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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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.”