Arts

Arts

SMFA’s Artists of Color Union deconstructs identity, constructs community

By Megan Szostak | December 6

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts is more racially diverse than the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering, but white students still make up the plurality of those enrolled. The Artists of Color Union (ACU) at the SMFA seeks to center the experiences of artists of color at the SMFA and at Tufts, and provides a space for artists to connect with and support one another. 

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Arts

BEATs members find community through shared love for drumming

By Emmy Wenstrup | December 6

Tufts has no shortage of quirky acronyms for quirky student groups, between TUSC (Tufts University Social Collective), SUCC (Stand-up Comedy Collective), TDC (Tufts Dance Collective), TMC (Tufts Mountain Club) and many more. What better name, then, for Tufts’ only street percussion group than BEATs (Bangin’ Everything At Tufts). 

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Arts

Tufts University Art Galleries reflect on stolen land and resilient communities

By Sadie Leite | December 6

In the Aidekman Arts Center, the Tufts University Art Galleries present art with poignant stories, carefully curated by members of the Tufts community. Each exhibit showcases the current passions that the art world at Tufts wishes to share with a greater audience.

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Column

K-Weekly: Fostering a community with KoDA

By Odessa Gaines | December 6

While I typically use this space to write about Korean songs and artists that I think everyone should be listening to, today’s column will center Tufts' very own K-pop dance association cover group, while recognizing the community it has built. 

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Arts

'Red Rocket': The impossible icky-ness of the mundane

By Miranda Feinberg | December 3

Sean Baker, king of the beautifully mundane, returns to the silver screen following his hit "The Florida Project" (2017) with "Red Rocket" (2021), a raunchy, fun, balls-to-the-wall joyride on a one-speed bike. It tells the tale of porn star Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) as he returns to his old hometown and reunites with his ex and her mom following a stint of hard times (or, as Variety more aptly puts it, limp times.) As he tries to look for work, an effort thwarted by his narcissistic tendencies, he meets 17-year-old Raylee “Strawberry,” and he falls head-over-heels on a mission to use her as a way to get back to his life of acclaim. The film becomes an odd sort of character study which examines an unlikeable narcissist who, while obnoxious and off-putting, begs you (over and over) to love him.

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Columns

For the Culture: Virgil Abloh's subversive album art

By Paul Osmond | December 3

Rest peacefully, Virgil Abloh. I was never his greatest fan, but I certainly could not ignore the impact he had on both hip hop and fashion. Founding Off-White (originally called “PYREX VISION”) and eventually joining Louis Vuitton as its men's artistic director, Abloh was a pure creative — he was an artist as much as a designer. In fact, Abloh designed over a dozen album covers in his career. He was someone whose talents were not confined to one genre. No matter what medium, Abloh was always for the culture.

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Arts

Mom Jeans, Origami Angel and friends put on a night of pop punk splendor

By Geoff Tobia Jr. | December 2

On Nov. 19, four bands got together to perform a wonderful display of pop punk and emo rock at The Palladium in Worcester, Mass. Mom Jeans served as the headlining band for the tour, with the support of Origami Angel, Save Face and Pool Kids. The venue was jam-packed from the start, with the bottom-level General Admission filling up completely before the opening acts began, and with merch lines nearly out the door.

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Column

Dreaming of Sandman: Barbie has a nightmare

By Sadie Leite | December 2

Barbie sees a talking dog, Martin Tenbones, from her dreams get shot in the streets of New York City and she’s horrified, naturally. The twisted fifth volume “The Sandman: A Game of You” (1991–92) begins: Gaiman’s imagination is beautiful and perverted­­ –– a perspective just as important as fairytale happy endings.

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Arts

'The Great British Bake Off' regains footing in 12th season

By Tess Harmon | December 1

Every year, "The Great British Bake Off" (2010–) premieres — on Channel 4 for British viewers and Netflix for Americans — with another round of bakers entering the famous white tent on the grounds of an English estate in Essex. What once was just a prized British phenomenon, “Bake Off'' has taken on the international stage, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch 12 amateur bakers battle it out in a series of baking challenges. 

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Arts

Grammys 2022: Who should win and predictions for who will win

By Jack Clohisy | December 1

On Nov. 23, the Recording Academy announced the nominees for its upcoming 64th annual Grammy Awards, to be held this upcoming January. In recent years, the Recording Academy and Grammy Awards have undergone many changes to adopt new policies centering on diversity, equity and inclusion as well as leadership adjustments. In the "Big Four" categories (Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist), nominees increased from five to eight in 2018, and this year, have been expanded to 10 per category. With that, here are the nominees for each of the aforementioned awards, as well as who, in this author's opinion, deserves and is likely to win each award.

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Columns

Brand who deserve your dollars: Girlfriend Collective

By Colette Smith | December 1

Girlfriend Collective is an athletic and loungewear brand that uses recycled materials like polyester, fishing nets and used water bottles to create its pieces.The company was founded by a husband and wife duo, Ellie and Quang Dinh. They noticed that it was difficult to find activewear that was created in an environmentally sustainable way and also that many of the activewear brands used the same exact materials. So, Ellie and Quang began to search for alternative fabric choices, which is how they found a fabric mill in Asia that creates fabric from 100% recycled bottles and an SA8000-certified factory in Vietnam. The SA8000 certification means that the factory meets a standard developed by Social Accountability International to protect workers’ conditions and wages. Thus, once the sustainable fabric factory and the production factory were discovered, the husband and wife duo began the design process and Girlfriend Collective was born. 

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Theater

'Tick, Tick... Boom!' celebrates the legacy of theater composition

By Henry Chandonnet | November 30

On Nov. 26, legendary musical theater composer Stephen Sondheim died. Sondheim leaves behind a changed fate for the modern musical, having reinvented the standard with classics such as “Into The Woods” (1987), “Company” (1970) and “West Side Story” (1957). Just a week before Sondheim’s passing, “Tick, Tick… Boom!” was released on Netflix. The film celebrates musical theater and composers, namely through the original writer Jonathan Larson. These two consecutive events call on us to reminisce upon the icons of composition and reinvestigate the simple joys of live theater. 

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Arts

'Dopesick': The negligence that fueled the opioid epidemic

By RaiAnn Bu | November 30

"Dopesick" is a new miniseries drama on Hulu adapted from the nonfiction book by Beth Macy and executively produced by a team including Micheal Keaton. The miniseries blends the individual stories of how OxyContin deeply affected the lives of Americans, the development and marketing of OxyContin and the government's struggle to regulate the prescription of OxyContin. The story follows several perspectives of patients, physicians, regulators, salesmen and top executives, piecing together the cultural and social impact of the opioid epidemic.  

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Columns

On Demand: 'Never Have I Ever' been the star of an American teen dramedy

By Raga Chilakamarri | November 30

My housemate Nyssa’s most underused fun fact is that she auditioned for the role of Devi on Mindy Kaling’s “Never Have I Ever” (2020–), a YA-esque Netflix series about a first-generation South Indian American high schooler intent on improving her social status. The role, though, went to Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (You’re still a queen, Nyssa). 

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Arts

'30,' awash in intimacy, reveals new sides to Adele

By Maeve Hagerty | November 23

“I’ll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart,” Adele sings as she opens her fourth studio album to date. Her newest album, “30,” which was released on Nov. 19, is a testament to Adele’s growth as an artist, a mother and a person.  

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Columns

On Demand: 'Strangers,' 'Love Life' and the subtle rise of Zoë Chao.  

By Raga Chilakamarri | November 23

For a brief period in high school, I would end the school night by watching a web series on Facebook Watch before bed. There’s an image evoked by these private moments: laying sideways, my cheek pressed against the pillow; leaning into my horizontally-held iPhone, the short charging cable restricting my mobile radius; my glasses pinching against my nose, eyesight worsening by the minute.  

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Arts

Porter Square Books expands with new location

By Carl Svahn | November 22

David Sandberg never saw himself owning two bookstores. The former lawyer, who has been co-owner of Porter Square Books since 2013,recently oversaw the opening of the famous local bookshop’s second location in Boston's Seaport District. Despite the setbacks of COVID-19 and the pressures of expanding, Sandberg sees a bright future ahead for the new shop. “I just think that we worked really hard to make this new store feel very much like it is Porter Square Books,” Sandberg said. “I think it's too early to tell, we've only been open a month, but it looks like we're going to be successful in creating that.”

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Column

K-Weekly: Vibe out with Jessi’s ‘Nunu Nana’

By Odessa Gaines | November 22

As I have mentioned many times before, the world of K-pop is vast and is much more than simply pop music in Korean. K-pop has Latin, pop, alternative, rock, hip-hop and rap influences. The industry is built to mesh these sounds together and try to create distinct sounds. One artist who most definitely has her own sound, but is often overlooked, is Jessi.

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Arts

Taylor Swift reclaims her narrative with 'Red (Taylor's Version)'

By Emily Thompson | November 19

Almost a full decade after the original, Taylor Swift has reclaimed ownership of her music with the release of "Red (Taylor’s Version)" (2021). The album, which contains rerecordings of the songs from the 2012 album and six new “from the vault” songs, broke the record for the most-streamed album in a day by a female artist in Spotify history, previously held by Swift’s "Folklore" (2020).

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Music

Is Summer Walker 'Still Over It'? She really is.

By Jack Clohisy | November 19

Thought Summer Walker was over it and moved on? Nope. She's quite literally still over it. It has been two years since the release of her critically acclaimed debut LP "Over It" (2019). Since then, Walker has been crafting her next album entangled in the same themes as her prior work. "Still Over It" (2021), Walker's follow up, was released on Nov. 5, and it's clear that some relationships continue to prove tumultuous. In this newest work, Walker dives into herself to identify the emotions she's experienced throughout her pregnancy and introduction to motherhood.

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