4B - Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
MUSTACHE-A-THON
From Page 3B
cessful, he wanted to find a way
to give back to the community. In
2002, he opened 826 Valencia in
San Francisco.
According to Uhle, Eggers
"wanted to take away the stigma
of getting help for kids. So he
made the name just the address
instead of something that would
make the place feel less fun."
Since Eggers opened 826 Valencia
in 2002, 826 National has started
seven chapters across the country
- 826michigan is one of them.
Every.826 writing center has a
different theme. At 826 Valencia,
there's a pirate ambiance, and
826michigan is all about robots.
Uhle says the theme immediately
resonates with children when
they come into the 826 building.
"It's fun and different and it
engages them in a way that their
homework cannot ... it just brings
the community to our doorstep.
It's a way for us to recruit new
donors, new volunteers and new
mustache growers. It's a commu-
nity portal," Uhle said.
Many Ann Arbor residents
walk into the store without know-
,.ing what to expect. Brubaker, who
works the store shift four hours a
week, explains how the process
typically goes down: People ask
about the robots, he gives them
a straight-laced answer and then
lets them know what 826 is really
about.
"People get really excited when
they know kids they can bring in,
and (they bring) money to help
support our program, so it's kind
of a community liaison type of
thing. You draw them in under
Not only do the winners have mustaches, so do their trophies.
one pretense and once they find
out what you're doing, they're
even more excited about it," Bru-
baker explained.
Mustaches and robots aside,
826michigan's literacy pursuits
are pretty astonishing them-
selves. 826 has more than a thou-
sand volunteers, many of whom
are Michigan students who tutor
children ages six to 18 in every-
thing from math to English. The
team also goes to public schools in
the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor area
to hold writing workshops.
What surprises most people
about the organization is that it is
completely volunteer-run and all
programs - tutoring, workshops,
field trips - are free. 826 Execu-
tive Director Uhle and Executive
Director Amy Sumerton are the
only two paid members on staff.
"It's a volunteer army of people
that want to help," Brubaker said.
826 even makes young creative
writers into published authors -
whether it be through their own
zine or a specially composed
book.
"Kids get super excited when
you publish their work," Brubaker
said. "Just the look on their faces
when they realize, 'You want to
put something I wrote into a book
and people want to read it?' It's a
big deal ... And to be a published
author whether you're six or 15?
That's a big deal."
If helping an organization as
admirable as 826 isn't enough of
an incentive to convince anxious
gents to put their follicles to good
use, maybe these accolades will:
Every Mustache-A-Thon partici-
pant gets a thrift store trophy for
his commendable pursuits - com-
plete with its own stylin''stache.
BODY ART
From Page 1B
traguses - the triangular flap of cartilage toward the
front of the ear - and guys prefer eyebrows), potts
stressed that it's ultimately impossible to predict who
has what.
"There's way more people that look like you that
have genital piercings than people that look like me,"
he said. "Like, what do you think the percentage is of
people that work here that have genital piercings?"
It's 50 percent. Potts is one of them, but "you
wouldn't be able to guess (the other)," he said.
Finding acceptance
According to potts, Ann Arbor is a fairly tolerant
place for the heavily modified.
"If you want to stand out here, you have to cut your
hair and wear a suit and tie, and listen to Rush Lim-
baugh," he explained. "But if you want to go alongwith
the mainstream then you get some dreadlocks, you get
your nose pierced, you go vegan."
In a town where so many of the residents are stu-
dents, it's not surprising that attitudes toward body
modification would be relatively liberal.
Morris was particularly gratified by the University's
response when she had to go to UHS last year for a skin
allergy.
"I was really, really impressed that (the doctors)
were so friendly to me, that they didn't give me some
sort of parental speech of 'What are you doing to your
body?' "she said. "That was really reassuring to me."
However, Morris has had her share of bad reactions
to her body modifications, both in the University and
the outside world.
"I think campus is accepting. I think campus still
judges," she said.
During her seniorcritique in the art school, one pro-
fessor, upon seeing her hand implants, accused Morris
of self-harming. It's a charge often laid on people with
more unorthodox modifications.
"It's not like I'm doing my scarification work with a
razor blade on my arms," Morris explained.
"I don't want to makelightof situations where people
are cutting, because that's a very serious issue, but it's
not something that I deal with ... There's a big difference
from when you do it to yourself, by yourself, than when
you find a tattoo artist and spend six months designing
something, and then spend a year of your life working
with that person for hours every other week to finish
something."
Morris clearly doesn't do her modifications on a self-
desecrating whim. She is extremely picky aboutcleanli-
ness, recovery time and the state of her health before
she gets each new modification. But she recounted an
incident in a grocery store, when she saw a motherscold
her misbehaving child, " 'Stop being trouble, you're
such trouble.'
"And then (the mother) looks atcme, 'She knows what
trouble is."'
Morris didn't just let the comment pass.
"I looked at her, I'm like, 'Actually, ma'am, I'm put-
ting myself through the University of Michigan, I'm
completely drug-free - I've never smoked anything - I
lead a vegan lifestyle for myself, I'm active in different
political organizations, I work with all these different
things, I'm on ResStaff, I hold multiple jobs at a time
while being a full-time student. If you'd like to know
about trouble, Ican direct you to some other groups, but
I'm not (in) them.'
"And she was dumbfounded."
Parental reactions to students' modifications are
often the stickiest to deal with. Like Ross, whose moth-
er still doesn't know about her small tattoo, Morris
doesn't announce her new work to her family. Students
often let their parents find out about their modifications
when it comes up - in some cases, literally.
LSA sophomore Christina Daniels had a tree tat-
tooed on her hip when she turned 18. Her mother found
out when she was driving back to school from fall break
last year.
"I was laying down in the car and my shirtcame up a
little bit and she waxlike ... 'What is that?' " Danielsasaid.
"'It's my tattoo, buh-bye Mom, I'll see you at winter
break."'
Remaking the temple
Perhaps more reassuring to parents are the motiva-
tions behind tattoos and other modifications - in many
cases, it's a particular fusion of the artistic and the spiri-
tual.
"I got (my tattoo) because of a Bible parable," said
Daniels, who has been religious all her life. The tree,
which spreads over nearly a foot of her right hip, is a
"metaphor for faith and how it can grow and become
a big thing."
More than a spiritual outlet, Morris sees body modi-
fication as "a whole process of, really, adding to your-
self."
"It's a freeing process, it definitely helps me feel
more comfortable with myself," she said, but "it's never
something you need."
Marchese agrees that modifications shouldn't be
necessary to feel atchome in one's own skin.
"I have my two or three piercings because I care
about them, because they mean a lot to me. I didsuspen-
sion because it was meaningful to me.... I don't feel like
my piercings complete me; ina sense, it's just my way of
expressing myself at this point intime."
In doing piercings, potts deals directly with how to
turn this self-expression into art.
He described his work as "more of a craft," in that he
turns other people's concepts into artistic reality rath-
er than directly engaging with his own ideas. He sees
himself as an employee of his customer, the real artistic
visionary.
"It's art for you when you're sitting and they're mak-
ing over your body," he said. "You're remaking your
temple ... we just help."
For potts, body modification is all about decorating
the earthly temple.
His own piercings and tattoos are an exercise in "try-
ing to make the outside look like what I think the out-
side should look like - curb appeal, as it were."
Potts sees eye to eye with many of the Students for
the Appreciation of Body Modification crowd on-their
reasons for getting into this particular form of art. He
described LSA senior Amanda Badger, a co-founder of
SABM and frequent visitor to Pangea.
"She's not a weirdo. She just likes her temple and
wants to decorate a little bit. And she's not sad or self-
mutilating or anything likethat. It's about a celebration
of her life.... It's a very empowering thing."
Modified bodies in the student body
Badger founded SABM last year as a place for stu-
dents to get together and have an open conversation
about body modification.
"I enjoy body modification and body modification
accessories, and I noticed that there wasn't an actual U
of M student group that was involved with (that)," Bad-
ger said.
Though only the five officers attended the suspen-
sion-themed first meeting of the semester, Badger
hopes to expand the group. She echoes the sentiments
of many modified students in her worries that others
sometimes judge them or fear their differences before
gettingto know them.
"Anything that you don't know about is scary, and I
don't want people to just chalk (me) off as some sort of
freak, because I'm the same as anybody else," Morris
said.
Even Daniels, whose tattoo is only visible when she
wears a swimsuit, said her friends are "always really
surprised when they find out I have it."
"They're like, 'Oh, you don't seem like the tattoo
type,"' she said.
Clearly, the idea of a "tattoo type," the standard ink-
covered and metal-spiked delinquent, is a myth. The
body-modifiedcanmbe anyone; their art is just as likely
to be a purely personal expression as a loud public state-
ment.
"It's not weird ... it's not unacceptable," Badger said
'of body modification. "We're not mean, and we're not
elitist, and -"
"Speak for yourself!" Morris joked.
Morris mused that with her split tongue, pop-up
flowered hands and countless tattoos and piercings, she
is "probably the most heavily modified student on cam-
pus." She has traveled across the country to find just the
right artists or craftsmen to do her work.
But in Ann Arbor, Morris still admits to a discrepan-
cy between her community at the 'U' and her modifica-
tion community.
"Some of my friends ... see meas a novelty," she said.
"I always have this weird feelingthat people see me as,
'Let's live vicariously through her, because she's willing
to make these choices for her life' ... I think that some
people are afraid to step out of their little comfort bub-
bles."
The spiritual and artistic outlet of body modifica-
tion is an essential part of Morris's life and the lives of
many modification practitioners.
And, Morris confessed, "I really want to have more
friends that IScan share that with."
0
The "stuff" referred to in the store's tagline includes figurines, T-shirts, manga and a giant Uglydoll.
VAULT
From Page 3B
If anything else, it was extreme-
ly fortuitous for Vault of Midnight
to open when it did. It was able to
ride along the wave of the indus-
try's return to prosperity. Comic
books have blown up since the
global successes of comic book
movies - "Spider-Man," "The
Dark Knight" and "Iron Man," to
name a few.
These film sensations have
definitely led to more awareness
and readership of comic books in
general, but to attribute the 'suc-
cess of Vault of Midnight merely
to this phenomenon would belittle
the hard work done by the store's
owners and employees.
"I think we've been able to
thrive because of genuine appre-
ciation and enthusiasm for what
ANGER
From Page 3B
we're doing," said Silbereis.
"At the heart of it we just really
loved comic books," added Sul-
livan. "I would talk people's ears
off, I would get them to buy comic
books 'cause I was totally all about
them. And that's real."
For newbies who may worry
about being overwhelmed by Vault
of Midnight's mammoth collection,
fear not. The store's employees
are extremely knowledgeable and
passionate about what they sell -
they've been reading comics since
they were kids. And the only thing
they love more than the comics and
games themselves is the chance to
introduce others to them.
"(What we sell) coincides with
what we like, that's pretty much
how we do everything," said Sul-
livan. "It's got to be the marriage
of both of those things ... we have
to like it, not (be) selling for the
sake of selling. We could have
every kind of gaming thing imag-
bloggers don't always know the
taste of each other's dishes, and
will hail the aesthetically beau-
inable but we'd spread ourselves
too thin and we wouldn't know
a lot about (the products), and
knowing a lot about (what we sell)
helps us do well.
"It's so easy if you don't have
to bullshit," he continued. "I just
think you'd be miserable trying to
sell stuff that you weren't really
into, it seems like a worst night-
mare."
Although Vault of Midnight has
a large selection of mainstream
Marvel and DC comics today, the
owners haven't forgotten their
origins. The store has a significant
selection of independent comics -
nearly half of the store's main floor
is dedicated to titles from smaller
publishers including Dark Horse
("Buffy the Vampire , Slayer"),
image ("Invincible") and Dyna-
mite ("Red Sonja"). In many ways,
this symbolizes a universally held
dream - the ability to achieve suc-
cess without sellingyour soul.
There are quick, easy meals out
there begging to be cooked, and
once personal qualms are over-
looked, the blogs are a round-trip
ticket to dinner tables around
the world. When lengthy lists of
weird ingredients in cookbooks
without pictures stifle the desire
to become the next Julia Child,
the blogs are the place to go.
Anger wants to cook 524 of your
recipes in 365 days. To send her
von rlst. e-mail steena diumich.edu.
tiful efforts of another home
cook. Trust me, I've made some
will often post pictures from very pretty dishes that were just
food made from the latest cook- impossible to swallow.
books, but not the recipe itself. Food blogs can amplify con-
And before you go blog-happy trol issues, but also record diet
in your kitchen, be warned: A transformations and help out
dish can look amazing with the with what to make for dinner.
right plating, lighting and angle, I would encourage people to
without tasting like anything scour food blogs not only for
more than a cardboard box. Food their recipes but for inspiration.
S
0
JOINING
DAILY ARTS.
IT'S WHAT'S
FOR DINNER.
E-mail join.arts@umich.edu 0
for information on applying.