Catching fire in darkness: Celebrating Diwali during a pandemic

Catching fire in darkness: Celebrating Diwali during a pandemic

Aditi Desai

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. 

THE PROSPECT | 12/06/2020

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

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

Cameron Lee

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.

THE PROSPECT | 12/06/2020

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Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason: Chamber music with intimacy

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason: Chamber music with intimacy

Aster Zhang

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. 

THE PROSPECT | 12/06/2020

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

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

Ned Furlong

“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.

THE PROSPECT | 12/06/2020

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DISPATCH | Summer At Last

DISPATCH | Summer At Last

Samuel Li

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.

THE PROSPECT | 12/06/2020

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2020 Holiday Gift Guide

2020 Holiday Gift Guide

Lauren Fromkin

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. 

THE PROSPECT | 12/06/2020

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

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

Zoya Amir Gauhar

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.

THE PROSPECT | 12/03/2020

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USG Movie review: ‘Black Panther’

USG Movie review: ‘Black Panther’

Tiana Ruden

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.

THE PROSPECT | 12/03/2020

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

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

Aster Zhang

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.  

THE PROSPECT | 12/03/2020

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

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

Sally Jane Ruybàlid

 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. 

THE PROSPECT | 12/01/2020

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Watching ‘The Hunger Games’ on election night

Watching ‘The Hunger Games’ on election night

Autumn Shelton

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.”

THE PROSPECT | 11/24/2020

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

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

Aster Zhang

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. 

THE PROSPECT | 11/23/2020

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A senior's guide to course selection

A senior's guide to course selection

Lillian Chen

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.

THE PROSPECT | 11/22/2020

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Anti-Racist Reading Review | “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere”

Anti-Racist Reading Review | “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere”

Aditi Desai

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. 

THE PROSPECT | 11/22/2020

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How ‘The Big Sick’ gets the grand romantic gesture right

How ‘The Big Sick’ gets the grand romantic gesture right

Cathleen Weng

The grand romantic gesture is a mainstay of the rom-com genre, and not undeservedly. But, as “The Big Sick” proves, it’s a trope worth looking at with a more critical eye. 

THE PROSPECT | 11/19/2020

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Stolen lullabies, illicit affairs: sound and storytelling in Taylor Swift’s ‘folklore’

Stolen lullabies, illicit affairs: sound and storytelling in Taylor Swift’s ‘folklore’

Rebecca Cao

Perhaps more surprising was not the fact that Swift wrote such a successful album in such a short amount of time, but that the album radically departed from her original upbeat sound.

THE PROSPECT | 11/18/2020

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COVID-19 and ‘code red’: understanding the pandemic’s toll on frontline health care workers

COVID-19 and ‘code red’: understanding the pandemic’s toll on frontline health care workers

Harsimran Makkad

Rather than watching the case count on The New York Times or other news outlets, I track the number of cases by the times we are what my family calls “code red,” when we handle clothing with gloves and disinfectant and maintain distance until my mother, an anesthesiologist, has showered.

THE PROSPECT | 11/18/2020

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Still wish you were Heather? Sam Spector ’24 just released a fresh take on the viral song.

Still wish you were Heather? Sam Spector ’24 just released a fresh take on the viral song.

Sydney Eck

Composer and performer Sam Spector ’24 has released a new single covering the internet sensation with a punk rock twist.

THE PROSPECT | 11/16/2020

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‘How to be Human’: The Humanities Sequence in quarantine

‘How to be Human’: The Humanities Sequence in quarantine

Gabriel Robare

This summer, HUM professors and students expressed their desire to see the course engage more fully with the current moment; as the first semester nears its close, The Daily Princetonian looked into what’s been done so far. Three HUM professors told the ‘Prince’ how they planned for this remarkable semester to replicate the class, to build the community, and to react to the moment. Two current students grade them on their success. All considered what it means to be human and what the humanities still has to teach us, even — perhaps especially — in a moment of crisis. 

THE PROSPECT | 11/16/2020

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Sassy, Queer, and Lebanese: Life Lessons with Rabih Alameddine

Sassy, Queer, and Lebanese: Life Lessons with Rabih Alameddine

Daily Princetonian Staff

The first installment of the Program in Creative Writing’s C.K. Williams Reading Series featured Lebanese American author Rabih Alameddine, writer of the critically acclaimed and National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, “An Unnecessary Woman.”

THE PROSPECT | 11/16/2020