From the Editor's Desk | #14
CONNECT + INSPIRE
CADET is a bi-annual magazine about West Point culture.
Highly independent, quite unofficial, aggressively dedicated.
Based in DC @chrisWpestel @carolinepestel
Things from the Desk of the Editor-in-Chief
SPRING BREAK
RADIO SILENCE so, last week we took a trip across the pond to check out Italy. We spent a wonderful time celebrating our anniversary of marriage and ate a lot of cacio de pepe. So that’s what we were up to and why there was no “THINGS FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF” last week. But lets now talk about what you all were up to - while we were gone we missed out on a few big-time USMA happenings: Sandhurst, Army Baseball took a star from Navy in Annapolis, Men’s Lacrosse also brought home a star during the 100th Lax match-up between Army and Navy. The Men’s gymnastics team headed to nationals for the first time since 2015 and plebe Matthew Davis shined bright by advancing to the all-around finals. Army Football held its annual spring game and even Tiger Woods and Game of Thrones made comebacks. And Women’s Lacrosse qualified, for the first time ever, for the conference tournament.
FOR EVERY HEART IN GRAY
NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK (PLAIN) a new statue is coming! It’ll be unveiled Thursday, April 25, 2019. I know its quite myopic but the statues seem so timeless that its hard to imagine any of them ever being new. But this one sure is and you can check out all kinds of behind the scenes images and videos and details on the sculptor, Paula B. Slater’s website and youtube channel. I am convinced that the eyes on this Grant statue are real. They are incredible.
SCHOLARSHIPS I really loved this Instagram post from Army Wrestling coach Kevin Ward about another post from USMA Dean Cindy Jebb. The coaches encounter so many preconceived notions about West Point. Its so great when the leadership shares these concrete examples of what the experience truly offers.
CADET VOL III - INDEPENDENTS
ITS IN YOUR HANDS NOW well, the first batch of VOL III has hit your mailboxes. You have them in your hands. We’ve seen the pictures to prove it. We are ecstatic. Mission accomplished. But if you are one of those without a copy of VOL III in your hands, head on over to our shop and snag one for yourself or your Mother for Mother’s Day. Indie Mags are very fashionable and Mom’s around the country approve of CADET VOL III. Plus her coffee table will look awesome.
RADIO GA GA
THE VOYAGER GOLDEN RECORD somewhere hurtling through space, billions of miles away are two hunks of metal. They were launched in 1977. They each contained a golden record with information about the earth and the human race. Please, if you click on anything in this blog post, make it this video and then listen to this podcast from Twenty Thousand Hertz. The Voyager Golden Record is like the worlds most advanced puzzle/escape room/National Treasure movie. Can you imagine if some other civilization sent one of these into space and we found it and had to decode it? Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Its amazing. Please, check it out.
FOR YOUR EYEBALLS
SAMMI PRICE’S PORTRAIT A DAY PROJECT CHECK-IN each and every day we nudge closer to graduation for the class of 2019. If you are following Firstie Sammi Price’s portrait project, good for you. If not, go do that now. Its a wonderful snapshot of the class of 2019. #95daysof2019
THE DESIGN OF LIFE
MR. MASLOW if you combine this School of Life video on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with the two podcasts below from Hidden Brain you’ll notice that I was heavily drawn/exposed to classification systems this week. Maybe it means something, maybe not. Time (or a personality test) will tell. There’s a lot to reflect on from this video. For instance, how’s your pyramid constructed?
THE DESIGN OF THINGS
SANDHURST LOGO a few weeks back the USMA Sandhurst Black and Gold team’s instagram account changed their profile photo to a striking new Identity Mark. Here’s the backstory that shows the care and detail that went into creating it.
ONE MARVELOUS SCENE this week the Marvel Cinematic Universe will unveil its coup de gras Avengers: Endgame. This ten year cinematic journey has been a remarkable feat. The interconnectedness is very appealing to me and I am very much looking forward to seeing everything unfold on the big screen as soon as possible. A bunch of YouTube Channels collaborated to direct elements from the past 10 years of Marvel films. I like collaborations. Segue, please…
WEST POINT 100: CREATORS
ASFORFOOTBALL + EMBLEM ATHLETICS (MIKE NEMETH) we love a good team-up, a good collaboration. And we were super excited to see two people we have collaborated with team-up, once again. The guys from AsForFootball and the mastermind behind Academy Casual, The Center Stall and Emblem Athletics are teaming-up to continue to produce top-notch West Point content and products and analysis. We can not wait to see what they put together in the coming months.
COFFEE ON CANVAS we sent off a print to Jon Norquist USMA 2004 (from Coffee on Canvas) right before we embarked on our Italian vacation. Take a look at it here. We love it. He' loves it. We love that he loves it. Have you check out his work? No, well do that now right here.
PODCAST FROM THIS WEEK
HIDDEN BRAIN so, as mentioned above. Classification systems are weird, but helpful or are they. I don’t have an answer and neither does the Podcast Hidden Brain, but they take you on a wonderful exploration of the concepts of Tribes and houses and personality test as well as dive deep into the positives and negatives of comparing oneself to others in two engaging episodes: The Sorting Hat & Why No One Feels Rich.
SOCIAL MEDIA
MORE LINE ART if you haven’t checked out our new Instagram project @CADETborrowed do that right this instant. We post acceptable renderings of USMA stuff. It’s fun. We think you’ll enjoy it. Take a look. Submit a photo to be rendered. Did I say it’s fun?