Features

Why is there a lonely stone castle sitting in the middle of the Hudson river? "Frank Bannerman built a castle and filled it with all of the coolest things he could get his hands on," writes features editor Vaughn Greason '25, who dives into the history of the curious Bannerman's Armory.

Staff writer Ryan Hickey '25 explores the complex systems of the PC game 5D Chess with Multiversal Time Travel.

“People can’t imagine how you wouldn’t be ripping each other’s dresses and high heels like the movies…but it’s a sisterhood.” Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, graduate student Lily Donaldson is the 2021 Miss Tennessee title holder in the Miss United States division. In her interview with staff writer Maanasa Pulavarty '25, Donaldson goes into the history of American beauty pageants and her role as Miss Tennessee.

Objects mandatorily erased from consciousness and a writer struggling to find her place amongst it all. Publicity Editor Mattaya Gibbs ’24 discusses her views on The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa.

The first-ever Student Film Festival occurred on Wednesday, March 23 hosted by UPAC Cinema in collaboration with the Department of Arts.

Apple released the Mac Studio with the new M1 Ultra chip on March 8. Apple argues that it matches and exceeds the performance of its high-end professional Intel-powered Apple desktops while being the same dimensions of the Mac Mini, at around 2.5 times its height.

The Winter Carnival at the Rensselaer Union had a variety of events for students to participate in during Election Day of Grand Marshal Week. This included performances, carnival games run by various student organizations, and prizes.

Vaporwave expresses a variety of emotions that are otherwise hard to articulate through aesthetics and production. Features Editor Vaughn Greason ’25 examines the aesthetics and evolution of the bands Macintosh Plus and Haircuts for Men, and looks to the future of vaporwave.

While not the same combat sport that the Princess Bride would have you believe, modern fencing is still the same fast-paced world of technique, defense, and mind games.

Features Editor Vaughn Greason '25 interviews the Rensselaer Astrophysical Society about their place in RPI's community.

With finals week looming, Nason Hall has been looking for a way to liven students’ spirits. Over the weekend, several residents pitched in to purchase and decorate a tree that’s now displayed on the building’s north side. The Polytechnic interviewed a few of the main contributors to this project.

Cadets in Rensselaer’s Army ROTC competed in a national military skills competition, the Ranger Challenge, from October 22 to 24. The Mohawk Battalion, a 12-member team with RPI, Siena College, University of Albany, and Union College cadets, placed second out of 45 teams, qualifying them to compete at the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition at West Point for the first time in over ten years.

OpenCircuits, an online circuit designer, is seeing increased usage in classrooms at Rensselaer. Recently, Professor Konstantin Kuzmin decided to use OpenCircuits as his main circuit simulator when teaching Computer Organization. To learn more about the project, The Polytechnic interviewed the OpenCircuits RCOS project team.

Despite the hiatus caused by the pandemic, the RPI Players still deliver with Clue—an infamous mystery story that’s been adapted into countless movies, shows, plays, and a myriad of board games since its inception.

With Spring semester course registration right around the corner, many RPI students are trying to put together their course schedules. A popular scheduling tool among RPI students is QuACS, the Questionably Accurate Course Scheduler. To get a better understanding of QuACS, The Polytechnic interviewed the QuACS team.

Are you looking to spice up your playlist? Don't worry, The Poly's got you covered. Check out our Fall 2021 recommendations below, featuring music from Adele to Modest Mouse.

Exploring West Hall at night is a rite of passage at RPI. In the newest Poly comic, three students have a strange encounter in the rumored-to-be-haunted building.

West Hall has a reputation at Rensselaer for its otherworldly, cryptic nature, with its eerie and complex history. Staff writer Vaughn Greason ’25 walks through the history of West Hall and what it represents to RPI.

Laura Zwirn ’23 and Erik Cross ’23 interview local drag queen Typhoid Mary to learn more about their artistic endeavors and their lived experiences as an artist in Troy.

Talk Without Borders organized Poetry Slam Night, an event aimed towards providing members of the Rensselaer community with an open space to express themselves in an artistic way.

Bill Ni ’23 shares his thoughts on why Parasite and Squid Game are so successful and how they reflect on our society’s income inequality.

Shuttle Tracker recently released a new public beta, called “the new Shuttle Tracker,” with a major new feature: crowd-sourced location data. The Polytechnic interviewed the Shuttle Tracker team on the Tracker's new features.

Editor in chief Medhini Mankale ’23 and photography editor Rachel Wang ’23 explain why We Are Lady Parts is the one show you should binge this semester. The comedy series follows an all-female Muslim punk band as they prepare and audition for a battle of the bands competition, with plenty of witty banter and jokes along the way.

Public health officials warn of possible side effects, but what if they weren't all negative? The Poly is bringing back comics with graphic artist Habib Nahouta at the helm.