The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
4 — Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Face masks are my favorite acces-
sory. Masks are a barrier between
me and an outside world filled with
strangers and infectious diseases.
When the University of Michigan’s
administration mandated facial cov-
erings in classrooms, recreational
buildings and common areas for the
Winter semester, I was happy to com-
ply — wearing masks has been proven
to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by
protecting one’s self and others from
the very transmissible virus. But,
I couldn’t help but wonder how my
favorite accessory has affected my
socialization and education over the
past two years.
In an interview with The Michi-
gan
Daily,
Public
Health
junior
Sophie Busch, a facilitator for men-
tal health group Wolverine Support
Network, said that mask-wearing
makes the student body more antiso-
cial. She emphasized how it increases
the uncertainty of interacting with
strangers and forces us to second-
guess ourselves whenever we think
we recognize someone.
Selfishly, I love the “masking” pow-
ers of a face mask. Masks provide me
with a sense of invincible anonym-
ity and enable my more hermit-like
tendencies. But I may be too quick
to love the lack of socializing on a
masked campus. A University of Chi-
cago social experiment that assigned
morning commuters to either a quiet
car or a talkative bus found that intro-
verts often “mistakenly seek soli-
tude.” The distant social connections
made on a short bus ride resulted in
higher reports of positive experiences
and positive mood, even for intro-
verted participants who predicted the
opposite result. As naturally social
beings, humans (especially college
students) are not meant to avoid the
thousands of strangers we may see
each day. Even introverts need simple
(albeit awkward) daily interactions on
campus.
Nonetheless, after years of isola-
tion, going back out into the world
feels strange and difficult. “A lot more
people have social anxiety than they
used to,” Busch said. “I remember at
the beginning of the year a bunch of
people were talking like, ‘Oh, I don’t
know how to make small talk any-
more, I’m so used to only talking to
people I’m close with, it’s really hard
to talk to people I don’t know.’”
During
Busch’s
freshman
year,
without masks or social distancing,
people naturally started conversa-
tions in classes. Today, strangers rare-
ly talk unless hassled by a professor.
Masks only exacerbate difficulties
connecting with our peers. Masking
up disallows lip-reading and prevents
us from using visual communication
aids. Especially in quiet spaces, using
visual cues is incredibly important in
decoding others’ words. We can no
longer make a snide joke about a pro-
fessor or say “hi” to the cute classmate
across the room without screaming. It
often feels easier to stay silent.
However,
non-verbal
expression
makes up 55% of our interpersonal
communication, making every facial
twitch far more important than we
realize. As we develop, we learn to
focus on the lower half of the face to
process key emotions like fear, sur-
prise and anger. With masks on, we
aren’t as attuned to people’s emo-
tions. We can’t tell who is panicking
about the midterm, outraged by the
same political issues, excited for the
big game or behind on the readings. In
college, we build friendships and rela-
tionships off of these seemingly insig-
nificant shared experiences. Without
facial recognition, experiences are
solitary.
In countries like Iran, where many
women wear face-covering niqabs,
eye contact and expression is the main
outlet for nonverbal communication.
Iranian journalist Kamin Moham-
madi notes that this investment in eye
contact unsettles strangers in West-
ern Europe. Americans and Western
Europeans do not typically hold eye
contact except when intensely flirt-
ing. When we hold eye contact with
another human, the brain has to grap-
ple with the consciousness of another.
As the brain processes this unfamil-
iar intensity, it produces hormones
similar to “butterflies in our stom-
ach.” Mohammadi hints that “mask-
wearing and eye-gazing,” if it cannot
establish emotional solidarity, could
at least make flirting a silent film of
serotonin. With effort, eye contact
alone can express intense emotions
beyond romance. Simple shifts of
the eyebrows and eyelashes can sig-
nify fear, disgust, anger and joy. If
we focus on our own eye movements
(even when it feels ridiculous), and
those of others, we can easily express
our emotions and eventually rebuild
the sense of connection we’ve lost
over the pandemic.
Since many of us are not acclimated
to emoting with the eyes (or making
eye contact at all), masking up pro-
vided us newfound freedom to look
miserable when we feel miserable. I
scowl at annoying customers at work,
clench my teeth at professors and
frown through my homework.
Keeping a smile on your face out of
mere obligation is emotionally drain-
ing and physically exhausting. But
the complete refusal to fake a smile
behind a mask may do more harm
than good.
The physical act of smiling releases
neuropeptides that trigger the brain’s
“happy chemicals”: serotonin, dopa-
mine and endorphins, all of which are
seldom triggered in a solitary lifestyle
in a cold climate. Smiling, even if oth-
ers cannot see it, may greatly improve
our daily mood in the gloomy winters.
Masks allow me to hide from the
things I find myself needing the most:
the smiles, the small talk, the whis-
pers in a quiet classroom. As we all
continue to mask up for public health,
I hope that we find time to talk to
strangers, flirt with our eyes and
smile for the sake of smiling.
Another semester hiding behind a mask
Music Talks: ‘Partita for Eight Voices’ by Caroline Shaw
“Music Talks” is a series where
Daily Music Writers give their takes
on the biggest releases in new music.
From picking best and worst tracks
to asking what makes a record tick,
the Music beat is here to give praise
and give shit to music worth talking
about.
These quotes have been edited and
condensed for clarity and brevity.
At 30 years old, Caroline Shaw won
a Pulitzer for her work, “Partita for
Eight Voices,” and is still the young-
est person ever to have won that pres-
tigious award. She’s got degrees from
Princeton and Yale, and she’s worked
with everyone from Kanye West to
Ben Folds. “Partita for Eight Voices”
is a four-movement work written for
Roomful of Teeth, an ensemble that
Shaw is part of.
Jason Zhang, Daily Arts Writ-
er: Welcome to “Music Talks” for
Caroline Shaw’s “Partita for Eight
Voices.” So I guess the first question
I wanted to ask was, what were your
initial thoughts? Just — what did
you think of the piece?
Kai Bartol, Music Beat Editor:
Initially, I guess initially, what I
was thinking is that it sounded very
mechanical or, digital. Of course,
the strange vocal stuff was pretty
unique to the performance. I was
also very curious as to how that was
written and composed to sound
very artificial in that way.
Ryan Brace, Daily Arts Writer:
Yeah, to build off that, I remember
the elements of going from speech
to sung word — it happens a decent
amount during the piece. And it’s
interesting how it’s coordinated
from being what seems like rhyth-
mic speech, right into, seamlessly,
some sort of a part harmony.
Drew Gadbois, Daily Arts
Writer: I kind of viewed it almost
as moments of consonance and
moments of dissonance, in terms of
like: sometimes it’s very discreetly
rhythmic, and other times it gets
really arrhythmic in terms of the
voices drifting off. And the same
thing goes for the melody: it’s very
distinctly melodic, and then it just
shifts microtonally.
Bella Greenbacher, Daily Arts
Writer: It was interesting that it
was talking about shapes and direc-
tions, in the last movement and
the first. And then it also seemed
like dancing directions in the first
one: I go to this dance camp every
summer, and we know the dance
“Allemande,” which is what it was
called, the title of the song. And it
was interesting that the music was
very different from the music that
we traditionally dance to with that
dance move.
Conor Durkin, Daily Arts
Writer: What was so impressive
was its ability to replicate tonal
ranges of classical music, where at
times you forget you are listening
to an entirely vocal piece. It’s able
to imitate instrumental sounds
and expressive ranges of an entire
orchestra.
Arts Editor: I think whenever
things involve that kind of spoken
word, especially when it’s spoken
word that flows into song, the writ-
er in me thinks very much about
both what is being said and the
shape, and feeling and sound of the
words being said. And I think this
piece definitely used content, word
shape and sound very interestingly
as part of the music.
Kaitlyn Fox, Daily Arts Writ-
er: I thought it was cool how there
is a common thread between all the
movements. Just thinking back on
it, the third one was probably my
favorite. It felt really haunting but
also a lot different than the first
one. I think Kai was saying it was
very mechanical; I thought it could
be interpreted as like, panting like
you’re running, which I thought
was really interesting. Because in
that movement, it just gave me the
running-through-the woods type
vibe.
Zhang: Were there any par-
ticular moments that stuck out to
you, specifically, and like a specific
movement or anything?
Brace: One of the parts that
stuck out to me, I think it was at the
beginning of the third song, it’s the
part with all the heavy moaning and
grunting and panting. I’m assum-
ing that that is meant to signify
something intimate or sexual, and
it reminded me of stuff I’ve heard in
hip hop before. Like, it reminded me
of a Kendrick song or a Kanye song
I’ve heard, and it was really interest-
ing how a genre that’s not even close
to that definitely had influence.
Jack Moeser, Daily Arts Writ-
er: I think a moment that stuck out
to me, it was the very end and all the
voices came back and there was spo-
ken word, because up till that point,
I was kind of mesmerized and I’d
forgotten these were voices. And
hearing the cacophony of spoken
words was kind of a reminder that
they were voices.
Bartol: Yeah, there’s also a
moment, I can’t remember which
song it was. But it was where all
eight voices were talking at once
— and they were all talking about
math things. And I was thinking
about just the insane precision, just
like a mathematical equation that
went in to sync up all these dispa-
rate sentences together and create
this really precise cacophony.
Gadbois:
Yeah,
I
definitely
noticed that too. And I think it’s
almost, there’s almost like an algo-
rithmic sort of aspect to the piece
itself, because, even in the words,
if you focus entirely on the words,
they’re always in reference to some-
thing that’s going on within the
piece, either in an abstract sense or
in a very literal sense.
Zhang: What do you think stayed
the same throughout all of it? And
what do you think between the dif-
ferent movements changed? What
kind of different moods did you get
from the different movements or
the piece as a whole?
Design by Grace Aretakis
This image is from the artist’s official bandcamp.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
KAYA GINSKY
Daily Arts Writer
DAILY MUSIC WRITERS
Daily Arts Writers
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Susan Gelfand
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/02/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
02/02/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, February 2, 2022
ACROSS
1 Epsilon followers
6 Reference
10 Apple tablet
14 Reason for a food
recall
15 River Severn
tributary
16 Violin holder
17 Old will?
18 Actress
Krakowski of
“30 Rock”
19 Gaelic language
20 Fuss
21 Seat for a
hooligan?
23 Violinist Isaac
who performed
the solos in the
movie “Fiddler on
the Roof”
25 Whirl
26 Fast watercraft
30 Kitchen gadget
brand
31 Ready for a refill
33 Pulitzer-winning
writer James
37 Dalmatian
marking
39 Pals, slangily
41 MLBer Manny
who was a
Dodger coach for
34 seasons
42 Bagel center
43 Cleaned, in a
way
45 USPS unit
46 Many Wikipedia
articles
49 More than you
want to hear,
probably
51 Put aside
54 Open-mouthed
stares
55 Seat for a gala
attendee?
58 Mop
61 Gillette razor
62 Indian royal
63 “Mostly Ghostly”
series author
64 Poet Silverstein
65 Panache
66 Reddish-brown
dye
67 Cooked
68 Smartphone
receipt
69 Beaten by a
nose, say
DOWN
1 Pizzazz
to you
3 Seat for an
amphibian?
4 Gives in portions
5 Dog command
6 Louisiana cuisine
7 Author Turgenev
8 Honky-__
9 One side of an
Einstein equation
10 It may be in a
cone
11 Winter warmer
12 Strong suit
13 Caterpillar rival
21 Gussy up
22 Olive __
24 Squeeze (out)
26 “Milk” Oscar
nominee Brolin
27 Trade show
28 Simmered dishes
29 Kind
32 Gnat or nag
34 Seat for Tiger?
35 Famous almost-
last words
36 British nobleman
heart
40 Stick a fork in
44 Dance genre
47 Columbia, for one
48 Like some agents
and Santas
50 Took a break
51 Muscle
contraction
52 Yoga variety
53 Miscalculated
54 Oversized and
then some
56 Healthy
57 Warrior son of
King Telamon, in
myth
59 Donovan in
Basketball Hall of
Fame
60 Bracelet ball
63 Pop duo __ &
Him
SUDOKU
WHISPER
“The squirrels
are chonky”
“Why is it so
cold.”
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 __
WHISPER