A meditation on love and friendship
My cousin got married last weekend, so I made the trek from Boston to Chicago to be present on his special day. The wedding was beautiful and, of course, I cried. I didn’t think I would, but as the music started and my cousin walked down the aisle to await his beloved, like a Pavlovian […]
Remaking Woodstock not such a buzz kill
Once upon a time there was a music festival called Woodstock. 500,000 people came, grooved, and partied in the mud. Many were sick, tired, hungry, and, dare I say it, annoyed at what might have fairly been deemed a disaster. For some the experience was life changing. Elliot Tiber was one of them. “Taking Woodstock,” […]
Let’s get personal (essays, that is)
“Truth is stranger than fiction,” the old saying goes. If you read a lot of tabloids or watch TMZ then you’d probably agree. Even in the literary realm, a striking account of real events can make even the tallest of tales seem rather unextraordinary. What’s more remarkable is if the striking account is told first-hand, […]
A great band arises from the ashes of Strokes-mania
I like deep meaningful music about the alienation of the modern world as much as the next Radiohead fan, but sometimes postmodern angst can’t exactly be described as fun. But that’s certainly not true of French band Phoenix’s fourth and latest album, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” There’s a certain French arrogance in cribbing Mozart for an […]
Aestheticism
Put me out of my insanity. As a victim to my vanity, the convoluting constricts of my mind are plain to see. These suffocating sinews emerge from a noxious venue; ever-present ever-poison in my quaint reality. Let me imitate this poison with almost-unfaulted poise, and I will show you how I counterfeit the images I […]
Life in a broken home
Beit Hanina, Ashkaria village, July 13th 2009, 9.30 am. A woman, wearing a navy blue djelaba, and a purple headscarf, extends her hands to the sky crying “Hasbiallah aleikum, al rahman, al rahim.” Photographers, Palestinian and Western European, tell her to lean this or that way, to speak louder, to look at the sky… She […]
Ask the Queer Resource Center!
Do you have questions about gender, sexuality, diversity, or acceptance? Would you like anonymous advice from friendly peer counselors? Check out the Queer Resource Center, the educational branch of Triskelion, the Brandeis LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual/ally) group. We provide free, confidential peer counseling to people of all identities in Shapiro Campus […]
Court sets date for Rose motion hearing
Almost three months after three Rose Art Museum benefactors filed a lawsuit against the university, lawyers for both sides will finally see the inside of a courtroom at a motion hearing to be held Oct. 13. The motions, one filed by the university to dismiss the suit and the other filed by the plaintiffs for […]
Away on sabbatical: Not your average ‘vacay’
What do an American Studies professor’s interviews with feminist activists have in common with a computer science professor’s Stradivarius-model cello? And what does a Legal Studies professor’s research on Icelandic literature have to do with any of this? On the surface, not much. But none of these things would have come to be if not […]
New program opens Gateway to knowledge
Only two first-year students had initially signed up to be in the talent show. It was the end of the summer and several Brandeis students were gathered with their instructors for an ice cream social, coupled with a talent show. It had been a summer filled with intense academic rigor and cultural enrichment, and this […]
Life after Ben Premo: the men’s soccer team looks forward
It’s not every day that a player comes along who will end up in the record books as one of the all-time leading scorers for your team. It certainly isn’t every rookie who can put up ten goals and four assists in a season. Nor could it be expected that the same rookie would go […]
Golf team in tough spot
The Brandeis men’s golf team has returned this fall thanks to a hard fought battle to stay alive last spring. Coach Bill Shipman has returned for his eighth season as head coach in addition to his role as head coach of both men’s and women’s fencing. Lee Bloom ’10 has taken over the role as […]
Women’s soccer wins season opener
The image gallery for this game can be found here Women’s soccer started off their season with a big win against MIT. Sofia Vallone ’11, scored in the first eight minutes of play for the Judges, assisted by Mimi Theodore ’12, and Brandeis would not fall behind again for the rest of the game. In […]
Nadal changes do… can he seal the deal?
Many people have heard of Rafael Nadal, the Spanish tennis player, if not for his style of play on the courts then for his haircut. The one thing that has kept me from jumping on the Nadal train for all these years was the shoulder length locks that, by the end of every match, looked […]
Volleyball off to a strong start
It seems the successful pre-season training has paid off for the Brandeis women’s volleyball team. The girls won their game Tuesday against Babson 3-0 to start off the season with a win. The set scores were 25-18, 25-22, and 25-14, all in favor of Brandeis. This win was especially significant because it was the 100th […]
Flaming Lips concert extravaganza lives up to stellar reputation in Boston
In spite of its ostentatiously bizarre antics, the Flaming Lips is a band that aims to please. For those of you uninitiated in the cult of the Flaming Lips, the band was started, humbly enough, in 1983 by the Coyne brothers and their friends in Norman, Oklahoma. As evidenced by a wonderful early compilation title, […]
I was Rocky Horror-fied, and lived to tell about it
While standing in line among the slew of fanboys, drama geeks and cross-dressers at the Chelsea Clearview Cinema in New York this past summer, I found myself asking, “What do all of these people have in common?” and moreover, “What the hell am I doing here?” Only one occasion attracts a congregation of weirdness as […]
Hipster-baiting “Summer” soundtrack fails to inspire
“(500) Days of Summer” is a cute movie, but sometimes seems more like a marketing ploy targeted to young twentysomethings with affectations for vintage clothes and the Smiths. The premise of the film, centered around aimless and ambitionless postgraduates, has been around for decades, but it’s been somewhat aggressively commercialized since Zach Braff’s “Garden State,” […]
My big fat “Greek” repeat: ABC show’s season 3 premier fails to please
As the majority of us start off a new school year, ABC Family’s “Greek” starts off its third season right where it left off – and not in a good way. The previous season finale of the show, which centers around members of Greek life at the fictional Cyprus Rhodes University, left off with Rusty, […]
Rediscovering a classic novel
I have had tremendous luck recently with reading good books. As some of you may know, I was abroad last year in England, where coursework is sparse and good weather even sparser. These fabulous conditions were perfect for me to resume my childhood love of reading for pleasure. Now that I have read so many […]
