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Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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The Statement In the annual sex issue, the Statement surveys students about the sexual climate on campus.
THE SEX ISSUE
» Page 1B
ADMINISTRATION
‘U’ receives state funds for assault prevention
THE SEX ISSUE
Three campuses to share $100,000 grant to combat sexual misconduct
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
A group of students led by Music, Theatre & Dance Prof. Ashley Lucas, leader of the Latino/a Theatre for Social Change program, present a performance about the Flint water crisis at a Central Student Government meeting in the Michigan Union Tuesday
CALEB CHADWELL
Theatre group performs at CSG to advocate for long-term aid for Flint
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan will receive about $100,000 in state grant funding to combat sexual assault, according to a Tuesday press release. This is the second year funding from Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and first lady Sue Snyder’s initiative to end sexual assault on college campuses in Michigan has been allocated to the University. The funding will be split between all three University campuses, with $53,505 for the Ann Arbor campus, $9,840 for UM-Dearborn and $34,150 for UM-Flint.
Members of the body, guest speakers suggest creating a resolution to support the city NISA KHAN
Daily Staff Reporter
A group of students from School of Music, Theatre & Dance Prof. Ashley Lucas’s Latino/a theater program for social change came to Central Student Government’s Tuesday meeting to perform a
short skit on the Flint water crisis, urging the student body to create a resolution to help install long-term institutional plans to help the city. Flint water was contaminated with lead after the city switched to the Flint River as a water source in April 2014 without introducing the necessary chemicals to stop the water from corroding the pipes
and letting lead leach into the water, sparking significant health concerns for residents and gaining national attention and outcry. Recently, a judge has mandated that the state must provide 395,000 bottles of water to the city. The skit took a spin on “A Christmas Carol,” following an average concerned but uninvolved
student who was taken to the city of Flint during its time of crisis. The story touched upon the lack of clean water for children, and charged that there is a lack of response from Michigan’s government. The play also emphasized the lack of available washing water for high schools and retirement homes. See CSG, Page 3A
Students discuss mental health at first Professor examines speak out hosted by Greek Life leaders
The Snyders announced the continuation of the state grant in October at the second annual “Inform. Empower. Prevent. Let’s End Campus Sexual Assault” summit at the North Campus Research Complex. Last year, the Ann Arbor campus received $20,003, which it used for the Raise the Barprogram — an initiative in which local bar employees participated in bystander intervention training to increase their knowledge of sexual assault and provide them with the skills to intervene in high-risk situations. This year’s $53,505 will go toward creating an See FUNDS, Page 3A
SCIENCE
CAMPUS LIFE
race in the visual arts
Around 150 attend event to share stories, address stigma on campus
Author talks new book on gender and sexuality
Research highlights racialization of characters in horror genre of film
About 150 students gathered in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union Monday night for a mental health speak out sponsored by all four councils of the University of Michigan Greek life. During the event, students shared personal stories regarding mental health and discussed how to manage stress during finals week. Students who did not want to speak out publicly were also able to submit their stories through an anonymous portal for event leaders to read. The speak out was the first event centered around mental health University Greek life has held — similar to the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center and Panhellenic Association’s first speak out last February regarding sexual assault — with the goal of raising awareness about mental health and allowing for open discussions among students and faculty. Students discussed a number of concerns such as issues with depression, anxiety and body image. Due to the nature of the event, The Michigan Daily was asked not to record or photograph speakers who shared personal anecdotes.
MADELEINE GERSON Daily Staff Reporter
Growing up in Pittsburgh — a city often referred to as a horror movie capital — Robin Coleman, professor of communication studies and Afroamerican and African studies, spent her early years watching horror movies such as “Frankenstein” and “Godzilla.” Coleman’s relationship with the media throughout her childhood, including the portrayal of Black people on television shows, inspired her interest in studying the role of African Americans in the visual arts. She said over time, she grew increasingly uncomfortable with how her peers perceived the representations of African Americans in television and film. “I would hate that we were represented this way,” Coleman said. “It was so embarrassing and I really fretted how others viewed me based on those representations.” In Coleman’s novel, “Horror See FILM, Page 3A
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LSA senior Lexi Wung, Panhellenic Association Executive Board president, said before the event that on a personal level, she felt it was important to host a speak out. “Specifically in our community, I feel like (mental health) is so stigmatized, especially in Greek life,” Wung said. “Having mental concerns, having mental health problems, is seen as
debilitating, is seen as something that you want to hide … We think that there hasn’t been enough done on campus to start (breaking down the stigma).” Other organizations on campus have held mental health speak outs in recent years to emphasize the importance of self-care and destigmatize mental health, such as LSA Student
Government and the University’s chapter of Active Minds. In addition, University President Mark Schlissel has spoken about increasing mental health resources on campus alongside the student-launched Help CAPS Catch Up campaign. Many of these events came in response to the 2014-2015 Counseling and Psychological See SPEAKOUT, Page 3A
B R A C E YO U R S E LV E S
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
LSA junior Sejal Mehta prepares for her Physical Chemistry final in the Hatcher Graduate Library Tuesday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVI, No. 42 ©2016 The Michigan Daily
Lecture shares stories of cisgender women who date transgender men NISA KHAN
Daily Staff Reporter
About 25 students, faculty and staff members gathered Tuesday evening in Lane Hall for “Queering Families: The Postmodern Partnerships of Cisgender Women and Transgender Men,” a lecture that focused on the unique perspectives of cisgender women who are in relationships with transgender men. Carla Pfeffer, assistant professor of sociology and women’s studies at the University of South Carolina, discussed her recent book, “Queering Families,” that describes experiences from 50 cisgender women who are in relationships with transgender males. “I studied these partnerships because I wanted to get the express vantage points of cisgender women partners of transgender men since so little was written about that group and from their perspectives at the time I began studying them,” Pfeffer See AUTHOR, Page 3A
NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A
SUDOKU.....................2A ARTS.................5A S TAT E M E N T. . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
News&Sports
2A — Wednesday, December 7, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sen. Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) announced Thursday that the University of Michigan will be given a $2,470,600 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s University Transportation Centers to research connected and automated vehicles. The grant will establish a Center for Connected and Automated Transportation on campus as well as on efforts to investigate vehicle safety and congestion management through the usage of connected vehicle systems. The funding will also be used by the Ann Arbor Connected Vehicle Test Environment, an initiative by the University’s Transportation Research Institute that implements connected vehicles and infrastructure around Ann Arbor, and Mcity, an off-roadway testing facility for automated vehicles.
“We are at the cusp of a major transformation in the auto industry, and the University of Michigan is leading the way in the research and development of new technologies that will shape the future of mobility,” Dingell said in a press release. “This grant will give U-M new tools to address the critical transportation challenges facing our nation by promoting connected and autonomous technology research and education.” According to the press release, the research will include observing characteristics of traffic flow and how to incorporate connected and automated vehicles, as well as regular vehicles. Additionally, transportation infrastructure design and planning for CAVs, cybersecurity management of CAVs and impacts of CAVs on a global scale in terms of safety, efficiency and environmental effects will be
implemented. The grant given to the University is one of 35 fiveyear grants awarded through the government’s University Transportation Centers program. The University will be the leader of a group of colleges and universities on the project, including Washtenaw Community College, Purdue University and others. “I’m also pleased that Washtenaw Community College will be a partner in this project, as they will bring a unique perspective and skill set to this important effort. This partnership demonstrates the level of expertise the state of Michigan has in this critical field,” Dingell said. This is not the first time in the past few months the University has received funding for autonomous vehicle research. In August, the Toyota Research Institute gave
Abby Hirst @HirstAbby
$22 million for autonomous vehicle research at the University. The Toyota funding and research is overseen by UM Associate Profs. Ryan Eustice and Ed Olson, and Toyota is also a founding partner of the University’s Mobility Transformation Center, which operates Mcity. In a September interview with the Daily, Olson said the funding being given to research on autonomous vehicles is crucial for the scientific realm to get off the ground. “The problems that we are working to solve are the best kind: really hard,” he said. “Fundamental research is needed to solve these problems and so TRI is investing in both internal research and university partnerships like the one at UM.”
“He’s wearing timbs and he’s really tall” “Ok well that’s like half the boys at umich”
Courtney Mayo @CourtneyAnnMayo (They) brought the old umich bus route back and I couldn’t be happier
— CALEB CHADWELL
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Finals Therapy Dogs WHAT: Relax and reduce finals stress with the loveable therapy dogs from Therapaws of Michigan. WHO: University Library WHEN: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. WHERE: Shapiro Undergraduate Library, Design Lab 1st floor
Tour Guide Recruitment WHAT: Meeting featuring a panel of student tour guides providing an overview of the application process and duties of the position. WHO: Office of Undergraduate Admissions WHEN: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Student Activities Building, Maize and Blue Auditorium
Identifying Good Business Ideas Lecture
WHAT: Justin M. Berg, assistant professor of business at Stanford, will give a talk on how leaders can accurately identify and judge new business ideas. WHO: Innovate Blue WHEN: 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Ross School of Business
Expanding Diversity Through the Arts WHAT: Panel discussion featuring professors from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance on how the arts have the potential to expand diversity. WHO: Residential College WHEN: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: North Quad, room 2435
Christmas Caroling at the Hospital
Orientation Leader Informational Meeting
WHAT: Students can join in on Christmas caroling for patients at St. Joseph’s hospital. WHO: Student Organizations: Christian Challenge WHEN: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. WHERE: St. Joseph’s Hospital
WHAT: Meeting going over the responsibilities and benefits of being a summer orientation leader featuring a panel of former student orientation leaders. WHO: Office of New Student Programs WHEN: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. WHERE: Pierpont Commons, E. Boulevard Room
WHAT: Workshop to assist students in identifying several tools to use when assessing the financial viability of a startup business. WHO: Innovate Blue WHEN: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Ross School of Business, room R2220
LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Writer
For Michigan hockey players, the academic expectations are lain out during the recruitment process. Coach Red Berenson doesn’t take the subject lightly. If his athletes are becoming Wolverines on the ice, then they’re going to have to put in the work in the classroom as well. “I’ve made it a priority that school is important,” said Berenson. “You’re not coming here just to play hockey, you’re coming here to go to school and I want you to get something out of this. This is a great school, and you’ve got to work hard to do well, and if you’re not interested in school,
WHAT THAT MIND DO.
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
Chloe @ChlooHendo
Jazz Concert WHAT: Performance by the campus jazz ensemble and their director, Marcus Elliot. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: Earl V. Moore Building, McIntosh Theatre
Lol @ me. Doing nothing. As if finals aren’t swiftly approaching about to smack me across the face.
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Coach Red Berenson says ‘I’ve made it a priority that school is important’ take classes based heavily around math and science. He is also a student majoring in mechanical engineering, which means that he has to participate in labs with other students. These labs give students the project of building something, and are expected to complete the projects within their groups. “I always grew up liking math and science, and when I applied here, I just applied to engineering, because I thought that if I didn’t like it, I could transfer out of it more easily than transferring into it,” Piazza said. “I ended up liking the intro classes and chose mechanical partially because they had the most class availability time-wise, but I do enjoy it. It’s working out really nicely.” When Piazza was a freshman and sophomore, it was easier to balance his time between his academic schedule and hockey. This year, though, Piazza has found himself on the ice much more than he had his freshman and sophomore years, even notching the game-winning goal for the Wolverines’ first away game at Ferris State. So far this year, he’s tallied four assists and three goals. There are days such as Tuesday where Piazza can be found in the lab for time frames as long as four hours before hockey practice. And on Fridays and Saturdays, Piazza can be found on the ice, battling for pucks and attempting to generate good opportunities for his teammates. Despite the stark differences of these situations, though, Piazza has handled these responsibilities with maturity and dedication, and that is exactly what Berenson expects out of his players. “He’s a good example of what we’re talking about, a See PIAZZA, Page 3A
Roxanne @rxailagan So how do I express to umich that I’m a broke grad student and they should stop targeting me for donations
Startup Workshop
As Michigan hockey player, Piazza balances athletics and engineering don’t come here. “So we tell them that in the recruiting part of it, and then when they get here, they realize we mean it. Over the years, I have sat players out from practices or games or given them a week off and said, ‘Stay away until you get school straightened out.’ Whatever it takes so they know to me, school comes first.” Michigan’s players face the ultimate challenge, then — not only do they have to balance the hectic and intense schedule of being a Big Ten athlete, but they also need to take their schoolwork seriously. And at a school like Michigan, that schoolwork can be exceptionally demanding. Junior defenseman Sam Piazza can attest to this. As a student of the College of Engineering, Piazza has to
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SPEAKOUT From Page 1A Services report outlining the top five student-identified mental health concerns as anxiety, depression, selfesteem, academic problems and relationship difficulties. Additionally, the report found a 17-percent increase in demand for counseling services that year. Nationwide, mental health is an onging concern on college campuses — in a 2011 survey from the American College Health Association, 30 percent of college students have reported at some point in the previous year feeling “so depressed that it was difficult to function,” and overall, students are seeking treatment for mental health concerns at higher and higher numbers, according to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. Numerous student speakers at the event acknowledged the support of CAPS. Todd Sevig, director of CAPS, wrote in an email interview Monday night that he was glad to see students taking initiative in the ongoing campus discussions surrounding mental health. “I am so appreciative of
FILM From Page 1A Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from 1890s to Present,” published in 2011, she provides insight and analysis of a unique genre: Black horror. Horror Noire focuses on Black horror films, which is distinct from mainstream horror films that may have African-American supporting or lead actors. Coleman said Black horror films often convey a political message to the audience. “It is almost like a protest movement genre where they are talking back to society about social ills,” Coleman said. “You will see Black horror responses to police brutality and mass incarceration.” One of Coleman’s favorite horror films, “Night of the Living Dead,” was set in her hometown of Pittsburgh and produced by George Romero in 1968. “What is interesting about ‘Night of the Living Dead’ is that it is a mainstream film that has a Black hero,” Coleman said. “The ending of the film is very dramatic and speaks to a
the Greek System for holding this event,” Sevig wrote. “It’s critical for our campus to hear and understand the real stories of how mental health plays out in students’ day-today lives. This first-ever event is also a wonderful example of how student empowerment can help change lives and help our campus culture be 100% supportive of mental health.” Kinesiology senior Joe Filipiak, the Interfraternity Council judicial vice president and lead organizer of the event, said before the event he thought it was crucial to hold a speak out regarding mental health, especially before exams. “(Mental health) is a big issue, not only within the Greek community, but on college campuses in general,” Filipiak said. “We see how it affects our friends, we see how it affects our fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, et cetera, and we figured it was time to start changing the stigma and speak out about it.” Filipiak also noted how widespread mental health issues are, particularly in a demanding academic environment. “It really affects everyone,
especially at a school like Michigan where there’s so much emphasis being put on your grades or academic performance, being the Leaders and the Best,” Filipiak said. “So that finals talk can really stress people out, so we wanted to give people a reminder before they really hunker down and start studying that there is a community here if they are experiencing any of that stress, any of that depression.” Wung emphasized the difficulty of sharing stories in public, saying she used her own experiences to contribute to the planning of the event. “I had so many health concerns coming to college and especially during my first term as president; I really got to my lowest point and having this community around me is what really made the difference between being here today and being a different person here today,” Wung said. Both Filipiak and Wung said they hope to hold future events similar to Monday’s speak out to continue to bring attention to depression, anxiety and other mental health concerns on campus.
lot of the police brutalities that Blacks were facing.” After personally viewing and analyzing hundreds of horror films for her book, Coleman also found that Black death in Black horror films differed from that in mainstream horror films. Coleman said typically it provides a political message, like police brutality, while in mainstream films, African Americans often take the role of the monster’s victim. “There is a kind of disruption of the typical representations of Blacks in horror films, that they are essentially meat for some monster,” Coleman said. “They are much more than that; they are smart and resourceful and that isn’t the case in typical horror films.” She pointed to “Jurassic Park” as an example of how African Americans are portrayed in most mainstream horror films. “If you have this big, loathsome dinosaur monster, how do you show how wickedly bad it is?” Coleman said. “You introduce a Black character, and if the monster can beat that figure, then it must be badass.” Having spent years studying
African popular culture and media studies, Coleman said she has also found that there have been significant changes in how African Americans are being represented on television, pointing to current shows on network television, such as “Scandal” and “Blackish,” feature African Americans as leading actors. She said other media viewing sites such as Netf lix and Youtube have the potential to provide a deeper look into African American life. “Outside of network television, you see the most innovative presentations of Blackness that dig deep into Black life and culture in an interesting way,” Coleman said. In class, Coleman said, she makes it a priority to challenge students to think critically about the content they are viewing on the screen, emphasizing the human lives behind the camera. “I want them to be thoughtful about the things that they contribute to media or to discourses about Black life,” Coleman said. “I want people to be more thoughtful in how they represent who I am.”
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 — 3A
CAROLYN GEARIG/Daily Carla Pfeffer, assistant professor of sociology and women’s studies at the University of South Carolina, answers questions after her talk on relationships between cisgender women and transgender men at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender Tuesday.
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ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily Dundee resident LeRoy Whipple owns and manages Whip’s Dog Days Hot Dogs, which serves hot dogs out of the back of a trailer near C.C. Little. “I do it for the students,” Whipple said. “Students come a lot during their time here and then graduate. My favorite part about being out here is just working with the community and being a part of it. After being out here this long, you become part of Ann Arbor.”
AUTHOR From Page 1A said. The lecture began by introducing the inspiration for the subject of the book and its cover, an image of an upside-down tree. Pfeffer said while watching an interview between Oprah Winfrey and Thomas Beatie, a transgender male who became pregnant, she was intrigued by the intense audience reactions that ranged from shock and anger to acceptance and curiosity toward his relationship with his wife. She said she was first attracted to the cover image of “Queering Families,” an upside-down, barren tree, because it was simultaneously recognizable and ambiguous, ref lecting the complexity of the relationships the book features. “Were those barren branches or life giving roots?” Pfeffer asked. “Are those blue clouds f loating in the sky or a water source towards which the roots are stretching? And the branches or roots where someone might see barrenness, Halloween or death, others might see something more
CSG From Page 1A After their performance, the actors held a Q&A with the assembly in which they discussed possible ideas for collaboration and plans for a resolution. The group included seven students, including LSA senior Ramiro Alvarez, who said the group was interested in allocating a certain amount of supplies to selected high schools or groups. This, he said, is so they can focus in on long-term solutions. One solution he suggested was to compete against Michigan State University, mimicking the success of Blood Battle, to collect the supplies. Over the duration of the crisis, CSG discussed ways to have campus-wide efforts toaid Flint residents by reaching out to fundraising groups, supporting organizations helping Flint and creating a partnership with UM-Flint’s student government. Alvarez also said he believed CSG could represent the students interested in helping Flint to the Board of Regents. The CSG president speaks before the Board at each Regents meeting. “Right now, you can step out and get a drink of water from the water fountain,” Alvarez said. “But 45 minutes away from here, people can’t do that. And we know that it is a lot to just drop on you all but … we are here to work with CSG in any capacity that you can think of. Do something long term.” Public Policy junior Nadine Jawad suggested the group could focus on elementary schools, since the water crisis has been associated with severe health risks among young children. The group agreed, detailing the
arterial. A pathway. A place where vital sustenance and growth can happen.” The rest of the discussion was based off one specific chapter from “Queering Families,” titled “Partners Negotiating Bodies, Sexuality, and Intimacy.” “(The chapter) really details sexuality, bodies and intimacy in the context of cis women’s partnerships with transgender men,” Pfeffer said. It discusses five different themes: trans sexual embodiments, destabilizing the penis, new queer lexicons and sexual imageries, penetrating myths and realities, and monogamy. During her remarks, Pfeffer introduced each of these themes and used information from the interviews in “Queering Families” to provide context. For example, Pfeffer discussed trans sexual embodiments and addressed the varying positions on bottom surgery within the relationships of cisgender women and transgender males. She said she found that many cisgender women reported being disinterested in the surgery due to the expense and risk.
developmental issues appearing in children from Flint, which include lower IQ scores, developmental delays and behavioral issues. Lead contamination in young children is considered incredibly hard to reverse once it has occurred. Other effects from the contaminated water include teeth damage, severe bone pain and cancer. Not everyone on the assembly was in favor of the performance. Rackham student Andrew Snow, CSG’s Ethics Committee vice chair, took fault with the skit’s portrayal of Snyder. The group satirized Snyder’s response to the Flint crisis as unprepared and uninterested in the city’s crisis, interested in only votes and his image. Over the past year, Snyder has attempted to demonstrate ways in which Flint can trust their filters by vowing to drink from Flint for a month in April. He and the state government have drawn significant criticism because of the slow response and lack of oversight from government officials from the Michigan state government. Snow noted that Snyder’s daughter attends the University and said she does not deserve to see the caricature of her father. The group disagreed, stating their form of acting allowed them to channel their worries about the crisis in productive ways. “This is a way of us processing the disillusionment, sadness and grief that comes with the little support that isn’t there,” Alvarez said.
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In regard to monogamy, Pfeffer found just two of her interviewees were raising children with their transgender partners at the time the interviews were conducted. For younger queer cis women, forming an open relationship with a trans partner was more common. “For younger, queeridentified cisgender women in particular, forming an open relationship structure with a trans partner may serve as one way in which this group engages in social innovation,” Pfeffer said. She discussed the fourth theme, penetrating myths and realities, by explaining what she called a broadening sexual language and practices that have occurred as trans people become more visible in society. “Trans people and their partners are carving out innovative and generative pathways full of pleasure and joy that are nuanced, complicated and deserving of broader and more focused sociologic attention,” Pfeffer said. Several students at the event declined to discuss the lecture with Daily reporters.
FUNDS From Page 1A application with information for sexual assault to extend the University’s current efforts to educate students on bystander intervention, healthy relationshipsand responsible decision making. “Funding for the Ann Arbor campus will support the creation of a web-based application that provides information and resources focused on wellbeing, healthy relationships and sexual violence,” the release says. “The app will reinforce key skills and messages included in university programming, such as Relationship Remix and Change It Up, which are provided to students during their first weeks on campus.”
PIAZZA From Page 2A kid that is totally engaged in a tough curriculum,” Berenson said. “We’ve had kids in the business school, we’ve had other engineers, we’ve had pre-med, and good for them. That’s what their passion is and they’ve been able to balance it with hockey. I’ve given them time off if they need it, (Piazza) hasn’t asked for any time off, but if they need time off for a study session or whatever, I’ll give them time off. “He’s quietly just going about his business and doing really well. He’s a real good student and a serious player.”
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4A — Wednesday, December 7, 2016
BRETT GRAHAM | COLUMN
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Combatting the sophomore slump
B
elieve it or not, we phenomenon. Every publication columnists have a from The New York Times to topic we’re supposed USA Today has written about to explore over the course of the slump at colleges across the the semester. Perhaps harder country. Yet nothing seems to be to believe, my topic getting done to avoid is not race relations it. While joining on campus or the new clubs or making presidential election, new friends seem but “the first-year like easy solutions, experience.” So most students’ top maybe it’s fitting that priorities lie in the after a semester of more challenging not writing about my and demanding assigned topic, my classroom. As a result, final column of the time that was spent JASON semester is also not during freshman year about the first-year ROWLAND exploring interests experience, but about combating or talking to new people is now the dreaded sophomore slump. spent doing section readings or The mechanisms behind studying for exams. this slump are simple: During At its root, the sophomore freshman year, everything is slump is the disappointment new and everyone is focused on felt by a student who can’t ensuring an easy transition into quite capture the same college life. However, at the end excitement they felt during of the year, everything that was their first year. Based on my once exciting becomes normal experience, the cure for this, and routine. This phenomenon then, is not necessarily joining is actually pretty common. It new organizations (though, as happened to me when I received long as you’re not overbooked, my first phone, my first laptop that certainly doesn’t hurt). and, apparently, enrolled in The best way to combat the college. Living in a new dorm sophomore slump is simply to with new friends became living adjust your expectations and in a germ-infested dungeon, a then balance accordingly. fun game against an in-state First, it’s important to know rival became a soul-crushing that almost nothing we do will loss that will never be forgotten recapture all of the excitement and the beauty of snow in of freshman year. However, the Law Quad became just colleges should do a better job something that interrupted my at conveying that each year is walk to class. supposed to be very different All of this seems to be from the last. To survive in the compounded by the fact 21st century, it’s essential that that during sophomore year, we can adapt to constant change. classes get tougher while The same holds true for making extracurricular demands it through our college careers. begin to pile up. “What are you If sophomore year was just like majoring in?” replaces “How do freshman year, it’d be a sign that you like school?” and everyone progress through the “college wants to know where you’re experience” is not occurring. interning over the summer. As This is because sophomores if that wasn’t enough, the school are held to a higher academic treats us sophomores like an standard and have higher elderly dog — once young and expectations to meet than their adored but now old and unloved freshman counterparts. By — compared to the treatment we now, after a year of experience received upon entering campus. of classes at the university To be fair, this is far from being level, we’re expected to just a University of Michigan understand how school works.
By this point, we’re working toward our majors and taking fewer distribution classes. By sophomore year, our shift in mindset from being here to enjoy ourselves to being here to work toward a better future should be well underway. Furthermore, it’s important to realize that this shift isn’t bad — despite what films and TV shows, replete with partying and little actual studying, have to say about the college experience. With these new expectations, a delicate balance must be made so personal growth is still possible. During freshman year, filled with less-intensive introductory courses and, as a result, more free time, it’s possible to dedicate almost all of your time outside the classroom to exploring new interests and people. In later years, however, course work begins to eat up more and more of your waking hours. Achieving a balance, where class assignments reign as the top priority but you’re still finding time for extracurricular pursuits, should be the goal for sophomore students — not a futile pursuit of excitement from years before. As for finding this perfect balance, I’m still struggling. If I spend too much time in the library, I stop enjoying my time in college; too much time hanging out with friends leads to stress around due dates over the course of the semester and during exam week. However, just knowing that this uncertainty is acceptable, even if it leads to feelings I didn’t experience during my freshman year, is my way to keep the sophomore slump at bay. So, first-year students, live it up while you still can. And to sophomores and up: Know that the freshman experience won’t last forever, but keep in mind that it’s not supposed to, and you’ll be more than OK.
Jason Rowland can be reached at jerow@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.
At least Weiser is right on tuition
I
ncoming regent Ron Weiser Simply put, Ron Weiser is is, objectively, a very nice out of touch with the student man. When I had the body on a lot of issues, with one opportunity to interview him colossal exception: tuition. And several weeks ago, just if you’re an out-ofbefore the election on state student like me, Nov. 8, I was struck his election presents by how incredibly an opportunity in an personable and incredibly divided well-spoken he was. political climate His experience as a to get something diplomat was apparent; important done. he carried himself like Why? Well it’s a statesman, but did important to note so with a smile on first and foremost BRETT his face and a joke or that Michiganders anecdote at the ready. GRAHAM can get extremely He was excited at the protective when opportunity to engage one-on-one it comes to tuition. Every with a student and gave a great single candidate for the board, interview. However, none of that Democrat and Republican changes the fact that I find him to alike, campaigned on the need be categorically and utterly wrong to keep in-state tuition low for on a laundry list of issues. And Michigan families. This makes I’m not alone. But he’s not wrong sense: Regents are elected by about absolutely everything. Michigan families. But it’s also Just after the election, he problematic. made thoroughly inappropriate State funding for higher comments at a post-election education took a big hit in 2011 analysis panel hosted by due to budget cuts by Gov. the Ford School of Public Rick Snyder. Although with Policy. He talked about the moderate increases levels have fact that he often feels “very returned to what they were in unwelcome on campus” as 2011, the cut was poorly timed. a Republican, ignoring the The University of Michigan is thousands of students who spending like crazy: Renovating were petrified to walk to class buildings, constructing new on Nov. 9 because of their ones, continuing to rise in skin color, religion or sexual higher education rankings orientation — a statement and hiring big-name coaches that seems particularly whiny all at the same time is a costly and clueless in consideration exercise. And for the most part, of the on-campus incident in it has been on the backs of outwhich someone would feel of-state students, most of whom legitimately unwelcome a pay very high tuition. few days later. He hid behind I know what you’re thinking. his platform as an “economic Michigan families have been conservative” when explaining paying taxes to the state, and his support for Trump — therefore into the University, because a vote for hate and for years, and so it’s fair that indecency is OK if it’s good for out-of-staters pay more. And I your wallet — and talked about knew what I was getting myself how he found it “offensive” into from the start. You’re right. that people could not separate But three times more and rising? his own political views from With tuition hikes every year aspects of “Trumpism” that he since I stepped foot on campus? finds despicable. This is from a Is that still fair? member of the Trump Victory And here’s where Ron Weiser Committee, a fundraising comes in. In his platform, committee for the Republican he posits that you “wouldn’t National Committee, and a purchase a home without man who will serve as finance knowing your cost over the term vice chair for the president- of your loan, and you shouldn’t elect’s inauguration. go to school without knowing the
cost of your degree.” As regent, Weiser wants to guarantee that the price tag on your degree when you walk into orientation is the same price tag you see when you walk at graduation. For all students, and especially for middle-class out-of-staters who don’t qualify for financial aid — look left and right, you’re likely sitting next to one of them — that would be a huge and important step in the fight for affordable higher education. Tuition at the University has increased by 91 percent since 2003 — not accounting for inflation — to the tune of about $26,000 for out-of-state students. Slowly but surely, middleclass students from around the country are being priced out of going here with rising costs, too little financial aid and a refusal to raise in-state tuition by any substantial amount. By the way, these are students who contribute greatly to our university community, whose test scores and tuition and theses are helping to improve the school we love — contributions that benefit future Michiganders, by the way. So, while I’m more than happy to stand in opposition to Ron Weiser on any number of issues — to protest in the Diag or change my Facebook profile picture or walk out of class if necessary — it’s time to recognize that when it comes to tuition, Weiser could help make real progress. A regent with his position on tuition is rare. Outof-staters, this guy, as flawed and out of touch as he may be, is pretty much our only hope that tuition isn’t $70,000 by 2025. Or, we can turn our nose up at him because of the R next to his name on the ballot and watch as a college degree becomes a privilege of the uber-wealthy and the abyss that is student debt grows deeper and deeper every year. Instead, I choose as a starting point the fact that Ron Weiser is, objectively, a very nice man.
Brett Graham can be reached at btgraham@umich.edu.
JEFF BROOKS | COLUMN
Trump endangers First Amendment rights
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reedom of the press, the act a form of symbolic speech freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment and the freedom of on multiple occasions. assembly — the foundation of If a U.S. citizen could be American democracy is in the arrested or even stripped of First Amendment. their citizenship for Be you a Democrat, an act that is clearly a Republican or protected under the something in First Amendment, an between, relative to all-out war on free most people in the speech could begin. world, you’re free to Once flag-burning express your opinion is outlawed, what is in any way you see to stop the president fit. This notion is from punishing so deeply ingrained U.S. citizens for JEFF in the DNA of our engaging in other BROOKS nation that it’s almost acts of protest? Could unfathomable to consider that someone be arrested for simply there are others who are deprived marching in the streets? Is it so of these freedoms. Yet, despite ludicrous to suggest that under the fact that these fundamental these circumstances, one could rights are written into the be arrested for speaking ill of the United States’ Constitution, president in any way? While I which all but guarantees that its understand that these examples citizens will forever have these are extreme in nature, they are rights, we must never forget that important to mention, as this is the suppression of free speech the type of slippery slope that a will always be a very real threat law of this nature would create. to democracy. Many will say that treating That is exactly why I continue Trump’s statement with this to find Donald Trump’s recent degree of seriousness is an statements so troubling. overreaction, and I would agree Throughout the course of the if it had been made in a vacuum. past year, Trump has repeatedly Yet we must remember that this expressed his desire to weaken decree is coming from the same the power of our most vital right man who once urged his own and has received an alarmingly supporters to “knock the crap low degree of criticism for his out of” protesters at his rallies. comments. Most recently, he His actions and statements claimed that if anyone were to have continued to build upon burn the American flag, “there one another over the course must be consequences — perhaps of the past year, and it is clear loss of citizenship or year in jail!” that an anti-First Amendment Putting aside the fact that sentiment has emerged from threatening to expatriate U.S. Trump’s corner. citizens is a deeply disturbing For a man who has vehemently sentiment in itself, many protested the political Americans will claim that a law correctness and sensitivity preventing this type of behavior of modern American society, would have no effect on their daily Trump has made it quite clear lives, as they would never dream of that any negative comments desecrating the flag. Yet the truth hurled in his direction will not is that regardless of if you agree be tolerated. He has repeatedly with the action of flag-burning insulted reporters who have itself, a law of this nature would criticized him or asked him set a very dangerous precedent, tough questions and even banned as the Supreme Court has deemed many news organizations from
attending his events for fear of negative coverage. Perhaps most concerning of all, he has claimed on multiple occasions that he will “open up our libel laws” so it will be much easier to sue reporters and news outlets for publishing negative stories. Many have realized the danger that Trump’s statements represent, and the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonpartisan committee that advocates for the rights of journalists throughout the world, has even gone as far as to issue a statement declaring Trump “an unprecedented threat to the rights of journalists.” But despite these troubling signs there has been very little discussion of Trump’s potential crusade against the most fundamental rights that we as Americans enjoy. While many are quick to erupt in furious protest when even the slightest degree of gun control is proposed, claiming that such limitations violate their Second Amendment rights, they seem content to let the preceding amendment slip by the wayside. Perhaps Trump’s statements haven’t been taken seriously enough because of how ubiquitous the First Amendment is in our society. Most of us have lived our entire lives without ever having to fear reprisal for speaking our minds, and as a result we cannot imagine society any other way. Yet ignoring dangerous statements simply because we do not perceive them as plausible is a disservice to our way of life and a sentiment that has emerged with alarming frequency since Trump’s election. These statements cannot be ignored; the American people must utilize the very rights that Trump threatens and speak out against these threats to our freedom.
Jeff Brooks can be reached at brooksjs@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
STYLE NOTEBOOK
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 — 5A
FILM NOTEBOOK
VICTORIA’S SECRET
Bow down plebians.
An open letter to VSFS Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show still needs to work on their inclusivity TESS GARCIA
Daily Arts Writer
Dear Victoria’s Secret, Hope all is well. Business is booming, I hear. You’re likely very busy at the moment, but allow me to take a moment of your time. All I want is to make you aware of one thing: It is 2016. Adriana Lima is still bad (in the good way). Popular Twitter accounts still post photos of your products captioned “goals.” The woman with the unidentifiable accent still narrates your commercials. And you’re still making billions off of your own discrimination. Wake up, Victoria’s Secret. This is not a rant in opposition of skinny women. This is not a condemnation of white girls. No, this is me begging you to not only to recognize the diversity of your audience, but to fully embrace it for the first time in your history. I’m not sure what I can contribute to the body diversity conversation that has not already been said. I’ll just tell you not to forget that you’re one of the only popular lingerie companies that has yet to introduce a plussized line, or even bras with a cup size larger than a triple D. Meanwhile, according to Business Insider, the plus-size industry is worth $20.4 billion. Sure, you’d have to make some changes to your patterns to accommodate this market. What a burden such innovation would be! I don’t care what excuses you give, your fashion show is yet another reminder that you are nixing an entire consumer demographic in the name of a tired ideal. One more note about body image: despite what your fashion show’s behind-the-scenes coverage claims, working out is not going to make me look like an “angel”. It will make me feel great (read: endorphins), but it will not make me any less of a 5’3 teenager with a pear-shaped build. Stop trying to make me think that my body is incorrect for functioning in the only way it knows how. Each year, your show includes
an alarmingly small selection of women of color. To make matters worse, the few who are cast appear to be chosen based on their Eurocentric features. Of course, there is nothing inherently harmful about almond-shaped eyes or button noses. What is harmful, however, is convincing a generation of girls that they are the “wrong” type of Black by only featuring models whose chocolate complexions are offset by their textbook white attributes. Of the eight Black women in your show this year (and the 51 total models), only three wore their hair naturally. Don’t get me wrong, this number is groundbreaking. You are improving, and for that I thank you. Yet you’d have to have your lace-lined panties in a twist to believe that there isn’t a world full of issues left for you to address.
You’re still making billions on your own discrimination. Don’t get me started on your buddy-buddy union with appropriation. A Chinese dragon wrapped around a Swedish woman’s body? A consumerfriendly robe with traditional kimono sleeves? I’m not one to make mountains out of molehills, but there is something to be said for a corporation (i.e., you) who capitalizes on the blending of culturally significant symbols and commercialized lingerie year after year. You seem to be the only one in this room who does not see the elephant. You do not acknowledge how blatantly wrong this practice is, and you’re the most powerful one here. You are forging obvious discrimination and masking it with sparkly wings and enthusiasm. This generation of young women may wear your
products with pride, but not everyone is fooled. You do not represent the millions of girls who crowd around their televisions to watch your fashion show. While they live-tweet about Bella Hadid’s “perfect boobs,” you are here to remind them that no other variation is worthy of your catwalk. I’m writing this from the back row of an official Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show viewing party. There is more diversity — of race, body type and background — in this one room than there’s ever been in your self-proclaimed “sexiest night on television”. Sexy is confidence, pride and ownership of oneself. Though I’m sure each of your models embodies this ideal, the way you present them does not. You are asking young women to see “sexy” as a binary, as a question with a yes or no answer. And because your definition of “yes” is so narrow in scope, you’ve had a hand in convincing a vast majority that they are a “no”. Your textbook definition of sexiness should not be used as a tool to shut down other interpretations, but that’s exactly how your annual affair operates. I still love lingerie. I admire Victoria’s Secret Angels like Jasmine Tookes, who use their platforms to emphasize the significance of self-care. It’s you, Victoria’s Secret, who angers me. Your yearly fashion show has nothing to do with the outfits presented. Rather, it presents a full package, a signed, sealed and delivered paradigm to which every viewer should aspire. Let’s cut to the chase: you have, quite literally, all of the potential in the world. The global lingerie market is practically yours. I cannot say whether you will use that power for good or for evil, but I do know that you are capable of both. All I can do is wait, openeyed, for your next spectacle. Best wishes, Tess Garcia (the one who always lies to your employees about whether her cup size has been measured recently).
ALBUM REVIEW
JEREMY JAHNS
Reactions to staring into the eternal black void.
The toxicity of internet film culture YouTube stars like Jeremy Jahns exemplify how everyone’s a critic want to share that knowledge. The phrase “everyone’s a critic” is usually used to describe people’s tendency to be nitpicky or mean, but when I say it here, I mean it in the literal sense. By virtue of the Internet, everyone can serve the role of the critic, placing movies in their cultural context, poking holes in their plots or character arcs, making fun of the stilted dialogue or lazy CGI. In a lot of ways, this is a really good thing. Online campaigns have led to more diversity in film casting, and a wider appreciation of films that may have slipped under the critical and audience radar on release. And it’s wonderful that more attention is being paid to the effect entertainment has on us, especially the popcorn flicks. Because it’s never “just a movie.” Movies are both products of and contributors to our culture. They’re important and they’re special. It’s good that people pay attention. But there is a clear downside, and that is that we have become a more demanding audience. We insist stories be structured in exactly the way we want them to be, and if they are not, then the movie doesn’t even deserve to exist. Think of the articles that list every way in which a movie’s content or presentation is morally problematic, written in such a way that it seems the writer is simply revealing the truth and anyone who may have liked the movie is actually a monster. Or the fact that there is an entire genre of YouTube videos now dedicated to reviewing not just the trailer of a film, but the teaser trailer as well, as if that is a perfect barometer of whether or not the movie should be watched at all. Many like to think of this as a liberal issue of “political correctness gone mad.” And yes, there is no denying the nastiness of the callout culture so prevalent on Tumblr and Twitter, but this is a problem that spans every ideology on the political spectrum. No one is immune. Look at the awful backlash against the “Ghostbusters” remake. Or the uproar about the
apparently politically motivated decision to cast a woman in the lead of “Star Wars: Rogue One.” Or the seething hatred directed by so-called men’s rights activists at “Mad Max: Fury Road.” It’s anyone’s right to hate whatever they want to hate or not see any movie they don’t want to see. First Amendment rights, yada yada yada. But to the modern moviegoer, content not delivered in exactly the way we want is punishable by online harassment and death threats. We leak the home addresses, phone numbers and workplaces of people on Twitter who said something stupid so that the harassment and death threats can live on beyond the confines of the Internet. We think that our opinions are law, and if we believe a movie is too offensive to exist, then by God, that must mean it’s true. But at the end of the day, we are an audience. Yes, we have opinions, and yes, we absolutely have the right to express them. We might even be pretty well informed about production and analysis and how character arcs should be structured and all that. But it’s when we start positioning our opinions (and yes, they are absolutely opinions) of a movie as absolute fact that we have a problem. We can’t say definitively whether a movie is deeply offensive and has no value. In truth, no one can, because movies aren’t definitive statements of fact and intent, dispensing information like a textbook. They’re stories from which we extract and interpret meaning. And meaning is malleable and dependent on the person who is doing the interpreting. Of course movies are political, and of course their messages resonate deeply with audiences. Understanding them and analyzing their effects is important. But we, the modern viewers, have got to stop with the entitlement, with the nastiness, with the online screaming matches that never end. We have to be a better audience than this. And I think we can be. I think we can save ourselves from becoming the cultural equivalent of a YouTube comments section.
display. swirls jazz and soul feels into a The three most distinct sensually melodic smooth duet songs on the album happen to between Legend and Brittany be the three tracks featuring Howard, her soaring vocals guest vocalists; “Penthouse impossible to ignore. Floor,” “Darkness Miguel’s and Light” and cameo comes “Overload” each via “Overload,” showcases a another soulslightly different heavy track on the Darkness and Light sound that album that makes John Legend Legend fails to excellent use of incorporate in the the saxophone Columbia rest of the album. to cast the mood “Penthouse as melancholy. Floor,” featuring Juxtaposed with Chance the Rapper, starts off the slow, mellow “Overload,” with a tropical Jason Mraz, Legend amps up the beat in “I’m Yours” feel to it, but “Love Me Now,” a jam with gradually moves into what feels great beats, soaring vocals and like a gospel spell. Chance the unique instrumentation that Rapper enters the track halfway demonstrates Legend’s innate through with a robust choir ability to meld soul with pop backing him up, creating a good in a way that’s both artful yet vibes only hit. marketable to the masses — a Immediately following the necessary evil in the music staccato beats of “Penthouse industry today. Floor,” “Darkness and Light” The remaining tracks on
Darkness and Light are all great; I could listen to each one several times and not tire of it. However, I don’t think I would be able to differentiate one song from the next. With each track featuring a similar beat, rhythm and instrumentation set-up, it becomes difficult to separate the songs from one another. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With pop music, it’s unreasonable to expect an artist to produce a cohesive album that dually features stylistically distinct songs — and John Legend went the route of producing a great album. Each track is pleasant to listen to on its own and individually contributes to the creation of cohesive and high-quality album; two components that many artists fail to achieve in the fast-paced, market-driven environment dominating the modern music industry.
ASIF BECHER Daily Arts Writer
The modern moviegoer is obsessive. The modern moviegoer is informed. The modern moviegoer is a different beast than any previous generation of audiences, for the simple reason that the modern viewer is armed with the internet. We are collectively better informed than ever before about the production processes behind our favorite movies, the filmographies of the directors and actors, the credentials of the writers and most controversially, the political implications of the movies themselves. We do not accept the notion that movies are unchangeable, inarguable culminations of imagination. Instead, we pore over casting rumors, director interviews and teaser trailers, and so create highly specific expectations for every newly released film. We hope that the new Superman movie cuts down the bleak tone of the first one, because it wasn’t very effective. Or we pray the latest Jennifer Lawrence/David O. Russell collaboration isn’t just another three-hour shouting match. Or we place bets on how long it’ll take for the new James Bond movie to have a weird, kind of creepy, almost predatory sexual encounter (about 50 minutes in is my best guess). Look at the popularity of YouTube channels like CinemaSins, Screen Junkies, Cracked, WatchMojo and Cinefix. Look at the discussions on Twitter and Tumblr about the merits of this or that movie, the seemingly endless top ten lists and bottom ten lists, the million think pieces that accompany every new release. “Why [insert beloved children’s movie] is Secretly Horrifying.” “Top Ten Reasons Why You’re A Bad Person and Should Feel Bad For Liking the Reboot More Than The Original.” We take this information and bust it out at dinner, in the car on the way to the movie we’re about to see, because we feel we’ve learned something about the media we consume, and we
A
GOOD MUSIC
“Yep, that’s me.”
John Legend continues soul-pop hot streak with ‘Darkness and Light’ Legend creates album where sequencing and flow still matters DANIELLE IMMERMAN Daily Arts Writer
Perhaps best known for the smash hit single “All of Me”
and his high-profile marriage to Sport Illustrated model, hilarious tweeter and chef, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend’s fifth studio album release, Darkness and Light, does not
disappoint. Featuring 12 sexy tracks with guest appearances from Chance the Rapper, Miguel and Brittany Howard, Legend puts his sensually rich vocals on full
Arts
6A — Wednesday, December 7, 2016
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
Zell presents Kasischke
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ALBUM REVIEW
Poet, novelist and RC professor will read her work at UMMA Thursday her work in the form of numerous prizes, grants and fellowships, like Daily Arts Writer the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Guggenheim FellowFor several years, one of the ship. Her process when approachmost exciting parts of Ann Arbor’s ing the two sides of her work, literary culture has been the Uni- however, differs. versity of Michigan’s Helen Zell “With poetry, usually I don’t sit Writers Series. down thinking to Named after Unimyself ‘I’m going to Laura Kasischke write a poem now.’ versity alum Helen Zell, who donated Thurs. 5:30 to 7 p.m. I have a line in my $50 million to fund head, or an image, Helmut Stern the program with or an idea that I Auditorium, UMMA was thinking about her family’s foundation, the series confor a few days, and I Free sists of numerous will write in a jourvisiting writers and nal and eventually poets from around the world com- come up with some sort of form for ing to read and discuss their work. it,” Kasischke said. “With novels Throughout the course of this aca- it’s different … I usually start more demic year, the series has already with a setting and an atmosphere, hosted the writer and poet Colm and I just start writing and I keep Tóibín, poet Bob Hicok and writer writing until I find a plot, I figure China Miéville, among others. But out who these characters are and on Thursday, the series will pres- what their problems are and what ent an event with an artist far clos- their conflicts are and I just keep er to home — the University’s own writing and writing. There were poet and writer Laura Kasischke. a couple of novels that I’ve written “I’ve been writing all my life,” where I knew from the beginning Kasischke said in an interview. exactly what the plot was or I had “Even when I was a kid, I enjoyed sketched out a plot, but usually I’m writing. When I read things I figuring out what the novel’s about appreciated them, but I also had a in the process of writing it.” feeling I don’t think everyone had Kasischke explores many where I would feel jealous of good themes throughout her work. writing, and I wanted to do that Often, her poetry revolves around myself.” aspects and stages of her life, such As she grew into young adult- as her marriage, children and hood, the desire to write led aging parents. Kasischke — a native of Grand “If I had to sum up what my ficRapids — to study creative writ- tion is about it’s often … the coning at the University of Michigan, cerns of domestic life,” Kasischke where she also received her MFA. said. “But then there’s also some Today, she teaches at the Univer- gruesome aspect, usually a mursity as the Allan Seager Collegiate der. Somebody gets killed, or Professor of English Language there’s a body hidden somewhere. and Literature in the Residential I don’t usually start out thinking College. Writing, once a dream for there will be, but that’s just where Kasischke, is now a central ele- I go, where I tend to work (in) ment of her life. crime and horror. I only have one “After writing long enough, novel with anything supernatural now it’s just a habit,” Kasischke in it, but I like that sort of atmosaid. “It’s something that I do sphere. One of my favorite writers because it’s just become a practice is Shirley Jackson, and my kind of in my life, and I don’t really know ideal is subdued terror.” how else I would process my life During Thursday’s event, and do with the spare time I have.” Kasischke will be discussing her Kasischke, an author and a poet, work with the director of the MFA has achieved fame in both areas. Program, Doug Trevor, in a freeShe has received recognition for flowing conversational interview. DAYTON HARE
Classifieds
“The director of the MFA program, Doug Trevor, and the MFA program have initiated this idea of having him interview writers on the faculty,” Kasischke said. “I know that this year he’s going to interview me in December, and in the Spring he’s going to interview Michael Byers, who’s a fiction writer on the faculty … it’s part of the Helen Zell Writers Series, which often brings writers from far and wide, and his idea was to have a discussion with a writer from campus. And there are a lot of us.” While the Zell Creative Writers Series, in general, is a wonderful opportunity for Ann Arbor residents to learn more about authors and poets from around the world, Kasischke said that Thursday’s event specifically is special because it brings local artists and the community closer together. What she hopes to pass on, at least in part, Kasischke said, are thoughts on the part a writer plays in the world, the role an author takes in society. “I’d like to say that it’s to give a voice to the concerns of our time and our place, to add to a conversation about the experiences of being a human being on Earth, in any particular time,” Kasischke said. “I like the quote by Jack Kerouac; he says that ‘literature is the way we dead men talk to each other.’ Of course now we’d include women with that, but I think he meant that, in general. I do think that we all only live for a short period of time, and whatever one does with that time — taking photographs, writing articles, doing journalism, writing poetry — is a little bit of a way to hopefully, perhaps (leave) some sort of message to those come after us. It would be nice to think that it’s really central and important to the daily lives of the people who are living and reading contemporary writing, but I’m not sure that the role of the writer is as important in his or her own time as (the work) which hopefully lasts will be after we’re gone.”
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RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR SALE
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Kind of basin 6 State secrets? 9 Intense dislike 14 Act poorly? 15 Run a tab, say 16 Words between two “thanks” 17 Chef protector 18 See 8-Down 19 Floorboard support 20 Many a Sundance film 22 Rent payer 23 Registered names: Abbr. 25 Action at the front 28 H.S. hurdle 29 Adorn 32 Comical punctuation marks from the drummer 34 Marshy lowland 35 Chihuahua, por ejemplo 36 “__ Eyes”: Eagles hit 37 ’60s campus gp. 38 Hieroglyphics reptiles 41 “Do __, not ... ” 43 Work on, as a stubborn squeak 45 Tablets’ kin 48 Swingline insert 49 2,170-mi. trail terminus 50 Walk with style 52 Luau music provider 53 Wanting too much 55 Pry 58 Cookie named for its flavor 59 Aromatic necklace 61 Stage performances 64 Words after miss or skip 65 Resting place 66 Down source 67 Singer Bruni married to Nicolas Sarkozy 68 Morning cuppa 69 Amounts to
DOWN 1 Leaves in a bag 2 Prankster 3 “Pillow Talk” actress 4 Lots 5 Provide with for a time 6 Montague lad 7 Blow away 8 With 18-Across, Southwestern cuisine 9 Museum pieces 10 Lucy and Ethel and Thelma and Louise 11 “Indeed!” 12 Oust, in a way 13 Church choral works 21 “Eww!” 22 Tibetan title 23 “Angie Tribeca” channel 24 Weak cry 26 Brand of blended seasonings 27 Itsy-__ 30 Inventor Howe 31 Population information 33 Book after Daniel 35 Ulysses threesome?
39 Web irritants ... and what appears in each set of puzzle circles? 40 __-screen printing 42 Faulkner’s “As __ Dying” 44 Actor Marvin of “Cat Ballou” 45 Courvoisier, e.g. 46 Speedy Gonzales cry 47 Kitchen gadget
48 OED entry 51 Words for the audience 54 Hebrew for “skyward” 56 Oil bloc 57 Hodgepodge 59 Pres. sworn in on Air Force One 60 Job listing ltrs. 62 “Is it soup __?” 63 Fourth-yr. students
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CHILDISH GAMBINO
This is where we put a humorous cutline of our own devising.
‘Awaken, My Love!’ From an artistic crisis, Gambino emerges triumphant Newest album from controversial musician is a funk-heavy hit rapper listens to indie) but, you know, still makes easy dick jokes Daily Arts Writer you can rap in the car. So how in the hell did we get to Donald Glover, who grabbed Awaken, My Love!, a funk-heavy the rap name Childish Gambino record that is filled with song from a Wu-Tang and vocal inflecname generator, is tion, rewarda man constantly ingly free of rap in crisis. entirely and, most His has been a astoundingly, Awaken, My Love! constant struggle actually, well, Childish Gambino to decide who — good? or what exactly — Two songs — “I. Glassnote Childish Gambino Telegraph Ave.” is. A graduate of and “III. Urn.” — the NYU Tisch from Gambino’s dramatic writing program, his mixed second album Because career is rooted not in music, the Internet offered a glimpse but in TV and comedy, and that’s of this direction. Both find Gamreflected in the lion’s share of bino experimenting with his his best work. His penchant for smooth singing voice and trying TV especially has far surpassed to spread its applicable length. his other ventures (stand-up, Where it once was pushed into dramatic roles) and certainly corners and felt forgotten on his music, at least in quality. hooks, it takes the stage here But more than any of his and produces what had, until other work, his music has been now, been by and far some of his intensely personal. Culdesac, best work. the first mixtape he forwardHis last release found Gamly acknowledges in his music bino coming to this divide headcareer, rightfully inspired moni- first, separating his rapping and kers of “emo-rap,” less in a com- his singing onto to separate, but plimentary breakthrough way, connected mixtapes. The forlike Kanye’s 808s and Heart- mer, STN MTN, was delegated break, and more in a damn-this- to Atlanta rap covers, while the is-cringeworthy way, like Kid latter, Kauai, was a breezy and Cudi’s Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven. original take, improving and What made his earliest work showcasing the natural voice so unsuccessful was that it too talent he seemingly ignored for couldn’t make up its mind. At so long. one moment Gambino would In retrospect, that double criticize the state of rap lyri- mixtape now feels like a statecism, while in the next he would ment of intent. The rapping lay out such gems as “Now these takes the sideline, while the fakes say hey like horse shit,” true work and production value and “My verse is pedophiles on is placed on furthering his vocal the playground.” To brush off delivery, carving out his own these major missteps, he tried to space in the R&B realm. make himself a special category But even with those hints, that apparently deserved special Awaken, My Love! is a radical criteria: he was funny, but he departure. It requires a major could be real. What is real, you realignment of what Gambino ask? It’s not really clear, and it’s sounds like, what Gambino not really clear that Gambino sings about and the place Gamknew either. Telling your mind bino comes from. This is especan be groundbreaking for some; cially true vocally — many of it wasn’t in this case. the songs use vocal distortion To be real for Gambino was or never-before-heard inflecto boast in a cartoonish voice tions, and it becomes easy to as loudly as possible, and then forget this is the same man who bemoan that everyone didn’t once made cheesy raps. Openagree. And even those ostensi- ing track “Me and Your Mama” bly real moments felt like con- is a powerful example of this, trived punchlines (“my life’s starting with a lower key, spagone pecans”), which could be tial introduction and eventually fine if you’re into that kind of exploding into a choir-assisted thing — and can overlook bad sermon. Gambino’s voice can rapping and even worse writ- crack at the edges, but it holds ing — but the production was strong and grips onto the rivso overweight for the generally eting instrumental, and it’s a light and, yes, Childish material powerful declaration that this that the entire thing was grat- album is going to be different ing. The same applies for his than anything you’ve come to first major album Camp, which, expect from him. frankly, deserves less than this The place of influence for this light brush of a mention, except work is also a remarkable shift. to bring up those early high Where previous works and the school kids who never really accompanying rapping once liked rap became fascinated sounded like forced emulations with the idea of a ‘rapper’ who of Lil Wayne, Kanye, Drake and militantly advertised himself others, this sound is undenigoing to Sufjan concerts (while ably rooted in George Clinton’s absurdly stating that no other vocal delivery, the sound of the MATT GALLATIN
B+
Funkadelics and D’Angelo’s croon. As on his rap work, Childish can have a tendency to become too rooted in those influences, verging on derivative. “Zombies,” one of the album’s weakest moments, does precisely this. He tries to keep so close to Clinton’s unique sound that he’s forced to rely on auto-tune in a way that doesn’t feel so much an addition, but a crutch. But there are times when hyper-altered vocals feel fresh and inventive. “California,” which acts as a marriage of Kauai and Gambino’s new sound, shimmers and shakes with a squeezed inflection by Gambino. It’s too funky for Margaritaville, but too breezy and tropical for purely revivalist ’70s funk. It dances on its own island. And the single “Redbone,” which finds his voice at an unrecognizable, artificial pitch register (reminiscent of Frank Ocean’s “Nikes”), is an inescapable earworm and serves as a grounding center for the album. Lyrically, the shift in focus from quick cartoon rap to slower, sparser singing, and the expansion of the role of the instrumental here mean that missteps are simply harder to come by. The words are more abstract and less open to a single interpretation, though when they are, the story is clear and gripping. “Baby Boy,” which deals with Gambino’s newfound fear as a father, is simple, yet powerful: “Don’t take my baby boy / Don’t take my pride and joy / I hope I stay close, I hope I stay close.” Even the wordless pieces are more powerful than any instrumental on a Gambino album before. The penultimate track “The Night Me and Your Mama Met,” which features guitar work from Gary Clark Jr., is neither overbearing nor overlong, but simply drifts and grows toward its conclusion as Clark’s guitar whines sweetly. Where the interludes in Because the Internet were often too heavy and left the listener tired, this one is refreshing. Coming off his extremely well received, polished TV work on “Atlanta” earlier this year, Awaken, My Love! arrives as another reassertion of Donald Glover’s purpose as an artist, closing out what is undeniably his best creative year yet. It seems that in criticism, he worked through his crises, appearing out the other side more refined, more intelligent and simply more likable, those teenage-esque periods of poorly articulated angst now behind him. What we have now is a man who truly lives up to the term “multitalented,” and whose next move is anyone’s guess.
PRACTICE SELF-CARE TODAY! EAT SOME FRUIT.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines move on from crushing loss JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
Until about 4 p.m. on Nov. 26, Ryan Glasgow’s final season as a Michigan football player was at its highest point. The Wolverines had a chance to beat Ohio State in Columbus that day, and if they had, they would have kept playing, starting with the Big Ten Championship this past Saturday. When Michigan lost on the final play of double-overtime a few minutes later, its season was suddenly altered. The players had last week off while the coaches were out recruiting, with only the bowl game left to prepare for. Somehow, the Wolverines had to move on. So when they boarded the bus to return to Ann Arbor, Glasgow pulled out his iPad and watched the game film. He watched it again that night. And then he came into the film room at Schembechler Hall the next day and watched it again. He estimated that he saw the defensive film about eight times before Tuesday or Wednesday last week. “That’s a game that will stick with me for a while, because we’re so close to beating Ohio State at the Horseshoe, No. 2 versus 3, one of the biggest games in a long time, and just came up short,” Glasgow said. The sting of the Ohio State loss lingered for many players. The Buckeyes, too, were off last week, but they were coming off a win and felt confident about their College Football Playoff chances at No. 2 in the rankings. “It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Glasgow said. “You can cite all the referee controversy you want, but we didn’t play well enough to take it out of the hands of the referees. I’m not partial either way, what people are saying
Daily Sports Writer
Last Thursday, the Michigan women’s basketball team, in what appeared to be a matchup of equal talents, wiped the floor with Georgia Tech in a 92-52 rout. The Wolverines had been buoyed by their offensive prowess in each game prior, but for the first time, it seemed like the defense could also hold its own against a strong offensive team. Michigan was firing on all cylinders and doing it consistently on its way to a hot 7-1 start. “It was a pretty good game,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico after the contest. “We kicked their butt. I didn’t think that we were going to come in here and do that. ... You always have to be ready. We always talk about the team and not being caught up in our individual stuff.” The Wolverines especially
Season review: Running backs KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Editor
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Ryan Glasgow came up just short in his final chance to beat Ohio State.
about it. Can’t really do much about it anymore. “Really disappointing, you go five years here, try and prepare as hard as you can, try and work as hard as you can, and to leave winless against Ohio State is something I don’t even think I’ve fathomed yet.” Meanwhile, Wisconsin and Penn State, two teams Michigan beat early in the season, practiced all week and played for the Big Ten title Saturday in Indianapolis while the Wolverines sat at home. During the week, the players had to find another way to pass
the time, relieved of the 20 hours per week they spend practicing during the season. Some studied, some watched TV and some played games. “It was weird,” said senior cornerback Channing Stribling. “There’s never been a time when we’ve been off, not doing anything.” And some players — such as Glasgow, who is taking just six credits this semester as a fifth-year senior — struggled to occupy themselves. “It’s different — you feel like a normal student for a week, kind of,” Glasgow said. “But then it
“That’s a game that will stick with me for a while.”
just gets boring.” Such is the predicament when a team’s season ends abruptly. For most of the season, Michigan thought it would keep playing until the Big Ten Championship. Instead, heartbreak had a chance to settle in. Glasgow then took the opportunity to talk about the opportunity to play Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. Tuesday, the Wolverines’ dead period ended when they went back to practice in preparation for the bowl game. They have 15 practices to stay at the level they played at for most of the season. Then, in a few weeks, Glasgow will have one last chance to cap his career, add to his NFL Draft stock and create some game film he’ll enjoy watching on the way home.
Loss to Xavier exposes flaws in the post ETHAN WOLFE
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 — 7A
overpowered Georgia Tech with their height, as 6-foot-5 sophomore center Hallie Thome and 5-foot-11 junior forward Jillian Dunston controlled the paint on both ends, combining for 23 points, 17 boards and four blocks. After the Wolverines’ stellar showing, they marched onward to their fifth consecutive road game to take on an unproven Xavier team that had yet to face a Power Five conference team. But by the end of Monday’s game, Michigan’s top-10 offense looked unfamiliar, as the Musketeers held it to just 58 points — 28 at halftime — in a 61-58 Xavier victory, just four days after the Wolverines’ 40-point win over the Yellow Jackets. The Musketeers’ defense overwhelmed Michigan and, according to Barnes Arico, they didn’t even have to guard every player to do it. “(Xavier) really just keyed
on certain defenders … (Junior guard) Katelynn (Flaherty) and Hallie (Thome) more so than anybody else. It forced other players to step up. That limited us from getting any second-chance opportunities.” When Thome was removed in the first half due to early foul trouble, her absence was apparent and Michigan’s outside shooting couldn’t make up for it like it had in its previous contests. Xavier’s offense wasn’t clicking, either, but it did what it needed to come out on top. Thome and Dunston put up a strikingly different stat line against the Musketeers — just four points and 11 boards combined on 2-for-10 shooting. Maybe it was the Wolverines’ exhausting road game stretch to blame, or Xavier’s aggressive game plan. Maybe it just wasn’t Michigan’s night. But what is certain is that the Michigan of Monday looked nothing like the Michigan of Thursday, and
that’s because the Wolverines’ weaknesses in their small lineup were revealed. This is Michigan’s second consecutive 7-2 start, but the Wolverines will try not to replicate last season, when they went 4-7 in its next 11 games. The Wolverines sit 108th in the NCAA in rebounds per game (41.0) and 102nd in blocks per game (4.0). Even with natural shooters like Flaherty and freshman guard Kysre Gondrezick leading the offense, Michigan’s low post presence is not contributing at the level of a tournament team, and it’s shown in both of its losses. Barnes Arico was reluctant to point blame for the loss to Xavier, but she knows her team is still yet to find a groove. “I think this game will help us to get better,” Barnes Arico said. “It definitely exposed some things we have to work on, and it’ll definitely help us moving forward.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore center Hallie Thome was not able to contain an aggressive Xavier offense in the Musketeers’ 61-58 victory over the Wolverines on Monday.
Editor’s Note: With the Michigan football team’s 2016 regular season in the books, the Daily looks back at the performance of each unit this year and looks ahead to the future in 2017. In this edition: running backs. Before the start of the Michigan football team’s 2016 season, fans wondered which running back would emerge from the pack. As it turned out, no one back consistently received the bulk of the carries through the first half of the season. Sophomore Karan Higdon led in rushing yards in some contests, but in others, freshman Chris Evans or senior De’Veon Smith came out on top. That changed in the final stretch of the Wolverines’ season. Smith racked up more than 100 yards in three Big Ten games, becoming Michigan’s leading running back with 810 yards and 10 touchdowns. He rushed for the Wolverines’ only two touchdowns against Indiana and validated his position as the lead back. Though Smith didn’t have a signature game against Ohio State and posted fewer than 30 yards in games against Iowa and Hawaii, he became the Wolverines’ go-to back in most dire situations. Next season the Wolverines will need to replace Smith, but judging by the talent that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has corralled in just two seasons, it’s easy to expect someone to emerge. HIGH POINT: Though it took Smith a couple games to find his footing, Evans showed Michigan Stadium his potential in his first-ever collegiate game. He went off for 112 yards, averaging 14 yards per run and scoring two touchdowns against the Rainbow Warriors. Smith saved his best performance for the Wolverines’ second-to-last game of the season. His 158 yards against the Hoosiers were a career best, and they also saved Michigan from losing two Saturdays in a row. As backup quarterback John O’Korn struggled to get things moving through the air, Smith accounted for the Wolverines’ only touchdowns. He ripped off a 39-yard run in the third quarter to put Michigan up 20-10, allowing the Wolverines to enjoy their senior day in the snow. Collectively, Michigan’s best rushing effort came in late
September. The Wolverines rushed 49 times for 326 yards against the Nittany Lions, scoring six rushing touchdowns in the process. Evans, Higdon, Isaac and Smith all made it into the end zone, helping Michigan to a 49-10 victory over Penn State. LOW POINT: After four running backs received more than five carries each against Hawaii, fans hoped to see a slimmeddown rotation against Central Florida. Instead, carries were distributed evenly again, but production wasn’t anywhere near as high as it was the week prior. The Knights controlled the Wolverines on the ground and held them to 119 rushing yards. Smith led Michigan in rushing yards, but this time, he ran for just 38 yards. The Wolverines’ running game also screeched to a halt against Iowa, which was a bit more disastrous. They suffered their first loss of the season after Iowa held Michigan to double-digit rushing yards. The Wolverines averaged a lowly 2.8 yards per run in Kinnick Stadium, and they came up short, 14-13, as the receiving corps struggled, too. THE FUTURE: Running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley has indicated that he prefers to use three to four backs throughout the season in order to keep his players’ legs fresh. If his past responses are at all indicative of what we’ll see in the future, a rotation will be used once more. Though Smith will be lost to graduation, freshman Kareem Walker could get a chance to show what he’s made of after redshirting this year. Harbaugh kept Walker out this season, opting to have him focus on academics instead, but the highly touted recruit will be exciting to watch in 2017. Evans, who mentioned that he wants to put on more weight so he can be a bruising back like Smith, showed flashes of greatness throughout his freshman year. He finished just behind Smith in rushing yards, and it wouldn’t be surprising to anyone if he ended up leading the unit next season. Higdon and Isaac, who ran for 422 and 417 yards, respectively, will round out the group. The backs will be experienced in 2017, and it’s likely that they’ll be counted on heavily as Michigan loses its top three receivers (Amara Darboh, Jake Butt and Jehu Chesson) to graduation.
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Senior running back De’Veon Smith led Michigan’s rushing attack in 2016.
Sports
8A — Wednesday, December 7, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Defense stands tall late against Longhorns BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Writer
When Texas’ Tevin Mack strutted into the locker room after hitting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, it looked like it was happening again. The Longhorn guard went on a 6-0 individual run in the final minute of the first half, reducing Michigan’s lead to three. Mack himself turned what looked like a comfortable halftime margin for the Wolverines into a nightmarish flashback to Michigan’s collapse last week against Virginia Tech. “Again, it was the exact same type of action that Virginia Tech ran against us,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “It’s a dribble-weave with a guy setting a screen to get the guy open, and we stopped on it again. It was the exact same thing.” Runs at the end of each half against the Hokies ultimately cost Michigan an important home non-conference win. Beilein even called the defense the Wolverines played over those two stretches “as bad of defense we’re played here, ever.” But, unlike last week, Michigan wasn’t relying on its defense to stay out of a hole against Texas — it had already fallen into one, and it needed its defense to get it out. With four minutes remaining, facing a three-point deficit and an offense that struggled all night to ignite, the Wolverines needed stops on defense more than ever. And this time, they delivered. Michigan held Texas to just two points in the final four minutes, forcing the Longhorns
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Sophomore forward Moritz Wagner made a crucial block down the stretch to help the Michigan men’s basketball team seal a 53-50 win over Texas on Tuesday.
to miss four of their final five shots. The Wolverine defense finally came through in crunch time to give Michigan the 53-50 win. “Our kids just sat down and guarded,” Beilein said. “Nobody could make a shot. It wasn’t a pretty offensive game. But we got it done when we had to get it done.” Leading Michigan’s defensive effort were two players who
were absent in the final stretch of the Wolverines’ flop against Virginia Tech: redshirt sophomore forward DJ Wilson and sophomore forward Moritz Wagner. Wilson fouled out with three minutes to go last Wednesday, but his presence on the court this time may have made the difference. He was the one who came up with the steal with 30 seconds left that set up the possession in which Michigan
took its final lead. All night he was menacing Texas’ forwards on the boards while getting two blocks as well. But Wilson’s largest contribution in crunch time may have come much earlier. The forward was matched up with the Longhorns’ highly touted forward Jarrett Allen, who entered Tuesday averaging 11 points and seven rebounds per game. Wilson proved to be a difficult
“We got it done when we had to get it done.”
matchup for Allen much of the game. Wilson used his wingspan to get over the 6-foot11 forward and to force him into uncomfortable positions competing for rebounds that got Allen in trouble. Allen ultimately fouled out with 55 seconds to go. The impact of having Allen out showed itself on the basket when the Wolverines took the lead for good, as Wagner grabbed an offensive rebound and put away the winning basket. Wagner, too, was essential in making big defensive plays down the stretch. The most important one came in the final seconds, when the
forward got up and blocked Texas forward Eric Davis Jr.’s shot, sealing the victory. “Moe’s block at the end was big,” Beilein said. “Moe’s blocking shots really for the first time in his life … he’s learning when he should leave his feet, when he shouldn’t, and be a bigger presence at the rim.” Wagner’s defensive shortcomings have plagued Michigan often in the past. But in crunch time against the Longhorns, the sophomore’s improvements protecting the rim may have saved the Wolverines when they needed to hang onto a lead for just a few more moments. “I thought he’s making major steps defensively right now,” said Beilein. “I was shocked. When I wanted to make a defensive substitution at the end and put Mark in for Moe, Billy said, ‘No, Moe is really hedging the ball screen well.’ So we stayed with him down the stretch.” Michigan’s complete secondhalf defensive performance set the tone for what transpired in the final minutes. The Wolverines played smart defense, staying out of foul trouble. That led to Michigan having multiple fouls to give on Texas’s final possession in case it needed to use them. The Longhorns were held to just 35 percent shooting in the final period and struggled to find any sort of answer offensively that could help them come up with the scores they needed. In the end, it was Wilson and Wagner’s resurgence that earned Michigan a nonconference win it had to have. “You don’t see us win many where it’s just about our defense,” Beilein said. “It was gritty, it was tough in the last two minutes. Everything it wasn’t in Virginia Tech, the last two or three minutes, it was tonight.”
Michigan tops Texas, 53-50, after scare BETELHEM ASHAME Daily Sports Editor
With just 14 seconds left in its Tuesday night game against Texas, the Michigan men’s basketball team was desperately clinging to a one-point lead. The Longhorns had the ball on their baseline for a throw-in. The inbounds pass went straight to Texas guard Eric Davis Jr., who dribbled the ball into the middle and went up for what could have been the game-winning shot. But standing directly in his path was sophomore forward Moritz Wagner with an impressive 6-foot-11 frame. Wagner closed in on Davis Jr. in a hurry and
promptly blocked the ball with just three ticks left on the clock, drawing a deafening roar from the Crisler Center crowd as Michigan held on for a 53-50 win. “I knew that they were trying to be aggressive, down one, trying to draw a foul or at least go to the rim,” Wagner said. “I kind of expected that a little bit, so I waited until he jumped. … I was happy it turned out to be a block.” In the most critical moment of the game, Wagner encapsulated the defensive effort that the Wolverines put forth throughout the night in order to dictate the run of play and eventually earn the victory. Against a Texas team known for its up-tempo style of play on both sides of the ball, Michigan knew it would have its work cut out for it to keep up with the speed and athleticism of its opponent. To match the fast pace of Texas, the Wolverines adopted an attack-minded defense. They went after the Longhorns from the opening tip, swarming them on every possession. Michigan made it tough for them to create space and run their offense every time they touched the ball. Putting significant pressure on them in every man-to-man matchup, the Wolverines forced 10 turnovers in the first half alone. Whenever a body hit the deck to snag a bouncing ball, the jersey that turned up with it seemed to always be maize. Outhustling Texas all over the court, Michigan opened up a 10-point lead in the first half, but a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Longhorn guard Tevin Mack capped off a six-point run in the final minute to reduce the Wolverines’ lead to just three. In the opening five minutes of the second half, Texas turned
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Senior wing Zak Irvin was one of many Wolverines struggling to score on Texas.
the tide on Michigan even more. While the Wolverines hit a drought, the Longhorns made it rain. Scoring 12 points to one Wolverine free throw, Texas took its first lead of the game and forced Michigan to call a timeout. With the Longhorns firmly putting themselves back in the game, the Wolverines picked up the intensity that had served them well in the game’s opening stanza. With a stifling defense that kept it neck-and-neck with Texas down the stretch, Michigan gave itself a chance to win a game in which neither offense showed up in a major way. “You don’t see us win many
“It was gritty, it was tough in the last two minutes.”
(games) where it’s just about our defense,” said Michigan coach John Beliein. “It was gritty, it was tough in the last two minutes. …Our kids just sat down and guarded, and nobody could make a shot. It was not a pretty offensive game, but we got done what we had to get done.” With Wagner — who finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and that all-important block — leading the charge, the Wolverines did what they needed to do in order to win. “What he shows up as in the box score is only a fraction of really what he means to this team,” said senior guard Duncan Robinson. “He said multiple times down the stretch, just to me, ‘We’re going to win this game.’ Having that reassurance, especially from a sophomore — he’s mature beyond his years.”
statement T H E M I CH I G A N DAI LY | D ECE M B E R 7, 20 16
THE SEX ISSUE
2B
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 / The Statement
the tangent
t h e s t at e m e n t Magazine Editor: Karl Williams
Photo Editor: Zoey Holmstrom
Managing Editor: Laura Schinagle
Deputy Editors: Nabeel Chollampat Lara Moehlman
Creative Director: Emilie Farrugia
Copy Editors: Emily Campbell Alexis Nowicki Taylor Grandinetti
Design Editor: Shane Achenbach
Editor in Chief: Shoham Geva
Copy That: Fast and Slow BY SO JUNG KIM
I
’m the first pair of eyes to proofread and verify the next big story, a fiery op-ed or routine coverage of a Board of Regents monthly meeting — it’s a big responsibility with a quick expiration date. After I make the initial copy notes and edits, articles cycle through four more editors before they are published that night. While ensuring impeccable grammar and adherence to Daily style are important, I admit I enjoy fact-checking most. This part of the copy editor’s role requires thorough yet speedy digging into public records. We confirm information on account of Ctrl + F and copy-and-pasting because good judgment isn’t enough. As I fact-check, I relish the opportunity to discover something new and obsess over it. Once I’m done, I pass the writing along to the senior copy editor and move onto the next fresh article waiting for me. The job’s necessity of quick turnover shouldn’t bode well with my personality because usually I get overly attached to people and things — as you can imagine, college has not been easy. Here, everything changes rapidly in four years. You only get eight semesters to do it all: classes, passions and relationships. You lose and make friends faster than you can add them on Facebook. Your identity is molded before you realize who and what nudged you and when. By now, I have grown used to this fast-paced life that’s just like the copy desk’s nightly time crunch. One Thursday night this year, I read 14 articles over the course of three hours, a personal record. At copy, you do your work well and pass it up to the next set of editing eyes. In life, you should care passionately and understand when to let go. Call it maturity or cynicism, but I am learning to move on and move along faster. Goodbyes and hellos are smoothly blurring together as the weeks accelerate. There is one big shock, however, that hurts and still lingers: election night 2016. Though the calendar shows me that we are three weeks removed, I cannot forget sitting in the newsroom as the polls closed across the country. As a copy editor, I was on shift that night and among other articles, edited one of two prepared versions of the editorial board’s breaking leftside. Then, the results began rolling in and coloring
in the Electoral College map. As a student of politics and policy, I saw everything I had learned implode in front of my eyes. As a proud American voting in my first presidential election, I was crushed after believing in my candidate for nearly 19 months. The next morning, the draft editorial I had edited — and dutifully sent along in the workflow — was not published. And it never will be. Gently, the influx of articles to edit and civic duties to uphold coaxed me out of my two-week hiatus and back into a fervent hurry. On some November night years from now, I look forward to recalling this pain and smiling at how far it has pushed me forward. I’ve got a nice college paper story — and now this column — ready for that glorious night when we finally elect the first woman president.
ILLUSTRATION BY SHANE ACHENBACH
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 / The Statement
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on the record: the greatest human minds on sex “We demand that sex speak the truth. And we demand that it tell us our truth, or rather, the deeply buried truth of that truth about ourselves which we think we possess in our immediate consciousness.”
“The body is the instrument of our hold on the world.”
“If you’re going to have sex, use a condom.” — Retired NBA player DENNIS RODMAN.
— French existentialist and philosopher SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR.
— French philosopher and literary theorist MICHEL FOUCAULT.
How To: Being Cool With Your (Sex) Hormones B Y S Y LVA N N A G R O S S
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n ninth grade I admitted to my mom that I wasn’t getting my period. I was sitting at the head of my dining room table, my sister was to my right and my mom sat at the other head, directly across from me. Phoebe had asked my mom a question about puberty and my mom, a very frank veterinarian, gave a complete and detailed medical response. I stared at my breakfast, a bowl of cereal, and blushed. I was secretly ashamed that my 11-year-old, stick-thin sister was normal and how aware I was that I was not. At school my friends all talked about tampons or pads and how bad their cramps were and so on. I always felt excluded. I had nothing to add to the conversation. My mom, the smartest and most efficient woman I know, sprung into early-preventative action, recognizing the signs for a very common Ashkenazi Jewish hormonal deficiency. Just a month after I told my mom that not only was my period irregular but I hadn’t had it in over a year, I wound up in the office of a gynecologist, crying. My mom was right, I had polycystic ovarian syndrome. Essentially, my body produces too much androgen, or male hormones. The hormonal imbalance causes weight gain, irregular periods, acne, excess hair growth and a deeper voice. The best part about PCOS is that controlling your weight is the most effective preventative method for all the negative symptoms, but that no matter how hard you work out or how well you eat, losing weight is roughly a million times harder for someone with PCOS than someone who doesn’t have PCOS. But the fun doesn’t stop there! Because of the weight gain, women with PCOS have a tendency to be at-risk for developing diabetes and, even worse, issues with infertility because of the lack of a “regular” hormonal cycle. I was in ninth grade when I found out that I had to start worrying about my fertility as an adult. That I had to deal with the reality that I might never be able to even have kids, or might have extreme difficulty conceiving. That’s an awful feeling, not just because of the crushing weight of dealing with the far-off future, but because I was different. Let’s be clear, though, I enjoy being different in things that I can control. But it’s hard to come
to terms with being “proud” of a hormonal imbalance. I used, initially, two magic pills to prevent the common side effects of PCOS; birth control and metformin. The birth control was used to regulate my periods, and the metformin was used to help regulate my weight. The catch-22 is that birth control causes weight gain in a lot of women. So I was taking birth control to get a period, gaining weight because of it and using another pill to suppress the effects of the birth control. There’s a lot of issues I could cover between ninth grade and now, such as the disgusting amount of blood draws (needles are not my friend), the shame in not feeling as “womanly,” my off-the-chart cortisol levels and the decision to stop using birth control. But the main issue I had to struggle with was my body image. ILLUSTRATION BY EMILIE FARRUGIA
I still struggle, as most women do. I love the “body positive” movements that have cropped up in the progressive world like wildfire, but I don’t identify with them. I have a dichotomic conscious, where a part of me is so happy with the way I look and the other side just sees a body that is deficient. I shouldn’t be overweight, I eat well (enough) and I exercise (during the summer when school doesn’t consume my life). I make jokes about my lifestyle but I completely understand the mechanics of personal metabolism after extensive meetings with nutritionists and doctors. My body just can’t without a complete motivated dedication to changing physically through extensive dieting and excessive exercising that I don’t have energy for at this point in life. And I hate that. I hate the word can’t and I hate that I’m “procrastinating” my own health. The reality is that I’m heavier than I should be and it scares me. I want children one day and I want my own biological children and I know I want to be physically pregnant and not depend on surrogacy. Here’s the most important thing, though: I do not use PCOS as an excuse for anything I have mentioned in this article, I use it as an explanation. That distinction between excuse and explanation is very important to me. I recognize that to other people struggling with life-threatening or altering diagnoses, my “frustrations” with PCOS are minimal, and I respect that. And to answer your question, yes. Yes I did just spend an entire article complaining about not getting a regular period. But I’m not sorry that I did. I really wish I did cramp and bleed and got acne and was moody and it gross once a month. But I’m cool with my (sex) hormones. I never had a major turning point from hating to accepting the diagnosis and ultimately being OK with it, but the point is that today, I am. How to: Be OK with your hormones 1. You just have to.
COVER BY SHANE ACHENBACH
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Wednesday, December 7, 2016 // The Statement
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 // The Statement
THE SEX SURVEY
Echoes from a letterpress:
This year, 1,372 students took The Statement's annual sex survey. 45.3 percent of respondents identified as male, 53.4 identified as female and 1.2 percent identified as non-binary. Check out the results below.
DID YOU ORGASM THE LAST TIME YOU HAD SEX?
DEFINE: “HOOKING UP” VS. “SEX“
Making Out
Heavy Petting
“Hooking Up”
Oral Sex
“Sex”
300
70%
have used the internet to masturbate
Other genital contact
72%
87%
200
use condoms as their preferred method for safe sex
ask partners for verbal consent
100
Penetrative Sex 0
200
400
600
800
MALE
Number of Students
FEMALE
Yes
PRIMARY SOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT SEX
BIRTH CONTROL METHODS
59%
have sent or received a nude photo
6 in 10
18%
Family, Medical Professionals, Community & Campus Groups, or Other
NONBINARY
0
No
HAVE YOU EVER FAKED AN ORGASM? 300
200
women use a consistent method of birth control
52%
81%
of women use the pill as a consistent form of birth control
Internet
100
30% Friends
MALE
FEMALE
NONBINARY
0
5B
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Wednesday, December 7, 2016 // The Statement
Getting Covered: Before a new White House, women turn to IUDs for security
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by Lara Moehlman, Deputy Statement Editor
he day after School of Information senior Nicole Zeffer watched president-elect Donald Trump win the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8, she placed a call to University Health Services to make an appointment for an IUD consultation. “It’s upsetting to me because it’s a step in the wrong direction, when I thought there would be a step in the right direction,” Zeffer said. IUDs, short for Intrauterine Devices, along with implants, comprise the long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) category of contraception methods currently available. According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, IUDs and implants are the most effective form of reversible birth control on the market — more than 20 times more effective than birth control pills, the patch or the ring. However, a study published in 2015 by international reproductive health journal Contraception found that just 12 percent of women were using LARC methods of contraception, compared to 41 percent of female family planning providers and professionals. But in the wake of the election, that might be changing. Zeffer is just one of many women across the United States to take part in a sudden uptick of research and interest in LARC contraception resources following the election of Trump. In the hours following the election, Google saw a nationwide spike in searches related to IUDs (in addition to upticks in donations and interest at Planned Parenthood clinics and gynecologists). This sudden interest in IUDs and implants may be explained in part by the uncertain future of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which included coverage for contraception, under a Trump presidency. The ACA, commonly known as Obamacare, requires health insurance companies to cover at least one form of birth control from each category of contraception, including LARC, hormonal and barrier methods. However, during his presidential campaign, Trump has alternately threatened to either fully repeal or modify Obamacare, taking that coverage away and potentially leaving women with the full cost of an IUD, which can range from anywhere between $500 and $900 dollars. Concerned over whether their health insurance plans will cover contraception as soon as Jan. 20, women on campus and throughout the country said they are seeking IUDs and implants in particular because, once inserted, they last between three and ten years — enough time to last at least one term of a Trump administration. *** Susan Ernst, an obstetrician gynecologist and current chief of the Women’s Health Clinic at UHS, says there has been a clear increase in interest in IUDs on campus. Immediately following the election, Ernst, who also works in the Medical Center’s gynecology department, said she has seen — and continues to see — a sharp increase in demand for LARC contraception. “Since the election, we’ve even had patients coming in and saying, ‘You know I’ve really been thinking about doing this for the last six months to a year, but now I really want to get it done because I’m worried about the coverage,’” Ernst said, adding that she’d even seen a patient, who already had an implant in her arm that would last for another year, request that she have it removed and replaced with a new one because she was concerned that in the next year, her insurance would no longer cover the implant. Before the election, Zeffer had been using hormonal birth control pills, but she considered switching to an IUD after
experiencing unwanted side effects from them. After the possibility that her health insurance plan would no longer cover contraception as soon as January 20, Zeffer made up her mind and scheduled a consultation. “With Trump now being the president of the United States, there’s the risk that Obamacare will get repealed at some point, and then hormonal birth control pills will become unaffordable for me and likely a lot of other people in the U.S.,” Zeffer said. Ernst said she wasn’t quite sure whether the coverage would go away, but noted that the concerns were valid. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but it is a little bit concerning,” Ernst said. Ernst did note one positive in the situation — she said she was glad to see more students taking interest in LARC contraception because the clinic had already been promoting and counseling patients who use their sexual health services to consider IUDs and implants long before the election. Health care providers in the sexual health clinic favor LARC methods of contraception, she said, because they are highly recommended for adolescents by major medical organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. IUDs and implants are highly effective and require no upkeep from women who use them until they need to be removed or replaced — a term healthcare professionals have coined “fit and forget,” according to Ernst. She added that this aspect of IUDs and implants largely accounts for the high efficacy of LARC methods in comparison to other forms of birth control. The efficacy of the pill decreases as women forget to take it on time, whereas an IUD or implant leaves room for little to no human error. Zeffer said for her, the last aspect was the most important. “An IUD is really nice because it’s just one of those things that you can put in and most likely not have to worry about,” Zeffer said. Because LARC methods of contraception have been increasingly promoted for adolescents by major medical organizations, Ernst added, UHS has increased its LARC insertion training over the past few years so that there are currently six different providers within UHS certified to insert implants and IUDs. “We already increased our capacity with the hope that people would pick up or accept this method more readily,” Ernst said. She pointed to a report published in 2014 by the National College Health Assessment and the American College Health Association that found that just 6 percent of undergraduates used LARC methods of contraception at the time of last intercourse. Now, she says the number is around 15 percent, simply by the word of mouth about their safety and effectiveness. However, she also noted that campus would not be immune from the possible elimination of contraception from many health insurance policies that would come with a repeal of the ACA. Currently, women using the Sexual Health Clinic at UHS have all services, such as consultation appointments and STI labs related to IUD insertion, fully covered by their tuition. Students are only responsible for paying for the IUD, which can be several hundreds of dollars if not covered by their insurance. “I’m really disappointed and concerned and hope that, as a group, women can make their voices heard to the new administration that we think this is something important for the health of women,” Ernst said. She added that this election cycle has affected more than just women’s sexual well-being, noting she has seen an increase in
depression scores among women visiting UHS. The University’s Counseling and Psychological Services has similarly experienced an increase in stress and anxiety surrounding the election. “We’ve seen a number of patients who have had higher depression scores or even refused to fill out the depression scoring sheet because they say they’re so upset about the election they just can’t even go there,” Ernst said. “They know that it would look like they have depression if they filled it out because they’re so upset about the election.” *** LSA senior Shannon Stone got her IUD from UHS last year after she decided hormonal oral contraceptives were not for her, mostly because of her busy schedule and a fear that she wasn’t taking the pills at the right time. She said she’s concerned about the current policy climate surrounding ACA, especially because her IUD will be removed one year before Trump’s term ends. Since Trump’s election, she said she’s served as a resource for many of her friends who are looking into getting an IUD. But while she is glad she decided to get an IUD, it angers her that many women are making the decision to get an IUD not out of choice but out of fear. “I love my IUD, but I don’t want someone who doesn’t want one to get one,” Stone said. “It’s an option and I’m glad that it’s the option that I chose, but it makes me sad that other women have to choose it out of necessity or out of fear. I think that making decisions about our bodies out of fear is a horrifying reality.” Nursing senior Rachel Cannon obtained her IUD two months before the election, mainly because of negative side effects she was experiencing as a result of hormones in oral contraceptives. She said she felt comfortable undergoing the insertion procedure at UHS because she was referred to a provider by a friend, who told her this specific provider inserted roughly four IUDs per day. As the reality of a Trump presidency became clear to her on election night, she felt relieved that her IUD would last for the next 10 years — enough time to cover a two-term Trump presidency. However, she said she remains concerned for the future of family planning and birth control coverage in the United States. “Taking away free contraception is just going to result in a lot of unintended pregnancies, in my opinion,” Cannon said. “I think that seems like a logical conclusion to draw, and I feel like if it was very expensive or not covered through insurance, some people just wouldn’t use birth control at all.” ••• Reflecting on these past few weeks, Zeffer said although she is upset by the sense of urgency she feels to protect herself following Trump’s election, she is most frustrated by the fact that there are others who don’t have the resources to protect themselves. “As much as it upsets me that I have to watch out for my own personal health, it upsets me more that there are so many other people out there that aren’t as fortunate as me and that are being affected more by this election,” she said, citing those who currently may not have health insurance and therefore can’t afford an IUD. As she prepares to take a step many other women nationwide are considering as well, she said she is both comforted and bothered by her upcoming IUD consultation appointment at UHS. “I still have the option of going to my doctor and getting a free IUD before Trump becomes president.”
Wednesday, December 7, 2016 // The Statement
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In Other Words by Rebecca Lerner, Daily Film Editor
“
I could just never eat pussy,” a woman dressed as Nicki Minaj for Halloween slurred to me and my girlfriend. This was minutes after we had starting officially dating. The woman leaned in surreptitiously. “I wish I could, because women are so much better. But I just can’t.” This approach, the “good for you, but I could never ever, ever, ever,” creates a common disconnect between queer and straight women. In “30 Rock,” after Jack assumes Liz to be a lesbian, he sets her up with a woman, Gretchen Thomas. After a brief interlude of sexless dating, Gretchen ends it. Liz tries to negotiate, squirming while she says, “Even though I am not into the sex stuff, if it helps you … I would let you do stuff to me.” Gretchen responds, “I can’t be around you anymore,” and leaves. When I texted a female friend that I had started dating a woman, she responded, “omg! What are vaginas like?” Instead of telling her to look for the answer to such an asinine question in her pants, I shut off my phone. The body is a principle site of power in modern society. We quantify power and success through our bodies — through weight, sexual partners, inches of hair, numbers of orgasms. But the female body is controlled in different ways than the male. The female body is still foreign, a misunderstood “other” that localizes the anxieties of a misogynistic society. This is despite the fact that now more than ever we have forums and spaces to discuss the regulation of bodies. The discussion surrounding the female body is reminiscent of Foucault’s rejection of the repressive hypothesis in “The History of Sexuality.” The hypothesis starts with the Victorian age, as increasing repression developed with the rise of capitalism, and ends with the prudish Westerner. But Foucault subverts this idea, positing that the social restriction placed on sex leads to much more discussion of it; if you’re told not to think of sex, it’s the first thing on your mind. Now, in order to prove that we’re not repressed, we have to talk about sex. Constantly. Luckily, I was raised to communicate well. In my house, speech — particularly observant speech — warranted reward. I learned quickly as a child that when I got in trouble, I could get out faster with information. I needed to give up either a reason for my misconduct or some other form of intelligence. My parents measure the quality of our relationship based on conversations — the frequency, depth and duration. Whenever I’ve started dating someone, I’ve always told my parents. When I speak to my mother on the phone, she inevitably asks about them — how they are, what they’re studying. But when I started dating my girlfriend, those casual conversations never took place. They were replaced with a few tense sentences about once a week that usually ended with my mother saying, “I just hope you’re happy.” This made little to no sense to me — my parents are educated liberals. They have showered me with love and support in every endeavor. My father cries every time he plays me the song he wrote me, called “I Will Walk with You.” When I was at the New England Literature Program this summer, my mother wrote me at least one letter every day for six weeks, declaring in each one how much she
loved and missed me. But when I told her my older brother knew who I was dating, there was a silence over the phone before she responded. “How did he take it?” “Fine,” I said. “I mean, it’s pretty shocking,” she said. “That’s the only reason I’m asking.” He didn’t care. He never liked any of the men I dated and always encouraged me to break up with them immediately.
so far from that goal of a heterosexual relationship ending in two children and continuous 12-year cycles of female German shepherds. Every time I have an uneasy conversation like this with my parents, distance is inserted into my relationship. I become more conscious of how I act with my girlfriend in public. I wonder how this could be right if my parents, the people who know me better than anyone, think it’s wrong. Their words create a barrier between us, and for a while, I feel like I can barely see her through this uncertain haze. But then when I’m with her, I forget about it and I can see clearly again. I laugh, loudly and from deep in my chest, after barely smiling all day. The suffocating mystery ache on the right side of my back goes away. I feel like myself, but a better, smarter version of myself that’s not worried about the puerile nonsense that I feel otherwise consumed by. The first time we had sex, it felt like lying in the sun in midsummer, every cell of my body warming, relaxing and tensing at once. I sleep better in her bed, in the dark of her windowless room, than I have anywhere else for the past eight years. My parents don’t know any of this. I would feel uncomfortable bringing it up and they seem uncomfortable asking, all parties involved perpetuating a vicious cycle of silence. My parents subscribe, albeit unknowingly, to the “good for you, not for me” approach of my Nicki Minajclad friend. They’re very supportive of my gay friends and genuinely wish the best for them. They didn’t get upset when I unknowingly chose “Blue is the Warmest Color” for our movie night a few years ago, in what would go down as one of the most cringe-worthy three hours and seven minutes of my life. But I could talk to my parents 14 times a week without discussing my romantic relationship. Foucault contends that there is nothing about ILLUSTRATION BY EMILIE FARRUGIA our sexual behaviors or sexualities themselves that reveal our deeper selves. Rather, the constructed discourse around sex and sexualities “Well, you’ve dated such unsuitable men,” my mother that indicate profound truth. Heterosexuality seems to said bluntly while I opened the door to my house, trying be the glue holding together many of my conversations. to hear her over the frat party raging next door. “And the When I’m with friends from home, we only talk about only reason you’re dating her is because you haven’t met relationships. When I had just started dating my last boythe right man.” friend, I tested this by telling a friend about other aspects When I said that was hurtful, she apologized but didn’t of my life before mentioning that I was dating someone. rescind the sentiment, ending with another well inten- She smacked my arm, ignoring that I was driving on the tioned “I just want you to be happy.” highway. When I went home, I brought it up with my father and “Rebecca!” she said. “You have to tell me the important he looked at me with eyes tired from the spinal surgery stuff first!” he’d just had a week earlier. It seems inescapable that heterosexual relationships “Do you want honesty?” he asked. I didn’t. When peo- are prioritized and a lack of normalized love stilts conple ask that question, I almost never do. versation. This discourse makes my relationship a per“Yes, of course.” meable membrane, allowing other opinions to diffuse in, “Your mother and I are just concerned because we making it terrifyingly susceptible. But it also reflects how know that you don’t see yourself for all that you really are. I’ve always felt — that I am made up of everything and You’ve always seemed very heterosexual to me,” he said, everyone I know, meaning even when I’m thousands of looking at me over his tea and bourbon. He paused to take miles away from my parents, they’re always with me. And a sip. “And we don’t want you to settle.” though their doubts put a strain on our relationship, it *** is comforting to have at least parts of them, their goodI saw my parents as collectively perfect for so long: ness and intelligent beliefs, ingrained in me. Introducing smart, successful, beautiful and endlessly in love. I’ve queerness into this dialogue warrants an inevitable awkalways expected to have a relationship just like theirs, ward pause now, but has the potential to reinvigorate a and it’s nerve-wracking to be so invested in what seems later conversation — or start a new one.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2016 // The Statement
The Problem With Prescriptive Sex Advice by Jackie Charniga, Daily News Editor
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’m a very open person. Most of my friends know there’s something wrong if I haven’t divulged every detail about my day. I’ll settle down in a dentist’s office waiting room, kibbitz over a deli counter, even dish in the bathroom at a gay bar about any avenue about my life. Including sex. So when I say I’ve never had an orgasm, a topic that naturally springs up at bachelorette parties, sleepovers and short subway rides, I don’t feel as though it’s an intimate detail that I’ve put into the public sphere. I consider it somewhat mechanically, as a bodily function that just hasn’t happened to me. I’ve never had my tonsils out either and I’ve made it this far in life without it being a problem. As far as Cosmopolitan magazine is concerned, though, I’m a freak. Our culture presents two options: right or wrong sex. Sex is either good or bad. If you have good sex, well done — you’re “normal.” If you have bad sex, the prognosis is dismal. Your partner is broken. Your mind is broken. You’re doing it wrong. You’re wrong. The way we talk about our sex lives is similar to how we talk about our car engines. Whether or not it’s working properly, if it’s your car you have to fix it. Sometimes you work on it yourself and sometimes you have people work on it for you. And if you’re not obsessed with your car and how it runs, you’re in a weird minority. But it’s not as simple as that, and you’ll never be able to write a foolproof manual for everything that’s right, or wrong, about sex. It doesn’t help that most sex advice circulating in selfhelp guides or scrawled in Sharpie on bathroom walls still has a gendered slant. In its October issue, Cosmo directly addressed situations like mine. In a No-BS Sex Q&A, a reader submitted a question about how she’s never had an orgasm. She wanted to know if she was defective. The response was encouraging. Relax, it said, there’s nothing wrong with you. A statistic was bandied about that just 25 percent of women ages 18 to 25 crossed the finish line their last time and it’s totally fine to be outside that minority. Now here’s where it gets interesting: The advice goes on about how to remedy the issue by — wait for it — faking it. Listen here, confused woman of the modern age: If you pretend that every second is pure ecstasy, rolling around with the guy who smiled at you over his Solo cup at 2 in the morning at a co-op party, it will feel like riding a mechanical bull on Molly after winning the Super Bowl. You know, if he’s properly motivated. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t consider the needs of the person you’re sleeping with. Remember the phrase it takes two to tango? But when prescribed sexual advice continues the trend — even today — of coming mostly from just one perspective, there is an unequal distribution of praise and the blame. Take for instance, “The Women,” a 1939 black-andwhite film revolutionary for being the first to star only female actors. Though not one man crosses the silver screen, powerhouse actresses Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell and Norma Shearer can talk about nothing else. The men in their lives, whether they are ensnaring, divorcing or earning them, are the driving force of the plot. “It’s all about men!” the tagline reads, putting down men and women alike. The film makes the argument that men are helpless when it comes to what they want; they are prizes to be won by the women who fight over them. The film was remade in 2008, but, considering its 4.9/10 IMDb score, its male-centric plot fell short of pleasing contemporary audiences.
There is a history of media considering a man’s needs first, but there’s something cheap about when that representation is masquerading as advice for women, by women, in the 21st century. That issue of Cosmo somehow brought the responsibility of a man’s failing to please back down on the woman. In 2016. Like a lightbulb, it clicked: That’s what I’m doing wrong. Just fake it till you make it. Or, in this case, till you can get someone else to makew it. I’m not trying to throw magazines like Cosmopolitan entirely under the bus here. There are plenty of others that insist on a constant barrage of sexual imagery to sell, well, pretty much anything. But sex is confusing enough without being presented as a pass-or-fail test, especially one where you’re making up the answers to get a good grade. As a college student, I’ve always paid close attention to the required reading, but when the Cosmo syllabus presents essential knowledge under titles like “10 Common Blow Job Problems and How To Fix Them,” “9 Things Guys Secretly Hate About Blow Jobs” or “What Guys Hate Most About Every Sex Position,” I’m feeling the negative energy. Find out what he hates. Fix the problem. I don’t really see where I fit when it comes to that kind of advice. Because movies, magazines, websites and advertisements are pumping us full of these glossy gymnastic expectations, sex has no space to be a human act. It’s supposedly performed by titans, sex gods and goddesses who are hairless, poreless and flawless fornicators. They always cross the finish line. I distinctly remember 2011 as a year fraught with unnatural sex scenes. The premiere of films such as “Friends with Benefits” and “No Strings Attached” continued the parade of unrealistic romps in the sack. Both films seem to be making the claim that sex necessarily leads to love. Additionally, sex seems to be a breeze so long as you’re airbrushed and athletic. Now this isn’t to say I’m constantly broadcasting my situation. I’m not standing at the corner of North University and State wearing a sandwich board disclaiming that
I’ve never climbed that holy mountain and seen the face of God — or rather, screamed his name over and over so it echoed down that same proverbial sex mountain. But what gets me off about the whole thing is how uncomfortable, indignant or offended people become by this conversation. Sometimes it’s easier to talk about it like a car engine. You’ve got a problem, see a mechanic. Why discuss it outside of the auto shop? Without leaving room for individual human responses to a very human action, we’re thrusting an incredibly intricate act into a basic format that allows only for praise or blame. Forcing a standardized method of experiencing pleasure, I feel, is a far greater crime than my inability to match it. Some people think I’m punishing myself by not exploring my sexuality. I’m a prude, I’m limiting myself. That I haven’t met the right guy. That I need to handle it myself. My roommate once said it’s similar to eating a cheesecake. If I hadn’t eaten a cheesecake before, I’m not just going to stumble upon it accidentally. I have to go out and get one for myself. Prescriptive sex advice usually sucks. I will concede, however, that not all of it is terrible, but thoughtful answers to difficult questions rarely make headlines. Because suggesting people “talk it out” is not sexy sex advice. If X, try Y or Z is much easier to sell. Whether it’s the media’s responsibility, school systems, parents or peers to educate on positive sexual awareness is another story. But not everyone can tell the fact from the fiction, and they’re looking for validation on topics of which they’re uncertain. If you’re in the market of dishing out advice, be conscious of how it’s framed. Especially when your audience is thirsty for easy answers. If they expect their lives to change based on what you can write in 100 words or less, that’s a far more interesting comment on our society than I’m capable of making. My best sex advice? Let me decide what’s working for my body. Maybe it’ll happen. Maybe it won’t. Meanwhile, I’ll be living my life exactly as I did before — whether Cosmopolitan approves or not. ILLUSTRATION BY ELISE HAADSMA