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Since joining The Slate in Fall 2022, I have contributed to the Ship Life and A&E sections, including my album review column, "Grace's Weekly Record," in the A&E section. You can explore my articles below. 

The Slate •

Joan Jett brings the rock n’ roll

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts performed at Luhrs Performing Arts Center Friday night, bringing 80 minutes of rock ‘n roll classics to Shippensburg.
Jett, who was born in Pennsylvania, is known for her rebellious image and for breaking barriers as one of the most influential women in rock. She co-founded the all-female punk-rock band The Runaways in 1975, a time when the rock genre was male-dominated. The Runaways broke up, and Jett pursued a solo music career before founding the Blackhearts in 1...
The Slate •

'The Beat Goes On' at Luhrs

Cher — or rather, the Cher tribute show, “The Beat Goes On” — took the stage at the Luhrs Performing Arts Center on Thursday night, leading the audience through six decades of the singer’s biggest hits with elaborate performances and costumes.
Cher, also known as the “Goddess of Pop,” is a singer and actress who first gained fame from the duo “Sonny & Cher.” Now, the performer Lisa McClowry delivers the iconic essence of Cher in the tribute show “The Beat Goes On.”
McClowry is a singer and enter...
The Slate •

Luhrs Center puts on its ‘Boogie Shoes’

KC and The Sunshine Band transported the center back to the ‘70s on Thursday night — filling the room with vibrant colors, disco grooves and endless energy. 
KC and The Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band started by Harry Wayne Casey, or KC for short, in 1973. 



The band is known for its groovy hits like “Boogie Shoes,” “That’s the Way (I Like It),” “Shake Your Booty,” “Get Down Tonight” and more. Celebrating...
The Slate •

Let’s Sing Taylor makes Luhrs shimmer

“Let’s Sing Taylor” brought “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” to Shippensburg on Friday night, performing a 90-minute show of Swift’s biggest hits.
“Let’s Sing Taylor: A Live Band Experience” is the “ultimate tribute to the music of Taylor Swift.” The stage consisted of a band and backup vocals, two backup dancers and Emily Victoria as the lead singer, all of them paying tribute to Swift and her record-breaking Eras Tour. 
Upon entering the Luhrs center, it felt like I was transported back to the Er...
The Slate •

Grace's Weekly Record: 'The Anthology'

Taylor Swift’s album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” was released at midnight on April 19. Two hours later, Swift surprised her fans with a double album called “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” 
“The Anthology” includes 15 extra songs — making “TTPD” a 31-track, two-hour album. 
At midnight on April 19, a two-hour countdown was displayed on Swift’s website. Fans suspected that she would do a surprise release, like she did with “Midnights (3am Edition).”...
The Slate •

Grace's Weekly Record: 'The Tortured Poets Department'

Taylor Swift released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on Friday, April 19 – a reflection of what Swift calls a “fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.” 
“The Tortured Poets Department,” or “TTPD,” is a concept album that looks into the mind of the “tortured poet” as they go through the five stages of grieving a relationship that ended.
“This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boar...
The Slate •

Grace's Weekly Record: 'Don't Forget Me'

Maggie Rogers released her third studio album, “Don’t Forget Me,” on Friday, April 12. At just about 36 minutes, “Don’t Forget Me” is short and sweet — and the perfect album for a spring drive.
In a newsletter Rogers sent out to her fans on Feb. 9, she explained that while writing the album, she started to imagine a girl on a roadtrip who was leaving home and starting a new chapter in her life. In the end, Rogers created something that she said felt like “coming home.” 
“I wanted to make an albu...
The Slate •

Grace’s Weekly Record: ‘Everything I Know About Love’

If you are looking for an album to listen to this Valentine’s Day, then Laufey’s debut album, “Everything I Know About Love,” is the one for you. With modernized jazz and classical music, Laufey captures the feeling of being a hopeless romantic.
Before Laufey won a Grammy this year for her sophomore album “Bewitched,” she released her debut album “Everything I Know About Love” in 2022. Laufey told The Line of Best Fit that the album is about dealing with growing up, “It’s also very ‘hopeless rom...
The Slate •

Grace’s Weekly Record: ‘Snow Angel’

Reneé Rapp’s debut album “Snow Angel,” released Aug. 18, 2023, is a deep dive into the up-and-coming pop artist’s emotions and experiences. With shimmery pop songs, R&B influenced tracks and powerful ballads, Rapp lets listeners in on the most vulnerable side of her.
Rapp’s career took off in 2018 when she won Best Performance by an Actress at the National High School Musical Theater Awards, also known as the Jimmy Awards. She then made her Broadway debut in June 2019 as Regina George in “Mean G...
The Slate •

Grace’s Weekly Record: ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’

*Disclaimer: This article contains explicit content*
As 2023 comes to an end, it is time to reflect on the notable music that the year has brought us. This year has produced some of my favorite albums, one of them being Chappell Roan’s debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
Roan released her long-awaited debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” on Sept. 22. Born in Willard, Missouri, Roan wrote the record about moving from the Midwest to California and the self-disc...
The Slate •

Grace’s Weekly Record: Boygenius’ ‘the rest’

Boygenius released their second EP, “the rest,” on Oct. 13, which is a continuation of their full-length debut album “the record” released in March. 
“The rest” was released before Boygenius concluded their tour for “the record” at the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 31. The EP seems like a farewell gift to the fans, as the future of Boygenius remains unknown. In an interview for Apple Music, Zane Lowe asked Boygenius if the release timing was strategic, as it feels like a “beautiful dot, dot, dot (dot)”...
The Slate •

Grace's Weekly Record: '1989 (Taylor's Version)'

Taylor Swift released her fourth re-recorded album, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” on Friday, Oct. 27, and it is still twinkly and dreamy as ever. 
The re-recording process began in 2019 when Swift’s old record label was sold to music manager Scooter Braun, which meant that he gained the rights to the masters of Swift’s first six albums.​​ So, Swift decided to reclaim her music by re-recording all of her stolen albums. 
The original “1989” was released nine years ago on Oct. 27, 2014. Named after Sw...
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Grace's Weekly Record: 'Punisher' by Phoebe Bridgers

Singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers released her second album “Punisher” on June 18, 2020. More than three years later, the album still makes an impact. It is the perfect record for the days leading up to Halloween, as it has an otherworldly feeling to it. 
The album opens with the instrumental “DVD Menu,” which sets the haunting tone of the album. It then transitions into “Garden Song,” a song Bridgers wrote about her recurring nightmares on tour: “And it's gonna be just like my recurring dream/I...
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Grace's Weekly Record: 'Bewitched'

Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, who goes by the mononym Laufey, enchants her listeners in her sophomore album “Bewitched” with dreamy, modern jazz that makes them feel like they are in a romantic film.
Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter Laufey released “Bewitched” on Sept. 8. It is her second album after her debut “Everything I Know About Love.” In her debut album, Laufey is more of a hopeless romantic. Now, in “Bewitched,” she has learned a little more about love and has experienced heartbreak. 
Laufey...
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Grace’s Weekly Record: ‘songs’

Have you ever listened to an album, and suddenly felt like you have been transported to a forest — with birds chirping and creek water streaming? Adrianne Lenker’s indie-folk album “songs” encapsulates that feeling.
Lenker, a singer-songwriter who grew up in Minnesota, released two albums, “songs” and “instrumentals” on Oct. 23, 2020. Lenker wrote the records in a one-room cabin in a New England forest while in the midst of a heartbreak and the COVID-19 lockdown. Therefore, the woodsy tone of “s...
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Student Artist Spotlight: Aidan Swank

Aidan Swank is a senior art major at Shippensburg University with a certification in graphic design.
Swank’s preferred artistic medium is watercolor and acrylic paintings. He enjoys doing graphic design, but does that more professionally. He does a lot of abstract art, but he goes off of what he is feeling as a form of self-expression, rather than inspirations.
Swank had his watercolor paintings on display in the Brindle Gallery in early September, along with artwork by students Sharon Coons, Je...
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Grace's Weekly Record: Olivia Rodrigo's 'Guts'

Olivia Rodrigo released her sophomore album “Guts” on Friday, Sept. 8, more than two years after the release of her debut album “Sour.” 
“Guts” is the more mature, grown-up sibling of “Sour,” in a way. In “Sour,” Rodrigo describes her life and relationships at the age of 17. “I’m so sick of 17, where’s my teenage dream?” Rodrigo sings in the song “Brutal.” 
“Guts” focuses on the same themes of “Sour,” but with a more angsty, punk-rock feeling. While it still has some of Rodrigo’s signature balla...
The Slate •

Grace’s Weekly Record: 'Harry Styles’ is the perfect fall album

Fall is right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than by listening to an album that feels like fall? Harry Styles’ self-titled debut album is the perfect record for those chilly, beginning of autumn days. 
You may be more familiar with Styles’ work from his albums “Fine Line” and “Harry’s House,” which took home Album of the Year at the Grammys this year, but Styles made a remarkable solo debut in the soft-rock “Harry Styles,” released on May 12, 2017.
The album opens with “Meet...
The Slate •

Grace’s Weekly Record: ‘We’ll All Be Here Forever’

*Trigger warning: addiction, mental illness*
The places we grow up in have the power to affect our lives forever. Noah Kahan’s folk album “Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever)” describes the bittersweetness of being stuck in your hometown and what can happen when you finally leave it. 
Kahan released his third studio album “Stick Season” on Oct. 14, 2022. Kahan wrote the album during the COVID-19 lockdown while living in his childhood home in Vermont. The album is a tribute to the small Verm...
The Slate •

Boygenius’ "The Record" is an ode to friendship

The indie-rock trio Boygenius released their debut album “The Record” on Friday— their five-year comeback after releasing their self-titled EP in 2018. 
Boygenius consists of singer-songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. Baker and Dacus met in 2016 after Baker spotted Dacus in the dressing room of a venue reading “The Portrait of a Lady.” They immediately bonded over literature and their Southern roots. Baker and Bridgers met a month later and exchanged literary recommendation...
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PAGE Center presents “The Vagina Monologues”

The PAGE Center presented “The Vagina Monologues” in McFeely’s Cafe on Feb. 17 and 18.
“The Vagina Monologues” is a play written by Eve Ensler based on real interviews she conducted with more than 200 women. 
Admission was free, but donations to YWCA of Carlisle and Women in Need of Chambersburg were encouraged. 



Individuals from YWCA and Women in Need spoke to the audience before the show to explain what they do and offe...
The Slate •

The Reflector Hosts Annual Post-Love Open Mic

The Reflector, Shippensburg University’s on-campus literary journal, held its annual Post-Love Open Mic on Thursday, Feb. 16, in Stewart Hall. Attendees were encouraged to share their work about love, heartbreak and everything in between.
Upon entry, I was greeted by members of The Reflector — some of them wearing red clothing and heart-shaped accessories. The main area was decorated with rose petals, candles and streamers. You could feel the loving energy even before the event began.
The Reflec...
The Slate •

Luhrs Center gets “DooWopified”

The Doo Wop Project brought doo-wop classics and “DooWopified” hits to Luhrs Performing Arts Center Thursday night. 
The Doo Wop Project is a musical group that originated in New York City. The group consists of five members: Dominic Nolfi, Charl Brown, Dwayne Cooper, Russell Fischer and John Michael Dias. They have starred in Broadway hits such as “Motown: The Musical” and “Jersey Boys.” 
The group opened their show with some classic doo-wop songs, such as “Remember Then” by The Earls and “Mors...
The Slate •

Review: "My Policeman"

Based on the 2012 novel by Bethan Roberts, “My Policeman” is a bittersweet story about love, loss and wasted time. 
The film follows three people — policeman Tom Burgess, school teacher Marion Taylor and museum curator Patrick Hazlewood — and their forbidden love triangle. It transitions between their lives in the 1950s and 1990s in Brighton, England. 
Present-day Marion, played by Gina McKee, reflects on her life as she takes care of Patrick, played by Rupert Everett, in her and Tom’s home afte...
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