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CJ Stevenson:
Welcome back to the podcast! I’m CJ Stevenson.
Today, we learn the folklore of ASU’s Taylor Swift class.
Also, we hear from a fashion student about what keeps her stitching. This… is State Press Play.
Mica Hermida:
Hey everyone, and welcome to another state press episode. I'm your host, Mica Hermida, and today we're going to talk about a class here at ASU that might surprise you. It's about Taylor Swift, but throughout the lens of public policy, Taylor Swift's music and career are being studied for what they tell us about politics, gender and culture. Our guest is Dr Bentley who teaches the course. Thank you, Dr Bentley, for being here today.
Dr Bentley:
You're welcome. It's great to be here. I'm excited.
Mica Hermida:
So what inspired you to design this class, and why Taylor Swift, specifically?
Dr Bentley:
That's a great question. So I was not the first Taylor Swift class at ASU. There was actually a psychology class that ran in fall of 2023 and that made national headlines. My colleagues and I were talking about that and thinking a lot about, how can we make public policy and government accessible to students? Because a lot of times, people are not excited about topics related to politics or government, and I spend a lot of time in my 102 100 level classes thinking about ways to make government interesting and relevant to students. So we heard about this, and we were just talking about things, and my colleague said to me, not knowing that I was a Taylor Swift Fan, that he asked me, he goes, Do you think we could create a class on Taylor Swift? And I was like, Yeah, we could. The reason why is I read a lot of news, like I said, looking for topics and current events that would be interesting to students. And I ended up needing a palate cleanser, because a lot of the news about government and politics is difficult and challenging and emotionally challenging, though, I will switch to entertainment news. I am often reading about all the different things associated with celebrities, and so it's very common for me to be reading about Congress in one article and then getting the latest updates on what's going on in Taylor Swift's life and another one the topics for me start to blend. And that's kind of what inspired it is. I started to think about all the different ways that the things that she goes through relates to the topics that I teach.
Mica Hermida:
So it was always Taylor Swift on the table?
Dr Bentley:
Taylor Swift was what was on the table. People have tried to bring other folks to the table. Then everybody has suggested a variety of different people. Bad Bunny was someone that people recommended. But I really firmly believe in teaching what you know, and I'm not as in the know about some of these other celebrities in their lives,
To hear more from Dr. Bentley, please tune in to State Press Play.
Joahan Lopez:
We are here with Ayla Hulbert, who is a sophomore at the Fashion Institute of want to finish that for me,
Ayla Hulbert:
Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
Joahan Lopez:
Thank you so much, obviously. So you're from Missouri. How do you end up, you know, deciding to choose this school right here in downtown
Ayla Hulbert:
oh my gosh, a lot of searching and digging, for sure. I looked at so many different fashion programs across the nation, and I wanted something that wasn't necessarily at an art institute or a design institute itself, without being grounded in some sort of larger academic college, just because I did want some more general degrees, especially with my minors, and I stumbled upon Arizona State, and I really liked the atmosphere of the downtown campus when I toured that was a huge thing. I'm also a Barrett student, so that was very appealing for me in terms of a challenge, and having an honors program and giving me a little edge up compared to other people in the industry and a different way of kind of thinking about things. So yeah, that's how we ended up here,
Joahan Lopez:
Yeah, so in that fashion school, so you're only a sophomore, she only been there for a year. Technically, yeah, I know that. What type of classes do they have you, like, start majoring, like it's
Ayla Hulbert:
so your first year is a little bit more general, but it's very interesting, because in terms of other academic colleges and programs, it is more specific and where your industry is going. So you do some general classes in terms of, one's called survey of the fashion industry, and it's kind of a flat baseline, and it's going over different careers that the industry offers different routes that you can take, kind of different perspectives and things to consider. Like, here's the math and science side of things, here's the writing side of things, here's the more creative approach, where it's hands on and physical you do, like jump out of the gate and start studios as soon as possible. So they have sketching studios, like illustration based studios, and they also have sewing studios, pattern making studios. So you're, I mean, you're fully encompassed within the first year, which is really, really cool.
To hear more from Ayla, please tune in to State Press Play.
CJ Stevenson:
And that’s all for this week’s State Press Play. I’m CJ Stevenson
State Press Play is produced by our podcast desk editor, Connor Greenwall, and our vidpod editor Grace Johnson. Our original music is by Ellie Willard and Jake LaRoux.
Special thanks to our managing team, Matthew Marengo and Ava Peguese.
You can check out all these stories and more on statepress.com. See you next time.
