Fun squirrel fact – squirrels have amazing spatial memories, which they use to recall the location of the nuts they bury. This week, we learn that Jun is a little too obsessed with stashing food – just in case.
Category: Uncategorized
poco piano: home
This is the second movement of the Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata. I was able to come home this week and celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents. This is one of those comforting pieces that remind me of home. I remember playing it as a child and it really just has a nostalgic quality to it. Kind of like a big comfy and plush armchair next to the fireplace. Somewhere to sink into and enjoy.
Looking Forward: APG Presents
Hey arts, ink readers!
Happy Friday! I hope you’ve all had a chance to recharge over the break, whether you celebrated Turkey Day or not. The holidays look a little different this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make the best out of them and still find ways to connect to friends and family (albeit virtually).
This week I had the chance to talk to Katie Lorenz, a member of APG (Arbor Promotion Group) Presents, about how the org is adapting to the year as well as how she views the arts scene on campus acclimating to the health and safety guidelines. Read on to learn more!
Founded in 2018, APG Presents is one of the more recent groups to enter the music scene on campus. They have two main focuses: producing and promoting live events, and helping students in the organization with professional development. In a typical year, they help put on shows at Necto and other venues around campus, bring in speakers from the industry to talk to members of their organization or the larger UofM community, and help with resumes, internship searches, and interview prep. They currently have over 50 members, with leadership opportunities for those interested in learning more hands-on about the industry.
This year, APG Presents has had to pivot, as all of us have, but they’ve done a great job of maintaining much of their usual programming. They’ve moved their weekly meetings to be virtual, as well as their professional development programs. Their live music events have also been moved virtual, but have been able to shift to include things like artist Q&As as well. Katie explained that, although it’s obviously a bummer that they can’t all be together and produce their normal concerts, there have been bright sides to the changes, too. “Virtual experiences do a great job for [these] events of bringing people to us who might not have been able to, like, fly to us directly, people all across the world… So I think that’s been working in our favor kind of this year.” If you’ve read other posts from Looking Forward, this is a theme that a lot of people have come to notice over the pandemic – the musical theatre department, the Shapiro Design Lab, and now APG Presents. The limitations of geographical barriers seem to be non-existent now, and it will be interesting to see if that trend continues once things start returning to “normal”.
I also asked Katie to share her thoughts on the state of the arts on campus right now. She told me that she sees creativity and the
way that arts organizations on campus have expressed themselves during this time as being really interesting – people are finding new ways to commit to their ideas and what they stand for. One example she brought up is the UMMA showing support for the Black Lives Matter Movement. If you’ve walked by the UMMA recently, you may have noticed that half of it is covered in stitched-together canvas sacks. This is by artist Ibrahim Mahama and is meant to “[celebrate] the often-invisible labor of Black and brown people behind global exchange and commerce while acknowledging the troubling histories of colonialism and slavery in the Western world,” (from the UMMA website). Personally, I found this interesting because although I had walked by this installation many times, I didn’t really understand what it was saying. Katie’s comment reminded me that there is always something to uncover about the arts on campus, always something new to experience, and that gives me a lot of hope for the year ahead.
If you’d like to learn more about APG Presents and stay up-to-date on their future events, be sure to follow their Instagram @APGPresents and their LinkedIn page. If you’re interested in joining the organization, you can email Talia Rizika at trizika@umich.edu.
If you wanna read more about the UMMA installation I mentioned, you can check it out here.
That’s all from me this week. I hope you have an amazing rest of your week and stay safe!
Lucy
Spotlight: Ann Arbor Small Businesses!
In the spirit of Black Friday and holiday shopping, I thought it would be appropriate to share a few of my personal favorite Ann Arbor small businesses. It’s especially hard this season for local businesses to survive during Covid, so think about shopping small this winter. Whether for a gift or for yourself, I say, treat yourself!
Literati Bookstore – book heaven.
Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room – eclectic, cozy, and pleasantly surprising.
Bivouac – for your granola friends.
FOUND – lovely things you didn’t know you needed.
Rock Paper Scissors – ultimate whimsy, in the best way.
Vault of Midnight – anything and everything comics and board game related.
Olympia Skate Shop – the best place in A2 for skateboard goods and streetwear.
Comet Coffee – sweet bevs and cute shirts at the cutest little shop in Nickels Arcade.
Roos Roast Coffee – tasty blends with great branding (order a gift card before December 1st to benefit the homeless shelter!)
Bløm Meadworks – delicious drinks and awesome merch.
Detroit Street Filling Station – two words: buffalo cauliflower.
“Mile-Long Mixtapes”: Ep. #2
“Mile-Long Mixtapes”: Ep. #2
Screenshots of November
by Kellie M. Beck
Smooth Sailin’ // Leon Bridges
Attic floorboards sing along to voices like velvet. Sock-footed, freshly showered, we know the winter is nipping at our heels– so we dance faster to evade its grasp, razor-thin November edges, frost on the skylight crystallized in the dawn. We light fires inside till our cheeks grow rosy and we sweat our brows. Pick up the pace and ride out the light of the year.
Cigarettes and Coffee // Otis Redding
She had grown beautiful in the approachable way we all wished we were– the beauty that comes when someone realizes just how lovely they are. She had grown teeth over the fall, the trees turning to flames in her mere presence.
Sunday Kind of Love // Etta James
The window nearest to my bed can’t close completely. In the summer, when the heat of the day suffocates the attic, it’s more than welcome. Now the cold emanates off of it and gnaws at my ears in the morning. My roommate thinks we should put a blanket over it at night. Tucking in the cold.
Bring It On Home // Sam Cooke
Growing up, my family never had a real kitchen table and chairs. It was a folding table that was a little bit broken, both sides of it dipping towards the middle hinge. We crowded six folding metal chairs around it. We had a dining room, but we mostly used the room to put things we didn’t know what else to do with there.
My mother just bought a proper kitchen set and chairs. Last spring, they redid the front garden of the house. New trimmings for an empty nest.
Jealous Guy // Donny Hathaway
They whisper briefly to each other, two planets orbiting throughout the room on different axes, briefly crossing each other’s way and sharing in a brief conversation, only to move away from each other once more.
She can feel the heat of his gaze on the nape of her neck. A blithe passing hand on her waist, a fresh drink, a secret in her ear.
