Arts & Entertainment
Growing up, Cristina Henríquez ’99 would regularly visit Panama, her father’s home country, on family trips. Those experiences inform her latest novel, The Great Divide, which follows three characters whose lives intersect during the construction of the Panama Canal.
In this Q&A, Özge Samanci shares the inspiration for her new graphic novel, Evil Eyes Sea, which was published in summer 2024. Inspired in part by Samanci’s real-life experiences, the book examines political corruption, friendships and the threat of the male gaze.
Stage adaptations of books, movies and even music albums are nothing new. But this spring Christina Rosales ’11 brought an unusual production to Northwestern’s Wirtz Center Chicago: a stage adaptation of a video game.
A week after filmmaker Gail Gilbert ’81, ’18 MFA brought home her new lab puppy, he suddenly lost the ability to walk. Upon discovering that four other puppies from the litter were similarly affected, Gilbert documented their rehabilitation process in the new documentary, Puppy Love.
Northwestern professor Melissa Foster ’96, ’01 MMus believes rap music should be accessible to everyone. She explains why she finds the genre so inspiring — and why learning its history is critical to becoming a good rapper.
In her senior honors thesis, art history major Elizabeth Dudley explores the influence of technology — from the invention of the sewing machine to the rise of social media — on fashion and aesthetic trends. She focuses on cottagecore, an aesthetic reflecting a pastoral way of life that exploded in popularity during the pandemic.
When his dreams of directing theater fizzled, Art Johnston ’75 MFA instead took up the fight for queer rights in Chicago. Together with his husband, Pep Peña, he co-founded Sidetrack, an innovative gay bar that’s now the largest in the Midwest, and lobbied for passage of groundbreaking civil rights laws that have made Chicago a welcoming place for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Maya-Camille Broussard ’04 MA is the owner of the Chicago-based bakery Justice of the Pies and a star on the Netflix show Bake Squad. In this Q&A, she discusses the inspiration behind her pie flavors, the social issues close to her heart and how she’s worked to make her bakery an accessible place for people living with disabilities.
Music is integral to the plot of Down Below, an in-progress feature film by independent filmmakers Collin Davis ’11 and Matthew Valdez Litwiller ’11. In October 2023, Davis and Litwiller called upon Northwestern student musicians to record two original works for the film in Galvin Recital Hall.
University Archives is home to documents, artifacts and mementos that showcase the rich history of Northwestern and its community, “items that will help people better understand the University we love,” says University Historian Kevin Leonard ’77, ’82 MA. The collections span 25,000 linear feet and include everything from a limited-edition Northwestern University Barbie to a real taxidermized wildcat.
