First Call Magazine

Vol. 12, No. 4 – October 26, 2009

Cover Photo: Movements (Costa Rica), by Julie Charbonnier
A PDF of this issue is available here. (Coming soon)

Vampires Still Suck by Valeria Tsygankova
What’s in a Name? by Sydney Scott
Back to the Future by Isaac Katz
Comic: Relapse by Dan Markowitz
Poetry: I’m a Freshman by Mikaela Pedlow
My 4 AM Habitat by Avery Miller
Photospotlight: Tower of Power by Devon Pohl
Poetry: I Wonder at You by Trishula Patel
Strategies for the Game by Andrew Jones
Photospotlight: San Francisco by Aude Broos

Columnists: Sydney Scott, Isaac Katz, Valeria Tsygankova, Avery Miller. Prose: Andrew Jones. Poetry: Mikaela Pedlow, Trishula Patel. Art: Dan Markowitz, Siede Coleman, Natalie Gravier, Max Heinritz. Photography: Devon Pohl, Julie Charbonnier, Aude Broos.

Dissecting the undead craze
By Valeria Tsygankova

“I’m not scared of you.”

“You really shouldn’t have said that.”

I have to give it to the Twilight series — the movies look beautiful. There’s no better setting for a vampire story than the thick fogginess and rocky hugeness of the Pacific Northwest. Following in the footsteps of Joss Whedon’s Buffy, author Stephanie Meyer and the filmmakers breathe new life into the staunch old European legend by setting it in a politically and geologically young region of the United States. Sure, Twilight as story has its potential, which ultimately makes it more of a disappointment. (more…)

Why so many people do not call themselves feminists
By Sydney Scott

I don’t call myself a feminist. I just won’t do it. I believe that women deserve equal rights and respect, sure. I believe many women are discriminated against, yes. These are the basic tenets of feminism, and yet I simply won’t say the three words, “I’m a feminist.” (more…)

Why the Star Wars prequels are better than the originals
By Isaac Katz

They met while in film school four decades ago and combined to start the Indiana Jones series, but by now Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are as different as movie directors can be. Spielberg is still producing massively successful and often critically acclaimed blockbusters. Lucas is now reduced to little more than a businessman—not a filmmaker—churning out new lines of games, tie-ins, and derivatives of a movie filmed decades ago. (more…)

By Dan Markowitz

By Mikaela Pedlow

I’m a freshman
He spluttered.
His words
Jumped out
With the spit and sweat gathered on a lip
Sparsely-covered in dark stringy fluff,
And were propelled forward in a cloud of
Stomach-churning ethanol fume – (more…)

Tales of an architecture student
By Avery Miller

When I was a kid, I never knew what it was I wanted “to be.” Adults seemed startled and almost taken aback when I would answer the standard “What do you want to do when you grow up?” with an indecisive shrug. It made me nervous that I couldn’t answer these incessant questions that seemed the norm at any social event. There were so many options: writer, doctor, artist – the possibilities were endless. (more…)

By Devon Pohl

By Trishula Patel

I wonder at you thinking me brave.
At the time it seemed the only logical thing to do.
I had to leave everything
Everything I had ever known -
And so I did. (more…)

Why baseball and Penn aren’t so different
By Andrew Jones

Down a run in the seventh game of the World Series, bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, full count and you’re up to bat. For a large majority of American youth, this is the situation that we have dreamt of for as long as we can remember. As this year’s baseball season is coming to a close, I want to pay tribute to our national pastime. (more…)