Anime Film Features: Sealing the door with Suzume

In his final entry of “Anime Film Features,” columnist Joon Kim PO ’26 tackles “Suzume,” a movie he had always intended to watch yet never did up until now.

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The Daily Palette: Dislodging popular culture in ‘Interference Patterns’

Following little Meiya as she runs around her father’s store, carrying pens and paper, Meiya Rollins PO ’29 reflects on her and her father’s shared love of comics in the exhibition “Interference Patterns” at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College. Consisting of John Sparagana’s work, who splices and remixes popular images, she instantly gravitated towards his piece “Superman Variations.” Rollins questions her interest in this piece as she says, “What context is Sparagana wanting to take away from this popular comic, and what is he wanting us to see?”

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Audrey between frames: ‘Whisper of the Heart’ and interior worlds

Audrey Green SC ’27 explores Hayao Miyazaki’s “Whisper of the Heart,” and the moments when we are forced from our quietude. She reflects on the parallels of her own childhood writing processes and those of the main character, Shizuku Tsukushima, and what our passions reveal about the self once we share them. “For a young writer such as Shizuku, this step is intertwined with the act of growing up itself, of learning that to be understood, you must first allow yourself to be seen by the world, even imperfectly,” Green writes.

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Office Hours for the Soul: Write like no one is watching

Eight months ago, Siena Giacoma PZ ‘27 got some shocking advice — “You don’t matter.” In her final edition of Office Hours for the Soul, Giacoma reflects on her series of professor interviews from this year, discussing how they taught her to write like no one is watching.

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Noise from the Underground: Flea fuses rock and jazz in ‘Honora’

Flea, the founding and long-lasting member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, just released his first solo album ‘Honora’. Andrea Miloshevska PO’ 28 discusses the unexpected and refined jazz soundscapes, the bassist’s rediscovery of his childhood love for be-bop and the trumpet, and the heartfelt meaning of self-knowledge and discovery, at the heart of the record.

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Stories Retold: What makes stories stick? Five authors take on fiction

What is it about great stories that compels us to tell them over and over again? Ava Chambers PO ’28 examines five essential elements of compelling stories from five fiction authors: Donna Tartt, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Tennessee Williams, Vladimir Nabokov and Chinua Achebe.

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Poem of ecstasy: Sakaguchi Ango and ‘Discourse on Decadence’

How does the individual interact with their culture’s moral decrees, and what happens when they decide to tear themselves loose from it? Leslie Tong PO ‘29 discusses Sakaguchi Ango’s Discourse on Decadence and how it relates to the historical context in which it was written.

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