the quad » 4th Issue

Hello BU: Meet Spitzer Space Telescope (updated w/video)

Jennifer Brown — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:02:22 +0000

Photo by Julian Furtak

From his rusty-red haircut and 70′s-style paisley pants to his feisty and fearless onstage antics, Boston University student and musician Dan Macdonald (Spitzer Space Telescope) keeps people on the edge of their seats.

Spitzer’s musical path began at BU his freshman year when he played shows at BU Central open mic nights. His uncommon and energetic Irish folk music stood out amongst the venue’s shy, first-time performers. Eventually other venues and artists picked up on the unique talent and Spitzer was invited to play various on- and off-campus events. His first solo show was at T.T. the Bear’s in Cambridge during the spring of his freshman year. Gigs at places like the Nameless Coffeehouse in Cambridge followed, where Spitzer met the venue’s previous owners, Maureen and George LeBlanc, who became mentors for the musician–they had been in the Boston coffeehouse circuit for decades and exposed him to various clubs, musicians, and folk music enthusiasts.

Spitzer continued to play locally until the summer before his junior year in 2008, when he embarked on a national East Coast tour that started in Chicago and traversed the Southeast to Florida. He sold hand-made, self-recorded EPs on the road and used BU contacts and friends to help him book shows and bring crowds. The tour was successful enough that the musician was able to hit the road again a few months later.

His collection of Irish folk songs turned into an official self-titled album during his junior year of college. The album was released by Good People, a record collective based in Spitzer’s hometown of Lansing, Michigan. The album-release show was sponsored by WTBU at Morse Auditorium where Spitzer played the concert with a group of friends he met in the Allston folk scene. One of his friends, Vince Bancheri, was the brains behind the Allston hootenannies where Spitzer gradually became a monthly staple for the scene’s loyal fans. Spitzer and Bancheri later teamed up with other artists to create Mama Bird Recording Company and host a series of folk shows in Boston, two of which were The Grand Ole Hoot at Cambridge’s YMCA Theater and A Night of Sea Songs at Cambridge’s Democracy Center.

All of Spitzer’s projects follow the same principle of staying true to one’s self. He explains:

What I’m trying to promote with Spitzer Space Telescope is DIY, self-reliance, and being true to yourself as an artist. I also think the message I’m trying to convey is to have fun with the art you’re making and not try to forcefully change what you think is cool just to fit in or to further your career.

The media have latched onto the musician’s independent ventures and helped further launch Spitzer’s name. The Daily Free Press, BU Today, SCAT TV, The Boston Phoenix, Bostonist.com, and Paste Magazine have all delivered Spitzer’s music to the public realm.

Now a senior, the musician plans to undertake a full US tour upon graduation. When not touring, he’ll be painting, working, and showing his artwork in New York City and Boston. His next shows are listed on his Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/spitzerspacetelescope.

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Jonathan Blow’s Braid Blends Mario with Time Travel and Violins

Colin Scully — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:01:55 +0000

“I think that a lot of people feel like the point of life is to be happy, or comfortable, or something like that, whereas I am highly suspicious of those things. All other things being equal I like being happy, but the problem is, all other things are not equal — probably happiness comes at a cost, possibly a great cost. I think this idea is very important in the background of the fiction, most solidly around worlds 5 and 6.”

The above quote belongs Jonathan Blow, the sole developer of the indie video game masterpiece Braid, and you’d better believe that his above feelings on happiness and emotion come pouring out in the game, one that is (forgive the cliche, but it’s true) very much unlike any other game ever made.

In the years that have followed since the launch of Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network (and the ever-extending services to download games on PCs), more and more low-budget titles have been released by indie developers who are finally able to get their (usually) brilliant ideas out to a market without having to worry about upper-executive interference. Last Tuesday, Braid was released on the PlayStation Network (following Xbox Live and PC/Mac by a year) and its amazing blend of Mario-style level design, spectacularly intelligent puzzles, outstanding artistic design, and a story packed full of potential metaphors and interpretations (none of them happy).

Made by one-man-army Jonathan Blow and $200,000 of his own money, Braid is built around a time travel concept where players run, jump, climb, flip switches, find keys, and “rewind” to solve immersive puzzles that get more and more difficult, but never unfairly frustrating.

The story focuses on Tim, a man looking for a princess who has been snatched away. The story is deliberately vague, implying situations rather than spelling out what has happened. As the game puts it, the princess “has been snatched by a horrible and evil monster.” Tim wanders through six surreal dream worlds, full of odd creatures, all featuring by a score consisting mainly of violins and grand pianos. Listen to some of the soothing background music below.

Downstream by Shira Kammen

Questions about love, commitment, family, and morality are raised through scriptures that can be read before each level. The game is not a happy one, and the ending is left deliberately ambiguous – there is evidence to argue that the game is a sad tale of a relationship gone wrong, but there is also evidence that the game is about the development of the atomic bomb (Kenneth Bainbridge quote included).

It’s difficult to even begin to describe why everyone, gamer or not, should experience Braid. Of course it has

The oldest Mario reference even gets a new twist.

everything it needs to make it, at most, an enjoyable six hours. The level design is terrific, the puzzles are varied enough that it never gets boring, and the core gameplay mechanic – rewinding time – is utilized expertly (time is rewound very differently in every world). If I had to say the one thing Braid has that makes it an incredible experience, it’s the ability to achieve perfect immersion. The game flows, never breaks away, and never does anything to take you out of the experience. There is no title screen – the title shines above Tim as he stands silhouetted by a street lamp when the game turns on. The music – not original, put handpicked from various artists – reverses along with everything else, making it seem as if it is a part of the world as well. Cut-scenes are non-existent, and the game is paced perfectly between running, jumping, climbing, and puzzle solving.

“I don’t want to get on the “modern game industry sucks” rant wagon, but that’s really a big part of the issue. When you’re gunning for the big bucks, you pursue craft, not art. So most of what gamers see is just craft… If you think a game is ‘Madden 2008,’ then hey, games probably aren’t art.”

One of the most interesting things about Braid is its creator, and hearing him speak should give great insight into exactly how much emotion he poured into Braid when making it. Inspired to make the game by a vacation in Thailand, Blow claims the game is influenced works such as Italo Calvino’s surrealist novel Invisible Cities, Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams, and Robert Heinlein’s The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. “From the very first day, Braid was conceived as a videogame with its story presented in the tradition of a few books that I respect, and maybe a film or two,” Blow said.

And what do others have to say about it?

Kotaku, the largest-read video game blog on the net, said that Braid‘s “temporal puzzle mechanics and mature, powerful storytelling help it pioneer its own path” with the only criticism being “Braid ends.” Beyond the video game critics, NPR’s All Things Considered wrote a long article about it when it was initially released last year, saying, “Braid feels like a game that a grown-up can play, and that a grown-up perhaps ought to play.” Sundance Film Festival Guerilla Gamemaking Competition director Sam Roberts said “It doesn’t feel immature the way other games feel immature, because it doesn’t short you in any respect. It expects as much from you as an audience member as any other fully adult media.”

“It’s a meaning-of-life kind of game. Everything about our daily lives that we consider meaningful is predicated on the difference between past and future.”

If we remember one thing about video game consoles this generation, it should be that every one of them has embraced digital downloads and used the network as a risk-free tool to distribute cheaply produced games with risky concepts and styles that may only appeal to a niche market.

Braid has been out for quite some time on Xbox Arcade and PC/Mac computers at a $15 price tag (well worth it). It was released last week on the Playstation Network for the same price, making Braid available essentially everywhere and giving everybody no excuses to not at least attempt the demo version. I have played it through, and feel comfortable saying it is the most accomplished storytelling in videogames in the past decade – and storytelling that should be examined by fanatics of literature and film as well.

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The United Entities of BU

Melody Tran — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:00:33 +0000

The new logo, unlined. CC Boston University

Many students were surprised to come back to campus this September and find large, lit up, red pillar-like figures pointing out campus destinations. The purpose of these incredibly high-budgeted pillars replacing the equally high-budgeted gold leaf signs that still adorn some of the buildings?

The classic case of re-branding.

As with any change to any brand, there are two sides: the cheerleaders and the naysayers. The cheerleaders are all for the change. Boston University, in particular, has had an extremely “old-school,” conservative look to it for a very long time. As with any other product or service category, this look has to change with the times, so it only makes sense for BU to get with the times and change.

“What exactly does taking the line between Boston and University do?” said Jennifer Crandall (CFA ’11).

Students like Crandall have been questioning this change since its inception two years ago. The University took out the horizontal line in the logo and made all official letterheads, e-mail signatures, and correspondence fonts a modern and clean sans serif, as opposed to its traditional and older-looking serif predecessor.

The reasoning behind all of these changes?

According to the BU Branding website, to “express a single, compelling voice” in all University endeavors.

Prospective freshman and junior in a New York State public high school Daniel said of his impression of BU, “When I visited, I didn’t feel like I was at school. Kind of like NYU.”

Whether or not this is a good thing remains to be seen. Many prospective students, like Daniel, rule out BU as a potential college because of the lack of campus.

“The campus is what gives a school its atmosphere,” Daniel concludes. “At BU, everything looks different. I wouldn’t even know that I was at a school since there weren’t any big signs when I was there.”

The old BU logo. CC Boston University

Daniel’s words are true. Boston University is a diverse campus in every aspect: academics, student population, student groups, and…architecture. The buildings across campus all look different. No two buildings, besides the residences on Bay State and in South campus, look too similar. It is easy to differentiate, say, the College of Communication (COM) and the School of Hospitality (SHA). Besides the gold leaf signs that people could barely see from afar, there was no real unity throughout the entirety of the Charles River Campus.

That is, until the Marketing & Communications (another addition to the branding was that the ampersand be used instead of the word “and”) came onto the scene.

After all was said and done—new logo, new stationary, new website—every employee was given a Branding Handbook so that everyone could represent the University in the same way. The Branding website gives students and faculty and staff members guidelines on how to use the logo, how to use the colors, and a copy of the logo for everyone to download.

Unfortunately, we were unable to speak with members of the Marketing & Communications department at BU due to scheduling conflicts; however, the BU Branding website also states that the “totality of the logo, visuals, and words we use…will enable us to establish and maintain a clear, unified brand identity, both within the University community and beyond.”

Despite all valiant efforts, though,students and prospective students aren’t getting the message.

“I get that they want the University to look more like a University,” said Robert Sesek (COM ’11), “It makes sense. But sometimes I’ll call the one office and they’ll transfer me to another office, and when I get on the phone with someone, they’ll be like, ‘oh we don’t do that.’ Don’t the departments talk to each other?”

A screenshot of the new Admissions website. Note: Sans serif font.

So the logo and the physical look of the University aren’t the only things that represent the BU brand. The employees’ knowledge-base, their consistency in messages sent to the BU community and beyond, and the service offered throughout the University all lend to brand image. It holds true for any other product or service category. BU isn’t any different.

“The signs are kind of obtrusive and ugly.” Crandall said, “It’s also just a waste of our tuition money. I already saw one by west campus broken by some drunk kid. It’s probably going to cost a lot to fix.”

And perhaps the ambiguity of the campus drew more attention than the University thought. Many students expressed how “cool” it was to have to be a student at BU to understand what all our acronyms and short-hand sayings meant. It’s like “being a part of a secret club,” according to an anonymous College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) senior.

On the other hand, unity makes the University seem more like a single entity, rather than CAS, COM, SMG, CFA, SHA, the list goes on.

“I think it’s a good idea.” Daniel says of the new branding, “It might help bring a community together and make people feel like they belong to something. I want to go to college to be a part of something and if these signs help bring all the students together, it just makes BU more appealing to me.”

With a compelling argument for the change in the branding like that, how is BU to deny its prospective students—the ones who really count—what it wants? But is simply looking like a unified University make the student population more unified?

Studies done on college campuses of all different sizes, locations, and areas of study show that students who choose to go to an urban campus, like BU and NYU and UCLA, tend to be more independent and less school-spirited. We chose to come to this school over another because we all wanted to be in an urban area—or at least didn’t mind being in an urban area. With so many non-University-sponsored activities to do, at student discounted prices, it’s hard to convince students to go to the basketball game or attend a local band’s concert in BU Central.

It has nothing to do with things the University is doing wrong. It’s just the nature of the beast, as they say. Students who choose to go to urban schools tend to be disinterested in school-related activities. And then the social stigma comes in. Unless you’re involved in Greek Life, going to a hockey game, or a nerd, you don’t go to events on campus and that feeling seems to be the consensus of the student population.

True, it takes awhile for people to get used to change, and there will always be someone—or multiple someones—who are vehemently against a change in branding.

Think Pepsi. But it worked for Pepsi.

Tropicana on the other hand? They had to retreat back to their classic old logo after several months of…well, going unnoticed. Because they changed.

The same goes for Universities, BU included. The risk was taken. And now we just have to see if we’re the Pepsi or the Tropicana of brand changes.

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Fall Harvest: Apples & Pumpkins

Emily Jones — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:00:29 +0000

Roasting Pumpkins | photo by Emily Jones

Article by both Emily Jones and Heidi Lee

Pumpkins, similar in growth patterns to watermelons, require an extensive network of vine to produce fruit. I remember the one softball-sized watermelon that caused undue happiness in our gardening family, even though our pumpkin vines never produced anything. Today most fresh pumpkins an American consumer will encounter are the ornamental variety for carving. The majority of pumpkins grown are processed into canned pumpkin according to Agricultural Marketing Resource Center. Pumpkin pie is always a holiday staple for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But many chefs do not take into account the versatility of this vine fruit. Pie is the bestseller, but pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cookies, even pumpkin puree French toast. These recipes all turn out surprisingly moist and satisfying results.

Another essential holiday fruit is the apple, which garners just about as much pie-attention as the pumpkin during the Thanksgiving feast. While pumpkins tend to be dealt with in canned form, apples when fresh and in season provide a fantastic filling with just the right amount of crunch. Again, this fruit can be put to a variety of recipes to add that great apple-cinnamon flavor to more than just the apple pie on the holiday table. The tiny test kitchen was filled with smells of both as we explored not only the world of the pumpkin and apple pie, but great and delicious alternatives that can put all that extra goodness to use.

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Love don’t cost a thing… or does it?

Jackie Reiss — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:00:18 +0000

When you wanna get down, who will pay up?

I’ve always been torn when it comes to paying the check on a date: do I graciously let the man pick up the tab? Do I offer to split the bill? Do I insist on paying? Recently, my internal struggle is more pronounced than it was in high school. As a constantly broke college student, should I let myself be treated? Or should I stay true to my independent feminist instincts and pay for myself?

This dilemma pops up constantly in the dating scene. But when the evening comes to a close, and you get back to your place with the intention of getting busy, an even bigger question presents itself: who should supply and pay for the birth control?

The response from college students varies. While I thought the general notion among students would be that guys should pay for condoms and girls should pay for their Pill, students had arguments and counterarguments on who should pay for what.

“Regarding the Pill, I think the girl should pay for it,” Northeastern middler-year Mike Dores said. “The Pill is more in the girl’s area. Not only does it prevent pregnancies, but it does help in other areas. I know there are beneficial side effects for girls.”

Dores is correct – going on the Pill evens out a woman’s menstrual cycle, and can even reduce “moderate

It's commonly expected for girls to pay for The Pill | photo courtesy of Wikimedia

acne,” according birth control brand Yaz’s website. Women may also experience shorter periods and less menstrual cramps, according to a quiz on Yaz’s website.

A friend in my Newswriting II class, however, said she refuses to go on the Pill unless her boyfriend helps pay for it. The Pill can be expensive, and she doesn’t want to solely shoulder an expense that benefits both of them.

Boston University senior Katie Pyle said that she would rather pay for her own pill than demand her boyfriend to help.

“It’s my prescription and my body, and I have the ultimate say on whether I want to take it and which kind I want to take,” she said. “I’m in a relationship for now and my boyfriend usually pays for dinner and drinks, so I kind of figure it’s even.”

When students are single, the condom-supplier usually depends on who has the condoms available for use and is usually split between the guy and the girl, Pyle said.

“When I’m using condoms and not in a serious relationship I figure it’s both parties’ responsibility to carry condoms, and from experience it usually goes back and forth on who has condoms,” she said.

Meanwhile, BU Journalism professor Nick Mills said that whomever is concerned about birth control should be the one responsible for supplying it.

Paying for an endless supply of condoms, birth control pills, and other contraceptive methods can rack up a pretty big bill. A 12-pack Pleasure Pack of condoms from Trojan runs for $16.20 on amazon.com, averaging $1.35 for every romp in the sack. While a dollar here or there doesn’t seem like much, it can definitely add up. Brand names in the birth control pill industry can also cost upwards of $50 a month – with insurance. Without insurance, even generic brands can cost over $60 per month. Plan B, an emergency contraceptive that works to prevent pregnancy up to five days after intercourse, can cost anywhere between $10 and $70 for a single dose, according to Planned Parenthood’s website.

Pyle expressed concern that female students who cannot afford Plan B by themselves risk a pregnancy by not buying the contraceptive.

“I think both parties have a responsibility to pay for Plan B,” Pyle said. “I’ve had guys not take any responsibility for it and it just makes me like them less.”

Luckily, BU knows that college students are simultaneously broke and horny as ever. Student Health Services has multiple baskets filled with free Trojan condoms in the waiting room area. If you foresee needing more than a handful, SHS offers 20 condoms in a discreet paper brown bag for only $5. Frats and BU groups also frequently host events where condoms are distributed for free.

SHS offers a Condom Coupon for condoms on the cheap

Although these cheap alternatives exist, many students may feel embarrassed or weird about running into SHS and grabbing a fistful of condoms.

“I went to a condom concert last year, and it was in a dimly lit room,” Pyle said. “They had so many condoms that I filled up a bag and have been living off of it for a year, because honestly, I’m too embarrassed to grab SHS condoms most of the time.”

Grabbing condoms for free in a dimly-lit room might save you the embarrassment, but going on the Pill is a great preventative measure if you think you’ll be having sex on a regular basis. Making an appointment with Student Health Services to discuss your options is free, and you can talk with the doctor about generic brand prescriptions, which are generally inexpensive – especially when compared to paying for an abortion or raising a child.

Using services such as Express Scripts can help reduce costs and save embarrassment. Depending on your insurance, you can get a three-month supply of your birth control for the price of one month. Express Scripts delivers the three-month supply directly to your doorstep (or dorm mailbox) in a discreet white bag. Signing up is simple: just print out the order form from their website and bring it to your doctor, who will fill out the prescription and fax it to the company.

Students can obtain the Pill for low cost by printing out coupons from Yaz’s website, which offer the Pill for no more than $20 per month.

Private ob/gyn doctors can also give free samples to patients, Pyle said.

“My ob/gyn has been amazing and has given me free samples of birth control pills,” she said.

The most important thing to remember is that to be safe during sex, you must be protected. While abstinence is the only true 100% effective birth control method, contraceptives are readily available to those who want and need it. And it doesn’t have to break your wallet, either.

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Creative Submission: Joseph Forbes Shows That Personal Connection is in Our ‘DNA’

Gabe Stein — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:59:33 +0000

Feeling that we didn’t have a good submission for this issue, we asked for creative submissions at the last minute — just a few days before release — and although a number of talented artists submitted, the poem DNA by Joseph Forbes (SMG ’10) in particular caught our eye. His poem contains a mix of accessible, universal metaphor and verse that is clearly deeply personal, and yet intriguing all the same. Studying abroad in New Zealand, we had a chance to ask Forbes a few questions via e-mail. He graciously shared some of the thoughts and emotions that went into this, his first submitted poem. The interview appears below. The poem appears in the second page.

Photo provided by Joseph Forbes

The Quad: How did you get into writing poetry? Do you write in any other forms?

Joseph Forbes: In high school I was a journalist, so most of what I’d file in a portfolio is inherently more direct. Obviously we don’t write a lot of poetry in SMG, so my mind just isn’t in that mode very often. My private journal has a certain character to it that I would frame as poetic. The entries are fairly sparse though, usually when I’m trying to sort something out about my life or direction. My email exchanges with close friends and girlfriends over the years constitute a body of work I now rather cherish. They suggest a certain ‘turbulence of youth,’ though I’d be the first to admit my life hasn’t been all that dramatic. In the past I’ve written song lyrics, and some music as well — nothing that’s likely to get me a record contract, but it’s meaningful to me and I can melt into it again in the right moment.

How often do you write? Do you practice? Do you seek out criticism to make your work better?

I don’t write all that often, and once something is on paper I rarely edit or revise it. Especially with poetry, it’s a moment in time I’ve tried to capture; making changes is like trying to change the past. So in that respect, my writing serves more as a documentary of my experiences. Most often I use writing as an outlet when I’m at some extreme of the emotional spectrum. Maybe a bad breakup or an argument with a colleague. I write when I feel disconnected from the world. That said, there aren’t a lot of common themes in what I’ve written. Nor is there one style that’s characteristically mine. Sometimes I rhyme, other times there’s a hidden structure or pace or meter that’s needed to bring the meaning out — the ‘poetry’ isn’t in the words per se. I do use a lot of metaphor, sometimes to the extent it would go right over the casual reader’s head. Just about anything I’ve written that I would call “great” was penned in one to two hours, shared with a few close friends, then filed away for random rediscovery.

Have you ever submitted or been published before? If so, when and where?

Outside of high school journalism, I haven’t had any writing published. I suppose I’ve never tried, even though some friends have suggested it. I could easily create a blog or website to feature my work. The difficulty, as I perceive it, is the lack of common threads in style, format, content, etc. Likewise, a lot of what I’ve written was directed at someone close to me, someone whose actions or faults don’t deserve to be made public. In many cases that person was me. I feel like once it’s out there on the interwebs, cached in Google, you no longer own it. Not in the sense of copyright; rather, once it’s published, you have no control over what a reader does with it.

I actually had a girlfriend submit one of my poems as her own work — in a graduate-level course! Plagiarism aside, she couldn’t seem to grasp why it so offended me. I considered it a major violation of trust. Needless to say, that relationship didn’t last much longer. What I thought was really ironic is she didn’t even “get” the deeper metaphor of the piece — she just thought the poem had a nice ring to it, but she completely overlooked the lesson embedded in it.

Do you feel like you have a future in writing either professionally or as a hobby?

I’m not sure I would risk the uncertainty of writing professionally. The blogoshpere is unbelievably saturated, and to be perfectly honest I don’t think I’m as talented as a lot of writers out there. I have fits and starts, go off on rants, produce some masterful work once in a blue moon. There are a few writers and photographers I follow on communities like tumblr, and these people are like machines. Something new and outstanding every day, even if it’s just a story about a crazy guy on the subway. And as talented as they are, as naturally as writing comes to them, they’re not making a living off of it.

If I were to write purposefully, I would do something in the realm of social science. Telling people’s stories and relating them back to fundamental lessons. That’s why I dig Malcolm Gladwell’s work — it’s often a slice of life we can all appreciate.

Where do you usually get your inspiration for your writing? What kinds of things do you like to write about?

Emotion. Just sheer emotion. Usually more negative emotions, though I think poetry is a constructive way of dealing with them rather than letting them fester. I have a handful of work that’s hopeful or celebratory, some that’s sexual, some that’s just Joe on his soapbox. Virtually everything I write has some lesson, a grain of optimism, a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s why I can always revisit it and still feel proud of it — it’s about overcoming the challenges our lives and emotions present us with.

Inspiration comes most often from music. I have a soft spot for deep, meaningful lyrics. And believe it or not, I derive a lot of inspiration from other people’s photography, especially portraits. There’s poetry in the lines and shapes of people’s faces, something common we all understand at a fundamental level.

Has your writing changed being abroad? How has that affected your writing?

Part of my intent for studying in New Zealand was to ‘find myself.’ Not exactly an identity crisis — more a matter of “getting away from the noise” and figuring out what was important to me. Sorting out my life’s priorities by removing myself from it, looking back on it, projecting forward to what could be. I think I’ve had some success with that. But it will be a few more months before I can write about it.

Over Spring Break I took this long hike around a lake, deep in the forest away from everything. Complete silence. No email or iPod or texting for several days. Virtually no human contact. I think it pays to be alone like that sometimes, nothing pulling on you. It takes time for the lessons to sink in though. I suspect I’ll write about it sometime when I’m upset, caught up in the madness of Boston, reflecting back on how much simpler life can be.

What was your inspiration for D.N.A.?

This is something I wrote in literally an hour, in between classes one day. Most people don’t keep in touch with all their friends and family as well as they’d like. I was tired of making excuses for that. We’re always so busy, so distracted, so caught up in the moment. The next deadline, the next exam, the next social engagement. And then we flick on the TV or PlayStation. Six months goes by and we realize we’ve been neglecting someone truly close to us. And we justify or rationalize it away. It’s something I catch myself doing all too often. And if the people in our lives are what make it worth living, then why is it so damn hard to pick up the phone and tell them what they mean to us?

I think an old friend of mine had announced her wedding, and it just hit me really hard that we had lost touch over the years. I hadn’t even met her fiancé. I felt terrible that our friendship had withered so much over the years. So DNA grew from that, and as it evolved it came to represent a number of relationships I’d come to neglect.

What is D.N.A. about? Walk us through it briefly.

There’s obviously a lot of metaphor behind it. There are also a number of “inside jokes” you’d have to know me to fully appreciate. For example, the “genetically late” is kind of a self-depracating joke I’ve shared with close friends for many years. I was literally born “one month premature,” and the joke is that I’ve been making up for it ever since. A few minutes late here and there, and soon enough I’ll have made up that extra month.

Again, only my close friends would really “get” this, and I think that’s part of the charm. One of the things that makes friendships strong is those shared experiences, those inside jokes you’d never be able to explain to an outsider. And yet, as I’m writing this, I know you understand the sentiment because you have the same dynamic with your own friends.

Fundamentally DNA is an apology for neglecting my friendships. It’s saying “I don’t want to make excuses anymore, because you’re more valuable to me than these other responsibilities I hide behind.”

See Joseph Forbes’ poem DNA on the following page.

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