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New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes

Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Voices Editor

Maxine graduates in May with a B.F.A. in Dance and a Minor in English Literature. She is on the way to publishing her first novella, through Eileen (VerbalEyze Press), and presenting a thesis on choreographic procedure. She is a longtime fan of the August POetry POstcard Festival — if you’ve been longing to send your poems to strangers, check it out! Her favorite phrase to use in her poetry is “sea glass” — a worn remnant of rejection appearing only to scavengers of beauty. Read some of her words @poeticabythebay.

All content by Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes

Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes

Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes May 7, 2020

I joined WSN Under the Arch Voices as a Staff Writer in Fall 2018, when readers could unearth poems from an online archive, like finding little gems in a vast sea of stories. Since...

Illustration by Charlie Dodge.

Found Goodbyes — to the Class of 2020

A cento-technique poem compiling quotes from senior interviewees for this year’s last Special Issue.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Voices Editor May 7, 2020

I would miss 4 a.m. on a Sunday, how precious — all those late nights you need to stay up for your life, resilient, surfing the lack of sleep, circling Oxford commas. I...

Speaking on Life Within the Frame

Speaking on Life Within the Frame

A dance documentary featuring members of the Tisch Dance Class of 2020 as they offer their thoughts on a creative practice framed by the quarantine.

“Outside The Box” was choreographed by Garet Wierdsma to “Little Boxes” by Malvina Reynolds and original composition by Zilu Chen, performed by Tisch dancers at the Jack Crystal Theater before spring break. With remote instruction comes the challenges of online dance classes as Tisch dancers share their experiences. (Staff Photo by Alexandra Chan)

Dancing Through Distress: Tisch Dancers on Remote Learning

Three Tisch dance students share their experiences with online dance instruction.
Rachel Lee, Staff Illustrator April 12, 2020

Since the university announced that the rest of the semester would be happening remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, NYU students have been adapting to new routines to enable...

Andrea Serrano lives with her family in Queens. The struggle to balance both the responsibility of being a student as well as caring for one's family can extract a toll on the mental health of a commuter. (Photo by Andrea Serrano. Staff Illustration by Rachel Lee.)

More Than Just Train Delays: What Being a Commuter Really Means

NYU commuters share how commuting affected their college experience socially, professionally and mentally, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Rachel Lee, Staff Writer April 6, 2020

Troy Kelley, a Tisch dance junior who also majors in computer science, spent strenuous hours on campus for his classes and rehearsals before campus shut down due to the COVID-19...

Illustrated by Julia Hope Riguerra.

Letters to the Graduate, From the Graduating

An attempt to wrap your head around what the f-ck has just happened to you.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Voices Editor March 2, 2020

Read a transcript of Maxine's poem here: Graduating... _is like breaking up with the person you lit candles for, bought roses for, made mixtapes for, like blacking...

Blueprinted Memories: An NYU Floor Plan

Blueprinted Memories: An NYU Floor Plan

A prose collection of our staff writers’ current or past experiences living in NYU Housing.

Third Avenue North Residence Hall, Room 506, North Tower By Jessica Fiorella, Voices Editor In my first year, Friday nights were always spent in the same place: my common...

Illustration by Rachel Lee.

A New York City Summer: The Chore of Passion

A personal narrative about ignoring a beautiful summer to claim a slice of the city.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Voices Editor February 20, 2020

New York City in the summer is not a vacation; it is an East coaster’s way of getting ahead, while simultaneously not caring about life. Rather, when you’re a West coaster...

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset

to the wildlife we have destroyed 

Rachel Lee, Under the Arch Voices Illustrator December 5, 2019

to the wildlife we have destroyed  Though your presence May have left I will try my best To keep your memory  Alive   Telling stories of  How you  Lived  in...

Micro Memoir - Thoughts on the Hudson River Valley Aqueduct

Micro Memoir – Thoughts on the Hudson River Valley Aqueduct

Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Under the Arch Voices Editor December 5, 2019

blue stone quarry  morning  thirty-seven  on the icy gravel dike   these glacial acid lakes upstate, pure where fish die lacking green   dusty...

This Bi-Coastal Ashen Rain

This Bi-Coastal Ashen Rain

A California native identifies an environmental melancholia following this year’s wave of fire disasters.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Under the Arch Voices Editor December 5, 2019

It’s Sept. 1. A red bag with a white cross sits by the door. During our spring cleaning years ago, my father discovered expired soup cans inside of it. He said one day he would...

Right to Left: Mei Yamanaka, Jordan Morley in Tiffany Mills Company, “Not then, not yet.” (Photo by Robert Altman)

Tiffany Mills Company presents the Premiere of Not then, not yet at the Flea Theater in Tribeca, NY

Company-
Tiffany Mills, Jordan Morley, Kenneth Olguin, Nik Owens, Emily Pope, Mei Yamanaka

Photographer- Robert Altman
Post-production- Robert Altman

The Architecture of ‘Between’: A Duet With the Surreal

Tiffany Mills Company’s “Not then, not yet” was a cerebrally-charged contemporary dance performance that premiered November 13-16 at the Flea Theater in Tribeca.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, UTA Voices Editor December 3, 2019

In her world premiere of “Not then, not yet” at the Flea Theater in Tribeca, Tiffany Mills of Tiffany Mills Company transports her signature style of contact improvisation...

NiNi Dongnier in rehearsal for "Messiah" with Robert Wilson. (Photo by Chloé Bellemère)

Field Work in Motion: NiNi Dongnier on Designing Interactive Spaces

A recent Tisch alumna continues her research with interactive material at The Watermill Center & The Movement Lab at Barnard College.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Under the Arch Voices Editor November 26, 2019

At the Tisch Jack Crystal Theater in the East Village, dancers enter a stage with pulled wings to a score excerpted from Igor Stravinsky’s orchestral concert score, “The Rite...

Photo by Celia Tewey.

How To Map the East Village Artist

Put yourselves in the shoes of an artist living in the East Village as she tracks how she moves and evolves through the various locations she visits.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, UTA Voices Editor September 29, 2019

Illustrated by Deborah Alalade.

Postcard Poems

Six writers wrote personal letters in the form of postcard poems to their special place in the city from Battery Park to The Strand.

  Contact the writers at [email protected]

To: Brooklyn Bridge Park

To: Brooklyn Bridge Park

Rachel Lee, UTA Voices Illustrator September 25, 2019

To: Brooklyn Bridge Park 334 Furman St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 From: Rachel Lee Where I Find Peace Escaping the honks From inside the city To observe A day’s end. ...

To: Avenue D & East Seventh Street

To: Avenue D & East Seventh Street

Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, UTA Voices Editor September 25, 2019

To: Avenue D & East Seventh Street New York, NY 10009 From: Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes When an eastward road is your walkabout these stacked houses with green faces red...

Photo by Morgan Burns. Illustration by Kaitlyn Clevenger.

A Letter from Salzburg to New York | Salzburg, Austria

Maxine attended a six-week exchange program with the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD). This is not affiliated with an NYU global site.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, UTA Voices Editor September 19, 2019

Dear New York, I never thought I’d be busier in Salzburg than I was among your sweaty, summer city blocks. The tree-lined country roads surrounding our Airbnb were like the...

Photo by Liviya England. Illustration by Kaitlyn Clevenger.

Being Your Own Advocate | Prague, Czech Republic

Taina attended a three-week program at the National Theatre and The Academy of the Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), Czech Republic. This study abroad program is not affiliated with the NYU Prague global site.
Taina Lyons, Contributing Writer September 19, 2019

Prague felt isolating. At the same time, I felt fairly accepted by the locals — so much so that I fell into a routine of going to one particular market before morning classes....

Photo by Pranav Kothary. Illustration by Kaitlyn Clevenger.

An Outfit of Surrender | New York, New York

Rachel attended a six-week summer residency at Tisch in New York this past summer.
Rachel Lee, UTA Voices Illustrator September 18, 2019

“Mhmmmm,” we hummed, not only matching pitch with one another, but using sound to focus our attention into this moment. My eyes fluttered open to see my classmates, glistening...

A Farewell to the Arms of an Ideal Roommate

A Farewell to the Arms of an Ideal Roommate

A love letter to a former roommate: you don't know what you have until it's gone.
Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, Voices Editor February 21, 2019

A few weeks ago, I walked a childhood friend to the Bleecker Street Subway Station. Lugging a suitcase and garbage bag through the turnstile, she told me last semester had been...