Author: jbaz

At 216 N 4th Avenue, you will find a place called Cafe Verde. When you walk through the door and step inside, there’s a painting on your righthand side.

At first glance, it seems like chaos. As you stare at it, you will see the lines and blots come together in patterns. We may see similar patterns in our lives. Close analysis of a day in the life may look like absolute madness. Seeing how each streak makes up an organized whole gives insight as to why the seemingly insignificant streaks exist.

Artists are perhaps the greatest teachers for seeing things as a whole. While they pay attention to detail, they also demonstrate the ability to tie individual elements seamlessly into a larger whole. Details are not negligible, certainly. Those are what set a piece apart from others. Reading into them can be fun and thought provoking. Stepping back from those details and seeing how they influence the grand scheme of the image may allow you to see a completely different image.

Sometimes, I catch myself getting impatient, wondering why something about this day occurred, how it plays into my future, which strand in all the chaos it represents. While I cannot see the overall masterpiece that my life paints in this very moment, I can trust that all the loose ends will meet in the end. For now, enjoy the puzzling parts of life, don’t linger on that strand long, for there are so many other lines to explore.

In undergrad, it’s about time that you start narrowing in on a major that will determine the rest of your life. Now is the time when you decide which direction you want to go. If you take x class, it will look good on z application and help you get into y school. If you waste anytime, you’ll fall behind your colleagues and lessen your chances of succeeding in that field. The sooner you decide the better. Talk to this person to network for this job. Get a paid internship, but also volunteer, stay healthy and fit, make friends, be home for your family, be in class for your grades…

This is the overwhelming expectation for college students.

Back up to that first sentence. How are we supposed to know what we want to do for the rest of our life when we can’t decide simplest things in life, like what we want to eat for breakfast? At Angelo’s, we change our minds on what we want to eat for breakfast moments before we order our food, even after it’s in front of us. We will be hungry for breakfast tomorrow so why does it matter what we eat now? We exchange opinions, randomly select through “eeny, meeny, miny, moe”, take table surveys…all to decide what to order. Even if there is a general consensus, we still might change our minds.

Some of you are lucky enough to have a favorite menu item on which you set our minds even before you know you are going to Angelo’s. Not once have you ordered another meal or merely given a glance at the rest of the menu. You order the same reuben every single time because it’s good and you like it. Easy…like choosing a career. Some kids have grown up knowing what they wanted to do, and they follow the plan with unwavering confidence. They may have tried other things they did not fancy. Maybe they are content staying in their comfort zone. That is perfectly okay. However, a problem arises when you block out the potential options or even worse, you neglect your desire to explore out of fear.

Why are you afraid?

Something was once concrete, certain, and so close to real. You labored over the planning to reach an endpoint and fulfill a reason. The moment you change your mind, all that planning seems worthless….is it really worthless?

Let’s go back to Angelo’s. One day, you finally open the menu. You decide to try the salmon eggs benedict. Turns out, the salmon eggs benedict is the greatest food you have ever tasted. Instead of just knowing how the reuben tastes, you now also know how the salmon eggs benedict tastes. Think of the different samplings as insight to other walks of life. If you decide you don’t want to go to law school, there is no force holding you back from following what you really want to do other than your own dogged determination. How do you overcome that stubbornness? OPEN THE FREAKING MENU.

So again, I question: “We will be hungry for breakfast tomorrow, so why does it matter what we eat now?” No matter what you eat at Angelo’s, your stomach will be full, and the hunger will be satisfied, but did you enjoy your experience at Angelo’s? Like the hunger, the stress of selecting a career will pass. What matters, were you satisfied with your time spent as you worked towards a career? When you can answer yes, this is when you know you will go back to Angelo’s…and when you have found your career.

At 112 W. Washington Street, Cafe Zola encompasses the ideal artistic qualities of an Ann Arbor restaurant. From the outstanding salmon crepe presented beautifully on my plate to the brick walls decorated with abstract portraits. I could ramble about how perfectly proportioned and delicious my food was, I will gear my focus on the thoughts that the paintings provoked.

The figures showed creative expressions with exaggerated features that captured their unique personalities. While the people look different from one another in each of the painting, they all began as the same white canvas surface that later acquired layers and layers of color. That blank surface on which we all begin is our potential, our ground, the foundation upon which we build ourselves. We have the freedom to chose whatever colors we want on our canvas. For the most part, people look relatively similar when really this exterior is merely a house for the colorful soul that lies beneath the outer layer. These portraits help surface that color brewing under the skin, making it easier to see others for those colors instead of how they appear.

How do we surface these colors? Is it through clothes or extracurriculars? Friends or classes? These things are our valiant attempt to express ourselves. It is not necessary these things that define us, but rather the fact that we made the choice to associate them with our identites. You are not just “the girl with the green jacket,” the club president, a roommate, or a major. These are only tangible features that tap into who you are. While your character is represented with the colors on the canvas, these are simply the shades of the color.

What if we saw each other as a portrait? We would see that we come from the same beginning. While everybody has his or her mark of originality splashed atop the goat skin, no matter what is displayed on the painting, we are all equal.

The Hungarian short film directed by Kristof Deak “Sing” explores the life of a young Zsofi as she transitions to her new school. Amongst the stress of the adjustment, she finds comfort in the her love of singing. This happiness is quickly denied when the choir director Miss Erika tells her to mime the music. Zsofi and her friend Liza scheme a way to expose the malicious nature of the revered teacher.

While the short film peers through the lens of the sweet, timid Zsofi, Liza has the same degree of significance in the story. Sometimes the main character isn’t always the conductor of the story. It’s not the person standing in the limelight that drives the plot, but often the people who place the spotlight on them who have anchor roles in the production. Because of the limelight’s ample advertising, we might find ourselves accrediting the center of attention such as the main actress, the highest scoring player, the wealthiest entrepreneur. With that being said, these publicized roles are not greater nor lesser than the more subtle roles; they are equal. Every element of the work forms a network with elements dependent upon one another, bringing them to their maximum potentials. As Liza helps Zsofi find her voice. Zsofi helps Liza harness her leadership skills. Besides the context of the entertainment industry, someone who brings out the best in another demonstrates the ideal friend. Although Liza is highly regarded as a vocalist and seemingly unaffected by Miss Erika’s maltreatment, she initiates the movement to bring justice to those who are afflicted. In this short film, Liza encompasses all the qualities of a good friend. Someone who takes your concerns as his or her own to attest to your best being, who seeks to understand why you are not acting yourself, who will not let you be defeated by a challenge…that’s a good friend.

Overseeing it all, the excellence was made possible by director Kristóf Deák and his team. This is why I greatly appreciate the Short Film Academy Awards; those behind camera are put in the spotlight.

German artist Otto Dix expresses themes about religion and sex in his piece “The Nun.” This oil on cardboard is displayed in the MoMa in New York, New York. The viewer’s eyes are drawn to the center of the piece where the focus is a nun, weeping and heavy hearted. On her right is Jesus Christ nailed to the cross with blood streaming down his body. On her left is a naked woman cradling her child in the womb. The nun has devoted her life to her religion for a divine relationship with Jesus Christ and therefore has given up all worldly relationships. Her commitment to the church prohibits any sexual experiences or nakedness. No longer will she be able to bear children of her own or hold them as the naked woman holds her child. She clothes herself in the heavy cloak of her conventual obligations. The black lines resembling flying buttresses on a massive cathedral surrounding her represent the isolation she feels from a life of passion and romance while she remains obedient to the church.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

-Walt Disney