WHISPER
By Robin Stears
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/11/20
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
02/11/20
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2020
ACROSS
1 Catch sight of
5 Nudged with
one’s snout
10 Come clean, with
“up”
14 Escape
15 Greek
marketplace
16 Ski resort near
Salt Lake City
17 *Expensive flying
option
19 Greenish-blue
20 Egg: Pref.
21 Warning word
often preceded
by a color
22 Scarlett of Tara
23 Chemical reaction
named for its two
processes
25 Rhoda’s sister
26 __ of Capricorn
28 *Space for home
projects, e.g.
30 Old fast jets
31 Augusta National
signature shrub
33 __ Titanic: ill-
fated ship
34 Of the seventh
planet
35 Snake’s sound
38 Red wine choice
39 Atomizer output
43 *Collaborative
activity
45 1920s-’30s
“Blonde
Bombshell” Jean
47 Let out, as fishing
line
48 Vodka brand,
familiarly
49 Group of musical
notes
50 Lauder of makeup
54 Auto title ID
55 Word after King
or Hong
56 *Payment method
being replaced by
mobile banking
58 Impulse
59 Prepare, as
Parmesan
60 Et __: and others
61 Bridge “no bid”
62 After, in French
63 Aussie pal, or
what can follow
each word in
the answers to
starred clues
DOWN
1 Serious attempts
2 Thin fragments
3 August
birthstone
4 Cry of success
5 Table salt, to a
chemist
6 Look at rudely
7 Skyrocket
8 Once, once upon
a time
9 Some govt.
lawyers
10 Priest’s title
11 __ Roosevelt,
first lady for 12
years
12 Celebrity status
13 Respectful bows
18 Curbside cry
22 Like Mindy’s
alien husband
24 Covert missions
25 Inhalation
27 “The Office” star
Steve
28 Without vigor
29 Miscellany
32 Swedish singer
Larsson with
the Top 20 hit
“Never Forget
You”
34 Called balls and
strikes
35 Snobby
36 Portuguese lady
37 South Seas
wrapped
garments
39 “The A-Team”
actor
40 Randy Newman
song played at
Dodger Stadium
41 Formally request
42 Hostess sponge
cake
44 Joins the flow of
traffic
46 “Just gimme __!”
50 Wild West Wyatt
51 Practice boxing
52 A beret covers it
53 “__ Tu”: 1974
hit
56 Tiger Woods’
org.
57 Sandwich meat
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6/3/10 9:19 AM
SUDOKU
Folk music is rooted in stories,
a tradition that’s been passed
down
over
many
generations
but constantly evolves as it takes
the shape of modern society
and culture. Folk artists pride
themselves in maintaining this
evolving folk tradition, writing
music that tells the story of their
lives and remains authentic to
the narrative-centered roots of
folk. The Lone Bellow follow this
tradition in their new album Half
Moon Light, dedicating the project
to the small, often unnoticed
details of the story of their lives,
and extracting wisdom from these
moments.
The
fifteen-song
album
is
cathartic in nature, a space for the
trio to soothe their brokenness
and the brokenness they see in the
world. “Let it break you / Let it
help you lay down what you held
onto,” the group pleads in “Count
on Me.” The somber undertones in
many of the songs point to themes
of death and loss. “I Can Still Feel
You Dancing,” is a eulogy for lost
relatives and the piano interludes
throughout the album — “Intro,”
“Interlude,” and “Outro” — are
recordings from the funeral for lead
singer Zach Williams’ grandfather.
Despite the album’s heaviness,
the trio’s musical performance is
life-giving. Anyone who’s listened
to a Lone Bellow album or has seen
them perform live knows that their
harmonies are unmatched; The
passion the trio possesses allows
their stories to come alive. The
band offers moments of life in songs
like “Good Times,” urging their
audience to embrace the lives they
have while they’re still around. As
they chant “Let no good time slip
away,” the trio creates a sense of
community that mimics a summer
night, singing songs around a
campfire with the people you love.
I got to witness the magic of
The Lone Bellow at their recent
performance at Ann Arbor Folk
Festival when the group performed
a short set comprised of their older
songs as well some songs off the
new album. After listening to the
new project, I was surprised to
find that the tracks on the album
sounded nearly identical to their
live performance. With its stripped
back vocals and guitars, Half Moon
Light allows the musical talents of
the group to shine through in their
simplicity.
Half Moon Light, in its soulful,
folksy nature, is a celebration of
life itself. Clearly The Lone Bellow
have weathered highs and lows
since their last album release, and
the way they approached Half
Moon Light as a space to let go
of all the pain they’ve hung onto
is a testament to the way music
can heal. Like their prior albums,
Half Moon Light preserves folk
tradition through its story-telling
and capacity to reach people at a
personal level. The Lone Bellow
embraced the opportunity to open
up about their own lives, and now
they’re taking us with them as they
try to cope with and understand
the moments in life we all struggle
with.
Lone Bellow’s ‘Half Moon
Light’ threads life, death
A GILLARDI PHOTO
KAITLYN FOX
Daily Arts Writer
Breaking news: school shooting.
Too often, these words flash
across the screens of homes
all
over
America.
Listening
to the atrocities recounted on
TV, it all seems too horrific to
be true. Surreal clips of crying
family members and mourning
communities unveil before our
eyes, and disbelief permeates
every inch of our being. It’s hard
to ignore the unwelcome feeling
of morbid curiosity that our
imagination sets into motion.
What must it be like to attend a
regular day at school, only to have
it end in such tragedy and horror?
What were the victims’ last
thoughts? What was the shooter
thinking?
Sahar Mustafah’s upcoming
novel
“The
Beauty
of
Your
Face” gives us a glimpse into the
terrifying realities of a school
shooting, and the circumstances
that bring about this all-too-
common
incident.
The
story
follows a Palestinian-American
woman, Afaf Rahman, as she
navigates faith, family struggles
and
the
unshakeable
racial
prejudices in American society
leading up to and following 9/11.
Afaf’s narrative is told through
two alternating timelines. The
bulk of the novel focuses on her
life growing up in the suburbs
of Chicago, while a present-day
encounter with a school shooter
frames the story. “The Beauty
of Your Face” details Afaf’s
journey from a scarring youth to
a meaningful adulthood, in which
she works as the principal of an
all-girls Muslim school in Chicago:
the Nurideen School for Girls.
With profound insights and
glittering
words,
Mustafah
explores the realities of growing
up in a community that rejected
Afaf’s
Palestinian
immigrant
family. Chicago in the 1970s and
‘80s was a world where women
were “kicked and shoved (...) at
the supermarket” and called “rag-
head” at the gas station for wearing
headscarves. As a young girl, Afaf
is forced to be hyperaware of her
Palestinian roots as she faces
everything from microaggressions
and ignorance to outright and
intentional racism. She suffers
heartbreak and hardship when
her deeply unhappy sister, Nada,
disappears without a trace and her
parents succumb to the emotional
burden of sadness that descends
upon the family. Afaf’s difficult
childhood makes her story all the
more inspiring as she finds her
way out of the spiral of misery
that her parents surrendered to
through perseverance and her
discovery of Islam.
After 9/11, Afaf faces a new set
of hardships as the underlying
current of xenophobia in America
crystallizes into a misguided fear
of terrorists. This fear and hate
is inevitably directed at Afaf and
her family solely because they
are Muslim. The headscarf Afaf
donned with pride in her late
teenage years becomes a symbol
of terrorism in the eyes of ignorant
American
nationalists.
In
a
heartbreaking exchange between
Afaf and her daughter Azmia
about recent terrorist attacks,
Azmia asks her mother, “How
can they do that? Aren’t they
Muslim too?” to which Afaf has
no good answer except “They’re
not true muslimeen, habibti.” It
is impossible not to share Afaf’s
disbelief and frustration at the
undeserved abuse she endures just
because overseas terrorist groups
use her cherished religion in the
name of evil.
The
story
is
told
mostly
from
Afaf’s
perspective,
but
her
narrative
is
periodically
interrupted by chapters told from
the point of view of the shooter.
The shooter’s mind is a world of
twisted fantasy, fueled by online
chat rooms where anyone who
isn’t white or born in America
poses a threat to his existence.
His perspective is both haunting
and disturbing, as his initially
cold and hateful voice gives way
to a deep sense of loneliness.
Though at times hard to read,
this unconventional perspective
highlights the depth of the divide
between the xenophobic shooter
and the students of Nurideen
School for Girls. Mustafah seems
to suggest that so much of the
violence and hate in this country
stems from this fundamental lack
of understanding between people.
“The Beauty of Your Face”
is a complex generational novel
that is all too relevant in today’s
divided America. The underlying
plea of the characters, “We are
a religion of peace, not terror.
We are Americans too,” echoes
urgently through the pages of
the novel. Afaf tries to bridge the
gap between her and the shooter,
urging him, “Tell me about your
pain,” but it’s too late for him to
see past their differences. Afaf and
the shooter’s lives and experiences
have led them to this point, and
her small act of recognition can
no longer put an end to the events
that are unfolding. Nevertheless,
the message rings loud and
clear. Maybe violence could be
avoided if people took the time to
understand other people’s pain
and find commonalities in their
shared human experience.
‘The Beauty of Your Face’
timely in a nation divided
EMMA DOETTLING
For the Daily
Half Moon Light
Dan Deacon
Domino Recording
Company
ALBUM REVIEW
ALBUM REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Beauty of
Y
our Face
Sahar Mustafah
W. W. Norton &
Company
Apr. 7, 2020
6 — Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com