Classifieds

Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

ACROSS
1 High-ranking
Indian
5 Jack rabbits, e.g.
10 Mr. Ed’s foot
14 Like Bond foes
15 RLX automaker
16 Bring down with
a big ball
17 *“The Color
Purple,” for
Oprah Winfrey
19 Great Plains tribe
20 Soccer game tie,
often
21 Infiltrator
22 Email command
23 Hitch, as a ride
25 Long locks
27 Retailer known
for little blue
boxes
32 Maple output
33 Singer Amos
34 Bottom corner of
a square sail
36 Pass along
40 Is obliged to pay
41 Valentine symbol
... or, when read
as two words,
what you can’t do
when the
answers to
starred clues are
spoken
43 Dallas
quarterback Tony
44 Hiking trails
46 Word before
cook or burn
47 “Yeah, yeah, I
get it”
48 Monk’s title
50 Winter traction
aid
52 Game divisions
56 Car in a ’60s
song
57 Stagger
58 Off-road transp.
60 Horseshoe-
shaped letters
65 Inland Asian sea
66 *Special Forces
soldier
68 Dry with a towel
69 Words on a
Wonderland cake
70 Turkish currency
71 Egg container
72 Got off one’s duff
73 Mexico City
problem

DOWN
1 Riviera resort
San __
2 CoverGirl
competitor
3 Jazzy jargon
4 Et __: and
others
5 Went for a
burger, say
6 Unhittable serve
7 Pre-grilling spice
mixtures
8 Blow one’s stack
9 Lascivious
deities
10 *1990s Reform
Party candidate
11 Hall’s pop music
partner
12 Holey layer
13 Nourishes
18 Site of
Napoleon’s exile
24 Pilgrim Standish
26 Corn serving
27 Sporty car roof
28 State whose
straw poll was
discontinued in
2015
29 Banjo ridge
30 *Boneless
seafood option
31 Tapes up tightly

35 Like a test
answer with an
“x” next to it
37 Norse mischief-
maker
38 Love, to Ovid
39 Oxen harness
42 Black-and-white,
e.g.
45 “No seats” letters
49 Traditional sayings
51 Gestation
location

52 Shrimp relative
53 Spooky
54 Brings in
55 Fender guitar
model, briefly
59 White House no
61 Slim swimmers
62 Bleak
63 Prefix with
dynamic
64 Guys-only
67 Punk rock
offshoot

By Jerome Gunderson
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/15/15

09/15/15

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

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6 — Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

GENDER AND MEDIA COLUMN

The media’s trouble 

with girlfriends

INT. CROWDED NEW YORK 

CITY SUBWAY – MORNING
I

t’s an unbearably hot, humid 
July 
day. One 

sweaty, 
solitairy 
20-year-old 
girl stands 
against 
the center 
pole. Her 
appearance 
is marked 
by heels she 
obviously is 
not handling well, a University of 
Michigan umbrella that negates 
any pretense of style and white 
headphones resting innocently in 
her ears. She laughs uncontrol-
lably.

* * *

Obviously, that perspiring loser 

was me. I spent my summer riding 
New York subways, and to pass 
the time I became enamored with 
podcasts. (Yes, I’m a Millennial, 
come at me.) I’ll admit, I had never 
really understood the podcast 
game, as a lifelong reader myself. 
But my much more cultured friend 
gave me a list of ones she thought 
I would like, and my summer 
became marked with having 
strangers’ voices constantly in 
my ear.

Now back at school, one of 

those podcasts is still a weekly 
touchpoint for me — “Call Your 
Girlfriend,” a podcast primar-
ily about two long distance best 
friends catching up every week. 
Ann Friedman and Aminatou 
Sow — both warm, accomplished 
and well-read women in their late 
20s — spend an hour each week 
talking about a range of topics, all 
squarely within my wheelhouse: 
Feminism, politics, Beyoncé, 
menstrual cramps and “The Good 
Wife.”

Ann and Aminatou are the 

long-distance besties that I hope 
my close female friends and I to 
be someday. But they also are one 
of the few external expressions of 
close female friendship I’ve felt 
connected to in a long time. Bar-
ring 2005’s seminal “Sisterhood 
of the Traveling Pants” film and 

Monica and Rachel’s relationship 
on “Friends,” pop culture has a 
dearth of accurately represented 
girl best friends. Other than my 
close family members and few 
friends of the male inclination, I 
can say pretty much exclusively 
that the most important people 
in my life have been my female 
friends, and I want to see more of 
that in the media I so reverently 
consume.

There are shows and movies 

that stab at it: “Gilmore Girls,” one 
of the most feminist shows of all 
time, is a celebratory homage to 
strong and intelligent women. And 
yes, Lorelai and Rory each have a 
best friend: positive, supportive, 
slightly dependent figures in both 
their lives. But on a show that is 
so female-focused it barely passes 
the reverse Bechdel test, there 
are few Gilmore female relation-
ships beyond these singular best 
friends during the seven-season 
course of the show. In contrast, 
“Girls” doesn’t lack a variety of 
friendships, but the show spends 
more time engaging with the self-
ish, destructive side of friendship, 
never building up the warmth and 
connection that can and should be 
present.

On the other hand, “Friday 

Night Lights” never pretended to 
be an expert on female friendship. 
It was a show about a small-town 
football coach and his luminous 
wife. But since its debut in 2006, 
“FNL” has been rightfully her-
alded as a show that thrives in its 
relationships — the spectrum of 
intimacy is palpable between all 
the different types of characters 
that exist in Dillon, Texas. But 
while we see Coach and his play-
ers connect, young teens fall in 
love, fathers and sons crumble and 
one marriage stay blessedly strong 
throughout, “FNL” never gives us 
the relationship that I find most 
relatable: The close female friend-
ship.

Why do some of the best writ-

ers of our time struggle with this 
relationship? Is it that writing is 
still a man’s game in Hollywood? 
Or that executives can’t imagine 
a female relationship that isn’t 
sexualized in some form? I really 

don’t know. But I can count on 
one hand the number of friend-
ships I have seen in pop culture 
that reflect my own, and I don’t 
like that.

Enter: USA’s “Playing House.” 

I’ll admit, I’m way behind the 
times with this show, now deep 
into it’s second season. “House,” 
a half-hour sitcom written by and 
starring real-life best friends Len-
non Parnam and Jessica St. Clair, 
follows two adult women at cross-
roads in their lives. Maggie is eight 
months pregnant when she discov-
ers her husband is cheating on her, 
and Emma quits her high-powered 
job to come home and help her 
raise the baby.

It’s the perfect domestic part-

nership my best friends and I 
dream of having, if sexual prefer-
ence wasn’t an issue. But really, this 
show gets it. Maggie and Emma 
are comfortable with one another 
in ways only female friends can be. 
They fight, but it’s never overblown 
or disastrous. They understand 
each other’s strengths and weak-
nesses deeply, and feed into one 
another’s insecurities only when 
feeling insecure themselves. They 
have fun together. They laugh 
often. They talk about boys and sex 
and careers with equal measure. 
As a show, “Playing House” isn’t 
perfect — the humor is risk-free 
and the plot points are never 
particularly strong. But like “Call 
Your Girlfriend,” it’s a comfort-
ing and rarely seen expression of 
female friendship. I see myself and 
my friends in Maggie and Emma, 
and I’m grateful that their rela-
tionship is never belittled.

I know I am lucky in the female 

friendships I have had, to hold 
such a high standard within pop 
culture. But in a world infatuated 
with bromances, I’d love a little 
more representation. As I sit here 
on my porch, drinking a beer with 
my best friends — all smart and 
kind and interesting and funny — 
I can’t help but think: Why hasn’t 
anyone made a show about us? 
Hollywood, please get to work.

Gadbois needs new deoderant.

To recommend a brand, email 

gadbnat@umich.edu.

NATALIE

GADBOIS

Gary Clark returns

ALBUM REVIEW

By CHRISTIAN KENNEDY

Daily Arts Writer

Over the 42-minute finale of E!’s 

docu-series, “I Am Cait,” the first 
chapter of a long, groundbreaking 
journey came to a close. Cait 
and Kris Jenner 
reunited. Cait met 
the pastor who 
would 
officiate 

her name-change 
ceremony. 
And, 

finally, 
Bruce 

Jenner 
officially 

became 
Caitlyn 

Jenner — her authentic self — 
and struck the chord of a new 
beginning.

Caitlyn Jenner’s marriage to 

Kris seemed as if it was only a 
dream at this point, but for the 
Kardashian/Jenner clan, it was 
the glue that held their antics 
together. Like most imminent 
sit-down discussions, this began 
tense: Curt hellos, “Where should 
we sit?” and “OK, let’s get to it.” 
But in contrary to E! culture, 
there wasn’t a cat fight; there 
were minimal tears and a sensible 
Kris Kardashian. Over the course 
of “I Am Cait” ’s first season, the 
Kardashian side had often felt 
like guest stars as opposed to 
Caitlyn’s new group of girlfriends, 
which is fine — the show wasn’t 
about the Kardashians, it was 

about Caitlyn’s journey into the 
transgender community — but 
it’s hard to ignore Kris’s feelings 
of being left behind. Conversely, 
it’s hard to ignore Caitlyn’s hurt 
feelings over how the marriage 
ended and Kris’s lack of support. 
Nonetheless, the women and 
audience settled on the notion 
that from now on it will be better. 
*Scene closes with a selfie.*

Ultimately, this episode and the 

entire season led into Caitlyn’s 
official transition into herself. 
She hosted a gorgeous ceremony 
in her newly-redecorated Malibu 
home complete with her girl 
squad, Boy George and a gay 
men’s choir. Shandi read different 
meanings of the name “Caitlyn” 
inviting smiles; Jennifer read a 
touching E.E. Cummings poem; 
and finally, Candis sang “Amazing 
Grace.” 
Everyone 
dressed 
 

flawlessly in white. ’Twas an 
occasion that would give any 
Kardashian wedding a run for its 
money. Next, Cait and her friends 
discussed the role of religion in 
the transgender community over 
lunch. The conversation covered 
many bases: A man shouldn’t 
dress like a woman. You shouldn’t 
touch a pig. Yes, those are both 
biblical verses discussed, and yes 
they do not hold much weight in 
today’s society. No, that doesn’t 
make anyone godless. It’s a 

poignant 
scene 
that 
touches 

on the presence of spirituality 
in the trans community while 
concurrently acknowledging the 
fact that many are pushed away 
from religion as they move toward 
their true selves.

Ultimately, Caitlyn Jenner bid 

her first-season audience farewell 
make-up-less from her bedroom 
webcam: “We’ve got a long way to 
go, but at least we’ve got a really 
really good beginning. And that 
makes my heart feel good.”

Before “I Am Cait” aired, 

E! got a lot of side eye for the 
term “docu-series.” And as the 
series 
premiered, 
progressed 

and finished, the show itself has 
been judged based on the merits 
of reality television as opposed 
to the documentary it aimed to 
be. “I Am Cait” can pride itself 
on showing the best in its cast 
as opposed to capitalizing on 
the less-than-desirable parts of 
human nature.

E!

“Can my hat BE any bigger?”

By REGAN DETWILER

Daily Arts Writer

I’m a hard fightin’ soldier, and 

I’m on the battlefield

I’ll keep bringing soul to Jesus 

by the service 
– the service. 
That I bring.

The service 

... is hard.

So sings an 

old Bible song; 
the 
voice 
of 

some essential 
elder. 
Enter 

Gary Clark, Jr. 
on the electric 
guitar, 
soon 

to be followed 
by a gospel choir for the opening 
track, “The Healing,” of Clark’s 
second studio release, The Story 
of Sonny Boy Slim. This track, like 
most of the album, is spiritual, 
it’s personal and it’s powerful 
— it’s blues, it’s rock and, at 
times, it’s funk. Clark’s sound is 
warm and empowering, charged 
with a relaxing undercurrent of 
momentum.

His voice evokes John Legend 

and his verging-on-psychedelic 
guitar solos evoke remembrances 
of Jimi Hendrix. These evocations 
make up the skeleton of Clark’s 
full-bodied 
musical 
aesthetic, 

nuanced 
and 
completely 

unique. And it’s this muscular, 
multifaceted sound that over the 
years has earned him collabs with 
artists like Foo Fighters, Alicia 
Keys and Sheryl Crow.

The longest track on The Story 

of Sonny Boy Slim, “Down to 
Ride” has a promising title, but 
reaches only 7:52 in length, and 
the time that would have been 
occupied with an awesomely 
intense guitar solo instead was 
met with a mellow but repetitive 

synth beat and much less guitar; 
it comes off as stingy, almost 
lazy in comparison to Blak and 
Blu’s “Third Stone from the Sun/
If You Love Me Like You Say,” 
which opens with that burning 
solo we were aching for, followed 
by heavy drums fortified with 
integrity. What’s worse is that 
“Down to Ride” is the last song 
on Sonny Boy Slim; Clark bids his 
audience farewell with a circling 
electronic beat (really?). Clark’s 
first studio album, Blak and Blu, 
back in 2012, was much grittier 
than Sonny Boy Slim, with songs 
over nine minutes long as he 
seamlessly filled the timespace 
with those incredible Hendrixian 
solos.

I’m making it sound like I hate 

the album, but The Story of Sonny 
Boy Slim is strong in many ways: 
most notably, it has more variety 
than Blak and Blu. “Church” is 
an easy acoustic ballad that uses 
a 
harmonica 
and 
gospel-like 

background vocals. Songs like 
“Hold On” and “BYOB” use jaunty 
electric guitar, horns and bass in 

ways that give this album much 
more of a funk undertone than we 
have seen Clark use in the past; 
instead of focusing on long and 
intense guitar solos (which some 
fans may miss), this album covers 
more ground. And he manages to 
do this without sounding forced, 
which is a testament to Clark’s 
versatility and musical fluency. 
This kind of variety also gives the 
album potential to garner more 
widespread appeal than Blak and 
Blu, and luckily Clark has enough 
talent to pull off a slightly more 
popularized release.

Less grit may make him easier 

to listen to for people who found 
his first album a little too intense, 
but the Austin native is best when 
he’s at his most soulful, grinding 
on the guitar and chiming in 
with his honey-toned voice only 
every now and then. Sonny Boy 
Slim will make you feel cool, 
calm, collected and ready to take 
anything as it comes, because 
as he sings to you like velvet, 
“Everywhere you go, just know 
that you’re a star.”

B+

The Story 
of Sonny 
Boy Slim

Gary Clark, Jr.

Warner Bros. 

Records

WARNER BROS. RECORDS

“Could I BE any more pensive right now?”

‘Cait’ marks the end 
of Jenner’s renewal

A

I Am Cait

Season finale

E!

‘Cait’ shows 
the best in its 

cast.

TV REVIEW

