Media we think you would enjoy — but likely not as much as The Blue and White Magazine Maya Lerman , Editor-in-Chief: Manichitrathazhu (1993). Jean Baudrillard, America . Serial Experiments Lain (Crunchyroll). The Hobbit (1977). The Mountain Goats, “This Year.” Chris Brown , Managing Editor: “FLCL Reanimated” (YouTube). Magdalena Bay, Imaginal Disk . Wednesday, “Wasp.” Fried Okra. Enlighten Mint Yerba Mate. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver .  George Murphy , Deputy Editor: Jo

Writing, at its simplest, is a vessel for memory. Socrates—the famous anti-writer—denounced the written word as an “elixir for reminding,” for fear it would corrode our inner capacity for memory. But regardless of whether our memories are irreparably rotted (finals studying will be the judge of that!), we writers and readers have accessed a kind of magic that only an elixir of reminder could conjure—the possibility of preserving our memories in ink, and letting them wander th

As heard by  The Blue and White. Illustration by Selin Ho BARNARD’S VERY OWN FREQUENT FLYER Word on the street is that Chair of the Barnard English department, Professor Ross Hamilton, commutes to teach his class cross-Atlantic. You heard that right—he permanently lives in Spain,  jets in for the start of the week to teach his classes, and escapes back to the Iberian sunshine by the weekend. THE FREE SPEECH FABLE  A certain Columbia free speech organization has taken its miss

By Rocky Rūb and Schuyler Daffey Illustration by Isabelle Oh The following emails were uncovered in The Blue and White ’s ongoing investigation into two Columbia students who completed internships on the Hill this summer and are now staffers on the teams of Zohran Mamdani and Marjorie Taylor Greene. No stone is going unturned. Please consult this space for further updates. From: Richard Ryder Sent: 11/11/2025 7:34:35 PM To: Maysie Rosa Scott  Subject: [URGENT] Is Woke Back??!

On the termination of Temporary Protected Status. By Tara Zia Illustration by Jing Geng Over the last few months, the Trump Administration’s terminations of Temporary Protected Status have made headlines on a weekly basis. For Nina Alvarez, these headlines do not go unnoticed: Documenting the story behind this immigration policy and those it impacts represents a years-long effort.  A journalist, documentarian, and video photographer, Alvarez has over 20 years of reporting exp

Striking down the bowling pins of diaspora and desire.  By Elika Khosravani Illustration by Audrey Wang It is my understanding that at some point in every student’s undergraduate career, they meet a professor who quietly, and then all at once, rearranges their world. For me, that professor is Zaina Arafat. Every Thursday, she takes the train down from her apartment in Harlem to teach Fiction and Personal Narrative at Barnard, and I have the privilege of watching up close the

Leaping between the roles we inherit and the ones we create.  By Lucy Mason Illustration by Em Bennett Since the start of her career, Unity Phelan has captivated audiences night after night as a dancer with New York City Ballet. In 2021, she was promoted to the rank of principal dancer, performing in hundreds of ballets and emerging as one of the company’s defining artists along the way. This fall, she brought that experience uptown to teach in the Barnard Dance Department. 

By Iris Eisenman Illustration by Truman Dickerson Ted Schmiedeler, CC ’26, fills every moment. Transported halfway across the country from Chicagoland, within weeks of setting foot on campus Ted threw himself into the historic corner of Lerner Hall occupied by WKCR, Columbia’s radio station. Eager to get involved, Ted flew through the licensing process and soon began staying overnight to program the radio show Transfigured Night  from one to five in the morning. But instead o

By Elika Khosravani It is spring again and everyone is day-dreaming about falling in love again. Again. And again and again and again, until it finally sticks. So my mind, naturally, is also turned towards love. To be in love, I imagine, must feel like a lighthouse. A crumbling column on a crag, dangling delicately over the frothing sea. A lonely boat, guided by a single lantern and a ramshackled anchor, hesitantly heads toward the shoreline, toward the red and white tower, a

Jewel Anderson The sky’s white mirror makes a feast of me— eyes first, then teeth, then pulse. I open my mouth and she swallows the sound. The light bends wrong tonight. I step into it and it steps back. My shadow clings and flakes like psoriasis. The shine is a trick, a white worm. It crawls the length of my arm, makes veins into rivers, rivers into ropes. I told the doctor I was cured. He smiled, yellow crescent, and asked who was speaking. My mouth is a traitor— The tide l

The Maysles Documentary Center keeps the spark of Harlem’s art film scene alive. By Caroline Nieto Illustration by Selin Ho I ran to the M60+ to hitch a ride to the intersection at 125th street and Malcolm X Boulevard–a locale that was once called “the Mecca of Harlem,” an artistic hub that spawned from the fallout of the Harlem Renaissance. The intersection got its name from the inception of performance spaces there during the latter half of the twentieth century, with the A

On students who are workers, workers who are students, and the recent Unfair Labor Practice complaints against the SWC.  By Duda Kovarsky Rotta and Gabriela McBride Illustration by Derin Ogutcu Columbia is the birthplace of student employees being recognized as workers. In 2016, the National Labor Relations Board’s “ Columbia Decision ” granted graduate researchers, teaching assistants, and resident advisors the full breadth of rights that any other workers have. With the new

A look into WKCR’s archives and towards 89.9 FM’s anti-carceral potential.  By Cecilia Zuniga Illustration by Em Bennett Tip-toed on a jail cell toilet, Jose Hernandez Velasquez stood feet above the ground in search of 89.9 FM’s signal. His hands, grasping a battery-powered radio, reached towards the window. Two minutes before 9 p.m., he struck the perfect angle, and WKCR’s broadcast began to play. Velasquez didn’t dare to move. For an hour, he remained outstretched in the sa

On the inexplicable obsession with the perfect ballet dancer. By Magda Lena Griffel Illustration by Iris Pope As a child, Grace Li, CC ’28, was transfixed by the role of Clara in Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker . For Fiona Witty-Daughtery CC ’28, it was the older dancers at her first summer intensive. For the late ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince, it was a magazine cover of a prima ballerina that flew to the gate of her orphanage when she was four. She joined ballet classes a

Musings of a pollworker. By Ava Lattimore Illustration by Vanessa Zhou *The views expressed in this piece are my own and do not represent the views of the NYC Board of Elections. Election Day. Based on the conversations I snuck in during my four hour poll worker training, it seems like people sign up to be poll workers for one of three reasons: They need the money ($350, to be exact); they like politics; or, there is a guilt that rots and metastasizes inside of them for takin

How to seize your New York City.  By Tierney Smink Illustration by Vanessa Zhou I was sitting on the subway, minding my own business a little too well. My earphones crammed into my ears, cancelling out the noise around me, and my nose stuck into my book of the week. There was no one sitting next to me; it was a late Thursday night, so it made sense. The only other person in my vicinity was a man sitting diagonally across from me. At first glance, he seemed slightly forgettabl

Barnard’s production of Trojan Women and its historical antecedents. By Jack Bradner Illustration by Truman Dickerson An email from my Lit Hum Professor popped into my inbox with the playbill for Barnard Theatre’s then-upcoming rendition of Trojan Women . Set in a Greek war camp, the play stages the aftermath of the Trojan War with Troy’s women detained and kidnapped by various Greek soldiers. On Oct. 17, Barnard and Columbia students recreated Euripides’ play with the Troja

On quiet. By Gabriela McBride Illustration by Kathleen Halley-Segal The sonic experience of New York City is one of constant inundation. Amongst cars honking at freshly green traffic lights, jackhammers clanking, and the bangs of early-morning-scaffolding construction, moments that might begin to resemble silence are few and far between. The bit of me that resents being raised in the relentless cacophony of New York City yearns for the quiet and stillness of wide open outdoor