ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Friday, January 15, 2016
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Increase in rent forces Amer’s deli to downsize MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
Social work student Maria Cortes discusses race and its impact on political elections at Hatcher Graduate Library on Thursday.
Panelists highlight minority voice at #WhoWillBeNext State NAACP stresses diversity’s importance in politcal landscape By EMILY DAVIES For the Daily
Two hours before the sixth Republican primary debate Wednesday, about 60 students
gathered in Hatcher Graduate Library to explore the role of race in elections. The panel came as part of the annual U-M Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium — a platform for students to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., and through his legacy converse about the state of racial justice on campus and nationwide. A panel of five, including Ann Arbor mayor Christopher Taylor and Matthew Countryman,
associate professor of history and American culture, led a conversation on increasing minority influence in the political arena. The panelists identified systematic aspects of America’s political system that disadvantage people of color, including voter suppression tactics and current political rhetoric. Panelist Wendy Cortes, a social work student, touched on low voting rates in response to a question surrounding a study
Starting 2016 off right with the stars at SnowGlobe By ARIANA ASSAF Daily Arts Writer
During the week leading up to winter break, a crazy thing happened: it was warmer in Ann Arbor than in my hometown of Los Angeles. Angelinos and Michiganders alike were awed by this odd pattern, eliciting reactions that only something as mundane yet influential as weather can. Students wore shorts and flip-flops to class while my mom pulled out her down jacket — it was madness. By the time I got back home, things had leveled out again. Ann Arbor’s weather returned to a standard December chill and LA’s weather started to feel like itself again. So why did I choose to sacrifice part of my sunfilled winter break for three days braving the single digit temperatures of Lake Tahoe? Because music. SnowGlobe Music Festival has been ringing in Tahoe’s new year since 2011 with consistent success. Though electronic-heavy — think Dillon Francis, Shiba San, Alison Wonderland — the lineup also included hip hop artists like Lil Dicky and SuperDuperKyle;
WEATHER TOMORROW
HI: 30 LO: 16
organizers even threw Chet Faker on the main stage, giving day two attendees the chance to snuggle their friends and sway to his down-tempo tunes. I think it’s safe to say both the snuggles and the variety were much appreciated by all. But of course, before day two came day one, and before day one came an eight-hour car ride I was so graciously included in thanks to some lovely folks I met when The Chainsmokers played The Shrine over Thanksgiving break. Seriously guys, make friends with your fellow ravers — they are very, very cool. We arrived in South Lake Tahoe a few hours after the gates had opened. Apparently, everyone else was on the same schedule, because the box office line to pick up wristbands looked long enough to reach the top of the nearest ski slope. I eventually passed the last security checkpoint just as Galantis announced the beginning of their set with an echoing “I wanna run awaaaaaay,” just in case everyone still waiting outside didn’t know what they were missing. It was almost as if SnowGlobe was saying, “Hello Ariana, welcome to your best New Year’s ever.” Stage lights danced along the façade of pine trees that created a natural boundary for the main area, the sight as iconic to this environment as Coachella’s ferris See SNOWGLOBE, Page 6
By EMILY ROBERTS Daily Staff Reporter
Amer’s, a Mediterranean deli located on State Street, is currently under construction, and though the store owner assures students the deli’s quality will stay the same, students might have to get cozy to enjoy it. The deli’s downtown location is undergoing construction which will cut the seating area in half. This, according to owner Amer Bathish is due to “outrageous” rises in rent. The restaurant will now only occupy half of its former space to save on rental costs. “I have been in this area for 28 years and the rent has gone up every year … from 4,000
O N TH E LOO KO UT FO R A C AR E E R
FESTIVAL REPORT
They drop the ball in Times Square, but in Tahoe they drop the bass
that revealed 75 million members of the American electorate did not vote in 2014. “I think the reason that some of these peoples are not voting is because of voting suppression tactics that have historically silenced the minority community,” Cortes said. “Too many candidates are out there speaking to garner votes, to get their quotas, to get their numbers from minority communities or See PANEL, Page 3
State Street location is currently under construction
dollars a month to 18,000 dollars a month,” Bathish said. “Imagine rent that is 600 dollars a day; that’s why you see businesses coming and going all the time.” Amer’s Mediterranean Deli is described as “the marriage of a coffee house and a quality delicatessen,” according to their website. It was founded near the University of Michigan-Flint campus, but moved to the University of MichiganAnn Arbor campus in 1989. LSA senior Leslie Schuman, who was studying in Amer’s Wednesday, said she didn’t feel impacted by the change. “I used to sit in booths. It’s a bit more crowded here than it used to be but I don’t really mind it.” Schuman said she usually just stops in to get food and as long the food stays good the renovation won’t affect her future visits to Amer’s. “The people here are cool; it sucks that they’ve been here See AMER’S, Page 3
ANN ARBOR
Council to debate plans for library lot project Developers submit two competing proposals for city’s consideration By MARLEE BREAKSTONE Daily Staff Reporter
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Engineering junior Dupeng Xu talks with University alum Eric Krawczyk of CampDoc at the MPowered Start Up Career Fair at the Duderstadt Center on Thursday.
CAMPUS LIFE
Event discusses how skin color impacts treatment Dr. Alexander Alexis advocates for individualized dermatological care By CHETALI JAIN Daily Staff Reporter
As part of the U-M Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium, the Dermatology Department at the University of Michigan Health System hosted Dr. Alexander Alexis, who discussed the importance of
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recognizing how dermatological conditions affect various skin colors in different ways, Thursday. Alexis, director of the Skin of Color Center at Mount Sinai Health Center, spoke to doctors and students about the United States’ diverse population and each patient’s unique dermatological needs. In his lecture, Alexis discussed the need to develop treatment for individual patients rather than generalizing the techniques used to treat certain skin conditions. The lecture enumerated
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the various terms that are used to differentiate between skin colors, including words often used like ethnic skin, skin of color, melano competent vs. melano compromised. However, Alexis said there isn’t one good term for differentiations. “We don’t have a good name because skin of color is a misnomer — all skin has color,” he said. Dr. Charles Boyd, a facial plastic surgeon who attended the event, said because of the growing numbers of people See SKIN, Page 3
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After several months of reviewing proposals and debating the topic, Ann Arbor city staff are urging City Council members to vote to begin negotiations for one of two proposals over the development of the site above the Library Lane Parking Structure at their next meeting. The lot in question is roughly 0.8 acres and is located on Fifth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor, above the Library Lane parking garage. The land, which formerly served as a parking lot for library visitors, currently houses both greenscaping and 52 parking spaces. This property has been an ongoing question for the city of Ann Arbor for several years. In 2010, the idea of converting the empty lot to a hotel was debated but ultimately discarded. Stephen Rapundalo, a former Ann Arbor city councilmember who served as the chairman of the committee pushing for hotel construction six years ago, said at the time the primary focus for their group would be building proposals that wouldn’t pull from city funds. “We don’t want to see a city See LIBRARY, Page 2
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News
2 — Friday, January 15, 2016
MONDAY: This Week in History
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LEFT: Ford senior Hattie McKinney demonstrates her talent of apple pie making at the Miss Phi Beta Sigma Scholarship Pageant in the Union Ballroom on January 8, 2016. (LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily)
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University alum Jessie Lipkowitz, owner and director of aUM Yoga Studio, leads the Michigan Yoga Club’s first class of Winter 2016 on Monday.(KRISTINA PERKINS/Daily)
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Preparing historians for the future WHAT: The Symposium will discuss whether historians today are prepared for future careers outside of jobs at research universities. WHO: Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies WHEN: 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. WHERE: Tisch Hall, room 1014
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WHAT: LPD will host a writing seminar to improve business writing skils and learn to create reader-friendly layouts. WHO: Learning and Professional Development WHEN: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. WHERE: Administrative Services Building
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Drug discovery WHAT: CDNM’s lecture will focus on new medicine strategies to attack chronic kidney disease. The focus will be on molecular target indentification and the newly identified biomarkers. WHO: Center for the Discovery of New Medicines WHEN: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. WHERE: Palmer Commons, Forum Hall
Career expo preparation
Chinese folk dance
WHAT: Drop-in advising and mini clinics will be available throughout the day to offer advice on resumes, cover letters and preparation for the Fall Career Expo. WHO: The Career Center WHEN: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. WHERE: Student Activities Building, room 3200
WHAT: This talk will explore the styles of contemporary Chinese folk dance currently practiced in China. Included will be explanations, preformance demonstrations and video. WHO: Confucius Institute WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union, Pendleton Room
A capella auditions
Astronomy open house
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WHAT: WaterColors Acapella student organization will be hosting auditions for the winter semester. WHO: Maize Pages WHEN: 6 p.m to 10 p.m. WHERE: Mason Hall, room 3427
WHAT: The Student Astronomical Society will offer free planetarium shows, observatory tours and viewings through the telescopes located on the roof of Angell Hall. WHO: Department of Astronomy WHEN: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: Angell Hall, room 5190
WHAT: Feel Good Fridays provide a space for University students to relax and interact. Food and activities will be provided. WHO: Trotter Multicultural Center WHEN: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Trotter Multicultural Center
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to be honored in series of events Panelists, musicians and lecturers to celebrate his legacy at symposium By RIYAH BASHA Daily Staff Reporter
Though classes will be canceled this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, campus will be far from inactive. The U-M Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium, which began Wednesday night with activist Alicia Garza’s lecture on #BlackLivesMatter, will be in full swing this weekend as panelists, musicians and lecturers take part in over 40 events that both commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and tackle issues centered around the theme #WhoWillBeNext. “#WhoWillBeNext represents two questions that arise
when injustice continues,” the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives’ theme statement reads. “Who will be next to suffer, and likewise, who will be next to lead and carry the waters of justice as King and others did during the civil rights era?” The question of looking forward is especially relevant when applied to the nearing presidential election, organizers said as the symposium’s planning process began last February, OAMI Associate Director Lumas Helaire said election season and national conversations were
important factors in deciding on a theme. “As soon as we heard it, we knew it would probably be a great theme with everything going on socially and nationally with issues around police brutality,” Helaire said. Multiple panels and discussions are centered around the upcoming election,which has seen candidates take controversial stances on issues of diversity, race and immigration. The Department of Afroamerican and African Studies is hosting a panel in conjunction with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the impact of race and ethnicity on voters, featuring speakers like Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, several professors and Rackham students including activist Austin McCoy and some undergraduate students. DAAS Program Assistant Elizabeth James noted that because the symposium is before Michigan’s presidential primaries, students and attendees have the opportunity to build awareness before voting. “With all the racial tension in the country, it’s still important that we have some sense of solidarity as we all have to live under whoever gets elected,” James said. The symposium, in its 30th year, also aims to be a space for campus to reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and the state of social justice at large through various lectures. The keynote Memorial lecture, taking place Monday in Hill Auditorium, is the traditional focal point of the weekend and has See SYMPOSIUM PAGE 3
“With all the racial tension in the country, it’s still important that we have some sense of solidarity.”
1
British actor Alan Rickman died Thursday at the age of 69 due to cancer, according to the Independent Talent Group. Some of Rickman’s biggest roles include Professor Snape in the “Harry Potter” films and his role in “Die Hard.”
2
For the first time in almost 40 years, a winter hurricane is present in the Atlanic, going by the name Hurrican Alex. The storm is expected to hit the Azores Islands in Portugual, according to CNN.
3
ISIS claimed responsiblity for the Thursday attack in Jakarta, Indonesia. The attack took place in the middle of a central commerical hub, killing two and wounding 19. This attack follows previous terrorist attacks in Paris and the suicide bombing in Istanbul, NBC reported.
LIBRARY From Page 1 dime go toward these projects,” he said. Now, in 2016, two projects are competing for the space. A memo was sent to Interim City Administrator Tom Crawford on Dec. 3 containing two distinct proposals from competing real estate firms in Chicago for the establishment of multi-million dollar high-rise developments in the city-owned library lot. These proposals have been under consideration for months, but until now no direction has been given as to which one will ultimately be chosen. One proposal, from real estate firm Core Spaces contains two possible schemes. Scheme B, a $10 million proposal, suggests a building that is 352,496 square feet. Scheme C proposes a building that is slightly smaller — 22,524 square feet, which costs $3 million less. Schemes B and C of this proposal have purchase prices of $10 million and $7 million respectively. Alternatively, a proposal from real estate firm CA/ Hughes, calls for a building that is 273,334 square feet and will come with a purchase price of $5.11 million. It proposes an updated design by removing the majority of the retail on the ground floor of the covered plaza. It also calls for removing a staircase but keeping the upper level terraces, with additional added rooftop terraces. Though the council’s vote will ultimately decide which proposal is activated, Crawford’s office has consolidated information from relevant departments within the city and is making a final recommendation that the council support the Core project. Discussion as to how to develop this lot has been ongoing since the establishment of the Library Lane underground parking garage, the construction of which took place from 2009 to 2012. One thing, how-
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ever, is certain: The land will likely be a retail development, not a park. According to councilmember Zachary Ackerman (D–Ward 1), various city departments have debated the merits of using the land as an urban park, but Crawford’s office is encouraging City Council to vote in support of the construction of a high-rise building instead. Ackerman noted that Ann Arbor already contains over 2,200 acres of parkland, which is difficult and expensive to maintain. He said officials in the Ann Arbor Parks Advisory Commission do not recommend building a park in this location.
they do cost money,” Rapundalo said. The money required for park maintenance would have to come from the city, a financial burden the council was unwilling to adopt in the past. The two proposals currently in play for the property include different recommendations as to how much land would be reserved as common space, but both meet the minimum requirement set forth by the resolution. Councilmember Kirk Westphal (D–Ward 2) said the idea of utilizing the land entirely as a public park would never have gotten off the ground. “The amount of open space has been a tug of war over the past few years,” Westphal said. “A park covering the full site was never an option.” Ackerman said he sees the proposed plans making use of the land in an innovative and productive way. “There is the option to see retail, commerce, hotel and residential all interplay at once, activating the area in a very unique way,” Ackerman said. Because the city of Ann Arbor currently owns the land in question, Ackerman said through the influence of other city departments, the council will be able to utilize the space in a way that suits the needs of this city. “We own the land, so there is a lot of flexibility about what we can do,” Ackerman said. To reap the most benefits from the project, the city is considering selling the air rights to the land above the Library Lane Parking Structure, with Core serving as the potential buyer. “The vote tally on Tuesday might give an indication if there is enough support to eventually sell the land,” Westphal said. Half of the sales price of the lot would go to a trust fund designated for affordable housing in Ann Arbor. Up to $5 million could be placed in this fund, See LIBRARY PAGE 3
“There is a lot of flexibility about what we can do” The damage the land incurred during the construction of the underground parking garage connecting Division and 5th streets between William and Liberty streets is such that the ground is no longer capable of sustaining trees, which for Ackerman makes the idea of a park unrealistic. “This space was not designed with a park in mind,” said Ackerman. “To the north are the backs of buildings, to the south is a pretty solidly walled side of the library and to the east and west are one-way streets, creating very little visibility for the park.” Previous councilmembers have expressed similar sentiments, Rapundalo said the inclusion of open spaces that would serve as public domain were shot down in earlier discussions based on the ultimate cost to the city. “While [the parks] are idyllic, the fact of the matter is that
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NEWS BRIEFS
Chief Information Officer announces retirement Laura Patterson, the University’s chief information officer and associate vice president for Information and Technology Services, announced her retirement Thursday after 23 years of working at the University. In an e-mail to Information and Technology Services staff members, Patterson wrote, “As we complete the implementation of NextGen Michigan and work begins in earnest on the goals and initiatives outlined in the new IT strategic plan, I believe it is the perfect time to pass the torch to a new leader.” Patterson’s role consists of overseeing the leverage of information technology across the University’s three campuses and health system. Though Patterson will not officially step down until tihis summer, she will work with University President Mark Schlissel in the meantime to recruit the next CIO.
Cit y of Detroit investigates DPS buildings Detroit mayor Mike Duggan (D) announced safety inspections of all Detroit Public Schools buildings Wednesday evening in response to complaints from teachers and parents about the poor state of safety in schools, the Detroit Free Press reported. Many teachers took part in “sickout” protests staged earlier this week during which mass teacher absences forced some schools close for three days. Duggan promised both legislative reform and concrete solutions to reportedly hazardous conditions in DPS buildings such as extremely cold buildings, mold and rampant mice. Legislation introduced Thursday by Gov. Rick Snyder upset many state Democrats who called the plan unsatisfactory. The bill proposed a nine-person interim school board charged and hiring a superintendent until a new school board is elected next November. “It doesn’t go far enough to address our concerns,” State Rep. Brian Banks (D–Detroit) told the Detroit Free Press. “This is just going to be another form of an emergency manager.”
Jesse Jackson expected to attend Flint water rally Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. will attend a rally over the Flint water crisis taking place this Sunday at Heavenly Host Church in Flint, MLive reported. Jackson has previously condemned the state’s handling of the crisis in an opinion piece published in the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this month, writing that Gov. Rick Snyder considers Flint residents “disposable.” A recent spike in Legionnaires’ disesase in Flint sparked national outrage and calls from public figures, including Michael Moore, Erin Brokovich and Tim Gremiel, state House Democratic leader, who are calling for Snyder’s resignation if he knowingly participated in the contamination.
Ithaca College president steps down after protests Tom Rochon, president of Ithaca College, announced his resignation Thursday. Ithaca was among the campuses rocked by racially charged protests this winter, and according to NPR, faculty and staff expressed in a vote they had no confidence in Rochon’s ability to effectively manage racial dialogues on campus and respond to students of color. Rochon hired a chief diversity officer, but students continued to criticze him for failing to foster relations with Black students. Rochon’s resignation will be effective next July. — RIYAH BASHA
SYMPOSIUM From Page 2 featured speakers from civil rights activist Cesar Chavez to last year’s lecturer Marc Lamont Hill, a prominent activist and journalist. This year, Naomi Tutu will take the stage to speak about her experiences as a race, gender justice and human rights activist. Tutu, the daughter of South African activist Bishop Desmond Tutu, has dedicated much of her work to cultivating inclusion and raising awareness about genderbased violence. OAMI will live streamed the memorial lecture publicly for the first time this year. A number of watch parties are being hosted both by student groups on campus and by alumni as far away as Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. Helaire said it was important to the planning committee to open up access to members of the Michigan community both on and off campus. “We have a large alumni body and we want to be able to reach them with the same message,” he said. “As much as we celebrate the social justice legacy with the keynote, much of what’s talked about here on campus is happening right now. Wherever you are, we want you to think about how to dialogue, network and act.” The symposium’s website offers a downloadable watch party toolkit consisting of logistical tips and ideas for discussions after the lecture. Engineering senior Saumya Khurana, community service chair for Delta Theta Psi and organizer of a watch party tye sorority is hosting in the Union, said the livestream enables more students to watch the lecture in a familiar setting. “I think it’s a great idea to watch the speech and have a space afterwards to talk about it,” she said. “I think it’s important to watch as a community because there’s a lot of
LIBRARY From Page 2 depending on which proposal is ultimately chosen. According to Jennifer Hall, executive director of the Ann Arbor Housing Commission, the trust fund plays a vital role in funding affordable housing initiatives in the city. “The primary sources of revenue for the fund are general fund contributions from City Council — sales proceeds from the sale of city property and private developer contributions,” she said.
PANEL From Page 1 underrepresented individuals, but then are not taking time to understand what are their plights.” The panelists also sought solutions to strengthen minority voices in the United States. Taylor stressed the importance of voter turnout at every election, pointing to the 2010 Republican takeover of the state legislature. He fervently suggested that Americans work to bring people of color back to the voting booths in order to elect candidates who will bring minority desires to fruition. “Voting is both a means for empowerment and an expression of empowerment,” Taylor said. “To the extent that these groups feel and experience a lack of power within society, I think that relates to a lack of confidence in the efficacy of the political system. We have to work on all fronts to fully and completely bring these groups into society in a meaningful way.” Panelists, such as Rackham Ph.D. candidate Austin McCoy, also spent chunks of time discussing voter disenfranchisement. Each speaker touched on voter ID laws and closed registration booths. Public Policy junior Swathi Shanmugasundaram, CSG
News issues going on currently that the symposium addresses.” In addition to lectures and panels, the symposium’s program also features multiple performances and other creative homages to both Martin Luther King Jr. and the broader topic of social justice. Young Jean Lee, a Brooklynbased experimental playwright, is putting on a handful of her plays in addition to a public interview as a part of the School of Art and Design’s Penny Stamps Speaker Series. The Michigan Theater is also screening “CHI-RAQ,” Spike Lee’s film about race in Chicago, and the Burton Memorial Tower bells will even chime famous works by AfricanAmerican composers. Gena Flynn, director of inclusion at the School of Music, Theater and Dance and coordinator of a showcase Sunday, held by SMTD and featuring famed saxophonist James McBride, emphasized the importance of including creative expression in the symposium. “What’s new is that we’re bringing in an outside guest and performer really to add an opportunity to reflect on how music has been used in storytelling, and in particular, how (social justice) issues and history can be shown through music and through the arts,” she said. The symposium’s program runs from its start this week through February, but Helaire said he is determined to make its impact last throughout the year. “What I’m trying to move us towards is asking how can we make this not just something that happens in January, but using it as a springboard to address issues our community has,” he said. “That’s where the planning committee comes in, which is made up of various units around campus. There are people in these units doing work related to social justice issues, and we want to look at how this committee can support those issues more intentionally.”
Hall added that the development of this lot is important for the development of further projects in affordable housing in the city, noting that the AAHC is in the middle of redeveloping all 18 public housing sites in the city, which include 355 apartments for affordable housing. $60 million is needed to complete this project. Ackerman agreed, saying that a healthy trust fund is needed in order for action to be taken in this area. He said other than the contribution from the Library lot, there are no other clear funding mechanisms.
representative and panelist, spoke about modern voter suppression tactics. “Because of gerrymandering and redlining, we are putting all these minority populations into such a small, densely populated area under the guides that they will be represented, but they get a very small proportion of the larger scale of representatives,” Shanmugasundaram said. “It just doesn’t work out.” When asked who each panelist believes the next president will be, all but Mayor Taylor, who answered “Hillary,” pointed to Bernie Sanders or skirted the question. Regardless of candidate choice, each panelist pushed for students and young people to put pressure on all candidates to see and act on the fact that, as Prof. Countryman stated, “this is no longer a white nation.” LSA sophomore Shavon Edwards, who attended the event, said she enjoyed the discussion. “I’m happy with the conversation,” Edwards said. “I think it is really important that students get a viewpoint from the mayor. I really think that the points the panelists talked about are important for students to hear.” Symposium events in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. will continue throughout January.
Friday, January 15, 2016 — 3
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Amer’s Mediterranean Deli on State Street is under construction to downsize due to rising rental costs.
AMER’S From Page 1 for so long and that the rent is getting raised on them but that’s sort of the unfortunate downfall of being a small business,” she said. Bathish said in his experience, many students aren’t necessarily interested in sitting and eating when they go to Amer’s.
SKIN From Page 1 who identify as having nonwhite skin, this area of study holds a particular importance. “I think it’s a very interesting area,” he said. “Being a former U-M faculty professor, it’s an area we don’t often emphasize among the residents and in other training areas. It doesn’t get the resources that it should and if you look at the demographics of this country, we certainly need to be spending more time understanding skin of color.” According to December 2012 U.S. Census Bureau statistics, by the year 2060, approximately 57 percent of the population will describe itself as one the non-white ethnic groups. Already, there is a majority of people globally who have darkly pigmented skin. Among the most common reasons for people with skin
“A lot of the students are on the go anyway so the reduced seating won’t affect them,” Bathish said. LSA senior Stephanie Choi, echoed Schuman’s sentiments. “It definitely got smaller, a bit more crowded; it’s a different experience from usual.” Choi added she hopes small business like Amer’s stick around. “They’re very unique and Ann Arbor-esque,” she said.
Bathish said he wanted to assure students nothing was cut from the menu, and the quality of the food will remain the same. He said he’s confident that these renovations won’t affect business. “My formula has always been the same: same quality of food, same distributors,” Bathish said. “As long as the overhead stays the same, I plan on being here for another 28 years.”
of color to see a dermatologist are dyschromias, which are disturbances in pigmentation. Dr. Alexis said how darker pigmentations might make a person more susceptible to conditions like hyperpigmentation, keloids, alopecia, lupus and many others. However, he also noted that increased levels of melanin among these individuals, responsible for determining skin and hair colour, in these people actually serve as protection against photoaging, skin damage done by UV rays, and skin cancer in some cases because they provide a natural UV shield. LSA freshman Ari Spellman, a member of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, attended the event in hopes of learning more about dermatology. “I have really little experience with medicine,” Spellman said. “I thought it was very interesting to hear the basics of dermatology and about the differences in dermatological
issues between skin of color and skin of lighter pigmentation.” These differences between ski of color and skin of lighter pignentation can also be amplified by cultural variances in skin care, grooming, perceptions of beauty and alternative medicine practices, according to Alexis. He highlighted differing treatment methods that are used to combat various skin ailments as examples of this, each of which possess the potential to benefit a patient though some risks and side effects could also exist. Alexis said his mother is his inspiration to study dermatology and the nuances of treatment based on skin color. “My mother was probably the first Black dermatologist in Toronto,” Alexis said. “I was inspired by a number of prominent African American physicians who I had the good fortune to meet.”
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Opinion
4A — Friday, January 15, 2016
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S
Thought migrants
ome time ago — my fallible memory says the summer of 2010 — I noted something different about my mother. Alongside the alarm clock and hand moisturizer, there BHARAT was a different set of books NAIR on her nightstand. Not the usual Paulo Coelho or India Today, but the written works of Deepak Chopra, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the like. These tend to be important to those seeking something spiritual. At the time, it was simply an observation — I didn’t think much of it. Maybe a year or so later, I came to her because I was really upset at someone at school. After pouring out the wrongs and grievances done to me, I hoped for her to condemn the doings of another. However, curiously, she did the opposite. She asked me, “Do you have to be unhappy?” My memory continues to be unhelpful, but it might have been during one of my many teenage evenings of anxiety, sitting in a poorly lit, silent room when I recollected her words. By chance, I was in one of my few moments of clarity, so I repeatedly asked myself, “Why did I have to be unhappy?” Now, it’s been years and those evenings might be in the past, but the thought still remains. Why did I have to be anything? I kept thinking about my mother and what happened to her. It wasn’t anything outwardly apparent, rather something quiet and subtle. I could feel it in the way she spoke, the way she reacted, the way she gave advice. She no longer wanted things, and she refused presents for birthdays and Mothers Days. Whenever I complained about something, she told me I didn’t have to feel like this. It felt like she blamed me for my problems. I didn’t know what was going on in her head, so there indeed was some unavoidable distance. It felt like she changed the way she saw things and the way she felt about people; like she almost seemed to live by some new truth. This affected me. Every now and then, she would give me some vague-sounding philosophical advice that was supposed to solve my problem. It was always about me changing myself. I always acted like I wasn’t listening, like I had no time for philosophy. But on a few very rare occasions, I heard her. I didn’t always understand what she meant, but I certainly heard. And, in some inexplicable way, it seemed to help. Now, I don’t know why, but I was curious about how this had happened. I wanted a meta-analysis of sorts. I found it interesting how thoughts translated into actions, and these actions were interpreted into thoughts by others. The brilliantly understated manner in which these ideas moved utterly fascinated me. There is a general path by which ideas are transmitted from person to person and, somewhat virally, from community to community. Everything said or put forth is an idea, sent into a person’s mind. The mind processes it and either denies or accepts it. This process works similarly in a parent-child relationship, but some aspects are somewhat intensified. A young child has two main spheres of knowledge to draw from: genetics and experience. And at that young age, most experiences involve the parents, resulting in the child magnifying and studying religiously every thought and belief their parent shows to them. To a young child, the way a parent lives is how all life is generally lived. Their parents’ actions are the tenets of their perspective, the basis of what is and what isn’t.
ANNIE TURPIN
Whether or not they keep these ideas later on in life is a different thing, but these are the fundamentals. These are what form the laws of our newly formed skull-sized kingdoms, as a certain Dave Wallace would put it. An analogy I find useful is comparing this effect with migration. A person migrates when they desire a better life. That same concept applies here, but instead of a physical space, it occurs in a mental one. My mother must’ve yearned for a better life, enough for her to immigrate to a state of thought that clearly made her life better, a state of thought I wish I understood. Going with this migration metaphor, it’s interesting to consider how this effect trickles down through generations. What happens when my children see my adopted tenets as their base tenets? We know people are a combination of their genes and their environment. We know people with similar genes diverge when in different physical environments, but I’m curious how a person will act when they’re in different mental landscapes, when the very core framework of their mind is different. Would their baseline happiness be higher? Lower? How about general life and relationship satisfaction? Unfortunately, I don’t know the answers to these questions. Too many variables, too personal of a study. Maybe this is one of those things everyone knows, but doesn’t know for sure. Still, I really wish I did. Some of you might be wondering why I didn’t just ask her. I could’ve just spoken to her about what happened, and I’d have spared all these mental gymnastics. That is a fair point, and so I did exactly that. I got over the somewhat Indian awkwardness that is asking your parents about themselves. I sat down beside her and asked away. At first, she smiled and told me she never thought anyone noticed (I wonder how she’ll feel when she finds out I wrote an entire column about her). She gazed at the television for a bit, paying it no attention. She told me she felt mentally trapped. That for whatever reason, she felt she had no anchor, that her state of being felt eternally tied to her husband, her friends, her children, essentially everyone other than her. She said she didn’t feel in control of her life, and she had to fix this somehow. Finally, I wondered if she thought this change in mindset would have changed the lives of her children. She replied no, that if there indeed was any effect, it was inadvertent. Regardless of events of the transitory period, I’m genuinely happy she’s content now. Whether she knew it or not, it did affect me. I’d like to think that, after all this, I’m a bit more understanding, a bit more accepting of life and its people and its events. While I cannot yet articulate all the ways, I do know something for sure: that my mother, as usual, was right. She smiled when I told her that. I wish I had some sort of moral to tell you, something beautiful and profound that would make your life a little better. All I have are my own experiences and my own perspective. I wager that there is worth in simply being conscious of yourself and your actions. There is also worth in knowing that, while you don’t have control over many things, you do have control over yourself, and you have the power to do with it what you want. In our own personal times of need, we might all have to be migrants. My amma was one, and she exists contently. Who knows. One day, if we’re all really lucky, we might get to live like her. —Bharat Nair can be reached at bnair@umich.edu.
E-mail Annie at asturpin@umich.edu
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I
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Roadblocks to college
write this article as I close what most consider some of the most whirlwind months of their lives: the first semester of REBECCA college. FreshTARNOPOL man students must adjust to living in a new environment, navigating their newfound social freedom and acclimating to the difficulty of university-level academics. Luckily, I was spared from much of the stress that accompanies the latter because my high school prepared me for the rigor of college coursework and provided me with the skills I’d need to be successful across various disciplines. Though many students at this university had high school experiences similar to my own, I constantly consider that there are students here who did not have this privilege and whose schools did not prepare them for college-level education. This sentiment was reaffirmed on the first snowy day of winter. I spent that Saturday at the Undergraduate Science Building volunteering with STEM Society, a student organization on campus that aims to expose K-12 students, particularly those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, to inquiry-based science and math education. Our guests for the day were 50 JROTC students from Detroit-area high schools. As the students were busy shaking their rock salt ice cream (who knew colligative properties could be so delicious?), the group’s colonel spoke before them to bring the day to a close. “How many of you found some of the content today to be a bit over your head?” the colonel asked. About half of the students raised their hands. The question was as fair as the students’ response: As college students engrossed in our fields, sometimes we forget the basics were once not so simple. He followed with another question: “What do you have to do when your teachers don’t teach these
things in school?” “Self-educate,” they responded. “Self-educate” resounded in my head. They self-educate not because they want to learn more for themselves, or because they have found their passion in a given subject. They self-educate because their teachers don’t teach these things in school. Yes, there is only so much teachers can cover in the short period they’re given with students each day, and yes, students should be responsible for learning material on their own time outside of class to maximize their education. But the notion that these students should rely solely on self-education upset me deeply. We live in perhaps the most educated era of human history, one where educational resources are more available than ever — a luxury that has resulted in an increased emphasis on the value of quality education. This shows in the efforts of presidential hopefuls like Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, who claim lowering college tuition to be a tenet of their political platforms. While a college education is (validly) seen as a gateway to social mobility, perhaps the real problem does not lie in the rising costs of college tuition, but in the unreliable nature of public schools, especially those in lowincome neighborhoods. Take Detroit Public Schools (DPS), for example, the school system to which many of the JROTC students belong. Results from DPS’s ACT scores reveal the lackluster education students receive there. In 2014, only 17.8 percent of DPS 11th graders were considered “college-ready”; only 28.8 percent and 28.4 percent of test takers demonstrated proficiency in math and science, respectively. Moreover, nearly 200 schools in the district did not have a single student considered “college-ready” by the ACT’s standards, with the average score hanging around 16.4. DPS’s teachers are not entirely — if at all — culpable for students’ poor performance on the state’s standardized tests. According to the Detroit Free Press, DPS faces
an ever-increasing shortage of teachers, with merely 2,580 teachers to teach more than 46,000 students this school year. Teachers’ pay remains stagnant, even though the district expects many of the teachers to be instructional “coaches” in addition to their normal teaching positions. This, combined with the uncertain future of the district, has made a difficult job — teaching — all the more difficult. While the teachers in the district are spread too thin, the district, pressured to fill vacant teaching spots, has pushed non-teaching faculty into teaching positions at the expense of the quality of students’ education. This phenomenon is also not confined to Detroit’s city limits. Studies show a correlation between low socioeconomic status and lower ACT and SAT scores, and teacher shortages plague districts across the nation. Such large disparities in the quality of education across districts make it exceedingly difficult for students in underprivileged districts to receive the schooling they need to make a college education a reality for themselves — no matter how much they “self-educate.” As students at a university as prestigious as our own, we often forget how lucky we are to have had the opportunity to get here. The “normal” high school experience for many of us was one that provided the education and extracurricular opportunities we needed to earn admission to, and later be successful at, the University. But we must remember that there are those among us who did not have these privileges, a disadvantage no sum of scholarship money can truly mend. Perhaps this is the biggest roadblock to the creation of a more diverse campus community: If we truly are to achieve the diversity we’d like to see on college campuses, we must first fix the path students take to get there. —Rebecca Tarnopol can be reached at tarnopol@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Caitlin Heenan, Jeremy Kaplan, Ben Keller, Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland, Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke, Rebecca Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung, Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe
I
Legalize flip-flopping
grew up in a conservative town on the other side of the state — the type of town where you can’t go more CONNOR than a block or KIPPE two without being able to see another church. Beginning at the end of elementary school, I was inundated with the use of words like “fag” and “queer” by my friends and teammates. Without fully understanding the implications of these words, I used them myself in making jokes or using them as a casual insult, accepting it simply as part of the world. As I grew older, however, I began to understand the context surrounding these words. The understanding of what the words meant, however, sadly did not stop me from using them at that point in my life. I deeply regret the days I spent using those hateful words, and the underlying assumption behind them — that I did not accept the people those words were used to persecute. While my views and behaviors did change, I will never be able to change those years. Should I be forgiven? Does change beget forgiveness? If one repudiates ideas, evolves with the times, should that earn your respect (and maybe even your vote)? Because politicians live their lives in the spotlight, should we hold them to a higher standard than we hold ourselves? Now, these thoughts might seem to be worth more than your penny, and philosophical in nature, but they are very important questions at the present moment. We are not far from the most important political event of the next four years: our nation’s presidential election, which is just under a year away. In political campaigns (like the ones currently underway), candidates often attack each other by identifying who their opponent used to be in relation to who they currently are, selectively choosing focus points for their own benefit. If one candidate never changes, but
stays true to their ideals, the opposition will tout them as resistant to change. If they change their thought as public opinion shifts and new arguments are brought to the table, they will be marked as not sticking to their morals or being inconsistent. Hillary Clinton is at the center of questions and attacks like this. As she is herself a centrist/moderate Democrat, she opens herself to attacks from both the left and the right. The right attacks her for changing her opinions on issues such as same-sex marriage and criminal justice reform. The left, for not changing her opinions earlier. “I believe marriage is not just a bond, but a sacred bond between a man and a woman,” she said in 2004 as a senator who initially opposed same-sex marriage. Then abruptly in 2013, as potential candidates were beginning to increase the frequency of their speeches and public appearances, she became a supporter of same-sex marriage. Her timing happened to match up exactly with when those in favor of same-sex marriage became the majority in the nation. Her views on sentencing laws and criminal justice in general have also changed over the years, and quite radically. Here’s Clinton in 1994 when her husband campaigned for the now infamous three-strikes law: “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders. The three strikes and you’re out for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons…” But in 2013, as other candidates for 2016 began to let their positions be known, her views changed as she began to talk about “ending the era of mass incarceration.” All the evidence I’ve presented so far points to one conclusion: that she is making these points for political purposes — that she does not truly care, but instead is just saying these things to win office. But consider my story of change, or one of your own. The truth is that we all change.
Our minds expand as we meet new people and learn new things. Sometimes change is abrupt and sometimes change takes time. Sometimes it’s small and other times it’s monumental. Humans have understood for millennia that the only thing constant in life is change. And, luckily, even politicians change. While I am unsure of who I will support in the coming election, I can believe that Clinton’s ideas on these subjects have changed and that they might have taken almost two decades to do so. It took me many years to change my views on the use of word like “fag” and “queer,” and I was not raised in her time, nor in her environment. And there is some evidence that her positions on both issues may have begun to change much earlier — for instance, in 2007 (in the middle of another political campaign), when she was commenting on criminal justice reform, she said, “I want to have a thorough review of all of the penalties, of all the kinds of sentencing, and, more importantly, start having more diversion and having more second-chance programs.” But evidence of earlier change does not erase the fact that her stances contributed to irreparable damage to the lives of millions of Americans, robbing them in turn of time and happiness. Her words and support helped increase the amount of their children’s birthdays parents missed in prison, or decreased the amount of years two mothers could spend together, bound in holy matrimony. I’ve posed many questions in this column, and answered fewer. Your impression is all that’s left. All I can hope is that my words spur you to investigate further, that they might encourage you to expose yourself to information that challenges your views, and that you might be open to changing your own mind once in awhile. —Connor Kippe can be reached at conkip@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, January 15, 2016 — 5
TV REVIEW
TV REVIEW
ABC
30 seconds ago he was a cat.
Difficult ‘Crime’ Second season tackles athletics and sexual assault By ALEX INTNER Daily Arts Writer
I’ve been playing with a concept for a while called “eat your vegetables television.” This phrase represents TV that’s difficult to A enjoyably watch but remains American necessary Crime viewing either because of its Season 2 cultural value Premiere or importance Wednesdays to the pop cul- at 10 p.m. ture landscape. One example ABC of “eat your vegetables TV” is the first season of the HBO drama “The Leftovers,” which, while great, was slow in its pacing and therefore somewhat of a chore to watch. Going into the second season premiere, I was fully prepared to give “American Crime” a similar review based on what I saw of the first season, but my opinion changed when I pressed play. “American Crime” is deliberately tense, making sure the viewer is unsettled at every point possible in the episode. It’s incredibly tough to watch, but there are few better shows on network television. The second season of “American Crime” follows a differ-
ent story from the first season, one which is all too familiar if you’ve read the sports pages recently. In the first episode, Taylor Blaine (Connor Jessup, “Falling Skies”), a scholarship student at a prestigious private school in Indiana, finds himself expelled from school after pictures of him looking drunk were taken at a basketball team party. When his mom Anne (Lili Taylor, “The Conjuring”) confronts him about it, he tells her members of the team drugged and sexually assaulted him at the party. After Anne brings the accusation to the school’s headmistress (Felicity Huffman, “Desperate Housewives”), she and the basketball coach (Timothy Hutton, “Leverage”) have to deal with the implications of the accusation. The story resonates particularly in the context of the accusations brought forth against athletes such as Jameis Winston and Greg Hardy, both currently playing in the NFL. The first episode takes a substantial amount of time to establish how important basketball is to this school and the people in its community. This program is as important to the school as football is to Florida State University (Winston’s alma mater). Touching on the accusation and the school’s lacking response, the hour suggests a future indictment against this type of sports culture, which sweeps actions like rape under the rug. “American Crime” achieves a sense of claustrophobia and discomfort though its direction, expertly done by creator and
writer John Ridley (who won an Oscar for his “12 Years a Slave” screenplay). Every shot appears to be deliberate, with the camera placement adding to the look and feel of a scene, especially in the second half of the episode. As the situation becomes clear and word starts to spread, the scenes are shot in intimate closeups. For example, in the scenes where Anne talks to the headmistress, her emotion is strongly felt because it’s put right in front of you without anything in the way. Showcasing the sadness in this manner, it makes watching her pain even tougher and more gut-wrenching. “American Crime” also has a huge ensemble whose performances brings additional gravitas. Hutton and Hoffman were nominated for Emmys for their performances in season one, and they do a good job as they’re asked to make you care about two new and highly unsympathetic characters (they’re failing to investigate a rape, after all). Who I’m most impressed by is Jessup, who didn’t show much range or ability at all on “Falling Skies” and actually seems genuine in his emotional turmoil as a rape survivior. Yes, “American Crime” is not the easiest show, but if you’re not watching it, you really should be. No other series on the major networks is tackling a storyline about the intersection of crime and athletics with this much intelligence and gravity, and very few are this well put together by their cast and crew.
TV REVIEW
J-Lo’s complex ‘Blue’ By SHIR AVINADAV Daily Arts Writer
From the get-go, it’s clear that NBC’s new series “Shades of Blue” isn’t another cookiecutter crime drama. Jennifer Lopez B+ (“The Boy Next Door”), Shades and her new of Blue choppy bob, plays Harlee Series Premiere Santos, the Thursdays at 9 p.m. no-nonsense cop operating in a morally NBC ambiguous Brooklyn precinct. The thrilling series premiere introduces Santos and her team of tight-knit cops who play by their own rules. Lt. Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta, “Goodfellas”) and his band of corrupt officers break the mold of the traditional crime drama narrative by walking the thin line of moral conduct to benefit themselves while maintaining a tight grip over their neighborhood’s inept criminals. In this fresh, fast-paced crime thriller, Lopez adeptly plays both the emotionally vulnerable single mother and the tough cop. Santos struggles to judge whether the ends are justified by her and her task force’s unconventional means. Though Lopez stands out as the star of the series, it’s about her relationship with her colleagues and the impenetrability of their ties to one another just as much
as it is about her grapple with morality and providing for her daughter. She isn’t just a resilient policewoman committed to her job. She’s a tenacious crime fighter whose loyalty to her team binds her and her daughter Cristina (Sarah Jeffery, “Descendants”) to them like a family. This weight is felt in every line she speaks and every action she takes. As she says to Michael (Dayo Okeniyi, “The Hunger Games”), the rookie under her supervision whose grave mistake is covered up by Wozniak, “All he (Wozniak) expects in return is loyalty.” Rather than a handful of good cops who take down hardened criminals one by one in a traditional obstacle ridden, emotionally transparent plot structure, we are provided with a team whose loyalty to one another makes them impervious to the consequences of their abuse of power. Though their intentions are good, it is unclear whether their methods of maintaining order benefit them more then the citizens they are supposed to protect. Under their corrupt system, they methodically accept bribes from commonplace drug dealers in exchange for freedom to continue operating under the unit’s rules. In a time when corruption is rampant and police conduct is under intense scrutiny, the show draws attention to the morally gray area in which authorities justify their actions in the name of protecting law and order (and themselves). Rather than another crime series centered on justice-
upholding straight-shooters, “Shades of Blue” critically considers what motivates how police forces carry out their duties and how their relationships both in and out of the precinct influence their actions. This added element to the standard crime drama provides a host of possibilities for both plot and character development, but sorely lacks the satisfaction derived from seeing the chase that leads to bad guys getting put behind bars. Despite the lack of actual crime solving, the first episode creates suspense as Santos is faced with a chain of difficult decisions both in her job and personal life. Between her relationship with her daughter Cristina, her mentorship of Michael and her bond with colleagues, Santos exhibits an emotional range that adds depth to her character and makes it clear Lopez was the perfect fit for her role. In this series, the “American Idol” judge and pop diva sheds her playful charm and takes on a more serious role, bringing forward uncompromising sincerity and a tough attitude. Lopez’s compelling character and performance coupled with a topical look at how police forces should operate under complex circumstances, places “Shades of Blue” among the top shows premiering on NBC this season. An update to the crime drama has been long overdue, and while it is uncertain how the various elements of “Shades of Blue” will play out in its forthcoming episodes, there is plenty of incentive to continue watching.
CBS
“Remember when I won an Emmy for ‘Glee?’ “
‘Angel from Hell’ is no divine comedy By SAM ROSENBERG Daily Arts Writer
If it weren’t for its supernatural hook, “Angel from Hell” might have been just another bland, “opposites attract” comedy C used to fill up an empty time slot Angel on CBS’s lineup. But because the from Hell show features Series Premiere the incompara- Thursdays at ble Jane Lynch 9:30 p.m. (“Glee”) as its driving force, CBS that should be enough to make “Angel from Hell” worth the watch. Lynch plays the show’s eponymous protagonist, an eccentric, high-functioning alcoholic named Amy, who seeks to guide Allison (Maggie Lawson, “Psych”), an uptight, perpetually distressed dermatologist in Beverly Hills. Their first encounter is purely accidental, or so it may seem: Amy bumps into Allison and her unemployed boyfriend Evan (David Denman, “The Gift”) at a farmer’s market, then again in a coffee shop with Allison’s childish brother Brad (Kyle Bornheimer, “The D Train”). The coincidences eventually confuse Allison, which leads to Amy revealing herself as Allison’s guardian angel. Similar to Lynch’s previous TV role as the
skillfully sarcastic Sue Sylvester on “Glee,” Amy comes with a dark sense of humor, but she still manages to be likeable. She’s there to help and defend Allison, not to ruin her life, even if she tends to be a little overbearing and intrusive. Amy comes at a moment in Allison’s life that will lead her down a dangerous path. She tells the blithely unaware Allison that Evan is sleeping with her best friend Jill (Liza Lapira, “Battle Creek”). At first, Allison catches them eating dinner together, but learns that they were planning a montage for her and Evan’s housewarming party to celebrate all of Allison’s “big moments.” It seems like an honest mistake, until come time for the party Allison finds Jill’s clover charm in Evan’s office, leading to Jill’s admitting to her affair with Evan. Most, if not all the characters in “Angel from Hell” have certain clichéd traits, and the stilted acting doesn’t help either. Though Lawson does show some potential, her portrayal of Allison isn’t captivating enough to ignore how trite her character is. Comedian Kevin Pollack (“Mom”), who usually succeeds in both comedic and dramatic roles, is underused as Allison’s father Marv. Fortunately, Lynch performs admirably in an offbeat performance that keeps “Angel from Hell” from going off the rails. The writing
in the pilot episode isn’t terrible, but it isn’t off-the-walls fantastic either. In fact, many of the jokes in the show’s pilot episode are very plain, dry and unfunny, except when they come out of Lynch’s mouth. Her naturally snarky delivery and charismatic appeal make the most cringeworthy scenes seem enjoyable and the more sentimental moments seem genuinely poignant. One of the most enchanting moments in “Angel From Hell”’s pilot episode actually comes at the very end. Scrolling through the montage of “big moments” Evan and Jill made, Allison notices Amy in the background of one particular childhood photo. As Allison becomes fascinated and perplexed, the scene fades to the montage’s background song: Band of Horses’s excellent “The Funeral.” While the scene is rather short and not necessarily crucial, it still provides some gravitas for an otherwise mediocre first episode. Though “Angel from Hell” will probably continue to use Lynch as the source of comedy and drama, she shouldn’t be the only one carrying the show’s weight. The lackluster jokes, unfocused plot and weak premise have yet to unravel into something absorbing. Unless Lynch can somehow single-handedly save “Angel from Hell” from going off the deep end, the show is destined to remain a half-hour of uninteresting, dull gags.
TV REVIEW
Manipulating ‘Fields’ By SOPHIA KAUFMAN Daily Arts Writer
Humans enjoy the macabre. Our voyeuristic interest can be piqued by films or television shows, but when the stories being C+ related to us are preceded Killing by the disclo- Fields sure that what we’re about Series Premiere to watch is Tuesdays at based on a 10 p.m. true story, our level of fasci- Discovery nation jumps upwards. “Killing Fields,” Discovery’s new true-crime documentary series shot in real time, relies on this natural morbid curiosity. The pilot, “A Body in the Bayou” (a title strangely reminiscent of “Bones”) opens with beautiful shots of the Louisiana bayous. The camera then cuts to a man wearing a wifebeater, only partially lit, explaining that people talk about beautiful the scenic land is, but they don’t know “it’s nothin’ but killin’ fields.” The show follows this man, Detective Rodie Sanchez, as he comes out of retirement to work a cold case he hasn’t been able to put to rest in his mind: the unsolved homicide of young Eugenie Boisfontaine, whose
body was found three months after her disappearance in 1997 in Iberville Parish, LA. Throughout the episode, more evidence comes to light, like indications of blunt force trauma to the head and rape. The episode ends with the startling and grim reveal that the DNA found on Boisfontaine’s underclothes comes from two or possibly three different males. Sanchez teams up with a younger detective, Aubrey St. Angelo, to work the case. While the two seem to work well together, bringing different perspectives to the case, the show emphasizes the old cop/ young cop dichotomy more than is needed — it’s already obvious. This slightly forced dynamic culminates in a conversation that sounds straight out of a campy ’80s detective movie. As they’re sitting in a car waiting for someone, Sanchez, after posing personal questions that Det. Angelo deflects, says, “You don’t wanna make conversation with me? You act like I’m your wife, or your girlfriend or something, you know, like we out on a date — ” before Angelo cuts him off, having seen the person for whom they’re waiting. Some aspects of “Killing Fields” feel jarringly staged, even though it doesn’t exploit the victim’s story or her family’s pain. Sanchez’s gravelly voiceover generally works, but
though his sentiments read realistically, some of his lines sound contrived, like “The cases you don’t solve will haunt you until the day you die,” and “I think the killer’s still out there.” This is partially due to the dramatic drumbeats that accompany almost every single minute; meant to emphasize dramatic reveals or discoveries, the score only works against the veracity of the moment. The people in the show are always uncomfortably aware of the camera, especially when they’re trying their hardest not to be — like a scene in which the detectives’ silhouettes are outlined by the light of a fire, crackling in slow motion, or the scene where they go to talk to the woman who originally found Boisfontaine’s body — the framing of which feels like it could have been lifted out of “Law and Order: SVU.” “Killing Fields” relies on our curiosity about true horror stories, but it also attempts to escalate the tension through these kinds of transparent and unnecessary stylistic choices. The true story of the show — an unsolved murder, a killer possibly still on the loose and the dark irony of beautiful land shrouding the bodies of people who met untimely deaths — is intriguing, depressing and haunting. But this televised account of it? Not so much.
Arts
6 — Friday, January 15, 2016
SNOWGLOBE From Page 1
FILM REVIEW
20TH CENTURY FOX
Aiming for an Oscar.
The brutal poetry of ‘The Revenant’ DiCaprio film will leave audiences speechless By JACOB RICH Senior Arts Editor
“The Revenant” asks a lot of its audience, but it gives so much back. Like all great historical epics, “The Revenant” A strikes a balThe ance between Revenant mythology and realism. 20th Century Fox Here, Alejandro Gonzáles Rave & Quality 16 Iñárritu (“Birdman”) turns the classic American myth of the mountain men into an indulgent treatise on the human animal. In his West, humanity regresses once more into pure instinctual survival, and sheer brutality determines who receives the bounty of the untouched wilderness. Centering on a conflict between two men, “The Revenant” paints a greater picture of a lawless America. Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) is Hugh Glass — less a character and more anguish incarnate. After being mauled by a bear on a hunting expedition, he’s left for dead
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without food or supplies and must travel 200 miles back to civilization. His is a true story you may have heard before — it’s been retold many times in American fiction and, more recently, shared frequently on social media. His beaten, pained struggle is depicted intimately and ferociously. While DiCaprio embraced his slick, pretty-boy frattiness in “The Wolf of Wall Street” to brilliant effect, he completely sheds it here. You’ll forget about the kid in “Titanic.” Regardless of whether or not Leo gets the Oscar gold for this one, he’s thoroughly demonstrated his range. His nemesis, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy, “Mad Max: Fury Road”), provides the perfect foil to Glass’s legendary hero. Tom Hardy has a hyper-masculine gruffness in many of his movies, but the man has so much talent that he rarely treads familiar ground. Whether he’s playing Bane, Mad Max or Fitzgerald, he’s a different enough badass to remain thoroughly engaging. He is truly one of the greatest leading men in the business, and his turn here as a villain with painfully human motives is one of his greatest roles. This is a two-and-a-half hour epic. Human pain and suffering are a constant, and the utter brutality of it all is often tough to sit through. What’s so special about
the violence in this film, though, is that it never feels like movie violence, like that in “The Hateful Eight.” There’s a time and place for over-the-top gore, but the decision to keep the violence realistically horrifying adds so much to “The Revenant” ’s impact. A Tarantino revenge picture this is not. But the key to this film is not the immaculately sequenced battle scenes, as impressive as they are. It’s the immaculate portraiture of the American West performed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (who also worked with Iñárritu on “Birdman”). Each frame of this film is masterful nature photography. And like a lion curled up on a warm rock, Lubezki lingers. And lingers some more. Instead of assigning nature a nihilistic hopelessness like in “The Hateful Eight,” Lubezki’s nature is imbued with religious purpose. It’s an indulgence in the instinctual human affinity to nature. Rarely has a film felt so present in its setting. In the time you spend with “The Revenant,” you will be there. It won’t be comfortable. The procession out of my showing of “The Revenant” could only be described as a funeral dirge. Never have I seen a more silent crowd shuffling out of a packed theater. Take that as you will.
wheel is to its desert skyline. I danced along to Galantis’s uplifting progressive house until it was time to go meet Will Clarke, who had played earlier that day. Though I was still stuck in a car during his live set, after perusing his Soundcloud I can say with certainty that Will’s British accent is almost as delightful to listen to as his music. Lucky for me and anyone who knows him, the dedication and talent apparent in Will’s work, combined with his normal dudeness, makes listening to him play and listening to him talk equally as nice. For example, he calls Ibiza, Spain his second home after spending five summers there with a residency at the nightclub Orange Corner, but makes fun of his terrible Spanish. He’s been working with the renowned Dirtybird for a year now, and refers to the group as a family in an industry where people tend to focus mainly on themselves. At Dirtybird, he said, “everyone looks after everyone.” He talked about how he prefers to go with the flow of an evening rather than plan a show, and reminisced about one night on his Australian tour during which a one-hour set turned into a six-hour set that led him to stray from his usual house music into the funky world of disco. And he really likes what he does. “Ninety percent of my sets is my own music,” he said, adding that a goal for this year is to write enough music to pull off a three hour set of just his own stuff. Spoken like a musical purist, he acknowledged that all this music likely won’t be released, but it doesn’t bother him. Living the life of a true rockstar, Will was off at 6 a.m. the following day to head for Detroit. He’ll be back in our neck of the woods to play Grasshopper Underground with Billy Kenny as part of the Will and Bill’s Excellent Adventure tour. So if you like good music that happens to be house music that maybe sometimes morphs into disco, you should go. As the name suggests, it’s going to be excellent. Jack Ü ended day one with just the kind of set I’d expect from a duo whose members have become some of the top authorities in the electronic music world. At this point in their careers, the
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Friday, January 15, 2016
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industry’s most bromantic partners can pretty much do whatever they want, which, in an exquisite display of ego, included having Skrillex work the crowd into an eager chant of “DIP-LO, DIP-LO, DIP-LO…” just for funsies. They seemed to be going for audience recognition, dropping in the screeching “call 911 now” lyric from Skrillex’s “First Of The Year” alongside Diplo’s twerkworthy “Express Yourself” and working in songs by the likes of Flux Pavilion, Kanye, Icona Pop and Drake. Yes, like everyone and their mother, Jack Ü sampled “Hotline Bling” and “How Deep Is Your Love,” which I’m really hoping are two trends the new year will put to rest. I wrapped up my day with an after party at a classic ski town dive bar called Whisky Dick’s (and yes, we made millions of penis jokes throughout the evening because it’s fun to pretend like you’re 12). Hippie Sabotage, who played earlier that day, went on to a relatively empty room where everyone was having a good time — not necessarily because of the music. That dynamic changed with the gradual realization that we just wanted our ears filled with bass again, and the Hippie Sabotage brothers—who individually go by So Crates and Sour Beats —were giving us just that. By the end of the performance, the whole room felt the hype of their better known remixes of kiiara’s “Gold” and Tove Lo’s “Stay High”, the latter of which earned them international attention after Ellie Goulding posted about it on Instagram … oh, the digital age. It also earned them quite a bit of record label trouble. The lovely boys of Hippie Sabotage indulged the crowd’s “one moreeee!” chant with a song called “They Stole My Face and You’d Never Know It,” a melodic attack on a label contract gone wrong that was deleted from the Internet three hours after its original posting. Essentially, the story is that the label took all their money after the success of “Stay High” and prevented them from releasing the music they wanted. Anger was more than evident in the way they screamed along to their song: “Sold a million records I ain’t got a cent … BURN IT DOWN!” but I have to say, the transition from vibey to pissed off made for an excellent finale.
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The following day began with a comedy/hip-hop set by Lil Dicky who, as I was told by friends who are more avid fans than me, loves to poke fun at his skinny Jewish-boy-ness. In my limited research into his career, I discovered that he went from advertising executive to rapper, which probably explains his move to get out in front of possible artistic critique with songs full of irony about his own position in the music industry. His performance was top notch, performing crowd favorite “Lemme Freak” with the most earnest, Oscar-worthy wide eyes that almost made mine tear up from laughing so hard. I was convinced that he was convinced that getting laid by the girl he’d brought on stage (apparently a common practice of his) was the most important thing in the world, and it kind of made me root for the guy … though something tells me he doesn’t need my good wishes to get lucky. The whole world seemed to slow down when Chet Faker took over, and his set offered a nice breather before the rest of the evening found me running between various overlapping sets. The whole venue was small enough for my crazy plan to mostly work, catching the beginning of Alison Wonderland, the middle of Kaskade and the end of Autograf. Of course, the problem was that by the time I got to wherever I was going I was confined to the outskirts of the crowd, which was especially torturous during Alison Wonderland’s set. She played a stage that, thanks to a reappearing totem, came to be known as the trap tent … but by the time I got there I WAS TRAPPED OUTSIDE THE FUCKING TRAP TENT. Saying I could barely hear the music is an exaggeration, but I wanted her to make my ears ring and while a relatively small venue makes it easy to hop around, it also forces individual stages to be relatively quiet so as not to overtake the others. Nevertheless, a wonderfully wide range of styles was heard between the three stages that night. Alison Wonderland was a riot as always, stopping the party for no man or pair of pants. Kaskade got lots of love for his smooth electro house set—even from the painfully allages crowd, who were no doubt expecting some big room and ridiculously massive drops. Like a pro, he included enough main stageworthy beats among more refined tunes in a set that kept everyone happy, from the gaggle of 16-year-old girls whose moms would pick them up and make them dinner later, to the listener who’s been with him throughout his 20-year career. Elsewhere, Autograf created a trippy-dippy time capsule that transported the festival’s only fully enclosed stage back to the ’70s with their distinctly Chicago house sound. For Autograf, part of the benefit of coming around post-’70s is that we’ve already been given Nirvana, which allowed the trio to artfully weave a remix of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” into their set, alongside exceptionally popular originals like “Dream” and “Metaphysical.” I was fortunate enough to start the final day chatting with Jackson Stell, aka Big Wild, who developed the name about a year ago with the idea of being adventurous in the sounds he explores and creates. He’s certainly risen quickly up the ranks, with over 100 shows under his belt from 2015, and plans to release either an EP or an album by the end of the summer. “I’ve been focusing on making a really special body of work,” he said, excited about his upcoming show-free three months he intends to use to work on the project. Since he only plays his own music, he has a limited amount of songs he can choose from, and is eager to increase the flexibility of his live performances while looking for new sonic opportunities to give his audience the feels. “I’m trying to get an emotion out of the listener, but I’m trying to use sounds and a style that gets it out in a unique way,” he said.
Read about the festival’s closers in the rest of Assaf’s article, available on michigandaily. com/section/arts.
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Sports
Friday, January 15, 2016 — 7
‘M’ heads into Columbus on four-game win streak By JASON RUBINSTEIN Daily Sports Editor
After its sweep of in-state rival Michigan State, the No. 6 Michigan hockey team regained its spot as the nation’s best Michigan at offense. The Ohio State Wolverines Matchup: are currently Michigan averaging 13-3-3; Ohio 4.68 goals — a State 6-11-1 number that When: Friday grew after this 6:30 P.M., past weekend, Saturday when they 5:05 P.M. scored 15 goals Where: Friday in two contests at Value against the City Arena, Sunday at Yost Spartans. Now, a week Ice Arena later, the next TV/Radio: team to try Fox Sports and stymie Detroit Michigan’s electrifying offense is Ohio State. Struggling out of the gate, the Buckeyes started the season winning just four of their first 15 contests. But recently, the Buckeyes have looked like a different team. Over Winter Break, Ohio State traveled to Florida and beat then-No. 4 Boston College, 3-2, before crushing then-No. 8 Cornell, 8-0, to win the Florida College Classic title. “Ohio State had a big couple wins down in Florida, and they’re hot right now, so we’re not taking them lightly,” said sophomore forward Dexter Dancs. “That’s for sure.” But the Wolverines are also currently playing what seems like their best hockey at this point. They have scored 22 goals in their last four games, conceding
just nine. Their offense has caught fire lately for multiple reasons — mainly due to the first line of junior forwards Tyler Motte and JT Compher and freshman forward Kyle Connor. The trio has been unstoppable since it started playing on the same line, and Big Ten statistics support this. Connor, Compher and Motte are first, second and third, respectively, in the Big Ten point-scoring race. Connor has been particularly sensational, notching 15 points in his last six games. His 31 points on the season are good for fourth in the country. Despite the star trio, it has been the play of the fourth line — sophomore forward Dexter Dancs and junior forward Max Shuart — that has helped carry some of the load lately. Dancs notched two tallies against the Spartans, and
said most of his and the team’s success stems from their tight bond. “We’re having a ton of fun,” he said. “The team is extremely tight, the boys love coming to the rink and it’s the best part of the day for us. Right now, everything is just fun, even the lifts.” Michigan has also seen a jolt from sophomore defenseman Zach Werenski, who played last weekend in his first series since captaining the United States World Junior team in the World Junior Championships in Helsinki. Werenski registered two goals and an assist against the Spartans. After one of his goals, he paid his dues to former Wolverine Carl Hagelin, celebrating the goal by playing the violin on his arm with his stick. Dancs said Werenski can
get by with celebrating goals like that because he is just that skilled. Werenski said he still got a message from coach Red Berenson about going overboard with celebrations. It wouldn’t be surprising if this Friday’s game in Columbus is high-scoring. After all, the first time the two teams met in Columbus last season, Michigan won a wild 10-6 contest, and its offense is just as good as last year. It’s no longer shocking if the Wolverines score five-plus goals a night. “I think something pretty similar to (Michigan) State,” Werenski said about his expectations of the upcoming series. “I’d guess the games would be a little bit closer. They are a good team, block a lot of shots and it will be a battle. “I hope we score 10 and they score none.”
Wolverines to host meet Saturday for autism awareness By PAIGE VOEFFRAY For the Daily
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Zach Werenski has fully readjusted after spending almost a month in Helsinki for the World Junior Championships.
Season Review: Defensive Line Despite numerous injuries, unit turned in strong season By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor
Editor’s Note: With the Michigan football team’s 2015 regular season in the books, the Daily looks back at the performance of each unit this year and looks ahead to the future in 2016. In this edition: linebackers. The Michigan defensive line suffered injury after injury after injury throughout the season, starting in fall camp all the way to Week 5 and Week 9. As the year wore on, the health issues tested the unit’s depth. And still, the line ended up being one of the best in college football. Before the season started, the unit looked like it could be one of the country’s elite units. It returned all but two players from a strong 2014 group. Its top players, like redshirt juniors Chris Wormley and Willie Henry, were finally seasoned and ready to step up. The defensive line maintained the only holdover from the 2014 coaching staff, Greg Mattison. When the Wolverines entered fall camp, they unleashed a bevy of familiar names: Henry, Wormley, senior Mario Ojemudia and junior Taco Charlton on the ends; redshirt junior Ryan Glasgow, sophomore Bryan Mone, redshirt sophomore Maurice Hurst and redshirt junior Matt Godin on the interior. As it turned out, Michigan needed every one of them. All but Mone — who missed the entire season with an injury — started a game up front. And the Wolverines lived up to their billing. They made 2.5 sacks and 6.8 tackles for loss per game. They disrupted opposing backfields all season long, playing their best football in a five-game stretch early in the season, in which they gave up 14 total points. And on an elite defense, perhaps the line featured the most playmakers: Wormley (14.5
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
Bev Plocki’s team is tied for No. 1 in the nation in this week’s poll.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Redshirt junior defensive lineman Chris Wormley (43) was one of the highlights on Michigan’s elite defensive line.
tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks), Henry (10 and 6.5), Charlton (8.5 and 5.5) and Hurst (6.5 and three). Even when Michigan’s line struggled, those stars were a handful for opponents. Mone’s injury depleted the Wolverines’ depth, but the starting core was still intact. But then Ojemudia tore his Achilles at Maryland on Oct. 3, and senior Royce JenkinsStone filled in at the hybrid buck position. Finally, redshirt junior Ryan Glasgow injured his shoulder against Rutgers on Nov. 7. After three season-ending injuries, Michigan had to head into its toughest stretch of the season, playing fatigued at the end of the year with its fewest personnel. The losses finally showed. After giving up fewer than 100 rushing yards in six of the first nine games and averaging 2.7 sacks in that span, the Wolverines trailed off in November before finishing with another strong performance in the Citrus Bowl victory against Florida. HIGH POINT: It’s tough to pick out one individual game in the first half of the season because Michigan’s defensive front was so dominant throughout the season. But the line’s best performance may have come Oct. 10 against
Northwestern. Just the week before, Ojemudia was lost for the season, yet Jenkins-Stone filled in seamlessly. The Wolverines tied a season high with four sacks and totaled eight tackles for loss. And while offense wasn’t the Wildcats’ strong suit, Michigan still pulled off its third straight shutout against a ranked opponent in a dominant 38-0 victory at Michigan Stadium. That win helped build the Wolverines’ national hype perhaps more than any other this season. LOW POINT: While Michigan gave up its most rushing yards of the season Nov. 28 against Ohio State, the more shocking performance came two weeks earlier at Indiana. Playing without Glasgow for the first time, the Wolverines had no answers for the Hoosiers’ spread rushing attack, surrendering 307 yards rushing on 55 carries. Their thin defensive line showed as Indiana ran zone-read plays repeatedly for the duration of the game. Only when the Wolverines came up with a goal-line stand in double overtime did Michigan secure a victory against the
Hoosiers, who finished 6-7. THE FUTURE: Michigan made do with makeshift lineups up front for most of this season. Next year, with almost everyone returning, and if they can stay healthy, the Wolverines should be even better. The loss of Henry, who announced Wednesday night on Twitter that he will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft, will leave a hole. As well, Ojemudia’s eligibility has also been exhausted. But if Michigan learned one thing this season, it’s that it can overcome personnel losses on its defensive line. Wormley, the leader of the group for most of the season, will return. If Mone and Glasgow come back healthy, they can help fill in the losses. Depending on the scheme new defensive coordinator Don Brown runs, a rough defensive front could start Wormley, Charlton, Hurst and Glasgow. Mone, Godin and redshirt sophomore Lawrence Marshall, and Michigan is still in the mix for five-star recruit Rashan Gary. And with Mattison returning for another year coaching the line, the unit is in good shape for the future.
The Michigan women’s gymnastics team is competing against Ohio State on Saturday, but for the Wolverines, Ohio State it’s all about at Michigan Johnny Leone. For the third Matchup: straight year, Ohio State 1-0; Michigan is Michigan 2-0 pairing with When: the Ted Lindsay Saturday 4 P.M. Foundation and Autism Where: Crisler Speaks to hold Center an autism TV/Radio: awareness MGoBlueTV meet. The Wolverines feel autism is often overlooked, though it is gaining awareness throughout the country. Michigan had an opportunity to get to know someone with autism, 18-year-old Leone, giving the team insight into the disorder. “We’ve been able to meet a ton of really great and talented kids through the process of doing this autism meet for the past three years, so it’s always something we really look forward to,” said senior Lindsay Williams. “With all that we’ve learned about it, we’re really excited to help everyone who comes out to the meet to learn about it as well.” The Michigan men’s hockey team will also be in attendance at the upcoming meet to help support the cause. In October, the hockey team had an autism awareness game, and some of the women from the gymnastics team went to support the hockey team and their cause. “I don’t think gymnastics
and hockey are two sports that you would think would be associated together,” said senior Briley Casanova. “I think it’s great that we have two very different sports supporting each other and also having a common goal in spreading awareness about one cause.” That’s not to say the Wolverines won’t be focused on winning the meet. The team is tied for No. 1 in the nation in just its second week of the season – the challenge now shifts to staying there. “It’s a really nice motivation to our team to get them to really believe that they deserve to be competing with the very top teams in the country and they’re capable of doing that,” said Michigan coach Bev Plocki. “We’ve really talked about the fact that we need to expect ourselves to be at the Super Six, and we need to believe that we have the ability to win the National Championship.” The team has set the standard high for the rest of the season. After multiple athletes achieved personal-best scores against then-No. 9 Georgia on Saturday to go with a team win, they are excited for what the rest of the season has to offer. But the Wolverines did not come away from their meet against Georgia unscathed. At each event an athlete fell early within the rotation, adding pressure on the women to perform their routines cleanly. Going into Saturday’s meet against the Buckeyes, Michigan hopes to work on its consistency and keep the positive energy up throughout the meet. And most importantly, the team hopes spectators will come not just for gymnastics, but also for the cause.
FOOTBALL
Partridge hired as full-time assistant By MAX BULTMAN Managing Sports Editor
Chris Partridge has been named the Michigan football team’s special teams and linebackers coach, the team announced Thursday via a press release. Partridge had been the team’s director of player personnel for the 2015 season, but he also served as its linebackers coach for the Citrus Bowl after former defensive coordinator and linebackers coach D.J. Durkin left to become the head coach at Maryland. After Michigan lost Durkin to the Terrapins and former special teams coordinator John Baxter to Southern California last week, Partridge will fill both vacancies. “Chris has a proven track record as a successful coach,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh via the release. “He has brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to his work as our director of player personnel. I know that same passion will be exhibited in his
work with our student-athletes.” Prior to coming to Michigan, Partridge worked from 2010 to 2014 as the head coach at Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus, N.J., the alma mater of redshirt freshman safety Jabrill Peppers and the current home of the nation’s No. 1 recruit, defensive tackle Rashan Gary. Partridge received positive reviews from players for his work as interim linebackers coach for the Citrus Bowl. He inherits a group of linebackers that will lose three starters going into next year, and a special teams group that finished the season tied for 12th in special teams efficiency under Baxter. “I came to Michigan because I wanted to work with the best and learn from the best,” Partridge said in the release. “I couldn’t have a better mentor than coach Harbaugh who shares my vision that the student athletes come first. I am honored by his confidence and for the opportunity to continue to serve this incredibility (sic) institution.”
Sports
8 — Friday, January 15, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Offense falters with forwards in foul trouble Mitchell, Thome forced to sit for most of second half of Wolverines’ loss By BRAD WHIPPLE Daily Sports Editor
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty beat her scoring average by one with 23 points against Maryland, but the Wolverines lost, 74-67.
Michigan’s upset bid falls short By TED JANES Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women’s basketball team needed something special if it was going to beat No. 8 Maryland. And it got that, in MARYLAND 74 part, from MICHIGAN 67 Katelynn Flaherty’s 23 points. But even those types of performances have become rather commonplace for the sophomore guard. The Wolverines (2-3 Big Ten, 10-6 overall) fell, 74-67, to the Terrapins, who finally pulled away in the fourth quarter. Michigan hasn’t beaten a top-10 opponent since January 2012 but gave Maryland one of its toughest games of the season on Thursday. It took almost the full 40 minutes for the Terrapins (4-1, 15-2) to decisively grab the edge,
but they eventually did so in the fourth quarter. After trailing by just three to start the quarter, Michigan couldn’t keep pace with Maryland’s speed. The Wolverines scored just five field goals and two free throws in the last quarter. The win drops Michigan back below .500 for conference play. And despite not being able to win a third straight game, the Wolverines may have put on one of their best performances. “I said this at the beginning of the season: We can play with anyone,” Flaherty said. “We can win the Big Ten. Looking at all the games in the Big Ten, you can see how people lose and there are upsets. It’s just a reminder that we can still win.” Flaherty’s biggest help came from the two post players, freshman center Hallie Thome
and senior forward Kelsey Mitchell, but foul trouble had both in dangerous territory. The pair combined for 24 points and 7 blocks, but each collected their fourth personal foul early in the final quarter. “That really hurts us both offensively and defensively,” Flaherty said. “(Maryland) had two or three big girls down there, and I know we got outrebounded … and they get second-chance points.” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico was forced to switch Mitchell and Thome in and out in the fourth quarter, and the lack of a dominant post presence hurt Michigan late. Maryland outrebounded Michigan, 15-5, in the fourth quarter. A trio of double-digit scorers for Maryland carried the Terrapins. Her performance, though
high-scoring, also included a 3-for-15 shooting effort from the 3-point line. Eight of those attempts came in the fourth quarter, when the team was in need of a comeback. “I don’t recall too many terrible shots, but when we’re down 10, and we’re trying to crawl back, and she has a open look, she has the green light,” Barnes Arico said. “We’d like her to make a little bit more than that, but she always has the green light.” After last year’s 26-point blowout loss to then-No. 5 Maryland, Michigan improved immensely to end the season. The final result doesn’t come as a surprise, but it aches for the Wolverines, because for most of the game, they were up to par with a team considered one of the best teams not only in the conference, but in the nation.
Donnal thinking less, playing more Junior excelling through three games of return to starting lineup By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Editor
Three games into the season, junior forward Mark Donnal lost his confidence and his starting spot in the lineup. Donnal tallied just 12 points in the Michigan men’s basketball team’s first three contests. In the Wolverines’ next game against Connecticut at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, Donnal wasn’t just scratched from the starting rotation — he didn’t play at all. He quickly dropped from Michigan’s top big man to its last GRANT HARDY/Daily option off the bench. Junior forward Mark Donnal has been a success in the starting lineup since he regained his spot Jan. 2 against Penn State. His minutes were dwindling and so was his focus. He was my game, being a ball player,” Donnal was right under the hoop to tie the game late. overthinking the game. Donnal said after the win. and, amid a handful of Maryland The Terrapins brought Then Big Ten play began, and “That’s what I got recruited for, bodies, tipped in Irvin’s miss as the ball down the court and suddenly he wasn’t. and I think that’s a big thing for time expired. an offensive screen forced “I’m not necessarily sure what me, just playing my game. I’m He took the hand he had just Michigan to switch on defense, exactly it was (that changed),” not traditionally focused on all tipped the ball in with, clenched pinning Donnal on Sulaimon Donnal said. “But I got the the X’s and O’s and overthinking it, pumped his fist and yelled. He — Maryland’s best option from confidence rolling after the things — I think I’ve just done a marched over toward Michigan’s behind the arc. Sulaimon backed Illinois game and just kind of better job of playing my game.” bench and was greeted by high up and fired from deep over the built off that.” With Michigan up six points fives and chest bumps. The outstretched arm of Donnal, but After impressing Michigan late in the first half, Donnal had Wolverines were headed to the the shot missed, clinching the coach John Beilein in practice two blocks in 12 seconds. With locker room up 37-29 on the victory for the Wolverines. leading up to Michigan’s Big less than a third-ranked “He’s playing with a little Ten opener against the Illini minute left, Terrapins, and swag. And we all need that, but two weeks ago, Donnal got an he stepped up Donnal — the there’s some young men that opportunity to put his refocused and got a hand same guy who probably need that more because game on display. After coming on the ball was benched they’re just gentle giants, and off the bench in Champaign, as Maryland three games you can’t survive this league he dropped eight points in 11 guard Rasheed into the season being a gentle giant,” Beilein said minutes of first-half work and Sulaimon — had a lot to on the Huge Show on Thursday. earned a spot in the starting drove to the do with it. In the four games since lineup in the second frame. He hoop, knocking Late in conference play has started, finished the game with a career- the ball out of the second Donnal’s combined 57 points high 26 points and his old spot bounds. After half, Donnal are more than he had the entire in the starting five. Three days the Terrapins came up big first half of the season. He’s done later, Donnal continued to make inbounded the ball, forward again. With less than 15 seconds thinking about the little things his case, dropping 16 points at Robert Carter Jr. tried a jumper remaining, he fought off two on the court and is just focused home against Penn State. from inside the paint only to have Maryland defenders to grab an on playing the game. Tuesday night, Donnal’s the ball swatted by Donnal, who offensive board off a missed layup “It’s one of those things that think-less, do-more game plan snuck in from behind him. by junior guard Derrick Walton comes with college basketball,” worked again, helping Michigan The Wolverines recovered Jr. Michigan called a timeout, and Donnal said. “All the different edge No. 3 Maryland, 70-67. He the loose ball and, after calling a after Donnal received the inbound, terminology and different had just eight points and went timeout, set up their offense for one the Terrapins were forced to foul. plays and everything that’s 0-for-3 on 3-point attempts, but final shot at the end of the frame. The junior made only the front being thrown at you, it’s easy to he did the little things right. Junior guard Zak Irvin missed a end of the 1-and-1 opportunity, overthink, but today we were “I’m just going out, playing 3-pointer from straightaway, but allowing Maryland an opportunity just playing basketball.”
With the Michigan women’s basketball team down by two points, Hallie Thome caught the ball under the basket and dropped it. Surrounded by Maryland’s defense, the freshman center scrambled to pick the ball back up and banked it into the basket while also drawing a foul. After draining her free throw to complete the and-1 play, Thome put her team up by two points with 5:25 left in the third quarter. But those were the last points that the Wolverines scored for the next six and a half minutes. In fact, it was Thome’s last shot until just eight seconds remained in the game, when she scored an irrelevant layup in Michigan’s loss to the eighth-ranked Terrapins at Crisler Center. Though Thome ended the game with five boards and 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting, she picked up her fourth foul just 22 seconds into the fourth quarter. Instead of earning a third straight double-double, senior forward Kelsey Mitchell picked up her fourth foul a minute after Thome, finishing with just nine points and three rebounds. The Wolverines were without their bigs, and Maryland quickly saw the opportunity to stretch a six-point game into a 16-point game, as Michigan’s offense went cold for five more minutes. “We wanted to take away (Mitchell’s) tendencies,” said Maryland coach Brenda Frese. “We knew she was very active, and we wanted to attack inside and be really aggressive.” Added Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico: “For both of them to go as long as they did in the game was great for us. … (But Maryland was) just so big, strong and physical inside.” On the inside for the Terrapins was center Brionna Jones, whom the Wolverines double teamed. But Jones still scored 13 points alongside seven rebounds, just slightly under her season average. Jones’ physicality — as well as that of the rest of the Terrapin squad — was too big of a challenge for Michigan, which was outrebounded, 43-38. Without size, the Wolverines reverted to using their speed as an advantage in the waning minutes of the final frame, putting in players such as
freshman guard Nicole Munger and sophomore forward Jillian Dunston, the latter of whom collected eight boards and helped clean up for Michigan’s two primary bigs. Throughout the season, Barnes Arico knew Thome would need to step up her size and physicality when going up against Big Ten competition — nothing she had ever dreamed of seeing in high school. Despite dealing with foul trouble, though, Thome’s performance Thursday night greatly impressed Barnes Arico. “Hallie’s biggest challenge right now is to gain that experience and to go against the best people of her size in the country,” Barnes Arico said. “For a freshman to come out and do that against the No. 8 team in the country is pretty impressive. But from a coaching perspective, I always want her to continue to get better and be a presence on the defensive end and really try to get stronger. “That’s obviously not something that’s going to happen overnight.” Added Thome: “Usually, the bigger the girl, the slower they move. I have to make sure I stay low so I can do my moves fast and just go up strong, because I’m not used to the physicality of it. I’m getting there.” Suddenly lacking size and strength on the court, Michigan’s offense crumbled and went scoreless for more than 10 minutes in the second half. What could have been a dramatic upset in Crisler Center turned into a seven-point defeat as the Wolverines’ small guards were denied scoring chances when driving into the paint. At this point in the season, though, it won’t get any easier. For Michigan to find success in the Big Ten, it must to protect its bigs and keep them in the game.
“Hallie’s biggest challenge right now is to gain that experience.”
BY THE NUMBERS Michigan vs. Maryland
8
Combined rebounds for Michigan freshman center Hallie Thome and senior forward Kelsey Mitchell
8
Combined fouls by Thome and Mitchell in 52 minutes
-15
Michigan’s rebounding margin against Maryland (43-28)
2012
The last time Michigan beat a top-10 team, a 73-62 win over No. 8 Ohio State
“He’s playing with a little swag. And we all need that.”
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Freshman center Hallie Thome found herself in foul trouble again Thursday.