Arts, Culture, & Scholarship

In his final Yale production, Brennan Columbia-Walsh asks how to cherish the life you're already living. Playbill for College Play. (Credit: Evelyn Hernandez Chico) Evelyn Hernandez ChicoStaff Writer, The Buckley Beacon It is not often that one is asked the question, can a playwright change the world?  On a small stage in the Off-Broadway Theater in New Haven, College Play, written and directed by Yale senior Brennan Columbia-Walsh, attempts to provide an answer. College Play, which debuted on February 11, 2026 and ran until February 13, 2026, narrates the lives of five Yale College students.  Act One, focuses on a day in the life of students Brennan Columbia-Walsh, Leo Greenberg, George Baily, and Oleg Laskov, who all are in the class of 2026 and played themse...

Did William F. Buckley believe that political processes could render a nation culturally affluent? Jeth FoggArts, Culture, & Scholarship Editor, The Buckley Beacon In a 1966 essay called “The Politics of Beauty,” William F. Buckley ‘50 explores the aesthetic quality of architecture and why aesthetics is a matter of political concern. For Buckley, the “repose of [one’s] soul” necessitates an aesthetic experience of “external harmony.” Buckley offers childhood memories that reveal encounters with beauty as constitutive experiences for his personal development.  In the 1960s, “affluence” came to epitomize American society as politicians were coming to terms with what it meant to cultivate human flourishing in various areas of political relevance. Buckley, while he...

In a world where brashly advertising your exploits on social media is a staple of modern life, the unpretentious and inconspicuous B.C. Thomas offers a refreshing study on the merits of simplicity. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ B.C. Thomas stands in front of the SR-71 Blackbird. (Credit: B.C. Thomas via Youtube) Jack OlsonEditor-in-Chief, The Buckley Beacon If you examined everyone who has ever lived on Earth and averaged their individual speeds over their whole lives, you might be able t...

William F. Buckley, Jr.’s exhortation to “Stop” and stand “athwart history” invites us to cast our gaze upon Goodness, Truth, and Beauty—and become apologists for them. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Jeth Fogg (YC ‘27) accepting his essay’s first place award at the Buckley Institute’s annual conference on November 14. (Credit: Buckley Institute/Bill Morgan Media) Jeth FoggStaff Writer, The Buckley BeaconEditor’s note: This is a republication of Jeth Fogg’s...

Live theatre can feel like a relic of the past, compared to modern streaming and digital entertainment options. But its reprise could bring us closer together. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Sitting with strangers in the theatre. (Credit: Luis Quintero / Pexels) Fiona BultonsheenStaff Writer, The Buckley Beacon“Theatre, on its own, is a very unique art form because it’s about people all showing up and being in a room together. That creates a sense of collective energy, and that energy is important. The act of going outside and sitting in a room with a bunch of strangers and sharing in that atmosphere for just an hour and a half is something that ...

In commemoration of 150 years of parish life, it is worth revisiting this landmark’s origins and legacy. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ St. Mary’s Catholic Church located on Hillhouse Avenue. (Credit: Jeth Fogg) Jeth FoggStaff Writer, The Buckley BeaconThe plight of New Haven’s Catholic community in the late 19th century centered around how to reconcile one’s faith with the exigencies of daily life as an American. While it was difficult to ascertain how Catholicism could converge with an American society that quietly discriminated against its adherents financially, legally, and socially, visionaries of American Catholicism sought to integrate their...

A review of Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ A hand-drawn sketch of an atom model. (Credit: © TEDWIP/Stock Dignity via Canva.com) Josh BlakeStaff Writer, The Buckley BeaconI am not a monk. If you have met me, I would like to think this is obvious. (Why this is relevant will become apparent later.) For now, I mention it because I believe a fair evaluation of Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve must be grounded in personal experience.Since my first semester at Yale, I have worked at the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library...

A review of Sam Tanenhaus’ Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ A photograph of a hardcover copy of Sam Tanenhaus’ Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America. (Credit: Isaac Oberman) Isaac ObermanStaff Writer & Crossword Editor, The Buckley BeaconThe prophet is a much-overlooked occupation in the present day. Modern prophets, just like the clairvoyant sacreds of old, read the signs and offer cautionary warnings, guiding the people towards a foreseen—or perhaps wished-for—light. Few individuals better fit this mold than William F. Buckley, Jr., the m...

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece flipped the script (pun intended) on the public’s relationship with theater. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ A pamphlet advertising “Hamilton” for a production at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City. (Credit: Emma Ventresca) Emma VentrescaArts, Culture, & Scholarship Editor, The Buckley BeaconOn January 20, 2015, the unmistakable first riff of the Hamilton score echoed through the Public Theater in East Village. Eleven Tony Awards, 10 years, and a Pulitzer Prize later, the story of Hamilton and the musical’s namesake are far from over. To some, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s name appears to have materialized over...

Lessons from Gorsuch's Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ The Supreme Court of the United States. (Credit: Owen Tilman) Jason CaoStaff Writer, The Buckley BeaconPostal routes, while seemingly trivial, were a key point of contention for the United States Congress in late 1791. Seeing that postal routes facilitated communication in the early republic, the question of who could organize them became particularly salient.  As Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch recounts in Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, then-Massachusetts congressman Theodore Sedgwick floated the follo...