Katherine MacPhail, Anna Farber, and L. Joshua Jackson

October 30, 2020

A new Theater class, “Playwrighting and Performance in the Time of the Black Lives Matter Movement,” calls on students to respond to important social issues they care about through their writing.  The Black Lives Matter movement resurged this summer in response to the murders of Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, George Floyd — and countless others. Last Monday, students from the course took to the Cat in the Cream stage and performed some of their work for an at-home audience. Taught by Professor...

Ella Halbert

October 9, 2020

The Student Union, Program Board, the ՚Sco, and other student organizations have taken on the monumental challenge of fostering community in a time of separation. By collaborating in new ways, students involved with these organizations have come up with innovative ideas. As a member of the Program Board, I’ve experienced firsthand the time and effort being put into building community on campus. The guidelines governing student safety must be at the forefront of our minds when planning activities,...

Khalid McCalla, Sports Editor

September 4, 2020

The recent death of Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman adds more pain to a year already marked by the collective grief of Black people. Just months ago, I wrote about the unexpected death of Kobe Bryant. Since then, the Black community has been rocked by the deaths of civil rights leaders, actors, musicians, and civilians from causes ranging from illness, such as COVID-19, to police violence.  It surprised me that Boseman’s death hurt me as much as it did, but it makes sense. Despite us never...

Atheena Frizzell

July 9, 2020

When the College moved to remote learning this past spring, students enrolled in the Historic and Contemporary Debates in African American Education course knew they had to document the experience. Their documentary Boxes Will Be Provided felt like a necessary step in recording the impact of COVID-19 on Black Obies. Director and editor DaQuan Williams, OC ’20, had very little experience in film-making prior to embarking on this project, which clocks in at roughly two and a half hours and involves...

Kate Fishman, Associate Editor

May 3, 2020

Transitioning to online learning in March was disruptive across departments, and for many graduating Dance majors the transition to online learning meant drastically changing their visions for final capstone performances. On top of the energy depletion that comes with being away from Oberlin, plans for these performances — which are a key part of students’  farewells to Oberlin — needed to be significantly altered as a result of social isolation and the shift to digital communication. “It...

Nina Auslander

February 28, 2020

Lyala Khan

December 13, 2019

It is impossible to sit in on an AndWhat!? rehearsal and not be blown away by the power and energy they build. In their drive to rehearse each piece again and again until it is just right, and their ability to channel complicated and raw emotions into moving pieces, the group’s hard work, energy, and talent are palpable. AndWhat!? is a powerhouse hip-hop group that slays each performance, and creates an important space at Oberlin. “AndWhat!? was founded [in 1999] on the idea of Black female...

Katherine MacPhail, Editor-in-Chief

November 22, 2019

Kara Nepomuceno

November 8, 2019

Six figures in electric blue shorts huddle in a circle on the smooth wooden stage, their arms held tightly around each other. Walking clockwise, their circle begins to spin, whirling faster and faster until every other dancer is able to lift off the ground. Supported on the shoulders of their peers, their legs spiral outwards, and the circle blooms like a parachute with air. Just as suddenly, they land and careen to separate ends of the room, the circle dispersing into blue light.  The moment...

Rachel Fang

October 4, 2019