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