4B — Thursday, February 26, 2015 the b-side The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com By GRACE HAMILTON Daily Arts Writer On the Pacific coast of North America, starfish are falling to pieces. A disease called sea star wasting syndrome has swept the region, causing a massive die-off. Limbs fall off, tissue deteriorates and the organisms die rapidly. Though starfish usually regenerate, these ones can’t. No one knows why. What does one do with this new piece of bizarre, troubling information about the state of our oceans? Some will embark on extra research, others will likely find it uninteresting and discard it immediately. Scott Beal writes a poem. Scott Beal, who attended the University (and was an Arts writer for the Daily), currently teaches at the University in the English Department, the Sweetland Center and the Lloyd Hall Scholar’s Program. He is also the Dzanc Writer-in- Residence at Ann Arbor Open School, a father and a poet. “I’ll learn things about the world that are puzzling and surprising and want to figure out what to think of it, what to learn from it. I’m really trying to learn something about how I interact with people and how that is mirrored or contradicted by the ways that other beings on the planet interact with each other,” Beal said of his poem, “Sea Star Wasting Syndrome.” Some of his other poems have similar missions, including one about the interactions between hermaphroditic snails. Other pieces of Beal’s are autobiographical, coming from particular experiences, like the time he found a note under his windshield wiper accusing of him of stealing someone’s money, or explaining to one of his daughters that lightning can strike people. “I think every poem comes from a different place,” he said. “You start off with something puzzling and try to riddle it out.” Still, a common theme lies at the heart of any good poem. “(A good poem) will move us in a new way, and show us the path to better compassion, a better sense of justice and fairness,” he said. “It is aware of its implications and complicities.” Most of Beal’s poems are not direct responses to individual issues, though he told me he considers privilege and justice when he writers. I challenged him on this idea, and asked him to explain the way that themes of justice and compassion are at work in “Warning and Watch,” the poem about lightning that is 13 lines long. His response moved me. There are a couple of ways in which this path to compassion and justice lays beneath the imagery of clouds. “First of all, there is the notion of how to help his children navigate a dangerous world,” he explained, referring to his daughter’s fear at the thought of being struck by lightning. That particular thought opens up a general sense of wonder about the world. “In that moment you can spin into a consciousness of being alive, and increasing your awareness of being a living organism on the planet also helps build empathy and value in human life,” he said. Of course, not all good poems need to do this. There are other reasons to love and appreciate poetry. “I’m drawn to the idea of making language do new things, energizing it and making it dazzling and sizzling,” he said. In the poetry class he is currently teaching at the University, he has implemented a system called “Gamified Grading,” where getting an A requires earning a certain number of points, say, 3,500. Every poem is worth a certain number of points, regardless of his liking for it, although it can be improved with revision. “We’re trained to think of it as, there’s a meaning, you can paraphrase it, but only if you can decode it. And then you think, this isn’t for me, this is an art form that is deliberately trying to leave me out,” he said. Boiled down, I received three important messages from Beal about the power of poetry: It utilizes and appreciates the best of what language can be, it is a means of making sense of the world around us and it is a means of understanding our place within that world. ARTIST PROFILE IN VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily Scott Beal is a lecturer of English at the University. TRAILER REVIEW Will Smith seems to own a new seriousness in his middle age — a more refined sense of limits and a less naïve sense of opportunities. Whether his personality will be able to domi- nate and guide “Focus” will determine the success of the movie. The more this movie gives to Will Smith, the more it’ll take away at the box office. Margot Robbie’s charac- ter doesn’t feel trustworthy in any sense. She can’t be trusted with the flow of the action. She can’t be trusted with any clever quips or plot twists. She can’t be trusted by or with Smith. But it’s clear Smith is going to trust her when she reenters his life in the second half of the movie for the crescendo. If this movie is going to play out big, it needs Will Smith at the wheel through and through. How much control is Smith going to concede to this blonde bombshell? How are things going to go wrong? No one’s expecting a blockbuster, but Smith’s magic might be able to spin this into something along the lines of a modern “Casa- blanca.” We have to wait and see who screws who. It’ll be a worthy flick to see, no matter what. -NOAH COHEN B Focus Warner Bros. WARNER BROS. LITERARY COLUMN The University’s literary legacy A few days ago, I was at home watching clas- sic Saturday Night Live episodes with my parents. Between their explaining 40-some- thing- year-old pop cul- ture refer- ences and debating whether Simon or Garfunkel was the bigger diva, we discussed how original SNL cast member Gilda Radner attended the University of Michigan. This conversation got me thinking about other famous fellow Wolverines. Of course, there are some alumni we hear about all the time. You probably already know about 38th Presi- dent of the United States, Ger- ald Ford, as well as Tom Brady, four-time Super Bowl Champi- on Quarterback. You may know that Madonna was enrolled in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance before she moved to New York City or that we can also claim actor and iconic voice of Darth Vader James Earl Jones, as well as “Kill Bill” actress Lucy Liu. But did you know the uni- versity also has a rich literary legacy? Take for example James Avery Hopwood, class of 1905, who was the preeminent play- wright of the 1920s. When he died, he left one-fifth of his vast estate to his alma mater for the creation of the Hopwood Awards, which reward students for excellence in creative writ- ing. Since 1931, the Hopwoods have recognized the potential of some of the greatest literary talents of contemporary times. One such talent was Betty Smith, ’31, who took classes at the University while raising her two children. In 1943, she pub- lished her seminal novel “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” a coming- of-age story centered on a poor immigrant family in the early twentieth century. The novel was later adapted into a film and a Broadway musical. Obviously, no examination of the University’s literary landscape would be complete without mentioning multiple Hopwood Award winner and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller, a.k.a. the dude who was married to Marilyn Monroe for five years. Author of such classic works as “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible,” Miller is often considered to be one of the greatest American dramatists of all time. He graduated from the University in 1938. (Did I mention he also wrote for The Michigan Daily?) Another Hopwood winner, poet Frank O’Hara, achieved his M.A. in English literature from the University in 1951. O’Hara, known for his intellectual yet intensely personal style of writing, was a highly influential figure in the New York School artistic movement of the 1950s and ’60s. His collected poems posthumously won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1972. Fans of AMC’s hit television series “Mad Men” may recognize O’Hara’s “Meditations in an Emergency” as a reoccurring symbol in Season 2. The University has also left quite a mark on children’s literature. Chris Van Allsburg, author of classics “Jumanji” and “The Polar Express” and a two-time winner of the Caldecott Medal, one of the most prestigious awards for children’s books, graduated from the College of Architecture and Design in 1972. I pity your childhood if it didn’t include several viewings of the 1995 Robin Williams film adaptation of “Jumanji.” And the film adaption of “The Polar Express” gave us one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time, Josh Groban’s “Believe.” Chris Van Allsburg pretty much creates joy and happiness. Jumping back to Adult Fiction, Elizabeth Kostova, MFA ’04, is another Hopwood winner who has gone on to find tremendous success. Her 2005 novel “The Historian” became the first debut novel to become number one on The New York Times bestseller list in its first week on sale. I admit, I am a bit biased regarding Kostova, as I absolutely loved the dark, Victorian-esque “Historian.” Clearly, there’s a wide array of noteworthy literary alums to emulate. So read some of your fellow Victors and get inspired to write a masterpiece of your own. You never know, maybe one day the University will hand out an award named after you. Didn’t see “Jumanji”? Email Prosniewski at gpros@ umich.edu to get some pity. GRACE PROSNIEWSKI WHAT’S NEW ON FOR INTERVIEWS, TV RECAPS AND THE LATEST ENTERTAINMENT NEWS CHECK OUT THE D’ART BOARD Each week we take shots at the biggest developments in the entertainment world. Here’s what hit (and missed) this week. Design by Gaby Vasquez Harry and Hermione forever Emma Watson squashes rumors that she is dating Prince Harry, internet is sad. Every Rose has its thorn Amber Rose and Kardashian clan feud after Rose tweets disgust over 25-year-old rapper Tyga dating 17-year-old Kylie Jenner. Five thousand candles in the wind Parks and Rec ends after 7 seasons. Saturday Night Feeler John Travolta gets touchy-feely with Idina Menzel, Scarlett Johanson at Oscars. 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