Culture

Outside Oxford: Riverwatching at Sawyer Point

Eat your heart out, Eden Park. Sawyer Point is indubitably the most beautiful place to connect with nature while in Cincinnati.  Just an hour out from Oxford, the park is the perfect place for a weekend day-trip. It was created in 1988 to celebrate the city’s bicentennial and conserve the riverfront. Since then, it’s been the site for the traveling Tall Stacks steamboat celebration, the Labor Day fireworks show and the Bunbury music festival. 

Beans, bears, bewildering improv: Sketched Out takes Chicago

This fall break I got to live out everyone’s wildest dream: I piled into a large, white van with nine other college comedians and drove through some of America’s flattest, most corn-infested farmlands. That’s right, Sketched Out Improv was headed to Chicago. 

Out of the closet on Miami’s campus

What's it like being a member of the LGBTQ+ community at Miami?  For many LGBT students, sideways glances are all-too-common. During Out Week, Miami students spoke about their experiences with LGBT acceptance across campus and how Miami works to make the university a safer, more friendly place.  

Three dimensions, six sides, infinite possibilities

If it wasn’t for junior Oliver Miller, MU Cubed wouldn’t exist. Not only is Miller the president and founder of the organization, he’s also the president of the university’s League of Geeks. Miami University’s Cubing Association provides an outlet for any student with a love for solving Rubik’s cubes, or anyone wanting to learn without having to peel the stickers off.

Encounters: Small Town Blues

  Starting his first year at Miami, Matt was stepping into tradition. A third-generation Miamian, he felt he was entering the annals of his family history. His father loved this place. His mother did, too. His grandfather couldn’t stop talking about it. Matt hated Miami. 

300 words: telling stories in seconds

Some stories delve deeply into the lives of their subjects. Others seek to capture the human condition in just a few words. Modeled after journalist Brady Dennis’ 300 word stories that explore the unfiltered intimacy of the everyday, these pieces, written by first-year students, offer a glimpse into the untold experiences of college life.  

Reflecting a rainbow: Prism non-profit widens access to music

Colby Taylor has had a busy few months. The first-year music education major has been working since July to start a nonprofit organization with the help of just a few friends. The organization, called Prism Marching Arts, aims to give special needs students an opportunity to learn to play an instrument and perform in a marching band.

I can’t believe it IS butter: Apple Butter Festival celebrates 55th year

The satisfying sound of crunching leaves beneath shoes, the sight of warm pumpkin spice lattes clutched in hands everywhere and the scents of apple and cool, crisp air littered the senses on Saturday, Oct. 5 at the 55th Apple Butter Festival. 

Goodbye, Fila

The Chunky Sneaker. The Dad Tennis Shoe. The Fila. Since the emergence of the big sneaker trend about two years ago, there has been a considerable amount of debate surrounding this reemerging look.  Is it kind of … cool?  Or, does it need to die?

Hi, my name is Nina. Now, tell me about your closet.

Our personal styles mean so much to every one of us, even if we don’t always sport it in the most trendy or lavish ways. Our style is the product of our ever-changing environments. As The Student’s new Style Editor, I hope to give our audience some insight about how Miami has shaped the way we dress and personify ourselves — for better or worse — because my style has been affected by it firsthand. 

Fashion tells YOUR story

From first through eighth grade, I attended a Catholic school that required a strict uniform: white polo shirt, khaki pants and brown or black shoes. And for those eight years, my sense of fashion told a story of imprisonment and boredom. And, when I eventually graduated and attended a public high school, I felt like I was being thrown to the wolves.  Don’t get me wrong, freshman year I wasn’t showing up to class looking like a slob, but I may or may not have owned a pair of green plaid Sperrys that I would match with my black Reebok ankle socks and cargo shorts. 

What is a VSCO girl? The trend taking social media by storm

First-year Tori Rammelsberg first posted a photo of her intricate makeup look on VSCO in 2018. Since then, she has continued to post on the photography app regularly. But now, this artistic individual with a knack for photography struggles to stray away from the label society has given girls like Rammelsberg who use the app.  The app, formerly used for artistic photography, has been flooded with scrunchies, Birkenstocks and Fjallraven Kanken backpacks.  While most of these brands have been popular for several years, put together they form the ingredients for the internet’s latest aesthetic: “VSCO girl.”

What are men on Miami's campus wearing? Lululemon.

What’s trending in men’s fashion on Miami University’s campus?  You may not have guessed it, but luxury athleisure and it’s main brand ambassador, Lululemon, dominate the streets of Oxford. I was determined to find out why.

Humans of Oxford: He doesn’t just speak for the trees

Colorful culture, creative crafts at 6th annual Chinese Festival

On the warm evening of Friday, Sept. 27, the Miami University Confucius Institute (CIMU) hosted the 6th annual Chinese Festival to celebrate Chinese culture and language. The Oxford Uptown Park was alive with rich colors, beautiful music and fascinating traditions of Chinese culture. 

‘Investigating the Paranormal’: Debunking myths and solving mysteries since 2018

Tarot cards. Rune stones. Electronic voice phenomenon recorders. A Ouija board.  These items and more lay scattered across a table in the front of Upham 002, placed there by Jeb Card. The archeologist and assistant teaching professor brought this equipment in for his 5o students to examine and dabble with. 

A spotlight on student talent

This past Friday, Miami Activities and Programming (MAP) did something they had never done before. They hosted an open mic night, with the door open to all kinds of talents including poetry, singing and stand-up comedy.  

Get Involved in Composting!

Please contact John Buchholz if you have any questions:

Institute for Food hosts open house at farm

The Institute for Food at Miami University hosted an open house on Friday, Sept. 20 at its farm. The event coincided with the United Nations Global Climate Summit.  During the open house, attendees could pick their own cherry tomatoes, purchase salsa and posters at a table in the front of the farm and tour the farm. A handful of people participated in the first hour of the event.

Pets of Oxford: Hedgehogging the spotlight

About a year ago, Miami University senior Rebecca Burnham, bought a new pet hedgehog on a whim. Her friends were interested in getting hedgehogs and Burnham wanted one, too. So one night they found an ad on Craigslist for newborn hedgehogs, still pink and only an inch long, and they contacted the seller to see the tiny pets.