What’s the first image that pops into your head when you hear the word “design”? Do you see Ferraris? Curtain catalogues? Starving hipsters? Or do you imagine an open-concept industrial warehouse where professionals from the full range of intelligences work simultaneously to turn forward-thinking insights into real-life consumer products and services that likely have improved your own life?

I first heard about Jisoo Lee during a Tuesday evening editors’ meeting for The Indicator: we were brainstorming articles, and one proposed topic needed a particularly capable and discerning voice. The immediate chorus was, “Let’s ask Jisoo.”
If you have had the privilege of taking a class with Lee, and encountered her insightful comments and discreet, empathetic ear, you likely would agree that her presence in the classroom clearly aligns with a talent and passion for journalism.

This Saturday, May 4 at 8:00 p.m., the Amherst College Symphony Orchestra will debut its most difficult performance to date: Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The 70-member ensemble, under the direction of conductor Mark Swanson and concertmaster Ben Boatwright ’14, is prepared to deliver a thrilling 70-minutes’ worth of virtuosity. According to Swanson, Mahler’s Fifth is a symphony celebrated for its “great dramatic impact, emotion, and beauty.” Concertmaster Ben Boatwright offered his own take on the ambitious piece:

Many of us recall a steady diet of comics as part of our childhood, be it “Calvin and Hobbes,” Marvel heroes, “Asterix” or “Tintin.” Whether or not we had a habit of stealing the funny pages, many of us may not be aware that the artist behind one of America’s most widespread and beloved newspaper strips, “FoxTrot,” is Amherst’s own William “Bill” Amend III, class of 1984.

First Drafts

When your aesthetic appetite has exhausted the 18,000 works available in Amherst’s own Mead Art Museum or when you’re just looking to get off campus for an afternoon, hop in a car and head to Smith or Mount Holyoke, or both.