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Brandeis University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1949 | Waltham, MA

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“Dirt Shrine” brings martyrs down to Earth

(04/25/23 4:00am)

Neither Astrid Schneider '23 nor Juliette Lillywhite '23 entered Brandeis as Studio Art majors — both found the program by means of pure exploration. “During my freshman year I took 'Drawing Under the Influence'. It was the only class I cared about,” said Schneider during an April 20 interview with the Justice in the Epstein art studios, as they prepared their work for their and Lillywhite’s upcoming exhibit “Dirt Shrine.”


Returning Zorn to Boston: An Anders Zorn talk with Dr. Johan Cederlund

(04/25/23 10:00am)

Reaching the end of the grandeur of Renaissance Italian masters in the Raphael Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, one will find the Short Gallery. Amongst the various contemporary paintings displayed is a glowing portrait of Isabella Gardner in her trademark string of pearls. Portrayed in front of the renowned Venetian Grand Canal at night, the obscure background heightens the luminosity of Isabella in her white dress, which in turn accentuates her soft facial features, the dramatic effect of the flunging-open of the doors, and her elegant composure. The noticeable fireworks at a distance provides the spectators context to her excitement. The creator of this piece was Anders Leonard Zorn, a Swedish artist and friend of Gardner’s whom she remained in correspondence with until his death in 1920.



Building community and getting naked

(04/04/23 10:00am)

Nudity en-masse. Full-body shaving sessions. Water breaks. These are just a few elements of 2023’s build-up of a student-run tour-de-force: Brandeis Liquid Latex, a 23-plus-year University tradition in which student participants strip down, spend hours painting themselves in upwards of five coats of liquid latex, and perform a coordinated dance routine for an audience of their peers.



Boston’s queer nightlife scene, in photos

(03/30/23 2:38pm)

Lines for places like Back Bay’s Club Cafe often wrap around the block — perhaps because it's one of the city’s only two well-known LGBTQIA+ dance club venues (the other being Tremont Street’s Legacy). Jacque’s Cabaret is also popular for fans of drag performances, and Midway Cafe runs a cult-favorite Thursday night “queeraoke” extravaganza every week. Other places, such as the Middle East, host themed nights that pull in queer folks from all across Boston, and recently, Haus of Fag has been hosting events aimed at reviving the queer party experience amid the mass closures of lesbian bars across the country. The Justice spoke to Brandeis students on their experiences within the queer nightlife scene.


Rodenticide threatens local birds of prey

(03/21/23 4:16pm)

On March 3, upwards of 300 Arlington, Massachusetts residents took to the streets to mourn the death of a beloved member of the local ecosystem: a bald eagle named MK, who died after ingesting rat poison. MK, who was born in Waltham and is the protagonist of a children’s book, is only the latest fatality in a slew of rat-poison-related predator deaths. And as Waltham’s rat population continues to grow alongside the 65,000 person community, debate has ensued on how to control growing rodent numbers while also prioritizing the health of local ecosystems. 


Navigating the complexities of pet death as a college student

(03/21/23 10:00am)

Content warning: this article discusses issues pertaining to depression, pet death, and grief. Throughout childhood and adolescence, our pets are there for us. From curling up on our laps after we bomb the SAT to licking our fingers after gobbling down buffalo wings from Wingstop, the unconditional love that they provide can be a grounding force. They are a blessing. And like any other kind of grief, it can feel insurmountable to move on from their passing. 




Amid controversy, Waltham’s Rhino Lounge continues to thrive

(03/07/23 11:00am)

The Rhino Lounge, located at 11 Cooper St., has been a Waltham nightlife staple since its opening in 2015. A multi-floor venue with a stocked bar, a dance floor, and faux-leather booths, the lounge also operates as a private event space, something members of Brandeis sorority Sigma Delta Tau laud as being “accommodating … you can tell they just want their patrons to have a good time in a safe environment.” The sorority has hosted events yearly at the space since 2016.



Anonymous sources of joy: Interviews with two iconic Brandeis meme pages

(02/14/23 11:00am)

On their website, Sidechat claims to be “your college’s private community.” The app came to the Brandeis campus at the beginning of the fall 2022 semester and quickly took off, with hundreds of upvotes on posts such as “thanks duo mobile. i was so concerned someone was going to log into my latte and do every single one of my assignments” and “going to brandeis made me realize that you can actually walk to class and its uphill both ways.” But the administrators of Brandeis’ ‘meme pages’ have known the pleasure of ’ saying, “there is 1 imposter among us,” with text reading, “Non-Jewish kids going over to the kosher side of Sherman” above the image.




What’s in a name? Angélica María Aguilera hosts writing workshop on language and identity

(01/31/23 11:00am)

On Jan. 27, Brandeis welcomed poet, artist, and educator Angélica María Aguilera for the “Say My Name Poetry Workshop” held in Ridgewood Commons. Aguilera is a Chicana poet and musician originally from Los Angeles. A finalist of the National Poetry Slam, the Women of the World Poetry Slam and the author of “They Call Me,” her work has been featured by organizations such as TEDx, Puma, and the United Soccer League’s Women’s League. Attendees listened in on Aguilera’s spoken word performance, whose themes included Latinidad machismo, womanhood, culture, and immigration. All present were then invited to write their own poetry — the prompt being an ode to their name — with tips and assistance from Aguilera. Throughout the two-hour event, conversations about identity, European colonialism, heritage, and cultural roots were fostered, and poetry on all these topics and more was shared and workshopped. 


The ghosts of the Company F. State Armory

(01/24/23 11:00am)

The Company F. State Armory, located on Sharon Street in Waltham, is a gorgeous, vacant brick shell of a building. It contains three crumbling floors, and Watch Community Development Corporation reported it to be roughly 8,000 square feet internally. Sometime in the late fall of 2022, I entered it for a second time (the first had been with a friend) through its open basement. I brought a backpack containing a flashlight, pepper spray, and a bag of plain Lays chips, just in case I was struck by the urge to have a crunchy little snack somewhere amid the splinters. 


Unionizing is off the menu at Waltham Starbucks

(01/24/23 11:00am)

On the afternoon of Sunday, Jan. 22, Erin Brown, a junior and current part-time student at Bentley University in Waltham, posted a picture of a Kewpie baby figurine smiling innocently and holding a pink cup of coffee on her Instagram story with the caption, “me at my silly little job making lattes and sticking to the status quo because why unionize and put pressure on corporations when instead we could just continue to be expendable minions,” followed by a smiley face that made her sarcasm abundantly clear to her followers. Brown’s post was in response to the results of a union election at her workplace two days earlier, when her coworkers voted against unionizing by a 30% margin. The majority of employees voted in the secret ballot election; eight voted to unionize, while 15 voted against it. 



What can Marriage Pact tell us about dating at Brandeis?

(12/06/22 11:00am)

For the second semester in a row, the matchmaking service Marriage Pact, which pairs ostensibly romantically-compatible students at 78 participating universities through an anonymous 50-question survey, has come to Brandeis. Just like last time, a third of Brandeis’ undergraduate population participated. Also, just like last time, the buzz flatlined almost immediately after matches were released.