Brush With Death

November 2, 2023

On Girl Math

“When feminists take things like makeup and plastic surgery and argue that we ought to uncritically ‘let women do what they want,’ it reinforces the belief that the goal of modern feminism ought to be to ‘reclaim’ an oppressive, patriarchal standard and pretend we have chosen it for ourselves.”

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Brush With Death: Full Design

This week, the Nass recycles beer cans, interrogates TikTok feminism, and decides what good art is.

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Flyover Country

“The people she invented shared none of her problems, none of her responsibilities. She gave them their own small disasters, which were different from her own and therefore interesting, instead of just pathetic. She was deeply, stupidly jealous of them.”

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When Sustainability Isn’t Sexy

“Does the ‘look’ of sustainability, a sort of glamorous image expressed in the carefully crafted brand of environmental nonprofits, obscure all the unassuming pockets of sustainability?”

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It’s Art, AIn’t It?: The Artificial Art Debate

What if AI art is not just good, but better?

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Goody Bag

On grandma’s food scraps, preserved with care.

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Aster Bloom, Shostakovich Reverie

Bear witness.

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I’m Judging You: Gogol’s Defense of Art Critique

“Gogol advocated that we do not need to reject value-judgements, but rather understand all art as part of a grander movement; great art is the product of labor and reflection, vision and passion, building off the works that precede it.”

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Graphic Memoir

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Verbatim

More →

Overheard between loving couple

Boyfriend: There should be a cooking show where everyone moans.

Overheard under the Wright Hall archway

Baseball player: You could die like now. Sometimes I think about that during the day.

Other baseball player: *silent, pensive nod*

Overheard over text

Junior on vacation: Just played blackjack with a BILLIONAIRE.

Junior on vacation, forty minutes later: Peep the mani/pedi.

Overheard by the SPIA fountain

European grad student: We might need an alternative, yes, but if they're not selling crates and barrels at Crate and Barrel I will be VERY disappointed.

Overheard in the Forbes lobby

Freshman: I miss when Brandy Melville was body-negative

Overheard in the Forbes dining hall

Frosh, scrolling through phone: "I should major in Instagram reels."

Overheard in Kwanza yet again

Desperate international students: “Who do you love the most?”

UK/US Passport Holder: “I'll marry ALL of you!”

Overheard in eating club common space

Guy: “What are you guys going to be for Halloween?”

Girl 1: “I need a prompt, what’s relevant right now?”

Girl 2: “We could be geoexchange whores. Or the ghost of Poe Field?”