Growing Narrative
Each student in her class was asked to produce a sculpture made from a book. In a spurt of inspiration, Brontë Velez ’16 decided to cut a hole through her book’s pages and fill it with soil and a dead bouquet of flowers.
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Each student in her class was asked to produce a sculpture made from a book. In a spurt of inspiration, Brontë Velez ’16 decided to cut a hole through her book’s pages and fill it with soil and a dead bouquet of flowers.
Last Wednesday, many gathered in the Wasserman Cinematheque, where the History department and the Film, Television and Interactive Media program co-hosted the North-American film premiere of “Verdun, They Won’t Pass.” The film is a historical documentary created by Serge de Sampigny, a French filmmaker who has written and produced three historical documentaries previously. Prof. Paul Jankowski (HIST), whose work deals primarily with the history of modern war, was the contributing historian for the documentary.
Last Friday, Goldfarb Library hosted its third annual Edible Book Festival, in which students and faculty from the Brandeis community were invited to combine cooking ingredients with words in order to create their own edible bestsellers.
Josh Gondelman ’07 is many things: a stand-up comic, a writer for “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver, the co-author of the widely popular @SeinfeldToday Twitter account, a former preschool teacher and a Brandeis alumnus.
A voice from the back of the theater emerged and Nyah Macklin ’16 walked down an aisle singing “Take Me to the Water,” by Nina Simone. Simultaneously, Brontë Velez ’16 danced down the center aisle, and the sound of a violin accompaniment came as Priya DeBerry ’17 walked down the opposite side. The audience remained transfixed, and eyes followed the trio as they made their way towards the stage.
Janet Mock, a contributing editor for Marie Claire, a transgender rights activist and the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, & So Much More,” came to campus last Tuesday for a conversation with Professor Jasmine Johnson (AAAS) about her memoir. She spoke of the challenges she faced while writing and the important questions her memoir poses about growing up multiracial, poor and trans in America. “Redefining Realness” addresses the process in accepting oneself while at the same time understanding how to coexist with and accept others.
“Brandeis Bridges is an on-campus organization that was founded a few years ago that seeks to create dialogue between the Black and Jewish students on campus. It’s just kind of a way to create connections between people and to form friendships,” said Divanna Eckels ’18. Eckels, double majoring in History and African and Afro-American Studies with a minor in Sexuality and Queer Studies, heard about Brandeis Bridges as a first year.
In 1998, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute created its 26 word mission statement: “The mission of the HBI is to develop fresh ideas about Jews and gender worldwide by producing and promoting scholarly research, artistic projects, and public engagement.” They’ve yet to make any changes, “which means we’re either stuck in the mud, or we came up with a good one,” said Prof. Shulamit Reinharz (SOC), laughing as she addressed the crowded Rapaporte Treasure Hall on Sunday night.
Last Tuesday the Women’s Studies Research Center celebrated International Women’s Day with Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard (WSRC), a self-proclaimed feminist before the women’s movement.
“The play is titled ‘Intimate Apparel’, which is an indicator that costumes are going to be very important,” Mary Hurd (TA), the costume director for the Brandeis Theater Department, said in an interview with the Justice.
“She’s worth standing for,” laughed Kerry Washington as the packed Wasserman Cinematheque rose to their feet for the second time, welcoming University Professor Anita Hill (HS) into the room.
At the 88th annual Academy Awards last Sunday, Brandeis alumnus Michael Sugar ’95 stepped onto the stage at the Dolby Theater to accept the Academy Award for “Spotlight,” which won Best Picture as well as Best Screenplay that night.
While studying abroad in Ghana as an undergraduate student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Prof. Carina Ray (AAAS) wanted to understand more about her own heritage as well as figure out why race seemed to operate differently in various places. She was particularly interested in how what it means to be black is different in a place like Ghana than in a place like the United States.
As the 2016 Presidential elections approach, politics are at the forefront of many people’s minds. Brandeis is no different: on Wednesday evening, students crowded the Schwartz auditorium to observe a moderated public debate between representatives from the Brandeis Conservatives and Brandeis Democrats clubs. Prof. Daniel Breen (LGLS) moderated the event titled which was titled “You Be the Judge: A Debate on the Issues of the 2016 Presidential Race” and was hosted by the Politics department.
From proposals on the Massell bridge to meeting for the first-time at alumni events, Brandeisians have been coming together since the University’s inception — and each story is different from the last. According to the Office of Alumni Relations, about 10 percent of Brandeis undergraduate alumni marry fellow alumni. In an interview with the Justice, F. Patricia Fisher, the vice president of alumni relations, explained the phenomenon affectionately called “Louie Love.”
Corrections Appended.
Rosemary Rodriguez ’83 has been fascinated with film since childhood, but it wasn’t until her senior year at Brandeis that she realized that she wanted to pursue a career in filmmaking. With two feature films under her belt and numerous episodes of television shows she’s directed, Rosemary Rodriguez reflected in an interview with the Justice, on being a former addict, the challenges of being a female director, working on the set of “Jessica Jones” and her newest projects.
According to Moroccan-born Israeli anthropologist and author André Levy, “In my eyes, anthropology, more than any other discipline in the social sciences, aspires to be present in life itself, in order to make sense of it and to give it meaning. It attempts to understand human action from an immediate closeness of which there is no comparison in the social sciences.”
Like many Brandeis students, David Benger ’14 was a first-year with diverse interests and no intention of settling on one life path — at least not before exploring where each of his passions might lead. As a first-year he took classes in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department and spent the summer learning Yiddish. The year after, he took up a minor in Theater Arts, involving himself in productions on and off campus. He polished his Russian to fluency with a major in Russian Studies, took on a second major in Politics and although he was enjoying his academic experience, a career path had not clicked.
A new club that aims to support and empower women worldwide has materialized here at Brandeis. The club is a local chapter of the GirlUp campaign of the United Nations Foundation, an organization separate from the United Nations itself that aims to connect the U.N. with outside organizations to help effect change. The goal of the Brandeis chapter is to fundraise money for the missions of the campaign and to raise awareness for the issues that women face globally through thoughtful discussions and events.