Olivia Gieger '21 - The Amherst Student

Remembering the People Behind the Polls

Last week, I made the short trek up to New Hampshire to knock on some doors and get out the vote in preparation for the state’s Feb. 11 primary. Later that evening, I went to a Democratic rally, giving the candidates a last hurrah before Monday’s election. Each

News

Rabbi Bridges Judaism and Environmentalism in Talk

Environmental Rabbi Ellen Bernstein sat down with students to discuss the connection between faith and environmentalism on Nov. 15. The gathering was an addition to Amherst Hillel’s weekly shabbat dinner in collaboration with the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. With a background in ecology, Bernstein’s work as

News

Fresh Faculty: Anna Abramson

Anna Abramson is an assistant professor of English. She was a postdoctoral fellow at both MIT and Harvard. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Brown University in English and psychology, and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in English. Q: What led you to want to

Arts and Living

Amherst Through Art: Homecoming History at the Mead

The Rotherwas Room: Then | Now One of Amherst’s most iconic spots is the installation of the 15th century Rotherwas Room. On permanent loan to the Mead Art Museum from the George Pratt bequest to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the room was once home to members of

News

Studying Arctic Ice Caps from the Capitol

For so many, an interest in scientific research charts a clear path: undergraduate degree, master’s, doctorate, research, professorship. But Cynthia Suchman ’90 launched onto that path not knowing exactly where it would lead, open to the turns it took and the possibilities it opened — away from what’s most

Arts and Living

How My Taylor Swift Love Affair Continues On “Lover”

Watching Taylor Swift on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend felt off in a way that’s difficult to put into words. What is Taylor Swift doing singing onstage with a saxophone? Why does she perform with such uncomfortably imposed swagger? It all seemed out of place and out of

Arts and Living

The Life Behind “Living”: What We’ve Been Listening To

In the Arts and Living section, we spend every week upholding, analyzing and exalting the arts and culture on the campus, in the valley and world around us. But, it’s also worth taking a moment, or two, to look within the section for the arts and culture we ourselves

News

“If You Want to Act, Understand the Stage”

Yixin “Arthur” Xiao ’19 sees the world through the lens of a different language. It’s not because he came to Amherst as an international student from a home on the southern coast of China, but it is because he sees the world, and all within it, through the language

Opinion

A Reflection on Jeff Sessions' Visit

I often write not because I have the answers, but, rather, because I have questions that require vocalization. Writing helps me think through and knead out questions that don’t have obvious answers. There are some things I know for sure: I know that Jeff Sessions is the antithesis of

Arts and Living

“Shrill” Gives Us a Polished, Pink Celebration of Real Life

I must admit that I have been waiting for “Shrill” since Hulu announced it would turn Lindy West’s book of the same title into a six-episode show in early August. I stayed awake until midnight on March 15 to stream the show as soon as Hulu put it online.

Opinion

The Internet Outage: A Lesson in Vulnerability

I like to think of myself as wholly independent. I’m able to spend hours alone, navigate a new city by myself and, above all, work my way out of most problems I stumble into. And this, I believe, is what perturbed me so deeply about the more than 72-hour-long

News

John Kasich Calls for Unity in Talk

Barely a month out of public office, former Ohio governor and 2016 presidential candidate John Kasich arrived at the college to give a talk on Feb. 7. His visit began with a small classroom discussion with a randomly selected group of students, followed by dinner at President Biddy Martin’s

News

Curator Pursues Passion for Objects of the Past

For Tara Gleason Chicirda ’94, there is no such thing as a dull day. As the curator of furniture for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia and the mother of a 12-year-old boy, her days are full of constant activity, moving from her office to the historic grounds and

Arts and Living

Paak and Lamar Collaborate Seamlessly on New Single “Tints”

With a surge of good music this fall — the offerings range from a Khalid album to new Post Malone track and Lady Gaga’s powerful vocals in “A Star is Born” to the long-awaited “Carter V” by Lil Wayne — it’s easy for hidden gems to remain hidden. But, the

Arts and Living

Poetry Festival Celebrates the Artistic Legacy of Emily Dickinson

Typically quiet and deserted, the yard of Emily Dickinson’s house surged to life on Saturday night, as students, professors and townspeople alike flocked to the historic site for an evening of poetry and music. The Saturday evening event was part of the sixth annual Amherst Poetry Festival, which ran

News

Amherst to Go Half-Solar by 2019

Amherst, along with Bowdoin, Hampshire, Smith and Williams, has formed the New England College Renewable Partnership, a collaborative contract to purchase solar electricity from a solar farm in Farmington, Maine. Starting in 2019, Amherst will annually receive 10,000 Megawatt hours (MWh) from the farm, enough to power around half

Arts and Living

Bluestockings To Host Single Group A Capella Concert This Friday

After a semester of joint concerts and openers, Amherst’s a capella group, The Bluestockings, will take the stage in its own show on Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m. in the Morris Pratt Ballroom. Having their own show means group members will have the time to perform more

Arts and Living

“Urinetown” Illuminates Social Issues Through Satire and Parody

Picture a world plagued by massive drought and ruled by an evil dictator — this may not require much imagination. Now, envision that world, but filled with song and dance, parodying some of Broadway’s greatest musicals. To do that, you may need some help from Amherst College’s upcoming production

Arts and Living

Q&A With Sydney Tate on Women of Amherst’s Spring Play

Every spring, Women of Amherst puts on a play, inspired by and expanding upon Eve Ensler’s feminist play “The Vagina Monologues.” The play is a series of separate skits all centered on issues women face, and all the skits are student-written submissions. Currently, Women of Amherst is collecting submissions