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University to offer orgs funding for bicentennial ELIZABETH XIONG/Daily
LSA senior Cooper Charleton, CSG president, speaks at a Central Student Government meeting in CSG chambers in the Michigan Union Tuesday.
CSG passes resolution to affirm religious expression Student rights and safety on campus focus of assembly’s final meeting,
groups on campus by making the University of Michigan a sanctuary campus for immigrants took center stage. The resolution, following an incident of anti-Islam chalking on the Diag last week, was discussed at length and ultimately split into two separate resolutions that were passed. The resolutions affirms students’ rights of religious expression, such as the right to wear a hijab in any setting It also calls for CSG to recognize the
By JENNIFER MEER Daily Staff Reporter
At Tuesday’s Central Student Government meeting, a new resolution to promote the safety of Muslim and other minority
University’s campus as a safe space on campus for immigrant students. LSA representative Samer Alkhalili, an LSA junior who presented the resolution on the behalf of its authors, emphasized the University’s responsibility to protect its Muslim students, especially in the aftermath of the chalk messages on the Diag. “In this resolution, we want to reach out to students,” he said. “A lot of the students I’ve talked to have been traumatized by this
event. They don’t even want to leave their homes to go to class. At an institution like the University of Michigan, which prides itself in the core tenets of diversity, it’s unacceptable that we’re choosing to abstain from taking part in this conversation.” Fourteen students spoke on behalf of the resolution during the Community Concerns portion of the meeting before the resolution was brought to the floor. When representatives See CSG, Page 2A
Event outlines how students can participate in festivities By TIM COHN Daily Staff Reporter
On Tuesday, the University of Michigan Bicentennial Office and Center for Campus Involvement hosted an informational workshop at the Michigan League to help student organizations plan for upcoming bicentennial events in 2017. In total, the University Bicentennial Office is planning to grant a total of $300,000 to student organizations that host a bicentennial-themed event in 2017. Bailey Oland, an administrative assistant senior at the University Bicentennial Office, hosted the event along with Nick Smith from the Center for Campus Involvement.
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Debate focuses on definitions of hate speech Participants discuss the difference between violence, threats By CAMY METWALLY Daily Staff Reporter
About a dozen members of the University of Michigan’s Michigan Political Union — a student-run organization that aims to create a space for students on campus to discuss political issues — gathered Tuesday night at the Michigan Union for their final debate of the semester. Members discussed a wide array of topics, including issues of free speech, student diversity and bipartisanship, as well as responded to questions from attendees. LSA freshman Liam Stewart, member of the Michigan Political Union, touched on issues of unregulated free speech in his comments at the event.
He said his remarks were motivated by a personal encounter from earlier that day, when he passed a group of four individuals protesting on campus against what they characterized as racist hate speech. “The gist of their belief is that people who spout racist hate speech should not be protected, they shouldn’t have the right to free speech, the University should sanction against them and oppose their right to speech,” Stewart said. “That people who wrote things like last week the ‘Stop Islam’ posts … should be expelled from campus.” Last Wednesday, a number of religiously- and politicallydriven statements were written in chalk on the Diag, including phrases such as “#Stop Islam,” “Trump 2016” and “Build the Wall.” The statements sparked at least one call to University Police and an effort by students to wash the phrases away. See UNION, Page 3A
Oland highlighted the different events that will take place during the yearlong bicentennial celebration. Among other events included a 2017 Spring Festival, which will take place in early April and will feature a tree-planting event, a show hosted by the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and a celebration of the University’s community of cultures that will feature the University’s historic relationship between different ethnic communities on campus. Several other themed festivals will include a summer festival in June to celebrate staff appreciation and a Detroit festival in September to honor the University’s founding in Detroit and the University’s relationship with the city. The bicentennial is slated to end with a time capsule dedication and a Third Century Expo in the style of a World’s Fair that will focus on the future of the University. Oland told the crowd of about 30 people that the University See BICENTENNIAL, Page 3A
NPR exec. to direct ‘U’ journalism programs Lynette Clemetson to take seat as Knight Wallace House director in July By JENNIFER MEER
ELIZABETH XIONG/Daily
Education Prof. Debi Khasnabis speaks about diversity at the Lean In panel for Multiculturalism and Diversity in Education in Rackham Auditorium Tuesday.
Lean In hosts discussion on campus multiculturalism Panelists raise concerns about marginalized students By ISHIHITO MORI For the Daily
Four representatives from the University of Michigan community discussed social justice issues on campus with
an emphasis on feminism and multiculturalism a panel Tuesday night. Panelists for the event, hosted by student organization Lean In University of Michigan were chosen for their unique views on diversity, according to organizers. The group is tied to a nationwide nonprofit of the same name, which aims to increase dialogue around gender equity. The panel was attended by about 100 University of Michigan
students, faculty and staff. Business junior Kelsey Hayes, one of two Lean In co-directors of internal operations, said Lean In focuses on various forms of diversity because these movements are intertwined with each other. “Lean In is all about bringing diverse perspectives to tell a story about how we can all achieve a more equal world,” she said. “So that’s why we’re really excited about See DIVERSITY, Page 3A
Daily Staff Reporter
Lynette Clemetson, current senior director of strategy and content initiatives at National Public Radio, will take on a new position at the University of Michigan in July as the director of Wallace House. Located just off Central Campus, Wallace House serves as the heart of the KnightWallace Fellowships and the Livingston Awards, distinctions for achievement in journalism. The organization’s fellowship offers mid-career journalists a year of study at the University of Michigan to advance their careers, and the Livingston Award honors top journalists under the age of 35 with monetary rewards. According to the Wallace House’s See WALLACE, Page 2A
the statement A look at the past, present and future of Ypsilanti
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On Tuesday, the National Center for Manufacturing Science and the University of Michigan hosted Michigan Robotics Day at the North Campus Research Complex, a free event held to showcase advancements made by Michigan companies and research organizations such as space robotics and autonomous vehicles. The day was comprised of keynotes, demonstrations and networking opportunities, aimed to offer students an opportunity to peer into the world of innovative technology. Danny Ellis, co-founder and CEO
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at SkySpecs, and Bob Richards from Stockbridge Robotics spoke at the event. Last year, the day drew nearly 650 students, as well as some younger attendees. The host organization, MI Robotics, tweeted a video of a group of younger attendees playing with some of the many robots exhibited at the event. According to the event’s website, the center’s goals for the day were to demonstrate the United States’ involvement in the latest technological developments and to increase funding for robotics
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According to a Reuturs tracking poll, as of Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is gaining on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump in the national polls. Within the last week, Trump’s campaign manager has been arrested and he changed his position on policy issues like abortion.
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research and science-, technology-, engineering- and math-related fields. The University of Michigan’s goals were similary — raising awareness and advocating for Michigan’s technological strengths and aim to “raise awareness of regional robotics capabilities (and) Promote Michigan STEM and industry strengths,” according to their website. Some of the presentations garnered such attention beyond campus, including a tweet from U.S. Manufacturing in response to one of the presentations made by Chris Brewer, chief engineer at Ford Motor Company, about autonomous vehicles. -WILL FEUER
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In this week’s Statement, Opinion columnist Aarica Marsh explores the past, present and future of Ypsilanti, examining the misconceptions individuals have about the city, and the potential for progress moving forward. >> SEE STATEMENT on 1B
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US Manufacturing tweeted about National Robotics Day Tuesday.
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WhatsApp, a free global messaging app, is now completely encrypted, Wired reported. This means even WhatsApp employees cannot read users’ messages. The decision came about in the aftermath of a dispute between the FBI and Apple regarding the unlocking of a mass shooter’s phone.
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Lecture on gun control
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Graduate school problems
WHAT: Law Prof. Mathias
WHAT: Vanessa Kerry, CEO of Seed Global Health, will give a presentation about the importance of nurses and midwives in the workforce. WHO: School of Nursing WHEN: 12:40 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: School of Nursing, Room 1240
WHAT: Leonard Cassuto, a professor of American literature at Fordham University, will discuss issues facing grad schools. WHO: Department of History WHEN: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. WHERE: Tisch Hall, Room 1014
Reimann will discuss his opposition to gun control policies, after having taught a class on the topic.
WHO: Michigan Law Chapter of the American Constitution Society WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Hutchins Hall
Confronting mass tragedy
WHAT: Students of the
WHAT: Paul Slovic, founder of Decision Research, will discuss why why people don’t respond to climate change. WHO: School of Natural Resources and Environment WHEN: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Dana Natural Resources Building
WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 7 p.m. WHERE: UMMA
WHAT: Students from an array of disciplines will display their innovative product designs from this semester. WHO: Tauber Institute for Global Operations WHEN: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. WHERE: Ross School of Business, Colloquium
WALLACE From Page 1A website, the award is the “largest all-media, general reporting prize in American journalism.” Wallace House also organizes and offers seminars, workshops, and dinners for honorees. Clemetson, a Knight-Wallace fellow in 2009, began working at NPR in 2012, where she was the Director of StateImpact, a project that looked looked at how state policy affects American lives, as well as the senior supervising editor of NPR’s Morning Edition. Earlier in her career, Clemetson worked for Newsweek and The New York Times. She was also the founding managing editor of TheRoot.com, a leading AfricanAmerican news and opinion source. Current Wallace House Director Charles R. Eisendrath, who founded the Livingston Awards and led a $60 million endowment for the fellowships, said Tuesday that he could not imagine a better person for the job. “Lynette Clemetson combines
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a spectacular career in several dimensions in and around journalism with a wonderful personal manner, and a sense of humor,” he said. “Lynette will be the new me. I cannot imagine better hands in which to leave a legacy of 35 years. She’ll be wonderful.” Clemetson was nominated for the position by a committee appointed by Provost Martha Pollack after a national search. The final decision on the position was made by Pollack and University President Mark Schlissel. In a press release, Clemetson said she saw the Wallace House’s mission as important for the complexity of media today, and was looking forward to the position. “It is an honor to build on Charles Eisendrath’s strong legacy, the program’s international focus and its connection to the University of Michigan,” she said. “I look forward to expanding Wallace House’s role in supporting media innovation and experimentation and being a prominent force for good in sustaining journalists of all sorts in their mission, passion and craft.”
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Holocaust survivors Miriam and Henry Brysk read an excerpt from Miriam’s most recent book during SHARE’s 24 hour Reading of the Names Vigil on the Diag Thursday.
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CSG From Page 1A discussed the issue, CSG President-elect David Schafer, an LSA junior, said the body should advocate for and further the kind of action described in the resolution in their capacity as representatives of students. “I think CSG affirming its support in standing and solidarity with students who were targeted over the last week, but more especially throughout their entire time at the University — it’s of the utmost importance,” he said. “Students obviously can’t turn to the administration because we saw the University administration’s response, or lack thereof, last week.” After the chalking, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald released a statement saying the University was committed to creating an inclusive climate. According to Fitzgerald, bias response teams from the University looked into the incident when it was first reported. “We all understand that where speech is free it will sometimes wound,” Fitzgerald said in the statement. “But our message is this: We are fully committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming and inclusive of everyone. Tonight we are reminded there is much work yet to be done.” Another new resolution brought to the body for the first time Tuesday night was also passed. The resolution called for supporting the inclusion of gender pronouns students prefer with their legal name in all Universityrelated settings. The resolution also asked the body to send an e-mail out to students informing them of the ability to specify their preferred pronouns. LSA sophomore Nick Meier, co-author of the resolution, said according to the Office of the Registrar, this would not be difficult to incorporate on Wolverine Access. “If a professor or a GSI gets the name and picture of every student, they should as well get their preferred pronouns,” he said.
KRISTINA PERKINS/Dailly Eight-year-old Angel Mae Edmunds of Ann Arbor holds up a sign in protest of the deer cull at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting in the City Council Chambers on February 1, 2016.
Two lawsuits over deer cull reemerge during City Council Litigation against Ann Arbor come up during Monday meeting By BRIAN KUANG Daily Staff Reporter
Though the first iteration of the controversial Ann Arbor deer cull ended early March, two lawsuits about the cull remain active. Discussion about both suits filed by the anti-cull group Ann Arbor residents for Public Safety, one in federal court and one in the Michigan Court of Claims, was renewed this week when anti-cull residents appeared at Monday’s City Council meeting. Both lawsuits charge that the respective entities within the court’s jurisdiction — the city, state or federal government — proceeded with the cull illegally At Monday’s meeting, City Attorney Stephen Postema said the final ruling from Federal Judge Arthur Tarnow
on the case in federal court is expected soon. He also briefed Council on the state case, filed in February. According to court records, the city, state and federal defendants in the federal case all filed motions with the U.S. District Court of Eastern Michigan to dismiss the case between Jan. 29 and Feb. 10, on the basis that no laws were being violated by the cull and the plaintiffs lacked standing to proceed. The presiding judge ordered the plaintiffs to file a response to these motions by Tuesday, but the records do not show any such response by the plaintiffs being filed. In January, Tarnow rejected a claim from the Ann Arbor Residents for Public Safety for a temporary restraining order on the cull, saying the plaintiffs failed to prove there would be immediate and irreversible harm if the cull was not stopped before a final ruling on the suit. State court records show the plaintiffs also requested an emergency restraining order to immediately halt the cull in the case filed with the Michigan Court of Claims, which was
denied on Feb. 18. In a March interview, Barry Powers — the attorney representing the plaintiffs in both these cases — said the second lawsuit specifically targets the state by charging that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources illegally overstepped state laws regarding urban culling and ceded power to the city government. “We’re arguing that the state, by ceding this power to this municipality, is not doing what it’s supposed to do … and now you have the city of Ann Arbor calling the shots,” Powers said. “If the hunting laws are not good enough to control (the deer population) through extending the open season and increasing the bag limit of deer during the hunting season, then you need a specific ad-hoc approach to it and you need state laws to cover it.” Powers said the immediate goal of the new suit is to halt all subsequent iterations of the Ann Arbor cull, but his ultimate goal is to force consistent rule of law regarding wildlife See CULL, Page 3A
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BICENTENNIAL From Page 3A will aim to promote its history and commitment to academia through research and to candidly talk about past tensions between campus communities. “We discovered that many students don’t know our University’s contributions to intellectual life, and that people don’t know our history that well because we don’t do a good enough job of promoting ourselves.” Oland said. “For our exploration into past tensions, we understand that it can be a difficult theme to talk about, but we are really trying to push that. It is important that the bicentennial isn’t just a yearlong celebration and a party all the time. But we want to show that we have made mistakes in the past, and have learned and grown from them.” Student organizations were advised to tailor their bicentennial events to the six themes of the celebration: serving the people, pursuing ideas, creating and inventing,
teaching powerfully, challenging society and forever hailing. In discussing each them, Oland emphasized the importance of serving the people, which he said, aims to commemorate both the University’s history of public outreach, as well as the community involvement of student organizations. The themes of pursuing ideas and creating and inventing themes are a celebration of the creation of new ideas through research and innovation at the University, Oland added, saying bicentennial activities by student organizations can focus on the role of innovative thinking and ingenuity at the University. Among the other themes, Oland said challenging society and powerfully teaching aims to showcase how different areas of the University have shirked conventional thinking to promote new ideas. He characterized the final theme of the bicentennial, forever hailing, as a celebration of school spirit incorporating
groups such as the University’s athletic departments and popular clubs. Student organizations raised multiple potential issues they wanted to work on during a Q&A session after the event, including integrating North Campus into the University bicentennial,improving social media outreach and engaging the Ann Arbor community were the focus of a Q&A session. Engineering junior Eve Gendron, a bicentennial representative from the College of Engineering Student Government, said she thought bringing Engineering related events to Central Campus will be a focus of the student government. “The World-Fair style event in the fall of 2017 will be a great opportunity to bring student project teams to showcase their designs,” Gendron said. “Events like that will be important because it will allow students from all over campus to see what happens on all corners of campus, and that’s really what the bicentennial celebration is all about.”
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Bailey Oland, an administrative assistant senior at the University’s Bicentennial Office, speaks about the bicentennial celebrations in the 2017 calendar year and how students can get involved in events at the Michigan League Tuesday.
DIVERSITY From Page 1A multiculturalism and diversity because you recognize that these issues are intersectional, and we have to work together to solve them.” When asked about the importance of diversity on campus, Virginia Lozano, an alum of the School of Art & Design, warned against simply increasing percentages, stressing the need for integration. She and her sister, Beatriz Lozano, are co-founders of Leesta, an online platform that teaches history to elementary school children through the perspective of women. Virginia Lozano is also a former Michigan Daily photographer. “It’s easy to get caught up in numbers,” she said. “But who’s to say that someone in the class actually feel like they’re part of the entire campus? And I think it’s the inclusion part of diversity that needs to be focused on.” The panelists were also asked to define political correctness and discuss their position on it. Art & Design senior Beatriz Lozano said political correctness is not asking too much of the public, adding that those who reject political correctness are behaving selfishly. “Unfortunately, a lot of people are more concentrated about being called racist, being called sexist or giving off a bad image than they are about really hurting somebody,” she said. Speaking to instances of racism and sexism, School of
Education Prof. Debi Khasnabis discussed the significance of identity, saying it formed much of her path in life. Recounting her experience as one of the very few minorities in her elementary school, she said she was bullied for her skin color but found comfort on the weekends in her Indian immigrant community. Relating her experiences to the University, she emphasized the importance of locating marginalized individuals in the classroom. “Who’s not feeling like they belong here?” Khasnabis asked. “Who’s feeling marginalized? Who’s feeling left out? Who’s feeling unheard? Who’s feeling voiceless? And in any space you go, and I guarantee you, someone feels that way, always. And it’s up to us, it’s up to the people who feel they belong, that they have some power and privilege in that space, to try to do something about it.” Dennis Hayes, a resident of Allen Park, Mich., said he found Khasnabis’ life story most memorable, for he was always the majority. “(Khasnabis’ experience is) a very scary thought, when you think about it,” he said. “It’s hard for us to understand, but it was telling that she gave that story and see how she’s moved in her professional development away from that and helping people to overcome what she had to endure herself.” Scott Page, a professor of complex systems, political science and economics, touched on marginalization and the challenges students often face through cultural differences, pointing to his family’s
experience while living in France. “Anytime two kids saw each other, they would rub hands like this and bump fists,” he said. “This is for any kid regardless of social class. There’s a strong sense of inclusion and community.” He said these experiences in France caused him to realize there is a significant difference in awareness of privilege between the United States and France. Education junior Samantha Suh said the panelists’ advice to place oneself in groups with different people resonated with her, adding that her experiences as an active member of the Asian American community helped her form opinions similar to those of the panelists. “Real change can happen when you cross communities,” she said. “When you push yourself into communities that you don’t feel comfortable in, that is where most of the learning is going to happen.” Business junior Sushmita Mukherjee, Lean In’s other co-director of internal operations, emphasized that the event could teach people that change happens one person at a time. “Lean In is all about empowering individuals, and a lot of the time because these institutionalized structures that give rise to sexism, racism, classism … you feel very helpless. But this conversation is aimed to say that, ‘Hey, even though sometimes these things are institutionalized, you can do something about it,’ ” she said.
ANDREW COHEN/Daily
LSA freshman William Presley answers questions on the strengths and weaknesses of current presidential campaign slogans at the Michigan Political Union meeting at the Michigan Union Tuesday.
UNION From Page 1A In response to the incident, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald emphasized the balance between free speech and inclusion on campus. “We all understand that where speech is free it will sometimes wound,” he said. “But our message is this: We are fully committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming and inclusive of everyone. Tonight we are reminded there is much work yet to be done.” Stewart largely based his remarks on the protesters, who he said were calling for the University to take disciplinary action against students who spread hate speech, such as the messages written on the Diag, and asking students to sign a petition to that effect. Though emphasizing that the statements written on the Diag Wednesday were “awful and Islamophobic,” he said expelling students for such an offense would set a dangerous precedent for limiting free speech. “We all just have an opinion that we want to voice and that’s an important part of democracy,” Stewart said. “The second you start silencing people, you make a move toward an authoritarian government, and it’s not anybody’s right to decide who does and does not get silenced.” He added that he disagreed with the idea that violence results from hate speech, noting that if someone were explicitly to make a call to violence, then free speech protections already would not apply. “My primary concern is that we end up in a society where the government can step in and say, ‘Hey this
CULL From Page 2A management across the state. “Deer are a problem all over, you can’t do one thing in Jackson, another thing in Ann Arbor, another thing in Dearborn and another in Warren,” Powers said. “You can’t just say the DNR has the authority to do whatever they want with wildlife, otherwise somebody can take a bazooka in downtown Detroit on Woodward Avenue to shoot at turtles … there has to be limits.”
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could potentially lead to unrest and thus you’re not allowed to say it,’ ” Stewart said. Students also discussed the issue of diversity on campus. LSA junior Joshua Strup, president of the Michigan Political Union, acknowledged the University has broadly encouraged the idea of diversity, but added that he thinks the institution is strict in its definition of it. He said he would like to see the University attract more student veterans on campus. “We have long since promoted the idea of diversity, but it appears they don’t want to be diverse in their diversity,” Strup said. “That they want to focus on race and gender… they don’t want to encourage diversity of thought. Whereas veterans can bring this in.” Currently, roughly 1.5 percent of the University’s
student population are veterans, compared to 3 percent of the overall United States population. Strup, who is a veteran, emphasized the University is veteran-friendly upon arrival. However, he also said it’s important just for service members to know the University is an option after separating from the service and entering the civilian world. “I do not ask for special entrance requirements or any type of affirmative action program on behalf of veterans,” Strup said. “What I would like to see the University of Michigan do is take part of its recruiting budget and make sure the University has a presence through materials at the different transition points on air bases, army posts, marine camps and naval ports.”
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An attack on inclusivity
hough the anti-Islam words that appeared on the Diag earlier this week could be easily erased by a group of students with rags and buckets of water, the same cannot be said for the sentiments behind the statements, which are systemic and unfortunately long-lived. We cannot dismiss those hostile messages with a shrug and an invocation of the importance of “free speech.” We cannot let ANNE the broader debate over KATZ “safe spaces” on college campuses obscure the fact that, whatever the motivation or intention, whoever wrote the messages gave a voice to hatred and hostility toward the religion of Islam and those who follow it. And we cannot deny that this Islamophobia dehumanizes and marginalizes millions of Muslims who are guilty of nothing more than being Muslims, laying the groundwork for persecution and violence toward them. Unfortunately, this is precisely what the vast majority of comments on The Michigan Daily’s coverage of the anti-Islam chalk do. They attempt to dilute the maliciousness behind the statements and attribute the outrage that the words sparked to yet another round of the debate surrounding “safe spaces” on university campuses. “Look what we have here,” they seem to say, “another episode of anguish for those goddamn, cry-baby liberal students, so coddled that they simply can’t handle discomfort, let alone honest disagreement.” Forget paraphrasing. By way of example, here’s what one commenter actually wrote: “To the darling precious snowflakes who melt into a shimmering puddle when they see chalk drawings they don’t approve of — do you EVER hope to get a job?? You understand that ALL workplaces (even university labs) are filled with a variety of people some of whom may have different perspectives and even different values than you.” Four other commenters nodded in agreement with a “like.” Though the chalk writings were expressing a “perspective” that’s (thankfully) “different” than that of many,
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that’s only the beginning of the discussion we need to be having. At a university where respect, civility and equality are supposed to be at the core, we cannot tolerate a “different perspective” that’s grounded in ignorance and hatred of people because of their religion. This is a “perspective” that exposes Muslims to the risk of physical harm and hurts them in other ways that are just as real and equally as offensive. It doesn’t matter whether the inflammatory words were written in chalk on the Diag or burned into the side of Angell Hall with a blowtorch. They must be understood as a virulent attack on our community’s obligation to be more inclusive. To dismiss the statements as harmless, let alone to defend them as protected by concepts of “free speech,” aids those who would divide the University community. These words cannot go unchallenged. If, instead of the anti-Islam statements, there had been swastikas, I strongly doubt that so many of the comments on the Daily’s article would’ve told offended Jews to “cry me a river.” That’s because generally, we understand and reject anti-Semitic remarks as harmful hate speech that alienates an entire population. In most quarters, malicious Jewish conspiracy theories aren’t accepted as merely expressing a “different perspective,” and Jewish slurs aren’t excused as simply an exercise of “free speech.” In this regard, Islamophobia is no different than anti-Semitism. To be sure, freedom of speech should be broadly defined, particularly in an academic setting, where open expression of different ideologies, thoughts, beliefs, analyses, viewpoints — you name it — is essential to generating meaningful discussion of important but difficult issues. But the motivation behind the speech matters, and to pretend that the words on the Diag were inspired by anything other than hatred and bigotry is absurd. That doesn’t mean that those words can’t be uttered or written, even in the way they were. It just means that the statements, and whoever wrote them, deserve nothing more than to be swiftly condemned by both the administration and our community as a whole. It’s that simple. — Anne Katz can be reached at amkatz@umich.edu.
This side of campus
ast Thursday, I stopped by Student Food Co.’s table in Mason Hall to pick up a few essentials, and I asked about the new “People’s Food Co-Op” bag, its price listed on the chalkboard at $10. It’s basically a paper bag filled with various kinds of healthy junk food, not really what I was looking for, but I was curious and wanted to know more. What made me take a step back was the SUSAN way one of the girls selling LAMOREAUX took a moment to introduce the co-op to me to the point of even pointing down State Street in the direction of Catherine and Fourth Street. For any other student, someone who’s never heard of the co-op or who’s shopped there once but has only vague memories of the experience, this might be a perfectly normal gesture. For me, it felt strange simply because I’ve shopped at the co-op more times than I can count. Growing up in town, I’ve been a customer of the store for my entire life. It’s understandable that one of my fellow students, probably someone from out of town, didn’t know about my far-reaching connection to this Ann Arbor icon. What I find interesting is just how little students really get to know this city. Over the course of four or more years here, people live in dorms and campus housing, occasionally venturing into apartments in more “townie”-centric neighborhoods. With restaurants, nightlife scenes and study spaces located right around campus, it makes sense that most students stay within a fairly small radius from the Diag. After all, who wants to walk an extra half-mile to pay extra at pricey Main Street eateries? I’ve been the opposite case. As an incoming freshman, I knew my favorite entrée at plenty of spots on Main Street, but barely understood the location of the Diag in relation to the rest of town. Before enrolling at the University, all I saw was this other side — the “townie” side — of the city. I’d walked around campus a couple times before, so I thought I knew everything about the University. As I’ve discovered over my three years here, that wasn’t the case at all. The University is a large and complicated place, very different from “real-world Ann Arbor,” as a fellow student remarked to me during the fall of my freshman year. Learning my way around this
new part of town — where to study, how to find my classes, and what kind of snacks to pack for a long day — has been an adventure, and one I’ve been enjoying greatly. While my time here hasn’t been perfect, of course, it’s been nothing short of pleasurable seeing my world expanding, little by little, to accommodate the Chemistry Building, MLB, East Quad. And while I’ve lived at home during the fall and winter semesters, spring has drawn me away from the familiar more and more — with a weekend at the Bio Station, six weeks on the New England Literature Program and, this coming May, a month overseas. And just as this other side of my city has slowly opened up to me, I hope other students have been exploring beyond the four “U” streets that border the original campus. Just as I’ve found favorite restaurants on South U and on State, I hope others will branch out to explore Main Street, Westgate, Traver Village or other shopping destinations around town. When I enrolled at Michigan, I was still a townie. I’d eaten at the League and walked across the Diag, but without knowing their names. I’d studied in the Hatcher reading room, but probably couldn’t have located it on a map. It’s been through my time here, through walking campus and getting myself lost, that I’ve truly learned my way around a side of the city previously hidden to me. I thought I knew what campus looked like, what the University was, but I couldn’t understand all of that without first living the student experience in my day-to-day routine. That doesn’t mean there isn’t another side to the city, one that I hope will be of as much interest to students as it is to townies. It’s there in the bungalows of my neighborhood, the Huron River, the Arb and city parks, it’s what makes this city Ann Arbor. It can be found in the public library and in downtown boutiques. While campus and its surrounding neighborhoods may technically be a part of town, they aren’t the same as the destinations for people who live here year-round. So if you find yourself getting tired of the same old sights, then break away from the throng and go out for a stroll on the city streets or in the local neighborhoods. On your way back, maybe you’ll even find yourself stopping into the People’s Food Co-Op to purchase your favorite healthy snack. — Susan LaMoreaux can be reached at susanpl@umich.edu.
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The F-word in 2016
ccepting I was a feminist took me a while — probably longer than it should have. Feminists had told me time and again that if I believed men and women should be equal, which I did, then I was a feminist. But separating the BRETT truth of the movement from GRAHAM its stereotypes — the false image of hating men, the angry tweets and the bra I didn’t have to burn — did not happen overnight. Today, I wear the title proudly and I admit that I still have a lot to learn. And I have a feeling that there are about to be a lot more of me. Barring any substantial change, a Clinton-Trump general election is coming, and with it, the single best night for recruitment that feminism has had in modern history. Ignore the campaigning and Twitter skirmishes that will inevitably dominate news cycles and national discussion. Skip to October, to a debate stage in some university auditorium in Middle America. That is where it will start. From Gerald Ford denying a Soviet presence in Eastern Europe, to Ronald Reagan’s famous “There you go again,” up to Al Gore’s sighs and Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women,” presidential debates have been the highest and most public forum for political discourse — a forum in which no woman has ever had the opportunity to speak. Millions watch, and if the Trump effect on the GOP primary debates are any indication, 2016 will be no exception. More people than ever will tune in to hear what comes out of his mouth next. Young and old, liberal and conservative, Black and white will not be able to resist watching the political equivalent of the Fight of the Century. But unlike Ali and Frazier, this will not be a fair fight. Though he has benefited from the fact that he has consistently
been the center of attention at every debate in some form or another, Trump’s debating skills over the course of the primary season have pleased few other than his supporters. He attacks wildly and without caution, as he did with Ted Cruz: “I know you’re embarrassed. I know you’re embarrassed … I’m relaxed. You’re the basket case.” If anyone boos, he chalks it up to a biased audience. He has blatantly lied, insulted moderators and made explicit reference to the size of his manhood, all on national television. And a lot of it has worked thus far. His antics in these contests have been what makes him endearing to the portion of the Republican base that hates the establishment and the media, supporters who love to hear someone speak their mind and lambast the evil that is political correctness. If there is one thing Trump knows, it is how to market himself. But this cannot continue in a general election. The strategy that has catapulted him to the top of a fragmented GOP field will not work with independents, moderates, swing state voters and the vast majority of Americans who disapprove of Trump. Keep in mind the fact that, with the notable exception of Megyn Kelly, no one has held him accountable for his sexist remarks. Since their confrontation in the first debate, Trump has avoided this “thirdrate reporter” at all costs, refusing to participate in debates where she, and her questions on behalf of women, were present. In a contest based around looking “presidential,” knowledgeable and relatable yet strong, Trump’s infantile behavior will pale in comparison to Hillary’s calm and collected presentation. My golden retriever would look presidential next to the GOP frontrunner, but I digress. Feminists could not have written a more symbolic showdown. On one side, a man who has degraded women, reduced them to their appearances and last week said that exercising their constitutional right to have an abortion should result in “some form of punishment.”
On the other, a composed and capable woman with one of the most impressive resumés in the history of presidential candidates. Someone who has, throughout her career, promoted reproductive rights, equal pay and family paid leave. Whether Hillary Clinton is the ideal icon for feminism in the 21st century or not is still up for debate. Regardless, she will be the champion of every American woman when she inevitably takes on Trump and his rhetoric. In living rooms and at dinner tables across the country, conversations will be sparked by the simple truth that sexism is alive and well. It will have a name, a face and an unconvincing head of hair. Discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity are more easily identifiable. Just watch the news. Sexism, on the other hand, hides. It exists in the socially acceptable forms of slut shaming, in the unequal expectations about marriage and children, in the double standards about displaying emotion in public, and in countless other nooks and crannies of our national culture. When I imagine what a Trump/Clinton debate might look like, I see a place where sexism cannot hide. Under the bright lights and scrutiny of millions of Americans, as he tries to score points with his base of predominantly angry white men, Trump’s shocking disrespect for more than half of the voting public will not be funny or entertaining. It will be disturbing — a wakeup call to those who have chuckled at “meninism” on social media and, like I did as a first-semester freshman, refused to use the F word. So no matter which party wins the House or the Senate or the White House, I will make one prediction about the 2016 election cycle with confidence: Feminism will win. — Brett Graham can be reached at btgraham@umich.edu.
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
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RACHEL THURSBY | OP-ED
Inclusivity for LGBTQ survivors Though the most common narrative surrounding sexual violence and intimate partner abuse tends to focus on heterosexual relationships with a female survivor and a male perpetrator, it’s important to remember that these issues affect relationships between people of all social identities. In fact, according to a 2010 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rates of sexual violence were much higher among lesbian women, gay men and bisexual men and women than among heterosexual people. The survey reports that approximately 13 percent of lesbian women and a whopping 46 percent of bisexual women reported having been raped at some point in their lives. Forty percent of gay men and 47 percent of bisexual men reported experiencing sexual violence other than rape. Compared to 17 percent of heterosexual women reporting rape and 21 percent of heterosexual men reporting other kinds of sexual violence, these statistics show that sexual violence has a major presence in the LGBTQ community. So why are LGBTQ survivor stories so invisible? When people don’t see themselves represented in a situation (in this case, among abuse and sexualized violence survivors), they tend not to identify with it. Many LGBTQ people are afraid to report their assault or to speak
out about their abuse because they worry the resources available for survivors aren’t “for them” or feel they aren’t included and accepted in safe spaces for survivors. This “othering” can make the survivor feel further alienated by society. Another huge barrier for LGBTQ people seeking resources or support is the gendered language that tends to be used when discussing assault. It is often implied that all survivors are female and all perpetrators are male, which, for many survivors, is inconsistent with their story. Because they do not see themselves accounted for in resources supporting survivors of abuse and assault, many LGBTQ people do not speak up or seek help. Another possible reason behind this could be that members of the LGBTQ community who experience sexual violence are afraid to tell their stories due to stereotypes and their minority status. There’s a sentiment that if there is an issue with sexual violence in the community, then straight people will have another excuse to marginalize them. Other members of the LGBTQ community may have friends or family members who are skeptical of LGBTQ people’s sexuality and partner choice. This may cause the individual to feel like they have to work extra hard to keep up the appearances of a healthy relationship in order to make sure people have no reason
to further disapprove of the relationship and, by extension, their sexual orientation. There is also the fear of being outed. LGBTQ people who have been abused, but have not come out, fear speaking about their experience or seeking resources for help because they are not yet ready to be out. In the case of abusive relationships, the abuser could even use their partner’s fear of being outed as leverage to keep their partner from leaving. With all these real issues and fears, what can be done to combat this problem? How can straight people — survivors or otherwise — be allies to the LGBTQ community both generally and in the context of sexual assault and intimate partner violence? One big step is inclusive language. The use of “partner” rather than “girlfriend” or “boyfriend” includes all gender identities and all types of relationships. Rather than gendering sexual assault and intimate partner violence, understanding that these things can happen to people of any and all social identities is crucial to opening up the conversation about domestic violence to everyone. Regardless of their identity, all survivors deserve to be heard and believed. — Rachel Thursby is a SAPAC network publicity activism volunteer.
Arts
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HEALTH COLUMN
FILM REVIEW
Is pot the new PowerBar? Last Friday night, I set my alarm with one mission in mind: to finish Saturday’s run before Ann Arbor’s 45th annual Hash Bash began. It was still dark when I set out the next morning, but I happily took sleep deprivation, cold HAILEY fingers and scat- MIDDLEBROOK tered snow showers over streets saturated with marijuana. Before I offend any Hash Bash attendees, here’s a disclaimer: I very strongly (and maybe unfairly) despise weed. Part of my hatred stems from the act of smoking itself. Like all runners, I prize my lungs. The idea of inhaling something that could harm my breathing makes me anxious. (Full disclosure: I was the kid who coughed obnoxiously whenever I passed someone on their cigarette break, convinced that secondary smoke would give me lung cancer.) When I first encountered marijuana in high school, being a “stoner” was a persona. Smoking weed was relaxing, my classmates said. To “judgemental me,” they were lazy. And out of shape. I dismissed marijuana enthusiasts as gluttonous and sluggish — kids who were always on the sofa, hacking up a lung, Doritos in hand. And yet, some defied the stoner stereotype. And they continue to defy it: they’re stellar cross country runners, swimmers, skiers, cyclists, rock climbers. Somehow, (despite several health risks from marijuana found in published studies) they rank among the best in their competitive fields. Who are these athletes? People like Clifford Drusinsky, an venerable triathlete who eats an energy bar laced with 20 milligrams of THC (the chemical found in marijuana) before a three-hour bike ride. Or Avery Collins, a 23-year-old ultrarunner from Colorado who recently ran a 100-mile race in Hawaii. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Collins explained his training regimen: he typically runs about 150 miles weekly and consumes weed four or five times each week as well. Rather than smoking the plant, Collins uses a vaporizer, eats weed edibles and rubs a marijuana-infused balm on his
legs, which helps numb physical aches from his ultra-distance runs. Similarly, by ingesting a little weed before he runs, Collins controls for nausea (which is crucial for a long run) and helps with the mental challenges of the sport. The marijuana occupies his mind, which reduces anxiety and dulls the tedium of miles. It also helps him sleep. As Collins explained in the article, “You’re running for 17 to 20 hours straight, and when you stop, sometimes your legs and your brain don’t just stop ... Sometimes [marijuana] is the only way I can fall asleep after racing.” Collins isn’t alone in his postrunning ritual. In an interview with Runner’s World, Jeff Serber, a 42-year-old runner from Los Angeles, called the plant his painkiller of choice — especially after two hip surgeries, a hernia surgery, and severe arthritis in his toe. He told Runner’s World, “You can take an Advil, which will help the swelling and inflammation, but it’s also very taxing on your liver ... I can’t do [prescription pain medicine] and function as a normal human being.” Serber continued, “As a weed smoker, I can function.” The issue of “functioning” is what typically divides athletes, scientists and physicians (not to mention the rest of society) on the marijuana debate. Even as weed becomes increasingly legalized in states — prompting magazines like Outside to investigate, “Can Pot Make You a Better Athlete?” — many people are understandably hesitant to add marijuana to their workout routines, regardless of its supposed benefits. Can weed be healthy? Few scientists have studied the effects of marijuana on fitness, but many athletes have recently “come out of the cannabis closet” to describe their experiences. What we do know is that THC binds to the cannabinoid receptors in our brains, which are the same receptors activated when we experience a “runner’s high.” Whether our cannabinoids are hijacked naturally through exercise or synthetically, through marijuana, the “high” we feel is marked by “sedation, analgesia, mild happiness, the loss of the sensation of time and a loss of worries,” according to Runner’s World. For some weed smokers, being free of worry can be equal to being lazy. But for others, marijuana has an opposite effect: it makes athletes feel invincible. A skier who consumes weed, for example, may be
willing to tackle terrain that intimidated him before. As an anonymous climbing guide said in Men’s Journal, “People have a stereotype of a zoned-out stoner, but for a lot of people, [weed] it makes them super-focused and motivated ... it’s like drinking two espressos.” Obviously, there are risks involved with weed. For every one skier who focuses better after taking a hit, there are dozens whose cognitive and fine motor skills are negatively affected by the drug, putting them in dangerous situations (i.e. straight into a tree). Marijuana is also known to increase heart rate and blood flow to the brain, potentially causing cardiac arrest and stroke. Besides its deadlier side effects, marijuana’s anxietyreducing capabilities and bronchodilating effects (which increases airflow to the lungs) prompted the World AntiDoping Agency to ban the drug from athletic competitions — but the rule is shifting. In 2013, the WADA raised the level of THC permissible for athletes, enabling elites to train with marijuana outside of competitions. Will marijuana be the training supplement of the future? Unlikely. Or at least, not publicly. Because despite our country’s growing acceptance of weed, and despite the elite athletes who debunk the stoner stereotype, the negative stigma of marijuana is hard to shake — especially in the world of athletics. Here’s the thing: marijuana isn’t banned from competition because it’s a performance enhancer. Weed doesn’t bother me, or anyone else for that matter, the same way steroids do — because smoking doesn’t necessarily give the athlete an advantage over his competitors. But it taints the purity of the sport. When Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was caught on camera smoking weed from a bong in 2009, it caused a worldwide uproar. Reporters fished for reasons, sponsors wanted apologies, parents labeled him a bad role model. One picture was all it took to take Phelps off the podium and into the streets of Hash Bash. In the future, there may be concrete evidence of marijuana’s health benefits, particularly for athletes. But until then, I think I’ll stick with the runner’s high. Middlebrook is watching you eat those Doritos. To ask for salad recipes, email hailharp@umich.edu.
FILM REVIEW
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
“Mom likes me better.”
Pointless ‘Huntsman’ relies on stereotypes By RACHEL RICHARDSON Daily Arts Writer
Once upon a time gender roles weren’t accurately portrayed in Hollywood. “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” reminds us of those darker times, not only by bringing back these cringeworthy stereotypes, but also by regurgitating a worn-out theme.
Essentially, the insanely predictable narrative tries to emphasize how love conquers all. Sticking to tradition, an overly optimistic sounding narrator introduces us to two sisters, the evil queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron, “Mad Max: Fury Road”) and her nicer (but not nice) sister, Freya (Emily Blunt, “Sicario”). After a series
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 — 5A
of unfortunate events, Freya deserts her homeland to start her own kingdom, founded on the idea that loving is a sin. But, of course, two of her citizens, Eric (Chris Hemsworth, “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) and Sara (Jessica Chastain, “The Martian”), fell deeply in love and formulate a plan to escape. Freya manages to separate them, but the couple
HBO
Can’t go wrong with a classic black turtleneck.
‘Copy’ reveals true genius of late Ephron By SOPHIA KAUFMAN Daily Arts Writer
It was a family mantra passed down through the matriarchs, starting with Jacob Bernstein’s grandmother: “Everything is copy.” In this Adocumentary tribute to Everything his mother, is Copy: Nora Ephron, Nora Bernstein Ephron, profiles Ephron’s Scripted professional life as a and journalist, Unscripted screenwriter and director, HBO using both her own words and those of others close to her. “Everything is Copy” reveals nothing extraordinary, but it is a treat to hear the profound respect that Ephron’s friends and coworkers had for her and her influential work. Before she created the touchstone titles “Sleepless in Seattle,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail,” Ephron was a journalist. In “Everything is Copy,” Gay Talese says one can’t always tell with a daily paper how strong of a writer someone is; but once Ephron started writing essays, everyone began to take notice. Her editor at Alfred Knopf talks about how she broke through a lot of glass ceilings. She launched herself into the intellectual stratosphere of New York City with her writing for Esquire Magazine, especially with her essays during the growing women’s rights movement, introducing people to feminism with succinct and sparkling essays that were easy to digest.
inevitably reunites seven years later. Then, Eric, now a soldier in Snow White’s kingdom, is tasked with finding Ravenna’s F powerful mirror before The Freya does. To enhance the Huntsman: talent of his Winter’s dream team, Eric permits War four bumbling Universal trolls to Pictures accompany him and Sara on their State Theater journey. All of the tension built up throughout the film culminates in Freya’s castle, though mostly everyone still manages to live happily ever after in the end. Sadly, “The Hunstman: Winter’s War” fails to offer anything new to the fairytale genre. Sara’s middle name might as well be Katniss, as she annoyingly emphasizes that she “never misses” with her bow and arrow at every opportunity. Katniss and Sara also share the unappealing quality of acting like a femme fatale one moment and a hopeless damsel in distress the next. As well there’s no question that Freya is the non-animated version of Elsa from “Frozen.” Both possess the ability to turn anything into an ice sculpture, (a power that stems from the coldness of their hearts.) Even the costuming is similar — both flaunt
The quippy remarks from everyone who admired Ephron reflect her own writing. She could be acerbic — “she had a razor in her back pocket,” says one — but she also refused to mask any sympathy for her subjects when she felt it. The love felt for Ephron and her work shines through in the interview segments. Steven Spielberg says making Ephron laugh was like winning an Oscar. “She understood love, I think,” reflects Meryl Streep. “Everything is Copy” follows Ephron’s career chronologically, but it is intercut with other figures — Lena Dunham, Gaby Hoffmann, Reese Witherspoon, Rita Wilson — reading some of her essays out loud. Those shots are black and white and simply framed, giving viewers the time and space to fully focus on Ephron’s words. The entire documentary is littered with sharp, clever, biting remarks that Ephron has said throughout the years, — on the air or to journalists — spicing up Bernstein’s narration. Her gift for turning a phrase is made strikingly obvious. She cuts off one talk show host who is trying to defend Julie Nixon — about whom Ephron had written — shrewdly guessing that he nurses a soft spot for her. He admits it, smiling, asking if she doesn’t, and she adamantly replies, “I think she’s a chocolate covered spider.” Later on, when asked what makes Tom Hanks (“Sleepless in Seattle”) and Meg Ryan (“When Harry Met Sally”) the king and queen of romantic comedies, she says, “Two great brains, and the fact that they look like they’re from the same food group.” The documentary focuses just as much on Ephron’s personal life as it does on her professional career, perhaps because she used
her own life as material for her screenplays. The story of her divorce is intercut with shots from the film adaptation of her novel “Heartburn,” directed by Mike Nichols. Nichols talks about how Ephron dealt with being “publicly cuckolded,” an experience not many people survive. The awe in his voice is apparent when he relates how she did it. “She moved to the Gottlieb’s house, cried for six months, and wrote it funny. And in writing it funny, she won. And betrayed women all over the world knew it, and cheered.” There’s a montage in the documentary of all the interviewees being asked if they knew she was sick towards the end of her life. Every single one says no, even those working on “Julie and Julia,” the film with which Ephron had the closest working relationship. Nora Ephron died of leukemia at the age of 71, very rapidly. Her death is portrayed as a shock to the entire populace of New York City. There’s a montage of clips from different news sources and channels sharing the news of her death, demonstrating her transnational influence. “Everything is Copy” would’ve been stronger if Bernstein had abstained from projecting his own psychoanalytic interpretation of his mother’s decision to keep the news of her sickness from people onto her story. But the last word of the documentary is “pie,” followed by a lazy jazz number that fades in and out as the end credits roll. It sounds strange, but it works. It’s the last thing that Ephron said she would miss about life in her final book, “I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections.”
extravagant dresses that tinkle as they stride across their frozen fortresses. At least Elsa can release her overly exaggerated emotions by breaking into song — Blunt expresses her feelings through excessive whines and screeches. Chris Hemsworth’s performance confirms why few people regard the Huntsman as a remarkable hero. Hemsworth ferociously tears off Blunt’s clothes during their countless make out scenes, portraying the false idea that in an ideal relationship, the man is allowed to literally and figuratively strip her of all she has. Not only is it hard to comprehend why he carries out most of his actions in the way that he does, it’s often difficult to discern what exactly Hemsworth is saying because of his accent, which strangely wasn’t an issue in any of the “Avengers” movies. Even in this type of fantasy movie, there is a fine line between acceptably unreal and downright bizarre. Somehow the film manages to avoid crossing this line until the final duel between the two sisters. When Ravenna loses all control of her emotions, a disgusting black goo oozes from her mouth. As it drips off her teeth and splatters down her chin, she appears appear more like a bloodthirsty vampire than enraged queen. We’re made well aware that Freya is fully enraged when her pupils are
replaced with glowing white spheres. While this is slightly less frightening, its strangeness is incredibly uncomfortable. The dialogue throughout the entire film encourages an insane number of facepalms, but the award for worst banter goes to the dumb exchanges between Nion (Nick Frost, “Shaun of the Dead”) and Doreena (Alexandra Roach, “The Iron Lady”), the troll couple that can only be identified by their robustness and stupidity. Instead of achieving the intended wit by being clever, their conversation draws laughs because of its pathetic reliance on the liberal usage of contemporary double entendre. As the two paddle their canoe, which has deeper sexual implications in itself, Doreena remarks that she has suddenly become very thirsty. She then turns around when Nion comments that running also makes him thirsty. They then proceed to discuss how the saltiness of certain foods also increases their levels of thirst. When Doreena faces forward again, the smile we all know indicates she’s getting laid tonight creeps across her face. Unlike these two bumbling trolls, my love life hasn’t been so promising lately. And while I’d like to make my enemies suffer, I’m not evil enough to cast a spell that would force them to sit through this deplorable film.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, April 6, 2016
TV REVIEW
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
Lopez not ‘Louie’ UMGASS ‘Pinafore’ By BAILEY KADIAN
By SHIR AVINADAV
linchpin. Like counterparts Louis C.K. and Larry David, Lopez pokes fun at himself, but does so in the context of being a Latino man in a predominantly white stratum of Los Angeles. However, a well-off comedian whose life is rooted in Hollywood, Lopez doesn’t carry the same cultural currency as the average sitcom-y father figure. “Lopez” capitalizes on the comedian’s success as the factor distancing him from his roots. The show succeeds in its hyperbolic, reflexive representation of Lopez’s prosperity — that is, if its goal is to make Lopez’s character unrelatable and even unlikable. He spends most of the episode complaining about what his privilege affords him — like his daughter’s (Ashley Zamora, “Gang Related”) bourgeoisie private school and his annoying neighbors in their wealthy neighborhood. Though Lopez’s character ultimately refers to these issues as “white man problems” — pointing out the complete lack of awareness some privileged white people have regarding inequality — he fails to explore this realization further. To make things worse, he mistakes the former mayor of Los Angeles for a valet, made even more cringeworthy by the fact that Lopez himself is mistaken for a valet at his daughter’s school (yes, the school has valet parking) earlier in the episode. Referencing stereotypes like the one in Lopez’s valet gaffe can serve as a critical tool for examining them in society. But rather than engaging with this issue, he brushes it off, opting
Daily Arts Writer
Though TV Land’s new series “Lopez” dons yet another variation of its star George Lopez’s name as its title, it differs Cfrom his previous shows in Lopez both format and content. Series Premiere The comedian’s Wednesdays at 10 p.m. eponymous roster of shows TV Land typically fits the mold of the traditional family sitcom, but stand apart in the diversity of their cast members. Lopez is far from the first producer and actor to represent cultural diversity on television, but he is still one of the first few to achieve success doing so. His comedy tackles issues of ethnicity, cultural assimilation and family dynamics — topics that many American audiences can relate to but don’t often see on TV. However, with the slowly increasing diversity of network and cable television, as well as the ever-changing realm of comedy, the traditional sitcom has lost its impact as a vehicle for Lopez’s acute humor and commentary. Following the lead of shows like “Louie” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Lopez” is a singlecamera comedy that parodies the life of its creator and star. Lopez’s previous shows star him as an everyman — the head of his household who’s vexed by his family’s antics yet also serves as their
to use the moment as a platform to satirize his relationship with his publicist instead. His publicist, a high-strung, social media machine, acts as an indicator of how out of place Lopez feels in Hollywood, despite having assimilated to his life as a celebrity enough to lose touch with his roots. At times, Lopez and his publicist seem to be operating on different wavelengths completely. This divide serves as an apt reflection of Hollywood’s superficial reality, but again positions Lopez as the out of touch celebrity. The satirization of his celebrity status is milked even further by a Snoop Dogg cameo. In a bizarre plotline that struggles to fit in with the rest of the episode, Snoop Dogg tries to set up Lopez with his Latina maid, who’s a fan of the comedian. This thread in the plot feels like an unpleasant return to Lopez’s sitcom humor and falls flat. Despite the show’s failure to live up to its potential in the premiere, there’s something to be said for Lopez’s attempts to make an example out of himself. The show doesn’t cast explicit blame on anyone for the social issues addressed in the series premiere. A new platform might be just what Lopez needs to articulate his experiences as a Latino sitcom star and comedian, but the first episode lacks the authenticity needed to do this. The most genuinely funny moment in the episode is when the principal at his daughter’s school asks, “Do you have anything without your name on it?”
Daily Arts Writer
This weekend, the University of Michigan Gilbert & Sullivan Society presents “HMS Pinafore.” This is HMS one of the two Pinafore shows the organization puts Thurs. 8 p.m., Fri. on each year, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., dedicating their Sat. 2 p.m. & 8 productions to p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. the operettas of Lydia MendelsGilbert & Sulsohn Theater livan. The organization was $10 students, founded in 1947 $20 general and is the oldest student-run organization performing Gilbert & Sullivan’s works nationwide. UMGASS is composed of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as other community members in the Ann Arbor area. “ ‘HMS Pinafore’ is, on the face of it, your love between ranks story,” UMGASS promoter and School of Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Natan Zamansky said. “A poor sailor falls in love with the captain’s daughter. The captain, however, would much rather she marry the Admiral.” Despite this, Josephine, the captain’s daughter, decides to rebel
A24
How do you solve a problem like Maria??
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, April 6, 2016
By JOE WAGNER
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Fabric mimicked by jeggings 6 Dallas NBA team 10 Indian mausoleum city 14 In the company of 15 __ bargain 16 Fountain contribution 17 Midler’s “Divine” nickname 18 Burn unit procedure 20 Allow to enter 22 Big name in auto racing 23 Kerfuffles 25 Advanced degs. 26 “Rogue Lawyer” novelist 31 Whiskas eater 34 Pulitzer winner Walker 35 Actor McGregor 36 Dance in a pit 37 Hull fastener 38 Group 39 Mazda MX-5, familiarly 40 Big nights 41 How-to component 42 Follow, as a hunch 43 __ Plaines 44 Rockefeller Center centerpiece 46 Farm enclosure 47 Bit of naughtiness 48 Doze 53 Disney character with a white tail 56 Quartet of Wagnerian operas, and a hint to the progression in this puzzle’s circled letters 58 Regal headpiece 60 Bordeaux brainstorm 61 Down-to-earth 62 2001 scandal subject 63 Boilermaker component 64 Prohibitionists 65 City near Florence
DOWN 1 Reservoir creator 2 German actor Jannings 3 Sommelier’s asset 4 Examples 5 Classic British two-seater 6 Base cops, briefly 7 __-Seltzer 8 Corpuscle conduit 9 Dreamy guy? 10 Lots of plots 11 Butter in a farmyard? 12 Africa’s Great __ Valley 13 Naysayer 19 Light weight 21 Hide-hair link 24 Afternoon break 26 Actor/singer Leto 27 Green hue 28 Homes with buzzers 29 “Ni-i-ice!” 30 Quaint headpiece accessory 31 Raccoon kin 32 __ Martin: 007’s car 33 Acknowledge in an Oscar speech, say
36 Barely-there dress 39 Powerful people 41 Rock band Lynyrd __ 44 Legato’s opp., in music 45 San Francisco’s __ Hill 46 “Like a Rock” rocker 48 Chicago paper, for short
49 __-de-camp 50 Bermuda shorts endpoint 51 One with an untouchable service 52 Word with fair or foul 54 Unadorned 55 Fairway choice 57 PGA star from South Africa 59 Santa __ Mountains
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04/06/16
When dealing with topics as sensitive as the Holocaust, it seems necessary to write about them with the utmost care. Its grav- B ity necessitates exploration of Remember serious themes A24 and if not done in an appro- State Theater priate manner, it can be disastrous. In Benjamin August’s freshman screenplay “Remember,” he utilizes the Holocaust as a plot ploy to create a semi-psychological thriller. Directed by Atom
Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”), the movie’s rather vapid use of the Holocaust unsuccessfully tries to take on big themes. “Remember,” which features a superb performance from Christopher Plummer (“A Beautiful Mind”), is nonetheless an entertaining film if one is able to completely suspend disbelief during its various ludicrous scenes. Zev (Christopher Plummer) is a recent widow and sufferer of dementia living in an assisted living home outside of New York City. On the seventh day of sitting shiva for his wife, Zev is given a letter by his friend Max (Martin Landau “Ed Wood”) who also lives in the home. In the letter, Max writes says Zev and Max
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re-enactment group.” Andrews wrote. “Since the Pinafore is a ship, and a British ship, of course, I chose a naval engagement from British history — the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896.” The opera is written with specific “type” characters, but there is freedom for the cast to add their own touch to established character qualities. Zamansky said the cast and production team are working together to shape these characters in new ways. “With Gilbert & Sullivan, after their first shows, they were writing for a troupe. They wrote very specific character types,” Zamansky said. “They are broadly painted though and it gives the actors a chance to shape them in their own ways.” This piece offers something for long time followers of Gilbert & Sullivan and for those who aren’t familiar with their works. Andrews wrote that “HMS Pinafore” is layered with fun and UMGASS is thrilled to be able to share it with the Ann Arbor community. “Art and Literature that has stood the test of time (and G&S opera is definitely included in that category) is a great resource for better understanding human nature,” he wrote. “Even at a distance (in the case of HMS Pinafore) of 138 years.”
Cerebral ‘Remember’ Daily Arts Writer
FILM REVIEW
against the established system of social order and pursue her love for Ralph Rackstraw, the poor sailor. Opening at the Opera Comique in London in 1878, “HMS Pinafore” ran for 571 shows. This was Gilbert & Sullivan’s fourth operatic work together, earning immense praise both in Britain and internationally. Gilbert & Sullivan’s works have greatly influenced modern pieces of musical theater today. The pair mix story and satire — which is one of the many reasons why their works have gained such a following. “Gilbert & Sullivan wrote about things they observed in their social circle and in their lifetime and gently satirized political figures, societal conventions and class distinctions of their era,” Director David Andrews wrote in an e-mail interview. “Yet when you see the characters they present and the issues they address in ‘HMS Pinafore’ and in their other operas, everything and everyone will seem very familiar.” This year, UMGASS has decided to take a new approach to the wellknown opera, to offer their regular audience members something new and different, as well as introduce first-time members to the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. “We’re setting ‘HMS Pinafore’ as if it is being presented by a war
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are the last two people on earth who are able to identify the man who killed their families at Auschwitz. Because Max is physically disabled, Zev promises to go kill the man who killed their families. Max also writes that when this man immigrated to the United States he took the name of a survivor, Rudy Kulander, but his real name is Otto Wallisch. We did find out that Max has apparently done his research. There are four Rudy Kulanders who emigrated from Germany at this time. Now, Zev must travel across the country to hunt down the right Rudy Kulander to avenge their families. So a sick 88-year-old takes off on a cross-country roadtrip to get his revenge on a Nazi, but first he has to purchase a Glock so he can do his murdering. Ah yes, of course. It only makes sense that an elderly man with dementia is able to go to a gun store and purchase a firearm. This is not to mention the fact that Zev asks the vendor to write down the instructions of how to use the gun because “he forgets things sometimes.” Maybe, it’s a poignant comment on how unrestricted the purchase of a gun is in the United States, but it definitely feels more like bad writing. Zev encounters his first Rudy, who happens to have at hand proof that he was a Nazi but served in Africa, and didn’t kill Zev’s family. This encounter serves to move the plot forward, but doesn’t develop the character or explore the large themes it attempts to take on, including but not limited to: memory, history, revenge and family. Plummer’s character has to consistently reread the letter after every time he sleeps as his dementia causes him to forget where he is, what has happened and his mission. Although essential for the plot to make any sense, the rereading of the letter becomes repetitive and annoying. Plummer’s performance, partly through these repetitive actions, does make the character and the disease from which he suffers feel real and believable. Eventually, Zev reaches the last Rudy Kulander. At this point, there is a large twist which the astute viewer may have seen coming. This turn, although it may have been inevitable, is interesting and thought provoking. And ironically it is what is most disappointing about the film. Here, August sets up situation which offers the possibility for explorative and philosophical discussion through dialogue. Rather than take this challenge head on, he avoids it, taking the easy way out with his characters. The movie is entertaining, but when a film takes on so much, we expect so much more than what “Remember” gives us.
Arts & Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 — 7A
STYLE NEWS
In recognition of Slimane’s vision Exit of legendary creative director marks new chapter for Saint Laurent By ANAY KATYAL Daily Arts Writer
It’s been an open secret for some time. But this past April Fools, in twistedly humorous fashion, Kering, owner of Saint Laurent (and a cachet of other labels ) finally confirmed that Hedi Slimane, the man credited for the signature aesthetic so synonymous with Saint Laurent today, is leaving his post as creative director of the label. In an industry where designer turnover has been a topic of critical discussion, Slimane’s exit isn’t the most welcome of news, but the legacy he leaves behind him at Saint Laurent is of great significance. Before Slimane took the helm, Stefano Pilati’s eightyear stint as creative director of the label led to Saint Laurent being known for its conceptual, avant-garde focus toward collections. Oftentimes, it resulted in fascinating, eclectic pieces that went in a multitude of directions. Slimane all but
stymied that approach in his four years with Saint Laurent, but where he lacked in a sense innovation, he more than made up in his adherence to cohesion and consistency. It’s an approach the romantics of the fashion world may not enjoy, but the powerhouse that Saint Laurent has become can largely be attributed to Slimane’s own doing. Slimane shook Saint Laurent from the ground up when he first began his reign. Under his guidance, the look and business of the label went through a creative consolidation in line with Slimane’s vision. A signature aesthetic was crafted for the label, backed by the pieces it produced and the label’s public persona so meticulously crafted by Slimane. He even moved to drop “Yves” from the label’s title in the process — a decision still widely criticized for how it axed the symbolic connection between the label and its very own founder. In his bid for commercialization of the label, Slimane reappropriated a lot of what he saw being worn and embodied on the streets of Paris and New York’s clubs, creating a romanticized version of modern urban street culture. With vintage biker jackets and shredded
denim galore, Slimane’s Saint Laurent peddled an expensive homage to today’s urban youth, an approach that was met with its fair share of critics. Despite the fashion world’s often tenuous relationship with Slimane, his unrequited love for indie rock and youth culture garnered audiences in droves. Under Slimane, Saint Laurent’s sales doubled. Retailers could barely keep up with the demand for Saint Laurent’s ready-towear pieces. He often rehashed vintage designs, and his creative direction rarely deviated from the singular philosophy he employed, but people enjoyed the products that came out of it. Celebrities and customers alike sought excuses to publicly don his work whenever possible. Slimane’s unwavering adherence to his fashion ideology is largely what led to much of the success he enjoyed at the label. It’s unclear whether his successor, Anthony Vaccarello (announced Monday afternoon) will take the helm bearing Slimane’s own flag or venture in a direction of his own, but the brand Saint Laurent is today is a brand with plenty of cultural capital and staying power thanks to Slimane’s efforts. Vaccarello, undoubtedly, has fairly large shoes to fill.
RITA MORRIS/Daily
The Michigan rowing team finished second-best out of four teams at the ACC/Big Ten Double Dual on Saturday.
Michigan falls to Virginia Wolverines lose to fourth-ranked Cavaliers at fourteam meet By KATIE CONKLIN Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women’s rowing team traveled to Columbus over the weekend with one thing in mind — to beat No. 4 Virginia. Though the seventh-ranked Wolverines had a solid showing overall at the ACC/Big Ten Double Dual, they were unable to pull ahead of the Cavaliers at Griggs Reservoir on Saturday.
The first varsity eight boat was closest to victory in the first morning session. The crew crossed the finish line at 6:26.2, just over three seconds slower than Virginia. The Cavaliers expanded the gap against the second varsity eight and the varsity fours, though they were still competitive. Entering the second session of the day, Michigan was set for a comeback. Racing against Clemson and Michigan State — the Wolverines beat the latter team in September — they took charge. Winning all varsity races, Michigan rowed through the Tigers and Spartans with ease. The first varsity eight, conducted by junior coxswain
Francesca Derteano, redeemed itself with a 6:40.7 victory, more than five seconds faster than runner-up Michigan State, while the second varsity eight won by nearly 13 seconds. Both the first and second varsity fours demolished their competition, pulling ahead of second place by 10 and 18.4 seconds, respectively. Michigan State, the Wolverines’ lone Big Ten competition, trailed in third for both races. Michigan will see more Big Ten competition this coming weekend against Ohio State and Rutgers when it travels to Camden, N.J. And with a few Big Ten wins under its belt, the team will enter the water confident.
Hutchins preaches confidence Wolverines dig early hole, snap winning streak BASEBALL
By AVI SHOLKOFF Daily Sports Writer
There have been moments this season when Megan Betsa absolutely dominated opposing hitters. In one instance, against Western Michigan, the junior right-hander allowed only one hit in six innings. In another, facing Northwestern, she fanned 12 in five innings. At other points, Betsa remains wild and inconsistent, most notably in her appearances from the bullpen. Coming on in relief at UCLA, Betsa walked four batters in two innings and nearly lost Michigan’s lead. Most notably, in the Wolverines’ disappointing loss in the first game of the Northwestern series, she pitched to four batters, walking three and hitting one to earn her second loss on the season. An important part of this stark difference in performances stems from Betsa’s lack of confidence, according to Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. Throughout her 32-year career coaching the Wolverines, she has pointed to confidence as the most significant factor to a player’s success. Hutchins instills this in her players by teaching them to focus on their preparation and to believe in their daily workouts. “A player who plays with confidence is twice the player who’s playing with no confidence,” Hutchins said. “Confidence means you aren’t afraid of failing,
you’re confident that what you do can work. You’re not afraid that it won’t work.” Betsa understands the importance of relaxing and simply focusing on one batter at a time. If she loses composure in a game, her fellow players go to the circle and simply tell her to calm down and offer their support. “Last year really proved that for me, when I was confident, I threw way better,” Betsa said. “I’m good enough to beat anyone in the country, and when I believe that, I’m really good.” Michigan’s disastrous loss to Northwestern is a prime example of what occurs when it loses its confidence. The Wolverines, who led by six runs at one point, coughed up their advantage, and despite a sudden awakening late in the game, the rally ultimately proved futile. “It occurred to us that we might not win, so our lineup stopped scoring,” Hutchins said. “Then in the seventh, they were afraid of losing, and then (the players) played to win.” Thus, for Michigan to continue its recent string of victories and high-powered offense, it is imperative for the top-ranked Wolverines to maintain high poise
both with a lead and a deficit. Two players stand out as showing high determination. Hutchins believes that fifth-year senior right-hander Sara Driesenga exuded tremendous confidence during a tournament in Fullerton, Calif., last month. She pitched 13 shutout innings and garnered two wins in that weekend. Throughout the season, senior second baseman Sierra Romero has demonstrated this same tenacity on both offense and defense. “You can watch Romero play, and you really have to look hard to see her lose a minute of her confidence,” Hutchins said. “It’s really a rare occasion. She’s fearless.” Even when she strikes out, she maintains this belief in herself, which makes her even tougher. Romero’s fellow players support their coach’s claims of her constant dedication and determination. “Knowing that Romo ahead of me is going to get on, or (senior right-fielder Kelsey Susalla) behind me, takes the pressure off,” said junior left-fielder Kelly Christner. “(Knowing this) helps (me) relax up there.” Offensively, Hutchins can determine a player’s mindset from
“If I am not right in my head, then I’m not going to do well.”
her first swings by seeing if the batter is pondering her decisions at the plate. Because Hutchins knows her players so well, she can sense from the dugout if one of them is having a bad day. She urges her players to simply focus on their strengths rather than dwell on their weaknesses. Betsa looks to shortstop Abby Ramirez for a boost, as the junior demonstrates consistency and a helpful smile. To have such a person behind her in the infield is essential for a pitcher who, as she has shown this season, can perform to an All-American level but also show shades of inconsistency. Christner demonstrates that Hutchins’ players heed the lessons of their coach. She even adds her own interpretation of confidence. “I think the main thing is being mentally tough,” Christner said. “I know that I am a great player and I know that I can go up there and hit the ball. If I am not right in my head, then I’m not going to do well. I think just setting aside everything else, going back to the basics, clearing your mind, because it takes the pressures situations and tones them down into a regular at-bat.” As much as Hutchins would like for every individual on her team to constantly show confidence, her players sometimes let the pressure get to them. The Wolverines’ job is to limit those moments to the best of their ability.
KRISTINA PERKINS/Daily
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins constantly tries to instill the importance of confidence in her players, and it has paid off so far for the top-ranked Wolverines.
By NATHANIEL CLARK Daily Sports Writer
The No. 17 Michigan baseball team entered South Bend, Ind., having won its last nine games and 13 of its MICHIGAN 5 last 15. NOTRE DAME 9 All of that came to an end Tuesday night as the Wolverines (12-6) fell to Notre Dame, 9-5. The nine runs that Michigan surrendered tied for the most it has given up in a single game this season. “We weren’t keeping a tally,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich of his team’s winning streak. “As much as we want to win every single game, nobody does that at any level.” The Fighting Irish attack on the Wolverines began in the second inning when Notre Dame (16-11) put runners on first and second with no one out. Michigan’s starting pitcher, freshman righthander Will Tribucher, hit the next batter to load the bases for the Fighting Irish. Following the play, Notre Dame catcher Ryan Lidge hit a two-run double to put the Fighting Irish up, 2-0. Bakich had seen enough and proceeded to pull Tribucher in favor of freshman right-hander Troy Miller. “I can’t wait to see (Tribucher) again this weekend,” Bakich said. “Because I know he is going to do great. Tonight just wasn’t his night, and I told him that on the mound. He’s going to get right back on the horse this weekend.” But the first batter Miller faced, Fighting Irish centerfielder Kyle Richardson, blasted his own two-run double to widen the gap to four. An RBI double by first baseman Zak Kutsulis later in the frame extended Notre Dame’s advantage to five. Miller escaped the third inning without any further damage, but Fighting Irish designated hitter Jake Shepski launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 7-0. Left fielder Ricky
Hernandez hit an RBI single to left field later in the inning to put Michigan down 8-0. Michael Herne stymied the Wolverines’ offense as he pitched seven innings and allowed just three hits. He surrendered only one run, which came in the form of a home run by freshman shortstop Michael Brdar, making the score 9-1. “It was just one of those nights where we got behind early,” Bakich said. “We got behind with two big innings that they scored in — the second and the fourth — and that was really it. It’s just one of those nights.” But Michigan found new life in the eighth inning when it put runners on first and second with no one out. Senior left fielder Matt Ramsay was up to bat. Ramsay hit what appeared to be a groundout, but a throwing error allowed a run to score. Three batters later, senior centerfielder Cody Bruder singled to left to make the score 9-3. In the next at-bat, sophomore designated hitter Drew Lugbauer smacked a tworun triple to left field to trim Michigan’s deficit to four. But the comeback effort fell short as Brdar struck out swinging and the Wolverines went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. “Our guys certainly showed some grit and some resiliency like they have many times,” Bakich said. “Unfortunately, we just dug ourselves too big of a hole early in the game to get out of it.” Michigan will have little time to lick its wounds, though, as the Wolverines are slated to return home to take on Bowling Green on Wednesday before beginning a three-game set with Minnesota on Friday. “The good thing about baseball is that sometimes you get an opportunity the very next day (to recover from a loss),” Bakich said. “And that’s the case for us. We have something to look forward to tomorrow.”
“It was just one of those nights where we got behind early.”
Sports
8A — Wednesday, April 6, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Flaherty deserves the NCAA Tournament I
t was March 3 in the press conference room at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, and Katelynn Flaherty took the stand. The Michigan women’s basketball team had just lost its opening game TED JANES of the Big Ten Tournament, ending its hopes of making the NCAA Tournament. Clearly frustrated, Flaherty sat at the podium. The team shot 45 percent that day, and perhaps more solo attempts from Flaherty may have helped. “Katelynn, was there a point where you just said, ‘I have got to start shooting it more?’ ” asked one reporter. Flaherty answered humbly, as usual, remarking more about the flow of the game and playing for her teammates than about the fact that she’s the team’s best scorer. Her response veiled a sense of disappointment. Before the loss, Michigan was 9-9 in the conference and 18-12 overall. Not the strongest case for a NCAA Tournament bid, but strong enough that a solid showing at the conference tournament could have put them on the bubble. The Wolverines led Iowa by 16 points at one point, but the Hawkeyes fought back to win. Flaherty put up 31 and broke Michigan’s single-season scoring record, but any positive notes were overshadowed by the loss. Now, a month later, Flaherty has received Honorable Mention All-American recognition, but she’s neither a Big Ten champion nor had the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. The latter is the most
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty, who earned All-American honorable mention last week, has two more chances to make the NCAA Tournament in her career.
disappointing, because it’s hard to picture an athlete as talented as Flaherty not playing in the NCAA Tournament. Seven months ago, she claimed her desire to help bring the team to the next level, a goal that involved making the 64-team field. That was at the team media day in October, where much of the focus was on Flaherty. Flaherty was just days away from the tip off of her second year as a Wolverine, and expectations were high. She followed her record-breaking freshman season with a Team USA tryout over the summer, but had missed the cut on the 12-person roster. Among other things, her teammates discussed their own
expectations for Katelynn, what it’s like to play alongside her, the ins and outs of her game as well as what she’s like off the court. The general vibe her teammates gave off was that they all knew Flaherty was the team’s strongest player, but they also knew she would deflect the admiration. And just as much as she was humble, she was five times more driven. One teammate said that Flaherty’s biggest strength wasn’t her 3-point shooting or her ballhandling skills, but “her ability to do whatever it takes.” Talking to her teammates, examining her biography and statistics and listening to Barnes Arico’s appraisals, it becomes clear that she is already one of
the best players — if not the best — the program has ever seen. At media day, Flaherty explained what she had taken away from the Team USA tryout, what parts of her game she’d worked on most in the offseason and, briefly, what her personal and team goals looked like. She wanted to be a first-team All-Big Ten selection and an All-American. For the team, she wanted Michigan to win the Big Ten and make the NCAA Tournament. Over the course of the season, she made her case for each individual accolade, but the team couldn’t sway the NCAA Tournament committee after falling short its effort to pick up big wins. Flaherty rarely
faltered, scoring more than 15 points in all but three of Michigan’s 28 regular season games. She put up 22.3 points per game and remained one of the nation’s top-10 scorers all season, checking off another one of her goals with a first-team All-Big Ten selection. She continued to amaze fans every time she hit a deep 3 or wove through opponents’ defenses. She made basketball look easy and headlines repetitive. Each week, Flaherty scored in bunches against NCAA Tournament teams like Maryland, Ohio State and Michigan State. Against reputable, quality opponents, Flaherty powered one of the nation’s highest-scoring
offenses. When mid-March rolled around, though, Michigan was left for the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, the second-rate bracket behind the Big Dance. She lit up the WNIT during a semifinal run for the second straight year, but it was all just consolation. Michigan was hoping to make the NCAA Tournament in both seasons, and it feels like Flaherty has been missing out. A player of Flaherty’s caliber deserves to compete on the national stage, Her postseason résumé shouldn’t list the WNIT. It should list the real thing. She doesn’t have the same talent around her like some of the aforementioned teams, and at times it feels like she carries the Wolverines, but those days may be over. It’s important to note that Michigan is the right fit. Flaherty and Barnes Arico have known each other for years — a relationship that began when Flaherty was in middle school. She excels in the ‘2’ spot in Michigan’s guard-heavy system, and overall the Wolverines are improving. Each recruiting class continues to be better than the previous one, and potentially leading Michigan to the national spotlight would be indicative of her success. An appearance would not only signify the Wolverines’ rising program, but also highlight what will inevitably be one of the greatest careers in the history of Michigan women’s basketball. Halfway done with her college career, Flaherty hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament. If she doesn’t before graduating, it would be severely disappointing. Janes can be reached at tedjanes@umich.edu and on Twitter @tedjanes7.
Five Things We Learned: Spring Camp Speight, O’Korn even in quarterback competition; wide receiver corps ailing
Michigan returns more than it loses on the offensive line. In 2013 and 2014, the Wolverines took their lumps up front in preparation for a season like this — when they will start three fifthyear seniors in left guard Erik Magnuson, right guard Kyle Kalis and right tackle Ben Braden. Graham Glasgow, a possible NFL Draft pick, left a hole at center when he exhausted his eligibility last season. He was the Wolverines’ best offensive lineman last season, but former left tackle Mason Cole appears to have shifted over to fill his spot permanently. Sophomore Grant Newsome will step into Cole’s old spot, and Michigan expects to keep its rhythm. If the experience in the trenches finally pays off, the Wolverines’ offense could look smoother than it has in recent years.
By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor
Jim Harbaugh’s second spring camp at Michigan was, as is seemingly everything else he does, eventful. It started over the University’s Spring Break in Florida, where Harbaugh drew criticism from other coaches and administrators around the country. It continued on Twitter, where Harbaugh countered that criticism in the form of jabs at Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith and others. And it wrapped up Friday under the lights with the Spring Game, where the Wolverines gave fans their final taste of action until the fall. Overall, Michigan seems to be improved from last year’s 10-3 team at most positions. It still has a few holes to fill, but some could be helped by the rest of the topranked recruiting class coming in this summer. And it still has a few positions to settle — most notably at quarterback — but, for right now, the talent appears to be there one way or another. The experience is there as well. The Wolverines could start as many as 10 fifth-year seniors, depending on how the last few spots shake out, with many more fourth-year players in the mix, too. So, Michigan has finished up the spring where it hoped to be at the end of last season — with a legitimate chance to be in position for a Big Ten title if it keeps on its current trajectory throughout the rest of the year. Here are five things we learned from the team’s spring camp: 1. The quarterback competition is just that. Anyone who expected transfer John O’Korn to win the starting job going away is
5. Bold Prediction: Ty Isaac will take the first snap of the 2016 season at running back. AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Michigan football team appears more polished on both sides of the ball after finishing camp with the Spring Game on Friday night at Michigan Stadium.
mistaken. O’Korn is by far the most experienced after starting for a year and a half at Houston in 2013 and 2014. He earned rave reviews from coaches for his performance on the scout team last season and, in the minds of many, headed into 2016 as the presumptive frontrunner for the starting spot. But redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight had something to say about that. Speight, whose shining moment at present is last season’s game-winning touchdown pass in spot duty at Minnesota, was the first player under center during open practice March 26 at Ford Field. Then, he came out on top in the Spring Game on Friday — albeit by one point. Speight (5-for-6, 46 yards, two total touchdowns in the Spring Game) and O’Korn (6-for-14, 93 yards, one total touchdown) have both had mixed results this spring. O’Korn is the more prolific runner, but Speight is likely the more consistent passer.
Redshirt junior Shane Morris is third on the depth chart for now, and freshman Brandon Peters is talented but inexperienced and unproven. But all of the quarterbacks have five months to make a move. Harbaugh and his staff have not named a clear leader at the position, or even said when they would like to do so. The starter could very well not be apparent until he takes the field Sept. 3. Until then, buckle up for another fierce competition. 2. Expectations are as high as ever, and Michigan isn’t shying away from them. The defensive line thinks it can be the best in the country. The secondary thinks it can be the best in the country. The team thinks it can be the best in the country. Three months after the Wolverines shocked most people with a 10-3 season, no
one is short on optimism in Ann Arbor. Multiple players have already referenced the Sept. 3 season opener against Hawaii at Michigan Stadium. While Michigan ended up being successful last season, this spring has generated more excitement than most others in recent years. Most of that comes from the defense, which dominated for most of last season. It returns six starters this year and has a capable replacement ready to step in at every open position. Redshirt sophomore Jabrill Peppers has proven his versatility, even stepping in at strong-side linebacker for most of the spring. If he stays at linebacker, the secondary will consist entirely of fourth- or fifthyear players, and the defensive line is deeper than ever. 3. The offense could use some help on the outside. All of Michigan’s quarterbacks had their moments in the Spring
Game, but they need some more receivers to throw to. Most of the Wolverines’ injuries have been out wide. Fifth-year senior Jehu Chesson remains out, redshirt sophomore Freddy Canteen is no longer on the roster and redshirt sophomore Maurice Ways — who impressed for most of the spring — underwent foot surgery last week. That doesn’t leave much help on the flanks: Redshirt junior Jack Wangler, redshirt sophomore Drake Harris and sophomore Grant Perry were the only wide receivers to catch a pass in the Spring Game. Fifthyear senior Amara Darboh was held out for most of the game to give the others a chance, but the Wolverines will need more than just him to be healthy and ready to contribute in the fall. 4. The offensive line has continued to improve. For the third straight year,
Early in spring camp, Isaac felt positive about his improvement since a difficult 2015 season. He dropped weight, added speed and prepared to shoulder some of the workload in Michigan’s backfield. Then, others such as Harbaugh and Kalis echoed Isaac’s thoughts, praising him for being hungrier this spring. Finally, Isaac put his improvement on display, carrying 10 times for 78 yards in the Spring Game. Meanwhile, senior running back De’Veon Smith, the leader of the group coming into camp after a productive 2015, has been hurt on and off and did not touch the ball in the Spring Game. He said after the game that he’s merely resting to return to full strength for the season and, if he’s healthy, should still enter fall camp as the lead back. But if there was any doubt last season, Isaac proved this spring that he’s not going away quietly. His emergence gives Michigan another option in the backfield if Smith is injured or if it just wants a change of pace.
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | A PR I L 6 , 2016
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Wednesday, April 6, 2016 / The Statement
t h e s t at e m e n t
the tangent
EMILIE FARRUGIA/DAILY
Magazine Editor: Karl Williams
Photo Editor: Zoey Holmstrom
Managing Editor: Laura Schinagle
Deputy Editor: Nabeel Chollampat
Creative Director: Emilie Farrugia
Design Editor: Shane Achenbach
Editor in Chief: Shoham Geva
Copy Editors: Emily Campbell Alexis Nowicki Jose Rosales
My Cultural Currency: Opening Up B Y TA N YA M A D H A N I
T
his is my last column of the semester and possibly my last column ever. There are so many topics from my upbringing and culture that I have yet to tackle, but I don’t know if I want to do that in writing. You see, for the past year and a half I’ve been writing continuously about a variety of issues from my upbringing that attempt to be both comical and serious, fluff and honest. By allotting 500 words every two weeks just to exploring my identity, I’ve attempted to discover something — anything — about myself, who I want to be in the future and where I see my place as a person of South Asian origin. And I haven’t reached a definite conclusion on any of those things. I don’t know very much about myself, and I definitely don’t know where my South Asian identity fits into my life. That’s not to say that I’m conflicted about being an Indian and a Hindu/Jain — not at all. I am Indian and I am both Hindu and Jain, which is a part of me that will never change. But rather, I don’t know how big of a part my Indian origin plays into my life. It takes so many forms. It’s in the food that my mom packs for me every weekend. It’s in the music I listen to when I’m writing an essay in English. And it’s in my blood. But there are also parts of me that don’t have anything to do with my ethnic and religious roots. These parts of my personality — uninfluenced by my culture — are what I always considered to be my “authentic” self. I know I am more than just my skin color and country of origin. Identities are complex. They’re uncharted territories, and they often remain undiscovered. They come in so many different forms that it becomes difficult to pinpoint an intersection of all of them. Identity is a vast and crowded Venn diagram. Mine more resembles thick, dark scribbles than a cohesive display of different facets from my personality. It’s been impossible for me to reconcile my different identities and give myself a singular label that describes everything about who I am as a person and what I stand for.
Through this column, I’ve been privileged enough to have gained a sliver of understanding about where my South Asian identity seeps into my life, but there are so many issues I have yet to tackle that I’m not sure I want to take on in a public writing forum. THOUGHT BUBBLE: CHALLENGES Issues of the privilege I have as a South Asian woman of Indian origin and of a Hindu religious background. “Right now my biggest challenge is definitely Why I consider myself as having a religion, but avoid Integrative Project, my senior thesis. It’s going to the temple. deadline and installation week until our Why I can be outspoken about my Indian culture hidden behind a veil of bits and pixels on your comopening next weekend. I’m currently fixing up puter screen, but can’t do the same in real life. loose ends and trying not to go insane in this These are topics that I’ve wanted to write about for last month of my undergrad when life decides a long time. For most of my columns, I would begin to be so stressful.” to write a few sentences about them and then just as quickly erase them in favor of something that would – Art and Design senior Yenny Hoang require less introspection and digging. As much as I’ve been open about being South Asian, I’ve also been a coward. ILLUSTRATION BY EMILIE FARRUGIA
ILLUSTRATION BY EMILIE FARRUGIA
ILLUSTRATION BY EMILIE FARRUGIA
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 / The Statement
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on the record: ncaa championship game “Oh, I watched it. I watched it. I just can’t believe it. He takes those shots all the time and sometimes I want to kill him. But sometimes he makes them, too.”
“We were 4.7 seconds away from winning the game “I knew it was going in. My teammates had set me because I told the team... all we had to do was get to up perfectly. overtime and the game would be ours. And I truly —KRIS JENKINS on his buzzer-beating game-winner. believe that, I think our whole team believes that.”
— JAY WRIGHT, Villanova University men’s basketball head coach, on KRIS JENKINS’ game-winning shot.
—University of North Carolina point guard MARCUS PAIGE, who made an improbable three-point shot with 4.7 seconds left.
To Be My Father’s Child BY JACKIE CHARNIGA
W
hen your older siblings are a little more than high school’s literary magazine and wore a lot of black. a year apart from you, it is natural to ques- I ran track but was so terrible he once wore a paper bag tion what motivated your conception. When I on his head during one of my meets. I quit the team and asked my parents why they had a third child, I expected took a drama class instead. I couldn’t keep up with what a customary, sentimental answer. Something like, “We I believed would help our relationship — I couldn’t be the loved the twins so much we wanted a third child.” Some child he wanted. shit like that. I wasn’t expecting them to say they ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY WATERS tried for a boy and having failed, stopped trying to have more children. As the third daughter of a former weightlifter, I’ve felt my sex has always been a bit of a disappointment. My parents wanted a Jack. They got a Jacqueline. My father sells weightlifting equipment as one facet of his multi-platform company, which also includes sports science and journalism. We, along with my sisters and occasionally my mother, travel internationally often to competitions where he gathers data for his articles and books. Every once in a while he’ll write a scathing editorial about the girth of women’s weightlifting bars or the steroid use that rocks the small, eclectic world his writing caters to. Much of my childhood was spent at competitions, or playing Game Boy in his truck while he used a forklift to load it with platform mats. This semester I wrote about my relationship with my father for an essay course. I didn’t realize then how much my gender role would factor into our story. For my sisters and I, appearing distinctly feminine was not a concern in our youth. I was more rough and tumble than my siblings. I played in the dirt. I climbed trees with apples in the pockets of my overalls. I grew up as Huckleberry Finn, not Mary Jane Wilks. I thought my dad liked me better that way. When my father wanted help loading barbells into his truck, he would roll up his sleeves and say, “Let’s get to work, men.” I’ve always been more comMy sister started weightlifting in high school, and the fortable being called “dude” or “man” than “honey” or family dynamics shifted. She became the “athlete,” and “sweetheart.” I wanted to be just like my dad, but felt my our sister and I became chopped liver. She was closer to sex became a barrier between the two of us. him than I ever could be. When we traveled to compeIn high school my father wrestled and played baseball. titions, he would be back in the training hall with her, He was into weightlifting too. I was an editor for my and I’d be stuck behind a video camera flipping through
a Cosmo and feeling utterly invisible. When his last book came out, some of the photos I’d taken made it in, but he falsely credited my sister. He probably mixed up our names — easily done, as they all rhyme — but it burned me in the worst way. I don’t remember exactly when I realized my dad didn’t care about my sex, but I think it was around the time I discovered writing. I dabbled in high school, but in community college I was the editor in chief of our paper. He thought it was ridiculous and small-town, and mocked the articles I wrote and edited. But he always read them. When I became a senior news editor at The Michigan Daily, he really started to pay attention. The night he called me a real journalist sticks out in my mind. My father was negotiating credentials for a weightlifting competition in Texas, and customarily we would attend with matching press passes that had to be applied for months in advance. Security was tight at this event, but my dad had confidence that if I was affiliated with the Daily I would get clearance. “Now that you work for a real paper, they’ll let you back there,” he said, referring to the roped off area near the stage where a forest of photographers and videographers stood. There was confidence in his voice, and a flicker, however faint, of admiration. I never considered him having that perspective. Squatting behind a tripod, Jackie the journalist. That’s how he saw me. Writing had always been an important part of my life and at times my sole source of pride. My best grades were in English classes. The everpresent word scrawled on my report cards was potential, shortly followed by talks too much. For my dad to see that potential in the thing that I loved was far more important than if I was the athlete he wanted, or the son he’d hoped for. I never went to the competition, but I found an unlikely link to my father in writing. My father just wanted something in common with his children, and he’s fond of us in his own way. I realized I didn’t have to be his son to be what he wanted. I just had to be his kid.
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Wednesday, April 6, 2016 // The Statement
MORE THAN RUST: THE STORY OF YPSILANTI BY AARICA MARSH, OPINION COLUMNIST
ZOE HOLMSTROM/Daily
A bridge is shown over the Huron River near where people first settled when they came to Ypsilanti. The river divides Cross St. and Michigan Ave., separating the city’s two commercial districts.
About a month ago, my friend Derek stopped by my apartment for the first time in our more than three-year relationship. I had slept on the tiny couch in Derek’s Ann Arbor living room several times, yet last month was the first time he had ever seen my front door. I gave him a quick tour of my apartment and then took him on a walk through the city. Derek studied the beautifully restored historical buildings and the diverse groups of people milling about the streets near the railroad tracks. Neatly displayed business fronts greeted us with cheery windows and welcoming signs. “I didn’t realize Ypsi was so big,” he said as we passed Depot Town, heading south on River Street toward Michigan Avenue. I launched into the story of Ypsilanti’s two main commercial districts, separated by the Huron River, as we came closer to Michigan Ave. “Depot Town is definitely the more hipstery district,” I said, pointing out how nearly every building is occupied by a local business. “There’s a lot of unique business models that cater to the local clientele. But it also seems a
little more white and gentrified than the rest of the city.” While many local businesses, City Hall and the Ypsilanti library call Michigan Avenue their home, Derek immediately detected the difference between the two downtowns. There are vacant buildings, an empty field and several franchised businesses, all of which are absent in Depot Town. We finished our tour, passing the notorious adult entertainment club Deja Vu, and headed back to my apartment near Depot Town. “So, that’s basically it,” I concluded. “Obviously, there are residential areas and businesses located on the outskirts of the city, but we pretty much saw everything within walking distance.” Heading toward his car, Derek replied, “Ypsi seems pretty cool.” In the almost three years that I have lived here, only a handful of my Ann Arbor friends have witnessed Ypsilanti as I see it every day. There are many reasons: Ann Arbor is a bigger city that has a lot to offer; you have to commute to Ypsilanti and traffic is nearly always a hassle; I already spend a lot of my time in Ann
Arbor with work and school; everybody else lives in Ann Arbor. But sometimes I wonder if it’s the perception of Ann Arbor as better than Ypsilanti that deters my friends from visiting. University students in Ypsilanti According to University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald, 599 students currently list an Ypsilanti zip code as either their permanent or local address. Of those nearly 600 addresses, only 196 are undergraduate students. For many, cost is a motivating factor for the move to Ypsilanti. One of those students is Chris James, an LSA senior and the Mass Communications chair for the Black Student Union. James lived in Ypsilanti for two years during his undergraduate career. Motivated by the affordable housing options, he felt comfortable moving to Ypsilanti after spending his first two years in the dorms. “I had no perceptions,” James wrote in an e-mail interview about his feelings prior to the move. “I figured it was a regular city with more people who look like me.” James, a Black student from Flint, wrote
that he was not worried about the negative stereotypes that often depict Ypsilanti as “the hood” or “the ghetto.” “It was nowhere near what I had come from and, in fact, it was a very nice place to stay,” James continued. “I actually enjoyed staying out there more than I enjoyed living on (the University’s) campus at times.” LSA junior Hannah Klemkow also lived in Ypsilanti last summer while commuting to Ann Arbor for work. Klemkow, a Flint native as well, enjoyed the four brief months she spent in the city. Similar to James, she missed the city after returning to Ann Arbor. “After I moved back to Ann Arbor, I actually missed living in Ypsi often,” Klemkow wrote in an e-mail interview. “It is smaller so there is a bit of a small town comfort in the downtown area. I also kind of missed being able to be a part of both the Ann Arbor and the Ypsi community (sic).” Miranda Ojeda, a 2015 alum, lived in Ypsilanti during her junior year of college. She echoed the nostalgia for Ypsilanti after moving away from the city. “When I moved back to campus my senior
year, I would always say I missed living in Ypsilanti and wish I would’ve stayed another year,” Ojeda said. “But everyone was against living off campus and in Ypsi.” Celina Flegal, a 2015 LSA alum, lived in Ypsilanti during all four years of college with her now-husband who attended Eastern Michigan University. Before moving there, Flegal had only visited Ypsilanti a couple times. The first time she drove down Huron River Drive — a road that passes Interstate 94 and runs parallel to the railroad tracks — Flegal wrote in an email interview that she thought to herself, “This looks pretty rundown.” But after passing into the residential area behind EMU and witnessing more of the city, Flegal was struck by the beauty of the landscape. “After living there for four years, I still think Ypsilanti is a great city,” she wrote. “It has its problems like any other, but there are really beautiful parts of it that make it a great place to live, especially if you are a student.” However, though there are less than ten miles between the two cities, many of the University student also mentioned the struggles of commuting from Ypsilanti. “The biggest challenge was without a doubt the traffic, which was a lot worse than I expected,” wrote Alejandro Zuniga Sacks, a 2015 LSA alum and former Michigan Daily sports editor, who lived in Ypsilanti for almost a year after graduating. “Finding a parking spot in Ann Arbor has become one of the most challenging things ever,” James confirmed. “I’m not sure why the city insists on such lack of parking near the University but that was another game that needed to be played.” Flegal noted the commute often created problems in social situations: “I also didn’t have the luxury of just inviting my friends over to hang out or study together,” she wrote. “They never really wanted to take the hour bus ride to my apartment, so most of the time I would have to plan to see them while I was on campus.” Ojeda agreed that maintaining friendships required more work while living in Ypsilanti. “Since all my friends lived in Ann Arbor, I would always have to drive to see them,” she said. A Historical City Crookedly winding down the southeastern portion of Michigan’s lower peninsula, the Huron River irrevocably altered the trajectory of human populations in the state. In the 18th century, Native Americans established a trail that crossed the river in the area that is now Ypsilanti. The intersecting area between the trail and river was used as a camping ground, a burial site and a trading post by several different tribes. When Europeans finally made their way to Michigan, they immediately took advantage of the Huron River and existing Native American trails. In 1809, three French explorers became the first white settlers in Washtenaw County after building a trading post, known as “Godfroy’s on the Pottawatomi Trail,” on the river’s west bank. Less than two decades later, early frontiersman Major Benjamin Woodruff and a handful of his companions founded the first village, Woodruff’s Grove, in Washtenaw
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ZOE HOLMSTROM/Daily
LEFT: A building is shown near Michigan Ave. in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Many of the buildings near this once iconic street face structural issues such as deterioration. RIGHT: Shops on Cross St. are shown in the popular area of Ypsilanti known as Depot Town. Depot Town has now assumed the role of the popular downtown destination.
County. By 1825, three prominent settlers — Judge Augustus Woodward, John Stewart and William Harwood — combined their land to create a town near where a federally planned road from Detroit to Chicago was set to cross the Huron River. Woodward suggested they name the new settlement “Ypsilanti” after the heroic Demetrius Ypsilanti, an early 19th century field general in the Greek army. The remaining residents of Woodruff’s Grove eventually abandoned their original settlement, moving about a mile north to the prospering Ypsilanti. 10 years later, Chicago Road (now known as Michigan Ave) was completed, propelling the creation of new settlements like Ypsilanti along its route. In 1838, a railroad expanding west from Detroit reached Ypsilanti, further contributing to the influx of people in the area. After two decades, a brick masonry station replaced the original wood-frame railroad depot on the east side of Huron River. With accessible transportation and the initial inklings of industry, Depot Town became the first commercial district in Ypsilanti. Soon after, a second commercial district emerged on the west side of the river along the newly opened Chicago Road. Several mills were constructed during the last few decades of the 18th century with many used for manufacturing goods such as “The Union Suit” and the tightly-knit “Ypsilanti Underwear.” In its initial phase, the Ypsilanti government stressed the importance of education. Twenty years after the city’s formation, its first seminary school was established. The Michigan State Normal School, a teacher-
preparatory school, was created a mere four years later, becoming the first normal school in the United States outside of the original 13 colonies. In 1899, the normal school located in Ypsilanti became the first school to offer a four-year curriculum in teacher training. The school was then renamed the Michigan State Normal College. In 1959, the college was once again renamed, officially becoming Eastern Michigan University. Enrollment at EMU peaked in the 1990s with over 25,000 students. Currently, the school is governed by an eight-member Board of Regents which are appointed for eight-year terms by the governor of Michigan. As a public university, EMU is not required to pay land taxes to Ypsilanti’s city government. As industrialization increased nationwide, Ypsilanti’s economy also expanded. In 1941, Ford Motor Company built an automotive plant in Ypsilanti Charter Township’s Willow Run neighborhood. The plant was rapidly converted to an assembly line for B-24 bombers when the United States entered World War II. About 100,000 employees worked at the Willow Run Bomber Plant, producing a B-24 bomber every 55 minutes. After the end of the war, the Willow Run Bomber Plant was bought by the independent automaker company Kaiser-Frazer and converted back to an automotive plant. In 1953, General Motors purchased the plant for the production of engine transmissions. During the 1970s, the GM plant employed some 14,000 people. In part due to the presence of automotive and manufacturing businesses, Ypsilanti gained thousands of new residents. The Great Migration — the movement of 6 million
Black families from the South to urban areas throughout the nation which occurred in waves over 60 years — helped fill many industrial jobs and contributed to Ypsilanti’s growing population. Other impoverished populations, including European immigrants and white families in the rural South, also moved to places such as Ypsilanti in search of a better life. Rose Will Monroe — one of the women who appeared in wartime propaganda videos and was closely associated with the iconic “Rosie the Riveter” — escaped rural poverty in the South through employment at the city’s Willow Run plant during World War II. The influx of people to Ypsilanti continued until it reached its highest population in the 1970 census: 29,538 residents. However, the construction of interstate roads and the initial decline of industry had already begun to change the city’s trajectory. In 1941, the Willow Run Expressway was built near Ypsilanti and Belleville, becoming the first section of I-94 to be constructed in Michigan. By 1960, road workers had completed the construction of I-94 in Michigan. Before the interstate, cars were required to use Michigan Avenue — the old Chicago Road — and travel through downtown Ypsilanti when going east or west in southern Michigan. Now, they could skip the town entirely due to the interstate construction of the expressway. For decades after, many Ypsilanti residents continued to ride the industrial wave, working in manufacturing jobs across the city.
Read more online at Michigandaily.com
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Wednesday, April 6, 2016 // The Statement
Changing the Electoral Process: A Conversation with state Sen. Rebekah Warren By Lev Facher, Daily Sports Writer More than 50 million Americans cast ballots in the 2000 presidential election, and by a margin of 543,895 votes, Democrat Al Gore emerged victorious in the popular vote contest. But it didn’t matter. Gore’s half-million-vote advantage meant nothing in the Electoral College, where Republican George W. Bush prevailed, 271 to 266, winning the first of his two terms as president. The 2000 election, to many voters, seemed convoluted and indirect. Instead of simply awarding the election to the candidate with the most votes, the 50 states and the District of Columbia awarded their electoral delegates to the candidate with the most votes in their individual elections. Despite Gore’s clear overall national advantage, the election ended up depending on the outcome of Bush v. Gore, a case centering on a recount that would have decided who won Florida’s 25 electoral votes. The official tally maintains that Bush won the state, and the presidency with it, by a miniscule 537 votes. The result reawakened a national frustration surrounding the presidential election process. Among those most frustrated was Michigan state Sen. Rebekah Warren (D–Ann Arbor) — currently among the sponsors of a piece of legislation that would ensure a popularvote winner won’t ever lose a presidential election again. “2000 brought to mind for a lot of folks that this could happen, and that it could happen more frequently,” Warren said. The Electoral College, Warren said, has “outlived its usefulness,” and elections like 2000’s make many in non-swing states feel their vote for president is inconsequential. So what’s the solution? In Warren’s world, it’s a piece of legislation currently referred to as Michigan Senate Bill 88: “A bill to enter into the interstate compact to elect the president by national popular vote.” Warren has taken the lead on the bill in Michigan, and equivalent legislation has already been enacted in Hawaii, California, Washington, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia — each proposing a fundamental change to the way the jurisdictions award their electoral delegates. Instead of awarding votes based on which candidate wins the state’s popular vote, the states would award their electoral delegates to the winner of the national popular vote, effectively
rendering the Electoral College useless. The catch, of course, is that each of the already passed legislative actions only takes effect when 270 electoral votes’ worth of states, the amount required to win an election, have signed on to what’s now called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Those 11 state jurisdictions account for 165, and Michigan’s 16 electoral votes would push the total to 181, more than two-thirds of the amount required to
The Electoral College has left many voters feeling disenchanted with the democratic process. win a presidential election. “The underpinning of our democracy is the idea: one person, one vote,” Warren said. “What you’ve seen these last few cycles with some battleground presidential elections is that those swing states are the ones with a lot of Electoral College votes, and they get most of the visits by presidential candidates. It means people like us in Michigan, which is sometimes considered a spectator state in presidential elections, don’t get the same kind of attention.” Michigan tends to have a dramatic Democratic tilt every four years — no Republican presidential candidate has won the state since George H.W. Bush in 1988, meaning it doesn’t get as much attention from campaigns, despite many Republicans in statewide office. But Warren said the problem is far wider than the presidential campaigns themselves, and that candidates’ lack of attention for certain states during the campaign translates to a similar lack of attention once they’re elected. “When those folks get into office, we see those states get more federal grant money,” Warren said. She added that Electoral College has left many voters feeling disenchanted with the democratic process, which Warren said poses risks to voter turnout and overall civic engagement. “I’ve worked a lot in my career on
efforts to increase access to the ballot, and I truly believe in a nonpartisan way that democracy works best when more people vote,” Warren said. “What I hear from too many folks is that the Electoral College system makes people feel like their vote for president doesn’t count. How do you get people to be invested and educated in their vote when they feel like it doesn’t mean very much?” The conservative opposition to Warren’s bill takes a different tune. Some opponents of the bill, currently sitting in the Senate Elections and Government Reform Committee, say it would take away voting power from smaller states and rural areas that currently feel they have a voice in contested presidential elections — a voice that would be diminished within the grand scheme of a popular vote for president. Michigan state Sen. Dave Robertson (R–Grand Blanc) chairs the committee. Though his office did not respond to The Michigan Daily’s requests for comment, Robertson is on record saying the panel is willing to debate the issues, but does not expect changes in the near future — especially for the 2016 election cycle. Another topic of concern is whether states themselves should have the power to change the election process on a federal level. The more direct approach would simply be to amend the United States Constitution, instead of relying on a web of state-level legis-
“What I hear from too many folks is that the ... system makes people feel like their vote for president doesn’t count.” lation to enact nationwide change. “I think it’s like a lot of social change — things like civil rights and women’s rights movements — it starts at the state level and percolates up,” Warren said. “I would agree that the front-door approach makes a lot of sense. But this is what I can do to try to make a difference. I have to start here. That said, I
certainly have encouraged members of our congressional delegation to take this forward to Congress.” The bill’s supporters say the priority should be preventing 2000, and less recent history, from repeating itself. Bush’s election was the third time in American history that a presidential candidate lost the popular vote but won presidential elections anyway. Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote by a margin of 250,000 in 1876, but became president anyway. Benjamin Harrison fell 90,000 votes short in 1888, but ran away with a 233-168 win in the Electoral College. The effort to prevent a popular-vote winner losing for a fourth time is being spearheaded almost entirely by liberal politicians who ideologically tend to be less concerned over states’ rights. Now that the Compact has picked up the lowest-hanging fruit — the 10 states to have passed it are arguably the country’s 10 most politically liberal — its next challenge is in picking up votes from more moderate states, some of which have already seen popular-vote legislation introduced. Among them are Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania — all solidly blue states good for another 46 combined electoral votes, which would push the measure ever closer to having legal force. A version of Senate Bill 88 passed the Michigan House of Representatives in 2008, but the current 27-11 Republican advantage in the state Senate means the bill’s odds of advancing out of committee, much less being successfully brought to vote, likely rest on the Democrats retaking the chamber at some point in the future. At that point it would likely have to be reintroduced because a new legislative session will have started. “My goal is obviously to encourage the chairman to have another hearing and another vote,” Warren said. “It would be great to have it pass not only one chamber but to actually pass. Many other jurisdictions — 11 now — have actually passed it, and we’re getting closer.” The four presidential candidates still in the mix for 2016 will spend the year’s remaining months on a quest for 270 electoral votes. But if Warren and the rest of the largely unknown movement get their way, candidates in future elections will be competing for something different: the vote of the American people. Nothing more and nothing less.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 // The Statement
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Why I Love Rick’s By Michael Schramm, Special Projects Manager Close your eyes and envision a moment in the place you most enjoy. A space where you feel utterly happy, free and liberated, where you can unequivocally be yourself, free from judgment or insecurity. You catch yourself gazing wistfully around. Taking in the moment, you breathe, exhale, belong, feel alive — like the cosmos and the stars created this moment just for you. Nestled in the basement of a dark, damp college bar, I feel those moments at Rick’s. And in those moments my skin is warm and my heart booms. The feeling’s powerful, yet it’s completely mine — meaningful, strange and goofy without being overly sappy. Those moments are like one on the Rick’s stage the week before Christmas. Someone hands me a Santa cap and I put it on, squat down by a black pole and pose with it, grimacing. They’re screaming the lyrics to “Anaconda” and hopping onto a stage. They’re taking pictures of my friends that turn out so weird my lungs grasp for air as I scream from laughing. I love Rick’s, and everyone that knows me knows it. In some ways, it’s obvious why I’d love a space that exists for people to have fun. Yet my love digs deeper, translucent and difficult to articulate. *** Freshman year was incredibly difficult for me. I struggled to find a group on campus where I belonged. It wasn’t always that people were mean or awful; I met some people I still consider friends. But as I was around different crowds of people, I found myself unable to find a group that entirely meshed with my personality. It’s hard to explain why or how, but it was in the subtleties where I felt I was on a different wavelength than people around me. My humor (and entire personality) is formed on a foundation of utter irony, stupidity and lightheartedness. In my personal life, I take almost nothing seriously. One time I saw a child running away from his mom on the street. As the mom chased him down, screaming for him to come back, I muttered “me” under my breath. I laughed at the thought of being a small child running aimlessly and dangerously. Another time I took screenshots of Justin Bieber’s album picture where he holds a sign saying, “What do you
mean?” I started using it as a meme, texting people it when I disapproved of or was confused by something going on in life. I started seeking out confusing moments to send the screenshot. I think it’s so stupid and funny that I can’t stop. No one laughed at the weird things that I did, and so I felt like no one was connecting with me. The isolation always came to a head on Friday nights as I went to parties with different groups. I’d head out to frat houses, and we’d step into the dark basements. I wasn’t close with anyone at these parties, and being gay, I was only further separated. Each night I watched the guys split up to find girls, while my girl friends were chatted up by frat guys who offered them drinks. I just wanted to be goofy and do weird things and laugh. But that never happened. Drops of sweat would rain down my face as I’d realize the basement’s heat. It was caused by the energy of everyone dancing, moving, talking, hooking up. Everyone seemed to be having fun, like they were in a rhythm that I wasn’t. Linked by a mutually understood tick much like the music’s beat. I moved my body as I circled the area, trying to join the tick. But as I kept circling I realized how out of synch I was compared to everyone else. Tick. A group of frat guys in white shirts and backwards caps laugh together with beer in their hands. They’re in the same frat and clearly don’t wanna talk to me. Tick. A group of girls asks a guy for his handle of Crystal Palace. They all laugh as he hands it to them. He definitely doesn’t want me interrupting. Tick. Someone I know puts his hands on his girl-
friend’s hips, as they look at each other, starstruck. Tick. After an hour my heart would sink too low and I’d feel all alone and I’d race out to escape those parties. I’d take the bus to my Bursley dorm. I laid in bed unable to sleep. With opened eyes, crinkled toes and a broken spirit, thoughts bounced around my mind, unwilling to stop. I wondered why this was happening to me, why I bumped shoulders with hundreds of people yet was unable to tell one I wasn’t OK. That I was lost and increasingly ashamed of who I was, undervalued and shoved to the side. I left freshman year aching but with a goal: sophomore year would be better. In the all-sophomore dorm of Stockwell I found other people who had bad freshman years and were looking for people that understood them. Then I joined The Michigan Daily, where I found writers who understood my weird wit. Junior year I joined a general honors fraternity, where I found a group of goofballs interested in joining a fraternity with no specialization but looking for a home. All of these years, friends and memories were meaningful, but Rick’s is the culmination of all of them. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t believe Rick’s is equivalent to a frat basement. My friends rarely get hit on, and I can see almost anyone there. That’s why Rick’s is special to me: it acts as a vessel to see people who I really love in an environment where I can be myself. As I squat, hop, groove, yell, pose and make weird memories with my friends, I feel liberated. There, I’m allowed to tick in whatever rhythm I like, and I’m synchronized with each beat.
I see a group of girls I adore and give them the fiercest hug. I yell a random inside joke, and they smile. Tick. My friend sees her ex-boyfriend and we yell, “What is the truth!” — my favorite weird phrase — and laugh. Tick. My friends gather around to dance to “Anaconda.” Tick. I close my eyes and belong and feel invincible as I clench my fists, nod my head and sway my hips. Tick. *** As the school year ends, many of my friends one year younger are turning 21 and going to Rick’s for the first time. They tell me they have to see me there, and I excitedly tell them I’ll do anything to be with them on their special night. Your first time at Rick’s can be very nerveracking. You’ve never been there before, your friends may not be 21 and you may have yet to find your tick in college. That last one scares me the most — because it’s so easy to feel alone and tell no one. That’s why I want to be with my friends for their first time in Rick’s, so they have someone they feel comfortable with by their side. And it’s one of the best parts of Rick’s. I love seeing a new friend in a space I’m so fond of. As I grab their hand and tug them to the stage, I just want to be goofy and make them smile. As I see them acclimating to the space, I can sense their tick, like the faint pulse of a heartbeat. A reaffirmation that whatever’s going on with them, this space can give them some sense of community. It can make them smile, even if outside those walls life seems dark. That’s why I love Rick’s; it’s my space, and because of that, I want it to be everyone else’s too.
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Wednesday, April 6 2016 // The Statement
V I S U A L S TAT E M E N T: H O L I Photos by EVAN AARON/Daily
Lead vocalist Tyler Joseph performs “Holding On To You.”
On Sunday, the UM Hindu Students Council hosted a Holi event on Palmer Field. Holi, also known as “The Festival of Colors”, is a Hindu celebration of the triumph of good over evil. Participants danced and threw colored powder on each other and in the air, as well as on my camera. The day was full of smiles and a great time for everyone who went and celebrated.