The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts 6 — Wednesday, April 7, 2021 A little over a week ago, news broke of the death of former Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine. Reporters and critics across the classical music and opera worlds wrote long obituaries that interrogated Levine’s complicated legacy. The first item that most obituaries touched upon was Levine’s critical success as the conductor of the Met. He led the institution for four decades, turning a noted opera company into the biggest classical music organization in America. (Levine also spent some time as conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic, though neither of these posts received as much critical attention.) Following this explanation of Levine’s performance career, most obituaries mentioned the years of sexual misconduct allegations that led to Levine’s unceremonious dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera last year. Numerous young men have accused Levine of abusing his power as a conductor to sexually assault them; in at least one instance, an alleged assault was reported to police. Many critics, performers and composers have taken Levine’s death as an opportunity to question the conductor worship that gave Levine so much power in the industry. Perhaps Levine’s alleged abuse would have been addressed sooner had he not held hundreds of careers in his hands. While I agree with this critique, I fear that this singular focus on Levine distracts from the larger issue at hand: Numerous individuals in positions of authority over the course of Levine’s career failed to address his alleged abuse. With some combination of feigned ignorance and deliberate silence, these individuals allowed Levine’s alleged predation to continue unchecked. The first known allegation of sexual assault against Levine, for example, comes from 1968, three years before he garnered critical acclaim as a conductor. Levine was nothing more than a 25-year-old faculty member at a Michigan music school at the time — it was the inherent power of his teaching position that aided in his alleged perpetration of abuse. Had any other faculty members in this program learned of this alleged abuse, they could presumably have taken steps to address the abuse without facing significant professional repercussions. Levine did not yet hold the keys to hundreds of artists’ careers. Though I can’t speak to the whisper network that presumably surrounded Levine throughout his professional career, I can write about the whisper network that long surrounded Stephen Shipps, former University of Michigan music school professor. (In 2018, I helped report four decades of previously undisclosed sexual harassment and misconduct allegations against Shipps; he was indicted on two sex crime charges in October and faces a post- pandemic criminal trial.) In The Daily’s first article on this case, we reported that Shipps’s alleged abuse was reported to a music school professor in the summer after Shipps’s hiring was announced and before he started teaching. This was in 1989 — Shipps had not yet accumulated institutional power as a department chair, associate dean and youth program director. It remains unclear if the music school professor reported this allegation. It similarly is unknown if the University launched any investigation before granting Shipps tenure. A few months ago, I obtained a statement that was sent to the prosecutors working on Shipps’s criminal case. The statement came from a former North Carolina School of the Arts violin student. In it, he spoke of the administrative indifference that he believes the school’s dean demonstrated toward allegations against Shipps. “(The school’s then-dean) perpetuated Shipps’ inappropriate sexual conduct,” the former student wrote, “and allowed it to continue for 30 more years at the University of Michigan … This could have all ended in 1986 if (he) had taken the appropriate actions.” I remember when I first learned about this former dean while interviewing a survivor that later went on the record. She mentioned that this dean was still teaching at the collegiate level. Unlike many of the other authority figures she believed ignored her allegations of abuse, he could still be held accountable for his actions. When I reached him by email, he told me that he could not remember much of his time as the dean of the North Carolina School of the Arts. “I was at NCSA from 1986-90,” he wrote. “It was long ago, and I have done so many things since then. I am not sure I could be of much help.” He did not respond to multiple emails providing him with more details about the alleged sexual misconduct that took place during his time as dean. It remains unclear if prosecutors have sought to interview him based on the information they received. It took tremendous bravery for nine survivors to speak to The Daily about the alleged sexual harassment and misconduct they experienced, and it took significant bravery for numerous friends and former colleagues of these survivors to corroborate specific aspects of their accounts. It would have taken comparatively little bravery for a professor or a dean to address allegations of sexual misconduct that had been raised against their colleague — I would hope that it is within a dean’s basic job description that they actively address allegations of sexual misconduct that leave some of their students feeling unsafe. Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s (“The Law in These Parts”) “The Viewing Booth” is perhaps the most stimulating and perspective-altering documentary that I have ever seen. A film with two subjects, the Israeli occupation of Palestine and an analysis of documentary filmmaking itself, “The Viewing Booth” is thoughtful and self- critical as it explores the manner in which we observe. In short, the viewer of the film watches the watcher. A young woman, Maia Levy, enters a booth and sits before a computer screen and camera. Forty YouTube videos have been preselected by the filmmaker: half represent the perspective of Palestinians living under occupation, the other half presents the points of view of the Israeli settlers’ and soldiers’. Levy watches these at her own pace and is asked to speak her thoughts aloud as she reacts to the footage. Levy is familiar with the Israeli- Palestinian conflict: Her parents are Israeli, and she recently traveled to Hebron. She knows of the human- rights group, B’Tselem — which produced or uploaded many of the Palestinian-perspective videos — and has seen a few of the clips before. As she clicks from video to video, pausing occasionally to think and respond, the viewer watches her face lit by the blue glow of a screen. On one level, this film is about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite Levy’s even-handed deliverance of skepticism (there is much talk of events being “staged” — both clips of altruism and brutality by the Israeli military are given this label), she makes her own beliefs clear: Israel is acting morally, and there must be some justification for this mistreatment of Palestinians. Her honesty is surprising, and her occasional racist commentary is embarrassing: “They lie a lot,” she says, referring to Arabs. She watches the videos with a confusing mix of open-mindedness and disbelief, acknowledging that these videos depict real events, but searching for the missing piece, the Arab instigation. At one point, Levy asks: “Why would I believe this?” In other words, if she believes the Israeli army to be acting morally, why take this seriously? Alexandrowicz has made more conventional films about the Israeli occupation, and this film offers a step back. His decision to make this film, to reframe the conversation around the viewer and observer of the situation in Palestine, becomes the film’s true subject by its conclusion. Through voice-over, he explains to the viewer and to Levy that the reason he focuses the film entirely on her, despite interviewing other students, is because she represents the intended viewer of his past films. Levy’s steadfast skepticism is of interest to Alexandrowicz because it presents him with a frightening possibility: His films might do no more than preach to the choir. In this sense, “The Viewing Booth” is about the act of viewership. The film ends with a follow-up interview, in which Levy watches the recording of herself watching the films. The audience is three degrees removed from the footage, and the film begins to focus more pointedly on the process and psychology of watching. Earlier in the film, Alexandrowicz states that these war videos “transform the viewer into a witness.” There is perhaps more responsibility coded into the latter term, as viewership is passive while witnessing is implicative. Alexandrowicz probes Levy’s desire to find fault and place blame on the Palestinians as an active resistance to this sort of implication, but Levy attributes the behavior to bias. She recognizes her filtered perspective, informed by her identity as the Jewish child of Israelis and muddled by fictional portrayals of the conflict. In a mildly hypocritical defense, Levy rejects these videos as possibly truthful because they do not show the entire picture. The videographer’s choices cannot be trusted, according to Levy, though she seems to have no problem with her own selective criticism of the clips. Levy’s desire for an objective perspective illustrates the underlying challenge for a filmmaker like Alexandrowicz. Objectivity is impossible in documentary filmmaking, as the videographer is always making choices. Lana Del Rey’s latest album Chemtrails Over The Country Club will please longtime fans but feel lackluster for everyone else. The album has all the right ingredients for a trademark bombshell- hit with Del Rey’s deep serenade, evocative lyrical writing and tongue- in-cheek references. Yet, Chemtrails stops short of the sharp and powerful sociopolitical commentary of its predecessor, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, and the emotional introspection feels underwhelming after Lana Del Rey’s recent gut-punch in her spoken word poetry release, Violets Bending Over Backwards. What’s left is an album that’s good but not exciting. The title itself perhaps dooms the album to mediocrity — “Chemtrails” recalls the popular conspiracy theory that argues the visible lines of condensation an aircraft expels in the sky are actually filled with chemicals intended to harm the public. In a time when the truth is constantly under attack from wolf-cries of “fake news” and the recent rise of QAnon, Chemtrails Over The Country Club sets the stage for yet another pointed evaluation of American culture. The album title manages to capture the extremes of American life — from the wild conspiracy theories of “Q” to the idyllic mundanity of suburban life and class privilege — yet fails to build upon it. The “wrapping paper” of the album is in some respects far more thrilling than the contents of the package itself. Instead, Del Rey focuses on the trials and tribulations of fame. The song “Chemtrails Over The Country Club” celebrates the freedom of daily life, capturing that familiar, obligation- free serenity of hot summers in childhood, where the only thing to do was wait for time to pass. Notably, the official music video features Del Rey’s infamous bedazzled mask, which is where we last saw Del Rey on the pages of The Michigan Daily. “Dark But Just a Game” explores the hefty price of stardom, describing artists as chameleons who are forced to change until they eventually lose themselves — Del Rey vows to stay the same, to preserve herself. “Not All Who Wander Are Lost” strikes at the heart of the album’s core theme: It’s all about perspective. Where fame may seem a blessing, it is also a burden; when one may appear lost, perhaps it’s merely “wanderlust.” Beneath the dramatics of chemtrails and conspiracies, maybe there lies a hidden blessing in celebrating the boring, the normal, the straight-and- narrow condensation trails. As a storyteller and songwriter, Del Rey excels as always. A mediocre album for a powerhouse like Del Rey is a far better album than another’s best work. Yet, while Chemtrails Over The Country Club offers a handful of tracks that build some engaging commentary, it lacks the drive of Del Rey’s previous works. Del Rey may have set the bar too high for herself — a feat which speaks only to her talent and celebrated career thus far. What holds the album back is the lack of stylistic experimentation or any fresh, noteworthy material. Chemtrails is a shoo-in Lana Del Rey album — a blessing and a curse. Those who love Del Rey will continue to love her, but anyone still not convinced will find little here to sway them. The culture of complicity must end Lana Del Rey’s ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’ is good, but not great Ann Arbor Film Festival 2021: Observing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in ‘The Viewing Booth’ Read more at MichiganDaily.com Read more at MichiganDaily.com MADELEINE VIRGINIA GANNON Daily Arts Writer SAMMY SUSSMAN Daily Arts Contributor ROSS LONDON Daily Arts Writer Design by Emily Gordon This image is taken from the official music video for “Chemtrails Over The Country Club” by Lana Del Rey. puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com By Jeff Stillman ©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 04/07/21 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis 04/07/21 ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: Release Date: Wednesday, April 7, 2021 ACROSS 1 Go __: hit to right field batting right- handed, say, in baseball lingo 5 Trying to block 9 Performs like Missy Elliott 13 Ruckus 14 Eve’s opposite 15 Sun: Pref. 16 *Second Commandment prohibition 18 Heroic sagas 19 “Awake and Sing!” dramatist 20 South Carolina state tree 22 *Old-fashioned parting words 25 See stars 26 Widen, as pupils 30 Fri. preceder 33 “Oh dear!” 36 Sherpa’s home 37 *“Cheese stands alone” kids’ song title guy 41 When some dinners are served 42 Delhi wrap 43 “Narcos” org. 44 Certain Tibetan 46 Sounds of disgust 49 *Metaphorical insect observer 55 “Yada, yada, yada” 58 Old copy 59 Little pigs number 60 Go to pieces, or what’s literally hidden in the answers to starred clues 63 Tally again 64 Skeleton prefix 65 Grandson of Eve 66 Geologic spans 67 __ buco 68 “The Banana Boat Song” opener DOWN 1 No longer using 2 Designer bag brand 3 Not as bright 4 Raw bar mollusk 5 “__ imagining things?” 6 Doze 7 Figurative expression 8 Eloper’s acquisition 9 Drove back 10 Came down 11 Early Briton 12 Just okay 15 Fashion variable 17 Sunrise dirección 21 Was ahead 23 Get wind of 24 MLB pitcher Dock profiled in the 2014 film “No No: A Dockumentary” 27 Parroted 28 One shared at a campfire 29 Jazz legend Fitzgerald 30 Maker of nonstick cookware 31 Doth possess 32 Constellation bear 34 Political commentator Navarro 35 Walk with a swagger 38 Many printer jams 39 Praised highly 40 Elevation word 45 “Science Guy” Bill 47 Blood: Pref. 48 Ran through a reader 50 Lover of Euridice, in a Monteverdi work 51 Tandoori breads 52 Maytag rival 53 “Bad, Bad” Brown of song 54 Bear voiced by Ned Beatty in “Toy Story 3” 55 Basic French verb 56 “Sons of Anarchy” actor Rossi 57 Fruit drink prefix 61 Mormons’ gp. 62 Bath bathroom SUDOKU Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ 1 of 1 5/26/09 3:34 PM 2 1 4 9 1 3 8 3 5 8 1 8 3 4 2 6 5 2 9 8 5 1 8 4 7 WHISPER “I have the emotional fragility of a pinecone” “Hi Mom!” By Joe Deeney ©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 03/31/21 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis 03/31/21 ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: Release Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2021 ACROSS 1 Toronto Raptors president of basketball operations __ Ujiri 6 “Ditto!” 11 Qatar’s capital 15 Largest members of the dolphin family 16 B’s equivalent 17 Iridescent gem 18 2010s sci-fi crime drama starring Michael Emerson 21 Two after epsilon 22 Full Sail offering 23 “Rats!” 24 Completed in haste 30 Bill collection? 32 Diva’s numbers 33 Stalls 35 NBA official 37 “I’ll skip it” 38 Noodle output? 39 Equine sprinter 42 Leave speechless 44 “Silly me!” 45 Discouraging words 46 NBC drama with two pronouns in its title 48 Brass in parades 52 Name that’s also a Roman numeral 53 Pull-and-peel food item 57 Dresden denial 59 Castle queenside, in chess notation 60 “Atonement” author McEwan 61 “Start at the beginning,” and a hint to the four other longest Across answers 67 Smoothie berry 68 Traffic cop? 69 More loyal 70 Ping-Pong supplies 71 Kids 72 Showing one’s claws, so to speak DOWN 1 Fuel-efficient bikes 2 Playground rebuttal 3 Prescription, to a layperson? 4 Remote batteries 5 Prefix with metric 6 Take to task 7 Did in 8 Whom Clay became 9 Fellow 10 Wednesday kin 11 TV explorer with a monkey named Boots 12 Hygienist’s request 13 Can really play 14 Ctrl-__-Del 19 Photographer Goldin 20 Freezer aisle brand 25 Shutout feature 26 Crossing the pond, say 27 Pronoun-shaped girders 28 Hurry 29 Emmy winner Cicely 31 Anti-traffic org. 34 Crying need 36 Cold coat 37 __ Challenge: soft drink promotion 39 Shake in fear over 40 Series of dates 41 With 66-Down, nest egg option 42 Cardinal letters 43 Metaphor for a treacherous situation 47 Ain’t right? 49 Lebanon’s capital 50 How flatware is usually sold 51 Guard at the gate 54 Time being 55 “We Got the Beat” group 56 Trig. ratio 58 Goddess with cow’s horns 61 Ceiling fixture 62 Big bang letters? 63 Mare’s meal 64 Really bug 65 Consumer protection org. 66 See 41-Down WHISPER Read more at MichiganDaily.com