The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
4 — Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Campus Culture is committed to
serving the students of the University
of Michigan and providing them with
everything they need to know about stu-
dent culture. Needless to say, we have
opinions that need to be aired out like
Necto at two a.m. (so damp…). An Ins and
Outs list is a necessity for the culture —
Campus Culture, that is. Yik Yak barely
begins to flesh out the essential details of
what’s hot and what’s not. We are trying
to do the historical work of documenting
why Doc Martens are essential for the
preservation of student social life (or at
least mine).
Before we begin, we’d thought we’d
give you a little knish (we all know the
tea) and provide an aggregate In and Out
list, because the best hot takes come in
quick succession.
— Matthew Eggers, Campus Culture
Beat Editor
IN:
Micro Niche Meme Accounts
Library Bathrooms
Froyo
Lecture Recordings
Seasonal Drinks
Sleeping on the Bus
OUT
MCards
Yik Yak
Campus Connector
Canada Goose Jackets
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Mark Schlissel
So here we are — Kaya Ginsky and
Matthew Eggers. We have taken it upon
ourselves to make the official Campus
Culture Ins and Outs list for 2021. We
will try to keep it brief, but to be real,
the best Ins and Outs lists come by lis-
tening to the one-hour loop version of
“Haunted” by Laura Les (why can’t I be
like Maude Apatow?).
IN:
Micro Niche Meme Accounts —
As much as I consider myself a Cam-
pus Culture writer, at this point, I am
basically on the Digital Culture beat. All
I ever think about is memes. And what’s
really devastating is that I know there
are people who spend even more time
thinking about the state of meme culture
than I do.
These micro-niche accounts present a
curated selection of memes that best fit
their small shared interest on campus. If
you like belittling people who drink milk,
so do I — and there’s an Instagram page
for us! @umich_milkdrinkers has your
daily dose of candid photos of people
caught in the act. If you like British peo-
ple, I don’t. But if you do, @incellectuals_
umich provides a post-modern look into
on-campus meme culture. And of course
who could forget the OG @umichaffir-
mations? They paved the way for internet
culture to become more important than
flyers in the Diag. It was a big moment in
2021 and will remain iconic in 2022.
Library Bathrooms —
Confession… I have IBS. Not really, but
every time I take an exam, my sphincter
feels like it’s about to implode. Clearly, I
need solace, and you can’t find that when
you’re sharing a bathroom with two
of your BFFs. Library bathrooms have
entered the chat. If you get it, you get
it, and if you don’t, you are missing out.
There is such a sense of euphoria I get
from going to the library now. I’m excit-
ed to walk in, even when I don’t have to
go. The library loves me.
Who else would let me find comfort
in a bathroom with harsh fluorescent
lighting? Who else would ask if I wanted
to check out a book? Of course, we love
the library! Not to mention that their
collection of digital resources has saved
my behind in the academic sense as well.
Totally recommend it, and would go
again.
Frozen Yogurt —
When did froyo stop being trendy?
It’s sweet, light and feels oddly healthy
considering the mountains of cookie and
brownie dough piled on top. While self-
serve froyo places took over the suburbs
by the dozens in the 2010s, it feels like
the froyo craze is over. But the under-
rated sweet deserves a comeback. As a
froyo fangirl before and after it was cool,
I recommend campus favorites Moon
Cafe and Amer’s Deli.
Lecture Recordings —
I physically can’t bring myself to walk
into a lecture hall at nine in the morn-
ing. I don’t know whether it’s my lack
of vitamin C, my Britney Spears alarm
clock noise or listening to hyperpop right
before going to bed (probably that, TBH).
Nine a.m. lectures aren’t an option. Hav-
ing a recording ready at 10:40 makes my
life so much easier. It’s not that I don’t
want to go to class, but class doesn’t have
a 1.5x speed option… just kidding!
I am here for education after all, and
who am I to pass up a class to learn about
the ins and outs of logic design. For real
though, thank you to the professors who
provide more accommodations than a
simple Piazza post.
Seasonal Drinks —
Students deserve the joy that comes
from a designer drink for all of 2022.
While it’s often mocked, ordering apple
cider, pumpkin spice lattes or pepper-
mint hot chocolates at a coffee shop is
not embarrassing. Seasonalizing these
drinks only adds to the stigma. We
deserve to enjoy the comforting tastes of
artificial flavoring year-round and with-
out shame.
Sleeping on the Bus —
It’s two a.m.. You just finished your
partying
in
Kerrytown/Necto/Frat
Row/wherever and you just got on the
bus back to North. This is an experience
few really understand, but it is a neces-
sity to me. Slouching against the edge of
the chair, you can get five minutes of the
best sleep ever on Bursley-Baits. Just for
a moment, exams, homework and friend
group drama all fade into the monoto-
nous drone of the engine.
If anything, finding peace among the
hectic need to do is some of the most
restorative work you could do — so make
sleeping on the bus in for 2021.
OUT:
MCards —
I am so tired of losing my MCard. It’s
the same thing every time: I go to a din-
ing hall to get food one time because my
fridge is empty. I sit down, I eat and I
leave. Two days go by, I open my wallet
and BOOM. Missing MCard. I have to
shuffle on down to Pierpont Commons
or the Student Activities Building to get a
new one, only to lose it again two months
later. For all of those who ask, I will never
wear a lanyard.
ALSO, I looked ugly in my last photo so
… it’s an out for me.
Campus Culture’s Ins and Outs of 2021
The Best Books of 2021
MATTHEW EGGERS & KAYA GINSKY
Campus Culture Beat Editor & Daily Arts Writer
After an almost iterative year
of unpredictability, the Books
Beat continues to read to ground
ourselves. Our favorites are
divided into four categories:
Literary Fiction, Historical Fic-
tion and Fantasy, Romance and
Nonfiction (although our picks
tend to fall into more than one
category). Mostly released in
2021 (with a few from the tail-
end of 2020), these titles defined
our year — we laughed, cried and
reflected more than we thought
humanly possible while reading
these books. The list includes
titles from veritable literary
giants like Sally Rooney, Kazuo
Ishiguro and Hervé Le Tellier,
TikTok-famous romance nov-
els and critical nonfiction that
brings light to American con-
tributions to the War on Ter-
ror — we’ve read through it all
this year. Without further ado,
here is a list of books that got us
through 2021.
– Meera Kumar, Books Beat
Editor and Emilia Ferrante,
Senior Arts Editor
Literary Fiction
“Beautiful World, Where
Are You” by Sally Rooney
In our Best of 2020 article, I
wondered when the “year-long
wave” of the pandemic would
finally crest and break. It turns
out that the wave simply keeps
going, that we learn to live on
the wave. But life on the wave is
still life, complex and stunning
as ever.
“In the midst of everything,
the state of the world being what
it is, humanity on the cusp of
extinction, here I am writing
another email about sex and
friendship. What else is there to
live for?” says Alice in “Beauti-
ful World, Where Are You,” the
third novel by Irish author Sally
Rooney.
The characters of “Beauti-
ful World” expect to meet their
high-water mark, but instead
find that the water keeps rising.
Nearing 30, their lives should
be happening by now, settled in
some way, meaningful in some
way. They’re not. Is the meaning
still to come, or has the moment
passed?
The story is not as thrilling
as “Normal People,” the tone a
little more relaxed and patient.
This is the pandemic novel, less
eventful but more personal for it,
less exciting but just as emotion-
al. Rooney reminds us that all
the while, through every end of
the world, we never fail to seek
out connection.
— Julian Wray, Daily Arts
Writer
“The Anomaly” by Hervé Le
Tellier
How much can a person
change in a few months? Also,
how would the world react to
learning that life itself is a simu-
lation? Hervé Le Tellier’s “The
Anomaly” asks both of these
questions and more, weaving
complex
personal
narratives
and vast philosophical mus-
ings with ease. Its large cast of
characters can get confusing,
especially when the concept of
a “time-travel doppelganger” is
introduced. However, these dif-
ferent perspectives serve to cre-
ate a nuanced view of the central
event of the novel: Referred to
as “the anomaly,” a plane lands
— with the same exact crew and
passengers — in both March and
June.
Dystopian and science fic-
tion narratives can often leave
readers yearning for more — we
can’t help but crave the reac-
tions of the government, the
people involved, families, chil-
dren, people from all walks of
life to the portrayed life-chang-
ing events. This novel gives the
reader the level of immersion
that we desire. It follows the
people in the plane(s), including
the doppelgangers; it tracks the
movements of various govern-
ments, even giving us access to
calls between the Chinese and
American presidents; it offers a
seat at the table with the great
scientific and religious minds as
they debate what exactly hap-
pened. It is an immensely satis-
fying book, as Le Tellier is able
to interrogate every aspect, large
and small, of this “anomaly.”
A
book
about
something
so psychologically and philo-
sophically slippery could not, of
course, be fully satisfying — par-
adoxically, that would feel cheap.
Luckily, Le Tellier ensures that
the reader will leave with more
questions than answers; this is a
novel I will be thinking about for
a long time.
Although
“The
Anomaly”
technically came out in 2020,
the English translation was only
available in 2021, which feels
apt — I could only recommend
an extraordinarily colorful and
memorable book for a year like
this. Plus, it offers some com-
fort: At least Le Tellier’s created
a world that is stranger than our
own (for now).
— Emilia Ferrante, Senior
Arts Editor
“Klara and the Sun” by
Kazuo Ishiguro
My pick for the best book of
2021 is Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara
and the Sun.” Following in
the footsteps of the celebrated
“Never Let Me Go” and “The
Remains of the Day,” Ishiguro’s
most recent novel embodies
everything that is beautiful and
unique about the Nobel Prize-
winning author’s writing.
Set in an urban dystopian
world, humanoid Klara just
wants to find a home and a fami-
ly. She is for sale as an “Artificial
Friend,” placed in the display
window of a shop overlooking
a busy street. From her posi-
tion, the hyper-observant Klara
watches pedestrians passing by
and seeks to understand human
behavior. One day, Klara is cho-
sen to be the companion and
caretaker of young Josie, and
soon, human and robot form an
unusual friendship. Later, when
Josie falls unexplainably ill,
Klara tries desperately to help
her.
“Klara and the Sun” is a
beautifully written story that
explores a world where artificial
intelligence plays an integral
role in everyday human life. Like
in his previous novels, Ishiguro
creates a story that is haunting
and masterfully steeped in emo-
tion. The novel makes you think
about what it means to love and
be human, following Klara as
she navigates the extent of her
ability to feel and form rela-
tionships as a human creation.
Unique, strange, unforgettable
and moving, “Klara and the Sun”
is one of the best literary works
that 2021 has to offer.
— Emma Doettling, Daily Arts
Writer
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DAILY BOOKS WRITERS
Daily Arts Writer
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Darryl Gonzalez
(c)2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/26/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
01/26/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2022
ACROSS
1 Natural sand
bank
5 Historic times
9 Standing at
attention, say
14 Diva’s solo
15 Meter starter
16 Cookie maker’s
tool
17 Oxymoronic ’80s
sci-fi film title
20 “Jeopardy!”
contestant
21 Cub slugger
22 Paradise
23 Anasazi home
setting
25 “__ the season
... ”
27 Crowd no., often
28 Out-of-the-way
access
33 It’s its own
square
34 Nice water?
35 Lanai greeting
39 ’70s-’80s
series about
the Drummond
family ... and
what the starts
of four long
answers are
44 Enjoying a
scone, maybe
45 Call to Jude?
46 RN workplaces
47 Place for a pen
52 African snake
55 Major NJ airport
56 Prepare to mail
57 Small deer
59 NYC’s __ River
61 Salamanca
snacks
65 Seafood order
68 Frisky swimmer
69 “The Clan of
the Cave Bear”
protagonist
70 Fencing tool
71 Feature of Mike
and Ike candy?
72 Pour
73 Look after
DOWN
1 Quick Draw’s
sidekick __
Looey
2 Historic times
3 “Casablanca”
hero
4 Bully’s challenge
5 Turmoil
6 Enjoys the
beach, say
7 Canyon
comeback
8 Afternoon break
9 Long-legged
runner
10 Serious
ceremony
11 Radiate
12 Roman goddess
of agriculture
13 Stoke-on-__:
English city
18 Plant with a trunk
19 Gladly, to
Shakespeare
24 Old-time knife
26 Sign of surgery
28 Pop at a counter
29 Down but not out
30 Slick
31 Babe and a
doctor
32 “Do Ya” rock gp.
36 “That’s enough!”
37 “You are __”:
mall map info
38 Exec.’s helper
40 Big mo. for
chocolate
purchases
41 Steakhouse
order
42 Established
method
43 Work at a
keyboard
48 Pretty pitcher
49 1994 Peace
co-Nobelist
with Rabin and
Peres
50 Solemn vow
51 Brit’s Bordeaux
52 Garden recess
53 TV’s “__ Park”
54 Tom of the
Traveling
Wilburys
58 Stop, as a flow
60 Roy Rogers’ birth
name
62 Plumbing part
63 “Right you are!”
64 Went too fast
66 Before, to a poet
67 Yosemite __
SUDOKU
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© sudokusolver.com. For personal use only.
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“I believe data!”
“Happy
Wednesday
everyone!”
WHISPER
By David Poole
(c)2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/19/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
01/19/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2022
ACROSS
1 Breaks in
relations
6 Update
cartographically
11 Adorns with
Charmin, for short
14 Basketball Hall
of Famer __
Thomas
15 Sherlock Holmes’
younger sister
as depicted in
a recent Nancy
Springer book
series
16 Hot temper
17 Using any
available means
20 He broke Babe’s
record in 1974
21 Tulip-to-be
22 Kitchen protection
23 Rocks in a bar
24 “Miss Saigon”
setting
25 Clear out
26 A college
applicant may
have to write one
28 City on the Ruhr
31 Roman 151
32 Ella’s forte
34 Strain
35 Swiss Army
knife’s assortment
36 Dashboard
gauges
39 Go for a rebound
42 Generation __
43 Opportunity
metaphor
45 Ike’s WWII
command
46 Heathcliff’s love
48 Future docs’
exams
51 Cassiterite, e.g.
53 A-lister
55 Govt. mortgage
agcy.
56 Golf goof
57 Slangy sweeties
59 Stern’s opposite
60 Novelty piano
piece of 1921 ...
and a hint to this
puzzle’s theme
63 Skater Midori
64 Old Venetian coin
65 Havana’s __
Castle
66 Leb. neighbor
67 Soliloquy site
68 Elizabeth of
“WandaVision”
DOWN
1 Singer Lionel
2 Jason of “Harry
Potter” films
3 Exercise goal
4 Thumb-pressed
nail
5 Theater rebuke
6 Continue
7 Ltr. insert
8 Utah city with a
Biblical name
9 __-rock: music
genre
10 Game with
ghosts and a
maze
11 Tiny breath mints
12 Talk nonsense
13 Martial arts
instructors
18 Attorney’s gp.
19 Juice box brand
24 Long-distance
swimmer Diana
25 Perturbed
27 “Rent-__”: 1988
film
29 Curry of the
NBA’s Warriors
30 Warmed the
bench
33 Senate cover-
ups?
35 Dream Team
org.
37 Yoga surface
38 Frolic
39 Kawasaki
watercraft
40 The U in “SUV”
41 Hall pass
checker
44 Roof supports
46 Belief systems
47 “The Big Fib”
host __ Nicole
Brown
49 “And __ off!”
50 Biblical
strongman
52 Fall mo.
54 Suffix like -like
57 Fla. resort
58 Toilets for T.S.
Eliot?: Abbr.
59 Vodka brand that
sounds like a
toast
61 Trail mix morsel
62 Fall Out Boy
genre