The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, October 14, 2020 — 11
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
GENDER AND MEDIA COLUMN
Mural lights up downtown alleyway ‘PEN15’ and an
all-female puberty
A smiling student stands with a
backpack slung over her shoulder,
books and notebooks held in hand,
no mask in sight. A reminder of
simpler times. Elsewhere, recent
graduates throw their hats in
the air and a father teaches his
son how to skateboard. A student
pulls his friend into a party. The
State Theatre and Bell Tower
both stand tall, proud monuments
of Ann Arbor and the University.
These are some, but not all, of the
frames in the new mural that has
come to downtown Ann Arbor.
Located right behind Potbelly
Sandwich Shop off of East Liberty
and State, this 15-foot high work
of art showcases the University of
Michigan and Ann Arbor at their
best.
The new mural, according
to a press release published by
Oxford
Companies,
contains,
“scenes depicting student life
at the University of Michigan,
notable landmarks throughout
Ann Arbor, family activities, and
collegiate athletics.” Matthew
Sharum, 46, was the artist
contracted by Oxford to design
and paint this mural.
Sharum is a lifelong resident of
southeast Michigan. He attended
Eastern
Michigan
University
before
moving
to
southern
California and apprenticing for
an artist in California. After five
years, he moved back to Michigan.
Creating a mural in Ann Arbor,
a city so close to his hometown,
Madison Heights, was special.
“Being a Michigan resident for
much of my life, it’s a real honor
to contribute to a locally focused
installation to Ann Arbor’s world
class public art scene,” Sharum
said in Oxford’s press release. In
an interview with The Michigan
Daily, Sharum expanded more on
his connection to Michigan and
what the goal of the mural was.
“I did go to Eastern. So I
spent a fair amount of time on
the weekends in Ann Arbor…
it is, I think, more southeast
Michigan that I’m connected to,”
said Sharum. “Their [Oxford’s]
theme was called ‘Town and
Gown.’ They wanted it to be the
convergence of school life and
city life since they’re in a big
college town.”
After hearing all of this, I
was intrigued and I decided to
check out the mural with my
own eyes. I dragged myself out
of my apartment for the first
time in what seemed like days,
rubbing
the
screen-induced
fuzziness from my vision. I found
it located in the alleyway between
Potbelly’s and the building that
once held the now-closed SNAP
Pizza (rest in peace).
The first thing I noticed was
the vibrancy of it all. Shades of
blue, red, yellow and green burst
out of the mural. On a gloomy fall
day, these colors were particularly
welcoming. I spent plenty of time
trying to figure out the perfect
angle that I needed to stand at to
make the 3D portion of the mural
stand out. Matthew had told me
on the phone that he had painted
some feet somewhere in the alley
where, if you stood, you got the
mural in its full 3D effect, but I
couldn’t find them.
The experience was also a
reminder of all that Ann Arbor
and the University of Michigan
have to offer. This semester, it’s
been hard to realize that life
exists outside of my Canvas page.
The mural was a nice reminder
of the color, life, and excitement
that I’ve come to love here at the
University.
Melissa Gumenick, Associate
Director, Business Development
at Oxford Companies expressed
Oxford’s
pleasure
with
the
mural, and stated why they
commissioned Sharum to create
it.
“The Oxford family is so
honored to have the opportunity
to
enhance
the
downtown
experience in Ann Arbor with
Matthew’s work. Part of our
mission is to provide not just our
customers, but our community
with the best experiences in
and around our buildings and
neighborhoods,” Gumenick said.
“We hope everyone takes the
time to experience this new work
when they visit the State Street
District of our hometown.”
For Sharum, murals and public
art are important to cities and
what they stand for.
“When you have a lot of public
art you can just walk around and
appreciate peoples’ artwork. It’s
like an outdoor museum in a way,”
said Sharum. “Public art becomes
a symbol of a community. It
reflects the goals and aspirations
of people who live in that area.”
Daily
Arts
Writer
Peter
Hummer
can
be
reached
at
hummerp@umich.edu.
FILM REVIEW
‘Surge’ is profoundly empowering
Following
the
2016
presidential
election,
a
record number of women ran
for
Congressional
seats
in
2018. They were dissatisfied
with how they were being
represented in government and
came to the conclusion that no
man could ever represent them
better than they themselves
could. They looked in the
mirror and said, “Somebody
has to do something. Why not
me?”
“SURGE”
tells
the
story
of three women running for
Congress: Jana Lynne Sanchez,
Liz
Watson
and
Lauren
Underwood. All three saw their
government was failing them
and realized they wouldn’t
stand for it anymore. First-
time co-director Wendy Sachs
followed these women through
Texas, Indiana and Illinois and
documented
their
successes
and their failures. She and her
all-women team documented
their journeys “through the
female lens” for the world to see
and be inspired even further.
To use Sachs’s own words,
“there
was
a
movement
underway.”
Women
were
standing up and taking charge,
marching and running. They
refused to settle for a male-
dominated
government.
America should not and cannot
be a male-dominated force
when there are so many strong
and empowered women who
can make a difference and do
good.
***
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily, Sachs said she
and the creators of “SURGE”
picked Sanchez, Watson and
Underwood because they were
“women
that
represented
different experiences.” Each
woman came with a different
story, a different background,
just as all women in America do.
No two people have the same
life story, and she wanted to
make sure that that message got
across to the women watching.
“Diversity is where we thrive.
When we have a diversity of
opinion and we bring more
people’s experiences to the
table, we’re going to create
a
better
government
for
everyone,” Sachs said.
The other aspect of the film
that Sachs wanted to make
sure that all viewers, not only
women, understood was just
how hard it is for women to run
for governmental positions. “I
am in such awe of the women
who run for office,” she said.
“Watching Jana and Lauren
and Liz fight the fight …
was
tremendously
inspiring
and empowering to me, as
a filmmaker.” And it’s also
inspiring for the viewers to
see the grit and perseverance
required for these women to
run for a position of power in
government.
The beauty of the film is
its juxtaposition of realism
and optimism. The audience
gets the privilege of an inside
look into a real-time, real-life
campaign, seeing the struggles
that the women go through,
seeing how hard they work. But
they also see just how much the
women care about what they’re
doing. They’re not just running
to win — they’re running
because
it’s
right.
They’re
running because they can do
what needs to be done.
***
Congresswoman
Lauren
Underwood (D-I.L.), Illinois
native, U-M Nursing School
graduate and the only woman
in “SURGE” to win her tough
election, had a hard road
ahead of her when she decided
to run for Congress. Her job
of campaigning and working
to represent the people of
Naperville was a feat in itself,
but she also decided to have
her vulnerable and important
political journey documented
for the entire world to see.
“I was excited to work [on
“SURGE”] with Wendy and
Hannah [Rosenzweig] because
I felt that they really understood
what
we
were
trying
to
accomplish in this community,”
Congresswoman
Underwood
said in an interview with The
Daily. “What I was embarking
on was hard, and I felt that
they would tell the story with
integrity
and
not
project
some agenda on what we were
seeking to accomplish.”
In “SURGE”, viewers saw
every moment, good and bad,
that the candidates had to
deal
with.
Congresswoman
Underwood even thought that
she lost on election day. “I had
gotten this feeling in my body
that said ‘something’s not right’
… I can’t be in this room full of
people and get this bad news,”
she said. She did win, of course,
but seeing that moment when
she realized that she had won,
being in that moment with her,
is indescribable.
Congresswoman Underwood
told me there were many
women that she looked up to,
ranging from her elementary
school days of seeing Oprah
Winfrey as “the most powerful
[woman] in the world” to
her early days in Congress,
looking up to Shirley Chisholm.
Another woman who inspired
her from a young age was
“Senator Carol Moseley Braun,
the first, and at that time the
only, Black woman to serve the
United States Senate.”
“She looked like me, and I
knew she was powerful and
I knew that she represented
me. I was so inspired and
proud to have someone like
her represent me … I knew that
she carried my voice … I was a
young girl with these incredible
role models that I perceived as
powerful because they actually
had power and respect and
validation from others. And
they struck me as very normal,
regular women, and I could be
like them,” Underwood said.
She is just like them. Since
making history as the youngest
Black woman to ever serve
in Congress, Underwood has
already begun to make sweeping
changes for the better. Just
by witnessing her everlasting
effort in “SURGE” to make a
difference, I knew she would
make just as big of an impact
on the world as the women that
she looked up to. Hearing what
she has accomplished since
“SURGE,” such as working
with Senator Kamala Harris on
Black maternal health issues,
only solidified my belief that
she will continue to do amazing
things.
Both
Sachs
and
Congresswoman
Underwood
want “SURGE” to make an
impact on people as citizens
and voters. The timing of
the movie couldn’t be more
relevant with the upcoming
election, and they acknowledge
and embrace that.
“We all have to do our part,”
Congresswoman
Underwood
said. “That means voting in this
election, that means showing up
and engaging in our neighbors
and communities to make sure
that no one feels forgotten, left
behind or silenced and that
means when we see something
that’s not right, that we step up
and do something about it.”
Sachs had the same message:
“Do something, anything. See
yourself as that agent of change
… get involved, show up, use
your voice, do something and
make sure you’re voting.”
If
“SURGE”
reveals
anything to audiences, it’s that
women aren’t just relevant in
politics; they are integral to
the foundation of America’s
government. “Women belong
in all places where decisions
are being made,” Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg once said, and
truer words have never been
spoken.
“The
question
that
we
asked
throughout
the
film
was ‘Is this a moment or is it
a movement?’” Sachs told me,
as she outlined the timeline of
women marching, running and
now winning. And I think we
both have the same answer.
It’s a movement.
Daily Arts Writer Sabriya
Imani
can
be
reached
at
simami@umich.edu
PETER HUMMER
For The Daily
SABRIYA IMAMI
Daily Arts Writer
CLARA SCOTT
Daily Arts Columnist
Puberty
is,
at
its
most
base definition, a living hell.
Between the ages of ten and
14, most people enter a stage
of extreme growing pains and
unexpected
sweatiness
that
haunts our memories for the
rest of our lives. Remembering
those years is almost like
having war flashbacks, with
every
mundane
moment
holding
the
emotional
intensity of a life-or-death
situation despite their true
reality. Embarrassment felt
like death, and happiness felt
like a million fireworks going
off at once.
As I’ve grown into my
early ’20s and gotten a taste
of adulthood, the contrast
between who I was at 13 and
who I am now deepens with
every
day.
Even
thinking
about that period of my life
makes me cringe a little, but
at the same time, I feel for the
girl that I used to be. We’ve
all gone through the ups and
downs of growing up, the
hormones
and
friendships
that turbulently led us into
our teenage years and beyond.
It’s become a popular subject
for comedy series, as shows
like “Big Mouth” take on the
hurdles of tweendom with wit
and a perspective that only
time can imbue.
This is a tried and true
topic to make fun of, notable
in films such “The Sandlot”
and
“Goonies,”
too.
It’s
everywhere, but traditionally
focuses
on
the
cis
male
perspective. In the last year or
so, new Hulu series “PEN15”
has taken on the cis female
experience with flying (and
hilarious) colors, and I would
argue that it rings truer than
many of the other depictions
of puberty that have graced
our screens before.
Writers and stars of the
series Maya Erskine (‘Plus
One’)
and
Anna
Konkle
(‘Rosewood’) developed the
show based on their own
pubertal memories of the
early aughts, and as someone
who also grew up during that
time, though a little later, it
reads as incredibly accurate.
The thing that makes the
two-season series so funny,
however,
is
that
Erskine
and Konkle play themselves
15
years
younger
while
surrounded by a cast of real
13-year-olds. It may sound
creepy at first, but “PEN15”
never takes advantage of that
age difference. If anything,
the contrast of seeing actual
teenagers next to actresses
in their late ’20s offers both
a visual element of comedy
and a nod to the reality that
we are all watching it as if
we are going through puberty
again, thrust into our own
histories while really living
out adulthood.
“PEN15”
captures
the
awkwardness of a pool party
while every part of your
body seems to be the wrong
size and shape, the feeling
of a first kiss and a terrible
haircut and the taste of cheap
cherry lip gloss. Puberty is
also the process of becoming
a woman for cisgender girls,
and the series dives deeper
into periods and boobs and
pubescent
sexuality
more
than I was expecting at first.
Sure,
the
initial
shock
and
memory
of
my
own
tween years was something
to get over while watching,
but
eventually,
I
came
to
appreciate
the
show’s
transparency. We often get
a view of what it’s like to be
a boy, getting in fights and
wondering if you’re ever going
to hit six feet tall. But the
girls have it rough too, waging
emotional war on each other
instead of throwing a punch
or stealing someone’s lunch
money.
As someone who went to
an all-girls, Catholic middle
school, I feel both lucky and
retrospectively appalled by
what
a
gendered
puberty
experience
offered
me.
It
was nice to feel a sense of
community
and
relatable
discomfort with the girls I
became friends with, as we
offered each other tampons
in the hallway and debated
whose
skirt
was
shorter
when we got pink slips for
our hems. The rocky road
toward
womanhood
was
easier knowing that everyone
around me must have been
going
through
the
same
thing, in between the slams of
lockers and whispered gossip.
But at the same time, though
it may be invisible to most,
girls can bully even more
invasively than traditionally
gendered boys of the same
age.
The binary that I was forced
into by single-sex education
was positive in a lot of ways,
but the comradery of middle
school with only girls faded
fast once someone turned on
you. Just as the protagonists
of “PEN15” deal with being
called
“desperate
sluts”
and
finding
inflammatory
notes
slipped
into
their
lockers, I was also bullied by
my
classmates
throughout
puberty. It never ended with
a throwdown after school,
however: Instead, my own
friends turned on me about
three times, their muttered
statements of annoyance and
cooler-than-thou superiority
sticking in my head for years.
At 21, I still think about some
of the things that girls told me
in middle school, the result
of the self-conscious powder
keg that putting 150 wealthy
princesses
in
the
same
hallway creates.
I don’t blame the girls who
bullied me for what happened,
nor do I really think that any
of us know what we’re doing
in the long run when we say
something catty at 13. The
insecurities of that age are
deafening,
and
sometimes
it seems like no one will feel
the same way unless you make
them feel it. But I am glad
that as adults, the women
whose girlhoods felt the same
way are sharing how equally
ridiculous and powerful the
early teen years are with
laughter and grace. It makes
remembering middle school
a lot less painful, and a lot
more entertaining. Thanks to
“PEN15,” the taste of cheap
chapstick doesn’t throw me
into
a
traumatic
memory
the way that it used to: On
the contrary, I feel for the
younger version of myself,
because she had no idea what
the future would bring.
Daily
Arts
Columnist
Clara Scott can be reached at
clascott@umich.edu.
HULU
ARTIST MATTHEW SHARUM BESIDE THE MURAL
SHOWTIME NETWORKS