ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Friday, February 26, 2016
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Mcity and startups to partner in new effort MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
University alum Donavan McKinney, community engagement associate at Community Development Advocates of Detroit, speaks during a panel on the topic of Muslim solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement at Rackham Auditorium on Thursday.
Panel explores solidarity in Muslim, Black communities Student association hosts series of events to promote discussion By SOPHIE SHERRY Daily Staff Reporter
The Muslim Students’ Association hosted an event Thursday aimed at demonstrating solidarity with Black Lives Matter, an activist movement advocating for the
freedom and liberty of people in the Black community. LSA senior Sarah Khan, a panelist and MSA’s social justice and activism director, said the goal of the event was to combat instances of racism that are found in a variety of communities and expressed by a wide range of identities. Khan is a managing editor for The Michigan Daily’s Michigan In Color section. “As a non-Black person of color, my hope for this event is to combat
the anti-Black racism that is present in my own community,” Khan said. “I hope that this event will give us the foundation to understand why the Muslim community must stand in solidarity with the Black community. This is the MSA beginning to take accountability.” Panelist Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, began the discussion by asking the audience to take a different approach to
identity. “The term ‘solidarity’ is to me trying to find the common points and stand with someone who is maybe outside of yourself,” Walid said. “I’d like for us to try and reframe this and look at this as us actually being integrally connected and part of each other.” LSA senior Arnold Reed, an adviser to the Black Student Union, was also on the panel. Reed said BSU was the first place See PANEL, Page 3
Techlab to allow outside researchers to contribute to driverless car tech. By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily News Editor
The University of Michigan launched the pilot of TechLab at Mcity, a program for transportation startups to partner with researchers at the automated vehicle testing site, Thursday. TechLab is meant to bring driverless innovation closer to consumer markets by providing companies working with transportation technology with access to Mcity’s nationally recognized research facilities, according to a press release. “By creating a structure that allows startup companies from around the globe to access topflight talent and resources that would otherwise be unavailable to them, we believe we have
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OPINION
Multiple challengers emerge for open seats on Council
A Connector a practical option for campus, city 2
From T HE M ICHIGAN DAILY Anyone who has taken a Blue Bus can attest to its tendency to be inefficient and consistently overcrowded. These issues serve to create a sizable gap between Central and North Campus: Students who live on Central are disincentivized from enjoying the natural beauty and arts on North, while students who must travel from North to Central are alienated from much of University life. Intercampus transportation is very clearly an issue that needs to be solved. Fortunately, the University of Michigan and the city of Ann Arbor have begun moving forward with plans to build a light rail, named the Ann Arbor Connector. The first part of the project that would ultimately run throughout the city of Ann Arbor is the branch of the train that would unite North and Central Campus. Paid for by the University, the city of Ann Arbor, and most likely with funding from federal, state and public and private partnerships, the light rail would be expensive in the short run, but beneficial to students in the long run. This light rail system would improve student life in myriad ways, providing a quicker, safer, more accessible way to move between our campuses. A light rail system would be more reliable than the current busing system because it would move at the same rate no
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matter the level of car traffic. What’s more, students could get down to Central Campus faster during game days and event days when the roads are teeming with pedestrians and parents. Additionally, because light rails are automated, they could run later and longer than the buses we have now. This project would not only benefit students in their everyday lives, but it would also prove advantageous for the University and the city of Ann Arbor. It would reduce the number of cars on the road, alleviating the extremely heavy traffic Ann Arbor faces on a daily basis. Light rail has also been proven safer than cars. The city of Ann Arbor would also benefit because this project would reduce the city’s carbon footprint. More than 46,000 people commute to the city each day, and with a light rail, commuters would be able to park their cars near a train stop and then take the monorail to their workplace, leveraging the fact that rail systems are four times more efficient than cars. This would take cars off the road — making them safer — and save time for commuters and students who need to drive or take the bus. The light rail is planned to be powered entirely by renewable resources, which would further reduce our emissions. In the long run, the light rail would save the UniverSee OPINION, Page 3
hit upon a model that will create a winning opportunity for all involved,” Thomas Frank, executive director of the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship, said in a press release. Frank was not immediately available for comment Thursday evening. Mcity launched in July 2015 as the world’s first controlled vehicle test site for researching automated vehicle technology and developing driverless cars ready for the mass market. Housed on North Campus, it was created by the University’s Mobility Transformation Center and the State of Michigan Department of Transportation. Zendrive, created by former employees at Google and Facebook, is the first startup participating in TechLab. Zendrive uses mobile sensor technology to measure driver safety in actions like acceleration, breaking, swerving and phone use. “Collaborating with U-M See MCITY, Page 3
Eight individuals have officially declared their intentions to run
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Stephen Dolen, executive director of Parking and Transportation Services at the University, explains the rationale for choosing a site for the new bus depot at the North Campus Research Complex on Thursday.
New transportation center on North Campus debated Residents concerned about potential pollution from new structure By LYDIA BARRY Daily Staff Reporter
University of Michigan officials and Ann Arbor residents met Thursday evening to discuss the University’s proposed Transportation Operations and Maintenance Center, slated to be built on Green Road between Hubbard Road and Baxter Road. The meeting yielded a large turnout of residents hoping to gain a deeper understanding of the potential issues with the new center, which will serve as a bus depot where North Campus buses will be stored and receive maintenance. At the meeting, residents expressed several main areas of
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concern, including environmental impact on the surrounding area and potential traffic issues. The local neighborhood association has created a site with information on the proposed facility. Ann Arbor resident Dan Beard told officials that he thought the University hadn’t not fully consider the consequences of its actions. “It’s really disturbing that the University is consolidating its pollution output so close to lowincome housing,” Beard said. University Planner Susan Gott said the center’s location was determined to be the most logical proposal because of an increased number of people riding University buses and subsequent need for a larger vehicle storage facility. “The existing facility … is not meeting the current operational needs and therefore a new facility will incorporate space that better incorporates better buses than could fit into the original
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facility,” Gott said. “The reason this location is selected is to try to bring the beginning trips to where the early morning and evening demand is. There is an efficiency for relocating onto North Campus.” During the meeting, City Councilmember Jane Lumm (D-Ward 2) also spoke out against the proposal. She said she thought there was another option the University could utilize to increase bus count without affecting neighborhoods — the city’s Wheeler Center, a garage which she said is currently under capacity. “We have a state-of-the-art garage facility, the Wheeler Center,” Lumm said. “What the city could do for the University is to offer an incredible collaboration opportunity. All of our vehicles are maintained at the Wheeler Center. It sounds like an excellent collaboration opportunity.” In response to concerns, UniSee CENTER, Page 3
Vol. CXXv, No. 82 ©2016 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily News Editor
As the deadline for filing petitions approaches, eight contenders have officially stepped forward in the 2016 election for Ann Arbor City Council. Five out of the 10 seats on Council are open in November’s election, along with the position of mayor. Five of the six current office holders — Kirk Westphal (D–Ward 2), Julie Grand (D–Ward 3), ChuckWarpehoski (D–Ward 5), Graydon Krapohl (D–Ward 4) and Mayor Christopher Taylor — are running for reelection thus far. To vote in the upcoming City Council elections, individuals must be both a registered voter in Ann Arbor as well as a resident of the candidate’s ward. In the past, students have noted it is difficult for them to coalesce around one candidate because of the way the wards are drawn. “So where the campus is located touches all five wards. Every address in the city including the dormitories is assigned — they’re on the map See COUNCIL, Page 3
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2 — Friday, February 26, 2016
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The Wavves perform at the Majestic Theater in Detroit on Tuesday.
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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FLa.) speaks at an event in Grand Rapids on Tuesday.
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Stress Latino workshop political This participation WHAT: presentation will WHAT: Ph.D. candidate Vanessa Cruz will have a talk focused on Latino political participation and ability to find opportunities while under political threat. WHO: Latina/o Studies WHEN: 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. WHERE: Haven Hall, room 3512
give an inside look to the side effects of sustained stress, particularly in relation to dissertation writing. WHO: Rackham Institute WHEN: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Rackham Graduate School
Basement Arts musical
Love Your Genes drive
WHAT: “Passing Strange,” the awardwinning musical, will be put on by the Basement Arts as a free show. WHO: Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Walgreen Drama Center, Studio One
WHAT: As part of Eating Disorder Awareness Week the Body Peace Corps will collect old clothes to celebrate “all bodies” by hanging up the clothes on a line. WHO: Body Peace Corps WHEN: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. WHERE: West Quadrangle Connector
International engineering WHAT: IPE will host a free consultation for engineers wishing to plan for internationl experiences. WHO: International Programs in Engineering WHEN: 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. WHERE: Chrysler Center, room 245
Viola recital WHAT: Lindzy Marie Volk will perform a masters recital, including various pieces from “Romeo and Juliet,” as well as work by Johannes Brahms. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Earl V. Moore Building, Britton Recital Hall
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
Varsity Tennis match against Washington U
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Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) removed his name from a potential list of Supreme Court nomineess, according to The Huffington Post. Sandoval reportedly dropped out in order to avoid what he sees as a vicious partisan battle occuring in Washington.
WHAT: The Michigan men’s tennis team will play against Washington University. They will be playing for their sixth straight win at home. WHO: Michigan Athletics WHEN: 4 p.m. WHERE: Varsity Tennis Center
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Yiddish Reading WHAT: The reading group will be open to the public. WHO: Judaic Studies WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: 202 S. Thayer, room 2000 l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com.
The Michigan women’s basketball team has won four of its last five games. They will aim to extend that streak against Northwestern Tuesday.
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President Barack Obama plans a historic visit to Cuba sometime in the next month. This will be the first visit by a sitting president to the country since 1928 when Calvin Coolidge travelled to the country.
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Council to address possible dioxane contamination in A2 groundwater Work session to feature remarks from Dept. of Environmental Quality By BRIAN KUANG Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor City Council will hear the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s plans for mov-
ing forward with the plume of toxic 1,4-dioxane in the city’s groundwater during a Monday working session. The contaminated plume — located underground in Scio Township and Ann Arbor, and creeping toward the Huron River, which is where the city’s drinking water is drawn from — was caused by Gelman Sciences’ improper disposal of 1,4-dioxane from 1966 to 1986. Pall Corporation, which acquired Gelman in 1997, is the company cur-
rently liable for the contamination. Public scrutiny on this issue was re-energized in recent months by the Flint water crisis, and local leaders have been clamoring for DEQ to take a harder stance. In a Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting earlier this month, DEQ representative Robert Wagner said state regulations and legal settlements dictate Pall is only required to “risk manage,” rather than clean, the dioxane plume. According to the City Council meeting agenda, Pall Corporation was invited to give a presentation at the meeting but will not be attending. Councilmember Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) said her first priority is to learn how soon DEQ’s cleanup guidelines for 1,4-dioxane will be revised. With revised guidelines, Briere hopes that further legal action could be taken against Pall Corporation to compel a more thorough monitoring and cleanup system. The current DEQ standard for 1,4-dioxane is 85 parts per billion in groundwater, despite EPA standards saying 3.5 parts per billion is carcinogenic. Ann Arbor has beenpushing for the revision of DEQ standards for the past three years. Wagner hadassured the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners that revised standards would be released soon despite unforeseen delays in releasing them in the past. “Once we have (revised standards), the city and the county are in a position to go to the courts, and ask the courts to enforce to that standard instead of the 85 parts per billion,” Briere said. “That allows us to open up the entire discussion about how the enforcement works, what the cleanup looks like, how effective the cleanup needs to be.” She added that she thought that the current agreement between the state and Pall Corporation overwhelmingly favors Pall. “Unlike every other major pollution issue in this state, the state of Michigan is paying for this, not the polluter,” Briere said. “All the time that the DEQ spends on this is See CITY, Page 3
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Dailly LSA junior Rachael Ankley discusses how the community can help raise awareness of eating disorders and increase body positivity at Riots, not Diets hosted by The University of Michigan Body Peace Corps at the Union on Thursday.
‘Riots, Not Diets’ emphasizes building body image positivity Student org holds event for National Eating Disorder Awareness week By NEIL SCHWARTZ For the Daily
The Body Peace Corps held a group presentation and discussion in the Michigan Union Thursday evening to discuss the positives and negatives of body image associated with eating disorders. “Riots Not Diets” was one part of a week-long event, held in conjunction with Active Minds and the University of Michigan’s Counseling and Psychological Services for Eating Disorder Awareness Week. The series of events focused on promoting positive body image through online articles, poster making, sharing experiences about eating disorder recovery, clothing drives, events and fundraisers. Throughout the presentation, event coordinators Traci Ayub, a first-year master’s student at the
School of Public Health, and LSA senior Rachael Ankley encouraged the audience to talk about current issues society is facing regarding the portrayal of body image and eating disorders. One student commented on the large volume of body image stories focused around adolescent girls and younger women and the lack of stories about the transition to adulthood and beyond, where she said these issues remain a major concern. Another student highlighted the sensationalized way losing weight is treated, which they said leaves out the emotional struggle that those affected by eating disorders might go through. Ayub and Ankley emphasized those issues in their presentation, along with several other topics, such as the prevalence eating disorders in marginalized social and ethnic groups. In particular, Ayub discussed the feeling of being alone that she said members of this group may experience, along with fears about being accepted by their peers. “We started mentioning stories about men, stories about people of color, stories about
those in the LGBT community... anything that wasn’t that typical story about the white woman,” Ayub said. “That is an important story, but it is being told already. It’s just that there are not a lot of identities talked about in terms of eating disorders.” The presentation also explained several underlying concerns in the treatment of eating disorders. One of the most common ways individuals with eating disorders suffer in everyday life, they said, is from comments of others about their image. “You can’t tell if somebody is healthy looking at them,” Ayub said. “And a lot of times, we try to police people of a certain weight. You’re not really helping them. They are aware of their health status. They have seen a doctor; they know whether they are healthy or not.” The coordinators also presented facts about eating disorders. Approximately 28 percent of women and 10 percent of men at the University who were screened in a U-SHAPE survey were found to have an eating disSee DIET, Page 3
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University researchers collect norovirus samples Researchers at the Medical School began collecting samples from the recent outbreak of norovirus that swept campus earlier this month, the University announced on Wednesday. More than 100 students were infected by a strain of the virus causing diarrhea and vomiting. The University confirmed last week that the initial infections were traced to dining halls, though the outbreak may have spread beyond residence halls. Though the virus is fairly common, it is difficult to grow in laboratory settings. Dr. Christiane Wobus, a microbiologist at the Medical School, has studied the disease in mice for the past 10 years and is now investigating stool samples from members of the campus community who recently experienced symptoms. No approved vaccines or treatments currently exist for the virus. Wobus and other researchers will compare the human samples to the infected mice and attempt to determine the way the virus interacts with human cells.
Detroit mayor finds $50 million in unused city bonds Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan revealed $50 million dollars in unspent bond funds as a part of his new budget plan, The Detroit News reported on Thursday. The unspent funds date back to 1987, and will be allocated toward improvements to public safety and parks. Duggan’s proposal allocates $11.7 million to city parks, $7.5 million to the Detroit Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center and $7 million toward updating the police department’s 8th precinct in northwest Detroit. John Hill, the city’s chief financial officer, presented the fouryear balanced budget plan, which calls for conservative spending by the city for the foreseeable future. Discussion of the plan centered around shortages in pension funds. The city’s bankruptcy plan, organized by the former statefunded emergency management team, promised full funding of pension obligations to city employees. Duggan announced in his remarks, however, that the forecast was inaccurate. He hopes to put together an organized approach before the city must begin making payments in 2024.
3 — Friday, February 26, 2016
Ann Arbor woman killed in collision Incident involving truck caused closure of all eastbound traffic By CAITLIN REEDY Daily Staff Reporter
A car crash on I-94 resulted in the death of a 21-year-old Ann Arbor woman Wednesday night. Another woman was in critical condition after the incident. The collision of a semi-truck and a car occurred just after 6
p.m. on I-94 East, near Pittsfield Township. A 30-year-old woman was driving in the far left lane when, according to the Michigan State Police, she lost control and swerved in front of the semi-truck, killing the 21-yearold passenger. The crash is still under investigation. The incident resulted in the closure of eastbound I-94 for six hours Wednesday night. It happened amid a heavy and wet snowfall, which began that afternoon and accumulated several inches of slush and snow. The National Weather Service
released a winter storm advisory in the days leading up to the snowfall, predicting upward of 10 inches in some areas. The peak of the snowfall happened Wednesday afternoon into nighttime, covering the time that the I-94 accident took place. Other car accidents also occurred due to the severe weather Wednesday. The system, formally named Winter Storm Petros, hit much of the southeastern parts of the state. The Washtenaw County Dispatch reported multiple minor crashes during the time of the
MAZIE HYAMS/Daily
LSA feshman Brett Boehman looks at works honoring the late Art Prof. Jon Onye Lockard on display in the Fine Arts Library on Tuesday. Lockard’s art, focussing on the spirit of civil rights and Black pride, was instrumental in the development of Black arts and culture in Michigan.
CENTER From Page 1
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Rackham student Maryam Aziz speaks at a panel on Muslim solidarity at Rackham Auditorium on Thursday.
PANEL From Page 1 he felt at home at the University of Michigan, and emphasized the positive effects finding that the community had on him. Solidarity, he noted, was key to many communities on campus. “I want to get to the topic of building solidarity, which is why we are all here today — marginalised students here at UMich,” Reed said. “There’s Black students, there’s Latino students, there’s Native American students, and there’s not a lot of us here. We can’t afford not to come together in solidarity.” He stressed the importance of MSA and BSU students attending
each other’s events for the educational experience. “If we can erase that petty mindset that comes with University students who are so centered upon making sure that their individual organization or their resume, or these superficial things, are so padded with junk, then we can really make change,” Reed said. University alum Donavan McKinney, another panelists, took a different approach to the idea of solidarity. Though he echoed Reed’s sentiments about coming together as a campus community, McKinney said he advocated for the Muslim and Black communities coming together economically, by making contributions to one another’s
organizations and events. LSA senior Lehman Robinson, who attended the event, said he has personally struggled with the intersectionality of his Black and Muslim identities. “Being a Black Muslim it is important to combine our communities and I found it hard to be Black and be Muslim at the same time,” Robinson said. “I find it harder to go into the BSU being Muslim.” This is the third and final MSA event for Black Heritage Month. MSA also hosted a discussion of the African and African-American history of Islam, and a talk on mass incarceration from the lens of a Muslim narrative leading up to Thursday’s panel.
Odeh’s verdict vacated by federal appeals court A federal appeals court approved an appeal on Thursday in the case of Rasmea Odeh, a former Jackson resident originally found guilty for lying on immigration forms, the Detroit Free Press reported. Odeh, originally from Palestine, was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan for not revealing her role in a 1969 civilian bombing in Israel when entering the United States. Her case quickly became a rallying point for Palestinian rights groups around the country. A panel of appeals judges called into question the exclusion of evidence related to Odeh’s post traumatic stress disorder. Though the appeals court vacated the U.S. District Court’s decision, it did not explicitly call for a new trial.
Workplace shooting in Kansas plant Four to seven people have been killed and 20 injured in a workplace shooting in Hesston, Kan. on Thursday, NPR reported. The suspected shooter, identified by employees as coworker Cedric Ford, opened fire at Excel Industries, a local manufacturing plant. According to a local sheriff, Ford was fatally shot by authorities. Nearby Hesston College put the campus on lockdown in response to the shooting. About 375 students, plus staff members, remained on school grounds for several hours. -RIYAH BASHA
LOCK ARD’S ART
versity officials discussed several benefits of the proposed facility. For students, the new center will mean the opportunity for increased seating on each bus, Hank Baier, associate vice president for facilities and operations, said. “We currently cannot service articulated buses at our current facility,” Baier said. “We can transport more passengers
OPINION From Page 1 sity — and, in turn, students — money. According to a newly released report analyzing public transit alternatives in Ann Arbor, a light rail is the most cost-effective option. That being said, the entire project is estimated to cost between 500 and 700 million dollars and add an additional 8-percent increase in annual operating costs to both the University and the city of Ann Arbor. Subsequently, in the immediate future, students could see a tuition hike. It should be noted, however, that similar
CITY From Page 2
KRISTINA PERKINS /Daily
time that they can’t spend on other things.” Councilmember Chip Smith (D–Ward 5) echoed many of Briere’s points, adding that he is disappointed in DEQ’s continued failure to update its 1,4-dioxane standards, and that there is a lack of trust in the community of DEQ. “Frankly, DEQ’s got a little
between North Campus and Central Campus, which is our biggest student demand.” The center’s future North Campus location will also mean buses will no longer need to drive from the current facilities’ South Campus location to North Campus each morning to begin their routes, meaning less fuel will be used, Baier added. “The more people we put per trip, the better our emissions characteristics, so it also helps us with our environmental goal,” he said.
projects in the past have been paid for with a combination of federal, state and University funding, along with public and private partnerships. The University would not be taking on this project alone. Though the project would be expensive in the immediate future, it would likely save the University and students money in the long run. A light rail would provide an easy, accessible, convenient, ultimately less expensive and more environmentally friendly way to bridge the gulf between our campuses and greatly improve the quality of student and city life.
bridge building to do on Monday night,” Smith said. “We’ve been very patiently waiting for (the new standards) as this plume creeps closer and closer to the river and impacts more and more private wells.” “Their failure to deliver on this is a pretty big failure, in light of the DEQ’s failures in other areas — namely Flint — I think there is rightfully an awful lot of concern in our community,” Smith added.
Mayor Christopher Taylor expresses his support for new water cleanup standards at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting in the City Council Chambers on Feb. 1, 2016.
COUNCIL From Page 1 and you can see what ward they’re in,” said Jacqueline Beaudry, Ann Arbor city clerk, in an interview. “Students can choose to register to vote in Ann Arbor and some do.” To have their name on the ballot for primary elections, which will take place in August, partisan candidates must submit a petition containing 100 signatures by April 19. To verify a signature is viable, Beaudry said the city cross-references the petition with a database of registered voters, which is linked to the Secretary of State. According to Michigan law, voter registration and drivers operating licenses must have the same address. Beaudry said only one candidate — Diane Giannola, a Democrat seeking the Ward 4 seat currently held by Krapohl — has filed a completed petition as of Thursday, though petitions for others have already begun to cir-
culate. Giannola is a former member of the Ann Arbor Planning Commission, and works as in the University of Michigan’s Tech Transfer lab as a Venture Accelerator Manager. She is a University alum. Ann Arbor resident Will Leaf has also pulled petitions to represent the First Ward. He is attempting to run again after challenging current councilmember Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) last year. Leaf intends to run as a Democrat, hoping to fill the seat currently held by Sumi Kailasapathy (D–Ward 1). Kailasapathy has not yet pulled a petition for re-election. There are aso independent candidates, such as Ann Arbor resident Kevin Leeser in Ward 5, running. Independant candidates must file a petition comparable to those for partisan candidates by July 21 to be on the November general election ballot. Leeser has pulled petitions to run as an independent candidate for a seat representing the 5th Ward. He lost in last year’s elections to Chip Smith (D–Ward 5), when he ran as a write-in candi-
date. Lesser is a U-M Health System nurse and University alum. This year he is vying to fill the seat on Council currently held by Warpehoski. In last year’s campaign, Leeser focused primarily on bicycle and pedestrian safety. He has also expressed opposition to the ongoing Ann Arbor deer cull, of which Warpehoski is in favor. For both mayoral and Council seats, each term lasts two years, with half of Council eligible for reelection each year. This year is also a mayoral election year — Taylor, currently running for mayor without opposition, pulled his petitions last month. Candidates running for mayor must collect 50 signatures from residents in each ward of the city, requiring them to collect a total of 250 signatures. “Even if he had, say, 100 but they were all from the Fifth Ward, he’d still need to get the 50 from each of the other wards,” Beaudry said. Daily Staff Reporter Marlee Breakstone contributed reporting to this article.
MCITY From Page 1 allows us to explore what is possible in the future of transportation, as well as apply learnings to today’s road safety opportunities, including driving apps, on-demand services and commercial fleets,” Zendrive CEO Jonathan Matus said in the release. Representatives from Zendrive were also unavailable for comment Thursday evening. To help create Mcity, the University partnered with many of the world’s leading auto companies such as Honda, Ford and
DIET From Page 2 order, and over 70 percent of all students screened were somewhat dissatisfied with their bodies. Ayub emphasized the need for more resources to help com-
General Motors. In addition to Mcity, the state of Michigan is home to 375 automotive research centers and hosts the highest concentration of industrial and mechanical engineers in the country. The 32-acre testing site simulates urban and suburban environments using traffic signs, sidewalks, construction obstacles and even potholes. Ford became the first auto industry to use Mcity to test its driverless car technology by testing how its LiDAR sensors — sensors that use laser beams to gauge the surrounding environment — would operate in the winter.
bat the prevalence of such disorders on campus. “We saw a need that there wasn’t enough conversation of how to turn awareness into activism,” Ayub said. Read more online at michigandaily.com
Opinion
4 — Friday, February 26, 2016
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com SHOHAM GEVA EDITOR IN CHIEF
CLAIRE BRYAN AND REGAN DETWILER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LAURA SCHINAGLE MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
I
When a woman is rejected
was recently rejected when I took a chance and decided to ask out the guy I’m into. To be quite honest, it was mortifying. I’m still trying to come back from it. The moment it happened, I texted everyone I knew, frantically hoping for someone to tell me it wasn’t the end of the world, even though to me it was. It was among the dozen or so replies I OLIVIA received in the wake of my PUENTE dilemma that I realized just how useless it is to seek comfort after something as silly as someone saying no. There’s this weird habit among girls when it comes to helping each other face rejection. When a boy says no to us, it’s a knee-jerk reaction to exclaim “He’s intimidated! We’re too smart, we’re too pretty, we’re too funny and they’re too insecure, too scared or their egos are too fragile to be able to deal with it.” As though the worst thing in the world is for a boy to just genuinely not like us. I’ll tell you right now I’m the furthest thing from being intimidatingly pretty, smart or funny. I stand at 4 foot 11 with frizzy hair and big scary eyes. I laugh way too hard at my own jokes even when no one else is laughing. I’ve been known to make awkward comments and talk far too often about chickens. I’m nothing extraordinary. In fact, I’m a little weird. There’s no way anyone could ever find me the least bit intimidating, unless I’m hungry and even then I’m probably more akin to the puny Scrappy Doo, always futilely trying to fight the big monsters. The other fraction of the answers I received consisted of some variation of “You don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with you anyways.” Technically this is true. I don’t want a guy to lie and string me along pretending to like me for the sake of protecting my feelings. I under-
stand what my friends are saying is only a defense mechanism to try to make me feel better. But I don’t think we should cut down the guy who rejects one of us, or tell each other that we “wouldn’t want to be with him anyways” — because we do. We want to be with the boy who doesn’t like us. We still think he’s great and his rejection isn’t a good judge of his character. We’re allowed to be hurt and still want the boy who doesn’t look at us in that way. I think that’s OK. Sometimes we like a boy and he doesn’t feel the same. Is there something inherently wrong with him for not being into me? Am I an unlovable little troll? I like to think of this as the cultural equivalent of men saying women are crazy when we show our emotions. It makes us feel inferior, as though we are unable to handle ourselves. The implication is very much the same when we jump so fast to the conclusion that men are just intimidated of a woman asking them out — that men can’t handle not being the dominant figure. How many times have we, as women, rejected a guy who was perfectly nice based on a simple lack of attraction? It was nothing against them. We weren’t intimidated by their intelligence, their looks or how funny they were. They were perfectly wonderful guys. We just didn’t view that guy in that way. So why is it so hard to accept the same might go for us? Guess what? Sometimes men just don’t like us. Plain and simple. There’s nothing wrong with us and there’s nothing wrong with them. Moments like mine are humbling reminders that I’m good enough regardless of whether or not he likes me. Rejection sucks, but it’s not a testament to who I am as a person and it doesn’t mean he’s terrible for saying no. Sometimes a simple no is all we need to hear for us to move on to things that are better for ourselves. —Olivia Puente can be reached at opuente@umich.edu.
KEVIN SWEITZER | OP-ED
Racism disguised as justice
Earlier this month, rookie NYPD Officer Peter Liang was convicted of manslaughter for the death of Akai Gurley. This punishment is being hailed as a landmark conviction in the fight to stop police brutality and the repeated shootings of unarmed Black men by the police. However, Gurley’s death differs from many other shootings because Officer Liang did not intentionally shoot, but rather accidentally discharged his weapon, which ricocheted into Mr. Gurley. Also controversially, Liang was only a rookie, and was paired with another rookie and placed in one of the most dangerous housing projects in New York City. He wasn’t properly trained in when to use his weapon, and didn’t have a superior officer present to direct him. While I am happy there is finally some degree of justice for a shooting of an unarmed Black man by a police officer, I am not happy the NYPD has made Officer Liang — an Asian American — the scapegoat for hundreds of shootings perpetrated by white officers. In this case, rather than seeking real justice, it feels as though the NYPD is going after a minority officer to “make up” for hundreds of unjust killings. Since 1999, there have been more than 175 fatal shootings by on-duty officers in New York City. Of these, only three have led to indictments. Before the conviction of Liang, only one shooting led to a conviction. That case, the 2003 shooting of Ousmane Zongo, involved a plainclothes officer intentionally shooting an unarmed Black man in the back four times. That officer, Bryan Conroy, is white and was convicted of criminally negligent homicide. He was sentenced to probation. Now, Officer Liang is being sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for accidentally discharging his weapon. In a perfect world, justice would be served for every unjust shooting, but unfortunate-
ly, this is not a perfect world. Eric Garner’s murderer was let off the hook in the same city, despite a video showing him violating a protocol by putting Garner in a chokehold and killing him. Even other accidental police shootings, like the shooting of Aiyana StanleyJones in Detroit, led to charges being dropped and jail avoided. In the case of Jones, a white Detroit police officer killed a seven-year-old girl in her sleep during a SWAT raid on the wrong house. His charges were dropped, despite the fact that he had accidentally killed a young girl. The only difference between Liang and the DPD officer is their race. I’d like to stress that I believe Peter Liang should go to prison. Anyone who kills another person, criminal or cop, should face justice. The problem is this shooting is another example of racial discrimination against people of color by the justice system. This sentiment is highlighted by the New York City City Comptroller John Liu, who said, “In the wake of unfortunately so many deaths of unarmed Black men, some cops gotta hang. The sentiment in the Asian community is: It’s easier to hang an Asian, because Asians, they don’t speak up.” And that is exactly what is going on in this case. Justice is necessary in our society. However, racial bias disguised as racial justice is not acceptable. Don’t be so quick to celebrate the conviction. Had Peter Liang been white, this case could have gone much differently. Maybe this is the first step in a long road to equality, but most likely, this is just another act of racism by the justice system. I won’t celebrate the conviction of Liang, but I will celebrate if one day, the officers like the ones who killed Eric Garner and Aiyana Jones — white men who knew what they were doing — face the same standard of justice as Peter Liang. —Kevin Sweitzer is an Editorial Board member.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Caitlin Heenan, Jeremy Kaplan, Ben Keller, Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala, Kit Maher, Madeline Nowicki, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland, Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke, Kevin Sweitzer, Rebecca Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung, Stephanie Trierweiler, Hunter Zhao
I
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Seven o’clock
t’s been a tough week. I was lucky enough to evade exams, but a smattering of papers, meetings and readings ate up all my time. Between the stress of school and the confusing weather outside, I couldn’t help but pine for summer. REBECCA For the 10th TARNOPOL straight year, I’m returning to camp in the summer. It’ll be my second year working in the camp’s trip center, where I’ll facilitate backcountry hiking and canoeing trips for campers ages nine to 17. The trips I lead are the same trips I took as a camper however many years ago. If you were to tell 11-year-old me that I’d be a tripper (as we’re so affectionately called), I probably wouldn’t have believed you. My relationship with my summer camp’s trip program has been complicated, to say the least. Capsizing canoes and pouring rain didn’t exactly make for the most desirable experience. Still, a disproportionate amount of my memories from camp — especially those from my earlier years there — are from camping trips, a mere three or four days out of the 24-day session. Perhaps the brightest memory I have from my trips as a camper is the way my trippers would respond to our pleas to know the time. No matter what point of the day it was, the time the trippers told us was always — infallibly — seven o’clock. Obviously as an 11-year-old, this was not an adequate answer to this question. (Granted, telling 11-yearold me it was 5:45 when the time was actually 5:46 wouldn’t have been an acceptable answer.) It felt almost evil that they’d withhold the exact time
— a seemingly harmless number — from us. It seemed the worst thing knowing the time would do was loan us some form of comfort or control. My summer camp has since realized that withholding the time from campers on trips merely heightens their anxiety, especially for those campers who have never been on a trip before. As a tripper, I am no longer allowed to tell my campers it’s seven o’clock. But I’ve come to question whether or not this “ban” is a good thing. Two summers ago, I read Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” which focused primarily on how technology changes discourse within a society. In the first chapter of this book, Postman uses the concept of time to argue how technology changes human perception and behavior. He argues that minutes and seconds never existed before the creation of the clock. The power of nature as timekeeper quickly subsided to these quantifiable measures of time. I had never thought about our concept of time being based solely on man-made conventions before, and, by extension, I had never thought about the implications of such an unnatural mode of telling time. And while structured time may be necessary for societal organization and progress, perhaps humans were not meant to lead lives according to the point values affixed to seconds and minutes and hours. Yet how often do we find ourselves obsessing over these arbitrary measures of time? As students, we’re constantly reminded of deadlines, meetings and lectures, rigid in time, dictating our every action. Even as I write this article, I fret over the fact that I only have 26 more hours to complete it, and between now and then I have classes to go to, meals to eat and homework to finish. To compensate for the limited number of hours in a day, I often
forgo opportunities to do things I actually want to do in order to free up more time for the assignments that demand completion by a certain date and hour. Instead of reading a book I’ve been waiting to read, I’ll work on an English assignment; instead of exploring Ann Arbor, I’ll practice chemistry problems. Of course, I attend this university to receive an education, and I must do these things to rightfully earn my degree. I also find time to participate in activities I enjoy, but I can’t help but yearn for the days where I take out trips. When I lead trips, I get to break free from the constructs of time. The only deadline we have is the time the bus comes back to pick us up and take us home. The rest of the time we get to spend how we choose. On trips, we eat not because it is time to do so, but because we’re hungry; we sleep not because it’s late, but because we’re tired; we act not because we feel like we’re wasting time sitting idly, but because we want to do so. When we forget about time, we allow our spirits to run wild and free. And as a result, the gratification we feel from our actions is amplified greatly. As college students, we constantly try to find ways to fill our time, whether it’s catching up on a class’s reading or making progress toward our inevitable careers. In this, we often neglect that our college years are some of the last we have to do the things we’ve always wished to do without defaulting on our responsibilities. Soon enough, we will have jobs and families and other obligations to tend to on a daily basis. So why not take some time off and do the things we love without worrying about the passing hours? I may not be allowed to say it to my campers this summer, but for me, it’ll always be seven o’clock. —Rebecca Tarnopol can be reached at tarnopol@umich.edu.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE “For many years, it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security — it undermines it” — President Barack Obama, during an address Tuesday morning.
Intimacy, sex and anxiety I lowered myself onto a shrinkwrapped examination table and focused on the ceiling tile grid above me while my physical therapist prodded me with a cold, metal ultrasound probe. I rustled the sanitary paper on the table as I winced in anticipation HANNAH for the pain that MAIER inevitably followed the procedure. I never expected that such a painful physical condition would be incited by a mental illness. I have experienced very acute pelvic pain for as long as I can remember. Pelvic pain frequently occurs in women as a response to different stress factors. For those who don’t know what pelvic pain feels like, it can feel anywhere from a slight cramping to a needle poking you in your abdomen or lower pelvic area. Pelvic pain is often chronic, and is frequently induced in women by certain stressors, such as sexual intercourse or pregnancy. Unfortunately, in my case, the sharp pelvic pain occurred during and after sex. As you can imagine, this made sex extremely painful, frustrating and sometimes impossible. For the most part, my partners were sympathetic to my situation, but I remained frustrated. To this day, I believe that being able to have consensual and enjoyable sex is a very important part of a healthy relationship. Not being able to experience the intimacy that comes with sexual intercourse was deeply exhausting. The cause of the pain was unknown, but my primary doctor referred me to a physical therapist
at the University of Michigan’s Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital with the intuition that physical therapy might be a good first course of action to take. I put on a gown twice a week and sat on an examination table in a small, softly lit room and waited for a doctor to direct me in embarrassing pelvic-strengthening physical therapy exercises. With every visit, the pelvic exercises became more invasive and mentally challenging. I couldn’t even begin to tackle certain exercises due to mental roadblocks that I was too scared to overcome. I questioned if the embarrassment was worth the physical therapy visits because, after all, this was a shot in the dark. No doctor knew if these exercises alone would actually help fix my problem. I noticed very little changes in my conditions after six months of mentally straining physical therapy. Recently, I learned that my generalized anxiety disorder strongly attributed to the presence of the pelvic pain that I experienced. The physical pain I experienced was agonizing, but the mental suffering was worse. I worried incessantly about pleasing my partner or the act of sex itself. This worry triggered my body to defend itself by signaling my pelvis to contract, making penetration painful. I started to associate sex with pain and as a result of that I avoided sexual and romantic relationships with men and women in fear of the embarrassment that came with intercourse. It was noticeable that as my anxiety toward the situation grew, my condition worsened. I started to develop an unreasonable fear of the pain, and I was unable to progress in my physical therapy exercises without going into a panic. As I treated my anxiety, I noticed a change in my level of personal
comfort during romantic situations. My physical responses in these situations also benefitted tremendously as I paired physical therapy exercises with anxiety treatments. Painful penetration is a symptom shared by women who have anxiety. It is common for women with anxiety to experience the inability to self lubricate, making sex painful. Anxiety-induced pelvic pain is another noteworthy example of how mental health directly affects physical wellbeing in women. It is important to be aware that, in many women, pelvic problems go untreated due to the lack of knowledge on this health issue. For a long time, I didn’t know what caused the pain. I went in for physical therapy and ultrasounds, and even debated receiving steroid shots, all in the hope of relieving even the smallest amount of pain. It became evident to me that women’s health takes a backseat to men’s health when I learned that limited research has been done on the causes of pelvic problems in women. It continues to be very strange to me that even though many women suffer from this condition, there is a lack of interest in medical research on this topic. Women have long been neglected in the medical world, especially women who come from backgrounds of abuse and poverty. It is important that we continue to encourage women’s mental and physical health research so that we can produce knowledge and resources and make them widely available. We can create a strong support network between women through the sharing of personal anecdotes. The solidarity that we develop when we share our stories has the power to give us the courage to inspire change in women’s health. —Hannah Maier can be reached at hannamai@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
TV REVIEW
‘Love’ is complex By SAM ROSENBERG Daily Arts Writer
Most TV shows that face the subject of love head-on tend to take a formulaic route: boy-meetsgirl premise, simplistic supporting charac- Aters, romantic setting, some Love sort of conflict Series and resolu- Premiere tion, etc. It’s a rather broad Netflix and touchy topic that has been recycled over and over again for years in pop culture. But who says love doesn’t still contain some artistic merit? For Netflix’s newest original series, “Love,” all those clichés about love, romance and relationships are thrown out the window for a practical, grounded perspective on every aspect of the show’s namesake. Despite its grating, generic-sounding name, “Love” is a down-to-earth, charming comedy bolstered by strong writing, two standout leads and a stinging sense of realism. Set in L.A. (my hometown), the story follows two thirtysomethings, the socially awkward Gus (Paul Rust, “I Love You Beth Cooper”) and the aimless Mickey (Gillian Jacobs, “Life Partners”), and their developing relationship from strangers to friends to possibly more than friends. Through awkward dates, revealing confrontations between exes and other romantic and sexual misadventures, Gus and Mickey successfully and hilariously guide the show’s exploration of relationships and female outlooks on modern love.
Executive-produced by “Trainwreck” and “Knocked Up” director Judd Apatow, “Love” is exactly what you would expect from an Apatow production: risqué and vulgar, yet full of poignancy and heart. It isn’t always laugh-outloud funny, but for those who enjoy observational humor within the underpinnings of day-to-day conversations or physical cringe comedy, “Love” is the perfect show to watch. With a UCB pedigree, Rust masterfully embodies the nerdy Midwestern nice guy archetype as Gus, but his character’s deepseated aggression and disappointment with life’s constant downfalls elevates Rust’s acting. Having been on six seasons of the NBCturned-Yahoo! cult hit “Community,” Jacobs effortlessly delivers as Mickey, transcending the wellworn high-functioning alcoholic archetype through a subversive, passionate performance. Though its first season is only 10 episodes, “Love” is steadily paced, the characters and plotlines unraveling gradually with each episode (Mickey and Gus don’t even meet until the end of the first episode). One of “Love” ’s greatest strengths is making sharp examinations on the ecstatic highs and destructive lows of human interaction through its protagonists’ points of view. The third episode, “Tested,” finds Gus having trouble with his job as an on-set teacher tutor for a bratty young TV actress (Iris Apatow, “This is 40”), while Mickey has sex with her boss, radio host Dr. Greg Colter (Brett Gelman, “Another Period”), to avoid getting fired. “Party in the Hills” depicts Gus and Mickey having different experiences at the same party, with Gus spontaneously jamming out with a
few hipster dads to Paul McCartney and Wings’s “Jet,” while Mickey tackles an uncomfortable situation with two former beaus (stand-up comedian Kyle Kinane and Rich Sommer, “Mad Men”). In “The Date,” Mickey stays home and does whatever she can to avoid drinking again after going sober, while Gus and Mickey’s perky Aussie roommate Bertie (the winning Claudia O’Doherty, “Trainwreck”) go out on a date that twists and turns into an unexpected outcome. In addition to a tongue-in-cheek title sequence and an eclectic soundtrack that includes Queen, Jamie xx, Diane Coffee and Biz Markie, “Love” is stylistically onpoint. As a native of Los Angeles, I can definitely say that the cinematography in “Love” does a fantastic job of encapsulating both the beauty and energizing nightlife of the city, from the hipster-friendliness of Echo Park to the laid-back hive of Silver Lake. It’s typical to just display West Hollywood or Beverly Hills, but “Love” unearths some hidden spots in the L.A. backdrop, which only adds to the visual and emotional experience of watching the show. “Love” isn’t necessarily about falling in love or finding love, but about human connection and interaction in the realest, rawest sense. The show doesn’t romanticize or glamorize love; it simply shows the complicated, troubled and occasionally amusing nature intertwined within the context of love, whether it’s dealing with a breakup from a long-term relationship, a toxic attachment to an old lover or throwing out a collection of Blu-Ray DVDs to signify the media’s distorted idea of what love really is.
Friday, February 26, 2016 — 5
ALBUM REVIEW ALBUM REVIEW
BARSUK
Yung Bill Hader on the right.
Breezy, happy ‘Light’ By DANIELLE IMMERMAN Daily Arts Writer
In my mind, I always think I like Ra Ra Riot more than I actually do. The thing about Ra Ra Riot is that they have a few jams, but only Bjust a few. “Can You Tell” and Need Your “The Orchard” are the shit, Light and if anyone Ra Ra Riot says otherwise they’re just Barsuk lying. The problem I now realize, though, is that “Can You Tell” and “The Orchard” are the only Ra Ra Riot songs that I’ll never tire of — every other song they’ve ever produced sounds identical and annoying after three listens. And as I’m sitting here at Espresso Royale listening to their latest album, Need Your Light, I find it hard to decipher one song from the next. Produced by Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend, Need Your Light is a 10-track, feel-good album falling
somewhere in between Passion Pit’s high-energy, upbeat vibes and Vampire Weekend’s baroque/ indie-rock sound. Overall, the album as a whole isn’t awful — Ra Ra Riot’s sound has come a long way, no doubt. With dazzling violins intertwined with Wes Miles’s iconic chirpy vocals and electronic synth beats, Need Your Light is one of the least depressing albums I’ve ever listened to. It could be played at an ’80s dance party, on the beach as you sip a pina colada or as you lay in an eno, swaying peacefully on a breezy summer evening, high on all sorts of good stuff. Despite the fact that this album almost took away the pain of my broken foot with its peaceful, positive energy, I failed to add a single song to any playlist. It’s not that any song in particular is bad, they just all sound the same. For example, “Absolutely” is a pretty solid jam, in that I could play it in the car for a few weeks without tiring of it, but will it be played a year from now? Nah. Similarly, I would dub “Call Me Out” a highlight of the album — it’s catchy, features the iconic Ra Ra Riot
violin/cello integration and surprisingly features lyrics that actually vary every line or two — but, again, I can barely remember what it sounds like after listening to the rest of the album. The only significantly different songs, at the end of the day, aren’t even Ra Ra Riot products at all — Rostam was featured on “Waters” and “I Need Your Light,” resulting in the two best and the two most stylistically distinct songs on the album. “Waters” is a smooth, calming track while “I Need Your Light” is just all around solid. But I think it’s only solid because Rostam made it solid. It’s less synthpop and more indie-rock, Vampire Weekend-esque with the soaring vocals and lack of bombastic Ra Ra Riot instrumentals; the minute “I Need Your Light” ends, though, we’re back to the same old Ra Ra Riot sound that dominates the album. But this is where my song-bysong commentary ends — the remainder of the album isn’t much to elaborate on aside from the fact that it very well might have been intended for Cyndi Lauper to sing.
TV REVIEW
Intelligent ‘Yorker’ ‘Cooked’ brings food back to the TV table TV REVIEW
By SOPHIA KAUFMAN Daily Arts Writer
The New Yorker is known for its polished prose, witty cartoons and sophisticated style. With Amazon Prime Video’s “The New YorkAer Presents”, the magazine’s The New elegance has been transmut- Yorker ed to screen. Presents Overseen by Series Premiere Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Amazon Prime Gibney (“Going Video Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”), the series offers short narrative films, documentary work, poetry, animation and cartoons, as well as exposure to some critically acclaimed artists of a variety of mediums. Compelling in both form and content, “The New Yorker Presents” seems poised not only to become the strongest current option of docutainment but to be another weapon in Amazon’s battle as it strives to reach the kind of popularity that Netflix has a streaming service. The pilot opens with a segment on people that have the “Truman Show Delusion” — they think their lives are being filmed without their consent for reality television — which immediately hooks viewers. It features a segment from Gibney about how 9/11 could have been prevented, if the CIA hadn’t kept
information from the FBI. Though a complex and perhaps risky segment to start out with — especially considering they only have 34 minutes to fill — it’s comprehensive; an outline is given of all the information to which the CIA had access and withheld from important FBI agents. By analyzing these events through the tension between these two organizations, the writers of this segment stay away from sounding too much like governmental conspiracy theorists. The show adds a dose of humor in the form of a short narrative film, “Le Café de Blazac” — shot with a perhaps semi-ironic yet still aesthetically pleasing sepia filter — in which Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”) plays Honore de Blazac, the 19th century French author known for drinking unbelievable amounts of coffee daily. An even shorter comedic piece by Simon Rich (creator of “Man Seeking Woman”) features Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”) playing God speaking to Brett Gelman (“The Other Guys”), who runs around preaching in his underwear, as per God’s instructions. Within the first few episodes, there’s an interview with performance artist Marina Abramovic. Due to time constraints, it feels like a more superficial introduction to her work than she may deserve, but it’s functional and fun nonetheless. The main investigative piece is a profile on biologist Tyrone Hayes, which is as entertaining as it is informative. Finally, one of
the most evocative pieces is the exploration of racialized violence in America through art by writer Edwidge Danticat, in a segment titled “Black Bodies in Motion and in Pain,” inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series. The b-roll in “The New Yorker Presents” is just as skilfully made and beautiful to watch as the footage from the main stories, and the score always perfectly complements the segment. The animated cartoon sequences and The New Yorker office vignettes provide breathing space in between the more complex stories, and balance out the journalistic and creative elements. Unlike other NYC-centric media, it’s completely accessible to those who aren’t familiar with the magazine — though for those that do read it, there are familiar touches. The style of The New Yorker’s copy — down to the fonts — is echoed in the cinematography. “The New Yorker Presents” may feel uneven in terms of what kind of content is in each episode, but that doesn’t detract from it; rather, it’s one of the strongest points of the show. The combination and complementation of documentary-style work, animated cartoons, narrative films and storytelling, poetry and conversations with artists is what makes the series fun to watch in a way that a straight documentary often struggles to accomplish.
TV REVIEW
Sweet ‘Togetherness’ By BEN ROSENSTOCK Senior Arts Editor
On paper, the ongoing plots of “Togetherness” seem recycled from practically every other dram- Aedy about white people Togetherness in their 30’s. Season 2 PreBrett Piermiere, Sundays son (co-creat 10:30 p.m. ator Mark Duplass, HBO “The One I Love”) and his wife Michelle (Melanie
Lynskey, “Two and a Half Men”) desperately try to reignite their spark, which has faded after years of marriage. Meanwhile, Brett’s dorky best friend, Alex (Steve Zissis, “Jeff, Who Lives at Home”), struggles to deal with his feelings for Tina (Amanda Peet, “The Whole Nine Yards”), Michelle’s sister who’s way out of his league. The show works so beautifully, though, because these characters are more than their apparent stock roles. With Duplass’s wide-eyed earnestness, Brett is well-meaning in a way that makes his occasional whininess endearing. As well, his friendship with Alex is one of
the most charming male friendships on TV, supportive and joyful even during their most unlikable moments. In the second season premiere, though, Duplass isn’t the only central player at the top of his game. Following a radical period of weight loss for Zissis, Alex is now a successful actor filming a movie in New Orleans, with a hot young girlfriend of his own. He’s just as kind and funny as he was last year, but his smile is wider and more confident after spending some time away from Tina and gaining some professional success. Seeing this happy new Alex, Tina can’t
By DANIELLE YACOBSON Daily Arts Writer
“For is there any practice less selfish, any labor less alienated, any time less wasted, than preparing something delicious and nourishing for people B+ you love?” Bestselling author Cooked and journalist Documentary Michael Pollan Series Premiere writes about his, and our, rela- Netflix tionship with food in a poetic cadence, sending an ode to history and the years of evolution that have been shaped by what, where and why we eat. Based on Pollan’s “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation,” Netflix brings his culinary stories and insights to screen in “Cooked,” a four-part documentary series that ties food to the core of our civilization and humanity. Each episode of “Cooked” focuses on one of the four natural elements — fire, water, air and ground — and explores the universal impact that it has had on both biology and human nature. Continuing the stories of subjects in Pollan’s book, the documentary
help but awkwardly step in and try to regain his favor, buying him a ridiculously expensive compass for his birthday. Whether Tina has real feelings for Alex or if she just selfishly craves his puppy-love attention, she can’t stand their awkward dynamic following his first season declaration of love for her. Peet is hilarious in her cringe-inducing portrayal of Tina as transparently jealous and desperate. Lynskey is another standout, her expressions subtle yet managing to convey so much. The first season ended in a cliffhanger, with Brett pledging to be a better husband while Michelle simultaneously commits her first infidelity, sleeping with her friend David (John Ortiz, “Silver Linings Playbook”). Now, the full scene and its aftermath is shown to us in disturbingly immersive flashbacks, the sound
series takes on “food” from a global perspective, featuring individuals from countries like India, Morocco and Peru. While what we eat is so often categorized by culture and regional cuisine, “Cooked” is able to paint a picture that shows the act of feeding, in all its variety, as simple. “We are a product of cooking,” Pollan narrates, arguing that the very act of heating up our food is what made us human from the start. “Fire,” the first episode of the series, primes the audience to explore humanity through the lens of cooking as a group of aboriginal hunters sets fire to a deserted landscape. It burns, catching from shrub to shrub, but however foreign their way of hunting might seem, “Cooked” effectively shows that the simplest natural elements connect us all at our most basic need. From economics to chemistry, “Cooked” is able to clearly articulate the complicated systems in preparing food without losing its audience in the process. Covering an impressive range, Pollan effortlessly transitions from detailing the microflora composition of “designer cheeses,” products of modern fermentation that favorably alter human immune systems, to discussing the socio-
logical implications of Sunday family dinners. The series presents food as a relationship, not a product, and recognizes the complexity of the topic without entitlement or blame. Simply put, the series calls for a cooking renaissance. It does not push a political or activist agenda down the throats of its viewers, nor does it scream of boycotting corporations that infiltrate our minds and bodies with high fructose corn syrup. “Cooked” doesn’t forcefully rally for some monumental change in society, but rather, hopes to reconnect us with nature. Pollan explores the timeconsuming, complicated and beautiful relationship between humans and food, as sweeping shots of desert landscapes and exquisite close-ups of bubbling stew show that humanity simply could not exist without the primal act of mixing water and ingredients and then heating it up. The docu-series is soft-spoken and light, and while it fails to capture an unwavering and undivided focus, it succeeds in gracefully maneuvering through the technical aspects of cooking as well as backing out to a cultural lens. Instead of lecturing people back to the kitchen, “Cooked” lures them back in.
design filled with nightmarish bass courtesy of Braids’s “Lammicken.” It’s painful, over the course of the episode, to see Brett striving to be the perfect husband, planning little playful surprises and asserting his dedication to Michelle. Brett notices that something’s been off with Michelle, but he attributes it to her distrust of his romantic gestures. He has no idea that Michelle has had an affair, and going forward, the show will surely build towards this devastating revelation. As affecting as the flashback scene is, Zissis and Peet share the strongest scene of the episode, the ending scene. Frustrated with the way Alex has been subtly pushing Tina away, she confronts him at the ice machine in their New Orleans hotel. After an episode full of wide smiles and gentle media-
tion, Alex finally lets his confident movie star persona fall away, and he expresses all the hurt Tina caused him by breaking his heart. It’s a magnificent scene, with both the characters dropping the passive-aggressive bullshit and laying their emotions on the table. Above all, that emotional honesty is what’s most impressive about “Togetherness.” The series easily could’ve been just another carbon copy of every other show of its genre, but its sincerity and genuineness makes it something heartfelt and deeply emotional. Like the Pfefferman dynasty of “Transparent” or the Cole family of “Casual,” the friends at the center of “Togetherness” help the series transcend the genre’s clichés. To watch them, feel for them and become deeply invested in them is a special feeling.
Arts
6 — Friday, February 26, 2016
TV REVIEW
‘Girls’ grows up By HAILEY MIDDLEBROOK Daily Arts Writer
When “Girls” debuted on HBO in 2012, the show filled a hole in the media: a realistic portrayal of young people in New York City. Before, there was “Sex and the B+ City,” a show Girls about successful women, Season 5 established in Premiere, their careers, Sundays at looking for 10 p.m. romance; and “Gossip HBO Girl,” about the drama of trust fund teens on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. To viewers, the women on these shows were certainly #goals; there was no wardrobe more strongly coveted than Carrie Bradshaw’s, no love affair more worshipped than Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass’s. They were glamorous and fun, their problems always fixed with a mimosa and a new pair of Louboutins. And they were totally unrealistic. “Girls,” the semi-autobiographical brainchild of Lena Dunham (“Tiny Furniture”), tells a much less glamorized story of young women trying to make it in the Big Apple. Hannah (Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams, “Peter Pan Live!”), Jessa (Jemima Kirke, “Tiny Furniture”) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet, “The Kids Are Alright”) live as dysfunctional 20-somethings, navigating unpaid internships, disheveled apartments, college classes and awkward hook-ups. The girls of “Girls” are cring-
ingly narcissistic, needy and often self-destructive in their personal and professional lives — and while we try hard not to, we see our own millennial selves in them. Or, better yet, we know a self-absorbed Hannah, a micromanaging Marnie, an annoyingly aloof Jessa. Despite the show’s serious flaws — there isn’t a single person of color in the core cast, for instance — the series’s ugly familiarity, the raw and unfiltered misadventures, has kept an audience coming back for five seasons. But there’s a shift in season five: “Girls,” believe it or not, seems to be growing up. Since Lena Dunham announced in January that the show will end after six seasons, some closure is inevitable — as it’s still a scripted series, albeit a more realistic one, the girls need to find solidity (in life, jobs, relationships, etc.) by the show’s finale. For Marnie, adulthood is coming in hot — maybe a little too hot. Season five opens with Marnie standing before a window in an upstate New York cottage, dressed in full nude Spanx, glaring down at the preparations for her outdoor wedding. Turns out, she and her singing partner Desi (Ebon MossBachrach, “The Lake House”) have decided to marry after all, even though he’s a gradeA jerkface. But then again, it’s hard to feel sympathy for Marnie, who fails miserably at keeping her inner bridezilla under wraps. Though she insists on being a breezy bride — she tells Bebe (Bridget Everett, “Trainwreck”), the makeup artist, that she wants an artsy wedding that
still reflects her heritage as a “white Christian woman” — Marnie would rather die than have a hairpin out of place. Naturally, everything falls apart. Hannah, fresh from her stint as a junior high teacher, is back to her old selfish ways — bringing her date into the bridal room to hang out, then later sneaking out for a romp in the backseat of his car — and generally not paying attention to Marnie on the one day she deserves it. Jessa has a sneaky hook-up as well, with none other than Hannah’s ex-boyfriend, Adam (Adam Driver, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”). Even Bebe’s in the wrong: she misinterprets Marnie’s “Joni-Mitchell-meetsRalph-Lauren” hair and makeup vision as “Selena-Gomez-meetsJesus,” giving the bridal party shockingly bad makeovers. And on top of everything, Marnie’s biggest fear comes true: it rains for her outdoor wedding. After a hurricane-level meltdown, in which Marnie confronts Hannah about her lack of support as a friend and maid of honor (“The very least you could do right now is to pretend that I’m doing the right thing,” she says) the girls hug it out, Marnie wipes off her makeup and they all throw raincoats over their dresses. When life gives you lemons, I guess. Though Marnie’s marriage seems too unstable to last, her actions hint at more growth to come in “Girls,” which will be refreshing to see after years of the characters’ same old antics. But then again, the show prides itself on being realistic — and there’s nothing more human than sticking to habit.
Classifieds
RELEASE DATE– Friday, February 26, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Publishing tasks 6 Jack letters 9 “Hotel Imperial” (1927) star 14 Best New Artist Grammy winner after Alicia 15 Tesoro de la Sierra Madre 16 Horse play 17 Kitchen drawer? 18 It can be cured 19 “Beats me” 20 Québec quiche, e.g.? 23 Start of a weekly cry 24 “Either thou, __ ... must go with him”: Romeo 25 Ran into 26 Saying “It wasn’t me” when, in fact, it was? 33 Digitize, in a way 35 Squawk 36 Greenwich Village sch. 37 Set apart, as funds 39 Layer 40 Eastwood’s “Rawhide” role 42 Ref. book 43 Retail giant with stores in 23 U.S. states 45 Bit of power 46 “Wish we had built a bigger pyramid,” e.g.? 51 Feel poorly 52 Source of bills 53 Stretcher, to Huck Finn 56 Greeting from a faithful friend? 61 Sitar accompaniment 62 Citrus cooler 63 Sarge’s superior 64 “Hamlet” courtier 65 Fix 66 Supports illegally 67 Mary’s upstairs neighbor 68 Cooper creation 69 Performed, in the Bible
DOWN 1 Pass 2 Modern kerchief cousin 3 How many O. Henry stories end 4 Writer Janowitz 5 Sunny day phenomenon 6 Angora fabric 7 Republic since 1979 8 Search high and low 9 Legendary Australian outlaw 10 Fairness 11 “Treasure Island” castaway Ben 12 Step up? 13 Prefix with bar 21 George’s lyrical brother 22 __ alcohol: fusel oil component 27 Bed-in for Peace participant 28 “Blowin’ in the Wind” songwriter 29 Early spaceflight proponent Willy __ 30 Like petroglyphs 31 Nikita’s no
32 Sudden blow 33 Word processing command 34 Blockage 38 Bolivian border lake 39 Shade of green 41 Botanical beard 44 Smuggler’s unit 47 Wan 48 Caesar salad dressing ingredient
49 Acting guru Hagen 50 “Good for you” 54 OK components 55 Throw out 56 Load in a basket 57 River of Spain 58 Con man’s target 59 Falco of “Nurse Jackie” 60 Silk Road desert 61 2015 A.L. East champ
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By James Sajdak ©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
FILM PREVIEW
A24
This movie is too sad to joke about. :(
Daily Film Writers predict Oscar wins By DAILY FILM-WRITERS Best Picture: Who Will Win: “The Big Short,” the sensationalized account of the 2008 financial crisis, is sure to take home Best Picture, and it certainly deserves it. With the swerving cinematography and electrically intricate storyline, director Adam McKay (“Anchorman”) finds a way to simultaneously entertain and educate the American public about arguably the stodgiest, most boring industry. With its fresh, populist take on big business alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood, “The Big Short” is hard not to root for. Who Should Win: “Room,” the indie darling of this awards season, is the excruciating but uplifting tale of Jack (Jacob Tremblay, “Before I Wake”) and his Ma, played to perfection by
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02/26/16
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Brie Larson (“Trainwreck”). The beauty of “Room” comes from the dichotomy of being the most anxiety-producing film of the year and existing as a quiet testament to growing up, highlighting the love between parents and children. The humanity of the plot and the subtle but effective cinematography bolster the unadulterated power of the performances of Tremblay and Larson, leaving the viewer unnerved and exhilarated by the film’s close. — Rebecca Lerner Best Original Screenplay: Who Will Win: It can be easy to look toward the most harrowing or dramatic film when predicting the Best Original Screenplay winner, but overlooking equally clever but lighter films can lead to some unexpected upsets. “Spotlight,” which presents an incredibly precise mix of honest fact and subtle emotion in depicting Boston Globe journalists exposing the Catholic Church molestation cover-up, seems like the most likely winner for 2016. Who Should Win: Don’t let “Inside Out” ’s clever and engaging exploration of emotions within a developing mind fall completely to the side — it’s an unexpected but equally viable candidate for its ability to characterize such a complex concept. We often have trouble understanding feelings within ourselves, but “Inside Out” makes it look easy. — Lauren Wood Best Director Who Will Win: On the Oscar campaign trail, there’s no shortage of “The Revenant” hardship stories. Between the frigid temperatures and unique natural-light shooting, director Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Birdman”), who induces as much pain in his characters as Darren Aronofsky (“Noah”) or Stanley Kubrick (“The Shining”), crafted a mind-blowingly visceral survival story in the American West. Who Should Win: There’s an incredibly strong case to be made for George Miller (“Happy Feet”), whose “Mad Max” revival, “Fury Road,” stunned critics and audiences alike with its phenomenal effects, nearly 90 percent of which were practical. But my choice is Tom McCarthy (“Win Win”), whose Boston-focused journalism story, “Spotlight,” is perhaps the only movie ever to make a Microsoft Excel sequence absolutely riveting. — Daniel Hensel Best Actor Who Will Win: Leo’s not going to win because he deserves to (the Academy loves snubbing “deserving” winners). He’s going to win because he gave the sort of immersive performance award shows go crazy for. Remember when Matthew McConaughey almost starved to death for “Dallas Buyers Club,” or when Daniel Day-Lewis broke two ribs getting into character for “My Left Foot?” The Academy loves when actors suffer for their art, and Leo’s performance in “The Revenant” this year finds the actor at peak suffering. He slept in animal carcasses and ate raw liver for a month. He’s practically killing himself for the Oscar. And the Academy is going to go crazy for that. Who Should Win: “Room” featured both of the year’s strongest performances. Brie Larson is a deserving shoe-in for Best Actress, and her co-star,
nine-year-old Jacob Tremblay, should be a shoe-in for Best Actor. But he’s not even nominated. He’s not even nominated for Best Supporting Actor. And yet his performance as a young child who is born and raised in a small room is full of the one thing lacking in that of the actual nominees: honesty. The scene in which Tremblay comes eye-to-eye with the sky for the first time in his life is one of the year’s most powerful because Tremblay’s performance is so simple and pure. This year’s actual nominations for Best Actor are weak and disappointingly typical of the Oscars — older white guys playing biographical roles. Why not bring in a ringer and give Tremblay the recognition his performance deserves? — Madeleine Gaudin Best Actress Who Will Win: She has won Best Leading Actress from BAFTA, the SAG, the Golden Globes and Chicago Film Critics Association. If past awards are any indicator of who will win the Oscar (which they are), odds are good for Brie Larson as Ma in “Room.” Her performance is, in fact, incredible. She elicits such raw, visceral emotion, primarily interacting with only one other actor in a very confining set in the first half of the movie. Her liberation from the room that coincides with her emotional and mental incarceration is a frightening experience that’s well delivered by Larson. Through Larson’s performance, “Room” creates a vivid reality. Who Should Win: Although all the nominees are deserving of the Oscar in some respect, Saoirse Ronan’s (“Atonement”) performance in “Brooklyn” is especially heartwarming and beautiful — that said, her character in the movie naturally lends itself to this type of performance, so the difficulties of playing such a character are limited. Brie Larson’s performance, on the other hand, is downright impressive. She had little to work with (a single set and a child actor), yet she makes Ma feel like a real person. Larson has earned this Oscar. — Joe Wagner Best Cinematography Who Will Win: 13 nominations later, is it finally time for the acclaimed Coen brothers (“Hail Caesar!”) cinematographer Roger Deakins (“Unbroken”) to take home the gold? Not likely. Sicario looked great in a horribly dismal sort of way, but methinks the Academy will recognize Chivo’s downright breathtaking accomplishments with “The Revenant” as the visual splendor to win it all this year. It will be the third time Emmanuel Lubeszki’s (“Birdman”) won consecutively, and the only hat trick ever by a cinematographer at the Oscars. Who Should Win: Sorry Roger, but I’m going to have to go with one Mr. John Seale (“The English Patient”) on this one. “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the rare big-budget film where every single cent of the however-many-millions went to make sure every single frame was masterful — the intimate kind of masterful that can’t just be done in post. “Fury Road” had a unique splendor completely unmatched by any other action movie, even including films within its own franchise. Not even “The Revenant” ’s jaw-dropping nature photography could beat Seale’s ultrastylized wasteland. — Jacob Rich
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Bench gives ‘M’ a boost By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Editor
When sophomore forward Kameron Chatman jumped up for an offensive rebound midway through the second half in the Michigan men’s basketball team’s game against Northwestern on Wednesday, Caris LeVert and Zak Irvin rose, too, from their spots on the bench. The junior and senior guards popped out of their seats, fired up and animated, yelling encouragement at their younger teammate as he grabbed the offensive board and then drew a foul in the paint. Chatman sank both of his free throws to give the Wolverines (10-6 Big Ten, 20-9 overall) their first lead of the game en route to a comeback win over the Wildcats. With Irvin having an off night shooting and LeVert missing his 14th game of the season due to a lower-left-leg injury, Chatman bodying in for a rebound and coming through from the charity stripe was a welcome sight for the elder players. Chatman’s two free throws were part of a 19-point effort from Michigan’s bench Wednesday, taking some of the pressure off of Irvin and junior guard Derrick Walton Jr., who have sometimes been the Wolverines’ only reliable options with LeVert out. “We play team basketball regardless of what’s going on,” Walton said. “I don’t think it’s really reliant on me or Zak, it just so happens that we’ve been playing well. Guys like (sophomore guards Aubrey Dawkins and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman), they’re doing smaller things that are really starting to help.” Dawkins tallied 11 points after coming off the bench for Irvin. He sank four field goals and was a perfect 3-for-3 from deep. He also
Daily Sports Writer
Junior 184-pounder Domenic Abounader has been one of the leaders for the Michigan wrestling team this season. The first-year captain is 20-1 on the season, climbing all the way to the No. 2 national ranking for his weight class. But for those who knew him in high school — when he won three state championships with St. Edward High School outside Cleveland — Abounader’s success comes as no surprise. “The number one thing about Dom (is that) he’s about the most competitive kid I’ve ever been around,” said Abounader’s high school assistant coach, John Heffernan. “He wants to try to win everything. That kind of set him apart more than anything else.” There was a time in the early 2000s when you would look at the Wolverines’ roster and see St. Edward High School wellrepresented. The private school in Lakewood, Ohio, produced some impressive wrestlers for Michigan, including two-time national champion Ryan Bertin and All-Americans Andy Hrovat and Mike Kulczycki. Though that recruiting pipeline
SOFTBALL
Michigan heads out to California By AVI SHOLKOFF Daily Sports Writer
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Sophomore forward Kameron Chatman has played sparingly this season but grabbed a crucial rebound Wednesday.
did work on the boards, grabbing a game-high seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Ricky Doyle also added to the bench’s production. Doyle came in for junior forward Mark Donnal late in the second half after Donnal picked up his fourth foul, and he sank two late free throws down the stretch to help Michigan ice the game. Doyle finished with six points and two boards. “The bench was huge today,” Beilein said after the win. “Everything from Kam just getting in there and getting the rebound and making the foul shots, Ricky making those foul shots at the end, obviously Aubrey was a catalyst again for us.” On defense, Michigan held Northwestern’s bench to just 12 points, marking the first time since the Wolverines’ loss to Michigan State three weeks ago that they’ve had better bench
production against an opponent. Coming into Wednesday’s game, Michigan’s bench had been outscored, 80-41, in its previous four games. Unheralded starters such as Abdur-Rahkman and Donnal have had major contributions, too. Abdur-Rahkman led Michigan with 19 points Wednesday, and Donnal had 17 and 25 points against Ohio State and Maryland, respectively. But with the Wolverines’ lack of depth due to injuries, it’s more important now that they get production outside of their starting five. Last season, when Michigan was plagued by injuries, the bench was also a huge factor. The Wolverines’ non-starters played 38 percent of the team’s minutes last year and have played 33 percent of their minutes this year. In comparison, during Michigan’s Final Four run in the 2012-13 season, it was more
Abounader keeps tradition alive as St. Edward product By MIKE PERSAK
Friday, February 26, 2016 — 7
has started to die down recently, the Wolverines’ ears perked up when they heard Abounader’s name thrown around. “Over the years, we’ve had a nice relationship with the St. Edward High School program,” said Michigan head coach Joe McFarland. “When Dom was in his early high school years, people were telling me to keep an eye on him. So we just started following him, and it worked out really well for us.” Of course, a wrestler like Abounader wasn’t easy to catch. He had multiple offers from Division I schools, so the “nice relationship” the Wolverines have with St. Edward gave them a hand with Abounader’s recruitment. “Mike Kulczycky actually … came back and started helping St. Edward’s,” Abounader said. “He knew that Michigan was on my radar, and if I had questions, he would answer my questions. But he ultimately let me make my decision for me. Since the commitment, there have been a series of close calls for Abounader that have kept him from making it all the way to the top of his division. In his freshman year, he finished with a 16-11 record overall, losing a close
match in the first round of the NCAA Championships. In his sophomore year, Abounader finished 22-8 but was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Championships after another close match. Even though his one loss this year came to the only wrestler ranked ahead of him in his weight class — Cornell’s Gabe Dean — the big junior believes he has found himself since that loss, and now has what it takes to win the close matches that have felled him in the past. It was this hard work that Abounader has been putting in that earned him the distinction of being named captain of the team. “We like the way he approaches everything,” McFarland said. “He has a lot of grit and toughness to him, and we like that.” With the Big Ten Championships starting March 5 and the NCAA Championships on March 17, Abounader looks to put all of his hard work to good use in his attempt to defend his Big Ten title and add an national championship to his resume. If he does, just like all of his successes up to this point, it will come as no surprise to those who have followed him.
DAVID SONG/Daily
Junior Domenic Abounader has become the latest great Michigan wrestler to come out of St. Edward High School.
reliant on its starting five, with the bench accounting for just 20 percent of its minutes. “You see all of our good teams over the years, we had a bench that could come off and just get us some baskets,” Beilein said. “(Senior guard Spike Albrecht) would find somebody open, he would do something. (Former Michigan players) Jordan Morgan or Jon Horford would come off the bench and get something done, so that’s key for us. They’re earning the trust every day. We continue to work with them, and they’re doing it.” With just two regular-season games left and then the potential of playing multiple games on consecutive days in the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan’s bench could be the difference between staying on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament and locking in a spot on Selection Sunday.
In its opening weekend of play, the No. 2 Michigan softball team lost, 8-0, to No. 1 Florida, the first ranked team on its schedule. Last weekend, the Wolverines played No. 13 Florida State twice, defeating the Seminoles, 6-2 and 10-3, respectively. Friday, Michigan (8-1) heads to Palm Springs, Calif., where it will face two more ranked teams — No. 9 Washington and No. 12 Oklahoma — in addition to North Carolina State, a team that was ranked No. 23 just last week. The Wolverines will also face Oklahoma State and Long Beach State in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Michigan has shown it can compete with some of the top teams in the nation, and the upcoming tournament provides another opportunity for the Wolverines to match up against more high-quality competition. “We played some good teams this past weekend, and we had some close games,” said junior right-handed pitcher Megan Betsa on Wednesday. “That was good for us. Tight games are good. (They) help us learn, help us know what we need to work on.” Michigan will first compete against the Sooners, who have won seven straight games after losing their first two. Oklahoma is 19th in the NCAA in batting average and 18th in runs per game. The Sooners will trot out lefthanded pitcher Paige Parker — the ace of their staff — who is averaging 8.8 strikeouts per seven innings. For Michigan senior second baseman Sierra Romero, the
game has some special meaning, as her younger sister, Sydney, starts at third base for Oklahoma. “I’ve never really gotten to play against my sister,” Romero said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, to see how she’s grown since she’s been training at (Oklahoma). I’m excited to play against her and have a little sibling rivalry going on.” In its third game, Michigan will take on North Carolina State, which is led by right-handed pitcher Courtney Mirabella. In the fourth game, the Wolverines will try to contain Washington’s bats. The Huskies rank No. 9 in the country in batting average and No. 4 in scoring per game with a solid nine runs. Yet Michigan coach Carol Hutchins remains undeterred. “I don’t care about the opponents,” Hutchins said. “We just need to play good softball, catch and throw. We’re trying to work on staying in our process, in our moment, one pitch at a time, and I think we can get better at that.” Romero continues to anchor the Wolverines offensively, with a team-leading five home runs, 13 RBI and a whopping 27 total bases. Meanwhile, Betsa has maintained her solid performance from last year, averaging a nation-leading 12.9 strikeouts per seven innings. For Betsa, however, despite her success in the strikeout column, the numbers do not come easy. “I’ve been struggling getting behind in the count,” Betsa said. “That’s what I’m definitely going to work on this weekend, spinning the ball through the zone and getting ahead in the count.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Michigan riding late wave of momentum Wolverines have won five of six entering regularseason finale By BRAD WHIPPLE Daily Sports Editor
When the Michigan women’s basketball team lost to then-No. 17 Michigan State on Feb. 3, the Wolverines’ postseason path became Michigan fuzzier. Sitting at Rutgers below .500 in Matchup: conference Michigan 17-11; play, it was Rutgers 16-13 possible When: Sunday Michigan could 2 P.M. finish as one of the bottom Where: Rutgers four teams in Athletic Center the Big Ten and would need TV/Radio: BTN compete in a play-in game to qualify for the conference tournament. The Wolverines needed a bounceback, and luckily for them, they got it four days later with a victory against Illinois at Crisler Center. It was the beginning of a seven-game stretch to close out Michigan’s regular season, one that would give a glimpse into what sort of damage the Wolverines could deal in the postseason. Every game in that schedule was a must-win. But even if Michigan couldn’t entirely sweep the final stretch, sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty knew the implications of at least having a strong and meaningful finish. “I think we really could win the Big Ten Tournament,” Flaherty said after beating the Fighting Illini, “and I think it’ll come down to if we go in there with momentum.”
Almost a month after that statement, the Wolverines (9-8 Big Ten, 17-11 overall) are fifth in the conference standings, have won five out of their last six games and have only one game left against Rutgers before heading to Indianapolis for the conference tournament next week. Michigan is certainly riding a high wave of momentum with its only loss in the last month coming at No. 6 Maryland on Feb. 17, but even that game was a tight contest. The Wolverines’ hard-hitting defense put them in the lead for most of the game against a frantic Terrapin squad, and it was just down the stretch that the game slipped away. As for Michigan’s top two scorers, Flaherty and freshman center Hallie Thome have been making huge strides this season to get the Wolverines in a position to win. Flaherty has six 30-plus point games, and Thome has continued to be an effective rebounder under the glass — most recently helping Michigan to a 70-65 victory at Northwestern. But when Flaherty and Thome are on top of their game, it doesn’t always guarantee a win for the Wolverines. Instead, Michigan’s ideal output is a balanced attack. The other big impact players have been junior guard Siera Thompson and sophomore forward Jillian Dunston, who lead the team in assists and rebounds, respectively. For Michigan to continue the momentum that could carry it far into the Big Ten Tournament, that balanced team effort is going to need to be on display Sunday to pull off a victory at
Rutgers, which would nicely cap off the Wolverines’ regular season going 6-for-7. Though the Scarlet Knights, led by C. Vivian Stringer in her 21st season in Piscataway, gave Michigan a headache last season by sweeping the two-game series, they are unranked this time around and sit below the Wolverines in the conference. In the two teams’ only meeting this season, Rutgers (7-10, 16-13) could pack quite the punch for Michigan. Guard Tyler Scaife and forward Kahleah Copper are averaging a team-leading 17.2 and 17 points, respectively. Sunday’s game may ultimately be decided by which team rebounds the ball better. Copper and center Rachel Hollivay have combined for 14.3 rebounds per game this year, compared to Thome and Dunston’s 11.2. The paint will be a war zone — a battle that the Wolverines can’t afford to lose. With a win Sunday, Michigan could rest easy knowing it finished off the season in a respectable fashion. Next Thursday, the Wolverines will begin play at the Big Ten Tournament, where a deep run could put Michigan on the bubble for its first NCAA Tournament appearance in three years. If not the Big Dance, the Wolverines would have another chance at earning a WNIT title, which they almost seized last season. Sunday represents a crossroads for Michigan: lose and some of the Wolverines’ hard-earned momentum could vanish; win and they could see more than only one game next weekend.
“I think it’ll come down to if we go in there with momentum.”
Sports
8 — Friday, February 26, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Kile’s hat trick Michigan’s DMR team: lifts Michigan ‘How did this happen?’ over Gophers By MAX BULTMAN Managing Sports Editor
MINNEAPOLIS — For the better part of two and a half periods, the Michigan hockey team was MICHIGAN 6 locked MINNESOTA 2 in a tight contest befitting of a series that could decide the Big Ten’s regular-season champion. But with a furious scoring run late in the third period, the Wolverines cruised to a 6-2 win over Minnesota at Mariucci Arena on Thursday, vaulting into first place in the conference standings. Junior forward Alex Kile notched a hat trick with one goal in each period, and freshman forward Kyle Connor added two goals of his own in the win. For a 6-2 game, though, Thursday’s contest was hardly electric for the first two periods. Michigan struck first when Kile capitalized on a turnover from Minnesota defenseman Ryan Collins directly in front of the Golden Gophers’ net. Collins lost control of the puck while surveying the ice in front of him, and Kile made him pay, burning Minnesota goalie Eric Schierhorn on a bang-bang play. “That’s a tough play,” Kile said. “Sometimes the ice gets chippy, and the puck just kind of rolled off his stick. Kind of feel bad for (Collins), but the puck was right in the slot and I just faked backhand, went forehand, and it actually hit off his stick into the net.” It was a big break for the Wolverines, who finished the period with a 9-6 edge in shots on goal but were able to cash in only once. The second period was a different story. Minnesota came out firing, outshooting Michigan, 8-1, in the first eight minutes of the second despite missing on a pair of nifty chances directly in front of senior goalie Steve Racine. “We knew they were going to come out hard,” Racine said. “I think the first might have been one of our better periods all year, and they hadn’t played in a little while, so I think they were just getting their legs under them. “We did a good job weathering the storm.” Racine kept Michigan steady all game, stopping 31 of 33 shots and preserving a slim lead while the Wolverines’ offense tried to get going. Minnesota’s Justin Kloos and Darian Romanko both had chances to tie the game early in the second, but Racine stoned Romanko with a big left-pad save, and Kloos couldn’t thread the needle while streaking to the net from the right boards. The Wolverines weathered the Golden Gophers’ storm until
their offense capitalized on its first big chance of the period. With Michigan on a power play 12:22 into the period, Kile tapped home his second of the day off a rebound from junior forward Tyler Motte — whose goal streak ended Thursday at 12 games. Schierhorn poked the puck away from Motte as he neared the goal, but it went straight to the waiting stick of Kile, who roofed it to give Michigan a two-goal lead. “He’s one of our gifted scorers,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “The thing I like about him is he scored those blue-paint goals. Like where did all those goals come from? Right near the crease, right in tight, rebound, secondeffort goals. That’s where you’re sticking your nose into the danger areas and you’re paying the price to score goals.” Going into the break, Michigan still held that lead, but the final outcome was hardly decided. That changed sharply halfway through the third period. With 9:49 left, a fight broke out deep in the Minnesota end. Michigan’s Brendan Warren and Justin Selman were sent off for roughing after the whistle, and Minnesota’s Nick Seeler and Jack Glover were awarded matching penalties. But Glover was also given a penalty for cross-checking, giving the Wolverines a man advantage. Michigan made the most of the power play, going up 3-0 when junior forward JT Compher found Connor all alone on the right side of the crease for an easy goal with 8:06 to play. Kile added his third tally of the game with just over five minutes remaining, tapping in a rebound for his 14th of the season, and junior forward Max Shuart scored another with just under four minutes left. Then, with 2:58 to play, Connor got loose on a breakaway, beating Schierhorn to go up 6-0. Moments later, Minnesota defenseman Steve Johnson scored the Golden Gophers first goal of the game, ending Racine’s bid for a shutout. Michigan’s defense collapsed with the huge lead, and Tommy Novak scored for Minnesota again with 1:32 left to spoil an otherwise strong outing from Racine. The Wolverines were more than happy to emerge with the conference lead, regardless of the lost shutout. “This wasn’t a 6-2 game,” Berenson said. “Certainly, it could have been a different game had Steve Racine had not made some key saves at key times in the game. … I just thought the score didn’t indicate the game. They’re a better team than that, and we were lucky at times, and our goalie had to make a difference.”
“I think the first might have been one of our better periods all year.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Junior forward Alex Kile scored a hat trick in Thursday’s win at Minnesota.
Four-man group recalls schoolrecord performance last weekend By SYLVANNA GROSS Daily Sports Writer
Mike McGuire was standing at the finish line of the men’s distance medley relay. His arms were crossed, and he was staring at a stopwatch. He was chuckling. “Wait until you see how fast you ran,” said McGuire, the assistant coach of the Michigan women’s track and field team, to Mason Ferlic. The fifth-year senior — who had just finished the anchor 1,600-meter leg — had caught up to the lead runners and put the Wolverines in third place after the pack had trailed for most of the race. “3:55,” McGuire said. Overhead on the board, the final time of 9:27.67 flashed. It was good enough to qualify for nationals and three seconds better than their goal of 9:30. And, even though nobody knew it at the time, they broke the school record made in 2004 by national champions Nate Brennan, DarNell Talbert, Andrew Ellerton and Nick Willis. Both Brennan and Willis went on to be Olympians. All Ferlic could respond was, “How did this happen?” *** In the Alex Wilson Invitational last weekend in South Bend, Ind., the Michigan distance medley relay team was run by, in order, sophomore Chase Barnett in the 1,200meter leg, fifth-year senior Phil Washington III in the 400meter segment, sophomore Brennan Munley in the 800-meter portion and Ferlic. Originally, however, Washington was only considered an alternate. Freshman Taylor McLaughlin was set to run just that morning. “I actually came to the track in khakis and (Timberlands) so I was really not prepared to run,” Washington said. “But (McLaughlin) said, ‘Oh, I threw up this morning,’ so I was like, ‘All right.’ I just started warming up with him, and throughout the warmup, he was filling me in and saying he felt queasy, but he wasn’t sure if it was nerves or not. So I told him to keep on warming up because this was a huge opportunity. “(Assistant coach Kevin Sullivan) made the call 10 minutes before (that I was running) and at that point I was freaking out. Outside I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready,’ but on the inside I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ ” Washington — who has been plagued by injuries for the past two seasons — has been struggling to regain footing as a competitor for the Wolverines. Going into the meet, he was divided between cheering for his teammates and being disappointed in potentially only riding his teammate’s success to championship season without contributing. “I had to start stretching and doing some sprints,” Washington said. “Normally, I think about my race, but this was a lot different because I didn’t have to think. I just went right in, and when I got the baton, I kind of blanked out and just went for it.” The rest of his teammates had the same “go for it,” attitude. Program history dictates Michigan has been a formidable opponent in the distance medley relay event, but Michigan coach Jerry Clayton and Sullivan had been wary of putting athletes in the event until this year. They were waiting for the right group of guys. “We needed to have the right athletes in place to make (the
COURTESY OF THE MICHIGAN ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Michigan’s distance medley relay team broke the school record with a time of 9:27.67 in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday.
distance medley relay team),” Sullivan said. “We weren’t going to waste a race on the DMR. We just weren’t at that place last year. This has been, historically, a great event for track and field. We have some of the fastest times ever in the country. It has been a really important part of our program. We wanted to build until we had a team that had a group of guys ready to compete for nationals.” But this season’s distance medley relay team was not expecting to do anything but try to secure a spot in nationals. In Michigan’s indoor training facility, a board that is hung up lists off the records. Every Wolverine dreams of having their name up there. “I remember looking at the board and seeing it and thinking there’s not a chance in hell we’re going to beat that,” Munley said. “I saw the names, and I didn’t even have to look at the times, I thought, ‘That’s not happening.’ ”
“I saw the names, and ... I thought, ‘That’s not happening.’ ”
*** Barnett started off the race with a split time of 2:56.9. He passed the baton to Washington last among his competitors. Yet it wasn’t the fact that he was doing poorly, it was just others were doing extremely well. Washington was able to pass a couple of guys after completing his leg in 47.5 seconds, but by the time the baton got to Munley for the third leg, the Wolverines were battling to stay relevant in the race. “We were either the second to last or last,” Munley said, who finished his leg in 1:47.3. “There were some really fast guys (in the first two legs). We were competing with guys that were top in the nation. I was hurting (in the last 200 meters), but I was trying to get the baton to (Ferlic). Once I did I was like, ‘Let’s see what you can do, I tried my best.’ ” The final leg, run by Ferlic, was where the distance medley relay team caught up to the lead pack. Not surprising, considering the laundry list of impressive performances he’s had over his collegiate career. His name is almost synonymous with Michigan track and field. Ferlic’s strategy was clear: eyes forward, pass competitors and go fast. “Before I got the baton, I was worried,” Ferlic said. “I had a little bit of self-doubt because the guys who were anchoring the other DMRs were dedicated milers. I was hoping to run four flat. And if we were that far behind, the pressure was on to run just that much faster to catch these guys. I didn’t know if I was able to do that. But I figured that we were here and we had one shot and I can’t have negative thoughts before I get the baton because then we’re not going to be in it.”
Ferlic has been angling to run a sub-four mile for his entire collegiate career, coming away disappointed in the Iowa State Classic, where he achieved his standing personal best of 4:00.50. But, while Ferlic has run a 1,600-meter race in 3:55, 1,600 meters isn’t a mile — it’s nine meters short. And those nine meters mean a lot to Ferlic, who refuses, understandably, to count 3:55 as meeting his goal. “As soon as I finished in third I was like, ‘Damn that actually went pretty well,’ ” Ferlic said. “But I still didn’t know the time until I saw it flash on the board and I saw 9:27, and I was like, ‘Holy crap, are you serious?’ ” According to Barnett, there were whispers that the time was close to the school record set more than a decade before — but no one was sure. It wasn’t until they were back at their “camp” at the meet that Sullivan thought to look up on his phone what the standing record was. And when he saw the result, the entire distance medley relay team was in shock. “In a DMR, the legs are so uneven you don’t really know where you are in the race or on the clock, so you don’t really get a sense of what you’re doing until after,” Barnett said. “We were still on this high that we didn’t only hit a national time, we hit a really good national time and then to come off that … there was a lot of hugging and yelling.” *** A lot of the success has been chalked up to a culture change on the team, partly due to the new coaching staff of Clayton and Sullivan in their third and second years, respectively. Sullivan, who also serves as the Michigan men’s cross country coach, is noted, especially, as transitioning the team to a more inclusive environment, stemming all the way back to training for cross country season. “As a fifthyear senior, I’ve definitely been through a lot and I’ve definitely seen the team go from a lastplace, not-taken-seriously team in the Big Ten to now possibly contending for a top-three spot in the Big Ten,” Washington said. But according to both coaches and Munley, the captains of the team have also stepped up to the line and have instituted team bonding events like cookouts and movie outings. Other changes have included switching the location of the athletes’ lockers frequently to prevent cliques and a whiteboard in the locker room that lets the athletes keep track of each other’s goals. “You can literally go there, read it and have that connection with that person,” Washington said. “And if you see them in practice, you can encourage it.” Added Ferlic: “With that culture change of going
toward excellence and having everyone on the team expected to contribute, it kind of just increased the competitive atmosphere among all pockets of athletes on the team. Everyone now wanted to do their part to help the team be good. I think it united the team in a common cause. Instead of it being certain guys or one event group is good and the other isn’t as good, we all wanted to do well and motivate each other.” Within the four distance medley relay team members, especially, the sense of camaraderie is palpable. The group joked that in 15 years, they’re still going to be calling each other up asking how they are. Because, according to Barnett, “it’s a lifelong thing.” “To look up on the board that’s up there right now and see the names that are up there, it’s pretty special to have a part in it,” Barnett said. “It’s special to be more of a piece (of the team), not just someone who was here, but someone who did something. I still have goals for the next couple years and stuff to get done. But it’s cool to actually leave that mark.” And, according to Washington, they’re “tight.” Unabashedly, the quarter informally thinks of themselves as a “misfit crew.” *** Despite the high the four have been riding, there’s no denying that the NCAA Indoor Championships, where they’ll run the distance medley relay again, looms large. The competition will take place March 11 and 12 in Birmingham, Ala. But if Clayton and Sullivan, particularly, have taught their team anything, it’s that each race should be approached individually and you can’t “make a race bigger than it is.” Sullivan preaches that no matter the setting, the distance medley relay will still always be 4,000 meters. “I know at nationals, when I get the baton, I’m going to run until my legs break,” Munley said. “I have to do it for these guys because they’re working just as hard as I am for it. You never know what could happen, anything could happen on any given day. But I have to do my best and strive for my hardest, and maybe some good will come out of it.” It’s going to take a lot of practice, but nothing is impossible anymore. The four Wolverines have already displaced four national champions overlapped with two Olympians. “I don’t think people expected us four,” Washington said. “We’re this weird dream team — we just ran faster,” Ferlic said. And nobody on the distance medley relay team is exactly sure how they did it.
“We’re this weird dream team — we just ran faster.”