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24 Nov Laine Kaplan-Levenson

Let’s review what makes a bona fide babe: self-respect and respecting others, an inspired perspective of optimism, a down-ass attitude for new experiences, a killer sense of humor, a commitment to what drives you, and a keen habit of being a supportive peer.

Meet Laine Kaplan-Levenson, someone who exemplifies what being a babe is all about. Laine is one of the founders of (and now runs) Bring Your Own, a monthly storytelling event in New Orleans that has been bringing people together to laugh, cringe, listen, eat good barbecue, and drink $2 beers for four years now. While Laine provides this magical monthly resource for no personal profit, her job at New Orleans’ NPR station WWNO has challenged her to push her own storytelling and podcast-producing boundaries.

11 Nov Our Wild Abandon

Freedom: it’s a big word, a huge dream, a diluted social concept. It’s something we all long for, although everyone dreams about it differently. We know it when we feel it but can’t always remember how we got there.

Our Wild Abandon, the photographic partnership of Jillian Mann, 27, and Kyla Trethewey, 29, capture these fleeting moments of freedom during their travels. The two Canadian best friends convey a deep satisfaction with being present in their absolutely stunning photos, many of which were taken during a six-month road trip of the United States that was only supposed to last two months. In their images, we see seductive horizon lines that can never be reached and sky bigger than you ever felt possible. They capture the feeling of having nowhere to go but where you are, and the rhythm of taking life breath by breath.

03 Nov Joe Steinhardt

Recently, I snuck into the back of a classroom in the Rutgers University library in New Brunswick, New Jersey to see Joe Steinhardt, founder of Don Giovanni Records, in a panel discussion celebrating the library’s soon-to-be New Brunswick Music Scene Archive.

The event was loosely run by two adorable library representatives who had no idea that the night would include a warm audience reception to the idea of a record sold with sandpaper on the inside to instantly destroy it and the fetishism associated with it, a somewhat tense discussion of the exclusivity of the archive and the hardcore scene itself, and Screaming Females lead singer and guitarist Marissa Paternoster proclaiming, “Rutgers hates art.” Joe stood out that night amidst the hilarity and weirdness, steering the conversation always to the importance of independence and actively working to make your scene more inclusive—values that Joe lives and stays true to like a total babe.