The UMMA auditorium was a beautiful venue for Value the Voice. Each storyteller had a different color spotlight which seemed almost hand-picked for the stories they shared. The theme for this event was “The Shoulders of Giants” and each storyteller had a very different kind of giant in their life. The stories were both heartbreaking and uplifting as I had expected going into this event. The fact that this event was put on by the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and the Comprehensive Studies Program meant that the crowd was on the smaller side but very tight-knit with many of the crowd members knowing each other. It was obvious which storytellers were community figures based on the vigor with which the crowd screamed and cheered when they were announced.
The first story was bathed in bright pink and centered around a freshman’s experience with her mother’s body dysmorphic disorder. She told us about a life with two mothers, one that was absent in some ways but present in many others. Her mother’s disorder often prevented her from attending school events or even leaving the house in general and sometimes led to conversations spoken through doors due to her anxiety with being seen. However, she was always present in her daughter’s life in one way or another whether it was through the lunches she packed for her everyday or being the first person to hug her after graduating from high school.
Another story that resonated with me was the second to last story about a senior’s experience losing many of her giants. She described growing up in Detroit, working Saturday’s at her family’s Eastern Market flower stand, and the friends and family that she made in this community. She told of the teacher that bought a bouquet every weekend and paid for her and her brother to go to a dinner with Trayvon Martin’s parents and a local businessman with a roll of cash that always tipped her and her brother separately so they didn’t have to split it with the shop. The storyteller later shared that she had lost all of these giants she talked of so fondly. The most heartbreaking part of her story was about a dear friend that she described as her soulmate (in a non-romantic way) and his suicide only a year or so prior. As her voice faltered with the emotion of the loss she shared the crowd snapped in support carrying her through to the end. Despite all this loss, she told us of the airplane earrings she wore to remember her friend who had wanted to be a pilot and the fact that she would be graduating this Spring.
Value the Voice is the perfect name for this event as that is what it promotes, putting value in the stories and wisdom of our community members and allowing us to create supportive spaces where we can share with and learn from others.
PREVIEW: Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners
The Prison Creative Arts Project is putting on its 24th Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners as of March 20th going until April 3rd on North Campus in the Duderstadt Center Gallery. The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) is a University of Michigan collective composed of students, faculty and staff, and community members that are passionate about connecting the Umich community and those affected by the justice system in artistic collaboration. Their members included both youth and adults that are currently in detention facilities and have past experience in the carceral system. Students and faculty members participating in PCAP visit correctional facilities across the state of Michigan every year to collaborate with prisoners on their art, promote art communities in correctional facilities, and select pieces to display in the annual exhibition. PCAP is centered on the fundamental value that anyone can create art and using the connections art can build to create bonds and foster learning between its participants. This art exhibit is one of the biggest of its kind in the country and is continuing to expand. This year PCAP will be offering audio commentary in conjunction with the exhibit which visitors can access with their phones. Further, PCAP has partnered with the local restaurant, Detroit Filling Station, where they had their launch party. Beyond the dates of the exhibit in Duderstadt’s gallery, pieces from this collection will be on rotating display in Detroit Filling Station to further engage the community in their project. I’m excited to see this exhibit and experience the ways experience in the carceral system affects artistic work.
Image courtesy of the PCAP website.
PREVIEW: The 39 Steps
A raucous reimagining of Hitchcock’s thriller (which requires no prior knowledge of Hitchcock to enjoy), The 39 Steps comes to Ann Arbor courtesy of the RC Players, who will perform this comically thrilling (and thrillingly comic) play March 22nd and 23rd at the Keene Theater in East Quad. Suggested ticket price is $5.
PREVIEW: Haley Heynderickx
A gentle yet powerful force took the stage of Hill Auditorium for a quick set on the first night of Folk Festival, and now she returns to The Ark for an entire show at the end of March. Haley Heynderickx’s unique voice and lyrics fill the air, her folksy and soulful songs fitting her whimsical personality perfectly. After her strong Folk Fest debut in January, she will take Ann Arbor by storm on March 29 for her show at 8 PM. Students can get a free ticket using a Passport to the Arts voucher.
REVIEW: Ubuntu
This year was the African Student Association’s 21st Annual Culture Show. Typically held at the Crisler Center, this year’s show was performed in the Michigan Theater. This year’s theme was Ubuntu, which loosely translates to “I am because we are” in the Zulu language of Southern Africa. The program was neatly organized by four different categories beginning with: Society, Community, Family, and Individual.
The first act performed during the Society category was a fashion show. I was a bit shocked that after only twenty minutes of this fashion show, a fifteen-minute intermission followed immediately after. Resuming from intermission was the Community category. This included a short performance by the Michigan Gospel Chorale, a second fashion show, then a performance by Bichini Bia Congo. Bichini Bia Congo is a performance group based in Ann Arbor whose mission is to make audiences aware of the African culture (more specifically, Congolese). Although this was my first time attending ASA’s culture show, it appears that the Bichini Bia Congo group normally performs with them each year. Their performance was by far my favorite act of the show and I wished that it were longer. According to Bichini Bia Congo, “African traditions are communicated through dance, music, song, and drum.” Prior to attending ASA’s show, this is much of what I was expecting — lively dancing, boisterous drumming, native music and songs, immaculate cultural attire. And to be honest, much of the show did not live up to this expectation, with the exception of the small insert done by the Bichini Bia Congo group which was composed of one male drummer and two female dancers.
The third part of the show, Family, was again, another fashion show and Amala. Amala embodied a more lively performance, which I, and the rest of the audience, seemed to be quite excited about. This entailed continuous dance routines while the dancers all wore coordinated outfits. The final part of the show focused on the Individual. There was yet again, another fashion show…followed by a spoken word performance and closed out by two songs performed live by “Mind of Asante.”
Relative to other student cultural shows, I’d say that this show was on a much smaller scale. The audience turnout was slightly underwhelming, the duration of the show was surprisingly short, and the depth of the performances was much less than what I expected. Despite this judgment, student-run culture shows deserve a high level of respect. There is a considerable amount of time spent by full-time students planning, practicing, and preparing to put on a full show for friends and family to see and that is commendable nonetheless.
PREVIEW: Value the Voice
Value the Voice is a moth-style story-telling event series on campus that has been going on since Fall of 2017. The event is co-sponsored by the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and the Comprehensive Studies Program and draws on the long and significant history of story telling stemming from West African culture. Each event features a different focus and students, faculty, alumni, and community members are welcome to come share their stories. This week Value the Voice is focusing on the theme of The Shoulders of Giants. The event will take place in the University of Michigan’s Museum of Art basement auditorium at 7pm and is open to all. I’m curious to see how the nature of the sponsoring programs will influence the nature of the stories shared and the audience at the event, also how its location in the UMMA might influence the ambiance of the event. I’m excited for this event as I have been interested in attending Moth events in the past but never been to one. I once attended a podcast recording which featured individuals in the STEM community sharing their experiences with the intersection of the STEM field and their personal lives. After attending this event I’m excited to see how Value the Voice and see how the stories of people in my community will resonate with me and teach me about those associated with my school
