AWS Website Banner 11/4 – 12/4
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
AWS Website Banner 11/4 – 12/4
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
Stories and content by Jessica Hester

Chicago Manual of Style—5/4/2010

By Jessica Hester / May 4, 2010
I tried to sneak out of the changing room so that no one would see me. I was trying on bathing suits in a quiet beach-side store in Ft. Lauderdale, and at the salesgirl's request, had left half of my fitting-room haul on a rack outside. Having already thrown out all of the other contenders,...

Chicago Manual of Style—04/28/09

By Jessica Hester / April 28, 2009
What are the standards for men’s fashion? The question becomes even more mind-boggling when it comes to dressing for spring and summer temperatures. Ultimately, it seems that looking great is a matter of self-confidence and intuition.

Chicago Manual of Style—3/10/09

By Jessica Hester / March 10, 2009
Chicago weather is notoriously unpredictable. It might be sunny one day, and snowing the next. Spring’s fashion forecast is just as polarized: while some looks are fresh, others are better left buried under a foot of snow.

Out of Vogue

By Jessica Hester / September 22, 2008
Fashion isn't irrelevant, even if you'd prefer to curl up with Oscar Wilde rather than Oscar de la Renta.

Over the hill, MCA reaches deep into collection for retrospective

By Jessica Hester / May 6, 2008
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) is throwing itself a birthday party of sorts. After the Gordon Matta-Clark exhibition You Are the Measure’s closing, the MCA will present a three-part series of mini-retrospectives chronicling the development of eight of the most innovate artists of the last 40 years. The year-long...

Weekend festival turns city into art destination for all tastes

By Jessica Hester / April 24, 2008
For many Chicagoans, warm weather is synonymous with the Cubs, not Chagall. Others associate springtime in the city with the Sox, but not Seurat. This weekend, maybe baseball rivals can call a temporary truce and meet halfway—at the Merchandise Mart, halfway between Wrigley and Cellular Field. It’s hard to imagine passionate Chicago baseball fans peacefully...

Haacke’s history promises more than a circus act

By Jessica Hester / April 3, 2008
More than 30 years ago, he became an art-world renegade when he refused to placate one of the most esteemed contemporary art museums in the world. On Monday, famed and highly controversial conceptual artist Hans Haacke will present an inventive performance entitled Dog and Pony Show at the Court Theatre, followed by a moderated discussion....

Tudor celebration revels in character, not candy

By Jessica Hester / February 25, 2008
[img id=”80355″ align=”alignleft”] Rarely does a ballet depicting both funeral rites and can-can dancers of the raucous Parisian underworld meld the two so harmoniously in a single program. Even rarer is a dancer’s ability to transform from a grieving mother in mourning clothes to a feisty, garter-and-bustier–wearing laundress in the span of an intermission. The...

UBallet battles winter blues with jazzed-up classic

By Jessica Hester / January 18, 2008
Today, the dancers of the University Ballet of Chicago are dressed for the blustery weather, bundled up in wide-knit sweaters, leg warmers, and sweatpants. As temperatures continue to plummet this weekend, they’ll strip down to tutus, tights, and elf hats, bringing the winter wonderland indoors. This weekend, UBallet will present a witty and whimsical winter...

Joffrey right en pointe with Giselle

By Jessica Hester / October 18, 2007
I felt nervous for Gerald Arpino. On Wednesday night, he sat watching the Joffrey Ballet dance the opening night performance, as he has done for the past 50 years—but this time was different. The 2007–2008 Joffrey Ballet season, which opened on Wednesday with a captivating rendition of the classic ghost story Giselle, will be the...

Hanson mmmbops on

By Jessica Hester / October 5, 2007
It wasn’t until I went to college that my 12-year-old self finally saw her fantasy come to fruition. It was a long time coming and deliciously worth the wait. The object of my truest and most enduring affection has been a long-kept secret. It turns out that I’m not the only one. Last Sunday, I...

Deans’ Men bring Midsummer in May

By Jessica Hester / June 1, 2007
Though the evening certainly didn’t feel like a midsummer’s night, Shakespeare-lovers packed Hutchinson Courtyard last Friday evening to see the Deans’ Men perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Directed by second-year Evan Cudworth, this rendition of one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies was as accessible as it was charming. The play felt like an update, but,...

UBallet joins forces with Hubbard Street

By Jessica Hester / May 18, 2007
In their two annual performances, the ballerinas of the University Ballet (UBallet) manage to both appease classical ballet purists and dance dilettantes who don’t know the difference between a frappé and a frappuccino. In February, UBallet staged a full-length production of Marcus Petipa’s classical ballet The Sleeping Beauty. Complete with pantomime acting and yards of...

Moda and the Wrens give fashion an atomic flair

By Jessica Hester / May 15, 2007
Moda and the Renaissance Society joined artistic forces last Thursday to deliver Atomic Fashion, a punk-rock fashion showcase of student designs that stomped and strutted its way to couture glory. Atomic Fashion transformed the Renaissance Society’s home on the fourth floor of Cobb into a runway space designed around the featured art exhibit, Katharina Grosse’s...

Goodman dives into Complex psychology with leading men Oedipus and Freud

By Jessica Hester / May 4, 2007
Sophocles’s most famous play wasn’t enough for director Frank Galati. In his adaptation of Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex for the Goodman Theatre, Galati took some significant artistic liberties. Ultimately, Galati’s adaptation becomes a brilliant play in and of itself. Oedipus Complex is a psychological drama–cum–social critique that fuses Sophocles’s tragedy with a certain Viennese doctor’s controversial...

Anne Frank revival innovative and evocative

By Jessica Hester / May 1, 2007
The union seemed doomed to fail. Lincoln Park’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company is renowned for its emphasis on promoting new talent and its creative and insightful updating of canonical drama. It doesn’t get more canonical than The Diary of Anne Frank, the first theatrical adaptation of which received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1956. Today,...

Joffrey pays tribute to co-founder in spring showcase

By Jessica Hester / April 27, 2007
It was drizzling Wednesday evening as the Joffrey Ballet premiered its spring repertory, Light Rain, in Roosevelt University’s beautiful Auditorium Theater. The light rain outside did not deter the opening- night crowd, however, and the near-capacity audience seemed to relish the definitive Joffrey style—a fusion of classical ballet technique and daring contemporary choreography. This program...

Martha Graham explores sculptural side of dance

By Jessica Hester / April 24, 2007
The Martha Graham Dance Company’s sold-out 80th anniversary show at the Museum of Contemporary Art last Thursday converted me from a classical ballet purist to a full-fledged fan of contemporary dance. Graham’s trademark sharp, syncopated movements are the antithesis of classical ballet, but they left me whistling and clapping for more. Graham’s choreographic genius and...

Hip-hop meets activism in odd anti-Bush partnership

By Jessica Hester / April 20, 2007
Break-dancers, spoken-word artists, and musicians tore up the International House stage on Tuesday evening to the rhythm of a manifesto: “Make Hip-Hop, Not War!” The event marked the Chicago stop on a nationwide tour that fuses hip-hop and political activism. Two organizations with markedly different agendas—The World Can’t Wait and Hip-Hop Caucus—have joined forces to...
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