I recently watched The Miseducation of Cameron Post at the State Theatre earlier this month, and it helped me realize the importance of representation.
Based on the 2012 novel by Emily Danforth, the film chronicles the story of a teenage girl forced into conversion therapy after being caught with a her female friend on prom night. The main character, Cameron, has a hard time adjusting to the strict camp, whose directors enforce intolerant ideals, one such ideal being that homosexuality can be cured. However, Cameron finds solidarity amongst the other teenage “sinners” and they are able to have each other in times of crisis.
Although the film was only 90 minutes, and focused on only one part of the novel, I still found it to be powerful. The coming-of-age story features a bright young cast and moments of raw honesty, whether it be a funny joke or dark violence. The cast also features several actors of color, and of course centers on an issue faced by the LGBT+ community. It was enlightening to see this movie and actors representing pressing issues. For adolescents, I believe it is especially important to see stories in which people like you are represented.
I would strongly recommend people to watch The Miseducation of Cameron Post, best viewed with close friends. I hope the future of storytelling in film continues to emphasize representation in order to raise awareness of significant societal challenges and identities.
With the rise of popularity of the Broadway Musical Hamilton for the past several years, the entire Broadway community has gained more popularity. While Hamilton was one of Lin Manuel Miranda’s first musicals, there are several other composers and playwrights that have created hit after Broadway hit for decades. The most popular of these composers is Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Webber was born in London in 1948, and has been composing since 1965. His two most famous musicals are the Phantom Of The Opera, and Cats. He has also composed Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, School of Rock, Sunset Boulevard, and Starlight Express. Most of his most popular work, like Phantom of the Opera, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat were filmed and made into DVD’s. They were filmed as a Broadway musical using the stage and sets from when they performed on Broadway, they just did not have an audience during the filming. Another musical of Webber’s musicals that got made into a movie was School of Rock. The School of Rock movie was different from the other two movies that were made because School of Rock was not filmed on a stage. It was filmed on a movie set, the movie was a film adaptation of the musical, whereas the other movies were just recorded versions of the Broadway shows.
All of his movies have some famous actors in them. Johnny Osmond played Joseph in the movie of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Jack Black was the main character in the movie adaptation of School of Rock. Webber has a new movie adaptation that is in the works. The movie rendition of his famous musical Cats is casting right now. Cats is set to star several famous actors and singers such as Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, and Taylor Swift. Webber has been a big face in creating and composing musicals since the 1970s and he is not going anywhere soon.
taubman courtyard lights at sunset photographed exclusively by @themichiganarchitect instagram
Apparently it has only been a month since college had first started back up. Yet, how do I feel so beat already? Is it me? Or is it my habits that are the issue?
I have spoken to many classmates and friends, and they’ve all given various responses as to how they feel at this moment of the semester. Some are super chill, living their life as they’d like to. Others are just barely scraping by, rarely showering, eating, and (if they’re lucky) sleeping. So, what’s the diversity from? Do some people just work or study more efficiently or something that others, or is it just mostly because of the different scheduling due to major and types of classes?
Ya’ll know I’m gonna say that it will most likely be a mixture of both.
Like they all say, “everyone is different.” Even with the academic motivations, skills, and level of stress.
Of course, as college students, we are constantly learning from every experience of our everyday lives, and our brains are still developing, constantly rewiring new skills, and deleting past ones sometimes.
So, “what’s the point of this post?” you may ask.
Well, it’s more of an opinionated informative piece on this topic.
Sometimes, it is the most simple, mundane things in life that we should be most interested in taking time to improve. Not necessarily asking you to re-learn how to brush your teeth (though I’m sure it would be useful with the amount of cavities and oral issues college students commonly have), but maybe taking time to re-evaluate ourselves fairly. I was once asked by a friend of mine, “How do you evaluate your self worth? Is it through your work? Or is it through your aspirations for your work? (work as in course assignments)?” I’d had a hard time putting together the words of my thought at the time, but as short as the question was, it holds a lot of weight and definition in life.
As an architecture student, we are constantly taught how to re-see spaces, tap into our imaginations, and look deepx
into mundane topics for the sparks of our project ideas. As great as that may be for our creativity and model-making skills, how does this system of education support our own mental worth? I suppose it is similar in other fields as well, but I feel that at least in design (art and architecture and anything in that general sector), lessons can be easily taken to the heart.
Our projects are born from our minds, our thoughts, and may even pull from memories for structure. Furthermore, our projects are essentially our life during the semester; if I’m not in bed or showering, I am literally always at my studio cranking out the construction of my models. This accounts for the stress, and constant anxiety around grades and competition. In studio, surrounded by countless talented folks working just as hard as you, it really is hard not to look around and see a battlefield. (Not to mention, there are moments of literal bloodshed when you find your exacto knife had slipped right into your skin at 2am.) And, for those who struggle with even just formulating an idea, or the lack of knowledge of construction techniques, studio sometimes feels like a place to prove yourself, and create your self worth through educational struggles. But, the best part is yet to come. So, you’ve spent the whole week being antisocial, rarely eating, scarcely sleeping, or even showering, and your project is finally finished, yay! Now, it’s time for the review, where your professor and a few guest critics come and evaluate your work and give feedback publicly after you present. For many, reviews make or break the ego. If it goes well, our ego soars, we feel at the top of the world. If the review is mortifying, we feel embarrassed, and worthless, and like a total failure for “wasting” so much time and hope during the construction process. Then, the next project is assigned, and we gotta do it all over again…
The point is, life does suck sometimes, and we are all allowed to set our own standards and have our own habits. It’s just that I wanted to say that we need to still recognize our own strengths through all of this, and NOT place our self worth into our works’ products. Just because you worked hard, doesn’t guarantee you will score an A in the course, or show that you’re the most intelligent or talented or something. Working hard builds character, an essential pillar to being a person. Learning slowly but surely transports you from crappy to excellent. Likewise, your portfolio, which I am sure that you definitely took the time and effort to make it look presentable and illustrate your best works, is definitely not an accurate representation of who you are; a portfolio is simply a visual attempt for employers to get to know you better in terms of your personality and style and technical abilities. With that said, just try your best to create your portfolio, and I want to remind yourself that the only person you should be battling in this process is yourself. Don’t look at your neighbor’s project, look at your own, and learn off of your mistakes. It is not fair to compare yourself to others when you do not share experience in your backgrounds, and then try to compare your results.
To all my fellow Wolverine designers and dreamers out there, keep shooting for the stars, and I know you’ll land there 🙂
This summer I began running. Mostly, I ran from my problems. But I also took up running because I wanted to go places or more specifically, to revisit places. On particularly motivated mornings, I would roll out of bed, lace up my torn sneakers, relish in the fresh air, and start jogging. But the air would always feel a tad bit hot, the sneakers always needed to be adjusted, and my legs always cramped at the just the wrong time. So, I usually found myself stopping mere minutes into my grand exercise intentions.
It would never do to return home in shame and humiliation, though. The thirty minutes allotted to exercise was instead spent wandering into suburban neighborhoods. That was when I realized something amazing. When you walk, your body hates you a lot less than when you run. I began to enjoy the quietly watered lawns, the perfect peace of an empty sidewalk. There was no more pounding blood or pulsating lungs. Only lazy strolls and the occasional passing smile. I even appreciated the indistinguishable nature of the houses. Each one had their own pleasantly framed windows, their own shade of grey or blue, and white door. But occasionally, I meandered into the strange and unfinished.
These were the neighborhoods that were still under construction.
Without the affable shells of paint and shingling, they more resembled the outlines that I would scrawl in kindergarten than a home. Knowing this, the builders always posted a rendering, a peek at future glory. A rendering is never bright. That would be entirely too crass. No, a rendering should be lightly shaded, the lines should have the texture of a sketch. A rendering is vague, but the sun is always shining in a rendering, so we cease to notice the other details. The best characteristic of a rendering is that it diverts your attention from the messiness of actual construction. It skips to the neatness when all the splinters have been hidden by wallpaper brick. Once finished, the houses would be as pleasantly smooth as all the rest. The flatness of a rendering imprinted onto the real world. Eventually, though, I was forced leave the calm of the suburbs for the chaos of campus.
Here there is no building alike and no discernible theme or pattern to unify them. Ross is different than Mason is different than West Hall. It scared me when I first came to Ann Arbor. The mess of navigating everywhere. The only similarity is the endless construction. No matter where I am, there seems to be an obsession with building and rebuilding. As soon as one thing is finished, we find an excuse to improve something else. And ultimately it is the same reason that I came to the University of Michigan despite the jumble. It was because I had a rendering of myself. Myself finally finishing a run. Myself getting a job. But what can I do? I am still under construction.
Having discovered DIY music last year, I was fascinated by the dreamy, synth-filled ballads of young artists like Clairo and Gus Dapperton. Alternatively called bedroom pop, DIY music has proliferated through Spotify and Soundcloud. The subgenre is defined by lo-fi, somewhat psychedelic music that musicians create (some out of the comfort of their own bedroom). Often, the individual artist sings, records, and produces themselves, hence the title. There is something very honest, compelling, and intimate about this approach to music DIY artists take.
Notably, Clairo’s music video for “Pretty Girl,” produced in 30 minutes in 2017, garnered millions of views, skyrocketing the success of the now 19 year old singer. Her soft, but thoughtful vocals complement the groovy digital beats present in her songs. Now, she headlines tours and festivals, all while being a college student. Clairo’s discovery has also directed attention at similar artists, who don’t restrict themselves to a certain style of music. Instead, they experiment with production and borrow from alternative, indie, pop, rock, and hip hop influences. Some significant artists in the scene are Rex Orange County, Yellow Days, Kevin Abstract, and Cosmo Pyke. Clairo has recently collaborated with some of these musicians, including Cuco and Jakob Ogawa.
It will be intriguing to see how DIY music evolves. For bedroom pop aficionados, the real, raw direction that artists take are one of the best parts of this unique genre. Artists focus on producing exciting, personal music projects that don’t simply produce for mass audiences, but still sound good. I, for one, will be on the lookout for fresh new talent, and how this genre continues to affect the music industry.
Detroit has been a hub of activity in the state of Michigan since the state was formed. Like all big cities in the US, there are a lot of events that are constantly going on in Detroit. Everyday there is some form of sporting event, conference, and concert. Detroit has an abundance of concert venues from The Detroit Opera House to the Fox Theatre. The newest venue is the Little Caesars Arena that is the hockey stadium for the Red Wings and also doubles as an event center. Little Caesars has replaced the Joe Louis Arena for the home of the Red Wings and for a concert venue.
The Joe Louis Arena was built in 1979 and replaced the Detroit Olympia. The Joe Louis Arena was the 2nd oldest hockey arena in the U.S. with only Madison Square Garden being older. The Arena hosted many other things besides just hockey games. They hosted figure skating competitions, basketball games and tournaments, and concerts. In 1980, the Palace of Auburn was built and had taken over a lot of the concerts that the Joe Louis Arena used to hold.
The Little Caesars Arena opened in September 2017. It succeeded both the Joe Louis Arena and the Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings and the home of the Detroit Pistons. Like both the Palace and the Joe Louis Arena, the Little Caesars arena is also a concert venue, and it is now the only of the three venues that hosts concerts as well. The Arena has a capacity of 22,000 for concerts, 20,000 for basketball games, and 19,000 for hockey games. This is bigger than the Joe Louis Arena by about 1,000 seats.
As Detroit grows and the sports teams become more popular, the stadiums and arenas increase in size. The transition from the Joe Louis Arena to the Little Caesars arena is a perfect example of this because not only is the Little Caesars Arena bigger than the Joe Louis Arena, it also has newer amenities and a newer look.
