Fluorescent - 1st Issue

fluorescentMonthly magazine Issue 1

TH S SSUE

04

08

14

16

22

24

32

UnfleshAn insight of Gazelle Twinrsquos latest album

About TiMAF and teamworkAn overview of what working withing a team means

Healing through artTaking medicine to a superior level

How my mother became homelessAn interesting story about hope and losing it

How different are weA Korean exchange student questions cultural disparities

A lifetime of excitementTaking advice from the woman who has done it all

05

fluorescent | Editorial

I instantly thought of the name as being directly correlated to the song performed by the

band Arctic Monkeys but I real-ized soon that it was something more than that We could eas-ily be described by the word fluorescent as we managed to bring some sort of luminescence on different things which are happening near us and which are more or less directly affect-ing us

We chose not to be ignorant and to bring a fresh view on everything which is happening nowadays concentrating on social themes concentrating also on different events on mu-sic and on that tiny part of real life some people would like to avoid

The subjects which are covered range from ldquoa selfie talkrdquo or a ldquomustache you a question ndash about no shave Novemberrdquo to more serious subjects like what could happen to a naiumlve per-son and what the consequenc-es are or the cures which art could provide for patients Be-ing a bunch of young people with different views on different things it seemed rather hard at the beginning to put together all of our thoughts

But eventually what seemed to be really hard ended up being just right for ourselves This is the first issue of our magazine and as mentioned the topics which were chosen were random but somehow in their randomness found a place to fit in the pag-es of fluorescent

fluorescent Adolescents

Diana Cezara RusuEditor in Chief

Editorial team

Beganyi ImolaIulia CrăciunCecilia GergelyRaluca Ștefana HandocaCosmina Maria MacraRucsandra PinteaRaul Mihai PoiasTeodora ReteganDiana Cezara RusuAnamaria ȘerbanȘtefania Nicoleta ȘteffIrina Ursu

fluorescent | Art

Having access to a cultural life is an important aspect considering our generation Nowadays peo-ple especially teenagers are not as much attracted to exhibitions or other kind of art and culture like in the past They are passion-ate about playing games on their Smartphone or tablet gossiping and wasting time on different ac-tivities that do not serve them any good

I decided to go there because I wanted to see myself the great exhibition of Salvador Dali I heard that the illustrations repre-sent a special image and when you see them you can trans trans-pose yourself in a different fictive world When I went there the ex-act thing happened to me The atmosphere was pleasant and relaxing people could walk into the three rooms and see each of the 22 illustrations and the mes-sage the words that those imag-es were telling I saw the images of the rooms and each of them

represent a different character and I could feel like I am entering a parallel world There you are just yourself and the characters created by the artist

The artist is known for his techni-cal skill as a painter but also by the shocking quality of his great imagination This exhibition enti-tled ldquoThe bizarre dreams of Pan-tagruelrdquo gathers 22 lithographs il-lustrations all signed originally by the artist and it gives the viewer an image of a surreal universe

The Museum of Art in Cluj-Napoca opened this exhibition in the 14th of October and could be ac-cessed until November 23rd It is for the first time that the artist Sal-vador Dali arrives in Cluj-Napoca The exhibition is a part of the pro-gram dedicated to the graphic arts which takes place this au-tumn together with Graphic Trib-une and French Stamp

The bizzare dreams of Pantagruel

by Șteff Ștefania Nicoleta

UNFLESH

Unfleshrdquo is Elizabeth Bern-holzrsquos second studio al-bum as Gazelle Twin

The album takes you into a gloomy journey of twisted re-alities and delusional aspects of self-perception Bernholzs talks about the body as something that is constantly decomposing the shedding of skin for the sole purpose of achieving acceptance

She tells Dazed Digital ldquoYoung people are always demonized very misunder-stood but they are also at the peak of this intense con-sumerist culture You just think what might happen if we play generation on gen-eration with excess desire unattainable desires and just

hammer it It is survival mode but it is survival for nothing Survival for the most menial reward You are not running from a lion you are just trying to get out of the supermarket after buying some dinnerrdquo She manages to bend perverted childhood traumas and place them in surreal scenarios which seem borrowed from a collec-tive nightmare

ldquoUnfleshrdquo is the song that opens the album and the primordial feeling you get out of listening it is close to one of a panic attack Suddenly you are in a corner of her fantasy and you do not even notice (or mind for the matter) I am not talking about a state of oblivion here on the contrary it is an interfuse

of little things that surround you but you chose to ignore You see another dimension that has been there all along but you have never felt it It is filled with heavy synths raun-chy bass lines and repetitive vocals leading to some kind of paranoid obsession ldquoHersquos coming at me coming at merdquo Elizabeth murmurs all throughout the songldquoGutsrdquo and ldquoExorciserdquo are both contoured by syncopat-ed beats hallucinating drum loops and dissonant vocal harmonies which celebrate resisting sexual urges and fe-ral instincts ldquoI enjoy tripping out without drugs - having flu fevers things like that I have always been a sickly person - which was great when I was young because I got to miss

- so it has always been a weirdly positive thing for me to be incapacitated and to wander around inside my headrsquo she tells Jazz Monroe of Dazed Digital There is an abundance of factory-like in-trusive sounds Samples of barking dogs and a hail of asymmetrical background noises brilliantly settling at the level of production The vocals are somewhat anemic chocked whispers that trans-pose you into something resembling a fucked up school hallway you left behind years ago Almost as if you can hear your thoughts too loud and they are reverberating beyond your control It is a great antithesis actually because the skeleton of the song is so up-tempo and dancy while the other instruments are ghostly and shy The two are followed by ldquoGood Deathrdquo which Elizabeth de-scribes as ldquo a musing of euthanasia the idea that you can die when you want to which is some-thing I really believe inrdquoThe opening lyrics are ldquoI canrsquot watch you suffer slowly the mind plays gold tricks when yoursquore lonelyrdquo Itrsquos one of the slower mellower bits of the

album Although the song builds-up into a dis-may-filled rhythm the general mesmerizing tone is maintained for all of its three minutes and eight-een seconds

Anti-Body the first released single represents the climax of the album It is an autobiographical song and it reflects on body dysmorphic disorder a mental illness Elizabeth used to battle with in her young adulthood The disorder involves belief that onersquos appearance is defective or abnormal while onersquos thoughts about it are invasive and noisy Most of the time the flaw is non-existent or irrelevant for a normal person but the dysmorphic accentuates unrealistic convictions- blown out of proportionThe way she manages to pronounce that struc-ture with no signs of hate or wickedness It is more of a feeling of loneliness that she suppressed and now it hits the surface So if you want some intense and haunting confession-type music this is what you have been looking for Try it it will bring you closure

08

by Teodora Retegan

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selfie

We are taking selfies anytime and any-where Before we fall asleep before leaving the house while we are eath-

ing when we are with our friends at the Os-cars and even at funerals I think that most of us know what a selfie is I will write down a definition just to be able to tell apart what is what So a selfie is a self taken photo usually with a smartphone or a tablet Most of the time these photos end up on social networks

A Short Selfie History

I was really curios about how old the self-ie is so I googled it Seems that the selfie is old-er than our generation because the first one was taken in the mid 1800 I think that we all remember that out of focus in the mirror pictures which were post-ed on HI5 Those pictures were actually selfies even though we didnrsquot know that they were called selfies Well those pictures became sbquolow-classrsquo when Facebook appeared At that point everybody wanted proffesional pic-tures so the selfie was forgotten Anyway the term sbquoselfiersquo appeared before the self-taken pictures became a social trend in 2005 We soon get bored of those professional photos and the technology decided to help us Those things which we always carry around bacause they help us go through the day and have a front camera This is how everything started We decided to try that out so we started tak-ing selfies In the begining we were shy about it but there was always another person who tried it Celebrities help a lot too Like every-body else they were trying things out Day by day there were more and more selfies posted on Facebook Twitter and lately Instagram

Self centered or not

A lot of people say that we are an in-dividualistic and self-centered generation and one of the arguments they put on the ta-ble is that we are taking selfies all day long I honestly do not know if we are self-centered or not I think that a trend does not necessarily define the strengths or weaknesses of a gen-eration We are young and we like to follow trends This is how it is Every young generation was blamed for different things but in the end it was the time which decided if that was true or not

The upgraded selfie

Selfie was around for a while but more and more of us decided that a selfie alone is not that much fun So we started taking selfies together and we call that group selfie Seems like somebody did not like that so they called the group selfie lsquousiersquo We are supposed to call that selfies with more than one person in it lsquousiesrsquo I donrsquot think that will start immediately but maybe as the time passes wersquoll get used with the usie In the end I donrsquot know what matters more the fact that the selfie was just a phase and we moved towards usie or the fact that we all tried to show that we are different in a very common way We all want to be differ-ent but at the same time we need to feel that we belong to a community We try to show the others that we are unique by fitting in a certain place This is what selfie and other trends do They help us to be different but at the same time they give us the security of belonging to a community Through them we are able to express our true self while being sure that the others wonrsquot judge us because they are doing the same thing

We all know it We all do it We all love it What can it be It is the selfie From ordinary people to movie stars

and presidents people know the selfie do the selfie and like the selfie

fluorescent | Social Trends

11

An overview of the most recent social phenomenon

by Iulia Crăciun

Whether you are young or letrsquos say a little bit older this is the month to let your hair free literally Facial hair

beards or mustaches or whatever hair you can grow let it grow bigger and bigger This is No shave November but also Movember No shave November

was especially created as a campaign to raise cancer awareness Of course the pur-pose of this was that instead of spending the money on shaving or arranging the facial hair you could donate that money to edu-cate people about cancer therefore raising cancer awareness Movember refers specif-ically to growing a mustache in order raise menrsquos health awareness So I mustache you a question Are you attracted to unshaved men Most probably yes

This month November has become more than just the month of not shaving this month is the month to show that you are a real man A recent study shows that women prefer an unshaved man particularly a 10-day unshaved man So this month has not just started a campaign to raise health aware-ness but an awareness that says ldquoYou want to look like a man put down that blade and let it growrdquo And not only do men look manli-er but also more tough and even aggressive or protective Even men without beards are a little scared by men with beards

No-Shave-Novemberby Raul Mihai Poias

We live in a pretty odd time especially because in the past an unshaved man used to be considered unclean or untidy A regu-lar visit to the barber shop was necessary in order to be accepted in the society and be considered handsome

Well the world is changing or much better told we are changing the world The no shave movement is a step further to allow-ing people be who they want to be look like they want to look without judging them Of course if you are 20 and you have not shaved for a month most probably your grandma will say that you have lost your mind or that the person who used to shave you died And I am pretty sure that if you tell your grand-mother that you are attracted to a man who grows a beard she will think that your boy-friend is part of a gang or he is a rocker (who belongs to Satan)

But returning to the purpose of this arti-cle the reason why you should let your beard grow is to raise awareness let all your hair grow free be supportive with those who suf-fer Show that you care No shave November and Movember are not just to show that you are a man but to show that you are a man with honor donate the money you have not spent on shaving to a campaign and help Help yourself while you help others


Hold your horses or more likely hold your blades It is the month of no

return

13Photo source httpwwwgithubcom

fluorescent | Event

About teamwork and TiMAF-A family with no siblings

by Diana Cezara Rusu

Different people different expecta-tions different ways of thinking In spite of all these differences there

are some moments in which people are brought together by one or more things There comes a moment in which you learn that no matter how different you are from other people you can still find a common point You learn how to work in a team and you learn that appear-ances are deceptive and you have to know a person first before you make an opinion Or you learn when it is the right moment to judge if you always stick to your first impression and nothing can change that

Somewhere in August I noticed this post on Facebook that TiMAF which is the Transylvania International Music and Arts Festival was looking for volun-teers Starting from October 3rd until Oc-tober 19th a number of activities were to take place and those which were presented seemed quite interesting and diverse to me

Short movies night graffiti painted in the train station and under a bridge from a neighbourhood in Cluj coffee and wine workshops and even a battle of singers and dancers It included al-most everything for almost everyone

I had no idea what I was getting myself into And frankly the first meet-ing with the volunteers made me ask myself ldquowhyrdquo Simply why I was used to being near only to people who shared either the same tastes with me or with people who had the same style as I do This time I was sitting in a room with 140 more people who were anyhow but not like me I am not sure if it was all just like an impact or if I simply felt overwhelmed for the moment Each activity which was to take place during the three weeks of the festival needed a certain number of volunteers ranging from 2-3 volun-teers to 20-30 volunteers During the first meeting a list of events circulated in the room so that each volunteer could choose what events he wanted to at-tend I got involved in activities such as the battle of the bands the short mov-ies night the graffiti sessions the coffee workshop and different concerts

What was the most interesting fact is that you never worked with the same peo-ple during the activities which took place You either got to know them in the moment in which the activity started or maybe you somehow just had the impression you had seen them somewhere else But that did not matter much since you had to complete your tasks in an efficient way and it was nev-er a one person job Team work was always the key in order to make the festival work And in order to avoid conflicts as a matter of fact I would have never thought that I could get along so easily with a bunch of people I never met and were so different from me

Older younger with a different taste in music with a different way of thinking and with a different way of being we were all there together trying to make the festi-val work

We ended up being like a family even though we were not related to each other No matter how tired we were after a concert or after a certain event we always found one small thing to keep us laughing

What was great in the end about TiMAF was the fact that you were always near people Either helping each other out or simply discussing with them about differ-ent things you were never on your own You learn a lot about each other you learn about teamwork and you also get a hint of both compromise and communication in order to make things work You also learn about judging and not judging people at the same time giving you a more openness towards perspective and giving you a dif-ferent view on change Day by day you were basically working with people for oth-er people

14Photo source httpwwwcitynewscom

Healing through art

by Irina Elena Ursu In the Recovery hospital from Cluj-Napoca the patients are cured through art That is because of an ingenious project that was set up by a

group of some talented young actors who want to turn the days spent within a hospital ward into better ones Painting and handmade workshops or improvisation theatre designed for patients no matter their age have all made them forget about pain and burdens for one week

fluorescent | Feature

The room where the art thera-py takes place hardly resem-bles a hospital ward From the entrance you can see tables full of colored paper and ma-terials which make patients forget for a few hours that they are in a medical unit All they are allowed to do is to free their imagination

ldquoHow can we help themrdquo

The whole project started two years ago when at a national level everything was concern-ing regarding the situation of the patients who spent weeks in hospitals These young ac-tors have thought about solu-tions to solve this problem and used their theater experience in order to write this project through which they could make a change This is how art therapy was born

Diana Buluga project manag-er ldquoA patient day in a hospital looks like this in the morning they go for investigations then they go to eat their lunch and in the afternoon there is noth-ing left for them to do

That is the moment when we come up with all sort of activ-ities meant not only to kill time but also to change their state of mind We created this system of film and theatre workshops intending not to put them in the posture of a passive view-er but doing something more interactive so as to bring them out from their comfort zone in which you just sit and benefit from an artistic momentrdquo

Success from the beginning

The first art therapy took place two years ago Painting work-shops improvisation theatre and handmade objects crea-tion turn the days into colorful ones The whole project had a very powerful impact so the actors have returned this year in the hospital Over 40 pa-tients have attended the ac-tivities this time

The team did not forget about the patients that cannot move and are unable to attend the workshops so they started to knock at each wardrsquos door in order to share flowers and bal-loons

Alexandra Felseghi actress ldquoIt is very important in those mo-ments to make people feel that they are equal to each other and you shall not make the mistake of letting them feel that they are disabledrdquo

People have cured

Elvira has been one of those who has felt the effect of art therapy The moment when she first entered that colorful room where the activity took place is still fresh in her mind and then she kept coming back every single day Even if she is now cured sometimes she attends the workshop just to share her experience with the others She has made lots of friends and has a loy of beautiful memories

Elvira Silaghi patient ldquoEvery day I could not wait to meet with this young team I took part in some plays I drew and I really felt like a child In those hours all the pain was gone They helped me a lot now I feel more optimistic and confi-dent I used to smile in the past too but now it is very differentrdquo

New day new challenge

Even if from the outside everything seemed childish on the inside it was a real challenge for the young team to choose the activities be-cause every day they wanted to bring some-thing new so as to surprise the attenders

Raluca Lupan actress ldquoI think the biggest chal-lenge was to make them smile every single day and every single moment We needed to come up with new ideas so as to make them feel like they are doing something productive and it is not just a waste of time The biggest satisfaction is that I had the chance to meet these people who are in my view real heroes I have learned that nothing lasts forever and itrsquos important to start your day smiling and end it the same wayrdquo

These kind of therapies are well appreciated in some other countries Lots of hospitals perma-nently collaborate with actors so the patients have weekly art therapy programs


18 19

It is very important in those moments to make people feel that they are equal to each other and you shall not make the mistake of letting them feel that they are disabled

A hospital patient enjoying some time at the sock puppet workshop

POWER OF THE PEOPLE - A STORY OFFACEBOOK

by Anamaria Șerban

First of all the impressive impli-cation of the young genera-tion In none of the previous

elections such a great num-ber of young people mobilized and this was because they lost their trust in the Romanian po-litical class Also they lost their faith in their capability of mak-ing changes so not voting was their form of protest The conse-quence of this form of protest was that the older generation fooled by hollow electoral brib-ery put their stamps on the pol-iticians the youngsters did not want as their representatives

Thus the older ones decided the young generationsrsquo futureThis year though things took a radical turn

ople who could not vote out-side of it As days went by until the second round of elections people started debating on-line what happened and what is there to be done in order to to prevent this situation from happening again Special re-quest forms were posted online for people to print and fill up before entering the polling sta-tions to prevent standing in lines They were also encouraged to make complaints against those responsible for the situationEveryone whether they liked it or not was caught up in the elections fever The second round of elections caught Ro-manians more prepared more documented and determined to make a change On the oth-er hand it caught the author-ities not so prepared because the same problems were en-countered again And this time even worse A larger number of people wanted to express their vote and could not do it espe-cially in foreign countries

This was an effect which com-munication social media pro-vided The social network united or even better said reunited Ro-manian citizens Somehow post-ing about the issues of this yearrsquos elections gave them a boost of national identity This situation is a good example of the power social media gives to the citizens and the outcome to which it gets when people get together Romania seems to have awaken from the numb-ness and understand the true values of democracyEven more wonderful then seeing people so enthusiastic about the future is their rationality though This is because they seem to be well aware that politicians should not get ahead of themselves and keep their promises of mak-ing of Romania a laudable country

Days before the elections Face-book events such as lsquoYou donrsquot vote you donrsquot countrsquo started popping up inviting the young especially students to vote And the amount of interest in choos-ing the new leader was extraor-dinary

This much implication seems to have taken authorities by sur-prise - or was it a proof of incom-petence - Because soon voters were furious The reason if they voted in other polling station than the one they were enrolled in they had to fill up a special request and bad management made that some of the polling stations ran out of forms hence people could not exercise their right to vote

The situation escalated when Romanians outside the country were telling their peers about these problems via Facebook Photos and videos of people waiting in front of Romaniarsquos embassy and other public insti-tutions stormed out on the social network People who waited for hours in good or bad weather were expressing their frustration Every Romanian was outraged Everyone had a parent or a child waiting in line Some conspiracy theories also appeared according to which members of the left wing party PSD did this on purposeThese messages could be seen on walls or in different com-ments on Facebook In no time in addition to the events calling people to the urns other events were being organized inside the country in solidarity to the peo- 21

We keep hearing that we should remember the 16th of NovemberNo one can deny that this year the presidential elections were a milestone in Romaniarsquos recent historyBut what has been different about these elections from the previous ones since 1990

How my mother became

homelessby Beganyi Imola

fluorescent | Real Life

It is said that there is no such thing as perfect family But what Vicky had to experience was above imperfection

Several iron beds in a hospital room with mentally sick strangers Not only does Vicky find herself uncomfortable in this unfriendly and drafty environ-ment of the sanitary but also desper-ately helpless

This is because she has to see her moth-er her vulnerable and lonely mother crying unstoppably in fetal pose The mental breakdown has not appeared as a surprise from one day to another notndash it was a more than a 10 year long process There is no specific moment when the flow of the events started was it the first time her mom got beat-en by her dad the first time they left home or the first time she took Vicky to a house to practice a spiritual tech-nique Expensive energyFirstly making time pass with magic looked like an innocent and interesting way to escape from reality The tech-nique involved curing all the diseases with energy putting deformed bones

to the right place traveling to past lifes manipulating everything with symbols even the outcome of events or peo-plersquos feelings Basically it offered limitless power to take control over life Nothing was impossibleldquoShe took me to these intitiation rituals in which costs increased with the levelsrdquo

The wasted money was not the only but the minor price they paid for as the mother gathered more and more lev-els of the technique she became more and more detached from her daughter ldquoShe found a spiritual explanation for everything And she also became ag-gressive Our life was just as miserable as before she joined these meetings but she could not let it go It was her escape from the terror that my father represent-edrdquoVicky started to recognize that the prom-ise of a rich happy and beautiful life that these charlatans kept telling was possi-ble only for them How could her mother not realize that while her masters lived in huge houses drove expensive cars went on vacations to mediterranean is-lands they had the same old flat

It was quite obvious that their luxurious life was paid from the costs of the rituals Vicky did not care whatrsquos behind this whole organ-ization she just wanted them to leave her family alone The daughter was afraid to lose both of her parents but she did not have the power to rescue them from the chains of spirituality and alcohol It looked like dependence had overcame love

CalvaryVicky noticed that her mother was becoming weirder step by step and did not really know how to react poisoned grapes the grandparents want to kidnap her Vicky stole money from her the father is a drug dealerhellipldquoShe had all kinds of paranoid imag-es The scented candles mandalas prayer flags and monasteries took her mindrdquoMeanwhile the father con-tinued the scandals the domestic violence had never stoppedVickyrsquos mom ended up with several wounds the father was taken to the po-lice station and the deci-sion was made divorce

The next day Vicky found herself packing her be-longings and leaving the home she had been living in for 16 years

ldquoOn an early January morn-ing she knocked on the door Luckily my dad was not home due to business She had only her clothes and said she does not have a place to stay I could not handle her aggres-sion and I could not let her stay because my dad forbad me to let her in Not to men-tion that I still remembered her behaviorrdquo

For several weeks she stayed at her brotherrsquos but after threatening them with setting the house on fire they asked her to leave the last stop was the homeless shelter ldquoShe showed up at 2 am at my un-clersquos She was kicked out even from thererdquoNow the mother has been liv-ing on the streets for 2 years Everybody knows it including the spirititual clan which took her mind Everybody knows it but no one can or wants to help anymore

ldquoEverybody blames me ex-cept my father The social ser-vices the family ndash everyone refused to help I would like to send her in a good institution but for now I cannot I am glad my dad supports my studies so I try to handle his drunk side I hope one day I will have the money and courage to help my mother but I am desper-ate that it will be too laterdquo

The nightmare was not over with the moving Vickyrsquos mom stepped out of the violence she tried to escape from and entered another misery At this point she already has detached from her friends family and even the spiritual group The loneliness pro-duced worse and worse im-ages in her mind which she reflected on the last per son who still hold on to her

She presumed that someone breaks in to steal things and mess with us She said that I am not her daughter her mean masterrsquos soul took con-trol over my body and I was kidnapped by aliens She quit her job we could not pay the rent for 5 months the bills or food Then she kicked me out and threatened me not to ever come back or she was going to stab merdquoThe next station of this calva-ry was the mental hospital Vickyrsquos uncle took her mom to the doctors and her father paid the treatment

Friends returned to visit her and everyone tried to help But it was not enoughOn the streets The unsuc-cesful mental care consisted of drugging the mom with sleeping pills for 2 weeks The family found her a new place but she did not continue the medication left work again and refused any calls for 3 months In the meantime she had moved elsewhere so no one knew her location

22 23Photo source httpwwwhuffingtonpostcom

HOW D FFERENT A R E W E There is an Asian girl who has

been staying here in Cluj Romania for a month She

is from South Korea and came here as an exchange student From now on the girl is about to bring up what shocked her since she got here EUROPE Are you ready to face how Asians

by Yeseul Lim

fluorescent | Culture

think you are Here we go

WARNING This story is written from a certain South Korean perspective hence this may not encompass all views of Asians

Photo source httpwwwmuralsbyjanecom

Which one is more lsquoINAPROPRIATErsquo Upper one vs Lower one

The most shocking thing I have ever experi-enced here is womenrsquos clothes When it comes to womenrsquos dress the woman who wears a top with a revealing cleavage is often consid-ered sluttish in Asia However here there are so many girls and women who are in those kinds of clothes What a surprise If they were in the subway of Korea wearing those sort of top they would draw everyonersquos attention for sure However there is one more thing which makes me surprised again I was told that western people regard wearing shorts as inappropri-ate Thatrsquos completely opposite We Asian women usually put them on in summer and they are mostly hot pants (of course not too short ones) Although it is not proper for us as well to wear them on such formal occasion as job interview presentation except in formal cases it is ok to do so

After I found out such thing it is pretty funny to imagine that a western girl who is in a top with a revealing cleavage and an eastern girl wearing shorts of baring legs run into each oth-er and glance each other thinking ldquoGeez how can she come out with that clothesrdquo

What are you Arenrsquot you guys FRIENDS

Actually I do not know exactly how many other Asian think like me but from my point of view such physical affections between man and woman as holding hands hugging and kissing are unacceptable unless they are cou-ple Let me compare European and Asian in terms of what I have just told In Asian culture I am not sure if you know about Confucianism anyway because of the influence of it we are somewhat conservative especially when it comes to the issue between men and women Therefore in my country people hardly hold the hand of opposite sex if they are not in a relationship Likewise we do not hug

other gender and never ever kiss them As for me it is never allowed to happen to have physical affections with other guys except my boyfriendSo can you imagine how many times I was shocked whenever I had a chance to hang out with friends from lsquoneoconservativersquo coun-tries of Europe Every time I encountered the girl and boy holding each otherrsquos hands or hooking onersquos arm into anotherrsquos I wanted to shout out asking this question What are you Why on earth are you holding each otherrsquos hands Arenrsquot you friends However now I know that they are not a couple They are just friends How astonishing it is

Are you really ok if you have that intense argument WITH THE PROFESSOR

I knew that there is not a certain and strong culture of respecting elders in western world I do not mean that you do not respect your el-ders I mean just in comparison to our culture we consider order of rank by age Such val-ues are also originated from Confucianism For this reason we have been educated that we should respect our elders and it is rude to defy what elders say

However when I attended my first class here I was shocked to see the fierce argument be-tween student and professor Although we can say our opinion against professor we are supposed to express our opinion gently try-ing not to put them in a bad mood Now I guess you (yes I mean the very you with long hair who had an intense argument with him) figured out why I had been looking at you in such a compassionate way I had kind of worried that he will give you a low grade It is just because if the professor were Korean you would get a poor mark However the way I see it it is time to accept a different view without considering rank of age It was shocking for me to see the bitter conflicts of opinion between professor and student but at the same time it set a good example for me

Why should I PAY for lsquoLETTING IT OUTrsquo

This is what I experienced during the trip to Eastern Europe I had been on the trip by bus What makes me somewhat surprised was the fact that I have to pay charge for toilet Of course I can understand restaurants charge for using their restrooms but why expressway service areas do so Whenever I used the toilet I was reluctant to give them money I donrsquot know why I have always been willing to pay for what I eat but I have not been doing for lsquoletting it outrsquo Donrsquot you think it is too much I do not want to open my purse for releasing something

After I found out such thing it is pret-ty funny to imagine that a western girl who is in a top with a revealing

cleavage and an eastern girl wearing shorts of baring legs run into each

other and glance each other thinking ldquoGeez how can she come out with

that clothesrdquo

26 27


Photo source httpwwwwikipediacom

VS

HIGH FASHIONOr the industry of turning the grotesque into

cash Of course I am not referring here to a ldquoFashion Policerdquo situation No I am talking about the run-

way the Mecca of fashion lovers all around the world the birthplace of the most iconic trends in the history of fash-ion

Haute Couture industry was always re-garded to as luxurious However late-ly some changes have been made as taste is not necessarily present any more Taking a good look at several fashion shows from the last couple of years I can say that some designers have taken up quite some risks The only issue is that opposite from what was ex-pected they have failed miserably

Fashion magazines and blogs were raging about the newly-found home-less style a mix of what-ever-you-could-find-in-your-wardrobe but with a hint of dirt There is nothing ldquofashionablerdquo in privileged youth copying the style of those living on the streets It only increas-es the level of ignorance regarding how serious and painful homelessness really is by making it look ldquocoolrdquo ldquochicrdquo and ldquotrendyrdquo And ironically one has to pay over $500 for this authentic look However the homeless trend is to some extent aesthetically pleasing

A new trend has emerged a more col-ourful one should we say ndash the feather duster dress As the name clearly sug-gests it is a mix of layers and bright col-ours in the form of a feather duster ndash so fashion meets functionality

This shift in the fashion industry reflects just how easily influenced our society is We can be convinced that ugly can be beautiful We can embrace the bizarre as art and moreover promote it It is no secret that along the centuries there have been some misfits whose outlook on fashion and art was rather unortho-dox But because of that people reject-ed their ideas and guided themselves towards something that was pleasuring It seems that we are now part of a so-ciety that is not guided by these values of aesthetics any more but rather by what the ldquomainstreamrdquo does And that is how we began celebrating the gro-tesque and condemning normality

by Rucsandra Pintea

An acquaintance of mine has come to me the other day with a very in-teresting question ldquoWhatrsquos up with fashion these daysrdquo she said to me with a hint of repulsion mixed with astonishment Come to think of it she

makes a good point In the tumultuous history of style and trends from the opulent baroque gowns to Coco Chanelrsquos pantsuit never has anyone

thought that bad taste would be so grandly celebrated From Lady Ga-garsquos statement meat dress to onesies for men designers know no limits

29

fluorescent | Fashion

Photo source httpwwwpinterestcom

fluorescent | Close-upPLANEAVIONVLIEGTUIGROVINALENNUKFLUGZEUGEITLEAN AEREOPLAKNE PJAN AVIAO

The life of a flight attendant

by Cosmina Macra

What does every-body think about a cabin crew

life What do you believe about it It might sound like a glam-orous and elegant life because of what you live because of the sensation of freedom you get or how many new places and cul-tures you know Breakfast in New York dinner in Paris living in 5 stars hotels visit-ing expensive places and not only All you need is to be beautiful to smile all the time and in exchange you get to travel all around the world a big salary and a wonderful life

But what does such a change do to you as a hu-man what does it mean Even if you decide to move in some other place of the planet or even if you choose to remain some-where near your home this job will change you totally You just leave everything behind you learn new things and you meet new people every day The main responsibility of a cabin crew is to ensure the safety of the passengers followed by their conven-ience Because flight at-

tendants are considered to be ambassadors of the airlines they represent they must look and behave in an impeccable way Besides that they must be easily approachable and en-thusiastic

Flight attendants are known for the variety of roles they must play during a flight The most common are Air hostess (each attendant is directly involved in the boarding and escorting of passengers to their seats in First Class and Business Class and in the process of land-ing) Flight attendants Nannies (which take care of unaccom-panied minor) Nurse (each at-tendant acts as the nurse who provides first aid to passengers in any case of medical prob-lems) Waiter (serving food and drinks during the flight) Seller (sell goods at duty free playing the role of a sales agent) Sec-retary (have to prepare written documentation with details of all incidents that occurred during the flight like passenger feedback using medical kits) delays)After you finish your initial train-ing as a flight attendant you need to accomplish all the above conditions both for your and othersrsquo safety Afterwards you will get a monthly calen-dar so every month you will

know your timetable and your free maximum 10 days Before every flight you should prepare your luggage and uniforms for the destination to which you fly Usually you will be taken from home an hour or two before the program starts but this depends on the company Once ar-rived at the airport you will have a briefing with the rest of the team get details of the flight weath-er safety and emergency procedures and you can even be sent for an an-ti-doping test

It looks quite easy but during the flight you can encounter a lot of prob-lems These problems may be caused by people by the system of the plane or simply it may depend on what luck you have You may face during your career situations like fire in the cabin decompres-sion emergency landing deviation from the original route terrorist attacks and situations where first aid must be offered uncondi-tionally However for me it remains the job of my dreams but for you

31Photo source httpequatoreftourscomtouring-101travel-tips-flying

fluorescent | Close-up

A lifetime of excitement by Cecilia Gergely

from Cluj or training young girls to become flight attendants I was curious about why she stopped being a flight atten-dant after she dedicated a big period of her life for her career and why she decided to return to Cluj Napoca her hometown in 2013

ldquoLast year I returned to the country because I wanted to be closer to my family and because I have finished my beautiful house When you fly you are and you remain single and then you have to think about your future You have to fill up the house and we all know that too much loneliness gets really depressing after a while It felt good for ten years it was extraordinary but now it is time for a change rdquo Nicoleta confessed

More than ten years she was a part of a cabin crew at one of the fin-

est airlines in the world She flew with every type of Airbus and Boeing aircrafts and she knows where in the world you can have the most delicious steaks and the most exquisite wines It was about more than a year ago when she had her last flight as a flight attendant with the destination India

Today you can see Nicoleta Gherman at the theatre opera fishing at basketball match-es cheering for the teams from

She started her career working as a journalist for Mesagerul Transil-van and she collaborated with the Top Gun and Popcorn mag-azines

Initially she wanted to work in the television domain but she dis-covered her passion for aviation ldquoIn 2001 I read in a local news-paper that the Fly Emirates airline is hiring flight attendants I submit-ted the documents they asked for and after a month I got the news that I passed through the document phase and I was going to leave to Bucharest for the final interview In September after the

911 terrorist attacks in the USA I got a call and I was told that the Emirates airlines had canceled all the flights I had already paid a few of the taxes for the mediation company from Bucharest and because they could do my em-ployment visa for the United Arab Emirates I decided to go to Du-bai and to work as a receptionist for a five star hotel After less than two months in Dubai I had all the information about the airlines of the Middle East I applied to all the airlines which I could think of there and the first call which I got was from the Emirates Airlines

In the first day of the recruitment they told us that there were 600 people who applied for the job and they selected only 300 for the intermediate phase After the first day of tests of skills and behavior where we had the personal pres-entation the weight and height tests and English and psycholog-ical written tests there were only

120 girls left for the final phase After a week the final phase took place which meant a practical group exercise with 4 round ta-bles where they analyzed our be-havior and our skills working as a team I got in with the first fifteen and then I got a shock realizing what failure means

But after two months I have been invited to an interview for Qatar Airways also in Dubai where out of 150 appliers I had been the only one recruited for the flight attendant job So on the 29th September 2002 I was landing in Doha the capital city of Qatar

where I started a new life rdquoMy curiosity grew finding out all these things and I asked her to tell me what she did in order to grow in this company She told me that she worked two years at the Economic class after which she got promoted to Busi-ness class where she stayed for a year and then Nicoleta got promoted again working two years at first class After anoth-er year in the first class she got promoted again and became Senior cabin crew on smaller aircrafts Another year passed and she got promoted again to senior cabin crew on large and very large planes with very long flights transatlantic ones In the present Nicoleta Gherman is a flight attendant recruiter trainer and editor in two differ-ent projectscalled ldquoVreau sa fiu stewardesardquo and ldquoInsoteste-ne la bordul cariereirdquo living the second phase of her life in her hometown

33

fluorescent | Fun

5 things to do while travelling with a Romanian train

as seen by Raluca Ștefana Handoca

Traveling by train in Romania is one of the cheapest ways but probably the slowest also Romanian railways are

poorly maintained and trains arrive late to their destination most of the time One can spend a lot of hours in a Romanian train but those hours can pass faster if you do one or more of these things

Sleep

Due to the low speed and many delays you might spend a lot of hours in a Roma-nian train If you have nothing better to do and if you are not afraid that you might lose your luggage it is a great opportuni-ty to get some sleep The chairs are not so comfortable but when you are tired even those look like a good opportunity for some sleep

Socialize

You can meet a lot of people in trains From old ladies that knit to kids that are willing to talk to anyone You have to be careful with what you say to whom You never know what type of person you bump into

Read something

Instead of wasting the hours you spend in a train by doing nothing you can read a book or study for your exams

WARNING this action especially studying might make you sleepy Watch movies

Most of the trains in Romania have elec-tricity theoretically Practically there are some areas in which electricity is inexistent and trains where the plug-ins work only on one side of the train But if you have ac-cess to it and a laptop that contains mov-ies or anything else to watch just hit play

Admire the view

Romania is a beautiful country There are a lot of great places that can be seen while traveling by train From the seaside to the mountains the landscape is most of the time breathtaking

34

TH S SSUE

04

08

14

16

22

24

32

UnfleshAn insight of Gazelle Twinrsquos latest album

About TiMAF and teamworkAn overview of what working withing a team means

Healing through artTaking medicine to a superior level

How my mother became homelessAn interesting story about hope and losing it

How different are weA Korean exchange student questions cultural disparities

A lifetime of excitementTaking advice from the woman who has done it all

05









Editorial team


fluorescent | Art








UNFLESH










08

by Teodora Retegan

Phot

o so

urce

http

w

ww

http

lb

c9c

oma

rt-an

d-a

rchi

tect

ure

pain

tings

sal

vad

or-d

aliw

allp

aper

s-28

htm

l

selfie







The upgraded selfie





11


by Iulia Crăciun











return


fluorescent | Event













Healing through art













People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34









Editorial team


fluorescent | Art








UNFLESH










08

by Teodora Retegan

Phot

o so

urce

http

w

ww

http

lb

c9c

oma

rt-an

d-a

rchi

tect

ure

pain

tings

sal

vad

or-d

aliw

allp

aper

s-28

htm

l

selfie







The upgraded selfie





11


by Iulia Crăciun











return


fluorescent | Event













Healing through art













People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34

fluorescent | Art








UNFLESH










08

by Teodora Retegan

Phot

o so

urce

http

w

ww

http

lb

c9c

oma

rt-an

d-a

rchi

tect

ure

pain

tings

sal

vad

or-d

aliw

allp

aper

s-28

htm

l

selfie







The upgraded selfie





11


by Iulia Crăciun











return


fluorescent | Event













Healing through art













People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34

selfie







The upgraded selfie





11


by Iulia Crăciun











return


fluorescent | Event













Healing through art













People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34











return


fluorescent | Event













Healing through art













People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34

fluorescent | Event













Healing through art













People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34

Healing through art













People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34










People have cured








18 19




by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34


by Anamaria Șerban































by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34






















by Yeseul Lim



















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34















that clothesrdquo

26 27



VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34

VS








by Rucsandra Pintea




29





by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34



by Cosmina Macra























33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34















33

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34

fluorescent | Fun





Sleep


Socialize


Read something




Admire the view


34

Fluorescent - 1st Issue

Documents

Transcript of Fluorescent - 1st Issue