“Beauty is the promise of happiness.”
-Stendhal
Note to reader:
All of the following individuals interviewed were asked for permission before photographed and interviewed. None of these encounters were scripted or possibly fake. Each interview was done under the supervision of Professor Schaeffer a well respected faculty member in the Journalism department. He is also both the sponsor of Humans of Pembleton and Tidings, the official school newspaper. None of the individuals interviewed were paid, or bribed in any way to participate in this project. This project was created to show the genuine and heart wrenching experiences, stories, and thoughts individuals had while at that stay at Pembleton College.
This photoblog was created to help individuals feel a sense of comfort, affirmation, and validation through the exposure to an array of people with similar problems as their own.
What’s on (y)our mind?
Calliagnosia
The war against appearance bias is uniquely tragic because the battlefield is in the mind of an individual. The the topic of Callliagnosia is fragile at the moment but here at Humans of Pembleton, we’re hoping that we can momentarily put aside any disagreements and seek to understand each others’ stories. This is a great group of people who were thrown into society and met with unwelcoming arms and merciless predicaments. I’m very thankful that they’ve volunteered to share their stories and I hope you enjoy this month’s series.
Iris Williams
Year: Junior
Major: Biomedical Engineering
“Can you name someone beautiful?”
. . .
“My mother is the most beautiful person I know. Don’t worry, I know what answer you wanted from me. But, with or without Calliagnosia, she would always appear beautiful to me. She’s the most beautiful individual I know. My dad died before I was born, so even if you handed a picture of him to me, I wouldn’t be able to recognize him. Besides, my mom was enough and I’m grateful for her. She’s the one who taught me how to paint, how to play the cello, and how to treat human beings like a human being. I remember when I was little, I’d go on walks around the neighborhood with her and we’d get weird looks from other families or no eye contact altogether. The swings were a sanctuary for me because the faster and higher I swung, the smaller and further everyone would seem from me. I wouldn’t have to see their judgmental eyes lingering around me and every sympathetic conversation could be avoided. Now, here’s the part you probably wanted to hear: yes, I have had Calliagnosia. In fact, unlike most kids I got it the moment I was born. Yup, I wasn’t one of those “Ooh nooo he’s gonna get bullied so I better let him adopt Calliagnosia so he can have a protective shield from the mean barbie looking kids.” Nope, I was doing it since day one buddy. Fresh out of the womb, umbilical cord dangling, and big white man dressed like a tampon raising me into the air like Simba.
My mom works two jobs and I work three. I’m currently at Pembleton as a Biomedical Engineer major and the only way to afford that kind of education is with money. And no, I’m not studying BioMed because I want to help develop more versions of Calli you Alt-Right Ant-Calli crazies. I want to help people like my mom. When I was born, I had a condition that well, to put it in the easiest terms – made me a cyclops. I had one eye folks. My mom, who knew that I was going a rough time in life decided to well, switch places with me. When I was about 10 months old, my mother got an operation to remove her eye and essentially freeze it until I could eventually receive it and have the ability to be a normal functioning human being. After the operation, there was a sutured socket over where her left eye used to be and a scar that ran from the side of her forehead down to her chin. Knowing how freakishly scary she’d probably seem to a 10 month baby, she decided to implement Calli into me, afraid that her outward appearance would effect or even scar me since I was still a child. Therefore, having Calli from such a young age and being normalized to her physical state, I never noticed anything weird about her appearance. That is until I reached college, when I decided to turn my Calli off. I hadn’t told her that I done this before I got home and when I did finally run into her I found myself staring, just like how all the neighbors and kids on the playground did and I threw myself to the floor, crying. When I was younger, I thought we were treated differently because of the color of our skin and well, little Iris wasn’t half wrong. It was in that moment that I realized that a large part of the reason we were treated this way was because my mom lacked parts that societal standards and bodily human part standards expected out of a person. I felt so ashamed, looking at her with the same fleeting eyes others gave her and broke down. She’d never told me why she looked like this until that day. I hadn’t know my own mother had taken such large sacrifices like this until this fated day.
My mom is a warm individual with the biggest heart and no one would have guessed this based on the way she looked. If they had just had one conversation, just one simple “Hello,” they would’ve instantly felt and known how great of a human being she is. However due to her physical state people avoid her and make an effort to not interact with her because of her outward appearance. If only people could realize her qualities without having to have Calliagnosia, they’d realize what an eye-opening experience it’d be.”
Josh Snyder
Year: Sophomore
Major: Business Economics
“So far, what’s the hardest part of college?”
“I’ve done some regretful things in the past, and almost all of them, things I wish I could take back. We all reach this certain point in life in college, where we’re so insanely vulnerable. Whether it’s when we’re fresh out of a breakup, fresh out of a hook up, or just fresh out of high school. College throws us into this situation where everything seems to be so free game that it feels unreal. You start wanting to bind yourself to something or someone. And for me, it was my freshman year. Everyone says that college is “what you make of it.” And unfortunately, I didn’t make mine so great.”
“Could you elaborate on that?”
“Well, first off I’m from New Zealand so being from a country that far away, I knew that I wouldn’t have a foundation of friends or the comfort of home at the tip of my fingers. I thought this problem could all be easily solved after I saw a flier near my dorm that guaranteed a “supportive family and brotherhood.” The group called themselves “Kappa Sigma.” See, I’m from New Zealand and frats aren’t really popular so I didn’t really know much about the history of American fraternities or what to expect out of one. Which is why this all sounded appealing to me. I was a Freshman at the time so anything that gave me an opportunity at being social and making friends sounded promising. So a few days later I was invited to a rush event by a few Kappas and that’s when I became to realize what I was getting myself into.
I feel like everyone enjoys the feeling of being included. Especially in college when everything’s so new, you just gotta find a group of people and stick to them. And to be honest, I wish I had never joined the Kappas. I’ve long since cut ties with them and I’ve vowed to never be affiliated in any way again. Fraternities vary between different pledge classes and years, so I’m not saying that all fraternities are bad but with the whole Calliagnosia debate going on across campus, things were intense. Everyone knows that the Kappas are bad news, but unfortunately I didn’t and they knew it, which is why they took advantage of me.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly caused you to cut ties with them?”
“Will you get me a personal bodyguard if I do? *chuckles* Kappas are crazy, they’ll come after you, your friends, and your grades. They’re like the Church of Scientology at Pembleton. I know I need to tell this, however, for the sake of my safety while at Pembleton I’d like to refrain from telling what happened. Hopefully Kappa’s true colors will shine through to the administration as well as the students and help change the culture at this school.
Though I’d like the general public and to females specifically, to please be safe and wary of any Kappa members. As much as they try to tell you that they “respect” you and however much they try to convince you to go to a Kappa event or to go to a Kappa party, please rethink your decision and ultimately say no. The Kappa’s are currently on what they’ve coined as a “Calli Cleanse” so for girls with Calli, please stay safe out there.
As for the girl that I did wrong at the Kappa gala, I’m sorry. I hope that one day we’ll speak again so I can help you understand what was going on that night. What happened wasn’t not a reflection of who I was but instead of who the Kappa’s were trying to make me into.”
Trigger Warning: Topics like sexual abuse, inappropriate language, and politics will be mentioned in this interview.
**The following interviewee has requested to be anonymous. Proof of the interview can be verified through this link: https://youtu.be/BJSTdR2Ikhc. The interviewee’s profile as well as voice has been altered for their privacy.
(note to Professor Dressel: This isn’t an actual link to the interview, instead it’s what the interview would have looked like in theory. The voice and face would be altered and very minimal details of the person’s identity is revealed.)
“No questions please, I’ve come to you today in response to one of the recent interviews you uploaded to the website. Like Josh Snyder, the most recent individual who was interviewed I too have recently dropped out of the Kappas. I was a member for over three years but I was way too weak to officially drop out. I was always pressured and blackmailed into staying and participating in their disgusting rituals. However, I’m hoping that this will help me make up for the horrible things I’ve participated in, in the past.
From hearing what everyone has been saying on campus recently about Josh’s interview I’d like to provide some more insight on what exactly he’s referring to. The Kappas are, in fact, on a “Calli Cleanse.” They feel like by implenting Calliagnosia into the society of our college and in society in general, it is taking away the “physical price” of women and therefore forcing men to “settle for less.” They feel like it’s a “social construct” that feminists and liberals have created to compensate for what they don’t have. They’re complaining that the “underdogs are taking over” and trying to overthrow those with qualities that God has given to them. They advocate for the “survival of the fittest” and fail to realize that intelligence and common sense is also included into survival factors.
Oh, you probably think I’m kidding right? That no way in hell can our administration, the one we pay over 30,000 dollars a year, would let a dangerous group of individuals like this exist on campus. That no way a group like this hasn’t been already banned and punished despite the amount of times they’ve been on probation and have had cases of sexual assault. No way in hell. Well, I’m here to tell you the obvious. I’m not kidding.
The Gala I’m assuming Josh is referring to is the annual Kappa Gala. At this Gala, a member wide bet is put in place and every Kappa member is expected to participate. If they don’t, they owe the frat a fee of $500 dollars. The bet is simple, but horrendously terrible: if you bring the ugliest date to the Gala, you win all the bet money. And to top it off, this year’s Gala was put in place to ironically fundraise for Calliagnosia research. Of course, none of the money went to the research since the big prize was given to the big boy who brought the “ugliest” girl. The worst part was that the girls they were bringing in had Calliagnosia, therefore they didn’t feel out of place with anyone else. To them, they were invited to a Gala full of a room of smelly fraternity boys and a horrible dinner menu. The girl that won that year was a freshman, and didn’t know anything about Kappa’s history or their tradition and accepted her “award” with her date as “Best Couple of the Night” without knowing exactly what she was getting herself into.
Of course, the Kappa’s did everything in their power to keep this story under the rug only because every other member in the Fraternity has some dirt on another member. Their fraternity is held together by blackmail and sad egotistic douchebags. I’ll say vote however you want, Calliagnosia or No Calliagnosia I don’t give a damn. However, I want you to keep in mind that by voting Anti-Calliagnosia, you’re helping individuals and groups like Kappa Sigma to exist and have a purpose in this world.
So I invite all of you not to participate in a “Calli Cleanse”, but instead in a “Kappa Kleanse.”
Brandon Huang
Year: Junior
Major: Art History
“How’d you guys meet?”
“We met in grade school. Back then she was the popular girl and I was just the kid who knew how to rap Busta Rhyme’s rap in ‘Look At Me Now.’ We were friends then, but I always had a crush on her because she’d be the only one willing to give me her chocolate pudding, for nothing in return. That’s when I knew she was the one. Her friends were always against me in high school, saying that she could do better or that there was more guys to meet in college. Around that same time I got Calli because I wanted to support the cause and knew that getting Calli wouldn’t really change my morals in life.
Scarlet and I ended up dating in college no matter what anyone said. We just needed some peace and quiet from the judgemental environment over at Willbrook High. Everyone was initially really confused with us being together at first, mostly because not many people expected it. But that changed after they saw how we interacted with each other. Maybe we looked kind of different as an interracial couple but it didn’t matter as long as we loved and supported each other. Scarlet’s my other half and she’s the only person in the world that understands me.”
“Is there anything you guys didn’t know about each other that was surprising?”
“It’s funny you ask that. I recently found out that Scarlet had gotten Calli ever since she was in middle school. She never wanted to talk about it because she was afraid that people would judge her or think she was different. Isn’t it weird how people still decide to judge those who literally have no ability or no intention to judge others based on their identity? Scarlet didn’t need to be openly public about her Calli nor did she need to rub it into other people’s faces for the Calli to be effective. Individuals with Calliagnosia are just like anyone else, if not better. I’m glad that Calli eventually brought us together, in the most organic way. I don’t think I would’ve been able to meet someone like Scarlet.”
Humans of Pembleton 