Arts

Column

Is This Thing On?: The woman behind the curtain

By Nikki Margaretos | November 28

What does it take to make a pop sensation today? It doesn’t hurt to coin an iconic hairstyle, date high profile celebrities, have an Ariana-octave range or score a hit song or two. See, a lot of people can sing — just ask our eight a cappella groups on campus. But the real magic of songwriting doesn’t come as easily. Many of these chart-topping pop stars today receive help in this department, working with a team of creative writers and producers to engineer their perfect, infectious hits. One woman's work has been going viral over the past few years, whether you've known it or not.

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Arts

SMFA supports student and professional artists with annual art sale

By Ellie McIntosh | November 27

Walking through the doors of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts, one felt a strong sense of community during the school's annual art sale, which took place this year from Nov. 16 to 19.The SMFA Art Sale, which began 35 years ago, is the largest contemporary art sale in New ...

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Arts

'Three Billboards' mixes revenge, grief and humor into one

By Setenay Mufti | November 27

Content warning: this article mentions sexual assault.A murderer is on the loose, racial tensions are climbing and the beloved police chief will die from pancreatic cancer within the month. But one thing’s for sure: Mildred Hayes has had enough.Mildred, played by Frances McDormand in her best performance ...

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Column

Thoughts from Places: Jersey City

By Mina Ghobrial | November 27

Tufts has become a de facto home for more than a thousand fresh faces over the past few months. Despite the occasional, instantaneous zeal to remain a renegade while on campus, every so often it is time to pay a visit to family. This break was the perfect opportunity to take an eight-hour journey (which ...

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Arts

'The Hungry Woman' cast reflects on goal to captivate, challenge Tufts community

By Issay Matsumoto | November 21

Tufts’ student theatre organization 3Ps presented “The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea”(1995), a play written by queer Chicana playwright Cherríe Moraga, from Nov. 16 to Nov. 18.Moraga’s play reimagines the ancient Greek myth of Medea and complicates contemporary social issues through a lens ...

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Arts

Tufts Symphony Orchestra puts on a night of 'Fall Romance'

By Ryan Eggers | November 21

It was a crisp fall evening on Thursday, Nov. 16 brought to life the Tufts Symphony Orchestra (TSO) brought it to life with its first performance of the year at the Distler Performance Hall. Entitled “Fall Romance," the group played an array of pieces all tied together within the theme of love. ...

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Columns

Is This Thing On? Selena Gomez has an old flame, new groove

By Nikki Margaretos | November 21

Forget about new Taylor — has anyone been paying attention to new Selena? For a quick recap, in the past year Sel opened up about her lupus diagnosis, received a successful kidney transplant from a friend, broke up with boyfriend The Weeknd and recently is rekindling things with an old flame, none other than Justin Bieber. Phew! Gomez also sat as an executive producer on the Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why” (2017), and has also begun a new chapter in her music career. I’m beginning to feel like a broken record with all these pop artists who have “reinvented” themselves, but it looks like Selena is following suit. 

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Arts

John Mulaney performs ‘Gorgeously’ during four-day residency in Boston

By Lexi Serino | November 20

With six seasons of writing for "Saturday Night Live," one comedy album,two Netflix specials, a Broadway show and a spot as a voice actor on Netflix’s new animated series “Big Mouth” (2017–) all under his belt, stand-up comedian John Mulaney performed a total of seven shows of his ...

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Arts

Despite the Sugar Man, Chapter 19 of 'Riverdale' is more sour than sweet

By Alison Epstein | November 20

Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault.It was going to be hard for this week’s episode of "Riverdale" (2017–) to top last week's action-packed installment. And well, it didn’t. "Chapter 19: Death Proof" felt a little disjointed and seemed once again to serve ...

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Columns

Thoughts from Places: Dewick

By Mina Ghobrial | November 20

The dining halls celebrated Thanksgiving a week before the rest of the country — a welcome surprise on a cold and rainy Thursday night. The hustle and bustle of a crowded cafeteria contrasts sharply with the nearly silent gathering back home. My small family celebration never quite evokes the same ...

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Arts

Campus comedy groups creatively approach Tufts political climate

By Tommy Gillespie | November 17

As Craig Drennan and Jess Silverman, now co-editors-in-chief of Tufts' comedy magazine The Zamboni, watched the election unfold in horror on Nov. 8, 2016, they decided they had to come to terms with what they had just seen in the best way they knew: with their unique brand of absurd comedy.“By ...

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Arts

Guillermo Calderón's 'Kiss' is metatheater for the digital age

By Ruijingya Tang | November 16

How do we know that one's yellow is not another's blue? That two people agree on mangos being yellow may suggest that they speak a shared language that associates the word “yellow” with the object “mango.” However, one may not accordingly assume that these people both see the same color ...

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Arts

Do it this weekend: Nov. 17-19

By Setenay Mufti | November 16

With Thanksgiving and the winter holidays around the corner, we’re all starting to get restless. Until Thanksgiving break comes to the rescue next week, check out these events to tide you over — and keep you warm — this weekend.FRIDAY“Atrium Charity Ball: Shanghai Night”Tufts Chinese Students ...

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Columns

Majors and Minors: 'Friends' to Taiwanese opera with Karen

By Haruka Noishiki | November 16

This is Karen Wu, a first-year from Taiwan who intends to major in international relations. She loves oolong tea, but at Dewick goes for orange jasmine green tea. Karen shared her perspective on the music scene today in Taiwan.Haruka (H): What’s pop music in Taiwan like? What genre, and which ...

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Arts

Ilana Glazer and Phoebe Robinson get personal on their YQY tour

By Libby Langsner | November 15

Comedians Ilana Glazer and Phoebe Robinson took on the Boston leg of their YQY tour on Nov. 11 and 12. YQY, an acronym for "Yaaas Queen Yaaas," originated from an episode of Robinson’s podcast with Jessica Williams, "2 Dope Queens." Glazer is also part of a well-known female ...

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Arts

With 'Lady Bird,' Greta Gerwig soars as a storyteller

By Cassidy Olsen | November 15

Greta Gerwig knows there are no new stories. The actress, writer and now director has made roughly the same movie many times over in her decade-young career, about an educated and white 20-something feeling lost in the world and trying their best to find a way forward. But from starring in 2000s mumblecore ...

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Columns

Citizen Shame: The original 'Troll' (2?)

By Matthew Soderberg | November 15

In one of the most bizarre experiences of my young life, I once ended up at my sister’s ex-boyfriend’s house with a few older kids on a Sunday night and witnessed an abomination of filmmaking: the infamous "Troll 2" (1990).I ate some Doritos and watched as everything I thought a movie ...

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Arts

Taylor Swift embraces her bad ‘Reputation’ on sixth studio album

By Justin Krakoff | November 14

The canon of "good girl gone bad" albums is a very selective one, capturing a female pop star at her most rebellious, rejecting the expectations of the music-consuming public. The pinnacle of this art form came in 2007 with the release of Britney Spears’ “Blackout,” a dark, hedonistic ...

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Columns

Is This Thing On? Musical landscape in motion

By Nikki Margaretos | November 14

Wake up people — the way we listen to music is changing in front of our eyes. From how we listen, to how we share, to even what music we are exposed to, it’s no secret that behind the scenes of this industry lie shifting money and politics. My question is, what are we going to do about it?First, ...

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Arts

'The Good Place' runs with reinvention in season 2

By Kristen Schretter | November 13

It would seem ridiculous to give "The Sixth Sense" (1999) or "The Usual Suspects" (1995) a sequel. How can a story continue after an ending that fundamentally changed the premise of its fictional world? Can characters grow in their new reality without watering down or feeling stuck ...

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