Points of Departure
Yale senior Benji Fleischacker draws his bow across the cello’s strings and begins to play the opening note of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major. Under dim, red-tinted light, a crowd of students gathers around him. Some watch him with their mouths agape, but junior Brian Orozco stands with his eyes closed and … Continue reading The Basement Curator
Yale senior Benji Fleischacker draws his bow across the cello’s strings and begins to play the opening note of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major. Under dim, red-tinted light, a crowd of students gathers around him. Some watch him with their mouths agape, but junior Brian Orozco stands with his eyes closed and head bowed, as if in prayer. Fleischacker stops mid-song and softly taps Orozco with his bow: he needs Orozco to turn to the next page of sheet music. It takes. . . Read moreThis past December, Mubarakah Ibrahim had a craving. It was sudden, as cravings tend to be, but this one nagged at her for months: she desperately wanted a bean pie. But there was a problem: bean pies—a black Muslim specialty made from navy beans, the favorite food of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad—are not … Continue reading Eyes on the Pies
This past December, Mubarakah Ibrahim had a craving. It was sudden, as cravings tend to be, but this one nagged at her for months: she desperately wanted a bean pie. But there was a problem: bean pies—a black Muslim specialty made from navy beans, the favorite food of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad—are not available in New Haven. Ibrahim, a Black, Orthodox Sunni business owner in New Haven, lived two hours away from New York City and the nearest bean pies. She was tempted. . . Read moreIn an alleyway off Chapel Street, across from the New Haven Green, a massive red shape seems to float in mid-air. From most angles, it looks like a collection of disjointed forms painted at random across the walls of the side street and a distant, spiraling parking garage. But from one privileged perspective, at the … Continue reading Crafting a Public Square
In an alleyway off Chapel Street, across from the New Haven Green, a massive red shape seems to float in mid-air. From most angles, it looks like a collection of disjointed forms painted at random across the walls of the side street and a distant, spiraling parking garage. But from one privileged perspective, at the entrance of the alley, the abstract streaks coalesce into a single form: a square poised on a vertex, with four circles cut away from its interior. The shape isn’t just. . . Read moreWooster Square’s hottest fitness space is an empty dance studio with ten-foot metal poles bolted to the ground and ceiling. On a recent Sunday, a friend and I visited the studio, which sits in a small brick building across the street from Sally’s Apizza. It was a hot and humid day, and the last thing … Continue reading Seize the Pole
Wooster Square’s hottest fitness space is an empty dance studio with ten-foot metal poles bolted to the ground and ceiling. On a recent Sunday, a friend and I visited the studio, which sits in a small brick building across the street from Sally’s Apizza. It was a hot and humid day, and the last thing I wanted to do was exercise—especially when that exercise was pole dancing. A tall, lanky woman with pink-streaked, strawberry-blonde hair greeted us at the door. She wore a tight blue. . . Read moreOn his 784th day at Yale, John Chirikjian takes a picture of me in the bustling Branford dining hall. His camera is pressed close to his chest, and his dark eyes narrow. Then comes the click. Chirikjian pauses to compare this photo to the ten he has already taken today and to the thousands he … Continue reading Camera Lucida
On his 784th day at Yale, John Chirikjian takes a picture of me in the bustling Branford dining hall. His camera is pressed close to his chest, and his dark eyes narrow. Then comes the click. Chirikjian pauses to compare this photo to the ten he has already taken today and to the thousands he has taken during three-plus years at Yale. He won’t show me the shot before he leaves, tucking his camera to his side, but hours later I will find my own. . . Read more