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September 21, 2016 - Image 11

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The Michigan Daily

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3B
Wednesday, September 21, 2016 / The Statement

S

ometimes I call myself a “sonic
youth.” It’s become a bit of a pet
name this first month of school — a

pep name, if you will — that reminds me
I am still a crisp young gun, traipsing the
sunny streets of Ann Arbor with as much
musicality as possible. But also, I’ve been
into Sonic Youth lately.

Teenage Riot – Sonic Youth

“Yeah, you’re it,” Kim Gordon begins

the song whispering, in that weird I’m-
Kermit-the-Frog-but-also-your-fantasy
tone of voice — hers, and only hers. And
somehow, I can’t help but believe her; I
could be walking down the street, feel-
ing the farthest thing from “it,” yet she
always reassures me that I am. A sonic
youth, full of vitae and a healthy bal-
ance of useful and useless knowledge, I
am. Gordon doesn’t know any of this, of
course, but if she did I’d like to think she’d
approve and start a teenage riot with me.


Bulls on Parade – Rage Against The

Machine

At my core, in the teeny tiny crevice of

my heart noir, I’ve always been in love
with rock music. Ever since I learned to
listen, I’ve had this insatiable craving for
it, two ears that perk up like an eager Ger-
man Shepard’s at the slightest strum of a
Fender. Many humans, like Gordon, don’t
know this about me — I have a generally
perky demeanor, so when I glow up at the
mention of Rage Against the Machine in
public, forced smiles of latent confusion

tend to manifest.

What Ever Happened? – The Strokes

But I listen on, as I always have. In

psychology, there’s this thing called a
flashbulb memory: a moment from the
storage bin of your life you remember
in sharp detail — the smells, the sounds,
what you did, what you said. The only
flashbulb memory I can summon involves
tiny Melina nuzzled on her black leather
living room couch circa 2006, watching
“Marie Antoinette” for the first time and
hearing The Strokes’ “What Ever Hap-
pened?” play during a pivotal scene. I felt
instantly more alive when Julian Casa-
blancas wailed, when the guitar pounced
forward. “This is everything my ears
have been looking for” is the feeling I had.
“This is what I like.”

Some Girls – The Rolling Stones

I still feel like this when I listen to

any kind of rock. Almost love-struck,
I feel in-tune to my surroundings and
myself simultaneously. All of my senses
are heightened by that harmony, and my
mental state is mollified — where some
girls need a kiss, I need Mick Jagger tell-
ing me I’m under his thumb. Alas, at the
risk of veering into un-punk, Parmesan
cheese territory: I feel ready to take on
the world when I’m plugged in, no matter
the circumstance.

And invincibility is a hell of a drug.

Lately — with new classes, work, 5,000
readings, the nagging thought of the

future and the puzzles of the past nipping
at my heels — I have needed a dose of it.
Rock injects me. It reminds me that I can
do it. I don’t need yoga (well, maybe) and
I don’t need to whine about it. Instead, I
can listen to the great musical trailblazers
of yesteryear whine about it and squash
my own silly fears along the way. That’s
what a sonic youth would do.

So, lately, when I step out of my apart-

ment building every morning, I’ve got the
Misfits crawling into my eardrums. The
fresh air is always a little jarring, and the
door is always a little harder to push open
than anticipated, but I’ll be OK. Hell, I’ll
thrive.

Because “I ain’t no goddamn son of a

bitch. You better think about it, baby.”

Life is a Mixtape: Some Girls Like Rock

B Y M E L I N A G L U S A C

“I would not be unhappy if I were the last
cisgender male to play a female transgender on
television.”

— JEFFREY TAMBOR, who won the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
for “Transparent.”

on the record: emmy awards 2016

“Asian parents out there, if you could just do me
a favor: if just a couple of you can get your kids
cameras instead of violins, we’ll be all good.”

—ALAN YANG, who won the Emmy for Writing for a Comedy Series for the
“Parents” episode of “Master of None.”

“I, along with the rest of the world, had been
superficial in my judgment, and I’m glad that I’m
able to stand here and say, ‘I’m sorry.’”

—SARAH PAULSON, who won the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Limited Series
for portraying Marcia Clark on “The People vs. O.J. Simpson.”

ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMILIE FARRUGIA

COVER DESIGN BY SHANE ACHENBACH

“I feel so lucky to be on a show that puts women in
the center.”

—TATIANA MASLANY, who won the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama Series
for “Orphan Black.”

“I haven’t alaways been a great man, but I make an
amazing woman.”

—Louie Anderson, who won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a
Comedy Series for his portrayal of a mother in “Baskets.”

“I would like to dedicate this to my father, who
passed away on Friday. And I’m so glad that he
liked “Veep,” because his opinion was the one that
really mattered.”

— Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy
Series for “Veep.”

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