Why ‘The Queen Is Dead’ is still fantastic
This time of year is all about listening to melancholic music by terrible people, or at least that’s what I do every fall. In revisiting some of my favorite mournful musicians, I was once again enthralled by the album “The Queen Is Dead” by The Smiths. I love The Smiths. “The Queen Is Dead” was […]
Reflections on the 2025 elections
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, multiple major elections were held in several different states across the country. In Virginia, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger defeated Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears to become the state’s first female governor. Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated businessman Jack Ciattarelli to become the next governor of New Jersey. In a race many people were […]
Lacrosse is coming to Brandeis and other sports updates
Brandeis will be introducing a new varsity sport to the roster for the first time in more than forty years. Soon, Brandeis women will be able to compete on the new lacrosse team. The addition will be the 20th varsity sports team and the 11th women’s team offered by Brandeis. Along with the announcement of […]
Clubbing Too Hard? Student Organizations and the Money That (Isn’t) Funding Them
Extracurricular clubs are a core part of the college experience, and Brandeis has no shortage of them. The official list online touts over 200 unique student-run organizations covering just about every subject an undergraduate could hope for. Running a club isn’t cheap, though, and it seems that yearly budgets just keep going down. Student leaders […]
I Hate Thanksgiving: A Series of Haikus
I Hate Thanksgiving The Turkey is always dry What is in stuffing? I Hate Thanksgiving The Pilgrims are repugnant Let’s do better, please I Hate Thanksgiving The Macy’s Parade is fine Get better guest stars I Hate Thanksgiving I already don’t like birds Why make them bigger? I Hate Thanksgiving Don’t […]
On the Other Hand: On Ranked Choice Voting
Background: On June 24, 2025, New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani overcame frontrunner former Governor Andrew Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. While Mamdani secured a clear plurality from the outset, New York City’s application of ranked choice voting (RCV), also known as an instant-runoff system, saw vote tabulations […]
An Aperture
There is a bug trapped The window is open Its buggy body is pressed against the screen The window is open I cannot tell you what kind of bug it was, I am not an entomologist, Yet, I can tell you it was dark With wings And panic It feared the window being shut […]
Genuinely, do we have Brandeis Traditions?
On Nov. 3, Jeffrey Shoulson, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, sent out an email to the Brandeis community with the following words: “Consider this your official invitation to propose a new tradition, something we can start this year that will bring people together in a way that’s silly, or, fun, or meaningful, an event that […]
The Primary from Hell: Responding to the 2026 Maine Senate Primary
Since I imagine most of you don’t follow politics as closely as I do, you may not have heard about the primary campaign currently taking place in Maine. Sen. Susan Collins, a so-called moderate who always votes for the Trump agenda–despite publicly expressing concern–was the deciding vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. […]
Hoot Recommends: Study Spots
Welcome back to Hoot Recommends! In this issue, we are going to tell you about the best spots to study on campus! With work ramping up and finals season looming ominously over all of us, we all could use some extra time to study. However, the place where you study matters. Noisy roommates, incessant construction […]
Ragebait: What it is and how to avoid it
In a time not long after dinosaurs went extinct shortly before the innovation of smart fridges, being a provocative jerk on the internet was rightly frowned upon as a negative character trait and nothing more. Beginning at the turn of the decade, it became a career worthy of a six-figure salary; thus was born the […]
Kicked Out of Eurovision: A Reflection
Dutch singer Joost Klein was kicked out of and banned from Eurovision on the day of the 2024 grand final. This decision followed an incident where Klein gestured “threateningly” at a cameraman. Klein had made it clear that he did not want to be filmed at the moment and asked the person to stop filming […]
The Merchant of Venice: Combating Anti-Semitism
Those who know of “The Merchant of Venice,” one of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays, know of the debate around the central themes of the show: Was the intention of the play antisemitic? Hold Thy Peace and director Laurel Kane ’26 give their answer to that question in their reimagining. The original version of the play […]
Everything about ‘Our Town’ is what theater should be
The Brandeis Undergraduate Theater Collective’s recent production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” directed by Hannah “Phoenix” Feldman ’27, details the lives of the Webb and Gibbs families, along with the stories of several other people in Grover’s Corners, NH, in three beautifully done acts. As one of the most famous American plays, “Our Town” is […]