Thursday, August 7, 2014
T Thursday, August 7, 2014
8 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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19 Capt.'s heading 11 Works at an 47 Spare fire cost
20 Wetland exhibit 49 Salon job 60 "A mouse!"
21 Directors 12 Champagne ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
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composer BpJohnanimorem08/07/14
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GALAXY
From Page 7
thousands of years into the future
- it's set in 2014. That little nugget
of information is planted early on
and stays with us throughout.
One superb aspect of the film is
the cast of wonderfully developed
characters, each with motives
and histories of their own. Rocket
(voice of Bradley Cooper, "Silver
Linings Playbook") is a geneti-
cally-modified raccoon bounty
hunter whose vitriolic tongue and
highly intelligent brain provide
some interesting antics. Drax the
Destroyer (Dave Bautista, "Rid-
dick") is a hulking warrior bent
on avenging his slain wife and
child. Quill dubs him a "walk-
ing Thesaurus" who is ironically
incapable of understanding figu-
rative language. Female warrior
Gamora (Zoe Saldana, "Avatar")
was orphaned as a child - some-
thing she and Quill subconsciously
bond over - and was taken up by
Thanos (Josh Brolin, "No Country
for Old Men"), a selfish titan of the
universe who reformed her into
a weapon. Michael Rooker ("The
Walking Dead") delivers a volatile
performance as Yondu, captain
of the very same spaceship that
abducted Quill as a boy.
The film's appeal is perhaps
most reflected by Groot (Vin Die-
sel, "The Fast and the Furious"),
a humanoid tree whose origin
goes unexplained. Yet, we feel as
though we've known Groot from
some other time. James Gunn
described him as "one-hundred
percent deadly, one-hundred per-
cent sweet" and that's as accurate
as any description can be of him.
Groot is, like the film itself, both
extremely powerful and extremely
nuanced. His character has but one
line: "I am Groot." Like every other
risk in the film, Gunn and company
completely pull it off.
That particular quality - stack-
ing risk on top of risk, then fulfill-
ing them all with cinematic grace
and originality - defines "Guard-
ians of the Galaxy." Between the
retro music, the maniacal charac-
ters, the genre satire, the anti-hero
story, the visual effects, the humor
and the subtle tragedy unique to
each character, Gunn has created
a film of tremendous spirit, at once
wildly entertaining and refresh-
ingly new. Though "Guardians of
the Galaxy" takes us to new places
in our universe, it remains quint-
essentially grounded in human
nature. And that is its greatest tri-
umph of all.
I felt nervous as I shuffled into
the yellow glow of the classroom.
Everything appeared as it
normally did every other Tuesday
night. Perhaps the night's still
life wouldn't be as mortifying as
expected. Yet, as I nervously laid
out my drawing pencils, I couldn't
shake the embarrassment and
anxiety swirling in my stomach.
I'm not sure what detail of the
assignment shocked me more:
drawing a nude model or the fact
I'd be doing so for three hours! I
understood the artistic value of the
human figure, but something about
drawing it still felt explicit to me.
Despite my obvious naivete, I
was startled to learn how quickly I
was able to dehumanize the naked
individual sitting in front of me. It
sounds harsh, but I quickly learned
to stop thinking of the model as
anything more than a vase or a
chair. Muscles and bone rapidly
transformed into mere lines and
angles. While it made the drawing
process easier, I felt ashamed for
reducing a living, breathing human
to a mere object.
That's exactly what society
trains us to do. We minimize. We
reduce. We extrapolate select
characteristics and use them as
ideals for the rest of humanity.
Reduction is the only lens
society looks through to view
the human body - particularly
feminine bodies.
Currently, women's bodies are
walking billboards to sell anything
from hamburgers to hot rods, but
even eye candy must be whittled
down to the right size. According
to the National Association of
Anorexia Nervosa and Associated
Disorders, "up to 24 million people
of both genders and all ages suffer
from an eating disorder" and "86
percent of students report the onset
of an eating disorder before age 20."
Society dismisses these
structures of bone, flesh and
muscle that house minds capable
of creativity and imagination. They
hold hearts capable of immense
love and compassion and are
vessels carrying magnificent souls.
Instead, the most important assets
of a woman are the sacks of fat
resting upon her chest and the flesh
encased by her jeans. Humanity is
taught to simultaneously glorify
and vilify these anatomical
structures. Women are expected to
shed pounds, their self-confidence
and concerns for their health in
order to amplify these features and
give guys something to gawk at.
However, while the world treats us
like sex objects, women are warned
to never embrace their sexuality,
for fear of appearing improper.
There's an even darker side to the
minimization of women's bodies.
According to statistics from the
World Health Organization, "more
than 125 million girls and women
alive today have been cut in the 29
countries in Africa and Middle East
where FGM is concentrated."
In Africa and the Middle East,
young girls can be subjected to a
cultural medical procedure known
as female genital mutilation, where
genital tissue is surgically removed
to help ensure they exhibit proper
pre-marital behavior and resist
"illicit sexual acts."
Even in the United States where
FGM is illegal, there's still a need
for concern. The Center for Disease
Control and Prevention reports
that "150,000-200,000 girls in
the United States are at risk" of
undergoing FGM. There's even
possibility of girls being forced
to leave the country to have the
operation illegally - known as
"vacation cutting."
There's no medical reason to
perform the procedure. Rather,
FGM dehumanizes women
and threatens their bodies by
exposing them to numerous health
problems such as "cysts, infertility,
hemorrhaging, and need for later
surgeries."
Women's bodies weren't created
to be shrunk, purged or spliced.
We aren't objects to be tweaked
or manipulated to guarantee good
behavior. Society needs to stop
placing women's health on the line
to placate the populations who
enjoy objectifying us.
Melissa Scholke is an.LSA junior.
MELISSA SCHOLKE I
Taking back our bodies
Thursday, August 7, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Coming hoMe
ast summer at this time,
I felt the same way that
most incoming freshmen
probably do
now. College
was fast
approaching,
and as the
warm, orange
summer sun
set earlier andF
earlier; as the VICTORIA
loose ends of NOBLE
my summer
job wound
themselves tightly together; and
as my high school friends and I bid
goodbye, I was surrounded by the
feeling that everything was about
to change. I was excited.
My roommate and I couldn't
wait to get to campus and begin
our freshman year. As fall grew
closer, our excitement grew
until we just couldn't wait to be
at school.
My parents and I loaded up
our car with everything from
toiletries and closet organizers
to twin extra long sheets and
pictures of home to decorate the
walls - everything needed to
make our shared, cinderblock-
walled dorm room feel like home.
Except it wasn't home, and
it wouldn't feel like it for quite
some time.
My parents left, leaving
an overwhelming feeling
of insecurity. But, like most
freshmen at welcome week,
I got dressed and ready, and
headed out to a party with my
roommate. I later came home in
tears, wandering through campus
homesick and lost.
Now, that was just one night,
and homesickness is to be
expected, at least to an extent.
Some of my other welcome week
memories are among the best
I have of freshman year, and
my one bad night was nowhere
near catastrophic. But for some
students, they can be.
Combined with pressure to
make friends with new classmates
and the nerves associated with
suddenly being on their own,
often for the first time, alcohol
can pose a very real, and in
some sense heightened risk for
freshmen. Add that to the fact that
some of these kids didn't drink
in high school and it shouldn't
come as much of a surprise that
welcome week can often produce
negative experiences for our
youngest students.
I watched peers deal with
serious and damagingexperiences
in their first weeks on campus.
One got ticketed for Minor in
Possession of Alcohol. Even more
had close encounters with over-
consumption. One was injured on
thewayhomefromaparty,andone
still regrets asexual encountershe
had with a boy she hardly knew.
Instances where ambulances
are requested become warning
tales for overconsumption - and
rightfully so. But it doesn't take an
ambulance rideto stain astudent's
first week on campus, and we
should be mindful of the impact
events that seem less serious
might have on younger students.
When so many of us call up
memories of our first weeks as
Wolverines, we cast them in
shining, golden hues. In their false
light they portray an idolized time
when we traipsed around campus
with new friends. Envious of our
past selves, we remember a time
when everything - and I mean
literally everything - was new
and exciting. There's no doubt
that the first weeks of campus life
are incredible experiences. But by
neglecting to critically examine
the difficulties we faced during
that time, we consequently fail to
consider how we might improve
the experience for the next class
of students - and it certainly
needs improving.
For many incoming freshmen,
Ann Arbor hasn't yet morphed
into the home away from home
that most students eventually
come to appreciate. To them, it's
almost inevitably uncomfortable
while still enviably fresh and
exciting. Despite offering up
thousands of new souls to meet
and hundreds of restaurants,
buildings and parks to explore,
campus still lacks the comfort
and familiarity, and consequently
safety, of home.
The University has taken
some steps to help improve
the experience of incoming
freshmen duringtheir firstweeks
on campus. They've eliminated
the option to move into dorms
early, and shortened welcome
week. All of this might limit the
opportunity to party without
the constraints of schoolwork
and class. The University should
be commended for recognizing
the problem, and taking steps
to solve it. They also provide
alcohol education, and tools like
the Stay in the Blue app, to help
5
students monitor consumption
and understand how their
habits affect their bodies. While
these efforts are admirable,
they don't do enough to remedy
the lost sense of security that
can, for some, contribute to
destructive behaviors.
That's our job. As returning
students, we have the ability to
help incoming students feel safe
and comfortable on campus,
starting from day one. By
pressuring incoming students
to drink, asserting that drunken
adventures are what college is
about or failing to be a source
of support, students directly
contribute to a more hostile
environment. And that isn't the
norm at the University. In my
experience, many people did do
their absolute best to welcome
my friends and I to campus in a
positive way. If nearly everyone
approached welcome week with
supportive attitudes, and offered
themselves as sources of guidance
to younger students, Itruly believe
we could profoundly improve the
new student experience.
Eventually, college will
start to feel like home for new
students. But for that to happen,
they'll have to rebuild the
support system that they lost
when coming to college. And
to do that, they need you. They
need peers who, even if they
don't know them all that well,
will be a friendly face on the
street offering a smile or some
directions; a nice person to talk
to at those awkward, somewhat
anonymous mega-parties; a
benevolent source of advice as
they prepare to read their first
Psych111chapter.
When we come back to
campus in the fall, we'll be, in a
very real sense, coming home.
Hopefully, Ann Arbor will
become a home for the incoming
students. They'll realize, as I
did only a few months ago, that
when I said, "I want to go home,"
I was no longer referring to the
place where my parents lived.
But those sorts of things take
time, and until then, we should at
least try to provide the security
their home will later provide. No
matter what kind of home these
students create for themselves
this year, the people they meet
will always be the foundation.
- Victoria Noble can be
reached at vjnoble@umich.edu.
Look for The Michigan Daily's
return in September 2014!