Recess 2014 saw it all—Afro-Cuban legends, demon babies, Zadie Smith, D.C. punk and much more. Here are five stories chosen by Recess Editor Katie Fernelius that you should make sure you read before breaking in the new year of art and culture at Duke.
Former Recess online editor Prashanth Kamalakanthan describes a day surrounding the use of his phone, from the excuses made to prolong usage to finding the screen as a means of escape and stillness.
"As reality fades in and out all day, though—first thing in the morning and last thing at night and sometimes in between and also when your pants vibrate and sometimes when you think they are but not—at some point you must wonder: what am I escaping?"
The College Student’s Guide to Binge-Watching a Weekend Away
Adam Scutzman maps out in down-to-the-hour detail how to break up long and winding weekend into a wide cross-section of Netflix indulgence.
“Physics 153 was a risky choice for your already jam-packed schedule, but don’t sweat it. ‘The Middle-Earth Paradigm’ episode from ‘The Big Bang Theory’ has got you covered. Just don’t dress up as the Doppler Effect for class. You won’t get extra credit.”
American Dance Festival brings modern dance world to Durham
Annie Piotrowski looks into the American Dance Festival’s malleable form, which in recent years has taken the shape of international tours, campus engagement and and a year-round dance studio in addition to the summer festival in Durham. A staple of Durham’s summer arts culture, the festival has been in town for 36 years.
“ADF shows modern dance’s expansion from its American origins to a multi-faceted, worldwide art form—defined no longer as a countermovement to classical dance, but as a sprawling array of choices from pieces that could almost be ballet to performance art that could almost be pure theater.”
Recess interviews Perfume Genius
Seattle-based musician Mike Hadreas, known by his stage name Perfume Genius, released his third album this year to critical acclaim and performed at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill in October. Recess writer Sid Gopinath talked to Hadreas about infusing his music with identity and grit, and facing problems while sober in order to dig out the better songs.
“I felt very victimized and ashamed of myself and very self-conscious all the time. And I’m sick of doing that. It has not served me well. I wanted to make a song that sort of flipped all of that. It says that all of these things you’re giving me s**t about, you can keep on talking at me, you can keep on doing whatever as long as you back up.”
“Baby, Just Say Yes,” a retrospective on Taylor Swift
From start to finish Drew Haskins takes you on a journey through Taylor Swift’s career, starting with the teardrops on her guitar and landing at her role as New York City's Global Welcome Ambassador, showing her transition not just in musical style but in her carefully cultivated public image.
“No other pop star in recent memory has tried so hard to win her fans’ admiration yet seemed so effortless in doing so. Taylor Swift lacks the nonchalance of Rihanna, the regality of Beyoncé, the willingness to mug for the audience of Katy Perry and the avant-garde pretensions of Lady Gaga. So what does she have? The answer is simple. Taylor Swift aspires to be just like us, and we, as her audience, love it.”
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