Kushagra Kar, Editor-in-Chief
November 12, 2021
Star Wars’ introductory text crawl works because John William’s score steals the show from the boring yellow exposition. The entirely uninspired story dump ahead of Marvel’s latest film, on the other hand, doesn’t have quite the same impact. Devastatingly, this was the first sign of the largely incoherent twaddle to come. Before I tear into this film, I want to first begin by admitting that I had a blast at the theater. The viewing experience was everything you could...
Sydney Rosensaft, Senior Staff Writer
November 12, 2021
Yesterday, the Oberlin Opera Theater hosted its first fully-staged, in-person performance since fall 2019. George Handel’s Acis and Galatea. The show, featuring Conservatory students in the Vocal Studies Division and the Oberlin Orchestra, is directed by Professor of Opera Theater Jonathon Field and will run through Nov. 14. The opera, Handel’s most popular dramatic work by far, was first written and performed in 1718 and sets an ancient Greek myth in the pastoral English countryside....
Kathleen Kelleher, Production Editor
October 29, 2021
On Thursday night, the Oberlin Film Cooperative hosted writer and filmmaker John Waters at the Apollo Theatre. Waters performed his one-man show False Negative and hosted a screening of his 1988 commercial hit film Hairspray. The event was open only to the Oberlin student body and was completely free to attend. Waters, known for his transgressive, cult-status comedy films, is also an actor, visual artist, and more recently an author. In the ’70s, Waters wrote and directed Pink Flamingos, Female...
Kushagra Kar, Editor-in-Chief
October 22, 2021
For the last three weeks, Squid Game has been buzzing on social media. Netflix is proud to boast the show’s record-breaking ratings, and Western audiences are lapping it up with the same awe and intrigue as Parasite two years ago. Before I’d seen the show myself, I asked someone to describe it to me and was told, “It’s like a South Korean Hunger Games.” I was left apprehensive. There is a comfortable tendency to compare new ideas to pre-exist- ing and familiar content, and some-...
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Opens at Cleveland’s Karamu House
October 15, 2021
Netflix’s The Chair Depicts College Campus in Turmoil
October 8, 2021
August 13, 2021
Last weekend the Dionysus Disco hosted its first ever Angel Ultra Fest, a two-day music festival featuring nine experimental, hip-hop, R&B artists, and house DJs. Artists included DJ Macro, SiDAKA, Tama Gucci, Staysie Atoms, Blake Saint David, Sydfalls, TWEAKS, baby.com, and Yesterdayneverhappened — the venue’s first lineup from outside of Oberlin in an in-person concert series since March 2020. Angel Ultra Fest was the brainchild of College third-year Courtney Brown, and the festival featured...
Katie Kunka , Production Manager
June 25, 2021
This past Wednesday, students on campus for the summer semester enjoyed their first indoor Splitchers at the Dionysus Disco since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic 16 months ago. College second-years Tali Braun and Emelia Duserick co-hosted the event, curated the playlist, and chose the theme — Barbies vs. Bratz — and attendees suited up in either Barbie Dream pinks and sparkles or Bratz Y2K chunky heels and low-rise jeans. Although the Sprinklerz outdoor event this past April, meant...
February 26, 2021
TikTok, once the height of cringe, has become the hottest place for Gen Z to express themselves online. Obies are well known for their creativity, and so naturally, our campus is populated with a myriad of TikTok creators. College second-year Lila Templin has been on the app since before it became popular, and they watched TikTok go from embarrassing to trendy in less than a year. “When I was in high school using it, everyone who had it was like, ‘This is 100 percent a joke,’” Templin...
L. Joshua Jackson, Arts and Culture Editor
February 24, 2021
The Black History Month Artist Spotlight series seeks to honor Black creatives in the very moments of their first works. Afrikan American and Diasporic people have built, and been the building blocks of, the United States both economically and culturally. Even so, their work is often intentionally overshadowed by their white and white male counterparts. For instance, Shirley Graham Du Bois, OC ’35, wrote and composed the groundbreaking opera Tom Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro, among other...
Kate Fishman, Managing Editor
February 17, 2021
Oberlin’s Dance department recently announced the schedule for Moving Bodies and Social Justice, a new phase in the collaboration between five Ohio liberal arts schools. Professors from these schools reimagined their yearly conference, expanding what is usually a single day of events to a months-long series. The new symposium will take place over the spring semester, featuring talks, workshops, and pedagogical analysis from dancers whose work is concerned with social justice. The Ohio 5 Dance...
Olive Hwang, Production Staff
November 20, 2020
Three nights a week the booms of Japanese drums shake the halls of First United Methodist Church, as eight members of Oberlin College Taiko perform in remarkable synchronicity. Striking their drums with determination and confidence, they build up a rhythm sure to invigorate any audience, virtual or live. In North America, taiko refers to the art of Japanese ensemble drumming. Taiko drummers use large wooden sticks called bachi to hit their taiko, which means drum in Japanese. This style of...
Sydney Rosensaft, Senior Staff Writer
October 8, 2021
In contrast to last year’s Orientation week, which welcomed first years into an isolating three-day quarantine period and boasted lackluster online bonding activities, the College welcomed students to campus this year with a live, in-person concert hosted by the Cat in the Cream. First years and returning students alike flocked to Wilder Bowl to watch two Chicago-based bands, Dehd and Bnny, perform last Saturday night. According to College third-year and Cat in the Cream Booker Lola...
Solarity and Drag Ball Merge into One ‘Solstice’ Event
July 23, 2021
AAA Sponsors Asian Cultural Arts Festival, Celebrates Diverse Traditions
April 30, 2021
Oberlin Conservatory Reaches Beyond Campus with New Global Initiative
April 30, 2021
L. Joshua Jackson, Arts and Culture Editor
March 3, 2021
Quarantine Couture: The Black History Month Fashion Show concluded February’s celebrations with flair, as models served us looks inspired by bedroom Zoom sessions, pandemic protections, and Michelle Obama’s slay at the recent inauguration. The fashion show committee, a subcommittee of the Black History Month Committee, consisted of Director and Faculty in Residence of Afrikan Heritage House Dr. Candice Raynor, College fourth-year Jasmine Mitchell, and College second-year Jillian Sanford,...
L. Joshua Jackson, Arts and Culture Editor
November 11, 2020
Galvanized by a summer marked by nationwide protests and conversations about racism, many in Oberlin have sought to create more inclusive spaces for Black students across the campus community. Talise Campbell, visiting assistant professor of Africana Studies and Dance, has made a life out of creating art as a means of social justice work. This semester, she was inspired to organize a series of Dance Dialogues, with the goal of reflecting on the accessibility of the Dance Department. “As a...
November 6, 2020
The Art Department brings over a dozen artists to campus every year for its Artist Talk series. Last Tuesday, internationally renowned artist Derli Romero gave a lecture called “Forced Displacement and Corporality” over Zoom. The Art Department hopes that this series will expose students to new work and help them build professional networks. Romero’s lecture featured both his previous work and his most recent series: Rostros Migrantes: Colección de 100 Microhistorias (Migrant Faces: Collection...
September 9, 2020
Even in the face of a global pandemic, the classic Oberlin tradition of Art Rental will continue this Saturday — but with some significant changes. The Oberlin Art Rental was founded in 1940, 80 years ago, by Professor of Modern Art Ellen Johnson, OC ’33. The program provides Obies with the opportunity to bring original art from the museum into their dorm rooms and is a major selling point for prospective students. “It was one of the main reasons I chose to come to Oberlin in the...
COVID-19 Brings Challenges, Opportunities for AMAM
September 4, 2020
May 5, 2020
May 3, 2020
November 5, 2021
As an avid reader and writer, I have been wondering how the COVID-19 pandemic will be immortalized in literature, poetry, film, art, and other creative forms. How will artists and writers depict this time of communal grief and trauma? Who will emerge as storytellers and orators during this time? Luckily, Phoebe Robinson, best-selling memoirist, stand-up comedian, and most famously, the co-host of 2 Dope Queens with Jessica Williams, has swooped in to begin to answer some of these questions...
Maeve Woltring, Arts & Culture Editor
October 29, 2021
Director of Oberlin Writers in the Schools and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Lynn Powell has published three books of poetry: Old & New Testaments, The Zones of Paradise, and, most recently, Season of the Second Thought, as well as a book of nonfiction, Framing Innocence. Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, OC ’07, is the author of two poetry collections: The Tilt Torn Away from the Seasons, one of The Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2020;...
First Indoor OSLAM Performance Since 2020 Revives Community
October 15, 2021
A Peek Into Professors’ Bookshelves and Home Libraries
June 25, 2021
Victor Lau, OC ’17, Founder of Alternative Men’s Magazine He, Him, His
April 2, 2021
“The Updraft” Publishes Dynamic Music Journalism
March 19, 2021
Robin Beth Schaer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
March 12, 2021
College, Public Libraries Reimagine Sharing Knowledge
February 26, 2021
Aon Krittathiranon is the chef at ThiNi Thai, a Thai restaurant located at 18 Carpenter Court, right behind the Feve. Krittathiranon moved from his hometown of Chiang Mai after befriending Feve owners Matt and Jason Adelman by coincidence on their trip to Thailand. Krittathiranon and the Adelmans hit it off right away, and they later asked him to move to the United States to help start ThiNi Thai, a restaurant that would deliver authentic Northern Thai cuisine to the Oberlin community. What...
Danny Valero, Illustrator
October 22, 2021
Anisa Curry Vietze, Editor-in-Chief
September 30, 2020
Athina Apazidis, Staff Cartoonist
March 13, 2020
Clair Wang, Illustrator
March 6, 2020
Kathleen Kelleher, Production Editor
November 5, 2021
Martin Garcia, associate principal bassoon in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2011, will host a master class for Oberlin College and Conservatory Students...
Maeve Woltring, Arts & Culture Editor
August 6, 2021
This past Saturday, Burlesque superstar Bella Sin graced the Solstice stage in Oberlin’s Heisman Club Field House. Sin is an on icon of Burlesque, a type of variety show...
Nico Vickers, Managing Editor
July 30, 2021
Author and columnist Deesha Philyaw came to campus on Monday to discuss her new collection of short stories, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. Since its publication in September ...
L. Joshua Jackson, Arts and Culture Editor
May 15, 2021
Anna Farber worked as the Art & Culture Editor of the Review from fall 2020 to spring 2021. Farber graduated with high honors in Art History for her thesis on Mary Magdalene...
March 17, 2021
College fourth-year Matthew Sato started his journey through Oberlin’s Experimental College as a student in ToadsCo. Sato has been a ToadsCo instructor for the three years...
Kate Fishman, Managing Editor
February 12, 2021
In a Zoom conversation punctuated by laughs, co-op knocks, and vigorous nods, College fourth-years Evelyn Morrison, Anna Aubry, and Lauren Elwood gathered to speak on their...
Samuel George, OC ’07, Documentary Filmmaker
February 5, 2021