Remove your shoes out of respect before you pull back the curtain. The piece of cloth was thin, but it seemed soundproof; stepping through created a genuine sense of separation between the two tight-knit hotel rooms, one bustling with levity and conversation, the other a dark and serene meditation den. My ears were no longer…
Quoting Emily Dickinson, Helen Oyeyemi’s first short story collection, “What is Not Yours is Not Yours,” begins with the epigraph of “open me carefully” and swiftly delves into an exquisite unravelling of storytelling and reality. To great effect, Oyeyemi explores and broaches the boundaries of traditional narrative expectations, balancing fantasy and the surreal over a…
I do wish I had it in me to cover more niche topics with my articles. And one day, I might find the inspiration to discuss the philosophical writings of a 12th-century fisherman or to analyze the symbolic significance of corn husks in Russian literature. For the time being, my tastes remain disappointedly mainstream. Thus,…
The Axe Committee’s train whistle blasts a battle cry. Hoover Tower is set ablaze in a fiendish red light. A skewered stuffed bear sacrificially crowns The Claw fountain, which is filled with crimson blood. Though dazed and confused tourists ignorantly gaze upon these war sites, Stanford affiliates understand their true meaning. The “big” football game…
At “A Celebration of Mind: Mathematics, Art and Magic” on October 20, artist Alexa Meade, mathematician Henry Segerman and magician Mark Mitton came together to discuss the magic behind unrestrained fun and play. Meade has a “Funhouse House” full of rainbow stairs, mirrored walls, hanging neon spandex and doors hidden behind cabinets. Meade takes silliness…
CDEFGHIJKL. For most people this series of letters is a seemingly random chunk of the alphabet devoid of any special meaning. But to Dr. James R. Doty, a clinical professor in Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Neurosurgery (to whom I am not related), these ten letters are anything but meaningless; these letters are…
Magician Arthur Trace — with the nickname The Artful Deceiver — boasts an impressive list of qualifications from years past — two-time Academy of Magical Arts (commonly known as the Magic Castle) nominee for Stage Magician of the Year, third-place winner for manipulation at the 2006 World Championships of Magic and countless other accolades. Now…
Magic is an elusive art form and one that I am not particularly familiar with. Thus, I set out to explore the world of magic in Los Angeles by attending Magic Monday LA, a weekly show at the Santa Monica Playhouse that brings different magicians every week into the Playhouse’s intimate space to shift reality…
