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CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, February 19, 2015

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Schlissel introduces efforts for diversity ZACH MOORE/Daily

The Michigan men’s soccer team (LEFT), the Michigan marching band (TOP RIGHT) and the Michigan baseball team (BOTTOM RIGHT) perform during Mock Rock at Hill Auditorium Wednesday.

Student-athletes unleash wild sides at Mock Rock Men’s rowing team earns second straight win at event By LEV FACHER Managing Editor

The Michigan men’s rowing team might not get much publicity around campus, but on the

Hill Auditorium stage, it reigns supreme. Wednesday night, the Wolverine rowers channeled their inner Walt Disney to repeat as champions of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee’s Mock Rock event, an annual charity competition that pits various teams’ wacky performances against one another before hundreds of current and former athletes, stu-

dents, fans and alumni. The event was conceived in 1999 in honor of Jeff Reese, a member of the Michigan wrestling team who passed away while training for an upcoming event. This year, SAAC partnered with the Ann Arbor YMCA, contributing proceeds to benefit children’s programs in the Washtenaw County area. The winning act was an

impressively orchestrated musical-theater rendition of “The Little Mermaid,” complete with dozens of costumed rowers. Some of the more notable getups included a crab, a large cardboard boat named “S.S. Boat,” a jellyfish, a rock, a seahorse and, of course, a mermaid. While appointed judges have decided the winner in the past, See ROCK, Page 3A

Full strategic plan recommended by committee in Sept. not yet released By GENEVIEVE HUMMER Daily Staff Reporter

University President Mark Schlissel hosted 200 students, faculty and staff members Monday morning in the Michigan League Ballroom to jump start a campuswide conversation on diversity. Schlissel announced plans for the leadership breakfast in December through an e-mail newsletter delivered to students and faculty. In September, the Office of the Provost released reports from three faculty-led committees that included 13 recommendations for diversifying the campus, including the creation of a strategic diversity plan.

HEALTH

RESEARCH

Michigan sees increased ACA participation Exchange signs up almost 341,000 residents during open enrollment By JACKIE MILLER Daily Staff Reporter

When open enrollment closed Sunday, almost 341,000 Michigan residents had signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplace — a 25 percent increase over last year. Both the general Health Insurance Marketplace and the Healthy Michigan Plan, the state’s Medicaid expansion program, have experienced some level of success in the last year. With the closure of the enrollment period last Sunday, President Barack Obama said 11.4 million people signed up for or renewed their coverage during the three month period. Currently, 559,965 beneficiaries are covered under the Healthy Michigan Plan, which is designed to cover residents

between the ages of 19 and 64 who have an income at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty line. Carrie Rheingans is project manager for the Washtenaw Health Initiative, a countywide drive working to improve access to health care for low-income residents. She said the enrollment rates were surprisingly high. “Overall, this number has really blown out of the water any estimates that anybody was making in the state,” Rheingans said. Rheingans added that she is not aware of any major issues that have occurred within this year’s first enrollment period, but noted that Michigan residents seemingly learned from the previous period, and are becoming smarter shoppers. In particular, Rheingans said many are concerned about which health insurance plans their doctors will accept, as patients generally want to stick with the doctor that they are currently with. “Many patients who enrolled the first time, last year, who are re-enrolling this year have been See ACA, Page 3A

Michigan Daily reporters were not invited to Monday’s event. According to a University press release and several faculty, administrators and students who attended the event, Schlissel announced intentions to prioritize the issue during his term, echoing sentiments similar to his September inaugural address. “I am committed to making diversity, equity and an inclusive campus environment a major focus of my presidency,” Schlissel said. “Together, we can embrace the best parts of our past and the brightest minds of the future, and create new levels of pride and excellence for everyone in the University of Michigan community.” Though Schlissel acknowledged the challenges ahead, he expressed optimism for the University’s ability to achieve significant change. Issues of diversity, inclusion and equity have played a promiSee DIVERSITY, Page 3A

‘U’ launches reproductive health center in Ethipoia New program to focus on training local doctors, data collection DELANEY RYAN/Daily

Roey Gilad, Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, discusses Israeli security issues at the Michigan League Wednesday.

Israeli consulate general talks Middle East politics Roey Gilad discusses regional challenges to Israel’s borders By TANYA MADHANI Daily Staff Reporter

During his second visit to the University on Wednesday evening, Roey Gilad, consulate general of Israel to the Midwest, provided an update about

current events in the Middle East from the perspective of the Israeli government. The event, titled “Israel: Facing the New Challenges in the Current Middle East,” was sponsored by the University’s chapters of advocacy groups J Street, I-LEAD, WolvPAC and the American Movement for Israel as well as the University’s Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies. LSA junior Inbar Lev, I-LEAD president, said Gilad reached out to the organization

about giving a speech. “People are very interested in the relationship with our campus and Israel,” Lev said. “(Gilad) gives a very detailed perspective of it, as well as giving an educated one … and I think that’s really important for people to hear who don’t know anything about the issue, or who do and want to learn more about the whole environment.” In the beginning of his talk, Gilad said he was not going to See CONSULATE, Page 3A

By RACHEL WADDELL For the Daily

University faculty and students will soon play a role saving lives in a country thousands of miles away. The University has helped establish a medical partnership in Ethiopia, called the Center for International Reproduction Health Training. Launched Feb. 6 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the collaboration consists of eight Ethiopian medical schools and a partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia. The CIRHT looks to equip future medical doctors with lifesaving reproductive health care services, according to Senait Fisseha, the center’s executive director and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. See ETHIOPIA, Page 3A

the b-side A look at how the University restores books and other publications

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News

2A — Thursday, February 19, 2015

MONDAY: This Week in History

TUESDAY: Campus Voices

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers

CHIMING IN

THURSDAY: Twitter Talk

The College of Literature, Science, and Arts celebrated President’s Day by sharing some presidential

“Did you know the past 5 U.S. presidents earned #LiberalArts degrees? Happy #PresidentsDay! via @SmartColleges” — @umichLSA

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Chime master Heather O’Neal helps Ann Arbor resident Nina Rosenzweig play the chimes during a chime concert at Kerrytown Market Wednesday.

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THE WIRE

University tops Peace Corps list BY GENEIEVE HUMMER

For the 15th consecuitive year, the University has placed on the top of the Peace Corps’ list of topvolunteering universities, producing 51 volunteers.

THE WIRE

Cambridge scholarship BY CARLY NOAH

University student Ana Guay was named a recepient of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship out of 755 initial applicants.

Off-Campus Housing Fair

Gifts of Art performance

Conference poster workshop

WHAT: This housing fair will give students an opportunity to explore offcampus housing options. WHO: Beyond the Diag WHEN: Today from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union, Pendleton Room

WHAT: The classic string trio, Trio Barbuto, will perform music that explores classic string music literature. WHO: Gifts of Art WHEN: Today from 12:10 p.m to 1 p.m. WHERE: University Hospital Main Lobby

WHAT: Participants in this workshop will learn how to create professionallooking conference posters. WHO: Teaching and Technology Collaborative WHEN: Today from 1 p.m to 3 p.m. WHERE: Hatcher Graduate Library, 206

Lunar celebration

Advertising speaker

WHAT: Celebrate the Lunar New Year, the year of the Sheep. Music, Chinese translation and free food will be available to participants. WHO: North Quad WHEN: Today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: North Quad, Space 2435

WHAT: Advertising executive Jose Miguel Sokoloff will speak about his award-winning marketing campaign against guerrilla warfare in Colombia. WHO: Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design WHEN: Today from 5:10 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Theater

Each week, “Twitter Talk” is a forum to print tweets that are fun, informative, breaking or newsworthy, with an angle on the University, Ann Arbor and the state. All tweets have been edited for accurate spelling and grammar.

LOOK AT OUR #TWEETS (please)

“Not trying to brag, but @ UmichStudents received more Fulbrights than any other U.S public university. #leadersandbest”

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

ON THE WEB...

FRIDAY: Photos of the Week

The University graduate program congratulated students for receiving a high number of Fulbright honors.

University alum proves that Wolverines nationwide are still excited about their new coach.

“I just saw an elderly Michigan alum in a coffee shop in San Jose. I said ‘Go Blue.’ He smiled and replied, “We got Harbaugh!”

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Michigan’s Got Talent WHAT: Watch 12 different acts competing to win the Michigan’s Got Talent title. WHO: Center for Campus Involvement WHEN: Today from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY

Twenty-two years after his death, Random House Publishing has announced the publish date for two new Dr. Seuss books, USA Today reported. The author’s widow and his secretary found the new stories and sketches.

The Michigan Daily’s music columnist Adam Theisen discusses the the potental rivalry between Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar for “Greatest Rapper Ever.” >>SEE THE BSIDE, PG. 3B

The NFL has found a New England Patriots staffer who tried to get an unapproved football into the “Deflategate” game, ESPN reported. A locker room attendant tried to sneak a “kicking ball” into the game.

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Lawsuit focuses on footing drain disconnection program Ann Arbor residents challenge sewage mitigation efforts for homes By LAURA SCHINAGLE For the Daily

Ann Arbor residents Anita Yu, John Boyer and Mary Raab sued the city last year over the legality of a program requiring homeowners install sump pumps in private residences. In the original complaint, filed in February 2014 as Yu v. City of Ann Arbor, the plaintiffs alleged that the program inflicted uncompensated burdens and monetary costs. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary compensation, as well as injunctive relief and a Sudoku Syndication statement that the drainage program violates their right to due process.

Though a Washtenaw County Circuit Court judge ruled last week not to sanction the city after the plaintiffs alleged court proceedings were drawn out unnecessarily, the legal battle over the policy is far from finished. Launched in 2001, the city’s footing drain disconnection program was intended to reduce stormwater flow to the sanitary sewer system, which had caused sewage backup problems in homes throughout the city. To divert water from the sanitary sewer system to the stormwater drainage system, the program mandated that the footing drains in residents’ homes be disconnected and replaced with sump pumps. The suit implies that the city engaged in questionable practices in adopting and executing the program. Among other complaints, the plaintiff claims the city gave favorable treatment to certain private contractors by

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granting them the exclusive right to install the required footing drains on private properties. On Feb. 12, the court heard the plaintiffs’ oral argument in which they called on the judge to sanction the city for unreasonably drawn out legal proceedings. The plaintiffs sought monetary sanctions for “the fees and costs occasioned by the continued burden in this case of protecting themselves from a seeming attack by the City.” In an interview with The DELANEY RYAN/Daily Michigan Daily, Anne Warrow, Award-winning director Gabriel London speaks at a reception before the screening of his film “The Life and Mind of Mark the city’s project manager, mainDefriest” at Rackham Graduate School Wednesday. tained that the footing drain disconnection program was based on legitimate studies that considered the welfare of Ann Arbor residents. The plaintiff’s attorney Irvin Mermelstein said in an interview that this was not the case. http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ “These people didn’t study anything,” he said. “They knew ing parole thanks to the film, DeFriest was first put in soliexactly what they were doing.” whereas before he would have tary confinement while underThe two plaintiff parties likely stayed in prison until his going a psychiatric evaluation, — Boyer and Raab, who live death. according to the film. During together, and Yu — said they did In an interview, Gabriel Lon- his subsequent time in solitary not experience sewer-related don, the film’s director, said confinement in several prisons, problems before pumps were he thought the film built up London said DeFriest was denied installed in their homes under the By ALAINA WYGANT momentum around the case. clothing, and was also accosted program. The lawsuit’s key comDaily Staff Reporter “The film itself catalyzed a with water from a hose. The film plaint, Yu says, is that due to a dislot, and the audience catalyzed also points to torture and gang ability, cannot maintain a sump The student organization a lot, too,” London said. “When rape DeFriest underwent at the pump without a contractor, and Human Rights Through Edu- the film was released, his parole hands of other prisoners. the city has not compensated her cation hosted a showing on date was 2085, and now I think Theater and Drama Prof. Ashfor this burden. Likewise, Boyer Wednesday of “The Mind of there’s a very real possibility ley Lucas, director of the Uniand Raab cited uncompensated Mark DeFriest,” a documentary he’s going to get out of prison.” versity’s Prison Creative Arts burdens, including recurring that follows a prison escape artHe said he first heard of Project, also joined London for flooding and the necessary instalist, along with a Q&A session DeFriest while working on the Q&A, answering questions lation of a $600 backup hydraulic with the movie’s director. another prison documentary. about a slightly different issue — pump. The film will appear on Show- Noticing he was one nonviolent the role of creativity in prison. When the case was first filed time in March and won the Best offender among many violent Prisons are boring, she said. in the Washtenaw County CirDocumentary Feature award at offenders locked in solitary conDuring his incarceration, cuit Court, the city attempted to the Lone Star Film Festival. finement, he found the letters DeFriest made keys, painted, remove the case to federal court. In the film, DeFriest, a cur- DeFriest had written while in carved soap and wrote poetry, However, the plaintiff countered rent inmate at a Californian prison, and began tracking his among other activities. with a motion to send it back to prison, was originally incarcer- story. Law Prof. Samuel Gross, editor state court, which was granted. ated for theft, a four-year senLondon said his focus with the of the Law School’s National RegA series of motions followed, tence, in 1981. However, due to documentary was on examin- istry of Exonerations, also spoke including unsuccessful motions frequent escape attempts, his ing how individuals arrive in the before the film screening about to reassign the case to another sentence was increased. criminal justice system. the topic of exoneration. He said judge and to disqualify the city’s Now with 34 years in prison “We imprison very freely,” the attention DeFriest’s case has legal counsel, Abigail Elias. behind him, 27 of which were London said. “The federal system, garnered from the documentary Last Thursday, Elias argued spent locked in solitary, DeFri- for example, the majority of its is the exception when it comes to See LAWSUIT, Page 3A est has a chance at obtain- prisoners are nonviolent.” See PRISON, Page 3A

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Movie screening highlights issues within prison system Director Gabriel London chronicles life of escape artist Mark DeFriest

News

3A — Thursday, February 19, 2015

ACA From Page 1A coming in and asking more specific questions about enrollment this year,” she said. Similar to last year, Rheingans said many people have waited until the last minute to apply for health insurance. She attributed the trend to those with lower incomes commonly working more than one job and helping take care of other family members. Those factors make it harder to find the time to go online and thoroughly consider the options. Currently, Michigan is one of

DIVERSITY From Page 1A nent role on campus over the last year. In November 2013, members of the University’s Black Student Union launched the Being Black at the University of Michigan campaign — using the hashtag #BBUM on Twitter — to draw attention to the experiences of Black students on campus. The student organizers later demanded the University make process around a series of policy initiatives, including increasing minority enrollment. Among initiatives currently in the works, Schlissel announced the University has begun a Strategic Plan for Diversity and said he plans to gather department chairs later this semester to discuss diversity and inclusion. He also listed plans for a campuswide diversity summit in the fall, new partnerships with school districts home to underrepresented populations and a task force to consider hiring and promotion of underrepresented faculty. In an interview with The Michigan Daily last month, Schlissel noted the University’s long-standing goal to diversify, but said current strategies must be improved. “It really is fair to say that there has been a long-term commitment to diversity at the University of Michigan, I think the record is really clear,” he said. “The problem is, our success

ETHIOPIA From Page 1A Fisseha, who was born in Ethiopia, helped create CIRHT and was able to do so in part through an anonymous $25 million grant to the University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The program, Fisshea said, is needed in Ethiopia. “Ethiopia has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, and one of the contributing factors is the huge unmet need for comprehensive reproductive health care services,” she said. The CIRHT works to train health care officials and future medical professionals, providing students with hands-on experience in the profession. The program aims to develop new leaders who will stay on and contribute to the health care in Ethiopia. Fisseha said the graduates’ capabilities have already increased. The demand for health care has also increased as more Ethiopian women seek help from the new program. The University’s role in Ethiopia will also include the design and creation of projects intended to contribute in other ways. Engineering graduate student Ibrahim Mohedas has been at the forefront of one of these projects. Mohedas has been to Ethiopia

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

27 states, along with the District of Columbia, that has chosen to expand Medicaid through the Healthy Michigan program. Rheingans said Michigan’s plan differs somewhat from those in other states. Unique provisions include asking beneficiaries to make contributions to the program, similar to traditional health insurance, such as copays. After four years, beneficiaries earning above 100 percent of the federal poverty line will be asked to make more contributions. “I think some things that our state did in the development of the Healthy Michigan Plan that are different from other Med-

icaid programs in the country will make other states be more interested in possibly expanding Medicaid,” Rheingans said. Student volunteers with the Washtenaw Health Initiative, like Public Health student Pauline Do, disseminated information about the ACA as well as the Healthy Michigan Plan across the community. “Since Michigan just expanded its Medicaid program last year, most people, including students, do not realize that they qualify for Healthy Michigan, so that has been my main focus,” Do said. “Personally, I have only done one-to-one outreach, but I believe it is very

successful.” Unlike the general insurance exchange, Healthy Michigan does not have an enrollment deadline. However, Do said individuals still may be able to enroll in the general marketplace beyond the initial February deadline, as long as they experienced a qualifying life event, such as a change in income or residence. “The most rewarding thing about disseminating information about health care coverage is making this process a little bit easier for individuals, and seeing people enroll with the help of certified enrollment counselors on the same day,” Do said.

hasn’t matched our aspirations despite people’s serious efforts and serious commitments.” Martha Jones, associate chair of the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and associate professor of history and Afroamerican and African Studies, attended the event and said she was excited by Schlissel’s interest in campus-wide diversity. “I thought it was a very bold morning and I was very impressed as I learned that our new president was going to make diversity one of his major agenda items for the term of his presidency,” Jones said. “What I saw on Monday was a president that seemed poised to lead us on a new path, and that for me was new and that for me was why it was an exciting and important morning.” However, Jones said she’s interested to know more about initiatives in the works, particularly ongoing strategic planning. “I’m eager to hear more details as they develop,” she said. After outlining his priorities, Schlissel fielded questions and comments from the event’s attendees. According to a University press release, one attendee asked what takeaways attendees should communicate to their colleagues. “I think it’s fair to tell them that there’s skepticism in the air because words are easy, and I think it’s fair to tell them that the president and the senior leadership and the regents themselves are ready to be held to account,”

Schlissel said. “I not only need your ideas, I need your criticism,” he said. “I need you to poke me with a stick. I need you to hold me and the leadership team and the regents to account, so that we have the conversation again and again.” Pharmacy student Kristye Russell, who attended the event, said she is concerned how the plan would meet the needs of graduate and professional students enrolled in schools outside of the Rackham Graduate School. “The biggest challenge is going to be getting an initiative to roll out that is going to be widely adopted and accepted on campus by everybody and that is going to meet everybody’s needs,” she said. Jones said Schlissel’s talk focused primarily on campus climate issues, which she said are less quantifiable, but equally as relevant as admissions and hiring statistics. “Our climate issues need to be understood and addressed so that faculty, students and staff all feel welcome, safe, encouraged and at the center of the life and learning that goes on here,” she said. Esrold Nurse, LSA assistant dean for undergraduate education and executive director of the Newnan Academic Advising Center, attended the breakfast and agreed that changing the campus climate is important. “All students need to feel welcomed in our community,” Nurse wrote in an e-mail interview.

“Prospective (underrepresented minority) students need to see the University as a place which acknowledges differences and embraces it.” Nurse said Schlissel’s ideas are key for laying important groundwork on the issue. “Yet to ensure progress, the President’s ideas will require immediate and specific plans to take us from ideas to action and must by necessity involve all schools and colleges, faculty, staff and students in the development of those plans,” he wrote. LSA senior Cesar Vargas, who attended the event, is a first-generation college student. He said students need to build a greater understanding of the socioeconomic diversity at the University. “In today’s day one of the biggest taboos people have a hard time talking about is social class,” Vargas said. “One way to approach that is to inform people about the disparities that occur within the educational system.” Sandra Gregerman, director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, wrote in an e-mail interview that she felt Schlissel made his commitment to diversifying the campus clear. “The tenor and emotion shared by President Schlissel was deeply appreciated by someone who has been working on these issues for a long time, and his call to ‘nudge’ him and share concerns, ideas, and critiques demonstrated his deeply felt and personal commitment to creating a more diverse and inclusive campus community,” she wrote.

three times with the University, and has played a role in developing a prototype to help insert a long-term contraceptive into the arms of Ethiopian women, a process that generally risks harming muscle tissue. The prototype would safely deliver the contraceptive injection and nullify the risk of muscle damage when removed. “The long-term goal of a device like this would definitely be to expand access to long-term contraceptives,” Mohedas said. “In the bigger picture, we’re looking at how to design devices specifically for rural areas of low resource settings, where so much of the world’s population is but so few medical devices work.” The program also focuses on data collection in the country. Public Health student Belen Michael spent the last summer in Ethiopia engaged in data analysis. While there, Michael and fellow students were able to interview and discuss issues of fertility and reproduction with men and women in Ethiopian clinics. The data research is still ongoing and Michael said the information has provided insight into both medical and cultural perspectives in Ethiopia. “What I got was trying to find this balance of being culturally sensitive, but still trying to bring these beneficial methods to women,” Michael said.

LAWSUIT From Page 2A the city acted reasonably in its defense and that the plaintiffs did not show sanctions were warranted. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Elias would not speak to specific allegations the plaintiffs have made against the footing drain disconnection program, but said, “We’re confident in the legality of the program.” Preluding his ruling, Judge Timothy Connors, the Washtenaw County Circuit judge, said he respects the parties’ use of the available legal tools to pursue their goals. Connors

PRISON From Page 2A similar cases. “Most of the cases get very little attention,” he said. LSA freshman Sabrina Zayec, who attended the screening, said her initial

highlighted two fundamental principles of the court — protecting witnesses from undue harassment or embarrassment, and ascertaining truth. Connors said he took those principles into account, and exercised judicial restraint in his decision to deny the plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions. Mermelstein said he believes the circuitous nature of this case goes against the principle to ascertain truth. “The big problem is that we’re supposed to have all kinds of protections that we have in federal court that we don’t have here,” Mermelstein said. Mermelstein said depositions in the case are scheduled to begin in March.

reaction was disappointment in the justice system. “You see a lot of these problems and reports done in third-world countries and Guantanamo Bay but you don’t see the abuse that was reported in the Florida State Prison,” Zayec said.

CONSULATE From Page 1A offer an academic perspective on Israel’s geopolitical and international challenges, but one from the perspective of the Israeli government. “This is my job and my responsibility,” Gilad said. “The Arab Spring that started four years ago created the most geopolitically challenging situation which we are facing as a state since our establishment 60 to 70 years ago.” Gilad said Israel faces four forces in the Middle East that challenge its borders. He said these forces include the “Shiite Axis” stretching from Iran, Iraq and Syria; the traditional moderate Sunni Muslim block in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the Arab Gulf; as well as the Hamas and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. “You see how these new geopolitical maps of the Middle East is being translated into a direct threat … to Israel,” Gilad said. “I think it is fair to say that Israel has too many challenges and some opportunities.” He said Iran continues to threaten and challenge the legitimacy of Israel’s statehood and is currently the country’s biggest challenge in the Middle East. “We are at a very sensitive time,” he said. “We believe that Iran is a real threat to the state of Israel and to the region. I think nobody would like to see a nuclear Iran.” Gilad also discussed the military action in the Gaza Strip carried out by the Israeli government last July. He said the Israeli

ROCK From Page 1A this year its organizers took a different route, opting to let audience members vote for a winner via text message. The combined performance of the men’s and women’s track and field teams took second place, with the field hockey team taking third. Aaron Ward, who starred for the Michigan hockey team from 1990 to 1993 before winning three Stanley Cup trophies in the NHL — two for the Detroit Red Wings and another for the Carolina Hurricanes — emceed the event. Following the men’s rowing team’s performance, Ward noted that he would have to break his promise to his young daughter, who was expecting to see video footage of the event afterward. According to Ward, seeing the film’s protagonist Ariel with chest hair and a beard wouldn’t go over well. The Michigan baseball team kicked the night off with an impressive display of unintentionally improvisational comedy. Redshirt sophomore right-hander Cam Wysocki didn’t decide what his act would entail until the last possible moment, but he pulled some last-second strings to make it work. “I came up with that about … this morning,” Wysocki said. “I’ve done the same kind of thing the last three years , and it’s more fun if I come up with it the day (of the event). “That’s how you get that kind of raw emotion that you don’t really see in other acts, because we have no idea what we’re doing until we’re actually on stage.” Neither did the five freshmen Wolverines whom Wysocki enlisted for his act, which con-

government is committed to a two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, but said Palestinians should also recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “This is an opportunity to build some kind of partnership (between Israel) and the Sunni block,” he said. Gilad said he approached I-LEAD because he wanted to bring the concerns of the Israeli government and people to the Jewish community in the Midwest. “All the kinds of concerns that we have in Israel, sometimes it’s hard to understand them when you are so far, at such a distance,” Gilad said. “If I’ve managed to express some of the concerns that we have in Israel from all this very challenging geopolitical situation, that’s basically what I came to do today.” LSA freshman Emilie Weisberg said she thought Gilad provided a balanced perspective while still maintaining his own opinion. “I really just found that from his speech I was educated a bit more on the issues and it helped me see things from a calm, rational perspective,” Weisberg said. LSA junior Daniel Pearlman said he enjoyed how Gilad spoke from the Israeli government’s perspective. “He spoke from the heart and the government,” Pearlman said. “Despite everything you see on the news about war, there’s a sense of optimism and there’s huge opportunities to work with Sunni moderate groups … It’s easy to forget there are real people living in the Middle East and it’s not just a conflict.”

sisted of him calling up an unsuspecting female volunteer to sit in a chair at center stage. Wysocki serenaded her with a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” before calling out the firstyears to push the boundaries of what could appropriately be done in mixed company — all through song, dance and a selfie. Though absent due to a home game against Indiana, the Michigan women’s basketball team managed to contribute. Junior guard Halle Wangler starred as a snack-food thief in a video the Wolverines filmed beforehand and showed during the event. Also playing leading roles were freshman forward Jillian Dunston, who deceived her teammates into believing they had an upcoming day off, and senior forward Nicole Elmblad, who, upon discovering the rest of her teammates fooling around on the practice court, kicked off a wholesquad “twerk” session. “There were a few takes,” Elmblad told the Daily following her team’s 68-52 victory over Indiana Wednesday night. “There were a couple of scenes that took us longer than they should have, especially when you have a whole team together trying to do a video thing. Everybody’s got their opinion and what they want to do, but it was a lot of fun.” Not to be left out, the Michigan marching band also orchestrated a relatively lengthy act that alternated between sketch comedy and dance. As with the other groups, the marching band didn’t miss out on an opportunity to poke fun at itself in its depiction of a flirtatious interaction at band camp. “So what?” said one band member to another. “People are awkward. Plus, we’re band kids. We’re all awkward.” Daily Sports Writer Kelly Hall contributed reporting.

Do you

Stutter, Stammer, or have a

Speech Disfluency? Jacob, a freshman, and Jeremiah, a senior, are currently organizing a group of students at the University of Michigan who either have stuttered, do stutter, or want to learn more about stuttering. Both of us are stutterers and similar identity. Jacob Behrmann jbehr@umich.edu

Jeremiah Whittington jjwhit@umich.edu

Opinion

4A — Thursday, February 19, 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.

Throwing shade at grey

ver the past weekend, the film “Fifty tive as E. L. James’ attempts at dialogue. Shades of Grey” shattered records The storyline of “Fifty Shades of Grey” sugby grossing more than $94.4 million gests to women that despite how dark or dollars over the four-day tortured a man is, if you endure his violence holiday weekend. Though and abuse, you may have a shot at changing Universal Studios had orighim. And if he’s rich, handsome and able to inally planned on releasing fly a helicopter? All the more reason to stay, the film in October of 2014, because degradation is a small price to pay the movement of the prefor material wealth. It suggests to men that miere to Valentine’s Day continuously pushing a woman’s limits may proved advantageous. Over ultimately yield in your favor, either once the course of the weekend, you’ve exhausted her with your badgering one that is typically spent LARUEN or poured her enough glasses of Prosecco. It celebrating the longevity of MCCARTHY suggests that sex is an act entirely intended healthy relationships, thoufor pleasure, and it need not be complisands of women — 68 percated by strong emotions or backed by a cent of ticket sales — instead crowded into meaningful relationship. movie theaters. When was being stalked, bullied and Opposed to contributing to the fiscal suc- bribed into a domineering and physically cess of the film, I instead committed myself violent relationship deemed a fantasy? This to reading the first installment of E. L. James’ is not a fantasy. This is an example of behavtrilogy, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The novel tells ior following which you call the police and the story of Anastasia Steele, a young woman request a restraining order. Sure, there are who — like myself — is no more than 22 years books two and three, in which Ana preold, in the final moments of her undergradu- sumably has a positive effect on Christian, ate education and completing a degree in Eng- unearths his emotions and they engage in lish literature. From there, the plot unravels. a “vanilla” relationship (one that Grey still The relationship maintained between obsessively controls) — but the damage of this Christian Grey — a disturbed young busi- first installment has been done. Even if the ness magnate with supposedly out-of-this- film adaptation tones down some of the more world good looks — and concerning elements, its Anastasia is overbearing, production still perpetuif not suffocating. After ates a subscription to the being interviewed by When was being stalked, entire franchise. Anastasia for the school the intrigue bullied and bribed into of Granted, newspaper, Grey begins the series is — no pun stalking her and tracking intended — seductive, a domineering and her phone, claiming his and in a warped sense, E. violent relationship “affection” for her. And L. James’ work could be by affection, he means considered groundbreakdeemed a fantasy? he desperately wants to ing. By all means, I’m an physically assault her and advocate for consensual chain her to all four posts and emotionally healthy of his bed. He determines that she should be sexual exploration, but as a woman who his 16th submissive relationship, the terms respects herself and her independence, I canand conditions of which grant him com- not in good conscience contribute my meager plete control over her sexually, as well as finances to the success of this film. Buying her eating and exercise habits, schedule and a ticket to the film would serve as a validaclothing choices. tion of the messages it sends — and as women I do not understand how it’s not blatantly lust after Christian Grey, I’m concerned that clear that the relationship between Anasta- men may want to emulate his behavior. While sia Steele and Christian Grey is not one to be some argue that the dramatic arc eventually lusted after, and Christian Grey is not a man criticizes the one-sided, emotionless behavto be desired or fantasized about. The most ior exhibited in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the antagonizing element of the novel, and pre- commercialization of the trilogy into a line of sumably the film, is Ana’s insistence that she sex toys and bondage kits is chilling. loves him. Though this adoration is almost In essence, “Fifty Shades of Grey” is a entirely unrequited, Ana’s internal dialogue poorly written, sexually explicit repeat of reads, “This is a man in need. His fear is “Beauty and the Beast” that projects an outnaked and obvious, but he’s lost somewhere dated adage. Fix the beast and you can have in the darkness … I can sooth him, join him the castle? Forget the beast, and buy your briefly in the darkness and bring him into own castle. the light.” No, Ana, you cannot bring him into the — Lauren McCarthy can be light, and this plot is as tiresome and repetireached at laurmc@umich.edu.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Send letters to: tothedaily@michigandaily.com

“Relative wealth” responses are digusting TO THE DAILY: Upon reading Jesse Klein’s article, “Relative Wealth,” I was completely disgusted — but not by her article. Instead, I became mortified by the overwhelming number of callous responses. I do understand that income and wealth are sensitive topics, and therefore it’s not surprising that these topics evoked heavy emotion. Many comments on the article didn’t simply target Klein’s understanding of wealth and income, they targeted her and her intelligence. Was it anyone’s intention to discount her experiences, or is targeting someone the result of challenging

her depth of knowledge on socioeconomic status? As University of Michigan students, I believe it’s our obligation to teach each other and learn from each other, in every medium. The Daily’s presence on the Internet should not encourage us to mock each other, because we simply do not feel or see a human presence. Somewhere in the last decade, humanity lost motivation to listen and respect one another, and found self-satisfaction through spitting out vast amounts of knowledge on the Internet. I’m getting tired of all of this ego-driven commentary, and I hope I am not the only one. Elise Jayakar LSA senior

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The recent grad

eing a contestant on “The Bachelor” isn’t so different from being a recent graduate. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out. Sure, it’s easy to poke fun at the 30 women on the show who cry when the one man they’re all simultaneously dating sends them KATIE home (those odds KOZIARA are never in your favor, girlfriend). And yeah, our tenure at most of our first jobs will be longer than most engagements resulting from “The Bachelor.” That being said, the similarities between the show and the process almost every student goes through while looking for a job are fairly significant. When we send in job applications, sometimes hundreds of other people are applying for the one position that’s open. Even though we know the numbers are working against us, we feel rejected when we don’t make it to the final round of interviews or — worse — when we lose the job to someone else in the last leg of the hiring process. Simply substitute “The Bachelor” prize of a relationship with a 30-something farmer/doctor/athlete for a job with Goldman Sachs or an entry-level position at a consulting firm and we’ve put the “reality” in “reality TV.” “The Recent Grad” is a show we unanimously sign up for when looking for employment, and it’s helpful to know what we’re getting ourselves into before we join the contest. Hiring managers are our own personal Bachelor Brads, and we do everything we can to stand out from the other contestants. We dress to impress when we meet them. We practice our answers to typical recruiting questions over and over. We send out tailored resumes and cover letters, hoping to make it to the next round of casting and land a coveted spot to audition for the role of fiancée, er, financial advisor. The connections between the standard job hunt and this televised husband hunt don’t end there. The first night’s cocktail party on “The Bachelor” weirdly reminds me of career fairs – basically, they’re a

hot mess. Even though they lack asked to move onto the next round limo service and free wine, people (usually a rose isn’t included, but still nervously wait to deliver their hey, a recent grad can dream, right?) elevator pitch to recruiters, cut- you have to impress the interviewer. ting others off if need be. Trade in Bond over common ties, like Michi“Whitney, Fertility Nurse, Chicago” gan alumni status or a shared love for “Whitney, History Major, Uni- of biking. Go along with whatever versity of Michigan” and you have they have planned for the one-onthe bullet points from most con- one, answering their questions about versations that happen during this your goals and past. Ask them quesstressful experience. tions, too, because it’s important they If you make it past basic introduc- know you’re interested in them … as tions with a recruiter and actually an organization. get your foot in the door, there are If you survive your group interstill a bunch of tests to pass before views and one-on-ones, give yourself the recruiter pops the question, “Do a round of applause, because you’re you want to work here?” These chal- headed for an on-site interview. lenges could come in the form of While you may be nervous about cases, one-on-one interviews or ongoing to the organization, seeing the site consultations. office and meeting the hiring manCase interview questions will ager’s co-workers, knowing they show the employer how you might like you enough to invite you to their perform if given the job. On “The hometown can give you a bit of peace. Bachelor,” contestants are forced to The best advice I can give you? Be write songs or play paintball to show honest and be yourself. That’s what their potential they’ve apprecihusband what ated about you they’re made of. all along and that The connections On “The Recent is what’s gotten between the standard you to this stage Grad,” young professionals in the game. job hunt and this have to solve a If you end up televised husband hunt getting hired at problem or complete a task, often the end of all of are numerous. in a group setthis, congratuting. Contestants lations! You’ll who underperprobably stay form or try to dominate the conversa- with the company for about a year tion may be eliminated, while those and then part ways, blaming the who innovate and succeed will often separation on bad timing or leavmove onto the next round. ing the job for something better. This success is short-lived, If you don’t end up getting the job, though, because the group interview don’t feel badly about that sting of is just the beginning, and a recent rejection you feel. Even though you grad may be chosen for many of these are just one of many candidates before they end up getting a coveted the hiring manager is looking at, one-on-one interview. If you make you’re still human and tears have it to this round, be prepared for oth- been shed over much less. Seriers to resent you for this opportunity ously, just watch women cry about (job hunting is a tough sport). Also, losing the love of their life when be aware that some people may try to they are kicked off “The Bachelor” come back into the competition after after talking to the guy for maybe they were eliminated. Don’t worry, 12 minutes total. Throw a little though, history shows us these peo- pity party, pick yourself back up ple usually don’t last long if they’re and start sending out more applicaallowed back in the race. Let the tions. You’ll win the contest before other contestants ice them out until you know it and then you’ll be set they’re forced to leave and just keep for life (or at least until you break your eyes on the prize. up with your first job). One-on-ones are scary because they’re pretty much make-it-or— Katie Koziara can be reached break-it moments. In order to get at kkoziara@umich.edu.

Rational relations

aturday was Valentine’s Day. The day gets a bad rap, often deemed the Hallmarkiest of Hallmark holidays (see too: Mother’s day, Father’s day). Well first of all, fuck the haters. It’s my birthday. And now that that’s out of the way: it’s only a “holiday” if you only plan on buying ELI gifts for those you CAHAN love on one single institutionally preordained day of the year. Boom. Now you feel guilty. But the claim isn’t exactly inaccurate. A recent survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) reveals some fascinating points, least of all that spending this year on Valentine’s Day is projected to be the highest ever, at $18.9 billion. That is, in other words, 11 basis points (hundredths of a percent) of U.S. GDP. All exchanged in chalky hearts (candy makes up of 53.2 percent of purchases), roses (flowers are 37.8 percent), anything the color red (clothing is 16.3 percent) and mandrake roots (OK, not really). Perhaps more interestingly, the survey reveals some behavioral trends that have taken place. Indeed, since 2007, 13 percent fewer people are celebrating the holiday. Of those celebrating, 18 percent fewer are buying cards for their loved ones, and 23 percent fewer are going “for an evening out.” Well that just doesn’t seem very romantic. Instead, 31 percent more Romeos are buying gift cards. And funny enough, it’s not actually a terrible strategy — for these hunks, it may be the case that Amazon’s recommendation engine legitimately knows what their beaus want more than they do. Bezos, you stallion! Finally, the last piece of data worth considering is one I just find sad: that 56 percent of women plan to celebrate the day, while 53.7 percent of men plan to. Assuming that the numbers of homosexual couples of both genders celebrating are the same, I am so sorry for that 2.3 percent of ladies… But if we cut the jokes and take a deeper dive into this data, the trends observed really aren’t that shocking. Lovers are more risk-averse since the

financial crisis. Millennials seem to be particularly traumatized. Arthur C. Brooks wrote a wonderful qualitative piece in The New York Times Friday, titled “Taking Risks in Love.” In it, he tells the anecdote of his own hot pursuit of his Spanish wife. The story bears much in common with a rom-com that a Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher or Mila Kunis-Justin Timberlake duo might act in, with a little bit of Woody Allen mixed in for good measure. Brooks quit his job, left his family, learned Spanish, moved to Barcelona, got the girl and lives happily ever after. But the point of the article is not patting himself on the back, but rather asking why he would never be able to pat on his younger colleagues’ backs (or Facebook walls) for doing the same thing. “That’s crazy,” they say, after he tells the fairytale. Cupid got him good. He’s just an old-fashioned, smitten nut. To parse out the intergenerational language barrier — what risks he took for love. Yet, Brooks’ confusion is a justified (and much publicized) one: why are millennial lovebirds such wimps? A ton has been written on the subject of love in a digital era. The topic du jour, of course, is Tinder. The headline of another New York Times Valentine’s Day op-ed pretty much sums it up: “On Tinder, Taking a Swipe at Love, or Sex, or Something, in New York.” The popularity of Tinder seems to prove the fact that the extent of “risk” young adults feel comfortable taking, in love (or sex, or something), is limited to four pictures, a name and an age on a profile. If you match, great. If you don’t, who cares; you really only “met” the girl in the time it took to send a motor impulse down to your thumb. It’s certainly a lot less painful than getting rejected on the phone, or in person, or after a flight to Barcelona. This same sort of “love hedging” exists to a lesser extent with EHarmony, or OKCupid or Farmers Only, or any of the others. Clearly, risk aversion pervades the romantic

marketplace as much as it does the financial. Potential pain, anxiety and stress are managed by maintaining a well-diversified portfolio of uncorrelated romantic investments. Eggs are spread between baskets. It’s prospect theory all over again: losses hurt a whole lot more than gains heal. Loss avoidance is prioritized over the pursuit of gain. Per the survey: a gift card and a movie at home provide a lot more wiggle room during conversational awkward pauses than does the time between appetizer and entrée at a restaurant. Calamity avoided. Now back to Brooks’ question: why are we such wimps? Well, in retrospect, it seems pretty obvious — it’s actually far more rational to be wimpy. Shells are the best form of protection, particularly when we have enough stresses and strains on our plates already. Especially following what we witnessed happen to the country during the financial crisis. Vulnerability and its symptoms are, amidst overworked lives in school and in the office, insensibly risky. The means of desire are far less desirable than the ends. From personal experience, though, love is far from rational (believe me, I’ve tried to “understand” why some things have happened the way they have). So is this rational approach really a way to find love, rather than satisfy lust? As Sam Smith laments in the best song of the year: “Guess it’s true I’m not good at a one night stand / but I still need love ‘cause I’m just a man / Deep down I know this never works / But you can lay with me so it doesn’t hurt.” Apparently, people feel that. But what to do about it? Who knows. Keep bumping uglies, and maybe one of these nights we’ll run into dates for next Valentine’s Day. Or maybe we won’t. In either case, keep swiping right. It’s only rational, after all.

Is this rational approach really a way to find love, rather than satisfy lust?

— Eli Cahan can be reached at emcahan@umich.edu.

Weekend Roundup

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, February 19, 2015 — 5A

72 HOURS in Ann Arbor

CAMPUS

EVENTS Thursday, 2/19

of Argentine tango dancing. Neither a partner nor 7:30 p.m The Ark’s Daily Weekend Contributor experience is necessary. 28th Annual Storytelling The dance will be taught Festival: The Ark Though temperatures by skilled teachers who Come listen to a variety outside continue to fall will emphasize a fun expe- of stories at the Ark’s annual to arctic levels, Ann Arrience for all participants. storyteller gathering. Doors bor still offers many acopen at 7 p.m. and tickets tivities that make trekking 8 p.m. The Kap Slap: The cost $20. The event will feathrough the cold worth it. Blind Pig ture Detroit Rev. Robert B. Climb out of your bundle Electronic band Kap Jones Sr., and Lansing stoof blankets and venture Slap will perform at the ryteller Jennifer Pahl Otto. outside to take advantage Blind Pig for a concert. of what this weekend in Doors will open beginSunday, Feb. 22 Ann Arbor has to offer. ning at 8 p.m. and tickets will be available for T.B.D “Mommy”: State Thursday, Feb. 19 $15.00. Surcharge-free Theater tickets will also be availWatch the Wolverines 9 p.m. Improv Comedy able leading up to the take on the Ohio State Show: Michigan League event at the 8 Ball Saloon. Buckeyes in a Big Ten This weekend a Unimatchup. The game will versity student-run imSaturday, Feb. 21 not only be the perfect endprov comedy club, Iming to your weekend, but ages Hustle Harder, will 2 p.m “Kundo: Age of the also the ideal excuse to conshowcase their new maRampant”: The Michigan tinue putting off studying. terial with a free comedy Theater show. The event promises The Nam Center for Ko1 p.m Men’s basketball laughter and a break from rean Studies will present plays Ohio State: Crisler the stress of midterms. a free showing of “Kundo: Center Age of the Rampant,” a KoWatch the Wolverines Friday, Feb. 20 rean age period film that take on the Ohio State was a box-office hit in South Buckeyes in a Big-Ten 8 p.m. MTango Korea. Directed by Jong- matchup. The game will Beginners Series: Mason bin Yun, the film follows not only be the perfect endHall the rise of rebel Korean ing to your weekend, but The student organiza- group, KUNDO, as they at- the ideal excuse to contion MTango is hosting an tempt to overthrow tyrants. tinue putting off studying. introductory class to the art By JACLYN NAGEL

“music is my soul” presentation 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Trotter Multicultural Center Michigan’s Got Talent 7 p.m. Michigan League

Improv Comedy Show 9 p.m. Michigan League

Friday, 2/20 Black History Month documentary 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Rackham Amphitheatre Get on Up: The James Brown Story screening 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Trotter Multicultural Center FestiFebruary: A Multicultural Celebration 5 p.m. East Quad

Saturday, 2/21 Charity dodgeball tournament 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Intramural Sports Building

Sunday, 2/22

At the Daily, we’re always looking for NEW, creative content.

Check more out online!

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Junior guard Spike Albrecht and the Michigan Wolverines will take on Ohio State at the Crisler Center Sunday.

WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM

TH I S WE E K I N R EVI EW By CARLY NOAH Daily Weekend Contributor

Around Campus New party announces candidates for CGS election: One month before Central Student Government elections, a new party, The Team, has been formed to run. The Team’s presidential candidate is Engineering junior William Royster, and his running mate is LSA sophomore Matthew Fidel. Online polls will open March 25 and 26.

haMore than 5,000 students have signed a petition to change next year’s academic calendar to extend the current Winter Break schedule. As of now, exams are scheduled to end Dec. 23 and classes to resume Jan. 6. The petition claims the shortened break will force out-of-state students to travel more expensively on Christmas Eve. Around

the

World

Divers find gold coins on Israeli coast: In the Mediterranean harbor of Caesarea, divers came across 2,000 gold coins that had been sitting on the bottom of the sea for approximately 1,000 years. This is Israel’s largest gold coin discovery in history.

Proposal asks CGS to endorse new spirit song: LSA senior Michael Weinberg, the founder of the “Hail and Unite” project, asked CSG to endorse the spirit song to be chanted at athletic Beagle wins it all at dog events. Initially, the projshow: ect was asking for money A 15-inch beagle refor promotions, but this ceived the Best in Show second proposal only re- award at the 139th Westquests CSG’s support. minster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday. The Students petition aca- beagle, named Miss P, is demic calendar for 2015the second beagle in his2016: tory to win the award. Over 5,000 students

S TA F F P I C K S IF YOU’RE READING THIS I T ’ S T O O L AT E

STILL ALICE

D R AK E

N OW IN T H EAT ER S

“FIFTY SHADES OF GREY”

“SMOKE + MIRRORS”

N OW I N T HE AT E R S

IM AGIN E D R AG O NS

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 19, 2015

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Sports

6A — Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Rivalry edge tilts back toward Michigan State After two Michigan wins in 2014, MSU takes series at Crisler Center By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor

RITA MORRIS/Daily

Senior forward Nicole Elmblad totaled nine points and 12 rebounds in Michigan’s win over Indiana on Wednesday night.

‘M’ snaps three-game losing skid vs. Indiana By BRAD WHIPPLE Daily Sports Writer

With just two weeks until the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes 52 INDIANA Arico MICHIGAN 68 can mark another tally in this year’s win column. Coming off three straight losses, the Wolverines (7-8 Big Ten, 15-11 overall) earned an easy 68-52 win over Indiana on Wednesday at Crisler Center. Michigan limited the Hoosiers from getting good looks by winning the defensive rebound battle by 18, an effort led by senior forward Nicole Elmblad. More importantly, the Wolverines made the “hustle plays” that Barnes Arico has stressed to her players — the ones they hadn’t been making during the losing streak. “In some of those tight games, when we look back, there were one or two of those plays that we didn’t make that could’ve been a difference maker,” Barnes Arico said. “Tonight we did a great job of sharing the basketball, making the extra pass and finding our teammates, and those are changing points for us.” One such play came early in the second half, when Elmblad dove out of bounds to throw a ball back in, extending the possession that ended with a 3-pointer from freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty. For the first time since Nov. 20, Flaherty was inserted into the lineup, and she didn’t skip a beat. With her help, the Wolverines shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half — a season high — which gave them a 35-26 halftime lead. With her first start in three months, Flaherty led the team with 21 points on 9-for17 shooting, including two 3-pointers. Behind her were senior guard Shannon Smith and sophomore guard Siera

Thompson, who racked up 16 and 15 points, respectively. Much of the offense’s success can be attributed to senior forward Cyesha Goree. After battling significant foul trouble in the last three games, Goree committed only one foul, which came midway through the first half. With Goree not having to worry about being taken out of the game, the Wolverines could rely on their most important inside presence to draw a double team and open up shooters on the outside. “She has to realize it’s not about her scoring all the time,” Barnes Arico said. “If people are really focused on her that much, and sending two or three people to her, it’s good for our team. It’s going to open up things for her teammates, and it might not result in her numbers on the stats sheet being 20 points, but it results in Katelynn having 20 points, Siera having open looks and Nicole cutting to the basket. “We found easy shots because of Cyesha’s double-teams.” As Goree — totaling four points and 12 boards — gave the offense a chance to click, Elmblad had the same effect for the defense. Michigan opened the second frame with a 25-9 run in the first 11 minutes. Though sophomore guard Danielle Williams wasn’t slotted in the starting lineup for just the second time in the last 17 games, she added four defensive rebounds to the team’s 29. But leading by example and paving the way for Michigan to make the necessary stops was Elmblad, who finished with nine points and 12 rebounds. “I definitely focused on making sure to box out,”

Elmblad said. “I felt like I didn’t do a very good job against Northwestern … and that really killed us.” Added Barnes Arico: “She’s been sensational rebounding the basketball for us lately. … I’m happy she’s playing this well heading into the tail end of her senior year.” The beginning of the second half didn’t exactly mirror the start of the first for the Wolverines, when Indiana (4-11, 14-12) jumped out to a 6-0 lead as Michigan missed its first four shots and committed a turnover. “I thought defensively, I was gonna have a heart attack the first couple minutes of the game, because we couldn’t get a stop,” Barnes Arico said. “Once we started to dig in and try to get some stops and play defense, we were able to get easier baskets in transition.” But with a long 3-pointer from Thompson nearly four minutes in, the Wolverines finally got on the board. The Hoosiers built a 17-11 advantage throughout the next seven minutes, but once Elmblad and Flaherty subbed back into the game after a brief rest, Michigan started rolling. Flaherty sparked the Wolverine offense midway through with a 3, and the defense held Indiana to nine points in the final nine-anda-half minutes — including a three-minute drought in that span. When halftime came around, Michigan still had another 20 minutes to put together even with a nine-point lead. But with the team firing on all cylinders, the ball never stopped bouncing the right way for the Wolverines.

“We found easy shots because of Cyesha’s doubleteams.”

After Michigan State polished off a regular-season sweep of the Michigan men’s basketball team at Crisler Center late Tuesday night, a reporter asked Spartans coach Tom Izzo if there was any NCAA Tournament talk with his team as it tries to lock up a bid. “I’m sure some,” Izzo said, “but I think they were pushing more that they hadn’t won here. “That was a big thing to them. I don’t get into all those things anymore. I’m just trying to get this team to play better. If we play better, I know we’ll be good enough to get in. If we play better, I think we can win games at a lot of places. But I think for (seniors Travis Trice and Branden Dawson), winning here was a big deal. We’ve had a couple of very tough losses here, if you remember.” His team certainly remembered. Entering Tuesday, Michigan State’s seniors had won in every Big Ten venue except those of conference newcomer Maryland and Michigan. They took down No. 18 Wisconsin in Madison in 2012, No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus a month later and finally Indiana in Bloomington in 2014, nearly finishing the list

of the conference’s harshest environments. But one remained. “Coming into this game, it was important,” Dawson said. “With myself and Travis being seniors, it was just coming out with intensity. … Getting this win tonight, it feels great for us, this program and the seniors.” So when the Spartans rolled into Ann Arbor on Tuesday and beat Michigan again, the edge in the rivalry shifted north toward East Lansing a bit more. After two one-point Michigan wins at Crisler Center in the first two years of their careers, Michigan State’s seniors dropped both regularseason meetings last year. The Wolverines came back to win in Ann Arbor on Feb. 23, and though the Spartans won the rematch in the Big Ten Tournament final, Michigan earned the higher seed when the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced afterward. The Wolverines boasted the wins, the Big Ten title and the NBA draft picks. Michigan State’s seniors earned back the bragging rights with Tuesday’s victory. “We knew it was a big game,” Dawson said. “I’m a guy from Indiana, but the whole Michigan-Michigan State rivalry has definitely grown on me.” Added Trice: “It feels good. It

makes you mad all the past few years, losing here.” Trice and Dawson had won in other big venues before. They upset No. 7 Kansas in Atlanta in 2012, shocked No. 1 Kentucky in Chicago in 2013 and reached the Elite Eight with a victory over top-seeded Virginia in 2014. But whether it be with Stu Douglass’ game-winning layup in 2012 or Trey Burke’s gameclinching steal in 2013, a road win over their in-state rival had always eluded them. “Last year, when those guys beat us twice, just sitting on the bench and watching, it was painful,” Dawson said. “It hurt a lot.” On the flip side, no one on Michigan’s young team had ever lost to Michigan State at home, and the Wolverines continued to slide with their fifth straight loss. Their losing streak started Feb. 1 at Michigan State, and two weeks later, after starting to gain momentum in 2014, Michigan is on the wrong end of the rivalry again. “It’s tough to lose a big rivalry game, especially at home,” said junior guard Spike Albrecht. “You have to credit them. They played really well, and we aren’t going to win many games when we give up 62-percent shooting from the field. It’s the first time we’ve lost at home to them in a few years, so it is tough.”

“It’s tough to lose a big rivalry game, especially at home.”

‘M’ sticks to philosophy By KEVIN SANTO Daily Sports Writer

Any coach can talk philosophy until she’s blue in the face, but working that conviction into the fabric of a team is an entirely different ballgame — unless you’re Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins. Hutchins first learned the mantras that circulate through the Wolverines’ dugout from a sports psychologist by the name of Ken Ravizza. She attributed the specifics of her softball mindset to Ravizza’s book, “Heads Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time.” But that’s not to say that Hutchins hasn’t formulated her own unique philosophy during her tenure in Ann Arbor. “Over the years, you realize that you always play the game of softball,” Hutchins said. “The game does not ever change. Your opponents change, and so there your perception changes. Or whether you come to hit with bases loaded versus nobody on and nobody out. You still have to see the ball and strike it, so nothing changes but your perception. (Ravizza) taught me how to teach that better.” And if you spend time around the Wolverines, you’ll quickly become accustomed to Hutchins’ “one-pitch softball” idiom. This expression embodies a mentality that stresses evolving a new thought process every single pitch. It emphasizes the importance of not dwelling on the outcome of a previous game, or even the result of the previous pitch, in an appearance at the plate. It’s about staying in the present moment during games, rather looking forward to what may happen in hypothetical situations. This concept has translated well for a Michigan team that encounters perennial college softball powerhouses every season, the most recent being then-No. 5 Florida State. The Wolverines defeated the Seminoles 6-5 and 2-1 in a doubleheader on Saturday, and

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Carol Hutchins has stuck to the same mantra for 31 years of Michigan softball.

“one-pitch softball” certainly played a role in those victories. “It slows the game down a little bit,” said sophomore infielder Abby Ramirez. “Instead of focusing on getting hits, you’re focusing on having good at-bats. I think it not only helps us with big games, but we (also) practice it every day. So it’s almost like just bringing what you do in practice to the game.” For the majority of the Wolverines, the concept of onepitch softball is a brand-new experience, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to embrace it. As Ramirez and sophomore outfielder Kelly Christner explained, high school and travel-team coaches focused on the end result of games rather than emphasizing the importance of the more intangible aspects. “In high school, a lot of the mental game (wasn’t a big part),” Ramirez said. “But now, coming here, we notice the mental game is a huge part. We’re all talented enough, it’s just about who’s mentally stronger.”

The most interesting thing about this 20-player roster is that each individual believes in Hutchins’ philosophies — they aren’t simply cliché expressions designed for a press conference. Conventionally, this is a task that most coaches couldn’t achieve, but then again, Hutchins isn’t like most coaches. “We trust her so much,” Ramirez said. “We know she genuinely cares for not just the outcome of the game, but for us as players, so she wants not only to win but she wants us all to do well. So we know that she’s not going to tell us anything wrong.” Added Christner: “It’s Hutch. If you think about her past and all the success that she’s had, you almost have to believe that whatever she is saying to you is right. It’s worked in the past.” So if you can count on seeing one thing at the Wilpon Complex this year, it will be Michigan battling one pitch at a time. And it will quickly become apparent that Hutchins has been winning the coaching ballgame for 31 years.

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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, February 19, 2015

A N E W L E A F: BOOK RESTORATION AT THE UNIVERSITY Hailey Middlebrook, Daily Arts Writer

Photos by Virginia Lozano Design by Shreya Razak and Francesca Kielb

the b-side

2B — Thursday, February 19, 2015

PRESERVATION From Page 1B There’s something undeniably alluring about the past. Even in our frenzied chase for the future — designing computers in our basements and making waves in the stock market — we somehow still find ourselves stumbling into vintage stores, lingering over dusty books and running our fingers through moth-eaten velvet. Part of it is pure nostalgia, an unshakeable longing for the retro, the rustic, the renaissance — but no matter if you are a multimillionaire or a whimsical 20-something, there are no flights to ancient Greece or Paris circa 1950. Instead, we must learn our history through the artifacts left behind, dug up and dusted off. If you are Bill Gates, you may spend nearly $31 million on “The Codex Leicester,” the most famous of Leonardo Da Vinci’s scientific manuscripts. Or perhaps you are a literature fan like Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, bidding $6 million on an original copy of Shakespeare’s “First Folio.” Or maybe you are just a whimsical 20-something with an empty wallet and a hungry mind, reaching for the new and finding the old — as I did at the University’s Department of Preservation and Conservation at the University Library. If it sounds like the kind of place where old Egyptians bring their dead to be mummified, you’re not too far off base. Instead of preserving artifacts to be buried, however, the University conservators are preserving ancient texts, books and photos to be brought back to life, either for circulation or restricted use in University libraries, as well as for personal requests. They are the behind-the-scenes wizards responsible for making documents legible under thick museum glass, keeping aged encyclopedias from falling apart on the Hatcher Graduate Library shelf and resurrecting panoramic photographs of Detroit circa 1860. “This is why we have the coolest job in the world,” said Shannon Zachary, the head of the department of preservation and conservation, smiling. “We get to do what no one else can.” I arranged to meet Zachary at the department lab on a frigid morning in early February — the hour when the conservators were usually the most busy. Despite its library affiliation, the lab is fairly far from campus, tucked behind Elbel Field and the train tracks. As I hopped the rusted tracks at sunrise, I envisioned myself on the set of “National Treasure” — standing in a sterile white room, snapped into latex gloves and surrounded by peeling yellow documents whose

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

secrets could be revealed only by magniscope. These dramatic expectations dissolved quickly as I entered the building and wasn’t met with a thick FBI-issued vault, but rather a homey workshop that hummed with the energy of an art studio. It was clearly still early. The large wooden work tables were mostly empty as I weaved around them, making my way to Zachary’s office in the back corner. Stretched from floor to ceiling of the workshop were racks of material rolled up like wrapping paper, waiting to be sheared off and stitched onto battered books. Atop the tables were extensive collections of exacting knives and massive paper cutters, stiff boards and spools of thread for book spinal repair and an expensive-looking camera with a giant bulb. Jutting into the cenVIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily ter of the room were makeshift A repairer works to restore a book at the University Library. cubicles designated to each conservator, cluttered with mismatched to our friends at a commercial scores of archival material. The stacks of ragged books and grin- binding company in Cleveland, Special Collections Library does ning family photos. Ohio, where they usually repair not circulate, but some materials A flash of color from one desk some 35,000 books a year. You can can be viewed in the reading room caught my eye — at least 200 plas- understand why we don’t want on the eighth floor of the Graduate tic figurines, in varying degrees of to send our fragile books to that Library. And unlike the “Restricted vibrance and age, peered out from assembly line.” Section” of the Hogwarts library — the shelf. It was as if I had stepped Another reason to keep the book which must be snuck into under into Santa’s workshop, except the in the lab is if there is a specific the cover of an invisibility cloak — toys were not flashy and new and repair requested. Jeff Gilboe, one all students are welcome to view looking to be loved — rather, they of the two full-time book repairers, the special collections, though they were well-worn and faded, waiting works primarily with circulation must request materials ahead of to be shined again. materials — books needing damage time. The objects that come to the repair and prevention, to be then Perhaps the most fascinating Preservation and Conservation lab put back on library shelves and into materials in special collections are divided into two categories: students’ hands. He was instructed are the lengthy, tangled scrolls of circulation and special collections. to attach a pocket to the hard- papyrus, inked with ancient symFalling under the circulation group backed interior of a University bird bols and religious scripture. The are materials sent in for mainte- guide, slim enough to fit a book- University currently holds the nance — specifically damage pre- mark. He demonstrates his process largest papyrological collection in vention or damage repair — for with expert precision: measuring North America — roughly 6,500 the primary purpose of extending the pocket dimensions onto sturdy linear feet of archival material. The their library shelf lives. The neces- paper, cutting, hinging the paper collection was first introduced to sary repairs can vary greatly from onto the cover flap securely. The the University in the 1920s, when book to book, making the conser- request seemed strange to me — Francis Kelsey, a former profesvators take them on a case-by-case were there secret bookmark pock- sor of Latin, (for whom the Kelsey basis. Though this attention to ets all over University materials? I Museum of Archaeology was detail is a trademark of the depart- asked what other special orders he named) purchased large quantiment, with only two full-time book received. ties of ancient papyri from Egypt, repairers and just eight worksta“The library folks love to add much of which is still being held in tions, it seems impossible to main- things to their books,” Gilboe said, a pressurized vault in the Graduate tain every University book without laughing. “I have replaced pages, Library. Since then, conservators some North Pole magic. put in reading supplements and have been arduously working to refurbished bindings in leather.” piece together the papyri — a task His eyes shone with the passion so monumental, so fragile, that of someone who has been working I’d imagine it would be similar to for nine years, yet is still just get- a painter unveiling a masterpiece ting started. composed completely of pricks of “We have these weekly meet- his brush. ings where new stuff is brought For Leyla Lau-Lamb, the other in. There’ll be a really damaged book repairer, conserving papyrus book and everyone asks, ‘Should is an art — and she is unquestionably “Every repair is handmade from we commercially rebind it?’” Gil- a master, albeit an unconventional start to finish, so we give priority boe recounted. “I’ll usually just tell one. Upon first meeting, Lau-Lamb to rare and special books, or those them that I can do the whole book.” struck me as an eccentric genius with spindly and complicated The other side of Preservation in the flesh: petite and bespeckled, bindings,” Zachary said. She then and Conservation, special collec- long silver hair tied at the nape of picked up a red encyclopedia from tions, is much more private in com- her neck, wearing an oversized the table. parison. Materials that fall under sweater emblazoned with a star “Everything else — standard- this category are, naturally, special: and fuzzy striped tube socks. issued books like this, with just a internationally treasured book col“I don’t wear gloves,” Lau-Lamb little wear and tear — are shipped lections, valuable manuscripts and said, when asked to describe her

“Every repair is handmade.”

NYFW: BADGLEY MISCHKA Inspired by the 1941 film “Blood and Sand,” Mark Badgley and James Mischka attempted to bring old Hollywood glamour to New York Fashion Week. Beehives and cat eyes walked down the runway doused in a varied combination of baroque ornamentation and clean silhouettes. Embellished details covered half of the line, while bare minimum covered the other. The collection was held together by a thin thread of inspiration, but fell apart through execution. Despite the overarching “muchness” of the collection, the outerwear pieces shined through. The loose red capes and structured tweed coats that adorned few of the models’ shoulders were a significant highlight, pointing to potential outerwear pieces in future collections. A floor-length cream gown sparingly decorated with turquoise lace ornamented sleeves stood out as the most successful combination of minimal and adorned in the entire line. Other highlights included an ornate tank top and pant combo and a “Mad Men”-style peplum tweed dress. The idea that a collection could provide more

“Here, we work with artifacts.” To help foster education for budding conservators, the Preservation and Conservation Department offers the Cathleen A. Baker Fellowship, an annual $10,000 award that enables conservators of varying expertise to work in the lab and gain hands-on experience in the conservation of paper-based collections. The department receives applications from conservators across the country, with each applicant essentially pitching his or her project — past Fellows’ projects have included broad investigations of new conservation techniques, as well as the specific use of starch paste in book bindings — with the ultimate goal of benefitting both the Baker Fellow and the University. This year’s Fellowship was awarded to Halaina Demba, whose project focus is on library and archive conservation. When we were introduced, Demba was holding a thick, faded-blue cookbook titled “American Frugal Housewife,” for which she was reconstructing a binding. As she flipped through the aged pages to show me

where the sewing in the spine had unraveled, I noticed that the pages were littered with splotches. I asked if she intended to remove the stains, figuring that it was common practice in paper preservation. “Definitely not,” Demba replied, surprisingly. “Especially in a case like this, where the words are still clearly legible. These stains — mostly oil stains, it looks like — are what give a book, particularly a cookbook, its character. I’ve found little bits of onion stuck to pages, and I keep them too.” I laughed, at once amused and slightly disgusted. “There’s a difference between an exhibit and an artifact,” Demba continued. “Documents that are on exhibit are there to be read — people want to know what the U.S. Constitution says. Here, we work with artifacts. We want them to maintain their utility, of course, but more importantly we want them to maintain their integrity. When you wash pages of their oil stains and onion bits, you lose this integrity.” What happens, then, if the purpose of the object is to be looked at? Senior conservator Tom Hogarth specializes in preserving 19th century photographs. Like Lau-Lamb, Hogarth beats his own path — dressing in a bright yellow Hawaiian shirt to offset his shock of white hair, he introduces himself as a “black-and-white guy.” His current project is mounting an 1860 panoramic photo of the Detroit River, taken from the Canadian border, to an archival board. Like a sly magician, Hogarth pulled back the tissue covering the old picture for me, pointing out the tiny names of the ships and marveling at the photographic details that were revolutionary for the time period. “Back then, people didn’t have smartphones that could take panoramic photos,” Hogarth said, a wistful tone in his voice. “They took photos shot by shot, then pasted them together to make this — it took time. It was an art. Nowadays, my granddaughter can do it.” What Hogarth’s granddaughter can’t do (at least not yet) is conserve the original panorama so it lasts forever. In reality, only a handful of people in the world can do what the staff at the Department of Preservation and Conservation do — preserve our history, close the gap a tiny bit more between the past and our fast-paced world of fads and forgetting. Perhaps our fascination with the past can be summed up by this question, the one I can’t seem to shake: Why does a graying panoramic photograph of Detroit bring me to tears, when a modern version of the same picture wouldn’t get a second glance?

NYFW: THOM BROWNE

BADGLEY MISCHKA

than one inspired style is compelling, and with more attention to subtle differences rather than overt disparities, the concept could work. Badgley Mischka is on to something new, which is exciting and fun to see on a runway where taking risks can be precarious (see Kanye West’s Adidas line). Here’s an A-foreffort on this collection and an encouraging nod in the hopes that the duo continues to pursue bold concepts in future collections. -KATIE CAMPBELL

NYFW: J. CREW The typical sequins and party dresses appeared in J.Crew’s 2015 ready-to-wear collection, alongside the less expected tailored onesies and wide leg trousers that also came down the runway during Tuesday’s show. The J.Crew collection is only sold at select stores around the country, so what’s shown at Fashion Week is not necessarily what you may see at your typical mall. For the autumn/winter show, though, womenswear designer Tom Mora created voluminous wool trousers and multi-colored feather minis for a line that differs from the traditionally preppy collections in the past. However, the clothes are better fit for creative director Jenna Lyons rather than an overachieving college student. Bright yellows and blush pinks showed up in random pops of fur and luxurious turtlenecks. Geometric designs and stripes in navy and white complemented structured groutfit. Even the denim and sequins were revamped into maxi skirts and unconventional blazers. The coats and jackets were the highlight of the show, ranging from dramatic furs to patterned double-breasted classics. Of course, navy sweaters over button-down

process. “People are always surprised, since these are very old and fragile documents. But this isn’t a visual task; it’s a feeling one. The papyrus that comes out of the vault doesn’t look like a scroll — it’s more like a tangled knot of fibers, not a document. I use my fingers to feel my way into it, very carefully, distinguishing between fibers making up the vertical and horizontal layers of the page.” Lau-Lamb’s 25-year-old method, though unconventional, works — so much so that 10 years ago she published a papyrus conservation guideline for the Advanced Papyrological Information System (known as “APIS”) that was printed in 25 countries and is still actively used. Lau-Lamb laments our society’s lack of proper schooling in papyrological conservation, despite the abundance of archives to uncover. “There are hardly any places to study conservation, in today’s society and especially back in my day. Then, there were two places to go: England’s British Library and a conservation workshop in Berlin. So I went to Berlin for training,” Lau-Lamb said. She then grinned conspiratorially, “What we need is to grab the interest of more young people like you. Someone needs to keep resurrecting these old documents.”

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) called Thom Browne the Menswear Designer of the Year in 2006, arguably the Oscar or Palme d’Or of fashion. Then, in 2008, GQ agreed. And just in 2013, CFDA decided to throw him another. If history should teach us anything, it’s that once your accolades need their own room in your atelier, you are permitted to take risks – weird ones, during Fashion Week. This year, for his F15 Collection, Browne gave us less a show and more a funereal future, one where the living don black and the dead white. In one of the Week’s stranger exhibitions, with Nicki Minaj agape in the front row, Browne sent his models down the runway with gender-neutral black veils over their Burtonesque top hats, transcending the dark into the sinister. High-rise lapels barely give the loosened ties breathing room, but it allowed for higher flaps and luxe ticket pockets that often accentuates a well-crafted suit. With the pockets so high (elbows and above), that leaves the remaining fabric to drape down uninterrupted to near-knee level. If families of Civil War casualties

THOM BROWNE

had the means — and the Satanism — at that time, they might occupy funerals with F15 Browne swag. And, now, for the weird shit. Breeches, stockings, Chelsea boots, rail-thin umbrellas, no pants at all, tapered driving gloves, ankle-length dresses — all black and all worn by men. There’s gall in what Browne is doing here, yet his nuanced eye erases any imagined disrespect he may hold for the dead. Even if he manages to upset the departed, they’re still dead, and we’re still looking. -ANDREW MCCLURE

NYFW: BAND OF OUTSIDERS

J. CREW

dresses were spread throughout and a clean camel coat also popped up. But even the classic pumps and sandals featured cheetah print or eye-popping yellow tassels. The collection was not a total standout, but the deliberate choice to include dramatic silhouettes and unexpected colors was an important move for J.Crew. The classic turtleneck has never looked so cool. -MARA MACLEAN

Scott Sternberg grew up a cinephile, snapping pictures and kicking off his professional career as an assistant at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles. After becoming an agent and spending time in fashion circles, namely with J.Crew founder Emily Scott, in 2003 he founded Band of Outsiders (the namesake taken from Godard’s 1964 film). Not unlike the French New Wave cinema that inspires his work, Sternberg has found a liminal sweet-spot between classics and sex appeal. Peep at his Polaroid campaign with, say, Marisa Tomei, if you want to know what I mean — less is more as she reveals almost no skin yet exudes allure via Sternberg’s sharp cuts and calculated draping. In January we saw his hardware store-themed menswear line, including hunting jackets, slim-cut flannels and, uncharacteristic to the designer, denim — a denim jumpsuit. This week, for his women’s line, he also ventured a bit from his elongating, tapering silhouettes, opting for high-slit maxis, oversizedbuttoned cardigans and Pilgrim-belted overcoats. He’s not trying to redefine the contours of his ideal consumer — nine-feet tall — but more interested in

BAND OF OUTSIDERS

well-aged classics spruced up with contemporary, if not subtly abstract, detailing. A puffy all-denim parka with a coyote fur hood could thrive in the Alps or on Fifth Ave., its brighter indigo hue an unequivocal nod to Levi’s before they shacked up with department stores. The best summary piece was a soft-sheen, deepnavy bustier with matching fine-cut trousers — Sternberg’s auto-chic tidiness that expresses what everyone wants but with the humility to admit his derivations. -ANDREW MCCLURE

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Thursday, February 19, 2015 — 3B

Slusser Gallery is a Kanye vs. Kendrick work of art in itself for hip hop’s title belt MUSIC COLUMN

By CATHERINE SULPIZIO

Senior Arts Editor

even and a half years ago, Kanye West erased 50 Cent’s name off the A-List, beating him in a headto-head sales competition and sending 50 into a spiraling fall towards cultural irrelevance. It might seem a little hard to imagine now, but in 2007, ADAM 50 Cent was a THEISEN dominant force in rap. He was about to release the follow up to The Massacre, one of the biggest-selling hip-hop records of all time, and while Kanye’s previous Late Registration was also an enormous hit, it has still sold over 2 million fewer units than The Massacre. That’s why, when both West’s Graduation and 50’s Curtis were both set to come out on the same day in September 2007, it was entirely conceivable that 50 Cent would debut at number one. But that’s not how it went. Graduation sold over 300,000 more copies than Curtis in their first week of sales, and the maximalist, hit-filled and critically acclaimed album would go on to further cement Kanye’s status as a top-tier artist and prove that rap music didn’t have to conform to gangstarap conventions to be commercially successful. Kanye West has made a career off proving himself to be better than people expect him to be. When people thought he was just a producer, he released The College Dropout and Late Registration in back-to-back years, beginning his career as a solo artist with two beloved all-time classics. With Graduation, he went toe-to-toe with a huge star and came out victorious. After that, even though people were initially taken aback by his experimental use of autotune and sparse electronic production, 808s and Heartbreak went on to become hugely influential on hip hop and pop music. Then, West became a national pariah when he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs, but after a time of seclusion he returned with his best and most ambitious work yet, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Since MBDTF, he’s only rapped circles around Jay Z on the pair’s collaborative Watch the Throne and created the deconstructive, abrasive punk-rap masterpiece Yeezus. But this year, Kanye has possibly met his match in a young, intellectual artist from Compton. A rapper, yes, but one who prefers to be referred to as a writer. After building a solid following through his promising mixtapes, Kendrick Lamar blew the hip-hop world wide open with 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, an instant-classic monster of a record that garnered universal praise and comparisons to rap benchmarks like Nas’s immortal Illmatic. Lamar has yet to release a follow-up, but he’s kept himself in the public eye with sparing releases, from 2013’s con-

troversy-igniting call-out “Control” to last year’s anthem of love “i.” Kendrick’s fearless talent and ambition have positioned him as Kanye’s number-one challenger for the title of “Best Rapper Alive.” And don’t think the two aren’t aware of the competition. Lamar neglected to include Kanye on his shortlist of hip hop’s greats in “Control,” and Kanye — an artist who’s made a track with practically every A-List star, from Katy Perry to 2 Chainz — has yet to work with Lamar. Yes, Lamar opened for Kanye on The Yeezus Tour, but by most accounts, the two barely interacted. As a New York Times mid-tour profile of Lamar notes, “a mentor-mentee relationship wasn’t what was expected or desired, and it certainly was not what was happening.” And somehow, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Kendrick surprise-released his new single, “The Blacker the Berry,” the day after Kanye gave a great new performance of his own new song, “Only One,” at the Grammys. I’m sure there’s loads of respect between the pair, but I don’t see Kanye ever inviting Kendrick over for dinner with Kim and Nori. A genre as centered on the individual as hip hop lends itself perfectly to these kinds of rivalries. 2Pac vs. Biggie. Jay Z vs. Nas. Kanye vs. 50 Cent. Whether there’s actually animosity between artists or not, hip-hop fans love to pit their favorites against each other, both within specific songs (who had the better verse on “Fuckin’ Problems,” Drake or Kendrick?) or within larger narratives (East Coast vs. West Coast). Rap’s roots are steeped in its artists making names for themselves through boasts about their own prowess and disses of their opponents. Though straight-up call-outs in songs are more rare than they were 15 or 20 years ago, practically every rapper today will mention wanting to be “the best in the game” multiple times in their songs. Kendrick proclaimed himself King of both the west and east coasts on his “Control” verse, and though that doesn’t cover West’s native Chicago, I think Kendrick will be angling for true national domination with his next release. So with new albums looming from both artists, who’s going to win? It’s very tempting to say Kendrick. Rap is, after all, a young man’s game. We’ve seen Jay Z lose his fastball, Eminem struggle to stay relevant and many other popular artists from the last decade (50, Snoop Dogg, Nelly) fade into commercial obscurity. While I don’t think Kanye is suddenly just going to disappear, it’s difficult to see where exactly he can go now. His new work with Paul McCartney has been mellower, seemingly more pop-oriented than his Yeezus material, a potential sign that he’s settling into artistic comfort (although his recent performances have still been barrier-breaking must-watch events). With a new family and his fashion line likely taking up more and more of his time, it’s possible that he could gracefully cede the spotlight to

someone else. But at the same time, this is Kanye West we’re talking about — West is a man who has never once doubted his own abilities, and he has yet to deliver a record that didn’t completely change the rap landscape. All of the pressure to exceed the bar that’s been set, then, is on Kendrick Lamar. Though his talent is undeniable, one classic album doesn’t yet prove that he can be the future of hip hop. Where exactly he’s going with his new material is uncertain, as the previews of his album we’ve seen so far are wildly divergent. Several months ago, he released “i,” a soulful, Isley-sampling statement of love and togetherness. On the final week of “The Colbert Report,” Kendrick served as Colbert’s last musical guest, debuting a new song that sounded like beat poetry and focused more on explicit socio-political themes, with a refrain of “We don’t die, we multiply” appearing to refer specifically to recent police brutality against Black people in the United States. Now, with “The Blacker the Berry,” Kendrick has stunningly fired a poison-tipped arrow into his own heart. The song is frustrated and prideful, with undercurrents of self-hate. Though Lamar may be pointing the finger in the wrong direction, “The Blacker the Berry” carries the kind of bold controversial message that any other A-Lister would run far, far away from. (Well, except, perhaps, Kanye West.) It seems almost unfair to compare it to West’s “Only One.” Both come from extremely personal places, but “Only One” is auto-tuned singing is soft and lovely, and “The Blacker the Berry” ’s verses are unfiltered, venomous, righteous anger. They further augment the potential divide between the two artists. It’s tough to get a read on exactly where West and Lamar are both trending. By virtue of his working with McCartney, it’s easy to imagine a much more radio-friendly upcoming record from Kanye, one that will position Kendrick Lamar as the “realer” champion of the people, and therefore the better rapper. However, even though Kendrick has given us some of the most serious, most poetic hip hop of the last few years, songs like “i” and his old breakout hit “Swimming Pools” show that he’s also not afraid to take his message to the top of the charts. To earn the title of “Best MC Alive” in 2015, West and Lamar will both have to perform a balancing act between popular relevance and powerful content. We’ll have to wait a little while longer to find out which MC will exit 2015 as the victor, but one thing is for certain: Kendrick’s potential is limitless, and his hunger is palpable. Kanye will have to pull out another worldbeating record if he wants to stay on top. Theisen refuses to include Drake as a potential contender in this battle. Direct your outrage to ajtheis@umich.edu.

SINGLE REVIEW Sufjan Stevens, one of the most dizzyingly ambitious artists, steps down for a moment and delivers a B+ hard-hitting, but cleansing perspective on ‘No Shade “No Shade in the in the Shadow of the Cross,” the first Shadow single from his of the upcoming Carrie Cross’ & Lowell album. Unlike much Sufjan of Stevens’s recent work, “No Stevens Shade” is entirely Asthmatic Kitty non-electronic. Instead, it’s a straightforward folk song, sung prettily by Stevens with a slightly distorted distance in his voice. His abstract, emotional imagery and melody recall acoustic singer-songwriters like Vashti Bunyan and Elliott Smith.

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Exhibition Specialist Mark Nielsen hangs artwork at the Slusser Gallery.

“Art can be altered so much by how it’s installed,” Nielsen said. “Imagine you had this marvelous painting but it was hung kind of crooked and the light wasn’t quite hung right. On the converse, you can take a painting that is not genius, and exhibition makes a huge difference.” Unlike the museum, this crossroads is temporary, folding itself away into the archives after a few months. Where the museum looks behind its shoulder for reference, the gallery is a polestar for the vanguard. To Nielsen, this emerging talent is the most exciting artist feature — someone who is becoming a name and who will one day name the Slusser Gallery as a place they showed at in their early career. And because the Slusser Gallery doesn’t follow the traditional forprofit model, the gallery doesn’t operate under the strictures of commission or choosing marketable work. Instead, the gallery is a resource for education, allowing students to learn firsthand the many operations that undergird the pristine, white and effortless gallery façade. The school has an exhibition committee that includes faculty, graduate students and at least one undergraduate student. “Part of my job is to help students start thinking about exhibitions and what it means,” Nielsen continues. “From painting the gallery walls to calling the artists to deciding what the labels are going to say to working with a designer and P.R., the game moves as you play it.” Beyond practical demands, the gallery also must register shifts in aesthetic ethos, such as the changes the recent change in the school’s administration brought. The previous dean had a liberal approach to art display, believing “too much art wasn’t a problem.” “We used to do an undergrad and graduate show,” Nielsen recalls. “300 students would show up with art and I would have to figure out how to install it in three galleries.” The new Art & Design dean, Gunalan Nadarajan, has a different philosophy. “He is interested in thinking of the galleries as a place of honor and

precious resources,” Nielsen said. “They’re one of our biggest ways to show the community and potential students what the school is.” Now the school does a juried show, selecting 50 to 60 works from around 100, which creates a more streamlined exhibition. The trick in organizing these broad shows is to create a sense of rhythm between the works, which Nielsen does by alternating mediums and hanging everything on a centerline. But as Nielsen noted, the good art still finds a way to stand out. “Your work is going to be in a room with a lot of other work that is visually stimulating. Why should anyone look at yours again? The best art is a process where the artist is going out to some extreme edge and presents the work as evidence of that disturbing or amazing experience,” he continued. “I’ve worked as a director, as a curator, as a jurist, as an exhibition specialist, and it comes down to if it is something that I want to keep looking at.” Beyond just seeing, Nielsen views art as a conversation. “If you’re really developing large bodies of work,” Nielsen said, “it produces a synergistic energy where different sides of that exploration present themselves to you.” Nielsen sees this multi-pronged exploration as a model for art itself. Creativity, to him, has referents in wide swaths of disciplines, from engineering to business to the humanities. In fact, this potential for intersectionality is the quality that could affirm both fine art and the world’s future. “Our culture’s dependency on economic growth means that as we turn more of the natural world into objects, we have a situation where we’ve altered the composition of the earth,” Nielsen said. “Fine art is that one aspect that is not concretely defined in our culture, and that gives it an incredible amount of freedom. These artists, who see the world differently, can act as canaries in the coal mine and jump forward into the future enough. They can have critical response.” As the surrealist artist André Breton wrote, “The artwork has value only insofar as it is alive to reverberations of the future.”

TRAILER REVIEW

ASTHMATIC KITTY

“No Shade” forces you to take a deep breath, calming you with its faintly nostalgic melancholy. Though musically, the track doesn’t stretch itself, Stevens’s voice seems to be yearning for something more. In an interview with Pitchfork, the Michigan native talked about his mother and stepfather, for whom Carrie & Lowell is named, saying, “I’m being explicit about

Rarely does the gallery itself merit pause. Designed with minimalist tendencies, the soundless, white and still space is designed to be invisible. Yet its works of art are guided by an organizational system that straddles the line between art and logic. The proper gallery setup veers neither toward thematic homogeny nor discord, instead tracing through lines of internal logic from one piece to next. Hidden in Penny Stamps School of Art and Design, the Jean Paul Slusser Gallery’s wide, lightwashed space is gentle respite from the industrial, tunnel-like halls that surround it. When I walked in last Monday, the faculty show was on display. Unlike a themed exhibit, the faculty show is not bound by any unifying message — yet the works still gracefully orbited in similar systems. I drifted by a vibrant teal tapestry by Sherri Smith, knit with the skittering, arachnid-like figures that the early 20th century astronomer Percival Lowell’s saw embedded in the surface of Mars. By weaving these alien figures into the household texture of tapestry, the work’s textile expanse melds the distant and domestic, breathing new life into the dusty chronicles of sci-fi and homemaking. Perpendicular to this was a triptych of woodcuts by Kathryn Brackett Luchs, in which a central plank of birch wood was carved into veiny simulacra of a tree’s texture. Bold swaths of ink are transposed on the barklike surface, and then pressed into reversed prints that flanked the original. A painting next to it by Nora Venturelli was similarly interested in vibrational records of originals, with its innermost female figure morphing into increasingly abstracted representations. This fluid effect is tricky to produce; after all, the gallery is a carefully balanced composition. The composer of this particular collection is Mark Nielsen, the exhibitions specialist for Penny Stamps’s three galleries, which together display a continuous stream of shows per year, including faculty, juried undergraduate, MFA and Integrative Project shows, as well as one or two shows featuring outside artists. Nielsen doesn’t have a readymade formula for the art of exhibition, but says it usually hinges on a killer — the killer being, in Nielsen’s words: “that one piece, that no matter what you put it next to, eats it alive.” Once he finds that place for it, “it unravels the rest of the problem and it starts to come together.” In our cultural milieu, the gallery occupies a germane locus of intersection between art object and audience. “The artist can spend so much time in their studio, agonizing to produce this work, yet it doesn’t really exist until it’s in this public space,” Nielsen said. And the public space alters the art object.

really horrifying experiences in my life, but my hope has always been to be responsible as an artist and to avoid indulging in my misery, or to come off as an exhibitionist.” If “No Shade” is any indication, Stevens’s new record will be weighty, personal, perhaps a little emotionally tough to listen to, but significantly rewarding. -ADAM THEISEN

The trailer for “Mommy” opens with a mother’s powerful declaration to prove love can fix all. Later, erratic C+ shots track the yin and yang ‘Mommy’ of her son’s Les Films Séville destruction and her attempts to rein him in. It promises deeper probing into nature’s most fiercely intimate relationship. And all this ruined by One Republic’s “Counting Stars” blaring overtop. Paired with a woman’s hysterical sobs, you almost wonder if the movie is supposed to be funny (hint: it’s not). Trailers have mere minutes to snare interest, so everything must align under one concentrated vision. This song’s lyrics may match, but it’s too radio-friendly, too diluted by its associations

LES FILMS SÉVILLE

with solo in-car karaoke and dance-alongs at parties to possibly invoke the film’s serious mood. The second song, Ellie Goulding’s “Anything Can Happen,” is less offensively off-kilter, but it still doesn’t quite fit. The music choice yanks “Mommy” completely away from its thematic course, toppling what once

would have been a successful trailer. Perhaps the intent behind using popular music was to connect with a wider audience, but let’s remember that this is a film shot in a oneto-one square ratio. It knows it’s not a blockbuster. So why doesn’t its soundtrack? -VANESSA WONG

the b-side

4B — Thursday, February 19, 2015

ARTIST

PROFILE

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

baked.buzzed.bored. in this series, three daily arts writers in varying states of mind visit the same place and write about their experiences. this week’s destination:

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ on valentine’s day VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

When Tarfia Faizullah fell in love with poetry, she wasn’t enamored with the fictive beauty of metaphors or the craftsmanship that goes into forming perfectly metered verse. Rather, she was entranced by its ability to illuminate the world around us on its own terms — in her case, literally so. “I really loved Emily Dickinson when I was growing up,” she said. “I was sitting in the library and reading her poem ‘A Certain Slant of Light’ and it was, I think, early afternoon, and there was a slant coming through the blinds onto the page and I was like ‘Whoa! That’s a certain slant of light, that’s amazing.’” She was also fascinated by the act of transcription, by the possibility of having others speak through her voice and her pen. In its earliest incarnation, that fascination looked a lot like plagiarism. “I didn’t understand that writing something out, like copying it into my notebook and showing it to somebody, isn’t the same thing as writing your own original composition,” she said. “I got caught by my teacher, and at first he was like ‘Wow, you’re such a good poet,’ and then he was like ‘These are from that book that you’ve been copying poems from,’ and I was like ‘Yeah,’ and he said that wasn’t the same as writing your own poems.” But Faizullah has since learned the difference, and her first book of poetry, “Seam,” might be the long-delayed product of those early studies in the often fuzzy lines between art and life, made all the more visible in the case of translators and transcribers. Published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2014, “Seam” is built around a series of interviews Faizullah conducted with birangona, women who were raped by Pakistani soldiers in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. The collection was published while she studied there as a Fulbright scholar in 2010. The poetry — formally diverse and devastatingly immediate — does much more than simply recount the stories she heard while traveling and meeting women in Bangladesh. Her interview

subjects disagree with her, refuse to answer her questions or, rather, respond to the questions they want to hear. She interrogates herself as an interviewer, as a translator of the birangona’s experiences and as a Bangladeshi-American steeped in the same tragedies – but at a distance, as in “Interviewer’s Note, vi.”: “I want / that darkness she stood against / to be yards of violet velvet my mother / once cut me a dress from. Rewind. Play. / Rewind.” And, ultimately, it’s an opportunity for Faizullah to reflect on, learn from and take pride in her own work. “Sometimes I feel that I could have done it better, and sometimes I feel that I haven’t told as full of a story as I could have. But mainly I’m just proud of it. I’m just proud of what it has been able to do – just really surprised by what it has been able to do,” she said. Since the publication of “Seam,” the larger poetry community has also recognized what Faizullah and her work can do. The book won a number of prestigious awards for first poetry publications, including the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award and the Crab Orchard First Book Award, and her other works as a poet and academic has won her a Pushcart Prize, a Ploughshares Cohen Award, a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg prize and a number of scholarships, grants and fellowships. She collaborates with composers, rappers and photographers, works as an editor for a number of notable publications, regularly performs at poetry slams and formal readings, and currently finds herself at the University, serving as the Nicholas Delbanco Visiting Professor of Poetry as part of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program. But Faizullah is first and foremost a poet, and she hasn’t taken the time since she finished “Seam” to rest on her laurels. “I just kept writing the whole time,” she said. “I have hundreds of poems that will probably never see the light of day, because for me, writing poetry is just a daily practice. And I don’t mean the actual act of sitting down and drafting – I just mean sort of moving through the world with the eyes of a writer.” The name of her next book, “Register of Eliminated Villages,” derives from a list of destroyed

Kurdish villages and is set to be published by Greywolf Press in 2017. In it, Faizullah plans to return to the themes of global violence she explored in “Seam.” “I’m really fascinated by human psychology,” she said. “And I’m really fascinated particularly by how we respond to violence, how we contain it, and how our awareness of such broad violence all over the world, as well as what we see in our daily lives or hear about – how that affects us both emotionally and intellectually. How do we see ourselves? How do we see other people through the lens of the possibility of being able to do harm.” She considers poetry particularly well-suited to discuss highly charged topics like the violence she addresses in her own. “Poetry is really magical in that it’s not prose and it’s not song — it’s recitation and it’s oratory,” she said. “There’s a reason why we think of our politicians as orators. And I think poetry is an oratory tradition. So I feel like, just formally speaking, it’s built to be able to convey complex ideas.” But the discussions Faizullah engages in through her poetry don’t serve to simply reframe issues in an aesthetic light. I asked her what she thought about a line from one of her first favorite poets, Emily Dickinson: “I dwell in Possibility.” “I think one of the most powerful things about being an artist is the awareness you develop of the world as a series of infinite possibilities,” she said, “and so your life becomes about choices and about discernment. I think the awareness of those choices can lead you to take risks that you wouldn’t otherwise, which can lead you to understanding something about yourself that you wouldn’t otherwise – understanding something about your place in the world, too, I think.” Her poetry, then, transcribes and expands upon violence, suffering and self-discovery in order to present an alternative, to show us that, even if we can’t forget, the next day need not be the same as the last. It gives us the same advice she hears in Dickinson, the same advice she gives to her creative writing students at the University. “Yeah, I encourage them to ‘dwell in possibility,’ too,” she said.

high

Managing Arts Editor

runk

By ADAM DEPOLLO

sober

Poet Tarfia Faizullah is teaching at the University as the Nicholas Delbanco Visiting Professor of Poetry.

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW The day before Valentine’s Day, leading up to the release of the music video for “Style,” Taylor Swift posted a C series of criminally short ‘Style’ teases of it on Taylor her Instagram. They featured Swift a moody Swift Big Machine with various Records naturescapes projected onto her body, devoid of sound. Right away, it was clear that, visually speaking, the video wasn’t going to be what we expected. But the same could have been said about her video for “Blank Space,” which hardly fed our expectations (and hardly let us down). So I held onto the hope that, in the context of the full video, it would all make sense. As it turns out, that was wishful thinking. The video for “Style” is

completely out of sync with the song itself in terms of tone, rhythm and aesthetic. Whereas the song builds upon a pulsating ’80s guitar synth leading up to an exuberantly brilliant chorus of imagery, the video throws palpable images out through a drab — yet, technically pretty — lacedraped window. What we get is a slow-moving, barefoot stroll through a fog-filled forest as we watch Swift play with shards of a shattered mirror that reflect a shirtless exlover. “Style” is arguably the best song on 1989. It uses timeless images of romance and gives them a chic, mysterious twist. It complicates a straightforward, yet doomed romance and gives it a spark of life. Why doesn’t its accompanying music video take advantage of that? Sure, Taylor’s got that red lipstick thing that we like,

BIG MACHINE RECORDS

and her anonymous love interest (briefly) wears a white t-shirt à la the song’s lyrics, but that James Dean daydream look in his eyes? Hardly apparent. Long hair slicked back? Nope, not happening. I’m not saying I hoped the “Style” video would be a literal interpretation of the song, say, in the same vein as Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” was, but it should have been higher energy.

It should have injected the song, which I’ve had on repeat since October, with some extra flare that would have made it just as infectious as it was the first time we heard it. Taylor Swift has been on a hot streak throughout the 1989 era. But, with this video, that streak comes crashing down. She’ll come back from it, though. She does every time. -GIBSON JOHNS

What’s the opposite of a sexual awakening? Sexual deadening? Sexual closing? All I know is that, after driving through an arctic tundra on Valentine’s Day afternoon and maneuvering my place in line so I could say “uh, same thing please” to the ticket-seller instead of “uh, the movie with all the weird sex, please,” “Fifty Shades” seemed like it was going to be the fun kind of trashy. That was for the first 20 minutes. Then they had to start having sex, and things got so absurdly dull that Buzzed fell asleep in one of the (admittedly very comfortable, if a bit squeaky) theater seats next to me. While the fact that Dakota Johnson fully actualizes a character who is literally Bella Swan with an English degree is quite admirable, Jamie Dornan’s robotic Edward Cullen somnambulates through his scenes and does little more than moodily play the piano and stare at Johnson’s butt while she dances to “Beast of Burden.” The most intriguing thing about him isn’t the burn marks on his chest, but rather how the hell he’s so freakishly clean-shaven (maybe androids can’t grow hair). Why is he tickling her so much? Why are the sex scenes so male gaze-y? Can I call in a friend with no journalism experience when I can’t do an interview? (Ignore that last one, Jen.) Those were all my questions, but the film’s only salient question was asked by Johnson about two-thirds in: “What are butt plugs?” If this is the sex adults dream of, I’m fine with never getting past first base again. —ADAM THEISEN

… im on acid i feel like we live in a snowglobe wouldnt it be nice if we could just walk outside and it was nice out its sad living in a snowglobe but also kind of pretty were in a car ive been awake for like two days but im ok with it time moves really slowly when you think about it but like im not thinking about it so its actually going pretty fast my hair feels really nice were at the movie theater id rather see hot tub time machine a hot tub sounds nice vry warm especially a time hot tub everything makes so much sense were in the movie theater were sitting at the front there are ppl i dont know i feel like we could be friends were all here to do the same thing its pretty groovy the movie started i like the girls shirt its got a lot of patterns i like patterns shes really bad at doing interviews but thats ok im an english major too but i like ezra pound more did u know ezra pound is a really handsome guy more handsome than the gray guy i think but hes not in a movie i feel like everyone is using a lot of words in this movie but nobody is saying anything shit thats life man i just got sad i cried a little bit but it felt good theyre gonna have sex now i saw nymphomaniac it was pretty much the same thing but better why wont the gray man just sit still for a minute he keeps walking around everyone is sad they should be happy they have such a nice house and hes really good at piano i play piano too are we the same guy im pretty sure im into bondage too im crying again the girl next to me is asleep i wish i could fall asleep theyre in a plane the movie ended someone said this is about vampires remember interview with a vampire i really like brad pitt also tree of life and mr and mrs smith … — DAILY ARTS WRITER

I’ll admit this right off the bat: I read the book before seeing the film. I’ll also admit this: I passed out twice in the theater. Does that say something about the movie? What was 125 minutes felt like an eternity. Lemme break it down. Firstly, I need to speak to whoever adapted this screenplay. Who are you? The innuendos, the symbolism – I don’t think I stopped to breathe, I was laughing so hard. Where is the best comedy nomination for this? It tickled me more than Christian tickled Ana. Maybe this is a testament to my maturity. Each time Christian held out his hand and told Ana to “come” – when he whipped out the pea(cock) feather during a serious, steamy session – I just couldn’t keep it in (the laughter, I mean). Anyway, the film just tried too hard (haha) to be sophisticated and hyper-artistic. “Fifty Shades” needs to accept that it will never be an Academy-worthy film, and it doesn’t need to be such a drama queen about it. The dialogue, the delivery, the juxtaposition of dark and light – everything dripped with drama and desperate symbolism. Every glare pierced through our souls, every touch brought shivers down our spines. I died lactose intolerant from the amount of cheese in this film. —DAILY ARTS WRITER