Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless’ Return

You’re dancing in your room to the newly released Taylor Swift track, “You Belong With Me.” Plot twist: it’s 2021. This past week, Taylor released a brand new version of “Fearless,” this time called “Fearless (Taylor’s Version).” This four-time Grammy winning album was already incredible, but Taylor’s stronger vocals make it even better than before. […]

I did not lose my cool over ‘Zero Chill’

“Zero Chill” on Netflix is cheesy, poorly made and wildly over dramatic—so obviously I watched it all in one day. The show follows a pair of twins, a figure skater and a hockey player, who move from Canada to England. However, in true Netflix fashion, the show creates intricate plot lines for basically every character […]

Camille Eskell’s beautiful Jewish art

Camille Eskell has always been surrounded by Fez caps. She spoke on this topic, as well as many others related to her art, in a virtual talk on Thursday, April 1. At the event, she was interviewed by Dr. Sivan Rajuan Shtang, a Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Research Associate, for about half an hour, before the […]

The success of Brandeis’ first Passover

Crazy to think that even over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still new firsts to be had. But here we are, celebrating Passover on the Brandeis campus for (what I believe is) the very first time in Brandeis history. Despite the novelty and COVID-19 restrictions, Passover was a smashing success, executed almost […]

Gillian Anderson awkwardly discussed the highs of her career

In a wide-ranging and at times stilted conversation, actress Gillian Anderson discussed her past, present and upcoming roles with Alice Kelikian (FILM/HIST/ITAL), the chair of the Film, Television and Interactive Media Program. Anderson discussed the various high points of her career throughout the talk.  Anderson met with Kelikian virtually on Friday, March 5 for a […]

My hopes were melted

As things often seem to go at Brandeis, the ice rink was a great idea that was terribly executed. I was so excited when I first heard the ice rink, affectionately known as the BrandICE Rink, was being built. Though I can barely stand on the ice without falling over, I’ve always loved ice skating—the […]

TikTok cooks up something special with the ‘ratatousical’

The year 2020 was full of creative ways to showcase art, but 2021 might’ve started with the most innovative yet: a virtual musical plucked straight from the trending pages of social media. “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical,” aka the “ratatousical,” is a wholesome virtual joy that turned the beloved Pixar movie about a rat named Remy […]

‘evermore’ is a gold-infused dream

Though other artists could drop two back-to-back surprise albums during a pandemic, only Taylor Swift could produce the two strongest albums of her career. Taylor welcomed December with “evermore,” the “sister album” to her summer release “folklore.” “evermore” continues the indie-folk sound that Taylor introduced in her previous surprise album. With the soothing guitar of […]

‘Supernatural’ ends long run with wacky finale

“Supernatural” ran for 15 years, devouring days of our lives and taking years off of it. For a decade and a half, Jared Paledecki and Jensen Ackles have played the iconic brother duo Sam and Dean Winchester. Both of us binged an unholy amount of the show in recent weeks, frantically trying to catch up […]

Stop telling Southerners they deserve to die

Liberals and leftists are too quick to dismiss the South—to write it off as a hopeless wasteland. Northeasterners love to joke that the South should just secede again, or even worse, suggest that they deserve their high COVID-19 rates or any other form of consequence because of their political leadership. These attitudes are cruel and […]

Brandeis administration discusses spring semester at community check-in

Brandeis administrators responded to questions about the upcoming spring semester, coronavirus-related restrictions and Brandeis’s financial health in a community check-in on Monday night. Students should not expect restrictions to be loosened on the Brandeis campus, said President Ron Liebowitz, and the university is working to follow state guidelines on the pandemic.  On the panel answering […]

Claudia Fox Tree: a powerful educator

Claudia Fox Tree (Arawak/Yurumein) spoke at Brandeis last week for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, but she has made activism, awareness and education a big part of her life. Fox Tree recognizes the impact of stereotypes and has made an effort to educate others on this topic. “Stereotypes have been an issue for me since I was […]

Claudia Fox Tree discusses the impact of negative stereotypes

Harmful stereotypes against Indigenous people go back centuries, and it is important to unlearn these stereotypes, according to Claudia Fox Tree in her virtual talk on Oct. 12, the first of many Indigenous Peoples’ Day events at Brandeis. Fox Tree explained that the colonizers did not see Indigneous people as fully human. Indigenous people were […]

“Recommended For You” is a staff pick

Fall has come and that means that it is officially Jewish holiday season! To put myself in the spirit, I decided to read “Recommended For You” by Laura Silverman, a short young adult contemporary about two co-workers in a bookshop. As expected, it was an easy read full of proud Jewish overachievers. What I was […]

The sweetest way to be charitable

Giving back to the Brandeis community just got a whole lot sweeter! Lydia Begag ’22 has created an easy and delicious way to help out fellow Brandeisians with her new baking business that delivers. Found at @thatbitchbaking on Instagram, Begag is raising money for the Brandeis Mutual Aid Fund by donating 50 percent of proceeds […]

‘Julie and the Phantoms’ stands tall

“Julie and the Phantoms” is the feel-good musical series that 2020 needed. The goofy writing and the light-hearted plot is enough to make it good, but the soundtrack is what takes this series to the next level. Each episode has incredible numbers, and the musicians cast are incredibly talented. Pair it with Kenny Ortega’s directing […]

Grace Talusan to be featured in Boston Book Festival

Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence Grace Talusan has achieved extreme success this fall. Her short story “The Book of Life and Death” was chosen for the “One City One Story (1C1S)” Boston Book Festival program, and her most recent memoir “The Body Papers” has just won the Massachusetts State Book Award in nonfiction. “The Book of Life […]

Instagram account shares ‘unheard stories’ from Brandeis community members, university releases statement about anonymous forums

The Unheard Stories at Brandeis Instagram page (@unheard_stories_deis), an account that shares anonymous stories of community members’ experiences on campus, according to an Instagram story highlight, has garnered nearly twenty thousand followers and has posted over two hundred posts about misconduct on campus since its creation on June 27.  According to the page’s Instagram story […]

Read ‘Today Tonight Tomorrow’ today, tonight and tomorrow

Rachel Lynn Solomon has once again proven that the best books are a blend of too good to be true and heartbreakingly real. With her third novel, “Today Tonight Tomorrow,” Solomon said that she wanted to write a lighter novel, and, for the most part, she did. “Today Tonight Tomorrow” is filled with antics, mishaps […]