While the First-Year Seminar Program, a primer for liberal arts writing composed of small classes, is described as “a singular opportunity for learning,” few students are still sincerely attached to their first-year seminar experience by the end of their college career. Not so for alumni of Nathan A. Greenberg Professor of Classics and Acting Chair of Comparative Literature Kirk Ormand’s first year seminar, “Odysseys and Identities.” The ‘Odysseans,’ as they’re dubbed, have had semesterly...

 In February 2018, two Oberlin professors ran into each other in the archives and realized that they were both researching the thesis of the same highly-accomplished Oberlin alumna. Visiting Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology Fredara Hadley and Assistant Professor of History and Comparative American Studies Tamika Nunley were both inspired by the life and work of Shirley Graham DuBois, OC ’34, and at Nunley’s suggestion they decided to craft a class around her tremendous accomplishments in m...

Oberlin resident Michelle Belanger is a prolific author and researcher of the occult, who has published many books on the supernatural and paranormal. Her work ranges from religious research to occult young adult novels. She is best known for The Psychic Vampire Codex and The Dictionary of Demons. Belanger has also appeared as a psychic medium on a variety of psychic and ghost-hunting TV shows, including Paranormal State. The Review sat down to talk with her about the origins of her interest in the...

When we lived in the same building during our first year at Oberlin, a friend and I developed an odd, only semi-spoken rule. We would purposefully leave at different times for a mutual destination. I remember more than once noticing her backpack ahead and deliberately slowing my pace to allow her solitude. It wasn’t that we didn’t enjoy each other’s conversation; we just shared the pleasure of walking alone.  It follows that when I picture Oberlin, I don’t think of my dorm room or a favorite study haunt or even the best parties I’ve been to — I see Tappan Square. Most of the pieces of my life, and the lives of other students, faculty, staff, and residents, seem to be arrayed around this stretch of lawn ...