Arts & Culture
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MLK Symposium gets underway with best-selling author, legal scholar, and social justice advocate
U-M’s annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium kicked off Jan. 15 with memorial keynote lecturer Michelle Alexander. The theme of the 2024 symposium is “Transforming the Jangling Discords of Our Nation into a Beautiful Symphony.”
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UM-Dearborn alum shines on the Detroit Lions Drumline
The Lions’ breakout season is making DeAndre Hicks’ first year with the team’s “Honolulu Boom” percussion group a memorable one. Joining the drumline was a lifelong dream for this social media specialist at U-M’s Center for Academic Innovation.
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Christmas, Crosby, and ‘the Code’
Michigan’s William Clements Library — one of the world’s leading archives of U.S. history and Americana — holds a small but fascinating cache of papers of the singer and actor Bing Crosby, including several items linked to the holiday movie classic, ‘White Christmas.’
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Braiding an identity from history and challah
Baker and blogger Marissa Wojcik, BA ’16, combines her love of Jewish family tradition with a streak of culinary curiosity to adapt centuries-old recipes for the modern-day foodie. Pass the Canadian Poutine Challah, and try the Chicago Hot Dog Babka.
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The unsinkable Sarah E. Ray
In 1945, Sarah Elizabeth Ray was denied passage on a ferry on the Detroit River because she was Black. She fought the injustice, became a civil rights activist, and her case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Now, her legacy is being preserved in a collection coming to the Bentley Historical Library.
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When ‘Red Emma’ came to town
In the 1910s, anarchist, writer, and provocateur Emma Goldman, described by J. Edgar Hoover as ‘the most dangerous woman in America,’ paid regular visits to Ann Arbor. She described one rowdy U-M crowd as ‘pampered parasites, not one of them with enough backbone to fight a flea.’
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Genre-jumping Fulbright scholar takes a novel path
Aspiring scientist Ariel Djanikian, MFA ’04, read the writing on the lab wall when she found herself prioritizing creative writing over her latest experiment. Her fascinating and often tragic family history informs a recurring theme in both of her novels: the obliteration of one group of people for the convenience of another.
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How bedside musicians helped one family cope with tragedy
The Gifts of Art Bedside Music and Art Program at Michigan Medicine is staffed by musicians specially trained in providing acoustic music for patients at the bedside. Artists will go “where patients, families, and staff members need us,” says coordinator Sam Vandiver.
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Dick Gaskill and his photographic memory
After seven decades, Michigan Marching Band photographer Dick Gaskill, BBA ’57, has finally put down his gameday camera. But all those memories at Michigan Stadium are forever printed in the pages of history, and on his heart.