PolicyMic's Culture Round-Up: All the Highlights Of the Past 7 Days

It’s the end of a busy but thrilling week here at PolicyMic! Julianne and I have been going through all of the Arts Fellows applications, and are very close to securing our inaugural team of five. We received close to 60 really impressive applications and are more excited than ever by the diversity of our pundits, and the growth of the section. We will be notifying all applicants today and until then, a huge thank you to everyone who applied! I can’t wait to see what this program brings.

Shout Outs of the Week:

Another shout out to our former culture intern Steven Goldstein who had two stories coming in as the #1 and #2 most shared in the section of the week!

A final shout out to new writer Glenn Davis who will be following the final Breaking Bad episodes for PolicyMic. His first recap was top-notch. Stay tuned to Glenn’s coverage for details on the final seven episodes

Events to Check Out: The New York Fringe Festival is underway and Half, a show written by and starring members of the PolicyMic family, has three performances left! Check out details about the show here.

What Have You Been Up To?

Let me know what you’re up to! In the weekly newsletter I share our illustrious pundits fantastic writing achievements as well as highlighting news about what we’re all doing offline. If you have anything you’d like me to include (accomplishments, publications, that awesome play you’re in), about yourself or a fellow PolicyMic-er, please send it my way!

Culture Section Must-Reads of the Week:

13 Kickass Women’s Movie Roles Originally Meant For Men (Autumn Harbison, @Fallmark18) – Jodie Foster's role in 'Elysium' was originally written for a man. Here are some other ways in which Hollywood's A-list women have taken over male roles.

Parachute ‘Overnight’ Album Review: Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, and Great For a Cover Girl Commercial (Thomas Barnes, @HotChiliGumbo) – For their third album, 'Overnight,' Parachute has updated their sound to incorporate all the newest popular electronics. Hopefully, it will allow them to slip seamlessly into the mainstream.

If You Really Love Art, Don’t Buy It From Amazon (Frederica Hill, @Fredvhill) – Even if you have a gift card.

Summer Fridays Are Screwing Over American Workers (Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn, @yukvon) – Summer Fridays may be experiencing a slow death, but maybe it's not such a sad death afterall.

When White Film Characters Go to East Asia, This Happens (Stephen Roper, @SmRoper20) – Too often, white film characters are portrayed as fantasy tourists or a society's salvation. But that's not the case when the setting is East Asia.

These Students Are Not Ashamed Of Pole Dancing Their Way Through College (Chelsea Hawkins, @cn_hawkins) – Studies have found that more and more college students are turning to the sex industry to pay for school. We need to start supporting our students, but also accept sex work as a viable option.

25 Is Not Too Young to Get Married (Eric Lee) – The average age for first marriages keeps going up, but for some couples, there's no point in waiting — even in places like New York City.

What We’re All Secretly Trying to Say When We Take a Selfie (Jonathan Smith, @Smythe18) – The proliferation of selfies goes beyond the gratification of one’s physical attributes and instead is about our desire to control our personal brand as the big brother society emerges.

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