Khalid McCalla, Sports Editor

April 16, 2021

Be Heard. Be Strong. Be Proud. With those six words, Lemonade Mouth became immortalized in the pantheon of Disney’s greatest creations. Other films, like the iconic High School Musical, Halloweentown, and The Cheetah Girls may have been better. They may have left a larger imprint on children’s entertainment. But there is something undeniably special about Lemonade Mouth.  The film features a group of misfits who form the titular band one afternoon in detention. Soon, Lemonade Mouth and...

Khalid McCalla, Sports Editor

April 14, 2021

When the credits finished rolling at the end of my first watch of Ricky Staub’s new film Concrete Cowboy, I was sitting in bed, struggling to choke back tears. Immediately, I sent my family a text that read: “Concrete Cowboy. Must watch. I haven’t cried so hard in so long.” Then, I told a friend, “Concrete Cowboy isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s a perfect movie for me.” Now, having seen the film a total of three and a half times, I can confidently say that none of those initial reactions...

Paulette Maher

April 7, 2021

Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of suicidal ideation in children. Eden Wurmfeld, OC ’91, and Margaret Munzer Loeb’s new documentary Chasing Childhood explores modern childhood and the ways that overparenting can damage children’s mental health. Interviewing teachers, child development experts, families, and plenty of children, Wurmfeld and Loeb provide a gritty look at the reality for today’s kids. The film presents the unfiltered reality of “helicopter parenting,”...

Anna Farber, Arts & Culture Editor

April 7, 2021

Over the last year, many of us picked up new skills or hobbies. For College fourth-year Luke Volkert, his practice writing music for film during the pandemic quickly grew into more than just a way to kill time. After scoring a three-minute short film, Volkert collaborated with Boston University student Jake Zaoutis on a new project: writing the score for Waiting for Waves, a documentary about veteran surfers in New England. The film won first place at Boston University’s Redstone Film Festival,...

Daniel Fleischer, Staff Writer

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 & 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 Editor

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...

Daniel Fleischer

November 18, 2020

Every Saturday, the sounds of West Afrikan drumming and dancing feet reverberate from St. Paul’s Community Church in Cleveland. Organized by the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute, the classes hosted here bring together people of all ages and backgrounds through traditional Afrikan Diasporic dance and music. In addition to leading these community classes, Djapo also has a professional dance company, runs a “Rite of Passage'' educational program for young Cleveland residents, travels all over the world,...

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...