The most uniquely Brandeisian of clubs
Brandeis has more than 250 student clubs and organizations. Yvette Cho '19 went on a journey to find some of the coolest on campus.
Left to right: Anderson Stinson III ‘20, Yvette Cho '19, and Perry Letourneau ’19
I’m definitely not the biggest or brightest star in the galaxy, but I certainly wouldn’t consider myself to be the last one to be picked in gym class — you know what I mean?
Well, dear readers, recently I’ve acquainted myself with some fellow peers on campus and let me just cut to the punch line now to tell you that I’m about as basic as you can get compared to them.
How have I reached this conclusion, you may ask?
My goal this year is to go outside my comfort zone to find out more about myself. My student experience has been consumed with finding a balance between college athletics and academics, and no time for anything else. I’m surrounded by a diverse student body who seems to be involved in anything and everything and I wanted to learn more.
So I created an arbitrary list of clubs that I found unique and wanted to understand more about in hopes of inspiring me to branch out of my norm. The criteria I used to create this list was 1) an interesting name and 2) a quick response back to my initial inquiry email.
Intense investigative journalism, I know.
Upon meeting with these clubs over the course of a week, I’ve quickly discovered that there is a population of immensely passionate and talented students that operates under the radar and goes unnoticed by many people like me! I was in awe of how incredible these students are and I’m here to share with you what I’ve learned about them. Here are three (out of many) uniquely Brandesian clubs on campus.
Boris’ Kitchen
If a busy college student wanted a good laugh, usually you would just look at an essay that you’ve frantically written on a Sunday night. Turns out, there are much better (and less self-defeating) ways to find some comedic value on campus!
Boris’ Kitchen is a well-established sketch comedy group at Brandeis comprised of talented student performers, such as Perry Letourneau ‘19, Alan Omori ‘20, and Anderson Stinson III ‘20. They take sketch submissions for their shows and they hold auditions at the beginning of the school year for anyone interested in being a part of the comedy community. Regardless of performance background, they all ended up falling in love with the close-knit and supportive environment that this club fosters.
“You can really push the type of characters you want to do and it’s a very open space to be creative,” explained Alan. “No one is judgmental and we all really care about each other.”
During my time with Boris’ Kitchen, they rehearsed a very self-explanatory skit entitled “A Brief History of Milk”. I was amazed by their ability to take on these outrageous characters so seamlessly and I would highly encourage you all to attend one of their shows. I’ll see you there!
Brandeis Society of Creative Fantasy
“Everyone has heard of Monopoly, but not everyone knows about the game Cosmic Encounter,” stated Spencer Taft. “Even so, Monopoly isn’t even that fun!”
The Brandeis Society of Creative Fantasy is the self-proclaimed “biggest nerd club” on campus with a forte in board games and table-top RPGs (role playing games). From the perspective of someone whose familiarity with games doesn’t go beyond Chutes and Ladders, it was incredibly easy to jump into a meeting and play games with friendly new faces.
They meet at least once a week and have created an environment for students who want to put in as much or as little commitment as they’d like. This could mean you’re a part of a long-term Dungeon and Dragons campaign or you just play a quick game of Unstable Unicorns like I did!
Be warned though, they are always ten steps ahead of you in every move you make (or twenty if you are me).
Gravity Magazine
Who else is excited for the Rabb-scalator in 2020?
Ever wondered what would happen if you put The Onioninto the hands of Brandeis students?
Neither did I, but here we have it and it’s called Gravity Magazine.
“We crack jokes for three months and turn it into a magazine,” joked co-editor Kevin Dardik. “I like to consider it the only intentionally funny publication on campus.”
Gravity is a satirical magazine written by Brandeis students for Brandeis students. Any student who is interested in writing or just wants a productive outlet for their jokes is welcome to join. The team meets weekly to brainstorm ideas and collaborates on new material to be printed and released on the last day of classes for students who want to de-stress before finals.
One of the best things about going to Brandeis is knowing that we can make fun of ourselves. Pick up a copy of Gravity whenever you have the chance; you won’t regret it!
Categories: General, Student Life
