Former Skidmore professor, Terence Blanchard, earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Music Score for his work on Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. Blanchard wrote all the music used in BlacKkKlansman, and has worked with Lee on past films.
Read moreThe Oscar Results Are In: Who Got Snubbed?
As most people know, the Oscars took place on Sun. Feb. 24th in Los Angeles. The show was filled with beautiful outfits, graceful acceptance speeches and many winners but, interestingly, no host. Nonetheless, the night was a success, filled with many tears of joy.
Read moreWhat to Do Weekly: 3/06 - 3/13
With all that goes on both on-campus and in town, it can be tough to know what to do and where to go, so we’ve compiled the top five things Skidmore students ought to do, see and attend this week.
Read more“What’s Wrong,” A Poem
They ask me what’s wrong and it sets in.
Read more"The Plotless Nightmare," A Poem
It’s a nightmare too frightening to tell.
Read moreSkidmore Alumna Wins Grammy
On Feb. 10th, the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles was flooded with rows of paparazzi, artists in extravagant ball gowns, and gold award trophies in honor of the 61st Annual Grammys Awards Show. Emily Lazar, a Skidmore alumna, was among the women to grace the Grammys stage.
Read moreWhat to Do Weekly: 2/27 - 3/6
(Poster by Louis Roberts ‘22)
I could say that there’s nothing to do this week, but that would be a LIE! Here’s this week’s What to Do Weekly—enjoy!
1. Get your comic on. Chris Ware, American cartoonist of New Yorker fame, is coming to Skidmore courtesy of the Tang and you should get excited. As part of the Winter/Miller Lecture series, Chris will be on hand for a book signing at 5pm and talk at 6pm on Thursday, Feb. 28 in the Tang atrium and Payne room, respectively.
2. Go see the Blackbox. Opening night for Men on Boats, the upcoming theater production, is this Friday, March 1 with performances running through March 7. The play tells Jaclyn Backhaus’ original story with “performers who embody ANYTHING OTHER than our country’s most historically dominant group of people.” See them shake things up on sage this week and next!
3. Eat for a good cause. Look, I know there’s a food festival on nearly every one of these lists, but I can’t help that upstate New York has a thing for low-cost samples. This weekend’s indulgence is mac-n-cheese as Siena College hosts their 10th Annual Mac -n- Cheese Bowl to benefit the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. The event will be held at the Marcelle Athletic Complex (a.k.a. MAC—I can’t make this stuff up) in Albany on Sat., March 2, from 11am-2:30pm.
4. Hear live music Skidmore style. Lively Lucy’s is putting on a Skidmore band-only show at Falstaff’s this Thursday, Feb 28 at 8pm featuring three great acts (Kickball, Tiberius and Nu-Note, a nu band on campus you can read more about here!). There will be indie, R&B and some things in between, so come out for a good time.
5. Figure out your major. Yeah, this seems like a good idea. Good thing Exploremore, Skidmore’s two-week advising block, is still going on. Events are hosted daily by different departments so that students can best figure out what they’d like to pursue. Know what you want? Maybe you don’t! Don’t know what you want? Great! These panels are for you.
A Meditation on the Tiny Hat Trend
What we must ask ourselves is, how do we address the truth that lies beneath these transferable quips, and what narratives have been overwritten in the process. When did dressing this way take on a new, shared meaning?
Read moreWelcome to Nu-Note: "We're Bringing the Sauce"
Nu-Note, the new band on campus — which combines soulful melodies, jazz and 90s R&B influences — formed with the intention of filling a gap in Skidmore’s music scene: a space for musicians of color.
Read moreConcert Countdown: 2/27 - 3/6
Every week in Saratoga and the surrounding region, there are countless concerts, from unknown bands to pop stars on the radio. Here are the top five concerts in and around Saratoga Springs this week.
Read more"Mirrored Reflections: To the the City that Smells of Orange Blossoms," A Poem
I still see Firenze in my dreams.
Read moreCollections and Collectors: Travel Artifacts
Skidmore students all have their own unique traits, from different hobbies, to different majors, and even different collections. When she’s not on the quidditch field, in the dance studio, or in the geology lab, Elle Ping ’21 works on her collection of pins and decks of cards.
Read moreOPINION: Are the Grammys and Other Award Shows Outdated?
Recently, the 2019 Grammys aired with drama, accusations, and controversy galore — Ariana Grande pulled out of attending and performing at the last minute and critics ripped J-Lo a new one for her Motown performance, just to name a few. It seems that award show viewers cannot get through the show without either losing interest or engaging in some kind of drama. It’s time for a change, and a fresh new look at pop culture
Read moreWhat to Do Weekly: 2/19 - 2/26
With all that goes on both on-campus and in town, it can be tough to know what to do and where to go, so we’ve compiled the top five things Skidmore students ought to do, see and attend this week.
Read morePhilosophy Club: From News Headlines to Kanye West
College may be a time for learning big ideas, but it is also a time to interrogate them. And what better place to do so than Skidmore’s Philosophy Club? Every week, the Philosophy Club meets to try to answer big questions, ranging from the philosophy of love to the philosophy of Kanye West. Skidmore News sat down with Amanda Marlowe, club president, along with board members August Rosenberg, Maximillian Lowe and Meghan Tucker.
Students do not have to be philosophy majors to join the club; in fact, many of their members are from all different sorts of majors. “What I like about Philosophy Club is it’s like a little of a departure from real philosophy,” said Lowe. “Philosophy majors come occasionally, they usually provide a different perspective, but I’d say maybe some people have taken one philosophy class, or people don’t know anything and just come,” added Tucker.
How exactly do they come up with their different discussion topics? “Sometimes [we] pull from the headlines,” explained Lowe. Other times, however, the topics are a bit more out-there, like when they covered Kanye West in a past meeting.
The meetings generally start with a topic and a few discussion questions from the board, who then let the conversation flow freely with some moderation. Rosenberg explained that the club uses “gentle reminders” to keep the conversation flowing and to ensure everyone has a voice in the discussion.
“We don’t want to make it feel like we’re in some kind of straight-backed, academia classroom-tense space,” explained Marlowe. “We just want to make sure that if someone maybe is talking for a little bit too long, we’ll say ‘does anyone have something to add?’”
The Philosophy Club’s goals for the semester include becoming an official club, working on their partnerships with other clubs and increase their presence on campus. Despite the club’s existence for quite a long time, currently it is not ‘official’ — or, as Lowe put it: “It was a philosophical thing genuinely for a while.” Now, however, the e-board hopes to change that.
The club has some exciting partnerships coming up this semester. “In just a couple weeks we’re partnering with Feelgood, which is another club on campus that is working to end world hunger and do it in a sustainable fashion,” said Marlowe. The Philosophy Club is going to join Feelgood at their grilled cheese stand in Case and ask people about their decisions about where to spend their money, which will then lead into the following week’s discussion, “Why do we want to be good; is it selfless or selfish?”
The Philosophy Club meets on Mondays at 5:30 in Ladd 207. They’re always welcoming to newcomers, and you don’t need any background in philosophy to show up. “There’s no prerequisite of knowledge of any philosophy of philosophers, so we try to make it an open environment for anyone who wants to come and share their thoughts,” said Marlowe.
Collections and Collectors: An Army at Attention
Her tradition began one winter night at the The Nutcracker ballet, watching the dancers slide across the floor in their magical costumes, leaping and gliding to the classical music.
Read more"On Teeth Dreams," An Essay
No good can come from researching dreams, anyway.
Read more"Etchings of Words," A Poem
The door is adorned with empty lines
and there are no locks, no bolts, no handles.
What lies beyond the door
remains trapped.
The mind hears knocks,
wind coming from behind the door.
The hum of detectives, lovers, birds
pouding on the door.
The sound starts to blend into one harmony —
loud voices where emotions and notes are expressed.
It bears the marks of streaks
and shrieks for the knight in shining armor
until the writer has no other choice,
but to push the door
that is littered with crumpled pieces of paper
etched with pen marks, pencil marks, and eraser shavings.
Unleash the imagination,
it flows endlessly like the words in language.
Simply like turning the pages of a novel,
silence the voices
by creating more voices.
Without the pounding anymore, there’s music —
lyrics of stories decorate and blur,
the door is painted with words.
The Value of Discussing Unresolved Conflict: What’s Going on in Venezuela?
Despite iced-over sidewalks and inclement weather the night of February 6th, Emerson Auditorium was packed with students ready to listen to a discussion on the escalating crisis in Venezuela.
Read moreOPINION: The Case for Liberal Arts
At the 2016 Meeting of Association of American Colleges and Universities, a question was posed: “What is the liberal arts?” After the Boston Globe’s reporting of 28% of closures, mergers or changing missions among 500 small private colleges in the past fifty years, this question has only increased in relevance and importance.
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