Ifour Vears -
nowcrc near
enough thne to
do everythrng
U , I'm finally a senior, aka. "almost done," a.k.a.
"older than dirt."Yeah, it feels good. But don't get
me wrong - it's also very frghtening. I'm not in
any hurry to leave college and go out into the real world. It's
taken three years for me to get used to Ann Arbor and to find
"my place" here. Now that I've done so, I can't imagine
being anywhere else.
My only regret is that it took me so long to learn how to
really take advantage of this place. There are so many things
I want to do, I could pull an all-nighter every night until I
graduate and still not accomplish them all.
Looking back as an old-timer, the best advice I could give
to incoming students would be to START NOW If there's
something you want to see, see it. Don't
put anything off ... and that includes
much more than the chem study sched- Jessica
ule you have written on your calendar. Eaton
As any "townie" will boast, Ann Arbor
is an amazing city, and the learning
exerience it offers is much more
isive than 15 credits of lecture for
ight semesters could ever provide.
Once classes get under way, however,
it's sometimes easy to forget that. Some
ys to remember:
Knock on doors and introduce your- STATh F
self to all of your neighbors in your ________
dorm. Become friends with some of ~
hem, but don't allow yourself to spend
11 of your free time playing Euchre in a dorm room.
onvince them to go out with you.
ea movie at the Michigan Theater (maybe an art film or
a eign language film) and enjoy the historic atmosphere.
hen go to a movie at Showcase, the shopping mall of the-
ters. Compare the experiences.
Go to the Arb. Wander on the trails along the Huron River
until you get lost and find yourself on north campus (or cen-
I campus, if you live up north). Take the bus home.
Take a canoe down the Huron River.
Browse the used bookstores. Don't go in looking for any-
hing in particular, because you'll never find it. Buy a book
for 50 cents, knowing that you'll enjoy it much morethan all
f ose textbooks you paid hundreds of dollars for.
owse the used music stores. Pick a CD just because you
like the case.
Become a caffeine addict, no matter how much you cur-
rntly claim to hate coffee. Go to every coffee shop in town.
Find a favorite. Introduce yourself to someone there who
ooks interesting.
Go to a theater performance produced by a university
roup. The next week, go to a performance produced by an
nn Arbor community group.
Learn how to swing dance. If you don't like to dance, learn
encing. Or yoga. Or massage. Teach someone else.
ganize your own intramural sports team. (Natural athlet-
ic talent is definitely not required.)
Sit in the Diag for two hours on a warm afternoon. Watch
he other people sitting there, and realize that everyone else is
atching you, too. Bring a frisbee.
Pull all-nighters, despite your best intentions not to pro-
rastinate. Go to Angell Hall and run into everyone you
now, yet somehow still finish your work on time. Go out to
reakfast at 6 a.m.
Take a class in something you have noapparent need for
jIrt history if you're a chemistry major, or calculus if
an English major. Don't take it pass/fail.
Take mini-courses.
Audition for a play. Write a play. Direct and star in your
wn play. Start your own production company.
Go to your favorite professor's office hours when you
on't have any questions about the homework. Ask questions
ust to satisfy your own curiosity.
Start a band. If you don't know anyone who plays an
nstrument, teach yourself. Give up and start an a capella
roup. Become your own publicist and cover campus with
osters advertising your big concert.
un the naked mile.
see a rock performance at the Ark or the Blind Pig or
he Bird of Paradise. Then go see a classical performance
ponsored by the University Musical Society Compare them.

Go to the art museum. Look at works of art other than the
amin exhibit.
Become friends with someone who lives on the other side
f campus. Make a point to go visit them regularly.
Study abroad for a term. Go somewhere you've always
reamed about visiting.
Eat a chipati (an Ann Arbor specialty - basically, a salad
n~in bread). Try and figure out why they taste so good.
nt a camera and become an amateur photographer, using
veryone you know as a possible subject. Use your photos as
means of(friendly) blackmail.
Write a poem. Submit it to a literary publication on cam-
us. Brag to all your friends that you're a published poet. Go
o a poetry slam.
Laugh at yourself
Stay in Ann Arbor one summer. Go to the art fair. Allow
ourself to be surprised by how quiet the campus is.
Become an activist for a cause you believe in. Write letters,
irculate petitions. Participate in a protest.
an experiment, try every flavor of Stucchi's ice cream.
e up your findings.
Go to a football game. Go to every football game. Paint
our face maize and blue. Try and start "the wave" and yell at
nyone who won't join you. Either make fun of how
ichigan Stadium looks, or defend the halo's artistic value.
hrow homemade confetti at the person you debate. Cheer
or the marching band.
Spend hours debating the finer points of the "Star Wars"
movies, the "Indiana Jones" movies, "Ferris Bueller's Day
Qff",and "The Breakfast Club." Decide to watch them again,
Lwo settle your arguments.
Taint the rock.
Take a road trip, even if you've lived in Michigan all your
life and feel like you've seen it all before. Pretend to be a
tourist. Take a lot of pictures.
Write for the Daily.
Study.
Decide to go to grad school so you never have to leave.

(7o ic irbigan &xi u
iRTS Wednsda

www.michigandaily com
Al goes public with its art

9etenbr ,1999

By Phil Bansal
l -aipv Rt R onrter
Naked mile runners spin the Cube in
Regents' Plaza. Children slide down the ramps
of the "Daedalus" sculpture in front of the
University's Museum of Art. New orientees
wade through Poseidon's pond surrounding the
sculpture "Sunday Morning in Deep Waters."
While the campus is full of these treasures,
the city lacks many public art exhibits. Even
the Rock, which officially sits off campus, is a
student work in progress.
But some Ann Arbor residents formed a
group entitled the Downtown Public Art
Committee in an attempt to generate more
public art in the city itself From this citizen-

led effort came the Ann Arbor Commission on
Art in Public Places, established by a city
council resolution mI 1998.
The stated purpose of the commission is "to
nurture and enhance the city's image as a cul-
tural and artistic hub through the prornotion of
public art that is as div'rse as Ann Arbor
itself"
Currently, the commission is helping see the
citizens' Public Art Committee's park ing struc-
ture project on Fourth Avenue and Washington
Street through to complktion. The commis-
sion's reasoning: If the need for parking in Ann
Arbor necessitates parking structures, then
why not make the structures appealing?

Both public art organizations want donors to
fund an 8bv-65 teet long mural f icIng Fourth
Avenue. The city's commission w ill work ith
the citizens' committee to choose the artist for
this mural.
Bob Elton, current chair of the city commis-
sion, said his commission's job is to make sure
the style of the mural appeals to the most peo-
ple. The people who will select the mural's
artist are competent folk, he said, naming
"artists, art teachers, and gallery owners,
among the protfssions on the commission.
As far as other public art projects go, Elton
said there is only "a lot of talk" right now. The The Cit
See PUBLIC, Page 2C structu

ty of Ann Arbor wants everyday
ires to help beautify the city.

BLAST

TO

THE

PAST

DAVE ROCHKIND/Dady
When it's finished with $4.4 million in renovations, The Michigan Theater wants to look the way it did in the 1920s. Back then, the theater was the 'biggest' and 'best' in Ann Arbor.
Ren (ovatis to eCho theater S'2s glr

By William Nash
Daily Arts Writer
The Michigan Theater, which was
founded in Ann Arbor only a little more
than a generation after the University, has
joined the long list of Ann Arbor theaters
playing the renovation game.
But the Michigan plans to return to its
original glory. The $4.4 million expan-
sions don't include stadium seating or
cup-holders, as other projects do. In 1928,
when the theater was showing silent
movies, it was the "biggest" and "best" in
Ann Arbor, said theater executive director
Ross Collins.
Since then, the theater has already had
two periods of restoration in 1982 and
1986, but the biggest work is still to be
done. Collins said he expects completion
by the summer of 2001.
The theater's long history is an inspir-
ing one; it was only a wrecking ball away
from destruction in 1979 when the newly-
formed non-profit gro'up the Michigan
Theater Foundation stepped in and
worked for its preservation.
The foundation launched a fundraising

campaign that raised more than $400,000
for the theater's preservation from local
businesses and individuals.
"The community proved that they want-
ed to preserve the historic theater,"
Collins said. "It attracts and brings back
parents and out-of-towners for a fun and
unique experience."
Since its brush with death, the theater
has hosted an impressive list of big name
artists, performers, films, and just about
any other form of entertainment available.
Traditionally, it has been a favorite site
for veteran artists such as Bob Dylan and
Lyle Lovett and for up-and-comers like
Ilootie and the Blowfish.
Collins recalls Dylan complementing
him on the "beauty" of the theater.
The Michigan specializes in indepen-
dent and off-the-beaten-path films and
documentaries, but it also shows some
mainstream films such as "Clueless" and
"There's Something About Mary."
In order to meet the demands of show-
ing both films and live events, renovation
plans include the addition of a new 200-
seat theater to accompany the main theater

which now seats more than 1,700. Collins
decided to design the new theater in the
same traditional decor as the old theater,
rather than opting for a modern look.
"There is no modernization in terms of
appearance," Collins said. "But there will
be plenty of interesting things to look at in
the new theater."
The theater will be a variation on the
'20s-style feel of the rest of the building.
Currently, construction crews are work-
ing to complete the final phase of repair to
the fagade and balcony of the main. the-
ater, and have begun work on the new the-
ater.
Both the look of the theater and the type
of films it shows have attracted a different
type of audience than the bigger chains
like Showcase Cinemas, said employee
Sangita Baruah.
"Every once and a while, when we
show something more mainstream, like
'Clueless,' there is a different type of
crowd," Baruah said. "I guess you could
call our usual crowd 'alternative."'
Besides the '20s architecture, the
Michigan Theater maintains its old-world

appeal by outfitting employees in special
"tuxedo suits" and by serving a variety of
unusual refreshments - including beer.
Employee John Wyatt said one of the
reasons he wanted to work at the theater
was for the fringe benefits.
"Movies are free and its an easy job,"
Wyatt said. He said that the theater is one
of few that shows independent films like
"Buffalo 66," one of his favorites.
Besides the new theater, the Michigan
will be undergoing a overhaul of some of
the older technological systems.
Collins said improvements to the air-
conditioning system are some of the more
needed renovations.
"The air-conditioning systems need to
be updated from the 1920s," Collins said.
"It is state-of-the-art 1920s technology,
but we're almost in the next century."
Besides air-conditioning, Collins said
the addition of rest rooms will help keep
customers comfortable.
The Michigan Theater joins its neigh-
bor the State Theater and Showcase
Cinemas on Carpenter Road in renovation
efforts.

New horizons in art world bring changes to 'U'

By Phil Bansal
Daily Staff Reporter
Artists exploring new, undiscovered terri-
tory have found a gold mine of new artistic
expressions as well as more career opportu-
nities. Computers and other technological
advances have proliferated in the contempo-
rary art community to such an extent that
academic concentrations in these new genres
are fast becoming commonplace on campus-
es across America.
With video art's capacity to show people
doing interesting things, artists can effect
some charged experiences in their audiences.
An exhibit in the Art Institute of Chicago
held a fruit bowl full of clear rubber balls
with a knotted cherry stem inside each ball.

tongue out with the knotted stem upon it.
Annette Dixon, curator at the University's
art museum, said her museum hasn't done
much with computer art but has interest in
video.
The museum has exhibited installation art,
though.
Installation art is more of a theoretical
advance than a technological one. An instal-
lation artist turns museums into different
worlds. A carpet of leaves on a museum floor
can transport museum visitors to the great
outdoors. Garishly colored walls that meet at
odd angles can make museum visitors feel
uncomfortable or threatened.
"Installation art creates an environment,"
Dixon said.

in people.
The Museum planned to exhibit an instal-
lation piece by Gina Ferrari from June 19 to
July 25. The exhibit consisted of hundreds of
figures of piglets and snakes atop a pink plat-
form in the Museum's apse.
Art schools at universities around the
country have responded to the exciting surge
of new art forms by initiating concentrations
in these new art forms.
For the past two years, Ohio State
University has offered a program entitled Art
and Technology. Kenneth Rinaldo, an assis-
tant professor at Ohio State, said the program
teaches "3D computer animation, digital
imaging, electronics, interactive robotic
sculpture, holography, installation" and

along with physics professors, exhibiting the
program's "commitment to a true interdisci-
plinary environment."
Northwestern lacks a school of art, instead
having a Department of Art Theory and
Practice in their liberal arts college.
William Conger, professor and department
chair, said although his department lacks a
concentration in what he calls "time-arts
media' Northwestern offers "state-of-the-art
technology" to its students and his depart-
ment maintains "its own computer lab exclu-
sively for art students and faculty"
As a result, Conger said, Northwestern's
art students have the opportunity to pursue
new technology-based arts in a "cross-disci-
plinary" environment.

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