Which Euphoria Actress Connects to FormerTeen in 6 Degrees or Less?
It’s crazy how life connects the dots in the most random ways. My journey to FormerTeen has been filled with criss crosses and happy coincidences. In fact, just today, I discovered a way in which this very magazine can be traced back to one of HBO Euphoria’s powerhouse performers in 6 degrees or less.
Allow me to demonstrate…
Degree #1: FormerTeen Magazine
If you’ve read this month’s Editor’s Letter, you know that FormerTeen Magazine was born out of a desire to travel back to a time when I could sprawl across my teenage bed and flip through my collection of 90’s magazines without a care in the world.
This random fit of nostalgia all started with…
Degree #2: The Total Betty Goddess Deck
In February 2020, just weeks before lockdown became a way of life, I started the process of creating a 90’s themed oracle deck that would eventually become the Total Betty Goddess Deck. The idea for creating a modern, punk rock take on traditional goddess oracles had been living in my head for awhile, but I hadn’t yet acquired the confidence in my artistic skills to create it. That is, until I bought a cheap stylus off of Amazon and started playing around with little designs in Pocket Procreate (yep, the first cards were drawn on the painstakingly tiny screen of my iPhone 8). The more I drew, the closer I felt to my vision becoming a reality until finally, the Total Betty Goddess Deck was born.
But before that happened, I needed to gather inspiration…
Degree #3: A Killer 90’s Magazine Obsession
Because 90’s pop culture was a huge part of my research for the Total Betty Goddess Deck, I found myself mentally traveling back to that time in my life. I began to remember how my obsession with magazines in the 90’s and early aughts was extreme to say the least. In fact, in 2009, when I moved from central Indiana to Chicago, I transported a near mint magazine collection dating back to as early as 1996 in a 100+ quart hard plastic storage bin. This thing was easily one of the two heaviest items on the moving truck…and that’s including furniture. Unfortunately, a year later I moved again and resigned myself to the fact that I couldn’t keep carrying this heavy load so I tossed it.
Cut to mid-2020 when I would give anything (short of an $80 eBay asking price) to have at least 2-3 of those old teen favorites back. So, to pacify my craving, I set about in search of the best modern day equivalent to a 90’s teen periodical.
I ended up settling on two options…
Degree #4: BUST Magazine
Because I actually read BUST in the 90’s (usually standing up in the Barnes and Nobles aisle trying to decide if I could afford to buy it), it totally fit the bill for my craving re: nostalgic feels. Plus, to their credit, the style and tone of BUST still feels a bit like a 90’s riot girl mag even today.
So, in the name of research, I treated myself to a BUST subscription just like my parent’s treated 10-year old Michelle to her very first subscription to Seventeen.
In a cool and amusing twist of fate, BUST eventually became the first publication to do a write up on the Total Betty Goddess Deck almost a year and a half later.
Which brings me to my second 90’s pacifier…
Degree #5: Rookie Mag
In a way, it feels strange to say that I turned to a website run by someone who was barely out of diapers during the 90’s for inspiration on the era, but then again, it doesn’t. In case you aren’t familiar, Rookie Mag is an online magazine that established itself from 2011-2018 as what is essentially the second coming of Sassy Magazine. And since Sassy was on my list of “nostalgic magazines I can’t afford to repurchase on eBay,” I figured Rookie Mag would be a nice substitute.
Little did I know that diving into Tavi Gevenson’s playground would eventually inspire the structure and format of my own online magazine. I found that Rookie had so much content that I could spend hours reading and still barely make a dent in all they had to offer. Even now, when I feel like I need to take a break from my own magazine production, I’ll head over to Rookie to give my mind a breather.
Which brings us to tonight when I was doing just that and noticed a byline for…
Degree #6: Hunter Schafer of Euphoria!
“Surely this can’t be THE Hunter Schafer,” I thought, “it’s got to just be someone with a similar name.”
To check, I clicked the author’s link and found a few musings on trans youth rights, bold fashion choices, and relationships. Hmmm…
So I kept clicking and eventually stumbled upon:
Yep! That’s Hunter Schafer at around the same age as Jules!
Her art and prose (like most things contributed to Rookie) are quite poetic in that edge of seventeen sort of way, but that’s no surprise since she recently knocked it out of the park helping show creator Sam Levinson write Euphoria Part 2: Jules.
I’ve found little other reference to this cool girl cross over between Hunter and Tavi elsewhere on the internet, but on a recent podcast called Divine Frequency Hunter does mention it was her first ever job.
I can tell you one thing, if Hunter ever wants to come out of magazine contributor retirement to draw a comic for FormerTeen, we’re always looking for submissions.