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Bernstein’s Birthday Party

The Great Lawn hosted a large birthday party on Thursday evening to commemorate Leonard Bernstein’s lasting impact on both the Brandeis community and the arts at large. Various festivities, including a slideshow presentation of photos from past Leonard Bernstein Festivals, took place throughout the night. The slideshow clearly conveyed the importance and excitement of the festival for anyone studying music. Complementing the slideshow were performances from Prof. Eric Chasalow (MUS) and a student-led band. The performances were so passionate and polished — a display well befitting Bernstein’s birthday celebration. Prof. Mark Berger (MUS) also gave a talk about the lasting legacy Bernstein left at Brandeis, demonstrating how truly loved and appreciated Bernstein is by Brandeis students and faculty. Inside the tent, cookies and a birthday cake helped partygoers celebrate Bernstein’s 100th. Arts lovers came together to mingle and collect their Leonard Bernstein bookmarks and literature packets. The party was a great way to begin the end of the festival, and also a great way to be involved with and learn more about the arts, especially music, on campus. Although Bernstein passed many years ago, his influence on the arts at Brandeis is evident.

Multicultural empowerment at Culture X

On Saturday, I had the privilege of seeing one of the most impressive displays of talent I have witnessed in my time at Brandeis: Culture X. This is an annual event co-sponsored by the Brandeis Intercultural Center and the Gender & Sexuality Center, and it highlights a range of artistic talents from a variety of different countries. There were opportunities for both individual performances and for student-led groups to showcase their talents. This year’s show, titled “One Love: Between the Crossroads,” was coordinated by six students: Janis Li ’21, Cassidy Van Cooten ’20, Kwesi Jones ’21 (who also served as the emcee for the show), Anwesha Ghosh ’18, Winnie Zhao ’20 and Siyu Liang ’18. Many of the performances were dances, and it was astonishing to see the number of different dance styles and the many cultures represented. 

Successful Senior Festival

Maya Zanger-Nadis, Justice Editor

Students organize rally to condemn gun violence

Student coordinators of the Brandeis #NeverAgain movement held a rally for gun control legislation at the Light of Reason on Friday. 

Interview with Sara Kenney '18

JustArts: What goes into a student’s decision to do a senior thesis?

Students compete in last round of Student Union elections

During this round of Student Union elections, 19 candidates faced off for 14 open seats in the Senate and Judiciary. This week, some of the candidates spoke to the Justice about their aspirations and the issues they consider most important. 

TEDxBrandeisUniversity explores ongoing social issues

TEDxBrandeisUniversity hosted its second annual conference on Saturday, titled “Illuminations Within.” Facilitated by master of ceremonies Karthik Rangan ’18, this year’s talks centered around the importance of self and historical reflection as a means of solving current global issues, especially those pertaining to navigating discussions of community, social interactions and mental health.

Avraham Penso becomes the Justice’s next editor in chief

In a unanimous vote last Thursday, Justice staff and editors elected Avraham Penso ’20 as the editor in chief for the 2018-2019 academic year. 

Don’t Pull Any Punches

“It’s a really nice thing to learn and develop something. It doesn’t have to be boxing; it just turned out that way,” said Brandeis Boxing Club president, Sonor Sereeter ’19, in an interview with the Justice. Sereeter is not the only Brandeis student for whom the boxing club plays an important role. Throughout the years, the club has found a special place in the hearts of many Brandeis students. 

The ‘Timeless Charm’ of Vietnam

There was plenty of charm to be found in Friday’s showcase, “Brandeis by Night: Timeless Charm,” put on by the Brandeis Vietnamese Student Association. The night was full of color and booming music, both traditional and modern.  It was also wonderful to see the fruits of all the hard work VSA put into entertaining us and opening our minds to the cultural beauty (and delicious foods) of Vietnam. I knew the moment I saw Levin Ballroom that this would not be a typical performance; the room was set up with many colorful circular tables covered in paper flowers and Vietnamese snacks. 

“N U Y O R I C A N”

‘Homo Sapiens Agenda’ infiltrates theaters

If you want a movie that makes you feel “all the feels,” go see “Love, Simon.”

The UTC presents a Disney hairy tale

This weekend, Brandeis’ Undergraduate Theater Collective presented the classic Disney musical “Beauty and the Beast,” directed by Maia Cataldo ’20. The show was a faithful production of the Alan Menken musical adapted from the 1991 animated film of the same name. The fantasy romance is based on the French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont and tells the story of Belle, a girl who is ostracized for her academic inclinations. She runs off into the woods to look for her father, who is imprisoned in a cursed castle. All of the castle’s inhabitants have been turned into household objects, unable to assume their human forms until their master, who has been transformed into a beast, finds true love.

This is ‘Why Amy Beach Matters’

“You think the glass ceiling is shattered only to realize it’s just been cracked,” said musicologist Liane Curtis in her presentation “Why Amy Beach Matters” last Thursday, in the Women’s Studies Research Center. Amy Beach (1867-1947) was an American composer and pianist. Curtis, who earned her doctorate in musicology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is a resident scholar at the WSRC. 

Criticize harmful national origin data collection bill

The Connecticut legislature held a March 8 hearing on Senate Bill 359, an act that called for banning ethnic subgroup data disaggregation in the Connecticut education system. As a Ph.D. candidate in Social Policy who studies mental health and trauma,  I was invited by the bill’s supporters to testify on the damage a potential data collection program would impose on students, parents and teachers. 

Candidates compete for Student Union positions

In today’s Student Union election, 13 candidates compete for seven open seats on the Student Union Executive Board. This is the first of two rounds of spring elections, with students competing to fill the positions of Union president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, as well as representatives to the Board of Trustees, the Brandeis Sustainability Fund and the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. The candidates spoke to the Justice about their prior experiences and the goals they would pursue if elected. 

Sondheim show shines at Spingold

It is difficult to take an established, award-winning musical and present it with fresh vision. As such, on Friday evening, I took my seat with a fair amount of doubt. However, within the first 10 minutes of the opening, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the Brandeis Theater Company’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.”

Kiss of the Amazing 'Spider Woman'

On March 12, the American Studies program hosted a film screening of the 1985 Hector Babenco film “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” The program borrowed the 35-mm film from the Library of Congress and was brought to us by its Academy Award-nominated producer, David Weisman, and his brother, Sam Weisman. It was screened for Planet Hollywood: American Cinema in Global Perspective, taught by Prof.  Thomas Doherty (AMST), but was open to all students.

Interview: Adina Jacobson '20

This week, justArts interviewed Adina Jacobson ’20, who starred as the baker’s wife in “Into the Woods”.

Chasing Her Dreams

As Emily Bryson ’19 ran past the finish line in the final event for Brandeis at the 2018 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships on Saturday, March 10, tears began streaming down her face. Finishing first in her 3,000-meter event, Bryson claimed her second All-America honor of the meet after her first in the distance medley relay. “Yeah, I was crying,” Bryson laughed, “It’s just when I was a freshman in college, that was my goal. I wanted to be a NCAA champion and I wrote it down in my journal as something I always wanted to do. I trained up to this moment for that moment and I put a lot of work in. I just feel like as an athlete you sacrifice so much for these moments, and then to kind of watch it all unfold right before you is surreal. It was watching a lot of hard work pay off and watching a moment I had dreamed of for a really long time. It was a lot of emotions.”