Arts

Arts

Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Illinoise,’ or, how to enamor an entire audience with hymns and ballets, or, the war for morality, state and sanity, or, an ode to the unabashed joy of being alive

By Ethan Essner | March 27

Such a view is the place from where singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens looks out at a world — cold and complex. It’s full of joy, peril and an untellable delicacy. Bordering Lake Michigan is the heartbeat of the Midwest, Illinois, a place of superheroes, zombies and forsaken love stories. In 2005, Stevens peered at the prairies and penned a 22-song mammoth of an album. It’s a collection of tunes that transcend the term ‘album’ as they fashion the experience of an ‘epic.’ The album reads like a grim, romantic and, at points, sardonic comment on the rich culture of Illinois with the ever-so exclamatory title of “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!”

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Columns

Tok the Talk: The case of Kate Middleton

By Annika Pillai | March 26

Kate Middleton, also known as Princess Catherine of Wales, is dead, and Kensington Palace is trying to cover it up. At least, that’s what several royal conspiracy theorists proposed in the weeks after her public “disappearance.” When a photo released by Kensington Palace of the princess with her three children showed signs of being touched up, the public was sent into a frenzy. Either she was missing, dying or already dead. One X user wrote, “KATE MIDDLETON IS PROBABLY DEAD,” and followed it up with skull face emojis and crying faces. Aptly put by The Atlantic’s Helen Lewis, “The situation quickly turned into a ‘QAnon for wine moms.’”

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Arts

WEEKENDER: SpeakEasy Stage’s ‘Cost of Living’ embraces vulnerability and disability

By Elizabeth Foster | March 14

Running March 8–30, SpeakEasy Stage Company brings Martyna Majok’s “Cost of Living” to Boston audiences. Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Martyna Majok’s play speaks to the fragility of life by interweaving the lives of four individuals, each one hardship — emotional, financial or physical — away from ruin.

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Columns

For the Culture: ​​Hip-hop has no more superstars

By Paul Osmond | March 14

So, maybe hip-hop is dying? Currently, out of the four major streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music, Apple Music is the only platform with hip-hop/rap as the top genre. On the remaining three platforms, coinciding with the leading global music genres, pop music is the No. 1 genre. 

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Columns

The Bookmark: ‘Family of Liars’ by E. Lockhart

By Natalie Bricker | March 14

E. Lockhart’s “We Were Liars” holds a special place in my heart. I’m in awe of the way Lockhart pushes the bounds of typical fiction writing. She mixes in unique line breaks so that her book sometimes reads like a poem. She also creates incredible metaphors, like the witch in the first novel, that are so vivid, they have stuck with me to this day. I haven’t reread the book in over two years and I still think about it all the time.

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Arts

Emotions run high in ‘Deep River’

By Claire Wood | March 13

Alonzo King LINES Ballet performed “Deep River” on March 8 and 9 at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre. “Deep River” was created during the pandemic by the San Francisco-based ballet company, and was choreographed and rehearsed in outdoor, often remote spaces. A troupe of 12 dancers came on and off stage throughout a nonstop, 64-minute performance. Prevailing themes in the show include the importance of hope and the depth of love, but it is also wonderfully abstract and very open to interpretation.

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Arts

TikTok: Can you stop scrolling?

By Odessa Gaines | March 13

In late February 2024, TikTok user @reesamteesa posted a 50-part series spanning over six hours about her experience meeting, dating, marrying and divorcing a pathological liar. The massive playlist called “Who TF Did I Marry?!?” has gained over hundreds of millions of views and Tareasa Johnson, known as Reesa Teesa, has gained national attention for her story.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Habits of a soccer mom

By Elizabeth Foster | March 13

I spent my Saturday afternoon baking three batches of chocolate chip cookies, totaling 42 little treats that I could bring to the CS TA soccer game (yes, an entire six-team soccer league consisting exclusively of teaching assistants for the Tufts Computer Science Department). I’ve (mentally) committed to bringing cookies to make up for my lack of skill on the field.

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News

Jordin Sparks to headline Spring Fling 2024, Iyaz and Tkay Maidza to open

By Matthew Sage and Nate Hall | March 11

Jordin Sparks, Iyaz and Tkay Maidza will perform at this year’s Spring Fling, as announced by the Tufts University Social Collective on Monday. The concert will be held on April 20 from 12–5 p.m. on the Academic Quad. “We are excited to say that we have a headliner that is a woman,” TUSC co-concert coordinators Gus Tringale and Thomas Grant wrote in a message to the Daily. “From last year’s all male lineup, we looked forward to pivoting more female representation not only for diversity’s sake but to cover a wider base of musical taste at Tufts.”

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Arts

When the past isn’t past: Celine Song’s ‘Past Lives’

By Estelle Anderson | March 8

Is it possible to have multiple soulmates? To ever truly move on from the past? To accept one’s life choices without wondering “what-if?”These questions course throughout “Past Lives,” a tender, often heart-wrenching tale of destiny, human connection and the bittersweetness of change. In a year that brought “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things,” “Past Lives” feels like a breath of fresh air.

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Arts

‘Love is Blind’: Experiment or entertainment?

By Annika Pillai | March 8

Hit reality TV show “Love is Blind” released its first season in February 2020. Like most reality television, the show is predominantly known for its intense drama, messy breakups and overall entertainment factor. Marketed as a “social experiment,” the show’s purpose lies in ...

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Arts

The Bookmark: ‘The Glass Castle’ by Jeannette Walls

By Natalie Bricker | March 8

Welcome back to “The Bookmark,” your go-to column for book reviews! Last week, I featured “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.” This week, we’re switching up genres and taking a look at a beautiful and heartbreaking memoir.

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Arts

WEEKENDER: Emerging Boston-based artist Analise releases new single

By Shannon Murphy | March 7

Analise Marin, local sophomore songwriting student at the Berklee College of Music and emerging singer-songwriter, known professionally by the mononym Analise, released her newest single “All Alone Again” on Feb. 24. The song, which is now available on streaming platforms, stands out for its emotional lucidity and mesmerizing production as it captures the cyclical nature of love, yearning and loneliness.

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Arts

‘Dune: Part Two’ lives up to expectations

By Natalie Bricker | March 7

“Dune: Part Two” has it all: There’s romance; there’s violence; there are undertones of religion as a great force of power; there are huge CGI worms; there’s Zendaya — truly, what more could you ask for in a film?

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Arts

Desert chic: The iconic fashion looks of the ‘Dune: Part Two’ press tour

By Isabella Teubal | March 7

Warner Bros.’ sci-fi success “Dune: Part Two” (2024) was finally released this past week on March 1. The movie, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is the sequel to “Dune: Part One” (2021), based on the 1965 epic novel by American author Frank Herbert. Due to its incredible cast, featuring superstars Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler, it is no wonder that the film has been a box office success, grossing $81.5 million domestically in its opening weekend.

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Columns

For the Culture: Hip-hop evolves through experimentation

By Paul Osmond | March 7

Hip-hop is dying. Well, ‘traditional’ or ‘real’ hip-hop — at least, to many hip-hop critics, media outlets and fans — is dying. Yet, Killer Mike won the 2024 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song over artists like Travis Scott and Metro Boomin, pioneers of melodic, modern trap rap.

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Arts

‘Raymonda’ premieres at the Boston Ballet

By Sarah Firth | March 6

The Boston Ballet premiered Mikko Nissenen’s reimagined one-act version of “Raymonda” as part of their Winter Experience this February. “Raymonda” stands alongside “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake” as one of the great classical ballets. It originally premiered in 1898 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The ballet is known for its Hungarian character dancing and Alexander Glazunov’s unique, almost modern, score. Nissenen, the artistic director of the Boston Ballet, has consolidated the three-act ballet into a shorter one-act production.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Navigating Neighborhood Produce

By Elizabeth Foster | March 6

Ball Square’s Neighborhood Produce is Tufts’ best-kept secret. A block away from 574 Boston Ave., Neighborhood Produce somehow has exactly what you need for a week of meals. To allow you to repeat my grocery shopping process for the week, I’ve documented my approach.

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Arts

‘Stop Making Sense’ hasn’t lost its luster

By Ethan Essner | March 5

David Byrne walking to the tip of a stage with a six-string and fashioning a world of the utmost rhythm and beauty is one of the most perfect sights. His band, Talking Heads, steadily crafted one of the most organically listenable catalogs in American music history.

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Columns

Tok the Talk: The emergence of tradwives

By Annika Pillai | March 5

“I chose the trad lifestyle because I believe that women have drifted far from our roots,” Estee Williams, a Tiktok creator and self-described “tradwife,” recently stated. Taken from the name “traditional wives,” “tradwives” are the latest Western aesthetic involving a subculture of women who believe in advocating for ‘traditional values.’

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