What's up! My name is Brandon and I'm a '25 from a small town outside of Chicago. I am passionate about Middle Eastern culture, politics, history, and languages; I'm particularly interested in studying gender/sexuality, politics of exhibition, and counterculture in the Arab Gulf. My current hobbies are reading, playing the mandolin, audio design, eating spicy foods, and streetwear. Please enjoy these snapshots of my life in Hanover!
This was definitely my favorite class of fall term—the readings were heavy, but they all felt incredibly relevant to the coursework. For each class, we read both Jewish and Arab perspectives throughout history. Moreover, Professor Avishai has a vast network of connections with important members of Israeli government, and even figures who we read about in the history books (including former prime ministers!). Overall, that class was a lot of work but very effective in helping me understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Professor Smolin's lectures were always something for me to look forward to. In this intro class, a wide variety of subjects regarding the Arab world were covered. Topics such as culture, Islam, literature, poetry, politics, and history were covered from the pre-Islamic period to the more recent Arab Spring. The readings were fascinating, and the professor also incorporated a wide variety of video resources to accompany the readings. I loved this class!
I found myself regularly engrossed in Professor Fishere's lectures in Arab Political Thought. Tracking the development of political ideologies from the 1800s until today was fascinating, the discussion-based classes helped me get to know tons of my peers.
While in Morocco this summer, I had the chance to take intensive Arabic 21 and Arabic 22. Working with a local teacher, Ilham, I had the chance to study both standard Arabic and Moroccan Arabic .My favorite part of the class was the opportunity to engage with the language in cafes and shops.
Ancient Greek & Roman Philosophy was definitely a class that took me out of my comfort zone. Having never taken a class on philosophy, I had lots of fun studying readings of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Furthermore, I liked that the class focused heavily on group-work, with weekly group meetings and write-ups being a critical component of the class.
This class made me think critically about how we use different media, and how different media use us. I always considered media and technology as tools we use to navigate life, but never thought about the ways that media influence us and perceptions of the self. Taking this course inspired me to be involved more with digital humanities in order to think critically about how different media can alter the meaning of a message.
I had a great spring term living in Kuwait while interning at the American University of Kuwait! Working as an intern with the Oral History Project and International Relations departments, I met many amazing friends and gained experience with oral history and digital humanities. As someone who wants to continue doing research on the Arab Gulf, this experience was incredibly valuable.
Filmmaking & Visual Culture was about the intersection of filmmaking and anthropology, and I really enjoyed the course. The course looked at film through a post-colonial lens, thinking about how it can be used as a tool to tell stories, empower communities, and challenge structural violence. As a final project, we were required to make our own films with the broad requirement that they had to tell some kind of story or narrative. Having this sort of creative freedom was lots of fun: I did a short film project about a farmer in the Upper Valley.
This was the first science course that I had ever taken at Dartmouth, and I actually really enjoyed it. The course was focused on being able to identity the names and functions of the bones and muscles in the human body: we covered a lot of ground in a short 10-week term. In addition to studying human anatomy, we also studied the anatomy of monkeys and chimps, comparing their evolutionary trends to those of humans. We also had the chance to visit the Geisel School of Medicine cadaver lab on multiple occasions to review for exams, which was definitely a unique experience. Overall, I'm glad I took the opportunity to go outside of my comfort zone a little bit with this class!
As I wrap up my off-term this spring, I'm looking ahead to another off-term this summer! In this post, I want to share my off-term plans for the summer, and what I'm looking forward to in the fall!
This summer, I will be in New York City working as a video journalism intern for a news company. Since I haven't had the chance to spend much time in New York, I'm excited for the opportunity to both develop myself professionally and also explore what NYC has to offer. Furthermore, many Dartmouth juniors spend their summers in NYC due to the high amount of internships available in the city, so although I won't be on campus I'm sure I will have many opportunities to see and spend time with some friends from school!
Dartmouth's professional network played a key role in helping me find and apply for this internship opportunity. Since I participated in FYSEP, a pre-enrollment summer program for first-generation low-income students at Dartmouth, I'm involved in the FYSEP email chain and also a couple of different group chats for all the students involved where opportunities and applications are shared among students. After a student sent the link to internship positions available at the company for first-generation students, I applied and was able to receive a position! This experience not only shows how your networks at Dartmouth can open your eyes to new opportunities, but is a testament to how Dartmouth students generally want to see each other succeed!
After the summer is over, I will return to Dartmouth after two back-to-back off-terms to wrap up my final year. I can't believe it's already time to prepare for my last year at Dartmouth - it feels like just yesterday that I was writing some of my first blog posts. Once I pick the blog up for my senior year in the fall, I'll definitely share information about senior capstone projects, my experience applying for jobs, and experiencing all of Dartmouth's traditions one more time.
With Green Key quickly approaching, student band Read Receipts prepares to perform as the opening act before musicians Young M.A. and Shaggy take the stage. Here's what guitarist Jackson Yassin '26 had to say about this surreal opportunity!
