Four Stars

Andrew McMahon has released his third album, an 11-track exploration of his life called “Upside Down Flowers.” Although the album “Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness” is not his first solo project as an artist, he produced music under the title “Jack’s Mannequin” from 2004 to 2012, he has breathed a different kind of enthusiasm for the ups and downs of life into this project.

The album’s announcement on McMahon’s website says, “Welcome to the land of Upside Down Flowers. We don’t live here because it’s easy, we live here because it’s beautiful.” He explains the meaning behind a number of the tracks, as well as the people who inspired them, stating, “When I close my eyes and think about these songs I see the faces of the people I wrote them for. Some are so real I can conjure our shared lives in waves of nostalgia and others are a fiction I’ve grown to love so dearly over time they might as well be old friends.” At its core, “Upside Down Flowers” is about, and for, the people in McMahon’s life, both real and fictional, no matter what his relationships to them are. It’s a love letter to his family, to his past and to the uncertainty of the future.

“Upside Down Flowers” opens with “Teenage Rockstars,” a look into his past and his first band, “Something Corporate.” Nostalgia is a common theme within McMahon’s recent music; it is also explored in “Halls” and “High Dive” from his debut album, “Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness.” Other common themes he explores on “Upside Down Flowers” include fatherhood, his battle with leukemia, the frequent movement of his family and his relationship with his wife.

Soundwise, “Upside Down Flowers” relies heavily on powerful bass lines. Although few tracks are danceable, dissonant vocals give a dreamlike vibe. McMahon’s unique, soaring vocals set the album apart from many other indie albums of the past few years, and the electronic modifications to the vocals seek only to give effect, rather than drastically alter the sound of his voice.

Standout tracks from the album include “Paper Rain,” the tale of a fictional father who goes to Las Vegas in an attempt to gamble away all of the family’s money problems, as well as “Ohio” and “Goodnight, Rock and Roll.” “Ohio” explores his feelings about leaving his father and his life in Ohio to move to California with his mother and his sister Katie. It expresses the bittersweet and conflicting feelings that come with both leaving a home you have always known and leaving an abusive parent behind. “Goodnight, Rock and Roll,” explores the death of rock and roll idols such as Tom Petty and David Bowie through the eyes of a musician who has been influenced by the various works that these artists have released.

Despite the new sound that McMahon has produced with this album, the differences are very much welcome and offer listeners an evolved sound very much within the realm of previous tracks and albums. No matter where McMahon heads next, it’s sure to keep listeners engaged and feeling like they’ve stepped into their favorite indie film.

Last week the Student Alliance for Sexual Health (SASH)  hosted “Sex Week,” a series of events that allows students to learn about their health, rights and sexuality in a sex-positive and stigma-free environment. Each presentation or discussion granted students the opportunity to explore different aspects of sex and sexuality, while also attempting to disseminate and clarify student’s knowledge about such things.

A “Know Your IX: Learn About Survivors Rights” event was held on Monday morning, offering students the chance to learn more about the rights of sexual assault survivors, harassment and other forms of sexual violence. Tuesday morning, organizers held a clothing swap in the Lown Room of the Memorial Union, and later hosted a “Makeup Extravaganza.” Other events included “Body Positivity and Ice Cream,” their semi-annual “Sex Carnival” and an event on the “Crisis Pregnancy Center.”

At the “Crisis Pregnancy Center” event, organizers offered an open discussion about the minimal, and sometimes false information provided by clinics known as crisis pregnancy centers. Students compared the website of First Step, a crisis pregnancy center, to that of the Mabel Wadsworth Center, a local clinic that offers abortions, STI/STD testing, gender-affirming hormone treatments and other health services. A major topic of discussion was how to tell the difference between clinics that offer abortion services and crisis pregnancy centers, which do not.

The week ended with the Sex Carnival, a popular event held in the Memorial Union that gives students, faculty and other community members the chance to come together and learn about different aspects of sex regardless of orientation and gender. Booths included information from local organizations, such as the Mabel Wadsworth Center, the 1 in 3 Campaign, Partners for Peace, Rape Response Services and Planned Parenthood Generation Action. Other booths offered information on consent, pronouns, transgender health, menstruation, contraception, sex work and other relevant concepts.

Liliana Bonarrigo, a second-year political science student and a member of the UMaine Feminist Collective, assisted with setup and ran the prize table. Like many others, Bonarrigo enjoyed the music and games at the Sex Carnival.

“I think the Sex Carnival destigmatizes a lot of misconceptions about sex as well as sexuality and gender, since there’s also a focus on trans health, menstruation, etc. It makes what would generally be potentially uncomfortable topics and makes them fun,” Bonarrigo said.

Upon arrival attendees were given a welcome bag filled with flyers for several of the organizations present, condoms and other items such as pens and lip balm. Visiting all booths was encouraged, and if a person in attendance visited every table they could be entered to win a prize.

“I think people should know that it’s an event about sex, but it’s meant to be a comfortable space for people and to give people the opportunity to learn and ask questions in an environment that normally wouldn’t allow for that, while still having fun,” Bonarrigo said.

Friday, Nov. 10, The University of Maine’s School of Performing Arts (SPA) premiered “The Curious Savage” in Hauck Auditorium.

Written by John Patrick, the comedy is set inside The Cloisters, a psychiatric facility. The strange cast of patients includes a compulsive liar, a fearful man who hides from the world and a statistician turned terrible violinist. When Ethel P. Savage arrives, life in The Cloisters changes for everyone.

Ethel P. Savage, known as Mrs. Savage throughout the play, is a wealthy, bright blue haired widow whose stepchildren have had her committed because they want the money from her husband’s death for themselves.

They have checked her in on the basis of “eccentric” behavior, like dying her hair blue, carrying a large teddy bear with her everywhere she goes, becoming an actress and her plans to use the $10 million left behind by her husband to help regular people achieve their wildest dreams.

“My favorite thing about the play is how sincere every character is. They are so committed to the world that they create for themselves. I love how the play questions what motivates a person, and how these motivations can be positive or negative,” said Katie Dube, the third-year secondary education student who plays Savage.

The play has not been in the works for very long, but the cast and crew have put in many long hours producing the show. Auditions began in early September, and rehearsals began on Sept. 24. Despite this brief window, the cast and crew have had many opportunities to get to know one another and their characters.

“The most rewarding thing about the play is the fact that we were able to put it together in a little over a month. We have all worked very hard to make this story possible, and perform it with sincerity,” said Dube.

Putting on a play is a lot more work than many people believe. The time commitment is tremendous, but for the cast and crew of “The Curious Savage,” it was worth it.

“For me, some of the biggest challenges were balancing school work, classes and relationships with rehearsal and memorizing my lines,” said Dube. “It was also very hard not to break character during rehearsal and start laughing on stage during several of the play’s comedic moments. Overall, I am incredibly thankful for all of the support I have.”

“The Curious Savage” was written with the intent of exploring the human experience and what insanity really means. In the foreword to the play, playwright John Patrick wrote: “It is important in ‘The Curious Savage’ that the gentle inmates of The Cloisters be played with warmth and dignity. Their home is not an asylum nor are these good people lunatics. Any exaggeration of the roles will rob them of charm and humor. The whole point of the play is to contrast them with Mrs. Savage’s children and the insane outside world. To depart from this point of view for the sake of easy laughs will rob the play of its meaning.”

As the show progresses, both the audience and Mrs. Savage become accustomed to the way life is at The Cloisters and the quirks of its residents. The patients are given the opportunity to be seen the way they see themselves.

To see “The Curious Savage” consider attending on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 10 a.m., Friday, Nov. 16 Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 pm or Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. in Hauck Auditorium. Admission to the play is $10 or free with a student Mainecard.

Many podcast creators have used the audio format to effectively create strange, unnerving and even downright scary content for listeners. “Limetown” has done just this, becoming a cornerstone of the horror podcast genre, with the right balance of fear and puzzling circumstances. After a three year hiatus, the podcast’s second season premiered on Oct. 30 and returned with the same style of storytelling and intrigue.

The podcast follows the fictional American Public Radio (APR) reporter Lia Haddock and her investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a small town consisting of over three hundred neuroscientists and their families ten years earlier. Over the course of the first season’s six episodes, Lia meets with various experts as well as people claiming to have survived the disappearance. Through a series of cryptic interviews, more questions are raised than answered about what happened at Limetown.

“What makes the Limetown tragedy unique, what makes it worth a continuing discussion, in spite of the collective moving on, is the complete lack of context,” Haddock said. “In the 10 years since, no one group or individual has taken responsibility. No explanations have been uncovered, or given with any credibility and, most tragically, no survivors have been found.”

Haddock’s description of the tragedy at Limetown is quite similar to things frequently heard in the media today. The realism of the reporting style and the quality of the voice acting certainly contribute to its success. The podcast is so similar to a real investigative podcast that, if you type “Limetown” into Google, one of the top suggestions asks if “Limetown” is real.

The success of the podcast is well documented; just two months after its initial 2015 release, it became the top podcast on iTunes. A prequel novel is set to be released later this month, following 17 year-old Lia’s interest in the case immediately after the disappearance of Limetown’s 300-plus residents.

On Oct. 8, Facebook Watch even announced that a TV show starring Jessica Biel as reporter Lia Haddock would be released. The podcast itself, by Two-Up productions, has received rave reviews from critics throughout its first season and into its second season.  

The overwhelming success of “Limetown” isn’t without reason. It features a series of intriguing, enigmatic characters that serve not only to further the plot, but to capture the interest of the audience. “Limetown” offers listeners a series of twists and turns at every sentence, maintaining intrigue but keeping listeners from being too confused to continue.

Despite her transparency, even Lia’s role in the events of “Limetown” is unclear. Although she seems to be invested in the town’s disappearance due to her uncle being a resident, fans of the podcast have many theories about Lia’s past and her true connection to Limetown.

“Limetown” effectively achieves exactly what it set out to do: it tells a compelling fictional story with unsettling realism, leading listeners to question the world around them and stay hooked on unanswered questions. With such a subject matter and approach used by “Limetown,” it isn’t hard to see why it can turn even the most casual listener into a conspiracy theorist.

Rating: 5 stars

In anticipation of Halloween, Netflix released “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” a show based on an Archie Comics series of the same name. Contrary to what many believe, it bears more similarity to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” than it does to “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” It’s much darker, spookier, and more unsettling than its predecessor. It encompasses a love story, a fight for justice, a conspiracy, a ghost story and a new take on the traditional high school experience.

Sabrina, a half-witch, half-mortal girl, balances between two worlds in the fictional town of Greendale. As her 16th birthday approaches, Sabrina must decide whether to embrace her late father’s side of the family and his coven, “The Church of Night,” or her late mother’s mortal side. It’s a choice she struggles with from the beginning, especially because of her mortal friends, Rosalind (Roz) and Susie, and her mortal boyfriend, Harvey.

As part one of the series progresses, the stakes only increase. On top of Sabrina’s struggle between “the path of night and the path of light,” as her aunt Zelda calls it, her family and her coven face many of their own problems. Her aunts struggle with faith and a strained sisterly relationship, and her cousin with his house arrest due to his involvement in a plot to blow up the Vatican City many years ago.

Her friends face issues of their own. Throughout the show Sabrina’s boyfriend deals with post-traumatic stress disorder and an abusive father. Her friend Roz has a chronic hereditary condition and a curse laid on her family. Susie’s struggle with both bullying and her gender expression is constant. Every action the show takes is deliberate; each line, reaction and movement a character makes helps to round out each character and their individual arc.

“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” is also painfully socially relevant from episode one, where the audience is introduced to Susie after she faces transphobic violence from several members of Baxter High’s football team. This prompts Sabrina and Roz to start Women’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association, or W.I.C.C.A., against the wishes of school principal Hawthorne.

The show also takes on banned books in schools, disability, racism, abuse and other topics that trouble many teens today. This is what makes this show so relatable, and therefore so important, for teenage viewers, and all who may be affected by any of these issues.

Beyond the content of the show, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” is all around very well done. In typical Netflix fashion, it combines excellent effects, makeup and casting to give the audience more than they’re expecting. The only thing it seems to be missing is the wisecracking, sarcastic humor that Salem from “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” brought — but the dark humor throughout definitely makes it a different kind of humorous. This time around, Salem plays a minor — albeit important — role as Sabrina’s silent sidekick, which is definitely more fitting to the tone of this incarnation of Sabrina and her family.

Although it shows a very different Greendale than older fans of Sabrina and her family are used to, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” is worth all the hype.

On Saturday Nov. 3, the University of Maine hosted Culturefest, an annual celebration of multiculturalism, at the New Balance Recreation Center. While visitors upstairs completed their workouts, the downstairs was transformed into a global celebration, allowing attendees to experience international culture and cuisine.

The Recreation Center’s first floor was decorated with flags of several different nations. Representatives from many countries, such as Nepal, India, France, as well as campus organizations, including the Office of International Programs and the Black Student Union tabled at the event in an effort to inform the public and showcase the diversity on campus.

Many of the tables had activities for attendees of all age groups to try. India’s booth held a “can you climb the spice ladder?” challenge, where visitors to the booth could sample food items with varying levels of spice and see how far they could go. They also had the opportunity for visitors to get henna designs on their hands, an Indian tradition.

The Native American table had many cultural artifacts so that visitors could ask questions about their significance. Giving people access to cultures they don’t generally get to interact with is just one of the ways that Culturefest encourages inclusivity and understanding between cultures.

Cassandra Carroll, a fourth-year ecology and environmental science student, attended as a representative of the Spanish Language Club in the exhibit section. Their goal was to let people know about meetings and to converse in both Spanish and English with visitors.

“I think that Culturefest is a really fun way to exchange customs and culture, and gives cultural groups on campus an opportunity to reach out into the community,” Carroll said. “It makes me happy to see people get really excited about new foods they tried in the food court or something new that they learned from one of the exhibitors. I think it’s just a nice way to celebrate diversity and to bring people together to celebrate both our origins and that we’re all here together in our small Maine community.”

There was a diverse population of attendees; many were in clothing that represented their culture or religious identity. People of different ages and cultures mingled with one another.

Scott Soifer, a second-year business student, enjoyed one of the latkes, a traditional potato pancake originating in Jewish culture, from the Hillel table.

“It’s really interesting seeing and learning about all these different cultures in the area and how different yet similar we all are,” Soifer said.

He was happy to have the opportunity to walk through the food court with his friends, where a number of different represented nations were selling foods from their culture and sharing it with the various people ready to give it a try.

Some of the food for sale included Jamaican mango smoothies, empanadas from Chile, dangos from Japan and other food items and drinks for visitors to buy. Although certainly different from the cuisine of campus dining halls, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

The wide variety of cultures and backgrounds at UMaine contributes to the culture as a campus. Culturefest offered UMaine students, as well as members of surrounding communities, the opportunity to interact with and embrace diversity on a campus-wide platform. Be on the lookout for next year’s Culturefest to experience UMaine’s celebration of multiculturalism on campus.

Thursday afternoon, a panel titled “Student Activism in 2018” took place in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union at the University of Maine. The event was a part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Lecture Series and featured four panelists, each representing a different campus organization, as well as the event’s organizer, Olivia Ruhlin.

Panelists included leaders of the Maine Peace Action Committee (MPAC), Wilde Stein, Active Minds and the University of Maine Feminist Collective. Representatives discussed the activism and involvement of the campus group they were representing and took questions from the audience.

The panel covered a multitude of topics, but a heavy focus was put on the importance of voting. Panelists and audience members alike were not afraid to voice their political opinions and their progressive views.

Amber Hathaway, a physics doctorate student and the representative for the Feminist Collective, encouraged people to vote.

“Whether you disagree or agree, they’re still going to vote … the people you don’t like, the ones you don’t want to see voting. They don’t care about your opinion,” Hathaway said. “They’re going to vote. What are you going to do to counteract that?”

This topic of voter disinterest took a front seat in the panel. Attendee Geoffrey Gratwick, a state senator from Maine’s 9th District, brought up concerns and questions he often hears from potential voters when canvassing. He discussed these issues with the impact of votes, the disconnect between voters and the two-party system and single-issue voters.

Aiden Ciaffaglione, the president of Wilde Stein, a student organization established to spread acceptance of sexuality, gender, and the LGBTQ community on campus, talked about discussing these issues with his first-year residents.

“If someone is not doing well, we are all failing … If you don’t vote, you’re perpetuating the idea that voting does nothing. We are a community. We are here to fight for each other,” Ciaffaglione said.

Sarah O’Malley, representing Active Minds, also touched on these electoral problems

“When people say, ‘it doesn’t affect me,’ that’s privilege in action,” O’Malley said. “Ideally, we should be empathizing with people … We all should be voting. It’s the minimum … just be empathetic towards people in our communities disadvantaged by these policies.”

Panelists also discussed the troubles they had faced in their organizations when working with the Student Senate, an organization in charge of funding and running events on campus. Several of the panelists mentioned that one of the biggest problems activist organizations run into on campus is a lack of funding.

Ciaffaglione discussed the hurdles encountered by Wilde Stein when trying to obtain funding to invite a speaker to campus. As a part of pride week, the speaker would discuss intersex issues and activism. This was denoted as a common shared experience, as the Black Student Union met resistance when trying to fund for a natural hair care workshop.

Panelists discussed how they support each other’s organizations, especially when activists from any of the groups are running for student senate in the hopes to make it more diverse and representative of the UMaine community.

Activist organizations attempt to make changes all around campus, whether they get the recognition or awareness they want or not. These groups are focused on diversity, inclusivity and above all, uniting the community for the greater good.

More information can be found in the Multicultural Student Lounge, the Women’s Resource Center and the Rainbow Resource Center in the Memorial Union.

Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette” made headlines when it came out on Netflix in June. In the comedy special, she discusses her experiences as a butch lesbian in a small town, growing up in Tasmania, Australia, and gives a heartbreaking account of what she doesn’t like about comedy.

The comedy special begins with a humorous monologue about growing up as a lesbian in Tasmania and the homophobia she was exposed to from the very start. Despite the heavy subject matter of the entire show, the beginning of the comedy special utilized dark humor about identity and homophobia.

“In a place like Tasmania, everything’s very relative,” Gadsby says in “Nanette.” “But the wisdom of the day was that, if you chose to be gay, then you should just get yourself a one-way ticket to the mainland, and don’t come back. Gays … why don’t you just pack your AIDS up into a suitcase there and f*** off to Mardi Gras?”

The delivery of her jokes is what makes them funny rather than heartbreaking. Her awkwardness, intent and comedic timing allows jokes to evoke laughter from the crowd.

Throughout the show, she makes a series of jokes about the LGBTQ community being her people, delivered in a thick Tasmanian accent for effect. She also repeatedly jokes about “just, sort of, sprinkling in the lesbian content,” because of previous feedback that she was lacking in “lesbian content” in her comedy.

“No, I mean, if you were to plot my week, I don’t … Not a lot. Not a lot of lesbian-ing … gets done. I cook dinner more. I cook dinner way more than I lesbian. But nobody ever introduces me as “that chef comedian,” do they,” Gadsby said.

Many of her jokes are targeted at LGBTQ audiences; she tackles gender roles, high standards for lesbian comedians and anecdotes about coming out. When talking about her identity, she says, “I identify … as tired.”

As the show continues on, she repeatedly addresses the idea of leaving comedy. This results in the heart-wrenching delivery of a speech discussing her life and the issues she has faced. She takes on anti-gay violence she’s experienced first hand, being a minority in a field that relies heavily on self-deprecation and mental illness.

This section of the special is more reliant on personal anecdotes; it contains more feedback she has received about being medicated for mental illness, as well as stories of being beaten up for seemingly coming onto a man’s girlfriend and at other times being told that she was too sensitive. Even during this darker, heavier portion of the special, she peppers in humor; at one point, she tells the audience, “lesbians give feedback, men have opinions.”

Gadsby’s “Nanette” is both hysterical and heartbreaking in the way it portrays life as a member of a marginalized community. In just over an hour, Gadsby goes from light-hearted, humorous and awkward to raw emotion that grabs the audience and forces them to listen and understand her struggles. “Nanette” takes the definition of comedy and turns it on its head by giving the audience a laugh and breaking their heart all in the same breath.

Thursday afternoon, the New Writing Series hosted a reading by Jac Jemc, author of “The Grip of It.” Several dozen students, faculty, and others gathered for the reading, which included a short story to introduce the work as well as the first nine chapters of the book. She was introduced by Greg Howard of the University of Maine’s English Department, who discussed tropes of haunted house stories and introduced her as “the wonderful and strange Jac Jemc.”

Jemc prefaced the chapters from “The Grip of It” with “The Grifted,” the story of a wealthy young man and a strange thief. The story details his experience having everything quite literally stripped away from him, leaving him confused, alone and frightened.

“When all you have is everything, the only thing you desire is to have it taken away,” Jemc said.

She talked with the audience about looking through her old writing to find an appropriate story to share before the actual chapters and rediscovered “The Grifted,” which also touches on the idea of a haunted house.

The sections of “The Grip of It” that Jemc read included references to many horror tropes (such as a young couple buying a cheap home that turns out to be haunted, strange sounds and feelings of its residents, the house’s frightening past and a suspicious elderly neighbor) and powerful imagery to convey a story that is more unsettling than it is truly scary.

In horror and supernatural fiction, this can be a difficult thing for a writer to achieve, but Jemc does so very well. At its core, the goal of the horror genre is often to leave an unsettling legacy, rather than a momentary fright. “The Grip of It” uses firsthand point-of-view, turns tropes on their heads, and uses Jemc’s powerful imagery skills to leave its readers (or listeners) suspicious, unsettled and begging for more.

Throughout the reading and discussion, Jemc discussed the inspirations behind her story, the imagery she uses, and what she believes is most important within a story. A strong focus of her writing, especially “The Grip of It,” is relationships and how they affect the way characters develop and interact with one another.

On having two narrators, Jemc said: “Ultimately, it’s about relationships.”

She talked with the crowd about how she believes that the best way to write a meaningful relationship is to “begin with mundane reality” and twist it with her own elements, especially tropes of horror and supernatural stories. Jemc also discussed dark humor and its presence in her writing.

“I think for a long time I was afraid of being funny in my writing because I thought I had to be serious to be taken seriously,” Jemc said.

This installment of the New Writing Series introduced many people to the world of Jemc’s delightfully bizarre “The Grip of It” and the writing, planning and creativity that make it what it is. The next New Writing Series event will take place on Thursday, Oct. 25, and will feature the work of Martin Riker.