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Wednesday, April 12, 2017
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statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | A PR I L 12 , 2017
GOVERNMENT
Author talks how policy perpetuates racist ideas BRIAN KOSASIH/Daily
Kendi is know for his award winning book “Stamped from the Beginning”
James Morrow, professor of world politics, talks about the impact of the Trump administration at the Jack L. Walker Conference on Tuesday.
Panel discusses negative aspects of Trump’s first 100 days in office
The group considered the President’s legislative actions, current political climate ISHI MORI
Daily Staff Reporter
University of Michigan students and faculty gathered Tuesday evening in the Michigan Union to discuss President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office for the annual Jack L. Walker Conference, hosted
by the Undergraduate Political Science Association and sponsored by the Political Science Department. The conference, named after Jack L. Walker, the late University professor of political science, explores different topics in politics every winter semester with experts and professionals in government and academia.
This year’s conference featured five professors specializing in a wide range of political science subfields, including feminist political theory, international trade and the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. LSA sophomore Eve Hillman, a co-president of UPSA, explained holding panels like these allow students to interact with professors
in a way they rarely have an opportunity to in class. “UPSA really focuses on building a relationship between political science students and faculty because so many of the political science classes are really big,” Hillman said. “So if you can get events and get professors to come to events where See TRUMP, Page 3A
KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporter
Ibram X. Kendi — author of “Stamped from the Beginning,” the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction winner — conveyed to a crowd of 50 his thoughts on how government policy has perpetuated racist ideologies throughout U.S. history. An assistant professor of African-American history at the University of Florida, Kendi has published work in publications such as The New York Times, The Huffington Post and Black Perspectives. Kendi began his talk Tuesday night by stating the United States has experienced two narratives:
one of racial progress and one of increased racism in society. He said understanding this duality can reorient how one thinks about racism throughout history. “We’ve actually had a dueling history of race,” he said. “What I mean by that is we’ve had a history of racial progress, but we’ve also had a simultaneous progression of racism. We’ve actually experienced, as a nation, two historical forces.” A key component of Kendi’s discussion was that racist ideas stem from policy enacted by selfinterested politicians, rather than the commonly assumed falsehood that ideas lead to policy. He cited historical instances where political parties, unhappy with See BOOK, Page 3A
Panel debates merits of C.C. Little’s Prototype Prevention promising legacy as ‘U’ president, eugenicist of species
RESEARCH
CAMPUS LIFE
for hospital treatment
Discussed pros and cons of renaming the building with his name following controversy
Five students built a more effective, cost-efficient and fast-paced medical device
Months after the University of Michigan’s release of a new policy on building renaming, the LSA History Department convened a bicentennial panel Tuesday afternoon on the potential renaming of the C.C. Little Building, which has been named after former University of Michigan President Clarence Cook “C.C.” Little since 1968. About 50 people attended the discussion on the many factors involved with the process of name-changing and examples of other universities’ actions in similar cases. Though he was a renowned genetics, cancer and tobacco researcher, Little has recently come under fire for his support of policies such as compulsory sterilization of the “unfit” and immigration restriction. American Culture Prof. Alexandra Minna Stern opened the panel by reflecting on the nuances of building names. “We’re going to think about the arguments for removing his name and what are some of the arguments for retaining his name,” she said. “There is a high bar for renaming. If we just take his name off the building, we erase the past.” Panelists referenced the notion that Little’s associations with ideas and practices are antagonistic to the values of diversity, inclusion and
ALEXA ST. JOHN
Managing News Editor
The engineering and medical fields came together when five University of Michigan undergraduates teamed up to contribute to modern medicine with a device that can give the same data as a $30,000 machine in one-fifth of the time. Sanguis Diagnostics, also called Team 805, is a group of students who have developed the product HeRM — hemoretractometer — a device that can measure a patient’s pretreatment hemostasis, or natural blood-clotting abilities. Recent prototype development by these students has recognized current demand for a low-cost, fast-paced, technologically savvy and informative device for diagnostic blood testing. The ability to maintain hemostasis is crucial for normal life function, as clotting too much or not enough could have serious implications for a patient’s health. The device, however, could be used for providing high-tech medical care to those who do not have access to it, See DEVICE, Page 3A
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KEVIN BIGLIN
Daily Staff Reporter
nondiscrimination the University is pushing toward today. Stern said one line of reasoning for preserving Little’s name is that the name causes little harm, as not many students know who he was or
what he did. LSA junior Joshua Hasler countered those reasons by arguing Little’s interests in eugenics cannot be separated from his tenure as University president. He found it hard to believe Little became president
of the American Eugenics Society after leaving the University in 1929. “Like many students here at the University, I’ve had a class in the C.C. Little building,” Hasler said. After discovering See LITTLE, Page 3A
extinction highlighted
Author and journalist Elizabeth Kolbert talked elimination of species COLIN BEREFORD Daily Staff Reporter
JULIA LAWSON/Daily
LSA student Josh Hasler speaks at The Power of Place-Naming: C.C. Little, Eugenics, and the University of Michigan event in Hatcher on Tuesday.
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Vol. CXXVII, No. 65 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
Author and journalist Elizabeth Kolbert discussed species extinction and how individuals are combatting certain climatic changes in a talk sponsored by the University of Michigan Erb Institute as a part of the Purpose to Impact Speaker series on Tuesday night. Kolbert has published a number of books, including her most recent, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” which details how the Earth is on course for a sixth, unprecedented mass extinction. Kolbert is also known for her pieces in The New Yorker, including a three-part awardwinning series about climate change published in 2005. Though Kolbert has extensively researched the issues she writes about and discusses, she emphasized she does not have the solutions necessary to solve these problems. However, she shared several stories of people around the world fighting extinction. Kolbert discussed the work of Sam Wasser, the director for the Center for Conservation Biology See SPECIES, Page 3A
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7
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ON THE DAILY: STUMBLING BLOCKS BACK IN THE HOT SEAT Chairs used in last week’s notable Stumbling Blocks exhibit on affirmative action will not be put to such symbolic use much longer. The University of Michigan Property Disposition Department announced Monday on Facebook that the University is currently selling the chairs to the public for $10 each. The pop-up exhibit served as reminder of Proposal 2, the 2006 constitutional amendment that banned on race- and gender-based affirmative action in the state, which the Supreme Court upheld in 2014. The 950 empty maize and blue chairs arranged on the Diag served to personify the number of underrepresented minority students who were unable to attend the University following the ban. Presidential Bicentennial Prof. Martha Jones, who led the exhibit’s coordination, wrote in an email interview she was happy to see the chairs put to continued use.
“I am pleased that the chairs will have a life beyond the exhibition,” she wrote. “The rest will go out into the world and become part of other gatherings and conversations. Stumbling Blocks was always intended to be a pop-up experience, one that would further our best thinking about the future.” Some students, however, called out what they perceived as irony in the chairs’ short-lived significance. LSA senior David Song, a former Daily photographer, wrote in an email interview he was a bit taken aback by the speed of the process. “It feels almost like a stab in the back to offer these “missing students after Proposal 2” chairs up for money,” he wrote. “I recognize that (the University) or whoever owns this property probably doesn’t have much use for it now, but the timing feels a little too soon.” Special events manager Julie Ashley said Tuesday she hadn’t
yet heard any student complaints. After offering the chairs to buildings and facilities managers, she said Property Disposition has been receiving marked interest in the chairs, which are emblazoned with the University’s bicentennial
logo. “We’ve gotten a lot of interest from employees for things like tailgates,” she said.
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It’s #MiRobotics Day! Our state is at the center of the nation’s #robotics industry thanks to leadership in robotics research
- KEVIN BIGLIN
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A WHOLE day just for #Germany?? We are flattered to have a small part of @UMich 33rd annual “German Day”
BRIAN KOSASIH/Daily Matt Ladies, the treasurer of MUSIC Matters, talks about SpringFest at the CSG Chamber Meeting on Tuesday.
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Fracking and Water Policy
WHAT: Public policy, political science and engineering professors will discuss the intersection of energy and water research, and the future of sustainable policy. WHO: Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy WHEN: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Weill Hall, Room 1110
National Grilled Cheese Day WHAT: Celebrate the grilled cheese in all its greasy glory Wednesday at any dining hall on campus. WHO: Michigan Dining WHEN: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. WHERE: Dining halls
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South American Newspapers Lecture
Social Change in North Korea
Holocaust Rememberance Vigil
WHAT: The 2017 Aiton Lecture in Latin American History will be delivered by Argentinian professor Lila Caimari on the effect of submarine cables on newspapers in South America. WHO: Department of History WHEN: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: Tisch Hall, Room 1014
WHAT: Nonprofit director Andray Abrahamian will describe his experience with social policy in North Korea. WHO: Nam Center for Korean Studies WHEN: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Henderson Room
WHAT: By reading their names and meeting with survivors, the 24-hour commemoration honors the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. WHO: Conference on the Holocaust WHEN: 9 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. WHERE: The Diag
Book Release Party
Sustainability Solutions
Green Opera Project
WHAT: Prof. Phoebe Gloeckner’s Graphic Narrative class celebrates its full-color publication featuring work by a number of Art & Design students. WHO: Stamps School of Art and Design WHEN: Noon to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Art and Architecture Building
WHAT: Panelists from both the non-profit and for-profit sectors will lead a conversation on how large organizations push for sustainability. WHO: Student Sustainability Initiative WHEN: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Rackham Amphitheater
WHAT: The opera, titled “The Difficulty of Crossing a Field,” is a modern retelling of Ambrose Bierce’s play set in the Old South. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Earl V. Moore Building, McIntosh Theatre
Daily Staff Reporter
After conducting three campus-wide surveys and analyzing the results, the Central Student Government Mental Health Taskforce released its 2017 official report and comprehensive summary of its findings. The task force was commissioned in November of 2016 by LSA senior David Schafer, then-president of CSG, and consisted of three co-chairs and a board of 16 members. Two of the surveys the task force released measured opinions on mental health in regard to classroom climate, while one focused on understanding campus-wide opinions on mental health resources. More than 1,000 students responded to the surveys. The
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they do not have equal access to the resources on Central Campus. When it came to analyzing input from faculty, the results found that while faculty did vary on opinion and experience, just over half of the faculty members responded they felt fully or moderately informed about the mental health resources available to students on campus. One of the most conclusive results from the surveys found 96 percent of student respondents feel there is an importance for mental health to be accommodated on a college campus, yet 74 percent feel uncomfortable addressing their mental health concerns with faculty. According to LSA senior Yumi Taguchi, co-director of Active Minds and a co-leader of the task force, these were some of the most striking results. “We weren’t really sure what we were going to find before we sent out those surveys, but two things we thought were very interesting was both faculty and students really support the idea that a college campus should create a supportive environment for mental illness, and also there was a striking difference between faculty and students when it came to comfortability when asking for accommodations,” she said. “Faculty were pretty comfortable handling any accommodation requests whereas students felt very uncomfortable.” Following the results, the task force created 13 recommendations it hopes will be established next year. According to Business junior Grace Nasr, chair of CSG’s Health and Safety Commission and See CSG, Page 3A
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The official report follows the conducting and analysis of three campus-wide surveys task force reported a majority of stress- and mental healthrelated issues came from academic stress, anxiety and depression. The results, which include feedback from students and faculty across all schools and colleges at the University of Michigan, found that while students are aware of the mental health resources available to them on campus, not all students find the resources easily accessible. In an example given by the research, some students responded the long wait time for appointments and the limited hours at CAPS contributed to their inability to utilize these on-campus resources. Students living on North Campus also responded they feel it is much more difficult for them to seek mental health assistance, as
You asked me what I got for the iclicker and then doubt my answer. So now you got it wrong. Sucks to doubt me. Oh Trav
Central Student Government Mental Health Taskforce releases report JORDYN BAKER
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TRUMP From Page 1A they’re smaller like this, you can have more personal interaction and you can get your really salient questions about current events answered.” When asked about Trump’s foreign policy mishaps, Noah Nathan, an assistant professor of political science, said she believes Trump’s team is directionless because of its inexperience and an ideological split between White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, who is known for his white nationalist views, and more mainstream officials. “It’s not clear that there is a foreign policy apparatus of bureaucrats, of senior officials from the State Department … who are planning out what the foreign policy strategy is,” Nathan said. “I think (the administration is) just going from crisis to crisis to news event to news event figuring out a plan.” In a question about who will suffer the most under the Trump
BOOK From Page 1A election results, have suppressed voters — a process that resulted in modern-day voter ID laws. “They did what previous groups of people did, when they did not have the votes,” Kendi said. “They figured out new ways to suppress the votes of their opinions. They figured out how to birth the great-grandchildren of poll taxes, grandfather clauses and literacy taxes. And these greatgrandchildren were of course, voter ID laws.” Kendi also discussed different forms of racist ideas and how they contribute to modern-day discussions of social justice issues. The Blue Lives Matter group, he said, uses the idea that Black people
SPECIES From Page 1A at the University of Washington. Wasser has used the DNA in the feces of the African elephant from around Africa to map out the places of origin of recovered elephant tusks. Through discovering where the tusks originated, Wasser can identify where poaching is taking place most frequently. “It used to be thought that for these really big seizures of ivory … that poachers were assembling ivory from all over Africa,” Kolbert said. “But (Wasser) has shown that there are just two poaching hotspots: one is at the border of Gabon, Congo and Cameroon … and one is southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique.” Rackham student Alex Truelove said he finds great
DEVICE From Page 1A reducing workload and patient overload in hospitals and saving time in emergency situations following mismanagement of medications, much more so than what is currently available in the medical field. The team, spearheaded by Engineering senior David Peyer, the leader of the group who conducted all the preliminary research for the product, worked to create a user interface around an important medical procedure — something that could prove significant for both health care professionals and patients. Peyer first began his research in the University’s Mechanical Engineering Department with Jianping Fu, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, performing clinical trials on the technique. Peyer has since collaborated with Kevin Ward, the director of the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care, in securing blood samples from the University of Michigan Hospital. Later, after enrolling in the Applied Liberal Arts course 261, Social Science Topics in ALA — a course geared toward those
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administration, Lisa Disch, a professor of political science and women’s studies, answered women, particularly the elderly, will bear the burden of higher health care costs should a Republican replacement to the Affordable Care Act pass the House and Senate. “It’s a return to the 1920s, when there were many elderly women living in poverty,” Disch said. “We didn’t think that was humane so that’s why we enacted policies that would help them.” Recent events were also of high interest. Mark Tessler, the Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor of Political Science, responded to a question about last week’s missile attack on Syria by stating that though Trump likely did not have a coherent plan when he ordered the strike, it worked favorably for the president’s ratings by deflecting attention away from the ongoing investigation into his presidential campaign’s ties with Russian officials and showing he can do something his predecessor Barack Obama could not do. “He gained some popularity,” Tessler said. “I hate myself for saying this, but he looked at least
somewhat presidential in terms of taking action and standing up for people who are victims and got some credit for that.” Ken Kollman, the Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of Political Science, compared his projection about Trump’s future to other world leaders’ fates — Charles de Gaulle, Silvio Berlusconi, Richard Nixon and Benito Mussolini — saying Trump can turn into any one of these leaders. “I’m hoping for some blend of, just for the sake of us all, some blend of Berlusconi and Charles de Gaulle,” Kollman said. When asked what the media can do to regain its credibility among those who distrust them, James Morrow, the A.F.K. Organski Professor of World Politics, said while the right disliking mainstream media is not a new phenomenon, media needs to cultivate a self-critical attitude, telling a story of how The New York Times “went nuts” about the Trump administration after the election. “One thing I would like to see is for them to think about how
is it that such a large portion of the American electorate has gotten to the point where they basically don’t believe anything (the media) say,” Morrow said. “It predates the internet, so it’s not just a recent phenomenon.” LSA freshman Caitlin Brown said she was intrigued by hearing a variety of perspectives from the professors. “I thought it was super informational,” Brown said. “I felt already pretty educated about what was going on and then I came here and I was like ‘Wow, there is so much I didn’t know.’” When asked what mark Trump would make in U.S. history, Disch said she preferred he leaves no mark because any mark would not be a good one. She warned that in the worstcase scenario, Trump will change the course of history like how George W. Bush redefined war through his actions after the Sept. 11 attacks. “I would love it if history doesn’t remember him; I would love it if they remembered Alec Baldwin,” she said.
are inherently inferior to white people in its arguments. “We saw this play out in this race and policing debate, Blue Lives Matter principally blamed who? Black people,” Kendi said. “Black women are a racial group, Black gays are a racial group, the Black poor are a racial group. Black people have multiple identities, and throughout American history, each and every one of the groups they’ve been a part of has been denigrated as inferior by people in other groups.” Kendi’s analysis of intersectionality and the different ways racist ideas affect different groups impressed students. Moses Massenburg, a graduate student at Michigan State University, said he enjoyed the discussion of intersectionality and how racist ideas can interact with
other systems of oppression such as gender or class. He also touched on the importance of educating communities in order to stop the spread of racist ideas. “I appreciate his discussion of how racist ideas can cross between other systems of oppressions, be they class or sexism, and all the intersections,” Massenburg said. “I think educating and learning at the same time and going into places where people don’t get access to education is important, so prisons, going into elderly care homes, and going into different neighborhoods.” Kendi concluded by urging audience members to fight against racist policies to halt the progression of racist ideas in U.S. society. He praised social movements as a harbinger of
change, and emphasized the importance of believing in the work. “If you really want to eliminate the ideas, you must eliminate the cradle, the policies,” he said. “It’s social movements that have lead the change. But we have to believe that change is possible, in order to engage in that kind of rigorous, and taxing, and difficult work of organizing and challenging power. MSU student Jasmine Howard said she first heard about the talk on Facebook and appreciated Kendi’s explanation of the connection between how racist ideas and policies influence society. “(It was) not surprising, but I enjoyed him going through the process of racist ideas and how they become policy and how they influence society,” she said.
importance, especially as a student in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, in combatting species’ extinction. “I think everything that she talked about, whether it’s the species extinction, and things that also might affect humans as well (was important),” Truelove said. “I think our future depends very much on the actions we take in regards to these problems.” As Kolbert continued, she told the story of the American chestnut tree in the United States, once a common tree, especially on the East Coast. The work of William Powell of the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project at the State University of New York has genetically modified the American chestnut tree to make it resistant to a disease that nearly wiped the species out beginning at the turn of the 20th century. “In principle, at least, this is
quite at least an amazing result,” Kolbert said. “A fungus that humans brought to the U.S. wiped out the chestnut and now a very clever human has figured out a way to try to revive the chestnut.” Rackham student Chris AskewMerwin emphasized how humans ultimately are worse off when they kill off more species. Especially in the Amazon rainforest, he said, humans lose thousands of potential medicines when they kill plants they have never discovered. “I personally believe that all these animal species have a right to exist and we should do our best to make sure they continue to do so,” Askew-Merwin. “At the same time, but also appeal to everyone’s selfinterest because we are better off and healthier with biodiversity.” A number of non-native species have been introduced to New Zealand starting 500 years ago, Kolbert said. One of the first,
the Pacific rat, nearly killed off numerous flightless birds native to New Zealand. Rabbits were later introduced to New Zealand, and exploded in number, which took a toll on farms on the islands. To combat the rabbit population, stoats, a type of weasel, were introduced. The stoat furthered the population decline of birds on the island instead of the rabbits, leading native New Zealanders to attempt to eradicate the presence of all the non-native mammals on the island. “So New Zealanders are passionate about their native birds … and they have taken it upon themselves to protect them and since the problem is at least the mammals, the answer they have come up with is to killing a lot of the mammals,” Kolbert said. “It has successfully de-ratted a number of islands.”
minoring in entrepreneurship — taught by Eric Fretz, a lecturer of psychology and education, Peyer and his group members were able to explore the potential for the device even further. Within the group are two subgroups: The first, centered around the business endeavors of the project, includes Business juniors Ajay Das and Jeet Shah. The second, focused on the physical development and implementation of the project, is led by Peyer and Engineering sophomore Kyle Fietsam and LSA sophomore Antonio Mika, who designed the encasement of the device, completed the circuit designs, and integrated subsystems and software design, respectively. Das noted the business endeavor of the project aimed to challenge the device’s central competitors, specifically Roche Diagnostics, Alere, Abbott and Siemens. “Our role was to more analyze the competitive vantage of the device, see how that plays a role with the major competitors in the blood coagulation market,” Das said. “What we’ve been doing this past semester is analyzing major competitors, what their products provide, how this device actually undercuts that and what the cost
savings are that it could provide to potentially hospitals and other consumers.” The devices of the central competitors cost thousands of dollars, Das said, and their tests take nearly an hour to complete. This is only if a hospital is equipped with the testing device. For many, the data have to be sent elsewhere, delaying the turnaround time even further. For the Sanguis Diagnostics prototype, however, the device costs less than $200 to produce and takes between five and 15 minutes to complete the same data measurement. Additionally, while the competitors’ devices are large machines — costing as much as $30,000 —the Sanguis Diagnostics prototype is portable, simple to use and does not require a trained technician to run the diagnostic; instead, those already present at the hospital would be able to determine the correct medical treatment based on the device’s results in real time. Peyer explained the functionality of the device: the user places a droplet of blood on a cartridge — a portion of the device only costing a matter of cents — and as the blood coagulates, it contracts, pulling a beam on the device downward.
An electrical current is run across the beam; as the beam deflects, the resistance goes up, allowing the user to measure the resistance. Jeet talked about the potential of the device when scaled to a global picture. “A unique device like this has many different applications for emergency rooms, hospitals, NGOs, Doctors Without Borders and even the military,” Jeet said. “So right now, we’re going to get into analyzing the different avenues for this device.” The team also discussed the device’s significance with regard to preventing doctor error — a study from Johns Hopkins Medicine recently reported errors take the third leading cause of death in the United States, causing more than 250,000 deaths per year. The team has received interest from Roche, a central competitor; however, following graduation, Peyer will focus on creating a company in Ann Arbor around the product while working with the others in between their academics. Peyer will also continue to maintain clinical testing with the hospital. “The purpose of this machine … is to give doctors more information, faster so that they can make better decisions,” Peyer said.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 — 3A
CSG From Page 2A a co-leader of the task force, the recommendations will be sent to administrators and stakeholders on campus. Of these recommendations, there are five the task force feels can be implemented within one year, including implementing a Wellness Zone on North Campus. Six recommendations can be accomplished within one to three years, such as increasing the number of CAPS counselors. Two could possibly be accomplished in three or more years, such as establishing faculty training on mental health issues among students. The task force will continue its work next year to further establish these policies. “The goal of the task force next year will be to help implement the program and policy recommendations that are improved by administrators,” Nasr said. Throughout the year, the task force also held two mental health town halls, one on Central Campus and one on North Campus. The purpose of these town halls, which were open to the entire University community, was to share the survey results
LITTLE From Page 1A Little’s link to eugenics, he said, he was shocked. “Obviously, this isn’t a fact the University likes to publicize.” Following the recent pop-up Stumbling Blocks installations on campus, Hasler said he was surprised not to see anything addressing Little during the bicentennial exhibit. “We didn’t see anything at the C.C. Little building,” Hasler said. “Even when students do hear about C.C. Little’s eugenics past, I feel that sometimes we fail to grasp the gravity of it. Every University does have a building like this, but that doesn’t mean we should keep these buildings. A mainstream thought nearly a century ago doesn’t reflect the values that we hold at this University today.” Hasler said he thinks that as president, Little might have been able to distribute information on eugenics to students as mainstream science. The University, he said, should work to remove references to him from campus. “As we think about, as students and faculty members, how we relate to this building, we need to ask ourselves: Regardless of the faculty who reside in this building, is C.C. Little a president whose legacy — specifically relating to what he did for the University of Michigan during his tenure — is something that we want to institutionalize?” Hasler said. History Prof. Martin S. Pernick spoke in defense of Little’s views, as well as his role as a leading researcher of the time. “Many of his views were widely shared by other scientists,” he said. “He was a leader in a vast number of important national and international organizations, and he had a flare for publicity for language and promotion that helped shape public attention.” Despite this, Pernick said many of his studies were intended to create doubt, saying out-ofthe-box things such as smoking and climate change were both “harmless.” “Little focused on genetics,” Pernick said. “He seemed to revise his views to fit the tobacco industry’s views.” Pernick stressed a building renaming cannot simply erase Little’s legacy. “The point is that removing his name from a building, whether we do it or not, should not result in erasing him from memory or forgetting the important but complex things we can learn from understanding the connections among his multiple activities,” he said. History Prof. Matthew Countryman placed building renamings in a historical context, citing the significance of Yale University renaming John C.
as well as gather information from audience members regarding their thoughts on the results and their recommendations for potential programs and policies. While the task force acknowledges the University is privileged to have the resources it does to address mental health, it hopes its work will help to make these resources accessible for everyone on campus in order to ensure adequate mental health remains a priority for students, faculty and administrators. “We never want mental health to become something that goes in the back burner,” Taguchi said. “Mental health is always something that is important, everyone will always have it and it will affect their experiences here as a student, as a faculty member, a professor.” LSA freshman Matt Henning said he feels publishing these results is a good first step in addressing mental health on campus, and he hopes the University will continue to improve upon its resources. “If these numbers and these facts don’t get published and don’t get out, then these problems will still happen, but we just won’t know about them,” he said. “Putting the data out there, I think, is the first step to actually making any sort of change.”
Calhoun College to the Grace Murray Hopper College instead. “Naming itself is a political act or an institutional act that should be examined and evaluated like any other historical event,” Countryman said. “What does the act of naming reveal about the political, social and cultural terrain in which it occurred?” Countryman supported a balance in assessing the accomplishments of the figures in question before deciding whether to keep their names. “Weighing of the fullness of the historical figure’s acts seems to be a more appropriate way,” Countryman said. Prof. Kumea Shorter-Gooden, visiting from the University of Maryland, spoke about renaming the football stadium on her campus after student protests in 2015. The stadium was originally named after former Maryland President Curley Byrd, who, despite bringing the university to national prominence, espoused racist views and actively prevented Black students from attending the school. “The symbolic act of removing President Byrd’s name would continue the university’s work to make the campus a more diverse, inclusive, fair, just and welcoming place,” ShorterGooden said. “For many AfricanAmerican citizens of the state of Maryland, alumni, faculty, staff and students of the University, Byrd’s name is associated with a history of exclusion and discrimination. Maintaining the name contributes to a hostile and unwelcoming climate.” Shorter-Gooden also addressed some of the arguments against removing his name, such as disregarding Byrd’s positive contributions to the university, not focusing on actual policy to create a more inclusive environment and setting a precedent to reconsider everything on campus with an eponym. “The university risks losing alumni, donors and political support,” Shorter-Gooden said. “But since President Byrd’s time, the university has been transformed from a segregated university into one of the most diverse universities in the nation. I myself was delighted that the name was changed.” Overall, Shorter-Gooden said, allowing Black students into universities is important, but making sure those students feel welcomed once they arrive is even more crucial. By changing the name of the C.C. Little Building, she thinks the University can make progress on that front. “To name a building after Little, without any contending around his eugenicist past at the same moment that you’re opening up doors just tells us how this issue, how the whole agenda of diversity, was in its infancy and how much we have evolved,” Shorter-Gooden said. “We still have a ways to go.”
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, April 12, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ALEXIS MEGDANOFF | COLUMN
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LAURA MURPHY | OP-ED
Redefining “Michigan Engineer”
F
or the past three and a half years, I’ve fought fiercely against being titled a “Michigan Engineer.” I rejected this title because to me it seemed like the Michigan Engineer represented so many of my negative experiences amid engineering culture: having to prove to my male teammates that I’m just as capable as them, students and faculty alike not understanding how our decisions as engineers affect real people’s lives, and fighting against the administration to accept my work in disability design and design research. I remember so vividly the day sophomore year that I walked into the machine shop for the first time to complete a training project. I was sweating and my hands were shaky. I tracked down one of the guys in flannel shirts who looked like he might be in charge and told him why I was there. I told him I had never been in a machine shop before and had absolutely no experience with making things. He walked me over to a big scary lathe and told me the project was easy — don’t worry. I asked him how I should start. He shot his wide eyes at me and said: “Didn’t you watch the instructional videos? You really should come here prepared.” Then he walked away. What that man didn’t know was I had actually watched every single video they gave us about three times each. I memorized everything, but it’s different when you’re standing in front of a giant, scary machine for the first time. I didn’t know what to do. I apparently wasn’t allowed to ask for help. But I couldn’t just stand there, look at all the knobs and levers, and hope to magically become enlightened either. So I left. I returned my tools, got back my Mcard and walked out the door. I thought it was my fault, that I wasn’t good enough to be an engineer. I had never felt so stupid in my whole life. I sat on a bench outside the EECS building and called my dad right then, crying progressively harder the further I got into recounting my story. This memory and the way I felt that day will forever be burned into my mind. Unfortunately, it’s not the only negative experience I had in engineering, and I’m not the only person to have felt that they weren’t good enough to
be an engineer. To me at that time, identifying as a Michigan Engineer meant being closeminded, condescending, exclusionary of women and minorities, unwilling to ask for or give help, and too proud to admit mistakes. So why did I stay in this program? It’s a question almost everyone asks me and one that I’ve asked myself every day for the past three years. I realized recently that it’s because of those whose energ y and action contradict the negative, but often accurate, stereotype of a Michigan Engineer. Despite my experience in the machine shop, my design team that semester was incredibly supportive, and we were able to bring out one another’s strengths in ways I never imagined.
I stay because of those whose energy and action contradict the negative, but often accurate, stereotype of a Michigan Engineer. That same year, I began a disability design company with Sidney Krandall, a University alum in the School of Art & Design class of 2016, and we were able to rely on individual faculty to sit down with us and give feedback on cardboardand-duct-tape prototypes. I discovered people whose offices I could stop by and pose big questions to about carving my own path through the College of Engineering. Shanna Daly, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, became one of my closest mentors in this way. She helped me discover the exponential growth that occurs when design research aligns with design practice, and introduced me to a world of opportunities, including a trip to Copenhagen to present our research. Amy Hortop, a coordinator of mechanical engineering capstone projects, became my partner in creating an Interdisciplinary Design Conference. This introduced
EMILY WOLFE | CONTACT EMILY AT ELWOLFE@UMICH.EDU
me to an entire group of engineers, architects and designers who care just as much as I do about doing impactful work. And finally, my capstone design project team — Val Coldren, Ryan Payerle and Sheevam Naik — has been a source of unending creative energy as we navigate our way through an intense case study in disability design. A couple of months ago, I realized I’m graduating this spring with a degree from the University of Michigan College of Engineering. So by definition, I am a Michigan Engineer. What does that mean? I am a designer. I’m passionate about designing with and learning from people who have disabilities. I’m insistent that every single person has the opportunity to create a positive impact in the world, and I try to open people’s eyes to that opportunity. I care about being reflective and constantly question whether or not I’m a good person. Some days, when the answer is no, it’s up to me to figure out why and put the right work in. After seeing so much negativity in the world this year, I decided to ensure every action I take is one that positively impacts society. Choosing to live my life this way has given me both direction and wind in the sails of my boat of life. So what do you offer? What is a Michigan Engineer to you? I think now is our opportunity to define that the Michigan Engineer doesn’t just take one form, that we require it to be a fluid term. I’ve experienced a College of Engineering that is diverse in thought and passion. Where each student brings unique strengths and individuality to the table. Writing “University of Michigan” on a résumé no longer implies a certain personality or skillset. Each one of us has carved our own paths through this university and every day my fellow students define what it means to be a Michigan Engineer. The weight is on our shoulders to create our own definition and to ensure that our legacy is one we can be proud of. Our shared background as Michigan Engineers is the platform from which we take our big jump with eyes wide open into creating the world in which we want to live. Laura Murphy is a senior in the College of Engineering.
W
We still have a lot to learn
hen I watch the me to believe that we, as a tour groups circle generation, still do not know campus, I both very much. Collectively, our smile and cringe as I see knowledge may be great, but the prospective I do not see how freshmen coming we can confidently to the University of leave college behind Michigan. I smile without admitting because college that we are not done tours are exciting learning. — they are full of Depending on promise and dreams what source you of what is to come. consult, the oldest But I cringe because, millennials are ALEXIS for many, college currently entering tours are also the MEGDANOFF their mid-thirties beginning of a time right now. This in which students will first means many have settled, or encounter the realization that are beginning to settle, down they know basically nothing to have families, and they are about the world. just now starting to find jobs I put myself in their shoes they could possibly stay in for and it is hard to believe who more than five years. When I was a year ago. So much has looking at the big picture, we happened since then, and as can see there are so many other my first year at the University people with more experience comes to a close, I realize I to draw on that we are still have learned a plethora of new basically children within the things and yet still seem to world and young adults at best. have learned very little of the Millennials need to see world outside my education. I that although some of us may am not sure if this is because disagree with certain values of it is my first year or because so older generations, we are not much of the next three years all-knowing or better because is still unknown, but I have of our youth. There is value never been more aware of the in talking about life lessons knowledge I do not have. with those older than us even I have had some hard when we do not see eye to lessons because of this lack eye on specific issues, and we of knowledge throughout the cannot begin to take major year. Whether it has been in positions within this country, what classes to take, what to as politicians, business leaders major in or any kind of sizable or even as active citizens, life decision, more often than without recognizing we have a not, I usually learn from the lot to learn. mistakes I have made and not We must accept that our the things I did right. And viewpoints and beliefs are not this makes me wonder if I the same as others’, and it does can successfully graduate and not do any good to ignore what enter the “real” world with all individuals from the opposing of the skills I could ever need. side have to say because This extends to my friends we believe our way is right. and acquaintances as well. Learning how to be a member They have expressed these of society does not just include same thoughts, and it has lead contributing our opinions
to the discussion. It means actively listening to others, being open to new ideas and not being afraid to change the way we are living based on an idea that was not our own. Yes, the world is much different from when older generations were our age, but there are fundamental truths about life that we will wrestle with through our entire lives. As young adults, we have yet to feel the pressure to understand many of these, and simply because we have not wrestled with certain problems does not mean we can blow them off and not accept the advice we are given. This goes beyond calling up our parents when we are having a bad day and need a pep talk. It means actually listening to what they have to say, what our grandparents have to say, our bosses, advisers and anyone else who offers us their input. I am not claiming everyone older than us automatically has something useful to tell us, but we should at least actively listen when they feel the need to express their thoughts. Ultimately, even though we learn a lot during college, we cannot logically believe that we are done learning at graduation. Life itself is perpetually being a freshman and we cannot make decisions assuming we know everything. Because of this, we must remember to ref lect not just on our choices, but the choices of those older than us. The world is made better not by citing the wrongs of those before us, but changing our actions so we do not repeat the same mistakes. Alexis Megdanoff can be reached at amegdano@umich.edu.
APPLY TO BE A COLUMNIST OR CARTOONIST Have opinions? Love to write? Draw? Apply as a cartoonist or columnist for the Spring/Summer! Visit http://tinyurl.com/summeropinion to find out more about where you might fit in this summer. MICHELLE PHILLIPS | COLUMN
“Y
Keep doing what you love
ou write for the not impact my day-to-day life. Daily, so you The little girl inside of me want to go into still reminds me of the joy journalism, right?” is a question performing brought me. But I am often asked. now that I have And the answer is no been away from the … well … kind of. The stage, I have realized answer is that I don’t all the skills it has even know. What taught me beyond I do know is that I memorizing a script. enjoy the Daily, and As we get older, it is something I am our passions evolve passionate about. and change to fit When I was little, our individual goals. I wanted to be an goals are MICHELLE These actress. Growing often focused on PHILLIPS sustaining a lifestyle up, I was actively involved in theater, dance and that best meets our needs. public speaking competitions. However, as our focus on these It was my favorite thing to do. professional goals intensifies, I loved having an audience and the valuable experiences jumped at any opportunity we might find outside of our to showcase my skills. vocation wane. If we only However, my passion for immerse ourselves in one performing never stopped me environment, we are at risk of from pursuing other things. our passion burning out. I played sports, danced and As students, we often are wrote for the school paper — caught up in thinking about shocker, I know. how to get ahead of our peers The experiences I had by obtaining a better internship outside of my primary passion or scoring higher on a test, but for performing helped me we should acknowledge the to recognize how my acting fact that the experiences we abilities affected my other enjoy outside of academics interests. In class, I was never shape who we are. At this afraid to be the first person transitional period of our lives, to present a project, and I we should be open-minded always raised my hand if I had to new things and know that a question. I did not know my we aren’t wasting our time. willingness to perform in front Having and pursuing a variety of people helped me to be more of interests makes us more than comfortable and confident our résumés. It is important with myself. to remember that being wellWhen I came to college, I rounded is a valuable virtue stopped performing. I became that makes us human. Just engaged with activities because something isn’t that were more specific to directly perceived as “on the my academic interests, and right path” doesn’t mean it’s the competitive nature of useless. auditioning intimidated me. I In fact, having hobbies am aware that even though I or interests outside our am not participating in theater professional disciplines is anymore, that does not mean beneficial to our mental the skills and lessons I have health and productivity in learned through performing do the professional field. When
we focus our attention on our hobbies, we take time to de-stress from the daily grind of the workplace. It allows us to open our minds to new experiences and gives us a different activity to put forth our energy. At college, students feel pressured to be the best at their specific major, but taking classes that don’t exactly pertain to a specific interest encourages new forms of social interaction that we might not have if not for taking a class outside our disciplines. While we might love the professions we are getting into, if we devote all of our energies to one thing, we risk neglecting the multitude of passions and hobbies we once had growing up. Achieving mastery at a specific profession depends on how we experience our lives outside of it. At college, we feel pressure to join clubs that pertain only to our major or field of interest. Instead, we should be encouraged to explore the things we’ve always loved alongside our professional goals. We should feel empowered to immerse ourselves in the multitude of opportunities we have on this campus. When I tell my friends what I am involved in, they assume that my primary interest is some kind of journalism. However, they do not know all that I have done in my time before I joined the paper. Similarly, I am not aware of all of the interests that shape them. If we keep these passions alive beyond our youth, we might be surprised to find people who feel the same pressures we do. We might be surprised where we find ourselves. Michelle Phillips can be reached at mphi@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts SOCIAL MEDIA COLUMN
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
The costs and benefits of capturing injustice online
COURTESY OF NATE ROBERT
‘Yeezus’ & the Bauhaus Reflecting on industrial art and how it attests to Kanye’s artistry SHAYAN SHAFII Daily Arts Writer
When you think of Architecture, with a capital A, you might consider European cathedrals, gothic college campuses and maybe some allglass building with an all-white interior. So many Tumblresque corners of the internet are cluttered with images of supremely tasteful homes and buildings, but almost none are of educational value. They just seem like nice spaces to be in, but it’s hard to understand why. Like music, you just know when you feel it. I took an Architecture class last winter to try and understand how a space can impose itself on us, and perhaps vice-versa. Why do we make monuments? How do cities construct an identity? Can somewhere really be an empirically proven depressant, and how do you “fix” such a
The core tenet of Bauhaus industrial design is structural transparency; clarity is the ultimate sophistication
place? I had most of my questions answered on a field trip to Lafayette Park: a legendary neighborhood in downtown Detroit, designed entirely German architect Mies Van der Rohe. Those who know me best know about my lifelong Kanye West fandom, so of course, an undertone of my field trip experience was in effort to understand West’s Yeezus-era obsession with mid-century modern architecture. This is well-documented in many of West’s interviews and hidden easter eggs, and if you look in the right places, a strong argument could be made for considering Yeezus to be a legitimate “Bauhaus Album”. Specifically, while touring, I couldn’t help but think of an interview he did with Jon Caramanica of the New York Times, where he went as far as to cite a Le Corbusier lamp as a crucial “inspiration” for Yeezus. For all of his efforts at building one of the greatest decade-spanning runs in music history, there’s no doubt that the Kanye West Experience has always been about more than the music. There is neither focal point nor distraction: Everything ranging from the brash interviews to the designer album covers contributes to a career-spanning performance
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 — 5A
art piece. Even before the barrel of the media followed his every move, Kanye’s relentless personal development has always had architectural undertones. Before he was a Kardashian, he was a clumsy college dropout, packaging chipmunk-soul in Beaux-Arts frames. Late Registration shows his nowiconic bear mascot peeking out from the doors of a stone cathedral; it should have been no surprise when he performed select tracks from the album with a full orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. The Glow In The Dark Tour seemed to hyperextend Takashi Murakami’s vision of “Superflat” into a synesthetic cannon. A film he directed for Cruel Summer was projected on seven screens, superimposed on a pyramid-shaped pavilion designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. Every Kanye West album is an extension of a school of thought that transcends the realm of music. Where Kanye travels to and creates his music is, in my opinion, the greatest indication of the space he intends for his music to occupy. He took a sabbatical in Rome before creating My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, dabbled in Japan during the Graduation era and made The Life of Pablo in Calabasas. It shows. Yeezus, on the other hand, was recorded in-between a notoriously stark Manhattan loft, and an apartment in Paris’ 16th Arrondissement. Now imagine Rick Rubin, and his beard, in either of those settings. Nice. Like all Kanye albums, Yeezus is no exception in being a product of its environment. The relationship is sometimes hilariously direct; in the same interview with Caramanica, West revealed that he recorded in the living room of his Paris loft — which had “the worst acoustics possible” — and thus the songs “had to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it’s not going to work in that space.” This is, by definition, engineering music for the space you intend for it to occupy. The Le Corbusier citation for Yeezus is most interesting because it’s his most explicit architectural reference yet, and I find it to be worth considerable investigation in linking Yeezus to one of the most influential architectural movements and schools of all time: The Bauhaus. I remember back when Yeezus first dropped, and the “no-album-cover” album cover felt like a bit of a like a lazy copout. The fact that “On Sight” kicked the door in with a digital buzzsaw didn’t help; visual and sonic first impressions felt intentionally rugged. Yet, the laziest criticism of post-MBDTF ‘Ye capitalizes on these sorts of low-hanging fruit, spraying nonsense about his alleged “sloppiness” and “decline” since creating one of the most universally likeable
albums of the century. While popular opinion remains that Kanye West is first and foremost an “asshole”, and musician second, holding and listening to Yeezus today in light of his architectural footprint seems to communicate a vision clear enough to remove all doubt regarding his multimedia genius. Where The Life of Pablo is more a product of 1950s Los Angeles “Googie” architecture, Yeezus is as cold and balanced as a Bauhaus product in every sense. — The core tenet of Bauhaus industrial design is structural transparency; clarity is the ultimate sophistication. As we all know, the nowinfamous physical copies of Yeezus are designed as functionalist CD cases. No bells and whistles; the function is simply to house the disc. While touring a specific unit
Where Kanye travels to and creates his music is, in my opinion, the greatest indication of the space he intends for his music to occupy
in Lafayette Park, I remember taking note a of a sink that was particularly helpful in making this connection. Where most sinks contain features like cabinets and cupboards to abstract the underlying plumbing, this sink hid nothing. The frame of the sink was only inches deep (as little as necessary to funnel the water), with two iron pegs as support. The infrastructure set in place for plumbing was also completely visible — no ornamentation. One could easily identify weight-bearing components of the sink, and follow the path of the water from start to finish. While a CD case isn’t nearly as dynamic as a sink with moving parts, the design philosophy remains the same. Aside from Kanye himself, the first names that come to mind when I think of the Yeezus era are Rick Rubin and Virgil Abloh — Kanye’s creative director. Virgil has a masters degree in Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, where Mies himself has actually designed the curriculum (it should be noted that West has also been documented Googling Mies in Paris around the same time). While I had the privilege of
Whether it’s police brutality against Black Americans, unmediated violence or public acts of verbal and physical abuse, capturing and posting videos have become imperative when it comes to highlighting everyday acts of injustice. But what these kinds of viral videos portray in their content is almost as vital as how they are framed, who watches them and whether or not it will achieve its desired effect. The most recent case of a viral video of injustice came just earlier this week when several passengers on an overbooked United Airlines f light captured something on their phones that has already caught national and online attention: Two aviation guards removed a male passenger off the plane by force. Based on the various videos of the event, the scene is quite disturbing. You can hear the collective shock of nearby passengers and shrill sound of the man’s scream, all while witnessing the security guards and the aggressive force in dragging the man out of his seat and onto the plane’s f loor. Another video shows the man, his face now bloodied, running to the back of the plane and mumbling to himself: “Just kill me. Just kill me now. I need to go home.” Since the incident occurred, people have expressed their anger and frustration on Twitter and other social media platforms, claiming that this man was unjustly taken off the plane. However, some online skeptics have tried to rationalize the situation, remarking how the man didn’t cooperate. It makes sense that people would react in both ways. For some, it’s a human instinct to empathize with the victim, while others might simply feel the need to justify the motive of the authority in question. But either way, this situation shouldn’t be that hard of an equation to solve. Even if the man refused to comply, the incident captured on camera is clear enough evidence that the way in which this man was taken off the plane was unruly,
inappropriate and just plain wrong. Since the beating of Rodney King in 1992, recording videos has become a powerful weapon in documenting injustice. With the universal accessibility of social media, these videos have now an even greater advantage of reaching audiences all over the world. Camera phone videos were particularly inf luential after the shooting of Michael Brown, as they illustrated through the Ferguson riots, highlighted the issue of police brutality and ultimately spread the message of resistance in the Black Lives Matter movement. Since then, videos have become incredibly significant in documenting unjust beatings against Black
visiting Virgil’s “Off-White” store in Hong Kong two summers ago, an employee spoke to me about how Virgil himself participated in the design process for the tropical storefront. There is no doubt that he, as a seasoned architect educated to Mies’ liking, had a hand in the creative direction of Yeezus. Sonically, the album draws from Rick Rubin’s minimalist zen in addition to the sparse spaces that birthed it. Billing himself as more of a “reducer” than “producer,” Rubin was largely responsible for fleshing out the entire album over the course of a week. I still remember running through My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy all day in anticipation of my first listen through Yeezus, and in hindsight, this was terrible preparation to hear an album made by a guy who reinvents himself twice a year. Where Twisted Fantasy is architecturally equivalent to something like the classically ornate Pantheon, Rubin stripped Yeezus down to a carbon-fiber skeleton. The end of “I’m In It”, for example, has a certain space and volume about it that lurches and collapses in on itself; the high-hats don’t layer so much as they wait for one another, spacing themselves out and alternating between left and right channels. Somewhere in the middle, Kanye remains in focus, but rapping as if his words intermittently pass through a strobe light. The bass kicks up dust with every iteration. The song sounds like a hollowed-out sex factory. “I Am A God” kicks off with an echo that bounces around some freezing abyss. Kanye’s voice is warped and permuted
into variations of itself, flying in from all directions. Even on the 100th listen you struggle to predict where he comes from. The most venomous track on the album, “New Slaves”, is driven by a single synth
SAM ROSENBERG male civilians (i.e. Eric Garner, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile). And yet even when a situation involving a man or woman being beaten is visually encapsulated and draws sympathy, a “but-whatif-this-happened” rhetoric erupts online. The videos each share similar undertones for how authority can mistreat a victim. Despite how cellphone videos can bring important awareness to a rarely discussed issue, there’s something very problematic and somewhat counterproductive about the act. Other than not telling the fully story behind what is being, the passive act of capturing and posting videos of injustice reinforces bystander culture. The camera has the power to illustrate a misdemeanor, but what about the person capturing the event? Or the other people nearby witnessing the incident? Shouldn’t they be
In the same way that an architect places walls and columns to create a structure that you can navigate experientially, ‘Yeezus’ sees Kanye narrow in on specific sonic elements like a synth or 808
melody; it feels as hollow as the loft it was written in, and as cold as the stone it originally vibrated on. Again, Kanye’s voice is an industrial hammerblow between keystrokes. His panting on “Black Skinhead” seems to drip sweat on the barking synths that open the track. Each and every song is arranged with enough elements for you to count on
doing something? The most plausible theory to explain this passivity is because using a camera phone is easier and much safer than attempting to defuse the situation yourself. In some cases, recording for evidence can make a huge difference in how we perceive issues like race and criminal justice. But even when someone films an innocent man selling cigarettes is choked to death on the sidewalk, there’s still a probability that there won’t be justice for the victim. Viral videos of injustice might also not be the most helpful tool in giving full context of what they’re capturing. In fact, whatever incident is being depicted can have drastically different effects on viewers, depending on the angle or quality of the camera. When we watch these videos online, they automatically prime to us side with either the authority or the victim, depending on our implicit biases. Do we side with the victim because we feel compassion for someone who is being hurt physically and emotionally? Or do we side with the authority because we hate it when a person refuses to respect and listen to them? My guess is that the blame should lie not with the victim or the authority, but the power structures that are responsible for creating such a incident, deliberate or not. Perhaps it isn’t the man on the United Airlines we should be blaming, or even the security guards who carried out this horrifying act — what they did was nevertheless awful and should not have been as violent as it ended up being. Rather, it is the incompetence of United Airlines that deserves the most accountability. Their first mistake was overbooking the flight, but it was the company’s negligence of this situation and their mistreatment of forcibly removing this passenger. United CEO Oscar Munoz has released a statement, apologizing to the passenger and the online but the damage is already done. The repercussions will live forever on tape.
one hand, but together they form soundscapes built on the Bauhaus design language. In the same way that an architect places walls and columns to create a structure that you can navigate experientially, Yeezus sees Kanye narrow in on specific sonic elements like a synth or 808, and guide them through various crevices of a single track. The sparse layers create spaces in songs that don’t exist elsewhere in Kanye’s discography; for the first time, Kanye ditches church and orchestra rehearsal to play with fire in an industrial complex. If his traditionally lush instrumentation suffocates you through raw enumeration (think: how many people must have been in that “Ultralight Beam” choir?), Yeezus throws you through a meatgrinder in an empty warehouse. The whole album reminds me of one of Mies’ most famous sketches — a piece titled “Concert Hall” — where he draws 2D planes on an image of an empty airplane factory. The tessellation of beams and columns creates a certain elegance possible only through Bauhaus structural transparency; yet, the space between the columns creates a cold, airless vacuum. This is the space that Yeezus — the Bauhaus album — occupies. It was assembled with the sophistication of mid-century modern industrialism and architecture, yet executed with the cold ruthlessness of a Black man denied entry to the bourgeoisie world of fashion. In one motion, he creates a project to show that he can “do it too”, but won’t let you in unless you cut the red tape first.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, April 12, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
FILM NOTEBOOK
WARNER BROS.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
‘Style’ is standard fare Some Exodus films not Zach Braff crime-comedy is likeable despite its basic nature to pass over this holiday relationship between their characters. Of the three, Arkin’s deadpan cynicism as Albert makes him With some movies, what a standout, though it’s not that you see is what you get. “Going difficult a competition. The in Style” is one actors may be of those movies. solid, as befits “Going in Style” There’s little on their Academy the surface here Award-winning Warner Bros. and even less statuses, but Pictures underneath, but their characters Rave Cinemas, what is there is need work. Goodrich Quality 16 Caine plays Joe, usually funny enough to carry who hatches it through its the initial idea moments of to rob the bank weakness. The cast is game, but is otherwise the most oneif underutilized, and when note, plainly good-natured director Zach Braff (“Wish guy onscreen at any given I Was Here”) taps into moment. Freeman, who only the energ y a bank robbery goes along with the plan to get naturally invites — even one a new kidney, has apparently perpetrated by octogenarians reached the point in his iconic — his newest f lick becomes a career where all producers treat. can think to do with him is Updated from the 1979 film place him in mortal danger of the same name, “Going in for a heavy-handed lesson in Style” tells the story of three mortality. Given this material, seniors who decide to rob it’s almost more impressive a bank after their pension that Caine, Freeman and fund is dissolved. Without a Arkin make their Joe, Willie doubt, Alan Arkin (“Argo”), and Albert as lifelike as they Morgan Freeman (“Ben-Hur”) do. and Michael Caine (“The That being said, there are Last Witch Hunter”) are the f lashes throughout the film movie’s greatest assets, and it’s of the wit and personality a shame Braff doesn’t lean on that these stars deserve. A them as often as they deserve. mid-story “training montage” The interplay between them provides the film’s pacing a works more often than not, shot in the arm and is welland together they are able to photographed and edited, foster a believable longtime using inventive graphics and JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer
Classifieds
inserts to chart the three men’s progress as wannabe robbers. The heist itself is a fun show of each character’s personality, and Arkin again steal the show with a surprise “Heat”-like monologue. Ultimately, what “Going in Style” lacks most is personality. Besides its stars, it is almost irritatingly lethargic. Its story is very reminiscent of “Tower Heist,” but it lacks the energ y, comic or otherwise, that could have sustained it through its many slower moments. Instead, it spends time on forced life lessons that could have been spent on comedy and characters, both of which would have helped it stand out. As it is, it’s mostly just a string of “I’m too old for this” and “Fish out of water” jokes that get old fast, placing more and more pressure on the leads and their chemistry. Thankfully, the trio of legends prove up to the task. Due to their work, “Going in Style” rises just above its generic roots to become a charming enough comedy that likely won’t be remembered by many by the end of the year. It would be hard to argue that that’s not the point, though. Braff wasn’t trying to remake the wheel here. By all appearances, his goal was to make a goofy comedy with three of the best actors of their generation, and in that he succeeded.
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RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
AUTOMOTIVE
DOWN 1 Like beachfront property 2 Steal the spotlight from 3 Cuban dictator overthrown by Castro 4 Nasty remarks 5 Marvel Comics mutants 6 __ Tin Tin 7 PC key 8 Super Mario World dinosaur 9 Decorate elaborately 10 End of a general’s URL 11 Low-fat frozen dessert 12 Many a new hire 13 “If you will” 18 Fizzled out 22 __ crossroads 25 First interracial coed college in the South 26 Tries to win 27 Canine ailment 30 Chinese zodiac animal 33 One-named Italian male model
35 “The Fault in Our __”: 2014 film 38 Nickname for a 2000s tabloid item 39 Anger 40 Black Sea republic 41 Police paperwork 42 High-and-mighty sort 45 “Just like I said” 46 Climbing plant
47 Disordered yet appealing person 49 Salon application 51 Dutch town 54 Nudge 56 Weed B Gon maker 59 School restroom sign 61 Confessional rock genre 63 Fabrication 64 Not up-to-date
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By Neville Fogarty ©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/12/17
BECKY PORTMAN Daily Arts Writer
’Tis the season, my friends, ’tis the season. ’Tis the season for macaroons, matzo balls and mishpacha (family). As Passover approaches, I thought it would only be appropriate to highlight some of my personal favorite holiday movies. Sure, we don’t have delightful movies like Christmas does. There is no Passover version of “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “A Christmas Story,” but there is potential. “A Passover Story,” where all Ralphie wants for Passover is an official Red Ryder, carbine action, twohundred shot range model air rif le — OK, it needs some work. Still, Passover movies are full of drama, tragedy and the booming, omnipresent voice of The Almighty (usually something like James Earl Jones). While Passover movies may not be jolly or joyful, they tell the story of the holiday much better than your Uncle or Zaide. In addition to the four cups of wine and the eating of the bitter herbs, my family has another Passover tradition. Each Passover, we make ourselves comfortable and watch the 220-minute long depiction of the Exodus story: Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.” This one is a classic; a melodramatic, historically inaccurate, 1950s version of the familiar tale. No matter how overdone and cheesy it may be, I love every second of this three and half hour epic. If you have seen
the film, you know the scene where Anne Baxter’s Nefretiri (fake history) lures Moses into her chambers with a moan so deep it borders between orgasm and chainsmoker. Charlton Heston (“Ben-Hur”) is the chiseled Eg yptian prince turned Hebrew slave liberator, Moses. Heston embodies Moses, like Marlon Brando as “The Don” or Harrison Ford as anything. The film is kitschy, but it feels like home in a way not many movies do. This next one stars the likes of Val Kilmer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Ralph Fiennes, Patrick Stewart and even Dame Helen Mirren. No, I am not describing a heist movie. I am talking about the 1998 animated film, “The Prince of Eg ypt” (now on Netf lix!). Despite it being animated, the film has the cinematic scope and drama of a live action. The drawn characters and catchy tunes make the story approachable and charming. The silly, sorcerer priests, Hotep and Huy are played by the kings of comedy, two of “The Three Amigos,” Steve Martin and Martin Short, respectively. No matter how many times I have seen it, and that being many, I always end up belting out “When You Believe” with no shame whatsoever. The most recent foray into the Exodus story was attempted in 2014 by Ridley Scott (“Alien”) in his expansive, epic, overdone “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” The film’s goal is to apparently tell the Passover story, but it feels more like Scott took his film
“Gladiator” and superimposed it over a poorly told, heavily fabricated summary of the book of Exodus. I had trouble seeing Christopher Nolan’s Batman (Christian Bale) as Moses and Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) from “The Big Lebowski” as Pharaoh. The special effects rule this film (I don’t think the real plagues were as intense as Scott’s version) so much so that the story gets washed out. “Exodus” is dominated by sibling rivalry, God complexes, an excessive amount of eyeliner and unfortunately not much else. For now, let’s leave the Biblical source material to Darren Aronofsky. These Passover-themed films offer three very different approaches to one amazing story. The first is a classic, the next a beloved childhood memory, the last is, well, last. But the final and best rendition of the Passover story, by far, is the “Rugrats Passover Special.” Initially broadcast in 1995, before I was born, it’s played every year since on VHS in my family living room. Grandpa Boris, hoping to shed the light of the holiday onto the children, tells them the story of Passover. In this version, Tommy Pickles is Moses, liberating the enslaved babies (Hebrews) from the wicked Angelica (Pharaoh). It is the perfect amount of entertainment and nostalgia to add to your Passover. So grab some matzo, sit back, relax and enjoy the story of freedom, faith and family. Happy Passover!
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 They broke their 108-year World Series drought in 2016 5 Medical picture 9 Gives out 14 Lustrous gem 15 “Bloom County” reporter 16 Very small 17 Dean’s list honorees 19 Pasture sound 20 Add to the pot 21 Electronic sci-fi antagonist 23 “¡Dios __!” 24 Cannes cup 25 Thiamine and riboflavin 28 FBI operative 29 Number before vier 31 Spring bloomer 32 Flip (through) 34 Son of Zeus and Hera 36 In tune 37 Two-variable marketing experiment 40 Diving bird 43 Way out yonder 44 Inscribe 48 After morays, say 50 Mined matter 52 Mexican gold 53 First novel in Willa Cather’s Great Plains trilogy 55 Apartment sign 57 Go bad 58 Under the weather 59 Javier __, first Spanish actor to win an Oscar 60 “Good __!” 62 Classification suggested by the beginning of 17-, 25-, 37- and 53Across 65 Not always helpful reply to “Who’s there?” 66 Like bad fried food 67 Shed tools 68 Early fur trader 69 Ties the knot 70 Joint possession word
As Passover approaches, some notable films may be of value
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Rethinking art in ‘artless’ NITYA GUPTA Daily Arts Writer
I was sitting in my Anthropology 101 lecture, watching the documentary “In and Out of Africa,” when I finally came to an understanding. The documentary is about the African art dealer Gabai Barre, who travels from the rural Ivory Coast to Long Island, selling his work. He explains his creation process, and the documentary addresses the idea of authenticity and exchange values. One of the people interviewed poses the question: Is something considered art if it’s being created to be sold? The question hit me as extremely relevant, and not just in the context of African art exchange. Can art be constituted art even when it is created solely with the audience’s preferences in mind? The woman being interviewed went on to answer her own question, discussing how she believes it is still artwork, because it contains the mind of the artist. Perhaps this is true. Perhaps to a certain extent, all artists think about their audiences when creating their work. Another important facet of African art exchange is replication. Barre admitted that many of his Western customers wanted an original piece. He
would reassure them that they were the first ones to see his new work, when in reality, the same piece had already been sold to others. This raises questions about the relationship between replication and true creation. In the context of Barre’s work, it could still be argued that there is nontraditional artistry in his work. If one pursues art as a profession, then their work is being created to be sold. The goal is for their pieces to generate a profit. While many famous artists such as Vincent van Gogh or Claude Monet were not profitable during most of, if not their entire lifetimes, their work was initially considered either successful or unsuccessful based off the monetary value of their art. Barre and other African art dealers are profitable because they factor in what their buyers seem to prefer. After working with a buyer several times, they develop an understanding of what their buyer wants, something of which even their buyers are often not aware. This showcases an inherent artistry in the practices of these art dealers. It’s unconventional, because the artistry is in their understanding of the artistic styles that their customers want and their ability to produce this. The issue of replication
does raise ethical concerns, considering that their customers are being deceived. Setting aside this problem, replication of an artist’s own work is not wrong — depending on the artist, it could be even more artistic than the original piece, allowing the artist to rethink some of the concepts and ideas behind it. Many of these questions stem from the monetization of artwork. Many African art dealers like Barre use this to their advantage by blending their talent with marketing skills and creating an intriguing and artful practice to analyze. Likewise, many famous actors, musicians and entertainment celebrities are economically successful because they capitalize on the monetization of artwork. Instead of minimizing the artistry in the work, maybe we should consider their work to be artistic in a different way, for their understanding of their audiences. The Monets of history were ahead of their times, only gaining recognition very late in their lives or after death, making little money during their lifetimes. However, they are now considered highly influential artists who were leaders in artistic movements.
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Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, April 12, 2017— 7A
Wolverines search for next hockey coach McDoom boasts MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor
At the end of the past few seasons, Red Berenson’s status as the coach of the Michigan hockey team was in question. It was thought that he would retire after the 2015-16 season, but athletic director Warde Manuel convinced him to stay for another year. Monday, Berenson finally put an end to all the questions, as he officially stepped down from his position with the team. Now, for the first time in 33 seasons, the Wolverines are in search of a new coach. With Berenson’s status as coach being uncertain over the past few years, there has been plenty of time to speculate on who would take his position when he did retire. The Daily breaks down some of the possible candidates for his replacement at Michigan. Mel Pearson: Pearson is currently the head coach at Michigan Tech, where he has led the Huskies to NCAA Tournament appearances in two of the last three seasons as well as a Western Conference Hockey Association Tournament championship last season. Pearson was an assistant under Berenson with the Wolverines from 1988-2011, and was long believed to be the coach-in-waiting for when Berenson retired. But after joining — and finding success with — Michigan Tech, it’s unclear if Pearson would be willing to come back to Ann Arbor. Pearson may be the most qualified candidate for Michigan. One of the areas that has plagued the Wolverines in recent seasons is their ineptitude in Corsi percentage — just last season they were the third-worst team nationally in the category, which measures all shot attempts taken at even strength. On the other hand, Pearson’s Huskies have ranked in the top-five in Corsi percentage in each of the last three seasons. All in all, if Pearson would be willing to return to Michigan, it
seems as though the two would make a good fit. Brian Wiseman: Wiseman played for the Wolverines from 1991-94 and accrued 164 assists in his career, the most in program history. He has served as an assistant coach under Berenson since 2011. As a result, he is intimately familiar with the current team, so the transition from Berenson to him would presumably be smooth. Additionally, Wiseman has taken a lead role in recruiting efforts over the last few seasons. He has traveled around the country, and in some cases, was the main contact between recruits and Michigan. On the downside, Wiseman’s tenure coincides with the Wolverines’ struggles in recent years. This is not to say that Wiseman is responsible, but if Michigan wants to change its program’s momentum, hiring someone who is currently in the program may be counterintuitive. Billy Powers: Powers’ situation is somewhat similar to that of Wiseman. After beginning his playing career at Division II St. Anselm, Powers transferred to Michigan as a part of Berenson’s first recruiting class in 1985. He played the next three years with the Wolverines, and after his college career was over, he immediately transitioned into being a graduate assistant with Michigan. Powers has been with the Wolverines ever since, and after Pearson left, he was promoted to the associate head coach position that he holds today. Like Wiseman, Powers is extremely close to the program. He was a part of the NCAA Championships in 1996 and 1998, and he’s also been a part of the recent decline. So, again, if Michigan is looking to change directions with its program, Powers doesn’t seem to fit the bill. Unlike Wiseman, though, Powers has more experience in a coaching capacity, so hiring him
strong potential KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
FILE PHOTO/Daily
The Michigan hockey team will have to replace legendary coach Red Berenson.
now may be a safer bet. Bill Muckalt: Muckalt is a bit more of an outside candidate than the other three because he hasn’t coached under Berenson. He does have substantial and successful coaching experience, though. Muckalt played his college career at Michigan from 19941998 and was a part of both NCAA Championship teams. From there, he experienced a short, six-year professional career. Muckalt moved on to become an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan before bouncing around as an assistant on a few junior hockey teams. He then reconnected with Pearson, his former associate head coach with the Wolverines at Michigan Tech. In 2015, Muckalt got his shot as a head coach with the United States Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm, where he led the Storm to its first ever USHL championship
in his first season at the helm. Muckalt appears to be a good option for Michigan in today’s world of hockey, as he is only 42 and would be able to relate to recruits more easily. *** At Berenson’s retirement press conference, he was asked what he wanted from his successor. “I hope there’s some Michigan awareness or Michigan connection for a coach that will feel the right way about what a Michigan man should be like and what a Michigan team should be like,” Berenson said. Pearson, Wiseman, Powers and Muckalt certainly fit that bill with their coaching and playing experience with the Wolverines. And even if Michigan decides to hire somebody other than those four, one thing is for certain: after 33 years under Berenson, the next head coach will have enormous shoes to fill.
Hill learning intricacies of fullback position ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
Can a fullback be the face of a modern college football team’s offense? That may be the question surrounding the Michigan football team this year. The Wolverines lost the bulk of last season’s playmakers to graduation. They did, however, receive some good news when Khalid Hill, their resident touchdown vulture also known as the ‘Hammering Panda,’ decided to return for one final year. Hill admitted it would be nice to be considered the face of the offense. Since Jim Harbaugh’s arrival, the fullback has been integral to Michigan’s scheme. But Hill reserved that term for Wilton Speight, the team’s returning starting quarterback. He may be underselling himself. Hill scored 13 times last season, by far the most of any returning skill position player and more than a third of the team’s total rushing and
receiving touchdowns from returning players. So that mantle — of being the focal point of the offense — may have to be shared between Hill and Speight, regardless of whether Hill denies it while saying he’s “just” a fullback. Because if you believe what he has said about his offseason, it certainly seems like the fifthyear senior is gearing up for what may be a larger role, even after his breakout season last year. After all, he feels like he could be even better at what may be Harbaugh’s most beloved position. “I feel more comfortable with the fullback position,” Hill said Tuesday night. “… Last year was like, ‘Do the best you can.’ This year I’m kinda focusing on those small things and getting better at those.” That attention to the small things is a lesson he learned from his first season as a starter, after switching positions from tight end to fullback. It’s also a lesson he saw in
action while observing the NFL coaches and scouts in attendance at Michigan’s Pro Day. In past years, Hill only watched the 40-yard dashes. But this year, he stayed for the rest of the drills, and quickly noticed the NFL personnel were looking for the details from each drill — how a player flipped his hips, or whether he could catch a ball without slowing down. That new approach has found its way into his own game, from the little things like losing weight (still a work in progress, he readily admitted) to having a better understanding of opposing defenses. “At tight end, you didn’t really have to understand what defensive fronts there are, safety rotations, reading defensive linemen stunts, you
didn’t have to worry about that,” Hill said. “Coach Harbaugh does a great job of helping us see all those things. It’s cool to go through that and learn those things because it’ll help me in the future.” Hill still enjoys running the routes that he used to as a tight end and claims he has the best hands on the team. He even jokingly lobbied passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton to split him and fellow fullback Henry Poggi out wide. He once wanted to be like Delanie Walker, the standout tight end whom Jim Harbaugh once coached and compared Hill to. And while he still watches film of Walker, Hill now aspires to be more like Kyle Juszczyk of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens — coached by John Harbaugh — after spending much of the offseason watching Juszczyk’s tape and marveling at his passblocking ability. When Hill does watch his own film, it isn’t of his numerous touchdowns. Rather, he focuses on his mistakes, such as a sack given up against Colorado that resulted in a defensive touchdown, a fumble against Iowa and a missed protection against Maryland. Scoring, Hill said, is difficult. But he knows how to do it. Now, it’s about learning the intricacies of the fullback position. “Actually, two scouts asked me why did I stay,” Hill said. “I just told them I wanted to graduate. … I kinda thought I wasn’t at a mature enough stage to understand (that) I have to take this stuff more seriously. “Last year was a blessing in disguise. I wasn’t expecting to have that many touchdowns or do what I did. Now that I’m doing that, I’ve got to understand that I have to take it more seriously.”
“This year I’m kinda focusing on those small things”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Fifth-year senior fullback Khalid Hill came back to Michigan to refine his craft in preparation for an NFL career.
The question was simple. Eddie McDoom was asked if there was anything he can’t do. The answer came without hesitation. “No, I’m gonna do it all,” he said, with a smile cracking over his face. Realistically, it’s not all that surprising. McDoom has never been short of confidence. Last November, the thenfreshman wide receiver stood in front of the media, and it took just over two minutes for him to declare that he was the fastest player on the Michigan football team’s roster. But what really stood out was the next assertion — that his sophomore season would be his breakout year. Now, four months later, that sophomore season is approaching, and the Wolverines need McDoom’s prediction to come to fruition. As is the storyline in virtually every phase of this Michigan team, the Wolverines are dealing with a close-tobare cupboard that features a collection of talented — but young and inexperienced — players. In McDoom’s case, he’s being looked to as one player among a group of receivers tasked with replacing the loss of Amara Darboh, Jehu Chesson and Jake Butt. That trio accounted for 138 of Michigan’s 228 receptions, 13 of the Wolverines’ 20 receiving touchdowns and 1,908 of the team’s 2,756 receiving yards in 2016. McDoom, in his own right, enjoyed a successful season during his freshman campaign, albeit in a specialized role. In the jet sweep package, McDoom amassed 160 yards on just 16 attempts — good for exactly 10 yards per carry. If there was a way to quantify McDoom’s speed, that may be it. And it’s that same speed that warranted the proliferation of the booming ‘Doom’ chant across Michigan Stadium last season — something he still cracks a smile at when remembering how he thought he was being booed the first time he heard it. Now, though, the jet sweep package may not be enough for the Wolverines, and McDoom will need to be characterized for more than raw speed. Last year, McDoom notched just five catches on the receiving end. As the upcoming season
grows closer, the sophomore wide receiver is out to change that. “I feel like I can do way more than just be handed jet sweeps,” McDoom said. “I can go downfield, I can make the routes, I can make the catches, I can make the big plays that they’re asking for, and I’m trying to show it.” Already, McDoom is taking the steps toward doing so. He indicated that he’s been taking reps receiving punts while also working in the slot and on the outside. But arguably the most important thing for McDoom, especially in a Jim Harbaughorchestrated offense, is the ability to block. In that regard, as in nearly every regard, McDoom has no doubt he can do it. “Oh, I can block,” McDoom said. “It’s not an issue. If I need to go out there and hit somebody, I’m gonna go out there and hit somebody.” And if there’s anything that could serve as validation of the progress McDoom has made, it would be praise from senior receiver Maurice Ways — one of a limited group of veteran receivers expected to see an increased role this season. Ways even went as far as to say he finds himself learning things from McDoom, such as how to get a good release off the line. “He’s doing really well,” Ways said. “He’s playing fast, making plays and having fun doing it. He’s probably one of the most vibrant guys in the locker room. “He just comes to work every day with a smile on his face, loving football, and he’ll be out in practice having a good time. I appreciate his enthusiasm he brings to the game, brings to practice, and it kind of rubs off on the rest of us.” For McDoom, that enthusiasm is just one aspect of a personality more confident than a king at his own coronation. And as is quickly becoming the norm for him, Tuesday was a day void of hesitation. He said he can block. He said he can run the routes, make the catches and f lash the big-play ability. He said he can do it all. So the time is coming for everyone to find out, is this really Eddie McDoom’s breakout year? “Hey, I think so,” Ways said. “Eddie has all the tools to be a great receiver. Like I said, the sky is the limit for him. He can be as good as he wants to be, as great as he wants to be. I’ve got all the confidence in him.”
“I can do way more than just be handed jet sweeps”
“He can be as good ... as great as he wants to be”
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Sophomore running back Eddie McDoom seems poised for a breakout season.
Sports
8A — Wednesday, April 12, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan aims for With strong defensive effort, Wolverines another win streak outlast Eastern Michigan in extra innings BENJAMIN KATZ Daily Sports Writer
After its 14-game win streak was snapped Sunday at the hands of No. 25 Ohio State, the No. 18 Michigan softball team (8-1 Big Ten, 28-8-1 overall) is determined to start a new string Michigan of victories State at as it squares up against Michigan Michigan Matchup: State (5-4 Big Michigan State Ten, 21-12 5-4 Big Ten, overall) on 21-12 overall; Michigan Wednesday 8-1, 28-8-1 night. When: The Wednesday midweek 5 P.M. ET game between the two Where: in-state rivals Alumni Field was originally scheduled to be in East Lansing — the first of a home-and-home series over the next two weeks — but floods from the Red Cedar River left the softball facilities unusable, forcing the game to be relocated to Ann Arbor. Following a seven-game winless skid, the Spartans have rebounded, winning six of their last seven contests. Five of those wins have come against Big Ten schools — including a sweep of Maryland and two of three against Penn State. Seven players on Michigan State’s squad that have 62 or more at-bats under their belt post a batting average of .300 or higher. Junior outfielder Lea Foerster stands out among them, boasting a .420 batting clip and a .870 slugging percentage. However, the Spartans’ recent success looks meek compared to the Wolverines’ impressive play the past month. Michigan has won 14 of its last 15 games, and is 8-1 in
Big Ten play — tied with No. 6 Minnesota for the best record in conference play. Sophomore second baseman Faith Canfield continues to be the top offensive producer for the Wolverines, as she went 7-for-10 during Saturday’s doubleheader. She was complemented by four hits apiece from senior shortstop Abby Ramirez and junior first baseman Aidan Falk. Despite that hitting explosion, Michigan failed to score a single run in the final game of the series Sunday, registering a mere three hits in a 5-0 defeat to the Buckeyes. Though there are no specific indications about how a short lead-up to the Michigan State matchup will alter practice routines, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins continues to preach the importance of consistent improvement — notably, higher quality swings, especially with runners in scoring position. She believes in approaching every game with the same mental fortitude, regardless of the opponent’s ranking and skill. “My goal is for us to just keep getting better,” Hutchins said. “We’ve gotten a lot better in the last month and two months, but I thought we took a step back (Sunday). We can’t ever think that we’re done getting better.” Added Canfield: “We’ll work on going out there every game to attack, and not giving in so easily.” Hutchins also says excelling in the face of adversity is important to work on, which is something she didn’t see out of her squad against Ohio State on Sunday. “We get our toughness when things don’t go our way, not just when things go our way,” Hutchins said. “And we need to be tougher when things aren’t going our way.”
PAIGE VOEFFRAY Daily Sports Writer
the defense made a point to be sharper than ever. “I think the defense definitely won us the game today,” said sophomore second baseman Ako Thomas. “It was tough out there, a lot of line drives that didn’t fall. Today we had to scrap, and that’s what we did and we came out on top.” The defense was on full display in the fourth inning when Eastern Michigan’s designated hitter Brennan Williams hit a double to the right field wall. Engelmann collected it off the wall and relayed it to Thomas, who then made the throw to senior catcher Harrison Wenson to
tag an Eagle out at the plate. That would have been Eastern Michigan’s first run of the game and would have changed the situation of the inning completely. The play meant that there was one out and a man on second, as opposed to no outs, a run and a man on second. “That in itself was a huge momentum shift in our favor,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “But the execution of the relay from Engelmann, to Ako, to Wenson with the good catch-tag, it was perfectly executed. “That’s exactly like they’ve trained to do and they did it perfectly.”
Through 13 innings, seven Wolverines came out of the bullpen to help keep Michigan in the game. Senior righthander Jackson Lamb — normally just the ninth-inning closer — pitched 2.1 innings and struck out four batters. But it was freshman right-hander Karl Kauffman who picked up the win after striking out two batters and forcing a pop up in just 13 pitches in the 13th inning. “We have a pitching staff that can shut any team down,” Bivens said. “We’re going to try and score runs on offense, but we know our pitchers always have our back.” While the players in the field and on the bump may have won this game for Michigan, the Wolverines will need to rediscover their offensive prowess before they face No. 18 Oklahoma on Thursday.
With a man on second base, sophomore right fielder Jonathan Engelmann hit a ball deep to centerfield. It appeared it might leave the park for a walkoff home EASTERN MICH 1 2 MICHIGAN run, but it bounced off the wall instead. Still, the hit was enough to bring junior first baseman Jake Bivens across the plate for the gameending double. It may have taken 13 innings, but the No. 13 Michigan baseball team secured the win over Eastern Michigan on Tuesday afternoon, 2-1. The Wolverines were the first on the board after Bivens and sophomore designated hitter Nick Poirier both hit identical singles past the first baseman. Engelmann followed it up by grounding into a double play, but it was enough to bring Bivens home. After putting up the run in the second inning, the offense slowed considerably until the Engelmann RBI finally ended the game. After Michigan fell into early holes in multiple games against Illinois over the weekend, the Wolverines made a point to avoid that against the Eagles. Junior righthander Jayce Vancena wasted no time in the first inning, striking out the side with ease. He’s normally not a pitcher known for strikeouts, but tied his career high of six in the midweek outing. Along with fanning batters, Vancena’s usual style of pitching into ground balls was in full swing Tuesday, and his teammates behind him did not disappoint. KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily In such a low scoring game, Sophomore second baseman Ako Thomas helped execute a crucial throw to the plate to save a run in a close game.
“The defense definitely won us the game today”
Pitching, defense lead to victory for ‘M’ JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Writer
ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily
Sophomore second baseman Faith Canfield has led Michigan’s offense of late.
With a runner on first in the fourth inning, Eastern Michigan designated hitter Brennan Williams lashed a liner into right field. Michigan sophomore right fielder Jonathan Engelmann caught up to the ball at the warning track, and turned around to see Eagle centerfielder Jeremy Stidham barreling around second base, showing no signs of slowing down. Without hesitation, Engelmann fired the ball to sophomore second baseman Ako Thomas, whose relay throw reached senior catcher Harrison Wenson a split-second before Stidham slid home. “It needed a good throw from Engelmann and Ako, and it needed a good catch and a hard tag from Wenson,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “We got all of them.” The successful relay preserved a 1-0 lead for the No. 13 Michigan baseball team (6-3 Big Ten, 26-7 overall), and proved even more crucial after Eastern Michigan (4-2 Mid-American, 12-20) tied the game in the seventh inning. Without a stellar effort on the mound and in the field, the Wolverines wouldn’t have been able to grind out a 13-inning, 2-1 win against the Eagles. While Michigan’s offense – which has averaged 8.3 runs over its last 11 games – has received most of the attention recently, its defense has been just as spectacular. After Tuesday night’s error-free performance, the Wolverines now rank 10th in the nation with a fielding percentage of .983. In the outfield, Engelmann, redshirt sophomore left fielder Miles Lewis and senior center fielder Johnny Slater have recorded 171 putouts without an error. Meanwhile, the infield of Thomas, junior first baseman Jake Bivens, junior third baseman Drew Lugbauer and senior shortstop Michael Brdar have combined to commit just nine errors on the year. Bivens, last season’s third
baseman, crossed the diamond to first base this year due to offseason Tommy John surgery which limited his throwing ability, while Lugbauer moved from first to take Bivens’ place. The pair’s versatility – both played shortstop in high school – has given Michigan exceptional athleticism from the corner positions, where this type of athleticism isn’t always prioritized. Against Eastern Michigan, Bivens highlighted his performance by leaping high to snare a high-bouncing grounder in the second inning, while Lugbauer’s arm strength consistently made tough throws seem routine. “When you think about corner guys, you don’t necessarily think of them as premium athletes,” Bakich said. “But we feel like we’ve got four shortstops on the infield, which gives us a lot of range and athleticism and allows a lot of playmaking abilities.” Meanwhile, Michigan’s pitching staff has fed right into the defense’s strengths – thriving with an increased emphasis on attacking hitters and pitching to contact. Against Eastern Michigan, Wolverine pitchers walked just two of the 48 batters they faced, and threw
68 percent of their pitches for strikes. “We just want to let the defense work,” Bakich said. “Something we struggled with last year was nibbling and avoiding contact. If there are a lot of lulls every single inning, you get caught on your heels sometimes and you don’t play as good defense. “When the pitching staff is relentlessly attacking the strike zone and forcing a lot of contact, and the pitchers are trusting that defenders are going to make those plays, those defenders stay engaged. It’s easier to play behind pitchers that are just attack, attack, attack.” Tuesday night’s starter, junior right-hander Jayce Vancena, is one of those pitchers. He was ruthlessly efficient against Eastern Michigan, throwing just 62 pitches in five innings, striking out five and allowing three hits. Perhaps most impressively, Vancena did not surrender a walk – in 29 innings this season, he has yet to do so. “In the infield, we don’t want to be standing out there all day,” Thomas said. “Jayce is known for working quick and getting everybody ground balls.” Added Bivens: “He’s been attacking the zone all year. He’s
a great pitcher – we just love playing behind him. We trust in him and we believe in him.” When Vancena exited after the fifth inning, the bullpen picked up right where he left off, striking out 10 batters in eight innings and allowing just five hits. While senior right-hander Jackson Lamb highlighted the group by striking out four in a career-high 2.1 innings, it was freshman right-hander Karl Kauffman who picked up the win with two strikeouts in the 13th inning. “We knew we had some older guys that had some experience,” Bakich said. “We also knew we had some very talented freshmen coming in with (left-hander Tommy) Henry and Kauffman and even (right-hander) Jack Weisenburger in that mix. But we have a lot of depth – that’s an area that’s a huge priority in our program.” All season – and especially against Eastern Michigan – Michigan has proven it has the talent and mentality on defense to win low-scoring slugfests. Even if its offense can’t push runs across the plate, if Tuesday night’s game is any indication, the Wolverines will be in good shape.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior first baseman Jake Bivens and his fellow infielders have combined to commit just nine errors on the season.
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | A PR I L 12 , 2017
the
student of the year issue
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Wednesday, April 12, 2017 // The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | A PR I L 12 , 2017
Managaing Statement Editor: Lara Moehlman
Editor in Chief: Emma Kinery
Managing Editor: Rebecca Lerner
Deputy Editors: Yoshiko Iwai Brian Kuang
Design Staff: Michelle Phillips Emily Hardie Erin Tolar Nicole Doctoroff
Copy Editors: Danielle Jackson Taylor Grandinetti
Photo Editor: Alexis Rankin
Golden State Worrior: Closure.Mov BY HARRISON KRINSKY, DAILY ARTS WRITER
A
t work on Thursday, my boss, who is a kind 40-something woman named Melisa, asked me if it had “set in” that I was leaving the University of Michigan. No, I answered, it really hasn’t. Which is true; it really hasn’t. Not wanting to jinx my temporary lack of existential dread about leaving college, I changed the subject, or thought I did, to the topic of YoutubeCommencementSpeechSchlisselGate. I told her we weren’t having a commencement speaker and that I was upset about it. Which is also true; I was, and am, upset. This whole speech situation really did bum me out. It bummed me out more than I wanted it to bum me out and, frankly, more than it is appropriate. There are objectively much worse things in the world, and in Michigan, and in Ann Arbor, and in decisions that the University of Michigan makes or doesn’t make that should bum me out exponentially more. In fact, I think most people who are bummed out about the lack of a graduation speaker would also throw in the caveat that it’s not that bad, it’s just … To me, it kinda feels like one of those things that we’re gonna look back on and think, “They did what?” Like when OKC traded Harden, or when Damian Marley and Nas did an album together, or “Limitless” the TV show sans Bradley Cooper, etc. It all sort of made sense at the time, but everyone had a feeling it wasn’t going to work out. Of course the University isn’t trying to sabotage our graduation. Marky Mark Schlissel doesn’t have some vendetta against us. It was a decision as much as hiring Brady Hoke, raising the price of student tickets or closing the Taco Bell in the Michigan League. I did not say all of this to Melisa. We got to talking about her week and then came one of my favorite parts of my Thursday. The part where I get to knowingly nod in agreement when she says things like, “Man, it’s been a long week” or “Friday can’t come sooner.” I like this part of my week so much because, for that moment, we could both take solace in the fact that the real world sucks and I can quell a nagging belief that I have never dealt with an iota of real adversity or true monotony in my life. I think of David Foster Wallace’s claim that soonto-be college graduates do not understand what the phrase “day in, day out” really means. I certainly
do not. I think it would be fair for someone reading this to scratch their head at my thought process. They might think, and be correct in thinking, that I am effectively just visiting real life’s monotony eight
graduation. I’ve spent college searching for some morsel of truth that will let me cut through the monotony of what I perceive real life to be. One way or another, I think my peers do the same. We imagine a moment where it all makes sense, where we are ready. But the other section of our brain quickly reminds us that there is no such morsel to find and we block it out, like I do every Thursday when Melisa and I complain about our tough weeks. And that is exactly the problem. The graduation speech is our last hope. When I close my eyes and imagine myself on the 20-yard line of the Big House listening to Hillary Clinton — or John Stewart or Barack Obama or whomever — I’m imagining the speech already in memory form, as if it already happened, and already imparted some wisdom. I imagine remembering the moment where I look at my peers at this great University, the Leaders and the Best, the champions of the West, and I make eye contact with one of my roommates and give him a knowing nod: We got this. Part of me knows this wouldn’t have happened even if they brought Bo Schembechler back from the grave, but when I saw that our speaker was a video, my fantasy was destroyed. There is literally nothing profound about a video, and it’s mainly a numbers game. Eight minutes on Instagram, and I can watch 150 different videos. My fantasy graduation inspiration is a singular moment. After Obama says, “Thank you,” and I say, “We got this,” I’ll get a little sad, knowing how fleeting the moment is. Once this video is made available on YouTube, I’ll honestly get a better look at it when I’m craning my neck up at the big screen. It might even be better the second time. Cold No Thai is better the second time. Graduations shouldn’t be. Still, the problem is not with Mark, or with PHOTO COURTSEY OF HARRISON KRINSKY the video, or with the lack of a keynote, the problem is with ourselves. The reason, maybe, hours a week, and thus, it isn’t really monotony at this speech is causing more outrage than things we all. The short and long of their critique might be, “You all agree are more pressing is because it taps into a don’t know shit about real life because you work part special kind of existential dread. A fear that life is time at a sorority, stop pretending like you do.” a set of small compromises you have to make with Those critics, strangely of which I am one, are your own understanding of what a happy life looks right, and that’s part of the reason I’m so bummed like, one which is getting sent off by a YouTube about having a video replace a human for my video.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 // The Statement
How To: Graduate
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BY SYLVANNA GROSS, DAILY SPORTS EDITOR Dedicated to the memory of my greataunt Tillie Gross, a force to be reckoned with and as sharp-minded as they come. am graduating a year early from the University of Michigan, receiving a B.A. in international studies with a concentration in international security, norms and cooperation, as well as minors in history of art and oceanography. Yeah, thank you, I would love my gold star now please. The reason I’m starting off with that is for my own benefit, really. A lot of what this column has been is me trying to relate to you, the reader, like I’m Amy Poehler’s character in “Mean Girls” — the mom who wears a pink Juicy track suit and is delightfully desperate to be cool. What I’m aiming to do in this column, though, is to embody the confidence of Lady Gaga in her meat dress while coming off as intelligent as Rachel Carson and Marie Curie to explain why I am OK(ish) about graduating and low-key not freaking out anymore. That’s right, you’re about to come on a journey of soul-searching with me. Let’s rewind. Three years ago, I was a senior in high school studying for six AP exams and preparing for my final research presentation — I had conducted a threeyear-long research project on ocean acidification in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to relative national success. I was caught up in the stress of unimportant grade school drama and slightly disappointed I had committed to the University after being rejected from my top-choice-since-forever school, Yale University. I was a smart kid (4.1 GPA), from a great family — my sister is my best friend — and participated in so many afterschool activities I now actually slightly gag wondering how I did it — rowing team, honor societies, piano and French horn lessons, Hebrew school, fall play, spring musical, community service (my role model in life is my high-school self). For the first time in my life, after reading my Yale rejection letter, I had been told what I did was not good enough for something I thought I deserved. I had to confront the reality that I might not be special.
I
Yes, I know, what a sob story. White- more time on this job application, why and-Jewish-girl-from-New-York-isdidn’t I? Etc. not-as-cool-as-she-thought-she-was. It was crushing me, suffocating I completely get that, but, at the same me, thinking that I have let go of time, bite me. opportunities and that I’m doing So I had committed to the University, something wrong. My frenzy manifested and I told myself I was happy. I was, to itself in self-debilitating humorous some degree. But it wasn’t Yale. It wasn’t articles and retreating from doing much Ivy. (Looking back, though, who cares?) more than homework and Netflix and There was no pivotal moment when I student organization meetings. decided I had made the right decision I’m not sure why, but I suddenly and that the universe obviously wanted stopped around the beginning of April me to go to the University over Yale. with the “what-ifs” and the “if-thens.” But, looking back, I couldn’t see myself Instead, I started with the, “well-nows.” anywhere else. Well, now I’m headed to the University A lot of what I of Edinburgh have been wordto get a onevomiting across year Master’s The Statement’s Degree in marine pages this year is systems and directly related policies. Well, to insecurity. now I’m studying Insecurity that for the LSAT and maybe I won’t praying to Yeezy achieve what that I do OK. I want, and Well, now I am insecurity that just taking things I might not be in stride. successful and Why? end up leading Because, I let an “average” life. go of this need to And insecurity if plan. I am making the Starting with right decisions my Yale rejection and doing the — and, arguably, right things to get starting with PHOTO COURTSEY OF SYLVANA GROSSmy first Google me going in the right direction to search for land me in the right place. colleges — it was all about planning and Here’s what the University taught doing and seeing enough to get me to the me: Insecurity is as common as having “next step” on my way to my “next goal.” a nose and two eyes on your face. For the There was always a well-thought-out most part, people are putting their best plan between high school and college foot forward in a society that tries to — see my very first Statement column hide that one foot behind. about this. Once I let go of my insecurity (Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, I learned with the lack of plan between college a lot of other things too. For example, I and post-graduation, the air has become learned how to write a 15-page essay the easier to breathe. night before it’s due and get an A.) I’m not special. That’s the biggest I’m graduating a year early, which is lesson I learned here, surrounded by the thrusting me into the “real world” a full brightest and most passionate people I 365 days earlier than I had planned. A know. I’m not going to necessarily enact lot of this year was me slowly doubting worldwide change, but I can enact one myself over and over about every choice change in one person with a smile. I’m I’ve made. Why couldn’t I have done not the best, because there’s no true this essay better? What if I had done definition for what the “best” is. I’m not Michigan in Washington? Do I really the smartest, because there are different need to graduate early? Do I even want types of intelligence. to go to law school? I should have spent I am OK with graduating, though.
And that’s because I am comfortable with being uncomfortable. I am OK with graduating, because graduation doesn’t mean letting go of what you know. Graduation just means heading forward into an unknown future filled with whatever opportunities and possibilities you make for yourself. Congratulations to the class of 2017, we got this. Also, send me a text if you have an idea about how to decorate my graduation cap! OK, thanks! How to: Pay attention during the graduation ceremony 1. OK, you finally get to your seat, now fidget for 500,000 seconds 2. OK, you’re settled 3. Great, aren’t you soooooooooo excited to be here 4. Shake it off, it’s too early to start being sarcastic 5. Stay alert, you never know what will fall from the sky in the Big House (TBT to the parachuting man who landed on the field in a pre-show for a football game!) 6. Pick at the scab on your ankle, first bug bites of the season are great 7. Oh my lord, who even is talking right now? 8. The back of yo head is ridikulus, girl two rows in front of me with the shiny blond hair 9. What even happened to MadTV anyway? 10. Let’s get some shoes 11. Ugh, my parents are WAVING AT ME. like, seriously can you GET SOME CHILL? 12. Ooops, forgot to clap 13. OK, I’ll start clapping now 14. ABORT, ABORT; EVERYONE STOPPED CLAPPING 15. Oh, something’s happening 16. Ugh are my pit stains showing? 17. I’ll just wear my robe in the photos later, I’ll be “collegiate” 18. This tassel is in my face, GTFO, tassel, no one needs you here 19. Andddddddddd I’m bored 20. I think this is it! 21. Nope 22. Now? 23. All I can think about is food 24. Was that even English? 25. Oh … cool … guess I’m officially an alum 26. Man, I’m hungry 27. Go Blue!
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Wednesday, April 12, 2017 // The Statement
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 // The Statement
Meet the Students Student of the Year Issue
ers through the Michigan Performance Outreach Workshop — she’s friendly and eager to talk. This is the kind of openness that, it seems safe to say, would be exhausting to most people. Luckily, Nakamura is not most people. She leans forward as she continues speaking, spreading her hands in the kind of emphatic gesture that comes naturally to her. “I started to figure out that being a community leader and activist, theater was an incredible outlet for that, and it gave me a voice, and it was a way that I understood how to give other people a voice, how to tell stories that I wanted to tell.” Nakamura is working to share this outlet with others through the Michigan Performance Outreach Workshop. She joined MPOW, which brings students from Detroit-area schools that have little or no funding for the arts to the University for a day of performance workshops, as a freshman. Through it, she’s able to accomplish what she considers to be her overall goal in college: “to bring back a high level of arts to underfunded schools like that” and to “spark interest” in performance.
She smiles as she describes the kids’ reactions, saying, “We do, like, one day of workshops with them, and performances, and at the end of the day, students walk away being like, ‘I can be an actor,’ or like, ‘You know what? I think I’m a good actor!’ ” Involvement in MPOW seems to have been a natural path for Nakamura, who grew up attending public schools in San Rafael, Calif., that also had little funding for arts education. After realizing her love for the performing arts, she was able to find outside resources through the San Francisco-based American Conservatory Theater, and eventually began providing them for others: She started teaching theater as an assistant in high school, and began teaching theater and dance on her own after she graduated. Now, as the incoming vice president of MPOW, Nakamura is determined to expand the impact of theater as a means of nontraditional learning and communicating unvoiced stories and experiences. While the organization currently focuses on fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade kids, she’s hoping to expand it to include highschoolers and college-prep-style workshops. Despite the amount of time and effort she puts into the performing arts, she doesn’t get tired of it. When asked what her ideal, stress-free situation is, she laughs and responds: “Probably seeing theater, honestly. … That’s kind of the most relaxing times I have, to just sit and appreciate my classmates and fellow actors and see the work people are doing. I think … a lot of the most
exciting work that happens here comes directly from the students — student-directed and student-written pieces, because those are the shows that are reflecting our current situations.” Nakamura’s commitment to giving voice to relevant stories is one of the primary reasons for her involvement in different communities on campus. She doesn’t get carried away with herself, though — she understands the importance of stepping back to assess a situation from the outside, a practice that can easily get lost in the drive to stand out as a leader on campus. “Coming here was overwhelming at first because … I wanted to be able to connect with anyone that I possibly could, and there’s so many people here, and so many different identities that it’s been a really incredible and challenging process to step back and say that, in order for me to one day be the leader and activist that I want to be, and be someone who … facilitates platforms for people to share their voices, their opinions, I have to understand those communities first.” As a leader, Nakamura is able to teach and empower, but more importantly, she’s able to listen. “I know I can help more if I wait and I learn from the members of that community and recognize my own ignorance,” Nakamura says. She places her hands resolutely on the table in front of her as she says this. Performance, after all, demands a certain amount of receptiveness to the audience — and Nakamura’s ready to take the stage.
Ress estimates that it costs $1,000 to send one kid to the camp. This summer, the camp will be its largest ever, as it is hoping to serve 260 kids. While it may be a lot of work, Ress feels that her job is incredibly rewarding. “I like the mission-focused work, and feeling that passion,” Ress said. “I spend so much time working on Kesem that it doesn’t feel like work when you’re working for something that you care about that much.” Ress stresses that Camp Kesem tries to give campers as normal a camp experience as possible. “We say that Camp Kesem isn’t a boo-boo camp — it’s not like a cancer camp,” she said. “It’s pretty much a regular, crazy, dirty summer camp where we’re swimming and on the lake front and doing ziplining and messy games and things like that.” However, the camp does dedicate one day of the week as an “empowerment day” to help campers through their tough times. The day begins with counselors and campers alike sharing their own stories if they choose, with the goal of empowering themselves and other campers. Ress felt that this day was most impactful to her when she was helping others prepare their stories. “My first year I spoke at empowerment, and the following years I’ve learned that I find more joy in finding others to speak,” Ress said. “So helping other counselors helping campers through their stories, and bringing them forward to feel the power to share their stories has been really
meaningful for me.” Co-directing the camp isn’t the only hat Ress wears. She also cares for her mother, who is still battling colorectal cancer, as her father has passed and her siblings have moved away. She drives an hour home to Troy every other weekend or so, to make sure her mother isn’t always alone. “Her chemo is pretty rigorous right now, where she can’t always get up and down the stairs or feed herself,” Ress said. “Sometimes, I need to take her to the hospitals to get IVs or things like that.” Her mother’s long-term treatments were on her mind even as Ress was choosing a college. Her mother goes through a new round of treatments about every year and a half to
keep her cancer under control. “Coming here, and when I was applying to colleges, I definitely had to consider distance to home,” she said. While Ress has faced many obstacles before and during her college experience, her experiences with her parents battling cancer and the campers she works with have given her a new perspective on what it means to have a bad day. “I tripped and spilled my coffee and it was just a typical kind of bad day, and I couldn’t help but laugh because I was so grateful to have a silly type of bad day.”
Megumi Nakamura BY MARISA FREY, Senior Copy Editor “I loved the people, I think is what first drew me to it. … It’s a very specific kind of openness you have to have, as a performer.” It’s the end of the week, and though Megumi Nakamura, a sophomore in the University of Michigan’s Music, Theatre & Dance School, is juggling a packed schedule — she has six hours of class on an average day, is currently working on two theater productions, is often in rehearsal until 12:30 in the morning, works with faculty in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance on issues of diversity and facilitates workshops for visiting elementary school students and middle-school-
BY MARGARET KOLCON, Daily Sports Writer Every morning, Keiana Cavé looks in the mirror and tells herself to be a badass. And so far, her mantra has worked. The University of Michigan freshman is a member of Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017 — one of the youngest in the Energy category. Cavé was recognized for her work surrounding the BP oil spill of April 2010, which she started researching at Tulane University when she was 15. Her primary goal was to prove that there is something more dangerous about a layer of oil sitting on the ocean surface than just pollution — the reaction of UV rays from the sun on the oilwater mixture eventually forms chemicals that can cause cancer. “I started off (in high school) doing four sports: ballet, swim, cheer and track,” Cavé said. “The last thing on my mind was being in a lab 24/7 … I didn’t really think much of it — it was just a summer. It was cool. They paid me.” Cavé entered her research in a local science fair, and ended up winning, despite her lastminute poster. She then went on to the 2015 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and earned second place out of 2,600 participants. As part of Cavé’s award, NASA and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named asteroid “2000 GD136” after her. The award gave Cavé confidence about the importance of her work and motivated her to take it further. “I had to first show that (these carcinogens) actually exist,” Cavé said. “And then once I showed that they exist I had to show that they are harmful, and then after that I moved into finding a solution.” Before her research, the methods used to clean up oil spills weren’t dealing with the carcinogens at all. So Cavé invented a carcinogenfighting molecule, and turned her research into her own business — a startup called Mare. Now she is funded by Chevron, which gave her $1.2
million to continue her research. “It started off as just the molecule, just the oil spill, but now I think the company is more based off of the neutralization of toxins,” Cavé said. “I’m sure you read articles all the time, if you’re ever scrolling through Facebook, and you see something that says: ‘Warning! Don’t use your deodorant anymore because it will give you cancer!’ It can get pretty serious. … We want those companies to come to us so that we can neutralize whatever carcinogen is in the product without compromising the integrity of the product.” But Cavé didn’t originally know how to run a business. Last summer, she was the youngestever attendee of the Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp at MIT, where she figured out how to translate her complicated research into a comprehensible marketing platform. Now, she manages the business, has a team of people working for her and personally connects with Mare’s clients, including Chevron and Brazilian Blowout. Cavé also holds two patents and has published two research papers. Her work with Microsoft is further proof of her unparalleled intellect. She taught herself HTML at age 8 and worked for Microsoft, designing websites for more than a year while still in high school. After receiving a full ride to the University, Cavé enrolled in the College of Engineering, where she is studying chemical engineering. While taking a full course load, Cavé also spends many late nights in the lab continuing her research. She finds time to be an active member of the Entrepreneurs Leadership Program — though she admits that she doesn’t sleep much. In addition to all her scholastic and scientific pursuits, Cavé is a brand representative for Lululemon and Francesca’s, advertising their clothing through her social media posts. Lululemon reached out to Cavé specifically, but she initiated the partnership with Francesca’s herself.
BY JEREMY KAPLAN, Daily Opinion Editor Cancer has closely affected LSA senior Rebecca Ress throughout her life. Her mother has been battling colorectal cancer for the past 10 years, and she lost her father to lymphoma three days before the start of her freshman year. But soon after arriving on campus she, at the urging of her sorority sisters, became involved with Camp Kesem at the University of Michigan. Camp Kesem at the University is part of a national nonprofit of primarily college students that organizes free camps for children of adults battling cancer. Camp Kesem at the University organizes two one-week camps in August at Camp Copneconic in Fenton, and has nearly 100 student volunteers involved. Ress was drawn to the camp, as it was something she wished she had when her parents were battling cancer. “I grew up having two parents who were both fighting cancer, and I didn’t have any resource like that,” she said. “It was definitely an ostracising feeling. So coming to this university, and realizing that I had the power to spread this community to other children in the area to have that kind of community was a no brainer.” Ress started off her first summer as a counselor, and quickly became more involved, being promoted to outreach chair on its coordinating board. In that role, she managed camper-family relations and reunions, as well as the organization of medical staff and information for the camp. She now serves as co-director, responsible for all the aspects of the camp’s planning and fundraising.
Ben Rathi BY ANDREW HIYAMA, Daily Staff Reporter
Rebecca Ress
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Ben Rathi is, first and foremost, an incredibly kind person. The friendliness emanating from the fifth-year senior from Novi when he walks into Espresso Royale is not the oozing or overwhelming kind, but mild and genuine. And if kindness is first, helpfulness is a very close second. While pursuing two degrees in business and computer science, stopping just two classes short of a third in biomedical science, Ben has had a wealth of prestigious internships at software, finance and health care firms; and founded a successful, now national-scale, nonprofit organization that collects unused medical supplies and delivers them to impoverished countries for
a fraction of their market value. He is aware of just how successful he already is — whereas others might try to downplay their achievements for the appearance of humility, he talks comfortably and matter-of-factly. He does not hold any illusions about his success either — he knows he owes it to much more than just himself. “I started calculating, and I swear this was in 5th grade, but I was like, ‘All right, there are 7 billion people in the world,’ income distribution, looked at some statistics, all that, and I was like, ‘There are probably 6 billion people in the world who would do anything to have the opportunities I have,’ “ he tells me. That gratitude, he says, is what gives him the
Keiana Cavé “I was on a flight from Miami to (Ann Arbor),” Cave said. “And they lost my luggage. I had a photoshoot with Humanly magazine … I was freaking out. It was all of my favorite stuff.” “I went into disaster mode. I went to the mall and walked into Francesca’s and was like: ‘Look, I don’t have any money. The airport lost my stuff. I have a photoshoot. Is there anything you guys can do? Can you guys dress me?’ And that was the start of a relationship. So now, they give me stuff every two weeks, whenever they get new shipments.” Francesca’s and Lululemon were not the only ones to crave Cavé’s influence, though. Her brand of female empowerment has been so prolific that MTV scooped Cavé up to do a short segment for their “A Woman Did That” campaign. The first one-minute bit was so successful that
the network is planning on having Cavé return for a weekly segment. Cavé has already accomplished more than most college graduates, a fact that was noted by Congressman Cedric Richmond (D–La.) Feb. 23, 2016, in his speech to the House of Representatives regarding Cavé’s accomplishments. But these days, Cavé is giving her own speeches. “Oh yeah, I forgot to say, I’m doing a Ted Talk in Barcelona on May 4th,” Cavé said. “I’m actually going to talk about the power of being obnoxious.” While Cavé attributes her success to “being obnoxious,” she pursues everything she does with vigor and dedication. That may be abrasive to some, but Cavé has single-handedly managed to change the world by the age of 19 — and that is definitely badass.
motivation to stay in and work on a Friday night, to the extent that his peers think of him as “the crazy business kid” or “a machine,” and what gives him his desire to help. Though business is his main passion now, coming into college, Ben planned to help people by becoming a doctor. After completing his freshman year, he decided to volunteer in a Nepalese hospital for a month. “I told myself, ‘All right, if you want to be a doctor, it’s one thing to do it at a nice hospital like Michigan or Northwestern, it’s another thing to feel true depravity and poverty, and witness people who might not have much going for them,’ “ he says. The hospital he went to, he told me, though it was one of the best in the country, suffered hours-long E.R. waiting times because of understaffing and underfunding. Patients had to share beds and would often leave sicker than they came in from a disease another patient had given them. Simple medical supplies such as gloves and bedsheets had to be reused. Working at a hospital back in Novi, though, restocking shelves, he witnessed a very different situation, in which unused supplies were thrown out because of expiration dates. As well as wanting to have a broader understanding of the world, Ben says seeing the inefficiencies of the medical industry is what led him to leave it for business. “End goal, I would love to influence policy change, but I’m not delusional and it’s tough to lobby against the medical industry,” he says. “So while the waste is happening, I was thinking, ‘Is there a way to bridge the gap?’ “ As it turns out, there was. In his sophomore year, Ben founded Blueprints For Pangaea, a
501(c)(3) nonprofit, with more than $25,000 in prize money from several business competitions. The business, which has now expanded to nine other colleges and universities, has a model that is quite sustainable. If it can get the technically expired medical supplies for $5,000, and their value is $1,000,000, he says, governments would be happy to pay $6,000. Weeks away from graduation, and having left Blueprints For Pangaea safely in the hands of the next generation of students, Ben’s new dream is venture capitalism. “When you’re in a startup, you have to commit all your time and effort and energy into that one startup, and so while I was doing Blueprints, a lot of cool opportunities came my way, but I was committed to Blueprints,” he says. “With VC you get to participate in multiple startups. You’re on the cutting edge of technology. And if you couldn’t tell, my life dream is just … to accelerate our ascent into the future, I guess, because I think technology can improve everyone’s life, in an egalitarian way.” If he had to distill his story into one word, though, it would be efficiency. “Academically, I was learning about efficiency on a microscale in CS, right — ‘How do you get 0.1 seconds faster in the code?’ On a macrolevel in business — ‘How does Tesla create a cheaper battery?’ So I’ve been studying efficiency all my life, and I’d like to continue that.” So while it may seem like a technical word, to Ben, it’s just another way of practicing kindness.
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BY ISHITO MORI, Daily Staff Reporter Antara Afrin’s small stature belies her ambitious dreams. A mentor and role model to aspiring doctors from underrepresented backgrounds, she plans to make medicine more accessible to people like her in the United States. Antara is the undergraduate president of the University of Michigan Medical School’s Doctors of Tomorrow, a program that sparks interest in underrepresented minority students in health fields and provides the resources students need to be successful in pursuing medical careers. Antara currently tutors public school students in Detroit. Antara’s involvement with DoT started in 2012, her senior year of high school, when it was established by Jonathan Finks, the Medical School’s associate professor of surgery. Though it was intended only for freshmen back in the day, Antara was nevertheless encouraged to attend events by Finks, whom she considers one of her role models. “I feel like, as a student coming from the city of Detroit, I definitely had experiences with people (who) as soon they find out I’m from Detroit, they probably are like … ‘Do you want to go to X career instead of medicine?’ ” Antara said. “Dr. Finks is one of those people who’s just like, ‘You want to be a doctor? You’re going to be a doctor. And I’m going to help you in any way possible to make sure you’re a doctor.’ ” Antara took such a liking to DoT that she opted to join as an undergraduate representative at the University. During her sophomore year, she realized the DoT program only mentored freshmen and did not follow up with them. “We work with these ninth graders, but then we just let them go,” Antara said. “That’s not how this pipeline from high school to medical school should work … we can’t just stop midway.” To alleviate this problem, Antara created DoT Rising, which continues to mentor students
throughout high school. This year, eight of the first DoT students who were freshmen in 2012 enrolled as freshman at the University. “It’s amazing because these students, I’ve seen them when I was a senior in high school,” Antara said. “And now to see them as a senior at UM … I see them all involved and doing great things on campus already, it makes me happy.” Antara also started DoT Succeed, which encourages those who benefit from the program in high school to teach high schoolers once they’re in college. As a graduate of Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Antara works on a daily basis to bridge the gap between the high schoolers and Medical School students who participate in DoT. She referenced several instances in which her experience as a former Cass student provided her with an important perspective some of the medical students who participate in the program lacked. “We were planning our end-of-the-year event, and at first someone was like, ‘We should probably hold it on a weekday,’ ” Antara recalled. “And I was like, ‘if we want parents there we can’t hold it on a weekday because a lot our students, their parents work jobs in manufacturing … if you’re coming from a lower-income background, you don’t want your parents to have to take off a day off for you and to have that pressure, so I was able to say no.” Despite her large presence in the organization, Antara remains a humble figure. She explained that she prefers an inclusive environment in which everyone’s opinion is carefully considered, especially those who may not be inclined to speak in public. “Usually when you lay down a problem the first person to answer will be the really extroverted, really outgoing person who answers the question,” Antara said. “However, you’ll have the greatest ideas in a person who’s really quiet.”
“Or could have been. I couldn’t walk away.” And thus, the Michigan Refugee Assistance Program was born. In its first year on campus, MRAP has held nearly a dozen teach-ins, fundraising drives totaling $5,000, and held a refugee panel capstone event, all with a board operating at full capacity and membership base of close to 100 students. The group’s most pivotal achievement, though, isn’t quite quantifiable. One hundred sixty-three refugees moved into Washtenaw County last year, and resettlement agencies BY ANDREW HIYAMA, Daily Staff Reporter expect that number to double in the 2017 fiscal year. The images, by now, are familiar. A baby washed By connecting students to volunteer opportunities ashore a beach. A young boy shellshocked by mor- with families themselves and state advocacy efforts, tar fire. Streams of mothers and children and grief- MRAP — under Khamis’ leadership — has succeedstricken fathers, displaced from their homes, and ed in reframing the refugee crisis as an urgent, local fleeing what many now call the worst humanitarian priority. Last summer, she quipped, was “the perfect disaster of our time. For most students, the global refugee crisis is all storm.” Khamis was halfway through her internat once pressing and overwhelming, both ubiquitous ship at the State Department when the idea of a and distant. The victories of protest and demonstra- refugee advocacy group on campus came to her, tion can feel short-lived, especially when placed and she wasted no time in roping in seasoned stuagainst a backdrop of geopolitical chaos on two dif- dent organizers to back her fledgling project. She ferent continents and a federal administration plac- noted both the state of Michigan — with one of the highest resettlement rates of Syrian refugees in the ing restrictions on refugees’ entry into the country. LSA senior Nicole Khamis also watched the country — and the University of Michigan — with vicious cycle of election season rhetoric around an untapped pool of more than 50,000 diverse sturefugee resettlement whirl last summer, but the dents, faculty and staff and storied history of activscenes of tragedy were more than just sobering to ism — represented the ideal site for MRAP’s mission. Jewish Family Services, a local resettlement her. Working at an international nonprofit in Jordan, being a daughter of Palestinian refugees and agency, was also eager to replenish its depleted hailing from a family full of asylum seekers, Khamis volunteer force, and quickly signed on. Still, the night before the group’s Facebook launch, Khamis saw herself. “These people are traces of who I am,” she said. couldn’t sleep.
Nicole Khamis
Antara Afrin Antara’s Islamic faith and commitment to social justice guide her through life. Her mother always told her that she must expand her boundaries and discover knowledge, as that is what the Quran encourages all Muslims to do. “It’s funny because when people see that I’m Muslim-American, they immediately assume, ‘Oh, she’s oppressed,’ ” Antara said. “But then I’m like, ‘No, I aspire to these goals because I feel like that’s what my religion tells me. My religion tells me to help others and it tells me to be more knowledgeable.’ ” In the future, Antara plans to establish a network of medical clinics in underserved areas that take into account the social and cultural needs of the community. For example, a clinic in a predominantly Muslim area where physicians and nurses know what to expect during the fast-
ing season of Ramadan. Antara explained that minorities and immigrants have been underserved throughout the history of the United States, and it’s about time that their needs are being met too. “I don’t want to just be the friendly neighborhood physician,” Antara said. “I also want to be a leader in medicine … I just don’t want to serve just one patient, I want to serve a community.” Antara is enrolling in a supply-chain management MBA program at Michigan State University starting in August to learn how to open the clinics, then plans to obtain her MD. She hopes to continue being a figure students from underrepresented groups can follow and identify with. “I just want to let them know that they’re just as capable,” she said.
“I was so nervous,” she said. “I thought no one would sign up, or that it wouldn’t last.” More than 200 people applied to volunteer within MRAP’s first month of existence. Today, MRAP has carved out a niche on campus, and is even regarded by external organizations as one of the most reliable sources of volunteers in the area. Khamis worked with a contact in the Detroit Mayor’s Office to form a pilot partnership with the city’s refugee housing program run by its Office of Immigrant Affairs. Groups of trained students, accompanied by a translator, travel each week to meet with refugee families and act as welcoming liaisons. These sessions in cultural orientation can include anything from trips to the grocery store to filling out tax forms. This summer, Khamis will be working with the DMO to bring the program to other universities. When asked about her favorite memory with MRAP, Khamis immediately smiled. “The best moment (was) getting the address for my own family,” she recounted. “I remember parking the car and seeing their house and it was just a plain, small, white house in Detroit. Nothing would’ve told you that there was a recently resettled refugee family from Syria in there. I remember walking up and being scared of offending them … or their dignity … I was nervous. And that moment, that two-second interval where I knocked on the door and waited, was really filled with anxiety for me. Then they opened the door. And immediately, they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, come in,’ and just completely accepted me with open arms. We ended up talking for, like, six hours.” These human interactions are at the core of Khamis’s vision, and compose much of MRAP’s strat-
egy of proximity and reciprocity. The families, she explained, benefit from the network of relationships and knowledge volunteers offer, while students become more actively engaged in breaking down stereotypes about refugees. “We’re one of the only student organizations working with families directly and advocating with empathy,” she said. “What we’ve done really well is to channel students’ energy and desire to be on the right side of things. We make sure they’re doing work, but always with the right intentions.” As Khamis looks toward graduation and her upcoming Fulbright program in Jordan next year, she highlighted the magnitude and sustainability of MRAP as critical developments. “This work is heavy,” she said. “And I took on a lot of it … but this has to live on. There are still people here that need our help. There’s an ebb and flow in any organization, but the mission stays.” Khamis credited MRAP as the catalyst in her journey “coming full circle” at the University: She knows now to leverage her own identity to connect with, and uplift, those with less privilege. “I learned to make good on the opportunities I have,” she said. “We’re undoing a paralysis this year, and I’ve seen so much faith and resilience in the face of impossibility.” Other images, now, are familiar to Khamis. Rooms crowded with students, faculty, and staff diligently taking notes on the resettlement process. Trips to Washington, D.C., and the United Nations to present MRAP’s model of a student movement. And a pot of tea, shared on a cold winter day, in a family’s new home.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 // The Statement
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BY MAYA GOLDMAN, Daily Staff Reporter “I had a meeting with Dan Gilbert the second day (of my internship) — I think we were talking about one of his developments — and he calls me out and says, ‘You’re the girl whose family owns Dutch Girl!’ And I was like, ‘Yes, sir, that’s me.’ And he stole my notebook and he stole my pen and started making a map, and he was like, ‘This is your doughnut shop, this is where my dad’s bar was and we used to go over there all the time!’ He called me Doughnut Girl all summer.” Though she may be “Doughnut Girl” to Detroit billionaire and philanthropist Dan Gilbert, most people know the Ross School of Business sophomore as Arrie Timmer — an enthusiastic and entrepreneurial spirit who is looking to do big things in and for the city of Detroit. As Gilbert noted, Timmer’s family owns Dutch Girl Donuts, a Detroit doughnut staple. Her grandparents opened the shop when they moved here in 1946, and it’s been in the family ever since. As Timmer grew up, Dutch Girl shaped her childhood. “On Fridays, my dad would have me go with him downtown to the store and work until midnight, and then I would sleep in the back room,” she said. “I had a sleeping bag and I would sleep on top of flour sacks. It wasn’t anything special — I was 10 and it was just cleaning — but it was cool to have a job, and have responsibilities.” Timmer also credits the shop with bringing her closer to the city. Many of Dutch Girl’s employees have worked there since before she was born, and growing up with them allowed her to see the city through their eyes. It was a love for her family business and
for Detroit that brought Timmer to the Business School. She’s seen the good that business can do, and is determined to use it as a way to change people’s lives for the better. “Growing up with entrepreneurs as family members, it gave me a lot of respect for business, and the ways they can be used to support communities and drive change and growth in cities,” she said. “I’ve seen how our family business, even though it’s small, has changed other people’s lives.” And, of course, because entrepreneurship seems to flow through Timmer’s veins, she is helping to grow and start several projects at Michigan that aren’t directly related to Detroit, too. As a survivor of sexual assault, she helped to expand the Panhellenic Peer Education Program last year, which teaches girls in Greek life about issues of sexual violence and fosters a community of support among them. She also is working to start a magazine with her friends next fall that will publish the writing and artwork of collegeaged women. “I was just tired of having old men say, ‘Your work is not good enough to be published,’ ” she said. Between her school work and extracurricular projects and helping out at Dutch Girl — the whole family still goes back to work Fat Tuesday every year — Timmer found time last summer to put her passions to work as an intern for Rock Ventures, Dan Gilbert’s Detroit-based firm that is helping to revitalize the city in enormous ways. Though some people criticize the way Gilbert is working in the city, Timmer sings his praises. “He’s very passionate about what he does and CAPS in Action — both organizations that promote mental health awareness. As part of the national organization, Depowski helps plan expert panels for Active Minds. For instance, she’s brought experts to campus to discuss eating disorders. The aim here, she explains, is to break down myths and provide real answers about mental health. CAPS in Action is a student group partnered with the University of Michigan’s Counseling And Psychological Services that spreads the word of the psychological work on campus. One such project she is working on is a video featuring the stories of campus leaders who have struggled with mental health in an effort to destigmatize depression or mental illness. It was with AFSP, however, that Depowski found personal connections with those who faced similar struggles. “I have met people who have scary similarities to my story,” she said. “People who have been through the exact same thing I have, down to the details. It can feel very isolating to have gone through this loss that some people gasp at.
Reid Depowski BY NISA KHAN, Daily News Editor During her senior year of high school, Reid Depowski took her first college-level psychology class. She fell in love with the subject. This same year she lost her mother to suicide. “This was a really pivotal moment in my life, in realizing such an important moment of mental health, despair and seeing the opportunities my mother didn’t have for her mental health,” Depowski, who is now an LSA senior, said. “And so, this was kind of a snowball effect — I was already getting so interested in psychology and mental health.” After this, Depowski became involved with the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention as a volunteer. Her developing passion for psychology continued when she enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she joined Active Minds
Arrie Timmer and he’s very passionate about making a difference. People think of him as this monarch who’s taking over the city and isn’t doing it mindfully, but he has teams and teams of people who make sure that his work is mindful of the city’s existing residents and mindful of what will bring people into the city.” As an intern, she worked on projects such as Rehabbed and Ready, which works in partnership with the Detroit Land Bank to remodel houses and resell them to Detroit citizens, and Build Institute, which supports and educates young entrepreneurs in Southwest Detroit. “I’ve wanted to work for (Gilbert) since I was in high school,” Timmer said. “I came in to last summer thinking that I just wanted to be involved in some way, and now I think
my main goal at the University of Michigan and in my career is to develop myself into being the best asset for Detroit as possible … so I can be dropped into anything and make myself as useful as possible.” In her future, Timmer said, she can see herself taking over Dutch Girl — though she’s nervous about living up to the standard her parents and grandparents have set. Whatever she ends up doing, she knows her path will lead her back to Detroit at some point, and she’s eager to make a difference in any way she can. As for this summer, Timmer’s plans are still in the air, but she’s looking for projects that will allow her to get even more handson in the city. And, of course, she’ll be working at the doughnut shop.
So when you meet another individual who has gone through the same thing you have, it is, like, a burden lifted off of you. Like, someone gets it. Someone knows. … The connection you make with other suicide loss survivors, it’s priceless.” One of AFSP’s largest events is the Out of the Darkness Walk, an event promoting suicide prevention. After helping to plan her home county’s walk, Depowski realized she could bring the first Out of the Darkness Walk to the University — which came to Ann Arbor on April 9. “I was like, ‘This is possible. I know I could make this happen,’ ” she said. It was a quick turnover — planning with the Michigan chair of AFSP in early December, Depowski went through the heavy paperwork process to secure a walk in Nichols Arboretum. Four hundred walkers participated in the event, which raised $28,000 — half of which will fund the University’s mental health resources. Depowski’s committee decides where those funds will be allocated. Depowski explained that sometimes it could be hard, intimidating even, to tackle mental health since it was so encompassing on campus and required everyone — students, professors and administration alike — to be on board. “Sadness, in American culture, is seen as a weakness. ‘You’re not sad, you’re not special’ sort of thing,” she said. “Specifically in suicide culture, something I am so passionate about, is that suicide is not really a choice for people. It’s not something they do to burden others. It’s not something people do out of revenge,
it’s not something people do for attention.” Depowski also found comfort outside of the academic and activist realm. Despite being disconnected from her father after her mother’s passing, she has found a home with her aunt. “She has become my closest family member besides my sister,” she said. “Our connection has blossomed since the loss of my mom. … My mom’s family is very small, so having my aunt, my sister and, of course, my grandparents in conjunction to an entire family who has loved me and accepted me as their own has been very healing to me and has helped work me through a lot of this grief I experienced.” As for the future, Depowski has been accepted to the University’s School of Social Work, where she hopes to become a licensed clinical social worker. While she plans to stay involved with her organization, Depowski views this next part of her life as the biggest step to her goals. “It feels like I am finally entering the stage in my life where I am going to make these changes happen for other people,” she said. “I have benefitted so much from talk-therapy that I want to bring that to other people.” Ultimately, Depowski believes she owes much of her drive to her mother. “My mother really encouraged me in school,” she said. “I owe so much of who I am today to her. She was not a mental health advocate, but she gave me a lot of her spirit and fight to make these things happen — to find the motivation to do this type of work.”
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Wednesday, April 12, 2017 // The Statement
PHOTOS OF THE YEAR
The Flaming Lips perform. (Zoey Holmstrom/Daily)
President Obama gives a speech. (Marina Ross/Daily)
Cooper Marody body checks an Ohio state player. (Evan Aaron/Daily)
Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally in Grand Rapids. (Amelia Caccione/Daily)
Basketball wins Big Ten championship. (Sam Mousigian/Daily)
The Lumineers perform at the Palace of Auburn Hills. (Alexis Rankin/Daily)
People cheer at The Democrat National Convention. (Grant Hardy/Daily)
Ann Arbor police patrol during a student walkout. (Haley McLaughlin/Daily)
Softball player hits the ball during a home game. (Arnold Zhou/Daily)
Protesters gather on the Diag during the Women’s March. (Max Kuang/Daily)