ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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ELECTION
Daily poll shows low to no change in student opinions on 2016 candidates
Sample of campus maintains support for Clinton, Trump despite incidents LYDIA MURRAY Daily Staff Reporter
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
University of Michigan Housing residential advisors and other staff members hold signs that read “You Belong Here” as they gather at the final meeting point of the march on the Diag Monday.
Residential staff organizes march in solidarity with students of color
Around 400 walk dorm to dorm, holding signs and chanting “you belong here” ALEXA ST. JOHN Daily Staff Reporter
About 400 University of Michigan Housing residential advisers, peer academic success specialists, diversity peer educators and other staff members participated in three collaborative marches across Central Campus, North Campus and the Hill Neighborhood Monday evening. March participants walked through the community centers of every campus dorm in a
stance of solidarity for dorm residents in light of the antiBlack, anti-LGBTQ and antiIslam posters found in Mason and Haven Halls and current discussions surrounding the release of University President Mark Schlissel’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Plan earlier this month. Participants walked from dorm to dorm, holding signs and chanting “You belong here.” LSA senior Kim Ellsworth, community center manager for West Quad Residence Hall, said the march was
STATE
Prof. looks at jail system in new book on Detroit Prof. Thompson talks legal, societal roots of mass incarceration WILL FEUER
Daily Staff Reporter
In an interview, Thompson said her research has largely led her to conclude that the slow downfall and ultimate economic collapse of Detroit can be traced back to former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Law Enforcement Assistance Act, which, Thompson argues, started the so-called war on crime and the incentivization of incarceration that came with it. “As important as deindustrialization and ‘white flight’ are, we have also given short shrift to the punitive turn the embrace of mass incarceration had in destroying cities like Detroit,” she said. The Act intended to strengthen See RESEARCH, Page 2A
organized in a collaborative effort for dorm residents to feel more included on campus, she noted that residential life had been raised as an issue in community discussions held by the University around the DEI plan. “We heard during the open forums of President Schlissel that students couldn’t express (their feelings) and they weren’t feeling safe in the residence halls, so we wanted to come together as a res staff to show that we’re a physical presence in the halls and on campus and show that we
stand with our residents and that they belong here in our communities,” Ellsworth said. Stressing the importance of visibility, Ellsworth said University Housing was not asking for an administrative response, but rather was working in support of their diversity strategies. “One of the core values of Housing and of the University is to make this be a diverse and inclusive space for all residents because this is their home, and when they’re not in class, they’re at home,” Ellsworth See MARCH, Page 3A
This period, the Daily’s survey was sent to 1,000 University of Michigan students and received 175 responses over a period of two days. The sample was chosen randomly from University undergraduates and is reported in the aggregate. Support remained largely the same for most candidates from the previous surveys, with 70 percent of respondents expressing
Projected Student Candidate Choice 7%
.6%
Other
Jill Stein
9%
Gary Johnson
13%
Donald Trump
70% Source: Michigan Daily student survey (rounded to nearest percent
Panelists discuss the ongoing effects of Flint water crisis on city residents Activists, government official say still more work to be done by the state KAELA THEUT For the Daily
reviewed the state, federal and municipal actions leading to the crisis. “We worked for five months to come up with the report,” Kolb said. “When we held our press conference in March of this year, I said that I thought the Flint water
crisis was a toxic brew of intolerance, incompetence and ignorance.” The report was a consensus document that contained 36 findings about the crisis and placed the majority of the blame on the Michigan Department of Environmental
support for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, 13 percent for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and 9 percent for Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson. However, support dropped notably for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, to 0.61 percent, down from 3 percent in the previous survey. Seven percent of respondents opted for “other.” Following the passage of the voter registration See POLL, Page 3A
Quality, a state government agency meant to ensure water and air quality are up to healthy standards. The emergency manager, Snyder and the ill-prepared Flint water treatment plant were also to blame for the disaster. See FLINT, Page 3A
About 100 people gathered in the Ford School of Public Policy Monday to hear personal experiences and reactions to the Flint water crisis from a diverse group of panelists, including activists and government workers. The Flint water crisis occurred after a stateappointed emergency manager decided to cut costs by changing the source of city water to more corrosive sources, which caused lead from the pipes to leach into the water, poisioning Flint’s residents. It was not publicly addressed until nearly two years after the initial notice of potential lead in the the water. Panelist Chris Kolb, president of the Michigan Environmental Council, started the discussion with comments on his work on KEVIN ZHENG/Daily Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) Flint Kent Key, director of the Office of Community Scholars and Partnerships at Michigan State University’s College of Water Task Force, which Human Medicine, discusses the Flint water crisis at the Ford School of Public Policy Monday.
Hillary Clinton
CAMPUS LIFE
Little action taken after new alt-right fliers found Students express concerns about third incident of offensive posters TIM COHN
Daily Staff Reporter
Anti-Black and anti-Islam fliers attributed to the alt-right movement were found on campus Friday morning — the third discovery of similarly offensive posters found on University of Michigan property this semester. Three of the posters found Friday were displayed outside South Quad Residence Hall and included headlines like “Black and White IQ Distributions,” as well as text that portrayed differences in rates of sexually transmitted diseases, intelligence and welfare usage between white and Black men and women. Some posters included a frog meme that has come to be associated with the alt-right, See FLIERS, Page 3A
Thank your defense The Michigan football team relied on its defense to get back into the game in its 45-28 win Saturday.
» Page 1B
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVI, No. 16 ©2016 The Michigan Daily
NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A S P O RT S . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7A
SUDOKU.....................2A ARTS.................5A FACEOFF..........1B
News
2A — Tuesday, October 25, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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ON THE DAILY: CAMPUS GEARS UP FOR HALLOWEEN FUN Though most students at the University of Michigan are long past their trick-or-treating days, the Halloween spirit still lives on — Halloween and its festivities now come begin a week before the actual holiday, with various events on campus getting students in the holiday mood. This week at the University, there are several events slated to celebrate the holiday, such as the North Campus Haunted Bell Tower, a Spookappella concert, Halloween at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market and a haunted house hosted by Triangle Fraternity and Phi Sigma Rho sorority. Triangle and Phi Sigma Rho will host their haunted house Tuesday to Thursday, from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. The Triangle haunted house will cost $5 at the door, but tickets are on
pre-sale for $3, with donations a.m. to 10 a.m. will be able to enter the Bell going to Habitat for Humanity To cap off a weekend Tower at no cost. and STEMpowered Detroit. full of Halloween festivities, Whether you attend all Closer to Halloween, (g) the Haunted Bell Tower on these events, wear a costume imble and Maize Mirchi North Campus, which will be all week long or just eat will host what they call the decorated for Halloween, will some candy, there’s plenty of spookiest A Cappella event take place from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Halloween spirit to go around of the year. The event will be on Monday, Oct. 31 and students this week. Friday night at the Modern Languages Building. The groups will don their favorite costumes, sing festive Halloween tunes and introduce each group’s new members. Attendees are encouraged to wear costumes. Then, on Saturday, the Ann Arbor Farmers Market will host “Halloween at the Market.” Guests can dress up in costumes, go trick-ortreating and play themed games. At the event, Beyond MAZIE HYAMS/Daily Authors Graham MacIndoe and Susan Stellin speak about their book “Chanthe Diag will be offering cers: Addiction, Prison, Recovery, Love” in East Quad on Monday. free donuts and cider from 9
Michigan Students @UmichStudents
I want to see this campus DECKED OUT in Maize and Blue this week. Represent your school every single day. Build good vibes for Saturday.
F E AT U R E F O T O
Zach Shaw @_ZachShaw
I hope I never go to prison, but if the old West Quad burritos, MoJo cookies and South Quad omelette bar are there, I might be okay.
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Health Care Disparities
Fast Food for Thought
Astrophotography 101
WHAT: Michelle Meader, Rehabilitation Psychologist, talks about identifying modifiable factors of health disparities. WHO: Council for Disability Concerns WHEN: 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. WHERE: Taubman Library, Room 2901
WHAT: The third annual talk will present 10 talks from 10 faculty members about our food and agriculture systems. WHO: Sustainable Food Systems Initiative WHEN: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Dana Building, Room 1040
WHAT: A workshop session with guest speaker Dr. Brian D. Ottum, overviewing how to do astrophotography with a step-bystep path for beginners. WHO: Michigan Photography Club WHEN: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. WHERE: Mason Hall, Room 1437
Take a Chance with Rebecca Loebe
Jazz Lab Ensemble
Foy Vance with Trevor Sensor WHAT: Northern Irish artist Foy Vance, with guest Trevor Sensor, will perform a concert on a tour as a support act to Ed Sheeran. WHO: Blind Pig and Ann Arbor’s 107one WHEN: 9 p.m. WHERE: Blind Pig
RESEARCH From Page 1A crime control programs and initiatives by providing grants for training officers and improving incarceration conditions. Thompson said her work points to the origin of the war on crime stemming from not only racism based in the southern United States, but also a mentality many white northerners held during the Civil Rights Movement. “To many white Detroiters, the mere presence of so many more African Americans in the wake of the Second Great Migration, who were vocal about their need for an equal share of civil resources, was threatening, dangerous and even criminal,” Thompson said. “White southerners, both ordinary citizens and elected officials, had long equated Civil Rights unrest with criminality, and when African Americans began fighting for greater equality in the North as much as in the South, this is how northern whites began to interpret their actions as well.” While many researchers argue that the war on crime was
WHAT: Ranked ninth in Alternate Root magazine’s annual best 30 female singers in America chart, Austin-based artist Rebecca Loebe will perform songs at a free show. WHO: The Ark WHEN: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: The Ark
instituted in reaction to increasing homicide and violent crime rates, Thompson said she thinks this is misleading, if not blatantly untrue. “The murder rate had been far higher in the 1930s — as high as 9.7 per 100,000,” she said. “Indeed, if one looks at the entire 20th century, it is remarkable how much safer the 1960s were compared to previous decades.” Thompson argued that because federal funding is allocated by need, Detroit had an incentive to boost crime figures, resulting in a much more aggressive form of policing than Detroit had seen prior to the War on Crime. “Thanks to the intensified criminalization of urban space in the 1970s and 1980s, today, Michigan’s prison population has increased by (53.8) percent,” Thompson said. This increase in the prison population has had a significant social impact on Detroit, including the orphaning of many of Detroit’s children, Thompson said. “According to the Pew Foundation and the Osborne Society, by 2010, more than 2.7 million children in the United States had a parent in prison and approximately 10 million had a
COSTUME PREPARATIONS. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
WHAT: The Jazz Lab Ensemble and Jazz Trombone Ensemble will perform a free concert. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: Walgreen Drama Center Stamps Auditorium
parent who had been incarcerated at some point in their childhood,” Thompson said. “This experience fell disproportionately on children of color, with one in nine AfricanAmerican kids experiencing this trauma compared to one in 57 white kids (with parents who have been in prison),” she added. Increased incarceration rates have had deep economic consequences as well, making it almost impossible for a formerly convicted person to find a steady source of legal income, according to Thompson. “Not only did employers routinely require them to reveal whether they had a criminal record, but employers also made clear that they were unlikely to hire anyone who had been convicted of a crime,” Thompson said. Ultimately, Thompson said, the profitability of private prisons in Michigan is one of the greater causes of Detroit’s economic collapse and has played a tremendous role in the deindustrialization in the former manufacturing city. However, she added that not only does the private sector have culpability fror the prison industry, but the government does as well. “Detroiters lost jobs not just because companies moved their work and consumers moved their purchasing dollars into Michigan’s prisons, but also because the state was investing more money in building prisons than in building or incentivizing factories in the free world that would, in turn, employ free-world workers,” she said. While Detroit’s recent history is complex, Thompson said continuing to conduct research like hers will help the state and the country understand the broader needs of the city and the roots of the unjust practices that have taken place. “Ultimately, Detroit suffered much economic fallout from a now almost five-decades-long War on Crime, and if we really are to understand the dire fate of this city, we must understand the hidden as well as visible costs of the dramatic punitive turn we took as a nation in the wake of the Civil Rights ‘60s,” Thompson said.
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My family’s vibe today: @ Umich remains undefeated, @Cubs are in the World Series but mom reminds us “Everyone loves when Ohio loses” #GoBlue
WHAT: Tips and tricks from students on how to succeed as a student with entrepreneurial interests. WHO: Career Center WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Shapiro Library, Innovation Space
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Tuesday, October 25, 2016 — 3A
JAZZ IT UP
KEVIN ZHENG/Daily
Music, Theatre, & Dance sophomore Peter Goggin (left) and Music, Theatre, & Dance junior Tristan Cappel play saxophone at Edgefest, a music festival hosted throughout downtown Ann Arbor, in front of the University of Michigan Museum of Art Monday.
Residential College holds talk on drug addiction Authors discuss recent memoir on struggle with heroin use, imprisonment TYLER COADY
describe the physically and mentally taxing time he spent at Rikers Island, a New York City prison complex The University of Michigan’s notorious for abuse of prisoners by Residential College hosted a guards, unsanitary and overcrowded discussion on issues of criminal conditions and the large amount justice, incarceration and drug of people held there without being addiction Monday evening. convicted for a crime, as detailed in a The event featured married 2014 article in The New York Times. couple Graham MacIndoe and However, MacIndoe was a Susan Stellin, authors of a recent citizen of the United Kingdom at the memoir titled “Chancers: Addition, time his of arrest, which captured Prison, Recovery, Love” which the attention of the Department focuses on MacIndoe’s decade-long of Homeland Security and led to struggle with heroin addiction, his his transfer from Rikers Island to experiences in New York City and a Homeland Security detention Homeland Security-run prisons and center in rural Pennsylvania. While Stellin’s efforts in navigating the MacIndoe described life at Rikers as complex criminal justice system. bleak and difficult, his experience as Stellin began the discussion by an inmate in Pennsylvania was to be reading a passage from the book that much tougher. describes the night in 2006 when “They whisked me to MacIndoe was arrested in Brooklyn immigration detention, which, as for misdemeanor drug possession. Susan said, was so dehumanizing For more than a day, Stellin had to and devastating to me,” MacIndoe travel between numerous New York said. “I used to lie in my bunk at the City jails to obtain information on Homeland Security detention center MacIndoe’s whereabouts and the and fantasize about being back at nature of his arrest. Rikers because as rough and tough MacIndoe talked about the and crazy as Rikers was, I had a job humiliation of being strip-searched and I could go out in the yard and I in a Brooklyn jail and his anxiety that got good meals, but in immigration night about how the arrest would detention I got none of that.” impact his future. He went on to For Stellin, one of the most
difficult parts of MacIndoe’s detention was the lack of transparency about his legal status. She said a large number of legal documents she and a lawyer assembled for him were never delivered and money that was put in his commissary account “mysteriously disappeared.” “What really horrified me was how quickly all of this happened and how little contact he was allowed to have,” Stellin said. MacIndoe said he was lucky he had friends and family who supported him in his legal case and battles with addiction after being released. Many at Rikers Island and in the American criminal justice system do not have this type of support, he said. “The thing is that many of them are stuck in there for long, long periods but they can’t afford bail, and bail is not that much sometimes, but people live in poverty and can’t pay it,” MacIndoe said. “We shouldn’t be spending our money on keeping people locked up at Rikers Island because they can’t afford a 500-dollar bail for weeks, months or years on end.” Ypsilanti Township resident Amy Atwell, who attended the event, said the detailed account of MacIndoe’s
struggles with drug addiction, his subsequent arrest and Stellin’s efforts just in locating where MacIndoe was sent in the city showed strength of character. “What struck me initially was how brave both the addict, Graham, and his spouse were, because she is the support to a person who is dealing with an illness that does not go away,” Atwell said. LSA sophomore Chanelle Miles said MacIndoe and Stellin’s account resonated with her on a personal level, as she has seen people she knows locked up or dealing with the stigma of having a criminal record upon release. “The one and most important thing is that even though he was on Rikers Island and it seems so far away from here, it touches so close to home as I am African American, I come from a community that is urban and I come from a community where the majority of my friends and my family members know people who have been incarcerated,” Miles said. “He went through his different trials and tribulations, but even through his trials and tribulations, I could see my friends and I could see my uncle and their stories.”
with the goal of being timely, active and engaging for residence hall staff to connect with residents. “We’re responding to a lot of the events on campus that have been happening recently with the f lyering,” Wang said. “Also, a lot of the political climate nationally is also making a lot of our residents feel unwelcome and not necessarily accepted here. With any larger organization like University Housing it can be easy to get bogged down or
not necessarily know how to meet the demands in a timely fashion, and for this event we really wanted to act as swiftly as possible.” LSA junior Kate Vogel, residential staff coordinator at Martha Cook Residence Hall, said she felt the event went well and hopes her residents feel a safe sense of community. “First and foremost, we are here for our residents,” Vogel said. “We as representatives of Housing wanted to find a way that would let all of our
residents in all of the dorms on campus to know that we are here to support them and all of the different identities and diversity within our campus in light of recent campus events.” “In times like this, it’s so important not to stay silent and to come together,” Vogel said. Event organizers said they were not sure if there would be similar marches in the future.
everyone to do the same and to make the effort to vote for your Republican congressional candidates regardless of your opinion on our presidential candidate.” LSA junior Collin Kelly, chair of College Democrats, also stressed the importance of congressional races, saying having a Republican Congress with a Democratic executive has been a barrier to passing legislation these past few years. “Congressional races are more difficult to get excited for and are not covered nearly as thoroughly as the presidential election, but if we want to actually see the progressive change Secretary Clinton is advocating, it’s essential Democrats take back the House and Senate,” Kelly said. The lack of change among students comes among recent incidents in both the Trump and Clinton campaigns — including a leaked tape of Trump making references to touching women without their consent and hacked emails from the Clinton campaign featuring controversial statements about various voting demographics —
stems to indicate they have not heavily impacted support on campus. In questions about the incidents specifically, 47 percent of respondents reported that scandals associated with Clinton impacted their views and 46 percent of respondents reported that scandals associated with Trump changed their views. Kelly said he found Trump’s leaked comments about women, compounded by accusations from multiple women that allege he sexually assaulted them made after the tape’s release, are more noteworthy than Clinton’s email hack. He called the WikiLeaks situation a “non-scandal” that points to momentary carelessness rather than incompetence or danger, saying this could be why student support for Clinton remained unchanged. Zalamea did not respond to a question about Clinton and Trump’s comments. “(Students) knew who the candidates were and what they stood for before these came out, and all the news recently has simply confirmed that,” Kelly said.
Daily Staff Reporter
MARCH From Page 1A said. “So it’s really important for us to show support for them; it’s important that we have a physical presence and we’re doing the most we can to outreach to all of our res staff and all of our residents.” Business graduate student Zelin Wang, a residential staff coordinator, said the event was organized last week in a University Housing meeting
POLL From Page 1A deadline on Oct. 11, 90 percent of respondents said they registered to vote. Various groups on campus have worked to register voters throughout the semester, including the University’s chapters of College Democrats and College Republicans — college students typically register at lower rates. The survey also asked if state and federal congressional races are as important as the presidential election, to which 79 percent of respondents answered “definitely yes” or “probably yes.” LSA junior Enrique Zalamea, president of College Republicans, wrote in an email that his organization has been working to promote conservative candidates up and down the ballot to encourage student voting. “Since September, we’ve been actively volunteering in campaigns for congressmen and state representatives,” Zalamea wrote. “We continuously encourage
FLINT From Page 1A Kolb said the report also highlighted the broader issues of environmental injustice that led to the crisis, including the purposeful refusal to involve residents in making government decisions regarding environmental policy laws. E. Hill De Loney, executive director of the Flint Odyssey House Health Awareness Center, echoed Kolb’s sentiments, saying the government still is failing to work with the people of Flint in resolving the water crisis. Hill De Loney said despite complaints of tainted water from many of the city’s residents, 60 percent of whom are Black, state officials did not listen until a white person spoke up. “When we talk about what has happened in Flint, racism as it relates to the water crisis in Flint is the elephant in the room,” Hill De Loney said. “However, it is also the elephant in America.”
FLIERS From Page 1A an internet-based white nationalist movement. LSA freshman Kori Thomas first noticed the posters at around 11 a.m. on Friday and tweeted out photos to show other students the fliers being displayed on campus. “At first, when I saw those fliers, I was shocked,” Thomas said. “I thought that we were done with those after last month’s incident. I wanted to get the photos out there for others to see. After that though, I was just mad.” In total, seven fliers were discovered and posted to social media, including one that was previously posted around campus last month. Following the initial discovery of anti-Black fliers on campus in September, students held protests around the school, drawing more than 400 students and calling for the University to take more immediate action to resolve issues of campus climate. Administrators released a statement condemning the posters soon after, and University President Mark Schlissel hosted a forum six days later to further discuss the impact the posters had on students. In response to Thomas’s tweet of the posters on Friday, dozens of altright supporters and sympathizers responded directly with racial epithets and insults. Some responses also targeted Schlissel with antiSemitic language. Earlier this month, the University launched a campus-wide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative that aims to increase diverse representation on campus through institutional initiatives and discussion. In an interview with The Michigan Daily in October, Schlissel noted the importance of campus engagement to resolve issues of people hanging up offensive posters. “Regarding the episodes of the posters, on multiple occasions, we’ve got no eyewitnesses, we don’t have video, so (finding the people responsible) will be very difficult,” Schlissel said. “But in a sense, this is something that students can help us with as well. In that you all,
She said many citizens of Flint did not want an emergency manager, yet one was appointed and residents were subsequently excluded from important talks by city officials on how to handle the crisis. “There wasn’t too much trust in the first place but when that happened, I cannot tell you
“State officials did not listen until a white person spoke up.” how deeply mistrust became a cancer in our community,” Hill De Loney said. “We don’t trust anything they tell us.” Nayyirah Shariff, co-founder of the Flint Democracy Defense League, reemphasized that the people of Flint distrust the local officials tasked with fixing the crisis. She said citizens of foreign countries were even calling family members in Flint
collectively, are the eyes and ears of the campus. And if this is offensive, as it is to almost everybody, if not everybody, then keep your eyes open. If you see someone putting something up and you look at its content, now you are an eyewitness to something that is offensive to a large faction of our community, and you should speak up.” LSA sophomore Carly Marten said she also noticed an anti-Islamic poster that characterized the New Year’s assaults in Cologne, Germany as a “brutal mass rape” on the concrete pillar at the corner of State Street and North University Avenue Friday morning. “When I saw the poster at North University and State Street, I was so upset and mad,” Marten said. “So I took a photo, sent it to some on-campus activists I knew and then tore it down.” Only minutes later, Marten, who is a supporter of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, saw another poster that contained an infographic titled “What does the alt-right want?” on a concrete pillar outside of the Chemistry Building. Immediately she photographed it and contacted local BLM activists. “When I saw the posters, some guys kind of heckled me outside the Chemistry Building,” she said. “My emotional reaction was just shocked and angry, even though I am not a member of the attacked group.” Following the initial reporting of the flyering, The Michigan Daily reached out to several Students4Justice campaign members, who declined to comment. After being informed of the incident by the Daily, LSA senior David Schafer, president of Central Student Government, wrote in an email interview that the fliers were contrary to the values of the University. “Again, we are confronted with the presence of racist and white supremacist flyers on our campus,” Schafer wrote. “This is a perversion of the fundamental values on which this university rests. Let us all stand tall — and stand in solidarity with the targeted communities. Our commitment to truly serving as allies requires us to back up our words with concrete actions.”
and warning them not to drink the water. “Those of you who understand intimate partner violence, this really feels like a violent relationship, because the state is responsible for poisoning us, and now the state is in charge of our recovery,” Shariff said. Kent Key, director of the Office of Community Scholars and Partnerships at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine and another panelist, connected his work in vetting the numerous researchers entering Flint to the University of Michigan community in his talk. He has created the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center, which was funded by both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University as a way to encourage an ethical and respectable community, as well as academic partnerships. “One thing is to really start some dialogue, start some conversations,” Key said. “The racial climate in this country is something I have never seen in my lifetime before.”
Opinion & Michigan In Color
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A— Tuesday, October 25, 2016
NICOLE KHAMIS | MICHIGAN IN COLOR
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VICTORIA NOBLE | COLUMN
Trump’s sexism isn’t isolated Content Warning: This column MTV parent company Viacom contains explicit lang uage Media Networks — has raised about sexual assault. awareness about the issue everal years ago, I was on college campuses across sitting in a hot tub with the country, including ours. five or six friends. As the California became the first state night wore on, a few of them to pass an affirmative consent went inside, one and two at a law, and several others enacted time, until I was alone in water legislation to help prevent sexual with a friend of a assaults on college friend. We were campuses. kissing, but I wasn’t One man has interested in going already begun any further. He went to unravel the much further than I progress achieved wanted to, telling me by women’s safety to “hold on” after I advocates at every told him to stop and level of government: tried to push myself Republican away from him. VICTORIA presidential nominee For three years, Donald Trump, NOBLE I didn’t tell anyone the first major that I had been assaulted. I kept party candidate to have been it from my parents, doctors and accused before the primary closest friends. My Catholic of sexual assault in formal upbringing taught me not to court documents from three have sex before marriage, and different lawsuits, including an believe it or not, that’s exactly ongoing civil case alleging he what I planned to do. I felt tied a 13-year-old to a bed and ashamed that I’d been unable raped her. to make him stop, and naive for Despite his transparent having trusted him enough to awfulness, Trump has the allow myself to be alone with power to influence millions of him in the hot tub. All I wanted his supporters whether or not was to forget it ever happened. he actually wins the presidency. Of course, I didn’t. While I’m Trump’s words are dangerous for fortunate to have had the support the simple reason that leaders’ necessary to move past what was consequences have actions. without question the worst night Diminishing boastful claims of my life, I’ll never be able to that he can grab women “by the unlive it. Research suggests that pussy” without consent as mere one in five women and one in 71 “locker room talk” runs the risk men experience sexual assault at of normalizing the criminal least once. Those individuals will behavior he described. never unlive it either. In interviews with Politico, Our legal and criminal several Trump supporters justice systems contribute to defended Trump’s words in the the problem by allowing an video as they way “real men estimated 97 percent of accused talk”; one 17-year-old said that rapists to escape conviction. “Trump’s comments weren’t And those who are convicted? predatory because they let him Many receive far less than do it because he’s a star, and that the maximum 14-year prison is a form of consent,” according sentence. Data from 2009 shows to the article. It’s possible that that of 84 percent of convicted these words were born out of rapists sentenced to prison, five pure loyalty to the candidate. percent go to jail and 11 percent But it’s equally likely — perhaps recieved probation or “other.” more so — that these are the true I’m not interested in raising attitudes that some hold. my future children in a world As just one example of where this heinous crime occurs Trump’s influence on those with such appalling frequency. closest to him, his own son told I don’t want my friends — or radio listeners that Trump’s strangers for that matter — to live “grab her by the pussy” in constant fear of spiked drinks comments were simply a “fact and strange men hiding behind of life.” bushes, waiting to grab them Reducing the prevalence of when they’re walking home at sexual assault requires that more night. I’d like to think that most — not fewer — American men of you don’t want that either. recognize it as the serious crime Over the past few years, our that it is. It also requires a social country has made considerable and legal environment where strides on this issue. The women can come forward with national “It’s On Us” campaign the reasonable expectation that — whose powerful backers she and her accusations will be include the White House, the taken seriously. Trump has made U.S. Olympic Committee and this unlikely as well.
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After the now-famous “grab her by the pussy” video was released, 11 women came forward claiming that Trump sexually assaulted or harassed them. Trump responded by personally attacking the women’s characters and appearances. He defended himself against one woman’s claims by saying that she wouldn’t be his “first choice” to sexually assault. He told the American public that the women were manipulative liars, part of a media scheme to “rig” the election against him — despite the fact that several witnesses claimed that wasn’t the case. When the women refused to recant their statements, Trump announced to cheering supporters that he would sue each woman who accused him of assault. He also threatened to sue The New York Times for publishing articles about the women’s allegations. To be clear, these aren’t likely to be very successful lawsuits. Even still, the media coverage surrounding Trump’s threatened lawsuits could create the misconception that survivors of sexual assault could face legal action against them if they come forward about their experiences or report the crime to police. In the eyes of some of his supporters, this might actually be a good thing. In a few weeks, voters will have the opportunity to seize Trump’s national soapbox by electing his opponent. Both the polls and election-betting markets strongly suggest that voters will seize this opportunity. But a Clinton victory will not be sufficient to undo the damage Trump’s campaign has inflicted on the legitimacy of sexual assault as a serious crime and on survivors as people to support and believe. When it’s all said and done, millions of voters will not believe Hillary Clinton was rightfully elected, even if Trump loses. Trump will still be a leader to some of those people, and his words will still have value. I still want my children to inherit a world devoid of sexual violence, and I still think it’s possible. It will require years of education, advocacy and criminal justice reform. But perhaps the best first step toward combatting the vehement, baseless rhetoric Trump spreads is to simply be louder than the pervasive coverage of the campaign.
Victoria Noble can be reached at vjnoble@umich.edu
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
TUNE IN TO OUR ELECTIONS PODCAST For our second episode of The Michigan Daily’s Election Podcast, columnist Brett Graham interviews Democratic candidate for the Michigan 7th congressional district Gretchen Driskell and her campaign manager Keenan Pontoni.
Support scholarships for Syrian refugees
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wake up in my room and these questions only because I close my eyes, trying to it is important to realize that go back to sleep as the sun the very environment we find shines through my windows. ourselves in, one that allows In a state neither quite asleep safety and security and is nor awake, I hear the sound of conducive to our ability to study, a plane. Instantly, I am awake. is one we take for granted. The All I can hear is the sound normalcy of what we experience of the plane, and is something it’s coming closer. unavailable to many Nothing will happen, individuals around I reassure myself. the world. As we This sound brings posit ourselves as me back to Jordan “Leaders and the and Syria, and all the Best,” and recognize individuals I met this our unique position summer who fled the to assist, stand brutal civil war, now with and support going into its sixth disadvantaged people NICOLE year. I sit up in my throughout the KHAMIS bed and immediately world, we must also turn toward the window. All take a look at the importance I can focus on is the sound of of education and what it can the engine nearing my house. do. While we are empowered Nothing will happen, I say. by virtue of our education, let There is nothing you can do, the us pass on the opportunity of refugees would say. I sit helpless a world-renowned education in my bed and wait, my eyes to also empower others. This on the sky. I am transported, is why I am calling on Central if only for a second, back to Student Government to support Jordan, to the stories that I fully funded scholarships for was told while living there, Syrian refugees, as proposed in many revolving around what a resolution this Tuesday by the the sound of a plane evokes for Books Not Bombs campaign. those who fled rebel-held areas in Syria, where bombs would be dropped on civilian areas. The sound of a plane consumes you, the refugees would say; you look to the sky and follow the plane with your eyes, and wait to see if you are spared this time. It is an anthem of death, our anthem, they would say. At this moment, I am thinking of Amira, a Syrian girl whom I tutor over Skype. Amira, upon hearing the sound of a plane fly by (even though she was granted asylum in Canada) hysterically bursts into tears and shakes uncontrollably as she is reminded of the horror she witnessed. But, as expected, as I sit in my small town 1,000 The impact of the Syrian miles away, the low-flying plane Civil War on education has been is already gone. disastrous. After five continuous Once you cross a border, years of civil war, the conflict in everything changes. This is Syria has reversed more than a what the refugees I met this decade of progress in children’s summer in Jordan would say education. Today, 2.2 million of to me. Here, lives are valued, a Syria’s 4.8 million school-age plane isn’t dropping bombs and children are not in school as a I am already asleep. I am here. result of the conflict. The sound of a plane means Since the start of the war nothing to people here anyway, over 4,000 schools throughout I remind myself. Syria have been devastated, While studying for midterms damaged or converted into this past week, did you have a shelters for those displaced. If safe place to study? Access to they are able to attend school, Internet? A teacher to email many students are stopped from to ask pre-exam questions? accessing education. They are Did you fear an end to your physically attacked for trying education? Were you confident to go to school, under threat of that school was going to begin having their school bombed, and again on Wednesday? I ask commonly find themselves in the
Let us be among those who stand up and make our voices heard in this time of deafening silence.
crossfire of snipers. Under the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Child, the right to a quality education is guaranteed to all children. Under the continuing civil war, children and students our age are being denied a basic human right. As students who have made a promise to ourselves and to the University of Michigan to use our education to contribute to a more just and equitable society, will we stay silent in the face of the worst humanitarian crisis the world has ever seen? The answer has never been clearer. If we truly believe in the power of an education to transform the lives of individuals, and if we truly believe education to be the basis of the betterment of society, we must stand by our commitment of education for all. We must remember that we are here by luck. By chance, we found ourselves not in the midst of a civil war; by chance we can achieve our dreams. We are the lucky ones; we get to continue our lives as normal simply because we are here. If we are “Leaders and the Best,” let us as students collectively come together to ask our University to provide educational opportunities to individuals who have been displaced, and whose education has been interrupted by a conflict they found themselves embedded within by no fault of their own. It is time, and it is long overdue, to place Michigan among the ranks of the many other universities that have been offering fully funded scholarships to Syrian refugees. Many in the world have risked being dangerously complacent about the Syrian humanitarian crisis. Those who have lost the opportunity of education risk becoming a lost generation in our lifetime. Let us be among those who stand up and make our voices heard in this time of deafening silence. Education knows no borders and no ethnicity; it is a human right and one we must support by offering scholarships to Syrian refugees. You can support the Books Not Bombs campaign to support scholarships for Syrian Refugees as an individual here, and as a student group here. Questions about the BNB campaign? Email: books-notbombs@umich.edu
Nicole Khamis is a Michigan In Color columnist and can be reached at nlkhamis@umich.edu
ROLAND DAVIDSON | COLUMN
The prowess of the lamestream media
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have a deep self-destructive is more concerning to American streak, which is why I often audiences than one in Lebanon add myself to Tea Party since the former could portend Facebook groups. These groups violence here. But all of this are wonderlands of people is irrelevant because these totally unironically sharing maligned news outlets actually National Inquirer articles, and did an excellent job covering conspiracy theories these terrorist attacks, that Michelle giving them plenty Obama is actually of airtime and page a trans woman and space. What I believe that Obama will is going on here is that declare martial law people didn’t know any day now. To be about these issues and clear, none of this is instead of owning up exaggeration. What to their ignorance, binds these Facebook they made the claim posts together is the that the media had ROLAND persistent complaint to educate them. DAVIDSON failed that the mainstream A similarly media (itself a nebulous term) common critique is that is not covering these “issues.” the news media “rigged” I often see a similar complaint the election against Bernie from the left, that mainstream Sanders because they denied journalism doesn’t cover him essential coverage during issues (note the lack of scare the primary. This simply isn’t quotes) as well as they should. the case. A report by Harvard’s However, neither critique really Shorenstein Center confirmed holds water once one critically that though he may have gotten examines the relationship that a third of the coverage Clinton consumers of news and niche received, he also had the most news organizations have with positive coverage out of all mainstream media. candidates, averaging 50.5 After ISIS agents killed 130 percent more positive news people in France last November, coverage than his competitor. many progressives begun However, liberal media outlets criticizing the “mainstream chose to ignore that part of news media” for not properly the report, instead printing covering terroristic violence headlines like “Harvard Study in non-Western countries like Confirms Bernie Sanders Was the bombing in Beirut, which Right: Media Blackout Badly happened a day prior and Hurt Campaign” and then not claimed over 40 lives. I could bothering to go into the story rationalize the discrepancy on a deeper level. You can’t and come up with reasonable have your big media conspiracy justifications, such as the fact go both ways. that a terrorist attack in France Part of the issue with these
critiques of mainstream media is that these critics are people who don’t even bother to glance at, say, The New York Times. Many progressives claimed that The New York Times didn’t even bother covering the Dakota Access pipeline, a pipeline that would run through miles of Sioux land. Lo and behold, on Aug. 24, 2016, the Dakota pipeline is on The New York Times’ front page. I would add that the Anti-Media article I linked to was actually published on the 25th, lending further credence to my belief that those critical of mainstream media don’t even bother looking at it. Explicitly liberal news sources don’t have the same vested interest in presenting balanced media coverage as The New York Times because websites like Democracy Now! specifically cater toward a niche audience, much in the same way that Fox News does. These leftist journalist outfits don’t bother interviewing government officials or people building the pipeline so they can churn out the stories faster. The process of creating fair and balanced media has cleaved against our society’s desire for faster and faster news such that taking time to properly research a story has become perceived as media blackout.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Roland Davidson can be reached at mhenryda@umich.edu
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
Technology leads to hope, danger in ‘Black Mirror’
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 — 5A
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Ambitious third season debuts after being picked up by Netflix SAM ROSENBERG
sion storytelling. It continues to explore the dark depths of Let’s get one thing straight: technology, but also manages to Technology isn’t all that bad. offer an optimistic message in Yes, in the age of reality televi- some episodes. In fact, the epision, social media, sodes with those virtual reality and optimistic mescomputer hacksages (the fascinating, technology ing season opener “Black Mirror” has proven to be “Nosedive” and taking control of the unpredictably Season 3 (4 our world, one poignant love story episodes watched) gadget and app “San Junipero”) at a time. But for work far better Netflix the most part, than the grimmer, many of the 21st more heavy-handcentury’s technoed ones (the terrilogical innovations — the iPod, fying horror clip “Playtest” and Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the meandering cyber-thriller music streaming services — have “Shut Up and Dance”). influenced our awareness of the Co-written by “Parks & Recworld, broadening our minds to reation” ’s Michael Schur and new realms and endless oppor- Rashida Jones (“Angie Tribetunities that were once believed ca”), “Nosedive” triumphs as to be impossible. In a sense, tech- a satire of instant gratification nology has cultivated a paradox: and the constant yearning for we are more connected than validation a la Instagram, even we’ve ever been, and yet there if the episode feels somewhat remains a visible disconnect familiar and predictable. The among society. story is set in a reality akin to This unnerving conflict the one in Spike Jonze’s “Her,” serves as the thematic core of matching the film’s utopian/ “Black Mirror,” the popular dystopian setting and aesthetic British anthology series that styles with gorgeous pastel color has been deemed by many crit- tones and a beautiful piano-ladics and viewers a modern-day en score. “Twilight Zone.” Created by The only real difference is English satirist Charlie Brooker that in the world of “Nose(“Dead Set”), “Black Mirror” dive,” people rate one another depicts different realities and on a five-star system and earn characters in each episode, but a greater status in society with every story connects to one the more stars they receive. another through their thought- Perky social climber Lacie provoking, somewhat cynical Pound (Bryce Dallas Howard, perspectives on technology. “Jurassic World”) is determined The first two seasons tackled to reach a 4.8 in order to get a a variety of tech-based issues, discount on her dream house, critiquing everything from the no matter if she has to pretend pervasiveness of advertising to be nice to everyone she meets and the porn industry (“Fifteen or give them all five-star ratings. Million Merits”) to the double- Soon, however, Lacie finds that edged sword of artificial intel- perhaps it might be better to be ligence (“Be Right Back”). With her more authentic self, even a third season comprising of six if she’s ridiculed and alienated episodes instead of the usual for it. We see her undergo this three, “Black Mirror” returns gradual realization during an to the drawing board with more incredible final act that’s hilariambitious ideas, even if not all of ous, devastating and mesmerizthem hit the target. ing all in one. Though the first four episodes “San Junipero” also manstruggle under the weight of ages to be a highlight in season the binge-laden Netflix format, three of “Black Mirror,” mixing “Black Mirror” ’s third season sci-fi, drama and romance with remains a landmark in televi- remarkable performances from Daily Arts Writer
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Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Easy”) and Mackenzie Davis (“Halt and Catch Fire”). Without giving too much away, the story of “San Junipero” is quite riveting, tracking the relationship between the timid Yorkie (Davis) and the outgoing Kelly (Mbatha-Raw) and how their love literally transcends time, space and technology. On the downside, the main problem with the third season of “Black Mirror” is that its darker episodes don’t have the same balance of unpredictability and intrigue as previous seasons. Even with an increase in running time, episodes like “Playtest” and “Shut Up and Dance” could probably work better if a sequence or two were cut, perhaps in order to focus on the payoff of both stories. With the trippy “Playtest,” technology plays a villainous role, as free-spirited Cooper (Wyatt Russell, “Everybody Wants Some!!”) takes part in an experimental, virtual-realitytype video game in order to make some quick cash. However, Cooper runs into some trouble when he encounters some of his worst repressed nightmares come to life. The build-up is certainly effective, as is Russell’s surprisingly strong performance, but the conclusion of “Playtest” falls somewhat short, opting to make one extremely dark joke instead of trying to make a point. Similarly, the extremely tense “Shut Up and Dance” loses its momentum right when it could easily turn into something interesting. Introverted teenager Kenny (Alex Lawther, “The Imitation Game”) is forced to carry orders from an anonymous texter in order to avoid getting a nude video leaked online. The episode keeps you on your toes, but ends on a disappointing and frustrating note. Despite some of its drawbacks this season, “Black Mirror” is still worth watching, either for entertainment or insight. And whether or not “Black Mirror” is anti- or pro-technology, its third season confirms that it remains one of television’s greatest hidden gems.
EVENT PREVIEW
Boy meets girl again and again and BAILEY KADIAN
develops, how it breaks, how they Daily Arts Writer first met each other, how they first Art meets science through an break up, how they first hurt each inquisitive look at the theory of other,” Runtung said. multiverse in “Constellations” The play revolves around by Nick Payne — a the relationship captivating and between Marianne passionate love and Roland. Mari“Constellations” story that explores anne, a physicist, Oct. 27 at 7:30 pm, questions of fate explores how the Oct. 28 at 7:30 & and choice. theories of physics 11 pm, Oct. 29th at This Thursday, apply to her own School of Music, life. Roland, a bee7:30 pm Theatre & Dance keeper, shares his Walgreen Drama Senior Clarisza passions alongside Center Studio One Runtung will presMarianne, as their ent Payne’s piece as unique interests Free her senior thesis. complement their In January 2012, evolving relation“Constellations” ship and each new earned immense praise when possibility examined through it premiered at the Royal Court different multiverses leads them Theatre. It later appeared on both on an entirely different path. Broadway at the Samuel J. Fried“It’s kind of like a laboratory. man Theatre in January 2015. In One person does this and one perLondon, the cast was led by Rafe son does that and you kind of get Spall and Sally Hawkins and later, to play around with those things,” in New York, by Jake Gyllenhaal Runtung said. and Ruth Wilson. Marianne and Roland both “ ‘Constellations’ is about a boy have different passions, yet meets girl and then a boy meets in their differences, they are girl again and again,” Runtung brought closer together. Rutung said. “With all the decisions they describes the script as written make when they meet each other, with language that is simple, but which one progresses to the next effective in communicating the level?” dimensions of this relationship. The set and lights for the show “I want the audience to leave are minimalistic, as these sim- the room thinking about what plistic elements leave room for a ‘meant to be’ really is,” Runtung thorough look into the inner com- said. “There are so many posplexities of science. Exchanges sibilities and I would like them between both characters leave a to see that they have to be in the myriad of possibilities to unfold, moment, because every possibilwith their relationship growing ity can happen.” stronger as space and time progThe cast considers how time ress. and space intersect, as well as the “You’ll be peeking at a very power of free will. Do we have personal world of these two char- it? Where is its place in our lives? acters — how their relationship “Constellations” offers guidance
to answering these questions. Runtung’s project is particularly exciting for her because of the play’s focus on science and art illuminates her own interests and studies. “I have always been really interested in connecting art and science,” Runtung said. “I do theatre because I really want to explore what a human being really is and I feel like there’s no better way to explore that than putting it onstage.” While planning what her thesis would look like, Runtung’s advisor suggested she choose something that she liked and to just go crazy with it. This play offers the challenge of representing complexities of theory, while also connecting these ideas with the beauty and familiarity of a love story. “I don’t want to say it’s realistic, because sometimes when you say that, it just seems like you’re watching two people talking to each other,” Runtung said. “It’s not that.” “Constellations” is composed of a team of four: Runtung directing, SMTD Senior Anastasia Zavitsanos playing Marianne, SMTD Junior Peter Donahue playing Roland and SMTD Freshmen stage managing. The intimacy of the group, Runtung said, has allowed for deep thinking about what ideas this play is exploring and what the actors are ultimately trying to communicate through their story. “This play has been a beautiful journey for every single one of us in the room and all of us are exploring the beauty of the space.” Runtung said. “It’s the first time I have had an experience like this.”
YOUNG MONEY
“I’m still a canine at heart”
Do we really need more Drake now? Rapper/pop star debuts new songs, but seems stuck in the same recipe SALVATORE DIGIOIA For the Daily
Does anyone want to hear Drake, the rapper pop star whose hit song, “One Dance,” is the most streamed song ever on Spotify and Apple Music, complain that the rap game is “all lies” and “all filthy?” Apparently so, because on Sunday, October 23rd, on the eve of Drake’s 30th birthday, he used his OVOSoundRadio show to premiere a new song on which he professes those exact grievances, and two hours later he was trending on Twitter, enjoying five times the number of mentions as any NFL team. “Two Birds, One Stone” is one of four songs that were released during the broadcast and it features one of those rare, reflective monologue verses that spill out of Drake every year or so (think “5AM In Toronto,” “The Ride” or “30 For 30”). Its beat is airy with minimalist drums and Drake’s tone is conversational, like he’s merely clearing his head, helpless to a natural rhyme scheme. Some of the song’s three-minute verse sounds sincere, such as Drake’s acknowledgment that he’s indebted to a higher being or his reminiscing on his parents’ relationship, but other parts, particularly his attacks on other rappers and basking in his success, are tacky and too familiar. Still, “Two Birds, One Stone” is an exciting song that features
Drake’s most technically impressive rap verse of the year. The other new songs — one of which is a remix, not an original — are less personal and more pop-aimed, but equally solid. “Fake Love” is a bouncy sing-song in obvious parallel to “Hotline Bling” and “Sneakin,” which features 21 Savage, Atlanta’s most recent trap music titan, is guaranteed to be a speaker-shaking, strip club anthem. “Wanna Know (Remix)” lets Drake exercise his softer style and spotlights Dave, an emcee from London who has already earned attention from the endorsement. There is no room to debate Drake’s ability to make hits, but his formula for going viral — an exclusive contract with Apple Music, partnerships with relatively underground artists who are about to explode and disses directed at other celebrities to stir up extra attention — is starting to seem a little bit “extra.” Drake employed the same strategy last summer, using a string of singles to distract from allegations that he doesn’t write his own lyrics, and his latest album, Views, is the magnum opus of Apple Music’s marketing schemes. I don’t need another masterminded assault by Drake on hip-hop’s Top 40. I want innovation and progress from the world’s best-selling artist. On the hook for “Fake Love,” Drake whines about fake people who are showing fake love to him, straight up to his face, and
on “Sneakin,” he boasts “I don’t need love, I’m the G.O.A.T. / I just hit the beat and float.” The lyrics are ironically hollow for an emcee of such high esteem, especially as he attempts to regain some of hiphop’s respect after sinking into a bubblegum pop vacuum. Drake songs are typically the most exciting releases in the rap sphere, but he’s starting to get monotonous. He makes me feel like a naive consumer. Drake began the action-packed episode of OVOSoundRadio by announcing his new project, More Life, which is due out this December and has been deemed a “playlist” despite the fact that it will feature original music. Some of the songs that he played on-air will be a part of the project, but it was also described as having been made “with the fam,” so it’s expected to feature Drake’s friends, such as Kanye West and Gucci Mane, or label-mates like Majid Jordan, dvsn and Roy Wood$. More Life will surely shock aux chords everywhere, prolong Drake’s reign atop the charts and inspire more Apple Music subscriptions, but hopefully it does more than stack sure-thing hits. When Drake released “Marvin’s Room” in 2011, or “Hold On, We’re Going Home” in 2013, he was taking risks that left him vulnerable and pushing creative boundaries. Right now, it seems like he is merely repeating a proven recipe. That tactic will only work for so long.
FILM REVIEW
Authentic North Korea in ‘Songs’ ANA LUCENA
tells her she’s pretty, makes North Korea feel like any other place in The documentary “Songs from the world, despite how closed-off it the North” is a fascinating experi- is. The fact that Yoo is South Koremental film contrasting scenes an noticeably helps the dialogue from North Korean feel like natural movies, theater, conversation, and state media and less like an intrusive everyday life to window into their paint a more vivid mysterious culture. “Songs from the picture of the The public opinNorth” notorious hermit ion expressed by nation. The film North Koreans is Kino Lorber doesn’t have a narsupplemented by Michigan Theater rative of any kind; scenes of daily life it’s essentially a in film, live perfordistilled hour-long mances and state collection of footage the South propaganda that explicitly play out Korean director Soon-Mi Yoo shot the hostile attitudes the DPRK’s on three different trips she took government holds to this day. Howtook to North Korea. And yet the ever, it quickly becomes apparent way she weaves in selections from that every aspect of North Korean movies and live performances illu- life ties back to propaganda. It’s minates the psyche of a country so incredibly nauseating – there’s not blocked off from the world. a single orderly school building or The documentary has several pristine yet barren temple without moments that are incredibly raw pictures of former supreme leaders and must be seen to be believed. Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il front In one scene, Yoo records a Kore- and center. The way North Korean an War veteran speaking to chil- art is juxtaposed with interviews dren at the Shinchon Museum of with North Koreans brilliantly American Atrocities, describing illustrates the cause-and-effect incredibly inhumane conditions he relationship between the deeply endured as a prisoner of war under nationalistic messages conveyed in American control. He concludes the media and the loyalty the citiby unapologetically defending his zens express to the perceived wellabsolute hatred towards Ameri- being of their country. cans to children. No amount of satThe most vivid patriot in the ire like “The Interview” would be documentary is a middle school able get at the root of North Kore- boy who passionately sobs as he an aggression towards the United speaks to an assembly after being States like this. The North Koreans selected as a representative for his interviewed in the documentary school at a government function are unflinching when describ- in Pyongyang. As if it wasn’t eerie ing their complete loyalty to their enough watching North Koreans country. Having only heard the tear up just looking at imagery of stories of grateful defectors, seeing Kim Il-sung, the little boy goes the faces of those who maintain on to declare Kim Jong-il his real North Korea’s tense position in “father and mother” who loves world affairs is shocking. and protects him when his parents And yet the humanity of indi- do not after he was informed the vidual North Koreans is vividly President bestowed love onto him captured here as well. Such small “endlessly.” moments as schoolchildren smilTo be sure, this was the most ing and waving to the camera as hysterical display of devotion to they walk past, or a restaurant the ruling family in the film. But owner getting flustered after Yoo the spooky domination the DPRK Daily Arts Writer
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has over the collective North Korean psyche is made tangible after watching the country’s art extol the same values the boy expresses. “Songs from the North” is not only chock-full of information on North Korean art, but its cinematography is lovely as well. The traditional architecture of North Korea is consistently framed by the lush, green nature abundant around Pyongyang, making the country look like somewhere you could actually call home in spite of the known harsh standards of living. The subjects are always placed in such a way that brings the viewer’s eyes across their surroundings, setting them off-center or enveloped within their location to artfully capture the context of their scenes. There are no “talking heads” here, just a taste of North Korean public opinion straight from the source. And the crisp, vivid coloring breathes life into the people and their daily jobs. This keeps the indifferent nature of some people interviewed, saying things like “Why film me cleaning?” or “You are filming too long!” from feeling unconducive to the film’s topic. With Kim Jong-un dominating headlines regularly, it is jarringly humanizing to see the faces and hear some of the voices of countless regular people who make up the country. The fact that such normal people can have their worldview so radically controlled by their government is thoughtprovoking in the highest. The documentary does a fantastic job getting as close as possible to North Korea to see the country on its own terms. In spite of its experimental form, the film logically charges through almost the entirety of North Korean history with raw emotion from all directions – by actual citizens and artists’ interpretations of them. Yoo’s contribution to the limited amount of footage capturing North Korea from an outsider’s perspective is one to be treasured.
Arts
6A — Tuesday, October 25, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
GENDER & MEDIA COLUMN
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
“2 Revenant 2 Furious”
DiCaprio saves the world instead, it presents the indisputable science and moves on from any discussion of its validity. The As climate change is a hugely film does address the many biases complicated and multifaceted in politics and the media, with issue, it’s difficult to create a com- clips of Republican politicians and prehensive look newscasters denyinto all of its causes ing the existence of and implications. climate change. The However, “Before documentary sucthe Flood” does ceeds in revealing “Before the Flood” an impressive job a terrifying reality National of showcasing the of the number and Geographic multiple perspecpower of climate tives surrounding change deniers, climate change, as showing gridlock in well as its real-time impacts and a Congress stuffed with ignorant possible solutions. Oscar Award policymakers blocking legislation. winner, United Nations Ambassa- The public, in turn, is force-fed the dor for Peace and slick man about illusion that climate change is a town Leonardo DiCaprio (“The debatable issue. Revenant”) partners with NationThe brilliance of “Before the al Geographic to create a terrify- Flood” lies in the way it shows ing and provocative exposition of how all these perspectives are climate change. intertwined. The film uncovers The documentary begins with the practice of fossil fuel corporaa look at the industrial side of cli- tions paying people with scientific mate change, revealing the world’s or political credentials to deny clidependence on fossil fuel indus- mate change and lobby Congress tries for global energy systems. to block any climate change legisUnsurprisingly, the U.S. is revealed lation. In short, politics is rife with as one of the major consumers of institutional corruption in favor of energy and subsequent emitters corporate interest. This influences of fossil fuels, providing a much- the media and the public perspecneeded slap in the face to the issue tive, adding to public ignorance of and consequences of American the very real and immediate probconsumerism. The film constantly lem of climate change. reinforces the massive scale and The documentary also does a harmful effects of the fossil fuel nice job widening the lens from industries. However, it sometimes American politics to the global falls short in explaining exactly environmental and social effects how they operate, instead assum- of climate change. With gorgeous ing the viewer understands these footage from all over the globe, processes. Leonardo DiCaprio explores the One of the major achievements melting of the polar ice caps, the of the film is that it goes beyond flooding of agricultural lands in attempting to convince the view- India and the devastation of the er that climate change exists; pacific islands. Testimony from SYDNEY COHEN Daily Arts Writer
A-
Classifieds
real people in real places works to put this issue into a digestible context, reinforcing the fact that climate change is affecting landscapes and people in real time. Furthermore, the film brilliantly captures one bitter paradox, that those who contribute to climate change the least are the ones most effected. This crushing reality is necessary to understand but leaves the upper middle class American viewer feeling powerless. The film rounds out with an exploration of solutions. Almost gratuitously, President Barack Obama slides in with his characteristically presidential optimism, reinforcing the hope that educating the masses will elicit change. Economists and other officials discuss a carbon tax to incentivize clean energy use, while reinforcing following the example of world leaders in renewable energy. Even the Pope endorses climate change and calls for global systematic restructuring. Despite these possible solutions, Leo remains heavily cynical; the film ends with the bone-chilling driving point that the U.S. and the world has the capacity to reverse climate change, but lacks the political will. The documentary’s main failing lies in its final confusing placing of responsibility – is it the people’s job to change policy through careful consumerism or careful voting? Does it go higher, with the need for nations to implement clean energy systems? Is it both, or something else? The effect of this confusion is an overall documentary that is captivating, thought-provoking and inspiring – but ultimately overwhelming.
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 __ for the course 4 Proverb 9 Wire fence stickers 14 Winner of the most 2016 Olympic medals 15 Prize founder 16 Accustom (to) 17 __ Tin Tin 18 “We’re done here. Please leave” 20 For mature viewers 22 Foot prettifier, briefly 23 Miss. neighbor 24 Grape-Nuts cereal brand 26 Big Board letters 30 Lone source of local entertainment 33 Pop in a glass 34 Wonder 35 Longtime name in Syrian leadership 36 Prereq for a lifeguard 37 Fred Flintstone’s boss 40 CBS logo 41 Yoga position 43 Conservationist’s prefix 44 Part of 14Across: Abbr. 45 Eschew modern conveniences 49 Worrisome grades 50 Misplace 51 Tennis do-over 52 Open house offering 54 Great suffering 57 Like the child of your first cousin, to you 62 Great Lakes’ __ Canals 63 Baseball legend Satchel 64 Dior skirt style 65 “__ the President’s Men” 66 Does’ mates 67 Cares for 68 Sound on Old MacDonald’s farm
DOWN 1 Sound of a contented kitty 2 Great Wall setting 3 Deliver a tirade 4 Sometime soon 5 “Let’s Make a Deal” selection 6 __ Dhabi 7 Emerald, e.g. 8 Slip by 9 Texas city of 1.3 million, familiarly 10 Consecrates with oil 11 It may be unearned 12 Compadre 13 Clinch, with “up” 19 Mythical Himalayan 21 Singer Fitzgerald 24 Feline feet 25 Brunch servings 27 Ill-tempered Looney Tunes character 28 Persuaded 29 Week or rear add-on 30 “My bad!” 31 Needlefish 32 Scottish denial 33 Nearly boil 37 Long March leader in 1930s China 38 Tylenol target
39 One may be stubbed 42 Retirement fund 44 Belligerent god 46 Chimney part 47 Word processing category involving page dimensions 48 Moves smoothly 53 Lodes and lodes 54 Patch up 55 Hershey’s caramel candy
56 Modern-day carpe diem spelled out at the starts of 18-, 30-, 45- and 57-Across 57 Black __: covert missions 58 D.C. ballplayer 59 Spy novel org. 60 “¡Viva el matador!” 61 __ Scully, Dodger announcer for 67 seasons
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
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10/25/16
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10/25/16
TUESDAY!
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
“Hey I just met you and this is crazy, but could you hold my pet chinchilla?”
Manic Pixie Dream Girls gone wild
The popular phrase should be about bad writing, not real women SOPHIA KAUFMAN
Daily Gender & Media Columnist
T
he Manic Pixie Dream Girl has been part of pop culture for as long as men have looked to women to occupy a two-dimensional role in their lives. The feminine trope acquired that quirky name when Nathan Rabin, a film critic for The A.V. Club, used that phrase to describe Kirsten Dunst’s character in “Elizabethtown” (2005). He called her “that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” Having never actually seen “Elizabethtown,” I cannot attest to the truth of this statement. However, I do know a MPDG when I see one: they’re everywhere. In fact, they seem to be multiplying, waltzing with their ukuleles from film to TV show to music video, from Hollywood to Sundance to Cannes to SAC 310. It’s great that people are more aware of how female characters are often written as solely two-dimensional vehicles for male enlightenment. But recently, as more and more female characters are slapped with the disparaging label of MPDG, there has been some backlash — and deservedly so. People, including Nathan Rabin himself, who has said that he regrets coining the phrase, are starting to think it’s unfair that every female character who possesses some weird trait or unusual hobby or obscure taste in music is labeled as MPDG. If girls are MPDGs when they’re different, but basic when they’re “normal,” how do you write a non-MPDG female character who doesn’t too closely resemble a piece of Wonder Bread? While there’s no shortage of Manic Pixie Dream Girls popping up, the quickness of the gavel to label a female character a MPDG — thus shrinking opportunities to believe in creative, complex female characters — isn’t the real crux of the issue.
The problem is that the term Manic Pixie Dream Girl is starting to become an insult in itself wielded against women, not the men who use them. The whole point of the label is to hold writers accountable for using women as plot drivers, bringers of male epiphanies or adventuresses who brighten the lives of the men they laughingly lead by the hand into the horizon (or don’t: see “500 Days of Summer” for an example). Instead, it has become a quick, culturally relevant, in-the-know way to criticize women. This is especially relevant to how it relates to aesthetics. The point of Manic Pixie Dream Girl is not to criticize a woman’s wardrobe or hair or makeup choices; it never has been, but that is what it has devolved into. By focusing too much on aesthetics and allowing the term to be used to criticize female characters in a vacuum without analyzing how they’re used by the men in the story, we’re forgetting the point. What used to be a term used to criticize writers and directors for using women solely as props has now become a term to demean or dismiss the women themselves. I have even heard people call real women — women they know, are friends with, are dating — Manic Pixie Dream Girls. The most obvious example of this would be Zooey Deschanel, who has become the poster girl for MPDGs. The actor herself has been referred to by this label, starting from when she was the undeniable MPDG in “500 Days of Summer” to the recurring Saturday Night Live sketch “Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel” to even her character in “New Girl.” While her character in the 2009 movie was absolutely a MPDG — her only role to lead Joseph Gordon-Levitt to emotional awakenings — her character in “New Girl” is not. And the SNL sketch doesn’t make fun of the idea of MPDGs, but rather takes Deschanel’s character traits and holds them up to mockery. Real women can’t be Manic Pixie Dream Girls, because that term refers to a construct built by men. Calling a real woman
a MPDG for any reason — her wardrobe, her taste in music, her favorite books, whatever — is essentially turning her into two-dimensional archetype. Please, for the love of the nine muses — all of whom were women, who would’ve thought? — don’t refer to a real woman as a Manic Pixie Dream anything. Ross Putnam, a producer with a Twitter account that went viral — @femscriptintros — helped shine a spotlight on the origins of this problem when he started tweeting “intros for female leads in actual scripts” that he has read, changing all of the names to Jane. Some of my personal favorites include: “JANE stares into camera through intense eyes — she’s beautiful but hard, like a layer of humanity has been scraped away,” “Jane (late 20s) sits hunched over a microscope. She’s attractive, but too much of a professional to care about her appearance,” “All heads turn to fine JANE (28) in the doorway: stunning and trying her best to hide it” and finally, “A gorgeous woman, JANE, 23, is a little tipsy, dancing naked on her big bed, as adorable as she is sexy. *BONUS PTS FOR BEING THE 1ST LINE.” The worst part is that not all of these characters would be described as MPDGs, because some of them may just be sidekicks or non-romantic leads or just happy neurotypicals. Not every single one of these character intros have to do with the woman’s attractiveness or her relationship to her physical appearance, but the vast majority do. And these are real films. If even the intros to a character hold nothing of substance, how is the character supposed to? The MPDG trope isn’t the only archetype or misogynistic weak writing tool that still plagues our media, but the creation and consumption of trope itself coupled with the flawed criticism of it is one of the most insidious problems in the industry. Kaufman is moving to New York on a whim. To start a new life with her, email sophkauf@umich.edu.
DO YOU PRONOUNCE ‘THEATRE’ WITH A BRITISH ACCENT? DO YOU READ THE NEW YORKER MORE THAN YOU TEXT YOUR PARENTS? DO YOU LIKE CHICKENS? Then Join Daily Arts Community Culture! Email ajtheis@umich.edu and katjacqu@umich edu for information on applying to Daily Arts.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com T E A M
S T A T S MICH 48.7 23.9 257.1 5.5 28 225.9 63.9% 7.8 14 2 75.9 483.0 48.5% 63.6% 3.6 17.8 18.6 42.3 6-11 8/3 40.7 34:18
Points/Game First Downs/Game Rush Yards/Game Yards/Rush Rushing TDs Passing Yards/Game Completion % Yards/Pass Passing TDs Interceptions Offensive Plays/Game Total Offense 3rd-down Conversions 4th-down Conversions Sacks/Game Kick return average Punt return average Punting average Field Goals-Attempts Fumbles/Lost Penalty Yards/Game Time of Poss
I N D I V I D U A L
OPP 10.0 10.6 96.0 2.9 2 111.0 40.9% 4.7 6 7 56.4 207.0 13.0% 38.5% 1.6 20.6 10.0 37.9 2-5 11/5 44.4 25:42
S TAT S
PASSING Player Speight O’Korn Morris TOTALS
Cmp Att Yds 114 182 1447 11 15 89 4 5 45 129 202 1581
TD 13 1 0 14
INT 2 0 0 2
Att Yds 49 416 79 412 43 359 63 332 10 107 10 85 8 49 4 29 15 25 3 19 2 17 3 15 6 12 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 -1 1 -2 1 -11 9 -13 15 -47 270 1530
Avg 8.5 5.2 8.3 5.3 10.7 8.5 6.1 7.3 1.7 6.3 8.5 5.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 -0.5 -2.0 -11.0 -1.4 -3.1 5.7
Lg 57 42 45 34 63 19 17 13 4 14 10 11 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 9 63
TD 3 2 6 4 2 0 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25
No. 30 26 18 6 9 4 5 4 2 2 1 10 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 129
Yds 499 310 275 114 73 53 33 28 27 24 23 21 21 18 15 12 10 7 6 5 4 3 1581
Avg 16.6 11.9 15.3 19.0 8.1 13.3 6.6 7.0 13.5 12.0 23.0 2.1 21.0 18.0 15.0 12.0 5.0 7.0 3.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 12.3
Lg 46 25 35 54 15 33 15 14 21 22 23 9 21 18 15 12 5 7 4 5 4 3 54
TD 5 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 14
No. 14 1 1 0 16
Yds Avg. Long 249 17.8 54 27 27.0 0 15 15.0 15 6 -6 297 18.6 54
RUSHING Player Evans Smith, D. Higdon Isaac Peppers McDoom Chesson Henderson Hill Morris Davis Crawford O’Korn Hirsch Wilson Beneducci Hewlett Gedeon Allen TEAM Speight TOTALS RECEIVING Player Darboh Butt Chesson Perry Hill McDoom Poggi Evans Wheatley Ways Henderson Smith, D. Isaac Crawford Hirsch Jocz McKeon Harris Bunting Peppers Johnson, N. Asiasi TOTALS
PUNT RETURNS Player Peppers Jocz Evans Perry TOTALS
TD 1 0 0 1 2
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 — 7A
Lewis feeling fresh heading into East Lansing All-American cornerback’s lights-out defense has limited opposing throws coming in his direction MAX BULTMAN
Managing Sports Editor
Usually, this is the time of year when bodies are aching. The college football season is more than halfway over, and as the games get tougher, it only makes sense that players start to feel the effects. But for Jourdan Lewis, this year has been different. “I was getting thrown at a lot (last year), but it just seems like they go at me every once in a while now,” Lewis said Saturday. “Probably just once a game.” The result is a fresher feeling at this time of year for Michigan’s All-American senior cornerback. Lewis missed the season’s first three games with an injury, but the other reason he feels so fresh right now is more about what’s happened when he’s on the field. After he said he was targeted only one time against the Fighting Illini, Lewis said his body feels much better after games now, and with decreased snap-by-snap dependence, it’s easy to understand why. “The trainers came in and joked with me a little bit (after the Rutgers game),” Lewis said Monday. “They told me, ‘I don’t even know why you’re here, man. You played a quarter and a half.’ ” Really, this benefit extends to the Wolverines’ whole secondary. Right now, Michigan has had the fifth-fewest passes attempted against it nationally with 164. The first-ranked team, Florida, has 140, but has also played one fewer game. That means that either no one wants to throw at Michigan, or no one has been able to — and the answer is likely both. When opponents have thrown on the Wolverines, it hasn’t
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis (26) has seen limited action because opponents have not often turned in his direction against Michigan’s defense.
exactly been a fruitful endeavor. Michigan is allowing just a 40.9 completion percentage this season, second-lowest in the country behind Florida. The Wolverines have picked off seven passes, which is one more than the number of touchdown passes they have allowed. Somehow, those numbers are even uglier against Michigan’s cornerbacks. According to Pro Football Focus College, opposing passers are 11-for-39 when targeting receivers covered by Lewis or senior cornerback Channing Stribling. The two have allowed a total of 131 yards with zero touchdowns and have racked up four interceptions. And all of that is when
those quarterbacks can get their throws off. For as little as opponents decide to pass against Michigan, there’s also the matter of what happens when they do. The Wolverines have 25 sacks through seven games, and that’s to say nothing of plays where quarterbacks are forced to throw the ball away or run out of bounds. So while it’s easy to point to Lewis’ dominance in coverage as the reason his
targets have lowered, the cornerback offered another explanation. “I’m telling you,” Lewis said Monday, “The defensive line is so good, I can’t even tell you if that’s me, really.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have two corners as good as Lewis and Stribling. Lewis’ success has been welldocumented, but Stribling is having a breakout season of his own. He has three interceptions,
“It just seems like they go at me every once in a while now.”
including one touchdown, numbers that may soon make quarterbacks think twice about throwing his way, too. And if they decide to go to the other side again, Lewis is ready for that, too. As it turns out, covering receivers who don’t get thrown to leaves Lewis wondering when his few chances will come. “It’s not so much bored, it’s just like anxious, you want to know when your next play is coming,” he explained. “Every time you’re in there, it’s not so much, ‘Oh my god, when are they going to throw at me?’ I’m just like, ‘Oh my god, this could be it, this could be it.’ ” But most of the time, it isn’t.
Nation’s best defense still trying to improve Harbaugh on how top-ranked unit can be better: ‘That’s a great question. They’re playing so good’
INTERCEPTION RETURNS Player Stribling Hill, D. McCray Thomas Lewis TOTALS
No. 3 1 1 1 1 6
Yds Avg. Long 60 20.0 51 27 27.0 27 22 22.0 22 4 4.0 4 0 0.0 0 109 18.2 51
TD 1 1 0 0 0 2
Yds 9 9
Avg. Long 9.0 9 9.0 9
TD 0 0
Yds 153 28 21 6 5 213
Avg. Long 30.6 55 14.0 15 10.5 18 6.0 6 2.5 5 17.8 55
TD 0 0 0 0 0 0
FUMBLE RETURNS Player Hill, L. TOTALS
No. 1 1
KICKOFF RETURNS Player Peppers Henderson Lewis Hudson Hill, K. TOTALS
No. 5 2 2 1 2 12
KICKOFFS Player Allen Foug Tice TOTALS
No. 47 8 3 58
Yds 3007 460 189 3656
Avg. 64.0 57.5 63.0 63.0
TB 25 2 0 27
No. 24 24
Yds 1016 1016
Avg. 42.3 42.3
Lg 56 56
PUNTING Player Allen TOTALS FIELD GOALS Player Allen Tice
FG Pct. 6-10 50.0% 0-1 0.0%
1-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Lg 0-0 3-3 3-5 0-2 0-0 39 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0
LEADING TACKLERS Player Gedeon Peppers McCray Thomas Winovich Glasgow, R. Wormley Gary Hill, D. Hurst Godin Charlton Stribling Kinnel Lewis Clark Hudson Watson Bush Metellus Glasgow, J. Pearson TOTALS
Solo 21 27 14 18 6 3 9 7 10 9 7 4 4 6 7 6 3 4 2 6 4 2 196
Ast 35 13 21 15 18 20 13 14 9 10 12 11 6 4 3 4 5 4 5 1 2 4 250
Tot 56 40 35 33 24 23 22 21 19 19 19 15 10 10 10 10 8 8 7 7 6 6 446
TFL 9.0 10.0 5.5 5.5 3.0 5.5 5.0 2.0 6.5 2.0 4.5 0.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 1.0 64
SK PBU 3.0 2 2.5 2.5 4 4 2.0 1.0 1 4.0 1.0 2 3.0 1.0 4.0 7 3 3 1 1.0 25 27
2016 SCHEDULE
KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Editor
When Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was asked Monday how his defense could improve, he was stumped. Harbaugh leads his team with the mantra of improving every single day, but it’s hard to imagine how the defense could get much better. “I mean, that’s a great question,” Harbaugh said. “They’re playing so good. We just really have to give them a pat on the back right now, but it’s not time to take a victory lap. Just to keep going at the same relentless, intense pace that they’ve had and approach that they’ve had to every game, because we’re a little over the halfway point. You don’t want to take a victory lap, but you do have to recognize that this defense is playing great football.” The second-ranked Wolverines have allowed the fewest total yards in the nation while ranking first in passing defense and fourth in rushing defense. The latter irritates fifthyear senior defensive end Chris Wormley. “When you look at the different categories, we’re (ranked No. 1) in a lot of them, but we want to be (No. 1) in all of them. I think we’re third in like rushing defense, which kind of pisses us off, but at the end of the day, if we get wins, we’re pretty happy.” This week, Michigan will travel to East Lansing to take on a Spartan squad that has lost its past five games. Michigan prides itself on preparing for each game the same way, and this week will be no different for the defense. The unit generally looks
9/3
9/10
9/17
9/24
HAWAII (4-4)
UCF (4-3)
COLORADO (6-2)
PENN ST. (5-2)
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Fifth-year senior defensive end Chris Wormley and Michigan are focused on improvement, but it isn’t easy for a defense as strong as the Wolverines’.
at the opponents’ big plays that can cause a swing in a game when looking for areas of improvement, and after Michigan State beat the Wolverines on an infamous game-ending play last season, Michigan is unlikely to overlook the details. After last week’s game, when the Wolverines routed Illinois 41-8, the Fighting Illini’s fourthquarter 43-yard touchdown pass has been a point of focus. “I guess when you look at the film and you see what you can do better, you look at the big
10/1
10/8
WISCONSIN (5-2) at RUTGERS (2-6)
plays first,” Wormley said. “You look at when they scored, and you see what we can do as a defense better than what we did on that play. “But at the end of the day, like you said, it’s hard to find things when we’re doing so well, but like I said, there’s always things to get better on.” The Wolverines have
allowed just 70 points this season, the fewest of any team in the nation. Part of that can be attributed to the defense’s overall age. Of the 11 starters on defense, nine are seniors. Fellow senior Jake Butt isn’t surprised by just how prolific the defense has been because he has seen its work ethic and development
“We just really have to give them a pat on the back.”
10/22 ILLINOIS (2-5)
W, 63-3 (1-0) W, 51-14 (2-0) W, 45-28 (3-0) W, 49-10 (4-0) W, 14-7 (5-0) W, 78-0 (6-0) W, 41-8 (7-0)
10/29
11/5
at MICH. ST. (2-5) MARYLAND (5-2) Noon, East Lansing, Mich.
3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium
throughout the last four years. The tight end has known for months how good they would be. “I’m not dazzled, because I knew how talented they were,” Butt said. “I’m confident saying they work as hard, if not harder, than anyone in the country. That started with this summer and through this summer preparation. Those D-line guys have had that mentality for as long as I’ve been here. I’d say that they’re the hardest working group on the team and it shows in how they play.”
11/12
11/19
11/26
at IOWA (5-3)
INDIANA (3-4)
at OHIO ST. (6-1)
8 p.m., Iowa City, Iowa
Michigan Stadium
Noon, Columbus, Ohio
Sports
8A — Tuesday, October 25, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘Team Michigan’ in the hunt for $500,000 BENJAMIN KATZ For the Daily
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Junior guard Katelynn Flaherty made this year’s preseason All-Big Ten team.
Flaherty a preseason All-Big Ten selection Junior guard becomes first Michigan player on preseason squad since 2002 NATHANIEL CLARK Daily Sports Writer
Junior point guard Katelynn Flaherty is probably the most familiar face on the Michigan women’s basketball team — and with good reason. She already holds program records in points, with 774, and field goals, with 280. Those numbers have now gotten the attention of the rest of the Big Ten. Flaherty was named to the preseason All-Big Ten team, the first Wolverine to earn that distinction since LeeAnn Bies received the same honors 14 years ago. Flaherty was a unanimous pick for the AllBig Ten squad, one of just five players to earn that distinction this season. But adulation for Flaherty has not been limited to those inside the Big Ten. She was also put on the preseason watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award, an honor given to the NCAA’s best point guard. Among returning players, Flaherty ranked third in the nation in scoring in 2015-16. As if all of that weren’t enough, she was even picked as a preseason fourth-team AllAmerican by Sporting News. Flaherty received an AllAmerican honorable mention by the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association at the end of last year. While she already has multiple Michigan team records under her belt, Flaherty appears poised to break more as she still has two years of eligibility remaining. She currently ranks third in Wolverine history in scoring
average with 18 points, 10th in total points with 1273, fourth in 3-pointers with 183 and second in free-throw percentage at .879. Flaherty will not be the only source of offensive firepower for Michigan, though. Sophomore center Hallie Thome and senior guard Siera Thompson, who ranked second and third, respectively, in scoring for the Wolverines in 2015-16, will be back in action this season. Freshman guard Kysre Gondrezick also figures to factor into Michigan’s offense, as she scored a state-record 72 points in a game for Benton Harbor High School. But even with that strong supporting cast, the Wolverines’ scoring will not live up to its potential without Flaherty’s outstanding offensive output.
BY THE NUMBERS Katelynn Flaherty
10
Flaherty’s all-time program rank in points with 1,273 (she has two years of eligibility remaining)
4
Flaherty’s all-time program rank in career 3-pointers with 183, including 105 last year
774
Points for Flaherty last year, the most in program history for a single season by a margin of 115
Engineering doctoral students Kyle Hanquist and Kevin Neitzel’s journeys to national TV began in an alleyway in Copenhagen, Denmark. At a conference in Europe last year, the aerospace engineers received an email from the University’s College of Engineering about a new Golf Channel reality show “Driver vs. Driver.” The challenge: in “Shark Tank” style, aspiring golf club designers invent an innovative driver to pitch to equipment manufacturer Wilson Golf. Hanquist and Neitzel received the information only one week before video submissions were due and questioned whether there would be enough time to produce an idea and application. But the opportunity to combine their aerospace knowledge with a love for golf couldn’t go to waste — not to mention the prospect of teaming with one of golf’s most legendary brands. Wilson Golf’s range of products includes drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, wedges, putters and balls for amateur and professional players. Since 1922, PGA Tour stars Arnold Palmer, John Daly, Vijay Singh and others have won a combined 61 major tournaments using Wilson products. “Being outside of the golf club design industry, we thought our idea could bring something new to (golfers),” Neitzel said. “And there’s a half-a-million-dollar prize, so that was pretty good, too.” After brainstorming to reach their best concept, they conducted the video shoot in the Copenhagen alleyway. “That was pretty random,” Hanquist said. “But I think it helped us stand out when they saw us.” Besting over 300 applicants, Hanquist and Neitzel — now coined “Team Michigan” — were among 11 teams selected to compete head-to-head on the
COURTESY OF KYLE HANQUIST
Michigan doctoral students Kyle Hanquist (left) and Kevin Neitzel are competing to design a new driver for Wilson Golf.
show. Engineers, teachers and golf professionals are among the many hopefuls. The seven-episode elimination series culminates with the announcement of the winner on the Nov. 22 finale. The $500,000 grand prize comes with a chance for the winning driver design to be included in next year’s Wilson product line. The first episode aired on Oct. 4 and the second this past Tuesday. Teams pitched their designs to judges Tim Clarke, President of Wilson Golf; Frank Thomas, former United States Golf Association Technical Director; and Brian Urlacher, former Chicago Bears linebacker and avid golfer. Through two episodes, Team Michigan survived the elimination of five teams and were surprised the cut was so steep so early in the filming. The third episode airs Tuesday, and Hanquist and Neitzel say they will be heavily featured.
MEN’S SOCCER
“To have a one-in-six chance on half-a-million dollars, I’d take those odds,” Hanquist said. Even if defeated, Hanquist and Neitzel plan to pursue turning their driver design into a business. Team Michigan is confident its expertise in aerodynamics will not only help golfers hit balls with greater velocity and further, but straighter off the tee. They turned to Formula One cars and airplane designs’ aerodynamics for inspiration to incorporate into their club technology. “(Wilson Golf) wants something that’s new, that’s going to break the mold a little bit, so we really tried to be different than what’s out there already,” Neitzel said. “We really focused on things that we would want in a driver, and pushed things a little bit with the physics background we have.” Taping started last October at Wilson’s Chicago-area headquarters and presents the full process of bringing driver ideas to life. Although Hanquist
and Neitzel know the contest’s outcome, they are prohibited from disclosure. However, they alluded the next five episodes shift focus from design pitches to the evolution and production of tangible clubs, with more contestants getting cut along the way. Though having their club being used on the PGA Tour would be a remarkable feat, Team Michigan hopes one person above anyone else will “grip it and rip it.” “We see (Michigan football) head coach Jim Harbaugh golfing in a lot of Pro-Ams,” Hanquist said. “That would probably be the coolest thing ever if we saw him using our golf club at Pebble Beach. I mean, that would be the most surreal thing ever.” Over a year ago, Hanquist and Neitzel shot their application video in a Copenhagen alleyway, with no idea if they would get a spot on the show. Now, the opportunity to represent their university on such a large scale is one neither man could ever have imagined.
ROWING
‘M’ stands united with Michigan finishes in top Ohio State in rivalry 10 at Head of the Charles Michigan observes moment of silence for late Buckeye defender Fikayo Idowu HUNTER SHARF For the Daily
There is arguably no bigger rivalry in college athletics than Ohio State-Michigan, but some things are bigger than sports. That was evident Friday night, when the Michigan men’s soccer team put the competition aside to honor Fikayo Idowu, the Ohio State defender who passed away in a drowning accident in June. For a brief moment, there were no Wolverines or Buckeyes, just players and fans observing a moment of silence for one of their own. Idowu was a young man who had the same passion and played the game with the same intensity as the Michigan players. This sense of community is rare in any matchup between Ohio State and Michigan. “Sports give us an extraordinary opportunity to come together,” said Michigan senior captain defender Lars Eckenrode. “Coming into this game I felt we had an opportunity to honor their player, who passed away, and it did bring us closer.” Eckenrode wrote a letter to the Ohio State program on behalf of the Wolverines, sending their condolences in a time of grieving. The team wanted to further honor Idowu on Friday evening. “Our captains approached us to want to do something prior to the game,” said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. “To do something for the game I thought was great, to continue to honor his memory regardless of the rivalry.” Despite the pregame show of respect, the rivalry proved fierce as ever on the field. Throughout the game, the teams committed hard fouls and kept tensions high. This was evident near the end of the first half, when Michigan junior defender Billy Stevens had to be held back by teammates
during an argument with several Ohio State players, following a hard foul against the Buckeyes. In overtime, Stevens was again restrained by teammates, following an altercation that led to yellow cards for players on both sides. The game ended with 34 total fouls. Michigan’s previous outing featured just 20 total fouls. Historically, the Buckeyes have had the edge in the rivalry, holding a 20-10-1 record going into Friday night’s game. Michigan needed a win to avenge last year’s performances. In 2015, the Wolverines went 0-2 against Ohio State, losing in both the regular season and in the Big Ten Championship. The game was filled with intense play, and neither side could gain any momentum. However, with 23 seconds left in the second overtime, Ohio State scored, ending the game 1-0. Off the field, the bond between each team runs deep. Ohio State assistant coach Ian Gordona spent two seasons at Michigan. Forwards Jacob Duska and Nate Kohl transferred to the Buckeyes after each spent their freshman years in Ann Arbor. “It’s always fun,” Eckenrode said. “And it was cool to see (former teammates) on the field again.” This is another example of a bright spot on an otherwise bitter coexistence. While the majority of the time there is nothing but animosity between the sides, honoring Idowu showed that there are things that transcend the rivalry and puts the game on hold. “Football is one thing, but life is another,” Daley said. It’s moments like the one before Friday’s game that Daley’s point is never more evident, and reminds fans that at the end of the day, everybody is human.
Wolverines’ first varsity eight boat comes in fifth; second eight takes 10th SOPHIE CLOHERTY For the Daily
Just nine minutes into the second race of the day, the Michigan women’s rowing team’s first boat, after starting in eighth place, overtook Penn’s boat to slide into third. At the same moment, the New York Athletic Club came up from behind and pushed the Wolverines into fourth. But Michigan kept steady on the meter of first-eight junior coxswain Nadia Roohparvar for the next seven minutes. Michigan went on to give up only one spot to first bownumber Brown in the final stretch for a topfive finish. This weekend, the Wolverines sent two eights to the 52nd annual Head of the Charles regatta in Boston. Competing Sunday against 33 other boats, both Michigan’s first and second eights placed in the top 10 of the women’s championship race. “Practices have been intense,” Roohparvar said. “There’s been a lot of switching between boats; I think people have been really stepping up to the challenge … Lots of the results (Sunday) were exceeding expectation for this point in the season.” The race began with Michigan’s first eight in eighth place, and its second eight in 15th overall. After passing the first marker at 4:12.083, the second boat was in 18th place. Within five minutes, at the Weld marker, the crew pushed itself to 10th. The talk of the race from Michigan’s end was volunteer assistant coach, Felice Mueller,
who rowed for the New York Athletic Club. Her boat overtook the Wolverines at the second marker, just as Michigan overtook Penn at time 9:29.775. While the second eight looked to make their way up to ninth, the first eight looked to maintain their top-five place. Past the CBC marker at just over 14 minutes, Brown inched just past the Wolverines. Unable to take back fourth in the final two minutes, Michigan maintained its lead over Virginia by under seven seconds for a fifth-place finish time of 16:53.339. Though it was a picturesque day on the Charles River, high-speed winds made the course challenging. As much as the race was about strong rowing, the conditions made it also a tough test of steering and planning. According to Roohparvar, the start of the race was particularly windy. “There’s a lot of chaos, and you kind of have to keep your cool,” she said. “The start was really, really windy, but we were able to make up a lot of ground because we dealt with it better than a lot of crews did.” Coach Mark Rothstein highlighted Roohparvar and second-eight coxswain freshman Kathryn Boyle, as well as stroke seats Kaitlin Wright and secondeight senior Tessa Yurko. “There’s a lot of steering, and it’s important for the coxswains to manage that well,” Rothstein said. “I thought both our stroke seats set really good rhymes. I feel good about the results, a much stronger result than we had last year.”
“There’s a lot of chaos, and you have to keep your cool.”
2B
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 // FACEOFF 2016
FACEOFF 2016 SCHEDULE 2016-2017
Oct. 2
Windsor (ex.)
Jan. 13, 14
at Minnesota
Oct. 7, 8
Union
Jan. 20
vs. Michigan State
Oct. 15
at Ferris State
Jan. 21
at Michigan State
Oct. 21, 22
vs. Michigan Tech
Feb. 3, 4
vs. Ohio State
Oct. 28
at Vermont
Feb. 10
vs. Michigan State
Oct. 29
at Dartmouth
Nov. 4
at Arizona State
Feb. 11
vs. Michigan State
Nov. 11, 12
vs. Boston University
Feb. 17, 18
at Wisconsin
Nov. 18
vs. U.S. NTDP (ex.)
Feb. 24, 25
at Ohio State
Nov. 25, 26
vs. Lake Superior State
March 3, 4
vs. Minnesota
Dec. 1, 2
at Penn State
March 10, 11
vs. Penn State
Dec. 9, 10
vs. Wisconsin
March 16-18
Big Ten Tournament
Dec. 29, 30
Great Lakes Invitational
March 24-26
NCAA Regionals
at Joe Louis Arena
April 6-8
NCAA Frozen Four
at Joe Louis Arena
3 4 6 7
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Michigan’s offense has struggled to find consistency early on. Nolan De Jong has waited his turn to be a captain for Michigan. Minnesota and Ohio State are the toughest foes in the Big Ten. Inside the Wolverines’ 2016-17 roster, broken down by position
STAFF PICKS The Daily hockey writers take their best shot to predict what will happen in the world of college hockey during Michigan’s 2016-17 campaign. Big Ten First Place Big Ten Second Place Big Ten Third Place Big Ten Coach of the Year Big Ten Tournament Champion GLI Champion Michgan’s Season Ends Here Michigan MVP Michigan Top Scorer Top Michigan Freshman Frozen Four 1 Frozen Four 2 Frozen Four 3 Frozen Four 4 National Champion
Laney Byler
Mike Persak
Orion Sang
Avi Sholkoff
Minnesota Wisconsin Ohio State Tony Granato, Wisconsin Minnesota Michigan Semifinals of Big Ten Tournament Will Lockwood Will Lockwood Will Lockwood North Dakota Boston University Notre Dame Denver North Dakota
Minnesota Wisconsin Ohio State Tony Granato, Wisconsin Minnesota Michigan Semifinals of Big Ten Tournament Hayden Lavigne Alex Kile Hayden Lavigne North Dakota Notre Dame Boston University Denver North Dakota
Wisconsin Minnesota Ohio State Tony Granato, Wisconsin Minnesota Michigan Semifinals of Big Ten Tournament Jack LaFontaine Will Lockwood Will Lockwood North Dakota Denver Boston University Minnesota-Duluth North Dakota
Minnesota Ohio State Michigan Tony Granato, Wisconsin Ohio State Michigan 1st round of NCAA Tournament Nolan De Jong Will Lockwood Will Lockwood North Dakota Boston University Minnesota-Duluth Notre Dame North Dakota
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 // FACEOFF 2016
3B
Michigan needs more from its offense Wolverines’ young players have stepped in well so far, but team must improve consistency for the long haul
I
t took just three seconds for Alex Kile to score a goal that ranks among the best of this young season. The senior forward emerged from a routine scrum near the boards with the puck, surrounded on the ice by all five Michigan Tech players. With ORION no teammates near, he evaded SANG one defender before falling to his knees and sliding toward the net. And somehow, despite losing his balance, he deked out Huskie goaltender Matt Wintjes and poked the puck into the net to give No. 11 Michigan a 2-1 lead. It was an amazing individual effort — the type that will find its way onto postseason highlight reels. But the incredible goal from Michigan’s co-captain only illustrated the problem facing the Wolverines early on this season: an offense that lacks cohesion and has relied on a steady diet of individual performances like Kile’s to stay afloat. Sure, Michigan has a 3-1-1 record through five games, and no one expected the Wolverines to replicate the lethal attack they had last season, when they averaged 4.76 goals per game on the strength of perhaps the best line in all of college hockey. If Michigan hopes to finish in the top half of the Big Ten, though — let alone make it back to the postseason — it will need to develop a more consistent approach when it has the puck. Perhaps some sporadic moments from players new to their roles are to be expected. The standout performances from new contributors have been a pleasant surprise. A more sustainable model of success, though, would be more efficient play across the board. The Wolverines have been outshot in all five games, and while shots don’t often tell the whole story, Michigan has struggled to move or possess
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Senior forward Alex Kile and Michigan have strung together some clutch goals in their five games this season, but the Wolverines still need to improve their puck movement.
the puck, tallying a Corsi For percentage (a measure of puck possession) of just 37.5 thus far. The Wolverines’ average goals per game and power-play percentage don’t tell the full story, either. Michigan averages 3.20 goals per game — good for 25th in the nation — and has converted on 24 percent of its power plays, but there are far too many instances during both evenstrength play and on the power play when the attack stagnates. Shots are few and far between and Wolverines skate up and down the ice, aimlessly chasing dumped pucks. Possession was rare in
Saturday’s game against Michigan Tech, when the Huskies controlled the puck and subdued Michigan with an aggressive forecheck — a tactic that both Union and Ferris State, Michigan’s previous two opponents, also utilized to great effect. Michigan Tech ended with a 27-shot advantage, peppering 45 shots on goal compared to just 18 from the Wolverines. To Michigan’s credit, this isn’t an issue that’s new to them, and the players have been working on correcting it. They know that being outplayed for most of the game won’t always
“We haven’t played the best teams in the country yet.”
lead to wins or ties, and they’ve already heard from coach Red Berenson and the rest of the staff. “I mean, let’s face it, we haven’t played the best teams in the country yet,” Kile said after Saturday’s game. “Once we play Minnesota, Ohio State and Penn State, we can’t play like this, or else we’re going to lose. “We’re going through some growing pains, and we’re trying to find our chemistry right now. But I think we’re going to get better. We got outplayed both games this weekend, and we were lucky to come out on top last night and get the shootout win today.” Michigan freshman netminder Jack LaFontaine, whose 42-save performance Saturday helped his team escape with the tie, was more positive when it came to evaluating his team.
“We’re a very clutch team,” LaFontaine said. “When the going gets tough, we get tougher. And I think that’s good. But today, coach Berenson was talking about how we have to play a full 60 (minutes), and I personally see it as a silver lining. If we can do this in the third period, what’s going to happen in a couple months with the first and second periods?” And it’s hard to argue with LaFontaine. It’s difficult to know just how good this team could be if it sharpens up offensively. But what’s clearer is what the result will be if Michigan continues to play inconsistently into the bulk of its schedule — a lot fewer wins and draws. Sang can be reached at otsang@umich.edu and on Twitter @orion_sang.
4B
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
FACEOFF 2016
De Jong becomes comfortable in new role Once committed to Cornell, defenseman has become a leader and a captain as one of the last seniors left at Michigan MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer
For those who grow up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, hockey is nearly a birthright. So almost since he was born, Nolan De Jong has been itching to start playing the sport. His father, Kevin De Jong, played in a men’s league, and Nolan would go to his games with his mother and brother to watch. “His deal with me was that if I was potty-trained, if I could use a toilet, then he would teach me how to skate,” De Jong said. “That was his deal with me, because I wanted to play hockey so bad, because I saw him playing and watched it on TV and everything.” From there, De Jong never looked back. He played in a minor league in his hometown and began improving his craft. And it didn’t take long for De Jong to realize that he might have a future in hockey. Years later, De Jong is living that future in Ann Arbor. Before every game, the Michigan hockey team crowds around the goal. Players drape over the back of the net, and the starting goalie crouches in the crease. The Children of Yost give another round of the “Let’s Go Blue” chant to the tune of the pep band, and the rest of the fans get louder in anticipation for puck drop. But among all the commotion, the players are silent. All the players, that is, except one: De Jong. De Jong gives the final pep talk before the puck drops, visibly bobbing his head, giving his
teammates encouraging words before they take the ice against their opponents. In some ways, this position seems an obvious endpoint for the boy who started skating at that Victoria rink at age 2. In reality, it’s not that simple. *** De Jong has always felt the passion that he now exhibits as a captain of the Wolverines. And when he was a child, that passion paired with physical ability to start him on the right track. “I always knew I was one of the better, more competitive guys from pretty much when I was 6 or 7,” De Jong said. “Me and my best friend (American International College forward Shawn McBride), we would just kind of get the puck and we could skate through everyone at a pretty young age.
“If I could use a toilet, then he would teach me how to skate.” McBride further attested to De Jong’s hard work: “He was tons of fun to hang out with and be around, but then when it came time to work hard, he was the hardest-working guy. That’s a lot like he is today, and
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Senior defender Nolan De Jong earned a spot as one of Michigan’s co-captains along with Alex Kile going into the 2016-17 season.
that’s how he was back then.” De Jong’s hard work translated to early notice from colleges. Before he had even played his first game in junior hockey, De Jong received his first offer from Cornell. And from a school with such academic and hockey prestige, that offer was enough for De Jong. He committed to play for the Big Red, and Michigan moved its focus to other recruits. Michigan knew about De Jong in those days. In fact, Wolverines
assistant coach Brian Wiseman went to his British Columbia to take a look at him. But when Wiseman arrived, he soon found out about De Jong’s commitment to Cornell, and Michigan went home packing. The pursuit wasn’t over, though. Once De Jong and his family took a deeper look into the financial prospects at an Ivy League school, they reconsidered their options. “Cornell doesn’t do scholarships because they’re Ivy League,” Kevin De Jong said. “And when it came down to that, we were looking at either paying a bunch of money for him to go there, or he said, ‘There’s probably other opportunities,’ and Michigan was at the top of the list.” When the Wolverines caught wind of De Jong’s decommitment, they pounced. “It was about a year later that we had heard he decommitted with Cornell,” Berenson said. “So then he was available. And we knew enough about him to go ahead and recruit him.” ***
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
For De Jong, the move to Michigan wasn’t easy. He had spent his entire life in Victoria, even playing juniors for the hometown Victoria Grizzlies of the British Columbia Hockey League. So when he came to Ann Arbor, it was the
first time De Jong had to spend an extended period of time away from home. “In hindsight, it’s a funny situation,” De Jong said. “(My parents) basically packed me up and put my life in a few suitcases and a hockey bag and said, ‘There you go.’ You kind of get thrown into it a little bit, but I’m glad it worked out that way.” But De Jong wasn’t necessarily alone. He came to Ann Arbor as a part of a vaunted recruiting class that included 11 players. The shining stars in the class were
“When it came time to work hard, he was the hardestworking guy.” JT Compher and Tyler Motte. They were fresh off a stint with the United States National Team Development Program, a team that is made up every year of the most talented players in the country. Even Michael Downing was considered a superior defenseman to De Jong entering college. So it wasn’t expected that De Jong would
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
CLAIRE ABDO/Daily
De Jong played in just 52 games in his first two seasons before breaking out last year and leading the Big Ten in plus-minus while serving as a full-time starter.
have to be a star right away. And that turned out to be the case, at least early on. De Jong struggled in his first two years at Michigan, tallying just nine points — all on assists — in two seasons over 52 games. “Things have not been easy for Nolan,” Berenson said. “He came here and he ran into a wall, and it was a big jump for him, and in terms of his confidence and his role on the team and how he played and how he expected to play. And he had a hard time living up to that.” The rest of De Jong’s recruiting class, meanwhile, played starring roles. Compher and Motte developed statistically into two of the best forwards in Wolverine history. And heading into this season, it was expected that those two would return to play in their senior seasons with De Jong and company — especially after Berenson announced he would also return after speculations of his retirement. They didn’t stay, though. Instead, Compher, Motte and even Downing
all opted to head to the NHL, and Michigan was left with holes to fill. “I was really close, especially with JT and (Motte), so it’s weird,” De Jong said. “It didn’t really kick in until we were doing summer workouts and running the stadium and doing all of the stuff where I’m so used to having them there in the locker room. So it was a little bit bizarre, and that’s where it started to set in, like, ‘Where are those guys?’ ” Once those players left, there were questions of who would step up as a scorer, who would fill in on the defensive blue line and, maybe most importantly, who would reveal themselves as the team’s leader. And as the season crept closer, those questions persisted. In preseason interviews and press conferences, senior forward Alex Kile was pegged as a likely candidate to fill some of those roles. After all, he was the team’s leading returning scorer and, as a senior, it made sense for him to be the mouthpiece for the team. However, when captains were announced in early October, some were surprised
to see that Kile would be serving as a co-captain along with fellow senior De Jong. Those on the team weren’t surprised at all, though. Even De Jong had a hunch that he might get the nod along with Kile. “I expected it,” De Jong said. “Me and Alex took responsibility, because there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes. We were coordinating times and doing team events and things like that even during spring and summer.” Added senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort, a roommate of De Jong’s: “Just talking about captains we’ve had here, we’ve had a range of different guys since I’ve been here. We’ve had guys that are very vocal, we’ve had guys that aren’t super vocal, but they just lead by what they do every single day, and I think Nolan does a good job of embodying both of those things.” A good captain can only do so much, though, and De Jong has his own limitations. He has never scored a goal while playing for Michigan — something that his teammates jokingly remind him of. “We definitely give him a hard time about that,” Nagelvoort said. “Personally I would love to see him put up a couple of goals this year. I think that would be awesome. But it’s a hockey team — you’ve got to have thick skin, and we definitely give him a hard time.” Of course, De Jong realizes scoring goals isn’t his most important job. In his eyes, building team camaraderie will lead to the most success for the team. And with a freshman-laden roster this year, that task has become even more important for him.
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
“People keep talking like, ‘What are you going to do about the scoring?’ and ‘What are you going to do about this or that?’,” De Jong said. “But I think if we have a hardworking team that’s extremely tight at the rink and hangs out away from the rink, that’s going to make us a better team than anything.” But De Jong has clearly filled his new role with grace. He doesn’t have to put in extra effort to get along with younger teammates or lead by example — that comes naturally to him. “I can go talk to anybody at any time,” he said. “It’s never awkward if it’s just me and one guy. We have something to talk about. We have something in common, so it’s pretty easy, with the group of guys we have, to be friends with everyone.” ***
“Things have not been easy for Nolan.” Now De Jong is a co-captain on an extremely young Michigan team, and the pressure is now firmly on him. With all of the attrition that the Wolverines face this season, he is one of the most experienced players on the roster. And, despite never scoring a goal in college, he’s going to be expected to
FACEOFF 2016
5B
produce now. But with this being his senior season, De Jong isn’t worried. Instead, he’s more focused on taking everything in. “We have so many alumni come in and talk to us, and the coaches talk to us, and every single guy says how fast it goes by,” De Jong said. “So I do my best to try and take it in. But at the same time, I know it’s not really going to hit me until I leave and kind of realize what we had here.” That sentiment was made evident this weekend, when De Jong’s parents came to visit him. They have only visited a few times total over De Jong’s career, but this season they are making an effort to see him more. After both practices on Wednesday and Thursday, the three gathered just off the ice. De Jong sat on the bleachers with one foot up next to him. He smiled and nodded along with his parents as he stared out onto the ice, watching his teammates finish up their days with shooting and skating drills. De Jong has seen it all. He’s been a top-three defenseman in terms of points on a playoff team in the BCHL, he’s been a freshman fighting for ice time 2,000 miles away from home, and now, he’s the top defenseman for the 11th-ranked Wolverines. But after all of that, De Jong is clearly in his element. It’s his turn now. And the people who know him best have taken notice of that. “Each year he’s gotten more comfortable there,” McBride said. “I feel like he’s ready for this. He wanted this, and he’s got it now, and he’s going to run with it.”
6B
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 // FACEOFF 2016
Big Ten Breakdown: Minnesota, Ohio State provide strongest competition Twelfth-ranked Golden Gophers, 15th-ranked Buckeyes are only conference teams besides Michigan in top 15 AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer
After losing nearly two thirds of its scoring to graduation and the NHL, the No. 13 Michigan hockey team will face difficulties in repeating as Big Ten champions. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio State each enter the season with lineups heavy on experience, and nearly every contending team returns a top-five Big Ten scorer. It will be challenging for the young and raw Wolverines to compete in a conference with four ranked teams. The Daily broke down the Big Ten in 2016, teams listed in order of predicted finish. Minnesota (No. 12) The Golden Gophers won last year’s Big Ten season title by only one point over second-place Michigan. Returning from that winning team are forward Justin Kloos, who tallied 43 points — the most of anyone not named Kyle Connor, JT Compher or Tyler Motte — and Leon Bristedt, who scored 20 goals, the most of any player who returned to the Big Ten this season. In the net, Minnesota returns freshman standout Eric Schierhorn, who played the most games and minutes in the crease of any goaltender in the conference last season. Both Kloos and Schierhorn earned unanimous All-Big Ten preseason watch list selections, while Bristedt also received a spot on the list. With so much preseason promise, the Golden Gophers have disappointed so far, opening this year 2-2 with two losses to then-No. 14 St. Cloud State last weekend. Minnesota will face top-ranked North Dakota, No. 18 St. Lawrence and No. 9 Minnesota State to finish up their extremely challenging nonconference slate. The Golden Gophers begin conference play with a series against Ohio State at home.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
The Michigan hockey team won its first Big Ten Tournament title last year, but the Wolverines must overcome Ohio State and Minnesota to repeat this year.
This series will pit two between the teams projected to lead the Big Ten, and could determine whether the Golden Gophers will defend their season title or fall prey to the just as deep and experienced Buckeyes. Ohio State (No. 15) Through three weeks of hockey, the Buckeyes remain the Big Ten’s only undefeated team. Ohio State returns two top offensive players from last season: forward Nick Schilkey, who scored 19 goals, and David Gust, who earned 36 points, good for ninth in the Big Ten. Standout sophomore wing Mason Jobst is also back in Columbus after a first year in which he bagged 19 goals. Schilkey has already tabbed four
goals and two assists to lead the Buckeyes in their first few games this season. Both Schilkey and Jobst were named to the All-Big Ten Preseason watch list along with defenseman Josh Healey, who has garnered four assists in five games. Ohio State opened its season with an impressive 3-2 victory over Denver and defeated Air Force and Miami (OH), two teams that earned votes in this week’s USCHO’s rankings. The Buckeyes success stems from their 10th-ranked defense, which has allowed just 2.20 goals per game and their equally potent offensive attack that averages 3.60 goals. The series with Minnesota will prove to be one of the more important sets of games
in conference play this year. In theory, it could show whether the Golden Gophers or the Buckeyes have the early edge in the season standings and send a message to their fellow conference members as to which is the team to beat. Wisconsin Last season, the Badgers finished dead last in the Big Ten, accumulating just three wins in conference play and earning eight total victories. This season, though, Wisconsin seems primed for a rebound, splitting its first two series with Northern Michigan and No. 8 Boston College. The Badgers return their top two offensive leaders from last season, forwards Luke Kunin — drafted by the Minnesota
Wild — and Grant Besse, Kunin earned a unanimous All-Big Ten Preseason watch list selection by scoring 19 goals in last year’s campaign, and Besse tallied 22 assists. Also returning on the offensive front is Seamus Malone, who finished last season with 21 assists and, through four games thus far, currently ranks second in the Big Ten in total points with six. Freshman standout Matt Jurusik mans the crease for Wisconsin, and the Badgers hope he will improve upon last year’s performance in which he allowed 114 goals, the most of any Big Ten netminder. Through just two series, Wisconsin has shown tremendous improvement from last season, when it took seven games for the Badgers to earn a
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 // FACEOFF 2016
win. And because of its success thus far in this campaign, the rankings rewarded Wisconsin, which received six votes in last weekend’s USCHO’s poll. Wisconsin is led by new coach Tony Granato, who played for the Badgers and later in the NHL, in which he scored 30+ goals four times. Before arriving in Madison, Granato worked as an assistant for the Detroit Red Wings. Wisconsin will play against No. 6 Denver, a team that ranks seventh in goals allowed with just two per game. As such an offensive-minded team, the Badgers could be challenged if Jurusik and the defense continue to struggle as they did two weeks ago when they allowed nine goals in two games to Boston College.
percentage with a .913 clip and averaged 28.7 saves per game. Thus far, Penn State has turned to freshman Peyton Jones, who ranks fourth in the conference with a .916 save percentage and has earned wins in all three of his completed games to anchor the net. The Nittany Lions entered the USCHO rankings for the first time this season at the No. 19 slot after impressive wins over No. 7 Notre Dame and St. Lawrence. Penn State finished third in the Big Ten last season and split the season’s series with both Minnesota and Ohio State. It looks to be trending upward this year, but it will be interesting to see how the Nittany Lions fare once conference play begins.
Penn State (No. 19)
The Spartans lost their top scorer from last season, MacKenzie MacEachern, who signed a contract with the St. Louis Blues. Also departed is netminder Jake Hildebrand — who gave Michigan problems in the past — and forward Michael Ferrantino. They return junior forward and captain Joe Cox, who finished last year with 23 points. Michigan State is clearly in rebuilding mode with 10 new freshmen entering its system. For now, though, the cellar seems likely in such a competitive conference and a schedule that has seen the Spartans begin the year 0-4 after facing No. 3 Denver and surging Lake Superior State. Its games will not get any easier. The Spartans face off against top-ranked North Dakota in Grand Forks next month and begin conference play with a series against No. 12 Minnesota in East Lansing. In its four games, Michigan State has struggled offensively, scoring just six goals while allowing 18. Its power play is nearly nonexistent with just two goals on 28 attempts, and its penalty killing isn’t much better. The Spartans rank 52nd overall in that category. A bright spot is defenseman Zach Osburn, who leads Michigan State in shots and points with 16 and two, respectively. This season could be even worse than last year for the Spartans, when they finished 10-23-4, good for fifth in the conference.
Penn State brings back forward David Goodwin, who finished third in the conference with 27 assists, and forward Andrew Sturtz, who scored 18 goals last season. Thus far, the two have picked up right where they left off, with Goodwin notching three assists through five games and Sturtz netting four goals. The Nittany Lions, though, will need to replace netminder Eamon McAdam, who finished second in the Big Ten in save
BY THE NUMBERS Big Ten Hockey
114
Goals allowed by Wisconsin goaltender Matt Jurusik last season (most in the Big Ten)
+1.4
Ohio State’s goal differential so far this season (the Buckeyes are 3-0-2 on the year)
1
Margin between first-place Minnesota and Michigan in last year’s final Big Ten standings
10-23-4
Michigan State’s record last year before the Spartans lost their top goal scorer and goaltender
7B
Michigan State
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort is competing with Jack LaFontaine and Hayden Lavigne to win the starting job as a senior.
Roster breakdown: ‘M’ trying to replace CCM line, other losses LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Writer
Already five games into the 2016-17 season, the No. 11 Michigan hockey team has a lot to break down. The team features 11 freshmen in addition to 17 returning players, which has made much of the season a learning curve so far. After the Wolverines lost some of their top scorers last season — including Kyle Connor, Tyler Motte and JT Compher — the team is looking to replenish some of the offensive initiative it lost last year. And while Michigan has yet to solidify lines and a starting goaltender, it’s clear from the Wolverines’ first five games that they have been attempting to fill this void. With a few individual freshmen standing out early on and many returning players assisting in the 3-1-1 record, Michigan’s roster showcases plenty of potential. Goaltenders Even after five games, it’s still unclear which player is
going to be saddled with the full-time responsibility of being the starting goaltender for the Wolverines. Three of the four goaltenders listed on Michigan’s roster have seen game time this year, and all three have looked solid in front of the net. Returning senior Zach Nagelvoort recorded a .929 and .906 save percentage his freshman and sophomore years, respectively. His junior year, however he only played in 11 games after Steve Racine claimed the job. This year, he’s in the running to take the job back. Nagelvoort has only guarded the net twice this season, one of which was in the first period of the exhibition against Windsor, where he tallied seven saves and recorded an assist. The other was in the season opener against Union, where he recorded 36 saves. But even though the game ended in a 4-3 loss, Nagelvoort looked solid in front of the net and has the most experience among the rest of the goaltenders, which makes him one of the strongest candidates for the starting spot.
Freshman Jack LaFontaine has quite noticeably made a name for himself in the position as well. He made his collegiate debut during the third period of the Windsor exhibition, where he recorded 12 saves. It wasn’t until the Wolverines’ first road match, however, that LaFontaine truly put himself in the running for the position. In a close match against Ferris State, LaFontaine saved 28 of 29 shots for a 2-1 win over the Bulldogs. He also saw game time in the 3-3 tie against Michigan Tech on Saturday, when he collected 42 saves. The final goaltender who has seen action this season is Hayden Lavigne. The freshman recorded 13 saves in the exhibition against Windsor and 31 saves in both his first collegiate debut in a shutout against Union and in Michigan’s 4-3 win over the Huskies on Friday. All three goaltenders have modest records behind them, and it’s unclear which one will take the position. They’ve all proven they can handle being in between the pipes — so far. See ROSTER, Page 8B
8B
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 // FACEOFF 2016
ROSTER From Page 7B Forwards Motte, Compher and Connor didn’t just pace Michigan on offense last year. They became one of the most prolific lines in college hockey. All three players are gone now, leaving a young team to try to replace them. One member of that young team is freshman forward Will Lockwood. Lockwood’s father was a part of Michigan coach Red Berenson’s first four yearclass and scored a total of 69 goals throughout his career — and so far, it looks like his son is living up to the family legacy. Lockwood — a former member of the United States National Team Development Program
with current teammate Luke Martin — has already notched three goals and three assists this season and has been a consistent name on the first line. Off the stat sheet, he’s known for being speedy on the ice and it looks as if he is acclimating well to the pace of college hockey. Coming off of a season captaining the Bloomington Thunder of the United States Hockey League, forward Jake Slaker had a record of 21 goals and 21 assists in 57 games. So far this year, he’s matched Lockwood’s total of three assists and three goals and has been a consistent name on the first line. And then there’s senior captain Alex Kile, and though he’s only scored a single goal so far this season, he has been a constant presence on the ice. And his experience from the previous season, when he scored 16 goals
and recorded 18 assists, puts him in good position for the team to lean on. Freshman James Sanchez has recorded two goals in a single game in the shutout against Union and looks to be solid as well, generally sitting on the second or third line with two senior forwards, Evan Allen and Max Shuart. Shuart has scored a single goal this season, but has capitalized on opportunities for assists. Sophomore Brendan Warren and juniors Dexter Dancs and Tony Calderone have also made offensive contributions so far this season. Defensemen Michigan also suffered significant losses on defense, with Michael Downing and Zach Werenski turning pro. But
a few new defensive recruits in addition to the returning class offer an optimistic look for the Wolverines. Nolan De Jong is highlighting the returning class, and has taken on a captain position for the season. De Jong led the defense last season, playing in every game and leading all Big Ten defensemen. As one of the captains of the team this year, he’s been a significant factor in the success of the younger team. Junior defenseman Sam Piazza is one of the top returners this season as well. In the past five games, he has scored three goals and tallied two assists, a clear indicator he is attempting to fill the void left behind from last year’s top scorers. Juniors Cutler Martin and Niko Porikos have also each scored a goal, and sophomore Joseph Cecconi tallied an assist.
Christian Meike, Griffin Luce and Luke Martin are all newcomers for the defense. With strong returners leading the defense, the freshmen have a good opportunity to learn what they need to in order to help fill the shoes of Werenski and Downing. *** Overall, Michigan has a lot of potential to work with. Despite the abundance of fresh faces, many of the freshmen have earned their place on the roster. The team has some kinks it needs to work out after getting outshot in each of its first five games. But with a few more weeks before conference play begins, the Wolverines have a little bit of time to find the chemistry they need to capitalize on their individual talents.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Freshman forward Will Lockwood has been tasked with picking up some of the scoring load on Michigan’s first line after forwards Tyler Motte, JT Compher and Kyle Connor each went to the NHL after last season.