We’ve been excited about Fringe since the beginning of the semester. Neither of us had worked on a Fringe issue before, and emerging from quarantine, we were itching to work on a big, bold creative project. We were ambitious, and we wanted to choose a theme that encompassed what we care about as college students and would allow us to be truly imaginative.

Everyone talks about returning to normal after COVID-19. For us college students, normalcy means connecting with people, forming relationships, going to parties and clubs, experimenting and growing up. We wanted our theme to be about enjoying life and the city — however that might look.

We drew inspiration from Andy Warhol’s Factory and the New York City counterculture of the 1970s. We think the art and culture from that era hits on a lot of the same themes. It explores identity, performance, sexuality, drugs, fashion, music and pushing the boundaries of what’s normal.

A million and one thanks to Multimedia Editor Manasa Gudavalli and Social Media Editor Ryan Walker for bringing our vision to life and for dragging our asses to the beach for a 4 a.m. photo shoot. Your collaborative leadership and artistic direction made this all possible. 

Thank you to the Under the Arch team for collaborating with us! It was so rewarding to watch the creative process of such a talented crew. Special shoutout to Brooke Nguyen for hyping us up as we shivered on the beach trying to pose for photos <3

Thank you to the other culture editors, Alex Tran and Gabby Lozano, and all of our staff and contributing writers for your passion, amicability and dedication this semester. Together, we revived the culture desk and made it what it is today, and we’re so proud of the work we’ve accomplished. 

A gigantic shoutout to our creative directors, Charitssa Stone and Susan Behrends Valenzuela, for your expertise in creating a sexy layout. You created order out of absolute chaos and never complained when we threw new ideas at you at the last minute. Thank you for your flexibility!

Huge shoutouts to all of our models — Dylan Campana, Yudi Feng, Senia Langston, Mitesh Shrestha and Jaylen Taylor — for dragging suitcases full of clothes up a six-floor walk-up, running through the city for a photoshoot on a Friday night, and waking up at 3:30 a.m. to do it all again — and in 30-degree weather, no less. Without you all, this wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you for lending your faces and swag.

Thank you to management for giving us the platform to do this. A special thanks to Managing Editor Alex Chan for keeping us on track and Editor-in-Chief Ashley Wu for inspiring and encouraging us to execute the Factory theme.