Welcome to the second Intersections installment of the school year!  We greatly appreciate you for supporting our dedication to bringing arts and culture to your inbox. As of Sept. 22, the Northern Hemisphere has officially ushered in autumn, and Princeton weather definitely seems to have taken notice. The temperatures are dipping below 70°, the skies not quite as bright, and an assuredly-not-COVID-19 bug has made its way through campus. If you are in town and have been under the weather, I recommend a warm bowl of ramen from Noodle House (inside Kung Fu Tea).

Thank you to everyone who sent in reflections for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. They were enlightening and impactful, particularly to a student body whose generation knows this event as a historical moment, not a lived experience. As you will see, we tried to engage with this moment as we are able to understand it, but few perspectives can come close to that of eyewitness accounts and reactions. If at any time you would like to submit a personal essay or reflection, please do not hesitate to email us at prospect@dailyprincetonian.com.

The Prospect, and The Daily Princetonian at large, just welcomed a new cohort of contributors, and I am so excited for you to read their work. They are incredibly talented and have diverse interests, so definitely keep an eye out for more town coverage, concert reviews, and film discussions. Also be on the lookout for their contributions to “Under the Bubble,” an existing ‘Prince’ podcast that is being revamped with an arts and culture focus.

On campus, the return to normalcy is fully underway. Students can once again rent cars with the hopes of venturing beyond the Orange Bubble, attend eating club events and watch their peers perform, and go (domestically) on breakout trips! While it is not normal Princeton — the fact that I have yet to see the bottom halves of my professors’ faces highlights this notion rather well, I think — it is a familiar Princeton, a comforting Princeton, one that upperclass students are happy to return to, and one that underclass students deserve to have.

Read on for fresh takes on iced coffee, a minute-by-minute account of a night on The Street, interviews with student organizers in the arts, and more. As always, please take care of yourselves, principally now that cold season has arrived! Drink lots of water and get plenty of rest. We will talk to you again in a couple weeks.

Auhjanae McGee
Co-Head Editor of The Prospect
ajmcgee@princeton.edu

What’s the Conversation

• Associate Prospect Editor José Pablo Fernández García discusses his own personal relationship with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the lasting effects they have had on the Princeton community.
• To honor the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, we asked for short submissions from the Princeton community, consisting of personal memories, fragments of family history, and any other anecdotes related to the historic moment and its impact.
• For the fourth installment of Tiger Town Treats, senior writer Sydney Eck samples iced vanilla lattes from six shops around campus: Bread Boutique, Coffee Club, Rojo’s Roastery, Sakrid, Small World, and Starbucks.
• Staff writer Sophia Zheng has high praise for Michael Tilson Thomas’ Grammy Award-winning new album with the San Francisco Symphony, “From The Diary Of Anne Frank & Meditations On Rilke.”

• In a guest submission, Assistant News Editor Anika Buch reflects on being a pre-med student during the COVID-19 pandemic and recognizing the importance of seeing doctors as human.
• Reporting directly from the Street, Senior Writer Gabriel Robare provides a riveting minute-by-minute account of Sam Spector ’24 and the Degenerates’ performance at Terrace Club.
• Staff Writer Albert Lee speaks to three Princeton undergraduates from the Class of 2024 about starting their second year of college post-pandemic, discovering that “what many students desire most out of their college experience is simple — to explore campus, make friends, and laugh.”
• Founded by two sisters during the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturnia Arts connects artists with people who want art. Senior Writer Cathleen Weng sat down with Cassandra James ’23 and Kate James to discuss their experience creating and running the project.
• Head Editor Auhjanae McGee chats with local artists at Princeton Makes, the new local arts cooperative, on its opening day.

What to Do Before the Next Installment

• The Coffee Club (located in the basement of Campus Club, 5 Prospect Ave) is hosting Singer-Songwriter Night with student performances and an open mic on Saturday Sept. 25 from 9-11 p.m.
• For any readers who are members of First College, there will be a picnic on Sunday Sept. 26 in the First College Courtyard from 2-5 p.m. There will be lawn games, music, ice cream, and Jammin’ Crepes.
• The Lewis Center’s Creative Writing Program will be hosting a reading by Navajo poet Sherwin Bitsui and Ethiopian-American author Maaza Mengiste on Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. The reading will take place at Hearst Dance Theater at the Lewis Arts Complex.
• On Tuesday, Sept. 28 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. over Zoom, Princeton’s Center for Career Development is hosting a virtual event with Anthony Shu ’16 and Jeffrey Zhenhua Liu ’16, who will speak about the importance of diverse voices in storytelling and design, as well as their experiences facing anti-Asian prejudice. Princeton University community members can register for the event here.

The Prospect Curio Cabinet

• Lil Nas X’s debut album “MONTERO” is at once a celebration of his much-deserved success, a triumphant message to his detractors, and a meditation on Black male insecurity, queer identity, and young love, in a collection of tracks that are musically distinct but narratively and tonally cohesive. A highly recommended listen.
• The Minyo Crusaders — a band based in Japan dedicated to revitalizing traditional Japanese folk music — performed a “Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” with NPR near the beginning of 2021. Dressed in colorful, breezy yukata, the group offers three songs from their diverse repertoire, drawing inspiration from a multitude of genres, including Min’yō folk and Caribbean.
• First published as “The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property,” Lewis Hyde’s book on the circulation and importance of gifts is an important text for all who feel trapped by the market economy. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources — from personal anecdotes to folk tales and fables — Hyde defends the value of creativity in a world overrun by commodities and capital. The book is now titled “The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World."

Today’s cabinet was curated by Head Prospect Editors Auhjanae McGee and Cameron Lee.