ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Wednesday, December 9, 2015
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Bobbie Carlton, founder of Carlton PR & Marketing Innovations and Innovation Women, speaks at the Story Lab at Rackham Auditorium on Tuesday.
Rackham students discuss ‘U’ culture around diversity Forum touches on relatively high minority enrollment, sensitivity trainings
diversity with the launch of a weeklong Diversity Summit led by University President Mark Schlissel. Tuesday night, more than 100 graduate students gathered in Rackham Auditorium to extend the conversation by discussing minority representation among graduate students. According to the University’s Office of the Registrar, 13 percent of newly enrolled domestic master’s students and 19 percent
By CAMY METWALLY Daily Staff Reporter
Last month, the University aimed to further prompt conversation on campus
of newly enrolled domestic doctoral students at Rackham in 2015 identify as underrepresented minorities. There are about 8,358 students in Rackham, comprising approximately half of the total graduate and professional students on campus. Rackham Communications Director Aileen Kim said the University is among the top schools in terms of minority enrollment among graduate students — it is in the top 12
schools in the nation for the most doctorates awarded African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders. Students sat at approximately 15 different tables, each with a designated facilitator. After discussing questions in smaller groups, attendees shared their ideas with the room. The two questions: “What are the issues or challenges around See RACKHAM, Page 3A
Ethics committee recommendation generates debate during meeting By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily Staff Reporter
Calls to remove a Central Student Government representative after members of Students Allied for Freedom and Democracy questioned his conduct at their Diag demonstration continued to generate discussion at Tuesday’s CSG meeting — even after the body’s ethics commission decided Monday it would not seek disciplinary measures. At Tuesday’s meeting, members of SAFE reiterated their concerns regarding the conduct of CSG Rep. Jesse Arm, the LSA sophomore who was filmed loudly criticizing and SAFE members who
H U L A T H E N I G H T AWAY
PREVIEW
GOVERNMENT
SMTD brings ‘Henry IV’ to Power Center SMTD students make Shakespeare’s play accessible for all By MARIA ROBINS-SOMERVILLE Daily Arts Writer
Identifying the heart of William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV Part 1,” director Priscilla Lindsay, professor of School of Music, Shakespeare’s Theatre & Dance, ‘Henry IV, said, Part 1’ “Power, how you Dec. 10 at 7:30, take it, Dec. 11-12 at 8:00, how you Dec. 12 at 2:00 keep it.” Power Center And the cast $28/$22 or $12 advises for students you to leave your thesaurus at home; come to the Power Center this weekend to hear the clang of swords and see
ever-shifting power dynamics as characters travel from tavern to battlefield and back again. “Henry IV” provides a slice of English history, as it tracks Prince Hal’s rise to victory when the vengeful Hotspur challenges his inheritance of the throne. I sat down to chat with SMTD seniors Robert O’Brien and Caleb Foote, who play Prince Hal and Hotspur, respectively. They shared a hope that the 400-year-old play would be accessible. “A lot of people come into Shakespeare thinking it’s very wordy,” O’Brien said. “A snoozefest?” Foote interrupted, laughing. “Like they need a thesaurus or something. I want them to leave thinking, ‘I understood that,’ ” O’Brien said. O’Brien plays Hal, the rebellious young son of King Henry and heir to the throne who, despite his noble status, chooses to surround himself with a lower-class ruffians who spend their time imbibing, swearing, gambling — causing an overall ruckus. See HENRY IV, Page 5A
were holding a demonstration designed to imitate an Israeli checkpoint last month. The group called for his dismissal from the assembly soon after. The incident prompted the body’s first-known Ethics Committee investigation, which resulted in a recommendation not to take disciplinary measures against Arm. The Michigan Daily reported Monday that the full CSG assembly would need approve the ethics commission’s recommendation, based on information provided by Public Policy junior Thomas Hislop, who chairs the commission. However, CSG officials said Tuesday the report’s recommendation was actually a binding decision, citing the lack of historical precedent for this kind of investigation. Hislop read the investigation’s full report to the assembly. “I think it’s important that you hear it. I think it’s See CSG, Page 2A
Carson to visit campus before EMU address Stop at GOP candidate’s almamater closed to press at University’s request EMILIE FARRUGIA/Daily
By SHOHAM GEVA
Students in the Asian/Pacific Islander American Cultural Performance class dance in a hula performance at Hatcher Graduate Library on Monday.
ADMINISTRATION
Schlissel plans to emphasize campus input in AD search President also explains stance on divest movement By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily News Editor
In an exclusive meeting with The Michigan Daily Monday afternoon, University President Mark Schlissel discussed the search for a
new athletic director and elaborated on his stance regarding the divestment from certain industries such as coal and oil. Athletic director search “We’re in a situation where we’re not doing this in the setting of a crisis,” Schlissel said Monday, referring to the search for a new athletic director. University officials confirmed the search a week ago. Schlissel will serve as
the chair on a committee to select the new athletic director, employing the help of interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett, Special Counsel Liz Barry, softball coach Carol Hutchins, women’s soccer player Corinne Harris, a LSA senior, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hegarty, faculty athletic representatives English Prof. Anne Curzan and Stefan Humphries, who is a former See SCHLISSEL, Page 3A
Daily News Editor
Ben Carson, a Republican presidential candidate and University alum, will visit the University’s Medical School before two campaign stops in Michigan on Wednesday. Further information on the nature of the visit, which is closed to press, was not available from either the Carson campaign or the University on Tuesday evening. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said Tuesday evening that the details of the visit were still being decided. The visit is closed to press specifically by request of the University, according to Bruce Alan Pfaff, Carson campaign Midwest regional field director. Carson, a neurosurgeon by training, graduated from the See CARSON, Page 3A
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News
2A — Wednesday, December 9, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Campus Voices
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
President says mural to stay ulty members signed an open letter calling for an improvement in campus diversity. As a result, the mural was briefly shrouded, as Capilouto put it in his e-mail, “out of respect for long-term expressions of concern that could no longer go unanswered.” The university’s next steps, Capilouto explained, will be to make the narratives depicted in the mural “more complete.” “We will place this important work of art … in the explicit and accurate context of the sober realities of our shared history and our advancing understanding of race, gender, ethnicity, and identity,” he wrote.
Ball State eliminates student fees for extra credit hours After a decision by its Board of Trustees, Ball State University will not charge students extra fees for graduating after more than the usual four-year time limit, the Ball State Daily reported Monday. These fees were previously placed on extra credit hours for students who had completed 144 credit hours in more than four years without having received a degree. Bernard Hannon, Ball State’s treasurer and vice president for business affairs, said the noweliminated policy was originally implemented to “encourage ontime graduation from resident students.” —TANYA MADHANI
RITA MORRIS/Daily Doug Freeman, chief operating officer of Patagonia, discusses the ideals and expectations of running an environmentally conscious business at the Ross School of Business on Tuesday.
WHAT: Professor Kay Castaldo and his graduate students will be presenting several operatic scenes. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 8:30 p.m. WHERE: Earl V. Moore Building, McIntosh Theatre
WHAT: A chef from Michigan Dining will be teaching students how to make sugar cookies and frostings. WHO: Center for Campus Involvement WHEN: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union, Rogel Ballroom
WHAT: Awilda Rodriguez Lora, along with other artists and students from the Caribbean, will be presenting spoken word. WHO: Several University departments WHEN: 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: Duderstadt Center, Video Studio
WHAT: Robyn Wiegman, professor of literature and women’s studies at Duke University will discuss the antisocial thesis in queer theory. WHO: Center for Research on Learning and Teaching WHEN: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: Lane Hall, Room 2239
WHAT: Swing Ann Arbor will offer a free class to new attendees. Beginners will also be able to attend the social dance that follows for free. WHO: Swing Ann Arbor WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Vandenberg Room
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Queer theory lecture
WHAT: Baek Yung Kim, associate professor at Kwangwoon University in Seoul, will lecture about the 1988 Olympics. WHO: Nam Canter for Korean Studies WHEN: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: School of Social Work Building, Room 1636
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WHAT: Deborah Friauff from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church will perform 30 minutes of solo music on the Letourneau organ. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 12:15 p.m. WHERE: School of Public Health Building, Community Room
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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
Eli Capilouto, the president of the University of Kentucky, announced in an e-mail to students, faculty and staff that the university would not remove a mural located in Memorial Hall, the Kentucky Kernel reported Monday. The mural, a fresco commissioned as part of the New Deal’s Public Works of Art Project, was completed in 1934. Painted by Ann Rice O’Hanlon, the piece depicts Kentucky’s origins, including a couple of tableaus that some consider to be racist, such as an image of Black slaves picking crops. Discussion about the mural’s removal began after more than 100 University of Kentucky fac-
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Research seminar WHAT: An education research seminar discussing teacher-labor supply. WHO: Department of Economics WHEN: 8:30 a.m. WHERE: 3240 Weill Hall • Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
The FBI announced plans Tuesday to replace its current methods for tracking police shootings, The Washington Post reported. The system will also record any incident in which an officer causes injury to a civilian.
2
Sex: everyone thinks about it, and rarely discusses it. This week the Statement Magazine features a campus-wide sex survey in order to understand what makes the ‘U’ tick. >> FOR MORE, SEE THE STATEMENT
3
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in Fisher v. Texas, which will consider the use of affirmative action in college admissions, The New York Times reported. The case was first heard by the court in 2012.
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EMILIE FARRUGIA/DailyLSA LSA senior Devin Jones speaks with members of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality about Central Student Government’s decision to take no action against Representative Jesse Arm at the CSG meeting at the Michigan Union on Tuesday.
CSG From Page 1A important for the discussion and I also don’t want to lose some of the words, “Hislop said. “The choices we make are very specific and important.” Hislop noted that he reached out to both parties, e-mailed witnesses and met with Arm as well. He said the investigation was meant to serve as a dialogue with both parties. Regarding SAFE, he said the Committee considered whether terms like hate crime, or violent offense applied to the events in question, though they ultimately ruled they did not. “It was an emotionally charged event,” he said. “Some people would describe it as a shouting match.” During the meeting, about 10 members of the assembly commented on the matter, representing a range of viewpoints, both related to the investigation’s process and the
decision it ultimately reached. During public comments, LSA sophomore Haleemah Aqel, a member of SAFE, spoke out against the recommendation and criticized what she deemed misrepresentation in the media about the events in question. “I respect the Ethics Committee for taking Jesse Arm’s actions seriously,” Aqel said. “I don’t approve of the report created by the Ethics Committee because it diminished his language, as well as his intimidating behavior used against SAFE. Misrepresentations that were made in the report matter and have real impact and implications in our organization.” Aqel said there was miscommunication during the ethics investigation as to why SAFE was upset. She said the organization’s concern was not with whether Arm had a right to express his feelings publicly, but the manner in which he chose to do so.
“He had no right to scream at and intimidate the people he supposedly represents; when his speech crosses the line of publicly berating student claiming that the student isn’t serious about peace and assume the behavior is OK is an issue,” Aqul said. “The reason for the wall is to have a dialogue to create that space to discuss things. Instead of coming to us, Jesse yelled at us publicly.” She added that she thought the incident had been taken out of context on campus, with the effect of preventing further dialogues and generating negative stigma about SAFE’s purpose. CSG Rep. David Schafer, a LSA junior, said he thought at no point during the video did Arm engage in dialogue and that the word yell would be more accurate than spoke in describing his actions. Hislop said he believes the video alone can speak for the actual event, but stood by what was written in the report. “I want to make it clear that
you have the right to demonstrate and you have the right to have your voice heard. I had no choice in the matter as to whether the media pick this up or words the media chose to define you guys by,” Hislop said. “I could only pick these words, and I hope they mean something to you.” SAFE member Devin Jones, an LSA senior, said he did not take issue with the ethics commission’s decision. Rather, he said the broader problem was with power dynamics on campus. Jones said one thing that contributes to those dynamics is the University’s three courses on the Israel/Palestine conflict that he said are taught by white Jewish males. “What we were doing on Nov 19. — that is one of the only times we get to voice our views on campus,” Jones said. “Jesse centered his voice in it.” Jones said the CSG Ethics Committee has now caused SAFE to be further silenced on campus by suggesting Arm See CSG, Page 3A
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NEWS BRIEFS
Autonomous vehicles see rise in young drivers A study by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University’s Transportation Research Center found that the rise in autonomous vehicles may also signal a rise in the demand for private road transportation among 18 to 39-year-olds. For over 30 years, the number of young adults without driver’s licenses has been on the rise. Since 1983, the percentage of adults with driver’s licenses under the age of 40 has dropped from 93 percent to about 83 percent. Among 18 to 19 year-olds, the drop is from 84 percent to 66 percent. In a press release, Sivak and Schoettle said autonomous vehicles will cause a 28 percent increase in the number of 18 and 19-year-olds with driver’s licenses. “The basic approach in our study involves combining all reasons for currently not having a driver’s license that would no longer be applicable with selfdriving vehicles, and calculating the new percentage of persons who would have access to personal transportation with self-driving vehicles,” Sivak said. Among the reasonsfor not having a driver’s license that would no longer be applicable with autonomous vehicles are being too busy to get a license and having a disability that prevents one from receiving a license.
SCHLISSEL From Page 1A Michigan and professional football player and the current medical director at a hospital in Reno, Nev. Hackett will remain in office until the University finds a permanent replacement, which Schlissel said will be an asset during the search process. “Interim Director Hackett continues to do a great job with the department,” Schlissel said. “He’s flexible enough to stay on as long as necessary to allow us to conduct a very thorough and broad search for the very best person who can do the job — and then to stay around to help the person we select come on board. So all that’s great, and that takes the monkey off my back in that I don’t have to do this in a three-week time frame. The longer we have to do this, the more thoughtful and better job we can do. A typical search takes months.” Schlissel noted that campus outreach and input will be a large factor of the search process. He said he intends to meet with a number of governing bodies — including Central Student Government,
News the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, as well as individual coaches and members of the Athletic Department’s staff, to evaluate what University constituents want most out of the new director. While gauging campus needs, Schlissel has also begun to independently develop a broad set of criteria. He is looking for “someone who gets the cultural aspects” — “a person of unquestioned integrity” who is capable of both upholding the University’s athletic excellence while also placing an emphasis on the “student” portion of “student-athlete.” “I’m looking for an athletic director that sort of gets it, that understands that athletics is a part of the University,” he said. “It’s not separate from the University; it exists to help build the community here, and to represent us, and to keep our alumni attached to the University, to develop student spirit, to give folks who care about athletics an outlet to either participate or, more often, to watch and cheer. “It has to be a person of unquestioned integrity,” he
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 — 3A
added. “You know, winning is important, but it sure isn’t more important than operating at a highest level of value system — and do things really both by the rules, but even do things the ‘Michigan Way’ of really a high level, high standards.” Divestment and rhetoric Schlissel has articulated his hesitance toward divestment on several platforms in the last week — both via a post on a University website and during his final fireside chat of the semester. “The irony here is that I am a strong proponent of sustainability and recognizing the significance of global climate change and the necessity of having a thoughtful way to quickly diminish the damage we’re doing to the environment,” he said. “I think where I differ with the community promoting divestment is whether the University of Michigan divesting will do anything to achieve the goals that we share.” He noted the University’s internal commitment to sustainability, renewable energy and spearheading correlating research, adding
CSG From Page 2A
Rep. Fred Upton condemns Trump’s Muslim comments Representative Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), a member of the House Republican leadership, condemned comments by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump calling for the complete shutdown of Muslim immigration into the U.S. on Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press reported. Upton, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reportedly said Trump’s plan was “crazy.” In an interview with WSJMFM Tuesday, Upton said Trump’s comments are in direct violation of the constitution’s commitment to freedom of religion. “We have this thing in our nation that we’re pretty proud of: freedom of religion. What Donald Trump said yesterday goes against the very principles that our founding fathers wrote into the Constitution,” he said. Upton added that although he supports free speech, he finds fault with Trump’s comments. “It doesn’t follow the pattern of who America really is and what we stand for,” Upton said. Trump, who has been leading polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans after his comment on banning all Muslim immigration to the US on Monday, in wake of last month’s Paris attacks and the deadly shooting in San Bernadino, both linked to individuals with ties to radical Islam.
Man imprisoned for selling fake Detroit homes 38-year-old Joseph Haden of Florida will serve four years in prison for orchestrating an $18 million dollar scam in which hundreds nationwide were tricked into purchasing homes in Detroit that did not exist, the Detroit Free Press reports. U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy sentenced Haden to 52 months in prison for his role in the scheme that cheated 290 people in 47 states and Canada. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, telemarketers involved in the scheme claimed bank-owned homes in Detroit could be purchased for a fraction of their value, and that the homes could be quickly resold to an already-existing group of hedge funds and foreign investors. The telemarketers would then pocket the money. - LARA MOEHLMAN
that divestment could deter such efforts on a larger, corporate scale. “The problem I have with a divestment approach is, I don’t understand how the University of Michigan changing its investment portfolio will diminish the release of greenhouse gases into the environment or promote sustainability,” he said. What he has said in meetings with campus groups such as Divest and Invest — which recently garnered the support of the Faculty Senate Assembly with regard to endorsing University divestment from fossil fuels — is that University divestment would be more symbolic than impactful. “I grant, it’s a symbolic action, and symbols are important in society,” Schlissel said. “But I think the situation’s way more complicated … the same companies, for example, that are harvesting coal and taking oil and gas from the ground, are the same companies that are doing research on renewable energy and trying to convert as quickly as possible away from coal toward gas and, ultimately, renewables.” “Those very same companies that we would be divesting
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks to supporters at a campaign rally at Spring Arbor University Fieldhouse in Spring Arbor on Sept. 23, 2015.
CARSON From Page 1A Medical School in 1977 and gained prominence as the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins in 1987. In addition to being a University alum, he has strong roots in the state — he was born and raised in Detroit, and launched his campaign earlier this year in the city. Currently fourth in the polls at 13.8 percent, according to Real Clear Politics, Carson has
RACKHAM From Page 1A diversity, equity and inclusion that affect you as a graduate student?” and “What are your short-term and long-term ideas for change?” Rackham student Kimberly Reyes emphasized that change does not depend on representation and numbers alone. She said change in classroom culture and conversation are also essential to combating such issues. “When you say you’re celebrating diversity, it’s much more about bodies in a room versus how do faculty create places where folks can have honest conversations and how does curriculum adequately represent issues of oppression, even in sciences,” Reyes said. “It’s not getting at the kind of academic culture and the academic norms that I think affect us as graduate students much more because our departments are our worlds.” Many students in attendance agreed with Reyes, saying they have noticed a general lack of diversity training among Rackham faculty and mentors. Rackham student Channing Mathews, president of Students of Color of Rackham, said much of the advocacy and reform surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion falls on students when it shouldn’t. “We should not be the ones doing it by ourselves,” she said. “We should see the faculty coming in and working with us … deans allocating resources to address the issues that students are coming
drawn controversy in recent months over statements on a variety of issues, including gun policy and whether a Muslim can be president. The main focus of the Carson campaign’s Wednesday stop in the state are two campaign events, one open to the public and one private. Carson is slated to hold a public town hall at 2:30 p.m. at Eastern Michigan University to announce a new health care plan aimed at providing a policy alternative to the Affordable Care Act. He is also
scheduled to attend a campaign fundraiser at the Ann ArborYpsilanti Marriott hotel. Carson also visited the state in September to speak at Spring Arbor University. During his speech, he touched on a number of social issues as well as the importance of education, emphasizing the transformative nature of education. A significant portion of the current GOP field — including frontrunner candidate Donald Trump and other candidates at the top of the polls — has also visited Michigan in past months.
up with. It’s the institution’s responsibility to make us know that we belong here.” Mathews expressed the need for the University to incentivize departments’ implementation of effective plans for training faculty in this respect and penalize departments that are not doing this work. Schlissel’s current diversity strategy calls on individual University departments and units to develop their own plans for approaching diversity on campus, with the hope that those plans would then inform a broader campus strategy. “Right now, it feels like the University is relying on the goodwill of the department,” Mathews said. Rackham Dean Carol Fierke explained that because Rackham is an umbrella program to many different departments, it is difficult to change individual programs’ policies. Rackham currently provides funding and opportunities for workshops and training to support inter-program diversity efforts. However, none are mandatory. “Those are two areas where we have programs,” Fierke said. “It’s a matter of figuring out how to use them better.” Mathews said she hoped the dialogue from the event would result in action. “I think there’s something to be said about having the conversation and then moving to action steps,” she said. “Hopefully Rackham takes the dialogue and turns it into tangible action steps that came from the voices of the students.”
should go unpunished. “When their narrative is beaten away, what do we find? We were silenced again — by a CSG member,” Jones said. “By not helping us, you have helped to further silence students already in a climate that silences their narratives.” Hislop said he thought the event had also highlighted the need to revisit how the body dealt with ethics among its members. “It basically looked like they needed an ethics committee, they made three rules for it and threw it up there,” Hislop said. “I think it’s time we dust it off.” In comments to the commission, Arm said he had been through a lot in the last couple of weeks and felt the proceedings have detracted from his goals at CSG. “The reasons that I ran for this assembly are because I wanted to work on mental health programs improved on campus, I wanted to see sexual assault prevention programs on campus,” Arm said. “I didn’t run to have ‘Jew’ slapped on my back. I didn’t run for the assembly to be an advocate for Israel. “My goals and things that I want to accomplish in this assembly are not related to my status as a Jewish student,”
from need investment capital to convert from carbon source to renewables,” he later added. “So where is that going to come from if we put them out of business? — not that we could by Michigan divesting.” Schlissel said the most productive thing for groups like Divest and Invest to do is not to lobby the University to divest, but instead to focus their advocacy toward tightening state regulations and laws. Broadening his focus to include not only Divest and Invest, but groups such as the Students Allied for Freedom and Equality — which, as a part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement calls for the University to create a committee to consider divesting from companies that they allege facilitate human rights violations in Israel — Schlissel noted that overall, divestment does not seem to be a feasible tool for the University to use. “The endowment isn’t a vehicle for playing out political arguments,” Schlissel said. “It’s there to support the mission of the University, and it’s taken in trust from donors.”
Arm said. “I’m Jesse. I’m not Jesse the Jew, I’m not Jesse pro-Israel, I’m Jesse who wants to see a better campus for the University of Michigan.” Executive communications CSG President Cooper Charlton, an LSA senior, addressed his recent meeting with University President Mark Schlissel Monday to discuss future initiatives on how to increase student voice on campus. In particular, he said last month’s Diversity Summit was a learning experience about how to start legitimizing the platforms from which students can voice their opinions. “I want to pause here and say we made it aware of an easy fix is that we host these feedback sessions at times where students can actually show up,” Charlton said. Charlton said it was noted during the main assembly’s 9 a.m. start time limited the number of students would would attend. “We wanted to make it clear that when students voice their opinions it can make it all the way up to the top and not lost along the way,” he said. Other initiatives discussed were the renovations at the University’s unions, which Charlton said he hopes to be a restorative space for students on campus, as well as the release of course evaluations and student safety.
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4A — Wednesday, December 9, 2015
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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.
The easy way out of gun control
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mericans have a lot of practice nowadays with mass shootings. On television, journalists launch into hours of investigative coverage for a few days following a shooting, introducing a new graphic for each and every development, regardless of its relevancy. Moments of silence at large sporting events seem to happen with increasing frequency. Social media quickly fills BRETT up with prayers for the GRAHAM family of the victims, copied, pasted and shared by thousands. And then we move on, ready for the next tragedy. Unsurprisingly, one group that did not exactly have its act together in response to the shootings in San Bernardino last Wednesday was the usually dysfunctional leadership of the Republican Party. Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina called for better enforcement of “the laws that we have” and criticized President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for politicizing the issue. In an effort to combine the inappropriate with the asinine, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz unveiled the Second Amendment Coalition at an Iowa gun range two days after the shooting. The only commonality between the positions of GOP politicians was the categorical agreement that guns are not the problem, but instead mental illness is. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R–Wis.) took to “CBS This Morning” to explain that “people with mental illness are getting guns and committing these mass shootings,” and to announce that Congress is already drafting legislation dealing with the root cause of these shootings: mental health. With 14 dead and 21 injured, with families still grieving, with an FBI investigation into whether the shooting was linked to terrorism ongoing, the GOP’s decision to go on the offensive by linking mental illness to mass shootings is insensitive, uninformed and irresponsible. For starters, the notion that tragedies like the one in San Bernardino are direct results of mental illness is tenuous at best. A 2014 study from the American Psychological Association showed that of crimes committed by people with serious mental disorders, just 7.5 percent were directly related to symptoms of mental illness. Dylann Roof was not mentally ill in Charleston, nor was Robert Lewis Dear when he took the lives of three people at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado. Dr. Liza Gold, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown Medical Center, has attempted to debunk these myths in her book released last month, “Gun Violence and Mental Illness.” “Most people with serious mental illness
are not violent,” Gold wrote, and “most violent individuals do not have serious mental illness and evidence indicates that individuals with serious mental illness who kill strangers with a gun is one of the rarest types of gun violence in the United States.” A threat assessment team that has been working in Salem, Ore., for the past 15 years notes that mental illness is often not to blame for violence. “It’s easy to want to say they’re mentally ill, they’re different from us,” said Allan Rainwater, a mental health investigator for Marion Country, “and quite often, they may not be.” Americans saw this after Sandy Hook, and with the 1,044 mass shootings (yes, 1,044) since then. Journalists attempted to explain the shooter’s behavior, guessing that he was an undiagnosed schizophrenic. But the simple fact of the matter is that there’s no real empirical evidence that suggests mass shootings stem directly from the mentally ill. This isn’t to say that such a connection never exists, simply that Speaker Ryan introducing this legislation as a solution to the problem is misguided and furthers an unfounded narrative among U.S. citizens. There’s no evidence that the shooters in San Bernardino were mentally ill. Yet the knee-jerk reaction of GOP politicians continues to point to psychological disorders. It seems the old adage of gun owners in the United States has been updated to “guns don’t kill people, crazy people kill people.” As British comedian Eddie Izzard once said, though, I think the gun helps. Last Wednesday’s tragedy marks the 355th mass shooting of the year. Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik bought assault rifles and semiautomatic handguns, loaded them, dropped their baby off their with grandma, drove to a holiday party and, until they pulled the trigger, had yet to commit a crime. More than 80 percent of guns used in mass shootings in the United States are purchased legally. That’s something Americans have to confront. And the conversation on mental health is a distraction. Even if mental health was found to be a cause of mass shootings, what then would be the end goal? Would it be our goal to eradicate mental illness? At the rate of civilian deaths in the United States today, I sincerely doubt we can afford to wait for the years of institutional reforms and mental health counseling that might not even solve the problem. Evidence shows that the No. 1 Republican response to mass shootings is somewhere between doubtful and blatantly ignorant. Their goal is to deny any notion that there is a gun problem in the United States, instead peddling the idea that somehow Americans are more prone to mental illness and violence. This year, 462 people have been killed in mass shootings, with 1,314 injuries across 47 states. Decide for yourself.
There’s no evidence that the shooters were mentally ill.
Brett Graham can be reached at btgraham@umich.edu.
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The ungiftable mother
ince before I was born, when it was only my sisters in the house, my mom has always asked for peace and harmony every year for Christmas. This year we got her a Crock-Pot. I screw up gifts for my mom all the time. It started in the second TOM grade, when my teacher assigned WEST us each the project of picking out gifts for our parents from a box of festive trinkets. She’d ordered the box from Oriental Trading. She sent us home with a worksheet with spaces for what our family wanted. On it were question prompts, in case we blanked during the interview. “Mother, what is your favorite color?” I had to ask. It seemed silly. I thought I already knew all there was to know about the strange people who lived in my house and enforced my bedtime, which wasn’t much. I’m not sure it occurred to me they could have opinions and desires that were not directly related to my person and well-being. “Yellow,” my mother said. “I love yellow. Now put on your cleats for soccer practice and no crying this time.” So I brought her home a little yellow ornament for the tree. And that was all the getting-to-know-you I did with my mother for a very long time, until a Christmas in middle school when I bought her a yellow sweater. I had asked her what she wanted but she’d just said “peace and harmony,” per usual. She just loved the sweater, “really, I do,” she said. Except she didn’t. One of the many reasons giving and getting gifts is a terrible and frightening institution is because of the expressions we have to make while we open them. Most everyone knows when someone really loves a gift, or if they’re just making the face you’re supposed to make when you unwrap it. “Oh, I just love it!” they’ll say, tucking it away in a drawer and quickly patting the handle. A few weeks later, my mother was walking around the house in a sweater almost exactly like the one I got her, except it was periwinkle
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blue. I figured she’d exchanged it, which would be fine. But she hadn’t. She’d kept the sweater I’d gotten her — she’d never give that away, it was a gift from her son. She just wanted one in blue, because after all, “Blue is just my favorite color,” she said. It was enough that my parents were allowed to have ideas and opinions not directly related to me. But to go about changing all the time and acting like real, living people was another matter. I’d put in the quality time in the second grade, and from then, my relationship with the people who lived in my house and enforced my bedtime should have been coasting. That night, or some night thereafter, my sisters and I gathered sub rosa to discuss the matter of our mother, who was impossible to pick out gifts for. I quickly suggested she should be eliminated. “If she were in a coma,” I said, “we would only have to visit once a year with flowers, like they do on TV.” My sisters and I weighed the relative emotional cost of having a mother in a coma or admitting to ourselves that perhaps we didn’t know our mother as a person the way we assumed we always had. After some deliberation, it was decided that measure was too drastic, but it was put on the backburner as a last resort. We decided the easiest way to pick out gifts was to determine what our mother liked to do. “Cooking,” my sisters said, “and cleaning.” “Yes … Good, good. But what about laundry?” I asked. It was decided that, in lieu of rubber gloves and laundry detergent, for the next Mother’s Day we’d save up the money, go to the Home Depot and buy all the fixings for my mom to start her own garden. It just seemed like the sort of thing that the sort of person who seemed to like to cook and clean and wash dishes and pick up children’s rooms would like to do — gardening, I mean. I’d find out years later that my mom had other interests that didn’t involve caring for us, that she likes snowshoeing and tennis and apparently used to work for Microsoft, whatever that was or meant.
So that May, we plopped a few stacks of wood and some nails and seeds in the yard with a bow on all of it. Then we patted each other on the back and left our mother to construct it, because there was a daytime marathon of Lifetime original movies on and the weather was just awful. My mom actually did like that gift. I think she would have spent a lot of time in the garden had she any time to spare, between driving us to and from sports and doing the cooking and cleaning and the laundry that she seemed to love so much. So the garden never got built, and I think I felt a pang of grief, or annoyance. I just really thought I’d finally gotten her, bought her off with a garden. It wouldn’t have mattered what it was. It could have been a Prada bag, a Lamborghini, a whole circus in the goddamn back yard. Just so long as I could say that I’d done it: I’d bought you out and you had never really wanted peace and harmony, you had wanted… But no. It struck me that the woman who lived in my house and enforced my bedtime wanted nothing from me. She had done all she’d done out of love, a great insurmountable love that I was ashamed I couldn’t understand, and that I could do nothing in my whole life to repay her. Anyways, my sisters and I have changed the gift plans a little bit. In addition to the Crock-Pot, we got her some Crock-Pot cooking lessons. I think that’s a nice little addition, because we spent a little more, maybe. But the idea of my mother standing in a cooking class with a few people she did not know, being taught to cook for her family using a CrockPot-brand crock-pot, hit me in the stomach like a ton of bricks. So if all 13 of my readers can keep a secret, I’ll tell you that my sisters and I bought the same lessons my mom is going to, and my dad is coming, too, and maybe, after a little more quality time spent with her, a few years down the road, I’ll find out what she’s really wanted all along.
The woman who enforced my bedtime wanted nothing from me.
Tom West can be reached at tkwest@umich.edu.
The Holy Starbucks
n a freezing Sunday morning, we made our way up the narrow staircase to the second floor of Literati where The Espresso Bar is located. We were prepared for an evening of finals studying with some much needed caffeine involved. However, once MEGAN we reached the MITCHELL top, we were surprised to find that there were zero tables open. So with a look and shrug, we trudged down to the street, looking up more coffee shops near our location on our way out. We then proceeded to travel to three different coffee shops that Siri promised were within walking distance. The first one was full, the second one had an “off” sort of feeling and smelled like the music store where I used to take lessons, and the third one actually didn’t exist because we were apparently staring right at the shop when all we could see was an empty brick wall. (Potentially there’s a Diagon Alley sort of thing going on; I’ll investigate later.) The point is, we spent the better part of a half hour looking for a new coffee shop to study at for a change of scenery before eventually just settling on our usual venue — Starbucks. So can anybody tell me why we wasted so much time scouring the city, hellbent on studying in a coffee shop when there are dozens of options Ann Arbor and the University have to offer? If you asked me on a normal day why so many college students flock to coffee shops like they’re Noah’s Ark, I’d probably tell you it was because of the caffeine. The revered coffee, or the “Holy Starbucks” as I have affectionately coined it, keeps us running late at night, promising us that yes, we will in fact finish this paper before its midnight submission deadline. I have a strange relationship with coffee. The smell of the fresh grounds at Meijer always drew my head, but when my dad let me try my first coffee during my sophomore year
of high school, I pretended to like it even though it was probably the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted. (Disclaimer: It was probably some kind of caramel latte that I would find too sugary today. What can I say? I was young and innocent.) So, in preparing to begin my journey as a college student, I was suddenly assaulted with birthday, graduation and “thinking of you” cards stuffed with Starbucks gift cards. I was confused — my family and friends know that I don’t drink coffee, so why are they sending me these? On possibly the seventh Starbucks gift card, I finally spoke up. “You know I hate coffee. Why are you giving me a Starbucks card?” My friend was confused at my question: “Oh, you know. Because you’re going to college soon and you’ll need it.” At the time, I thought that maybe this was a good thing. I’d finally like coffee, which would make me more mature, right? And thus began my coffee journey. I started off small, taking on the decked out frappuccinos first before moving on to lattes. Eventually, I was drinking a caramel macchiato, which makes you feel more like an adult rather than a high school teenager snapping selfies with her “créme frapp” (fun fact: those don’t actually have coffee in them even though they’re delicious; I learned the hard way). So I naturally became a bit of a coffee addict, drinking it as both a means to drag myself out of bed in the morning and to stay up on nights that the work never seemed to end. We’re all a bit of a mess, though, aren’t we? Surprisingly enough, most days that I find myself sitting in the Michigan Union Starbucks, I stay for the ambiance: the warm glow of the chandeliers, the Christmas music filtering through the speakers and the smell of freshly brewed coffee. I go with friends and walk away with homework assignments completed — it’s a beautiful cycle that’s backed up by research.
According to a study led by Ravi Mehta, a business administration professor at the University of Illinois, “Modest background noise creates enough of a distraction to encourage people to think more imaginatively.” So the ambiance in your local coffee shop isn’t only great for your mind, but for your work as well. The research actually suggests that “walking out of one’s comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas.” Even though we’re packing coffee shops for a much-needed caffeine fix, we’re actually doing our studies some good in the process. In an article in The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf suggests that research shows some people are motivated to get more done in coffee shops due to social pressures; we are more likely to get work done in public in order to present ourselves as having a purpose to be there. And I mean, who hasn’t used that as a motivation before? Working on research at Starbucks while watching other students becoming distracted by the pull of Facebook notifications, I have felt like I was the “good” student who was constantly doing my work without checking Facebook. Whereas in my room, I would oftentimes find myself changing songs on YouTube or 8Tracks and becoming distracted finding something to listen to, which negatively impacted my learning in the long run. There was no pressure to keep doing work. Even if you feel like you’re not getting much done, I think you’ll be surprised realizing how much work you actually accomplished during your time at the “Holy Starbucks.” That, and you’ll get a pretty sweet coffee fix out of it. So go and enjoy your peppermint mocha frappuccino, you beautiful mess, you.
I have a strange relationship with coffee.
Megan Mitchell can be reached at umeg@umich.edu.
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Arts
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 — 5A
FILM NOTEBOOK
NO FILTER
THE CW
“Finally, Kimmi -- we’re in print!”
‘Supernatural’ Recap: Art imitates life: ‘Just My Imagination’ LIONSGATE
“You’re Oscar-worthy, Katifer Lawdeen!”
J-Law & Katniss Lawrence takes cues from ‘Hunger Games’ alter-ego By RACHEL RICHARDSON For The Daily
As an impressionable high school freshman, I fell into the trap of reading whatever my classmates were raving about. So, of course, I found myself lounging on a beach chair with a copy of “The Hunger Games” during the summer of 2012. When my friends asked how much I loved the novel, I didn’t want to ruin their excitement, so I gave it a solid 10 out of 10. Honestly, though, it was only a 6.5 in my mind.
Lawrence leaves her best Katniss performance for last. What fell flat for me in the first novel and only proceeded to get worse in the other two was that I couldn’t connect with the characters, especially Katniss – she never seemed real enough. After the film franchise was announced, I was hopeful that Jennifer Lawrence would bring the character to life. But. I couldn’t stand Katniss in “The Hunger Games,” “Catching Fire” or even “Mockingjay - Part 1.” But then came “Mockingjay - Part 2,” and I’m still in awe of Lawrence’s performance. I saw “Part 2” three weeks ago and up until recently, I was still
HENRY IV From Page 1A Although the setting of the play has not been tampered with, the cast and crew have taken some liberties with the production. Lindsay, the director, decided to keep the play in its original 15th century time period. “I’ve managed to work a number of women into the show,” she said. “One of the big things we did was change the Duke of Worcester to the Duchess of Worcester. She takes no prisoners.” Aside from a minor cut or two, the script has not been seriously abridged. The physical nature of the play allows it to move along quickly and dynamically. “Something quite unique to this production is the amount of stage combat there is — a lot of work with weaponry,” O’Brien said. “Something that a lot of us have to do is keep up with our condition physically because we’re running through these massive fights, and after the fights, we’re expected to continue these huge pieces of text while trying to connect
processing why I felt that Katniss suddenly became so real. After a lecture in film class on effective acting, I finally realized that in the previous films, it felt like Lawrence was just playing the role of Katniss, but in “Part 2, ” Katniss becomes an extension of Lawrence herself. Up until 2015, Lawrence has refrained from publicly sharing her opinions on feminism. In October, she broke her silence by publishing a Lenny Letter (a feminist newsletter curated by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner), where she outlined her experience with unequal pay as a woman in the Hollywood film industry. She writes about how even though she was met with backlash, she still didn’t back down. Similarly, Katniss is often met with resistance from Gale, but she either ignores his criticisms or calls him out on his own questionable choices. Speaking of Gale, while “Hunger Games” is not as dependent on the love triangle as “Twilight,” romance is definitely a dominant theme. In “Part 2,” the boy-drama is diluted, as Katniss keenly focuses on eliminating President Snow and improving life for the citizens of Panem. As she tries to sleep in the tunnels, she overhears Gale and Peeta discussing their relationships with her. Instead of intently trying to listen in, she closes her eyes and it quickly cuts to the next scene. Similarly, Lawrence didn’t let Chris Martin’s (a former boyfriend) indecision over her and his ex-wife distract her from executing a potentially Oscarworthy performance. Though Katniss often disregards the words of her advisors, it would almost be more fitting to title the film “Mission Impossible: Rogue Katniss.” Most of her actions are calculated risks; she usually
those into the breath,” Foote explained. “It’s physical. It’s cerebral. It’s really a test to everything that we’ve got,” O’Brien said. The timelessness of “Henry IV” has energized the cast, as they move beyond parsing the complex language and logistical decisions to a place of creativity and playfulness in more boisterous comedic moments that balance the play’s historical gravity. “We’ve crossed a threshold of learning the technicalities and learning lines and all of that stuff, and now we’re just all together having a blast on stage — you can’t let that drop. Feeling that has been the most invigorating part of the process,” O’Brien said. Doing a play filled with stage combat has provided a space for deep exploration of swordplay, which characterizes periodspecific violence. “If you were to put it into modern day and someone were to pull out a gun and blame somebody, the scene’s over,” said Lindsay. Fight director Robert Najarian has worked closely with the cast on crafting complicated
doesn’t take them unless the odds are more in her favor than not.
Lawrence announced that she’d like to be a director. This sudden surge of ambition can once again be attributed to Lawrence’s personality. Earlier this month, during a promotional tour for “Mockingjay - Part 2,” Lawrence officially announced that she’d like to be a director. Her first potential film, “Project Delirium,” is not seen by many as “her type of film.” The movie is said to adapt a New Yorker story about James Ketchum, the retired psychiatrist and U.S. army colonel and his involvement with a secret LSD experimentation program. If this project is picked up by a producer, Lawrence has made it clear that she will only direct, and not star, in it.
Katifer Lawdeen or Jennis Everence? Saving her best Katniss performance for last, Lawrence gives dissatisfied readers an impressive conclusion to the series. Unfortunately, this is the last time we’ll ever see Katniss and Lawrence in harmony. Or, more cleverly, Jeniss Everence or Katifer Lawdeen (still trying to decide which one is better).
moments of combat. “There’s been a wide variety of physical confrontations in this play, from robberies to little tussles in the tavern to mass battles,” he said. “Shakespeare provides such a breadth of experience, especially with moments of violence.” The production seeks to explore universal themes and questions on stage, which audiences can relate to despite a multi-century gap. “What is leadership? What is honor? What makes a good leader?” said Lindsay, referring to the questions the play considers. “It’s going to be relevant because the issues are still the same. It’s all about power. It’s all about the struggle between fathers and sons,” she said. The central father-son dynamic of the play is between King Henry, played by SMTD senior Matt Provenza. “The father-son conflict I think applies to college-aged men and women, now more than in any other part of our lives,” said Provenza. Beyond depiction of English history and struggle for power, “Henry IV” is a coming-of-age
By KIM BATCHELOR Daily Arts Writer
Having played one of the most ridiculous and imaginative characters on the show (Gabriel/The Trickster), I imagine that Richard Speight Jr. (“To Appomattox”) felt right at home directing the eighth episode. “Just My Imagination” approaches the Pixar-esque with its glimpse into the world of children’s’ imaginary friends. The episode opens with a young girl named Maddie (Jena Skodje, “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour”) having a tea party with her imaginary friend, Sparkle (Everrett Shea, “Arrow”). Things quickly take a dark turn when Maddie leaves to go to dinner with her parents. While she is gone, Sparkle is brutally stabbed to death. In the bunker, Sam (Jared Padalecki, “Gilmore Girls”) wakes up and heads down the hall to make coffee, all the while being stalked by a mysterious shadow. Surprise! The shadow turns out to be Sully (Nate Torrence, “Hello Ladies”), Sam’s imaginary friend from childhood, he only realizes after instinctually punching Sully. Dean (Jensen Ackles, “Smallville”) arrives at the sound of commotion but, since Dean can’t see Sully unless Sully wants him too, he is naturally concerned about Sam’s mental health. And when Sully does reveal himself, Dean is just concerned in general. Sully has to explain quickly that he’s a species called Zanna and that he came to the brothers for help because his friend was murdered. Dean hesitates to help Sully because he doesn’t trust him, believing he may be evil. But Sam believes that Sully is truly his old imaginary friend from when he was a child, and there is lore on Zanna in the Romanian books to back up his story. Sam feels he owes Sully and needs to help him as a repayment for Sully’s help during his childhood. Dean doesn’t understand why Sam even needed an imaginary friend to begin with. Sam explains it’s because he was lonely. In a flashback, we come to understand how a young Sam (Dylan Kingwell, “The Returned”) felt left behind
story that questions character agency over identity. “Something I really want the audience to come away from this with is man’s propensity to change. I want people to see that anyone can come around,” Provenza said. “It is possible to assume a new person at some point in your life and be the person you’ve always wanted to be or perhaps fulfill a destiny that is perhaps better than the one you’re living now.” The fancy swordplay and elegant language is more than a depiction of physical grace or impressive intellect; it intends to provide the audience with a context for the violence. “I do want people to be thrilled by what they see on stage, but at the same time know that all of this hopefully thrilling stuff has consequences,” Najarian said. “We’re not just doing this to be like, ‘Hey it’s fun to play with swords,’ but show that, when you are violent towards people, there are consequences to relationships that were once awesome and then fail.”
by Dean (Dylan Everett, “Open Heart”) and his father when it came time to go on hunts. We’re also treated to a new actor for a young Sam and the return of fan favorite Dylan Everett. Sam, Dean and an invisible Sully visit the home of Sparkle’s child under the guise of trauma counselors. Mrs. Berman (Carrie Genzel, “Under One Roof”), Maddie’s mother, explains that Maddie won’t return to her room. Sam and Dean ask Maddie why she won’t go back. The answer: “All of the blood.” Once they reach the room, Sully appears to let them see the murder scene. Unfortunately, it means they get to witness the truly horrifying scene to follow wherein Mrs. Berman accidentally gets Sparkle’s blood all over her face. If the actress who plays Sparkle looks familiar, it’s because she was on the show ten years earlier in the Season One episode “Bugs.” Elsewhere, a Zanna mermaid named Nicky (Ida Segerhagen, “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce”) is stabbed in a pool while her child is at gymnastics. Sully learns of the murder through a Zanna-specific telepathic link, and the three arrive on the scene of Nicky’s murder. Sully mentions Nicky has a boyfriend and Dean decides they ought to question him after they bury her body. While they dig her grave, Sam remembers a time when he considered running away from the hunter life as a young boy and Sully supported him. Sully reminded Sam that he could go to school if he wanted, that he could be whatever he wanted to be. Weems (Eduard Witzke, “What’s Up Warthogs!”), Nicky’s Zanna boyfriend, is out in the backyard of the house of the child he’s attached to, hanging up the laundry to dry, when he’s attacked by the murderer. He’s stabbed and left bleeding and calling out telepathically for Sully while the assailant drives off. Sam, Dean and Sully find Weems and patch up his wound while they explain the situation. Weems informs them that the murderer is female and drives a Volkswagon Bug. After Weems treats him to the
coolest air guitar solo ever, Dean chases the car. Weems is surprised to hear that Sam and Sully are back together because Sam “broke his heart.” It really hurt Sully when Sam decided to stay a hunter rather than run away with him — when he told Sully that he didn’t need him anymore. Sam apologizes to Sully for the way they ended things. Sully admits that when Sam went off to hunt he considered it a failure on his part, but he also admits that he was wrong. He’s proud of Sam and the person he has become. Sam discloses that he’s the reason the Darkness was set free, and he thinks that the answer to how to stop it may lie in the cage with Lucifer. Sam’s scared. He is scared to go back there. Sully asks if Sam ever thinks about running away anymore. Sam says not anymore. Sam gets a text from Dean telling them that he has found the killer. But, in fact, it’s the opposite: the killer has found him. When Sam and Sully arrive, Sully is shocked to see Reese (Anja Savcic, “Strange Empire”), a young woman he knew as a child. Sully was Reese’s imaginary friend, but also the imaginary friend of her sister Aubrey. Since she followed him out into the street and was hit by a car, Reese blames Sully for Aubrey’s death. Furthermore, she blames him for disappearing after it and leaving her all alone. Dean talks her down. He explains that revenge won’t make her feel better. He promises that Sully isn’t a monster because when he wasn’t able to be there for Sam, Sully was. After Reese calms down and heads home, Sam and Sully say their goodbyes. Sully still knows just the right thing to say to encourage Sam to come to the correct decision and reminds him that sometimes the heroes are heroes just because there is no one else who will do what is right. As Sam and Dean drive home, Sam brings up the idea of him visiting the cage once more. Dean shoots him down, promising, “there’s always another way.” But Sam wants to know what that other way is, and Dean doesn’t have an answer.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, December 9, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
TV NOTEBOOK
‘Real Rob’ a real flop for Netflix Rob Schneider is probably the only person watching By DANIELLE YACOBSON Daily Arts Writer
Comedian Rob Schneider must think his life is incredibly fascinating. The failings of his 2012 CBS comedy “Rob” evidently Cweren’t enough to deter Schnei- Real Rob der (“Deuce Bigalow: Male Series Gigolo”) from Premiere making a second attempt at Netflix documenting his celebrity life, as he produced a new series to showcase his crude humor and political incorrectness. Closely based on reality, “Real Rob” is a comedy so dull and stilted that the only one watching is himself. The eight-episode Netflix series is a self-proclaimed “exaggeration” of Schneider’s real life in Hollywood, and a way for the actor-producer to unleash his creative expression free from the restrictions of network politics. According to Deadline.com, the low-budget production is mainly financed by Schneider as he “puts his money where his mouth is.” The rest of the crew is made up of family and friends, who are also working under their regular salaries. Co-producer and wife Patricia Schneider plays herself, but, instead of adding authenticity to the series, serves her purpose by allowing her husband to exploit her Mexican descent for comedic content. Their daughter Miranda makes a silent and unmemorable appearance on screen — yet another reason the production should be viewed solely for the Schneider family’s home-video purposes. Along with a glimpse into Rob Schneider’s family life, “Real Rob” centers around an incompetent assistant, played by
NETFLIX
“Fuck Rob Schneider.”
NETFLIX
“I’m not dead?!”
co-creator Jamie Lissow (“Red Eye”), and an ever-present stalker (whose creepy mustache could very well be the most entertaining factor of the entire show). The anecdotes that are presumably drawn from his real life experience are stilted and surprisingly mundane; further dumbed down to accommodate the lack of professionals on set. Apart from Schneider, the cast has minimal acting experience, forcing them to feed lines to the main star as he delivers the final punchline. The single camera-style comedy is interrupted by scenes of stand-up, a potentially creative way to showcase the abilities that landed Schneider his job at “Saturday Night Live” in 1988. However, the stand-up scenes, sprinkled sporadically throughout, seem to come out of nowhere and only tangentially relate to the plot in the rest of the episode. More often than not, Schneider uses his wife’s antics as inspiration for his monologues, depicting her as a crazy Latina housewife that makes his simple life oh so hard. Naturally, Schneider uses a
mildly offensive Mexican accent to drive his point home. A trend of comedians starring in their own productions has been on the rise in the past few years. Aziz Ansari created “Master of None” and Mindy Kaling did the same in “The Mindy Project.” Such series allow the comedians to showcase their sense of humor and quirky charisma on screen, and they have all received a fairly positive response from viewers. Schneider’s personality, however, does not come off as relatable or intriguing in “Real Rob,” as he attempts to pull most of his laughs from deprecating himself or his fellow cast members. The lack of emotional attachment between the characters on-screen translates to a lack of connection with the viewers, further alienating Schneider’s life from a realm of genuine interest. Filled with crude humor and uncomfortable jokes, “Real Rob” lacks wit, innovation and charm. Even in his fictionalized autobiography, Schneider can’t find a way to make his life’s story worth watching.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
How ‘Jessica Jones’ gets feminism right By SOPHIA KAUFMAN Daily Arts Writer
Two weeks ago on a Friday evening around 5:30, I sat down in the East Quad lobby with my computer and a red antiChristmas Starbucks coffee, and pressed “play” on the first episode of Marvel’s new “Jessica Jones.” I was slightly skeptical of the premise, intrigued by the trailers, and worried that people would walk by during a sex scene and assume I was watching porn in a lobby. But all of those emotions faded away after 30 minutes in. (Except the sex scene thing — that may have happened.) A couple hours later, I figured I had watched enough for one night, so I closed my laptop, tossed my coffee, walked upstairs to my room, sat on my bed, reopened my computer and pressed “play” again.
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ACROSS 1 Under the weather 7 Like cotton candy 11 Fund-raising org. 14 Provoke 15 Subtle glow 16 Trip segment 17 Utopian 18 WWI aircraft 20 They may coordinate with floor mats 22 Quarterback’s target 23 Payroll deduction 24 Volcanic debris 25 Big maker of chips 27 Till compartment 29 Bedstead part 33 MSN, for one 36 Meander 37 Under the weather 38 Went different ways ... or what each of six sets of circled letters literally represents 42 Homer’s path 43 Middle name on many patents 44 BYU or NYU 45 In the opposite order 48 Modern address starter 52 Tickle 53 __ in November 56 Mama bear, in Madrid 57 1980s Peppard co-star 58 Some deal closers 62 Hit-by-pitch consequence 64 West Point students 65 Corner key 66 Italian noble family 67 Danish port named for a Norse god 68 Pen 69 Hammer-wielding god 70 Got nervous, with “up” DOWN 1 Deliberately misinforms 2 Like llamas
3 Mountaineering aid 4 Effort 5 City in New York’s Mohawk Valley 6 Cowboy legend __ Bill 7 Fill and then some 8 Run smoothly 9 “The Haj” novelist 10 Siesta 11 Often-fried tropical fruit 12 With affection 13 “Act your __!” 19 Fallon’s predecessor 21 TV channels 2-13 25 Computer debut of 1981 26 Cholesterol initials 28 Title for Noël Coward 30 Seal-hunting swimmers 31 Valentine card hugs 32 Flat hats 34 Barrel support 35 Soccer legend who turned 75 in 2015
38 Most like a schoolmarm 39 Precision 40 Device for bingewatching 41 “How relaxing!” 42 Gardner of the silver screen 46 Cornerstone abbr. 47 Furthermore 49 Arcade coins 50 African threat
51 Got a C in, say 54 Knotted neckwear 55 Relief from the sun 58 Diner breakfast order 59 Chorus line? 60 Card or D’back 61 Yemeni seaport 62 __ Moines 63 Wager
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None of Jessica Jones’s complexity is contrived. It’s also one of the most feminist shows on TV right now. We so rarely see female superheroes in TV that aren’t fighting fucktoys or other inherently misogynistic tropes. Jessica (Krysten Ritter, “Don’t Trust the B—— in Apt. 23” ) stomps all over those cliches (wearing the same pair of jeans almost the entire time, I’m convinced.) The show destroys not only the idea that women can’t be interesting superheroes, but that women can’t be complex anti-heroes. Jessica isn’t always likable; she makes selfish decisions and often treats the few people close to her very rudely. But her unlikability isn’t force-fed to us, and is coupled with a vulnerability that we viscerally feel. Though she is complicated, none of her complexity is contrived. Half of the show’s strength is found in its representation of the abusive relationship which Kilgrave, the villain, (David Tennant, “Doctor Who”) held Jessica captive in — a relationship that see only through flashbacks and through its current effects on her.
If you haven’t jumped on the ‘Jones’ train yet, you should.
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So now having watched the entirety of “Jessica Jones” in less time than may be considered “normal” or “healthy,” I feel confident saying that it isn’t just Marvel’s best show — like I believed after watching the first five episodes — but one of the best shows of the year.
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For reasons best known to himself — though we catch glimpses of them when his composure cracks, which happens more often as the season progresses — Kilgrave is infatuated with Jessica. Though we see right away how scared Jessica is of him, it takes the whole season for us to fully comprehend their history. It’s presented with much more nuance than just “emotional manipulation plus sexual assault equals abuse.” Their relationship is one of the most realistic portrayals
of abusive relationships that I’ve ever seen on TV. It’s not exploitative, gimmicky or victim-blaming. The effects of Kilgrave’s emotional and psychological manipulation and isolation of Jessica from her friends are given just as much screen time and discussion as his actual sexual assault. Jessica organically cycles through periods of fight, flight or freeze throughout the whole season. She struggles to recapture her agency throughout the 13 episode arc, and has more success at some points than others. Our disgust at how Kilgrave has treated Jessica and our understanding of his backstory grow and deepen simultaneously. But the reveal of Kilgrave’s own rough childhood isn’t utilized as an excuse for how he treats Jessica — the writers forcefully make that clear. There’s a very obvious, easy possibility for a redemption story with Kilgrave, but the writers refused to write it that way. The atrocity of how Kilgrave treats her is highlighted by the disbelief we feel when we realize he doesn’t see the relationship as abusive, but as complicated and potentially loving.
We need more shows with unapologetically feminist vibes. There are so many other aspects of “Jessica Jones” that I could talk about (again) for hours — lesbian representation on TV, a near perfect score, beautiful cinematography, Tennant’s hypnotic performance as Kilgrave and Ritter’s nuanced portrayal of Jessica — but though those are all important, the gritty and realistic portrayal of an abusive relationship is what sticks with me the most. In a TV world where sexual assault and rape are so often used as gratuitous plot-drivers or for shock value, “Jessica Jones” explores these difficult topics with an eye and ear for subtlety and empathy. Women on TV in general are still overwhelmingly given flat, two-dimensional roles that, in the words of my eloquent roommate, “could be played by a broom with a blonde wig and balloons that look like tits taped on them.” We need more shows like “Jessica Jones” with unapologetically feminist vibes. Until we get another one, we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed for a second season. If you haven’t jumped on the “Jones” train yet, you really should.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Wolverines routed by SMU By KELLY HALL Daily Sports Writer
Against No. 19 Southern Methodist, the Michigan men’s basketball team didn’t have its bread and butter. Heading into their matchup with the Mustangs, the Wolverines (6-3) were shooting 43.9 percent MICHIGAN 58 from 82 SMU beyond the arc. In the first half of their 82-58 loss Tuesday, they went just 2-for-14 on their 3-point attempts. Junior guard Derrick Walton Jr., who was averaging 9.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game — making him the Wolverines’ second-leading rebounder — sat out his second straight game with a lateral ankle sprain. Senior guard Caris LeVert, who leads the team with 18.6 points per game, made just one field goal on 13 attempts. The trend continued into the second half, and Michigan couldn’t keep up. The Mustangs (7-0) clobbered the Wolverines in SMU’s Moody Coliseum, handing Michigan its third nonconference loss of the season. Though the first half exposed many of the Wolverines’ flaws, it wasn’t all negative. Sophomore guard MuhammadAli Abdur-Rahkman, starting in place for Walton, scored Michigan’s first six points to keep the Wolverines in the game and hushed the Mustangs’ lead scorer, 5-foot-9 guard Nic Moore, in the contest’s early minutes. Abdur-Rahkman went 6-for-10 shooting and finished with 15 points. Junior forward Zak Irvin, who has been largely quiet since returning from his offseason back surgery, scored a loud nine points when his teammates needed it most.
I
But SMU went on scoring runs at numerous points, including a five-minute, 10-0 run that was finally put to an end when Abdur-Rakhman stripped the ball from Mustang guard Jarrey Foster and threw it to redshirt sophomore guard Duncan Robinson, who then fed it to sophomore forward Kam Chatman for a jumper. Moore finally made a statement with three minutes left in the half with back-toback triples, the second one coming off a straight-on, long-range 3. Less than a minute later, LeVert doubledribbled on the other end, giving the ball back to Mustangs forward Jordan Tolbert, who followed up with back-to-back dunks. SMU ended the frame on a 15-4 run, making its final six attempts to head into the locker room with a lofty 14-point lead. The Wolverines were able to trim the gap to nine points in the second half after back-to-back 3-pointers from Robinson and Irvin made it 39-30, but despite Robinson’s best efforts — his 15 points tied Abdur-Rahkman for the team lead — the Mustangs continued to wallop the Wolverines. Michigan allowed 10 dunks, nine of which were scored by Tolbert, who ended the game with 23 points on 11-for-12 shooting. “(Tolbert with) four offensive rebounds per game ... I don’t think I’ve seen that, and I’ve seen a lot of stats,” Beilein said. “He just goes and gets the ball. He was like a man playing with boys out there — he just went
and got it.” LeVert’s shooting woes continued into the second half, with his first and only field goal coming with just 4:36 left in the game. Last season, SMU also effectively shut down LeVert, who scored just four points in Michigan’s 62-51 loss at home on Dec. 20. “We had two days to rest, so we tried to rest (LeVert) on Sunday,” Beilein said. “We’ve been leaning on him an awful lot, so he’ll bounce back, but it was a tough game for him. … Who knows what it is, but they did a great job against him. They switched a lot of screens when he came off, they really challenged him, and he had a tough game. When he’s missing foul shots, you know he’s having a tough game.” The Wolverines left the court in Dallas with plenty of missed opportunities, including a final stretch where they shot 0-for-6 in the last three minutes. Michigan was also outrebounded by the Mustangs, 45-20, mostly on the defensive end. After flying home Tuesday, Michigan will take a much needed three-day rest after its seventh game in 19 days and before Saturday’s matchup with Delaware State. “We’re still young in the season,” Beilein said. “If you’re going to get beat, get beat early. And this shows you, like I said, if you think you’re good, you’re not good. “That team’s good. We’re a long way from being good.”
“If you’re going to get beat, get beat early.”
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 — 7A
Catching up with ‘surrender cobra’ By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Editor
Michigan sophomore Chris Baldwin is finally breathing easily. Baldwin — who claimed Internet fame when an image of him with his hands over his head went viral following the Michigan football team’s last-second loss to Michigan State earlier this year — had his hands raised over his head again on Saturday as he watched the Michigan men’s basketball team take on Houston Baptist. This time, though, Baldwin, along with the rest of the student section at the Crisler Center, had his hands up high and fingers wiggling as sophomore guard Aubrey Dawkins stepped to the line for free throws late in Michigan’s 82-57 rout of the Huskies. Baldwin, an engineering student from Saginaw, Mich., said that before Michigan’s loss to Michigan State, he was “no different than anybody else — just a good sports fan.” But that day, when Michigan punter Blake O’Neill bobbled a snap with time expiring and the Spartans ran the ball back for a game-winning touchdown, that all changed. ESPN’s cameras focused in on a stunned Baldwin, and the image quickly went viral. “I guess I was doing the surrender cobra pose,” Baldwin said. “And now everybody knows who I am. … I felt a bunch of text messages right after the game ended, but I figured it was just people talking about the game because, of course, it was crazy, and then when I finally looked as we were getting ready to head out of the stadium, I had all sorts
of texts and tweets and things on Facebook — all sorts of pictures and people talking about how I was suddenly famous.” The pose — known as the “surrender cobra” — is a common sight in stadiums following comefrom-behind wins and thrilling finishes. It consists of hands over the head, elbows pointed out and jaw dropped — making speechless spectators resemble the venomous snake. The pose even got its own segment on ESPN’s College GameDay last week, in which Baldwin was featured. “I’ve tried to have fun with it,” Baldwin said. “Of course, everybody here at (the University) supports me, because they all felt the same way I did.” Another image of Baldwin doing the pose, this time in Detroit Lions gear, went viral after the NFL team suffered a Hail Mary loss at the hands of the Green Bay Packers on Thursday.
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Engineering sophomore Chris Baldwin became famous in October.
Michigan’s inevitable loss
t seemed easy for the Michigan women’s basketball team to roll to a 7-0 start to the season — maybe too easy. Before Sunday’s loss to Princeton, the Wolverines had averaged 87.9 points per game, making them BRAD the thirdWHIPPLE best scoring offense in the country. They surpassed 100 points against South Carolina Upstate, wiped the Crisler Center floor with Xavier and avenged last season’s 21-point loss to Pittsburgh. Even without the presence of the last year’s veteran senior class, Michigan still reversed the storyline against Pittsburgh by churning out a 37-point win this time around. Whether from observation or on paper, the Wolverines haven’t struggled during nonconference play. With such a young team, though, you knew a loss was coming. It shouldn’t have been too surprising that Michigan lost to Princeton on Sunday. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Wolverines couldn’t compete at that level, but they were still rough around the edges through those first seven games. Michigan knew it couldn’t get too comfortable either, as players continued to emphasize that each game is different from the next and that early-season mistakes won’t suffice during Big Ten play. Passing and shooting mistakes weren’t differencemakers against Detroit or Hartford, but were exactly what drew the line between a win and a loss against Princeton. The Tigers were on the verge of breaking into the top 25 and still had the taste of Wolverine blood from last season, when Princeton embarrassed Michigan to the tune of a
It was actually taken at an earlier date — Baldwin watched that game in his dorm room, and he was able to restrain himself from breaking out the cobra. “I kind of felt like that pose,” he said. “But I don’t think I was doing it.” So after lots of devastation, when Michigan hosted Houston Baptist in a guarantee game on Saturday, it meant that Baldwin would most likely be able to keep the cobra in the cage for the game. But after some of the finishes he’s seen, he wasn’t 100 percent sure. “I guess there’s no guarantees, especially after last year’s season,” Baldwin said during the second half. “But yeah, it’s nice not to worry as much about the game and just kind of enjoy it.” On Saturday, he did get to enjoy it. Michigan rolled past the Huskies and — at least for one day — the cobra got to go into hibernation.
FOOTBALL
Butt to return for final season By MAX COHEN Managing Sports Editor
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Senior guard Madison Ristovski is one of the older leaders for the Wolverines charged with helping out many of the team’s younger players.
30-point victory in Ann Arbor. This time around, being in New Jersey couldn’t have made it any easier for the Wolverines. But then again, they took a 30-point loss to Princeton and turned it into a 17-point loss — an improvement. More importantly, Michigan has a group of freshmen that aren’t playing like freshmen. In fact, they’ve accounted for over a third of Michigan’s points so far this season. Anyone can dish the ball to center Hallie Thome; guards Nicole Munger and Boogie Brozoski have proved to be lights out beyond the 3-point line; and forward Sam Trammel has shown great promise on the defensive end. “They’re winners,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “They’re competitive, they’re a top-rated class in the country. … But they are inexperienced. They’re gonna have some really great moments for us, and I’m sure they’re gonna
have some challenging moments as well.” Sunday, the first of many challenging moments to come hit Michigan, and hit it hard enough to take the freshman class out of the game entirely. Thome scored just three points and seemed to always position herself on the end line for a pass, making it even more difficult to get a good look at the basket during a double team. Munger, Brozoski and Trammel combined for six turnovers and just four points. For a freshman class that had gone all of high school doing nothing but winning — combining for a 107-9 record in its senior year — Sunday’s loss must have been a reality check. Last week, Barnes Arico said they didn’t know how to lose. But maybe some experience in that department wouldn’t hurt. In fact, Sunday’s loss was exactly the dose of medicine Michigan needed to remedy its winner’s high. It needed
to experience defeat, because it hadn’t since April 1 against UCLA in the WNIT Semifinals last season. Coincidentally, the Bruins are the very same team the Wolverines will face Sunday on the Crisler hardwood. Whether Michigan recognizes it or not, Sunday’s loss may be the motivating factor to not make the same mistakes again — or at least make them on a less consistent basis. For instance, if sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty has a 33-point night, that should almost guarantee a win. It shouldn’t mean 24.1 percent team shooting and 22 turnovers, factors that made a meaningful performance by Flaherty in her home state irrelevant. That can’t happen again if the Wolverines hope to dance in the NCAA Tournament. This could very well be the year that Michigan makes it to that stage of the postseason, and losing to Princeton may have
been the best way to remind the Wolverines that the road to the Round of 64 won’t be laden with teams like Oral Roberts and South Carolina Upstate. Instead, Michigan’s going to face six top-25 teams: No. 5 Maryland, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 12 Northwestern, No. 20 UCLA, No. 23 Iowa and No. 25 Michigan State. It’d be better for the Wolverines to purge themselves of mistakes now rather than later. Losing games in December is part of the learning curve, and a poor performance now won’t mean as much as it would in February. A loss to Princeton this early in the season does more good than harm for Michigan, and the Wolverines should be thankful that they can still afford that luxury. Whipple can be reached at bmwhip@umich.edu and on Twitter @brad_whipple.
Michigan junior tight end Jake Butt announced on his Twitter account Tuesday that he will be returning to Michigan for his senior season. Butt said Monday he was still 50-50 on whether or not he would enter the NFL Draft. He had planned to speak with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh before making his decision. “My heart and soul is with Michigan, and I’m excited to return for my senior year and play for the most historic university and the greatest coaches in college football,” Butt wrote, “and to go into battle another year with my friends and teammates. There are many goals we have set for our team and there’s more work to be done … starting with getting win No. 10 against the Gators! Go Blue!”
BY THE NUMBERS Junior tight end Jake Butt
48
Receptions this season
620
Receiving yards this season
3
Touchdowns this season
1,066
Career receiving yards, fifth all-time among Michigan tight ends
Sports
8A — Wednesday December 9, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
T H E M A N Y FA C E S O F H A R B A U G H
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
When Harbaugh doesn’t want to watch the game anymore.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
It’s safe to say Harbaugh doesn’t agree with the referee’s call here.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Just kidding, we know this is John Harbaugh. Don’t worry.
FOOTBALL
Wolverines prepare for unknown Michigan readies for first bowl under Harbaugh By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor
Four months ago, almost to the day, the Michigan football team assembled in Ann Arbor for the start of fall practice on Aug. 7. Jim Harbaugh had been head coach for just over seven months, including one spring camp, but still, an unknown lay ahead. The Wolverines had no idea what to expect out of Harbaugh’s first fall camp. They didn’t know what time practices would be. They didn’t know what they would entail. In his media day press conference Aug. 6, Harbaugh proclaimed that his team was going into a “submarine” and using a
“bunker mentality.” No one was quite sure what that meant. That camp laid the foundation for a year of rebirth, one in which the Wolverines regained their dignity, Harbaugh said Monday. Thursday, as Michigan begins its preparation for the Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl, it will end the season the same way it started it: with a long month of practice and preparation, with unclear expectations. “Not until Coach Harbaugh lays it all out and really sends us a schedule on everything, what it’s going to be like and stuff,” said senior linebacker Joe Bolden on Monday. “So no, I have no idea right now, standing here talking to you.” Not under Harbaugh, at least. The Wolverines last played in a bowl game in 2013, when they lost to Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, 31-14. This year, they again have the opportunity to spend the last
month of the season refining technique and correcting weaknesses in preparation for next season. “I think it’s really a big deal for us to get those extra 15 practices, which goes overlooked sometimes,” said junior tight end Jake Butt on Monday. “Just getting those young players those 15 practices, that’s another spring ball. That can go a long way for player development.” Another shakeup is the departure of defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, who took the head coaching job at Maryland. Chris Partridge, previously the director of player personnel, will take over Durkin’s role as linebackers coach for the bowl game, and defensive line coach Greg Mattison will coordinate the defense. Mattison previously led the unit from 2011 to 2014 under Brady Hoke.
“(For) some of us, (Mattison is) what we know better, in a way,” Bolden said. “I’ve played three of my four years under him. I love how he coached and how he coaches. I came in and my first game was under him, and I’m going out and my last game’s going to be played with him calling the defense, too. So, it’s pretty exciting from my standpoint.” Other than the role changes, Michigan has a fair level of continuity, perhaps giving it the opportunity to heal for the bowl game. Most notably, fifth-year senior quarterback Jake Rudock is recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered in the regular-season finale against Ohio State. On both sides of the ball, the Wolverines will go back to the fundamentals. They ended the regular season with a tough 42-13 loss to the Buckeyes at Michigan Stadium, and while
they will still finish 0-2 against their rivals, they have a chance to end the year on a different note. On Sunday in a teleconference and again Monday at the annual team banquet, Harbaugh used the analogy of a running locomotive to describe his team’s progress, saying he will try to keep it going heading into the offseason. His opponent, Florida, has the same amount of time to prepare, so a tough test lies ahead. “I wouldn’t say either team is at an advantage or disadvantage,” Bolden said. “We’ve all got the same amount of time, and how you use that time will determine how you
play and the outcome of the game.” The players aren’t yet aware of how exactly Harbaugh will go about that preparation. Redshirt junior wide receiver Jehu Chesson said that as fall camp went along, the team got into a rhythm of knowing roughly what time practice would be and about how long it would last. But now, that process starts all over to conclude the season. “I’m not too sure what to expect,” Chesson said. “We’ll go back to our roots in terms of trying to get the fundamentals and everything shaken out. “It’s an unknown. We’ve never done it before.”
“It’s an unknown. We’ve never done it before.”
Catt rising fast in net for Michigan The freshman goaltender could receive more playing time By KEVIN SANTO Daily Sports Writer
As the Michigan hockey team began its shootout against Wisconsin on Saturday, all eyes were on junior forward Tyler Motte as he took the puck from center ice and went in on goal to try to give the Wolverines an early advantage. That is, all eyes except for freshman goaltender Chad Catt’s. While all of the 5,466 fans in attendance held their breath in anticipation of Motte’s opportunity, Catt was bent over on his own end, staring at the ice and waiting for the crowd to tell the tale of his teammate’s effort. When a groan resonated throughout the crowd, Catt turned around, ready to face Badger forward Cameron Hughes. Hughes carried the puck down the ice and fired, but the freshman netminder made the save. Next came Michigan junior center JT Compher’s goal. Once again, Catt refused to watch but listened as the crowd erupted. Now it was Wisconsin forward Luke Kunin’s turn to beat Catt, but he shut the door on that effort, too. Catt turned around once more, as Alex Kile skated toward net with a chance to clinch victory. The junior forward lit the lamp on the opposite end for the Wolverines. Game over — Catt had completed his first career Big Ten appearance in dramatic fashion. As for Catt’s refusal to watch his team shoot, every goalie has a quirk, and this was his. “In my first year in Aberdeen (in the North American Hockey League), we went into a lot of shootouts,” Catt said. “I just
was in practice, not worrying about what was going on outside of my end. So I kind of brought that into our shootouts, where I don’t need to worry about what the goalie is doing down there. I just need to take care of my end and make saves, and hopefully our guys put one or two in.” Added goaltending coach Steve Shields: “It’s what the guy does to be ready. I did idiotic stuff that people would think is stupid. Whatever he needs to do to stop the puck, I think at this point, the coaches are like, ‘Do whatever you have to do.’ … If you can stop the puck, you’ll have your way around here.” Prior to Saturday, Catt had played only one period in an exhibition against Toronto and 10 minutes in the Wolverines’ 7-3 blowout of Niagara. But when he replaced junior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort after the starter conceded four goals 30 minutes into the matchup with the Badgers, Catt was thrown into hot water. It was the second game of the Big Ten season, Michigan trailed Wisconsin 4-3, and Michigan coach Red Berenson sent the freshman in to stop the bleeding. Despite the pressure, Catt delivered. The Badgers found twine twice with Catt in goal, but both goals were far from the goaltender’s fault. He saved 12 of the 14 shots sent his way, giving the Wolverines enough to complete the comeback, and his performance in the shootout speaks for itself. “It’s difficult in the respect that the expectations of you from the outside world are very limited any other day of the week,” Shields said. “But in a tie game or a game where it’s close and you’re down behind at home in the Big Ten regular season — all of a sudden, you’re the last line of defense. It would be considered tough. … For me, I know what it felt like to be in that situation. “It’s an opportunity. Players always talk about the
opportunity that they want. He was given an opportunity, and that day he ran with it.” Before the season started, Catt was an afterthought as a candidate to anchor Michigan’s defense. He was buried behind Nagelvoort and senior Steve Racine in the depth chart and expected to strictly serve in a backup role. Now Racine is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, and Nagelvoort has struggled after some impressive outings to start the season. By no means is Catt a lock to
start in net, but that may enter into the realm of possibility — especially as the coaching staff takes notice of the progress he has made since October. Berenson said Catt looks much more acclimated to the speed of college hockey — something that was impossible for the now21-year-old freshman to prepare for with the Aberdeen Wings. He also emphasized that far fewer pucks are getting past Catt in practice, leaving the coaches with the feeling that their freshman netminder is in a good place at the moment.
“I did idiotic stuff that people would think is stupid.”
And Shields explained that Catt has had great days in practice, but also days when he thinks the freshman would like a “do-over.” Those “do-overs” are a sign that Catt still has a lot of room for improvement, but that is something he willingly acknowledges. At the beginning of the season, Catt and Shields reached an agreement on a unique program for improvement the pair could work on. There are two things stressed in that program: posture and explosiveness. Catt is just 5-foot-10 — short compared to Nagelvoort and Racine, who stand 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-1, respectively — so he is working to get in the habit of standing upright as much as possible to prevent the opposition
Emily Schumer from shooting high on him. As for explosiveness, Catt explained that he previously made calm pushes from post to post and would have to keep sliding over to get in position. But at this level, that’s not an option. Catt quickly recognized that if he stuck to his old habits, forwards would be shooting while he was still adjusting. But on Saturday, there were still plenty of positive signs from the freshman — enough that someone on Twitter compared him to goaltender Julie “The Cat” Gaffney from “D2: The Mighty Ducks.” “I get that a lot,” Catt said. “Every team I’ve played on, it has come up at least once or twice. I mean, it’s a movie, it’s funny. No, (I don’t prefer Goldberg), I don’t at all. I prefer her style compared to his.”
statement THE MICHIGAN DAILY
DECEM B E R 9, 2015
2B
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 // The Statement
THE
statement
Magazine Editor: Ian DIllingham Deputy Editor: Natalie Gadbois Design Editor: Jake Wellins Photo Editor: Luna Anna Archey Creative Director: Cheryll Victuelles Editor in Chief: Jennifer Calfas Managing Editor: Lev Facher Copy Editors: Hannah Bates Laura Schinagle Emma Sutherland
T H E ‘ TA L K ’
THOUGHT BUBBLE
B Y N A B E E L C H O L L A M PAT
I
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/DAILY
“I feel like (my family members) would judge me or look at me differently (if they knew). Like ‘Hey mom, what’s going on? Is it OK if we talk about sex?’ I would probably go to someone else … We had the sex talk, but I wasn’t actually having sex at that point so it wasn’t relevant to me, I guess. Now that I’m actually participating I don’t really want to talk about it. ” – BRITTANY SIMMONS, LSA Sophomore
COVER BY LUNA ARCHEY
Hate in the time of Facebook sit there, waiting. An all-too familiar feeling is coursing through my blood, and my head is in my homework but my heart is here, on my computer. I close some tabs here and there, but reopen them every once in a while, hoping for the name. I’m biting my nails, making jokes with my roommates in the meantime, getting up for a glass of water, and then I see it. Suspect identified. I’m hoping, praying for the wrong thing, misguided in my desires, but it’s all for naught. The name is Muslim-sounding. And my heart, heavy and lonely and full of anger and grief and all the weight of my skin color and first name and religion, sinks. How sad is it that, mere minutes after the shooting in San Bernardino was reported and I texted my friend in Riverside, my next thought was of fear? All the way in Michigan, I was scared. Of the shooter being Muslim. Of people sitting there chomping at the bit for a suspect name, perversely waiting for it to be foreign, for it to be Arab, for the skin to be brown and the beard to be long. Of the tide of Muslim-hate growing, as it has for a while now. And I, just as guilty of completely forgetting the victims and their families, turned masochist. I went online. The Internet is the world’s most lawless playground. For all that it provides, it coaxes out the worst in people, and it’s hard to turn away. Yes, I’ve seen all the thinkpieces detailing, in great and unnecessary length, why Muslims are good and “to not let the actions of a few define a whole
group of people.” I’ve seen this so much that it starts to annoy me. Instead, I spend much of my time on the Internet reading comments about Muslims from random people on Facebook. The comments are disgusting, vile and some of the worst things you can find online. For each comment I read, each tweet I pore over, each personally recorded YouTube video of a guy in his room explaining how we should deal with the Muslim problem, I am baffled. I know it’s stupid, but I can’t stop. I’ll find a particularly nasty one, click on the profile and stalk the shit out of them. How are people this horrible? How can they feel this way? What traumatic event in their lives made them so hateful? How many Muslims do they actually, personally know? Behind the screen, we are anonymous. Sure, our names are there, along with our hometowns and profile pictures and favorite movies. But that’s not really us. That’s not a corporal being that we can see or hear. And for the perpetrator, there is no recipient for his hate. There is no one hurting, crying, humiliated — at least not that he can see. Before the Internet, I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t have the new “Batman v. Superman” trailer open in one tab and some racist douche from Arkansas’ Facebook profile open in the next. Before, I would not have been aware of such existences. But now, I know exactly who hates me. I am no longer in the dark.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 // The Statement 3B
L E T ’ S TA L K A B O U T S E X
ON THE RECORD
“Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature.” — MARILYN MONROE
“Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” — OSCAR WILDE
“Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with.” — CARRIE BRADSHAW, “SEX IN THE CITY”
“There’s nothing better than good sex. But bad sex? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is better than bad sex.” — BILLY JOEL
“We have reason to believe that man first walked upright to free his hands for masturbation.” — LILY TOMLIN
THE LIST
B U Z Z F E E D, B U T B E T T E R
BEST PL ACES TO HAVE SEX ON CAMPUS This week, our 700 survey respondents gave some choice answers as to where they enjoy getting their groove on most. We came up with a few more unique options if the regular spots bore you.
1
UGLi BASEMENT
2
T H E B LO C K ‘ M ’
3
BURSLEY
A prime Engineer hangout, this cozy spot provides dim lighting and plenty of shocked onlookers.
Legend has it that if you get in it on the ‘M’ midday on a Tuesday, you will pass your blue book exam. (Or fail. It’s unclear really.)
Consummating the relationship here would make you the first in the building’s history.
4 M A R K S C H L I S S E L’ S F R O N T P O R C H 5 T H E M I C H I G A N DA I LY C O N F E R E N C E R O O M Mark’s chill. He’ll provide Gatorade and blankets if you ask.
We just recently celebrated an anniversary: 125 years of sexual freedom.
Dear Google: Bedrooms, butts, and bad news
D
ear Google, I’ve been in a few relationships, and whenever I’ve had sex, I always have felt so excited at first and then quickly just … disappointed. What can I do to not feel this disappointment? Do I need to lower my expectations to be more realistic or have I just not found the one, magical guy that will make me feel spectacular in bed? Sincerely, Insufficient Intercourse *** Dear Insufficient Intercourse, Maybe I haven’t seen enough male butts in my life, but frankly I was under the naive impression that if you’ve seen one man’s butt, you’ve seen them all. This turned out not to be true, and it’s these kind of little surprises that I believe impact a person’s ability to enjoy sex: maybe for me it was a butt that was a little more hairy than I had imagined, but for others it’s sweat or gross human liquids or unexpected noises or any of the other messy, uncomfortable possibilities that arise when doing something as intimate as having sex. This moment, when I felt a little disappointed by the realities of the little things that sex often includes, became a silly thing I tease my boyfriend about. It did not become a reason to feel underwhelmed sexually. Maybe for you it is more than just dealing with real, non-porno sex, but I think it’s pretty common for men and women to enter into relationships — or hook ups, etc. — with
BY EMMA KERR extraordinarily high expectations for their sexual experience. Society’s influence on sex is so penetrative into our lives I have to think feelings of disappointment are inevitable. The reality of sex is this: the person you are having sex with is probably a human and, as such, have all of these gross human functions and illogical feelings. And you, assuming you are also a human, do to. So it’s really fucking messy in more ways than one — emotionally complicated and physically confusing. It’s what gives intimate moments their worth. It is difficult, at times. Being uncomfortable is something I sort of crave, though. I feel filled up by silences that result from a complete loss of words in these compromising situations. I feel thrilled by the vulnerability of it all. It feels difficult, but genuine. And so, I’m dating a guy whose butt is, like, really extraordinarily hairy. (I wish I could include a photo but I feel like my editor would object.) But it’s so him, and there’s something interesting when you share with a person the things about you that you can’t change — the things you don’t necessarily like, but that just are unequivocally, you. So I’ll leave you with this Beyonce lyric, and ask you to find beauty in the realities of sex, the details and the impropriety of it all. She sings, “You showed your ass and I … I saw the real you.” I think she’s talking about a man with a hairy butt. Sincerely, Emma ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHERYLL VICTUELLES
4B
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 // The Statement
43.4%
39.9%
38.1%
Male
The low down on gettin’ down I have never sent nor received nude photos.
I have both sent and received nude photos.
Male
Female
Who?
43.9%
40%
40%
How much sex do 30% you have per week? 20%
30%
10%
10%
0%
0%
Female
How many people on campus do you think
20%
None<1 1-2 3-4 5-6 7+
7+
~All Most Many Half Some Few Barely Any
How would you describe...
60%
23% Juniors
24% Sophomores
Non Virgins
Virgins Making out
Heavy Petting
Oral Sex
Other Penetrative Genital Sex Contact
Why have you chosen to remain a virgin?
“It started out with my upbringing in a Catholic faith, but I chose to remain a virgin until marriage because I want my future husband to be my only sexual partner.” “Just haven't found the right person. I'm not too into hookups.”
Virgins 29%
“I'm in a committed relationship and we're just not ready for sex.”
20% 0% Making Out
17.43
Heavy Petting
Oral Sex
Other Penetrative Genital Sex Contact
“I have too much work.”
Under what circumstance have you lied about sex?
Average age of first sexual encounter
Where do you prefer to have sex? 46%
My place Your place
71% Non-virgins
Male Never
Female
40%
When ?
Freshmen 26%
Female
34.6%
Positive experience losing virginity.
80% 60%
40%
0%
Grads 1%
6.1%
Agree?
100%
20%
Female 57%
1.2%
Hooking up?
80%
Male 41%
11.8% Male
100%
Non-binary 2%
On average, how often have you masturbated this semester?
Last week, the Daily distributed its annual Sex Survey to 4,000 randomly selected undergraduates. About 700 responded, providing us insights into the sexual norms and perceptions of our campus. Here, we present some of our most intriguing results.
Sex?
Seniors 27%
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 // The Statement
22%
40%
31%
“I've lied to my mom about having sex with my boyfriend because she is very religious. If she knew I used birth control to have sex and not lecture about not following God's plan and that I am inviting the devil into my life.” “I once lied that I didn't have sex with a girl sleeping in my bed because I found her annoying. In reality, I was just freaked out that I was in a one night stand situation and couldn't get turned on.” “My parents only like Jewish girls.”
73%
81%
Female
Male
Comfortable discussing sexual topics with friends. 80.6%
Female
73.7%
Male
I feel I’ve had mostly positive sexual experiences in college. 66.2%
Female
71% Male
I feel comfortable with my decision-making ability when is comes to sexual experiences. 88.6%
Female
87% Male
5B
6B
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 // The Statement
Virgins on campus confront personal, social pressures by Allana Akhtar, Daily Staff Reporter
E
ditor’s Note: Students interviewed for this article have asked to only be identified by their first names due to personal subject
matter. In a coffee shop Monday morning, when the fog blocked out much of the sunlight and misted the windows adjacent us, I asked Vic to tell me about his sex life. Vic, an engineering sophomore who seemed years older due to his collected, thoughtful way of speaking, told me about the loneliness he felt during his first few months in his freshman year. Glancing out at the grey sky blurred by our window, he remembered how friends and the people Vic knew from his high school were having sex, and he wasn’t. Like many new freshman, Vic left his family, high school friends and neighbors behind him to enroll in a university where he barely knew anyone. Away from their parents for the first time, college students are free to engage in behavior they wouldn’t want their parents knowing about — such as having casual sex. Being surrounded by thousands of completely new people while also being away from their parents for the first time can make college seem like the ideal place to have frequent, casual sex. But this is not the case for many University students; in fact, most students abstain or stay away from casual sex altogether. The Michigan Daily conducted a survey asking students about various aspects of their sex life. The survey had a sample size of about 700 undergraduate students roughly evenly distributed between all four classes. Fifty-seven percent of respondents identified as women, 41 percent as men and the remaining as a non-binary gender identity. Of the respondents, 28 percent said they considered themselves virgins. About one-third reported they had not had sex this semester, and about the same proportion reported having regular sex — sex at least once a week. Though the Daily’s survey reflects just University students, this pattern is similar for many campuses in the nation. According to the Online College Social Life Survey, which surveyed the sex life of college students at 21 universities between 2005 and 2011, 20 percent of college students graduate without ever having sex. Vic is among the University students who chose not to have sex while in college. He said he had never dated anyone in high school and his town was relatively more conservative. After coming to college, Vic noticed more people engaging in casual sex and felt insecure that he still was not. “This is the loneliest time any of us have ever encountered,” he said. “Most of us have grown up knowing the same people for a decent chunk of time, there’s never been a time you haven’t been forced into trying to find new people, for most of us. I just think that out of that loneliness and that lack of connection, hook up culture seems like it’s the easiest way to get into it.” However, Vic realized after making good
friends who did not feel the need to hook up with random people, the feeling he was missing out slowly decreased. “I am the least lonely I have been in a long time; I am not having sex,” he said. “I have incredible friends that I can talk to about my feelings whenever, and it’s really, really powerful.” Like Vic, Linda said she has never had sex. An LSA junior, she said though she was raised in a conservative home that didn’t value casual sex, over time she realized this was also the best decision for her own well-being. She realized waiting ensures she is more emotionally connected to her partner, which leads to a healthier relationship with the other person.
20 percent of college students graduate without ever having sex. Taylor, an Engineering junior, also abstains from sex in college. He said he does not envy hearing other men discuss the girls they slept with, but rather feels bad they are selfishly going out to appease their own desires rather than establish a committed relationship. However, Taylor admits sometimes struggling to abstain in a college environment. “I wouldn’t say that I am tempted by it or desire it, but that being said I do have my own struggles,” he said. “We are sexual beings, we want to have relationships. I do want to have sex.”
“I am the least lonely I have been in a long time; I’m not having sex.” In the survey, the Daily asked virgins why they had chosen to abstain from sex. Though many people stated religion as their primary reason for not having sex, respondents also stated they were “waiting for the right person” or they “were not into hooking up,” among a variety of other answers. Engineering sophomore Asher, too, abstains from sex in college. He said when he drinks and goes out to parties, he notices sex as sometimes being an “end goal” of the night. He said casual sex does not appeal to him because in the long term, he knows he would rather wait to build
an emotional connection with a partner rather than have casual sex with them. He said he sees hooking up at parties as the opposite of thinking long-term — it is instant gratification for a moment in time. “My intent in going out was never to really participate in ‘hook up culture,’” Asher said. “At least personally to me, those kinds of physical relationship hold a lot more importance to me than just that instant gratification.” Of survey respondents who remained virgins, 67 percent of them say it has not impacted their college experience and 24 percent said it positively impacted it. Only 8 percent said it has negatively affected their time at college Linda said though she recognizes hooking up and casual sex is a large part of some students’ lives, she found close friends that have her values and beliefs when it comes to relationships. She said stereotyping can sometimes make outsiders think college students are more concerned about hooking up than they actually are. “There are a lot of people that are here for school, they’re here to study and they are here to take things seriously,” Linda said. While about a third of students are engaging in sex regularly, the survey indicated that perceptions of sex might be skewed. When asked what portion of campus was engaging in sex, about half of respondents answered “many” or “most.” Seth, an Engineering sophomore who also chooses not to participate in casual sex for religious reasons, said hooking up in college could sometimes become glorified because students consider it an ideal. He said sex is enticing to people because the people they want to be like — popular, well-liked kids on campus — seemed like they were having sex. “The athletes, the people who got it figured out, they just have the world wrapped around their finger — they’re just having sex all the time,” Seth said. “It’s almost like high school all over again … It’s not so much everyone thinks everyone is doing it, it’s just that the people that we want to be are doing it.” To Vic, he said engaging people on campus in a conversation about sex could vastly help the feelings of being “left out” for those who have not had sex or don’t wish to have sex in college. As we wrapped up our conversation, I told him the results of the Daily’s survey, and how many students are virgins and or do not have casual sex in college. Glancing out the window again, but this time to the sun’s reflection on the sidewalk, he said many people may feel pressured to hook up just out of loneliness and insecurity, but knowing that other people aren’t having sex as much as we think they are will help them make informed decisions about whether or not they want to have sex. “If people knew that it’s at half, sixty percent, a lot less than what people think … if people knew then people would feel less left out,” he said.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 // The Statement
7B
Personal Statement: To the boy who didn’t rape me by Lydia Murray, Daily Staff Reporter
I
remember being scared for my sister when we first had to send her off to college. It, of course, was a combination of all the terrifying things that accompany sending the first child off to college, like being thousands of miles away from family and all alone for the first time, but what struck me the most was something she told me one of the first times I called her at school. “Classes just started,” she said. “But I think the most important things I’ve learned so far is which frat is the date rape frat.” Which frat is the date rape frat? The idea that a frat could exist with that identity horrified me. If everyone knew about this, why didn’t anyone stop it? How could it be OK for a fraternity to casually be known for raping girls? Growing up, I was always vaguely aware of the constant risk of sexual assault. Don’t leave your drink unattended, don’t let someone else make your drink, always have someone to walk home with at night: the basic how-not-toget-raped rules that every girl is taught at a certain age. But when I actually started needing to apply these rules, the world I lived in was very different to the one I’m in now that I’m in college. When I first started drinking and partying, I lived in China, so the whole culture surrounding drinking and sexual assault was vastly different. The Chinese government does not mess around when it comes to crime. Guns are illegal, drugs are very illegal — foreigners risk deportation if caught — and rape has the death penalty attached to it. On top of that, the government was always watching you through the cameras on every corner and the rumored hidden informants scattered throughout the city. With this, I never felt unsafe walking around at night or hanging out in a dingy bar; I felt safer there than in any other city because I knew everyone there was too afraid to break the law. With this worldview, my sister’s words really shocked me. I had heard about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, but I was always so disconnected from it
ILLUSTRATION BY CHERYLL VICTUELLES
that it never really affected me, until suddenly it did. It was my sister, right there in a place where one in every five girls would be assaulted. She was there where it was OK to joke about a particular fraternity having a reputation for taking advantage of drunk girls and putting things in their drinks. She was directly in harm’s way and there was nothing I could do about it. Fast forward a year and I find myself in the same place. I remember how uncomfortable my mom looked when she saw how close my dorm was to the frat houses on move-in day, because without having to say anything, they implied risks. But I followed the rules: I always had a buddy, I watched my drink, I kept myself safe and I continued not focusing too much on the risks. I always felt in control and capable of keeping myself from becoming a statistic. Until the night where I almost didn’t. After going out to a party, and admittedly drinking too much, I ended up back in the room of this boy — we will call him Tom — who I had hooked up with the weekend before. The time before, I had made it pretty clear to him that I wasn’t going to go so far as to have sex with him, but after stumbling back to his room things escalated very quickly. It started with simple kissing, but the next thing I knew I was naked in the bed of a boy I had known for a little over a week. I didn’t realize how drunk I was, and I was uncomfortably close to having sex that I did not want to have. Thankfully, Tom is a very nice boy. Realizing how intoxicated and out-of-sorts I was, he stopped and told me he didn’t want to take advantage of me. At the time, it didn’t seem like much to me — I just sort of shrugged, rolled over, and fell asleep shortly after without thinking too much of it. I like to think that I would have been capable of saying no if he had actually gone so far as to, say, whip out a condom, but I was very thankful that it didn’t get to that point. One thing I do know for sure is that I certainly would have been incapable of fighting back if he had decided that he was going to have sex with me that night — regardless of my
consent. The next morning, after I showered and pulled myself together a little bit, I started thinking about what happened and realized the gravity of it. What really drove home this awareness was Relationship Remix, a thing that I had up until that point been annoyed that I had to attend. Sitting in the YK Lounge in South Quad, talking about sexual assault (among other things) I realized that with some other boy, I could be one of those scary stories they tell freshmen. I thought about what I would have done. Would I have told anyone? If I did who would I have told? Would there really have been anything worth reporting? After this realization, I sent Tom a nice little text to thank him for not taking advantage of me. In that moment, I genuinely felt appreciative of his actions. My thinking changed a little when I received his response. “I’m glad you recognized it,” he said. You’re glad I recognized it? As if you deserve some sort of medal for not raping me? In my mind, the appropriate response would follow the idea that he did what any decent human being would do, but those words served as a stark reminder that maybe that is not the case. Since when do we praise the boys who don’t take advantage of girls as morally superior? Should you really feel so great about yourself for not assaulting someone? Now, I don’t really blame him too much for this (we are now actually pretty good friends), but I do blame this culture that has evolved around sexual assault. We live in a world where fraternities with a specific reputation for raping girls exist, a world where young girls are given lessons on how to avoid the potential attackers hidden around every corner, a world where the boy who didn’t rape me feels like a hero just for that basic human decency. So to the boy who didn’t rape me: thank you for not taking advantage of me, but fuck the societal norms that surround the whole thing.
8B
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 // The Statement
“There’s a story about this; we were on a road trip when I was five and my sister was seven and she was like ‘where do babies come from?’ and (our parents) explained the whole thing to us, and apparently she was really, really grossed out, and I thought it was hilarious.”
— LSA freshman Natalie Burr
“Well I came out when I came to college, so obviously (talking about sex) is very different ... I come from a more conservative environment, and it’s definitely a bubble here where you are able to really, fully learn what you are interested in and express yourself. I go back home and it’s a completely different environment.”
— LSA junior Ryan Gentil
V I S UA L S TAT E M E N T: L E T ’ S TA L K A B O U T S E X
“I’m more comfortable with intimacy since coming to college, it’s something I’m more willing to talk about with people. It’s something that I seek out more and that I value in a different way. I don’t value it so much for ‘oh my gosh this is an experience I want to have’ as much as — I have a boyfriend, and it’s a person that I trust and I want to be with him, so it’s part of my life. I value it in a different way. To be honest, I didn’t feel any need for intimacy with any particular person until I met the guy I’m currently dating. Because, when you meet someone you just want to spend time with and who you want to share your life with, then that changes how you view intimacy that changes the dynamic that you have.”
— LSA junior Erin Dunne
“I was talking to my friend about this last week, what a woman has to be, to be seen as a sexual being is very different from what a man has to conform to. What she was saying was that, as a woman, she felt like she had to dress a certain way and be accessible in a certain way, and I was like it’s completely different for guys. We do have to dress a certain way but it’s more about ‘Are you acting powerful? Are you playing the game right? Are you being cool?’ It’s a very different mindset — at least within a certain social context.”
— LSA junior Samuel McMullen