Happy December Spartans!

This is Varnika, Sword & Shield’s Art & Entertainment Editor. I hope the long fall break gave everyone a chance to relax as we enter the last month of 2025. As always, we’ve got plenty of interesting reads for you this month, with stories covering all the new and exciting things our writers want to share with you.

Arts & Entertainment brings you reviews on the new horror movies Frankenstein and Chainsaw Man, as well as our two monthly series – crochet patterns and Fiction Book Club’s latest book review!

This month is an important one for VPM’s theatre department as they transition from the fall play to the winter musical, and Student Life has articles diving into both of those productions. We also have pieces about gift giving ideas and our school’s food drive, both good reads for the holiday season coming up!

Our news writers have lots to share this month. Some highlights include updates on the government, both about the shutdown and elections across the country. 

In sports, we have stories about the latest in women’s basketball and a piece about dog dock diving.

Finally, in Opinions, our writers discuss a variety of topics. This month, that includes labubus, the new iPhone model, and a ranking of Shirley Temples from some of Madison’s popular chain restaurants.

If you’re interested in writing something for our January issue, make sure to join us in rm. 1716 this Thursday, December 4th for our planning meeting! It’s a great time to brainstorm ideas with friends and tap into your creativity. Thanks for reading, Spartans! Make sure to check out everything our writers have to offer this month.

Solutions and a digital version of this month’s game (Connections!): https://docs.google.com/document/d/17U2tzRSHwEykoItafvoYty5fx11b0rKO1YOSUHWKdjA/edit?usp=sharing