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Thursday, May 22, 2014
inside NEWS
City budget Council approves $344 million budget for Ann Arbor after lengthy debate >> SEE PAGE 2
NEWS
Art meets science Fundraiser challenges artists to create pieces inspired by research >> SEE PAGE 3
OPINION
Minimum wage From the Daily: Pass the proposed increase, but beware of other concerns >> SEE PAGE 4
ARTS
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
LEFT: Kris DeWolf, mother of Paul DeWolf, leads a song at the tree dedication ceremony at the Medical Center on Sunday. RIGHT: Participants at the start of the Paul DeWolf Memorial Hero Run at Nichols Arboretum on Sunday.
Memorial run celebrates the life of murdered medical school student Charity race draws 400 participants, raises money for veterans groups By ALLANA AKHTAR
Godzilla
Daily News Editor
Adaptation of this classic delivers on many fronts, provides wild ride >> SEE PAGE 6
With a clear blue sky hanging overhead, hundreds of athletic gear-clad joggers stood around the finish line, catching their breath while excitedly chatting amongst themselves. In such an upbeat atmosphere, it was hard to believe
these participants just finished running about three miles to honor Paul DeWolf, the 25-year-old University medical student who was killed in his bedroom last summer. This weekend, many of DeWolf’s family, friends and classmates gathered in Ann Arbor to celebrate his life through a tree dedication in front of the University Medical School courtyard and a 5K run in the Nichols Arboretum. In July of 2013, DeWolf, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, was found dead in a bedroom in the Phi Rho Sigma fraternity house from a gunshot wound to his neck. An investigation con-
cluded the murder was the result of a botched burglary by three men. DeWolf would have graduated this month. About 400 people took part in the Paul DeWolf Memorial Hero Run Sunday afternoon, an event originally planned for 100 participants. Three hundred registered participants wore bibs and radio chips to record their time, and a finish line was stationed in the M30 lot of the Arb with a professional race timing company at the end. Cody Schultz, a medical school student and key organizer for the Paul DeWolf Memorial Hero Run,
lived in the same fraternity house as Paul, though he was out of the country at the time of his murder. He thought Paul would appreciate the competitive atmosphere of a race because of his ambitious personality. Schultz said they named the race a “hero run” as a testament to Paul’s selfless, supportive nature. Schultz hoped participants would not dwell on the tragedy but celebrate his life and enjoy each other’s company. “The people who murdered Paul made some decisions that were selfish and cruel,” he said. “The See RUN, Page 8
SPORTS
Baseball triumph Four Wolverines claimed All-Big Ten honors on Tuesday >> SEE PAGE 12
INDEX Vol. CXXIV, No. 107 | © 2014 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS ....................................2 OPINION ...............................4 ARTS ......................................6 CLASSIFIEDS.........................8 CROSSWORD........................8 SPORTS............................... 10
RESEARCH
Study provides safety resources for swimmers ‘U’ project to increase awareness of dangerous Great Lakes currents By IAN DILLINGHAM Editor in Chief
LSA sophomore Rachael Hubbell knows the dangers that rip currents pose for swimmers in the
Great Lakes. “I grew up across from the water and was always at the beach, so it was always a more present danger,” she said. However, not all beachgoers, especially the thousands of tourists that flock from inland areas to Michigan beaches each year, are as well informed. “From what I understand, most people who don’t grow up around lakes don’t really talk about that sort of thing,” Hubbell said.
With the summer season approaching, researchers at the University and the National Weather Service have teamed up to promote safety on Michigan beaches by increasing awareness of dangerous currents, which have claimed 138 lives and prompted almost 300 rescue efforts since 2002. Compiling 12 years worth of data, the researchers, under the purview of Michigan Sea Grant — a joint effort between the University’s School of Natu-
ral Resources and Environment and Michigan State University’s Extension Greening Institute — have established the Great Lakes Current Incident Database, which went live this April. The program allows the public to access records of fatalities and rescues at beaches around the state, while also providing weather information, such as wind speed, current type and wave height. The recent move coincides with See CURRENTS, Page 3
2 NEWS
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
City council approves Cable merger will have minimal effect ‘15 fiscal year budget AT&T, DirectTV alliance won’t likely alter service in the city of Ann Arbor By IAN DILLINGHAM Editor in Chief
This weekend, AT&T announced plans to acquire the satellite television provider DirectTV for nearly $50 billion. This follows just a few months after Comcast, the Internet and television provider for most of Ann Arbor, announced a $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable. Amanda Lotz, associate professor of Communication Studies, said residents of Ann Arbor should not expect any changes in service due to the recent moves. While many areas of the city, such as the residential areas on the West Side, are covered solely by Comcast, there are select areas, such as those immediSudoku Syndication ately north or south of Central Campus, which receive coverage
through Comcast and AT&T. Lotz said these areas, where consumers have the option of choosing between two providers, are a rare occurrence in the cable industry. “The cable industry basically operates as a monopoly in any given area,” Lotz said. “In any given place, you don’t have a choice.” Television providers argue that mergers are necessary to increase bargaining power with media companies — such as Disney, CBS, Fox and others — that provide programming for their consumers. They claim that, by increasing their markets, they can decrease costs when bidding for programs. Lotz contended that this argument lacks substantiation. While the companies may gain greater bargaining power, she said those savings have not been passed on to customers. “It could easily be argued that this monopolistic structure isn’t so great for consumers,” she said. Constant mergers and monopolistic practices also pr ovide such companies with very little motivation to improve service, Lotz See CABLE PAGE 8
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Debate centers on sustainability and police funding amendments
additional policemen are a more pressing need for the city at this point. “I want there to be more funds available for mental health issues and addiction issues,” Petersen said. “I just don’t want them to come from additional policemen.” By MATT JACKONEN Councilmembers Jane Lumm Daily Staff Reporter (I–Ward 2), Jack Eaton (D–Ward 4) and Sumi Kailasapathy (D–Ward This year proved once again that 1) sponsored an amendment to add the process to debate and sign a two more officers to the already budget for the city of Ann Arbor is three additional officers proposed not an easy one. in the fiscal year 2015 budget. City council had seventeen sepaThe amendment was voted rate amendments to the $334 mil- down, and only Councilmembers lion fiscal year 2015 city budget on Mike Anglin (D–Ward 5), Lumm, its plate Monday night. Kailasapathy and Eaton voted in Of the numerous amendments, favor of it. two focused on police funding. Lumm said that the police force Councilmember Chuck Warpe- has seen a dramatic decrease in the hoski (D–Ward 5) sponsored the last few decades, and thus argued first of the two, which asked to the city should attempt to increase reallocate $95,000 of the com- the amount of policemen in order munity engagement police budget to create more “proactive” crime toward programs to prevent and prevention. treat drug usage and addiction. However, Mayor John Hieftje The amendment would have said he doesn’t see a need for the reduced the proposed increase increase in police. He also said in inhttp://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ police staffing to provide addi- response to an earlier argument by tional funding to drug treatment Lumm in the 1980s and 1990s there programs. was a police build-up due to a crime However, the amendment was problem that is no longer present. rejected with only Warpehoski and He noted that the University Margie Teall (D–Ward 4) voting in also now has a significant 55-offiits favor. cer force that effectively promotes Warpehoski said many ex-drug public safety on campus. addicts told him that because many Eaton said city council should ex-drug addicts told him getting need the advice of John Seto, the treatment was the most important city’s chief of police, by adding step in moving forward. these additional officers. He spe“I saw the increase in police cifically mentioned that it does not (in the budget) at a time when our take the city back to staffing levels crime rates are at historic lows,” in the 1980s and 1990s, but offers a Warpehoski said. “I did not see small increase. that as the best allocation of public “We have to trust the profesresources to promote public health, sional that we hired,” Eaton said. safety and welfare.” City council discuss ways to Councilmember Stephen Kun- decrease emissions selman (D–Ward 3) said simply Councilmember Christopher increasing funding for treatment Taylor (D–Ward 3) along with would not necessarily spark Mayor John Hieftje, Teall and change, and reducing the suggest- Warpehoski sponsored an amended increase in policemen would ment to take $50,000 from the hinder the goal of creating a more proposed Ellsworth Road study as proactive police force. well as an added $75,000 from fund “It seems kind of naïve to think reserves in an attempt to decrease that if we just gave more money to the city’s emissions. treatment, people are just going to The amendment will invest the walk in the door and ask voluntari- money in areas such as renewable ly for help with their heroin abuse,” energy, energy efficiency and conKunselman said. servation. Councilmember Sally Hart Lumm, Kunselman, Eaton, See BUDGET, Page 3 Petersen (D-Ward 2) agreed that
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published every Thursday during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Preview: Exhibit to mix arts and sciences Event aims to finance research lab for early-career physicians By PAULA FRIEDRICH Daily Staff Reporter
A fundraiser for the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute hopes to tease out the connection between the left and right brain. Organizers for the “An Evening of Art and Science” event asked eleven artists to create an art piece inspired by one of the Taubman scholar’s research. A ticketed gala event at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit will display the work Thursday evening. The art will then be put on auction to support the Taubman Emerging Scholars program. The program funds the creation of a laboratory to aid earlycareer physicians who want to take on research endeavors. Assistant Medical Prof. Alon Kahana, who is currently one of the center’s emerging scholars, said help like this is essential for medical researchers as funding for publicsector grants continue to shrink. Artists and physicians were paired earlier in the year to discuss the intersection of their work. Kahana was paired with Detroitbased artist Simone DeSousa. He said their collaboration started after DeSousa visited his laboratory at the top of the Kellogg Eye Center. Kahana’s research interest lies in the ambiguous space between cell regeneration and cancerous growth. The mechanism behind
BUDGET From Page 2 Anglin and Kailasapathy all voted against the amendment, but it was ultimately passed. While three of the candidates in the upcoming mayoral election – Petersen, Briere and Taylor – spon-
cancer’s spread throughout the body is similar to that of natural cell regeneration — the only exception being that the cancer’s genetic code doesn’t have a signal to stop. Kahana said figuring out where that stop signal comes from could open new avenues to restoring damaged tissue in humans. Kahana splits his time between his patients as an ophthalmic surgeon and his lab zebrafish as a researcher. Zebrafish regularly regenerate complex tissues and offer a genetic blueprint that is surprisingly similar to that of a human. It was that similarity that stuck out to DeSousa as she toured the lab — walls of bubbling tanks filled with the tiny fish, some with transparent skin that reveal even tinier beating hearts. DeSousa said her art usually starts with an unformed feeling that eventually coalesces into a concept she mulls over before she begins sketching. She said after visiting Kahana’s lab she was struck by the depth of the research. For her, “art is a point of entry into the human possibility,” and scientific research is a similar investigation into the unknown. “Pure research and fine art are very similar in that way because there is no immediate expectation, or function yet,” DeSousa said. “It’s like this real space, this real exploration.” She said her final piece centers where everything connects— zebrafish and humans, art and science—before more of the layers of life are peeled back. “This whole program, it’s kind of bringing two things that are usually seen as opposites and showing their common ground,” she said.
sored at least one amendment to the city administrator’s proposed budget, Kunselman did not. He warned against the “unintended consequences of overextending” within the city budget and said they are why he chose not to “tinker” with the proposed budget.
PA L M A
NEWS 3
ABBY KIRN/Daily
LSA senior Audrey Sharpe tutors English through the Palma Program at the Ann Arbor District Library Tuesday.
CURRENTS From Page 1 Rip Current Awareness Week, which begins June 1. Elizabeth LaPorte, an investigator who has been working with the team of researchers for the last eight years, said the project was initiated after it was determined just how dangerous the Great Lakes were for swimmers. Among all states, Michigan accounted for half of swimmer fatalities and the data suggested that such occurrences were becoming more common each year. “Previously, folks didn’t realize that there were dangerous currents in the Great Lakes,” LaPorte said. Unlike ocean beaches, a large number of Michigan beaches do not have professional lifeguards on duty, even during peak summer months. LaPorte said she did not understand this decision because it puts less experienced swimmers in serious danger. “It’s interesting that we have lifeguards at the pools, but we don’t along the Great Lakes,” she said. “The fact is that swimmers in the Great Lakes are at a huge disadvantage than swimmers would be in Florida or other areas, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t dying from rip currents in other
areas.” She said the increase in fatalities and rescues is largely unexplained at this point, but said there are several current theories. “The low water levels might be a factor … but there are also more people swimming for a longer period of time during the swim season,” she said. Though the project highlights the effects of rip currents, which tend to pull swimmers away the shore into deeper water, LaPorte said the study covered several different types of currents, several of which are relatively unknown to the public. One such type of current, known as a structural current, can form as water flows near a pier or breakwater, and presents a serious — usually unidentified — hazard to swimmers. Young men are one of the highest at-risk groups for drowning, according to LaPorte. She said drowning in this demographic usually occurs when individuals swim in dangerous areas affected by structural currents. “We are finding more and more young men are jumping off of these piers and breakwaters, and we want to warn them that it’s probably the most unsafe place to be,” LaPorte said. In addition to providing data to the public, Michigan Sea Grant will work to promote swimmer
safety through the installation of “beach safety kits” at various locations around the state. These kits will include a life-ring and throwbag, both of which could potentially be used in a rescue attempt. LaPorte said families traveling to beaches this summer can stay safe by following simple safety guidelines, such as checking the weather report ahead of time and obeying all posted warnings and advisories. Many beaches in the state use a colored-flag warning system to indicate the level of danger on a given day. Yellow flags indicate a rip current may be present, while red flags indicate there are active rip currents in the area and swimmers should avoid entering the water. While colder water temperatures may keep some beachgoers on the shore this Memorial Day weekend, the approaching summer weather will likely bring warmer water temperatures, which could linger as late as October. LaPorte said it’s important all beachgoers exercise caution whenever they venture into the water, given that swimmers in trouble may not be able to attract attention or call for help. “It’s really important to pay attention to what’s going on around you,” she said. “Drowning is a really silent event.”
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4 OPINION
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu IAN DILLINGHAM EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
STEPHANIE SHENOUDA MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
FROM THE DAILY
Waging for more The state must counter negative effects when increasing wages
L
ast week, the Michigan Senate passed a bipartisan bill 24-14 to raise Michigan’s minimum wage from the current $7.40 to $9.20 per hour. The bill also proposes to increase tipped employees’ wages from $2.65 to $3.50 per hour and tie future minimum wage increases to the level of inflation. The bill has now moved to the state House but not without opposition. Some dissenters claim the increase should be more gradual while others assert the bill doesn’t do enough to help the working class. Raising the minimum wage will undoubtedly increase individuals’ quality of life. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and the House should support the legislation. However, the state must also take action to counter any negative effects associated with minimum wage increases. If passed by the rest of the Michigan legislature, the bill would tie minimum wage to inflation. Since the minimum wage isn’t currently adjusted to inflation, workers earning the same salary can afford less each year. This causes fluctuations in the real value of wages. Adjusting for inflation, the 1968 minimum wage was $10.69 and $6.94 in 2008, so this increase is not unprecedented as many politicians have suggested, and is in fact in line with historical precedents. Opponents of minimum wage increases often cite the model of supply and demand, which predicts that increasing the price of labor causes unemployment. This model, however, simplifies several realities of the American economy. Many people,
including distinguished economists, believe our complex market fails to meet the conditions required to allow the supply and demand model to accurately predict the effects of a minimum wage increase on the labor market. The model requires many factors to be held constant, however, our economy is highly complicated and ever-evolving, failing to meet the conditions required of a perfectly modeled economy. Scholars and government officials should increase economic research, continuously monitor the economic impact of the wage increase after its implementation and adjust long-term policies as necessary. To ensure access to higher paying jobs, Michigan needs to provide more educational opportunities for workers.
Increases in education levels significantly affect qualifications and earning ability. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor show 31 percent of minimum wage workers only obtained a high school diploma. Likewise, individuals with only some college constitute 28 percent of the minimum wage work force. However, one doesn’t necessarily need to obtain a college degree if they wish to boost their earnings. In fact, the percentage of minimum wage workers drastically decreases to 5.1 percent for those with an associate’s degree and to 2.2 percent for workers who complete some form of trade school or occupational programs. Such programs may do more to alleviate poverty for both current and future workers.
I
On vulnerability
walk down Ann Street each night while the trees arc wild with magnolia. From the porch, a man smokes with tender wrists and somebody else yells for more meat on the grill. As springtime in this city begins to unbuckle all the dirt into loose greens and CARLINA yellows, I smell DUAN barbecue. I lift my hands. I praise the rocks that huddle nakedly by my feet. It seems dangerously mundane to constantly speak about the weather, but in Ann Arbor, there comes a type of small wonder each time the sun slips over the curbs. It’s awe I can’t erase, and awe that’s an example of the emotional vulnerability I’ve been criticized for. Recently, I was told by an acquaintance that I “feel too much.” Gnawing on a stick of gum, he asked, “Isn’t it overwhelming? To always be talking about emotion? It’s like, never-ending.” Widening his mouth, he popped a shimmery, white bubble. As we ebb into classless, internship-filled, worktight spring, it’s easy to forget that rush of awe at the way we love, the way we learn. As a female writer, it’s especially easy to feel pressure to “unlearn” that sense of emotional intimacy with the world, and to exchange it for a more scientific, calculative lens. So often, we’re told that emotional detail and intimacy are frail, “soft” things. Too much emotion can reduce our work. We become rendered as sentimental mush. As a female writer, I’ve often doubted the wild sense of vulnerability behind my work. Am I revealing too much? Am I being overemotional? Yet, despite the risk I think vulnerability strips me into, it’s well worth inhabiting both in literary work and in life. What arises from the willingness to remain vulnerable are the more muscled truths. As a woman of color in the classroom, the newsroom, the workplace, I have been told that it’s “unprofessional” for me to have such deep emotional investment in my work. I claim:
Bullshit. As a poet and journalist, my job requires me to navigate this planet with fear, integrity, joy, question, ache. To dirty my hands with emotion. I am frustrated that I am frequently told to “tone down” my feelings, or am dismissed as too angry, too gleeful. There is no such thing. So much of my work as a writer asks me to be vulnerable, to ask questions, to sift through all these parcels of emotion. Peers or co-workers often advise me to be “less happy,” or to write “less poems about peanut butter and more poems about your mom.” I say: Don’t tell me which feeling is mine or not mine to touch. Vulnerability, for me, becomes a way to remain honest and bare and giving. There’s a culturally funky idea that to be vulnerable is to “be soft,” or that vulnerability is weak. I disagree. Vulnerability lifts the hard weights. No matter what field we are in, we have to allow ourselves to be skinned. We have to be embarrassed and we have to be brave. Perhaps the instances that I’ve grown the most on this campus have been moments where others have taught me how to be vulnerable by asking difficult questions, sharing their wideribbed truths. I hope my teachers are vulnerable. I hope my doctors are vulnerable. There is no other way to learn or heal. I want my dentists to be unapologetically vulnerable with their mouths. I want the grocer to sell me glazed donuts vulnerably. If we don’t allow ourselves to unravel — to give vulnerably and openly to one another — so much of our navigation with the world would be meaningless. British essayist Zadie Smith writes, “I want to find an accommodation between telling stories about life and living it well.” I add that in order to claim bright stories and bright life, one must begin to unbutton all the harsh reserve we have about “too much” emotion. One must be vulnerable. If we want to be intellectually generous with one another — to love, to make time, to trust, to grow — we’ve got to deconstruct the tough masks. We’ve got to give way to vulnerability.
It’s easy to forget that rush of awe at the way we love.
— Carlina Duan can be reached at lindaduan@umich.edu.
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Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
S
A new poke
he had clear, beautiful skin, perfect for shoving a needle into; or so it had seemed, when I first scanned my partner’s arm for a suitable vein. Medical students practicing the placement of intravenous lines on one another abide by the basic MIKE real estate prinYEE ciple of location, location, location. With the tourniquet tied and the antiseptic applied, I wondered dimly whether the target vessel had been scrubbed away entirely in the course of my preparatory cleaning. In its place I could discern only the faintest hint that a vein had ever even existed, a mere discoloration of the skin, a ripple on the surface where once thundered a proud tributary of her heart’s coursing river. I had placed a few intravenous lines, but only for anesthetized patients in the operating room. Never before had I attempted the same feat under the close scrutiny of the recipient herself. The added pressure left my senses addled; whereas my initial assessment was that of an easy “poke”, now the vessel seemed to shrink before the advancing needle, dwindling in size even as my trembling hand drew close. I had the impossible task of spearing an earthworm with a whaling harpoon. If my ineptitude distressed my partner, her calm and composed visage did not betray the slightest duress; a casual observer might have mistaken my fumbling with her limb for a manicure rather than a possible tattooing. Unfortunately, I could not lay claim to the same stable stoicism. My viscera ran wild, as if on a caffeinefueled bender, twisting themselves into shapes unimagined by even the most creative balloon artists. I never perspire, even under exertion, but now Dagobah monsoon season erupted on my brow. Was I hallucinating, or was her vein actually moving? I shook my head — no, there it was again. It not only moved, it danced, juked like Denard, swayed like Rick’s on St. Patty’s Day. We had been warned of “rolling” veins, but this one rolled like a Del Amitri-Limp Bizkit-Creedence Clearwater Revival mash-up. For a moment I worried that the vessel would rise out of her arm and battle for control of
the needle. Pinning the tail on the evasive donkey was taxing to say the least. I had to solve the Schrödinger equation, calculate probability distribution space, channel my inner Zen. I became one with the beveled edge and guided it not where Heisenberg’s vein was but where it would be. It was all in the wrist, and eventually, so was the needle. A flash in the line signified that I had struck red gold, that indeed, There Will Be Blood. Quickly, I advanced the catheter into the vessel lumen, threading it over the introductory needle. So proud was I of this momentary accomplishment that I failed to close off the open end of the catheter fast enough, sending a torrent of crimson sloshing across the table. Though my partner looked unconcerned, I hastened to grab the syringe of intravenous fluid that would occlude the open hub and stem the bleeding, but blood on my glove caused it to elude my grasp and careen out of reach. With the desperation of Mitch McGary diving headlong for an errant fast break pass, I skittered after the syringe, caught it on the first bounce and capped the line. As the fluid flowed into circulation, so too did the tension bleed away from me. Our long search for IV access had ended in vein. The ordeal replayed at the other tables around us, as pairs of medical students did their bloodiest renditions of Dexter scenes. The number who fainted or passed out left the room less reminiscent of an IV workshop than a mass casualty event. I realized then that the goal of the session was not to make us masters of line placement, but to appreciate the nurses and technicians who routinely establish access even in very difficult patients. For injection drug abusers who had blown all of the usual veins, I had seen nurses and techs who could find viable vessels in all sorts of bizarre locations. The practice I received made me marvel at their artistry that much more. I was roused from my reverie by motion in my peripheral vision. In one fell swoop, my partner had deftly taken up her own needle and pinioned my arm fast. The slightest suggestion of a vengeful glimmer in her eye seemed to say, “My turn.” I gulped hard with a mouth gone suddenly dry… Mike Yee can be reached at mayee@umich.edu.
I
OPINION 5
Annie’s Mac & Cheese
was standing in the checkout line at Kroger two Monday nights ago, when an icy metaphorical hand suddenly slapped me in the face and forced me to look at the products I was preparing ZAK to purchase: WITUS Chobani yogurt, Smartfood popcorn, Starbucks coffee, Annie’s Mac & Cheese… The metaphorical hand was impolitely asking me to reflect on my mindless consumerist habits: Why had I chosen these products and not others? At the time, my feeling of self-loathing was obvious, but its source, some latent thread running through the contents of my cart, was unclear. But, now, having sat at my desk staring pensively at my box of Annie’s Mac & Cheese for a weirdly long duration of time, I have an explanation — cultural capitalism. Cultural capitalism consists in businesses appealing to customers’ ethics for profit, particularly their environmental ethics. I argue that Annie’s Mac & Cheese and other similar products synthesize the formerly antithetical desires to consume and to do something good for society into one single consumerist/anticonsumerist gesture. Thereby, capitalism manufactures pseudo-self-justification, while consumers continue to consume compliantly. The Annie’s Mac & Cheese box attempts at befriending the consumer represent its cultural capitalistic quality. On the back of the box there’s a “letter” addressed to you, “Dear Friend,” and it’s signed in an fake purpleink scrawl by “Annie.” On the side of the box, in a cartoon about how they produce their mac & cheese,
Annie’s illustrates the supposedly intimate community of trust between itself and the farmers who make the raw material for Annie’s Mac & Cheese (e.g., “We Partner With People & Places We Trust…”). The box even introduces consumers to Bernie, the real Annie’s pet rabbit and the company’s official “Rabbit of Approval.” Annie’s pretends to be a small, mom-and-pop style business by giving the consumer some would-be intimate details about their company, the manufacturing process and the company’s pet rabbit. But the truth is Annie’s is
I think we ought not be so content. not a small, mom-and-pop style business; it is a corporation. The images on that box are not truly intimate details about the company; they are derivations of the image that the company wants to project. And, most importantly, the consumers are not friends of Annie’s; they are paying customers. Furthermore, Annie’s knows that the customer has few (if any) legitimately close ties with the various companies whose products he or she consumes. Annie’s also knows that the customer has a desire to share common core ethics with the people/companies he or she does business with (e.g., no child labor, recycling, fair treatment of animals, etc.). And, therefore, Annie’s and similar companies profitably exploit the customer’s desires through a construction of false friendship and trust. When we buy Annie’s Mac & Cheese, we’ are also buying into a cultural ethics. This is evident in the way that the Annie’s box tries to justify its
worthiness (trustworthiness) as a friend and business partner. The box proudly declares: “100% Recycled Paperboard,” “Cheese from Cows not Treated with the Growth Hormone, rBST,” “Made with Goodness!” etc. Note how the “Made with Goodness!” comment and the “Rabbit of Approval” logo signify terms of morality and ethics. In light of the box’s other ecologically-focused signifiers, the rabbit appears to be a metonym for nature and the environment. What Annie’s is saying, metonymically, is that nature approves of their product and you should too. “Made with Goodness” isn’t just a statement about good ingredients; it’s also supposed to be a statement about moral goodness. By claiming that buying a box of Annie’s means doing something morally good, good for the environment and good for society, the box induces the consumer to achieve the sublime object of his or her consumerist/anti-consumerist ideology. I don’t mean to dissuade interest in serving the environment, but companies that participate in cultural capitalism are co-opting consumers’ desire to be ecofriendly and ethical agents for their own profit. Though often we feel like we’re being ethical consumers by participating, I’m inclined to believe that the factual implications of our consumption remain largely mysterious to most — they at least do to me. The danger in cultural capitalist practices like Annie’s is that they superficially satisfy our desire to do something good for society and therefore we don’t feel the urge to do something more profoundly but less conveniently good. Hence we remain content with the status quo of passively serving corporations’ interests instead of the interests of society as a whole. I think we ought not to be so content. — Zak Witus can be reached at zakwitus@umich.edu.
LIKE BEING CRITICIZED ABOUT YOUR OPINIONS BY STRANGERS? WRITE FOR THE DAILY AND SECURE YOUR DREAMS! Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints about various subjects. Letters to the editor should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
6 ARTS
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BOOK REVIEW
FILM REVIEW
Run, it’s ‘Godzilla’ ‘We Were Liars’ Acceptably thrilling update of a monster movie classic By SEAN CZARNECKI Daily Arts Writer
Godzilla has been killed at least twice. The exact number depends on the fans you ask and their interpretations of the franchise, but one B+ can never mistake the feeling of trag- Godziilla edy that comes with his fall. No At Rave and one within ten Quality 16 miles is outside Warner Bros the thunder of his approach or his roar, which alone puts the fear of God into you. That a beast of such power can be killed by humans is cause for mourning, not triumph. In 1998 it seemed Roland Emmerich’s grievous reimagining might’ve killed Godzilla for good. Lifelong fans cried foul, enthusiasm dropped and its sequels were scrapped. The challenge this “Godzilla” faces then, sixteen years since Emmerich’s tailspin, and sixty years since the 1954 Japanese original, is resurrecting a God and returning him to his former glory. Perhaps I am being grandiose. As my friend had said on the car ride to the theater, “It just needed to not suck for me to be happy.” Most moviegoers consider the Godzilla franchise low-brow junk, best when enjoyed ironically. Director Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”) and his team of artists and screenwriters must therefore re-bill the Godzilla franchise. They have to tailor him to the demands of an American audience, and make him vital to a cinema industry that in this modern CGI age, has leveled more than a few metropolises. Godzilla has always been a ferocious monster, compelling because of his complex sense of morality, sympathetic because of his rage. Edwards taps into this part of the mythology better than any other Godzilla movie I have seen. I expect to see a sequel in the next few years, and (I hope) even a crossover. Like most disaster movies, the scope of “Godzilla” is sprawling. The plot attempts to anchor this
Godzilla awakens from his ocean slumber
ordeal through its main character, USN Lieutenant Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “Kick-Ass”), son of a nuclear physicist named Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston, TV’s “Breaking Bad”) who is searching for answers. Only Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe, “Unforgiven”) knows the truth: Mankind’s arrogant forays into nuclear science has brought two prehistoric monsters out of hibernation to feed on the radiation, and Godzilla is their predator. The actors and actresses play their parts well, with Cranston and Watanabe as the predictable standouts. But too often is “Godzilla,”with its two hour runtime, sidetracked by its obnoxious supporting cast. You know the types: some military adviser talks through a spiel filled with jargon meant to impress us, some stone-faced officer delivers a speech he probably wrote on a napkin, some mother looks out for a kid too cute for his own good, and so on. Really, we just want to see Godzilla punch a hole through San Francisco’s City Hall. A monster movie operates in much the same WWE does. Two headliner heroes stand opposite of each other, size each other up — smash. Destruction and blunt-force trauma provides its own payoff, and we do get to see the Big Guy slug it out, but not for as long as most fans would’ve hoped. The hoary tropes of past entries are gone; “smashing” plays secondfiddle. Edwards’s “Godzilla” channels instead an apocalyptic energy, an adrenal feeling of suspense and even dread. György Ligeti’s “Requiem,” which you might remember from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” plays throughout several sequences. There is won-
Warner Bros
der and despair in that clamorous wailing, and the imagery, resonant with Biblical undertones, electrifies the audience. “Godzilla” is filled with moments like these, often with “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park”-inspired touches, and often masterfully so. It seems there is always one character in every Godzilla film that attempts to understand the monster. Serizawa has chased Godzilla all his life, and he is the character we ultimately admire most. In one scene of breathtaking suspense, Godzilla is swimming in the ocean when he turns toward an aircraft carrier with such force and mass that he produces a wake almost powerful enough to tip the warship, all 100,000 tons of it. “I have to see this,” Serizawa says. And he races up to the deck of the aircraft carrier, just in time to witness the mountainous ridge of Godzilla’s dorsal spine break the water and pass underneath. It reminds me of my all-time favorite Godzilla scene, the end of “Godzilla 2000.” Another scientist of sorts stands at the edge of a skyscraper to meet the monster. His friends beg him to run, but he stays. He wants to look him in the eye, and he wants to die doing it. As this scientist does, and as Serizawa and Ford after him, I tried to read Godzilla’s face when I was a kid and saw only wrath. For one moment, all that power is focused on us alone, and it is humbling. This 2014 reboot has thought through what makes Godzilla so terrible and sympathetic. He is a sentinel, a terror, filled with rage — the King of the Monsters fully realized. Fans will watch him roar, and they will think, satisfied, “That’s the Godzilla I know.”
Author e. lockhart
By ALEX BERNARD Daily Arts Writer
Dear readers, you are all too familiar with the novel and its tricks, traps, and tropes that reel in audiences like fish chasing bait on fan- Atasy-adventure We Were hooks. And, through these Liars techniques, e. lockhart fiction, as you bookworms are Delacorte Press surely aware, is designed to make sense. People like to know that justice will be done or that injustice will prove some sort of grandiose point about humanity or existence or capital-S Something . And yet, in e. lockhart’s (“The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks,” “The Boyfriend List”) new novel, “We Were Liars,” the pieces to the puzzle are tossed out the metaphorical window and replaced with square pegs that just don’t seem to fit into the round holes, at least as far as the reader is concerned. In fact, in the first few lines, the reader is told: “No one is a criminal. No one is an addict. No one is a failure.” Welcome to the Land of Liars, where the stories are made up and the truths don’t matter. Please leave your reliable narrators at the door. In “We Were Liars,” Lockhart tells the story of the Sinclairs, a family with about as many problems as dollars and enough secrets to last through 240
Delacorte Press
deceitful pages. The narrator is Cadence Sinclair, the seventeen year-old heir to her grandfather’s fortune, who spends her summers on the family island – Beechwood – just off the East Coast. SPOILER ALERT: She is a liar. Once on Beechwood, Cady passes her time with cousins Johnny and Mirren and with handsome love interest and outsider Gat. Together, the four dub themselves the “Liars,” and serve as the novel’s protagonists, fueling the story by reeking havoc on the other Sinclairs while also providing an emotional hook that reels the reader into their tale.
Welcome to the land of liars. At first, “We Were Liars” reads like a typical summer young adult novel, full of quirky relatives, nosy grandfathers, and kisses in the attic that are both “electric and soft”. The mood turns, however, when Cady vaguely describes an “accident” during “summer fifteen” (when she was 15 years old), but is unable to recall the events leading up to and following her injury. The result? She skips the next summer at Beechwood, not returning until she’s seventeen, newly obsessed with unveiling the truth. Now do not be deceived, dear reader, this is no story of beginSee LIARS, Page 7
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
‘Million Dollar Arm’ New Disney biopic more about money than baseball By GIANCARLO BUONOMO Managing Arts Editor
Americans are suckers for movies about dogs, boxers and baseball. Especially baseball, because it’s “our thing,” as American as apple pie and pre-emptive C strikes. Classics like “Field Million of Dreams” and Dollar Arm “The Sandlot” effortlessly com- At Rave and bine jargon and Quality 16 romance into a film that is both Walt Disney about baseball Pictures and, at the same time, not baseball. They remind us why we love the game so much, but also why we love so many other things. The newest addition to the baseball movie genre is “Million Dollar Arm,” directed by Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl”) and written by Thomas McCarthy (“The Visitor”). But “Million Dollar Arm,” a well shot, well acted, biopic about the first two Indian men to be signed by a Major League organization, is no classic. Despite it’s subject matter, it’s not really a baseball movie. You won’t be reminded why you love baseball, and you won’t be reminded of why you love anything else, besides maybe money. Sports agent J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm, “The Town”) and his partner Ash (Aasif Mandvi, “The Internship,”) have struck it out on their own, and they’re striking out. Having lost the chance to represent star linebacker Popo Vanuatu, they make the ballsy decision to “tap” the unexploited potential of Indians in Major League Baseball. J.B travels to India to set up a nationwide contest called “Million Dollar Arm,” where young men will demonstrate their throwing arms, and the winners will get shipped back to Los Angeles for training and an eventual tryout with major league teams. The first part of the movie depicts J.B.’s search across India to find his prospects. This whole
WALT DISNEY PICTURES
J.B. “coaching” his prospects
episode is a montage of clichéd “white guy goes to India for the first time” tropes. J.B. gets food poisoning. He gets stuck in traffic. The t-shirts manufacturer must be bribed. A family drives by on a motorbike clutching a goat. Despite all of this, J.B finally finds two young men: Dinesh Patel (Madhur Mittal, “Slumdog Millionaire”) and Rinku Singh (Suraj Sharma, “Life of Pi”). Neither boy plays cricket, nor particularly likes it, but they can throw a baseball over 80 miles per hour. Now, this indifferent treatment of India would be, if not forgiven, at least tempered if the rest of the movie were a deep character analysis of Dinesh and Rinku, and their undoubtedly confusing journey to America to learn a sport they’ve never played before. But the focus is all on J.B. Forced to allow the boys and their interpreter/baseball enthusiast Amit (Pitobash Tripathy, “Shor in the City”) to live in his home after they unwittingly set off the hotel elevator’s fire alarm, J.B. becomes both coach and surrogate mother hen to a trio of clumsy chicks. This is where the film really becomes a Disneyfied version of “Jerry Maguire.” Popo comes calling again, but J.B. loses him when he is forced to leave their meeting to fetch Dinesh, Rinkhu and Amit, who got drunk for the first time. Popo is Cush, the boys Rod Tidwell. There’s even a Dorothy Boyd, this time in the form of J.B.’s neighbor Brenda (Lake Bell, “No Strings Attached”), who teaches him to stop being such a heartless wank-
er. But whereas “Jerry Maguire” is all about how “show me the money” is the wrong attitude, “Million Dollar Arm” shamelessly embraces it. Instead of leading you to root for Dinesh and Rinkhu to become great baseball players, the film leads you to root for J.B. to succeed in creating the illusion that Dinesh and Rinkhu can play baseball. We’re never given an idea of why Dinesh and Rinkhu are playing baseball, other than the antiquated assumption that anything is better than living in India. Mittal and Sharma’s talents are wasted on the characters, because all they seem to do is sheepishly say “Sorry Mr. J.B. Sir,” whenever they throw a wild pitch or otherwise endanger J.B.’s agenda. The film definitely falters on the human side of things, in part because it flat out fails in its portrayal of baseball. It gives the impression that all Rinkhu and Dinesh need to do is throw a ball about 90 miles per hour over the plate a few times, and that will tempt MLB teams to sign them. Being able to throw a ball fast and over the plate is as much of an indication of one becoming pitcher as the ability to play “Hot Cross Buns” is of becoming a musician. So what are we left with, after the film cuts to some archival footage of the real Dinesh and Rinkhu getting signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and J.B and Brenda marrying? A reminder of the marketing power of exploitation, and that a heartwarming story is only heartwarming if it has a handsome price tag.
LIARS From Page 6 ning, middle and end. Truth be told (for once), the end is in the middle, the middle is the end and the beginning was never really a beginning to begin with – read the book. (Then reread this paragraph, nod your head and say, “Yeah that’s true.”) And it is in this backwards, forwards, and altogether scrambled action that Lockhart succeeds in pulling a shroud over the behind-the-scenes mechanics. Fueled by smart dialogue, heart-pounding suspense and a narrator whose voice and passion fuel the novel’s engine like coal in a train (do trains still use coal anymore?), “We Were Liars” lulls its readers into a false sense of trust, only to flip the script in the last few pages. Before this final twist though, the novel operates somewhat flatly. While amusing, the characters are trope-like and static, save for Cadence, whose wit, reactions and interpretations carry an otherwise rhythmic and predictable series of events. Throughout the entire novel, Lockhart makes up for this insufficiency through solid detail, sharp observation and a narrator whose thoughts will bounce around your head for days. Without Cady though, the novel itself is merely an exceptional piece of work without that extraordinary dash of unforgettable action. Not only the teenagers, but also the adults come off as two-dimensional and somewhat undynamic. The result is a beaten-down experience that makes one wish a paramedic would come around with a defi-
ARTS 7
brillator and shock the characters into life. And lo! The paramedics arrive by the droves! One for every character and each plotline! Yes, a good novel is certainly not a good novel without a good ending. Lockhart knows it too and delivers big time. Just as the reader expects the narration to drift into an expository tone, the last few chapters deliver a shock that jolts the spine, gooses the bumps, and “I’m not crying; I just have something in both of my eyes!” A stunning, “what just happened?” twist gives precious life to an expertly crafted piece of work that relies heavily upon its unpredictability and dishonesty. Through a truly unforgettable – and quite jarring – reveal, Lockhart keeps the reader questioning until the bitter end. Yet do not be deceived again, dear reader. You may expect Lockhart’s conclusion to leave you with answers to your questions, but that’s not quite the case. Instead, the turn of events will weigh on your thoughts, making your brain feel like a heavy burlap sack filled with nickels and quarters. “We Were Liars,” more than anything, is a defibrillator itself, shocking the reader to life and awareness, forcing us to reconsider why bad things happen to anyone at all. Lockhart challenges the nature of grief and shows us that, in the face of pointless tragedy, people are still people. In this hard truth lies the crux of Lockhart’s best work to date: an honest, thrilling story about a kid who discovers that life isn’t fair and everyone is a liar. Welcome to the land of liars. Check your trust at the door.
HAVE YOU EVER DRESSED UP AS CHARLES BUKOWSKI FOR HALLOWEEN? If so, e-mail gbuonomo@michigandaily.com for information on applying.
8 NEWS
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
RUN From Page 1
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RELEASE DATE– Thursday, May 22, 2014
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Kazantzakis title hero 6 Singer James 10 Apple variety 14 “Water is life” brand 15 Bishop’s rte. 16 Jet Propulsion Lab org. 17 “The Goodbye Girl” Oscar winner 20 Classical theaters 21 Private __ 22 Has no obligation to 23 Org. with an interlocking rings logo 25 Journalist Tarbell et al. 26 CD precursors 29 Short-muzzled dog breed 35 Shoe box letters 36 Devoured 37 French 101 word 38 West Coast natl. monument since 2012 40 Disney doe 41 Times for action 42 Honorable 43 Rear 45 Disappoint, with “down” 46 Futuristic car unveiled at the 1933 New York Auto Show 49 “... good witch, __ bad witch?” 50 Part of Q.E.F. 51 Tourney pass 53 Hallowed 56 __ alai 58 City on the Rhône 62 Court wrap-up ... and what’s hidden in 17-, 29and 46-Across? 65 Puma rival 66 Pull down 67 Two-masted craft 68 Stores in a large building? 69 Till opener 70 Iroquois foes DOWN 1 Shutout score feature
2 “Ars amatoria” poet 3 It might be sticky or dirty 4 Religion founded in Persia 5 Actress Gasteyer 6 Current event 7 Current influence 8 Current observer 9 Things to do 10 Pest-ridden 11 Irish revolutionary __ Gonne MacBride 12 NCAA member?: Abbr. 13 Play group 18 Saw again 19 Words said in passing? 24 O.T. book after Amos 25 Damage 26 Some jabs 27 Lab dish inventor 28 Capital city on the Han River 30 Ogle 31 Like some eclipses 32 Author Calvino 33 Fritter maker 34 Pisa party 39 About-face
41 Like early morning links 44 Pulitzer-winning Ferber novel 47 “... harken __ die”: Tennyson 48 Portrayer of Wawa and Litella 52 Film composer Bernstein 53 Phishing lure 54 Menlo Park middle name
55 Slinky, e.g. 56 Lawn game projectile 57 River under the Ponte Vecchio 59 Mountain legend 60 Grimm start 61 Unspecified degrees 63 Agcy. concerned with the federal fiscal outlook 64 Island strings
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theme of the race was to act in the opposite of that, to live your life in a more selfless way, honoring the heroes rather than the villains.” All proceeds and donations went to the Veteran’s Association Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Returning Service Members Fund to honor DeWolf’s work with the Ann Arbor VA Health System during his time in the city. Earlier in the day, DeWolf’s family held a ceremony to plant a Red Oak tree in the courtyard of the medical school. Speakers included DeWolfe’s aunt and uncle, his parents, Kris and Thom, and sister Rebekah. Kavita Vinekar, a classmate and friend of DeWolf’s who recently graduated from the University’s medical school, said she was pleased by the way the entire community came together to remember Paul’s legacy with an optimistic spirit. One of the organizers of the 5K, she hopes to see memorial events for DeWolf continue and grow in the future so that his legacy lives on. “This gave us an opportunity not only to come together as a community that’s been grieving recently, but also a community that seeks to celebrate someone who was truly a special person,” Vinekar said.
Do the sudoku on page 2!
said. Compared to some European providers, she said U.S. broadband is in many respects technologically inferior. Experts have noted that the AT&T-DirectTV merger was motivated, to a large extent, by a shift toward mobile television services. In the same way that television delivery moved from the airways to cable in the 1950s and 60s, the future of television may see a move from cable delivery to wireless services — accessed through mobile phones and tablets. “Delivery technologies change,” Lotz said. “The advantage of wireless is its mobility — we are still a long way from the kind of compression technology to allow the amount of data to be transmitted wirelessly relative to a wired line.” Given that some of the technology needed has yet to be developed, the transition will likely be a very lengthy process. “Is that probably where we’re ultimately heading — yes,” Lotz said. “But that’s decades away.”
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS 9
ALBUM REVIEW
Cherub fails to reach previous height Tennessee electrofunk duo’s new album is a near miss By NICK BOYD Daily Arts Writer
I remember the first time I saw Cherub … Oh, I remember. I was a scared freshman lost in the jungle of Necto. A small man in drug rags took B over the middle Year of the of the dance floor and per- Caprese formed a light Cherub show — he was like a mystical Columbia Records hobbit with fireflies for fingers. I thought he was going to eat his hands. He was definitely thinking about it at least. It smelled like a Seth Rogen movie set. Sensory overload was setting in – and just when I couldn’t handle any more, the funkiest bass drop in the history of the universe almost killed me. I wheeled around, expecting to see the headliner, Gramatik, on stage. Instead, I saw Jordan Kelly and Jason Huber, the Tennessee
duo who together form Cherub, jamming out to “Jazzercise ‘95.” Cherub only formed in 2010, but since then, they have produced some of the funkiest shit around. On May 19, they released their latest album, Year of the Caprese. Cherub is best categorized under the heading of the infant genre “electro-funk.” For the last few years, Cherub, and many others that the genre has to offer, have been some of the best-kept secrets around. Aside from their hit “Doses and Mimosas,” off its first album Mom and Dad, Cherub have strayed away from mainstream success. This is more a failure on the part of society, than on the part of Cherub. Mom and Dad is one of the best albums of the last two years, yet it never really got the recognition it deserved. Since their previous E.P., 100 Bottles, was released in 2013, Cherub has done lots of incredible feature work. Their recent collaborations with producers Gramatik, Exmag, Big Gigantic, and even west coast rapper, 100s, have all been top-notch. Cherub has the Midas touch of funk. Having produced such an excellent body of work over the last year, I
figured Year of the Caprese would surely be too good to be ignored. Sadly, Cherub’s latest album lacks the same signature funky touch of their other work, and falls flat amid high expectations. This is not to say the album is a failure – there is still much to be enjoyed – but the 12 tracks contain some uncharacteristic drops in energy in the form of two especially boring songs. “<3” and “Strip to This” mark the midpoint of the album. Naturally, Cherub would try to change it up at this point to maintain the interest of their listeners; however, in their attempts to do so, they produced the two worst songs on Caprese. “<3” has a cool beat, but the lyrics sound like they should be coming out of Kelly Clarkson’s mouth. “Strip to This” will not be provoking many lap dances because the lyrics are dull and the production is in need of some Viagra. Aside from those two poorly timed duds, the rest of the album comes closer to the high bar Cherub has set for themselves. The album opens strongly – a soft opener, “Simple,” blends seamlessly into one of the most animated tracks on the album – “Disco Shit” – which would definitely
COLUMBIA RECORDS
Cherub releases latest album Year of the Caprese
get the hobbits at Necto moving. The fluid transition is a testament to Cherub’s skills in production. The fourth track, “Freaky Me, Freaky You,” gets so tragically weird that you sort of just have to stop and listen - “Your parent met your Mommy back when you were in her tummy. Since you never met your father, I guess you can call me Daddy,” is utilized as a pick-up line. Bold strategy, Cherub, very bold. But hey, they said it would be freaky. Before the album dips briefly, Cherub recycles “Doses and Mimosas,” as if to say, “Hey guys, sorry for the next two songs. They are pretty bad.” And you know what? It may be cheating to
reuse your best song to dull the suck of two new bad ones – but babies will be born because of it – so in the end, everyone wins. The album ends with some good tracks, -“Lifesaver”, “Tonight”, and “Chocolate Strawberries” but “Lifesaver” and “Tonight” were pre-released singles, so their novelty is already worn by the time you get to them, serving to reinforce the album’s flatness. All in all, Cherub does some okay stuff on Year of the Caprese – but that’s not what their fans are used to. Cherub needs to bounce back on its next album with something that marks an improvement on its previous work to re-establish its promising trajectory.
down the experimentation. 40 minutes is the perfect amount of time to keep the listener’s interest. For a band known for having such a great live act, it’s tough to imagine how these songs will work in a concert setting. “Midnight,” among a few others, is the type of song that makes you extremely conscious of yourself and of how much your breath has been taken away. In its best moments on Ghost Stories, Coldplay doesn’t feel like a band, but rather a very special, fragile, contemplative mood. The one exception, though, is “A Sky Full of Stars.” It’s the Coldplay-est of Coldplay songs, and from the very first piano chords, you know for certain that the soaring chorus is due in less than two minutes. It’s the kind of pop radio hit that the band is practically obligated to deliver on every record, but the fun and familiar sound, while out of place, will still be welcomed by fans, and the Avicii-assisted EDM backbeat opens it up to exciting remix potential. All Coldplay albums are ambitious, but Ghost Stories is ambi-
tious in the complete opposite way that Coldplay albums usually are. Instead of setting its sights for outer space and trying to fly there, the band has looked inward and created one of the most ideal breakup records in recent memory. Sure, it’s still the same old sensitive Coldplay whose unique traits are easy for some people to laugh at, and a few of the more traditionally-structured songs are a disappointing waste, but Coldplay is an extremely successful band that is still working hard and not getting stuck in creative ruts. Coldplay is the exact opposite of edgy, and very little about the album forcefully grabs your attention, but that’s what makes it special. Ghost Stories is an album for sitting in your backyard in a sweatshirt after sunset, whether you’re entirely engrossed in your own thoughts, or entirely captivated by another person. The bass is your heartbeat, the guitar is the windchimes behind you being blown by a light breeze. The strings are butterflies flying high above you. This is love, and this is loss. This is life, and this is music.
ALBUM REVIEW
‘Ghost Stories’ Coldplay delivers quiet, experimental new album By ADAM THEISEN Senior Arts Editor
No matter how in love two people are, eventually, they must part, and somebody’s heart will break. When our love stories end, we’re Asimply left with the ghosts of our Ghost significant others manifested Stories in memories Coldplay of times past. That being said, Atlantic Records love is the most uniquely special thing that we as humans have, and if we’re going to experience it in all its beauty, we have to embrace the
natural unavoidability of its loss. Chris Martin struggles to accept this on Coldplay’s gorgeous, meditative sixth album, Ghost Stories. Notice that it’s Chris Martin accepting this, not Coldplay. While the group’s lead singer has always enjoyed the lion’s share of attention, this record in particular puts Martin in the spotlight and relegates the other three band members to the shadows. Fresh off his split with Gwyneth Paltrow — a breakup that will undoubtedly be on the minds of all fans while they listen to Ghost Stories — he spends the entire album wandering the sonic landscape, ruminating on his broken heart with his soft, lovely and entirely un-masculine voice. The metaphors he uses can be a little goofy (“you’re a sky full of stars”), and he’s filled with the kind of heart-on-sleeve earnestness that’s very easy to make fun of, but he’s still delightful, floating precari-
ously on the ethereal music, never forcing anything, just letting his feelings exist. Most of the music on Ghost Stories doesn’t drive itself in any artificial direction, and the best songs eschew the typical rock song formula entirely. The one-two opening duo of “Always in My Head” and “Magic” perfectly exemplify this. The music evokes a distinctly outdoors feel. Like a starry night, it’s glittery, quiet, pretty and airy, with the rhythm section in particular doing an expert job of capturing the intended mood. At this moment, Coldplay is at a great spot in its career where it’s confident and polished but still hasn’t lost its creative spark. The only disappointing moments are the songs that work too much within traditional structures, that call attention to themselves as being songs at the expense of the album’s mood. “Another’s Arms,” for example, is simply an average rock song, and it’s a good thing that Ghost Stories is only 40 minutes long, as too many of these tracks would bog
10 SPORTS
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Softball travels to FSU ‘M’ opens Super Regional Thursday vs. Seminoles By KELLY HALL Daily Sports Writer
Fewer than 96 hours will have passed since the biggest moment of the Michigan softball team’s season when the Wolverines open Super Regional play at Florida State. After back-to-back home runs in the top of the seventh put Michigan ahead of No. 9 seed Arizona State, senior center fielder Lyndsay Doyle robbed a potential game-winning homer that would’ve concluded Michigan’s season. It was the catch that was seen all over the country — it topped SportsCenter’s Top 10 that night. After Doyle’s heroics, the Wolverines erupted, while Michigan coach Carol Hutchins mouthed “Oh my god” with her eyes wide open. But after an incredible Sunday,
the Michigan softball team will have to come down from its high and face a Florida State team that went 3-0 in its own regional. The Wolverines (18-5 Big Ten, 46-13 overall) will hit the road to Tallahassee, Fla., to face the Seminoles in a best-of-three series that opens on Thursday evening. The matchup marks Michigan’s third straight Super Regional and Florida State’s second. Though the Wolverines have plenty of weapons, including sophomore shortstop Sierra Romero, who leads the nation in batting average, and junior left-hander Haylie Wagner, who boasts a 1.62 earned run average and a 24-4 record, the Seminoles (24-3 ACC, 53-6 overall) have two of their own NCAA Player of the Year candidates. Right-hander Lacey Waldrop dominates Florida State’s pitching corps with an ERA of 0.90 and a 36-4 record. Waldrop led the team past Fordham and South Florida in the Tal-
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Carol Hutchins’ team continues its postseason run this weekend at Florida State.
lahassee Regional. Friday, Waldrop retired the first eight Fordham batters she saw and allowed just one to reach base in five innings. After shutting out the Bulls for 11 innings in the first half of a doubleheader Saturday, Waldrop allowed just seven hits over seven innings in the following game in order to advance to the Super Regionals. The other Seminole Player of the Year finalist is shortstop Maddie O’Brien. The redshirt junior sports a batting average of .441 to go along with 23 home runs and a nationbest 74 RBI. In order to combat O’Brien, senior outfielders Doyle and Nicole Sappingfield will have to play each game like it’s their last — and it might be. Last weekend, though, they collectively scored nine runs and broke out of any sort of slump they could have been in before. Also breaking out of a small slump over the weekend was sophomore left fielder Sierra Lawrence. In the second half of the doubleheader on Sunday, Lawrence hit two home runs — her first career multiple-homer game. After Wagner stood in the circle for 13.2 innings this past Sunday, it’s likely that she’ll receive the nod Thursday against a team that none of her teammates have played before. If every Wolverine shows up on Thursday like they did on Sunday — except for Romero and Sappingfield, who were both ill on Sunday but still managed to put up runs — then Michigan will be in shape to play the No. 3 team in the nation.
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The Big Ten proved us wrong
I
f two is company, and three is a MAX crowd, then a crowd BULTMAN of Big Ten On Softball teams will start NCAA Super Regionals this weekend. And if you had said that two months ago, we all would have said you were crazy. Sure, Michigan was a preseason favorite to make the Women’s College World Series, but three Big Ten teams in the Super Regionals? No way. Yet, here we are, with Minnesota, Nebraska and the Wolverines all gearing up for the softball equivalent of the Sweet 16. All year long we heard about how Michigan’s biggest weakness was its schedule. How it wouldn’t be ready to face the powerhouse Pac-12 and SEC teams come tournament time, and that every loss to a conference opponent was one more whack to the nail that was inevitably waiting in the Wolverines’ coffin. And all season, we accepted that, even agreed with it, because outside of Ann Arbor, the Big Ten looked mediocre. Now, though, we have to eat our words, because the Big Ten proved us wrong last weekend — at least partially. No one will argue that the Big Ten is the Pac-12 or the SEC. Each of those conferences has four teams — all seeded — in the Super Regionals. To be fair, those losses to weak conference foes like Illinois and Purdue did hurt Michigan. The Wolverines, once ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation, entered the tournament unseeded, setting up a regional at No. 9 seed Arizona State. Facing hard-throwing Sun Devil right-hander Dallas Escobedo — a significant step up from the Big Ten’s best in the circle — conventional wisdom told us the Wolverines had a better than even chance of being eliminated in the regional final. Michigan had already dropped a game to the Arizona State earlier in the double-elimination tournament and, with the Wolverines needing to win two straight
against Escobedo to advance, that conventional wisdom appeared to be right. But then, even despite flu-like symptoms from its two best hitters, Michigan stole the first game, setting up a winnertake-all game. With sophomore shortstop Sierra Romero going 0-for-4, and the score sitting 4-3 in favor of the Sun Devils with one out in the seventh inning, it looked like our mid-season guesswork would prove accurate after all. Then, sophomore outfielder Sierra Lawrence and senior designated player Taylor Hasselbach pounded back-to-back solo shots. Then, senior outfielder Lyndsay Doyle robbed a walk-off home run. Then, suddenly, the Wolverines had won. No one saw it coming, but maybe someone should have. For the last four series of the regular season, the Wolverines dropped every opener. And each time except one, they came back to sweep the rest of the series. This is a Michigan team that found itself trailing in every series it played since mid-April. That was the case because the Big Ten, even if not up to par with the SEC or Pac-12, had enough competition to at least challenge the Wolverines. So when Michigan needed to come back to oust Pac-12 foe Arizona State, it did so without breaking any more of a sweat than the Arizona heat warranted, because it was used to doing just that. Now the Big Ten has three teams in the Super Regionals, just one less than the power conferences, and it boasts the only two unseeded teams, Michigan and Nebraska. To get there, those three teams had to go a combined 6-3 against teams from the Pac-12 and SEC. Sure, Auburn, Missouri and Arizona State weren’t necessarily the class of their respective conferences, but they are all ranked in the top 20 nationally. In the next round, Minnesota and Nebraska will face Oregon and Alabama, the No. 1 and No. 2 overall seeds from the Pac-12 and SEC, respectively. We can all agree the road probably ends here for both of them.
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS 11
Taylor Hasselbach’s victory lap By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor
Taylor Hasselbach stepped into the batter’s box in her 74th game started for her 189th career at-bat, though those who saw her when she was growing up would have expected 200 starts and 700 atbats from her. Coming into Ann Arbor as a freshman, even Hasselbach did — why wouldn’t she, after a highschool senior season in which she hit .593 and slugged 1.017, with 10 home runs, 49 RBI and 21 steals? Still, when Hasselbach got to Ann Arbor, she found herself on the bench more often than not. The adjustment to college softball, both mentally and physically, was harder than she ever imagined. Sunday, she stepped in and stared down Arizona State righthander Dallas Escobedo. When she talks about her career, the word “journey” comes up a lot. In a 4-4 elimination game in the regional tournament, this could be the end of it. She never thought she’d get here this way, but she stood there that night in the hot Arizona sun, getting the chance she always wanted. That at-bat was Sunday, in a winner-take-all elimination game against Arizona State in the NCAA Tournament. Escobedo had allowed only one run in her first 14 innings against Michigan this season, but the Wolverines got to her for four runs in the first game Sunday to stay alive. When Hasselbach came up, Escobedo appeared still reeling from the previous pitch, when she gave up a game-tying solo home run to sophomore outfielder Sierra Lawrence. She left a fastball belthigh on the outside part of the plate. The Taylor Hasselbach who rarely played in her first three years might have let that pitch go, trying to settle into the biggest atbat of her life. But Hasselbach has since learned never to turn back, never to have any regrets. She picked her bat off her shoulder and turned on the outside pitch, sending a nodoubter to dead-center field. Escobedo looked up at it immediately, as did the rest of the fielders. Center fielder Alix Johnson took three steps to her left before
watching it fly. This one was gone, and there was no bringing it back. Of course, her teammates knew it too, and they came jumping out of the dugout to greet her. No matter Hasselbach’s role, hitting .150 or .350, one home run or nine, they were always there for her. She never wanted it to be about this, this career-defining moment, for better or worse. But as she stepped on first and headed for second, everyone knew it was. As Hasselbach rounded first, an astonished grin spread over her face. If she looked surprised, it might have been because she was: Hasselbach said last week that if you told her before the season she would be starting on Senior Day, she wouldn’t believe it. This wasn’t Senior Day. This was the NCAA Tournament. Never in her wildest dreams could Hasselbach have imagined a finish like this, and she was OK with that. She came into the season with low expectations — she wouldn’t get down on herself if she didn’t play enough or if she didn’t perform well. She started just 14 games in her first three years, rarely earning more than a pinch-hit appearance. And that took a toll on her. “Before that, I never faced failure,” she said. “For the first time, I had something I was struggling with. Softball-wise, it affected performing because I didn’t know how to handle failure.” Learning to handle failure took a major overhaul. It took small improvements like her pitch selection, sure, but that was part of a bigger test, one that made softball look easy. She had to learn to play Michigan softball. If Hasselbach showed one thing this season, it was that she was never down for long. In an April weekend series against Ohio State, Hasselbach got the start in the series opener and went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. But the next day, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins put the bat in her hands again in a doubleheader, and Hasselbach didn’t disappoint her, going 5-for-7 with three home runs and eight RBI.
For the final game last Sunday night, Hutchins put Hasselbach back in, and the senior came through again. Now she was approaching her coach as she headed for third, and the astonished look had turned into a smile of pure joy. On Senior Day, May 4, Hasselbach’s father, Todd, hugged Hutchins and thanked her. The Michigan softball program had done far more for Taylor than a few home runs could ever do. “She has humbled herself, and I saw a balance when she found that — a balance in life,” he said. “She was at peace. Her last two years, she has just been at peace.” That peace started late last summer, when Taylor Hasselbach asked Hutchins to meet with her. Before her last go-round, she wanted to put the past in the past and get ready for the season. She said the meeting helped both her and Hutchins, and she thrived off that relationship. So it was only fitting that she passed Hutchins again when she stepped on third and headed for home. It would be unfair to say that Hasselbach’s struggles this year haven’t bothered her at all. They have. But her teammates were always there for her. “There’s been times when you kind of get down on yourself, but that’s when you have your teammates,” she said. “They remind you why you’re here, or your coaches remind you why you’re doing this. This year, I’ve proven to myself that it’s all been worth it.” All the players circle around the plate every time a player homers, but this mob was especially enthusiastic. They came out with their rally-caps and backward helmets, waiting for Hasselbach near the end of the journey she always knew would come. They would have been there for her no matter the outcome, but this ending made it more special. It never happened the way she thought it would, but Taylor Hasselbach ended up with the outcome she was always hoping for. That’s what she’ll remember.
“I didn’t know how to handle failure.”
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Taylor Hasselbach struggled for three years but became a regular starter this year.
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Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Adcock ascends rotation Baseball claims four BASEBALL
All-Big Ten honors
By BRAD WHIPPLE Daily Sports Writer
No one expected this so soon — not even Brett Adcock. The freshman left-hander had been a starting pitcher all his life, boasting a 0.58 earned-run average in high school. But in the midst of transitioning to Division I college baseball, he was sent to the bottom of the pyramid. He needed to prove he was worthy of a starting role. Nine months after arriving on campus, Adcock threw the first pitch of a Sunday battle against rival Ohio State, the team he unabashedly hated growing up. He struck out the first two batters and drew contact on the third, ending the first inning after just seven pitches in Michigan’s fastest opening frame of the season. He kept it up for another seven innings, striking out a career-best seven in his longest outing of the season. This surely wasn’t the Adcock of old — the one that relieved for the Wolverines’ starting pitchers in the beginning of the season, only to receive punch after punch. It was the new Adcock, who leads Michigan and ranks third in the conference with seven wins. This was the Adcock who has lowered his ERA from 4.15 to 2.51 since the start of the Big Ten play. Now, he’s finally earned the weekend starting role, one he’s familiar with from his high school days and won’t relinquish any time soon. “Embracing the relief role that I got early in the year was something different, obviously, because I’ve started all my life,” Adcock said. “Finally getting a chance to have a weekend start and doing well was something I wanted to work my way to eventually, but getting it so soon was kind of a blessing.” Added Michigan coach Erik Bakich: “His body strength wasn’t anywhere near what it is now when he first got here. He made a commitment to his body, to his strength and to his pitching ... really, you’re just seeing a guy that has benefitted from a lot of hard work in nine or 10 months. “The way he’s progressed and continues to improve, he’s going to be a guy that we’re going to count on in the weekend rotation from here on out.” Adcock has been lights-out in his last 13.3 innings pitched, allowing just four hits while striking out
By BRAD WHIPPLE Daily Sports Writer
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Brett Adcock has improved to become a critical piece in Michigan’s rotation.
18. But the journey to this point hasn’t been a seamless one. With college baseball posing a completely new challenge, Adcock needed to minimize the old pitching mistakes that may have previously ended with a swing and a miss. At this level, batters are waiting for those mistakes, leaving little room for error. He also needed to learn how to get the hitters off balance, something he considers key to successful pitching. His ability to do so looked natural against Ohio State on May 11, but that’s largely because of his transformation into a four-pitch pitcher. Increasing the velocity of Adcock’s original three pitches — a fastball that can now touch 92 miles per hour, a decent curveball and an accurate change-up — simply wouldn’t have been enough to make much of an impact in the conference. In addition, he added the cutter to his resume with the help of assistant coach Sean Kenny. It’s not perfect, but it’s enough to send some batters back to the dugout. In addition to working on speed, Bakich said Adcock has become extremely comfortable throwing any pitch in any count, something many pitchers don’t develop until late in their career. It also benefits senior catcher Cole Martin, who recently praised Adcock’s pitching — Martin said because Adcock has so much control over his routine, it relieves him of some of the pressure in calling the shots. But where Adcock initially struggled the most was his pitch location. He had previously worked in the top of the strike zone, a style that carried into the first few weeks of the season, when even Bakich admitted his numbers weren’t good. Recognizing it as his Achilles’ heel, Adcock quickly adjusted
to meet Bakich’s expectations of throwing toward the bottom of the zone, catching opposing batters off-guard. “Because of that, you’ve seen him have a ton of success as the season has continued on,” Bakich said. “For me, that’s been the biggest change: watching him transform into a pitcher that knows how to pitch, set up a hitter, attack a hitter, get ahead of a hitter and do it consistently.” The Tuesday after his nearcomplete game against Ohio State, Adcock claimed the Big Ten CoFreshman of the Week honor for the first time. But awards can only say so much about talent, and they don’t reveal much about Adcock’s grip on the mental side of the game. Freshmen are typically timid coming into college athletics, but the nerves seem to be absent from Adcock. He draws inspiration from the fact that he has been given the opportunity to continue playing the game he loves, especially at Michigan, and is prepared to handle any high-pressure situation. “I kind of stand back and take a deep breath,” Adcock said. “All the training you’ve done over the years is going to pay off, and you’ve got to stick with your approach, stick with your game and throw how you throw. If you give up a hit, you give up a hit, so what? You just go up against the next batter.” Wednesday, the Wolverines (1311 Big Ten, 28-27-1 overall) will kick off the Big Ten Tournament against Minnesota. Adcock won’t start the first round but will definitely start later in the tournament, should Michigan defeat the Golden Gophers. According to Bakich, Adcock is going to be critical in winning a championship. And if his performance of late is any indication, a stellar showing will no longer be unexpected.
Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich has preached all season about taking the positive aspects away from every game since they are neither good or bad, but instead good and bad. And on the eve of the Big Ten Tournament, it should be no different — the Wolverines are likely looking for every silver lining they can find with their postseason hopes hanging by a thread. Tuesday afternoon, though, Michigan (13-11 Big Ten, 28-27-1 overall) found several. The Big Ten named junior center fielder Jackson Glines to the All-Big Ten second team while sophomore shortstop Travis Maezes made the conference’s third team. In addition, freshman left-hander Brett Adcock and freshman designated hitter Carmen Benedetti earned All-Freshman honors. After earning the Central Valley Conference’s MVP in 2013 while playing at Fresno City College, Glines transferred to Michigan, where he’s started all 56 games this year. Previously a Big Ten Player of the Week in early March, Glines tops the Wolverine roster with a .338 batting average, good for sixth in the conference, in addition to having the most doubles (19) and hits (68). He is also ranked in the Big Ten’s top 10 in 10 other categories, including second-best in on-base percentage at .453. Glines’ most memorable moment this year was his walk-off single against Iowa on March 30.
Though Maezes has made 15 errors, the most on the Wolverine squad, his contributions at the plate have proved extremely valuable — his highlight-reel moment came in Michigan’s first conference win against Indiana on March 21, when he hit a basesclearing double to take a two-run lead over the Hoosiers and hand them one of their three conference losses this season. With a third-best .293 batting average on the team, Maezes has had 17 multi-hit games this season, including a pair of home runs in a doubleheader against College of Charleston back in March. As for the rookies, Adcock and Benedetti have quickly moved up the rankings to show they deserve a spot on a Division I team. Adcock, who started the season struggling in relief, has grown into a new niche as a weekend starter after several quality performances, such as his shutout pitching against Purdue and Northwestern, when he posted six strikeouts apiece. Since the start of Big Ten play, Adcock has lowered his ERA by more than a run and a half. The standout freshman at the plate has been Benedetti with a .281 batting average and 26 RBI, only one shy of tying for first on the team. Benedetti’s biggest contribution of the season was during an extra-inning game against Purdue, when he doubled to break a 6-6 tie. The recognition of these Wolverines is just another reminder of the potential Michigan has in making a run in the Big Ten Tournament.
TRACY KO/Daily
Jackson Glines has earned his stripes during his first season at Michigan.