Author Archives: Zeynep Pamuk

This Thanksgiving, I stayed in New Haven and had dinner with a Turkish friend whose family lives in the area. I was apprehensive on my way to their house: Would Thanksgiving be the same if I didn’t spend it with an American family? Was “Turkish Thanksgiving” an oxymoron? Did I, an international student, even know »

Twenty-five years ago, New Haven high school student Ben Allison was sitting on the dumpsters outside Toad’s Place listening to the music inside because he wasn’t old enough to be inside. Allison, now a famous jazz musician, bass player and composer, returns to New Haven this weekend to give a concert at Yale’s Sprague Hall »

Harold Pinter, the playwright renowned for transforming the stage direction “pause” into a moment full of meaning and menace, draws attention after his death for a different kind of pause: the pause his estate put on all productions of his plays along the East Coast. Hannah Corrigan ’09, a theater studies major, returned from winter »

Conversation about the financial crisis in Iceland accompanied organic greens with shallot vinaigrette. The bison burger was complemented by talk of Chelsea’s shocking defeat by Burnley. And the ice cream set the stage for heated debate about American patisseries and French rock-n-roll. Will Griffin ’08, food aficionado and aspiring chef, hosted another of his weekly »

Crispy risotto balls with corn, saffron and fontina cheese is, for most recent Yale graduates, a dish they would struggle to afford, but for Will Griffin ’08 it is just one of the many dishes he cooks for himself. A food aficionado who aims to revolutionize the concept of the modern restaurant, Griffin has chosen »

“Did you see the latest Cabaret show?” “Is the Cabaret that little black box theater on Park Street?” “Is it true that they are putting on an improv comedy show?” “Isn’t this the first time the Cabaret is doing improv?” “Is it as weird, funny and outrageous as they promise it will be?” Yes, yes, »

Iran, Greece, Syria, Turkey and Armenia often make the headlines for political conflict but rarely for the fusion of their music. Persian vocalist Mamak Khadem is the exception — her music merges the various musical traditions of this troubled region, emphasizing cultural harmony over political division. The Yale Persian Society will be hosting a concert »

A gilt Mozartkugeln chocolate wrapper, a Tiger Balm ointment label and a yellow Chinese newspaper clipping do not immediately appear to be meaningful, or art. The collages of Deborah Berman and Donald Margulies create art from seemingly meaningless juxtapositions and give layers of meaning to layers of paper. Berman, the director of development and alumni »

We were not driving a ’49 Hudson, and we were on a different continent; but our journey west on the roads of Spain would have made Kerouac proud. This is the story of five girls in a strange land armed with suitcases-on-wheels and Elementary Spanish II. “I’m learning Spanish; therefore I will go to Spain” »

“I usually say, ‘Fuck the truth,’ but mostly the truth fucks you,” says Prior Walter, a homosexual with AIDS in the mid-1980’s. His observation is right on the mark: The Dramat’s “Angels in America: Part 1=Millenium Approaches,” directed by Jonathan Silverstein, is the drama of people trying desperately to say “Fuck the truth,” but who »

The word “opera” generally does not evoke images of homeless people, drug addiction, mental illness and the US health care system. And “opera singer” usually does not refer to the Flower Lady at the corner of Elm and York. At the Yale Cabaret’s “Sidewalk Opera,” directed by Patricia McGregor DRA ’09, opera is all about »

There is a weapon powerful enough to destroy the world, and evil powers are determined to steal it. “The world will soon be ours,” says a cackling, raspy voice, followed by evil laughter. Will our hero be able stop the bad guys in time and save the world from destruction? To anyone who has ever »