Self portrait of Arthur Tress ’62, courtesy the artist’s website.

Arthur Tress ’62 Talked Cruising, Poetic Documentary, and His New Book of Photography, The Ramble, with Interview

For Interview magazine, writer and director Jordan Tannahill spoke with Bard alumnus Arthur Tress ’62 about his new book of photography, The Ramble. The book is a collection of photographs from the 1960s of an “overgrown stretch of Central Park that’s served as a cruising ground for gay men for nearly a century,” Tannahill writes. “I call it a sort of ‘poetic documentary,’” Tress said.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Photo: Raph_PH, Wikimedia Commons

“Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with Bard Alum Nick Zinner ’96, Makes Rolling Stone List of Greatest Songs of the Century 

Rolling Stone has named the song “Maps” by the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in which Bard alumnus Nick Zinner ’96 plays guitar and keyboard, as number two in their list of the 250 Greatest Songs of the Century So Far. “What remains in ‘Maps’ is pure feeling, so much so that the song has reappeared as musical inspiration for artists from Kelly Clarkson to Beyoncé over the years,” writes Rolling Stone about the band’s 2003 song. “Still, the original has held out strongest through the decades.”

Kenneth S. Stern ’75, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate.

Kenneth Stern ’75, Director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, Spoke About Anti-Semitism, Free Speech, and American Universities on College Matters

In a conversation with Jack Stripling on College Matters, a podcast produced by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate Kenneth Stern ’75 discussed what he saw as the “weaponization of the definition” of anti-Semitism that he helped to create. “I’m not ever saying don't combat speech or contest speech that you don’t like,” Stern said, “but I’m saying don’t use instruments of the state to suppress what teachers can teach and what students can hear.”

Jedediah Berry ’99. Photo by Tristan Morgan Chambers

The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry ’99 Wins Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction

The Naming Song, the newest novel by author and Bard alumnus Jedediah Berry ’99, was awarded the 2025 Massachusetts Book Award for fiction. The Massachusetts Book Awards recognize works by current Commonwealth residents in multiple categories. “I was so pleased to see my book included among a list of so many extraordinary writers’ works who I admire,” Berry said to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.