Wittgenstein, Ordinary Language, and Songwriting

Pat Pattison

My world shifted forever one Tuesday afternoon, decades ago, in Bob Baker’s Philosophy 1 class at the University of Minnesota. Bob was making a case for Descartes’ distinction between Appearance and Reality, and my head was swimming a bit.

Humiliation — An Essay On Ingmar Bergman

Sean Brennan

In the final moments of Summer With Monika, Harry Lund (Lars Ekborg) reflects upon the happiest days of his life. Defeated by both his wife’s betrayal and his own newfound cruelty, Harry reminisces on their summer together.

The Things That Crushed Him

Michael Nasaruk

His right leg was shaking, out of control. The golden sustain pedal beneath his foot gained momentum and kept pressing back against the low and unstable pressure of his leg.

Beneath the Skin of “Under the Skin”

Taylor Page

“Under The Skin,” like most stories, relies upon a narrative that exists on the surface of the film: a seductive alien luring willing men into her grasp my means of a van that peruses the Scottish coastline. But this analysis…

The Sun of my Smile

Laura Sekarputri

Every time I look at my face in a mirror, I spot its dry skin, go away and forget the way I look. I hate the color of my skin. Like the ugly duckling, I’m the darkest among my family…

Alien’s Ellen Ripley and NASA’s Anna Fisher

Spanning the void between fiction and reality by Taylor Page

Regardless of the photographer’s intent, this Life magazine’s 1985 cover of the American Astronaut Anna Fisher says it all: The New York City bread graduate Anna Lee Fisher (top) of UCLA ignites a intriguing comparison to Ellen Ripley: one of world’s most famous female heroes projected in film.

The Blue Vase

Ellen Francese

The empty blue vase stood on the round white table in the kitchen. Early morning light crept through the jalousie’s slats and extended its fingers to the smooth surface of the vase. The glass was cool. Soft sunlight travelled across…

The True Nature of Religion

Salome Kotsoladze

Contemplating about the true nature of religion, whether or not religious beliefs lie in or outside the bounds of rationality and reasoning is something all of us have thought about. “Why religion, since so costly, has survived?”

Setting and Structure Communication — An Analysis of Langston Hughes’ “Bop”

Mateo Rodo

The piece “Bop” by Langston Hughes is a dialectic expression of the Socratic method between two characters: Simple and the narrator, “I”. In this conversation, the subjects illustrate a teacher-student relationship.

Hometown Memories: Spring 2014

A Collection of Berklee Students

As I reach Woodlands train station, everything and everyone is moving in the speed of lightning. The human traffic moves like a colony of ants, coming from various directions. I soon realized that if I had stopped walking, everyone is going to crash into one another. Access control gates slams inward and outward like huge resounding metals in a factory. They go in sync and people go through them as quickly as they can – afraid the gates might just slam them. I walk without a care in the world. 7am: I am on my way to school.