Junk Journaling: Surviving a month with stretched funds

By Kiser Young

Edited by Anna Kate Mereness

Follow along with senior journalism and strategic communication student Kiser Young and his takes on music, culture/trending news, fashion and various forms of media following his friends and life in Oxford as a soon to be Miami University grad.

BTS shot by Kiser featuring a hidden gem of a location. Tucked behind the art museum on campus, models gaze into the distance dressed in shades of red.

Parents' weekend is around the corner, and although I’m still in a period of not talking to my father. I hope my aunt pulls through and supplies me with a much needed trip to the grocery store.

From stocking the cabinets to pulling the trigger on my online shopping carts. October has proven to be a non-wallet friendly month. As the impending weight of Halloween shopping looms over first-timers and seasoned veterans alike. 

There happens to be the condescending voice of reason on my shoulder asking “Is it really necessary for me to have four costumes this year?” And “YES,” a nagging voice that sounds eerily similar to my dad. YES, I need four costumes to properly celebrate not only a Saturday Halloween, but also the final All Hallows Eve of my college years.

Anyways here’s another dump of media and things catching my eye this spooky season. 

Music - What’s scarier than unrequited love?

Shot by Kiser. A Talawanda Middle School teacher serenades a crowd in the ball room of the Oxford Community Art Center.

At first I was going to try my hardest to scour the internet for niche creepy songs, but who am I kidding. Come time for the Halloween parties, the easiest most efficient thing to do is find a playlist labeled “Spooky Season Bangers,” or some other unoriginal mumbo-jumbo. And turn it on.

While I myself enjoy the season classics of “Monster Mash” and “Calling All the Monsters." Songs wrestling with the corals of love have found themselves haunting my headphones. 

SONGS: 

• Sticky | FKA twigs

• Coraje | Arca

• FF | Troye Sivan

Starting off with a track that has captivated me with a simple vocal opening, “Sticky” by FKA twigs has quickly become a song I’ve found myself relating to. The lyrics are simple and delivered through Twigs iconic soft auto-tuned voice. The real magic is when she juxtaposes this somber inviting words over a quite rough and textured production that honestly feels uncomfortable.

Searching for love can leave you in sticky situations, situations that make you want to shed the skin of your former self that once settled for lovers that weren’t worth the trouble.

Following the same vein, “Coraje” by Colombian multi-hyphante Arca, leaves me hitting repeat every time. Translated from Spanish, coraje means courage. Sonically, Arca painfully confesses not being the right person for her love(s). 

She beautifully admits to her inability to change how she loves, and thus closes the door to someone she feels deeply for. An eerie ballad that echoes in the walls of my room these Autumn nights.

Following the same sentiment, but just in a more upbeat key. “FF” by Troye Sivan, is a pop-ballad yearning for his lover, for a man, his “baby,” that he has yet to meet. Obviously, I was a fan of the music video, but this song comes with a level of relatability that often feels inauthentic coming from Sivan.

I’ve been reeled in by the soft vocals and lyrics that leave me also pinning for my forever partner. 

Fashion -  Costumes I wanna see

• Prized blue ribbon animals 

• The sugar racers | Wreck-It-Ralph

• Effie Trinket | Hunger Games

• Ever After High 

• Him | Powerpuff Girls 

• Miss Piggy | The Muppets

• Blue Beatle | DC Superhero

• Brad Pitt | Rolling Stone 1999 shoot

• Fergie | Fergalicious Music Video

• Elton John | Rocketman Devil Outfit

Shot by Kiser. Jude Watkins, a roommate of Kiser, holds a collection of vintage clothes. Clothes that he sells for people's personal and costume needs. 

Status Update - Loving the Oxford Community Art Center

Every second Friday of every month, the Oxford Community Art Center hosts an event for the community that I had the pleasure of attending for the month of October.

Of course neither my roommates nor my closest friends (now known as my friends from college) accompanied me to my new favorite event. So alone I gazed at the black and white prints from Jon Yamashiro, a photography professor at Miami since 1993, hung from the walls; while I boozed on the complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres.

I took advantage of the theatre department costume cleanout, made a couple older cooler friends (shoutout to Debbie and Ron), and was serenaded by a Talwanda Middle School teacher that packed out the entire ballroom of the art center.    

As far as community events go, the OCAC hosted an Incredible event that raised one complaint from me...the lack of students present! An issue that after my in-depth, boots on the ground journalistic endeavor, revealed that my peers are missing out on the best free event.