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Isabella Eisenpresser unravels new femme struggles in the age of social media during ‘Threads and Lines’. The Clique gets spanked by their kinkiest poem to date before before bumping heads over the #poetry poem and it’s multiple interpretations during the ‘2 Piece Combo’ poetry review. Isabella ends the show with empowering bars during the ‘5 For Ya Eye’ prompted poem.

[EPISODE INDEX (VIDEO)]

• 00:32 – “Jezabell’s Lament” – Isabella Eisenpresser
• 3:46 – “Threads and Lines”
• 13:19 – 2 Piece Combo | “Ode to the Belt” -Sam Sax
• 24:34 – 2 Piece Combo | @rp.poet
• 29:43- 5 For Your Eye

We have this well of inspiration and empowerment to tap from in the LA poetry scene and showcasing that was my goal with the Pen Clique. I wanted to show the world the dope people I know, and potentially bond and link up with the dope people I want to know more. Isabella was a new friend when she arrived to the Pen Clique shoot. Having met briefly but never really getting a chance to chop it up, this was my chance to dive into what she was doing with poetry and to pry into her personal experience a little bit. I was blown away as she offered us examples of both in her work, by not only spitting bars, but using poetry as a means to educate and inform the world about the struggles femmes experience more and more in the age of social media.

We are all checking our social media constantly, posting (or thinking about posting) or wondering who liked our post, which leaves us increasingly affected by the world we have built inside the internet. To have the opportunity to dive into that subject on Pen Clique was a necessary blessing and revealed parts of that struggle I, as a cis male, would never have thought of otherwise. Isabella gave us an honest look into the insecurities and frustrations she has been left with in the age of a digitally social world — a world almost entirely different for men and women. We discussed how the standards of social media are affecting kids, especially young women and how their self-worth is stifled by what is happening on their IG page. It’s become a world full of kids comparing others’ “highlight reels” to their own personal “behind the scenes” struggles, which have left women feeling like being sexy or body-focused is their only road to success while there is a strikingly contrasting world for men who aren’t aware of how their activity on socials is shaping young people and their mental health. I don’t think we are always aware of how social media is molding our thought process, however, I do think it’s deeper than we realize. Having a talented young womyn use our platforms as a means to educate and express her struggles was one of the points of doing this show also brought us an unexpected moment of clarity for us at Pen Clique as men, and hopefully to our audience at home.