As Twitter user @jishnu_bandu so eloquently put it, in the era of COVID-19, in some of the dimmest of times in recent history, one must remember: “As you binge watched your thirteenth entire series, or read a book, or sleep to music, remember. Remember that in the darkest days, when everything stopped, you turned to artists.” This is true. We have all become heavy, gluttonous consumers of all forms of media.
Posts published in “Arts and Culture”
Tuesday Nov. 10 Smith College held its annual Cromwell Day, and though this year's symposium took place virtually, it was still an impactful opportunity to come together, reflect and learn. This year’s celebration was entitled, “Tackling Anti-Blackness: Moving Past the Abstract” and featured speakers, workshops and student art pieces. It concluded with a showcasing of student artwork that grappled with the harrowing history of racism in the United States as well as devastating current events such as the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor which have sparked civil unrest across the nation.
One night, just before the start of the 2020 remote fall semester, Ruby Lowery ’21 thought “I’m going to create a blanket.”
This idea would become the Smith Covid-19 blanket, a year-long undertaking by Smith Stitchers, the knitting club that Lowery founded with Natalie Mosher ’21 in 2018.
On Tuesday Oct. 27, Gina Siepel presented her work-in-progress environmental arts project, “To Understand a Tree.” The virtual event was hosted by Joanne Benkley, the…
Five years ago, to put it lightly, I was slightly obsessed with the Chicago Seven. Every school report of choice somehow miraculously resulted in writing about this protest of the Demecratic party’s support for the Vietnam War that took place in 1968 outside of the National Democratic Convention in Chicago. Eight left wing radicals of different groups were charged for conspiracy of crossing state lines to incite violence.
As community events shift to online platforms, Smith’s Boutelle-Day Poetry Center is finding new and creative ways of gathering virtually to celebrate the joy of writing. On Tuesday Oct. 6, the Poetry Center hosted a book launch via Zoom for the newly published book of poems “The Map of Every Lilac Leaf.” The book was published in conjunction with the Smith College Museum of Art, and all of the poems draw inspiration from pieces in Smith’s art collection.
I consumed my fair share of “highbrow” media over Quarantine Summer: I finally watched “Fleabag.” I got deeply into the twisted capitalist world of HBO’s “Succession.” I read a lot of modern literary fiction and finally took advantage of that Smith College New York Times subscription.
But my one true quarantine love, the one piece of media that made good on the promise of important art and transported me out of these Unprecedented Times, was "Riverdale," the CW’s violent, glossy, completely off-the-wall adaptation of the Archie Comics.
In the past few months, we have seen a surplus of mural paintings throughout the nation. The movement was sparked by the commission of the BLM street painting, by the Washington D.C. mayor, Murial Browser. Since then, communities across America have taken to the streets with road-marking paint to cement the statement “Black Lives Matter.”
In the past few months, we have seen a surplus of mural paintings throughout the nation. The movement was sparked by the commission of the BLM street painting, by the Washington D.C. mayor, Murial Browser. Since then, communities across America have taken to the streets with road-marking paint to cement the statement “Black Lives Matter.”
The 2020 Election Through Graffiti on the Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge
Photo courtesy of Bella Levavi
Second in ubiquity only to Spy Kid Two tags, Trump 2020 graffiti has sprung up along the bike trails across the Pioneer Valley. The pro-Trump graffiti on Norwottuck Rail Trail in particular has sparked a conversation throughout the area.