Part of this year’s Pan Asian American Heritage Month, or PAAHM, programming at Yale, the panel featured Chris Lapinig ’07 LAW ’13, Minh Vu ’20 GRD ’26, Pranav Jani ’93 and Quan Tran GRD ’16 in an intergenerational conversation moderated by AACC student leaders Kenny Li ’25 and Michelle Lee ’26. 

The panel was held in the MENACC Suite. Multiple panelists spoke to the power of hosting the panel in a room that did not exist just last year; the new MENACC space was inaugurated this past October.

“It is my hope that … you can really reflect on your individual and collective power,” said AACC Director Joliana Yee, “and that this community keynote can be a source of hope and inspiration.”

In times of uncertainty, Yee said that she viewed the community as a tool of resilience. 

Touching on the theme of cultural communities, Ohio State University professor and Yale College alumnus Pranav Jani reflected on his own experience with Yale’s South Asian Society as a student. The organization would be a crucial step in his journey to becoming an organizer and activist, said Jani. There, he would also meet his future wife. 

“There’s a dialectic between the past and the future, we only imagine the futures that we can actually imagine because we were ready to imagine those futures,” said Jani. “Consciousness is always changing. Never think that we are fixed.” 

Jani told audiences about an anecdote regarding an anti-war rally held on the New Haven Green in 1991 protesting against the Iraq War. He remembered standing at the outskirts of the group of protestors, just close enough to be affiliated but far enough to keep some ideological distance between himself and what he believed at the time to be “extreme.”

According to Jani, ideas of consciousness are constantly in motion. In contrast to his experiences as a college student, Jani highlighted the way in which he has since come to the forefront of multiple movements as an organizer, for example, his involvement as the faculty advisor of Ohio State’s Students for Justice in Palestine.

“I don’t have anything coherent at this moment and I think that’s on purpose. It’s because it’s the mood that I’m in, and I want to be true to that feeling,” said Ethnicity, Race, and Migration professor Quan Tran. “This mood of uncertainty as a feeling, but also this mood of feeling desperate — feeling separated, disconnected, feeling a little bit of fear.”

Tran continued by sharing that she refuses to reach a definitive conclusion in her reckoning of fear. In doing so, she said, she is disrupting linearity and accepting her own uncertainty. 

Referencing an Audre Lorde quote, Chris Lapinig, a senior staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, told students that mere existence could be a form of resistance, as well. Furthermore, he emphasized the role of self-care as a political act.

Transitioning from a discussion on forms of resistance to each panelist’s envisioning of a future, just world, Minh Vu — a doctoral candidate in American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies — addressed the difficulty of reconciling such imaginations with tangible action. 

“The promise of a just future can easily get away from you and remain just that — a promise and a desire that isn’t ever fulfilled,” said Vu. “The way that we tend to the day-to-day today is also how we tend to tomorrow’s as well.”

Echoing the panel’s theme of transforming uncertainty to action, moderator Michelle Lee discussed her exploration of music through traditional Korean drums as a manifestation of “radical joy.” Lee is a part of the traditional Korean drum collective, UNITY Korean Drum and Dance Troupe. 

Tran also touched on the pursuit of joy under conditions of confusion and fear. She shared an anecdote about a guava tree that she had been wanting to purchase from a tropical fruit tree seller in Florida. 

The tree was imbued with nostalgia for her, she said, and reminded her of the tropical fruits she grew up with in Vietnam. The commitment to caring for the tree for years to come, while not knowing what the future held, presented her with a conundrum. 

“At some point, the urgency cannot sit there and sit for two weeks long anymore,” said Tran. “You make the decision of what it is you are going to commit to, however small, tangible or intangible. Because you can overthink, you can over intellectualize, you still sit in the same place.” 

In the end, Tran decided to purchase the tree. 

The final panel of PAAHM at Yale, “Unpacking ‘AAPI’: Moving From Inclusion to Solidarity in Asian & Pasifika Communities,” will take place on Friday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the AACC Multipurpose Room.  

The post This year’s PAAHM Keynote explores imagining just futures amidst uncertainty and fear appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Organized and choreographed entirely by Veronica Paez-Deggeller ’25, the performance is composed of seven dances: two skirt dances, two partner dances, two hat dances and Paez-Deggeller’s solo performance. Funded by Berkeley College’s Creative and Performing Arts Award, Paez-Deggeller’s project aims to introduce her audience to the Paraguayan art style through a combination of her favorite songs and dances, she said. 

“I was ok with straying from tradition,” said Paez-Deggeller. “I think a lot of cross-cultural collaboration is happening within these performances, so maybe the Paraguayan who is a seasoned folk dancer would look at this and be like ‘That’s not necessarily how we do it,’ but that’s kind of what I was going for.” 

Paez-Deggeller discovered her own love for dance when she joined Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Yale after transferring to the university last year. Inspired, she turned to Paraguayan folk dance as a means to connect to her own culture. 

While in Paraguay last summer to conduct research for her senior thesis, Paez-Deggeller decided to take dance classes with the goal of showcasing the dance form at Yale’s annual LatinExcellence showcase. When this event was cancelled, she began developing an idea that eventually became her “Tierra y Tradición” performance.

“From the beginning I wanted this to be a really collaborative process,” said Paez-Deggeller. “Along the way I always asked for feedback, I always asked people what they thought and if there was another step they wanted to do or incorporate.”

Many of the dancers performing in “Tierra y Tradición” are also members of Ballet Folklórico, introducing an element of cultural exchange to the showcase. 

While Mexican and Paraguayan styles of folk dance share many similarities, the Paraguayan variety tends to be bouncier and more lively, according to Paez-Deggeller. The performance maintains the spirit of Paraguayan folk dance but also incorporates a few less traditional steps.

“The skirt’s role for Paraguayan dances is a lot more feminine and not as harsh. The skirts don’t stomp like they do in BF,” said Karla Leyva ’27, one of the performers. “A lot of it for me was research outside trying to understand what the role of the skirt was in this dance.”

Leyva is performing a skirt dance titled “Fantasía Guaraní” at the showcase. This piece is a slower, solemn dance with a nationalist theme, she said. This somber tone contrasts with most Mexican folk dances, in which performers are expected to smile throughout. 

Leyva said that she hoped to choreograph pieces with more melancholic moods in the future, particularly in the style of Veracruz dance.    

“It’s really nice when you hear one of your friends talking about a project that they’re super passionate about and super excited about,” said Leyva about choreographer Paez-Deggeller. “Prior to all of us joining, she gave us a presentation of the history of each dance and how she chose each dance for us. It felt very personal.”

This personal touch was partially a result of the smaller group environment fostered by Paez-Deggeller. Her project was open to dancers of all levels, from beginners to seasoned folk performers. 

“It was my first time dancing formally, and Veronica created a really comfortable and welcoming environment where I felt like I could make mistakes and ask questions,” wrote Andrea Terrero ’27, another performer. “It was definitely challenging at first, but Veronica helped me through it, and it was really satisfying to be able to get the steps.”

Terrero is performing in one of the hat dances, “Alamos al viento.” The piece is a traditional Paraguayan dance symbolizing a love story between a hat and a skirt. 

Paez-Deggeller expressed her excitement at being able to share her culture with Yale students, particularly given the limited representation of Paraguayans at the university and more generally in the United States.  

“While we’re a small community, I feel like being able to bring this even to people who aren’t necessarily Paraguayan has been able to fill a lot of love in my heart and create this small community that can appreciate an art style that I feel is so underappreciated,” said Paez-Deggeller.

Paez-Degeller and her fellow dancers will be performing at the Lighten Theater tonight at 8 p.m.

The post Veronica Paez-Deggeller’s ’25 “Tierra Y Tradición” brings Paraguayan dance to Yale appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In addition to performing songs from the musical, the concert is set to feature student-arranged pieces from “Les Miserables” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” The group is expecting a significant alumni turnout for the event, with the group’s first-ever conductor returning to conduct “Africa” by Toto at the concert.

“The vibe is very unserious — you get to break some rules of what a concert looks like. Are you supposed to sit there, completely still and not say anything?” said DPops co-president Kira Tang ’27. “That’s not the point, the point is to have fun and invite your friends, it feels like a party.”

DPops’ specialty as an orchestra is its focus on pop songs, including music from films, musicals and even video games. 

This fall, for their “DPops To Go” concert in the Davenport Dining Hall, they performed pop hits from the summer, including Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO,” after which the event was named. 

“DPops felt full of life and love for music but also love for being a bit unserious, while also having this appreciation for music itself and the technicality of it,” said co-president Genevieve Kim ’26. “We call it DPops spirit, and it’s just this joy of existing in this space where we can all make music together that we love.”

For Kim, who plays the trumpet, DPops is a creative outlet and allows her to explore something completely unrelated to her career trajectory. She described her excitement about the possibility of joining the orchestra even before arriving at Yale. 

Additionally, Kim said that DPops has allowed her to share her love of orchestral music with friends who are unfamiliar with classical music.

“It’s this great way to be able to connect your joy in a space of music with someone else who might not be accustomed to that joy but definitely can tap into that when you are performing a song that they love already and also can recognize,” said Kim. 

When the planning committee set out to select pieces for the upcoming concert, they realized that many of the pieces shared a “witchy” motif, said Tang. This guided them to the theme of “Wicked,” especially given the re-popularization of the musical due to the recent movie starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. 

The medley that DPops will be performing from the musical is an arrangement from the group’s archives. Kim said that the group was excited to perform the piece for alumni. 

“I love that there’s both a piece of music that has been so beloved for so long and also a group of people who have loved this music that is persistent but has also had a recent resurgence,” said Kim.

In efforts to increase youth engagement in orchestral music, particularly through pop music, DPops is inviting children and their families from New Haven to Saturday’s concert.

Over the days leading up to the concert, DPops members have posted fliers around New Haven and sent emails to local public schools to advertise the event. 

“As a musician, there is so much emphasis on the canon, as in pieces that everyone should know or play within classical music,” said Tang. “While that’s great, there’s something really nice and accessible about pop.”

Tang, a cellist, highlighted DPops’ emphasis on student-arranged pieces as a factor that drew her to join the group. The composition process is led by two head arrangers and one assistant, who also mentor other group members interested in learning to arrange music. 

Tang began arranging music for her friends in high school and was excited to continue this in college. 

In addition to student-composed pieces, the orchestra is also conducted by a student. This year, DPops is conducted by Mitchell Dubin. According to Dubin, this facet of Dpops distinguishes the group from Glee Club, Yale Band and YSO, which are all led by professional conductors. 

“My role as a conductor is to provide feedback throughout the arranging process — I like to be as hands on and involved as appropriate,” said Dubin. “My job ultimately when it comes to arranging is to make sure that the thing we present to the orchestra is a mix of challenging, interesting and fun.”

The “DPops Defies Gravity” concert will be held in Woolsey Hall at 3 p.m. on March 1.

The post Davenport Pops Orchestra set to defy gravity this weekend appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The conference ran from Thursday, Feb. 20 to Sunday, Feb. 23, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Yale Dominican Students Association. 

Guests such as Saturday Night Live’s Marcello Hernandez and Baseball Hall of Fame recipient David Ortiz spoke with hundreds of students from colleges around the country. In addition to lectures and more informal fireside chats, attendees participated in writing and dance workshops and a gala at the Afro-American Cultural Center on Friday night. 

“It was always important for us to cater to different people and to represent different aspects of the Dominican Republic,” said Isabel Garrigo Mejia ’27, the conference’s speaker outreach coordinator. 

The event was orchestrated by a team from Yale’s Dominican Students Association, including Garrigo Mejia, Finance Chair Alejandra Mendez ’26, Marketing Chair Charlize León Mata ’26 and Logistics Team Michaell Santos Paulino ’26 and Demetrius Profic ’27. 

Given the conference’s location at an academic institution, Garrigo Mejia emphasized the importance of recruiting speakers from a variety of careers and backgrounds. This manifested in panels on the arts, architecture, international relations and voter mobilization. 

The conference also focused on domestic and international politics through featured panels with José Blanco, the Dominican ambassador to the United Nations, and Carolina Mejía, the first female mayor of Santo Domingo. 

With about 100 students purchasing the three-day conference pass, Garrigo Mejia underscored the significance of opening a space for students to not only hear from successful Dominicans but also strengthen their community. 

“The message that was repeated the most by speakers was to not forget about the Dominican Republic,” said Garrigo Mejia, “We are the people who have to give back.”

Saturday Night Live cast member Marcello Hernandez drew one of the largest crowds at the conference to his fireside chat on Friday. Staying true to his comedic flair, he introduced himself in Spanish by asking the audience to raise their hands if they only spoke English. When no one raised their hand, he tried again in English, earning a few more laughs.

Hernandez, who initially went to college to play D3 soccer, spoke about his journey to discovering his love for comedy during the talk. He emphasized the importance of his Dominican “tigueraje,” or audacity to always pursue his dreams. 

“Everyone was captivated by what he was saying, but he had a nice touch of humor and an overall levity to what he said. Nothing was too serious, but he also gave really good advice,” said Sydney Mitchell ’27, who attended Hernandez’s talk. 

Touching on his Dominican heritage, Hernandez spoke about his desire to share his Latin American identity and culture with his audience through comedy. He described Latinos as a resilient group of people who are not easily offended, saying that they could take the humor. 

Another theme of the conversation was the centrality of family to Hernandez’s success — particularly his mom. He spoke about her as his driving force and motivation always and shared his wish to give back to his mom after all of her sacrifices for his own success. 

In another fireside chat, David Ortiz, former Red Sox player and Hall of Famer, similarly touched upon staying true to his values throughout his career. Recognizing his family’s role in his success, he spoke of his desire to give back to his community and he looked forward to the future of the young crowd at the panel.

Myah Salazar Salvador ’28, a first-year liaison of Yale’s Dominican Students Association, attended several events at the conference, including the fireside chats with Hernandez and Ortiz.

Salazar Salvador felt it was important to hear from Dominican voices like Hernandez and Ortiz, in particular considering the stigma against Dominicans from within the Latino community.

“I have heard before to not let anybody dim your light. I’ve never heard before to not let anybody dim your Dominican light,” she said. “It was empowering to be told from inspiring people that the Dominican voice does matter, even though it’s not the dominant voice in the room. So that’s why you have to speak up on it even more.”

Saudi Garcia, the founder of the Dominican Students Association at Brown, gave the conference’s keynote speech on Friday night. Garrigo Mejia said Garcia seemed like the perfect fit for the address, given that she, too, had been a Dominican student not so long ago.

Garrigo Mejia, herself an international student, shared that she felt the conference had brought together international Dominican students with those from the diaspora. She continued by describing her personal experience with the Dominican Student Association upon arriving at Yale. 

“Every Friday, the Dominican Students Association hosts a Domino Chat. I remember walking in for the first time and I was very nervous coming here,” said Garrigo Mejia, “I walked in and I was like, ‘This is exactly like back home.’”

Maintaining the connection between the Dominican Republic and students in the United States remains a goal of the National Dominican Students Conference, co-directors Karla Perdomo Núñez ’26 and Darcy Ovalles ’26 said in a joint statement.

The event was sponsored by La Casa Cultural at Yale, among fourteen other sponsors. 

Karla Cortes contributed reporting.

The post Marcello Hernandez, David Ortiz and more inspire Yalies at this year’s National Dominican Student Conference appeared first on Yale Daily News.

This past week, the a cappella group has delivered close to a hundred Singing Valentines to Yalies, ordered for them by significant others, secret admirers and friends alike. Part of the group’s fundraising effort for their international tour to Ireland in May, the Singing Valentines can be purchased on the group’s website for $10, with the option to add flowers, candy and a custom card. 

“I’m a big believer that Yale, when it comes to holidays, gets really wrapped up in the spirit of it, and I really love it,” said Lauren Alfaro ’28, one of the New Blue’s three “love-meisters.” “Singing Valentines has been a great way for friends to send other friends messages, and to just spread a message of love to someone they might not even know that well.”

Love-meisters like Alfaro are the group’s first years, or “bloibs.” They are in charge of coordinating, scheduling and assigning Singing Valentines to the New Blue members. 

After creating a spreadsheet with order details — names of senders, their intended recipients, chosen song and the times and locations of the performances —- the love meisters email professors asking for permission to sing in front of their classes.  

Some professors, shared Alfaro, are more reluctant when it comes to having their class time disrupted, while others find the oftentimes embarrassing exchanges hilarious. 

“Last year I ordered one for [my boyfriend] during his ultimate frisbee practice in PWG,” said Amiah Hanson ’27, who is also a member of the New Blue. “We marched up among all these sweaty people. I cornered him and we sang a barbershop quartet at 3:30 p.m. in PWG.”

Hanson and her boyfriend have been dating for a year and a half now. For their first Valentine’s Day together, they decided to send each other Singing Valentines. Because Hanson was then a love-meister, she knew exactly when she would be receiving hers: in the middle of a Biology 103 lecture. 

This year, however, her a cappella group has adamantly kept Hanson in the dark about the performance. For her boyfriend’s Valentine, Hanson said that she plans to sing “East of the Sun” with the rest of the group — one of the slower, more romantic pieces in the group’s repertoire. 

“The notion of a barbershop quartet is pretty cutesy because they’re older songs,” said Hanson. “[Singing Valentines] has evolved to contain more funny things as well, but it really just depends on what you’re trying to do. There’s enough song variety to decide.”

On the order form linked on the group’s website, students have a selection of six songs to choose from, ranging from romantic to more humorous and light-hearted, like “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” —  a song often selected for friends.

In addition to sending Singing Valentines to significant others and close friends, some people also place orders to “create drama,” said Rachel Camille Bish ’28, another of the New Blue’s love-meisters. 

A few days ago, for instance, a student spent $43 on seven Valentines all for the same person —  who the group initially believed to be the sender’s partner, Bish shared. The next day, however, the group received an email from the presumed sender, who revealed that his friends had posed as him to buy these Valentines. 

Bish said the sender shared that his friends had plotted to get him and his ex-partner back together and requested that the group not deliver the Valentines. 

The opportunity to order anonymously plays a central role in the Singing Valentines culture on campus, said Laine Banziger ’28, and allows the performances to create some intrigue surrounding fellow students’ love lives. 

“I’m sending one to my suitemate Kayla, because she told me that she would die if someone sent her a Valentine during her Econ class, which is also when I’m sending it,” said Banziger. “It’s going to be anonymous so no one in her class is going to know who it’s from,” she continued. 

The New Blue has already collected well over $1000, with most of their sales happening this Thursday and Friday. 

The post Love and games — New Blue of Yale delivers Singing Valentines to lovers, friends and enemies alike appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The arts and bake sale was one of two pro-Palestine fundraising events organized by Caroline Solomon, a graduate student at the Yale School of Environment, and held at New Haven bookstores. The first event happened in November at Possible Futures, a neighborhood bookstore on Edgewood Avenue. 

This time, Solomon worked with members of Yalies for Palestine, Graduate Students for Palestine and the Environmental Justice Student Interest Group and raised around $2,200 for a family in Gaza.

“I know that energy around organizing for the University to disclose and divest from the Israeli army has been waning,” said Solomon. “A lot of people expressed to me that they were really grateful for this because it revived some of the energy that had been lost.”

When Solomon was in high school, she said her family hosted a man named Mohammed from Gaza through the PCRF. Soloman said that Mohammed had lost his leg as a result of an Israeli attack and was staying with Solomon’s family to receive a prosthetic in the U.S. before returning home.  

According to Solomon, Mohammed was killed in his sleep along with multiple family members in an Israeli airstrike in August 2024. Following his death, the PCRF set up a fundraiser with the goal of raising $34,100 for his 2-year-old daughter, Hala, who currently lives with her mother and uncle in Gaza, as well as another 14-year-old family member. 

“I was really shocked and pleasantly surprised at how many people came,” said Solomon. “I thought it was really beautiful and I really appreciated having a space to commune with people.”

The vast majority of baked goods and artwork sold at the event were produced by students. Tables were adorned with handmade products, ranging from prints to earrings to tote bags, alongside a variety of treats. Solomon, herself an artist, sold some of her sewn works at the event, including scrunchies and bookmarks. 

In addition to all the money raised through the sale, Grey Matter Books also donated 10 percent of the proceeds from books sold during the event to the PCRF. While the bulk of this sum will go towards Hala through the PCRF’s Orphan Sponsorship Program, Soloman said the rest will be received by verified contacts in Gaza who will then transfer the funds to Hala’s family. 

A member of Graduate Students for Palestine told the News they mobilized students to attend the event.

They said that much of the artwork sold at the fundraiser was botanical in theme. Other pieces centered Palestine more directly, incorporating slogans like “Generation after generation until total liberation” and the colors of the Palestinian flag onto hand-painted cards. 

Another partner organization of the event, the Environmental Justice Student Interest Group hoped to draw attention to the overlap between ecological destruction and war in Palestine, said Ky Miller ENV ’26, co-president of EJSIG.  

“Environmental injustice in Palestine is one of the largest concerns in the region,” said Miller. “We’ve seen an incredible lack of access to water resources, we’ve seen the intentional destruction of generations-old olive groves and really important crop resources for Palestinian families, and those really are what underlie cultural identity as well.”

Solomon shared that she is currently working with other organizations in New Haven to plan a third event and continue working toward the $34,100 fundraising goal. 

Grey Matter Books stands on 264 York St. 

The post Grey Matter Books hosts artwork and bake sale to support Palestine Children’s Relief Fund appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The one-act play, co-directed by Rios-Kasoga and Sophia Schloss ’25, will premiere on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Hopper Cabaret. In weekly “honesty hour” talks, the two principal characters speak freely and intimately about their lives; outside of this hour, they remain strangers. Their anonymity allows the dialogue to take the form of a therapy session.

“It gives the audience the chance to see why these two women would ever be interested in each other or put up with each other, and also why they probably, fundamentally, are pretty incompatible,” said Lula Talenfeld ’25, who plays Jane. “I think the experience of knowing that and still loving someone and trying to give them a chance is very relatable.”

This incompatibility seems to come from Jane’s blunt and unforgiving character, juxtaposed by Carole’s sweet yet deeply insecure nature, which drives her constant attempts to earn the love of those around her. During the “honesty hours,” they maintain their anonymity by omitting any personal details that could identify them. 

The entire show takes place at a bar, with no scene changes, which allows for an uninterrupted flow that, according to Schloss, gives the play a “raw” feel. With a cast of only seven, the show exudes intimacy. 

“I think this story is about female friendship, and female friendship is really complicated, and it can be really ugly and it can also be really beautiful,” said Rios-Kasoga, “Jane is this cynical, closed-off person who deep-down wants to be accepted and loved for her ugly parts, but would never say that. Whereas Carole is a deeply insecure person who is a giver.”

Over summer 2023, Rios-Kasoga participated in a writing program in Paris where she was tasked with writing dialogue without using quotation marks. “Honesty Hour” emerged from the scene she wrote for that assignment, which included characters that she herself didn’t fully understand but was nevertheless intrigued by. 

Rios-Kasoga said that her friend, who also participated in the same writing program, had coined that summer her “honesty era.” After looking through Rios-Kasoga’s dialogue, the friend said that it reminded her of conversations she shared with friends, deemed “honesty hours.”

During these hours, they pledged that nothing said would be remembered or held against them. 

“It’s called ‘Honesty Hour’ but there’s a little part that’s like, ‘How honest are they really being?’” said Talenfeld. “There’s an unraveling, as the two of them are figuring all of this out about one another, and the audience is like, ‘Wait a second, should I be questioning everything the whole time?’”

After that summer, Rios-Kasoga took a playwriting class at Yale where she developed the scene into a rough draft of the show. Initially, she brought in Schloss as a consultant for the play –– a role that would eventually morph into a co-director position. 

Schloss and Rios-Kasoga, both first-time directors at Yale, emphasized the collaborative nature of their rehearsal process, which consisted of numerous discussions and run-throughs. 

They shared that most of their rehearsals were quite small, involving the two of them, Talenfeld, stage manager Angelica Peruzzi ’27 and Meridian Monthy ’25, who plays Carole in the show. 

“I think that allowed us to have a really, really intentional, character-driven directorial process,” said Rios-Kasoga. “We chatted a lot with Meridian and Lula before we even blocked the show, and we had a long in-depth conversation about who the women were.”

During rehearsals, the directors shared that they would pause throughout their run-throughs to discuss with actors about the characters’ mentalities and motivations. After a second run-through, they would find that the scene had morphed into something completely different.

Speaking on the show’s therapy-like nature, the directors noted that therapy is often attractive to people because therapists have no emotional stake in clients’ lives. Due to this, said Schloss, people can speak to their therapists with total honesty about their thoughts and feelings.

Throughout the show’s progression, however, it becomes apparent that Jane and Carol might be somewhat invested in each other’s lives, adding another layer of complexity.  

“It’s been really fruitful as an actor to just get to act on your wildest impulses to really try to empathetically understand the other person,” said Monthy. 

The show will run four times from Jan. 23 to 25 in the Hopper Cabaret.

The post “Honesty Hour” delves into nasty and beautiful parts of girl friendships appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The unique Spanish-language opera, a collaborative project between the Opera Theater of Yale College, the School of Music, the Yale Macmillan Center Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies and Jonathan Edwards College, will take the stage again tonight, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. 

“I think that in this moment in the United States it’s very important to have more operatic repertoire written in Spanish,” said Alejandro Roca, the show’s orchestra conductor and professor at School of Music. “I truly believe that [Spanish is] the vehicle that best serves the creative team to express themselves.”

Fernandez, the opera’s composer, and Golombek, the librettist, wrote the show together in their home country of Argentina before pitching the opera to Yale. Fernandez spent this semester at Yale as a Jonathan Edwards arts fellow and worked with Roca, as well as undergraduates and students at the School of Music, to bring his vision to life. 

The opera follows the story of a young Charles Darwin’s voyage to Patagonia on the Beagle, an English ship whose principal purpose was to map the coasts of South America. According to Abby Trejo ’27, the opera’s undergraduate director, the show is largely a work-in-progress and is currently a collection of scenes that make up about half of the opera. The narration guides readers through the story and maintains its progression and cohesion. 

“It’s a very dynamic process where you can see Mariano and Alejandro actively changing [the show],” said Trejo. “I think that’s the great thing about the show — the show is still being made, it’s still in development, it’s not a complete thing. Because it’s in that flexible, malleable stage, it’s really cool to see them making new decisions on the spot.”

Trejo also highlighted Fernandez’s openness to feedback from the undergraduates and School of Music students involved in the show and said that he allowed them a great degree of freedom to implement their visions for the opera. At the same time, Fernandez was present at all rehearsals, allowing for the unique opportunity to collaborate with the opera’s composer throughout the process.

Unlike many accounts of Darwin’s travels, Fernandez and Golombek’s story places particular emphasis on the stories of the Indigenous groups that Darwin met in Patagonia. The opera’s principal character is Jemmy Button, a Yaghan native held captive by Darwin and his crew, who is forced to assimilate to English customs while on the Beagle. 

“There’s a scene in the show where we are going to be seeing a ritual that was culturally significant for the Yaghan, and we wanted to be very respectful of the costumes for that scene. Mariano was a great resource,” said Trejo. 

A particularly powerful moment in the opera celebrates Jemmy Button’s return home. Earlier parts of the show seem to suggest that adapting to English customs provides the only means of survival for Button. Eventually, however, he can no longer deny where he belongs, and he ultimately reunites with his people. 

Another element that distinguishes “Darwin en Patagonia” is the collaborative nature of the project, which is serving as the first joint show between undergraduate students and the School of Music. The three principal roles are played by students at the School of Music, with the directing team and chorus composed of undergraduates. 

“It’s not often that you get to work with these professionals as an undergraduate, and especially working with the composer, that’s not very common,” said Alliese Bonner ’27, who is a member of the opera’s chorus. “It’s been really wonderful getting to learn from them the music, yes, but also learning how to be professionals.”

Another collaborative force in this project, the Peabody Museum, allowed the show to utilize its fossil collections, with about 95 percent of the fossils displayed in the show sourced directly from the museum. Including real fossils added a “wow factor,” said Trejo, to the opera. 

In March, the Peabody Museum reopened its doors to the public after a four-year long renovation. 

The post ‘Darwin en Patagonia’ takes an unconventional approach to Darwin’s journey, borrows fossils from Peabody appeared first on Yale Daily News.

“Take Me As I Am: Redemption and Grace for the Discarded,” which features the work of Southern American artist Lance Flowers and curator Robert Hodge, premiered with an opening panel featuring the artist and curator on Wednesday, Oct. 23, and will remain on display at Miller Hall until Dec. 5. Flowers and Hodge’s project combines digital artwork with materials found in the Third Ward to tell the story of an artistic and spiritually vibrant community that has recently faced gentrification. 

“The ways that Lance Flowers has mixed these found objects, and produced other forms of digital art, demonstrate aspects of his own spiritual journey and the diverse religious and spiritual communities found in the Third Ward,” wrote Eben Graves, assistant director of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, to the News. 

Through the use of discarded materials in his art, Flowers attempts to challenge the perceived value of these no longer desired objects. In his artist’s biography at Miller Hall, for instance, Flowers compares these abandoned materials to Biblical characters who were similarly undesired by society but nevertheless became central influences in the religious text. 

Additionally, Flowers explores the notion of what his biography calls “discarded people” through the themes of gentrification and displacement in his artwork.

The Third Ward is home to a predominantly Black community and is located within prime real estate in Houston. Its residents face constant threats of upheaval and removal. Multiple pieces in the exhibition tackle these issues, with one digital print reading, “This is OUR HOME; IT IS NOT FOR SALE,” and another, “Third Ward Is Our Home And It’s NOT FOR SALE!” 

“All artworks presented in the exhibit are a compilation of stories; histories of people and events over the centuries and accounts of people and events taking place in the present,” Anesu Nyamupingidza, an exhibitions postgraduate associate at ISM, wrote to the News. “Sitting with Lance and hearing these stories is a phenomenal experience in itself because each object or icon in his works carries a story of its own.”

In the opening panel discussion, Flowers and Hodge shared their own personal anecdotes. 

In one instance, they discussed the story behind the piece “Thy Beloved Youth (Frances),” a crayon sketch that Flowers created while on the Yale campus. The piece stands out as the only non-digital drawing featured in the exhibition, alongside the other multimedia works made from found materials.  

In the sketch, a woman whose face is depicted in blue crayon is a college student who lost her life in the crossfires of a shooting at her university dining hall. This woman was revealed to be Flowers’ aunt during the opening panel. 

“I found this story interesting because she’s not the only story [Flowers] decided to put into [his art]. There’s also another piece, the Sheila Jackson, that speaks on a lady that just recently passed away this year,” Nyamupingidza said. “A lot of people have also forgotten about her.” 

Nyamupingidza referred to a piece titled “South Eating Vine (Kudzu),” which alludes to former Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson who was running for governor when she died of pancreatic cancer this year. The piece depicts her candidacy poster barely visible behind a vine that is consuming it. 

Another piece in the exhibition, titled “As You Are,” incorporates multiple found materials. It features a bottle of Promethazine, highlighting the issue of substance abuse. Meanwhile, a communion cup and a crown of thorns brought from Jerusalem represent the spirituality of the Third Ward. Lastly, a DJ Screw cassette tape and the sheet music for Psalm 88, composed by a Third Ward resident, signifies the musicianship and artistry of the neighborhood’s residents.  

“It presents this picture of life in the Third Ward — the different challenges and resilience and the joy of the artistic forms as well,” Graves said. “This [piece] was the one that really caught my attention when [Flowers] was putting up the exhibition, it really spoke to me.”

Houston DJ and ethnomusicologist Jason Woods accompanied Flowers and Hodge in their talk. Bringing with him a carrying case full of vinyl records, Woods played examples of gospel and jazz music from the Third Ward. 

Nyamupingidza and Graves described the process of connecting with the New Haven community through Flowers and Hodge’s project, particularly given the two cities’ similar experiences with gentrification. 

“It’s applicable to a lot of gentrified communities,” said Rohan Lokanadham ’27 after seeing the piece reading, “This is OUR HOME IT IS NOT FOR SALE.” He continued, “New Haven is the same in the sense that as time goes on and Yale expands it’s increasingly gentrified.”

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music at Miller Hall will host two more exhibitions this school year, with its next exhibition premiering in January through its ecology initiative. 

The post “Take Me As I Am: Redemption and Grace for the Discarded” explores gentrification and resilience in Houston’s Third Ward appeared first on Yale Daily News.