On Susan Sontag, the Wild West, and spring break. by Luke Zinger Illustration by Em Bennett Up until about a month ago, my vision of “the West” was a hazy ideal constructed by half-remembered scenes of galavanting cowboys in network television Westerns, and a hedonistic, rambling set of passages I’d earmarked in my copy of Kerouac’s On the Road. I had dreamlike imaginings of shriveled tumbleweeds crawling down horsetrod desert paths in New Mexico, and giant, thundering tornad

The story of the encampments through the lens of one of their leaders. By Eli Baum Illustration by Em Bennett This article was based on extensive interviews with Maryam Alwan, largely conducted shortly before she left New York in July, as well as nine campus activists who spoke under the condition of anonymity. In 2011, Bashar al-Assad opened fire on protesters objecting to the detainment and torture of 15 students. Protests sprang up across the country, and Syria’s governmen

A Look into Student Film at Columbia. By Liam Curedale Illustration by Em Bennett In September, Kallen Fenster, CC ’28, a fresh-faced Columbia sophomore walked onto campus. This past summer, he’d realized that he wanted to pursue a career in entertainment law. He loved film, and he loved law—as much as anyone can. So, Kallen started looking around. Barnumbia has no shortage of student-run film production groups. Studio 292, Girls Who Film, The 1 Train is Delayed, CLIP, and ot

One Man’s Search for Fauna in the Most Unlikely of Places. By David Kramer Illustrations by Em Bennett Every day, thousands of cars drive down Broadway, the average 1 train carries 7,000 passengers between dawn and dusk, and tens of thousands of pedestrians hurry across Manhattan. It’s a busy, noisy city. But in the basement of a pet store on Broadway, a tortoise sleeps. His name is George, he’s 28 years old, and he thinks you should feed him strawberries. George leads an a

Some names have been changed, some haven’t. By Rocky Rūb Illustration by Em Bennett Three and a half years ago, I started making a playlist for every semester. It’s a maladaptive practice, in which I imagine that each 14-week stretch of time makes up a television season, and that each playlist makes up its soundtrack. I’m the main character, obviously, but a couple tracks focus on my friends, the featured cast members. There are times that I actually can’t listen to the playl

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.