Where are the best places to study on campus?

This is a message both for students and members of the community alike about where to study and or hang out on campus.  Students can avoid the boisterous lunges of babies, while community members can escape the sea of 20 something’s filling up every table with papers, computers and coffee.  After two and a half years of going to school on this campus, I label myself a connoisseur of ‘fine studying locations.’

Brainstorming ideas for this weeks writing, the novel idea of writing about an environment where I spend most of my out of class hours would be a great topic for discussion.  Every student on this campus has their special spot where they go to get the juices flowing.  Whether it’s a little nook in the Ugli or smoking a hookah while studying (still not sure how that works) at Rendez-vous, every square foot of this campus is crawling with one student or another just trying to get work done.

Let’s split up the areas on campus conducive for studying into four regions: South U., State St., Main St., and Kerrytown.

The South University area comprises of Starbucks, Rendez-vous, Espresso Royal, Amer’s, the Shapiro Undergraduate Library, the Hatcher Graduate Library, Clements Library, and the Fine Arts library (which is a lovely kept secret).  Here you have two distinct categories, library vs. coffee shop.  The Ugli is indeed ugly, with limited seating, barren walls, and few windows.  Not a conducive learning environment.  The Graduate Library is intense, filled with ornate walls and ceilings, not to mention the numerous grad students working on dissertations and other lofty assignments that turn our 5 page papers to shame.  Personally, I have never been in the Clements library, but I hear it is petite and wonderful.  You should check it out; it probably will be empty, thus quiet.  That is if you like to study in silence.  Another hidden treasure is the Fine Arts Library.  The one level library seems to date back to the 70’s, providing a retro new world.

There are those who like to study in libraries and equally those who are partial to coffee shops.  Some dabble in both I am sure.  If you don’t mind listening to groovy music and others conversations, then Espresso Royal and Starbucks are perfect for you.  Those of you who smoke out there, and hate leaving your work for five minutes (don’t we all) for a cig break, then Rendez-vous is your safe haven.  Lastly for those others who enjoy excellent food and a quieter environment, you may want to try Amer’s.  In the wintertime they have a fire burning, which is quite lovely and also mesmerizing.

Moving SE onto the next quadrant, we come across the State St. wonders.  This area is comprised of solely coffee shops for studying purposes.  I will begin rattling off the list.  There is another Espresso Royal, and yet another Starbucks and Amer’s, and a Boarders.  With the exclusion of Starbucks, all of these places have great vibes (sorry Starbucks lovers).  The Espresso Royal is much quieter than the one on South U. and you can place yourself far into the back of the building where you won’t be bothered by the traffic of the customers.  Similarly, Amer’s is larger than the one on South U., but with this the noise level is higher.  Boarder’s has an amazing environment.  You are able to sit in whatever genre of literature you please and do your work in peace.

Continuing in the SE direction, we come across Main St.  Again there is a Starbucks and Espresso Royal, but these are often filled with community members, thus having more potential for screaming babies. Beware!  A place that my roommates and I really enjoy is Sweetwaters Coffee and Tea.  You feel a bit more removed from campus, which alleviates some of the stress.  It is a quiet environment with yummy treats.

I have not explored Kerrytown as much as the other regions, but they too have a Sweetwaters Coffee and Tea.  If you are close to one of these locations I strongly encourage you to move your studies into this environment.

Let me know where your study hot spots are!

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks.

Have you ever had a day that was so horrible that the extent to which it sucked was astounding? How did you deal? Did you stuff your face with junk food and drown your sorrows in the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Or did you call your friends and bitch to them about your issues? Well readers (aka my parents), this past Friday I experienced the crappiest day of my life and indulged in all the things listed above. I won’t go into the details of what caused the mental breakdown (and lack of good sense regarding the limit of cream puff intake), but suffice to say there were tears, Tiramisu, and tweed. Lots of tweed- specifically of the Chanel kind. That’s right folks- when I get bummed I do some serious window shopping. However, instead of scouring gap.com for five dollar t-shirts, I decided that a good ol’ fashion movie was in order (Key words being fashion and movie). So, chocolate in hand I made my way over to the Michigan Theater to catch a screening of “Coco before Chanel.” I went in thinking the gorgeous dresses and presumably inspirational story about a French woman creating a fashion empire would cheer me up. As usual, I was completely wrong.

I left the theater completely underwhelmed and slightly more irritated than when I had entered. Save for the gorgeous shots of the French countryside and early twentieth century French fashion, the plot lacked a consistent driving force. The film spent much of its run time of 110 minutes building up to a climactic moment that happened far too quickly for anyone to notice. It seemed as if one moment Coco was a poor orphan girl singing in sleazy bars, while the next moment she was showcasing her world famous fashions to Parisian elite. Where was the struggle? Where was the triumph? However, the lack of a steady plot wasn’t the only thing that made this movie frustrating to watch- the entire movie was painfully SLOW. So slow in fact, that at several points during the movie my friend opened up her bag, picked up her cell phone, and began surfing the internet. Just FYI to the directors, producers, etc. of feature films- it’s never a good sign when people are texting while watching your movie and contemplating how much longer this “torture session” will last.

However, if we take away all the superficial aspects of film presentation, there is a deeper, more fundamental problem with the movie “Coco before Chanel.” It was essentially a love story. Call me a pessimist, feminist, or ludicrous, but I couldn’t help but to agree with my friend when she mentioned that the entire film was basically an ode to men- specifically the men in Coco’s life. Through most of the movie, she is seen chasing after men in order to get by. In fact, it isn’t after she meets her boyfriend (more specifically the love of her life) that her career begins. It is also interesting to note that even though she does eventually succeed in her endeavors, the movie ends on a rather depressing note. The first line of the ending narration is that “Coco never married.” Is that what’s really important?! Is the institution of marriage more important than describing the maverick and visionary that Coco was?

Maybe you think I’m overreacting. Maybe I am. Maybe I am just a crazy feminazi who is overly sensitive to cultural images and stressed out from my orgo exam. Or maybe this movie is crap and perpetuates the patriarchal institutions within our society. Take an evening out of your day (hopefully not a crappy one) and see it- let me know what you think 🙂

It had been sitting either on my desk or the coffee table downstairs for about a month before I finally gave it more than a “I’ve got to get to that” thought. I had been receiving e-mail after e-mail about its due date, and being the lazy product of the Internet that I am I simply checked renew instead of making an effort to actually view the film and then walk down to the library to return it. By the end of the month, I could have sworn it was not only following me around the apartment but also growling softly in my ear.

Or maybe making a high pitched “Mmhmm”.

I really should have popped this movie in sooner.

The Dark Crystal is a product of Jim Henson, that amazing mind who came with Muppets Treasure Island, and firmly has a place in cult 80’s children movies like Labyrinth and the Never Ending Story trilogy.

The plots are never award worthy, but they have their moments of such absurdity that you cannot help but love them. For example, The Dark Crystal’s trial for emperor is not a fight to the death, but rather a test to see who can make the biggest dent in a rock. And in Labyrinth, who doesn’t laugh a the line “Your mother is an aardvark!”. Things in the 80’s were just so out there, hair included, that you can only raise an eyebrow and laugh.

But what really made this movie for me was the sets. I’ve never seen anything so elaborate. Okay, so Middle Earth is drop dead gorgeous and Hogwarts is jaw dropping, but a lot of the sets are natural or done digitally. Sometimes even with paints.

The forest in the Dark Crystal thrums with life that come straight out of a think tank of seven year olds, and it all moves. It’s a real, working set and the details just blows me away. Nothing like it is seen in movies today and it almost saddens me because it’s such a great work of art. And then of course I think of how just how beautiful the Transformers are and think not is all lost in this digital age.

What also got me during Henson’s movie was the puppets. The entire cast is composed of them, and yet there are moments when they move so fluidly in full body shots you can’t help but pause in following the narrative and think, how does that work?

And the detail! You can see in every wrinkle of skin, every sunken scab, every exoskeleton dent that it’s obvious much time, effort, and money went into constructing them. How can you not love a movie that pays so much attention to the details? Everything is taken care of and watched closely. As amusing as catching the tiny out of place details in other movies is, it’s nice to know that some film crews love their work so much that they make sure everything is perfect. True artists if you ask me.

Your 80’s fanatic,

Jenny

♫How high does the Sycamore grow? If you cut it down, you’ll never know♪

Ah, Disney songs. There are few things in life that give me as great pleasure as blasting them from my laptop and singing along, or move me as much, bringing back so many memories. I know, I know, am I so obsessed with Disney that I would be a Disney princess for Halloween then speak about it again in this post?

Well, yes… I won’t deny that I do love Disney. For all of its big corporation characteristics, its unrealistic and unattainable childhood dreams so deeply inculcated within us since our births, its stereotypical and standardized representations of different people, its formulaic story lines, I love Disney. That is to say, the old Disney. The old Disney where we cheered on the mice as they sewed ribbon onto Cinderella’s pink ball gown; where we urged Prince Eric to kiss Ariel then cringed with their boat got turned over; where we became fearful as Jafar gained power and made everything his in the kingdom. Where we learned life lessons of looking beyond appearances in Beauty and the Beast, to ignore social class distinctions in Aladdin, to keep fighting for love in Hercules, to keep an open mind about others in Pocahontas. Where we learned how to be strong even as a woman from Mulan, to pray and care for others in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, to be a leader and take responsibility in The Lion King. These are the morals taught by such movies.

What are Disney movies like nowadays? They’re filled with fodder for teenyboppers, featuring favorite artists like Hannah Montana and talking about everyday life and everyday things sometimes not befit for children. There are little clear moral values and lessons, there are no inspirational and scene-fitting songs. There lacks the sweet simplicity of childhood movies and in its stead is a complicated plot involving love triangles, dating mishaps and disobedient children. It just isn’t the same.

I’m afraid for the future generations. Those children who won’t know who Aladdin is or what Mulan did for her family. Those who don’t grow up having learned the tragedies that sometime overtake a family, like in The Lion King, or those who don’t understand the importance of painting with the colors of the wind (of course, highly metaphorical). Kids don’t seem to learn from the media anymore. When they do learn, it’s about boys and makeup and dating; it’s about how to skip class or make peanut butter sandwiches. It’s not about the broader life-integral lessons anymore, it’s about the normal day-to-day things.

While, yes, many academics have made the case for culture being the ordinary, perhaps the media industry takes that too far in this day and age, using this as an excuse to just produce the same formulaic, unstimulating fodder for an audience who no longer uses its ability to critically think or function. Where, because what is portrayed on the screen are the everyday images we are used to, we stop analyzing or critiquing them in an edifying manner. We don’t really learn anything. At least these Disney movies, as removed from reality as they were, still managed to teach us core values still inherent and relevant in society today, and which we carry within our hearts to this day.

It makes me sad to know that these movies ended with my generation. I think we were at the peak of the cycle of awesome Disney films and of course, as the crest has ended, so has the trough come. Maybe I’m being nostalgic, but I’m also speaking the truth. Greater inspiration will seldom be found than from great old Disney movies.

—–

Gabby Park likes to wear maroon tights and go swinging in the playground.

It’s a rare occasion for all of the three roommates that live in our home to gather themselves into some semblance of synchrony and sit down for a proper dinner in the dining hall. Because phenomena like this are few and far between, we decide it is all too appropriate to indulge in dessert and coffee following the generous helpings of exquisite dormitory cuisine. But alas, the perspiring lemon tarts, shrugging in a fatigued melancholy under the unflattering fluorescent lights looked as appealing as a hot poker to the eye. And alas, the community coffee holder was depleted of its contents. I had lost all my dignity while stubbornly and furiously depressing the button in hopes that by sheer force — by my superior cognitive and muscular might— some secret compartment within the device might open and coffee would, in a sudden happy deluge, spill forth into the awaiting cup. This did not occur.

To compromise for this setback, we decided upon a Plan. But before I divulge the details of the Plan, a little background information may be appropriate.

While one of my roommates is typically home, diligently learning two foreign languages and intermittently bending completely out of shape in the name of economics, the other one is mysteriously absent from her one-third of the room. Only between the odd hours of 1 and 5 am do we ever chance upon to hear the lock click and subsequently see a dark, disheveled, abstraction emerge silently from hallway. We have already crawled under our covers and we are now rubbing our eyes in sheer exhaustion and half-conscious confusion from reading an excess of cryptic Middle English. Because my brain emphatically demands sleep and possibly also because I am myopic, the construct of this nebulous silhouette diffracts and then liquefies into complete and utter incoherence.

The next morning, we find evidence of her presence by the chaotic array of blankets and enigmatic imprint of a body within the fabric. But for all we knew, she had vanished to the distant outposts of infinity.

This is the life of an Art and Design student living on central campus.

Now, you see, the Plan involved ascertaining that this roommate of ours was in fact still enrolled at the UM Art and Design School and not frolicking about on North Campus, engaging in an array of boisterous tomfoolery of which we had not been invited to. She happily conceded to our request to view her projects and so, on a Friday night tinged with the slight bite of the November air, we made our way to The Land of the Engineers and Artists and entered the Art and Design headquarters.

We immediately found that she had obviously not been engaging in boisterous tomfoolery and were quite taken aback at the talent of our peers whose works, poised tactfully behind glass, invited, and on occasion even, stole our attention. The reasoning behind her extended absences was explained in the series of cases, the manifolds of studios and workshops holding student art. The sheer weight of the ideas, the manifestations of complex and meticulous concepts combined with earnest workmanship, strained the architecture of the building.

After some preliminary perusal, she brought us to one of her pieces that she had worked on with a group in her multi-medium class: a school of fish cut from copper and held together by the continuity of their collective three dimensionality and the aquatic, streamlined body shapes they shared. Concurrently, each creature glimmered in its individual undulations to and fro creating patterns of shadows and playing with the physics of light to create a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing piece. Although anchored to the wall, it nevertheless suggested the concept of motion.

To continue the tour, she brought us to an art classroom where her most recent group project – the culprit responsible for her currently sleep-deprived state – stood in all its glory and casting sharp, impressive streaks of shadow on the concrete floor. We decided it was well worth the cost of one night’s slumber. The paper architectural framework appeared to burst in outrage; a tangible interpretation of an exclamatory, willing its viewer to come forth and inspect its integrity. (Interestingly, the work appeared to have toppled in exhaustion of its persistent visual strength, and needed the temporary bolstering of a chair.)

We eventually scoured most of the building. Every corner that we turned in the Art and Design building, we encountered more creations by students at our school – artists that would continue the revolution of visual art, define aesthetic appeal and cultivate notions of beauty in our era. They would do this, in exchange for coming home to their roommates, and in exchange for turning in for the night. There is no such thing as suspension of consciousness in their endeavors.

Sue majors in Neuroscience & English and tends to lurk in bookstores.

If you are a person interested in any aspect of your present day life, then Current TV is perfect for you.  Current is a station through Comcast..yes, I know Comcast is the bane of your existence, but at least is offers Current, which highlights important and prevalent stories that are not discussed in the popular media.  Those of you out there who have escaped the devilish workings of Comcast, kudos to you, but don’t fret, like everything else you can find Current on the Internet.  Here you can watch episodes from Current TV, read articles, listen to music, and respond like a blogger would to any one or more of these mediums.

If you are one of those people, like myself, who feel guilty about relaxing and watching TV, Current alleviates that guilt because this information is essential to your growth and knowledge of the world and its events.  So please, relax.

It provides a gateway to the most abundant and versatile newsroom I have ever seen.

A few of my favorite Current shows are Vanguard, Embedded, and Max and Jason: Still Up.  Other shows include The Rotten Tomatoes Show, Current Vitals, Current Tonight, Supernews, and infoMania.  Vanguard is on Wednesday nights at 10 pm and follows a journalist as he or she uncovers worldwide issues.  A couple of the episodes I have seen explore both national and international drug wars, making you aware of some heavy issues going on around the world.

So for those of you reading this statement that have known about Current for years, and thus are snickering at my slow uptake skills, I apologize for the cultural redundancy.  On the other hand, those of you who are reading about Current as a foreign notion, I strongly urge you to go turn on your TV or sit at your laptop and allow Current to open your eyes to the untold stories of your world.

You can find Current at current.com

Enjoy!

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks