2B — Thursday, October 1, 2015
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Around 7 p.m. in the Trotter
Multicultural Center, the first
few members of the Michigan
Gospel Chorale (MGC) begin
to arrive. One student heads
directly to the piano and starts
to play. More members enter as
music fills the room, building
an energy that’s warm and open
to all who walk in. Excitement
comes as each
new
per-
son
arrives
at
practice,
bringing
their
own
unique voice
to the chorus.
“It’s
very
informal, you
come
and
you’re
wel-
comed
into
the
group
automati-
cally,
like
people
are
really excited
to meet new
people,
to
bring
them
into the com-
munity,
and
I knew that
it would be a
big part of my
time
here,”
said
Phillip
Hargrove, an Engineering grad-
uate student and MGC assistant
director.
In an interview with The
Michigan
Daily,
Hargrove,
along with LSA senior Lawrielle
West, MGC president, Nursing
junior Brianna Hawkins, MGC
secretary and Shakia Jackson,
Rackham graduate student and
MGC adviser, emphasized the
importance for him to find such
a group when he first came to
Michigan as a graduate student
after completing his undergrad
at Stanford University.
“This was a big challenge for
me, coming out to a region of
the country where I don’t have
any family,” Hargrove said, “I
felt like I’d be out on my own so
it was real important to connect
to a community of other people
who love God and are excited
about God and enjoy the same
kind of things I do in terms
of that. That was how I got
involved, just came in and it’s
been a great part of my experi-
ence.”
The chorale, which origi-
nated in 1972 as the University
of Michigan
Black
Gos-
pel Choir, is
a
nonprofit
organiza-
tion
that
encompasses
not just the
choir
but
also
several
auxiliaries
including
a
mime
team,
the
dance
oriented
I.O.P (Imag-
es of Praise),
the sign lan-
guage group
H.A.N.D.S
(Hands
Anointed ‘N
Divine Signs)
and the spo-
ken
word
T.R.U.S.T
(Taking Ref-
uge Utter Spoken Truth). The
diversity of performance types
gives students several opportu-
nities to express themselves.
“I feel that they cater to
everyone,” Hawkins said, ref-
erencing the role of the auxil-
iaries, “Like at our concerts, so
someone that’s deaf can’t hear
our songs but they’re able to see
the sign language. Or someone
who enjoys hearing singing but
when they see a dance, they’re
moved by the dancing. It caters
to everyone and gives an overall
experience at our concerts.”
“One of the great things about
MGC is that we don’t require
auditions for any of our auxilia-
ries or our choir,” Jackson said.
“So for people to become mem-
bers they just have to show up
and sing, mime, sign language
or whatever they like to do. So
when I joined MGC, I joined
the day before a concert that we
had, our College Night Concert,
which occurs every January. I
joined the night before and then
over the night I learned the
songs and got up there and sang
with the choir the next day.”
Jackson, who has been with
the chorale since her sopho-
more year as an undergradu-
ate and calls herself the group
mother, echoed Hargrove’s sen-
timent of belonging.
“The choir members were so
welcoming to me. I felt I had a
family, some people who did
care about me, and though I was
a new member I didn’t feel as
though I was an outsider or that
I wasn’t able to contribute to
the organization or the minis-
try,” she said. “They completely
welcomed me and made me feel
as though I had a purpose here
and I can be here and sing and
do whatever it is I wanted to do
and so that’s what really made
me want to stick with MGC.”
Uniting many participants in
MGC is their Christian faith, as
practice begins and the piano
music dies down, the members
form a circle for prayer. Hold-
ing hands, they thank God for
the opportunity to be together
and use their gifts and share in
their faith, a core idea behind
the organization.
“I think the mission is just
to spread the Gospel of God
but also just the love of Gospel
music, so you don’t even have
to be religious or attached to
a certain faith to enjoy Gospel
music,” West said.
The
interwoven
nature
between faith and Gospel music
shows itself in nearly every
aspect of the group as they
warm up to the song, “Draw Me
Close to You/ Thy Will be Done”
by Pastor Marvin Winans.
“Thy will be done/ Lord in
me/ In me/ Because I see you
work in others and I want you to
work in me,” the group sings as
West takes on directing duties
for the practice.
“Something I really appreci-
ated about MGC was how the
group is never afraid to tackle
any song,” Hargrove said in
regards to his experience sing-
ing for MGC. “I think I’m theo-
retically a better singer now
than I was last year.”
As West guides the group
through the popular Gospel
song, “Even Me,” she stops and
tells her fellow vocalists to sing
out, to share their voice with
God. West, who first came to
the organization after receiving
a direct message from MGC’s
Twitter account inviting her to
join, relates the words to faith,
emphasizing the passion behind
each verse, and the chorale
responds accordingly.
“Lord, I hear of showers of
blessings/ Thou art scattering full
and free/ Showers of thirst souls
refreshing/ Let some drops now
fall on me.”
Helping MGC find this connec-
tion to their faith and each other is
weekly Bible study.
“Once our spirit is out of whack
everything is out of whack. Our
songs don’t sound good, we arrive
to things late, it’s kind of off. With
the Bible studies it allows us to be
on one accord about the things
that we’re talking about,” Jackson
said. “We’re focusing on a certain
theme or certain scripture and
through that we grow closer to one
another ‘cause we’re all in tune
with God and that puts us all into it
as a ministry.
Without the
Bible
stud-
ies,
without
the
actual
spiritual part
we are just
an organiza-
tion.”
The MGC
isn’t
just
complacent
in
sharing
their refined
performanc-
es and belief
within
just
the group, but
also take part
in an annual
mission tour
that
takes
them across
the
country
where
they
perform and
volunteer.
“Tour
is
during Spring Break, so we are
already taking that commitment to
not go party and go out. But to have
this not only spiritual experience
but this experience with people
who love each other, we’re actu-
ally friends and this is such a great
bonding experience. Once you go
on tour, you’ll have memories for a
lifetime,” West said.
“It’s amazing to go to like a
church in Texas, where many of
us don’t know the people at the
church but we can all sing the
same songs and the same worship
experience,” Hawkins added about
the tour that has had stops in states
like Ohio, Kentucky and Florida,
among others.
In addition to the tour, members
of MGC finds themselves singing
at churches and campus functions
including Maize Night Madness
and the Fireside Café on North
Campus. The group also puts on
performances at New Life Church,
including their spring concert,
which last year saw the choir
unexpectedly perform without
accompaniment when the musi-
cians didn’t show up.
These local events form a
presence
within
the
community
that allows
MGC
to
serve anoth-
er role.
“I
think
it offers an
outlet, a spir-
itual outlet,”
Hawkins
said.
“I
feel
people
come to our
concerts
and
feel
like they’re
able to go
to
church
if
they
don’t
have
a
church
home here.
People come
to us and can
ask us for
prayer and come to us and be like,
‘Oh my goodness, it’s like I’m back
at home.’ ”
As practice ends, the mem-
bers gather around in prayer one
last time. Before they leave they
each give another a hug goodbye.
There’s a bond among the chorale,
joined together by talent and faith.
“That’s just the beginning of
something great, feeling like you’re
welcome into a community, they
are not only OK with you being
there but they want you there, they
need you there,” West said.
With their first event this Sat-
urday at Pastor Winan’s Perfecting
Church, the group looks forward
to spreading their message, as
described by West.
“Gospel is based off faith and
having a relationship with God,
but also another part is being this
inspiration movement — music to
give you hope and faith to carry on.
Every song we sing has meaning
with us because a lot of us, not all of
us, are Christians and so the songs
we sing have meaning because it’s
about God pulling us through or
God’s going to pull us through or
God has pulled us through.”
GOSPEL
From Page 1B
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Business junior Christopher McClendon directs The Michigan Gospel Chorale.
SINGLE REVIEW
Picture an inexplicably
smoky, dimly lit basement of
some good friend’s parents
house
in some
sector of
Midwestern
suburbia.
The room
is filled
with angsty
high school
seniors,
making out on ragged couches,
getting high, listening to
your friend’s older brother’s
band perform while someone
discusses the details of
their “next big move.” This
incredibly archetypal setting is
reminiscent of a John Hughes
film, or the pages of the next
box-office hit screenplay by
Scott Neustadter and Michael
H. Weber. Yet here it can be
used to reflect another art form
entirely. Here, the imagery
of this quintessentially high
school moment reflects the sonic
simplicity emerging from Alex
G’s new single, “Kicker.”
The classically minimalist
musician allows his guitar
to occupy the sonic space on
“Kicker.” Despite the song’s
bummed-out lyrics and
monotonous tone, the versatile
character of Alex G’s guitar
engages the listener from
start to finish. At “Kicker” ’s
crescendo, where one sustained
screech of G’s guitar carries
the song into its five-second
denouement, we’re transported
to that smoky basement. Those
post-puberty almost adults are
occupying the space where
Alex G is playing. They’re
bobbing their heads along,
understanding of the great
simplicity that his music holds.
“Heaven, maybe freedom,
what’s the word / Right, I
forgot, quiet is the closest
thing we got,” he sings, and the
crowd’s slow head-bob feels
almost tangible. The track ends
too quickly, closing in on just
under three minutes. Alex G’s
performance reflects what he
has perfected: expansive guitars
and angsty lyrics to satisfy the
smoky basements in the back of
all of our minds.
- AMELIA ZAK
DOMINO
B+
Kicker
Alex G
Domino
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
The Michigan Gospel Chorale rehearses at Trotter Multicultural Center, Tuesday.
By HAILEY MIDDLEBROOK
Daily Health Columnist
This summer I interned
with Running Times magazine,
which is the smaller, quieter,
more intense brother of Run-
ner’s World, Men’s Health and
Women’s Health magazines.
The internship took place in
Emmaus, Pa., where the Rodale
publishing company head-
quarters are located — a tiny,
organic-
enthused, active town
about an hour away from New
York City and Philadelphia.
Naturally, the place is packed
with fitness nuts, granola geeks
and muscle heads. It’s awesome.
Employees (and interns) are
encouraged to take bike rides
or run at lunch, buy meals at
the organic cafeteria, promo
running shoes and yoga mats
and attend free fitness classes at
Rodale’s state
-of-
the-
art gym.
The company motto, “Live your
whole life,” is taken to heart by
its employees — a wholesome,
healthy lifestyle is truly what
they practice and preach.
So when I met my roommate
for the summer, an intern for
Runner’s World, I was taken
by surprise. I walked into
our shared dorm room in the
middle of a workout video,
my
new
roommate
splayed
on a yoga mat in the center of
the floor, holding a slightly
sagging plank pose. Nothing
out of the ordinary. I skirted
around her, plopped my bags
on the nostalgic twin XL bed
and pulled on my running
shoes, bracing myself for the
East coast humidity. I asked my
roommate, now clearly in the
cool
-down phase of her tape,
what workout she was doing.
She promptly began to tell
me about the “21 Day Fix.”
Which, unfortunately, I would
continue to hear about for the
next 21 days. To save you the
lengthy explanation — trust me,
if there’s one thing people love
to drone on about, it’s their lat-
est diet — here’s the 21 Day Fix
in a nutshell: three weeks of
daily, half-
hour workout tapes
and seven color
-coded food
containers.
The food containers are key.
According to Beachbody, the
mastermind behind the Fix, the
reason diets go awry is because
dieters don’t judge portion
sizes correctly. To eliminate
this problem, they’ve created
containers of varying size that
hold the “precise” amount of
fruits,
vegetables,
protein,
carbs, fats, seeds and dressing
that you need in a day. The color
of the container signifies what
goes inside — the (relatively)
hefty
green
container
is
for vegetables, whereas the
thimble
-sized orange container
is for dressing. Basically, you
“fill them up as directed in the
Eating Plan, and you will lose
the weight!” At least that’s what
Autumn Calabrese, the manic
Fix coach, promises.
But wait — there’s more.
Think you can stuff a piece
of bread in the yellow carb
container?
Think
again.
The containers give you the
“freedom” to fill ‘em up as you
wish, but if the food doesn’t fit
... it won’t make you fit. This
means no bread, no snack bars
and no beer — or really any
drink, other than water and
morning
breakfast
shakes.
Certainly no eating out. And
once your container quota is met
for the day, don’t try to sneak
anything more. (Once, when my
roommate was groaning about
hunger, I mistakenly suggested
eating an apple; she angrily
replied that she had no more
red containers left.)
As you can imagine, the 21
Day Fix makes it difficult to
make plans. Sunday trips to
the farmer’s market turned
into exhausting rants from my
roommate on how she couldn’t
buy the fresh pies (because,
have you heard, I’m on the Fix),
triggering more than a few
rolled eyes. I’d come home from
my usual eight
-mile run to cook
dinner, only to have her leering
over my shoulder, eying my
chicken and veggie stir fry with
contempt. Then she’d quit the
room altogether, claiming that
she’d eaten all of her containers
for the day and might as well go
to bed.
I think I began counting
down the days until the Fix’s
finish more voraciously than
she did. At its sweet, sweet end,
my roommate did a final weigh-
in: in 21 days, she’d lost eight
pounds, but nary an inch from
her waistline. I congratulated
her on the loss, but waited
warily for the weight to creep
back — as it does, time and time
again, for whom I call “quick
fix” dieters.
The “instant gratification”
phenomenon
has
been
beaten into our heads, but
it applies to diets too. Our
culture perpetuates it — how
many magazine covers have
screamed, “Get Your Bikini
Bod Now!” or “Bombshell Butt
Fast!?” Summer means beach
season; winter means fitting
into that party dress.There’s
no shame in wanting to look
good, stat. The shame is that
too many people only aim for
the “stat” factor — immediate
results — and set themselves up
for long-
term frustration and
even serious bodily harm.
Here’s the bottom line: the
pounds you lose on a quick-
fix
diet are primarily muscle and
water weight. Yes, the number
on the scale is lower, but that
doesn’t mean you’re more fit —
and it definitely doesn’t mean
you’ll stay that weight for long,
largely because of lost muscle.
“Metabolism” is a buzzword
that gets thrown around often
in weight loss discussion (“I
have a slow metabolism” is
a
popular
explanation
for
stubborn excess weight), but it
comes into play here. The Mayo
Clinic defines metabolism as
“the process by which your
body converts what you eat and
drink into energy”; that energy
is then used for basic body
functioning (breathing, blood
circulation, cell repairs) and
physical activity.
When calories are drastically
restricted,
metabolism
shuts
down
and
becomes
less efficient. Think of a car
running on empty: you’re slow
to react, have less power on the
highway and run the risk of
damaging your engine. Without
the necessary proteins and
nutrients to perform basic body
functions, your body breaks
down muscles for fuel. Muscle
burns more calories than fat, so
muscle loss is linked to a slower
metabolism — which makes it
even harder to keep the weight
off than before the diet began.
Of course, metabolism isn’t
the only factor in determining
weight loss. Across the board,
experts agree that a combina-
tion of exercise and (proper)
diet are crucial to maintaining
a healthy body. Remember that
energy is also used for physical
activity — the more you exer-
cise, the more calories you burn
and the more muscle you build,
which then promotes a faster
metabolic rate.
The real secret to a lasting
beach body? Making healthy
habits. Find an exercise you like
— maybe it’s running, maybe it’s
a workout video — and stick to
it. Eat balanced meals, making
sure to fill up on protein and
vitamin-
rich vegetables, like a
spinach omelette with grilled
chicken. Work to eliminate
processed
food
from
your
diet, but do so gradually. Your
health doesn’t need a 21
-day
“fix,” but rather steady, positive
improvement.
And please, for everyone’s
sake, eat an apple if you’re
hungry.
Middlebrook is eating a
well-balanced diet. To let her
know how well-balanced it is,
email hailharp@umich.edu
HEALTH COLUMN
Vote to crush the
crash diet