The Apse in the University 

of Michigan Museum of Art 
was packed Tuesday night as 
American author Lydia Davis 
gave the first of two talks as 
part of the Zell Visiting Writer 
series — both reading from her 
short stories and encouraging 
attendees to get involved in 
politics at the local level. 
Davis is known for her short 
stories and was awarded the 
Man 
Booker 
International 

Prize in 2013. She has also 
translated many prominent 
works 
including 
“Swann’s 

Way” by Marcel Proust and 
“Madame Bovary” by Gustave 
Flaubert.

Throughout her talk, Davis 

read a variety of her recent 
original stories, ranging from 

one sentence to a few pages in 
length.

“All the stories I’m going to 

read tonight are very recent 
which means I haven’t tried 
them out so you may have to 
bear with me,” she said. “They 
are also a bit longer than they 
normally are.”

The first story she read 

was about her interest in 
dreams. After the reading, she 
explained how this story idea 
came about for her.

“I’m interested in dreams 

as a possible literary form or 
material for writing a little 
story,” she said.

All of the stories related to 

aspects of Davis’s personal 
life. In another story, she 
recounted 
her 
own 
son’s 

discovery of how to pronounce 
the 
word 
“egg.” 
Davis 

explained that in many of her 
stories, “as happens with most 
stories in real life, nothing 

had happened.”

University alum Cameron 

Giniel, who is interested in 
writing short stories, attended 
the event.

“I was really impressed 

with the way she captured 
these trivial moments that 
might be trivial but also come 
to life and how you work your 
way through that,” Giniel said. 
“It was really awesome to see 

how they come to life.”

The shortest story Davis 

shared was titled, “Improving 
my German,” which consisted 
of a single sentence: “All 
my life I had been trying to 
improve my German. At last 
my German is better, but now 
I am an old woman.”

“My stories do tend to be 

quite short because I don’t 
feel that there needs to be a 
standard length that I need to 

live up to,” Davis said. “When 
you are young you tend to be 
more conservative … When 
you grow older you learn more 
and more.”

In her final reading, Davis 

shared an experience that 
happened to her on a train 
in 
Europe. 
After 
asking 

someone to keep an eye on 
her belongings, she ended up 
going to significant lengths to 
make sure that the people who 
were watching them had good 
intentions. 

“When I write something I 

sometimes recognize certain 
patterns 
or 
rhythms 
and 

in this one, it was (author) 
Stephen Dixon,” Davis said. 
“He is very good and prolific 
and (his stories) set off as a 
sort of monologue. Another 
one is (novelist) Ron Carlson 
who has some very funny 
stories. If you read the work of 
someone and are impressed by 
it and have that kind of mind 
that remembers and imitates 
they can show up.”

Young-Eun 
Yook, 
a 

graduate student in the Helen 
Zell Writers’ Program, found 
Davis’s stories very different 
from others that she has read.

“The way she used humor 

was really interesting,” she 
said.

Davis revealed through her 

readings that it is not always 
easy to write short stories, 
especially the endings.

“Endings are very difficult 

as I’m sure everyone knows 
and usually the answer is to 
wait — to try something and 
come back to it a week or two 
later again and again. But 
sometimes it takes a couple of 
years,” Davis said.

David ended her talk by 

telling the audience that she 
is running for an elected 
position in the small village 
she lives in.

“I highly encourage people 

to run for office somewhere,” 
she said.

The University of Michigan 

set the stage for two Hollywood 
personalities on Tuesday as 
students frantically traced the 
stars via social media. Steve 
Carell, famed movie actor and 
television star, was spotted 
on a campus tour with his 
daughter. “Star Trek” actor 
Zachary Quinto was also seen 
on campus purchasing a mid-
day coffee at Starbucks on 
State Street. 

The 
celebrity 
sightings 

stirred up social media activity 

with 
photos 
corroborating 

their 
campus 
appearance. 

Some tweets captured Carell 
walking 
into 
the 
Student 

Activities Building to meet the 
tour and standing outside in a 
black baseball cap, black coat 
and dark sunglasses.

According 
to 
WMTV 

Channel 
15 
in 
Madison, 

Wis., Carell visited in the 
University 
of 
Wisconsin-

Madison on Monday prior to 
his appearance in Ann Arbor. 
Carell is best known for his 
role in the TV show, “The 
Office” and movies including 
the “Despicable Me” series and 
“Crazy, Stupid, Love”.

LSA 
sophomore 
Rebecca 

Bernstein saw Carell and his 
family checking out of the 
Graduate 
Hotel 
on 
Huron 

Street. While excited about his 
presence on campus, she was 
concerned about his celebrity 
status as he roamed campus 
for personal reasons.

“It was pretty cool to see a 

celebrity on campus, especially 
one who is so beloved by our 
generation,” Bernstein said. 
“I did feel bad for him because 
I 
could 
not 
imagine 
him 

simply trying to enjoy family 
time while being stalked by 
thousands of students.”

LSA sophomore Ilana Char 

also saw Carell on Tuesday.

“I just hope his daughter 

had a good tour and good luck 
to her as she starts the college 
process,” Char said.

While social media stirred 

about the presence of Carell 
on 
campus, 
Engineering 

sophomore 
Claire 
Stemper 

snapped a discrete photo of 
another 
celebrity, 
Zachary 

Quinto. Quinto most notably 
played Spock in “Star Trek.”

“We made eye contact once, 

but I don’t think he wanted 
to be bothered so I didn’t say 
anything, just stared a bit,” 
Stemper said. “I was definitely 
starstruck.”

By Aymar Jean

Clad in yellow shirts of solidarity 

and grasping multicolored balloons, 
a diverse regiment of students 
rallied around the Cube in Regents 
Plaza yesterday protesting changes 
to student services by the Univer-
sity’s Division of Student Affairs.

Disgruntled students marched to 

the Fleming Administration Build-
ing and packed the University Board 
of Regents’ monthly meeting to 
demonstrate against projected cuts 
in student services over the next 
year, among other concerns.

Students from a broad coalition 

of campus groups entreated senior 
administration officials to rethink 
changes to numerous offices and or-
ganizations. Groups rallied around 
such issues as the cuts to this year’s 
Pow Wow, anticipated changes to 
the Greek system, slashes to the 
Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and 
Transgender Affairs budget and the 
lack of resources in the Office of 

Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs.

Their concerns extended beyond 

student affairs issues. Protesters 
also criticized the administration 
of what they called apathy in the 
face of declining minority enroll-
ment and inaction concerning hate 
crimes. Alleged negligence of multi-
cultural affairs, LGBT issues, sexual 
assault services and hate crime 
protocols all represent an “elimina-
tion of safe spaces” on campus and 
highlight what dissenters say is the 
University’s hypocrisy on diversity.

En route to the administration 

building, more than 100 students 
chanted, “Give us a voice, let us 
make a choice.” They wore yellow 
shirts stating “Royster cut student 
services, and all I got was this lousy 
T-shirt” and carried posters implor-
ing the administration to “Take 
diversity seriously.”

After public comments had 

concluded, students shouted and 
stood in support of the speakers at 
the Regents meeting. Four regents 

responded to students about their 
concerns, despite the tradition of 
remaining silent during or after 
public comments. 

“I believe we’ve heard your 

pain,’ Regent Olivia Maynard 
(D-Goodrich) said to students and 
members of the board. “We want 
you to know that we are listening.”

But not every regent offered 

conciliations. Many students were 
offended by the remarks of Regent 
Andrew Richner (R-Grosse Pointe 
Park), who suggested the protesters 
transfer their energy to Monday’s 
basketball game against Oklahoma.

While most board members 

stressed building a stronger rela-
tionship between students and the 
administration, many noted the 
difficult budget situation. 

For the Greek system, the admin-

istration is considering mandating 
substance-free housing, professional 
live-in advisors and a delay of the 
rushing process.

2A — Wednesday, March 21, 2018
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ON THE DAILY: STUDENTS STARSTRUCK BY CELEBRITIES ON CAMPUS

MacArthur Fellow Lydia Davis talks 
inspiration for prize-winning stories

SOPHIA KATZ
Daily Staff Reporter

“I was really 

impressed with 

the way she 

captured these 

trivial events that 
might be trivial 
but also come 
to life and how 
you work your 
way through 

that. It was really 
awesome to see 
how they come to 

life.”

