With the semester coming to a close and final assignments ramping up, I’ve started reflecting on what will now be my first full year of college-level work. As someone who struggles with learning difficulties, I’ll concede that a lot of what I turned in this year was done predictably close to the...
When I tell people that I’m a Creative Writing major, I’m often met with skepticism. People, especially older people, often ask how I plan to find a successful career with a Creative Writing degree. My instinct is to answer this question in a way that will put these people in their place. However,...
In the 98-page initial draft of the Supreme Court opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaked by POLITICO May 2, Justice Samuel Alito writes, “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”...
Honestly, I expected this past week to suck from the beginning. Housing selection Wednesday, class registration Thursday, group project due Saturday; just one stressful thing after the other. But — quite like the cat that keeps dragging in dead birds — this week was a gift that kept on giving. This...
I have always been curious about the usage of the term “Standard English,” which has recently been one of the most hotly debated issues in the academic world. Some scholars refer to it as White Mainstream English and ascribe “brokenness” to other variations of English. On the other side are people...
To the editors, Recently, The Oberlin Review published an article titled “Lack of Local Political Opportunity May Disenchant Prospective Students,” which discussed the political atmosphere of Oberlin and the surrounding area. The author also wrote about the difficulties they faced in finding opportunities...
Upon hearing of the death of Radu Lupu, the legendary pianist whom I knew better by name than by sound, I decided to discover what made him so...
The Tiny Ref Desk Concert series made its long-awaited return earlier this year. The concert series is modeled after NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts,...
The Musical Studies major — an option for non-Conservatory students to pursue music at a college level — has been steadily increasing in...
The Musikos Collective, a new student-run group, burst onto the College and Conservatory arts scene with a debut performance at First United...
The COVID-19 pandemic has created lasting changes in the structure of the Conservatory’s large ensemble program, which most instrumental performance...
This year’s Commencement and Reunion Weekend will occur Sunday, June 5, the day after final exams end. While the ceremony promises the return of several beloved Commencement traditions that were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of a Commencement Week and apprehension about the...
This summer, the College will start renovating the west side of Wilder Hall to upgrade the building’s furniture, functionality, and infrastructure. To accommodate the renovations, some organizations will temporarily move from their office locations in Wilder Hall. The College completed the...
Oberlin has approved five new academic programs for the 2022–23 academic year: integrative concentrations in Public Humanities and Data Sciences, a minor in Spanish, and Conservatory minors in African-American Music and Improvisation. All three of the new Arts and Sciences programs will require...
Last week, the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association raised the food budgets for all dining co-ops to account for inflation in food and gas prices resulting from global economic trends. The change comes after food buyers at various co-ops have spent the semester adopting creative strategies...
Thursday, May 5, 2022 6:17 p.m. A student reported a panhandler on the sidewalk in front of Burton Hall. They were asking for money and when the student refused, the individual began using offensive language. Campus Safety officers and Oberlin Police Department members responded and located...
Following a four-year partnership with the JED Campus program and a series of staffing changes in the Office of Student Life, the College has started to reenvision mental health resources on campus. Notably, the College has been utilizing funding from Rise and Thrive — an emergency relief fund...
Recently, the Office of Residential Education suffered a software error that led to miscalculated housing lottery times followed by a housing selection software crash. To address these errors, ResEd moved students’ housing selection times, removed students from their selected housing, and paused...
The sounds of bass, drums, guitar, and vocals filled Finney Chapel last Saturday night as singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham closed out this year’s Folk Fest. The festival, organized by the Oberlin Folk Music Club, took place May 6 and 7. While last year’s Folk Fest featured only student acts,...
On Sunday, all members of the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association were emailed and asked not to participate in any pranks for the rest of the semester. The email was sent following a prank that the OSCA Board said could jeopardize the organization. For years, a friendly prank war has raged between...
In the last decade, students seeking to learn Arabic at Oberlin have been met with a disorganized program that, at various points, has offered and then retracted intermediate courses, shifted online, and generally suffered from a lack of funding. In 2019, Oberlin changed the Arabic course offerings for...
This past Thursday, the Root Room in Carnegie Building was the site of an open band and a menagerie of spirited folk dancers. After its hiatus due to COVID-19, the Contra Dance Club welcomed the community to its first dance of the year. Contra dance, often referred to as New England folk dance, is easy...
The College established its Africana Studies department over 50 years ago with the aim of highlighting the Black experience and increasing discussion of African history. Since its creation, its professors have supported students both inside and outside of the classroom. “Bonding and supporting students...
When I moved into Johnson House, it was freezing outside. It was February 2021, an isolating, pre-vax semester when everyone lived alone on a “de-densified” campus. Despite the chilly temperatures, I moved into a room infested with ladybugs. Their dead carcasses decorated the huge wooden window sills,...
On the first Monday in May each year, the rich and famous ascend the grand steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art to attend Vogue’s annual Met Gala, an exclusive, themed event in support of the Costume Institute’s yearly new exhibit. As guests arrived this past Monday, dressed in accordance with...
Prior to the pandemic, the SWAP book co-op, a cozy little library tucked away in the basement of Harkness House, provided textbooks to students in exchange for their old books or labor. Students could walk into the co-op at any time during its working hours to peruse the student-made shelves of books...
When I was little, I spent the first few months of the year patiently awaiting the candy-filled Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr, a festival that crowns Eid, the monthlong fasting period. The fast purposefully tests endurance in an effort to draw attention to one’s nafs, which translates to “self” or...
The Oberlin College Improv Conference — one of Oberlin’s largest annual comedy events — made its long-awaited return to campus last weekend. The conference was organized by students in Oberlin troupes, Sunshine Scouts and Kid Business, and hosted a number of amateur and professional troupes including...
Iesha-LaShay Phillips is a graduating fourth-year majoring in Law and Society and minoring in Rhetoric and Composition. Phillips came to Oberlin as a QuestBridge recipient and is committed to building relationships to uplift and support Black Indigenous communities with a focus on advocacy for...
Sundance, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) people, is the executive director of the Cleveland American Indian Movement and the business coordinator for the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association. On April 14, he was a panelist for a talk at the Allen Memorial Art Museum titled “Acknowledging the Land”...
Julian Mitchell-Israel, OC ’21, is the field director for the Amazon Labor Union, an independent union that recently won the first Amazon union election in the United States. He studied at Oberlin and worked as an organizer on several campaigns before getting involved with the ALU after reading about...
The Crimson Collective, known formally as the Oberlin Femininity and Black American Music Collective, is the creative brainchild of double-degree second-year Jazz Vocalist Marley Howard and double-degree first-year Jazz Vocalist Gabi Allemana. The Collective seeks to center the artistic voices and...
Could you talk a little bit about your first memories? You know it’s funny, in my spare time, I’ve been reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and my first weeks on Earth were similar to the experience of human embryos in that book. You know how those embryos went on this conveyor belt to be...
Benhur Ghezehey is a Conservatory second-year Classical Voice major from Eritrea. He is starring in Oberlin’s production of Domenico Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto at Hall Auditorium at 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, and 2 p.m. this Sunday. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Could...
Comedian and actress Patti Harrison is most known for her work on the Netflix series I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson and Big Mouth. In addition, she recently wrapped production for the third season of Hulu’s Shrill, in which she plays comedian Aidy Bryant’s coworker. According to Rolling...
Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Leon Foster Thomas is an internationally renowned jazz musician and steelpan virtuoso. He was the winner of the World Steelband Music Festival’s Soloist and Duet competitions in 2002 and 2004, and has been featured at world stages such as New York’s Jazz at Lincoln...
This past Wednesday, I chatted with College fourth-year Eva Sturm-Gross, a Studio Art and Religion major with a special interest in Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism. Eva is a talented multimedia artist; their works feature strange animal-like creatures and domestic scenes of breadmaking and shabbos tables....
College fourth-year and defender Matt Huang has been playing lacrosse for 16 years. At Oberlin, he was part of the squad that made it to the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals against Denison University. Throughout his four years at Oberlin, Huang has been involved in many activities,...
Francesca Kern, College fourth-year and captain of the women’s tennis team, has been on a streak of incredible wins this season. Kern received the title of North Coast Atlantic Conference Athlete of the Week during their first year, and despite not having a regular season since, was awarded the title...
College third-year Lucas Draper is a diver on the men’s swimming and diving team. Although he originally competed as a swimmer on the women’s team, Lucas started to compete for the men’s team after he broke his hand in 2020, and he began transitioning as a male athlete. Out of the pool,...
The story has been circulating in the sports world recently that baseball is dying. The people saying that are not wrong — baseball has become much more difficult to watch in recent years due to changes in how the game is played. Baseball in the modern era is driven by analytics, which emphasizes the...
Editor’s note: The following quiz was administered entirely in multiple choice form and our editors are certain that multiple correct answers were obtained by guessing. As a sports editor, a constant theme within the Review office is having to explain sports terminology to fellow...
Oberlin athletes put an immense amount of time and dedication into their sport, but not every player has an equal chance to reap the benefits. Across every athletic team at Oberlin, there are players who train and travel with their teammates only to stand on the sidelines, cheering on their team and...
Despite unrelenting rain, Oberlin’s Track and Field team competed in the North Coast Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships at the Kahn Track and Fred Schultz Field this past weekend. After winning first place in the indoor championship earlier this year, the women's team won first again with 187...
American football fans have a better understanding of what the upcoming football season will look like for their teams now that the NFL draft has been finalized. The draft, which draws in millions of viewers annually, is one of the most anticipated events for NFL fans, not only because of their love...
Everybody does something to get in the zone. When there’s a big game or test coming up, most people tend to have a ritual to mentally prepare themselves. Personally, I like to listen to aggressive rap music before any big game to get into the right mindset. Other classics include wearing a particular...
For the first time since its induction into the North Coast Athletic Conference, men’s lacrosse played a postseason game against Denison University in the semifinal of the tournament on Wednesday, losing 19–9. Oberlin’s loss came right off a 16–12 victory against The College of Wooster in the...
As we inch closer to summer, outdoor yard games become a central part of American life. To many, these games are seen as a way to kill time with friends or an excuse to day drink, but they also shed light on complex athletic and cultural dynamics. Fourth-year Yanni Sarrimanolis thinks his football...
As a sports writer, it is not surprising that I have a love for sports and stories. Much of this love was cultivated at Oberlin High School in 2022 National Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell’s classroom. All throughout the past week, his work as a history teacher has been deservedly praised. I took...
Last week, Oberlin hired former SUNY Canton Head Coach Shiva Senthil to lay the groundwork for the men’s basketball team. In his two years of coaching at SUNY Canton, the Roos gained a conference championship in 2020 and a 22–10 conference record. Before his time in Canton, he had many stops as an...