4B — Thursday, February 2, 2017
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Who let Sober Christian™ into this party? Oh wait. It’s
his apartment. Doors lead to trap doors. Juxtaposition of the
cornfield and the sleek black hoodie with zipper accents —
never noticed before. Woman out here literally walking
through water in a Roberto Cavalli gown. Is the baseball
bat also designer? Bang bang! Mood: Calling yourself
the “baddest woman in the game.” Beyoncé driving
over every parked car in a monster truck is my
mom when she comes to visit Ann Arbor. Beyoncé
yelling is so hot. Only person who can make the
word ‘pussy’ sound eloquent. Waiting in thorough
anticipation of Serena Williams’ scene. Bang
bang!!! She here! “If I saw Serena and Beyoncé
next to each other I’d be equally in awe of both of
them.” “She too smart to crave material things,”
but they don’t hurt, am I right, custom Cavalli
gown? Now I am borderline crying because police
brutality has taken so many. The mother who hastily
shakes her head no as she holds up a picture of her
murdered son. America is not fair. Beyoncé is speaking
to the metaphor of lemonade and the room is quiet. “Every
single costume in ‘Formation’ needs to be in a museum.” YES
CHRISTIAN.
— Tess Garcia
‘Lemonade’ ft. Twins
in this series, three daily arts writers in varying states
of mind do the same activity and write about it.
this week’s event:
My god this cinemotography.
“Prayin to catch me”
“Where do you go when you go quiet” holy shit I’m already dead and this started 2 minutes ago.
She’s hitting me with her
fuck I forgot what I was gonna say. This demon in my mind just asked if this video was over-
rated. God damn.
Oh I remember! DudeShe’s hitting me with poetry !! Pure poetry!!
Beyoncé almost plummeted to her death my heart just fell from my body.
My jaw just dropped all this water came rushing out of this building
during “hold up” it’s a Beyoncé tsunami!! Slant rhyme!
I truly believe Beyoncé has the power of life and death.
I can’t wait until Blue Ivy is old enough to watch
this god damn will she be proud. B is the leader
of this female mob and wow I have no idea
where we are or what we are doing but I
most genuinely feel like I have been initiated
into the mob.
Wait do we know how Jay-Z feels about this album??
does he finally feel bad for what he did? Or like ?
Anger to apathy ahhhhhh Is that SERENA WILLIAMS ?? they
look like they are in the same house as AHS Coven setting.
“Daddy’s Lessons” love this song but the host of this apartment does not.
Whoa the cup I’m drinking out of has lemons on it like how fucking conve-
nient.
Ok well now we are disrespecting B by talking get about Eminem. Ugh “sand castles” I
feel tears coming on but my cotton mouth is too bad it’s drying up my tears. Wow props to Jay Z
for being in this video and knowing that he is a DAMN CHEATER. IN THE PUBLIC EYE.
I’m dead on “Freedom.” I think this is it here I go catch me now
Wait pd (post death) the evolution of her hairrrr though
— Daily Arts Writer
“I tried to make a home out of you but doors lead to trap doors”
MY HEART. These words hurt enough when they’re not spoken
by the soft voice of Beyoncé. Baked is giggling at her laughter at
her own tears. I’m just waiting for “hold up” to come on so I can
break it the fuck down. It’s on, Someone get me a bat. I hope if
I ever go on a rampage my breasts look 1/15 as good as beys do
here. Why does the cinematography in this sometimes remind
me of Harry Potter, avadaka kadavra jay z. The outfit in “don’t
hurt yourself” is everything I want to be in this life. (Minus the
real fur, sorry bey, #meatismurder #morrissey) LOVE GOD
HERSELF. “If Beyoncé doesn’t have suck his balls neither do I,”
bored, quote of the century. This album makes me want someone
to cheat on me. Baked doesn’t have a venmo. Is she Amish? A
fourth party just reminded me about the fact that Eminem is “the
skid mark on the underwear of America.” True. Beyoncé and I
have the same Nina Simone record. I can die now, I am Beyoncé
always. If you can listen to “Forward” without shedding a tear
you are truly heartless. Goosebumps. I’m so emo. “Formation” is
one of the most important things to come out of the last decade.
Fight me. Replenish my wine.
— Daily Arts Writer
“If we don’t educate half
the world, we can’t work as
efficiently and as advanced as
we would like to,” said LSA
sophomore
Luna
Terauchi,
Membership Coordinator of
She’s the First, when speaking
about women around the world
who do not receive education.
As powerful as these words
are, they do not even slightly
sum up all the objectives “She’s
the First” has for the future.
A non-profit organization,
She’s the First, sponsors girls
in low-GDP countries that
allows the girls to graduate
primary
and
secondary
schools.
Globally
founded
in 2009 and with a chapter
opening up at University of
Michigan in 2012, STF has
been creating opportunities for
young women all around the
world who have the potential,
but do not have the educational
resources.
“The
organization
fundraises and has social
awareness events that provide
information about what we are
raising money for and why,”
said LSA junior and STF’s
President, Heidi Haas.
The group has partner
organizations in other third-
world countries where they
can easily find and help girls
who belong in STF.
“There is so much potential
that
goes
untacked
when
you have all these girls who
could contribute something
really meaningful to society,”
said
LSA
sophomore
and
Global Awareness Program
Representative, Ishani Mathur.
However, She’s the First
represents more than just
women in foreign countries
who are in need of education.
They are a standing emblem
in the area of global female
oppression — a loud voice
that can be heard in this sea
of unjustified women’s rights.
Although the majority of their
organization involves women,
they are eager to recruit more
men into the group.
“We are trying to get guys
involved,”
Terachi
added,
“because
girls
education
affects
everyone,
not
just
women.” With that goal in
mind, about 10 percent of the
club’s members are now male.
LSA
senior
and
STF’s
Events
Coordinator,
Mona
Iskandarani,
shared
a
personal anecdote of how her
grandmother, a child of 12, was
not sent to school because she
was a girl (they educated the
boys instead). “It’s stripping
a fundamental right away
from people because of their
gender,” she said. “We (STF)
are thinking about all the
injustice in the world.”
The
organization
is
consistently going after these
problems both on a global and
national scale. Last summer,
Haas and Terachi attended a
leadership summit in New York
City where they interacted
with
larger
corporations
which support She’s the First.
What was most humbling for
the team was when they met
two girls who were sponsored
in the organization. It was
a moment that “brought the
cause to life,” Haas said.
Even with so many women
in such faraway places, the
board felt as though they,
too, grow up with the girls by
staying connected through the
journey. The club exchanges
letters with the scholars and
are able to see the impact that
is being made on both the girls
and on the club.
Additionally,
the
group
doesn’t shy away from other
issues.
They
are
always
considering the health and
well-being of the girls and
their families, their day-to-day
lives and unfortunately, the
discomfort and fear society
creates around being female.
The board understands that
talking about these issues with
these girls is a way to handle
them.
At a place like the University
of Michigan, where different
perspectives
economically
and racially create a heavy
influence, the members of STF
take these viewpoints into
consideration.
“We (STF) are about equality
and education. Education is the
main thing that is separating us
from these girls. Other than
different cultures, there is
nothing physically or mentally
different, but education is what
is giving people power. And
these girls deserve to have
equal power,” said Business
sophomore and Vice President,
Emily Fletcher.
And as Haas reflected on
what being a woman meant to
her, she concluded: “I always
remember that there are more
difference within each sex than
there are between sexes. We
are living in a very progressive
time, but not everything will
fall into place right away.
Although there a lot of women’s
issues that need to be solved, I
am really excited because this
is the first time women’s issue
are being valued.”
She’s the First is more than
a group of people supporting
educational rights. They will
continue to make great strides
in creating equality for all people
universally and inspiring others
in the Ann Arbor community
and beyond. For membership
information,
please
contact
hahaas@umich.edu.
ERIKA SHEVCHEK
Daily Community Culture Editor
She’s the First makes
moves for girls globally
STF_umich
Girl’s organization She’s the First
University chapter promotes potential, equality and
connections among their members and girls worldwide
ALEXANDER WANG
Will womenswear
remain a man’s world?
Ghesquière,
Tisci,
Saab,
Michele.
Galliano,
Lagerfeld, Gvasalia, Wang.
Question: What do these
things all have in common?
Each of these men sit at
the helm of a top-grossing
women’s
clothing
label.
Even the musical reference
I just made can be attributed
to a man.
In 2016, only three of the
world’s top 12 richest fashion
brands
boasted
female
creative directors. This is
especially remarkable given
that womenswear rakes in
over $200 billion more of
the industry’s income than
men’s. Business of Fashion
notes that although women
account for the majority of
those entering the industry,
they represented only 40.2
percent of the 371 designers
surveyed last fashion month.
Even
if
certain
fashion
houses were created by
women at their time, they
write, today they often have
creative leaders that are
men.
Somewhere
in
the
women’s clothing industry
lies an alarming disconnect.
Women
may
be
underrepresented
and
underpaid in most other
fields,
but
one
would
think that they could take
internal control of the one
that is, quite literally, made
for them. Yet something
continues to keep girl power
from coming out on top.
Are the meninists right?
Does
testosterone
truly
know estrogen better than
estrogen
knows
itself?
After 18 years of immersive
research on female life, I can
conclude that the answer is
no.
To tell you the truth, I
don’t know what’s driving
the male domination of
this
seemingly
womanly
territory. All I know for
certain is what is true of
every industry: the existence
of nuanced inequities among
men and their qualified
female
counterparts.
That, coupled with brand-
owner groups like Kering
and LVMH being male-
dominated, could be enough
to restrain even the most
talented
young
female
designer.
I can’t write this article
without
acknowledging
the handful of of incredible
female designers that do
exist.
They’re
scattered
across the globe, from Milan
to Tokyo to New York City,
presenting young women
in fashion with a silver
lining
surrounding
the
monogamous cloud that has
loomed over womenswear
from the beginning of time.
“Monster,”
the
song
I
referenced
earlier,
is
comprised of three verses.
Rick Ross and Jay-Z present
the first two, accompanied
by Kanye West in the chorus.
Things change in the final
verse: Nicki Minaj, one of
few
well-known
women
in
the
male-dominated
rap world, takes over. She
shows listeners who’s boss,
dropping bars that must
have left Rick, Jay and ‘Ye
with their jaws to the floor.
McCartney,
Karan,
Prada, Philo. Kawakubo,
Versace, Sui, Ferretti.
Not unlike Minaj, these
female designers embody
all that a woman in fashion
should. Their poise and
creativity produces billions
of dollars in revenue for
their labels each year –– the
true embodiment of “think
big, get cash, make ‘em blink
fast.”
They
consistently
leave the industry eager for
what the future will hold,
inspiring
their
up-and-
coming counterparts along
the way.
Beneath
the
surface
of
womenswear
lies
a
whole new generation of
motherf*cking monsters.
TESS GARCIA
Senior Arts Editor
Education
is what is
giving people
power
The irony in an industry made for women dominated by men