The Power Thing // An Interview with Katie Finn

The Power Thing // An Interview with Katie Finn

by Ben Zoltowski

Whether you choose to accept or refute, a few of the things on your mental list of ambitions include having sex (lots of it, and forever seeking hotter), making money (oh stop, yes it is important to you) and becoming known (even if for just a quick taste of notoriety). In your mind, those three things are packaged into one hedonistic triple-play package and every morning you daydream on how to make it happen. Well, while you sit around and Tweet your gasps of “Look over here! I’m doing something!” into the digital abyss, Katie Finn is busy prepping to own that triple-play package. As the proprietor and sole designer behind the upscale NYC jewelry line Elizabeth Street, Finn’s work is exclusively found adorning the appendages of those with plenty of money to burn. The work is handmade, the pieces are gorgeous and gold don’t come cheap - so we get it.

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The Entitlement Thing

The Entitlement Thing // An Essay by Marketing Strategist John Fischer

So look, a lot of people think “the entitlement thing” is our fault, but I can assure you that it’s not.

It seems like whenever the subject comes up, everyone from Op-Ed writers to

graduate students have a sharp word to say about how Big Marketing’s got the kids perpetually chasing a perverted dream of self-fulfillment. It is all the better to make them easy consumers of empty promises. A whole generation of young people is being conditioned to believe that success in life is as simple as embracing their God-given individuality.

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2009 Fall Solo Show Artist // Johanna Heldebro

2009 Fall Solo Show Artist // Johanna Heldebro

by Devin Powers

There are many reasons artists make work, that vary from person to person, like species of birds in the animal kingdom. But, perhaps there is some pat- tern, some overarching general framework into which all our individualized motivations fit into one neat theory of creative impulse. There are a few of these theories. One intriguing notion is, all artists are searching for an answer to a question. The question and the answer vary from person to person. Johanna Heldebro’s, To Come Within Reach of You, last year’s Fall Solo Show at 3rd Ward, would make a strong example of this theory.

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The Fame Thing // An Interview with Abdi Assadi

The Fame Thing // An Interview with Abdi Assadi

We met Abdi Assadi on a bitter Sunday afternoon in Manhattan. His office was sunny, minimal and serene, just what you’d expect from a spiritual counselor & acupuncturist. But for all of his tranquility & consciousness, he’s got the tongue of a sailor, a love of motorcycles that rivals the gnarliest Hell’s Angel and a reverence for the late Terence McKenna that surpasses even our own. For three hours, we sipped green tea while we discussed his childhood in Africa, his experience working in the Bronx during the AIDS crisis and on our generation’s obsession with fame. His sentiments were as painful as they were hopeful and he left us with a few tips for transforming our collective ego mania.

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