Arts & Culture

Student Artist Spotlight: Nadia Holcomb

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On Oct. 11, I visited BFA student Nadia Holcomb ’25 at her studio space in Tjaden Hall for an interview. We discussed artistic mediums, post-grad plans, how her unique experiences have informed her art and what art as a whole means to her. Holcomb, who is in her final three semesters of her BFA, has just recently returned from spending two years living in monasteries — an experience that profoundly shaped her artistry. The walls of Holcomb’s studio area are covered in pinned-up artwork, including finished pieces and works in progress.

Arts & Culture

PROFILE | Pulling Punches

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On April 16, I had the opportunity to sit down with Pulling Punches for an interview. Pulling Punches consists of keyboardist Andrew Sposato ’27, guitarist Derek Block ’27, rhythm guitarist Lucas Mitchell ’27, bassist Lynden Cellini ’27, drummer Sam Cook ’25 and vocalist Stella Crawford ’27 — a big group, yes, and I was lucky enough to speak with five out of the six of them. What made this interview especially interesting was that the band has recently undergone a rebrand; once known as Compost, Pulling Punches is redefining itself — and its music. Courtesy of Derek Block

The band recently released their first original song as Pulling Punches, “Can You See This Through?” — a catchy, all-encompassing Smashing Pumpkins-esque track. Mitchell described this as an inspirational shift from songs like Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” and Blur’s “Song 2” to a more alternative sound, or as he puts it, a “more bombastic” sound.

Arts & Culture

Travelog: Lunches, Finks and Recalls 

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I’ve found myself in a bit of a tourist funk… or maybe I’ve found myself thinking that it’s near impossible to escape a tourist funk. After all, vacation takes on an impossible role in contemporary life. Vacation is (at least functionally) a coping device for the relatively privileged that takes on all the weight and challenge of one’s perpetual monotonous labor: A faint light at the end of a tunnel that one can point to during any workplace hardship or grueling week. As a reward for that labor, privileged in its compensation but nonetheless inevitably miserably capitalistic, one may get a chance to briefly experience a wonderful sedentary artwork, striking natural feature, oasis of relaxation or distinctly bustling metropolis. The lifetime of same-old same-old interrupted by the once-in-a-lifetime brush with eternity.

Arts & Culture

Inside the Cornell Dance Team

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CUDT represents Cornell on a national level at competitions and events across the college dance community. We straddle the line between a dance group and a varsity sport, as we perform at varsity sporting events and represent the school nationally, but are technically registered as a student club. The team was founded in 2017 with only five dancers. Since then, CUDT has expanded to 23 members.