The Bog

  Lauren Visconti has been on staff at LBCC since 2018, and has greatly improved and reimagined the Anthropology Department, as well as the Women’s Studies department in that time. The same can be said about her impact on her students. As if her near perfect 4.7/5 rating on Ratemyproffesors.com wasn’t telling enough, her passion for highlighting intersectionality between cultures, current events, everyday phenomena— and drawing connections between the stories of the past— as well as in our own lives, is sure to be felt by all who are present for her lectures.  From her cross-cultural upbringing, her tendency to people-watch in public, and innate desire to ask unanswerable questions, it was only natural that she would align herself with the study of humans. Q: Have you been to Italy before? Lauren Visconti: Yes, I have family there. My grandma was actually born in Rome, and my grandfather — who passed down the paternal last name — is from Milan. I’m kind of your classic Ital...

This year, Fender revived the widely beloved, sorely missed “Standard” series of electric instruments. From 2018 until now, the line had been redubbed  “The Player Series” in an effort to revitalize the brand’s image. Despite having  long been the titan at the top of the  guitar industry, the company seemingly lost sight of the principles that established its longstanding legacy as a cornerstone of American culture. Upon taking both the new Player II and the Standard Jazz Bass off the rack, one is reminded of the basic principles that have established Fender as the poster child of an entire industry; right down to the craftsmanship put into each instrument on the line. Regardless of where a Fender bass originates – Custom Shop, Fujigen Factory, Ensenada or Indonesia – each carries a badge, and in turn, a promise to measure up to a certain quality. Since 1996 that badge has read “Standard.” Spanning from that point up until 2018, these basses remained tried and true to th...

W e were headed to the Winco grocery store on one of our bi-weekly morning shopping trips. Mom always listened to her iPod in the car. She never hit shuffle, which made the songs she chose to play on our adventures truly special.  As we made our way through the mundane, these songs began to stick to me in different ways. They started out as little earworms, like the piano licks at the end of each verse in “Sweet Home Alabama.”  Somewhere between the age of 4 and 5, The Jackson 5’s classic single “ABC” was an early hyper-fixation of mine. Even the album cover, which really didn’t have much going on visually and by all accounts, is quite boring to look at– kept my attention.  Apart from the deep indigo background, playful choice of font, and even the band as they stood collectively, what truly stood out to me was the undeniable presence of a then-young Michael Jackson. He was the music, in all parts and in essence, and he stood at the forefront of it all.  As the young...