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Arts
Thursday, February 6, 2020 — 5

P O L I C Y T A L K S @ T H E F O R D S C H O O L

CHRISTOPHER A. HART 

Former Chairman of the National 
Transportation Safety Board

Photo: Philadelphia International Airport

CL O SUP LEC T URE SERIE S 
Opportunities and challenges 
of autonomous vehicles: 
Role of governments?

CO-SPONSORED BY THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAM (STPP)

Free and open to the public. 
Reception to follow. 

Information: 734-647-4091 or 
closup@umich.edu

@fordschool #policytalks

Monday, February 10, 2020 
4:00 - 5:20 pm

Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Annenberg Auditorium, 1120 Weill Hall
735 S. State Street 

Frances Quinlan tackles the unpleasant on ‘Likewise’

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

I don’t usually listen to indie 
rock, but when I do, it’s for a 
good reason. This time around, 
the reason is Frances Quinlan. 
The Hop Along frontwoman has 
decided to grace the world with 
her debut solo album Likewise. I 
don’t know much about indie rock, 
I admit. However, I do know what 
makes an outstanding album, and 
this is an outstanding album. 
Sonically, 
Likewise 
is 
a 
gorgeous nine-song romp through 
a 
glistening 
and 
glittering 
indie rock wonderland. Album 
opener “Pilitdown Man” takes 
a stroll down a piano-driven 
lane as Quinlan sings softly in 
a pleasingly off-kilter manner. 
“Rare Thing” is a hypnotic spiral 
staircase up to synth-pop heaven. 
“Went to LA” is a twinkling 
acoustic gaze up toward the stars 

marked by Quinlan’s ever-present 
ruminations on anything and 
everything. As a whole, Likewise 
is a sonic tour of Quinlan’s world, 
a world for everyone, filled with 
pleasant little quirks and easter 
eggs.
Lyrically, however, Likewise is 
something of an oasis. Quinlan is 
floating by herself, accompanied 
only by her own thoughts and 
musings. 
She 
covers 
themes 
ranging from climate change, 
human compassion, solitude and 
even cannibalism. Despite this 
range, Quinlan is always laser-
focused, dissecting each topic 
with the precision and ease of a 
surgeon. This description makes 
it seem like Likewise is a sterile 
operating room, but it certainly is 
not. Rather, it is a messy, scattered 
album similar to the natural 
world, which Quinlan wrangles 
with grace and poise, deftly 
handling everything that crosses 

her mind.
“Detroit Lake” finds Quinlan 
striking 
the 
perfect 
balance 
between sonic beauty and lyrical 
dismay. She takes listeners to 
a 
conversation 
between 
the 
narrator and another person, far 
away from the namesake lake. 
In the song’s chorus, she sings, 
“Miles from all that’s between 
us at stake / Algae blooms up in 
Detroit Lake / Listening for my 
turn to come next / Leave, the 
same as I came in, more or less.” 
Quinlan describes a conversation 
running dry, perhaps the sign of 
a dying relationship, which, at 
the time, seems more important 
than the algal bloom in the 
distant Detroit Lake. “Detroit 
Lake” serves as a reminder 
that our actions can have grave 
consequences, yet we still are 
more concerned about ourselves, 
a message that rings true across 
the album.

Likewise is a thoughtful album 
that is chock-full of compelling 
lyrics and ideas, but for some 
reason, Quinlan decides to end it 
with words that are not her own. 
Album closer “Carry the Zero” is 
a cover of the Built to Spill song 
of the same name, and despite 
its status as a cover, it’s so much 
more. In a personal album filled 
with her thoughts and feelings, it 
makes sense that Quinlan chose 
to include a cover of one of her 
favorite songs. She stays true to 
the essence of the song, but she 
makes it wholly her own. She 
makes it more subdued than the 
original, driven by an echoing 
synth line that, in true Quinlan 
fashion, eventually explodes into 
a full band, including blazing 
guitar licks and a pulsating bass 
line. All the focus is on her as 
she perfectly and thoughtfully 
delivers each line, closing her 
album beautifully.

Likewise finds Frances Quinlan 
tackling some pretty complex 
themes, but she delivers them in a 
relatable, down-to-earth manner, 
thanks to her charming persona 

and 
gorgeous 
instrumentals. 
Quinlan is sure to make a fan 
out of anyone with Likewise. She 
certainly just made one out of me.

JIM WILSON
Daily Arts Writer

Convos at Color Caberet

ZOE PHILLIPS
Senior Arts Editor

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

Musical theatre tends to be 
dominated by whiteness. White 
characters breed white casting 
and white schooling in a positive 
feedback loop that has excluded 
artists of color for as long as the 
industry is old. 
The University’s School of 
Music, Theatre & Dance students 
know this — they live it. On a recent 
rainy 
evening, 
SMTD Junior 
Erica Ito put it this way: “[it’s] a 
predominantly white department 
in 
a 
predominantly 
white 
institution in a predominantly 
white field that we are entering 
that has a complicated history 
with people of color.” 
“The Color Cabaret” deals with 
all of this. Divided into two parts 
over roughly 90 minutes, the 
student-run show gives artists of 
color opportunities to sing and 
perform in roles rarely offered to 
them. In the first half, students 
take on famous color-consciously 
casted songs that make a difference 
to 
them 
as 
artists. 
Disney 
princesses and “Hadestown” are 
both set to make an appearance. 
The second half takes on iconic 
roles in musical theatre that have 
not been traditionally performed 
by people of color — “Don’t Rain 
on My Parade” from “Funny Girl” 
and “Music in the Mirror” from 
“A Chorus Line” topped Ito’s list 
of what to look forward to. The 
last few numbers will also tackle 
issues of intersectionality. 

Ito, who is co-producing the 
show alongside SMTD junior 
Thani Brant, started work on 
the cabaret with a few other MT 
upperclassmen back in November. 
The show has been an on-and-
off biennial tradition for the past 
decade, but Ito and her team have 
revamped it into something extra 
special for 2020. 
The 
concept 
started 
in 
conversation 
— 
specifically, 
intergroup dialogues facilitated by 
director and SMTD senior Maya 
Imani. There, everyone involved 
had the chance to voice their 
experiences as performers of color.
“These are conversations that 
we have with our roommates 
at 2 a.m. or coming home from 
rehearsal,” Imani said.
She added that bringing such 
topics into a formalized space 
made people feel “like their 
thoughts and opinions about these 
things actually do have worth.” 
Imani and Ito both noted how 
special these dialogues quickly 
became, 
especially 
in 
their 
accentuation of every individual’s 
experience. Both women were 
pleasantly surprised by how much 
they could still learn from each 
other. 
Therein lies the theme of 
the show, too. It’s “sharing our 
experiences with each other,” Ito 
said, “and then pushing that into 
the audience.”
Later 
that 
evening, 
Imani 
echoed 
this 
exact 
sentiment. 
“The cabaret is not about making 
a political statement,” she said. 
The performers are there to listen, 

support, validate and celebrate one 
another — the audience just gets to 
watch. 
And while the show has been an 
undertaking for its upperclassmen 
leadership, the impact is not lost 
on MT underclassmen of color, 
either. In fact, these dialogues 
were the first time the freshmen 
had ever been in a room with only 
people of color.
“That sheer fact,” Imani said, 
reminded her of “how much the 
space, and who’s present in the 
space, can dictate what you allow 
yourself to bring out … How does 
being in a predominantly white 
space affect your artistry?” 
The show might not offer 
an answer, but it celebrates 
the 
opportunity 
to 
ask 
the 
question. The weight of such an 
opportunity doesn’t go unnoticed 
by Ito or Imani. While they both 
spoke highly of their supportive 
department that works alongside 
“The Color Cabaret” rehearsals 
and schedule requirements, they 
made an important distinction: 
the faculty prepares their students 
for the musical theatre industry as 
it exists today. Ito and Imani are 
creating a show for the industry 
they’d like to remake for tomorrow. 
“The Color Cabaret” plays this 
weekend on Friday and Saturday 
at 7 p.m. in The Newman Studio 
of the Walgreen Drama Center. 
Admission is free. Following the 
show, the actors will facilitate a 
round-table discussion to continue 
the conversations on being an 
artist of color in musical theatre. 

BOOKS NOTEBOOK
On love triangles in fiction

Last week I was reminded of 
the horrific love-triangle trope 
in young-adult novels when my 
friend brought up the “Shatter 
Me” series in our book club. 
She was a touch too excited 
(morbidly so) to share the gory 
details: “...and here’s the kicker, 
Adam and Warner are the only 
people that are able to touch 
her. Like, of course, it’s the love 
interests that are the kryptonite 
to her ‘super-power.’” Tahereh 
Mafi’s “Shatter Me” follows 
Juliette, a teenage girl who has 
a “fatal touch.” That is, after 
Juliette touches someone, they 
die. At the start of the novel, 
she’s locked up in a cell and 
hasn’t 
experienced 
human 
touch in years… until Adam. 
“Shatter Me” screams “young-
adult dystopia” with the two 
male leads following the love-
triangle trope to a T. Adam, the 
nice one and Warner, the bad 
boy/villain/anti-hero. 
After 
six sequels, guess which one 
Juliette ends up with (cue the 
eye-roll and yawn). 
Even 
though 
I’ve 
never 
read “Shatter Me,” it feels like 
I have. The thought of love 
triangles triggers the sensation 
of cockroaches crawling under 
my 
skin. 
With 
a 
physical 
revolution, I’m yanked back in 
time to 5th grade, where I read 
about my first love triangle ever: 
“Twilight.” It’s true. I ate up the 
“Twilight” series like a vampire 

after a weekend-long fast from 
blood. I was unabashedly Team 
Edward, and I felt betrayed 
when Bella swayed to Jacob 
in “New Moon.” I wanted to 
wallow in a ball and shake Bella 
out of her werewolf induced 
spell, “Edward is the love of 
your life!” 
Take 
my 
aforementioned 
turbulent 
emotions 
and 
apply them to any of the 
following series: “The Mortal 
Instruments,” 
“The 
Infernal 
Devices” (Side note — this series 
has 
unequivocally 
deterred 
me from love triangles forever. 
Tessa, you can’t have your cake 
and eat it too!), “The Hunger 
Games,” “Vampire Academy,” 
“The Selection.” It’s always 
the mean playboy with the 
traumatic past versus the nice, 
bland guy, typically best friends 
with our protagonist. With 
few exceptions (cough, “The 
Hunger Games”), the nice guys 
finish last. 
Now we return to the age-
old question: If love triangles 
are so annoying, then why are 
they so popular? Certainly, my 
relationship 
with 
literature 
would be so much more stress-
free if not for the dreaded 
love-triangle. It’s an idea I’ve 
ruminated on quite extensively 
in my brief foray back into the 
young-adult literature world. 
Why introduce a new potential 
love interest when it’s (mostly) 
clear who the protagonist will 
end up with? Then it hit me 
— I wouldn’t be reading these 

stories in the first place if it 
weren’t for their love triangles 
(my 
masochist 
tendencies 
notwithstanding of course). 
Hear me out, these books 
can’t 
stand 
on 
their 
own 
without the love-triangle. The 
love-triangle serves to hide 
the nonexistent plot and one-
dimensional 
characters 
by 
upping the tension. If young-
adult novels were mysteries, 
the love triangles would be the 
equivalent of whodunit plot-
lines. The thing that’s driving 
the readers to finish X amount 
of sequels to these novels is 
the 
love-triangle. 
Imagine 
novels 
like 
“Shatter 
Me,” 
“The Selection” or “Twilight” 
without the love-triangle. It’s 
a stagnant, mushy book — the 
literary version of a pint of Ben 
& Jerry’s for breakfast, lunch 
and dinner. Where’s the flavor? 
It’s that elusive uncertainty of 
“will they or won’t they?” that 
motivates me to pick up the 1000 
page hardcover of “Breaking 
Dawn,” fully aware that I’m not 
cracking that mammoth of a 
book to resolve the conflict with 
the Volturi. 
Despite 
the 
irritation, 
I 
sometimes need the spice of a 
love triangle in my life. With 
my (let’s be honest) absent 
love life, the drama of two men 
and one girl is alluring. Even 
without a plot, I’m flooded with 
a whirlwind of emotions: anger, 
angst, butterflies and relief. 
Let’s face it, love triangles sell 
for a reason.

SARAH SALMAN
Daily Arts Writer

TV REVIEW
Ted Bundy doc empowers

Have you heard the name 
Karen Sparks? Nancy Wilcox? 
Kimberly Leach?
You probably haven’t. But 
I can guarantee you’ve heard 
the name Ted Bundy. You know 
who he is and who he pretended 
to be. Chances are, you know 
as much about what he did as 
you can stomach but very little 
about who he did it to. You may 
know it’s a much, much longer 
list of names than the ones 
aforementioned, but you don’t 
know all the names. Amazon 
Prime’s 
new 
documentary 
series “Ted Bundy: Falling for 
a Killer” wants to change that.
Anchored 
by 
interviews 
with 
Bundy’s 
longtime 
girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall, 
“Falling 
for 
a 
Killer” 
emphasizes the importance of 
a woman’s perspective on his 
crimes. The series begins with 
Kendall describing the blissful 
years leading up to Bundy’s 
infamous murder spree. Soon, 
the domestic tranquility of her 
family’s life is juxtaposed with 
the savage violence that came 
to define her seemingly perfect 
partner.
Joined by feminist scholars, 
relatives of Bundy’s victims, 
female 
law 
enforcement 
officers and a few survivors of 
his crimes, Kendall attempts 

to explain how Bundy was 
able to attack potentially over 
100 women within the span of 
four years. The series details 
how cultural and political 
movements influenced Bundy’s 
crimes and how the public 
understood them at the time. 
In 
the 
mid-1970s, 
the 
women’s liberation movement 
was in full swing, Roe v. 
Wade had recently secured 
women’s right to choose, and 
Republicans were scrambling 
to maintain control amidst 
Nixon’s 
disintegrating 
administration. Bundy, who 
previously aspired to study 
law and become a conservative 
politician, 
committed 
his 
murders 
at 
the 
height 
of 
the university protests and 
demonstrations 
calling 
for 
radical social change.
While 
the 
connection 
between cultural movements 
and a psychopathic murderer’s 
motives may be tenuous, the 
link between a systemically 
oppressive society and male 
violence against women is 
undeniable. Kendall and her 
daughter, whom Bundy helped 
raise, recount anecdotes of his 
constant need to control their 
wardrobe and social lives. His 
reputation in the media as a 
criminal mastermind leading 
a perfect double life falls 
apart when his colleagues and 
relatives are able to tell their 
own stories.

Capitalizing 
on 
tragedy 
and victims’ pain has become 
a characteristic of the true-
crime 
genre, 
particularly 
regarding 
the 
crimes 
of 
Ted Bundy. After countless 
documentaries 
and 
2019’s 
controversial film “Extremely 
Wicked, 
Shockingly 
Evil 
and Vile” starring Zac Efron 
(“Baywatch”) as the infamous 
killer, the story of Bundy’s 
crimes has been repeatedly 
rehashed 
with 
little 
new 
interpretation. “Ted Bundy: 
Falling for a Killer” provides 
a response to his version of 
events.
One woman interviewed in 
“Falling for a Killer” has never 
spoken out before. Known to 
the public by the pseudonym 
Joni Letz, Karen Sparks is 
Bundy’s first known victim 
and one of his few survivors. 
In showing her face and telling 
her story, this series seeks to 
show its audience what the 
point is in revisiting these 
events.
Rather 
than 
immortalize 
a 
manipulative 
rapist 
and 
murderer, “Falling for a Killer” 
opts 
to 
shift 
the 
public’s 
perspective on the topic and 
refocus the true-crime genre’s 
values. The show presents 
a group of women too often 
discounted as a list of names, 
rather 
than 
victims 
and 
survivors. You know his story. 
It’s time to learn theirs.

ANYA SOLLER
Daily Arts Writer

Saddle Creek