A family, paper towels & Princeton

This, if anything, is a story of the frustration I felt in those moments in the car, driving. I was frustrated because seeing that family felt like a failure. Indeed, it was a failure of our society to take care of that family’s most basic needs: food and shelter. This frustration was also very familiar to me after the recent months during which I’ve watched this country dramatically fail to respond to the pandemic: little to no effort to contain the virus, little to no effort to support those most affected. 

This, if anything, is a story of the frustration I felt in those moments in the car, driving. I was frustrated because seeing that family felt like a failure. Indeed, it was a failure of our society to take care of that family’s most basic needs: food, shelter. This frustration was also very familiar to me after the recent months during which I’ve watched this country dramatically fail to respond to the pandemic: little to no effort to contain the virus, little to no effort to support the most affected.

Why are we all on Le Creuset TikTok? A personal investigation

However, I am also a curious man, and I did want answers. Mainly, I wanted to know why Le Creuset had such great appeal on an app like TikTok.

Grief in four corners

With the lockdown and strict quarantine earlier this year, my room has become the very essence of me, an extension of myself. I’ve rearranged it countless times in attempts to mitigate the boundary of who I was when I left for college and who I am now since I returned in the spring of 2020. 

Princeton University Players takes the virtual stage — and audience members' hearts — with Sex on Broadway

Directed by Sabina Jafri ’24, “Sex on Broadway 2020: Things We Missed” showcases new takes on classic Broadway show tunes and shares the Class of 2024’s unique journey from the onset of the pandemic to the beginning of the fall semester.

Happy Holi-drinks: cocktail recipes to warm your winter nights

With the semester over and a longer-than-average winter break underway, students and families alike are in search of some winter cheer. Whether you’re surrounded by snow or sand this break, here are some winter cocktail suggestions (and family-friendly options) to celebrate the season!

‘Blade Runner 2049’: The struggle to be real

Even though the movie is promising at the start, it does not reach the level of profundity of the original. Much like its characters, “Blade Runner 2049” tries — and fails — to be real.

Catching fire in darkness: Celebrating Diwali during a pandemic

I love Diwali for all of the light it forges in my house, for the seven lit candles which sit perfectly aligned on my fireplace for 10 days, for the sweets that cover every square inch of my kitchen counter, for all of the shoes I trip over as guests pile into my home. As an Indian American living in New Jersey, my parents have adapted the way Diwali is typically celebrated. 

Confronting ‘virtual’ dualities in the work of multimedia artist Lawrence Lek

On Nov. 5, multimedia artist Lawrence Lek gave a public talk hosted by the Princeton Art Museum to discuss the research interests and questions that guide his practice, focusing in particular on three films: “Sinofuturism (1839-2046 AD)“ (2016), “Geomancer” (2017), and “AIDOL” (2019). Lek is the 2020 Sarah Lee Elson International Artist-In-Residence.

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason: Chamber music with intimacy

During a period in which a pandemic has restricted communication, both verbal and musical in nature, brother-sister cellist and pianist duo Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason performed a program of chamber works rich in interaction, comprised of works by Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, and Rachmaninoff, that spanned the widest possible breadth of the Romantic period. 

Theatre Intime’s ‘As You Like It: A Radio Play’ is a multifront victory for accessible theater

“As You Like It,” which premiered on Nov. 20, is the second PSC production I’ve seen — or, I should say, heard. Unlike previous PSC shows, this comedy took place virtually in the “radio play” format, named for the historic practice of theater works which are performed over radio broadcast.

DISPATCH | Summer At Last

The sun sets later day by day in the southern hemisphere. By an unfortunate combination of Princeton’s academic calendar and the onset of COVID-19, I have lived through three consecutive autumn/winter cycles, so it’s a refreshing change of scenery to finally roll into summer. This also happens to be the first summer that I will spend on a gap year.

2020 Holiday Gift Guide

Everything on this guide is best purchased at small businesses to keep them afloat, but if necessary, they are also available at the large retailers mentioned below. 

Deana Lawson, professor of visual arts, becomes first photographer to win Hugo Boss Prize

Deana Lawson, Professor of Visual Arts, was named the winner of the 2020 Hugo Boss Prize in October. She is the first photographer to be awarded the prize.

USG Movie review: ‘Black Panther’

Unlike many of its predecessors, “Black Panther” succeeds not only as an entertaining installment in the vast interconnected MCU, but also as a sophisticated stand-alone film with depth and cultural impact.

Arts Council of Princeton receives $50,000 grant for COVID-19 relief

At the 54th annual meeting of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts on Oct. 27, the Arts Council of Princeton was named the recipient of a $50,000 grant in an effort to support New Jersey’s arts organizations in weathering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

COVID-19 cannot take our memory — unless we let it

 We had no affection for the privileges we had in a pre-pandemic life in the moments that we had them: therefore I feel that has been why we have been so eager to return to normalcy.  Nobody ever appreciated and “lived in the now” for the little things that made life flourish, until COVID-19 snatched them away. 

Watching ‘The Hunger Games’ on election night

On election night, while incessantly checking my phone for poll updates that I knew would never arrive, I started to flip through channels randomly on the TV and stumbled across “The Hunger Games.”

Cellist Robin Park ’23 discusses COVID-19 and racial equity in music

Robin Park ’23, a sophomore at Princeton University, is a cellist from Princeton Junction, N.J. In our conversation, Robin and I touched on topics of music practice and performance, racial and economic equity in classical music, and the effects of the pandemic on the University’s academics and music-making. 

A senior's guide to course selection

Everyone’s process of finding courses is different. I won’t tell you exactly how I do my research, but I will suggest seven tips I’ve learned over the past four years that I think can help you with yours.

Anti-Racist Reading Review | “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere”

Rarely do short stories propel authors into literary fame. But, ZZ Packer’s “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,” a surprisingly honest anthology of eight short stories imbued with a masterly command of language, which had — and continues to — dazzle audiences.