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On Nov. 12, 2024, the Waltham City Council voted in favor of allocating $6 million from the City’s Community Preservation Act fund to help the Waltham Boys and Girls Club with a building improvement. The funding from the city is a fraction of the $25,310,000 total cost of the proposed project.
On Nov. 8, faculty gathered for their monthly meeting, eagerly anticipating the introduction of new University Interim President Arthur Levine ’70. The meeting began with comments from Chair of the Faculty Senate Jeffery Lenowitz (POL), who introduced a speech and moment of silence for the passing of Professor Emeritus Graham Campbell (FA). Following this remembrance, Wellington Prize winner Prof. Emilie Connolly (HIST) gave a presentation on her trip to Lisbon.
On Nov. 8, Interim President Arthur Levine ’70 sat down with The Justice to discuss his personal ties to the University and his goals for its future. Levine graduated from Brandeis in 1970, with a Bachelor of Arts in biology. Brandeis gave Levine a love for higher education, resulting in his pursuit of a successful career in academia including presidencies at Teachers College, Columbia University and Bedford College.
On Wednesday Nov. 6 at 5:53 p.m. Brandeis’ Interim President, Arthur Levine ’70 addressed the Brandeis community for the first time since taking office on Nov. 1, with an email titled “Greeting from Interim President Levine.”
The night my nephew was born was the night of the 89th Academy Awards — the night when “La La Land” was mistakenly called for best picture instead of “Moonlight,” shocking viewers everywhere. To this day, whenever I mention that my nephew was born when “La La Land” was called, I’m met with knowing head nods. Everyone knows about the Oscars, and how “La La Land” was nominated for best picture. They likely also know that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling were the leading actors. The Oscars is a night filled with prestige as the public eye scrutinizes every move the celebrities in the audience make. While it’s highly unlikely that the viewers at home have seen every movie nominated, millions tune in to see who wins best actor or to judge the glamorous gowns. Celebrities — whether through their achievements as an actor, their innate style or something intangible — are a huge selling point for movies.
The painting “Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin” by Rogier van der Weyden is an exemplary sample of artwork from the Northern Renaissance. Rogier van der Weyden was a Northern Renaissance artist who took inspiration from other masters like Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin. Van der Weyden shows mastery of the oil medium with a focus on his figures, his skillful ability to create a narrative painting and his novel and adept naturalism.
In our time, we are urged to attend university for the so-called “college experience.” A concept so nebulous, abstract and utterly drenched in middle-class euphemisms that it lulls budding students into accepting the ridiculous notion that it is perfectly reasonable to drop a sum equivalent to that of a new car every year on an “experience.”
Cheers erupted as 11 Brandeis administrative staff exited the Bernstein-Marcus Administration Center on Oct. 31. What was the reason for the excitement? The delivery of a photo petition to the Provost’s office reflecting the staff's wish to unionize. The office oversees the academic and administrative governance for Brandeis’ four schools, libraries, Rose Art Museum, research centers and academic support offices.
Brandeis University’s commitment to campus sustainability began 15 years ago with the hiring of its first sustainability manager, Janna Cohen-Rosenthal BA ’03, MBA ’13. However, Brandeis’ commitment to campus sustainability has come into question with the recent decision to eliminate the Sustainability Office and the departure of former Director of Sustainability Mary Fischer without a replacement, prompting students to seek change.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum houses four paintings by Dutch masters that represent a variety of portraiture styles of the era. These four portraits by Frans Pourbus the Younger, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck and Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn chart the evolution and development of portraiture from about 1615-1635, with several elements shifting during this time, including the choice of background, the amount of detail in the costumes worn and the painting style itself.
What’s stopping us from achieving our highest fashion potential? I’ll cut straight to the chase: it’s because we’re not willing to be weird or look weird.
To start off the new month, Brandeis’ most musically talented joined forces to present Bandapalooza on Nov. 3. Top Score, Music and Dance Band, Klezmer and the Guitar and Bass Club launched the event this year for the purpose of bringing recognition to student clubs, bands and musicians. The passion of the performers and organizers to connect with new audiences spanned Levin Ballroom. On one side, the Student Music Committee and WBRS shared a table, giving a glimpse into the everyday capacity of musicians on campus, and on the other, performers lined the walls awaiting their chance to present.
Prof. Taylor Ackley (MUS) has been teaching at Brandeis since 2022. A doctor of ethnomusicology and specialist in American Roots music, Ackley runs the Roots Music Ensemble and teaches several classes for the music department. According to his website, his research aims to “understand and analyze the American Folk and Roots music as art grounded in the experiences of poor and working class people.”
On Friday, Oct. 25 at 2:30 p.m. in Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios, writer and curator Leah Triplett Harrington gave a presentation sponsored by the Department of Fine Arts Post-Baccalaureate Studio Art Program. The talk was inspired by her most recent co-curated exhibit “Artists as Cultivators.” The exhibit is currently hosted at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and will be on display until July 7, 2024.
In 1928, silent film titan Buster Keaton and Edward Sedgwick co-directed the film “The Cameraman,” which was also Keaton’s first film after signing to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The movie follows a young man named Buster — played by Keaton — as he attempts to secure a job at a newsreel agency in order to get closer to a girl who works there. It is considered by many to be among Keaton’s finest films and is most certainly one that encapsulates not only the zeitgeist of the 1920s, but the beauty of the era’s silent film. In its one hour and nine minutes, audiences get a glimpse into the world of the 20s and some of the wittiest displays of comedy that Keaton has to offer.
Vine, the ultra-short form video-sharing platform launched in 2013, produced many unlikely cultural fixations among its mostly Generation Z and late-millennial user base. Among these was the video created by user Josh Kennedy, who, for reasons still mysterious to many, uploaded a video in which he uttered “waddup, I’m Jared, I’m 19, and I never fucking learned how to read.” The rest is internet history, and many of us still drop the phrase on occasions we deem appropriate.
The cutting of the Lydian String Quartet came as a surprise to the Brandeis community as it marked the end of its 40-year tradition. The quartet has been a prominent feature in the University’s artistic endeavors since its inception in 1980, having studied with Robert Koff, a member of Julliard’s string quartet.
Is anyone else tired of sad girl pop? In recent years, the pop landscape has been flooded with Phoebe Bridgers and Lana Del Rey lookalikes, bringing us ballads that, while beautifully emotional, just wear the listener down after a while. The state of the world is depressing enough — we need escapist pop anthems to make us get up from our existential crises and dance. That’s why people latched onto Sabrina Carpenter’s lead single, “Espresso,” so strongly. From the track’s beachy, disco-pop sound to Carpenter declaring, “My give-a-fucks are on vacation,” “Espresso” filled the gap in the genre of feel-good music. Social media soon became addicted to “that me espresso” — whatever that truly means. With the subsequent release of Carpenter’s sixth studio album “Short n’ Sweet,” fans are confident that the five-foot-tall pop princess has brewed up a masterpiece.
At 2:00 pm on Oct. 18, the Brandeis faculty met in Rapaporte Treasure Hall for their monthly meeting. The meeting opened with Chair of the Faculty Senate Prof. Jeffrey Lenowitz (POL) giving a welcoming address, informing the staff of a change in timing of the next meeting in order to be able to accommodate an address from Interim President Arthur Levine, Ph.D. ’70. Additionally Lenowitz stated “Though leadership is changing at the University, the structural problems are not. So to this end, I want to assure you all that the senate remains dedicated to working with the administration to ensure that these are addressed in a manner that safeguards faculty interests.” He also discussed future plans to hear and address faculty concerns such as a survey and small group meetings.
For performing arts groups, the beginning of a new academic year is a time of excitement and novelty. Auditions bring in new members, and preparations for an exciting new set of performances are set into motion. This year, however, came with an unexpected obstacle: the University had decided to restrict the amount of time per week for which these groups could reserve rehearsal space. With a new four hour per week restriction, groups have been forced to adapt in order to continue their usual rehearsal schedules.