2B — Thursday, March 17, 2016
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SHORT FILM REVIEW
In his Oscar-nominated
short film “Ave Maria,”
director Basil
Khalil finds
room for
humor in a
exploration
of the Israeli-
Palestinian
conflict. The
short follows
an Israeli family who, while
racing home for Shabbat,
crashes their car into a statue
of the Virgin Mary outside
a convent. The family must
enlist the help of the convent’s
nuns despite their initial
reservations.
“Ave Maria” doesn’t take
itself or its subject matter too
seriously, and it’s wonderful.
The rule-driven lifestyles of
both the Jewish family and
the Christian nuns are tackled
with humorous reverence.
One scene, in which a man
has to ask a mute nun to dial
the phone for him and hold it
to his ear because he cannot
operate machinery on the
Sabbath, showcases the film’s
delicate humor. Likewise, the
final shot — the family driving
home in a Palestinian car with
a neon Virgin Mary strapped
to the roof — is ridiculous yet
heartwarming.
“Ave Maria” sets high
expectations for a 15 minute-
long film, but it doesn’t quite hit
the mark. It wants to achieve
so much — social commentary,
satire, humor, heart — that it
doesn’t allow itself to breath.
At times, it feels like Khalil is
checking things off a bucket
list, moving from a scene that
screams “humor!” to a scene
that screams “heart!” without
allowing his scenes time to be
both.
Still, “Ave Maria” is
beautifully shot and
charmingly funny. The film is
full of hope, and the belief that
deep down (sometimes really
deep down) people are innately
good.
- MADELEINE GAUDIN
B
Ave Maria
Incognito
Films
By
MARIA
ROBINS-SOM-
MERVILLE
Daily Arts Writer
“In Ann Arbor, they call it the
Big House,” an actress says. Add-
ing a regional twist, she provokes
a flood of
laughter.
They’ll
call it a
cooch,
snatch, box,
hoo-ha, lady
bits, muff,
biscuit,
pudendum,
tuna town
and honey
pot, among
others. Yet although approxi-
mately 50 percent of the world
has one, it’s edited out of every-
thing from polite conversation to
Supreme Court debates.
“The Vagina Monologues,”
written by Eve Ensler, was first
performed in 1996. Ensler inter-
viewed various women about
their relationships with their
vaginas and compiled the inter-
views into a project that seeks to
explore the taboo subject.
Students for Choice will pres-
ent its fourth annual production
of “The Vagina Monologues,”
featuring Ensler’s original work,
with some adaptation and addi-
tions including a preface of origi-
nal student-written monologues,
on their own personal experi-
ences pertaining to the topic.
Rachel Beglin, an LSA sopho-
more cast member, said she
thought the show helped open
up healthier dialogue about sex
education.
“I grew up in Arizona with
abstinence-only sex education
and wondered why didn’t my
mom teach me this? Why didn’t a
teacher teach me this? Why didn’t
anyone give me a link, a pam-
phlet, anything?” Beglin said.
LSA senior Lizzie Stewart
wrote her own monologue about
her experience as a queer woman.
“My monologue is about the
effect that an unwanted sexual
act had on my sexual identity and
my process of figuring out what
that is, and I think it’s important
for people to know that it’s okay
to not know,” she said.
“The Vagina Monologues” has
faced criticism in the past for its
lack of inclusivity and represen-
tation of both non-heterosexual
women and women of color.
LSA senior Irene Syriac plays
an asexual character in a mono-
logue written by a close friend of
hers who is asexual.
“My character says in the
monologue, ‘You never see
asexual characters anywhere,’ so
I think it’s good exposure,” Syriac
said.
“If I want the audience to get
anything out of this, it’s a remind-
er that the word ‘vagina’ is not a
swear word.”
Although many of the mono-
logues focus on discovery of
peace with one’s body or a kind of
awakening, not all of the stories
are so hopeful or enlightening.
For instance, Music, Theatre
& Dance sophomore Mackenzi
Anthony’s monologue touches
on violence toward transgender
women.
“My story is not so much about
acceptance. I talk about how they
killed my boyfriend for dating a
transgender woman, and that’s
intense,” she said.
The women working on the
show have engaged in self-reflec-
tion and personal storytelling to
more accurately understand the
show’s strength. The secrecy and
shamefulness associated with the
experience of having a vagina can
be alienating and overwhelming.
“Seeing ‘The Vagina Mono-
logues’ for the first time I
thought, ‘Oh my god, everyone
else is just as confused as I am!
Everyone is just as angry and
worried and scared as I am’ and
I’m just like, ‘Why do we have to
feel this way about our genitalia?’
” Anthony said.
Director and LSA junior
Angelle Antoun hopes that “The
Vagina Monologues” will open
up the floor for further discus-
sion about feminism and diversity
through its candid and multifac-
eted approach. Antoun acted in
“The Vagina Monologues” last
year and understands the need to
appeal to a diverse audience.
“That’s been the issue I came
in expecting, and it has been a
challenge and something that
I’ve been working very hard to
ameliorate about the show so
that it can speak to a number of
women,” Antoun said.
In preparation, the women
shared their own stories about
their experiences of overcoming
obstacles in their womanhood.
“We thought it really brought
us closer as a cast, not only
because we knew those things
about each other, but because
sharing those sorts of stories can
be very difficult,” Antoun said.
“Having those other women
giving nothing but respect and
support to the other women there
was a really wonderful feeling.”
Antoun also said the group
wanted to perform a show that
will engage the community
beyond women.
“These are not issues that
women talk about in day-to-day
life (openly) … when you go to
shows like this there’s this fear
that it’s going to be man-hating
and angry feminism and this
show isn’t that at all. I think that
men that go to it will come away
with the idea that yes, feminists
can be angry, but not so much at
men as at the system and come
away with it more willing to be
part of the fight,” she said.
In addition to opening dia-
logue about experiences that are
usually pushed aside, “The Vagi-
na Monologues” seeks to support
movements to reduce sexual vio-
lence against women. All of the
proceeds will be donated to the
SafeHouse Center and the V-Day
campaign. There will be a talk-
back panel to debrief and further
explore the implications of the
show on the following Monday at
8 p.m. in the Earl Lewis Room in
Rackham Auditorium.
“The Vagina Monologues” will
moan, bleed, cry, argue, joke and
ponder with the intention of let-
ting you know that the women
brave enough to share their sto-
ries have no plans of shutting up
any time soon.
‘Monologues’ break
taboos at Rackham
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
By DANIELLE YACOBSON
Daily Arts Writer
Our story begins in London
circa
1871,
when
contempo-
rary fashions of lung-restricting
corsets deemed breathing for
the weak, and bustles plumped
up even the most conservative
behinds. Artist James McNeill
Whistler, hired by a wealthy Eng-
lishman who was tickled by every-
thing porcelain, transformed the
Englishman’s ceramic-filled liv-
ing room into an aesthetic master-
piece. Gold peacocks danced on
Parisian blue walls in what came
to be known as “Harmony in Blue
and Gold: The Peacock Room.”
In 1904, American art connois-
seur Charles Lang Freer bought
the room and installed the paint-
ings in his Detroit home. After his
death, the gold and blue murals
were taken to the Freer Gallery
in Washington D.C., but many
still consider the room a Detroit
historical landmark. Today, a new
Peacock Room, a women’s bou-
tique, can be found in what used
to be the living room of a 1920s
luxury hotel, embodying the
glamour of the original space and
Whistler’s art, all with a spunky
twist that Detroiters exemplify oh
so well.
“When you think of a peacock,
you think of showing off,” founder
and storeowner Rachel Lutz said.
“You think of pride, and that’s
what I want women to feel in my
store.”
Carrying sizes 00 through
26, the boutique features styles
to dress everybody, carrying
a diverse range of silhouettes,
forms and proportions so that no
woman is left behind.
“Just because you see some-
thing in a fashion magazine
doesn’t mean it would necessar-
ily translate to your body,” Lutz
said. “We don’t go after a specific
demographic. We just go after
women who want to feel great
about themselves and want to
express their style. We’ve had
three generations of women come
in at the same time and each walk
out with a dress.”
The Peacock Room stands out
by abandoning traditional brand
labels and focusing on design and
good fit instead. It’s the place to
spice up any wardrobe, perhaps
with something a bit riskier that
flatters both the body and spirit.
“The only real criteria I have
when finding my finds is asking,
‘What would get you a compliment
from a stranger?’ ” Lutz said. “We
really try to de-emphasize labels
and boxes on people. Instead, we
try to emphasize unique finds.”
The store’s treasures include
their
vintage
pieces,
which
make up about 10 percent of the
merchandise.
They’ve
carried
everything from micro-beaded
handbags well over 100 years old
to jewelry lines made from antique
French molds.
“I love the thrill of the hunt,”
Lutz said. “We take pride in the
fact that you never quite know
what to expect when you walk in,
so maybe your best finds are here,
and you just don’t know it yet.”
For many, shopping victories in
large department stores come few
and far between. Instead, trips
are fruitless pursuits that leave
fashion-hopefuls discouraged and
underwhelmed. Even Lutz, who
owns a successful and flourishing
boutique, dislikes shopping and
the fashion industry.
“Shopping has gotten all the
pleasure out of it,” she said.
“Instead of going into a nice bou-
tique, we push grocery carts down
fluorescent-lit aisles and there’s
no one to serve you.”
This frustration is left out of
The Peacock Room equation,
where the emphasis is placed on
providing a personable shopping
experience that doesn’t adhere
to the parameters established by
designers or merchandisers.
“Style is the expression of your-
self, and fashion is merely the
renewal of that process,” Lutz said.
“It doesn’t have to come from a
runway or a magazine, so take con-
trol of your own style.”
A scarf doesn’t have to be a
scarf; it can be a head wrap, a table
runner, a beach towel. The possi-
bilities, Lutz says, are endless, as
long as you see the garment how
you want to wear it and not how
someone else wants you to wear it.
“Detroiters, by nature, are risk-
takers,” she said. “I think that
translates into our style. You see
women that are more willing to
experiment with color and tex-
ture, who aren’t wearing what
someone told them to wear but
making it their own.”
Ultimately, The Peacock Room
seeks to instill confidence in the
shoppers who visit their store.
Women have bought dresses for
first dates with men who became
their husbands, and for opera per-
formances that colored a defining
moment in their career. Each time,
The Peacock Room played a part in
creating that special experience.
“A woman came in the day of
her mother’s funeral and I was
really touched that on such a pow-
erful and hard day in her life, she
found my store as her sanctuary,”
Lutz said. “It was a really hum-
bling compliment.”
A trip to The Peacock Room
is more than an average session
of retail therapy. It’s emotional
cleansing, confidence building and
a reminder that there is no mold
for beauty.
“It’s not just a store, it’s a confes-
sional,” Lutz said.
STORE
PROFILE
IN
The Vagina
Monologues
March 18 &
19, 8 p.m.
Rackham
Auditorium
$5 presale, $10 at door
INCOGNITO FILMS
By ANAY KAYTAL
Daily Arts Writer
Detroit has long been wiped
of many of its historical, boom-
era anachronisms. Generations
have come and gone, and with
them, legendary sites and rel-
ics of Detroit’s record industrial
growth and world status in the
20th century have left without
a trace. Among them, Detroit’s
legendary J.L. Hudson Compa-
ny had an especially important
place in Detroit’s history, helping
foster much of the city’s former
glory.
The
Hudson’s
department
store (formerly on the streets of
Woodward and Gratiot) stood
at a towering 29 stories. For the
majority of its existence, it was
the tallest retail space in the
world, and for the entirety of
its existence it was the second-
largest department store in the
United States by square footage
— only bested by Macy’s Her-
ald Square in New York City. At
its peak in the late ’50s to early
’60s, it boasted 12,000 employees
and 100,000 customers coming
through its doors every day. Hud-
son’s was a cultural behemoth at
a time when the United States
was experiencing vast societal
transformations. As important as
it was for Detroit, it was equally
important
for
merchandising
and fashion for all of the United
States.
“You could go to Hudson’s and
get everything on your shopping
list,” Sally Gell, former Detroit
resident and Hudson’s shopper,
said. “It had everything imag-
inable.” Gell used to frequent
Hudson’s during the store’s peak,
recounting how it was the quint-
essential destination for all types
of goods. The store was often
peddling up to 600,000 items
from 16,000 different vendors
from across the globe.
Humble Beginnings
Born in England, but a product
of years in Ontario and Michi-
gan, Joseph Lowthian Hudson
and his family lived a meager
lifestyle, putting bread on their
table by selling personally craft-
ed clothes wherever they lived.
While living in Michigan, Hud-
son quickly became a helping
hand in his father’s small cloth-
ing shop in the town of Ionia,
Mich., learning the textile trade
while helping run his father’s
enterprise. However, what was
a stable stream of work for his
family came to an abrupt halt
after the Panic of 1873 plagued
much of the country. With shut-
tered textile mills and a dearth
of customers, Hudson was thrust
out of the business and forced to
declare bankruptcy. His father
died soon after.
In a bout of ambition, Hudson
brushed himself off and trans-
planted his family from Ionia to
the then bustling city of Detroit.
With what small funds and sup-
porting creditors he had behind
him, he established a store-
front in the old Detroit Opera
House — the humble precursor
to Hudson’s vast department
store empire. Finding himself
immediately successful thanks
to Detroit’s meteoric growth,
Hudson paid off the creditors
from his previous bankruptcy
and moved his store to a larger,
grander location. After years of
sustained success, what became
the J.L. Hudson Company (col-
loquially “Hudson’s”) made its
eventual move into the famous
J.L. Hudson Building on Wood-
ward Avenue in 1946. It didn’t
take long for Hudson’s to quickly
embed itself in Detroit’s local
culture, its name famously being
synonymous
with
Christmas
shopping and the latest in haute
couture.
Making Its Name Known
On the back of his business’
success, J.L. Hudson quickly
established himself as one of
Detroit’s leading culture patrons.
Hudson
sponsored
Detroit’s
first Thanksgiving parade, pav-
ing way for Detroit’s long and
beloved
annual
tradition
of
America’s Thanksgiving Parade,
the second oldest parade of its
kind (sharing that title with New
York’s own Macy’s Thanksgiving
Day Parade). Hudson’s fireworks
display quickly became a part of
every Detroit family’s Fourth of
July celebration. Hudson opened
up satellite storefronts and shop-
ping malls all across the Detroit
metro area — Southfield’s loca-
tion being among the most note-
worthy for providing parking for
10,500 cars and having 53 store-
fronts (including a Hudson’s
location) — all the way back in
1954.
Detroit flourished in the early
part of the 20th century, largely
due to businesses like Hudson’s
and their presence in the city.
Hudson’s was “more than just
a department store … It was one
of a kind,” Gell said. In addition
to creating one of the most noto-
rious retailers in the country,
Hudson leveraged his success
toward Detroit’s own well-being.
Arguably, Detroit reached its
peak thanks in part to the contri-
butions of men like Hudson.
“Hudson’s was the place to
work and shop in the 1950s,”
Elsie Vasich, a former patron
of the store and resident of
the Detroit metropolitan area,
said. Vasich’s sister was once
employed at Hudson’s Detroit
location. “Many women wanted
jobs at department stores like
Hudson’s, because the work and
pay was quite good.”
Of the shopping experience,
Gell said. “It was very comfort-
ing for anyone who wanted to
shop there.”
Hudson’s
embodied
an
approach toward shopping that
has been long forgotten by U.S.
retailers. On the graces of the
experience, it crafted for its shop-
pers and employees alike, Hud-
son’s became the quintessential
destination for elegance, class,
reliability and service — acting as
both a cultural and commercial
cornerstone of Detroit during the
height of its existence.
End of an Era
Stripped away for parts —
such was largely the essence of
Hudson’s’ demise. With the rapid
growth of suburban communi-
ties in Metro Detroit in the ’70s
and ’80s, Detroit’s population
began dwindling. Those who
were wealthy enough planted
themselves in the various afflu-
ent communities on the outskirts
of the city. Changing waves in
Detroit’s demographics versus
those of the outerlying sub-
urbs led to the eventual closure
of Hudson’s flagship store in
Detroit.
With the closure of its Detroit
storefront came the disappear-
ance of Hudson’s fundamental
identity. As time went on and the
retail industry became saturated
with extraordinarily successful
nationwide enterprises, compa-
nies like Hudson’s couldn’t keep
up with competitors and conced-
ed to closure and consolidation
with larger corporations. After
a series of corporate hand-offs,
Hudson’s former Detroit store-
front was demolished in 1998;
additionally,
what
eventually
became Macy’s, Inc. gutted and
swallowed what Hudson’s prop-
erty was left.
To some extent, Hudson’s fall
from grace was cruel foreshad-
owing for what was to come for
Detroit. People who once called
Detroit home ended up fleeing
at the slightest indications of
trouble; Hudson’s felt as if it was
only logical to follow suit. The
domino effect of demographic
shifts swept Hudson’s, along
with everybody else, away from
the city. As much as Hudson’s
was a part of Detroit’s strength
as a city, its end was also one of
many symbols of the city’s even-
tual undoing.
It’s vital to remind ourselves
of stories like Hudson’s. After
being blighted with its fair share
of misfortune, the grand stories
and characters associated with
Detroit’s glory are slowly dwin-
dling. Though Hudson’s had as
unceremonious a send-off as a
cultural staple could, the legacy
of J.L. Hudson and his stores
mustn’t go forgotten.
With recent rising tides in
Detroit, remembering the indi-
viduals who made Detroit the
city it once was, and the city it’s
once again trying to become, is
important. How fitting is it to
revitalize a city without taking
into account the culture and his-
tory that made the city as grand
as it used to be? Is blanketing a
city with a completely new iden-
tity the same thing as reviving it?
No matter how you feel, reading
the stories of individuals like J.L.
Hudson is earnest fuel for the
betterment of Detroit.
A look at Detroit
legend Hudson’s