Becoming your own person isn't easy. I sat down with Mr. Matthew Hicks, the principal of Shaker Road School where I attended eighth grade, to discuss the anxieties of middle-school from an educator's point of view. Listen as we use Mr.Matt's music taste and "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver to dissect middle-school problems and chat life philosophy.

As the school year comes to a close so does StarkMarkings Season 2! With school behind (actually not yet, we both still have finals...) and summer ahead, listen as Angelena and Victoria reflect on this past SM season and the year at large. (PS. If you get far enough, Victoria will explain why her life is like a cartoon... the story involves a puppy and a bagel).

Announcement: We will be taking a summer break (although there might be sporadic, bonus summer uploads)! We'll be back in the fall with Season 3... stay tuned. In the meantime, subscribe to our newsletter, which will continue to run all throughout the off-season.

We hope you enjoy this episode! (If you end up liking it, consider leaving us a rating!)

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How are the people online so perfect? Will the boys at school like me? How do I prevent wrinkles? Growing up means change. And the change you go through on the outside can be just as dramatic and as perspective-altering as the change you go through on the inside.

In this episode, Victoria talks to Sara Amar, a junior in college who exudes self-assurance, to discover her secret to seemingly unwavering confidence and Rebecca Boylan, an English professor who incidentally assigned The Picture of Dorian Gray, sparking the inspiration for this episode. If you're not familiar, the novel by Oscar Wilde is about a young man who switches places with a portrait of himself, allowing his physical being to remain young while the painting grows old. Would you wish to stay forever young? Are beauty and youth inherently intertwined? In this episode, Victoria poses these questions, and both Sara and Professor Boylan take their shots at answering. Listen as both guests discuss their relationships with their physical appearances, the role of beauty standards in their lives, and their thoughts on aging. 

We hope you enjoy! (If you end up liking the episode, consider leaving us a rating!)

Link to our monthly newsletter: https://starkmarkings.substack.com/

Link to our website: https://starkmarkings.com/

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We release episodes every other Friday; growing up is timeless.