Sign in Subscribe

Arts & Living

Roger Ebert's Lasting "Leave of Presence"

Roger Ebert's Lasting "Leave of Presence"

I learned of Roger Ebert’s death not two days after he reported that he would be stepping down from reviewing 200+ films a year in favor of reviewing one or two a week. What he called a “leave of presence” now means more to me than simply an affirmation

With Great Power: Responsibility as a Geek

With Great Power: Responsibility as a Geek

[Trigger warning: sexual assault and misogyny] It’s difficult to put your finger on so-called “geek culture.” Many assume that the words geek and nerd are derogatory, and to a certain extent they are. But increasingly it’s become a self-attributed catch-all for a generation of kids (some, like myself,

Zak Piper: Giving “The Interrupters” a Voice

This Thursday, a film screening of “The Interrupters,” a documentary on workers who prevent gun violence in Chicago, will take place in Pruyne Lecture Hall at 8 p.m. Co-sponsored by Careers in Education Professions, Black Students Union, the EDU, the Department of Film and Media Studies and the Amherst

With Great Power: Responsibility as a Geek

With Great Power: Responsibility as a Geek

[Trigger warning: sexual assault and misogyny] It’s difficult to put your finger on so-called “geek culture.” Many assume that the words geek and nerd are derogatory, and to a certain extent they are. But increasingly it’s become a self-attributed catch-all for a generation of kids (some, like myself,

Wizards, Gangsters and Starlets: Oh , My!

Wizards, Gangsters and Starlets: Oh , My!

The two latest James Franco movies, “Spring Breakers” and “Oz the Great and Powerful,” were released within weeks of each other, and could not appear to be more different. In “Spring Breakers,” sex, drugs and violence abound in pursuit of the “American dream” — embodied, in this case, by a killer

The World, Seen: On Beauty and Storytelling

The World, Seen: On Beauty and Storytelling

Imagine, for a moment, that for the first time in your Amherst career, you are visiting the Mead Art Museum on your own accord. For some, this will be a fresh memory, while for others such an imaginative feat might be a near impossibility. Imagine that no class brought you

Making Missile Defense Exciting (Really!)

Making Missile Defense Exciting (Really!)

This weekend saw Amherst host its most famous presenter for the semester. (Spring Concert doesn’t count). Rachel Maddow, as everybody knows as the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC, gave a book talk about “Drift”, some non-fiction piece about something military, something blah. Or at least, that’