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 

