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Arts
Monday, November 21, 2016 — 5A
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ACROSS
1 Correct
6 Dr.’s visit
10 “No __”: “Piece of
cake”
14 Farewell that’s bid
15 Societal woes
16 Weapon in Clue
17 It’s “down at the
end of Lonely
Street,” in an
Elvis hit
20 Horse hair
21 Online
marketplace
22 City in upstate
New York
23 Business baron
25 Liver secretion
27 Practice boxing
28 Oil well output, in
slang
33 Hindu teacher
34 Fútbol fan’s cry
35 Fencing weapon
36 Malleable metal
37 Historic events at
Gettysburg and
Vicksburg
41 Sister of Zsa Zsa
42 Ye __ Shoppe
44 Spoil
45 Word with circle
or tube
47 Miracle-Gro, e.g.
50 Flower usually
sold by the
dozen
51 Ivory source
52 Upper crust
54 NFL Hall of
Famer Bart
57 Dreaded high
school spots?
59 Baker’s amts.
62 Part of an Aretha
Franklin refrain
about fools ...
and a hint to the
ends of 17-, 28-
and 47-Across
65 Swiss river
66 Congressional
confidante
67 Florida city on the
Gulf Coast
68 Waitstaff rewards
69 Post-combat
affliction, briefly
70 Sharply inclined
DOWN
1 Chicago mayor
Emanuel
2 Thought
3 Big bamboo
muncher
4 “Peekaboo!”
5 Boy king
6 Online service for
booking rooms
with local hosts
7 Guilty, for one
8 Ump’s cry before
the first pitch
9 “For shame!”
10 Mentored person
11 Roast, in Dijon
12 Oil cartel
acronym
13 Actor Lugosi
18 Arthur of
“Maude”
19 “Incredible”
superhero
24 Chicago daily,
familiarly
26 Frozen drink
brand
27 Sty supper
29 Keno kin
30 Ali Baba’s magic
words
31 “Drove my Chevy
to the __”:
“American Pie”
lyric
32 Luv
33 “Knock it off!”
38 Kennel
cacophony
39 Suffered
financially
40 iPhone’s voice-
activated app
43 Postings in
ledgers
46 “Please, anything
else!”
48 Right or left,
while driving
49 Didn’t admit
53 Sportscaster
Berman
54 Ella’s expertise
55 Spicy Asian
cuisine
56 Boomers’
lobbying group
58 Scoundrels
60 Water carrier
61 “Just like that!”
fingers sound
63 Put a limit on
64 Dol.’s 100
By Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
11/21/16
11/21/16
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Monday, November 21, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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Good thing she loves herself!
“The Edge of Seventeen”
is not a movie we deserve, but
a movie we need. The film
is the directorial debut for
screenwriter
Kelly
Fremon
Craig (“Post Grad”). The idea of
a movie about a
girl that’s written
and directed by a
woman (a former
girl)
is
already
(unfortunately)
refreshing,
but
Craig also fills her
film with enough
humor and heart to
feel new even in a
jam-packed genre.
For a long time,
the halls of high school have
preferred the small screen, with
shows like “The O.C.” and “Gossip
Girl” taking the place of “Clueless”
and “10 Things I Hate About You.”
“The Edge of Seventeen” feels like
the rare instance when you run
into someone you used to know
and it isn’t awful — it’s actually
weirdly wonderful.
Nadine, played brilliantly by
Hailee Steinfeld (“Pitch Perfect
2”), is nervous and awkward. Her
sanity hinges on her relationship
with her only friend Krista (Haley
Lu Richardon, “The Bronze”), so
naturally all hell breaks loose
inside Nadine’s almost-seventeen-
year-old brain when Krista starts
dating her older brother Darien
(Blake Jenner, “Everybody Wants
Some!!”).
Steinfeld is back, giving the
kind of performance we haven’t
seen from her since her breakout
role in the Coen brothers’ “True
Grit” remake. The Nadine she
creates is at any moment both
heartbreakingly
relatable
and
wholly
unlikable.What
“The
Edge of Seventeen” captures
so
masterfully
is
the
intensity
of
emotions
at
that age and the
loneliness
that
comes from feeling
them.
Nadine
feels, like many
teenagers
do,
completely alone
in her suffering.
Craig treats the
absurdity of these
feelings with exquisite empathy
and gentleness.
Sure,
it’s
familiar.
Major
plot points of teen movies are
hit — fight with a friend, close
relationship
with
a
teacher,
awkward sexual encounter with
the wrong boy before ending up
with the right one. The movie
walks the line of cliché, but its
familiarity works in its favor,
conveying a sense of universality
and breathing originality into
stock scenes. The song Nick
(Alexander Calvert, “Arrow”),
Nadine’s bad boy crush, plays
in the car for Nadine — Angus
& Julia Stone’s “Big Jet Plane”
— is exactly the sort of song a
boy would have played for me in
high school. It knows its world
and stays true to it. The attention
to detail from the soundtrack
to Nadine’s costuming creates
a world that is both intricately
singular
and
emotionally
universal.
That treatment gets extended
to all of the characters. There
are no villains in “The Edge of
Seventeen.” Even Krista, whose
transgression could have easily
been spun as betrayal, is a good
person who cares deeply about
Nadine. No one is a stereotype
and no one — not even Nick, who
has very limited screen time — is
one-dimensional. It’s refreshingly
realistic and the strongest force
keeping “Seventeen” away from
the forgettable teen movie abyss.
The biggest issue with “The
Edge of Seventeen” has nothing
to do with the movie itself, but
rather with the fact that the
Motion
Picture
Association
of America gave the film an R
rating. That’s absurd. So, okay,
it fails the one “fuck” test,
there’s underage drinking and
some bra-on almost-sex. In the
age of the internet, where any
thirteen-year-old can, with very
few clicks, find as many nipples
and swear words as they want,
it seems naïve to think that no
one under the age of seventeen
is fit to see a movie like “The
Edge of Seventeen.” It’s also
disappointing
because
this
is exactly the sort of movie I
needed at fifteen or sixteen and
also exactly the sort of movie I
would never, at that age, want to
see with my parents.
‘Seventeen’ captures teen
loneliness with nuance
MADELEINE GAUDIN
Daily Arts Writer
Director Kelly Fremon Craig debuts with new young adult classic
I
n the past two weeks since
Donald Trump was elected the
next president of the United
States, my weekly TV schedule has
seemed less important than ever.
Sure, TV is good for escapism, but
in the face of such horrific things
happening in the real world,
whether I’ll catch up on “How to Get
Away with Murder” or make time to
binge “Transparent”
suddenly
seems
trivial.
Of
course,
I
quickly remembered
that
in
times
of
political turmoil, art
is more important
than ever. A wealth
of
smart
pieces
have been written
about this already.
Genevieve
Koski
recently quoted Roger Ebert’s
famous speech in which he claims,
“the movies are like a machine that
generates empathy,” arguing that
by setting out to engage with every
piece of pop culture we encounter,
we become more understanding
people. The Michigan Daily’s own
Dayton Hare suggested that artists
are obligated to “bring people
together into the oneness of human
existence.”
As I caught up on my shows
recently, I realized that part of the
reason I assumed Hillary Clinton
would become president is that I
watch an overwhelming amount
of progressive, liberal-minded TV.
Most of my favorite new fall shows
have female leads — “Fleabag” and
“The Good Place,” for example.
Most of my favorite returning
shows have predominantly female
casts with a wealth of roles for
women of color, like “Jane the
Virgin” and “Orange is the New
Black.” Hollywood most definitely
still has a long way to go in terms
of bringing marginalized groups to
the screen — just look at last year’s
Oscars controversy — but we’re in a
period of unprecedented onscreen
diversity. Being so used to that
diversity, so used to the feminist
beliefs I see regularly espoused
on my favorite shows, has only
emphasized how much of a bubble
I live in.
Living in a bubble can have
negative
consequences
if
you
assume the rest of the world is the
same as yours, but I don’t mean to
say that these progressive shows
got Trump elected. With the
impending Trump presidency, it’s
crucial that we continue to work
to populate the TV landscape with
people of all races, sexualities,
gender identities and ages. Still,
though — in this time of darkness,
I remember how far TV and movies
have come, and it gives me hope.
Take the recent
trend
of
casual
abortions on TV. In
the past few weeks,
three shows have
featured
women
who
make
the
decision to terminate
their
pregnancies
without fanfare or
excessive agonizing.
Too often, abortion
is portrayed as an
absolute last resort, a tragic decision
that women should only make in the
case of rape or some particularly
vulgar circumstance. Lindsay from
“You’re the Worst” may be a terrible
partner and a terrible person, but
ultimately her choice to get an
abortion is the sanest choice she’s
made this season. Lindsay knows
it would be irresponsible to raise a
child with a man who frequently
revolts her, and it would be cruel
to use a child to force herself into
staying in a marriage she doesn’t
really want.
Meanwhile, what’s revolutionary
about seeing Lindsay or Paula
from “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” or
Xiomara from “Jane the Virgin”
get an abortion is that these women
aren’t rape survivors, or teens who
accidentally get pregnant and have
to “pay the consequences.” These
are
middle-aged
women
who
emphatically don’t want to have
more children, so they choose not
to. It’s that simple.
I
also
recently
watched
“Moonlight,” a film that’s so
personal, layered and subversive
that I don’t even know how to
begin to explain its radicalness.
“Moonlight” isn’t exactly a feel-
good movie, but I left the theater in
awe, convinced that writer-director
Barry Jenkins was capable of really
changing the way people think
about race and sexuality.
Of all the art I’ve taken in since
Nov. 8, though, nothing provoked so
visceral and immediate a reaction
in me as the season finale of “Better
Things.”
“Better
Things”
has
brought tears to my eyes in more
than half its episodes, but I was still
shocked at my own reaction when I
watched the last scene. As Sam and
her daughters sing along to “Only
Women Bleed” by Alice Cooper,
the camera cuts to a wide shot of
their minivan barreling down the
highway, a single line of text below
closing out the season: “dedicated to
my daughters.”
There was something about that
line that made me tear up every
time I even remembered it for the
rest of the day — something about
the simplicity of it, the way it felt so
quiet and elegant yet so enormously
important. At the end of the day,
we want our daughters to feel like
they’re understood and respected
and loved — not just because they’re
our daughters, but because they’re
people.
As
an
upper-middle
class,
straight,
white
male,
I
am
the apotheosis of privilege. If
“Moonlight” profoundly affected
me, I can’t imagine how it must
feel to be a gay Black boy watching
his own identity — an identity
rarely
acknowledged,
onscreen
or otherwise — come to life. And
as emotional as it made me, the
dedication in “Better Things” must
mean more to the women who
see it, women who are regularly
denigrated
with
cumulative
microaggressions and explicitly
hateful acts of violence.
Of course, we can’t let inclusive
TV trick us into thinking the whole
world is this open-minded. More
importantly, we can’t let ourselves
subside into complacency just
because watching a show with
an all-Black cast gives us the
superficial appearance of social
activists. I’m not advocating for
ignoring reality and being blindly
optimistic about the state of our
country just because “Atlanta” and
“Insecure” have been renewed for
second seasons. I just think that in a
time when it can be so hard to even
log onto Twitter without seeing
some heinous news pointing toward
massive societal regression, the
increasingly progressive state of TV
is a small, hopeful sign. Sometimes,
all you need to regain your faith in
humanity is a little sign: a shot of a
Black boy drenched in moonlight, or
a four-word dedication. Sometimes,
little signs are all we have.
Searching for hope on a TV screen
‘Better Things’ and ‘Moonlight’ offer glimmer of positivity in the void
A
“The Edge of
Seventeen”
Rave & Quality 16
STX Entertainment
At the beginning of her memoir,
Laura Jane Grace writes, “It was
put to me bluntly that ‘little boys
don’t play with Barbie dolls like
little girls do,’ and that was that.”
This moment was
one of many that
marked
Grace’s
earliest
memories
of battling gender
dysphoria
as
a
child, a battle that
would
continue
throughout most of
her life until 2012,
when Grace came
out as transgender. Her coming
out reconciled her inner desire for
femininity, internalized for years
through sex, drugs and her own
music — and was all detailed in her
writings as any work of great rock
‘n’ roll literature should.
Grace started her journey of
dealing with gender dysphoria
at a young age, and tackled it by
starting one of the most widely
celebrated punk bands in recent
memory, Against Me! In her latest
work, Grace has taken her first
dive into the world of literature
with a memoir that explicitly
captures her war with gender
dysphoria, placed beside journal
excerpts specifying the struggles
and rewards of life as a touring
musician. Her journey is called
“Tranny: Confessions of Punk
Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist
Sellout.”
“Privately
I’ve
always
had
aspirations to be a writer. It’s
something I’ve always wanted to
do,” Grace said in an interview
with The Michigan Daily. “I’ve
always been a songwriter and a
lyricist, but I’ve always been a fan
of literature and an avid reader.”
In reflecting on deciding to
write the memoir, Grace said, “It
seemed like reconciling with the
past, which is kind of the first step
to take in going forward.”
In her book, Grace recognizes
the importance of
self-forgiveness
and cleaning the
skeletons out of
her
closet.
This
is another reason
the
book
is
so
incredibly human
— it’s a beautiful
tribute to her past
difficulties.
“It got to the point about four
years ago where I kind of just
realized that the physical and the
metaphysical weight of everything
was too much,” she said. “You
know, like, the sheer amount of
boxes of journals that were in my
closet, I felt like we ought to do
something with them, and that
there had to be a book in it.”
So Grace, along with her friend,
editor and co-writer Dan Ozzi,
condensed a million and a half
words of her journal entries into
an eighty-thousand word story,
detailing her rise from starting
a small band in Gainesville, Fla.
to becoming an icon not only in
punk rock, but also in the LGBTQ
community. For years, Grace has
been fighting for her community
through her punk ethos, and it
only becomes more inspiring as it
resounds throughout “Tranny.”
“Punk
rock
does
mean
something to me you know, and
like I’m thankful for the influence
it’s had on my life and I still think
with a punk mentality,” she said.
In the memoir, we see Grace
embody punk rock, using it as her
armor, shield and weapon in her
outward battle with society and
inward battle with dysphoria. It’s
an ideology she’s employed since
she was thirteen, and one that has
taken even greater precedence
in the increasingly hostile social
environment of modern America.
With
recent
political
and
social upheavals, Grace’s story of
transition is more relevant than
ever. Grace realizes this, and
realizes 2017 will be daunting,
delivering
words
of
fierce
encouragement — “the punk in me
is saying, ‘fight back.’ ”
It’s a universal notion: hold on
tight to whatever is important
to you and use it to stand tall and
fight back. It’s a crucial mentality
to have in a world where not all
identities are respected equally.
“The system is full of shit, and
that’s why resistance movements
need to be there, and that’s why
protest music needs to be there
and that’s why politically minded
music needs to be there,” she said.
Grace is just as ready to destroy
barriers with her art today as she
was as a an anarchist teenager, and
it’s a notion perfectly encapsulated
by her journey in “Tranny.” The
memoir is a testament to creating
a better tomorrow by fighting both
inner demons and those around
you.
This coming Monday at 7 p.m.,
Grace will be in Ann Arbor at
Circus Bar in support of the new
book, and a ticket to the event
includes a copy of the powerful
memoir. Attendees will see Grace
recount not only the rise of the
iconic Against Me!, but also a story
of self-discovery and finding inner
clarity.
DOMINIC POLSINELLI
Daily Arts Writer
Laura Jane Grace promotes memoir
Lead singer of Against Me! talks transgender identity, life on road
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
Laura Jane
Grace reads
“Tranny”
Today at 7 p.m.
Circus Bar
$30
TV COLUMN
BEN
ROSENSTOCK
FILM REVIEW