photo : Jennifer Link
hair : Erin Moser
makeup : Leane Steck
interview : Zach Rose

As an original member of Auxiliary Magazine, Luke Copping’s background in photography, marketing, and popular culture helps Auxiliary achieve the success that it enjoys. Luke’s unique approach to beauty, style, and character photography lends an aesthetic of quirk and dynamism that is entirely his own. An internationally recognized photographer, Luke’s style continues to evolve and his contributions to Auxiliary continue to lend content that is both exciting in nature and provocative in its styling.

What do you do at Auxiliary Magazine?

What don’t I do? As the Associate Editor I work on all aspects of the magazine. On top of writing and photographing several articles each issue, I work on design, marketing, editing, and advertising issues, I also work in article and shoot production, and I work closely with the rest of the editorial staff on the direction of each issue. I also serve as the electronic content editor, managing a lot of the blog content. I’m sort of the jack of all trades, I go where the work needs to be done and tend to fill a lot of different spots on the magazine’s roster, as well as providing content as needed to fill holes in our issue layouts.

As an individual utilizing several different roles with Auxiliary, which do you find to be the most rewarding and why?

Its all good, and all an outlet for what I do. Whether I’m creating imagery or writing for the magazine, or launching a new marketing idea or plan. I think too many artists have a poor concept of business. I like to pride myself on having the skills to do both. You can’t run a successful venture like this without being both creative and business savvy. That’s why I enjoy working with the team here so much, they take it as seriously as I do, and truly want this venture to succeed.

How does Auxiliary Magazine influence local fashion markets? Non-local?

I’m not concerned with us influencing markets as a whole. I think that Auxiliary, at least in terms of my perception, is much more about pushing people to create their own styles, rather than being mere slaves to the fashions we show. I dread us ever becoming a magazine like Gothic Beauty, one which I feel simply regurgitates the latest pseudo alternative trends and uniforms that you see influence the club scene. I think our readers are more intelligent than that, have a wider range of interests and don’t need to be told what to wear, merely shown what is out there so they can make up their own minds. I try to introduce elements of fashion and style from a variety of backgrounds that other magazines either tend to deride or ignore simply because these aesthetics and ideas do not fit into what I feel are the small and narrowly defined categories that it seems these magazines adhere to. High fashion runway shows, vintage and thrift, DIY, street fashion, and elements of the South American, Eastern European, and Asian fashion scenes are all present throughout our editorials and blog entries. I think the most important element in developing an alternative fashion magazine is to absolutely NOT play to the stereotypes. These are bad trends and poorly thought out fashion ideas that propagate within the mob mentality of several alternative countercultures. I have no time for elitist tribes that espouse individuality while only allowing social creativity within a limited scope. We owe our readers more than that.

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photo : Luke Copping
hair : Erin Moser
makeup : Leane Steck
interview : Jennifer Link and Zach Rose

What do you do at Auxiliary Magazine?

I am the fashion editor and one of the fashion stylists.

What overall vision do you aim to uphold when working as a fashion stylist and fashion editor for Auxiliary?

I like keep an attainable style in mind with regards to Auxiliary Magazine. I like to ask the question, ‘Would someone actually wear this and is it something that inspires?’ I like to style the magazine’s fashion as edgy, yet still being relatable in everyday life.

As a women with varied talents and skills, what past experiences do you draw on for your work with Auxiliary?

I have been going to clubs, raves (the 90s!), and art events since the age of 13. I’ve made a lot of bad fashion choices and have the photos to prove it! I like to keep those memories around to see my personal progress of style and influences. I think of it as a ‘look book’ into my own taste and fashion choices that I have today. These style lessons have helped me to see a large range in fashion styling that I infuse into Auxiliary’s voice about fashion, personal taste, and styling. I like to believe that you have to take risks sometimes to see an outcome that may be greater than what you expected.

What are your creative influences?

What doesn’t influence me?! [laughs] I watch a lot of Victorian Era mini dramas, watch a lot of music videos, and I love fashion magazines. I get very inspired by all forms of photography and now that I’ve started painting again, I feel more excited about color! I enjoy the spooky ookiness of the goth aesthetic yet, infuse it the with by-gone eras of the 40s and 50s.

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photo : Luke Copping
interview : Zach Rose

What do you do at Auxiliary Magazine?

I am a fashion stylist, working mainly in editorial.

What are some of the challenges facing a fashion consultant/stylist such as yourself?

The challenges of being a stylist are having to plan on never having enough of anything: time, people, clothes, whatever it may be. You absolutely have to be prepared to improvise, and always over prepare because once you are on set you have what you have. By the same token, improvising can be the best part. Some of the coolest stuff happens when things don’t go according to plan. You have to trust in your vision, just like any other art form.

Do you think style reflects one’s inner individuality? Or is it merely a means of following a trend?

I believe personal style is a reflection of the individual by its very nature. Not everyone is entirely confident in who he or she is or who he or she wishes to be, or in the expression of that. Therefore, some like to play it very safe outwardly and don’t like to be as creative as others in their dress. I think that fashion has become a part of society where, if you choose to participate, it will embrace you. For some, following trends is a way to feel like a part of the accessible cultural evolution in fashion, which can be easily made personal as well. Whatever it is you need to do or feel to participate in the expression of yourself, fashion offers it. Whether it is your own creativity or a reflection of another influence, it is a personal choice as to how deeply you would like to immerse yourself in it. Fashion is a decision about the kind of person you want to show the world, whether that comes from within or without is up to the individual.

Describe a bit of your background and how it has led you to where you are today?

I have a background in marketing and creative media production that I was specifically applying to the music industry for quite some time in both Atlanta, and New York City. I took a turn toward fashion as a result of my dissatisfaction with several corporate American structures that I kept running into. I specifically fell into working with a vintage designer showroom during my time living in Williamsburg. This was a turning point in my life.

I find it important to live with sensitivity in understanding where people are coming from and what they are trying to express. I find this mentality important to styling, as it is all about creating a vision for everyone involved, expressing an effective story, and being able to step outside of yourself and personal opinions to do so. My favorite part of creating visual solutions is telling a story or concept through the participation in collective creative endeavors. When you get a group of highly intelligent and creative people together creating a mind-full concept visually, it is highly rewarding

What is your opinion on the state of subculture and more specifically, how does Auxiliary cater to the demands of the alternative?

I think that subculture is a beautiful thing. It allows people to pull from one or many areas in order to find inspirations based on small groups of people brought together by similar mentalities and taste in music, art, and lifestyle decisions. I do not believe that any one subculture is completely pure and free of influence any more, in that we have become so infused with image and media references that everyone seems to be drawing from each others subcultures. Sub or counter cultures that may still truly exist purely are those that have still yet to make it into the mainstream influence. Auxiliary is important to the fashion scene in that it offers the opportunity of creating alternative high-fashion inspirations that are also accessible. When we commercialize these subcultures the mainstream becomes comfortable with them, and therefore are aware of how to apply them to day-to-day life.

What does creativity mean to you and why is it important?

Creativity is an ability to think and feel openly. You either have it or you don’t, but that’s a choice we make every day. We choose in every moment how we are looking at, interacting with, and giving back to the world around us.

photo and interview : Luke Copping

Zach Rose is one of the newest additions to the Auxiliary Magazine team. Zach is the lead copy editor for Auxiliary and balances that out by providing photographic and written content to the magazine. Zach is an emerging photographer who is starting to make waves both with his photography as well as his writing.

What do you do at Auxiliary Magazine?

Zach Rose : I do umbriel finite, I do writing, but I primarily do copy editing, copy editing, and more copy editing. I’m one of the last people that looks over writer submissions and checks them for your mistakes, your grammar, and any other weird stuff you may do (yes you).

Do you think that the written word is just as important as an image?

ZR : Both are equally as important and usually outlive the producer. Some people get killed for what they say, or write (or blog these days). While an image can speak a thousand words a word can have a thousand-fold impact with the result dependant on the context of the situation (such as political).

What is your opinion on the state of fetish fashion and how it is intertwining with mainstream fashion?

ZR : I think there has always been some level of fetish in mainstream fashion. But fetish is an ambiguous term in my opinion and can apply to anything that flaunts the body in a unique and provocative way. To me fetish wear is not so much about how good it looks as how quickly it can be removed.

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photo and interview : Luke Copping

Adam Rosina is a blogger and film critic for Auxiliary Magazine. Quickly gaining a reputation as Western New York’s most misanthropic and angry film critic, Rosina joined the team at Auxiliary just a short while ago and has already made quite a name for himself by calling out Tim Burton as a prostitute for his role in Alice, postulating on his own strange obsession with Paul Verhoeven films, and espousing his fandom of Dennis Hopper. Adam is a critic in the old-school, purist sense of the word. Able to dissect a film without concern for studio opinion, manners, or preconceived opinions held by rabid fans or other condescending critics.

What do you do at Auxiliary?

Write film reviews, and write a blog on cult movies, “Unaussprechlichen Kulten”, for Auxiliary’s website. That’s right, nerds, it’s a Lovecraft reference. Drink it in. Now go get some fresh air.

How did you join the magazine?

Luke Copping saw that his friend, who happened to be an out-of-work writer, was in need of a way to vent his near-Busey levels of psychotic rage. Torching hobos with a gas can being socially unacceptable, he went against all logic and gave a writing gig to a guy that shouldn’t be allowed to speak in polite company, let alone given a forum where his insane rants would be published… and read… by people. Hooray for bad ideas!

Who are your favorite directors?

Too numerous to mention, but a rundown of the top ten (in no particular order) goes something like: Shinya Tsukamoto, Paul Verhoeven, Hayao Miyazaki, David Cronenberg, John Waters, John Carpenter, Robert Rodriguez, Takeshi Miike, Ralph Bakshi, Martin Scorsese.

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by Grant Wigmore, B.S. in Urban and Regional Analysis and Planning

In most North American metropolitan areas city living is unfortunately no longer as commonplace as suburban living.  The obvious exceptions to this being New York City, Chicago, and Toronto.  In the decades following WWII, the shift from the urban core to the suburbs and now exurbs has increased dramatically.  People fled the inner city for new single family homes and a plot of land to call their own.  They left due to congestion, pollution, poverty and perceived high crime.  Soon, retail and other employers followed the people causing the core of many urban areas to become a shell of their former selves.

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by Aimee Porter (Petite Furie QCRG #26)

When you think of little girls do you still imagine sugar and spice and everything nice?  Do you imagine Barbie dolls and dreams of wedding days and baby names?  Do you imagine fashionistas with pointy shoes, little purses, well stocked kitchens and an innate aversion to dirt, mud, and sweat?

What about striped knee socks, short pleated skirts, a fitted girly tee, a helmet, and a mouthguard?  Does that throw you off?  Not if you are a roller girl.  More than 15,000 women in this country already are.

Roller derby started in the 1920s with skating marathons.  The best parts were when skaters bumped into each other, taking each other down.  The premise of roller derby exacerbates just that.  It is a race, offense, defense, strategy, it is both physically demanding and exhilarating.

The allure of roller derby is rapidly expanding.  Even Hollywood has taken notice with a movie called Whip It in the works and multiple video games being created.  At matches fans pile into local roller rinks to see something reminiscent of the 70s.  However, this game is not fixed; it is not like “wrestling”.  It is not theatrical, it is real and the hits are real.  These women pour their hearts into this game.  These athletes train in 3-4 intense practices each week.  Skating skills assessments must be passed and rules tests must be passed.  Many players work out on top of these practices.  They make many changes to their lives in order to take their game to the next level.  To them, roller derby is more than just a little hobby.

Thousands of DIY leagues are springing up all over the country.  The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (or WFTDA) governs much of these leagues. They provide guidelines to skaters and leagues that make the game today a legitimate, consistent sport.  These leagues are skater owned and skater operated.  Players volunteer their time, bodies, and money, all for the love of the sport.  They buy their own equipment, uniforms, and skates.  They are the treasurers, marketers, committee heads, the bout production, and the entertainment.

In many articles and online blogs written about roller derby, I have witnessed a lot of stigmas coming back on these women.  Among the many stereotypes against derby girls are “the sport is fake”, “the games are fixed”, “all the girls are lesbians”, “all the girls are fat, ugly man-haters”,  “all the girls are tattooed freaks”, “all the girls are trying to be boys”, and other such nonsense.

Well, I am a roller girl and I am none of those things.  I train hard to own my skates.  I work hard to have agility and endurance.  I even have a personal trainer.  I am not afraid to fall; I have had many bruises, a severely sprained ankle, and more to show for it.  I have a job; a career, actually.  I have a dog and turtles and lizards.  I pay my own bills and clean my apartment and cook dinners.  I like to bake; I make a mean pumpkin pie from real pumpkins.  I am madly in love with a smart, good-looking boy and no, there are no kinky dominant/submissive issues there.  I have one tattoo that has nothing to do with roller derby and I am not ugly, thanks.  I am actually quite fit and attractive, if you must know.   And, I love roller derby.

Aside from pure ignorance, these stereotypes spark a great deal of debate.  We roller girls are indeed many things.  We are teachers, corporate zombies, artists, hairdressers, lawyers, writers, computer geeks, social workers, bankers, mothers, sisters, and daughters.  Some of us prefer the ladies.  Some of us are regular vanilla chicks.  Some of us are married.  Some of us have tattoos.  Some of us even model… so you can throw that ugly comment right out the window!

Any league of 80+ women is bound to have a lot of variety.  You can find that in a grocery store, on a college campus, even at the mall.  What unites us all is a passion for a largely misunderstood sport known for its violence and speed.  Roller derby is the only all female full contact sport.

I suppose some men and even other women would have a problem with any woman breaking out from a traditional gender role.  Since when was it cool for a girl to have stinky, sweaty wrist guards?  Since when were bruises badges of honor for women?  Since when was it a matter of pride to launch someone into the third row?

Is the ultimate legitimacy of roller derby as a sport questioned because women are perpetrating the offense of breaking the mold from traditional masculine/feminine roles?  We have been spoon fed stereotypes for generations.  Boys were encouraged to climb trees, ride mountain bikes, play hockey, and dig in mud.  Boys are supposed to play sports.  It is more socially accepted for boys to take risks and be bolder, all with a “boys will be boys” shrug.  Girls aren’t supposed to take chances or risks, especially physically.  Girls were always told to “be careful”, “watch out”, “don’t do that”, “be afraid of the dark”, be a cheerleader on the sidelines, encouraging the men.  The gender intolerance happens on both sides of the coin as well.  How many “effeminate” males are persecuted, harassed, or picked on?

There have been many occasions, especially in modern history, when women have been able to overcome certain gender limitations.  Think of Rosie the Riveter, Women’s Suffrage, and the rise of women’s role in the workplace and their fight for salary equality.  We can be doctors, lawyers, executives, professors, police officers, and soldiers and do it as well, if not better, than men.  So why can’t we play a sport and do that well?

Come to a bout and see what these women are all about.  Expect to see some fast skating and some hard hits.  Expect it to be real.  Expect it to hurt.  Expect to see one of the most exciting games you have ever seen.  Roller derby: played by women with a little attitude and a lot of guts.

from the February Issue of Auxiliary Magazine

Welcome to the second issue of Auxiliary Magazine!  We’ve made it past the one-hit-wonder stage.  When we first started out on this issue our idea was to make an issue about beating the winter blahs.  Located in the northeastern US, we get a lot of snow this time of year and the February and March months are a generally a slow, dark, and depressing time.  As we were putting together this issue I began to see that this theme had indeed woven itself into the issue, yet it had also developed into something more.  There are straight forward articles like a guide to throwing your own winter luau; articles and features on Valentine’s day, love, and giving; and a fashion editorial called “Bright” focusing on neon colors.  But I could see there was more to it.  In a time of economic depression in the US a lot of people are feeling frustrated and giving up hope.  Though some are holding on to hope and light. This issue we have an editorial on moving to urban centers and how that can boost economic growth and help build a stronger city through community and culture.  We have a feature on Potential Life Studios, a unique gallery in Rochester that is surviving despite everything.  And perhaps the most insightful were our interviews this issue.  In the Fever Ray interview, Karin sighted the understanding and creativity that comes from family and being a mother.  Dan and Smith of Babyland continually bring up survival and DIY throughout the interview, and pointed out that people are beginning to realize they need to do things in the scene to keep it alive and are starting up all sorts of new projects. So the theme to this issue, “brightness in the dark” seemed to take on a life of its own and surface in more ways than we had planned.  In addition, you will also find a new photographer for one of our editorials, Studio X, and a much expanded music section.  We hope that you are finding a way to keep positive and get through the dark months.  Hopefully Auxiliary can aid you in this task.  Enjoy, and as always, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Link

from the February Issue of Auxiliary Magazine

Welcome to the first issue of Auxiliary Magazine!  Auxiliary Magazine is a magazine dedicated to alternative fashion, music, and lifestyle.  But you can read more about the idea behind our magazine in the mission statement.  In this issue we focused on winter and the upcoming holidays.  You’ll find two photo editorials on women’s winter fashions and beauty for parties and the holidays.  As we started to work on these editorials a few months back, Meagan Breen (our fashion editor) and I were very into lace and textures and dark romantic colors, popular in high fashion trends, and we saw them as fitting for the winter months and holiday social gatherings.  We sought out alternative fashion designers that fit what we were into, and in alternative fashion this seemed to translate into a dark and elegant sort of goth style.  From there this focus on the goth aesthetic seemed to explode.  With an article on decorating for the holiday season and one titled “my life as a goth girl” it was clear what direction this issue had taken.  But perhaps it is more than just us who is currently focused on this style.  When examining current trends in alternative fashion, our contributor Sally Reardon came to focus on three styles that look for inspiration in the past, something the goth style does in drawing from Victorian fashions.  And perhaps the fashion industry as a whole is looking toward this aesthetic, this seems to be a safe assumption, with proof like FIT putting together an exhibit titled “Gothic: Dark Glamour”.  So perhaps this was our focus for this issue, but alternative fashion does not stop there!  We have high hopes to cover a lot of different styles in this magazine.  So check back next issue to see what our new obsession is.  Thank you for reading our first issue, and we hope you enjoy.  I would also like to thank everyone who contributed to this issue and made it possible.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Link

by W Edward Cook

When I was asked to write this article, I was a bit embarrassed. I tend to get worked up about a topic, rant my brains off about it, and then put it out of my mind for a good long while. The topic of self versus community was a hot button of mine during the last summer, but it had seen its rant and I’d then been distracted from it.

However, after thinking about it for a little while, that’s not really true. In fact over the last few months this one idea had spread in so many different directions that I mistook it for a whole new forest of issues.

Self versus community is a very tricky subject to tackle, because it can be looked at in so many different ways. It can be a kaleidoscope of ethics, economics, and culture. Right now the world that we live in is at a loss as to how to deal with the simple question: what am I entitled to as a human being?

The most obvious interpretation of that question would be viewed as a subject of human rights, the basic dignity that should be allowed to all people – a guarantee of the necessities of survival. There is an obvious lack of this internationally and even intranationally if we have the stomach to look.

A more subtle approach to what the human being is entitled to, or what we as a species needs in order to truly be free, extends beyond the necessities of survival. There are greater necessities we need to live rather than just survive. Life to me has always been a matter of freedom. In fact as a twenty something, nearly all of my efforts since graduating high school have been spent in an effort to attain economic freedom to some degree. Economic freedom to me has been a matter of increasing my income to a point where I can spend money on things other than the necessities of survival. To be free to choose where to spend my money, and to have the power to get the things I desire.

During years I’ve spent in higher education and working in a variety of jobs, I’ve begun to notice that there seems to be a very disturbing trend. This trend being that our society does not stop at merely taking years of our lives in academia, climbing a corporate ladder, or braving the unstable entrepreneurial seas, it also takes more than its fair portion from our personal time. This may not sound like something terrible at first, but let us consider that we are human beings first, and employees and students second. We are people, not “associates”, “team members”, or “staff”. We work so that we may take the benefits of contributing our time to a pooled arrangement of resources (which is any business, government, or non-profit) so that we may reap the most possible profit from our labor.

Our economy is such that it is driven to take as much as it possibly can from those who work within it for the sake of making money. In a balanced world, those that work the hardest would reap the most benefit. In this world though, those that work the hardest, generally get paid the least. Those who are higher up the pyramid, those that have the most power, pay themselves the most, and give away only enough to ensure that they get the maximum amount of production out of their workers. If you think this is sounding like a “cogs in the machine” argument, you’re right. If you’re thinking that arguments like this have no place in a post-industrial economy, think again. We may no longer be factory workers, sitting side-by-side with other bits of machinery, cranking out car after car; instead we are software engineers, writing line after line of code. We are marketing representatives selling the latest piece of technological wonderment to client companies. We are program coordinators fretting over our job description.

The difference between industrial factory workers and service-based careers in the information age is that a factory worker leaves the factory, and never has to think about work until they show up the next day. Today, in order to do our job we are forced more and more to continually research on our spare time to do a job that is constantly changing. So often we hear about the rapid pace of the world today, we never pause to consider what this is doing to us, and whether we should allow it to happen.

The individual is having life dictated to them by the community. This is wrong. This should not happen. While it’s true that this is not something new, community has been dictating lifestyle to the individual for millennia, however, never before have we as individuals had such an ability to choose our lives for ourselves. In centuries past, the community made decisions “for the greater good” on the basis that it forced us to do unpleasant things for the sake of survival. Now, however, we know how to do survival. We have enough gadgetry to make sure that all of us (not that we have chosen to act on this ability) have the necessities of life: food, warmth, and shelter. Now we have the ability to live. In the global village, where information cross-pollinates ideas across the globe via the internet, and available to anyone with a computer and modem, the individual has the ability to change the community. The community is something controlled from the top down by those in power. Now, for the first time, the individual, those of us all over the pyramid, can easily communicate and organize. We can decide what the community will be. This isn’t mere democracy (or even the sham of a representative democracy in the U.S.), this is pan-consciousness. This is something undreamt of by the ancient Greeks. Not only can we all vote our opinion, we decide what the topic of the discussion is, because we have access to all points of view.

Once, the individual needed the community to survive. Now the individual is in a community so huge that there is no community. Only individuals. It’s about time the individual remembered what it meant to have a choice in life. Not the tawdry black and white, silver-screen choice made popular with The Matrix, or the choice of what pre-set lifestyle one wants in Office Space, and certainly not the ridiculously violent choice of what we want to destroy to make our voice heard in Fight Club. We can grow up and change the world by insisting on living life as we want to. Subscribe to an ideal of your choosing, and make sure it’s yours. Community like life is now what we make of it.