There lies a certain tension that 

comes with rekindling a return to 
in-person learning after nearly a 
year and a half of screens and stone-
cold breakout rooms. Tension over 
catching the right bus and finding 
the right class and showing up not 
too late and not too early and finding 
the quintessential sweet spot in every 
lecture hall and even the best, most 
private places to cry because to cry is to 
be human. And where do we go when 
things get to be too much and too fast? 
Where do we seek refuge and comfort 

and, mostly, predictability in a world 
that is anything but predictable? 
Where do we find the most perfect 
clean-cut lines and palatable sweet 
things that make us feel not too much 
and not too little? 

We first start with finding it all in 

Emily Mariko.

Most TikTok “For You” pages have 

been bustling with the classic salmon, 
rice, Japanese mayonnaise, sriracha, 
avocado and seaweed bowl that found 
itself skyrocketed into mainstream 
popularity through lifestyle vlogger 
Emily Mariko. At first, there wasn’t 
very much to like about Emily Mariko, 
because who cuts their vegetables 
that close to the screen and why is 
she leaning down that low in the 
frame to butter a slice of toast and 
microwaving her rice with an ice 
cube and how does she manage to 
cut her peaches and pears and onions 
just right without one ounce of mess. 
It simply isn’t natural. Her counters 
are sparkling clean and she doesn’t 
just shove groceries into the back of 
her fridge like the rest of us and hope 
they don’t rot. She even organizes her 

eggs by size and cuts her carrots in 
perfect little slices and stores them in 
mason jars of water and quarters her 
kale and fish in squeaky clean plastic 
bags and bins. And perhaps more 
than anything else, with women like 
Emily Mariko, and more so, with the 
inception and commodification of life 
as a means of capital — to share and 
sell aspects of living — there comes 
first dislike, then sullen bitterness 
derived from intimidation because to 
cut your farmer’s market bread loaves 
into neat little slices is to sometimes be 
grievously and shockingly threatened. 
Then soon after, there follows 
reconciliation, peace, a willful grace 
even, because Emily Mariko had 

mastered the most arduous, daunting, 
taunting burdens of life, the icky, 
sticky tasks we sometimes cannot 
bring ourselves to do, and there is joy 
in watching someone else accomplish 
them in the most refined, beautiful, 
polished way possible. 

We have been embroiled in a 

global pandemic for nearly a year 
and a half. I lost my aunt last week 
to the virus because it has not yet 
finished wreaking violent havoc. 
And the return to college is no 
different because it can quickly 
fray and fall apart as things pile up 
onto other things and other things, 
and even more so, at a school like 
the University of Michigan with 
the Leaders and the Best looming 
around every corner, it becomes 
even more difficult to convince 
ourselves that imperfection is okay, 
to sometimes reconcile with falling 
short and failure. And women like 
Emily Mariko help us put one foot in 
front of the other. 

6 — Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Michigan in Color
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

By August Miller
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/13/21

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

10/13/21

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021

ACROSS

1 Mires
5 Loving smack
9 Kind of coach or 

jacket

13 “Bolero” 

composer

14 Spots to clear up
15 Not at one’s desk
16 *Progressive Era 

muckraker

18 Socially aware
19 Tundra deer
20 Plane engine 

type

22 CNN anchor 

Burnett

23 “Your turn”
26 Whack, biblically
27 Stephen of 

“Citizen X”

28 *12-time 

35-Down All Star 
and TV analyst

30 Wall St. “500”
32 PreCheck org.
33 Crave, e.g.
34 *Australian 

swimmer with five 
Olympic golds

38 Tijuana home
41 Gen-Z 

sweetheart

42 Prompts
46 *First daughter 

and senior 
adviser to #45

50 Fig. of interest to 

a dietitian

51 Slangy 

“Absolutely!”

52 Petro-Canada 

competitor

53 Leave early
54 Appliance 

connection, 
briefly

56 Mass-times-

velocity 
measures

58 Swimming great 

Torres

59 ’00s Britcom 

about an 
underappreciated 
computer support 
squad ... or what 
the answers to 
starred clues 
comprise?

62 Early garden spot
63 Muscat’s land
64 Book with roads

65 Easy gait
66 X-rated material
67 “__ she blows!”

DOWN

1 Shady part of 

town

2 Of a certain 

reproductive 
gland

3 Arrive
4 Thick slice
5 Japanese 

dance-drama

6 Party bucket 

item

7 NBC skit show
8 Lead-in to made 

or love

9 Blades that cut 

blades

10 WWII flag-raising 

island

11 Faux glow
12 Evaluation with a 

capital E?

13 Kitchen cutters
17 Outback hoppers
21 Outdoor grill 

residue

24 Amasses
25 Very, very
28 Pub drink, briefly
29 Roofing goo

31 “Unfaithful” Oscar 

nominee

35 Hoops org.
36 London gallery
37 Yipping adoptee
38 Fortress
39 Much of 

guacamole

40 H.S. course 

pioneered by 
Stanley Kaplan

43 Crunchy bar stuff
44 Battle waged on 

Wikipedia

45 Tossed courses
47 The NCAA’s 

Wildcats

48 Govt. 

moneymaker

49 Academic
53 Sailor’s quarters
55 Sporty muscle 

cars

57 Future MD’s exam
60 “Let’s see ... ”
61 Lac contents

SUDOKU

2

4

8

1

9
3

7

6
8

6

9

9

3
4
1

5

5

2

7
6

9

3
8

6

2

5

9


“I love you still, 
I have since 
the start, and 
I always will. 
From: 143”

“Judas the stray cat, 
if you’re reading this 
please come inside 
the house. It’s too 
cold outside.”

WHISPER

10/06/21

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

11 Minuscule amount

22 Winter warm spell

31 Do a number, say

“Kim Kardashian West understood 

the 
assignment.” 
“Genius. 
Pure 

Brilliance. She swallowed them all.” 
“Iconic.” Top-line celebrities and fans 
used these words to describe what 
they thought of Kim Kardashian’s 
questionable outfit for the 2021 Met 
Gala. If you’re unfamiliar with her 
ensemble, allow me to paint you a 
picture: Kim wore black from head 
to toe, literally. Every inch of Kim’s 
body, including her face, was covered 
in a black Balenciaga T-shirt, with 
two long capes dragging feet behind 
her. In a sea of the glitz and glamour 
of the Met, Kim’s plain but entirely 
bold number stood out like no other. 
The deepness and darkness of her 
outfit contrasted with the bright and 
vibrant looks of the Met Gala like 
night and day — almost to the point 
that Kim’s outfit seemed bat-like and 
scary at first glance.

The theme of the Met was “In 

America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” 
an effort to highlight emerging 
American designers and “sentiment 
over practicality”. This left lots of 
ambiguity surrounding the meaning 
behind Kim’s outfit and how it fit into 
the theme of the event — what was so 
“American” about wearing something 
that seemed to represent nothing at 
all? Other celebrities paid tribute to 
historically iconic American figures: 
Kendall Jenner recreating Audrey 
Hepburn’s crystal gown look from 
“My Fair Lady” and Nikkie de Jager 
paying homage to American LGBTQ+ 
activist Marsha P. Johnson. Some 
contend that Kim’s outfit represented 
how she proved to be a recognizable 
figure despite being covered head to 
toe. Some thought that because Kim 
is so overly sexualized, her outfit was 
used as a point to prove that she can 
still be critiqued while being covered 
entirely. Whereas others, like me, 
concluded her outfit to have no 
significance to the theme at all.

As a Muslim woman who observes 

the 
hijab 
and 
has 
experienced 

firsthand 
discrimination 
for 

representing my faith, I find the 
response to Kim’s Met Gala ensemble 
to be awfully hypocritical. Kim’s 
outfit has sparked a large discussion, 
ranging from predictions for its 
“elaborate meaning” to praise for 
its “unique” and “original” nature. 
However, this conversation never 
included buzzwords like “oppressed” 
or “barbaric” the way buzzwords like 
these are presented when it comes 
to conversations regarding hijab. 
Naively, I thought Kim’s outfit would 
be regarded as a “miss.” Other than 
the fact that I felt as though it was 
simply ugly, I couldn’t wrap my mind 
around any sort of significance it 
could have possibly held. But could I 
say I was surprised when her praise 
began flooding my social media feed? 
No. After all, when Muslim women 
are covered, their practice is regarded 
as “third-worldly” and backwards. 
Kim’s outfit demonstrated that it is 
Muslim women, and Muslim women 
only, who face such bigotry. She 
was quite literally unable to see in 
her outfit, proving that when an 
A-list celebrity takes the practice 
to an even more extreme level, they 
are regarded as fashion icons. It 
screamed the double standard at play, 

and I couldn’t believe how explicit 
the hypocrisy made itself out to be. 
Why are you shocked? It’s always been 
this way. 

But my excessive reflections in 

trying to figure out where to channel 
my frustrations made me realize 
that my anger wasn’t aimed at Kim’s 
outfit — but rather the greater 
conversation of anti-Muslim bigotry. 
Kim Kardashian just happened to 
be the one to reiterate the societal 
hypocrisy that surrounds the hijab 
and other religious coverings. In 
reality, Muslim women, especially 
those who wear the hijab, have borne 
the greatest burden of anti-Muslim 
discrimination. 
Visibly 
Muslim 

women, such as those who wear 
the hijab, niqab or burka are at the 
frontlines of knowing what it feels 
like to be Muslim in the west. It means 
confronting 
daily 
discrimination, 

humiliation 
and 
the 
feeling 
of 

constant fear of what wearing a 
hijab in public could possibly lead 
to. It means waking up every day 
and actively making the decision to 
wear the hijab while knowing much 
too well that it sets you apart, and in 
the West, this distinction tends to be 
negative. 

In southern Vietnamese culture, it is 

common to refer to your siblings based on 
their birth order. The rankings start with 
“hai,” which means two, so the oldest sibling 
would be __ hai, preceded by either “chị,” 
meaning older sister, or “anh,” meaning older 
brother. To reference younger siblings, we use 
“em.” Translations for this piece: hai = two, tư 
= four, sáu = six, tám = eight. 

Step 1: It’s May 12, 1958, when you are 

born. You are the eighth child, with four 
older sisters and three older brothers. Your 
name is Nguyen Hoang Hung, son to a dad 
who is a teacher and a mom who stays at 
home but sometimes helps her brother-in-
law at his herbal store. You get along best 
with your older brother whom you call “anh 
tám,” since he’s the closest to you in age. 
By the time you are born, your eldest sister 
will already be 17, your second eldest sister 
will have died when she was eight or nine 
and your eldest brother will have passed 
away when he was young, but you won’t 
remember specifics because you weren’t 
even born yet.

Step 2: Your sister whom you call “chị tưư” 

takes you to the Christian elementary school 
every day, and you spend time after school 
playing with anh tám because there aren’t 
many neighborhood kids to play with. You 
enjoy playing with your dogs in the evening 
and sleeping in your mom’s bed at night.

Step 3: By the time you are 18, you start 

worrying about escaping your home country. 
Your anh sáu has already embarked on his 
journey before you, so now, you’re going 
alone. November 1980 is when you’ll have 
to try for the first time. At night, you make 
your way to a set location along with other 
hopeful citizens to be led by a person who 
will take you to the boat. No one will show 
up. You do not return home, so instead, you 
go to a farm in the Rạch Sỏi village, staying 
at the home of your parents’ acquaintances, 
where you go from a city boy to a farmer boy. 
You do what they do: fishing, planting rice 
and yard work.

Step 4: Across the next five months, you 

make five more unsuccessful attempts. 
After every failure or false call, you return 
to the farm, but you have to blend in, so you 
pick up smoking and drinking even though 
you despise it. 

Step 5: When April 1981 comes around, 

you leave for your sixth try but before you 
can make it to the boat, the police start 
chasing you and the others. It’s nighttime 
so it’s hard to see. You try to hide in a ditch, 
but it doesn’t work; an officer grabs you by 
the shirt and beats you and jabs you with the 
butt of their gun in the ribs and stomach — 
an experience so painful and traumatizing 
that you will still have nightmares about it 
when you are older and safe. 

Step 6: For about two months, you are 

in a labor camp. Your head is shaven. Little 
scabies start to take over your body, and 
it hurts to sit or sleep. Every night you eat 
cabbage soup which, too, traumatizes you 
to the point where, in the future, when your 
wife cooks it for dinner, you eat it only to 
make her happy. 

Step 7: You are let out of jail because there 

is not enough room for the new incoming 
prisoners. You go back to the farm until 
August of that year where you return 
home to your parents and anh tám because 
the rest of your siblings are on their own 
journeys. Your father knows a man who 
needs extra help at his pharmacy, so you go 
there to work. From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., you are 
at the pharmacy — aside from lunch when 
you bike home and your father teaches 
you English as you eat. You sleep at the 
pharmacy, too, because your parents fear 
that you will be caught if you go out at night. 

Step 8: On April 27, 1982, you leave 

the pharmacy for your seventh, and 
finally successful, attempt. After staying 
at a set location until the night of the 
28th waiting for the boat, it comes and 
starts making its way deeper through 
the water. On the morning of May 1, you 
and 70 others go from the fishing boat 
onto a Norwegian ship carrying liquid 
natural gas. You are on the boat for six 
days before the boat comes to port at 
Chiba, Japan, on May 7, 1982. After going 
through the immigration office, you get 
on a bus for 24 hours that takes you to 
Nagasaki, where refugees tell officials 
what country they want to go to; they 
are then split off to different provinces 
accordingly. You choose America, so you 
stay for two weeks before heading to Seto 
City in Aichi Prefecture for the next two 
years in a refugee camp.

Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala look was not 

iconic, it was hypocritical

How to be my dad

REEM HASSAN

MiC Columnist

HANNAH NGUYEN

MiC Columnist

Design by Janice Lin

Courtesy of Sarah Akaaboune

Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Emily Mariko arrived when we 

needed her the most

SARAH AKAABOUNE

MiC Columnist

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

