This past Thursday, Amherst kicked off the third annual LitFest with one of the more exciting events in the weekend lineup: the Poetry Slam. The midweek slump didn’t seem to discourage the audience, which filed in by the dozens. At 10 p.m., the Powerhouse, gutted and blue-lighted in preparation for the evening, was buzzing with chatter. However, the moment the host, Daniel Gallant — chief executive director of the Nuyorican Poets’ Café in Brooklyn — shuffled up to the mic, the room fell silent in a hush of anticipation.
In recent years, the film industry and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself have grown progressively more political, a change which has manifested itself in positive ways (this year the Oscars were perhaps #marginallylesswhite). Much like many of the big name films that vied for Best Picture this year, four of the five films nominated in the Live Action Short Film category had some sort of political bent or message to them.
The 90th Academy Awards concluded in an anticlimax that strangely did not fit such an eventful year in both film and world events. 2017 was the first year of the Trump administration and the year of #MeToo and #TimesUp — at once the sudden defeat and slow recuperation of liberalism in the United States.
“The Power” by Naomi Alderman
Reminiscent of “The Hunger Games” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” this dystopian novel has been hailed by Margaret Atwood as “Electrifying! Shocking! Will knock your socks off! Then you’ll think twice, about everything.” “The Power” by Naomi Alderman, which was named to The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2017 list, centers around the question of what would happen if women suddenly had physical power over men.
The boy band Brockhampton can best be described as a harmonious and quirky amalgamation of individual talent. From the sound of its music to the size of the group, not to mention each member’s individual style both inside and outside of the recording booth, Brockhampton strikes listeners as just plain different.
This past weekend, Amherst sent its two top divers to Middlebury to compete at the NCAA Region 3 Diving Championships.
Lindsey Ruderman ’21 and Jackie Palermo ’19 did the Mammoths proud by both posting impressive scores in competition against a talented group of divers from across the region.
The event serves as a qualifier for the DIII Swim and Diving Championships.
Athletes can qualify for the national event by posting qualifying scores at two seperate events throughout the season in either height, one or three meters.
This weekend the third-seeded Amherst women’s ice hockey team travelled north to Middlebury, Vermont for the semifinals and final round of the NESCAC tournament.
The matches were held in familiar territory, as the Panthers have hosted the last seven NESCAC championship matches, winning all but three of those conference titles.
In their first matchup against No. 2 Conn. College, Amherst defender Miriam Eickhoff ’19 scored the opening goal 11 minutes into the first stanza of play.
