The Spectator

Many Thanks To Relay For Life

May 11, 2016

One of my earliest childhood memories is of the day that my mom came home with no hair. I didn’t understand what chemotherapy was until she had been cured for several years, but my knowledge of cancer stemmed from early experiences like this one. Last Saturday, the Spectator participated in Seattle University’s branch of Relay for Life, wherein...

Photo Campaign Reclaims The Word “Disability”

May 4, 2016

The connotations of a word often carry more weight than the word’s actual definition. Take “disability,” for example. Our...

The Becktator: I Started a Small Fire in My Microwave

Lena Beck, Author

April 19, 2016

I’m not what they call a “foodie.” Once, in my freshman dorm room, I accidentally set a chocolate chip cookie on fire in the microwave, burnt it to a crisp and ate it anyway. It made me throw up. So yeah, not exactly a culinary connoisseur. That being said, I do buy my own groceries, I cook my own food and like most people, I enjoy a n...

Show Up, Seattle U

Lena Beck, Author

April 13, 2016

Since my first days on campus as a freshman, I’ve heard Seattle University students passionately and justifiably calling for the administration to act in a way that merits our social justice mission statement. But sometimes I think we students could use a dose of our own medicine. In the near three years that I’ve been a student at this school,...

Art gets Personal at Advanced Studio Art Exhibit

April 6, 2016

A cup of coffee every morning. Her favorite bed sheets. Some wine that a friend gave her for her 21st birthday. The small material...

The Becktator: 100% Interested in “99% Invisible”

Lena Beck, Author

March 8, 2016

Do you remember Mary Poppins’ bizarre little handbag? How it seemed so small, but she kept pulling more and more stuff out of it? That’s kind of what this podcast is like. For the last few weeks, I’ve been listening to a program called “99% Invisible.” Only about twenty minutes long, the installments of this show are nice and bitesize, yet...

This Year’s Oscars a Mixed Bag

Lena Beck, Author

March 2, 2016

I don’t usually watch the Oscars—I’m just not very into film. That being said, this year when I read about the ceremony and watched clips during the aftermath, I found myself feeling grateful that many nominees used their fame to bring attention to deeply important issues. Granted, some were misguided. While Chris Rock took the commendable approach...

99k for Seattle U Dance Marathon’s Ninth Year

February 10, 2016

When eight-year-old Jaden Burnett underwent treatment for recurrent ear infections, his family faced an unfathomable situation....

The Beck-tator: Book Clubbin’

Lena Beck, Author

February 10, 2016

I wish I was in a real book club. I’d love to meet up with five or six other people once a month to discuss a novel, snack on a carefully comprised cheese plate and sip on mimosas. Alas, a book club is a decently difficult think to establish. I’m almost always reading something, but the obstacle of working around other people’s schedules leaves...

Barbie’s New Bod

Lena Beck, Author

February 3, 2016

Last week, one of the world’s most iconic dolls embraced a long overdue change: Mattel Inc. began online marketing for Barbies that break away from the previously used uniform female body model. Moving forward, “Barbie” will introduce three new body types into their line of dolls, with differentiating skin tones and eye colors. Well it’s...

Let’s Meditate

Lena Beck, Author

February 1, 2016

To be fair, this is not the podcast I intended to write about this week. I’m not sure this is a podcast I intended to write about ever. But by the time that Saturday rolled around, it was an option I desperately needed to pursue. As of that morning, my weekend had already found room to include an aspiring rap duo, a newly flat tire on my bike,...

The Beck-tator: I’m Figuring Out “Radiolab”

Lena Beck, Author

January 26, 2016

Okay, I liked it. Last week, I addressed my undying devotion to “This American Life,” and decided to finally evaluate the hypothesis of many of my peers that “Radiolab” is a similar, but ultimately better program. With this, I disagree. It’s not better. However, I found it to be intriguing to the extreme. I listened to the two most recent...