Broadway Marquee Dims Lights for Joan Rivers

To honor the lives of those largely affiliated with Broadway, the Broadway League decides whether or not to dim Broadway's marquees in their honor. This summer, Broadway legend Elaine Stritch passed away and the Broadway League rightfully made the decision to dim marquees for one minute.

Rivers performing in Sally Marr...and her escorts in 1994

Following the death of the beloved Joan Rivers, the Broadway league decided not to dim their marquees. They justified their decision saying that, "Under our criteria people need to have been very active recently in the theater, or else be synonymous with Broadway – people who made their careers here, or kept it up." Although Joan has always been an avid supporter of Broadway, attending countless opening nights and benefits, she had not acted on Broadway in over 20 years according to Broadway League Executive Director Charlotte St. Martin.

Immediately after they released their decision, the theatre community made their voices heard through a social media campaign using the Twitter hashtag #Dim4Joan. Just one day later the Broadway League decided to reverse their decision. The Broadway marquees were dimmed September 9th for one minute at 6:45 p.m.

Stratford Shakespeare Festival

Every year the Theatre and English Departments take students to Stratford, Ontario to partake in the largest classical theatre festival in North America.

Ranging from works of Shakespeare to early 20th century plays and musicals, the Stratford Festival is a landmark event for theatergoers. 

This year students saw performances of A Midsummer Nights Dream, Mother Courage and Her Childen, Alice Through the Looking Glass, King John, Crazy for You, and Hay Fever. The diverse selection of works gave students breadth of knowledge from various classical playwrights of different eras. 

Downtown Stratford, Ontario

This particular production of A Midsummer Nights Dream was very popular among the students because it featured modern themes including same sex relationships between principal characters and sporadic singing of modern songs like Grenade by Bruno Mars.

Celebrating Canadian culture even further, the theatre festival predominantly features Canadian actors. Albeit, many festival goers come from all over the world, many from America. Being such arts and culture hub, Stratford attracts many young artists, making it a popular destination
for any english or theatre student. The Wittenberg students look forward to attending the event each year. 

CVS Health: PR Genius

CVS Pharmacy has officially changed their name to CVS Health in order to reflect on their new commitment to improving the health of others. Their logo has also changed as they have added a red heart to their name.

In doing so, CVS no longer sells tobacco products. But does CVS actually care about people purchasing tobacco products or are they just PR/Marketing geniuses? Regardless of their intentions, the store's new branding will generate an internet buzz about the chain store, which can only help their image, and undoubtedly sales.

CVS banning tobacco products will not stop anyone from purchasing cigarettes or chewing tobacco, so why should they make such a big deal about their shift in inventory? One could argue that any large chain store would take advantage of this new image in order to gain publicity. But who's to point fingers at CVS Health? They have a fantastic PR department. And don't feel bad for them, their lack of sales in tobacco products will be surpassed by their jump in sales from publicity.

Gentrification in NYC: Good or bad?

Throughout the years, the demographics of New York City neighborhoods continue to change.
Defined as the shift in urban areas catering to wealthier residents, gentrification has stirred up controversy among New Yorkers.

The double edged sword, gentrification, is praised for developing economy and lowering crime rates while it is criticized for driving the lower class out the communities they call home.

Many areas of Brooklyn including Green Pointe and Williamsburg, have already undergone extreme gentrification as the cost of living is credited as being higher than most areas of Manhattan.

Harlem, which used to be known for it's high crime rates, is seeing a shift catering more towards young professionals. In 5 years will Harlem be the new Hell's Kitchen? Will Williamsburg be the new West Village?

While gentrification is famed for its economic eviction of the lower class, it also presents many economic opportunities for real estate investors, young professionals, restaurateurs and much more. But is it worth driving prices up and ultimately people out of their homes?