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The dorm DJ: me!

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Talia Boren, Celina Lee and Stella Seitz dance with a speaker during a basketball game. Photo by Grace Sharma.

Consider this an ode to my JBL Charge 5 speaker and the unity it provides.

As aspiring journalists, cherubs strive for objectivity, but beyond the confines of Fisk Hall, music serves as a sanctuary for subjective preferences. JBL holds the power to amplify them, literally.

Bluetooth devices, like my precious JBL, transmit data through electromagnetic waves and act as a two-way communication system. Similarly, at cherubs, whether I’m peer editing, learning from instructors or acting as a self-proclaimed DJ, the essence lies in collaboration, communication and dance battles.

It wasn’t until my second week here that I truly began to reap the benefits of the JBL speaker. Since its debut, it has earned a permanent residence in my linen tote bag.

Music shaming is real, so as a precautionary measure, I made a 144-song playlist that spans over eight hours and covers a spectrum of listening preferences. We have everything from “Dancing Queen” by ABBA to “Naughty” from Matilda the Musical to “Juju on That Beat” by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappel Roan and the one-hit wonder “Cha Cha Slide” by Cha Cha Slide.

Us cherubs love a good Cha Cha Slide, which wouldn’t be possible without the JBL. In fact, after an optional Shabbat dinner, an epic dance battle went down in the great room of Jones Hall. Thanks to my speaker, the acoustics were crisp, the spirits were high and the competition was no joke.

The importance of a JBL speaker, however, lies within its listeners. Without intense dance battles in the great room, specific song requests at every hour or singing so loudly that the speaker is drowned out, it would just be a plain old JBL.

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