…4 — Wednesday, March 15, 2023 Arts The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Taylor Swift has been widely hailed as one of the greatest songwriters of her generation. Not only are her songs catchy and meaningful, but they almost always tell an incredible, lively story. In particular, the songs that describe beautiful relationships and heart-wrenching breakups reach a level of storytelling that is difficult to find elsewhere. And because...…
…What makes a title? Maybe it’s a quick attention grabber. A one-word sucker punch that knocks you off your feet and leaves you wondering where it came from. I’m talking about movies like “Her” (Spike Jonze) which implies some sort of a romance, “Raw” (Julia Ducournau) which evokes a … meaty (?) feeling or “Parasite” (Bong Joon-ho), whose abstraction has the ability to evoke different thoughts in different people. What these words ...…
…The Ann Arbor Film Festival’s series of short film competitions showcases the beauty and unique nature of experimental film. The festival’s Films in Competition 2 session featured seven films ranging from five minutes to around half an hour. Each film was completely different in style and theme, requiring me to constantly readjust. From the pastels of “Roses, Pink and Blue” to the startling acoustics of “South Los Angeles Stree...…
…Dearest Zombie, I hope you will excuse the unprompted message. You see, I just can’t hold my emotions back anymore. Your latest performance in “The Last of Us” made me consider all the times I have seen your work throughout the years, and how despite your fluctuations in popularity, your off years and the countless times people have tried to dismiss you entirely as lowbrow, formulaic drivel — you return, back from the dead, to p...…
…The basement in my childhood home was equipped with a Magnavox box TV, a GameCube and a PlayStation 2. The furniture was old, and the basement was prone to flooding, but it didn’t matter so long as my older brother and I had the TV and at least one console. Before the days of homework and exams, my brother and I would spend every day after school in the basement: He would sit on the ottoman in front of the television while I cu...…
…Ah nepotism. Defined by Merriam Webster as “favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship,” nepotism and online discussion of “nepo- babies” (children of celebrities) has certainly increased as of late. Personally, I lost my mind when I found out Gracie Abrams is JJ Abrams’s daughter. And I guess our obsession with nepotism has finally reached Netflix as they released a new office-comedy “Unstable” starring real-li...…
…Calling all corporate higher-ups: Trust falls are no longer the best way for your employees to practice team building. Try freefalls from the top of a mountain, with a child strapped to each of their chests. This technique worked for the characters of writer-director João Gonzalez’s (“Nestor”) animated short “Ice Merchants,” so it should work for you. The premise of “Ice Merchants” is inherently ridiculous. A father- son duo lives ...…
…4 — Wednesday, February 22, 2023 Arts The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Dear Pinterest, I still remember the day that you and I first met. I couldn’t have been more than 12 years old. My aunt had told me all about you — “It’s like an online bulletin board,” she described — and showed me around her own profile. I had never seen so many pictures, appropriately dubbed “pins,” in one place before. I could save these pins to a board...…
…“Nice guys finish last.” The phrase, coined in 1946 by Dodgers manager Leo Durocher to slam the New York Giants, has become the motto of millions of manipulative, pseudo-feminist “incels” all over the world, and I, for one, am ready to talk about it. If you haven’t been online in the last few years, or haven’t had the pleasure of speaking to one in person, let me fill you in on exactly who I’m talking about. “Incels” (short for “in...…
…“Do you think it will be war?” young bride-to-be Gûle (Kajeen Aloush, debut) asks her older sister. A pause. “It already is war,” her sister replies. So begins “Berbû,” Sevinaz Evdike’s dazzling directorial debut, which had its American premiere this Thursday at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. “Berbù,” which clocks in at just 70 minutes, is a deeply personal portrait of the ongoing Syrian civil war. The film is set in Serekaniye, a...…
…The conversation surround- ing the future of Artificial Intelligence weighs heavily on the possibility of artificial life becoming a sentient threat to the human race. Steven Spiel- berg’s (“The Fabelmans”) “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” chang- es the tone of this conversation and turns a mirror to man- kind, a reminder that humans are solely responsible for what they bring into the world. “A.I.” opens on a catastroph- ic picture. S...…
…S T A T E M E N T In the last 24 hours, my six friends and I collectively sent 374 texts in a group chat coming up on its five-year anniversary. And this was a slow day. Calling Tinder matches “pen pals,” all-caps play-by-play reactions to the new “Matilda” movie, pictures of people we haven’t spoken to in years that seem to reappear all too often. Texts like “im wearing a headband” and “a grown man is sitting next to me on the ...…
…Wednesday, January 25, 2023— 5 S T A T E M E N T The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Note: All names have been changed, and stories have been truncated when appropriate to avoid the possibility or implication of repeating the message relevant in each encounter. As a student at the University of Michigan, I’ve rarely witnessed overt homophobia on campus, though I know it exists. Still, I feel inexplicably unsafe in most spaces ...…
…This is the companion piece to “Scratching the surface of ChatGPT.” After introducing myself to ChatGPT, its functions, capabilities and restrictions, and brainstorming how I could present discussions ChatGPT raises in an interesting way, I came to the conclusion that I was able to interview this Artificial Intelligence. Every single word of ChatGPT’s response is intentional due to how it forms its responses, and this interview wi...…
…There’s a boxing match a-brewin’. Now, this is no hand- picked Apollo Creed versus The Italian Stallion, but it seems to be the new imminent climax to a conflict between male online influencers. KSI vs Logan Paul, KSI’s brother Deji vs FouseyTube, Logan Paul challenging boxing legend Floyd Mayweather — these influencer boxing incidents have become an industry, as millions upon millions of online followers fill sold-out seats. Th...…
…“Your taste in music is very retro, I’m impressed!” my father said as we drove our way across the East Coast of the United States on a 10-day long road trip two summers ago. I had assumed control over the aux, queuing an endless number of songs by iconic ’70s rock band Fleetwood Mac. Little did my dad know that the new fixation I had developed with classic ’70s rock had emerged after I had partaken the challenge of reading 10 book...…
…Michigan in Color The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Lesson from Dr. Omar Suleiman Wednesday, February 8, 2023 — 5 As-Salaam-Alaikum Wa-Alaikum-Salaam The auditorium—recently buzzing with greetings and jovial conversations—fell pin- drop silent, intent on hanging on Dr. Omar Suleiman’s words. Imam Suleiman’s résumé is more than impressive: Muslim scholar, civil rights leader, writer and public speaker. He currently works as ...…
…I visited the house I grew up in over Spring Break. My fam- ily moved a while back, but we haven’t been able to sell it yet, so it sits empty. The room that our Christmas tree would always light up was being painted, and I was taken back to when I was 12 years old — just about to leave primary school — when I got “Pokémon Black 2” for Christ- mas. I was about two years younger than its protagonist, but a year older than the origi- n...…
…Wednesday, February 15, 2023 — 5 Arts The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com I first found Joe Pera through a video titled “Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep,” an animated special from Adult Swim that would become his show “Joe Pera Talks with You.” In the Adult Swim episode, Joe tries to help you relax before going to bed, talking in a soft, monotone voice about things such as pretzel facto- ries and Pennsylvania Dutch barns. I instantly ...…
…Campus Locations: Michigan Union & Pierpont Commons University owned and operated since 1988 techshop.umich.edu You’re off to great places. Grab all the tech you need to get there. SALES | SERVICE | SUPPORT Now & Forever No matter where life takes you, we are always your tech store. Even after graduation. …
…Arts The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Wednesday, April 19, 2023 — 5 puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com “ ’ ” SUDOKU WHISPER “thinking about… breakfast” “When it’s obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action.” WHISPER Madeline Sun Woo Kim on paintings, vintage dresses and her first film premiere On April 19, the Michigan Theater’s largest auditorium will show a film mixing magica...…
…The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Wednesday, March 8, 2023 — 5 …
…My friends have told me I don’t seem like I’m from Michigan. I was born and raised in a quiet town on Lake Michigan and both of my parents are natives of the western side of the state. I’m not sure what it even means to “seem like” I’m from Michigan, but there are a few things about me that are distinctly Midwestern. The most obvious tell is how I say certain words. Bagel is baahg-el not bay-gul. Milk is melk. Bag, like bagel, als...…
…At the beginning of Erica Tremblay’s (“Little Chief”) “Fancy Dance,” Jax (Lily Glad- stone, “Certain Women”) and her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson, “Three Pines”) steal a car. It is the calmest auto theft I have ever seen. Roki takes the keys while their owner fishes and Jax dis- tracts him by washing her shoul- ders across the river. The water sparkles. The sun is bright and lazy. But with this sunny, low-effort theft, Tremblay b...…
…Taylor Swift has been widely hailed as one of the greatest songwriters of her generation. Not only are her songs catchy and meaningful, but they almost always tell an incredible, lively story. In particular, the songs that describe beautiful relationships and heart-wrenching breakups reach a level of storytelling that few other art- ists can aspire to. And because these songs tell such descriptive stories, it’s only natural that fans...…
…It’s midnight on a Friday, and I stumble home after an hour at an incredibly lame Pride Night. Me and my homegirls tried to season the function, but not even we can shake ass to pop girly remixes under oontz oontz beats. We have to get this white man off aux. How did not a single Beyoncé song get spun? Was Nicki busy that night? I understand Rihanna has pissed us all off with the lack of an album drop, but not even “Umbrella” made...…
…Wednesday, January 18, 2023— 6 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com S T A T E M E N T Going public with picky eating Content Warning: Mentions Disordered Eating It shocked my parents when their little girl, the kid who frowned at “Spongebob” boxed macaroni and cheese and lied about having a peanut allergy to avoid peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tore apart a small filet of smoked fish, leaving behind only a plate of bones. ...…
…S T A T E M E N T Wednesday, January 25, 2023— 6 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com More details about inauguration events and tickets will be available soon! myumi.ch/inauguration President Ono’s Inauguration Poster Session Award Students Can Receive Up to $5,000 to Pursue a Project During President Ono’s inauguration on March 7, a poster session at Stamps Auditorium will give U-M students the opportunity to present and discuss ...…
…Opinion Wednesday, January 11, 2023 — 6 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com This November, voters in Michigan approved Proposal 1, which changed the legislative term limits for the Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan State Senate and greatly expanded the financial disclosure rules for state politicians. These are two very important changes that will help to ensure ethics and accountability in Lansing. Prior to...…
…COLD OPEN INT. FAMILY ROOM – AFTERNOON LITTLE SISTER (7) hurries into the room, out of breath. Her aquamarine “The Little Mermaid” backpack unceremoniously plops to the ground as she kicks off her shoes and makes a beeline for the couch, GoGurt in hand. BIG SISTER (10) is already lying across the opposite couch. LITTLE SISTER Did I miss it? Did it start yet? Big Sister shakes her head NO in confirmation. LITTLE SISTER (sigh...…
…When I think of retro, I think of my parents. I think of photos of them when my brother and I were just kids, wearing complimentary ’80s color block windbreakers (my brother and I were born in the ’90s and 2000s, but my parents have always been old school). I think about the film, television and music my parents showed me growing up — the same stuff they grew up on, just 8,000 miles away in Rangpur, Bangladesh, instead of Louisvil...…
…Michigan in Color 6 — Wednesday, February 8, 2023 From the joint desk of Michigan in Color and Groundcover News One might think that a com- munity street newspaper like Groundcover News is entirely different from Michigan in Color at The Michigan Daily, the long- standing student-run newspaper of the University of Michigan. But these two publications that seem disparate from the outside have more in common than one might think. Groun...…
…S T A T E M E N T 6— Wednesday, March 29, 2023 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com “Breaks always come right when you need them”– a wise person once told me this. Over the course of my college career, I’ve heard this phrase time and time again, whether it be courtesy of similarly stressed university students counting down the days until winter break, or a chanting placation in my own head. Regardless, it seems as though the ...…
…Design by Ley la Dumke What are some hair vices you are aware of or find yourself apprehended by? “I’ll be jealous of my friend with box braids or dreads,” Boothe said. “I just know myself, and that I’ll never get to that amount. I wish it was just like GTA where I could just switch on the hair.” N I L E S FORT LAUDERDALE, FL What is the relationship between your hair and spirituality? Do you have any thoughts on the connection be...…
…I remember staring blankly at the ceiling and contemplating my emotions before falling asleep in middle school. Falling in love for the first time was overwhelming, especially with five popstars. As the months went by and my love grew stronger, my posters began to creep up my walls, mysteri- ously making their way into my line of vision. Eventually my ceil- ing was covered in One Direction posters. And I’m not ashamed one bit. Harry...…
…A couple of years ago, my friends decided to start getting into “League of Legends.” If that doesn’t make you throw up in your mouth a little bit, it should. I held out for about a month, refusing to join them. Eventually, the frustration of being excluded from conversations because of game communications taking priority over everything else got to me. I became the worst possible thing you could ever live to see yourself becomin...…
…Michigan in Color 6 — Wednesday, March 8, 2023 BHM Music Retrospects 2: Tracy Chapman, class consciousness For Black History Month 2023, I will be publishing a mini-series of short music reviews under the title “Protest Music Retro- spects.” The aim of this series is to both revisit some of the most pivotal moments in Black protest music history and to shed light on overlooked Black figures and musics, specifically those of Black w...…
…Hair pulled up in a haphazard ponytail, I tightened the drawstrings on my pink pullover and trekked through the wind up the stairs to the North Quad dining hall. Stomped, was more like it. I’d forgotten my headphones, and in no world was I walking back through this tumultuous wind on an empty stomach. Without my dining hall playlist, I had to provide myself with some sort of entertainment while eating 20 minutes away from my do...…
…Michigan in Color 6 — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com How to make a omelette When I walk along the newly renovated State Street in Ann Arbor, I feel contradictory emotions. Sometimes I see the curbless road, the string lights and benches, and think: how nice. When I’m driving, however, it feels like the worst idea ever conceived. It’s irritating, sitting there stalling. I hear honking. I witnes...…
…I think makeup is one of the most exciting forms of art. Discovering techniques that complement different facial structures, emphasizing your favorite features and enhancing personal style all draw me to the beauty world, whether in everyday makeup or more creative, bold looks. My interest in makeup is reflected in the way I use social media — on Pinterest boards or my Instagram explore page, there’s bound to be some makeu...…
…On Tuesday, March 7, University President Santa Ono gave his inaugural address to the University of Michigan. In it, he focused on setting an optimistic tone for his term, outlining his plans for DEI 2.0, achieving carbon neutrality and restoring the health of the U-M community. Through these bold ideas, he successfully energized students and professors, ushering in a new era of leadership. While the plans he discussed repr...…
…Michigan in Color The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com New Year, new me I awoke to the sound of meowing and an itch in my eye. As I regained consciousness, I began to remember where I’d fallen asleep. I took stock of my friend’s apartment bedroom. The slight weight of a hang- over bore down on my head as it started to ache, compounded by the fact I had definitely got- ten too little sleep. I groggily pulled my phone off the char- ...…
…Michigan in Color The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Fifty Palestinian flags rose upon Kamala Harris’s arrival Wednesday, January 25, 2023 — 7 University of Michigan students, led by a Students Allied for Freedom and Equality initiative, gathered in protest of Vice President Kamala Harris’s arrival at the University on Thursday. Protestors assembled in front of Hill Auditorium and marched towards Rackham Auditorium — the site...…
…T houghts and prayers. After years of mass shootings and gun violence, all the country has to show for the bloodshed is a long stream of condolences. Following shootings in Parkland, Oxford, UVA and countless other locations, legislators nationwide have advocated for strong reform, only to repeatedly come up short. Support for legislation curtailing access to some types of firearms draws support from 71% of Americans, yet the...…
…One. Two. Three. I closed my eyes as each number echoed in my head and my anxi- ety grew. I focused on my internal counting, hoping to prevent a shut down. However, it couldn’t mask the sound of my family circling around me as they spoke about a deportation in our local Mexican store. I shielded myself from real- ity, forcing my warm hands over each ear. Individually, my toes curled on the staircase’s steps as my body formed into a ...…
…Wednesday, March 15, 2023 — 7 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com …
…Michigan in Color The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com The unexpected valentine Wednesday, February 8, 2023 — 7 Truth or Lies is an original column written by Felicia Wilbert. Every short story published under the column is either “truth” (nonfiction) or “lies” (fiction). Readers have to wait until the next issue of Groundcover News, to check if “The unexpected valentine” is truth or lies! “Good morning! You are currently ...…
…S T A T E M E N T michigandaily.com — The Michigan Daily Wednesday, March 29, 2023— 7 At the age of 16, from 4 to 5 p.m. for the better part of two weeks, I sat on a damp towel in Franklin, Mass. reading aloud to some of my cabin mates at an Armenian summer camp. Like many summer camps, Camp Haiastan was relentlessly regimented. Part of that regimen consisted of an hour of free swim in the afternoons, a chlorine-coated repr...…
…wwww The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Wednesday, February 15, 2023 — 7 Michigan in Color How do the politics of identity and the poli- tics of desire inform how you perceive your hair (or Black hair in general) and how might we transcend these imposing detriments? “We really can’t care what others think. I get into these deep ruts of ‘oh, will this guy like me if I have this hair or this hair?’ I need to be comfortable with who I...…
…A senior in college is reclining on his front porch in the gray spring light of Ann Arbor. He’s trying to make sense of it all. He says: The tuition was $50,000 a year, frontloading on classes to wrap it up in three years, that’s $150,000. Plus food and housing, which totaled about $900 a month, that’s $180,000, but I’d have needed to eat regardless, so maybe only $170,000. Eighteen hours a week of classes, assuming I’d attended t...…
