Jordan McDonald

In May of 2016, Carene Mekertichyan ’16 made her dream into a reality when her senior project, a production of the late Ntozake Shange’s Obie Award-winning play and choreopoem “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf” was performed for the greater Dartmouth community. Shange, who passed away on Oct. 27 at the age of 70 after suffering health problems, made a significant impact on Mekertichyan since her first encounter with the playwright’s work in middle school....

In her 1987 article “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book,” Black feminist theorist Hortense Spillers wrote that “the cost of Americanization, of equality, is to forget.” If this is so, what is the price paid for forgetting? After all, memory is an issue of national concern. Who and what we choose to honor with remembrance often reveals a society’s true foundation, and as factions form around some of America’s most controversial statues, we’re witness...

Airing in July this past summer, HBO’s “Sharp Objects,” an adaption of “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn’s book of the same name, sets out to remind its audience of what is unique to the identity of the Midwestern United States and what is possible within the supposedly limited format of the miniseries. Following the story of St. Louis Chronicle journalist Camille Preaker, played by Amy Adams, “Sharp Objects” takes its audience on the journey of an investigative reporter who must vanquish her ...

In her poem “Homage to Black Madonnas,” poet and visual artist Marianne Burroughs writes of the "magnificent black women” of the world. Continuing her reverential efforts, Burroughs honors those of us who have been ignored. To these women, she writes that “poets and singers have been remiss/have sung too few poems and songs of you/and the image makers have not recorded your beauty/.” Burroughs speaks of Sheba, Nefertiti, Zaiditu, and Cleopatra–the African beauties she believes that time has f...

Hilarious, thoughtful and unwavering, pop culture critic Michael Arceneaux’s memoir “I Can’t Date Jesus” tackles the awkward and sometimes painful realities of growing up over the course of 17 essays.
A New York Times bestseller and Arceneaux’s first book, “I Can’t Date Jesus,” explores sexuality, race, religion, love and work with remarkable buoyance. With a writing style that has been likened to Samantha Irby and David Sedaris, Arceneaux articulates his experiences and opinions with masterf...

Painter Lucy Mink, whose exhibit opened on Tuesday, is this fall’s artist-in-residence. Known for her contemporary exploration and manipulation of the modernist style, Mink’s work has earned critical acclaim.. Mink is the recipient of a 2012 grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York, and was awarded the 2007 Best of Show from the BAG Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Born in Oakland, New Jersey, Mink now resides in Contoocook, New Hampshire.
Primarily using oil on canvas or linen, th...

Siren, Freeform’s biggest drama debut since Shadowhunters premiered in January 2016, has captivated viewers with a show packed with enthralling characters and set in a town with plenty of sordid history. The hour-long drama considers how fear and contempt would inform the way humans interact with the infamous Sirens of Greek myth—half-human lady monsters who use their beautiful voices to lure sailors to their deaths. Siren innovates a dark myth by indulging cultural fantasies about mermaids w...

A masterful and satirical take on the crime drama complex that has swept the nation, Netflix’s “American Vandal” is mysterious, delectable and utterly ridiculous. Using a documentary format, “American Vandal” mocks the sophistication of the crime drama gaze by putting all its investigative energies toward deciphering the absurdities of high school life and the low-level offenses of the fictional Hanover High School’s student body.
In the show’s critically acclaimed first season, the Netflix o...

Directed by and starring Bradley Cooper, and featuring pop supernova Lady Gaga, 2018’s “A Star is Born,” a remake of William Wellman’s 1937 film of the same name, breathes new life into the music drama genre.
Telling the story of Jackson Maine (Cooper), a hardened rock musician from Arizona, and Ally (Gaga), a gifted yet unknown performer, “A Star is Born” offers a deep emotional dive into the inner workings of the music industry, the fleeting nature of fame and the limits of love. Exploring ...

Informed in part by the interest of students in his course Music 45.04, “Changing the World with Music,” professor of music William Cheng has been sharing his lecture “Loud Music Trial: His Music Was Not A Weapon” at colleges around the country. On Monday, Cheng brought the talk to Dartmouth, sharing the story of the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Jordan Davis. Seventeen-year-old Davis was shot in Florida by Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old white man who claimed that Davis’ “loud rap music” ...

“Pitch Perfect” screenwriter Kay Cannon made a splash at the South by Southwest Film Festival when she became the first female director to premiere an R-rated comedy with her film “Blockers.” With the teen comedy — Cannon’s directorial debut — hitting theaters Friday, the Hopkins Center for the Arts hosted an advance screening of the film over the weekend, giving Dartmouth the opportunity to view the teen drama a week before it hits theaters. “Blockers” strikes a balance between social commen...

On April 6, 2018, Bronx rapper, Cardi B, born Belcalis Almanzar, released her highly-anticipated debut album, Invasion of Privacy. Capturing the attention of millions with her sense of humor, blunt honesty, and a come-up story fit for a star, Cardi B has amassed a considerable fanbase in her own right. Through Instagram, two mixtapes (Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), and a stint on VH1’s Love and Hip Hop: New York, she’d emerged as a public persona long before her latest project went g...

Grown-ish, Freeform’s Black-ish spinoff, explores the experiences, worldviews, and values of Generation Z through the eyes of Cal U freshman Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) and her eclectic group of friends. Through fast-paced and occasionally disorienting storylines, the show navigates sex, complicated friendships, romance, and the effects of drug use while centering Johnson’s quest to figure out who she is. However, in the episode “It’s Hard Out Here for A Pimp,” Grown-ish focused solely on Jaz...

In Kayleen Schaefer’s “Text Me When You Get Home,” released Feb. 6, the infamous words of parting friends are made into the foundation for a broader dialogue about the nature of women’s friendships, on screen and off. Taking the American media and patriarchy to task, Schaefer challenges the ways in which the history of considering women physically, emotionally and mentally inferior to men undermines their relationships to themselves and each other.
“Text Me When You Get Home” merges personal ...

"Black Panther"
Friday and Saturday at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 7 p.m.
In light of the failure of “A Wrinkle in Time,” the cultural importance of “Black Panther” has become all the more evident. Both films were monumental for black representation in front of and behind the camera, yet the latter succeeded where the former failed by engaging an eager audience with the most thoughtful story and well-developed characters yet seen in a Marvel film. After a second viewing, I reveled in the...