SPOTLIGHT ON: Sara Proud & Kevin Callery

Sophomore English major Sara Proud and senior political science major Kevin Callery make up two twee-folk acoustic music duos—Bong Pong and Parent Teacher’s Dissociation. Performing in Rochester, Avon and locally at open mics, house shows and even in a motel room, this duo has slowly gained a good reputation among the campus’ music community.

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“The Art of Dining” combines food, comedy for lively, relatable performance

The Geneseo department of theater and dance studies presented Tina Howe’s “The Art of Dining” from Nov. 11–Sunday Nov. 15. Directed by professor of theater Randy Kaplan, the play placed an emphasis on the quality and love for food that we all have while the student actors played distinct and versatile characters.

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InterVarsity gives passionate, soulful covers of popular hits

The Geneseo InterVarsity Christian Fellowship presented their fall concert in Sturges Auditorium on Saturday Nov. 14. The night was filled with energetic and soulful performances as the students presented their songs. Geneseo InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is a group on campus that meets not only for fellowship and fun, but also to figure out life through Bible studies, prayer and large group worship. The group on campus is a part of a larger international organization, the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship—with organizations on campuses nationwide. The sense of community that the club thrives on was clear at the fall concert, as the performers and club members seemed to connect well with the audience in the relaxed environment.

First up for the night were sophomores Sarah Bissell and Madison Kemler as they performed Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros’ “That’s What’s Up.” Bissell played the guitar as Kemler sang. The duet performed in beautiful harmony for this peaceful tune.

Bissell and Kemler performed again for the next song alongside sophomore Jonathan Becker on the guitar. Together, they performed Rascal Flatts’ “Bless the Broken Road.”

Senior Jahnna Ravenell followed with her rendition of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.” Ravenell’s performance was very heartfelt as she charmed the audience with this track.

Following Ravenell was junior Tiphereth Hassan dancing to Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors.” Hassan stood out as the only dancer in the night and she gave an entrancing performance.

Sophomore Simone Louie was featured in the next few songs with various students. In the first piece, senior Louis Marzella accompanied Louie on the piano for her rendition of Kodaline’s “High Hopes.” Louie played the guitar while the other two sang a lovely duet.

Sophomore Amanda Saladino was joined by Louie to sing “All I Want”—also by Kodaline—which featured Louie on the piano. Louie had a wholehearted solo at the end of the tune where she sang a cappella, leaving the audience with a resonating ending.

Junior Amber Lin joined Louie and Saladino for their cover of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and Gabrielle Aplin’s “Ready to Question.” Both performances were enjoyable as they had a bass drum enhancing the rhythms and beats of the songs.

Hassan returned to sing Sabrina Carpenter’s “Eyes Wide Open.” Junior Hannah Loo and senior Naomi Wilson followed with a heartfelt and powerful performance of Lauren Daigle’s “How Can It Be.”

To finish the night off, Becker joined senior Harrison Hartsough to perform The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.” Hartsough played the cello and Becker played the guitar. The cover was a slower rendition of the original song. The cello was an interesting choice to have in the presentation of the track, giving the song a more relaxed tone.

The performance of the Geneseo InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was collectively great. Watching the talented singers take on exciting renditions of well known songs and add their own twists—whether it was through the unique use of an instrument or a creative dance—was a great way to spend a chilly fall night.

Geneseo Piano Trio gives standout debut performance

The Geneseo Piano Trio held their debut performance on Sunday Nov. 15 in Doty Hall. The trio consisted of a violin, cello and piano combination featuring lecturers in music Andrew Bergevin on violin, James Kirkwood on cello and professor of music Jonathan Gonder on piano. The auditorium quickly filled with a large audience that was mostly made up of students.

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Arts Opinion: Literary journals provide quick means of imaginary escape

The world of literary journals is not necessarily well known. If today’s young adults, college students and employees are reading at all, they typically pick up cheesy young adult novels, textbooks or Internet articles that grab their attention. The common excuse for the cutback on seriously creative literature is almost always chalked up to time: not having enough of it or not wanting to waste it.

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Album Review: 1D takes new direction with Made in the A.M.

One Direction released their highly anticipated fifth album Made in the A.M. on Friday Nov. 13, sparking a joyous response from fans around the world. This is the first album that band members Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson have made without former band mate Zayn Malik, which left many wondering if One Direction would continue to thrive without Malik’s strong belts and riffs.

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TV Show Review: Aziz Ansari’s Netflix show adds tasteful humor to sensitive topics

Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix original series “Master of None” is an almost seamless comedic commentary on the frustrations and challenges of adult life. Ansari plays the main character Dev, a 30-year-old aspiring actor in New York City who struggles with understanding and maintaining his relationships with family, friends and significant others.

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Koresh brings passionate, exhilarating performance to Wadsworth Auditorium

Limelight and Accents Performing Arts Series presented critically-acclaimed dance company Koresh in Wadsworth Auditorium on Saturday Nov. 7. Formed by Israeli-born artistic director Ronen Koresh, the company performed a groundbreaking fusion of ballet, jazz and contemporary dance. Since its formation in 1991, the company has gained international recognition—the Los Angeles Times described Koresh’s style as “fresh, urgent and deeply persuasive.” The company performed a set entitled “Mezze”—a mix of several dances taken from previous programs. Most of the songs seemed to have a specific focus on thing like love, fun and strife. The larger theme of relationships, however, bound all of them together. With no props except smoke, lights and simple costume design, the company achieved Koresh’s goal of showing “varieties of relationships and complexities of people” in a “new reality” that Koresh created himself.

Most of the accompanying music was purely instrumental with the exception of a handful of dances that incorporated excerpts from Karl Mullen’s poem “Promises I Never Meant to Keep.” Lines from the poem were recited before some of the dances, but it was an integral part of the dance “Promises.” Featuring only two performers, the piece was performed to repeating lines such as, “My promises are photographs/Like the one we took at the top of the Spanish mountain when the sun was going down and I told you I love you/And you cried/And we laughed.” This element turned the piece into a story—a fundamental aspect of the work of Koresh.

Apart from the poem, only the beginning song “What a Wonderful World” was lyrical. Koresh explained that most of the tunes are created for his company and that many types of music inspire them in order to “create some kind of mystique.” This is what Koresh did; the mix of traditional music and contemporary-electric seemed to keep the audience wondering where the dancers were in time and space.

In the question and answer session that followed the performance, Koresh revealed that one of his biggest influences is Israeli folk dance. This style of dance is what he first worked with at the beginning of his career. Since then, he has experimented with jazz and modern dance, fusing all three together in a captivating amalgamation.

Even with the modern twist, Koresh still incorporates a large amount of clapping and circle formations, which are both Israeli folk dance techniques. Koresh emphasized that the capability to continuously try new things is vital. “Every day, you can be something else,” he said.

Even though he has a hand in all aspects of the show—including light, music and costume—Koresh noted that he considers himself to be the “chef” who puts together a variety of ingredients that both he and his dancers come up with. As a result, the dancers do have input in the songs that they perform with seemingly effortless power and precision.

The dance company’s unique take on choreography, music and storytelling are what make Koresh a must-see performance.

SPOTLIGHT ON: Ariel Piazza

English creative writing major junior Ariel Piazza—also known as “Gypsy Freight”—is a free-spirited performer who creates songs and meaningful music as an emotional outlet. Playing the guitar, ukulele and piano, Piazza uses music to alleviate stress and bring together those around her. Music has always been an important part of Piazza’s life. She explained that her parents constantly had music playing around her house, which was a significant influence on her early love of music.

Piazza started playing instruments at an early age, teaching herself the piano and how to read music. For her, music seemed to be a calling. “I didn’t really have anything that I was particularly good at … growing up,” she said. “But then once I got my hands on a piano one day … I definitely felt connected to that and wanted to continue teaching myself from there and learning about that part of myself.”

Piazza began writing songs in high school, but she didn’t feel comfortable sharing them with others. She noted that her early music was very personal and she used it “like a stress reliever, like an emotion release.”

Although she started cultivating her musical skills early in her life, Piazza really delved into the music world in August 2014. She explained that she now wants to share her music in public with others. “I really want people to hear [my music] and understand it and listen to it … I really enjoy sharing it,” she said.

Piazza discussed the fact that her main sources of inspiration are Daughter lead singer Elena Timerand and Irish singer Enya. She added that she likes to imitate both of their sounds and styles. Piazza strives to keep her own music as “a hybrid of ambient and acoustic stuff together.”

She noted that her inspirations to write, however, are more intimate. “[My inspirations to write are] life experiences or memories that I want to particularly hold onto,” she said. “I try to write music … with a person or an experience as a focus and the sound develops around that.”

Piazza is currently signed with record company Bangkok Blend, a “do-it-yourself” label based out of Maryland and Rochester. She explained that label employees came up from Maryland and met her in Rochester for her first show.

Piazza said that what she most enjoys about performing are her interactions with people during her performances. “There’s this calm intimacy there. I really enjoy that,” she said. “And it opens up a lot of things for conversation after performing and stuff, which is also really important to me too.”

Although she wishes to pursue her love for music after college, Piazza noted that she has other plans on the horizon. With her major in creative writing, she hopes to go into editing and publishing—though she admits that her music might lead her elsewhere. “We’ll see where the wind takes me,” she said.

Although she has received some backlash regarding her stage name “Gypsy Freight,” her reasoning behind choosing the name bears no negative connation toward Romani individuals. Piazza explained that she did some research on the Romani people and her personal cultural background and ancestry. “I always thought it was really endearing to call somebody … a free spirit,” she said. “I really felt connected with that.”

“Freight,” on the other hand, alludes to the sense of alleviation she feels from her music. Piazza acknowledged that some people may take offense to the name, but stressed that there is no malice behind it.

“It’s part of my culture. I understand the negative connotations of gypsies and freight and those two words together and stuff like that, but if you listen to the kind of music I make, this is not a slander account at all,” she said. “It’s quite the opposite—if anything, I’m trying to honor that ancestry and that group of people.”

With the help of her music, Piazza can continue to entrance and connect with audiences as they bond over their shared love of music.

Photography exhibit enlightens, depicts hardships of Japanese-American history

The MacVittie College Union’s Kinetic Gallery is the host of a new, historical exhibit entitled “A Pilgrimage to the Japanese American Internment Camps of World War II,” presented by Notch and Margaret Miyake. The exhibit is composed of digital photographs taken while the Miyakes took a road trip across the country to visit abandoned Japanese-American internment camps, which were in operation from 1942–1945. The gallery opened on Nov. 4 and was accompanied by a talk by Notch Miyake—a Japanese-American himself—about his experience with the internment camps.

During his talk, Notch Miyake described his own experience growing up as a Japanese American. Born in Hawaii just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he said that his experience was a positive one, contrary to that of the rest of the country. At the time, Japanese-Americans made up 30 percent of Hawaii’s population.

Years later, Notch Miyake and his wife embarked on a road trip to the West, visiting the internment camps and detention centers that once housed more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans. Notch Miyake said that “the trip became a pilgrimage” for him and Margaret Miyake as they began to realize the historical and spiritual importance of the camps. He cited that his and his wife’s main goal is to broaden the public’s knowledge of the Japanese-American experience of World War II.

Notch Miyake addressed a theme that plays a lead role in his wife’s photography series: “gaman.” Gaman is a Japanese term that means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” Both Notch Miyake’s speech and Margaret Miyake’s photographs—which are each accompanied by a short description—stress the positivity and productivity of the Americans who spent time in the internment camps.

Not only were the internees faced with terrible living conditions—including communal toilets and cafeterias, no plumbing or heat, straw mattresses and one-room houses surrounded by barbed wire—but their traditional cultural values were destroyed as well. The Japanese highly value and respect their elders, but these camps made it impossible to uphold this value with its dehumanizing treatment of all internees.

Despite all of these obstacles, Japanese-Americans essentially turned the Western landscape into productive farms that continue to feed Americans. In addition, they built schools and churches and even formed sports teams. Essentially, the internees refused to be broken by their living conditions—something truly incredible.

In his speech, Notch Miyake stressed that these people who suffered were Americans and fully considered themselves to be so. Their transformation of bleak internment camps into the American Dream is an excellent example of gaman.

Notch and Margaret Miyake may have had personal reasons for visiting the remains of the Japanese-American internment camps, but they are strong proponents for continuing to educate others on the societal significance of the internment camps. Notch Miyake emphasized the idea that the past may repeat itself with issues such as immigration, terrorism and the refugee crisis dominating today’s world.

Notch and Margaret Miyake both expressed their hope that their exhibit will teach our community what it taught them: “How to negotiate our own personal crises and to never allow fear and prejudice to infect us.”

“Page to Stage” comes alive through interactive performance

The Geneseo department of music presented the musical event “Page to Stage: And the World Goes ‘Round” from Nov. 4–Friday Nov. 6 in Doty Recital Hall. It featured an array of Geneseo’s young, talented actors as they performed songs from various musicals. The event showcased the songs of the renowned Broadway songwriting duo John Kander and Fred Ebb. Some of the musicals featured included “Chicago,” “Cabaret” and “The Rink.”

The performance starred sophomores, juniors and seniors while the freshman theatre majors worked as crewmembers backstage. Both the set and costumes were minimal, but this was not a hindrance to the quality of the performance. Professor of music Don Kot—who was the pianist for the night—addressed this choice and explained that the students aimed to focus solely on the performance aspect of the show.

An intriguing element of the show was how the actors entered and exited through different doors around the recital hall. In fact, the show began with junior Nicole Eras walking down to the stage from the walkway on the second floor. Furthermore, Eras walked right past the audience as she sang the opening number “And the World Goes Round.”

The minimalist set added a raw element to the performances—some numbers were performed with the singer standing alone on the stage with nothing except the wooden blocks and their voice. Junior Ben Reiner’s rendition of “Mr. Cellophane” from “Chicago” was a prime example of this.

Other numbers—such as “Coffee in a Cardboard Cup” from “70, Girls, 70,” which featured the full cast were brilliantly choreographed and entertaining to watch. Each actor was comically in sync with one another as they pretended to jitter excitedly after downing an imaginary cup of coffee.

The most stellar choreography was in “All That Jazz,” performed by senior Alexandra Imbrosci-Viera. Male actors lifted Imbrosci-Viera above their heads as she seductively sang the show tune.

What really stood out about the performance as a whole was the collaboration between all of the actors. Though they were all vocally talented individually, their wonderful chemistry is what made the show significantly more enjoyable for the audience.

The musical ended with the entire cast singing “New York, New York.” Some actors sung the lyrics in different languages like French, Japanese, German and Swedish. The cast pulled another twist on the audience by running out into the seats, inviting them to sing along for the last number.

“Page to the Stage: And the World Goes Round” was a terrific representation of the theatrical and musical talent at Geneseo. All of the student actors put on a performance full of vigor, emotion and comedy.

Halsey uses music to combat taboo for mental illness

This modern era we are living in is one of the most progressive the Western world has ever seen, but there is much growth to be had. Singer Halsey helps facilitate such development of public conscious through her music. With topics such as gay marriage, racial prejudices and women’s reproductive rights—all extraordinarily important matters—at the forefront of public awareness recently, it’s all too easy to overlook other societal tribulations such as the lack of cognizance surrounding mental illness.

Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Halsey is familiar not only with the personal struggle of the mental illness, but also with the wider misconceptions of it and people’s reluctance to face such topics that are foreign to their individual experiences.

Through her music, Halsey expresses her unique journey and hardships. She offers listeners—whether they’re diagnosed with mental illnesses or not—an invitation to explore their own psyches and internal battles. “I’m taking a negative thing and making it art because that’s therapy for me,” Halsey said in an interview with Shelley Rome of Z100 New York on Sept. 9.

In the same interview, she discussed the larger societal fear of confronting issues like mental illness head-on. “Living in a world that’s so sensitive, that’s a scary thing for art because you find yourself censoring what you’re doing because you’re terrified of offending,” she said. “Art is meant to provoke.”

Discussing her new album Badlands—released in August—Halsey noted its symbolism in connection with mental health. “The entire thing is a metaphor for a mental state, you know? I have been living in the mental badlands for a while,” she said.

Halsey acknowledged that a vast dessert encircles the fictional world she concocts, which traps people within and keeps people out. This parallels her experiences with bipolar disorder alongside modern culture’s deficiency in recognizing mental illness as an acceptable category of disease rather than taboo.

The distinctive, intangible realm of Armageddon understood in Halsey’s Badlands album is created through the amalgamation of her lyrical imagery, vocal tones and electric instrumentals. This artificial construction of reality represents her personal psychological discord, while simultaneously providing listeners with an abstraction relatable to their own unique stories of mental distress or mental illness.

Halsey is unique in musical panache and self-presentation—she sports turquoise-colored hair and gave herself the moniker “Halsey” after a stop on the New York City L train. Her openness to generate discourse and messages addressing mental illness are integral in her musicale and lyrical style as well.

Halsey’s music helps to bring mental illness to the surface in societal sentience. Artists like Halsey are crucial to facilitating increased public mindfulness of such matters and ultimately directing our culture to a point of constructive reception and understanding in place of intolerance, hasty umbrage and preferred ignorance.

Grimes’ new album innovative, bold

It’s been awhile since Canadian-born indie-pop singer Claire Boucher—professionally known as Grimes—has released an album: three years, to be exact. Her previous album Visions spawned critically-acclaimed singles “Genesis” and “Oblivion,” which helped propel her into the spotlight and achieve recognition. Grimes is known for her conceptual, intricate music in which she fuses musical genres that run the gamut alongside her eccentric do-it-yourself compositions. In fact, Visions was entirely recorded and composed through the free music-recording software GarageBand.

And now, with her highly anticipated fourth album Art Angels, Grimes has reignited the buzz around not only her music, but her narrative as an artist.

The first track off of Art Angels titled “Laughing and Not Being Normal” immediately gives insight into Grimes’ own style. The nearly two-minute intro begins with riffs, glockenspiel-like sounds and a composition of strings. Halfway through the song, Grimes belts her well known high-pitched vocals. It ends abruptly to lead into the lively next track, “California.”

“Scream” is one of the most eccentric songs of the album. On this track, Grimes collaborates with Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, who sings the entire song in Mandarin. It is a poetic track, but is sexually explicit. While you may not understand what Aristophanes is saying, the noises she makes lets you know what she’s rapping about.

The fourth track “Flesh Without Blood” is the lead single of the album and is a Europop-sounding dance track. Lyrically, the song follows the theme of the public’s perception of Grimes and her rebuttal, singing, “And now I don’t, and now I don’t/And now I don’t care anymore.” She also takes jabs at people who claim she is “selling out” or “betraying” the roots of where she came from in order to become more marketable.

Another standout track, “Kill V. Maim,” is more conceptual and is sung through the scope of an altered, gender fluid version of Al Pacino. It’s backed by an infectious beat, hard synths and Grimes’ chirpy, chipmunk-esque vocals. In the pre-chorus, Grimes spells out “B-E-H-A-V-E” like a high school cheerleading team would with child-like enthusiasm. It is one of the liveliest and memorable songs of the album.

With Art Angels, Grimes travels to destinations Visions did not—there is a common theme of being free within the album. The song “Pin” encapsulates this with the chorus lyrics, “Falling off the edge with you, ahh-ooh-ooh-ooh/It was too good to be true.” Grimes has no regard but to be wild and have a great time, despite negative ramifications or knowing the moment won’t last. While the song is cynical, it takes a different approach to handling human attachment and detachment.

Another odd but refreshing song is “World Princess, Pt. II,” which encompasses a lively, booming beat. Something noteworthy about this album is that Grimes criticizes how male-dominated the music industry is and how she feels that she is viewed as incapable simply because of her sex. Many would believe that a man or a group of people shaped Grimes into the star she is, but Grimes rebuts this by saying, “It’s mine” over and over in the chorus. Grimes is quick to emphasize that she made herself on her own.

In “Venus Fly,” Grimes collaborates with American artist Janelle Monáe—known for her various Grammy nominations and appearance on Fun.’s hit “We Are Young.” “Venus Fly” is a thrusting, bluntly feminist track touching upon the objectification of women. Grimes and Monáe assert that women in the music industry should not have to be judged on their appearance.

All in all, Art Angels is a packed, 14-track album with a lot to say. It showcases Grimes’ musical progression as an artist, but more importantly, it demonstrates what she has to say and what she stands for: feminism, liberation, environmentalism and happiness. With this album, Grimes is no longer running to escape: she’s confronting her reality and she does a darn good job with it.

Wind Quintet enchants with skilled performance

The Geneseo Wind Quintet performed in Doty Recital Hall on Sunday Nov. 8 for a a mix of students and older spectators scattered across the auditorium. The quintet consisted of five adjunct lecturers in music: Glennda Dove-Pellito on flute, Ernest Lascell on clarinet, Megan Kyle on oboe, Marthal Sholl on bassoon and Mary Hunt on horn. Together, they carried out an engaging performance that seemed to captivate audience members. The first composition the quintet played was Paul Valjean’s “Dance Suite,” which is comprised of five different movements, each with its own personality. The composition maintained an upbeat rhythm throughout, though the tempo changed in each movement. “Dance Suite” combined many harmonious melodies to create a beautiful, stimulating piece.

The quintet transitioned to a very different composition for their second piece “Two Pieces for Wind Quintet and Piano: 1) Ballad on the Ground 2) Romp,” composed by professor of music James Walker. The composition differed greatly from “Dance Suite” in that it had dissonance throughout the entire piece. Rather than working in harmonious melodies, Walker’s composition pitted tones that directly contradicted each other and sounded uncanny to the ear.

The two movements in the second piece—“Allegretto” and “Allegro giocoso”—differed in the amount of notes that were being played. “Allegro giocoso” was more bustling, with busier movement and many different ideas at once, while “Allegretto” had a simpler tone.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Quintet in E flat major” was the third piece the quintet played after a brief intermission. The first movement, “Adagio-Allegro,” was a sweet, calming movement that continuously divided the quintet into two separate groups; giving one the melody and the other the accompaniment and then switching the two. It was a fascinating movement to listen to and seemed like a tricky piece to learn.

The concert finished with the amusing, lighthearted “The Fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.” A titled composition is a form of program music: instrumental compositions that are titled in order to coax the audience into imagining a narrative to go along with the music. The piece tells the classic tale of a race between a tortoise and a hare, with the timeless lesson, “slow and steady wins the race.”

In the composition, the heavy, lagging tones of the oboe and bassoon represented the tortoise’s steps, while the light and fast melody of the flute and clarinet represented the swiftness of the hare. With the music created by five instruments, it was incredible how a story could be told to the exact detail—from the start of the race to the hare’s nap to the tortoise’s victory.

The Geneseo Wind Quintet performed a wide variety of pieces unique in tonality, texture and tempo. With the talent and graciousness the five performers exhibited, the afternoon was certainly one to remember.

DinoArt exhibits meticulous sculpting skills

Geneseo’s Bertha V.B. Lederer Gallery opened the fascinating DinoArt exhibit on Oct. 28. DinoArt—created by Nelson Maniscalco—is a collection of small-scale sculptures of dinosaur skeletons.

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SPOTLIGHT ON: AJ Giaccio

Singer/songwriter sophomore Anthony “AJ” Giaccio spends his free time creating amusing and playful music. As a geography and English double major, Giaccio is both a college student and a musician whose love for music guides him through his daily life.

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Instrumental groups collaborate for enthralling performances

The Geneseo Wind Ensemble, Clarinet Choir and Saxophone Quartet—conducted and directed by adjunct faculty in music Ernest Lascell—collaborated for an enjoyable concert on Friday Oct. 30 in Wadsworth Auditorium.

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Holdgruen: Kesha deserves support in alleged abuse scandal

Pop singer Kesha is facing a dilemma no musician should ever have to face—either to make music with her alleged abuser or to not be able to make music at all. Kesha accused her producer Dr. Luke in October of 2014 of not only drugging and raping her, but also manipulating and exploiting her since she signed with him as an 18-year-old.

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Film Review: Horror film resonates through metaphor

The Babadook received rave reviews, obtaining an average rating of 8.3 out of 10 stars on Rotten Tomatoes in addition to The Daily Beast deeming it “the Best (and Most Sincere) Horror Movie of the Year” in 2014. After watching the film, it was clear what all of the buzz was about.

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Staged reading conveys personal narrative with warmth, insight

Junior Brodie McPherson directed a staged reading of Paula Vogel’s “The Baltimore Waltz” on Thursday Oct. 29 in the Robert Sinclair Theatre. The play was centered on the developing relationship of a brother and sister dealing with a tragic illness. The play starred some familiar faces from past staged readings on campus. Senior Lea Pandoliano—who played Anna—and McPherson both starred in “Death and the Maiden.” Additionally, sophomore Clayton Smith—who played the “third man”—was also in “Mr. Marmalade” earlier this semester.

New to the staged readings and Geneseo productions was freshman Sean Ryan, who played Anna’s brother Carl. Transfer student sophomore Maria Cento—who played the narrator—was another fresh face for Geneseo staged readings.

In “The Baltimore Waltz,” Anna and Carl travel around Europe looking for a doctor in Vienna who could help Anna with her imaginary “Acquired Toilet Disease.” It was not until the end of the play that it is revealed that Carl was in fact ill while Anna was simply living the plot in her imagination.

As the “third man,” Smith was just about every character that Anna and Carl encountered on their journey. Smith comically played characters from different countries, expertly speaking in various European accents like French and Dutch.

During the question and answer portion that followed the reading, one audience member asked Smith about how he was able to learn and produce such accents. “I always liked doing accents for fun, so that helped,” Smith said. “I would say definitely just going about watching videos on how to do accents.” Smith also added that the comfort of slipping into accents and different characters came from his experience in improvisational comedy, which helped him to perform as a versatile character in this production.

McPherson discussed the background of the play and how it echoed the reality of the playwright’s life, since Vogel’s own brother Carl was diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980s. Before his death, he wrote to his sister requesting that she go on a trip with him to Europe. Unaware of his illness, she turned him down. When he passed away in 1988, she deeply regretted her decision.

“The Baltimore Waltz” is Vogel’s tribute to her brother. “I think the main point is that it’s a very cathartic experience for Paula Vogel to write this,” McPherson said. “It gives her a chance to experience something that she wasn’t able to with her brother.”

“[Anna’s] brother and the ‘third man’ are all these different people in her head and this is how she’s dealing with what has happened—her brother’s death,” Pandoliano said.

According to McPherson, what drew him to choose “The Baltimore Waltz” was that “I think I really fell in love with the fact that it’s very different from the other plays about AIDS that I have experienced.”

“I’m really glad I did this [play],” McPherson said. “It was a really fun experience. It was a lot, but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Although the content of the play may have been difficult or sensitive to deal with, McPherson—along with the help of his student actors—produced a comical and enjoyable presentation of Vogel’s melancholic play.