paging system, similar to what they have in schools today. We hand-logged every memo and piece of correspondence we sent out. We did have a computer, but it was the size of an average living room. It broke down at least twice a day.”

Fischer even explained a process that she called “secretarial surgery”. If she had to correct a typewritten sentence, she would re-type the paragraph, manually cut and paste the new paragraph over the old one, and then tape it onto the page. She hid the tape lines by “painting” over the tape edges with Wite-Out (”the greatest thing ever”) and photocopying the doctored page.

Imagine putting that much effort into an e-mail. With Gmail, an employee can write and then discard a draft of an e-mail with the simple click of a button. Gmail users can “undo” an e-mail, even after it’s been sent.

Many people who have witnessed the rapid embrace of the Internet are certain that it saves time, energy, and resources. Says Fischer, “Things were very different before the Internet. If we needed to do research, we had to take a trip to the library and look up information on index cards in the card catalogue and then find the book listed on the card and check it out. We often had to look at old newspapers on microfilm on very old-fashioned microfilm readers.”

Regardless, some employers argue that the Internet is a huge time-waster for employees. They will install firewalls to prevent employees from surfing social networking sites and enforce strict policies for unrelated and/or inappropriate Internet use.

Sierra Webb is a 27-year-old public relations specialist for the town of Apple Valley, CA. Her employer restricts Internet access with Barracuda, a firewall program. Says Webb, “Even while using a personal laptop, if we log on to the free wireless network, we are still blocked from anything like social networking or e-mail sites.”

She does not have Internet access at home but does own a BlackBerry, which she thinks is sufficient.

“After spending nine hours a day on a computer at work (mostly offline, even though some Internet use like website maintenance, research, and purchasing is necessary), the last thing I want to do when I get home is turn on a computer,” says Webb. “I avoid it as much as I can in my personal life now. If I need Internet access I can just go down to the local coffee shop, frozen yogurt shop, or book store.”

To remain competitive, media and communications companies have always employed cutting-edge technology. Modern publishing companies would not survive if they printed books on the original Gutenberg press. For people who work at these companies, access to the Internet can either help or hinder their ability to do their jobs.

“We had individual PCs on our desk hooked to a mainframe, and we even had an internal messaging system (but it was not called e-mail). The only connectivity we had with the outside world was through the Associated Press newswire,” says Denney, who believes his newsroom of the 1980s was technologically advanced for its time.

These days, with downsized newsrooms, underpaid journalists, and newsroom employees taking on more tasks, reporters may not be as dedicated to their beats as they have been in the past. Some rely on shortcuts like Help a Reporter Out. Others even use Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites to find sources and story ideas.

“We were expected to get out of the office and patrol our beats. I covered the police station and the courthouse, so I spent a good part of my day in both locations, stopping back in the office to write up my stories,” says Denney. “I believe some reporters still work this way, but my impression is that most do not and instead sit in the office and field e-mails with only occasional excursions into the real world. This, I think, has harmed journalism in the long run.”

Given the growing importance of social networking for business, marketing and public relations professionals at companies that use firewalls sometimes request special access to social networks and other restricted websites. Without access to these sites, they may be missing vital opportunities.

“While Barracuda blocks us at times, we have a process by which our information systems staff can give us access to a particular site with supervisor approval,” says Webb. “So basically, if I need access to do my job, I can request it and get around the block.”

Farrell is going to keep asking for Internet until she gets it, even if she has to ask for years.

Says Farrell, “I definitely miss the Internet. Only a month after I started my job, I upgraded to a BlackBerry. I can’t stand to not get e-mails during the day.”

Kecskemety had decided, on a whim, to revisit some recordings he had collected as an undergraduate audio production major at Ohio University. His professor at the time, music engineer Eddie Ashworth, had given his students the original session tapes to Sublime’s popular single “What I Got” in the form of audio files that separated the bass, vocals, drums, and any other components of the song (Ashworth had been the sound engineer for the single).

Kecskemety’s original assignment involved a simple mixing of the song, but, this time, he tried something different. Using Logic Studio — the various blues, greens, and grays of the program’s interface resembling a glossy cupcake — Kecskemety took only the vocals of “What I Got” and placed them on top of a custom musical backdrop composed of two songs by contemporary rapper M.I.A.: “Paper Planes” and “Mango Pickle Down River”. Kecskemety worked on the project for roughly three hours, also adding an introduction to the new Sublime/M.I.A. mash involving rap group Outkast, ‘90s punk outfit The Offspring, the legendary rap group Public Enemy, and the Mos Def/Talib Kweli combo Black Star.

Later that day, Kecskemety played his multi-song amalgam, or “mashup”, for Brad Bambara, an old friend from high school who was also living in New York at the time. Bambara was captivated by the concept, immediately realizing that both he and Kecskemety had the time and resources to pursue — and complete — a true musical vision. They decided to pursue this project, this “mashup”, and see how it developed, mashing both their musical tastes and talents in the process.

Born in Rochester, NY within a day of one another in 1988, Bambara (May 11) and Kecskemety (May 10) attended Pittsford Sutherland High School. Their friendship prospered around a general love for music and performing.

Kecskemety played piano, clarinet, and guitar while growing up and participated in chorus and musicals throughout high school. Inspired by the experiments of a classmate, he even tried his hand — haphazardly — at mashups. For his part, Bambara played guitar in an alternative rock group called Euphoria, a group that remained together up to the members’ early college years.

Kecskemety was a big fan of the group, not only attending as many shows as he could (including the group’s first-ever performance), but even using his burgeoning skills in audio production to mix the group’s first and only album after their freshman year in college.

Ironically, throughout their high school friendship and brief musical collaboration, Bambara never had the faintest inclination that he would eventually work with Kecskemety, especially not so closely, on a music project. Or that it would be a mashup album, of all things.

After Kecskemety played his mashup for Bambara, the newly created musical duo began adding to the concept on weekends, as Kecskemety’s NYU studies took up most of his free time and Bambara, a game-design major at the Rochester Institute of Technology, spent his weekdays interning at Freeverse, a design company specializing in games and applications for the Apple iPhone.

The two worked deliberately, slowly, huddled around Kecskemety’s MacBook and combining more songs of disparate genres until the project’s potential began to consume their waking thoughts. They became increasingly reliant on text-messaging, passing ideas back and forth for new mashings. Kecskemety recalled how he was riding the subway one day when, suddenly, the songs “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie and “Sweetest Girl” by Wyclef Jean coalesced in his mind, showing him a great combination. Kecskemety quickly texted Bambara as he exited the subway so he would not forget.

Bambara had a similar moment while he casually listened to “Bicycle Race” by Queen. Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that “LoveGame,” a recent hit from pop darling Lady Gaga, would mix well rhythmically and tonally with “Bicycle Race”. Bambara texted Kecskemety with the idea, and Kecskemety expanded on Bambara’s initial idea in a way he had never considered, ultimately producing a segment that included alternative groups the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Muse, and even rap group N.W.A.

This pattern continued, with Bambara and Kecskemety working on weekends and bouncing ideas off one another in a strictly professional, courteous way that bared no resemblance to the overwrought, dramatic creative sessions that stereotypically characterize a creative partnership.

“No drama or any of that stuff,” Bambara said, to which Kecskemety succinctly responded, “Nope.”

The necessity of both members’ contributions became ever more clear, whether it came in the form of suggestions for transitions, new effects, or artists one partner had not previously considered. Such is the glory of teamwork, though, as Kecskemety explained: “There’s no way we could’ve done this on our own … We had days that were more frustrating than others, (but) every time Brad would talk about it, I would get, like, more motivated to do something with it and work on it.”

As the duo’s little sampling project evolved into a massive tapestry, two things became clear to Kecskemety and Bambara. First, they were creating something far beyond a “pet project,” as Bambara put it, and were now in the midst of a sprawling, ambitious effort that could very well become a full-length LP.

Second, they had to be clever — even cheeky — to find the right material for the album. Because they lacked the original sessions for most of their desired artists (sans the aforementioned Sublime recording), they instead engaged in mass Internet scavenger hunts, scouring various Web sites and Internet communities (one site, Jamglue, was particularly useful) for instrumental and vocal-only versions of tracks. And if they were unable to find the instrumental versions, they then had to carefully edit instead.

“You mentioned ‘The Lion King’,” Bambara said to me, alluding to an earlier moment in my interview with the duo when I cited one of their particularly creative mashups involving Snoop Dogg rapping with a chorus from “The Lion King” anthem “I Just Can’t Wait to be King”. “We didn’t have a special version of that song, just the one that everyone else has access to. (We) just (did) some careful manipulations.”

That last example of the duo’s sampling, where the streetwise gangsta rhymes of Snoop Dogg are juxtaposed with the sugar-sweet sounds of Disney, could be among the more appropriate examples of what Bambara and Kecskemety — if not the entire mashup genre — seeks to accomplish: an unexpected twist of the musical vernacular, an act of sampling that simultaneously respects the original artist’s vision while redefining it for a new audience.

When Snoop Dogg rhymes with beats by rap producer Dr. Dre, he sounds lethargically menacing, his lazy drawl casually describing the horrors of the streets; yet, when Snoop raps with the bouncy melodies of a Disney tune, there’s a tenderness, even an innocence to his delivery, a characteristic that would have been unimaginable on “The Chronic”, a classic Dr. Dre album on which Snoop Dogg rapped.

Or, continuing in the vein of hip hop, consider an earlier sample on the album, where the duo mash Eminem’s rapping on “Lose Yourself” with the lead melody from Nine Inch Nails’ industrial masterwork “Closer.” All of the sudden, there is a new edge to Eminem’s rapping, an attitude bordering on recklessness when coupled with the intensity of the Nine Inch Nails production. Therefore, the mashup, by way of juxtaposition, reveals new depths and unimaginable facets of an artist’s work.

As Bambara told me, “Mashes like this do a service to the originals. (We are) offering the songs most people are familiar with but in a new context.”

“Do you see any merit in Andy Warhol’s work?” He later asked, rhetorically answering one of my questions with a question. “What’s cool about taking a Campbell’s Soup can and drawing it a bunch of times? He just stole someone else’s shit and reused it. Or is that not what it’s really about?”

“The album didn’t exist before we made it,” Kecskemety said. “Now it does.”

“Well,” Bambara said with a good-natured chuckle, as he went to complement Kecskemety’s comment. “I think it was T.S. Eliot (who) said, ‘Good poets borrow, great poets steal.’” — Bambara here was alluding to a literary essay by Eliot on the playwright Philip Massinger where he stated: “A poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.” But Bambara continued — “We’re clearly embracing the fact that our source material comes from somewhere else … Are we the greatest artists of all time? No, but we’ve (definitely) created something.”

Kecskemety added, in a fine touch of irony, that while he and Bambara constructed their album, he was studying the concept of “fair use” in one of his NYU classes, the notion that allows artists to borrow the content of other artists.

According to one of the doctrines of fair use, a song can be sampled without the owner’s permission as long as the final product — the song that the sample is being used for — contains what the Supreme Court called “transformative value”, meaning, naturally, a new quality or feeling completely foreign to that of the original song.

The modern notion of fair use, in many ways, originated in the infamous Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., when Luther Campbell of the hip hop group 2 Live Crew was sued by Acuff for using the main guitar riff and melody of Roy Orbison’s hit song “Oh, Pretty Woman” without Acuff’s permission. The Supreme Court ruled that Campbell’s version, simply titled “Pretty Woman”, existed purely as parody, and as such the song featured sufficient transformative value and was a fair use (this is how Weird Al Yankovic gets way with parodying so many songs).

Beyond the core tenets of the music, though, what is striking about the Kecskemety/Bambara duo was how their very partnership was as much a mashup as Nine Inch Nails and Eminem. It became clear — through the straightforward diction in the men’s language, the selfless compliments to one another’s talents, the kind, laid-back personalities that nonetheless demonstrated distinct drive, creating a strange presence of comforting intensity — that it was specifically the normal backgrounds of both Kecskemety and Bambara that made their musical experiments such a success, meaning, the way that two passionate, albeit entirely ordinary guys could combine to create an ambitious mashup album with 188 individual samples.

Simply, “Now Hear This”, the name Kecskemety and Bambara ultimately chose for the album, would not exist with any other duo, for a different duo composed of different people would mashup in new, unpredictable ways.

Kecskemety and Bambara finished the major work on the album by Thanksgiving, shortly after they settled on a name for their partnership. While they worked on the album, the duo brainstormed possible names, running the gamut of band names many times over. “We tried a million,” Bambara said. Finally, after much debate, they settled on The Stereo Bomb, simply because it was the best name they came up with.

Kecskemety then took over the brunt of the album work by finalizing it with the various mixing techniques available on Logic Studio while Bambara designed a Web site to launch the album for a free download (the album is still free today). Even in these final stages, with the album nearing completion, both Kecskemety and Bambara wondered how the album would be received and if any of their efforts would pay off.

But now, with the album a hit among the Ohio University and New York University crowds and slowly expanding to other arenas, both admit feeling that all their hard work and efforts have been validated. Indeed, the duo’s Facebook page currently lists 513 fans (one of whom described the album as “absurdly amazing”), their Web site amounted more than 2,800 hits in its first two weeks, and the album’s download base has extended to both YouTube and last.fm.

About a week after my first learning of The Stereo Bomb, I sat down for a chat with John Dees, the Ohio University student who introduced me to the duo. I asked him why he felt so motivated to show me the album.

“It’s awesome,” Dees said, his round face, unkempt shag of a head, and high voice concise almost to the point of parody. I wanted something more concrete.

“But what about it is awesome,” I asked, hoping for more elaboration.

“The flow…is great,” he said with his neck craned, his eyes pointed at the ceiling, and his tone coated with a dreamy sense of admiration.

I asked for further clarification, but Dees then looked at me, blankly, his expression clearly exuding one key phrase: “It’s art, dude. Just accept it.”

The U.S. Census Report announced that, in the fourth quarter of 2009, 23.7% of Americans under age 25 owned a home, and 38.8% of Americans ages 25-29 owned a home.

Tasha, a software consultant from GA, bought her house three years ago, when she just 23. She saved for five years. After renting an apartment for two years, Tasha asked herself, “Why should I continue paying someone to maintain a property that will never be mine?”

That realization motivated her to begin her search for a condo.

Tasha enjoys the freedom associated with owning her own space. She says, “I can paint as many wild wacky colors that I want, I can do as many renovations as I’m financial able to do and don’t have to request permission from a landlord to do so!”

However, with that freedom comes the responsibility to fix things that go wrong. Recently, a valve in her condo’s hot water heater broke, and water spilled from the condo for a few days before Tasha knew something was wrong. As a homeowner, she had to find a contractor, pay for the repairs, and shoulder the extra cost of that month’s water bill.

But for Tasha, the experience was just part of life as a 20-something homeowner.

Real estate agent Tom Lowry from the Philadelphia, PA area recently worked with several 20-somethings who bought their first homes. He says, “They did not want to pay rent anymore and thought with the housing market being positioned in a good way favoring the buyer. . . it was a good time to buy.”

Most of his clients purchased condos, townhouses, or modest fixer-upper single-family houses.

Another young homebuyer is Lauren Maiman MacKellar, 25, a public relations consultant from Beverly Hills, MI. Last year, MacKellar and her husband took advantage of the down economy in suburban Detroit, MI and bought a house. They saved for their new home for about one year.

She says, “We could afford homes and areas that we normally wouldn’t have been able to afford. It was a combination of right place at the right time for us.”

MacKellar is right on point about living in the right place. CNN and Money Magazine did a survey on the most/least affordable places to buy a home based on median home prices and average income. Three Michigan cities ranked in the top five most affordable locations in the US. By contrast, the New York metro area is the least affordable place for homebuyers.

The MacKellars are some of the first in their circle of friends to own a house. MacKellar says, “The response we get most from friends who aren’t homeowners is ‘Wow! This is a real house!’”

Home ownership has been a bonding experience for the MacKellars. Over the past seven months, they’ve redone most of the rooms, learning firsthand about design, compromise, and teamwork.

Owning a house also teaches them a lot about money management. They’re more conscientious about being energy efficient and keeping costs down, because everything falls on their shoulders.

Becoming a homeowner has its financial advantages. The federal government is offering a tax credit for first-time homebuyers who purchased between January 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010. Ten percent of the purchase price, up to $8,000, will be deducted from the buyer’s federal income tax rate. So if a buyer who earns $40,000 bought a $150,000 house, for tax purposes, their income would be $32,000.

Another young newlywed who grabbed a piece of the American dream is Alisa Weiss from Buchanan, MI. Weiss, 26, a former assistant to an information systems manager, and her husband, bought a house in 2009.

She says, “We had worked hard, gotten ourselves completely out of debt, and we knew we were wanting to stay in this area. So, saving for a house was the next logical step for us.”

Like MacKellar, the Weisses took advantage of the buyers’ market. Their monthly expenses are about $300 less than when they were renting.

The Weisses and the MacKellars have a distinct advantage as a couple. Two incomes are better then one when it comes to saving for a down payment. A survey done in 2008 by real estate consulting firm Danter revealed that 83.4% of married couples owned a home, as opposed to 58.6% of unmarried women and 50.6% of unmarried men.

Realtor Gail Coleman of Chattanooga, TN noticed an up-swing in 20-something’s buying real estate in her market. Last year, she worked with 17 couples; 14 were co-habituating or engaged, and three were married.

Besides the financial rewards, the Weisses found emotional rewards of being homeowners. An animal lover, Weiss says, “I’m a really big advocate for adopting from shelters, and now we have four pets (two dogs and two cats) all rescued.” Their former small, dark apartment was not a good place for pets, but now the animals have a sunny backyard in which to play.

Weiss echoes Tasha when she says the biggest adjustment to owning a house is the emergency repairs. After a bad storm, the roof started leaking. Fortunately, the leak was relatively easy to fix, but it reminded the Weisses that home ownership can be stressful as well as rewarding

Whether you’re taking the plunge into home ownership or just exploring the waters, hopefully these young homeowners have made you realize that it is within your reach.

Ten words for 2010: authentic, integrity, compassionate, inspired, intellectual, spiritual, commitment, excellence, fun, and creative.

Now that the holidays are over, Internet users are doing less online shopping and spending more time seeking original content that will inspire and help them adhere to their New Year’s resolutions. A beautiful and hope-filled song, even a carol, is pleasant to hear at any time of the year.

“The world is changing, and young people are a significant part of that change,” says Dana Ann Clark, founder of Carol for a Cause, a project designed to support musical talent while promoting good will. Carol for a Cause does not support any particular cause, but Clark hopes that visitors to the site will enjoy the inspiring music and pass it on to friends and family members, anyone they think needs to hear a message of hope.

“Young people have a tremendous respect for creating different mediums of art and finding innovative ways to express that,” says Clark, who wrote the lyrics for “Christmas Time”, the 2009 Carol for a Cause. The song was performed by musician Dana Robinson.

“This project exemplifies that art can be both visual and auditory while inspiring our senses to act with kindness towards one another,” says Clark.

To promote the website and YouTube music video, Clark used Twitter, Facebook, and blogger outreach. Says Clark, “Social media allows us to connect with the right people despite potential geographic limitations put in place by traditional marketing. It has made me more connected to others in ways that allow me to obtain and share more knowledge than ever before. It has also allowed more visibility and results to come from my Carol for a Cause efforts. The internet has allowed a number of young artists a means to get their talents shared and recognized.”

Clark hopes that young people will listen to the song and evaluate what they think and how they feel about their work/life balance. As a business owner, she knows first-hand about the challenges of separating her professional life from her personal life. Clark owns Organizational Talent Solutions, a company based in Edgewater, MD that provides expert assessment support to assist organizations in achieving greater efficiency. Says Clark, “I believe in paying it forward, and that doing good things for others can cause change, whether that be donating to a favorite charity or helping out a friend in need.”

Though Clark is passionate about Carol for a Cause and her work in assessment and training, she also likes to take time to enjoy songwriting, gardening, golf, theater and the arts, wine, and travel.

“In the spirit of the season may we continue to embrace hope and know that, through the power of love, all things are possible if we believe,” reads the Carol for a Cause homepage text. Clark hopes that her song and video will inspire and promote change in the world. In 2010, she plans to release volume II of Carol for a Cause.

Irish Blood, American Culture

Ten words for 2010: Jersey, Catholic, law school, reading, writing, family, theology, journaling, religious art, and invictus.

Daniel F. O’Brien, also known as “Jersey”, owns an expensive digital camera but doesn’t like getting his photo taken. In fact, no one has taken a photo of him since June 2009.

Though O’Brien, 25, is a law school student who lives in Florida, he still has love for New Jersey, the state where he was born and raised.

“New Jersey is in my blood. It is where my family is, which is the most important thing,” says O’Brien. “But it also has everything: oceans, cities, and the country. Everything you need is here, and the Jersey culture is awesome. You know Jersey has strong character because people either love it or hate it, which is a lot like me. It is so much a part of me that people call me Jersey.”

Though he tries to share his love for New Jersey’s culture with his classmates, many of them do not want to understand it.

“Generally people make fun of Jersey always with the landfill or corrupt politicians jokes, but all our landfills are closed, and we do something about corruption unlike a lot of states who sit back and watch,” says O’Brien. “Jersey isn’t something you can just visit and understand. You have to live there.”

A self-described “Jack of all trades”, O’Brien likes reading, watching sports and movies, antiques, and learning about Catholicism. Says O’Brien, who spends a lot of time studying theology, “It is the form of Christianity that I most agree with. I appreciate how a Mass appeals to all the senses: the smell of insense, the touch of the pews, hymnals, people, the sight of beautifully built parishes, the taste of the Body and Blood, and the sound of the music. It never fails to move me. Importantly too is that I am Irish, and to many Irish and Irish-Americans, Catholicism is inseparable from their self-identity. My family suffered at the hands of the English for their religion and we came from nothing so Faith was all we had. In my family we carry it with us and it is part of everything we do. Without the Church I would be lost.”

He also spends a lot of time writing, both for school and for pleasure. Says O’Brien, “I am very proud of my journals, which tell my life in five volumes.”

To promote and support American arts, O’Brien collects art.

“I like all kinds of art that is not modern art, but I’m partial to oil paintings, sculptures, and bronze work,” says O’Brien. “I am most partial to the religious art and antiques. I am all over the place with my collections. I pick things that are rare and valuable.”

He lives by the words written in the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley. He even has the word invictus tattooed on his chest. Says O’Brien, “There was a time when people told me I would never graduate college, and I did. The poem reminds me to never, ever quit.”

Ten words for 2010: vintage fashion, style blogs, flea markets, vintage markets, online shopping, 80s fashion, New York City fashion, Brooklyn Flea, Fresh Prince of New York, and Hip Hop 4 Life.

Sammy Davis may share a name with a famous American entertainer, but she has cultivated an identity all her own. The 23-year-old Harlem, NY resident, who sports a “Carpe Diem” tattoo on her left wrist, is seizing the day by “making vintage fashion accessible for the contemporary woman”.

“Fashion is something we do every single day. And if you don’t care about Sammy Davis Vintage because it offers you fabulous fashion, fine,” says Davis. “But at least care about the idea of sustainable fashion, and how you can begin to consume less, consume right, and consume with your own earth-conscious choices.”

When fashionistas buy clothing from Sammy Davis Vintage, they reduce their carbon footprint by recycling clothing, they buy power that influences the design and production decisions of corporations, and they gain unique investment pieces. Davis’ inventory spans the late 60s to 90s and appeals to a 20-something professional female who works in a creative, urban industry.

“I buy and style for the girl who is starting out in her career but wishes to wear something that sets her apart in both her professional and personal life. She shops at H&M because it’s the most prolific portal for easy, affordable trends,” says Davis. “I aim to be the ‘H&M of vintage’, to appeal to this market and to make vintage just as accessible and exciting.”

Though her clothing hails from decades past, Davis stays on the forefront of technology. She started blogging at 16 and co-founded AWKWARD is Awesome, a now-defunct blog that catered to 20-something females. Currently, Davis blogs at her professional website, highlighting what she wears and demonstrating how to incorporate sustainability with fashion, food, and entertainment. She also tweets at her personal account and her business account.

“I can sell online and use standard social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook to promote my brand. I can blog about my style to raise awareness of my brand. I can connect with other style bloggers and self-proclaimed fashionistas within fashion communities. I can sell on eBay or Etsy, or the brand-new online vintage marketplace, Market Publique,” says Davis. “The Internet has allowed me to be my own public relations, my own marketing, and my own showroom.”

Davis’ work requires a tremendous amount of creativity and cultural awareness. Because some women are unsure about wearing vintage clothing or don’t know how to appropriately style it, Davis has to know which piece of clothing will make a woman feel the most fabulous and open her eyes to the possibilities of vintage.

She is constantly making style suggestions and experimenting with own outfits. On New Year’s Eve, choose to re-wear a bridesmaid dress instead of buying the easiest-prettiest-thing on the mannequin, rock a DIY headband, or transform a romper into a pair of shorts.

In March, Davis will produce, style, and curate a 90s-inspired fashion show for the fundraising event Hip Hop 4 Life, Fresh Prince of New York and hopes to relaunch SammyDVintage.com, which will support her presence as an online retailer.

“Shopping Sammy Davis Vintage is supporting the American arts, too. American arts continue to thrive because local artisans are supported and promoted by local residents,” says Davis. “I am a curator of art through fashion, and I am a local vendor of these styles. By supporting my business, you are sustaining a local artist and the idea that a community can economically flourish thanks to the support of its own population.”

Smashing Stereotypes about Scientists

Ten words for 2010: New York City, biking, Cam’ron, synaptogenesis, electron and laser-scanning confocal, microscopy, morphological analysis, interneuronal, American history, and patience.

James Reilly usually has a difficult time trying to explain what he does to people outside of his lab. The word “neuroscience” is enough to confuse and overwhelm most.

Reilly is a 26-year-old PhD student who lives in Manhattan. As he describes it, Reilly has been collecting “evidence about how interneuronal connections change based on cellular mechanisms” for the past three years.

As a result of his research, he will be able to provide new evidence about how these interneuronal connections change. These connections are important because they directly impact the healing process after brain injury or disease. In addition, these connections support normal brain function.

The work can be intense, but Reilly is organized, patient, and passionate about what he does. Says Reilly, “My greatest challenge is doing lots of things at once without getting confused, taking too long, or becoming overwhelmed.”

Even though Reilly spends his days (and sometimes nights) fully immersed in science, he does get to express his creativity, a trait stereotypically not assigned to scientists. Says Reilly, “I grow neurons and use microscopes and microscopy image analysis software in new, fancy, and sometimes difficult ways. I use new technology all the time and new computer programs to analyze images of neurons or to control the microscope.”

Reilly also enjoys and appreciates American arts, which give him a break from the lab and his colleagues, who are also immersed in their experiments and research.

“I take any opportunity to see, hear, or otherwise experience the arts (mostly performances and museums),” says Reilly. “Then I talk about them with friends, family, and whomever.”

Reilly believes that young people should consume less mass media and generate more dialogue about the creative arts. He says, “I see some young people at every art thing I attend so I guess they care enough to keep the whole operation going, which is all that’s really necessary I guess. As long young people keep the arts alive, it’s that much easier for them to become more popular.”

When he’s not observing cells under a microscope, Reilly enjoys listening to Cam’ron, one of his favorite creative individuals, reading about American history and culture, exploring New York City, and bicycle riding. He is passionate about biking and rides to New Jersey and the outer New York City boroughs when he has free time, even when it’s cold outside! Says Reilly, “One of my proudest moments of 2009 was riding my bicycle 1,000 miles with a high average speed during my spare time in one month.”

In 2010, Reilly will complete the next set of neuron imaging experiments, which have been in progress for over two years. Beyond that, he hopes to publish his research in well-read publications so that other people can apply his findings to their own research. He would also like to be recognized and appropriately compensated for his work.

For a donation of $20.10, we promised to write a 500-word piece about young people and their creative endeavors. We are still receiving donations from readers so we have yet to tally the total. However, below are two talented and creative individuals who wanted us to share their stories.

Quarter Life Doesn’t Have to Be a Crisis

Ten words for 2010: charming, crafty, nostalgic, flirty, thrifty, adventurous, sassy, colorful, vibrant, and candid.

“There’s a West Wing episode with the line ‘Decisions are made by those who show up.’ Well, I’m here,” says Lisa Rowan, a 24-year-old from Takoma Park, MD who founded Quarter Life: The Beltway’s Best Vintage and Thrift, a blog for nontraditional shoppers in the Washington, DC metro area. Recent posts include profiles of local consignment stores, advice for staying warm in the skimpiest of party dresses, and tips for giving vintage purses as gifts.

A former history major, Rowan is nostalgic for fashion from decades past. She cites Jackie O., a woman with “class, style, and substance”, as a fashion icon. During a time when Jessica McClintock dresses were all the rage, Rowan wore a vintage Oleg Cassini gown to her senior prom. She even found a pillbox hat to complete her look. Says Rowan, “Sometimes another generation’s fashion comes back in today’s picture.”

She writes for the young and broke, those DC-area young professionals who want to look stylish without breaking the bank. In a city where many ambitious people dress to impress, some might not know how to look their best on a budget. Though Rowan works in an office where wearing jeans is encouraged, she has lots of clothing that she wants to share.

“In 2009, I dabbled a little bit in eBay by selling items that I had found on the cheap but didn’t fit into or couldn’t wear,” says Rowan. “In 2010, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can open an eBay store and share some great finds with my readers.”

Not only is buying secondhand clothing the “green” thing to do, but it also helps aspiring fashionistas flex their creative muscles.

“Art is everywhere, even on our own bodies in our everyday lives,” says Rowan. “We’re creating a portrait for future generations.”

Technology and social media are vital to Rowan’s hobby. She enjoys reading fashion blog Haberdash Vintage (http://haberdashvintage.com/), updated by Boston fashion blogger Punky. In addition, she maintains two Twitter accounts: @quarterlife202 and @lisatella, Rowan’s personal Twitter account.

“Without computers, what would I do? Go through the phone book look up a bunch of stores?” says Rowan. “With the Internet and social media, I can be as current as I want to be.”

Rowan visits thrift stores when she can, but her greatest challenge is separating work and blogging from her downtime.

“I get excited when I talk to enthusiastic store owners or employees who love the secondhand scene. If you get excited about something, you want to work on it all the time,” says Rowan. “The Quarter Life wheels are always turning in my head.”

When she’s not blogging, Rowan plays for a kickball team and takes pictures in and around Washington, DC.

Though Rowan launched Quarter Life in October, she looks forward to building her readership and expanding her content. She says, “I hope that Quarter Life can be a trusted source for the broke and fabulous in DC and beyond.”

Listening to Your Childhood

Ten words for 2010: experimental, fusionful, philosophical, poetic, cultural, symbolic, creative, productive, loving, and passionate.

“We provide creative and contemporary music that touches on the imaginative states that are so easily obtained during childhood and harder to sustain as we grow older,” says 24-year-old songwriter Chris Braciszewski. He created Snuffaluffagus, a home studio project that has become a collective of musicians like Japandi, Alex Kent, BoomSnake, and Brian Warren. “We want to make you feel like a kid again through art and music.”

Listeners can stream tracks from Snuffy’s 2008 release Animals EP: A Folk Fairy Tale (Gnome Records) online. With playful and imaginative track titles like “Wolfrabbit” and “Worried Worm”, the EP invites listeners to explore fairy folk lands.

Braciszewski, who has been involved with his musical projects since 2006, is also involved with Gnome Records, a vinyl record label that supports bands in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California. Gnome Records strives to release albums in unique ways that help distinguish their artists from all the other musicians recording and distributing their music online.

“We release digital music and vinyl in creative ways. For our last release, we gave the digital album away for free and released a coloring book that coincides with the album’s story line, song by song,” says Braciszewski. “We also play as many shows, both touring and local, as possible to give people a chance to experience what we have to offer live.”

Though the band has been playing shows at Backspace in Portland, OR and The Che Cafe in San Diego, CA, Snuffaluffagus is leaving the West Coast for Manhattan in 2010. Says Braciszewski, “We ended up playing some amazing shows that really re-affirmed that this is what I want to do with my life.”

When he’s not writing and performing music, Braciszewski enjoys traveling, listening to and making music, and art. He also enjoys the company of friends and family as well as wine and poetry by Pablo Neruda, one of his favorite creative individuals.

“I really look up to a lot of the creative musicians that are pushing the levels of new music as well as pop music,” he says, citing unique bands from Brooklyn, NY as major influences.

MySpace is just one way that Snuffaluffagus spreads word about upcoming shows and new releases. Says Braciszewski, “Though technology intensely affected the record industry, hurting sales, it has also opened up a whole new space for creative music and marketing. We are promoting awareness of American arts by trying to stay on the cutting edge of recording and releasing music.”

In 2010, Snuffaluffagus will release upcoming album “Brazil Wood Poetry”, play live as much as possible, and tour when able. They are already preparing a West Coast tour for the summer.

“Putting something creative out into the collective consciousness is very beneficial to the art community in general,” says Braciszewski. “A lot of people do care about the arts, but I also think that probably just as much don’t care. Especially during a recession, people can be distracted by economic worries and other factors. We offer a sound that appeals to anyone willing to give art a chance.”