Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A— Wednesday, September 13, 2017
REBECCA LERNER
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ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY
and REBECCA TARNOPOL
Editorial Page Editors
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Carolyn Ayaub
Megan Burns
Samantha Goldstein
Caitlin Heenan
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Anurima Kumar
Max Lubell
Lucas Maiman
Alexis Megdanoff
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Anna Polumbo-Levy
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Ali Safawi
Sarah Salman
Kevin Sweitzer
Rebecca Tarnopol
Stephanie Trierweiler
Ashley Zhang
W
hen I was around
13
years
old,
I
became absolutely
desperate to be in my 20s.
I was just old enough to
desire independence but still
too immature to handle it.
I imagined my 20s as this
glittering time in my life when I
would have my own apartment,
spend my evenings partying
and eventually meet the love
of my life. I envisioned my 20s
as the best decade of my life;
I wouldn’t be burdened with
children yet, and I would still be
young and in shape. I would also
have a high-power, high-paying
job. I would never be alone, and
my life would be magical.
Though I’m not too far into my
20s, I have to say this experience
hasn’t been what I expected.
From what I’ve seen so far,
adulthood actually consists of
living with roommates in cheap
apartments, praying to find a
well-paying job after graduation
and using mobile apps to hook
up with people you hope aren’t
weird.
Overall,
this
decade
will most likely consist of
inconsistency, of never settling
in one place long enough to
establish a community.
Once you make friends in
one place, you find yourself
moving again to a different
city. And from what I’ve been
told by those in their late 20s,
life won’t really settle down
until long after college is over.
You move out of your parents’
home, try to make friends
wherever you go and get
used to being alone. Instead
of being called “the most
exciting decade of your life,”
maybe this decade should be
labeled “the loneliest decade
of your life.”
This year, I’ll be a senior.
Since starting college, I have
switched living arrangements
five times and moved permanent
residences once. I believe this
living situation is pretty normal
for a college student, but the
process of constantly changing
homes creates a real feeling of
isolation. When the people you
usually see on a day-to-day basis
suddenly change, you have to find
comfort and a feeling of home
inside yourself instead of in those
around you.
I’ve
come
to
recognize
many aspects of my life — my
possessions, my goals, even my
friendships — as temporary.
Upon
graduating,
I
won’t
know when I’ll see my friends
in person again. What I once
considered
to
be
perennial
facets of my daily life have now
become temporary situations I’ll
need to prepare to live without.
Yet I’ve also discovered
there are some benefits of
being lonely for an extended
period of time. Of course,
when you’re living in that
solitary moment, it’s hard to
see what good can come out of
a long period of solitude. But
nothing helps two people get
to know each other better than
being forced to spend a lot of
time together; the same works
for getting to know yourself.
When you are forced to be alone,
you learn a lot more about how
you function, what your likes
and dislikes are and thus how
you can better succeed.
Without the influence of
outside
voices,
you
really
begin to know what makes
you, you. And I have found
that a place or a city is most
accessible not when I have a
lot of friends there, but when
I’m not afraid of exploring it
on my own. True confidence
and
self-assurance
don’t
come from being surrounded
by friends and family, but
from knowing yourself well
enough to be able to spend an
extended period of time alone.
It’s true that my 20s haven’t
quite
yet
lived
up
to
the
expectations I held when I was
13. I’m not super rich and I don’t
have a bajillion friends and as
clichéd as this sounds, I’ve come
to the awful understanding that
our lives are not at all like the
young-people sitcoms we used
to watch. But every day I learn
something new about myself, and
every day I’m a little bit stronger,
a little bit more confident for it.
And even though I can’t wait
until I’m (hopefully) financially
and personally settled in my
30s, I’m trying to enjoy the
freedom and independence I
know I only get to experience
when I’m on my own.
When adulthood gets lonely
ELENA HUBBELL | COLUMN
Elena Hubbell can be reached at
elepearl@umich.edu.
W
hen school is finally
out
and
summer
arrives, I often find
myself browsing the latest
trends.
However,
this
summer
I
got a “real world”
office
job
and,
instead of looking
for
high-waisted
shorts and tanks,
I
found
myself
looking for blazers
and dress pants.
After spending a
small fortune on
clothes that made
me feel uncomfortable and
look like a box, I thought it
would be worth it. I had to look
professional, right?
As women, we are sent
many mixed signals on what
it means to look professional.
I remember standing in the
bathroom between meetings
at
the
beginning
of
my
internship, disgusted by the
middle-aged woman I looked
like I had become. I had never
worn anything of this nature in
my life, and this sudden change
made me uncomfortable.
Through my experience as a
young woman in a professional
workplace, I found that having
a lot of options regarding ways
to dress myself can serve as
a positive opportunity for
personal expression. But upon
further analysis I have come
to realize all the ways this
freedom
puts
unnecessary
burdens on women in the
workplace.
On my first day, I quickly
noticed that men did not go
through the same stress of
getting dressed for work as
women do. Growing up, boys
are dressed by their parents
in button-downs and khakis
from the age of 3. By the time
they enter the workplace, they
know exactly how to present
themselves to the professional
world. They have been dressing
the same way their entire lives.
The same attire they wear to a
wedding or celebration could
be worn to the office as well.
As a woman, I have found
liberation in my outfit choices,
but I also have encountered
mixed signals when deciding
what is appropriate to wear
to a certain gathering. When
reading
the
words
“business
casual”
in an email from a
potential
employer,
my mind floods with
outfit
possibilities.
Should I wear a blazer
and
pants?
Dress
pants or casual jeans?
Flats or heels? Will
they think I am a
tramp if my heels are
too high? What about
the length of my skirt? Will
they be offended if I show my
shoulders?
I guarantee my boyfriend
does not ask himself that many
questions when he gets ready
for an interview. The fashion
industry
makes
a
fortune
off marketing each season’s
“hot new look” to the female
consumer, so they provide
her
with
endless
options.
Thank you, Macy’s, I really do
appreciate it, but the pressure
I feel to “dress my best” cannot
be eliminated by shopping at
your semi-annual sale.
Women
must
constantly
decide what outfit will best suit
the situation. The way women
are traditionally represented in
fashion advertisements is often
what one would expect to see in
the bedroom, not the cubicle.
Despite the stereotypes and
implications women have in
society, many women strive for
equality between the sexes in
the workplace.
In the ’70s, fashion designers
recognized what these women
were missing, and thus, the
pantsuit rose to popularity.
Pantsuits
allowed
women
to dress just like their male
counterparts in a demand for
equal respect in the workplace.
For centuries, it was frowned
upon
for
women
to
wear
pants, let alone a masculine-
looking suit. The pantsuit led
the way for women to dress in
a professional style that was
similar to men’s, and it made
headway in the fight for equal
rights. However, as time went
on and fashion evolved after
the pantsuit hit stores, women
were bombarded with mixed
signals about what it meant
to dress “business casual.”
Blazers and skirts became a
smashing combo for the office,
and loafers became acceptable
for women to wear to work.
I have found that, depending
on the office environment,
the norms for what women
wear can be vastly different.
Working at a tech startup
versus
working
for
the
government calls for women to
dress in vastly different ways.
However, no matter the office
environment, most of what
men wear remains the same.
Formal or casual, he will most
likely to be pressured to wear a
shirt with a collar.
I have found that one’s
comfort
should
not
be
compromised by what one
might
be
pressured
into
wearing to work. Out of all
the boxy clothes I bought for
my summer job, I ended up
wearing dark pants and a white
blouse nearly every day. It
became my summer uniform.
Strangely, I found freedom
in not having to think about
what to wear to work every
day. That is probably the way
men feel, too. I could go to
work focused on what I needed
to accomplish that day, rather
than worrying if my necklace
matched my shoes.
As women, we have more
freedom than men in deciding
what
to
wear.
The
ever-
evolving
fashion
industry
leaves it up to us to choose
which pieces best fit our
style and the occasion. This
summer,
without
intending
to, I ended up taking comfort
in wearing basically the same
outfit to work every day, and
it was strangely liberating.
Perhaps all the choices women
encounter in selecting just the
right outfit, while fun, ignore
the fact that we are also in the
office to work.
The importance of admitting ignorance
JOSEPH FRALEY | OP-ED
FRANNIE MILLER | CONTACT FRANNIE AT FRMILLER@UMICH.
Redefining business casual
MICHELLE PHILLIPS| COLUMN
I
am fortunate enough to
surround
myself
with
people who are generally
politically
motivated,
left-
leaning individuals. I live in
a co-op filled with murals
praising liberal and socialist
views. I frequently visit Metal
Frat, a place where it often
seems difficult to visit without
having a political conversation.
I write for The Michigan Daily,
a clearly liberal-leaning college
newspaper. I’m majoring in Arts
and Ideas, a major where my
class conversations about art
often lead to discussions about
the art’s impact on the political
climate during its conception.
Through
all
of
this,
I
have talked to many people
who I view as being both
intellectually superior to me
and much more informed on
the current political climate
than I am. I like to pride myself
on staying fairly well-informed
and educated, yet I do often
find myself in circumstances
where I cannot keep with the
conversation. Here is where I
try to admit my ignorance and
attempt to learn.
If there’s one thing I’m
passionate about when it comes
to politics, it’s caring. You have
to care about something. No
matter what specific issues
you’re passionate about, as long
as you have that passion, that’s
what matters. Apathy is the
enemy of progress and dialogue.
I can accept disagreeing
with someone, but I cannot
accept
them
not
being
involved in the conversation.
I
have
talked
to
several
friends who try to stay out
of politics. When I asked
them why they don’t have
opinions, the answer I hear
time and time again is that
they are afraid of not knowing
information during a debate
or conversation.
This is quite understandable.
In a world where we are in
constant contact with others,
losing face is a scary thing.
Yet however understandable it
may be, it does not excuse the
action. One way to help cure
this phenomenon would be
to normalize the admittance
of ignorance.
I
remember
a
specific
moment not too long ago when
rumors first started spreading
that President Donald Trump
was going to end Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals.
I admittedly had no idea what
DACA was at the time, but
two of my classmates were
very fired up about the issue.
I think that even only a
year ago, I would have kept
quiet, alienating myself from
these two people and fearing
judgement, but this time I
spoke up and inquired about
DACA. This simple action
made me feel like I was part
of the conversation and less
intimidated from intellectual
political discourse.
The only way anyone can
learn about economic and
social issues is if they are
taught, whether that’s through
academia
or
their
peers.
Knowledge does not magically
appear into someone’s head.
If people become less afraid
of not knowing, then maybe
they will become more eager
to learn.
This is particularly hard
on our campus here at the
University of Michigan, where
most of us pride ourselves
on
our
intelligence
and
individuality. If someone feels
that either of those things has
the potential of being taken
away from them, they would
more likely not speak than
risk the loss.
As a community, we need
to make people feel more
comfortable with admitting
their ignorance on a topic
without
feeling
like
their
intelligence is being insulted.
Hopefully, this will encourage
people to participate more in
current political dialogue.
If there ever was a time
to participate, it’s now. The
current
political
climate
almost doesn’t feel like real
life at this point. Often when I
read the news I have to remind
myself that this isn’t a movie
and we can’t just take the film
out of the projector.
Trump blazed a trail of
unrealistic promises and hate
across the campaign trail.
Now, over 200 days into his
presidency,
our
country’s
reality is worse than most of
us could have even imagined.
I know a lot of people who
didn’t vote during the 2016
presidential election because
they were still sucked into
their own apathy. Now is the
time to come together, to
learn and to make our country
a better place. We can’t do
that without votes.
Decisions
on
every
level of government affect
our
community,
whether
transparent or not. I am still
very uninformed on local and
state politics. I hope to learn a
lot more about the lower levels
of
government
during
my
junior year at the University.
I hope to take that knowledge
and share it with anyone that
is willing to listen.
Joseph Fraley is an LSA junior and a
Daily Arts writer
MICHELLE
PHILLIPS
Michelle Phillips can be reached at
mphi@umich.edu.
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“Apathy is the
enemy of
progress and
dialogue.”
Without the
influence of
outside voices,
you really begin to
know what makes
you, you.