Blog Posts

Location Review: Dupont Farmers Market

Review: Brilliant Psychologically Damaging Comedian on The Rise

The comedian Daniel Sloss is honestly kind of life changing. He was one of the first comedians I started to watch as I tried to cut back on media. He has a Netflix special called Daniel Sloss: Live Shows that contains two episodes: “Jigsaw” and “Dark.” The bit I want to focus on is “Jigsaw.” It gets you thinking about what your end goal is in life, and how we should treat ourselves in our relationships. This episode showcases his very dark humor. He covers a broad range of topics from tripping children to the meaning of life. His jokes are funny and current: “Facebook vegans are to veganism what ISIS are to Islam: a small but loud and persistent minority who missed the point of the original peaceful message and now for some reason are choosing to take it out on bacon.” 

A Review of Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy

For as long as I can remember, I have always been a voracious reader. At two years old, I would dump out the big wicker basket that held my picture book collection, crawl inside, and read until I made it through all of my favorites: the entirety of the Berenstain Bearsseries, my worn copy of Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon, Sarah Stewart’s The Library, Yoshiko Uchida’s The Bracelet, and Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon, to name a few. Many of these books I read several times in one sitting. 

ZHU & A Psychedelic Journey Through Ringo’s Desert

If you’ve never heard of him, ZHU is the stage name of Steven Zhu, an American DJ, singer, producer, and multi-­instrumentalist. His music is hard to pigeonhole, since it sits in the pocket of a growing—albeit paradoxical—genre: electronic dance music (EDM) with an artful nod. In general, EDM is designed for people in clubs to bounce mindlessly to while touching a dozen strangers and sweating enough to ruin their shirts forever—not exactly a challenging listen. Art­-pop, on the other hand, has the opposite connotation; it’s shrill, over intellectual, and most damning of all, not danceable. However, ZHU’s music breaks down the wall between mind-bending prog­pop and the catchy EDM we all love to mosh to. All that to say—compounded by the rave reviews I’d heard from friends regarding ZHU’s live show—I was biting my nails in anticipation of his concert in DC.

Review: My Love Letter for To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Let me start by talking about the aesthetics. I was infatuated by the color palette and compositions of the shots in this film. There was an overwhelming sense of balance in each frame. Most of them were center composed— especially the scenes that focused on individuals. Characters, especially main characters, were almost always center composed. There were a couple scenes, usually involving action, in bird’s eye perspective. I found that this added movement to the film. It took to viewer to a new angle, which made it feel alive.

AmLit Spring 2018 Edition Released!

AmLit Spring 2018 Edition is released!

Book Review: blud by Rachel McKibbens

A book review of blud, Rachel McKibbens's recent collection of poetry

Emma Sulkowicz: Life Post Mattress Performance (TRIGGER WARNING: Rape/Sexual Assault)

***TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of rape and sexual assault***

Woodstockapalooza

“Send me your location. Let's focus on communicatin' 'cause I just need the time and place to come through,” Treble and Paradise crooned in the opening notes of their set at Woodstockapalooza on April 7th at 8:30 pm. Hosted in Kay Spiritual Center, the two hour event brought together a wide variety of a capella groups in the D.C. area, pulling in the UMD Generics, UVA’s Academical Village People, the Haverford Ford S’Chords and The Georgetown Chimes, interspersed among four of AU’s own ensembles. 

A Survey of Katzen's Spring Art Exhibitions

We often neglect to appreciate what is right under our noses. This thought entered my head as soon as I stepped through the doors to The Katzen Art Museum this past Tuesday. I had previously thought that even in the artistic hub that is Washington D.C. that I had to travel (at least a few metro stops) to find great art. Yet, here it was mere feet from my dorm room.

Loner Album Review

March for Our Lives

In wake of a tragic mass shooting on February 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland students banded together to create a movement advocating for gun-control legislation. The March for Our Lives on March 24, 2018 was the culmination of these efforts, drawing thousands of protesters in Washington D.C. alone. Below is a video by blogger Lindsay Russell capturing the march through protest signs. 

Politicizing Presidential Portraits?

On Monday, February 12th, the official portraits of the 44th President and First Lady of The United States were revealed to the public in the National Portrait Gallery. Their unconventional use of posture, color, and texture, caused a bit of a stir in terms of the dis-similarity to prior presidential renderings. Discussing works of art and debating their value is a worthwhile endeavor, but many across the country are using this innocuous public celebration of Obama’s presidency, as a point of political outrage. With so many upheavals in this country and the world at large, it seems almost silly to get upset over the artistic styles of the chosen portraitists. 

National Archives Photo Essay

Book Review: Lincoln in the Bardo

“Weirdly intimate”, would be how I describe Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, his first attempt at a full-length novel. Weird, mostly because of the structure of the novel, a unique blend between play, collage, and, of course, novel. Lincoln in the Bardo is delivered through points of views of a group of deceased buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown, manifesting somewhat magically in the bardo, which is a Tibetan concept of limbo between life and death. It centers around the voices of three characters: Hans Vollman, Roger Bevins III, and the reverend Everly Thomas, each who has his reason for staying in the bardo. The events of the living, centering around the death of Willie Lincoln, the third son of President Abraham Lincoln, is told through a series of collages, some of which are excerpts from real documents, others are made up. To Saunders’s credit, his weird structure is not meant to confuse the readers: indeed, he spends a good chunk of the pages at the beginning to familiarize readers with his style so that they will not be confused when a barrage of new characters showing up later in the story. The unusual structure also raises many questions: why does Saunders give us the stream of consciousness of the dead but not the living? What does it mean that many times the perspectives of the dead are interchangeable? There are potentially many other questions that make the style interesting.

Spills: A ZineFest

This past Sunday, I attended AU’’s first ever ZineFest, which was co-hosted by AmLit in collaboration with Homie House Press. The event – Spills: A ZineFest – was an interactive and charming opportunity for creatives from around D.C and across the east coast to showcase their work and engage with intrigued students and patrons. 

Book Review: Turtles All The Way Down

After the smash success of John Green’s previous book and later movie adaptation, The Fault in Our Stars, I was apprehensive as to what to expect of his latest novel: Turtles All The Way Down. However, my uneasiness proved to be futile, as John Green did not disappoint. In fact, by the end of the novel, I found myself forgetting the popularity of Paper Towns and others that had come before, floored by the honesty and raw emotional expression of this new work. Set in Indianapolis, Turtles All The Way Down centers around 16-year-old Aza Holmes who struggles with severe O.C.D and anxiety that impairs her everyday interactions. Her thoughts of bacteria and being unclean torment her and manifest in reopening, sterilizing, and bandaging a cut on her finger, profusely sweating, fighting the urge to swallow hand sanitizer, and constant hypochondria about contracting the rare clostridium difficile infection. Readers follow Aza and her best friend Daisy, as they investigate the whereabouts of missing billionaire Russell Pickett (who is also the father of Aza'a childhood friend Davis) in hopes of securing the $100,000 reward for his capture. However, what results is much more than a missing person mystery. The novel captures the intricacies of teenage emotion and mental illness as Aza battles to cope with her spiraling thoughts, all the while navigating tumultuous friend/familial relationships and the complex dynamics of her first love. What impacted me most about the novel was the writing style itself. Through the use of repetition to mirror Aza’s incessant thoughts and the visceral anxiety analogies like the “thought spiral,” we as readers are immediately placed into Aza’s brain, allowing us to empathize with her. Green manages to convey Aza’s emotions to the point of producing physical discomfort in readers (I felt it) — a true feat. He also succeeds in giving voice to mental health conditions that have huge prevalence in our society today, in a way that feels honest and accurate, rather than stereotyped, one dimensional, or false. Perhaps this is due to Green’s personal struggles with anxiety and O.C.D, bringing an element of autobiography to Aza’s struggles. Engaging to the very end and a welcome diversion from Green’s usual comic relief amidst seriousness, Turtles All The Way Down will leave readers uncomfortable, allowing valuable space for thoughtful discussions about mental health.

Art Exhibit Review: The Phillips Collection: Renoir and Friends

Being an art lover, I was quick to jump at the opportunity to see the Renoir exhibit at The Phillips Collection as soon as it opened. The exhibition, Renoir and Friends, examines his famous work Luncheon at the Boating Party, the people within his paintings that crossed over from his real life, and the piece’s layered creation process. It struck me as a fresh lens for viewing a painter who has been commented on and critiqued often. To provide some background for those who are not familiar with Renoir’s work, Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter associated with the Impressionist style of painting- a 19th century art movement characterized by small but visible brushstrokes and an emphasis on light and movement. He gained relative popularity during his lifetime creating portraits for the wealthy. Renoir’s work often focused on happy scenes with pleasant subject matter and youthful subjects, as he believed art should be beautiful and capture the highlights of life, rather than serious or dark moments. 

Copy and Paste: Amlit's Design in Process: Day One

 Day 1 | Collage

Ongoing Struggle

The stage is set, literally; it is Friday night in the Katzen Studio Theater and I am sitting in the third row. The black box stage is sparse except for scattered music stands and the musicians tuning their instruments. The audience is gathered to see We Are Here, Jarrett Murray’s senior recital, a musical on homeless LGBTQ youth. The cast is small, only four AU student actors: Whitney Chante'l (Chay), James Mernin (Jonathan), Alice Bershtein (Corey), Megan Ann Robbins (Angelica), and the director: Sam Baum. The instrumentalists include: Austin Jaffe (Piano), Jess Bauer (Violin), Alain Xiong-Calmes (Cello), Andrew Samson (Clarinet), Griffin Tanner (Guitar), John Salzillo (Bass), Nate Gibson (Drums), and Jarrett himself (Conductor).