OPINION

JESSIE MITCHELL | COLUMN

Trolling is not a good use of federal funds

As institutions of higher statement, as they should have. that’s a personal problem. Most game with this move. If Princeton learning begin to do Grappling with a fraught history, Americans don’t seem to agree is found to be in violation of the the long-overdue work and attempting some remedy, is with that anymore. Civil Rights Act due to systemic of examining structural racism something that all institutions There were plenty of racism, it would follow that the within their communities, should strive to do. One of the conservative commenters Princeton education — that of a President Donald Trump’s examples that President Eisgruber who reacted with glee at the handful of legislators and Supreme administration is fighting hard to cites, the nine departments administration’s announcement Court Justices — is also racist. ensure it goes unacknowledged. centered around European that they were going to investigate This would strengthen the claim On Sept. 2, Princeton University language and culture departments Princeton. Right-wing pundit Ben that racism is institutionalized President Christopher Eisgruber at Princeton versus one centered Shapiro tweeted an article about in America, not weaken it. Of wrote a statement to the Princeton around African studies, is a the news, saying “This is absolutely course, the Trump administration community addressing systemic discrepancy that can be found at spectacular,” but reactions seemed is banking on Princeton bending racism and acknowledging that other universities across America. less focused on whether this was a over backward to avoid losing “racist assumptions from the The reaction by the Department smart policy move on the part of their federal funding, which, past also remain embedded in of Education to Princeton was the Department of Education and according to The Atlantic writer structures of the University unique. Plenty of other universities more on mocking people with the Conor Friedersdorf, would itself.” The statement goes on to have admitted to systemic racism gall to admit that racism exists. “expos(e) racism claims … as detail a number of new initiatives at their schools, including flagship Two recent Princeton hyperbole.” In other words, the at Princeton that aim to create institutions like the University graduates wrote, in support of Trump administration is planning a more welcoming and diverse of Michigan and the University the Department of Education’s on wasting resources to prank campus. of Virginia, without the threat investigation, that “the DoE Princeton.

In response, the Trump of legal action by the Trump had no choice but to act on the A statement by Princeton’s administration launched an administration. investigative trolling opportunity president does not make systemic investigation into Princeton’s So then, why Princeton? Likely, of a lifetime.” racism any more or less real. compliance with the Civil the timing of the statement by To insist that the It does not solve the problem Rights Act, which “prohibits Princeton fits in with Trump’s administration’s best use of time outlined by more than 300 of discrimination on the basis of ill-advised strategy of pretending and resources is to investigate Princeton’s faculty members. race, color or national origin in any that racism no longer exists. It’s Princeton for civil rights violations But, it’s an imperfect step in the program or activity that receives an odd position to take, given that authors do not believe exist right direction. To expect the Federal funds or other Federal that more than three-quarters solely to “troll” shows flagrant president’s administration to avoid financial assistance.” In a letter of Americans agree that racism disregard for actual civil rights treating these messy moments of to Eisgruber, the Department and discrimination are “a big violations. The Civil Rights Act reckoning as a chance to “troll” of Education argued that by problem,” as stated in a Monmouth is not a joke and the Trump at the expense of American admitting racism inherent to the University poll released in early administration should not use it taxpayers feels like something we institution, Princeton was also June. By equating an admission to attack universities attempting should be able to take for granted, admitting that they discriminated of systemic racism to a violation to pursue racial equity. To applaud but in Trump’s America, racism based on race and were therefore of the Civil Rights Act, the Trump the degradation of the Civil was solved in 1964. in violation of the Civil Rights Act administration’s official position Rights Act in service of a “gotcha” and ineligible for federal funding. seems to be that the Civil Rights moment is disgusting. Jessie Mitchell can be reached at

Princeton stood by the original Act solved racism, and if it didn’t, It is also hard to see the end jessiemi@umich.edu.

CHRISTINA KIM | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT CKIMC@UMICH.EDU

EVAN DEMPSEY | COLUMN

Healthy Streets need more feet

Students returning to campus has made for much safer and more this fall may have noticed enjoyable biking trips. a new profusion of orange As much as I have made use of the traffic barrels around Ann Arbor. Healthy Streets Program so far, I Though they have nothing to do have been routinely surprised at how with road maintenance, the barrels few other people I encounter using can be seen along the sides of several the converted lanes. Despite having of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, run or biked on a reconfigured blocking vehicles from entering street several times a week since the the outermost lanes. Judging by start of the semester, I can still count the general lack of cyclists and with my fingers the number of other pedestrians using these lanes, people I’ve passed. however, it seems that many people My estimate of how many people have not investigated exactly what are using Healthy Streets is based they are for. on purely anecdotal evidence, and

The new car-free lanes are part of understandably, people are traveling a City of Ann Arbor initiative called fewer places right now. Nonetheless, the Healthy Streets Program, which I feel that an exhortation to the was launched on May 4, 2020, in an people of Ann Arbor to take attempt to promote social distancing advantage of this program is in among people who would otherwise order: According to the City of nn have been confined to city sidewalks. Arbor website, the program is only The program has reconfigured in effect until Nov. 10, and whether traffic on over 30 streets in Ann or not these changes are permanent Arbor. Of particular note are the depends on you. Staff members eight high-traffic streets (including from the city and the Ann Arbor Main, State and Packard streets) Downtown Development Authority that have had entire lanes sectioned have been monitoring the Healthy off for pedestrian traffic. Streets since their launch in order to

These reconfigured lanes determine their effectiveness. One have been converted into two- of the criteria used to determine way “streets” for cyclists and whether any reconfigurations will pedestrians, essentially as an become permanent is the volume of extension of existing sidewalks. people using the converted lanes. As a frequent runner and biker, I Even if you don’t have anywhere have found this new abundance of to go right now, I strongly suggest walkable, bikeable roadway to be that you go for a walk (or bike or very useful, and although it seems run) on a Healthy Street. You might to be underutilized now, I believe find that the new road configuration there are plenty of ways in which improves your experience of the Ann Arbor community could downtown and other areas, as it benefit from making better use of did mine. If nothing else, you’ll be the Healthy Streets Program. helping to make our city healthier

Not only is it easier to maintain and safer by driving a transition to proper social distancing while car-free, people-focused roadways. walking or running along busy In fact, Healthy Streets operates streets (which, in Ann Arbor, is alongside the People Friendly very difficult to avoid doing), the Streets program, a more long-term new lanes allow me to run through Ann Arbor initiative launched normally crowded areas like in order to redesign roadways downtown without being a nuisance to promote carbon neutrality, to other pedestrians — something economic development and personal that was hard to do even pre- safety. pandemic. The Healthy Streets Program

I’ve also found Healthy Streets was created to address an to be a vast improvement in terms immediate problem: the COVIDof “bikeability.” Standard bicycle 19 pandemic. But if we provide the lanes are often very narrow and program with enough support, it leave cyclists with no barrier will provide benefits much farther against automobile traffic. The into the future than the pandemic lanes reconfigured by Healthy will last and make our community Streets, however, are essentially improvements much more mini-streets. With two lanes, there permanent than just a few orange is much more space for cyclists to barrels. deterrent to cars that might stray Evan Dempsey can be reached at too close. In my experience, this evangd@umich.edu.

EVAN STERN | COLUMN maneuver, and the barrels act as a

Whitmer’s powers should be checked, even in the middle of a pandemic

Nearly seven months after in our state since April.” While some Michigan have elected a Republican, many business owners who have midst of this deadly pandemic, it is that her steady refusal (until now) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer fear that the decision will lead to an Democrat or Independent; ultimately, invested their whole lives in these inconceivable why we suddenly to work with our legislators has issued her first executive uptick in cases across the state as the it is dangerous to disproportionately industries have teetered on the abandoned our American cost our state. In the wise words order aimed at battling the COVID- governor loses her authority, others allocate any amount of power to a edge of collapse for reasons with principles of checks and balances of Montesquieu, as the Michigan 19 pandemic in March, the Michigan — including State Senate Majority single branch of government. little support from a public health and opted to allow one leader Supreme Court noted in its Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 2 that Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake — Throughout the course of standpoint. Right here in the heart to navigate this viral storm. In decision, “When the legislative Whitmer “had no authority to issue celebrated the ruling. Whitmer’s free rein, the people of Ann Arbor, according to the Michigan — along with our federal and executive powers are united in or renew executive orders relating On the whole, Whitmer has of Michigan learned firsthand Daily, the Michigan Theater and government in Washington, D.C. the same person...there can be no to Covid-19 beyond April 30,” expertly navigated the unprecedented the perils of vesting so much State Theater recorded financial — we all know our government is liberty.” according to CNN. The 4-3 ruling, crisis, and her decisive actions deserve political power in the office of losses of $1.5 million, forced to keep based on checks and balances and As the pandemic continues which Whitmer said in a statement praise. Although the governor’s the governor. Although most of their doors closed well into the fall the separation of powers. These to rage on, accelerating as the she “vehemently disagrees” with, orders have been met with criticism, Whitmer’s actions were justifiable as other businesses across the state checks on emergency powers weather cools down and we effectively strips away all of the a poll released in May found that and protected Michiganders from like hair salons opened in June. don’t become irrelevant in the approach the end of the calendar governor’s powers to unilaterally nearly 64% of Michiganders approve contracting COVID-19, there were Another theater owner in the state, middle of a public health crisis like year, we need to rethink our issue executive orders aimed at of Whitmer’s handling of the crisis. undoubtedly a handful that needed according to the Holland Sentinel, the COVID-19 pandemic, as some approach to mitigating this crisis containing COVID-19. The court, But at the same time, many people improvement. However, with said “revenue has been down about have argued; on the contrary, here in Michigan, and ensure that however, notes that the decision have expressed great concern about Michigan’s legislators being shut 95 percent since the coronavirus they are more important in order all branches of government have “leaves open many avenues for the the governor’s far-reaching powers out of the process, our governor had pandemic shutdown began in mid- to prevent abuses of power. On a say in the next steps forward. Governor and Legislature to work to single-handedly issue executive total discretion to issue arbitrary March.” the international stage, experts I applaud Michigan’s high court together to address this challenge.” orders that impact the entire state executive actions, even if they These losses are staggering have argued that the exponential for taking this action, and I look

Since the first cases of COVID- population of 10 million people. While had significant costs; nobody had and could have been averted if spread COVID-19 opens the door forward to Gov. Whitmer, our 19 were confirmed in Michigan on Whitmer has acted with the best the political means to influence Whitmer couldn’t unilaterally for world leaders to “tighten their elected state representatives March 10 — one in Oakland County interests of Michiganders in mind, her executive orders and strike keep the economy closed. If the grip on power.” and other government bodies and another in Wayne County — it is not prudent by any stretch of the down certain aspects that were Michigan State House and Senate There is no evidence Whitmer working collectively to protect Whitmer has worked under a state imagination to allow one person, problematic. For instance, Whitmer had a say, we could have combated has abused her powers. She has our state. of emergency and issued a wide regardless of the circumstances, got flak nationwide for her order the pandemic just as successfully handled the crisis with one goal: variety of executive orders to curb the to hold so much power. Ultimately, barring the sale of certain products while also supporting the hard- to protect the state of Michigan. Evan Stern can be reached at impacts of the pandemic. However, while the people of Michigan elected in retail stores like seeds, home working people of Michigan. In the However, it is exceedingly evident erstern@umich.edu. some argued that she had no Whitmer as governor in 2018, she gardening supplies and paint. As the Design courtesy of Katherine Lee authority to continue issuing orders heads one of three branches that Detroit Free Press noted, this order without the consent of the Michigan govern our state. Even though we strangely permitted purchases of State Legislature after April 30, the continue to find ourselves in the lottery tickets in stores at the same date her initial emergency declaration middle of a dangerous public health time, which the state uses to fund expired. Until the court struck down crisis, Michiganders didn’t just certain programs. Whitmer’s emergency powers, the elect Whitmer; they also elected Beyond ordering stores to block governor relied on two laws, one representatives to the State House off certain sections that sold goods from 1945 and the other from 1976, of Representatives and State Senate, deemed “non-essential,” Whitmer to issue executive orders unilaterally. who have been largely excluded kept Michiganders under one of Now, under the Michigan Supreme from exercising their power and the longest-running stay-at-home Court’s recent decision, Whitmer can collaborating with Whitmer on orders in the nation, even amid the invoke neither law to extend a state executive orders. obvious economic carnage of such of emergency or issue further orders Regardless of the circumstances moves that our state is still reeling without working with the legislature. — no matter how dire the emergency from today. In Oakland County

The Michigan Supreme Court’s is — we cannot allow one leader to alone, the state’s second-largest ruling delivers a major blow to the unilaterally make sweeping executive county, the University of Michigan emergency powers Whitmer has orders. It is the responsibility of Research Seminar in Quantitative wielded in order to control the the governor to work with the Economics found that a quarter of spread of COVID-19 across the representatives of the state legislature small businesses were lost, along state. The governor stated that, to protect the health of our state. with nearly 160,000 jobs. Finally, “Right now, every state and the Meanwhile, it is the responsibility of even throughout the summer federal government have some form Michigan’s elected representatives to months, as Michigan experienced of declared emergency. With this put checks and limits on Whitmer’s low numbers of new cases as well decision, Michigan will become powers as they deem necessary. It as a small test-positivity rate, the sole outlier at a time when the doesn’t matter what kind of crisis Whitmer prohibited businesses Upper Peninsula is experiencing our state is confronting, and it like gyms and movie theaters rates of COVID-19 infection not seen doesn’t matter whether the people of from reopening. As a result,

Arts COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW Mural lights up downtown alleyway

PETER HUMMER For The Daily

A smiling student stands with a backpack slung over her shoulder, books and notebooks held in hand, no mask in sight. A reminder of simpler times. Elsewhere, recent graduates throw their hats in the air and a father teaches his son how to skateboard. A student pulls his friend into a party. The State Theatre and Bell Tower both stand tall, proud monuments of Ann Arbor and the University. These are some, but not all, of the frames in the new mural that has come to downtown Ann Arbor. Located right behind Potbelly Sandwich Shop off of East Liberty and State, this 15-foot high work of art showcases the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor at their best.

The new mural, according to a press release published by Oxford Companies, contains, “scenes depicting student life at the University of Michigan, notable landmarks throughout Ann Arbor, family activities, and collegiate athletics.” Matthew Sharum, 46, was the artist contracted by Oxford to design and paint this mural.

Sharum is a lifelong resident of southeast Michigan. He attended Eastern Michigan University before moving to southern California and apprenticing for an artist in California. After five years, he moved back to Michigan.

SABRIYA IMAMI Daily Arts Writer

Following the 2016 presidential election, a record number of women ran for Congressional seats in 2018. They were dissatisfied with how they were being represented in government and came to the conclusion that no man could ever represent them better than they themselves could. They looked in the mirror and said, “Somebody has to do something. Why not me?”

“SURGE” tells the story of three women running for Congress: Jana Lynne Sanchez, Liz Watson and Lauren Underwood. All three saw their government was failing them and realized they wouldn’t stand for it anymore. Firsttime co-director Wendy Sachs followed these women through Texas, Indiana and Illinois and documented their successes and their failures. She and her all-women team documented their journeys “through the female lens” for the world to see and be inspired even further.

To use Sachs’s own words, “there was a movement underway.” Women were standing up and taking charge, marching and running. They refused to settle for a maledominated government. America should not and cannot be a male-dominated force when there are so many strong and empowered women who can make a difference and do good. ***

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Sachs said she and the creators of “SURGE” picked Sanchez, Watson and Underwood because they were “women that represented different experiences.” Each woman came with a different story, a different background, just as all women in America do. No two people have the same life story, and she wanted to make sure that that message got across to the women watching. “Diversity is where we thrive. When we have a diversity of opinion and we bring more people’s experiences to the table, we’re going to create a better government for everyone,” Sachs said.

The other aspect of the film that Sachs wanted to make sure that all viewers, not only women, understood was just how hard it is for women to run for governmental positions. “I Creating a mural in Ann Arbor, a city so close to his hometown, Madison Heights, was special.

“Being a Michigan resident for much of my life, it’s a real honor to contribute to a locally focused installation to Ann Arbor’s world class public art scene,” Sharum said in Oxford’s press release. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Sharum expanded more on his connection to Michigan and what the goal of the mural was.

“I did go to Eastern. So I spent a fair amount of time on the weekends in Ann Arbor… it is, I think, more southeast Michigan that I’m connected to,” said Sharum. “Their [Oxford’s] theme was called ‘Town and Gown.’ They wanted it to be the convergence of school life and city life since they’re in a big college town.”

After hearing all of this, I was intrigued and I decided to check out the mural with my own eyes. I dragged myself out of my apartment for the first time in what seemed like days, rubbing the screen-induced fuzziness from my vision. I found it located in the alleyway between Potbelly’s and the building that once held the now-closed SNAP Pizza (rest in peace).

The first thing I noticed was the vibrancy of it all. Shades of blue, red, yellow and green burst out of the mural. On a gloomy fall day, these colors were particularly welcoming. I spent plenty of time trying to figure out the perfect am in such awe of the women who run for office,” she said. “Watching Jana and Lauren and Liz fight the fight … was tremendously inspiring and empowering to me, as a filmmaker.” And it’s also inspiring for the viewers to see the grit and perseverance required for these women to run for a position of power in government.

The beauty of the film is its juxtaposition of realism and optimism. The audience gets the privilege of an inside look into a real-time, real-life campaign, seeing the struggles that the women go through, seeing how hard they work. But they also see just how much the women care about what they’re doing. They’re not just running to win — they’re running because it’s right. They’re running because they can do what needs to be done. ***

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-I.L.), Illinois native, U-M Nursing School graduate and the only woman in “SURGE” to win her tough election, had a hard road ahead of her when she decided to run for Congress. Her job of campaigning and working to represent the people of Naperville was a feat in itself, but she also decided to have her vulnerable and important political journey documented for the entire world to see.

“I was excited to work [on “SURGE”] with Wendy and Hannah [Rosenzweig] because I felt that they really understood what we were trying to accomplish in this community,” Congresswoman Underwood said in an interview with The Daily. “What I was embarking on was hard, and I felt that they would tell the story with integrity and not project some agenda on what we were

ARTIST MATTHEW SHARUM BESIDE THE MURAL angle that I needed to stand at to to enhance the downtown make the 3D portion of the mural experience in Ann Arbor with stand out. Matthew had told me Matthew’s work. Part of our on the phone that he had painted mission is to provide not just our some feet somewhere in the alley customers, but our community where, if you stood, you got the with the best experiences in mural in its full 3D effect, but I and around our buildings and couldn’t find them. neighborhoods,” Gumenick said.

The experience was also a “We hope everyone takes the reminder of all that Ann Arbor time to experience this new work and the University of Michigan when they visit the State Street have to offer. This semester, it’s District of our hometown.” exists outside of my Canvas page. For Sharum, murals and public The mural was a nice reminder art are important to cities and of the color, life, and excitement what they stand for. that I’ve come to love here at the “When you have a lot of public University. art you can just walk around and

Melissa Gumenick, Associate appreciate peoples’ artwork. It’s Director, Business Development like an outdoor museum in a way,” at Oxford Companies expressed said Sharum. “Public art becomes Oxford’s pleasure with the a symbol of a community. It mural, and stated why they reflects the goals and aspirations commissioned Sharum to create of people who live in that area.” it. Daily Arts Writer Peter

“The Oxford family is so Hummer can be reached at honored to have the opportunity hummerp@umich.edu.

FILM REVIEW ‘Surge’ is profoundly empowering

been hard to realize that life

seeking to accomplish.” In “SURGE”, viewers saw every moment, good and bad, that the candidates had to deal with. Congresswoman Underwood even thought that she lost on election day. “I had gotten this feeling in my body that said ‘something’s not right’ … I can’t be in this room full of people and get this bad news,” she said. She did win, of course, but seeing that moment when she realized that she had won, being in that moment with her, is indescribable.

Congresswoman Underwood told me there were many women that she looked up to, ranging from her elementary school days of seeing Oprah Winfrey as “the most powerful [woman] in the world” to her early days in Congress, looking up to Shirley Chisholm. Another woman who inspired her from a young age was “Senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first, and at that time the only, Black woman to serve the United States Senate.”

“She looked like me, and I knew she was powerful and I knew that she represented me. I was so inspired and proud to have someone like her represent me … I knew that she carried my voice … I was a young girl with these incredible role models that I perceived as powerful because they actually had power and respect and validation from others. And they struck me as very normal, regular women, and I could be like them,” Underwood said.

She is just like them. Since making history as the youngest Black woman to ever serve in Congress, Underwood has already begun to make sweeping changes for the better. Just by witnessing her everlasting effort in “SURGE” to make a difference, I knew she would make just as big of an impact on the world as the women that

SHOWTIME NETWORKS she looked up to. Hearing what she has accomplished since “SURGE,” such as working with Senator Kamala Harris on Black maternal health issues, only solidified my belief that she will continue to do amazing things.

Both Sachs and Congresswoman Underwood want “SURGE” to make an impact on people as citizens and voters. The timing of the movie couldn’t be more relevant with the upcoming election, and they acknowledge and embrace that.

“We all have to do our part,” Congresswoman Underwood said. “That means voting in this election, that means showing up and engaging in our neighbors and communities to make sure that no one feels forgotten, left behind or silenced and that means when we see something that’s not right, that we step up and do something about it.”

Sachs had the same message: “Do something, anything. See yourself as that agent of change … get involved, show up, use your voice, do something and make sure you’re voting.”

If “SURGE” reveals anything to audiences, it’s that women aren’t just relevant in politics; they are integral to the foundation of America’s government. “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, and truer words have never been spoken.

“The question that we asked throughout the film was ‘Is this a moment or is it a movement?’” Sachs told me, as she outlined the timeline of women marching, running and now winning. And I think we both have the same answer.

It’s a movement.

Daily Arts Writer Sabriya Imani can be reached at simami@umich.edu

GENDER AND MEDIA COLUMN ‘PEN15’ and an all-female puberty

CLARA SCOTT Daily Arts Columnist

Puberty is, at its most base definition, a living hell. Between the ages of ten and 14, most people enter a stage of extreme growing pains and unexpected sweatiness that haunts our memories for the rest of our lives. Remembering those years is almost like having war flashbacks, with every mundane moment holding the emotional intensity of a life-or-death situation despite their true reality. Embarrassment felt like death, and happiness felt like a million fireworks going off at once.

As I’ve grown into my early ’20s and gotten a taste of adulthood, the contrast between who I was at 13 and who I am now deepens with every day. Even thinking about that period of my life makes me cringe a little, but at the same time, I feel for the girl that I used to be. We’ve all gone through the ups and downs of growing up, the hormones and friendships that turbulently led us into our teenage years and beyond. It’s become a popular subject for comedy series, as shows like “Big Mouth” take on the hurdles of tweendom with wit and a perspective that only time can imbue.

This is a tried and true topic to make fun of, notable in films such “The Sandlot” and “Goonies,” too. It’s everywhere, but traditionally focuses on the cis male perspective. In the last year or so, new Hulu series “PEN15” has taken on the cis female experience with flying (and hilarious) colors, and I would argue that it rings truer than many of the other depictions of puberty that have graced our screens before.

Writers and stars of the series Maya Erskine (‘Plus One’) and Anna Konkle (‘Rosewood’) developed the show based on their own pubertal memories of the early aughts, and as someone who also grew up during that time, though a little later, it reads as incredibly accurate. The thing that makes the two-season series so funny, however, is that Erskine and Konkle play themselves 15 years younger while surrounded by a cast of real 13-year-olds. It may sound creepy at first, but “PEN15” never takes advantage of that age difference. If anything, the contrast of seeing actual teenagers next to actresses in their late ’20s offers both a visual element of comedy and a nod to the reality that we are all watching it as if we are going through puberty again, thrust into our own histories while really living out adulthood.

“PEN15” captures the awkwardness of a pool party while every part of your body seems to be the wrong size and shape, the feeling of a first kiss and a terrible haircut and the taste of cheap cherry lip gloss. Puberty is also the process of becoming a woman for cisgender girls, and the series dives deeper into periods and boobs and pubescent sexuality more than I was expecting at first.

Sure, the initial shock and memory of my own tween years was something to get over while watching, but eventually, I came to appreciate the show’s transparency. We often get a view of what it’s like to be a boy, getting in fights and wondering if you’re ever going to hit six feet tall. But the girls have it rough too, waging emotional war on each other instead of throwing a punch or stealing someone’s lunch money.

As someone who went to an all-girls, Catholic middle school, I feel both lucky and retrospectively appalled by what a gendered puberty experience offered me. It was nice to feel a sense of community and relatable discomfort with the girls I became friends with, as we offered each other tampons in the hallway and debated whose skirt was shorter when we got pink slips for our hems. The rocky road toward womanhood was easier knowing that everyone around me must have been going through the same thing, in between the slams of lockers and whispered gossip. But at the same time, though it may be invisible to most, girls can bully even more invasively than traditionally gendered boys of the same age.

The binary that I was forced into by single-sex education was positive in a lot of ways, but the comradery of middle school with only girls faded fast once someone turned on you. Just as the protagonists of “PEN15” deal with being called “desperate sluts” and finding inflammatory notes slipped into their lockers, I was also bullied by my classmates throughout puberty. It never ended with a throwdown after school, however: Instead, my own friends turned on me about three times, their muttered statements of annoyance and cooler-than-thou superiority sticking in my head for years. At 21, I still think about some of the things that girls told me in middle school, the result of the self-conscious powder keg that putting 150 wealthy princesses in the same hallway creates.

I don’t blame the girls who bullied me for what happened, nor do I really think that any of us know what we’re doing in the long run when we say something catty at 13. The insecurities of that age are deafening, and sometimes it seems like no one will feel the same way unless you make them feel it. But I am glad that as adults, the women whose girlhoods felt the same way are sharing how equally ridiculous and powerful the early teen years are with laughter and grace. It makes remembering middle school a lot less painful, and a lot more entertaining. Thanks to “PEN15,” the taste of cheap chapstick doesn’t throw me into a traumatic memory the way that it used to: On the contrary, I feel for the younger version of myself, because she had no idea what the future would bring.

Daily Arts Columnist Clara Scott can be reached at clascott@umich.edu.

Live music in the age of COVID-19: an evolution

KAITLYN FOX Daily Arts Writer

2020 was supposed to be the most revenue-generating year the live music industry had ever seen. In fact, live music revenue is predicted to double by 2030, and this long-term growth is expected to stay consistent despite the 75% drop in revenue this year due to COVID-19. Looking at the numbers, investors and analysts have an optimistic view of live music and firmly believe that the industry will rebound as soon as people can safely gather once again. While it’s easy to say that live music is simply hitting a slight bump in the road from a bird’s eye view, this temporary hold on live shows is slowly changing the live music scene and testing what consumers are willing to pay for when it comes to watching their favorite artists perform.

At the start of the pandemic, artists were quick to get creative and utilize the limited tools they had to engage with their fans. As artists canceled shows, many took their talents to social media where they’d host livestream performances from their living rooms. We

LEO KRINSKY For The Daily

Emily Montes is 5 years old, TikTok famous and may have just dropped one of the most important albums of the year.

Not much is known about Emily. I heard about her through my friend Brad, and I have no idea where he heard about her. According to Emily on her song “Untitled,” she “blew up on TikTok.” However, take a short look at Emily’s TikTok and you will see that her videos are more along the lines of a kid who took her mom’s iPad on a road trip and is now filming out the window, rather than content that would cause her to go viral. Her most viewed videos have around 26,000 views, which is still modest for someone claiming to have “blown up,” and it is impossible to tell whether these views came before or after her debut album. As you’ll come to understand throughout this article, though, if you want to ask questions, you’re completely missing the point.

The self-titled album Emily Montes is 14 songs and spans five total minutes. Five of those songs are also titled “Emily Montes.”

Throughout the album, Emily’s high-pitched voice is heavily auto-tuned to the point where it is sometimes difficult to listen to, and the beats push the typical musical boundaries, mixing electronic sounds with hard-hitting 808 drums. What is so strange is that, musically, this album is right in line with the trapsaw big acts like The National host weekly livestream shows, Miley Cyrus’s Instagram talkshow “Bright Minded” and we even saw smaller artists like Jordy Searcy take a similar approach through his weekly livestream shows as well as his surprise “house shows” where he would perform for fans in the Nashville area at their doorsteps. As the pandemic dragged on, however, the artist community realized that live streaming free performances was not going to pay the bills, and suddenly ads for paid livestream “concerts” emerged on many artists’ platforms.

In fact, we can look to some of the strategies implemented by artists and see how this new situation is changing the way we think of live music and how artists run their brands. At the start of the pandemic, Erykah Badu took her music to her own platform, Badu World Market, where she set up her own virtual concert experience independent of any venue or concert series. What’s fascinating about Badu World Market is that it was set up by Badu and her team exclusively and also incorporates merchandise and music sales. Badu’s website, which enables her to keep every aspect of her hyperpop sound that has been festering in the depths of the internet and is now coming to the surface of popular culture through artists like Charli XCX and 100 gecs. For a fiveyear-old girl to be able to hone in on that unique sound seems unlikely and, truthfully, impossible. However, as I said before, the more questions you ask, the more you’re missing. Who cares if she purposefully crafted an album whose tone matches this growing electropop scene? I hope it was an accident. That would be way funnier.

Created during the COVID19 pandemic, each song is a small vignette that explores themes of loneliness, existential dread, complete and total arrogance and everything else that comes with being five years old in quarantine. In one of her songs titled “Emily Montes (Breakup),” she sings over a piano, “Laying in my bed / Voices in my head / A broken heart / I’m missing you.” The next song, titled “Emily Montes (Corona is Crazy)” transports us to a trap beat where Emily raps “This virus is crazy / It’s the end of the world! / Boom, Boom, Boom.” As quickly as it starts, the song ends and “Frozen” begins, in which Emily asks, “I’m outside, it’s frozen / But where is all the snow?” In just three songs that amass to 45 seconds, Emily investigates mental health, her broken heart and climate change (I think?). It is these disjunct and sometimes contradictory messages that make the album so impactful. So often during this strange time period, I brand centralized and under her control, offers a model for other artists to follow in which they can own more of what they make instead of dividing their brand among various streaming platforms, merchandise vendors and concert venues.

Strict limits on social gatherings also raise the question of when big artists will be able to return to large stadiums and concert halls. Prior to COVID-19, big names in music —Taylor Swift, Drake and Harry Styles, to name a few — were selling out massive stadiums and arenas, but whether fans will be able to return to those venues in the foreseeable future remains uncertain. While these artists have had to take a break from performing, there may be a new opportunity for smaller artists to take advantage of this lull.

Quinn XCII jumped on this opportunity to expand his following by performing “drive-in” concerts in Cleveland. Videos on his Instagram show dozens of cars spread out across a parking lot with fans singing along from the trunks of their cars. While watching a show from your car

Five-year-old TikToker’s album is a post-ironic win

is nothing like a true in-person have felt as though I couldn’t control anything around me, and this album feels just like that. You never know what version of Emily you’ll get next. She may be depressed, spirited, hopeful or angry. She may be completely neutral. She may drop a diss at Travis Scott and Chance the Rapper for no particular reason. She may just rap about how much she loves Roblox. You have no say. Emily runs the show.

While the sound is distinctive and the message powerful, my true obsession with “Emily Montes” is that it really feels like the product of all internet culture ever. Complete vulnerability layered behind nonsensical tangents and the absurd fact that this was all created by a five-yearold girl perfectly encapsulates the diluted sense of irony currently defining internet culture, which now feels impossible to decipher between authenticity and complete sarcasm. The response to the album only serves to highlight this point. Her fans on Twitter vehemently argue that Emily Montes is the album of the year and that she has reinvented the rap scene. The tweets themselves seem genuine, but the fact that they are tweeting about a five-year-old girl’s fiveminute album in the first place creates a clear level of irony within them. These people, like me, may actually love the album. And these people, like me, might be totally joking. And likely, both are true.

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concert experience, it’s clear that fans will jump at any chance to go to an in-person show in whatever form that might look like. Quinn XCII’s drive-in shows sold out quickly, and other artists have jumped on the bandwagon and scheduled outdoor, sociallydistanced concerts like Lauren Daigle’s “Autumn Nights,” a drive-in concert experience in Nashville.

While artists seem to be finding their way amid the chaos, concert venues themselves have not been faring well. In fact, The National Independent Venues Association predicts that 90 percent of their 3,000 members will go out of business by

BEN SERVETAH For The Daily

What do an R&B singersongwriter, a genius playwright, a rock ‘n’ roll legend and a California hitmaker all have in common? To any practical person, they are all insane. But they’ve also come together as subjects for the fourpart docuseries “Song Exploder,” hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway, which emerged from the popular podcast of the same name. Each episode focuses on one of these iconic musical artists and takes fans on a televised journey, revealing how their most beloved songs were created.

The guests chosen for the series are Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel Miranda, R.E.M. and Ty Dolla $ign. At first glance, these artists and their creations have little in common. Yet, there is one underlying commonality in their operations: feel first, build later.

The core of being an artist is absolute lunacy. It’s to stumble upon something — a feeling — that just works, and to try to deliver it to an audience in a fathomable way. There’s nothing about it that makes any rational sense, and that is precisely what makes it so profound.

Whether you’re a creative yourself or just a music fan, it’s difficult not to be moved by how much genuine passion this series is built with. Besides hosting the podcast and show, Hirway is a musician and composer, and his love for the craft is always evident. He asks questions that are strictly about the music, gives himself as little screen time as possible and ends each episode by playing the song being examined in its entirety. The people who make this show aren’t concerned with cheap

the end of the month. We’ve already seen the harsh effects of the virus on the live music industry as major music venues have closed their doors permanently, including the Majestic Theater in Detroit.

Though artists have some flexibility and creative liberty to find new ways to generate revenue, the closing of live music venues could be devastating to the music industry in the future. Already, artists are competing for spots at venues booking all the way into 2022, making it difficult for up-and-coming artists to catch a break and have the opportunity to perform live. Like everything else we’ve seen through this pandemic, gimmicks. They’re just as big of fans as we are, and they’re dying to get inside the minds that have created such monumental works of art.

Nobody encapsulates that honest love for music more than Alicia Keys. So it makes sense that she was the chosen guest to kick off the show. In her episode, she breaks

“Song Exploder” celebrates the tremendous amount of time, effort and human emotion that goes into everything an artist does, and how insane you have to be to do it. down her 2020 song “3 Hour Drive” which features younger R&B artist Sampha. For Alicia, songwriting is a joyful process. She explains how adding fewer instruments can actually make a song “feel bigger,” a remark that captures the stripped down beauty of her music.

She and Sampha begin by singing out words to a composition, until they finally land on the phrase “three-hour drive.” The small line strikes a chord with both of them for very different reasons. It’s a complete instinct, and they chase it down until they emerge victorious with a full piece.

RCA RECORDS LABEL the music industry is becoming increasingly competitive, and as artists fight for their time on stage, the smaller, less-welloff acts could get left behind or have to work harder to build a following and make those in-person connections with fans.

Yet at the same time, artists have already surprised us with their resilience and creativity when it comes to engaging with audiences, and perhaps the challenges that lie ahead will be opportunities for them to get creative and evolve the music industry as we know it even further.

Daily Arts Writer Kaitlyn Fox can be reached at kjfox@umich.

NETFLIX Podcast-turned-TV show is an ode to artists’ lunacy

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If Alicia’s songwriting process can be described as tender and honest, then Lin-Manuel Miranda’s is completely manic. The brilliant rapper-playwright is a lovable dork, absolutely obsessed with finding just the right feeling. In one of the more memorable moments of the show, he recounts how he thought of the idea for the Hamilton standout song “Wait For It” while riding the train to a friend’s party. While fast-walking through the streets of New York, he quietly and shakily sings the chorus into his phone, hastily trying to get it down. When he arrives at the party, he leaves after half a drink.

Breaking down the intro track to his debut album, Ty Dolla $ign talks about how important the “car test” is to him. He is driven by the need for everything to sound just right, and to do so, he’ll go through five bass players until he finds one he likes. To make a bigger sound on his song “LA,” he spent $75,000 of money he did not have just to hire an orchestra for one part of a single song.

Artists are crazy.

To make something great, you have to be willing to chase down a shapeless idea that may not make sense to anyone else. And you have to be willing to commit to it. There’s no right way to do it. There aren’t any steps to follow that will guarantee you arrive at your destination. To many people, operating in that gray area is terrifying. But to an artist, that pursuit is the only thing worth doing.

“Song Exploder” celebrates the tremendous amount of time, effort and human emotion that goes into everything an artist does, and how insane you have to be to do it well.

Contributor Ben Servetah can be reached at bserve@umich.edu.