CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Ann Arbor, Michigan
B E M I N E , VA L E N T I N E
ADMISSIONS
Number of early action applicants increases Over 27,000 submit early, marking 17.4 percent uptick
By GENEVIEVE HUMMER Daily Staff Reporter
The upward trend continues. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions received more than 27,000 early action applications this year, according to University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald. The figure is up from nearly 23,000 early action applications in 2014 — a 17.4 percent increase. “Overall we expect admission applicants to increase again this year and this increase is the early sign of that overall increase,” Fitzgerald wrote in an e-mail to The Michigan Daily on Tuesday. Between 2012 and 2013, early applications rose 15.8 percent from 19,000 to 22,000; between 2013 and 2014, the number increased an additional 4.5 percent from 22,000 to 23,000. For the 2014-2015 school year, undergraduate enrollment
increased slightly from the year prior, though the University had intended to curb the number of students enrolling for the Class of 2018. During September’s Board of Regents meeting, University Provost Martha Pollack said the Office of Admissions plans to reduce the size of future classes, which could include shifting more early applicants to a waitlist. “We have been over-enrolling every year for the past five years and we have to stop this,” she said. “I’m not happy about it.” Students deferred to regular admission were notified that their application remains under consideration in an e-mail from Erica Sanders, interim director of admissions. “Our high application volume, coupled with the very strong credentials of our applicants in recent years, has contributed to an increasingly competitive admissions process,” the letter reads. “As a result, we are writing to inform you that your application is currently being deferred for further review.” See EARLY ACTION, Page 3A
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BRIAN BECKWITH/Daily
Engineering junior Matthew Maranzano and LSA senior Jessica Golden make Valentine’s Day cards during Fireside Tuesdays at Pierpoint Commons.
CAMPUS LIFE
Inaugural Trotter Lecture features Black activist poet Speaker touches on importance of “troublemaking” in achieving change By KATIE PENROD Daily Staff Reporter
Activist Dr. Cheryl Clarke read poetry and facilitated discussion about the nation’s
changing racial climate Tuesday during the inaugural William Monroe Trotter Lecture. Sponsored by the Trotter Multicultural Center along with a dozen other university units and departments, the lecture took place in the Michigan League Ballroom and focused on the issues of racism, feminism and lesbianism. Anjali Anturkar, associate vice president for student life, delivered opening remarks at
S PA R E A Q U A R T E T ?
RESEARCH
Detroit mayor says the city is fighting back SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
The Calidore Quartet holds a recital including pieces by Mozart, Shaw and Mendelssohn in Britton Recital Hall on Tuesday.
By ISOBEL FUTTER For the Daily
PUBLIC SAFETY
Students aren’t the only ones receiving report cards. Many hospitals earn grades, too. But according to a study by University researchers, surgical safety remains constant across similar hospitals, whether or not the hospital received report cards. The study’s authors considered the 263 hospitals evaluated by the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program report card. The group found that the hospitals participating in the evaluation program not experience improvement over time compared to hospitals not receiving report cards. See EVALUATION, Page 3A
By EMMA KERR Daily News Editor
The Washtenaw Prosecutor’s Office released several documents Monday related
the statement
to the fatal shooting of Aura Rosser by an Ann Arbor police officer. Following an investigation by the Michigan State Police, Prosecutor David Mackie determined last month that Ann Arbor Police Officer David Ried’s shooting of Rosser, a 40-year-old Black woman from Ann Arbor, constituted lawful self defense. The initial incident report said officers were dispatched
During State of the City address, Duggan talks public safety, recovery By ALLANA AKHTAR
Prosecutor releases files in Rosser shooting case Documents include autopsy report, statement from officer
students at Rutgers University, where she received her master’s and doctorate in English. Prior to her position as dean, she was the founding director of the Office of Diverse Community Affairs and Lesbian/ Gay Concerns at Rutgers. Known for her poetry and activism, Clarke’s published books of poetry include “Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women,” “Living as a See TROTTER, Page 3A
STATE OF THE CITY
Surgery grades are unhelpful, study says ‘U’ researchers argue quality of care not impacted by evaluations
the event, noting the importance of a regularly scheduled diversity-oriented presentation. “This inaugural William Trotter Lecture invites us to embrace the reality that each of us have multiple identities,” Anturkar said. “We are called on to create and sustain inclusive space for everyone.” Clarke, who was introduced as a Black lesbian feminist, is the former dean of
Daily Staff Reporter
to Rosser’s home following a 911 call made by her ex-boyfriend. When officers arrived, Rosser was holding a kitchen knife and was threatening officers with the knife and moving toward them. The knife appeared to be six to eight inches long, according to the report. In the documents, which included the autopsy report, lab reports and crime scene See FILES, Page 3A
In his second State of the City address, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan praised his administration both for improving the Detroit’s economic prospects and the city’s image regionally and nationwide. Additionally, Duggan highlighted the importance of ensuring Detroit’s longtime residents benefit from the city’s recovery. “Can we build our recovery on the principle of economic inclusion?” he said. “What will the recovery of the city mean if the folks that have been here aren’t a part of it?” Duggan delivered the address from the Redford Theatre,
located in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood. Residential blight hit the district particularly hard and large swaths of land remain vacant. Duggan noted the addition of 500 new jobs in Brightmoor with the opening of a new Meijer, and continued to discuss economic and community recovery throughout the rest of the address. “This community is fighting back like so many others,” Duggan said. Duggan said his administration has worked to save houses from demolition through the Building Detroit website, which auctions city-owned homes to buyers who agree to fix and inhabit them within six months. The administration is also helping sell vacant side lots to community members interested in maintaining properties adjacent to their own. The mayor said property values are increasing in 25 Detroit See DETROIT, Page 3A
» INSIDE
A look inside Detroit’s Ruth Ellis Center
WEATHER TOMORROW
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News
2A — Wednesday, February 11, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Campus Voices
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
Duke keeps hard liquor policy
WILLIAM LYNCH/Daily
Beth Karmeisool, owner of S3 Safe Sex Store, leads the Sexy Supplies workshop as a part of the Sexpertise series in the Michigan League on Tuesday.
In response to changing alcohol policies at peer institutions, Duke University administrators have stood by the school’s approach of barring student events from serving alcohol, The Duke Chronicle reported Monday. Two weeks ago, Dartmouth College implemented a campuswide ban on hard liquor, following a trend set by other schools including Bowdoin and Bates College. These policy changes reflect the goal of administrations to curtail dangerous behaviors on college campuses nationwide. Duke students seem to agree with the administration’s choice to maintain the school’s current policy. When asked whether they believe harsher policies could
be beneficial, many students expressed doubt. “I don’t know how they would control that,” freshman Mirko Tancredi said in an interview with The Duke Chronicle. “I feel like if we were to do that it wouldn’t cut down consumption as much as we would like or think.” UChicago shifts payroll Beginning in the fall of 2015, University of Chicago students will be unable to simultaneously work as teaching assistants and lab assistants, The Chicago Maroon reported Thursday. In January, the university moved from the UChicagoTime payroll system to a new system
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
ON THE WEB... THE FILTER
Grammys recap BY DANIELLE RAYKHINSHTEYN
From Taylor Swift’s dancing to Annie Lenox and Hozier’s “I Put a Spell on You” collaboration, this year’s Grammy awards had several memorable moments.
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
STUDENT LIFE
SEXY SUPPLIES
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Author appearance
Multi-genre concert
Driving workshop
WHAT: Ruth Ozeki will discuss her novel, “A Tale for the Time Being.” The event will include a book signing. WHO: Shapiro Undergraduate Library WHEN: Tonight at 7 p.m. WHERE: Rackham Graduate School, Auditorium
WHAT: Occidental Gypsy will perform a mix of gypsy swing, jazz and world music, featuring original vocal and instrumental pieces. WHO: Michigan Union Ticket Office WHEN: Tonight at 8 p.m. WHERE: The Ark, 316 S. Main
WHAT: Discuss driving conditions and customs in the United States. WHO: International Center WHEN: Today at 3 p.m. WHERE: Pierpont Commons, Boulevard Room
E-mail seminar Marketing lecture WHAT: The seminar will
Corporations & democracy
Comics journalism
WHAT: Prof. Mark Mizruchi will discuss big business and its impact on the public arena during the postwar period. WHO: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute WHEN: Today from 10 to 11:30 a.m. WHERE: Rave Cinema, Ypsilanti
WHAT: Hillary Chute, an expert on comics, lectures on the role of drawing and comics in the reporting of war and violence. WHO: Institute for the Humanities WHEN: Today from 4 to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: 202 S. Thayer, Osterman Common Room
focus on how to use e-mail to communicate more effectively. Participants will learn skills such as e-mail etiquette and composing clear and concise messages. WHO: Human Resource Development WHEN: Today from 1 to 5 p.m. WHERE: Administrative Services Building
WHAT: Marketing Assistant Prof. Eric Schwartz will answer the question “Where do big data, analytics and science data meet?” WHO: Center for Campus Involvement WHEN: Tonight at 5 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@
called WorkDay. By calculating student pay on an hourly basis rather than through lump sums, the new system has created a situation in which students holding both positions are exceeding the maximum number of allowed work hours. According to UChicago spokesperson Jeremy Manier, “(The university) now (has) a more accurate picture of the overall magnitude of students’ work effort, and that information has compelled us to review how student work hours are established and monitored to ensure they are in compliance with the limit on overall effort.” —SANJAY REDDY
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker who was abducted in 2013 by the Islamic State, was confirmed dead by her parents. Mueller was the last known American hostage, The New York Times reported.
2
Between 20 and 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. In Detroit, the Ruth Ellis Center looks to serve this often overlooked and marginalized group. >> FOR MORE, SEE STATEMENT
3
NBC news anchor Brian Williams has been placed on a sixmonth suspension, The New York Times reported. Lester Holt will continue to fill the anchor chair as NBC completes an internal investigation.
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.
Pocket Points app encourages student attention during class Program provides discounts at local businesses for not checking phone
Pocket Points, a mobile application developed by students at California State University, or Chico State, launched at the University last month. The app allows students to lock their phones during class, and the amount of time locked corresponds to a number of points that redeemable for discounts at local establishments. The app was founded by Chico State students Rob Richardson and Mitch Gardner in the fall, and has now expanded to a number of schools across the country. The
application uses location-based services to tell when a student is in class to prevent “cheating,” or looking at one’s phone. LSA senior John Prickett, campus representative for Pocket Points, is a friend of the founders. Though professors often state BY NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT on their syllabi that points will Daily Staff Reporter be taken off for the using phones in class, he said those policies do If pricy college tuition was not little to deter students. incentive enough to pay attention “In the majority of classrooms, in class, a new app is aiming to there never seems to be a respect increase the stakes. of the trust between the teacher and the kids,” Prickett said. “My parents pay a lot for me to come SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily here, and for me to come to class University Police Officer Matthew Butzky gives an active shooter presentation during the CSG meeting Tuesday. and sit on my phone for an hour and a half, what am I really getting out of that?” According to Prickett, the application began at Chico State as a tool through which professors could award extra credit for good Sudoku http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ phone behavior. After failing to Sudoku Syndication Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ attract enough users, the founders is to get a lot of big names that are philanthropic value of student discovered that offering discounts associated with the University.” organizations that had received at local restaurants was much He added that the project funding in the past, like MUSIC would also be backed by a crowd- Matters or optiMize. more effective as an incentive for funding campaign, which is After it was suggested that students to use the application. tentatively set to launch next a more detailed budget for “It was sort of a pivotal moment month. the project be disclosed to the for the app,” Prickett said. “They The Hail and Unite assembly, the resolution was HARD realized they weren’t getting the organization asked CSG sent to the finance committee for reaction they wanted to from the BY LEA GIOTTO to allocate $2,750 from its review. extra credit side, and who doesn’t Daily Staff Reporter Legislative Discretionary Fund The other important like getting free discounts on food to the project: $1,750 would go focus of Tuesday’s meeting for paying attention in class?” “The Victors” could soon have toward funding for a promotional was a presentation on active a modernistic younger sibling. Prickett said Ann Arbor restauvideo to recruit donations from shooter situations, delivered If a resolution presented to students, and $1,000 would by University Police Officer rants are currently on a trial perithe Central Student Government go toward “speaker fees,” or Matthew Butzky. od with the application, meaning Tuesday night passes, the body accommodations for potential Butzky emphasized that in a it will be free for businesses to will provide funding to a group visiting contributors. situation where an active shooter participate for the semester. The of students looking to develop an While the song’s lyrics and is present, one has three options: restaurants currently included additional thematic song to play tune are still undetermined, run to a safe location, hide and are Pita Pit, The Brown Jug, The at University athletics games. Weiss said it is the organization’s attempt to barricade your space Blue Leprechaun, Comet Coffee, In addition to discussion aim to involve big names in the or fight to repel the threat. Get Some Burritos, Hunter House of the resolution, the meeting music business and University “You’re not stuck in any one also included an interactive alumni to contribute to the song. decision. This is fluid,” said Hamburgers, Pita Kabob Grill, presentation on reacting to an For example, he said Weinberg Butzky about the three options. Pita Pit, Sottini’s Sub Shop and active shooter. wants to get Eminem involved. “If you can remove yourself from Tropical Smoothie Café. Business sophomore Adam Weiss also said that David a dangerous situation, do it. Get Richardson and Gardner also Weiss, a representative on the Banner, a rapper and music out. It’s a simple solution, but recently added a feature that CSG Assembly, spoke on behalf producer, has already agreed to people overlook it.” increases the rate of points accuof the song campaign, which produce the final product. Butzky delivered a similar mulated if more students are he called “Hail and Unite.” He Numerous representatives presentation for the first time using the program, thus incensaid his friend, LSA senior Mike voiced uncertainty about the to a University undergraduate tivizing word-of-mouth between Weinberg, conceptualized the project because they felt its lecture last month. Previously, students. project. initial budgetary breakdown and the Division of Public Safety © © sudokusolver.com. sudokusolver.com. For For personal personaluse useonly. only. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com MT EVEREST. UNBREAKABLE. “This project is meant to be, ultimate goals were not clear and Security delivered the Business junior Daniel Sonnanumber one, extremely unique,” enough to elicit funding. Others presentation upon request to bend is a frequent user and said Weiss said. “The goal of this song voiced concerns that it lacked the campus units. See ATTENTION, Page 3A Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku Sudoku and and Godoku Godoku puzzles puzzles at at sudokusyndication.com! sudokusyndication.com!
CSG hears pitch for new fight song , ‘Hail and Unite’
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Meeting also features training on addressing active shooter situations
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT From Page 1A
BAY CITY, Mich.
Opening remarks set in fraud trial A jury has been selected in the trial of a charter school founder charged with fraud and tax crimes. Prosecutors accuse Steven Ingersoll of a series of illegal deals in which he took large cash advances for managing Traverse City Academy and tried to use construction loans to repay the money. Opening statements are set for Wednesday in Bay City’s federal court. Ingersoll started the Traverse City school and Bay City Academy with charters granted by Lake Superior State University. Defense attorney Martin Crandall says Ingersoll paid taxes on the money and is innocent.
MOBILE, Al.
Some Alabama counties refuse gay marriages Same-sex marriage spread further across Alabama on Tuesday as more courthouses issued licenses to gays and lesbians, yet some counties still defied a federal judge’s order, so couples took their fight back to court. The dispute and confusion headed toward a showdown in federal court set for Thursday in Mobile, where gay couples have waited for two days in a courthouse after officials quit issuing marriage licenses altogether — even for heterosexual couples — rather than sell them to same-sex couples. Jim Strawser and his partner John Humphrey sat outside the shuttered marriage license window at the Mobile County courthouse. “Come on, you’ve got a federal court order. Open those windows,” Strawser said to no avail. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore threw the state into disarray when, at the 11th hour, he ordered probate judges not to allow gay marriages.
SARTANA, Ukraine
Fighting intensifies in eastern Ukraine ahead of peace talks Fighting intensified Tuesday in eastern Ukraine as pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian troops sought to extend their gains ahead of crucial peace talks, and the government accused the separatists of shelling a town far behind the front lines, killing 12 people and wounding scores. Germany, which has joined with France to try to broker a peace deal, urged Russia and Ukraine to compromise and called on the warring parties to refrain from hostilities that could derail a four-way summit Wednesday in Minsk, Belarus.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon
30 abducted in Cameroon and Nigeria Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamic extremists have abducted about 30 people including eight Cameroonian girls and killed seven hostages in two bus hijackings in Cameroon and Nigeria, Cameroon residents and a Nigerian intelligence officer said Tuesday. Boko Haram, who kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria last year in an incident that ignited international outrage, have taken eight Cameroonian girls hostage, said Chetima Ahmidou, the principal of a school in the area. The girls range in age from 11 to 14 and come from the town of Koza, he said. The bus attack took place Sunday about 11 miles (18 kilometers) from Cameroon’s border with Nigeria. Seven other hostages were slain and their bodies scattered near the border, said Ahmidou, whose brother was the bus driver and was among those killed. —Compiled from Daily wire reports
neighborhoods. The city is also working to demolish hundreds of blighted homes deemed unsuitable for habitation. The mayor also touted his program that gives loans to city residents for repairing blighted homes. The plan, backed by city council and the federal government, has a loan pool worth $8 million and has zero percent interest for lower to middle income residents. The audience gave the mayor a standing ovation during his
EVALUATION From Page 1A The study’s lead author, Nicholas Osborne, a vascular surgeon at the University of Michigan Health System’s Cardiovascular Center, said he was interested in finding whether or not there was a benefit to participating in a program such as ACS-NSQIP. “What you can take from the study is that hospital quality has gone up across the board during the time period that we looked at,” Osborne said. “All hospitals improved but that improvement wasn’t more so in hospitals that are in NSQIP.” NSQIP was developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs during the 1990s to evaluate surgical practice in VA hospitals. Private hospitals eventually expressed interest in adopting the program, which in 1999 was piloted at several private institutions, including the University. The study’s authors said the lack of relative improvement could be due to the failure of institution’s to use the report cards to change surgical procedures. “This is a good example of why we need to look at the data,” Osborne said. “I think the future of quality improvement will be affected by this study because it encourages hospitals to participate in not only a data report, but to participate in a quality collaborative.” Public hospitals in the state of Michigan previously participated in both ACS-NSQIP and a regional collaborative called the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative. In 2012, the state pulled out of ACS-NSQIP, and hospitals its hospitals now only participate in MSQC.
ATTENTION From Page 2A the concept was very simple and easy to use. “The rewards are tangible,” Sonnabend said. “It’s rewarding you for something positive you should already be doing.” The application launched at Pennsylvania State University a few weeks before starting in Ann Arbor, and it has close to 7,000 users in University Park. After a week of marketing to students, close to 800 University students are using the application. “We’re so academically
News announcement that the city will finish the year with a balanced budget for the first time since 2002. As job creation in the city improves, Duggan said he wants to ensure Detroit’s residents are offered the new jobs. To this end, he stressed job creation and training for residents of the city, listing the uptick in city residents having jobs in skilled trade fields like plumbing and electric. He also demanded that new development projects, such as the forthcoming arena for the Detroit Red Wings and a new accompanying entertainment district, create jobs for Detroiters.
Unlike ACS-NSQIP, MSQC brings together surgeons to analyze the report cards and brainstorm strategies for improving hospital care. Justin Dimick, chief of the UMHS division of minimally invasive surgery and senior author of the study, said the MSQC allows Michigan hospitals to excel beyond those using ACS-NSQIP, making it one of the safest states to have surgery. “Michigan does a really nice job at analysis and issuing report cards,” Dimick said. “Without a tutor, or lesson plan, you can’t get improvement. Michigan does things differently through a collaboratively quality improvement program, where we do measure outcomes. We then build on top of that a structure where the surgeons meet four times a year to help implement them locally.” Andrew Ryan, associate professor in the School of Public Health and co-author of the study, said designing and implementing interventions is most important in the process of improving surgical quality. He added that this study can motivate hospitals to actually implement measures based on their report cards. “The fact that it didn’t achieve its objective means to me that we need to keep searching and come up with new ways to measure important patient outcomes,” Ryan said. “We can’t be complacent about thinking that we’ve solved our quality problems, and that we have the answers. We have seen decline in adverse events, so improvement is happening, but the question is how do we design and implement interventions that are going to improve quality of care?”
focused, and we try to pursue the ‘Michigan Difference,’ but with this app you can really put your money where your mouth is,” Prickett said. According to The Washington Post, “productivity” apps are currently a booming field in mobile-platform technology, but few products have been geared toward the classroom. “I truly do believe in the app, and I think it has the potential to change the academic culture at an institutional level,” Prickett said. “I think with the rate that technology is growing, it’s only going to become a bigger part of everyone’s life.”
“I believe one thing in my heart, that talent in this world is distributed equally, no matter what community, no matter where you are,” Duggan said. “What isn’t distributed equally is opportunity.” The mayor also spoke on improved neighborhood service and safety, including Duggan a plan to secure body cameras for police officers and put 200 more officers in the streets. Many other cities across the nation have adopted body cameras on police officers to hold officers accountable for brutality against citizens, an issue that has sparked protest nationwide. “We are going to change the
FILES From Page 1A reports, Ried provided a statement describing the events on the night of the shooting. “Rosser had the knife in her right hand had the blade now facing us, it was up in a ready to strike position with her elbow bent and arm raised with the blade about level with her jawline,” Ried said. After Reid said he ordered Rosser several times to put down her knife, she proceeded to move toward the officers, the original incident report said. “Rosser was still ignoring my commands drop the knife. I feared my life and the life of Officer Raab. I believed we were in imminent danger. I was in fear for the safety for myself and Officer Raab, so I discharged my firearm one time (to) stop the threat.” According to the other officer present at the scene, Mark Raab, Rosser’s eyes were widened and she appeared “deranged.” He fired his Taser at Rosser, and said this occurred at around the same time as Ried shot his firearm. “This officer yelled stop and fired the Taser at Rosser, fear-
EARLY ACTION From Page 1A All final admissions decisions
TROTTER From Page 1A Lesbian,” “Humid Pitch” and “Experimental Love.” Additionally, she was once a contributor to the editorial collective Conditions, a feminist literary journal. Clarke has worked very closely with other Black feminists and served on the board of New York Women Against Rape. In 2013, she earned the Kessler Award for outstanding contributions to the field of LGBTQ studies. During the lecture, Clarke emphasized the importance of being a “troublemaker,” encouraging others to speak out against injustice even if doing so is unpopular. In this vein, she acknowledged William Trotter — for whom the lecture series and the University’s multicultural center is named — as a Black, radical troublemaker of his time, adding that she was
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 — 3A
culture of this community to recognize every life matters,” he said. The mayor also touched on the fact that police response times have been cut 20 minutes in the last year and a half, from 37 minutes to 17. Furthermore, in the last year, the city’s emergency medical service response time, formerly the slowest in the country, has been cut seven minutes and there are twice as many ambulances on the road. Duggan also stressed revamping the city’s transit, jokingly calling the city’s high car insurance rates its “biggest problem.” “I’m going to work every sin-
gle day until we fix this injustice and get people a fairer rate on their insurance,” he said. Along with improving car insurance, the mayor spoke on ameliorating the city’s public transit system. He said the administration has hired more drivers and implemented a smartphone application to track the bus schedule, and has since worked with Vice President Joe Biden to purchase 80 more buses in the city, eleven of which will beginning running this week. “For the first time in years, riders are coming back to the (Detroit Department of Transportation) system,” he said.
ing for officer safety. Officer Ried fired his side arm at nearly the same time,” Raab said. “The time from when officers first entered the house and yelled police to when she was shot and Tasered was approximately 5-10 seconds.” Toxicology analysis revealed a blood alcohol concentration 0.170 grams /100 mL along with cocaine and THC. In Michigan, it is illegal to drive with a BAC of .08 grams /100 mL or higher. Cocaine residue was found in Rosser’s bedroom, along with a hand-rolled cigarette that was suspected to have contained marijuana. The Controlled Substance Report said there were 0.073 grams of marijuana found. The autopsy report, conducted at the University of Michigan Morgue, showed Rosser died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Rosser was reportedly shot with a Taser and a 40-caliber semi-automatic handgun. The autopsy report revealed a penetrating entrance gunshot wound to the left chest with perforation of the heart, proximal aorta and esophagus. According to the autopsy report, Rosser had a history of bipolar disease.
There were two other incidents in which police were called that involved Rosser, one in September and another in October. Officers reported these instances as assault/simple battery, according to the Incident Reports released along with the documents relating to Rosser’s death. In January, demonstrators marched through Ann Arbor to protest the prosecutor’s decision not to press charges in the incident. The event followed a series of demonstrations in Ann Arbor and nationwide protesting the use of unnecessary force by law enforcement officials. At the protest, Rosser’s sister, Shae Ward, expressed disagreement with the prosecutor’s decision. “My hope is that I can get strong enough to speak for her,” Ward said. “Because I know her person. She would have never attacked Officer Ried. She would have never made him feel that he would have to take her life to defuse the situation. That is just outlandish. It totally is outlandish.” Daily Staff Reporter Gen Hummer contributed to this report. Photos courtesy of the Ann Arbor Police Department
are set for release by April 2015. Complete admissions data is typically released in May. Last cycle, the University’s undergraduate acceptance rate was 32
percent. Daily News Editor Michael Sugerman contributed reporting.
pleased to be the first of many speakers in the lecture series honoring his legacy. Clarke also stressed the need to not merely solve the problems of race, classism, sexism and homophobia, but to create an open forum for discussing these issues. “I would say that the Trotter Center should be a space where it is indeed possible to act, speak, write and think,” she said. To illustrate the need for creative thinking in the face of deep political issues, Clarke mentioned Audre Lorde, a Caribbean-American writer, feminist and lesbian, who she said was loyal to both poetry and feminism. Clarke began her lecture by reading a poem that Lorde wrote, called “Sister, Morning Is a Time for Miracles.” Clarke said Lorde’s poetry attempts to facilitate ongoing dialogue about Black women and the injustice committed against
them. She added that U.S. culture rejects Black culture no matter what Black people do to gain approval. She isolated one of her favorite Lorde-written passages to highlight the road to making amends: “In order to come together, we must recognize each other,” she read, later reflecting that “this can take a strikingly contemporary viewpoint.” “Lorde uses blackness, feminism and lesbianism to make her voice heard, and her voice to make blackness, feminism and lesbianism heard,” Clarke added. Engineering freshman Suzy Haupt said the perspectives Clarke brought forth were unique and subsequently enlightening. “We come here to get a scholarly education,” she said. “But I also think it is important to hear things from different perspectives and grow culturally.”
Recreational marijuana sales bring in $44 million in taxes Provision in state constitution could prevent full use of funds DENVER (AP) — Colorado finally learned Tuesday how much tax revenue it collected from recreational marijuana in the first year of sales, and the haul was below estimates — about $44 million. The release of December sales taxes gave Colorado its first full calendar year of the taxes from recreational pot sales, which began Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado was the first government anywhere in the world to regulate marijuana production and sale, so other governments are
watching closely. In Washington, where legal pot sales began in July, the state had hauled in about $16.4 million in marijuana excise taxes by the end of the year; through November, it brought in an additional $6.3 million in state and local sales and business taxes. Colorado’s total haul from marijuana for 2014 was about $76 million. That includes fees on the industry, plus pre-existing sales taxes on medical marijuana products. The $44 million represents only new taxes on recreational pot. Those new taxes were initially forecast to bring in about $70 million. “Everyone who thinks Colorado’s rollin’ in the dough because of marijuana? That’s not true,” said state Sen. Pat Steadman, a Denver Democrat and one of the Legislature’s main budget-writers.
By all accounts, the $70 million estimate was a guess. And Colorado has already adjusted downward spending of the taxes, on everything from substance-abuse treatment to additional training for police officers. Still, Colorado will likely have to return to voters to ask to keep the pot tax money. That’s because of a 1992 amendment to the state constitution that restricts government spending. The amendment requires new voter-approved taxes, such as the pot taxes, to be refunded if overall state tax collections rise faster than permitted. Lawmakers from both parties are expected to vote this spring on a proposed ballot measure asking Coloradans to let the state keep pot taxes. Colorado’s tax results underscore a big conflict facing public
officials considering marijuana legalization. Taxes should be kept low if the goal is to eliminate pot’s black market. But the allure of a potential weed windfall is a powerful argument for voters, most of whom don’t use pot. “Being able to claim some non-trivial tax revenue is important to the legalization movement,” said Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard University economist who follows national drug policy. So far, Colorado’s trail-blazing marijuana experiment shows the tax revenue isn’t trivial. But Colorado has also shown that pot-smokers don’t necessarily line up to leave the tax-free black market and pay hefty taxes. If medical pot is untaxed, or if pot can be grown at home and given away as in Colorado, the black market persists.
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Opinion
4A — Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com JENNIFER CALFAS EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH and DEREK WOLFE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
CAUE BORLINA AND ARUN NAGPAL| VIEWPOINT
Martian metropolis
Of all the bodies in our solar system, none has so captured the imagination like Mars, the red planet. Perhaps it’s the striking crimson of the iron oxide, and its connotations of the blood and fury of war — the planet was named after that particular Roman god, in fact. But perhaps it’s because Mars is relevant; never before in human history have we felt so close to another extraterrestrial body. Now, as we steadily populate that planet with all manner of electromechanical rovers and robots, write books, run simulations and dream of a life on another world, we bring ourselves within reach of that astounding possibility. Mars, let it be said, is strictly uninhabitable by our limited standards. It’s on average 50 percent farther from the sun than we are, and its temperatures drop to frigid extremes. A Martian winter, for instance, commonly drops to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Dust flung into the atmosphere by the wind stays there for extended periods, creating massive, blinding dust storms that prevent sunlight from warming the planet. These effects combine to produce a world whose weather is as inscrutable and hostile as the god for which it is named. Of course, that hasn’t stopped humans from attempting to peek behind the curtain. It’s a remarkable thing: Mars is the only known planet inhabited solely by robots. While we have had successful landers on Venus, they have only been ‘alive’ for minutes before instrument failure. The gas giants don’t have a surface to land upon. And a landing has never been achieved on Mercury or Pluto. From the failed Mars 2, 3 and 6 landers from the USSR to the recent tweets of the United States’ Curiosity rover, Mars has been invaded at least 13 times. The landers did some great work there. Phoenix, for example, started an intense debate about the existence of metastable liquid water (what we would call a brine) in several regions of Mars. However, the rovers gave Mars exploration real heart. The first was the Sojourner, then the Spirit, then the Opportunity and finally the Curiosity in 2011. Curiosity is the real champion — right after the rover landed, the probe found some exciting
evidences showing that approximately 3.5 billion years ago, a lake existed in the crater that she landed in (yes, Curiosity is a she). But who really cares? I mean, geologists and planetary scientists care; they want to understand what happened. But why should society care? We explore Mars because of its similarity to our own planet. In fact, it is suspected that at one point Mars resembled Earth in many ways - so what happened? Even more frighteningly, could it happen to us? To answer these questions, it is clear that visiting Mars is the next step. Nowadays, however, we do things with a more 21st-century approach. SpaceX recently partnered with Google on a project to send up thousands of miniature satellites in low earth orbit to provide low cost Internet to the entire planet. Elon Musk, the ambitious CEO of SpaceX, says that this project will help fund what will ultimately become the first city on Mars. But Martian Metropolis aside, we first need to get there. Sure, NASA and a dozen other potential space-farers are working on it, but support is the most vital component in any project. Enthusiasm and — most of all — a sincere belief in our ability to soar are two of the most important aspects in space exploration. That’s where we the people, scientist or nonscientist, blue-collar or white, need to step up. Through communitydriven organizations like SEDS, the Planetary Society or even Pinterest, Kickstarter and Twitter, anyone can express their belief in an interplanetary species, and in the power of the human drive. Ad Astra. SEDS is an organization committed to spreading awareness and enthusiasm about the developments in the space science and industries. We regularly conduct outreach events, participate in space-related projects, and host events with prominent faculty and speakers involved with space. Contact us at seds-council@umich.edu, or on Facebook at SEDS@UM. Caue Borlina is an Engineering junior and president of SEDS. Arun Nagpal is an Engineering freshman and the publications director of SEDS.
SAMANTHA REA | VIEWPOINT
MSM policy education
As students at the University of Michigan, we are lucky enough to be surrounded by people who are passionate about the recognition and equality of all social identities, and we are encouraged to become involved in activism around social justice issues. Yet one issue continues to be overlooked, even by employees and administration at the University — people who should care more about the discrimination that impacts many of their students on a regular basis. Due to the existing inequality in the blood donation process, it’s necessary to spread awareness about the FDA’s policy that bans men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood, while simultaneously advocating for a policy change. This will require the support of the University campus, the Ann Arbor community and beyond. According to a meeting that occurred with the Blood Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 2, blood donation is “not considered a civil right.” This was one of several infuriating comments expressed by those hesitating to change the policy. Though recent conversations have been shaped around changing the policy to a oneyear deferral period, the hesitations toward moving forward with a policy change are still incredibly discriminatory. Even a one-year deferral period implies that simply being gay or bisexual is a risk. A study at the University of California, Los Angeles determined that this recent change could allow over 317,000 more blood donations each year, but a removal of this policy could allow that number to double. Considering that each blood donation can save three lives, a removal of the policy could potentially save thousands of lives every year. Despite the excitement surrounding the only progress regarding a change in this policy since its implementation in 1983, many factors are being overlooked. Individuals would still be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation, and those who identify as MSM are being forced to remain abstinent for 12 months if they wish to donate blood. Behaviorally based deferral periods related to contracting HIV, such as intravenous drug use or receiving payment for sex, are one-year deferrals. Although this new deferral period for MSM claims to be following the same guidelines, it focuses on sexual orientation rather than risky sexual behaviors for all potential
donors. However, with new nucleic acid scientific testing, HIV can be detected within three days of contracting the virus, and every blood donation is already tested for HIV. Therefore, even a one-year deferral period is unwarranted, and the concern should be refocused away from sexual orientation. A successful and appropriate policy change would be to ask all potential donors about potentially unsafe sexual behaviors, such as having new sexual partners or unprotected sex. It’s entirely possible that people who are currently eligible to donate by the FDA’s standards are at a much greater risk of contracting HIV than those who identify as MSM, which is why an overhaul of the entire blood donation health history process is necessary. This would create a blood supply that’s even safer than it is now, while simultaneously removing sexual orientation from the questioning process. This Wednesday, from 2 to 8 p.m. in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union, Blood Drives United is hosting a sponsor blood drive. The aim of this blood drive is to create an inclusive space, raise awareness and educate the community. Anyone who’s ineligible to donate because of this discriminatory policy is encouraged to bring someone to donate on their behalf, which will demonstrate that potentially twice as much blood could be collected if this policy were lifted. We will be engaging in conversations to address opinions about the policy, how we can better educate those on campus and ways to bring this activism to the attention of the FDA to push for a more inclusive policy change. Those who attend will receive a free t-shirt, have the opportunity to be interviewed for a video explaining the policy and will be able to engage in meaningful dialogue about social justice in blood donation and healthcare. It’s imperative to consider how this policy is still encouraging discrimination in the United States. Several countries do not factor sexual orientation into their blood donation processes, including Chile, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia and South Africa. It’s time that the United States learns from other countries to see how ending this inequality could also save more lives. If you have any questions or ideas about the policy or Blood Drives United’s efforts, please contact blooddrivesunited@umich.edu. Samantha Rea is an LSA senior.
O
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
I am not Charlie
n Wednesday, Jan. 7, terrorists attacked the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. These terrorists were angered by the disrespectful cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)* published by the magazine. This RABAB resulted in a JAFRI global debate on free speech, with people tweeting and protesting in support of the magazine behind the banner “Je Suis Charlie,” which is French for “I am Charlie.” Is the claim #JeSuisCharlie really what people should be advocating for? On social media, some people took a different approach to the issue by using other slogans like #RespectforMuslims, and #IamNotCharlie, demonstrating other views as people began to question identifying with Charlie. Additionally, people tweeted with the hashtag #JeSuisAhmed in honor of the Muslim police officer who died protecting the Charlie Hebdo building. These hashtags advocated making the distinction between Muslims and extremists, recognizing that Muslims were also hurt in this controversy. I will start by making it clear that I condemn the attack on Charlie Hebdo, although I will not take responsibility for the actions of these terrorists, as they do not act on the principles of Islam. As a Muslim, seeing that people are so fast to claim “I am Charlie” in defense of these cartoons of my beloved Prophet (pbuh) is frustrating. If I am true to the practices of my Prophet (pbuh), I only recall the story of how he visited his neighbor while she was ill even though she spent her days cursing him openly. All of the stories of the Prophet
(pbuh) that I know stressed his kindness and compassion for others. Terrorists that claim killing staff members of Charlie Hebdo is in some way defending the honor of Islam do not have the slightest idea of what it means to be Muslim. To claim “I am Charlie” is to identify with Charlie and oversimplify the situation instead of realizing the complexities of the thin line between freedom of speech and hateful speech. I see the double standards so heavily ingrained in the words “I am Charlie” as people point fingers at Muslims for being too sensitive and backward to appreciate a harmless satire. This so commonly painted picture of Muslims only adds to Islamophobia and the idea of a “Muslim other.” As an American-born Muslim, I see this strong sense of Orientalism as a tale of the Muslim who cried blasphemy. In this tale, the simplistic Muslim cannot understand the beloved Western freedom of speech. Saying Charlie is the banner behind which freedom of speech should be upheld is largely a result of these ideas and not consistent with how Western onlookers usually see this type of expression. Perceiving Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons similarly to anti-Semitic or racist depictions will help to combat Islamophobia. The magazine claims that the satire targets extremists, not Muslims. I would question what they view as hateful speech against moderate Muslims, as it’s the Prophet (pbuh) who is depicted, and he is a figure revered by all Muslims. Charlie Hebdo stands as an institution that promotes the double standard of normalizing Islamophobia. In 2008, Affaire Siné drew a cartoon for Charlie Hebdo that
was accused of being anti-Semitic. He was eventually fired by Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val. As Val stated, Sine’s cartoon and statements “could be interpreted as making a link between conversion to Judaism and social success.” Anti-Semitism calls for an apology, but promoting Islamophobia is freedom of speech. To say “I am Charlie” creates the claim that in order for a society to truly have freedom of expression, even the most hateful speech must not only be tolerated, but also celebrated. Looking back, it seems, that the only way to truly progress is to move away from this double standard, and see Charlie Hebdo for what it is. The perceptions of the cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo should be at the same level as any other stereotypical publication. It should be viewed on the same level as the anti-Semitic depictions of Jews throughout their history or blackface before the civil rights movement. These cartoons are propaganda and the acceptance of them as harmless acts of freedom of expression is ignoring the fact that, throughout history, progress away from hateful stereotypes comes with viewing these depictions as hateful speech. Whether or not people believe that the cartoons should still be allowed to be published, we can only move forward as a society by realizing the double standards ingrained in claiming “I am Charlie”. I am a Muslim; I am not an extremist. I am progress; I am not Charlie. *pbuh stands for “peace be upon him.”
Anti-Semitism calls for an apology, but promoting Islamophobia is freedom of speech.
— Rabab Jafri can be reached at rfjafri@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe
I
Concerning calculations
don’t “do” numbers. As an English major, I was drawn to an interpretative world of innumerable possibilities. Nothing is concrete. Nothing is finite. Each word, each phrase, each image possesses a myriad of meanings. The most appealing aspect MELISSA of all, though, was SCHOLKE the field’s lack of numbers. Yet, during some impromptu weekend research, I actively searched for numbers. Cotton swabs amassed on the counter as I swabbed away remnants of the previous night’s makeup. As eyeliner smudges darkened the ashen smears encircling my eyes, I began to question why I even bothered with the time-consuming process. The answer: to add a few years to my “baby face.” One inquiry led to another, and I began to measure the amount of time the process actually took. The answer: seven minutes. Seven minutes to artificially add maybe two years to a face I believe looks perpetually 16 years old. Inspired by this discovery, I began to tabulate a list of numbers: Five feet with the addition of two inches to comprise my height. A “9” found stitched onto the tag of my jeans. A dilapidated “7” faded by constant friction between sock fabric and shoe soles. The length of my hair. The quantity of pimples dotting the rim of my chin. The inches circulating my ribcage representing my bra’s band size. My weight. My body mass index. The numbers added together, in theory, could provide an unusual and faulty approximation of my physical appearance. My miniscule data collection directed my thoughts toward the subject I was intending to research
for my next column, and I began to stated that they thought about their consider more measurements. My weight or appearance ‘all the time’ mind flashed to the tiny, glowing or ‘frequently.’ ” 46 percent of norgreen rectangles connecting into mal-weight men responded in a simformation on a treadmill panel to ilar manner to the question. enumerate the distance an indiWhile members of our society vidual runs or the calories they’ve — myself included — may be in an burnt. That same person could tally ongoing battle with our own set of the amount of weight they’ve lifted measurements, there are far more or the total hours they’ve spend important figures requiring our working out daily. Another person attention. One-fourth of the nationmight calculate the amount of calo- al college student population — as ries they’ve consumed. reported by the National Institute One might enumerate the of Mental Health — is afflicted by instances when they’ve walked past an eating disorder. A separate study a mirror only to be disheartened by found that “95% of individuals who the figure reflected back at them. have an eating disorder are between Another may reflect on the quantity the ages of 12 and 25.8.” According of times they’ve received disparag- to the National Eating Disorder ing comments about their appear- Association, on the national scale, ance from others — or even from roughly 20 million women and 10 themselves. Conversely, one could million men experience an eating tally the number of times someone disorder of clinical significance draws attention to their body in a within their lifetime. positive way, Numbers whether it’s inform us, prodesired or not. vide logical An individual solutions and These sums can who religioussimplify our ly maintains masquerade as markers world. Howa strict diet ever, our perof individual worth may recount ceptions toward and can demolish our and appreciathe number of times friends tion for the vast self-esteem. mockingly comarray of body mented on their types that exist decision to eat should not be a bit of “junk food.” For a sizeable quantified. The human body, with population of individuals, their its wide-encompassing variations, measurements may even include the is a qualitative entity, incapable of number of meals they’ve skipped, a standardization. Our fervent desire calculation of the instances when to align our bodies to match a set they’ve purged or the number of of idealized measurements only times they’ve binged in a week. exacerbates these highly prevalent As a society, we fixate on these and detrimental mental illnesses. measurements. We try to modify Even numbers are incapable of them. We stress about them. We expressing the entire significance use them as motivation. As a result, and impact eating disorders have these sums can often masquerade on our society. To truly understand as markers of individual worth and and raise awareness about eating can acquire enough power to demol- disorders, society needs more than ish our self-esteem. Our own indi- statistics. We need to understand vidualized assortment of numbers the misconceptions, the stigmatiinfiltrates our thoughts and daily zation and the contributing factors lives to shape the ways we view the — information I hope to cover in an bodies we inhabit. According to a upcoming column. study cited by a Brown University webpage on body image and health, — Melissa Scholke can be “74.4% of normal-weight women reached at melikaye@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 — 5A
ALBUM REVIEW
‘Honeybear’ is candid and lovely Father John Misty becomes a romantic on latest album By BRIAN BURLAGE Daily Arts Writer
For most of the 18th century, men like Father John Misty were referred to as libertines. Their aim was pleasure, their A creed was selfsatisfaction. ‘I Love You, They weren’t immoral so Honeybear’ much as they Father John were amoral. Misty Society’s rules and standards Sub Pop Records weren’t flawed, necessarily, but they were just inadequate, inaccurate and irrelevant. Much of their daily routines consisted of elaborate and self-aware
schemes for attention, and anything done during the day was done in the joy of leisure. Men like Father John Misty lived in whimsy. They lived in the world they created for themselves. It’s important to consider I Love You, Honeybear within this context because until now, for Father John Misty, the concept of sex has been easy. The concept of love, on the other hand, has not. Love in this framework is like that elusive but fearsome luxury, the awe-inspiring aura that lurks behind scented candles, French bottles of wine and Egyptian cotton bed sheets. In Father John Misty’s eyes, the mystery in any relationship isn’t a question of sex or harbored secrets, but of how two people – any two people – can create this thing called love between them. Misty (a.k.a. Josh Tillman) has called I Love You, Honeybear a concept album, inspired by
the experience of his marriage to his long-time girlfriend, Emma, who is a photographer. The essential “concept” of the album is that it tries to recreate the confusions as he felt himself becoming more and more exposed – a sort of gradual turn of soul. He found his own world invaded and usurped by the world of a wonderful woman. For the first time in his life, he could feel his schemes, tricks and self-defenses dissolve into something like real affection. The true shock occurred when he realized that he was strangely comfortable with all of this. The album’s enormous sound is, in part, a response to the disorientation we feel when we must surrender our own defenses to someone we care about but hardly know. On I Love You, Honeybear, Misty constructs cathedrals to give his emotions enough
TV REVIEW
‘Saul’ needs to break out of ‘Bad’ ’s shadow By CHLOE GILKE Managing Arts Editor
“Better Call Saul” is no “Breaking Bad.” Ever since the acclaimed meth tragedy aired its brilliant B finale one year, four months ‘Better and 13 days ago (not that I’m Call Saul’ counting), a Series Premiere Jesse Pinkman- Mondays at shaped hole has 10 p.m. remained in TV’s collective AMC heart. No other series could ever thrill in quite the same way as “Breaking Bad.” Nothing can ever strike all the same nerves and leave viewers breathless and cursing Vince Gilligan’s name when the end title card flashes across the screen. But “Breaking Bad” is over, and “Better Call Saul” has risen to Heisenberg’s money throne. To be successful, “Saul” needed to assert its independence with a series premiere that leaves all comparisons in the Albuquerque dust. “Better Call Saul” follows “Breaking Bad” fan-favorite Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk, “Nebraska”) back in 2002, when his name was Jimmy McGill and his characteristic bravura and grandiose confidence didn’t extend past the courtroom. Jimmy is introduced as an unglamorous public defender, the very antithesis of Saul. His office is in a cramped corner of a storefront nail salon, he drives a vulgar yellow car that’s a far cry from the smooth Caddy that he drove in “Breaking Bad” and he barely makes $700 defending a couple of little teenage shits who jerked off into a severed head. But even through these pathetic endeavors, Odenkirk’s performance shines with a familiar charisma. His name is Jimmy and he’s got a sleeper sofa in his office, but this dude is Saul Goodman to the core. But more than escaping his dire financial situation and getting cases that don’t involve masturbating into severed heads, what Jimmy really craves is some adventure in his life. He recalls the days he was known as “Slippin’ Jimmy” of Cicero, the kid who slid on every icy surface in Chicago and collected every injury check he could get his hands on. When Jimmy literally runs into a couple of skater punks and realizes that their intentional dive in front of his car was a Slippin’ Jimmy-level scheme, he can’t help but want to join up. The kids know the business and Jimmy knows the chemistry, so they team up to rip off an embezzling bureaucrat and reappropriate his stolen cash into their empty pockets. Unlike Walter
AMC
“Where’s Huell when you need him?”
White, Jimmy McGill already has the slimy DNA, and all he needs is one catalyst to help him break bad. Where “Better Call Saul” falters, though, is in its shameless homage to its parent series. The show makes a fairly convincing case for why it should be seen as a separate entity from “Breaking Bad,” but “Saul” still occasionally slips back into “Breaking Bad”lite territory. The premiere’s opening shows Saul working in a Nebraska Cinnabon store, frowning and making melancholy cinnamon rolls to an incongruous musical soundtrack. Stylistically, the black and white visuals and montage editing could be straight out of an episode of “Breaking Bad,” but the scene also lacks a more metaphorical color. In showing viewers what happened to Saul after he left the “Breaking Bad” universe, “Saul” assumes that its viewers need a cheap hook to engage with Jimmy’s story. “Breaking Bad” is dead and gone, and “Saul” would be wiser not to dig up its bones. “Better Call Saul” also spotlights a few “Breaking Bad” alums in addition to Odenkirk, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks, “Community”) and Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz, “Major Crimes”) in the first two episodes alone. Their characters are incorporated with varying degrees of success. Mike runs the booth at the parking lot where Jimmy parks his car, and while it’s great to see Banks again, the fact that he’s manning a parking lot booth makes little sense. Wasn’t Mike supposed to be a former Philadelphia cop? Does this parking lot nonsense take place before or after he became a professional “fixer” and henchman? Why didn’t he continue to give Saul shit about always forgetting to pay for a fifth sticker when the two were in “Breaking Bad?” So far, Mike hasn’t been given sufficient material to justify his being on this show, but I trust that
Jonathan Banks wouldn’t agree to appear on “Saul” unless he had better prospects than this silly cameo. At the end of the first half of the premiere, Jimmy finds a gun pointed to his face and some shadow in the doorway threatening to shoot it. The camera swivels to reveal Tuco, perpetually angry and protective of his elderly relatives as we remember him from “Breaking Bad.” It’s an effective cliffhanger, but one that assumes that everyone watching has seen “Breaking Bad.” This is a dangerous assumption for a network to make when it needs a show to gather its own unique fanbase. Tuco is incorporated into the plot more smoothly in the next episode, but it still plays like a re-hashing of the episode “Grilled” in the second season of “Breaking Bad.” Tuco holds innocent people hostage while his old family member is home, shouts a lot and threatens them until a dire injury puts an end to the situation. Fans of the parent show have seen this all before, and it’s unfortunate that “Better Call Saul” so actively refuses to break new ground with its plot. “Better Call Saul” doesn’t deserve all these comparisons. When you strip away its artless rehashing of “Breaking Bad” material, the dark humor is sublimely biting, and Jimmy is a compelling subject for character study. But “Saul” needs to divorce itself from Saul Goodman, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. Jimmy shouldn’t aim to become some mythic, lawyer version of Heisenberg. Corruption already pumps through his veins, whether he’s Jimmy from the block, Saul the king or Gene in a sad mall Cinnabon – we know exactly who this man is at his core. “Better Call Saul” already holds promise of being great on its own, if only it would stop leaning on “Breaking Bad” and give this lawyer his justice.
SUB POP RECORDS
“We don’t want none unless you got man buns, hun(nybear)”
space to reverberate and then conclusively condense. The album’s landscape is vast and expansive, but it’s also filled with intricacies and subplots. Take these 11 songs together and there’s a collected sense that Father John Misty reaches and expands out into the open plains of love – in the hope of finding some small truth to take back with him to share with Emma. And he does. He does this a thousand times over. This is Tillman the monogamous lover, the loyal husband, the sex symbol in hiding, baring his soul to his new wife, listing all the things he barely understands about their union. His anxiety is evident from the outset, as he sings in the opener, “My love, you’re the one I want to watch the ship go down with / The future can’t be real, I barely know how long a moment is.” And, for a moment, this sounds like an earnest confession. Then, Misty qualifies it with, “Unless we’re naked, getting high on the mattress.” In fact, many of the album’s sincerest moments are delivered within these little quips and witticisms. They’re fun and intelligent. He writes them in so often and under
every circumstance, which proves his great devotion to this budding love. While the humor might sound affronting at first, we come to understand that it’s just his way of being himself. Aside from the soul-filled philosophical aspects of the album, it is, in its sound alone, a folk-pop masterpiece. These songs could exist as any one of a dozen Elton John B-sides or Randy Newman bootleg cuts. Misty pulls the melodies straight from ’70s psychedelic rock and adds to them the emotional gusto of modern folk and indie, making them sturdy, replete with warmth. The richest part, perhaps, of I Love You, Honeybear is that it sounds like a complete album. “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)” touches on the southern influence, while “True Affection” graces electronic. “When You’re Smiling and Astride Me” bears soul, “Strange Encounter” addresses prog rock and “The Ideal Husband” achieves classic rock. The album’s emotion culminates with the last three tracks, each reminiscent of a distinct Beatles-esque temperament. “Holy Shit” is teeming with historic and
cultural allusion as Misty wonders what it all has to do with him. In his reasoning, Misty stops and ponders when he reaches the idea of love. “Maybe love is just an economy based on resource scarcity,” he belts uncertainty along with several other questions. Then, however, he offers the song’s first assured statement, the one thing he knows for sure: “But our fantasy is what that’s gotta do with you and me.” While “I Went to the Store One Day” quietly capitalizes on this sentiment, “Bored in the USA” predicts it. Indeed, “Bored” supersedes the whole album as a reflection on what it means to love in modern American society. Set to a soft piano melody and backed by a chorus of strings, Misty reveals how far he’s come in his time with Emma. “Now, I’ve got a lifetime to consider all the ways / I’ve grown more disappointing to you / As my beauty warps and fades / I suspect you feel the same,” he sings. Suddenly, the album clicks. In light of his marriage, his emotional confusion and thoughts about love, a clear idea takes shape. Father John Misty has become, hopelessly and unwittingly, a romantic.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
Cotillard humbly drives ‘Two Days’
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Dardenne brothers’ latest is an intimate proletarian story By ANDREW MCCLURE Daily Arts Writer
The Dardenne brothers, Belgium’s filmmaking duo with a thematic itch for the proletarian struggle, don’t strive for any- A thing foreign to their oeuvre ‘Two Days, in “Two Days, One Night’ One Night,” save that it Michigan revolves around Theater a real movie star: Sundance Selects Marion Cotillard. With most of their previous works populated by non-actors, the high-profile Cotillard (“The Immigrant”) assignment presents both hope and despair. Stars will, as astronomy contends, illuminate – but will they overextend? Will they consequently outshine their neighbors or overact to the point of bursting? Cotillard, eyes cast downward and as aesthetically unremarkable as we’ll ever see her, doesn’t illuminate the screen. She does something better — she consumes all the light, all the optimism in the film, making each smize all the more impactful. Poignantly so, she lends back light in subtle palmfuls. In 2012 the director brothers won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes for their heart-wrencher, “The Kid with a Bike.” Not unlike “Two Days,” this film finds its center in an already complex character, too pitiful to be called a protagonist, but also further complicated by a periphery that plants the world as the antagonist. The difference of note here is that a kid, at first blush, is supposed to be complex and fractious – but a mother of two? There’s something quite unnerving about an adult behaving like a child, whether in gait or in tears or in a lack of confidence. The Dardenne brothers,
JIVE
“Oops, she wore that hat.”
SUNDANCE SELECTS
“But why are these ice creams so small?”
with Cotillard at the forefront, have done just that — confidently portraying the unconfidence we all dread. Cotillard plays Sandra, a married mother trying to make ends meet at her solar panel factory. This goes on until her coworkers vote for a 1,000 euro ($1,200) bonus, and consequently have to let her go. Sandra doesn’t handle it well, as the film opens with her asleep in the middle of the day, only awoken by that phone call. The first impression captures her sobbing without restraint, and then, as per tradition, popping six tabs of Xanax. The antidepressants dry her ducts, but only until they don’t anymore, prompting another dose. Her friend, not pinched for cash or cowardly like Sandra, drags her to the factory to plead her boss for a revote, suggesting the initial ballot was “influenced” by an unjust power. The boss, unhappy about it, agrees, giving her, two days and one night to flip a landslide 16-2 rout against her into an in-favor majority. An aloof Sandra awkwardly asks each of her coworkers for occupational — not vocational — CPR. Most of them either don’t know her well or have money issues of their own. What makes each of these home trips so naked, though, is how, under it all, all parties involved don’t just want the
job, they need it – giving way to the Dardennean ecosystem, where people work to live. As each episode unveils, these people, whether with Sandra or not, don’t seem to be living all that much anyway. It’s not just a money problem; it’s a familial problem. It’s a whatever-stems-from-money problem, which is everything in these Belgian neighborhoods. Some of Sandra’s trips go well, and some don’t. Some are bellicose, some emotive and some even fall flaccid. What’s more is Sandra’s peripatetic-ness, the literal trips and her emotional careening. We are never sure if her fickle smile will fleet for good or make a hoped-for return. There’s a minute in the car when her loving husband (Fabrizio Rongione, “Lorna’s Silence”) drives with her in the passenger side, and the lens, seated in the back, pans back and forth between the two. Sandra breaks a long-overdue suppressed smile, her eyes meeting his as a French pop song plays loudly, transporting Sandra’s potential for grace and joy without any guaranteed permanence. As much as all of its ingredients mix this film into oversweet, it’s not. Cotillard doesn’t look like Cotillard, nor does she possess her usual onscreen aplomb. I’m confident that’s precisely what the Dardennes wanted.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
What Britney taught me about being a fan By GIBSON JOHNS Daily Arts Writer
It’s the spring of 1999, and I’m at a party to celebrate our family friend’s daughter’s Confirmation. There’s an ornate buffet and open bar situated around the family’s beautifully tented backyard, and there are a lot of people dressed in white. That’s essentially all I remember about this party — after all, I’m six and probably bored mad. There’s just one exception, one moment that would open up my eyes and ears to a fascination, an obsession, an addiction. Just as I follow my family out of the party to head home, I hear those three piano chords that would launch an instantly iconic career of extreme peaks and valleys, of red leather jumpsuits and pink wigs, of awards shows and rehab, of someone who was not a girl but not yet a woman. The high-pitched, delighted scream that follows forces me to turn around, intrigued, to look at the dancefloor. The 13-yearold belle of the ball has her
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DOWN 1 Heavenly scales 2 Spinning 3 *“The [52-Across] Story” Oscar nominee 4 Big name in chips 5 Texter’s “Unbelievable!” 6 Icky stuff 7 Rink legend Bobby 8 Sound system control 9 Spacecraft datacollection passes 10 Lounging robes 11 To have, in Le Havre 12 Lavin or Blair 13 Swabby’s chum 18 Gather 22 Abbr. in ancient dates 24 Mata __ 25 Words before and after “is still” in “As Time Goes By” 26 Time extension? 28 Garage service 30 Storied vessel 31 Flapper’s wrap 33 Google Apps component
35 *“Football Night in America” analyst 36 Knock the socks off 37 Still 40 Professor ‘iggins 41 Sydney is its cap. 44 Tough times 48 Writer Rand 49 Young pigs 51 Latin word on a cornerstone
52 Please, in Potsdam 53 Same as always 54 Jeans material 55 Come clean 57 Place for matches 58 Light a fire under 60 Charged atoms 63 Genes material 64 “I’m listening” 65 Grand Canyon viewing spot
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hands up surrounded by all of her BFFs, and they’re dancing and singing their hearts out. Oh baby, baby / How was I supposed to know? This is the first time I heard Britney Spears’s “... Baby One More Time,” and, as I leave the party before the song’s end, I’m instantly hooked. With her pleading, innocently distinct voice, and her weird way of pronouncing the word “baby,” Britney instantly has my heart.
She’s always in the center, whether you’re six or 22. You think you know, but you have no idea. In the years that followed, I exhibited an infatuation with Britney Spears that proved to be unrivaled by my feelings for anything else in my life. I listened to ... Baby One More Time — my first ever CD — every single day on my Walkman, and danced to it alone in my room. I had my mom buy me a new copy when my original one got too scratched, and watched the music videos built into the disc (remember “enhanced CDs”?) on my family’s bulky desktop PC. My room was covered in foldable posters of a midriffbearing Britney from J-14 magazines. I watched “TRL” every day after elementary school, hoping that Carson Daly would announce Britney’s latest video in that day’s top spot. “Making The Video” specials and “MTV Diary” were must-watch television events. On the day her second album, Oops! I Did It Again, came out, I left a note in the morning before school for my babysitter, urging her to pick me up a copy before she came to get me from school. My brother and I dragged that same babysitter (I’m sorry, Cheryl!) to a matinee showing of “Crossroads” the day it was released. (I immediately dubbed it a cinematic masterpiece upon leaving the theater, and I still view it as such.) When Britney and *NSYNC teamed up to release a joint CD and VHS exclusively through McDonald’s, I made my dad drive 45 minutes across Long Island to the nearest location so I could have copies of both. I was crazy. Over the years, I’ve calmed down — with age, with an expansion of my horizons, with the trauma of Britney’s meltdown — but there’s a part of me that holds onto those years of insatiable devotion to The Holy Spear-it. There’s a certain naiveté that comes with being such a diehard fan — of an artist, of a sports team, of a book series — that prevents it from turning toxic or problematic. I’d argue that it’s actually quite beneficial to follow something so closely. My love for Britney taught me to channel my emo-
tions, showed me what it means for an artist to grow and evolve, allowed me to understand the perils of celebrity and planted the seed for one of my greatest interests: pop music. It’s unfortunate that the same can’t really be said these days, when kids get Twitter accounts at age eight so they can join their fellow Beliebers in sending anonymous death threats to anyone who disagrees with their dubious idol. Though I’m sure those types of extremes existed in the days of peak Britney, they weren’t nearly as accessible or widespread. In those days, my biggest use of the internet came through online games and listening to Britney’s ode to the World Wide Web, “E-mail My Heart.” That doesn’t mean that my Britney-complex didn’t fuel any intense negative feelings towards other competing artists and her fans. I lived in a household that was very much divided — as Britney was to me, Christina Aguilera was to my oldest brother — and we became genuinely heated in our arguments over who was the best. When Christina won the Best New Artist Grammy over Britney in 2000, I don’t think I could look my brother in the eyes for a few days. Of course, I secretly loved Christina, too, but I could never admit that. I told myself that I had to be 100 percent Team Britney and anything else would count as betrayal. Being a fan is a learning experience, and, as much as you don’t want to, you begin to recognize flaws in the person you idolize. In my case, I began to see the cracks in the perfectly spray-tanned, lip-syncing Miss American Dream since she was 17. From the annulment of her shotgun wedding, to the “Chaotic” K-Fed era and the head shaving incident, it was impossible not to admit that things had turned sour, to put it lightly. But instead of moving on to the next best thing, I held onto a glimmer of hope that, just maybe, she’d be back. And, as we all know, she would be. The Britney of recent years has been occasionally hard to watch. She shows less of her gum-snapping, golly gee personality, her dancing isn’t nearly as electrifying as it once was and her most recent album, Britney Jean is unquestionably her worst ever — but she’s trying. She’s happy. She has two adorable children. She’s performing multiple times a week in Las Vegas to sold-out, adoring crowds. As a fan, it’s hard to ask for more from someone who taught you so much and remains the source of so many fond memories. Britney’s life and career have been like a circus – there’s always a lot going on, some acts are thrilling and some you’d rather forget. But what remains constant is that she’s always in the center, keeping your attention, whether you’re six or 22. Britney’s like the ringleader. She calls the shots. If I said I’ll always be a fan, would you hold it against me?
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts & Sports
TV NOTEBOOK
Jon Stewart set to leave ‘Daily Show’ The comedian’s 17-year run as host will end this year By ALEX INTNER Daily Arts Writer
I’ve been in denial about this day since rumors surfaced that Jon Stewart may leave “The Daily Show” at the end of his current contract. I just couldn’t believe that he – someone who has held the same job for 17 consecutive years – would actually consider moving on to something else. I couldn’t consider that someone who has been on my television every day for the past few years might not be there anymore. But that day is almost here. Comedy Central officially announced today that Stewart will leave “The Daily Show” at the end of the year. When he does, we’ll have to say goodbye to someone who has been the face of comedic satire in the ’00s. Who did we turn to after 9/11 to help us understand the tragedy? Who did we turn to when we wanted to hear about the hypocrisy of fundamental issues? Who else would tell us about the problems with a certain North Dakotan winter driving campaign? Just watching those videos – it reminds me how critical his voice is to today’s discourse surrounding current events. Whenever something happened, whether it was Brian Williams inflating the truth, a president getting elected or deep-dish pizza needing to be
COMEDY CENTRAL
We forgive you for “Death to Smoochie.”
taken down, I turned to Stewart for commentary that would both make me laugh and inform me. His insight, while sometimes crude, brought intelligence to discussions about cable news. Just watch his “Chaos on Bullshit Mountain” segment, which embodied everything about the hole that will be created by his retirement from the show. Stewart has also launched the careers of so many of comedy’s most powerful voices. He helped propel the careers of Steve Carell, John Hodgman, Larry Wilmore, Ed Helms, Rob Corddry and Rob Riggle. Each of these comedians have achieved great successes, partially due to their exposure and work on “The Daily Show.” Most importantly, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver received
their grassroots training first under Stewart, before moving on to launch their individual shows. Collectively, the three have worked to provide a humorous lens on discussions about the United States – Colbert with his satirical right-wing character and Oliver with his long segments on lesser-known, but serious issues. Nevertheless, though his presence will be greatly missed, “The Daily Show” will go on. There are so many potential candidates, both in-house and outside of Comedy Central, that would also do a fantastic job in the role (though never in the same way as Stewart). Stewart’s longlived presence has rooted him as one of the most distinguished and respected figures in the world of television.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 — 7A
Late collapse dooms ‘M’ By JACOB GASE Daily Sports Writer
When Kim Barnes Arico became the coach of the Michigan women’s basketball team in 2012, she inherited a team that hadn’t just struggled in rivalry games — it had been MICHIGAN 73 dominated OHIO STATE 77 in them. In their first 41 seasons, the Wolverines had a combined 26-113 record against Michigan State and Ohio State. In the most hotly contested games of each season, Michigan simply could never match up to its rivals. But Tuesday night in Columbus, Team 42 had a chance to accomplish a never-before-seen feat: completing season sweeps of both the Spartans and Buckeyes. And with a 62-49 lead with 9:10 remaining in the game, the Wolverines seemed poised to do just that. In a game where it controlled the rebounding battle, 50-40, Michigan was on its way to a second straight road rivalry victory after beating Michigan State last Thursday. But with senior forwards Cyesha Goree and Nicole Elmblad in foul trouble, the Wolverines allowed a 12-0 Ohio State run that cost them their chance at history. The Buckeyes (9-4 Big Ten, 17-8 overall) dominated Michigan, 28-11, in the final nine minutes to pull off an improbable 77-73 victory. Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell, the nation’s leading scorer, scored 19 second-half points to lead the comeback. Her layup with 4:41 remaining put the Buckeyes on top, 65-64, for the first time since early in the first half. Michigan (6-7, 14-10) briefly took the lead back on a pair of free throws by senior guard Shannon Smith before Ohio State guard
Cait Craft put her team ahead for good with another contested layup. Goree spent an extended period of time on the bench, but with the Wolverines struggling on both sides of the ball without her, Barnes Arico was forced to send her back out with four fouls. Goree ultimately fouled out with 5:12 to go. “I don’t think we really had a choice,” Barnes Arico said. “Nicole Elmblad had four fouls, too. Every time we made a run, it felt like, (Goree) was in the game. It was important for us to try to get her back in.” Despite playing with four fouls and without Goree alongside her, Elmblad made an admirable effort to keep the Wolverines in the game. In addition to her seasonhigh 14 points, Elmblad grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, many of which came in the form of putbacks on the offensive glass. “She was unbelievable, she was all over the place,” Barnes Arico said. “She just was a presence out there today. I was so happy for her. It was so great for her to have a night like this. But I’m sure she would’ve preferred the victory over her career night.”
Michigan’s early dominance in the paint put it in a position to run away with the game. The Wolverines’ 17 offensive rebounds gave their shooters several second chances — the most notable being a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Siera Thompson that gave Michigan a lead it didn’t relinquish for over 20 minutes. But the Wolverines’ physical play quickly caught up with them. After the defense held Mitchell to just three points for the majority of the first half, Thompson fouled Mitchell on a desperation 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining — the shot dropped in, and Mitchell converted the fourpoint play. The foul was one of 25 for the Wolverines, who saw both Goree and Smith foul out. Elmblad and sophomore guard Danielle Williams each finished with four. Though freshman forward Jillian Dunston contributed a career-high seven rebounds off the bench, Michigan’s defense couldn’t prevent a late-game collapse with so many key players limited by foul trouble. And just like that, the Wolverines’ shot at history was gone.
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Nicole Elmblad recorded a double-double in Michigan’s loss.
NCAA Tournament Bubble Watch Days from opener, BASEBALL
By ERIN LENNON Daily Sports Editor
It’s never too early to check the PairWise Rankings. That’s a lesson the Michigan hockey team learned the hard way last season. After a loss to Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, the Wolverines held their breath and refreshed their web pages for two days before learning they would finish 16th in the rankings, effectively becoming the first team out of the NCAA Tournament. While college basketball and college football teams are at the mercy of a selection committee, the NCAA Tournament in hockey is all but decided by the Pairwise system, which puts heavy emphasis on strength of schedule and quality wins. That means early-season losses to inferior opponents — like Michigan’s loss to New Hampshire in October — can come back to haunt teams on the bubble. Now ranked No. 12 after a 4-1 win over Michigan State at Soldier Field on Saturday, Michigan will likely have to finish the regular season at No. 12 or higher — as the 16-team post season includes automatic bids for conference tournament champions — if it wants to avoid a repeat of last March. If not, the Wolverines will be forced to win at least one game in the conference tournament for the third straight season. Even one loss to conference bottom-feeders in Wisconsin or Ohio State could keep the nation’s top offense — a favorite to win the Big Ten title over reigning champion Minnesota — from competing against the top defenses in the postseason. And the Wolverines are well aware of the situation. “I definitely look at it all the time,” said senior forward Zach Hyman. “I know (junior forward Andrew) Copp does too. We talk about it a lot.
“You want to be in a position where, if something does go wrong, your season’s not hanging on one game.” With so many qualified teams in the hunt for those 16 spots, the Wolverines will simply have to win. In the meantime, Michigan will root for teams like No. 5 Michigan Tech and No. 16 UMass-Lowell and hope that No. 19 Penn State and Minnesota continue to win against anyone but the Wolverines. They’ll look for consistently strong teams like Boston University and Boston College to stumble heading into the final stretch of the season. Here’s the Daily’s look at “the bubble” as it stands with six weeks remaining in the regular season:
“I definitely look at it all the time. ... We talk about it a lot.”
No. 11 Boston College: If Boston College played Michigan 10 times, the Eagles would win five. That is to say that these two teams have been neck and neck in the rankings all season
and have been comparable in almost every aspect of their games. And like the Wolverines, Boston College has played just a handful of games over the last few weeks. The Eagles are competing in one of the toughest conferences, though, meaning their next four games against ranked opponents will likely determine their fate before March. No. 13 Quinnipiac: A program that appeared in the Frozen Four out of the ECAC just three years ago, Quinnipiac is no stranger to late-season hot streaks. It’s unbeaten in its last four contests against ranked opponents. The Bobcats sit atop the league with a 13-2-1 record and stand to benefit from conference challengers who have beaten up on one another — Quinnipiac boasts five more wins than Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale, who sit at third, fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the ECAC. No. 16 Harvard: Once a surprise top-five team that stuck around long after nonconference play, Harvard has dropped significantly in the rankings after losing three straight games, including losses to rival Yale and Boston University. In addition to Boston College, the Crimson will
take on Cornell — another team looking to return to the rankings — on Monday.
No. 19 Yale : Having navigated through the first half of its conference schedule with only one loss, the Bulldogs were most recently lifted by a win over Harvard. From here, Yale will play Union, RPI, Princeton, Colgate and Cornell — all of which have struggled this season — which stand only to improve Yale’s standing come March. No. 20 Penn State: Michigan is all too familiar with the Nittany Lions’ season-ruining potential. Penn State is coming off of a sweep of Wisconsin after having beaten No. 15 Vermont at home. The third-year program is second in the Big Ten, only one game behind the Wolverines in the win column. Penn State has proven it can win over ranked opponents throughout the year and should be considered a favorable candidate to win the Big Ten Tournament if it can’t sneak its way in on record alone. And as luck would have it, Michigan and Penn State will meet for their final regularseason series in Happy Valley on March 7 in what could be another make-or-break matchup for these two bubble teams.
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Senior forward Zach Hyman admits to regularly checking the PairWise Rankings to see where his team stands.
‘M’ looks forward By BEN FIDELMAN Daily Sports Writer
Whether it’s been indoors at Oosterbaan Field House or on the frosty turf of Ray Fisher Stadium, the Michigan baseball team is tired of being teased with practices and scrimmages — it’s ready for the real thing. Not only will Friday’s opening day satisfy that craving for real gameplay, it will also usher in this fresh 2015 season for a program that has the talent and experience to make a push for the postseason. At the team’s Leadoff Banquet on Saturday night, Michigan coaches and players highlighted the program’s rich history and tradition. During his opening remarks, coach Erik Bakich asked all former Michigan baseball players in the crowd to stand, summoning about 15 alumni. Next, he asked for all players that had won a Big Ten Championship to rise, which resulted in nearly all of the former players rising again. As a climax, he asked for all former players who had won national championships to stand, but just two rose. Bakich, along with senior captains Eric Jacobson and Donnie Eaton, said that the Wolverines have always played with the knowledge of their rich heritage, but this year will be a little different. “We tried to take (that tradition) on the team this year,” Eaton said. “The block ‘M’ is something that means a lot to us, and is very special. Seeing the guys in this room that have won the Big Ten, and have been to Omaha, that’s something that’s tough for us to watch and that we want to go after.” Michigan last won the
conference in 2008, which was also the last time the Wolverines made it through to the 64-team NCAA Tournament. Multiple publications recently released their preseason predictions for the conference, and Michigan was mentioned often. Baseball America projects that the Wolverines will make it back to the regionals this year, playing as a No. 3 seed in the Nashville region. Though the team travels to California this weekend to begin the season, conference play doesn’t begin until March 20, and the NCAA tournament starts in late May. The coaching staff recognizes the lengthy season, and while there’s always a goal to make it to Omaha, it finds it more important to worry about the day-to-day progress of the team. “There are two types of goals,” Bakich said. “There are process goals and there’s result goals. It’s important to know what your result goals are. For us, we want to go to the College World Series and win a championship. That’s a long way away, so it can’t be our focus. Our focus has to be on what can we do today to be the highest and best version of ourselves today, because today is all that matters.” Most of the preseason polls have Michigan finishing somewhere in the middle of the conference, around fourth or fifth place, but nearly all have the Wolverines as a potential sleeper team to take the Big Ten crown. Getting off to a solid nonconference start is going to be key for the Wolverines if they have hopes of an at-large bid to the NCAA field — something that will be especially hard with the team on the road for the first six weeks of the season.
“There are process goals and there’s results goals.”
Sports
8A — Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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33rd in the country in 3-point attempts per field goals attempted (41.7 percent), it’s no wonder the six-point drop-off in conversion rate from beyond the arc is leading to severe consequences. That’s what losing Stauskas did — now playing for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, the Canadian standout attempted 208 3-pointers for Michigan last season and converted on 44.2 percent of them. TURNOVERS: As much as Michigan coach John Beilein’s squad has seen offensive drop-off from last year to the current one, turnovers haven’t been the issue. The 2013-14 Wolverines turned the ball over on 14.8 percent of their possessions, giving them the country’s 16th-lowest turnover rate. This year’s team is lagging behind slightly at 16.2 percent, but that figure still puts them at 26th nationally. That’s impressive, especially in light of the fact that Michigan is currently starting two guards who hadn’t had substantial experience in college basketball prior to January: Abdur-Rahkman and fellow freshman Aubrey Dawkins. Defensively, the Wolverines are actually forcing more turnovers than they did last season — Michigan’s opponents are turning
3-POINT
52.7% 46.3%
TURNOVERS
14.8% 16.2% 17.1% 20.6%
FIELD-GOAL
COMMITTED (% POSS.) FORCED (% POSS.)
BLOCKED SHOTS 8.4% 9.2% 6.3% 5.3%
BENCH MINUTES
‘M’ SHOT ATTEMPTS OPPONENT SHOT ATTEMPTS
25%
PACE 19.7 SEC
20.4 SEC
the ball over on 20.6 percent of their possessions, higher than the national average of 19.5 percent. Last year, the Wolverines ranked 245th nationally in forced-turnover rate, forcing their opponents to cough the ball up on just 17.1 percent of possessions, compared to the national average of 18.3. BLOCKS: The Wolverines, likely due to their smaller roster, are getting shots blocked at a higher clip than they did last season. Michigan is getting stuffed on 9.2 percent of its 2-point shot attempts, compared to 8.4 percent last season. Worse, on defense, the Wolverines rank 332nd in block percentage, making contact with just 5.3 percent of opponents’ attempts from inside the arc. It wasn’t pretty last year, either, but the 2013-14
33.3%
% OF TEAM MINUTES PLAYED
AVERAGE OFFENSIVE POSSESION LENGTH
team’s 6.3 percent block rate put it substantially closer to the national average. Beyond the roster’s smaller size is its inexperience — while last year, the bulk of Michigan’s minutes at the ‘5’ came from veterans like Jordan Morgan and Jon Horford, inexperienced players have accounted for most of the playing time in the low post this season. PACE: Beilein’s teams are notorious for taking their time on the offensive end — the Wolverines currently have an average offensive possession length of 20.4 seconds. That’s seven-tenths of a second higher than last year’s figure, which isn’t a substantial difference. Both this year and last, Michigan spent roughly two more seconds on each possession than the national average.
2014-15 SEASON
Muhammad-Ali AbdurRahkman’s missed attempt at a buzzer-beating 3-pointer Sunday afternoon at Indiana was emblematic of the Michigan men’s basketball team’s midseason malaise in more ways than one. Had the freshman guard’s shot found its way in, the Wolverines would have forced overtime. The game continued Michigan’s trend — with an ugly 72-54 loss to Iowa on Feb. 5 serving as the exception — of taking high-profile Big Ten opponents down to the wire before faltering when it matters most. On Jan. 24, sophomore guard Derrick Walton Jr., currently confined to the bench with a foot injury, hit a game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime against Wisconsin. The Badgers used the final five minutes to take a five-point lead, eventually pulling away for a 69-64 win. On Feb. 1 in East Lansing, senior forward Max Bielfeldt’s tip-in forced overtime against Michigan State. But Michigan couldn’t get anything going in overtime and lost, 76-66. The 2014-15 Wolverines aren’t as good as the 2013-14 squad for many reasons, some more apparent than others. On the surface, the biggest issues stem from the loss of Michigan’s two most productive players this season: Walton and junior guard Caris
LeVert. Losing three players to the NBA — Glenn Robinson III, Mitch McGary and Nik Stauskas — hasn’t helped, either. The Wolverines also suffer from a general lack of size at the forward spots, with 6-foot-6 sophomore Zak Irvin often forced to play power forward and 6-foot-7 Max Bielfeldt getting substantial minutes at the ‘5’ spot. Below, the Daily breaks down how those changes have manifested themselves numerically (many of the numbers were calculated by college basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy), discussing five key statistical categories in which the Wolverines have improved, regressed or maintained their level of play from last season. SHOOTING: As simple as it seems, Michigan is losing games it would have won in 2013-14 because the Wolverines aren’t shooting the ball the way they used to. Last year, Michigan ranked fourth nationally in 3-point shooting percentage, at 40.2 percent. This season, the Wolverines are ranked 155th in the category at just 34.5 percent. The drop-off from inside the arc has been just as substantial. The Wolverines’ 52.7 percent field-goal shooting ranked 26th nationally last season, but this year, Michigan is converting on just 46.3 of its attempts, good for 227th nationally out of 351 Division I teams. Given that the Wolverines rank
infographic by Emily Schumer
By LEV FACHER
40.2% 34.5%
2013-14 SEASON
‘M’ by the numbers
SHOOTING
BENCH MINUTES: Perhaps least surprising of all, Michigan is asking for roughly one-third more minutes from its bench this year as compared to 2013-14. The Wolverine bench currently accounts for 33.3 percent of Michigan’s total minutes played — last season, it made up for just 25 percent. That brings Michigan in line with the national average of 32.5 percent. That figure is also deceptively low, as Abdur-Rahkman, Dawkins and even junior guard Spike Albrecht — who leads Michigan’s active scorers — might not be fixtures in the starting lineup were it not for the injuries to LeVert and Walton. Effectively, the vast majority of the Wolverines’ minutes are going to players who were expected to come off the bench as of early January.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
statement THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FE B RUARY 11 , 2015
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 // The Statement
T H E L I S T B U Z Z F E E D, B U T B E T T E R HOW TO SPEND GALENTINE’S DAY Made famous by the ever-chipper Leslie Knope of “Parks and Rec,” Galentine’s Day takes place Feb. 13 and celebrates female friendship instead of stupid boys — here’s how you can ring it in.
1. 50 SHADES OF NO
Jamie Dornan’s Christian Grey is undeniably foxy. But let’s not spend money on a franchise that fetishizes sexual assault, yes? If you really
need to see it, download it illegally online like regular porn.
2 . G I L M O R E G I R L S M A R AT H O N
What better way to spend a day with your girls than watching the Girls? Arguing over Rory’s boyfriends is a best-friendship rite of passage. (Older, put-together writer Jess for the win.)
3. CREPES AND MIMOSAS
We all can be classy if we really try. Ring Galentine’s in with a homemade brunch — if you are really adventurous, give it a theme, like Badass Literary Ladies or “Magic Mike 2.”
4 . P L ATO N I C LOV E L E T T E R S
Yup, shamelessly piling on the cheese. Write a note telling your gal pal why you are glad she’s in your life. These are the things we will treasure in forty years when paper is obsolete.
5. GET SHIT DONE
Strong, independent, ambitious women don’t have time to sit around. Do your homework, save the world, but do it with your girlfriends at your side. Who run the world?
VIDEO: TIME CAPSULE
THE
statement
Magazine Editor: Ian Dillingham Deputy Editor: Natalie Gadbois
Photo Editor: Luna Anna Archey Illustrators:
Editor in Chief: Jen Calfas Copy Editors:
Megan Mulholland
Hannah Bates
Design Editor:
Maggie Miller
Laura Schinagle
Jake Wellins
Managing Editor:
Emma Sutherland
Lev Facher
COVER BY RUBY WALLAU AND JAKE WELLINS
From the Pews: The Science of Faith B Y C L A I R E B R YA N
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ast week I closed the pages to the first Marilynne Robinson book I’ve ever read, Gilead. This book is highly religious, philosophical and spiritual but primarily a reflective and meditative book. Its narrator is a seventy-six year old Congregationalist pastor living in the town of Gilead, Iowa in the 1950s. He is writing a letter to his seven-year-old son reflecting on his life as he is dying from coronary heart disease. Robinson herself was raised Presbyterian but later became Congregationalist and believes strongly in the theology of John Calvin, as she has stated in many interviews. At first I resisted the book, expecting the narrator to shove religious beliefs down the reader’s throats. But quickly, I began to realize the genius behind Robinson’s characters. They evaluated universal struggles and put a spiritual and self-reflective perspective to problem solving. They were not aggressive, overbearing or allknowing. In an interview on “The Daily Show with John Stewart,” Robinson discusses the similarities between science and religion, a topic she centers around in her book Absence of the Mind. I so often absorbed and did not question this idea that there is sci-
ence and then there is religion, and the two are pitted against each other. Robinson argues differently, that the discrepancies are not so black and white. “I think that people on side of the argument have declared the authority of science but they have not construed an argument that actually satisfied the standards of science,” Robinson said. In a recent online TED discussion, one commenter, Richard Krooman, argued that people confuse science as fact, when in reality even if you can measure a concept that does not mean you fully understand it. “The foundation of science, however, is that we believe what we perceive and we assume that when our description of it is correct the physics behind it is too,” Krooman wrote. “We must never forget that all we (scientists) do is describe the events in such a way that our math explanation of it can insanely closely (up to the point where we have full belief in it) show what will happen.” When considering this nuance of science, I have come to realize science is ILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND making an argument that
discounts faith, but in reality, much like religion, science relies in faith. For example, I think of the natural phenomenon of gravity. Though there are equations that prove this scientific concept, it would be hard to believe gravity existed if you didn’t experience being held down to the ground you are walking on each day. This is the same for religious experiences. You may not believe in God or a higher guiding spirit until you are in a position in life where you are tested, struggle, and experience the support. Without this tangible experience, you would not have faith. Science is a system of explaining why things happen in the world and so, in a way, science is its own religious sect. Religion breaks through and expands human’s understandings of the world, just as science does. Religion pushes at the barriers of human language, just as science does. Religion has been created from and is limited by the human mind, just as science has. In our society, political groups have alienated religion and science into two separate lines of thinking, but this division is not always necessary. Religion and science should work together to better understand each other and the reasons explaining our complicated world.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 // The Statement 3B
All the Pretty Things: Snow days B Y J A C K LY N T H O M A S
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oices of sportscasters mix with the tapping of laptop keys as my friends and I watch the SuperBowl half-heartedly while finishing the homework that should have been done much earlier in the weekend. Snow falls perpetually outside, as I joke, “There’s no way we will have class,” to which my buds reply, “You don’t understand how this school works, you are a freshman,” as the Patriots score a touchdown. We look up, just the slightest bit interested for a few seconds, and then return back to our work. The night was like any other Sunday night, with the feeling of another week of classes to bring the mood to a semi-sad, semi-tired feeling. The only thing to keep our moods up seemed to be the outrageous halftime show, where Katy Perry rode a terrifying metal tiger. We continue with our work, uninterested in the outcome of the game, when suddenly my friend leaps from her bed, “You guys, we have a snow day!” We all laugh, completely convinced that somebody was trolling her, “Sit down, you can’t do that to us.” She sits down, a little defeated. We joke about the condescending tweet that the University sent out just an hour before, ensuring that all students would be attending class the next day. We had very little to be hopeful for. My other friend jumps from her seat, “She isn’t lying, we do not have school tomorrow!” as she whips around to show us her laptop screen with the beautiful red bar across the screen that sent the entire campus
into a frenzy. Immediately we jump up, the halls filled with students all screaming the good news. Music blares from rooms all around us, and for the first time ever our hall seemed sort of like we were close (for maybe two minutes). Droves of students flocked the streets in search of an impromptu snowball fight or party. We turn on music and have a celebratory dance party for about two hours, with intermittent questioning of where we were going that night. Finally deciding that it is best to just stay in, we settle down for the night, ready for food and a movie. The night turns to early morning as we watch another sickly-sweet Nicholas Sparks film,
and chow on our leftover guac from the SuperBowl. We drift off knowing that the next day we have more time to pull ourselves together and recover. Pretty snowflakes fell outside, securing our day off. A great feeling overcame us: we have all night, and all day to make more memories, to enjoy one another’s company, without the scratching of a pencil or the tapping of a laptop. We were able to just enjoy life because we had one more day. The next day would bring frantic studying and extra loads of laundry, but the feeling of a snow day never goes away. From being a kid to now, a snow day is an extra day at freedom, at more time to just be.
ON THE RECORD
YEEZUS HAS SPOKEN
“I just know that the Grammys, if they want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain’t gonna play with them no more. And Beck needs to respect artistry and he should’ve given his award to Beyoncé.” – KANYE WEST, regarding artist Beck’s Grammy upset for Album of the Year over frontrunner Beyoncé
THE THOUGHT BUBBLE
ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE MILLER
SEE INSIDE: DETROIT’S RUTH ELLIS CENTER
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/DAILY
“I’m in a class on IT Global and Society right now and it talks about how protesters in India, Iran, and Egypt all have this opportunity to use social media to gather, but at the same time all of their oppressors also have access to it and can more easily find them too.” –INFORMATION SENIOR SAM BOLIN RUBY WALLAU/DAILY
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 // The Statement
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 // The Statement
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LGBTQ youth find community and support at Detroit’s Ruth Ellis Center
Akshay Seth, Daily Film Columnist
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
LEFT: Ruth Ellis Center workers at the welcome desk. CENTER: A community room at the center. RIGHT: Youth outreach coordinator Jessie Fullenkamp in her office.
Editor’s note: Upon request, some names have been altered to protect the personal safety of sources involved in this article. ETROIT — No one talks about marriage equality at the Ruth Ellis Center. The idea of bringing it up seems ethereal, unnecessary in the way a marginal inconvenience slinks out of grasp. The reason, as Jessie Fullenkamp, the Center’s director of mental health services explains, is straightforward: why concentrate your efforts on making sure the law recognizes your marital status when, in reality, it doesn’t even protect your right to work, to live in and rent property without the constant, overhanging threat of discrimination? In Michigan, citizens can be fired or removed from housing if they identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The state is one of 29 in the country that does not offer civil rights protections based on sexual orientation. The latest effort to alter Michigan’s Elliott Larsen Act, which includes other protections such as gender and race, stalled in committee last December. “You can’t arrange your priorities around marriage,” Fullenkamp says. “If you think about it, a lot of the current proLGBTQ rhetoric has been set forward by white, middle class Americans who, often, don’t consider that there are people out there completely cut off from their families, living on nothing because they aren’t straight.”
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buzzed in. As one of them — her back now pressed against the PA system she was talking into moments before — turns to face the man standing next to her, others swivel around to watch. Her fingers flutter around like butterflies while she snaps them, sprinkling down some unknown gauntlet at the man’s feet. The onlookers await a response. There’s a tense lull.
The Ruth Ellis Center is isolated. It’s big and red and drenched in a pall that can be only partially attributed to the abandoned minivan gathering rust across the street. It’s the biggest, reddest building in the vicinity of the much bigger, redder fire station just a block away, and, like a worn fortress, its walls are an expanse of molded brick. On a stretch of iced Detroit roads, occasionally blemished by the grayish weeds clambering through scars in the asphalt, the Center looks still. Dignified. Somehow out of place. Next to the forgotten SUV and the looming fire house, there’s a family-owned bakery that seems perpetually drowsy. From its perch a hundred yards in the opposite direction, a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen bathes it all in an empty, neon glare. The Center looks guarded tonight. The barbed wire crowning its fence stands out. Its doors are clamped shut behind a hunk of electrical locks, and the string of cars parked around the block, lengthening with every passing minute, doesn’t make sense. Neither does the clump of teenagers waiting to be
Before the silence curdles, a smile breaks across the pair’s face and they grab each other’s forearms, their feet toeing the ground in synchrony to make a broken circle in the snow. The PA system’s robotic buzz cuts the celebration short. And beneath Popeyes’ stare, the small party of teens seems genuinely excited about the big, red building getting ready to swallow them whole. “The Ruth Ellis Center’s mission is to work with youth who are experiencing homelessness and identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning,” Fullenkamp said. “We have a residential facility where youth who are in foster care live with us. We also have a street outreach program. We have mental health services, where we do both individual or family work to reaffirm and support LGBTQ identities.” The name Ruth Ellis comes from an activist who lived in Detroit for much of her eighty-five years as an out lesbian, becoming the first woman in Detroit to own a printing business and tenaciously advocating for LGBTQ and Black rights. Her house became a hub of activist fervor in the city, and today the residence is structured as an Intensive Treatment Unit set apart from the Center, which is open to any youth seeking short-term care. The Center’s residential program, simply labeled “Ruth’s House,” is for runaway children between the ages of twelve and seventeen looking for permanent housing immediately after leaving their families. These children are in the custody of Michigan’s foster care system or the juvenile justice system and are referred by the state’s Department of Human Services, sometimes even out-ofstate care programs Fullenkamp relays this information with the air of someone who has repeated it hundreds of times. Having worked at the Center for four years, she says it with practiced enunciation, her voice rising and falling as she gauges her audience’s understanding of each program. Part of her job — which often sees her working from early in the morning to 9:00 p.m., when the facility’s drop-in hours
usually end — requires that she visit local colleges for speaking engagements. There, she gives long, intensive lectures sometimes about Ruth Ellis, though almost always related to sexual orientation and gender identity. This one, at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, is called “LGBTQ 101,” and is accompanied by a thin sheaf of documents featuring titles like “Terminology Related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People,” “Frequently Asked Questions about Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” and “The Heterosexual Questionnaire.” On the back of the packet, there’s a full-page diagram of “The Genderbread Person,” a ginger-baked representation of sexual fluidity who shepherds you through varying tiers of Identity, Attraction, Sex and Expression. This informality and a lack of urgency feels visible throughout the presentation. It’s there, towards the end, when Fullenkamp makes a joke about having to discuss different forms of intimacy with different people. “Anal intercourse, vaginal intercourse, oral intercourse, outercourse — which is an umbrella term for holding hands, kissing … whenever we do this presentation with high schoolers,” she riffs, “we end up spending about ten minutes talking about dry humping. It’s their favorite.” She gets laughs, and a few minutes later, closes with another swift pitch about donating to Ruth Ellis. She glides through the two-hour talk like a seasoned pro, and though always calm, her demeanor feels vastly different than when she’s counseling at the Center. After being buzzed in, the teens ascend the flight of stairs that welcome them into the main hull of the two-story premises: a portly reception desk that sits across a row of old looking couches. Behind the desk, Q. Watkins, a youth outreach coordinator, maintains a running log of the people flowing through the Center as the night’s drop-in hours officially begin. Often, the banter between her and some of the other outreach coordinators bleeds into more informal conversations with the youth. This particular night — with forty kids already filing into the rec room — is especially chaotic. Within the next hour, the Center will kick off its annual ball — a dance fashioned after an underground LGBTQ practice in which competitors amble down makeshift catwalks or dance floors while vying for trophies. Hashing out the night’s food arrangements with another
employee, Watkins rarely stops commenting on the deluge of activity unfolding around her. Teenagers sift through a large rack of clothes occupying an entire hallway. As a tall, lanky guest pulls on a short skirt and loses his T-shirt for a blouse, Watkins chimes in: “You’re showing a little nipple there, Adrian.” When Adrian brandishes two upturned middle fingers and responds with a wide, arcing pirouette, she claps. Before she was a member of the staff, Watkins got involved with Ruth Ellis when her girlfriend at the time was kicked out of her home after coming out as a lesbian. Initially, her girlfriend moved in with Watkins and her parents, but facing financial problems and an inability to support an additional family member, they decided it would be best to seek help at the Center. “The rest is history. I went from being a summer intern to an outreach coordinator,” she says. “And one of most bittersweet experiences working here has been the ability to see that in other people. To see these youth when they first come in and are still there a year later.” “It can be a humbling experience, knowing that a lot of them still can’t talk about something as basic as this with their loved ones.” she adds. “It made me realize how privileged I was to have affirming parents who actively created an affirming environment.” Excitement bubbles up again when conversation drifts back to the ball. “Fifty people already here and it isn’t even five o’clock,” she says. “I remember in the Halloween ball how most of the youth became extremely involved with their costumes and it got out of hand — in a good way. We’ll see what happens tonight.” The ball has a more functional purpose to go along with its casually festive premise. Tonight, while hordes of teenagers shimmy across the Center’s expansive dance floor to thumping house music, Fullenkamp quietly picks them off one at a time to conduct abbreviated meetings in her office. The topic of discussion is a small survey distributed every two years by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The survey starts with questions like “What are the last four digits of your social security number?” and gradually probes for information regarding long-term, problematic relationships and whether or not the subject has experienced domestic violence. Ultimately, though, the focus turns to housing status.
The goal, Fullenkamp explains, is to determine how much funding or public housing can be made available by the government to those being interviewed. In a phrase, the needier the person appears on paper, the higher on the queue their name is placed for any available residence. “It’s not a catch-all system, but it’s one of the only ways we have right now to try and get a feel for what’s going on or how to best meet people where they are,” she says. “A lot of the youth here might not be literally homeless, sleeping on a park bench or in the streets right now, but there’s a very good chance that within the next year they will.” Based on the data gathered through the survey at the Center and most other advocacy centers throughout the city, the Homeless Action Network of Detroit decides how best to portion lots from public housing projects. The bureaucratic rigmarole becomes doubly frustrating for non-profits like the Ruth Ellis Center, considering the lack of attention these governing agencies devote to the interconnectivity of homeless and homosexuality in lower-income neighborhoods. The Center is one of only four organizations in the country solely dedicated to serving runaway, homeless, at-risk LGBTQ youth — and the only one in the entire Midwest. Small numbers give way to marginalization. “The problem in Detroit is that there are very little resources for victims of domestic abuse, and fewer still for same-sex partners who are often experiencing similar problems,” she continues. “They’re still not recognized, which creates a really unhealthy atmosphere of isolation that only makes the problem worse.” There’s no dedicated source of funding within the $24 million pot HAND handles annually for individuals who have come out as gay. In their yearly State of Homelessness Report, the organization doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ individuals. This shortfall — despite a growing number of reports that indicate the number of LGBTQ youth on the streets — is increasing by a sizable margin every year. And in povertystricken, urban areas like Detroit, the epidemic is especially worrisome. A 2012 study conducted by the Williams Institute found that between 20 and 40 percent of homeless youths identify as LGBTQ — double the percentage of adolescents nationally who are openly gay. Further research by the National Coalition for the Homeless found that homeless LGBTQ ado-
lescents are more than twice as likely to commit suicide as their heterosexual counterparts. According to Fullenkamp, the trouble often arises from a painstakingly stringent verification process. The verifications are used to weed out applicants, discrediting information given by people seeking federal vouchers. “Anybody who’s ever been in a position where they’ve had to ask for something understands how dehumanizing that process can be, and the system is set up to reinforce those feelings,” she says. “At the end of the day, you want people to feel safe asking for help and you want people who ask for help to get it.” “But, you have to have all these verification letters that demand you to verify that you’re homeless,” she continues. “So an outreach worker would have to go with you to wherever it is you’re sleeping and actually see that it exists. Which is crazy, not only because it’s disrespectful to the individual, but also because it’s not at all an efficient use of the system’s time and money.” The survey distributed this night is a means to find recipients for 200 recently released federal vouchers, and homeless agencies across town are scrambling to find potential candidates. Though Fullenkamp insists — with a muted smile — that this isn’t a competition per se, each agency makes fervent efforts to advocate for its own clients. Some of the other organizations conducting surveys tonight include the Neighborhood Service Organization and the Coalition On Temporary Shelter, both of whom cater to a predominantly older, heterosexual demographic. Eric Stanson is a large man wearing a white, patterned zipup fleece and dark jeans. He closes his eyes as he picks up a mic and keeps them that way when his hands reach down to pull out the pair of ivory-colored sunglasses from a back pocket. Some people watch as he puts them on. Stanson is the master of ceremonies for the night. The mic in his hand, by accident or careful foresight of those who hold their ear drums dear, remains off for the next two hours. Stanson doesn’t need it. Around the sweeping hardwood dance space that looks more like a cafeteria than a disco, he prowls. In front of the black foldable table that holds the store-bought trophies, tonight’s prizes, he pauses. And through the cacophony of chatter that See RUTHELLIS, Page 8B
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 // The Statement
University advances stem cell technologies amid political contention by Anastassios Adamopoulos, Daily Staff Reporter
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
The lab manager removes embryonic stem cells from nitrogen storage.
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
A research fellow gathers stem cells for differentiation assessment.
“It is exciting for me to think that this tiny group of cells could be the seed to help people suffering with diseases in the future,” Patricia said. Editor’s note: Upon request, some individuals interviewed for this article have been identified by first name only. In the Medical Science Building at the University’s Medical School, I looked through a microscope at a 35-millimeter petri dish and saw microscopic organisms that could apparently one day provide treatments for a host of debilitating genetic diseases. These microscopic organisms are called human embryonic stem cell colonies. The room is the University’s MStem Cell Laboratories, which develops human embryonic stem cell lines from disease-affected embryos. Last month The Michigan Daily reported on one such stem cell line developed from an embryo that had been donated by a University alumna. But as the University looks to grow such efforts, it remains unclear how the current political landscape might alter the path of such research. The difficulty in studying genetic diseases is observing how they begin and how they grow. Without access to the formation of the cells, scientists cannot know what the developmental process is. Embryonic stem cell lines can — to some extent — solve this problem by showing scientists how a mutation develops. “(It is) important to understand how mutations give rise to the pathology,” said Gary Smith, director of the MStem Cell Laboratories. “Knowing how a mutation results in a neuron that functions abnormally provides opportunities to prevent or treat the disease.” It takes around 210 days to produce a single embryonic
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
A research fellow assesses the neuronal differentiation of stem cells.
stem cell line. This includes about twenty to thirty rounds of replication and characterization to ensure the new line develops as needed. Once the lab has produced a successful line, they freeze it and store it. Stem cells can proliferate indefinitely if they are carefully grown, so the number of lines that can be produced is up to the laboratory’s discretion. “It is quite a labor-intensive project,” Smith said. “We have to feed these cells every other day. And we have to split them every seven days. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the weekend, it doesn’t matter if it’s on Christmas.” Patricia, a research specialist in the lab, works on all of the different steps in this line production process. “The beginning of a new line is really fascinating because you can see day by day how few cells start to divide to produce the first stem cells colony,” she said. Understanding how these diseases develop is the beginning of the ultimate goal of this research: finding the drugs to treat them. Scientists who study these human embryonic stem cell lines examine how they develop into neurons or other kinds of specialized cells they want, and see where the mutation occurs. They could then find and test drugs to stop the mutation from happening. However, there are further steps that need to be taken. Smith pointed out that it is important to have more than one stem cell line for each disease, ideally from different people. The comparisons that could be drawn among different lines would lead to more conclusive results. “I think in the future this is going to be a huge way of being an intermediary between animal studies and clinical trials of new drugs,” Smith said. Once the production is done, the paperwork starts. The lab submits its findings to the National Institutes of Health so that the new line can be put on the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry, where organizations around the world submit information about the embryonic stem cell lines they have produced. Acceptance onto the registry depends on meeting the guidelines that the NIH has set. Smith noted that so far the lab has seen great success in
meeting the regulations put forth by the NIH — every one of the lines they have submitted has been accepted. Once the stem cell line is accepted, it is on the registry for those interested in buying it from the lab. After reaching an agreement, the lab will ship the line out to the purchaser. The purchaser must also submit a request for a research grant by the NIH to work on the stem cell line. The University’s MStem Cell Laboratories have added 25 out of 303 total human embryonic stem cell lines on the registry, with another three lines currently under review. It has also added the most disease-specific stem cell lines in the past two years compared with other institutions. While such research is widely considered cutting edge within scientific circles, the use of human embryos has led to rampant ethical debates. From 2001 to 2009, research in this field was stifled by federal funding restrictions passed by former President George W. Bush. The ban effectively prohibited new lines from being created and left the scientific community with only twenty-one usable lines for research during those years, as scientists were limited to private donations and state funding to continue their research. In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that once again permitted federal funding for research on stem cells. The current National Institutes of Health guidelines are formatted after this executive decision. As a result NIH grants for studying human embryonic stem cell lines increased substantially, reaching $146.1 million in 2013. The MStem Cell Laboratories opened in 2009 as part of the University Stem Cell research department, after the adoption of the Michigan Stem Cell Amendment in 2008 that allowed embryo donation and production of embryonic stem cells for the first time in the state. The lab has employed four to five people over the years since its founding.
Read the rest of this article online at MichiganDaily.com
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 // The Statement
7B
Personal Statement: What I don’t know by Natalie Gadbois, Deputy Statement Editor
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND
I
t was a middle school slumber party. Exhausted from Dance Dance Revolution, licking coarse Dorito salt from our fingers, we laid down in our spoke-and-wheel sleeping bag circle, and we talked about sex. Jade, the party’s host and wild card of the group, was the first to make it personal: “I want to have sex for the first time when I’m a junior in high school, with someone really cute like Jason.” There were giggles and gasps, and I blushed, because for years I had quietly, earnestly had a crush on cute Jason. Another girl, goofy and Catholic-bred like me, responded in shock. “I am waiting until I get married. I only want to have sex with one person ever.” Later she would go on to date the school dreamboat, and their do-they-or-don’t-they sex life was a sad constant of teenage gossip. My turn. In typical rational, middle-of-the-line, oh what a nice girl fashion, I said that I wanted it to happen in college. That I didn’t need to be in love, but it had to be with someone I cared about. That it needed to be special, but not rose-petals-dripped-on-the-bed, sexy-silk-teddy special. At age 12 sex terrified me, with the burgeoning body parts and whispered talk that it hurt really, really bad. But I felt no shame imagining the future. Someday I was going to have sex, and I was really going to like it. Eight years later, I lie on my couch watching “Jane the Virgin” with my best friend. I had been skeptical of the show’s premise — a 23-year-old woman who has never had sex becomes mistakenly artificially inseminated with her ex’s sperm. But watching it, the similarities between Jane and me soon became strangely apparent: we were both grilled cheese aficionados, insecure writers, harborers of Catholic guilt and modern world sensibilities, warmhearted and practical in equal measure. And then there’s the whole premise, the final nail in the coffin that links Jane and I: that eponymous virginity. To the consternation of seventh-grade-me, it hasn’t happened yet. I could falsely chalk it up to the lingering remnants of my Catholicism but that would oversimplify it. Or I
could be the “chill girl” I’ve never been, say it really doesn’t matter to me, that it will happen when it happens. Or I could lie — as I have admittedly done before, during ill-advised games of Would You Rather in low-ceilinged basements — and vaguely pretend like it has happened, that I’m experienced and jaded like so many others. But that would really be a disservice to the fragile, complex, so, so frustrating relationship I have with my sexuality. I’m a virgin, and sometimes I feel weird about it. Reading “Pride and Prejudice” as a kid, I would joyfully imagine that someday when I was older and smarter and more beautiful — the act of falling in love and being fallen in love with. I’ve always been a pragmatist, independent and rational, but a small part of me bled for those love stories. Even then I didn’t equate love and sex, nor did I imagine a rose-colored world in which I would meet the one man of my dreams at the right time and the right place and the story would end there, happily. I wanted love, the kind Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy had, but I also wanted intimate passion, like the kind Lloyd Dobbler and Diane had in “Say Anything.” I knew finding true intimacy was difficult, so I was patient. Waiting through high school, I watched my friends fall in love with the wrong people — have sex and call it painful, awkward, or the worst, “not as exciting as everyone says it is.” I naively thought it would come easily in college. I thought it would help define me as I grew older — I equated my patience with maturity, rather than fear of disappointment or rejection. But then college came and with it dark Crystal Palace parties and putting on sexy underwear because we’re in college and you never know and guys trying to take my pants off in dark corners while I drunkenly laughed and said, “I’m not having sex with you.” Though I loved the energy and I never stopped myself from having fun, I knew that wasn’t how I wanted it to go down. I so desperately wanted to not care, wanted to be able to have a one-night stand and wave a big flag out my window the next morning saying, “I fucking did it everyone!” And to be frank, I knew that as an 18-year-old
with a vagina, I could get it if I wanted it. Access wasn’t the issue. Emotional attachment, mutual respect, and real, genuine attraction were, and still are, the tricky parts. For a while in high school I entertained the idea of becoming a writer. I agonized, because the advice I got from teachers and other writers was always, “Write what you know.” But what did I know, beyond the fictional experiences from books and TV that I reveled in? Sure, I was nice. I was smart. But I did not feel exciting, nor did I live an exciting life. I wasn’t the girl things happened to; I was the best friend or the older sister or the daughter or the classmate who was there to support, laugh at, or cheer on the people that more exciting things did happen to. “I’ve experienced nothing!” I would cry with ironic melodrama. “I know nothing!” And while I no longer really feel that way — I’ve carved a path of experiences, met fascinating people and lived a life I’m happy to lead — it’s still a fear I carry today, even though I’ve abandoned the idea of becoming the next Jane Austen. This fear becomes tangled up in all my insecurities and inadequacies. Maybe if I was bolder and brasher and braver I could meet someone that excited me. Maybe I’m just not that interesting, or at least not in an intriguing, sexy way. And the most insidious doubt, the one I hate myself for thinking but that’s always lurking in the pit of my stomach: maybe if I was just a bit prettier, the good guys — the Lloyd Dobblers of the world — would start forming a line. I know this type of thinking isn’t healthy, and I force myself to self-affirm — “You is kind, you is smart, you is important.” — but it’s hard to validate myself when I feel like I have grown stagnant, still that earnest seventh grader dreaming of the someday. I know I am kind, and smart, and important, but I can’t help think that I crave sex in the same way I crave that elusive “experience.” On some level, I’m afraid if it doesn’t happen, it means I’m less of a person, that I’m doing something wrong.
8B
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 // The Statement
RUTHELLIS From Page 8B swells from every corner of the cafeteria-disco from every teenaged body in attendance, his voice rings true and sharp. Eric Stanson is a youth volunteer at Ruth Ellis. “I LOVE THE WAY YOU MOVE SO SEXY. LET ME SEE YOU POP THAT BOOTY,” he screams when Adrian, no longer pirouetting or holding up any middle fingers, gyrates down the dance floor. Stanson bellows his anthem throughout the night, directing at whoever gathers the requisite courage to venture down the catwalk. He does it tirelessly. He does it relentlessly. He does it homicidally. He heaves his words with the weight of a man looking to instill the fear of God, to change lives. He does it because, in some ways, he just may. Studies by the University of California, Los Angeles have indicated 46 percent of LGBTQ homeless youth on the streets run away due to familial rejection of their sexual orientation or gender identification. In many cases, the resulting self-doubt and invalidation festers long into adulthood, only to materialize in the form of severe depression or self harm. One of the
ball’s most palpable intentions is to create a breathable atmosphere of affirmation, one that any bystander can feel wash over them, can inhale, exhale with fire. Roman Bertram, a high school student who has been visiting the Center regularly for the past year, nods casually along to Stanson’s red-faced chants, not unlike a middle-aged Mormon man who stumbled into a Marilyn Manson concert. “They couldn’t get me out there if they pointed a goddamn flamethrower at me,” he says after a beat. “I mean, don’t get me wrong — I’m glad I’m here, but shit ... like an actual flamethrower.” Bertram leans back when he laughs. He lets his head fall back so he can really feel the warmth at the base of his stomach rise up his throat on its way to chortle out in a guffaw. He has kind eyes that he sometimes winks when he’s in the middle of telling a joke, eyebrows that rise comically in the tiny moments before the man he’s been glancing at walks by. Without any prompt, he talks at length about his plans for the future. “I want to major in English,” he says, with a period. “I don’t really care where I go, but I want to be reading when I get there.”
Bertram doesn’t know how he will pay for college, acknowledging his high school years have been “kind of a mess.” After being bullied for much of his freshman and sophomore year, he began to lose interest in schoolwork, followed quickly by any hope that things
“The fact that you’re LGBT doesn’t really get discussed” could ever change. “It’s hard to talk about because it felt like I had such little control at that time. It was a blur,” he says. “It was a lot of confusion, then frustration, then not really caring. I didn’t know who I was.” His eyes turn to granite when he talks about the weeks before he found Ruth Ellis, scrolling desperately online for some modicum of understanding — anyone willing to listen. He felt pride in being ready, for the first time in his life, to talk. The search words he used were “gay,” “Detroit” and “help.” “I try to be here as much as I can,
usually every day,” he says. “I don’t even really have to be doing anything: I can just come and sit down and have regular conversations with people about literally anything. It started to get better once I started coming. I felt like, after a really long time, I wanted to get it together again. Still, I —” Bertram’s thoughts are cut short by a loud crash reverberating from the other end of the cafeteria-disco. Two men have fallen face-first into a chair while trying to execute a complex bodily maneuver involving a combination of breakdancing and tap dancing in sync. More than half the room now gapes silently, hands splayed over O’d lips. A balloon pops without much aplomb. As the downed gentlemen silently rise, fragments of their dignity hanging around them in ribbon-like tatters, the familiar chant starts up again. Albeit a little quieter, a little shakier. “I LOVE THE WAY YOU MOVE SO SEXY ... Let me see you pop that booty?” In a weekly meeting of former Ruth Ellis youth — those who now have stable jobs and housing after an extended period of time visiting the Center — two attendees go over examples of open-ended questions as if they were in a high school journalism class. The gatherings, called “Out In The System,” are project-oriented, and the group — which consists of approximately ten members in total — is gearing to propose a change in the way Detroit’s Child Protective Services interviews victims before referring them for foster care. On a dry erase board hanging in the back, goals like “Develop research question” and “Develop research sample” have been scrawled in black marker by Tom Molina-Duarte, the leadership and advocacy coordinator guiding the discussion. The intention is to select a pool of viable interview subjects, then record them answering a series of questions that Molina-Duartes hopes will convince CPS to include Ruth Ellis in the conversation when they speak with kids about leaving home or help them better mediate the relationship between out youth and their respective families. Molina-Duartes talks patiently. Often, the dialogue wanders and the two former Center visitors talk openly, casually about their pasts. Victor Kalten doesn’t seem perturbed when he discusses the night he was raped by two men while in foster care. Bonnie Dyer is luke-
warm when she mentions how certain members of her family won’t let her communicate with or even go near her niece ever since she came out as a lesbian. “I feel like a majority of these kids don’t even make it to foster care. A lot of them are just out on the streets,” Kalten says. “I think the numbers they use to calculate the percent of homeless people who are LGBTQ comes from how many there are in foster homes. Which doesn’t make sense because there are so many who never even make it there.” “Even in foster care,” he says. “The fact that you’re LGBT doesn’t really get discussed. It’s treated like a secret.” Kalten talks at length about the complex disparity between admitting to the world that you’re gay and the lead-up to the realization that you’re not straight. In a foster care system where there is little dialogue about sexual orientation, Kalten feels this lead up can become unnecessarily drawn out, even harmful. “Things changed so much for me before I told people I was gay and after,” he says. “It felt like I was completely unprepared because I had never simply been told that it was okay to be gay. No one came up to me and had a conversation about it. One of the things I want out of this project is to make sure other kids don’t go through the same thing.” The stigma, Dyer adds, forces many LGBTQ individuals to constantly question their circumstances, often for good reasons, but sometimes in ways that can needlessly put them at odds with the people around them. She references experiences with the job market. “I know a lot of people who have been fired from their jobs after they’ve been outed,” she explains. “And they carry that knowledge with them wherever they go to work next. It’s the same way when you’re a kid and you’re being raised to believe straightness is the only thing that exists. Without ever realizing it, it gets so much harder to trust people to accept who you are.” When there isn’t anything else to say, Bertram watches the dancing quietly. He doesn’t move when Adrian stuffs two large balloons into the bust of the dress he pulled on two hours ago and two more in the back of his underpants. After a while, he smiles. “Flamethrower,” is the only word he says before walking away.