The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, February 7, 2020 — 5

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

I had no idea of what to 
expect out of the Iowa Caucus 
Concert featuring Bon Iver, but 
when Senator Bernie Sanders 
announces 
he’s 
holding 
a 
concert to rally supporters and 
by circumstance you’re already 
going to be in the correct state, 
you find a way to get to that 
concert.
I woke up in Ann Arbor at 5 
a.m. that morning and drove all 
the way to Iowa with another 
Michigan Daily journalist and 
a photographer to report on 
the pre-caucus activities in the 
state. By the time we arrived at 
the concert venue — Horizons 
Event Center in Clive, Iowa 
— at 4 p.m. on Friday, we’d 
already 
interviewed 
several 
Iowans about their feelings on 
the caucus, trailed around a 
group of University of Michigan 
students canvassing for Senator 
Elizabeth Warren and eaten 
lunch at the World’s Largest 
Truck Stop. That’s all to say: 
We’d been busy. 
Since this wasn’t just any 
concert — this was a Bernie 
Sanders 
Caucus 
Concert 
— 
there was an hour of Iowan 
folk bands to open the show, 
2 hours of energetic political 
speeches 
from 
Sanders’ 
political surrogates (the senator 
himself was stuck in D.C. for 
the impeachment trials) and 
then about 45 minutes of Justin 
Vernon closing out the show 
with a solo acoustic set. I wasn’t 
used to this Iowa reporting 
schedule of 18-hour days, so 
by the time Justin Vernon took 
the stage at 9 p.m., I was pretty 
damn exhausted.
Still, I left the press area 
— buzzing with professional 
journalists all very excited to 
be at this rather unusual event 
— and planted myself squarely 
in the middle of the crowd 
for Vernon’s set. About 2,000 
people had turned out to support 
Bernie and see Bon Iver, and as 
far as I could tell, it wasn’t much 
different from the crowd at a 
packed university co-op party. 
I’d never seen more rolled-
up beanies, circular glasses 
frames or Doc Martens in one 
space before. People of all ages 
had come out to see the show 
(there were multiple babies in 

attendance!), but the majority 
of attendees looked between the 
ages of 18 and 30, which checks 
out, considering Sanders’ appeal 
to young voters. The crowd 
was energized by the call, and 
screamed when Vernon took the 
stage, just as they had during 
the rallying cries of the political 
figures who’d spoken earlier in 
the evening. The couple next 
to me looked so thrilled by the 
combination of Bernie and Bon 
Iver that I thought they might 
jump each other right there 
in the middle of the Horizons 
Event Center. 
The feeling in the event 
center 
shifted 
suddenly, 
though. Vernon, who hails from 
Wisconsin, opened his set with 
a cover of Bob Dylan’s “With 
God on Your Side.” When he 

croned “the country I come 
from is called the Midwest,” the 
audience cheered, but far more 
softly than they had earlier. A 
man to my right wearing a cow 
print baseball cap and sporting 
a thick mustache (no beard) 
swayed from side to side. I 
felt whiplashed; the softness 
of Vernon provided a stark 
contrast to the angry radical 
energy that had precipitated 
the room just before he took the 
stage. 

The 
tonal 
shift 
left 
me 
feeling 
confused 
and 
even 
more exhausted. My back hurt 
from standing for so long in 
bad shoes. Plus I wanted to 
see how professional political 
journalists were treating this 
caucus concert. 
Out 
of 
respect 
for 
the 
Midwestern energy in the room, 
I “excused me”-d and “pardon 
me”-d back to the press area. But 
when I got back there, the tables 
were almost entirely empty. 
Gone were all the laptops, 
voice recorders and cameras. 
Everyone 
seemed 
to 
have 
gone home to their company-
expensed motels. I thought back 
to the buzz I’d felt emanating 
off the other reporters in the 
press area before diving into 
the crowd of Bernie supporters 
and Bon Iver fans. Had it just 
been an excitement to leave the 
event? 
I felt betrayed, in a way. A 
free Bon Iver concert that you 
get paid to go to! Sure, for an 
arts and culture journalist, 
no big deal. But for a political 
reporter? That doesn’t happen 
every day! Covering 2020 is a 
serious job, but I felt like no one 
should be above having a little 
fun at a free concert. 
Disappointed, I didn’t want 
to go back into the crowd, but 
I couldn’t see Vernon from the 
press tables, so I walked up the 
stairs to the small press balcony. 
The balcony also had a view of 
the stage, but an even better 
view of the press area below, 
and as I counted the number 
of 
journalists 
who’d 
stuck 
around on my fingers, I noticed 
someone I hadn’t seen before: 
One lone journalist sat asleep in 
her chair at a press table, head 
down on the cold plastic. 
As 
I 
looked 
at 
this 
sleeping comrade, I realized 
the 
heaviness 
of 
my 
own 
exhaustion. Sure, I loved Bon 
Iver as much as the next guy. But 
I’d been working for 15 hours 
at that point. The newsworthy 
part of this event had come 
and gone. I didn’t need to be 
there, and frankly, I wanted to 
be asleep, too. I decided to cut 
the other journalists — who’d 
probably been working 18-hour 
days in Iowa for weeks now — 
some slack. We were all tired. 
We could pay to see Bon Iver 
another time. Let’s all go back to 
our motel rooms and go to sleep. 

Pre-caucus Iowa: Bon Iver, 
Bernie and lots of beanies

MAYA GOLDMAN
For The Daily

Warning: 
“Dear 
Edward” 
is not meant for the faint-
hearted or anyone with a fear 
of flying. “Dear Edward” by 
Ann Napolitano is the story of a 
young boy, Edward, who is the 
sole survivor of a plane crash 
that took the lives of his family 
and the other 186 passengers. 
The book shifts from Edward’s 
present-day perspective to those 
of eight other distinct characters 
on the flight, tracking their 
experiences 
from 
 
boarding 
the plane to the final moments 
preluding its fatal crash. 
The intensive buildup leaves 
the reader craving to read more, 
and the dramatic irony of the 
plane’s inevitable crash steadily 
heightens as you delve deep into 
the minds of the passengers: their 
problems, struggles, regrets — all 

of which seem minuscule under 
the weight of death waiting to 
take them all. All but Edward. 
Several issues are brought to 
light through these characters: 
abusive relationships, sexuality 
struggles and identity crises. 
“Dear Edward” is not a fairytale; 
just like the unpredictability 
of life, the plane crash is not 
something 
for 
which 
the 
characters are prepared. They 
are not actors who know how 
the 
scene 
ends, 
characters 
experiencing 
a 
flashback 
or 
omniscient narrators of their 
experiences. Having the story 
told as a novel makes it more 
engaging, more real and more 
devastating 
to 
witness 
the 
evolution of each character’s 
priorities and dispositions before 
they collectively sink into their 
imminent deaths.
The 
increasingly 
chaotic 
setting on the plane contrasts 
from that of the solemn and quiet 

perspective of Edward. While 
Edward’s chapters focus on him 
as an individual, the chapters 
occurring on the plane switch 
frequently and rapidly between 
the specified eight characters 
onboard. Accustomed to the 
isolation of characters usually 
exhibited in YA novels, I initially 
found 
the 
constant 
shifting 
difficult to follow. Nevertheless, 
because each character is so 
unique (an injured soldier, a 
dying 
Wall-Street 
sensation 
and 
a 
free-spirited 
woman 
amongst the eight), a sort of 
rhythm is established within 
the perspective shifts and it 
becomes easier to decipher who 
is who, solely based on the voice 
Napolitano uses for the eight 
characters. 
While the plane chapters 
were 
always 
gripping 
and 
suspenseful, leaving the reader 
waiting for the realization of the 
unavoidable terror, they were 

often very similar. The shift 
between the characters aided 
the range of these chapters, 
but often it felt repetitive with 
each character retelling their 
increasingly apathetic thoughts. 
The anticipation of the crash 
initiated 
at 
the 
beginning 
preemptively 
made 
these 
sections seem tedious and dull 
until the height of the conflict 
arose. 
Until the real drama finally 
makes its appearance, Edward’s 
chapters maintain the reader’s 
interest. When first introduced, 
Edward is Eddie: the innocent 
12-year old boy preparing for his 

family’s move to Los Angeles. 
Soon, 
though, 
he 
becomes 
Edward, the boy that readers 
are desperate to protect. He is 
physically 
weak, 
emotionally 
destroyed and achingly lonely. 
Time passes slowly for him; 
he 
does 
not 
overcome 
his 
trauma quickly — or even at all 
— by the time the novel ends. 
Napolitano shows that healing 
is not something that happens 
overnight. The false expectation 
can complicate dealing with 
trauma in one’s own life, but 
Edward’s story is reassuring 
in that his problems are not 
miraculously solved. 

CW: Anti-Blackness, fetishization, 
body shaming, economic privilege
Competitive reality TV truly 
benefits from the weekly release 
format of cable and channel 
television. You have a week to 
ruminate on the show after 
watching an hour of action and 
drama that falls upon your favorite 
contestant. The week-long break 
in between each airing gives 
the viewer a chance to debrief, 
discuss and process the episode 
before repeating the cycle with 
the next week’s episode. By the 
next episode’s release, you may 
not care about the rote, repetitive 
nature of the competition and its 
dramatic editing. While watching 
competitive reality TV you may 
wonder if Netflix’s binge-
worthy episodes provide 
a better alternative.
Netflix’s 
“Next 
in 
Fashion” is the streaming 
giant’s latest foray into 
the realm of fashion 
and competitive reality 
TV. Similar to “Project 
Runway,” 
“Next 
in 
Fashion” tries to find 
a fresh and talented 
designer who will be 
awarded 
a 
$250,000 
investment toward their 
own brand, as well as 
an opportunity to sell 
their designs through 
online retailer Net-a-Porter. All 
designers, unlike competitors from 
shows such as “Master Chef,” are 
professionals within the fashion 
design trade; most have their own 
brands, while some have even 
ghost-designed 
under 
celebrity 
brands. “Next in Fashion” pits 
the contestants, initially paired in 
teams of two, to create stunning 
looks that will be judged on a 
catwalk. Contestants that do not 
meet the judges’ approval are sent 
home.

Tan France and Alexa Chung, 
the hosts of “Next in Fashion,” 
provide tongue-in-cheek humor 
that 
provides 
levity 
to 
the 
otherwise tense and often chaotic 
environment within each episode. 
Assisting France and Chung are 
industry heavyweights who judge 
each 
contestant’s 
submission. 
While 
entertaining, 
“Next 
in 
Fashion” reveals a fair number 
of problematic behavior mostly 
through the critiques from guest 
judges and the hosts.
The show’s attempts to find 
the 
most 
forward-thinking 
designers come across as elitist 
and economically privileged. In an 
episode where the challenge was 
to create suits, France and guest 
judge Jason Bolden disregarded 
outfits that looked “cheap” and 
“not expensive.” These criticisms 

ironically came after Tan France’s 
“Fashion Tip” segment in which 
he advised contestants to opt for a 
cheap, yet tailored suit compared to 
an expensive one. 
“Next in Fashion” rears its 
most problematic side during the 
critiquing segments of its two Black 
contestants, Kianga ‘KiKi’ Milele 
and Farai Simoyi-Agdebe. In the 
aforementioned 
suit 
challenge, 
the judges criticized Kiki and 
Farai’s 
practical 
interpretation 
of a woman’s power suit. In the 

subsequent episode, despite Kiki’s 
prodigious 
expertise 
within 
streetwear, the hosts and judges— 
save for guest judge Kerby Jean-
Raymond — heavily criticized the 
“unfinished” look of their outfit, an 
intentional design decision by Kiki. 
It is only Kerby’s stalwart refusal to 
disqualify Kiki and Farai that saves 
the duo from being disqualified. 
For a moment, you hold out hoping 
that “Next in Fashion” breaks the 
appropriation and commodification 
of Black culture and design by 
established, predominantly white, 
clothing labels and designers. And 
for that moment, it does pass; Kiki 
and Farai are not disqualified from 
the round. 
Yet, 
Kiki 
and 
Farai 
are 
disqualified in the next round, 
which 
involves 
lingerie. 
Tan 
France and Victoria’s Secret model 
Adriana Lima’s criticisms 
of Kiki and Farai’s design 
revolve around a supposed 
lack of breast support and 
a lack of “perky breasts.” 
Though Kiki and Farai’s 
lingerie design revolved 
around women’s comfort 
and also showed detailed 
construction of a breast 
support system, Kiki and 
Farai 
are 
disqualified 
nonetheless. Those who do 
not prescribe to the white 
heteronormative standards 
of beauty, including Kiki 
and Farai, are sent out of the 
competition.
Equally puzzling are the host 
and guest judges’ fascination with 
the two East Asian contestants: 
Angel Chen and Minju Kim. 
While the two contestants receive 
praise from Tan France and Alexa 
Chung, you wonder if it stems 
from an extant fetishization of 
East Asian culture from a Western 
perspective rather than a genuine 
applause 
towards 
the 
design 
process of both Angel and Minju.

The ‘Next in Fashion’ is 
entertaining but tone-deaf

BRENDON CHO
For The Daily

NETFLIX

“Next in Fashion”

Series Premiere

Netflix

THE TODAY SHOW VIA YOUTUBE

Learning to live with pain: 
Napolitano’s ‘Dear Edward’

LILLY PEARCE
For The Daily

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

When Senator 
Bernie Sanders 
announces 
he’s holding a 
concert to rally 
supporters and 
by circumstance 
you’re already 
going to be in the 
correct state, you 
find a way to get 
to that concert

“Dear 
Edward”

Ann Napolitano

Dial Press 

Jan. 6, 2020

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

