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Thursday, September 28, 2017

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“‘We belong to the U.S., but we are not part of the U.S.’ … that’s a rough translation of a quote I’ve heard. It basically means that, yeah, if you say Puerto Rico, some people know it's part of the U.S. and some people don't … and some people don’t even recognize us as legitimate Americans." — LSA senior Juan Fossas

T-Pain Puerto Rican Buy students U aanxious Drank for family following Hurricane Maria

In interview, Schlissel puts support over new policy University President admits there are no new policies currently planned RIYAH BASHA & KAELA THEUT

Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS

Community members organize fundraisers for island despite Trump admin. inaction KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporter

Extreme weather systems have devastated the western coasts of North and Central America. Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma struck at the beginning of the month, followed by a 6.1

magnitude earthquake in Mexico, and now a Category 5-turnedCategory-4 Hurricane Maria. While all have left great damage in their paths, Maria has been arguably the most destructive, hitting Puerto Rico Wednesday morning, and continuing its course through the country for more than 24 hours.

The detrimental effects of Hurricane Maria have only added onto the economic crisis Puerto Rico has faced in the past decade, which was caused by debt and recession. LSA senior Juan Fossas was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His family has been confirmed as safe,

yet his connection to them is extremely limited as only one of his extended family members has had working cell service. “Thankfully my house is well built and concrete,” he said. “I knew my family would be fine, but it’s mainly the other people I’m worried about. My neighbors, See HURRICANE, Page 2A

City officially names two new Man defiles Black Lives LGBTQ community liasons

CRIME

Matter sign on the Diag

Brad O’Furey, Sgt. Dawn Murphy to help with education, rights

Public urination posted on campus Snapchat story, DPSS opens investigation

The city of Ann Arbor has officially named Brad O’Furey and Sgt. Dawn Murphy as this year’s LGBTQ liaisons. The position, created last year by Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, is a volunteer role that serves to help answer questions and provide a safe community for Ann Arbor’s LGBTQ population. While no specific incidents led to the creation of the position, Taylor told the Daily last August it was Read more at the result of a recommendation MichiganDaily.com from the city’s Human Rights Commission. “Ann Arbor has an active human rights commission that focuses very carefully on LGBTQ rights,” Taylor said. “They recommend that there be such a position, and we were delighted to create one.” O’Furey was the first person to take on the liaison role last year, and will reprise it this year. He is the immediate past president of the Jim Toy Community Center in Kerrytown and a longtime LGBTQ activist. “With the volatile nature of the country today, I think it’s important the community should have their voices represented … especially with the increased number of transgender Americans HAYLEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily who are underserved by these Students protest on their way to the “To Rename or to Remain” CC Little Discommunities,” O’Furey said. cussion Panel in the League Tuesday. “I have existing relationships

ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter

A video posted on the public University of Michigan campusarea Snapchat story early Wednesday morning appears to show an unidentified man urinating on the Block ‘M’ in the Diag, and on the “Black Lives Matter” writing spray-painted around it. LSA senior Hoai An Pham shared the video on Facebook around noon on Wednesday, encouraging her audience to identify the man if they knew him. “9 hours ago, this white male decided to go up to the M on the Diag and urinate on the Black Lives Matter words that are around it and then posted it on snapchat. Those words were put there in response to the racist hate crimes on campus,” she wrote. “Tell me again that we live in a post racial world. Please share widely.” University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security spokeswoman Diane Brown said DPSS officers are currently investigating the incident.

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Michigan in Color

Know your place in history JASON ROWLAND Managing MiC Editor

Imagine this: It’s a Sunday afternoon and you’re on your way home for the evening. To your annoyance, the route you normally take has more traffic than normal. Initially, the bumper-to-bumper backup is inching along, but it quickly grinds to a complete halt. After a while, you turn on the radio to find out what’s causing the holdup. Surprisingly, you learn it’s not due to an accident or overturned truck; it’s due to a protest organized against racism and discrimination. How would you respond? Now, how would your response change if this were on March 7, 1965, and the road you were stuck on was Route 80, just outside of Selma, Ala.? The day is “Bloody Sunday,” and activist John Lewis is marching with about 600 protesters from Selma to Montgomery. Regardless of how you claim to feel about the civil rights movement, chances are that your current reaction to anti-racism demonstrations (from Black Lives Matter protests to NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem) would be identical to how you would have reacted during the civil rights movement 50 years ago. Don’t believe me? According to a Gallup poll conducted in October of 1964, almost threefourths of Americans believed civil rights demonstrators should stop protesting, despite many of their demands being unfulfilled. Additionally, a New York Times poll conducted

during the same year found that a majority of white New Yorkers felt civil rights protesters had gone too far, with common complaints about “negroes receiving ‘everything on a silver platter’” and the growth of perceived “reverse discrimination” against whites. These sentiments are still cited by Americans who denounce efforts to create a more inclusive country, from critics of kneeling to people against affirmative action. Ironically, while these people probably would have been against the civil rights movement had they been alive at the time, they are the first to wistfully compare today’s demonstrations to demonstrations of the past, as if their attitudes would be any different. In addition to those who are seemingly against any form of protest, there are even more people who support the cause of racial equality but do little to support it. In fact, they’re often more critical of the methods demonstrators use to achieve equality than about the issues being protested in the first place. Usually, you can spot this happening when someone wishes protesters used less obstructive means. While they may explicitly say something along the lines of “I get where they’re coming from, I just wish they didn’t protest like that,” what they’re really saying is “I acknowledge an issue exists, but I’m not willing to do anything to solve it because it doesn’t affect me.” As a result, demonstrators are forced to use “obstructive” methods — blocking roads, holding sit-ins

and interrupting the status quo — to ensure people actually listen to them. Otherwise, their message would likely be ignored by the apathetic masses who prioritize their day-today convenience above the issues affecting marginalized communities. Martin Luther King Jr. famously wrote about this in his 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In the essay, King argued moderates who sit idly by and allow oppression to happen (despite being ostensibly against racism and discrimination), are more dangerous than Klansmen. Those “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who (prefer) a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly say, ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’” present the greatest danger to those seeking equality. This is just as true today as it was half a century ago. All of this begs an important question: How will you be remembered by history? While it was acceptable to be against the civil rights movement in the 1960s, pictures of counterprotesters standing outside of integrated schools draw disgust today. Anybody who currently thinks the civil rights activists were out of line is rightfully seen as bigoted — and I firmly believe 50 years from now, critics of today’s campaigns for racial equality will be seen in the same light. Now is your chance to stand on the right side of history, even if you have to stand alone.

The First Amendment: An Exclusive Right to White Americans? MICHAEL HEYWARD MiC Columnist

Over two centuries ago, the United States’ Founding Fathers convened in Philadelphia to lay out a framework for the budding nation. The result was the construction of our Constitution — the brainchild of many men, all with different philosophies and visions for the future of the nation. However, they shared a reservation for unrestrained dominion like that of the British monarch that once reigned over them. The Declaration of Independence asserted “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” and the Anti-Federalists, those wary of executive power, insisted that a Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution following its ratification that ensured the certain liberties of the people would not be infringed upon by the government. In contemporary political discourse, there exists a debate regarding one of the most sacred rights enshrined in the Constitution. The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.” Although these words have protected the rights of white men since its inception, the Bill of Rights has not always protected those of minorities. Enslaved Americans were not viewed as human beings with God-given autonomy like their White counterparts. They were considered property, and the law, whether it be in spirit or in practice, affirmed their objectification. Only within the past century has the Supreme Court (arguably) fully avouched the equal rights of minorities. Still, the right of Black people to express disdain for a government they see as repressive is under attack. Ex-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest has incensed masses of white Americans. “I am

not going to stand up to show pride in a f lag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick declared. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” The United States clearly has an issue with the unjust murder of Black people by the police, and Kaepernick is using his voice

To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder. and his Constitutional right to do so, to shed light on it. But apparently Black people that take a stand on Black issues do not have the same rights. Our president, in an unhinged tirade this past week, asked his crowd of adoring fans if they would, “love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our f lag… say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now ... He’s fired. He’s fired!’” Coincidentally, Kaepernick is unemployed despite, in many people’s opinion, possessing

the necessary skills to remain competitive in the league. Though some dispute this and argue that he is not the player he once was, many are questioning whether he would be on the field now had he not stuck to his protest. One of those people is ESPN host Jemele Hill, who also came under fire from the White House for her words. In a series of tweets, Hill professed that, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.” In response, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went out and suggested that ESPN should fire Hill. The president also took to Twitter to demand an apology. Conservatives all over the country have vowed to protest ESPN for its decision to keep Hill. This is the president that doubled down on his support for the white supremacists and neo-Nazis that wreaked havoc at a Klan rally in Charlottesville, Va., this summer that led to the death of an innocent counterprotester. In defiance of his own advisers’ advice, the condemnation of racism from leaders of his own party and decades-old political norms, he suggested that there were, “some very fine people on both sides.” Far-right commentators also rushed condemn the violence, but insinuated that white supremacists, too, have First Amendment rights to speech and assembly. Are you sensing a pattern? It wouldn’t matter that Hill, Kaepernick or any of the many other Black dissenters villainized in today’s society are chastised, if those that spout hatred and racism were chastised too, specifically from the President of the United States. However, this isn’t the case. The Constitution grants freedom of speech as a right for all, and the days of Black rights being second-class rights are over. Agree with our positions or not, Black people still have the right to have them — and take a stand, or a knee.

Thursday, September 28, 2017— 3A

The media and me AAREL CALHOUN MiC Columnist

As a kid, I soaked up television like a sponge. I spent a lot of time watching Nickelodeon, (“Spongebob” is the best show, don’t @ me), but don’t worry — I watched the educational PBS shows too. All media geared toward children is very fun and friendly, but as I got older and transitioned away from cartoons, the media started to feel more like it wanted to be my enemy instead of my friend. For the new target audience that I joined as I got older, the media’s focus on educational television was seemingly replaced by a hidden curriculum that I then learned and internalized. The hidden curriculum of the media teaches you what it means to be any race in America. It is hidden because these racial lessons are not explicitly taught; but they are eventually perceived when you notice that the hero is often portrayed by a white man (Captain America, Superman, Iron Man, Spiderman) but the villain is usually darker (Scar from “The Lion King,” Ursula from “The Little Mermaid,” Shan Yu from “Mulan”). Or when you notice that the news tells us that when white people riot in the streets after a football game, they’re just wild college kids doing what college kids do, but when Black people riot after the shooting of yet another unarmed Black person, they are called thugs, and savages. In television shows, in movies, in magazines, white is often synonymous with wealth and power. It is synonymous with being smart, being the main character (“Friends,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Hannah Montana”), being nice, liking indie and alternative music, being good, getting good grades, success and happiness. It is associated with pretty, popular and fun. In the media, white people are doctors, lawyers, cops, teachers, CEOs and heroes. But, in the same shows, white people can also play the villains and drug addicts, they play people with mental and physical disabilities, liberal and conservative mentalities. On TV, white people are often shown liking indie, alternative, or rock music, but there are also white characters who like rap, hip hop, and jazz. White people are generally portrayed as multidimensional, dynamic people, glaringly positive but also with the potential to be negative. This in itself is a privilege that many people may not even notice, because it is so ingrained into

our society. White people can walk through life with the belief that they can be anything that they want to be because of these portrayals. They can be the doctor or the lawyer, they can be interested in anything, they can be smart. But they can also be the villain or the drug addict, they can be anything and still be praised for it, and gain sympathy. There is nothing in the media stopping white people from being whoever or whatever they want to be, because the media has told them that as long as their skin is white, anything goes. If you don’t believe me, take a look at our current president/reality TV star; I wonder how he got the job? For minorities, the media portrayal is often a bit different. Minorities are

If they are smart, I am dumb; if they are wealthy, I am poor; if they are the standard of beauty, and I am missing the slender nose, the straight blone hair and the blue eyes, what does it make me? often presented in one way — usually a stereotype — and those stereotypes can have a big inf luence on the way that they move through this world. Being a Black girl, I cannot speak for my fellow minorities on how the media’s representation of them makes them feel; however, I do know how the media has made me feel. The media has not always portrayed Black people in a positive light. I, like many other Black people, have learned from the media that “white is right”. I have learned that my brown skin has doomed me to be the antithesis of my white classmates. If they are smart, I am dumb; if they are wealthy, I am poor; if they are the standard of beauty, and I am missing the slender nose, the straight blonde hair and the blue eyes, what does that make me? Why is a movie with a white lead fit for all audiences, but a movie with a Black lead is just a “Black movie”? Why do I see so many of my fellow Black people portrayed as violent gang members, thugs

and killers on television? Why is every interracial couple that I see on television a Black man and a white girl? Are Black girls undesirable? Why is it that the physical features that naturally occur on people who look like me are repulsive, but the tan skin, full lips, and big butt are praised on Kylie Jenner? Why is it okay for Connor to listen to Vampire Weekend, Blake Shelton and Fall Out Boy, but it’s a surprise or not “Black enough” when Jerrell does it? Why is it that Black people are portrayed as “loud and ghetto”? Why has ghetto become a synonym for Black? Why is it a surprise that I go to the University of Michigan but no one is shocked that Sarah goes here? Why is it that George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin for walking while Black? How was Darren Wilson able to shoot Michael Brown without being found guilty? Why do they hate Barack Obama but adore Donald Trump? Why is it that I have to go out in the streets and scream to the world that my life matters, but white people have never needed to do that — unless of course, you’re one of the Nazis that unnecessarily gathered in Charlottesville? You get the picture. The media’s portrayal of Black people has led me to all of these questions. It has led me to question my own identity as a Black person. If Black people are these negative things, how could I ever be anything great? If Black people aren’t smart, only speak one way, only like rap music and are inherently violent, does that mean I’m not Black enough? The media’s perception of Black people needs to change; only then can we create a more positive environment for Black people to grow up in. Black people should not have to feel like they are not as good as white people, they should not have to feel like they need to fit the media’s stereotypes to be considered Black, and they should not have to be slain in the streets because the media causes people to associate blackness with violence. Only in recent years have I learned that I am Black enough. The media tells us that there is only one way to be Black, and that that one way is never as good as all the ways that white people are, but I’d call that fake news. Black people can be anything that they want to be, there is no one definition of Black. Anything that I am is as Black as my beautiful skin that is dripping in melanin. I am not the Black person that the media created; I am the real thing.

2017: Wake up, Michigan SILAN FADLALLAH MiC Contributor

The year is 1619. Colonists in Jamestown referred to African slaves as n*****s. The year is 2017. A white male refers to a Black University of Michigan student as a n*****. On Sunday, the door decorations of three Black students in a residential hall were vandalized with the N-word and other derogatory racial slurs. The administration did nothing but send out a vague letter acknowledging what happened and stating that racism is not tolerated at the University. Supposedly a police investigation is being conducted, but almost one week later we still have nothing. No response. No concrete information. Nothing. The University has done nothing but attempt to calm us down and assure us that they are “doing everything possible” to find out who vandalized the signs in West Quad Residence

Hall. Actions speak louder than words, University of Michigan. We want action. We want names. We want change. In response to the University’s lack of response, students held a protest in the Michigan Union on Thursday, starting at 7:30 p.m. Students rallied in the Rogel Ballroom along with CSG members and members of the administration, Schlissel included. Black students shared their demands and concerns with Schlissel but, ultimately, nothing was resolved. Schlissel had to leave for familial reasons that seemed unclear. Students then gathered outside of the Union and marched to Schlissel’s house. White allies were used to block off the crosswalks so protesters could pass through. A white male, who clearly felt that his driving through State Street was more important than the safety of our students, got out of his car and started shouting at the protesters. A Black male argued back at him to which the white male retorted and

called the student a n*****. A fight broke out and the police so kindly and too gently escorted the white male away from the scene. The year is 2017. When will our society understand that present time is not 1619? That racism was and will never be OK? That the University of Michigan should refrain from accepting students that possess the audacity and ignorance that allow them to make another student feel unsafe in their own home? Racism is not just a Black people problem, nor is it strictly a POC problem — racism is everyone’s problem. The privileges granted to an individual as a result of their identity should not mean that they are permitted to turn a blind eye to the countless issues that plague our society. Our student body can only do so much. It is time for the University administration to step up and give us the justice we deserve. What the University’s values deserve. Stop the hate. End the violence. Wake up, University of Michigan.

Opinion

4A — Thursday, September 28, 2017

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BRETT GRAHAM | COLUMN

Storybook politics

have not yet read Hillary denominator. “Politics are Clinton’s book “What complicated,” it seems to say. Happened.” I’m sure I’ll “We prefer a straightforward get around to it eventually, narrative structure with a good and I trust I’m not guy and a bad guy.” missing anything This was far from earth-shattering an isolated incident. in the meantime. In the two years since Some of it will be Trump announced thought-provoking, his candidacy for other parts mindthe Republican numbing. Of the bits nomination, he has and pieces that have been compared to made headlines to Voldemort, Dolores this point, though, Umbridge, Darth BRETT one passage has Vader, the Penguin already managed to Batman, GRAHAM from make my blood boil. Dr. Evil, Joffrey The former presidential Baratheon, a James Bond candidate wrote: “Crowds villain and Jabba the Hutt. at Trump rallies called for Hillary Clinton benefited in my imprisonment more part from purported likenesses times than I can count. They to characters like Hermione shouted, ‘Guilty! Guilty!’ Granger, Leslie Knope and like the religious zealots in Princess Leia. Too many ‘Game of Thrones’ chanting Democratic primary voters ‘Shame! Shame!’ while Cersei got caught up online last year Lannister walked back to the debating a contrived analogy Red Keep.” in which Bernie Sanders was To be clear, my displeasure the kindly old wizard Gandalf, with this passage has nothing Hillary Clinton was Saruman to do with my obsession with and Donald Trump was Sauron. “Game of Thrones,” nor does Some of these comparisons it have anything to do with my may be fairer than others; I opinion of Hillary Clinton. It personally couldn’t care less. has everything to do with my What’s exceedingly disg ust for a habit in which problematic, however, is that too many of my fellow campus a fundamental change takes liberals have indulged, a place when this association kind of storybook politics comes into play. No one sits that f lattens political fig ures down and considers why they into fictional characters and root against the Joker; you root attempts to remove all nuance against him simply because from current events. It he’s evil. By the same token, recasts political opponents as when “Saturday Night Live” supervillains or evil dragons portrays Steve Bannon as to be slain, simultaneously the Grim Reaper, one doesn’t elevating a selected pantheon think much further than the of like-minded politicians to dark hood and the sickle. the status of beloved heroes, Furthermore, these equipped with a shiny set narratives tend to elevate a of armor and a sword. You’d hero, some likable protagonist think Hillary Clinton would who comes along to act as the be familiar with it by now. champion of the downtrodden A certain degree of this and slay the beast. Politicians, manner of political positioning though, make bad heroes, and is to be expected, of course. our relationship with them Often the easiest way to is constantly questioned. appear principled, caring Barack Obama enjoyed a and thoughtful is to paint the semi-immediate canonization opposition as thoughtless, from millions of liberal apathetic hypocrites. But what Americans as he left office, sets this framing aside is its and they cried out for four blatant immaturity. more years without a second On Nov. 9, 2016, hundreds thought about how they may of disappointed Clinton voters disagree with his policies f locked to Twitter and began on immigration (deporting a barrage of comparisons more people than any other between Donald Trump and president in history) and Voldemort, the fictional villain the Middle East (furthering of the Harry Potter universe. American imperialism with Putting aside the fact that this an egregious expansion of comparison trivializes the U.S. drone programs). But very real effect his election has such liberal sins are absolved, had on immigrants, Muslims, out of sight and out of mind, women, LGBTQ communities a small price to pay for the and the uninsured (not a peace of mind that is waking fictional population of witches up in the morning knowing and wizards), it broadcasts there’s a hero out there to the lowest common somewhere.

ERIN WAKELAND | CONTACT ERIN AT ERINRAY@UMICH.EDU

The clear danger this phenomenon presents is a kind of infantile hyperpartisanship, allowing people to shirk their responsibilities as voters to be skeptical, to constantly interrogate their support of this or that candidate. Being a wellinformed and thoughtful political observer takes exponentially more research, consideration and selfref lection than it does to choose which character you want to see sitting on the Iron Throne or winning the Hunger Games. When we see the opposition as morally deficient or wholly corrupt and the candidate we voted for in the last election as a hero in any sense of the word, our allegiances become dangerously blurred, associated more so with personalities rather than a set of values. It seems, though, as if the majority of Americans currently prefer to continue self-identif ying with Bernie or Hillary (meanwhile the intra-party divisions have been far more complicated than this false binary), with Trump or against him. Identif ying our personal position on health care falls behind the need to call a win for our heroes. Ultimately, the effect is not isolated to the individual but bleeds into their supporters. Not only is the opposition the enemy, but so is anyone who has ever supported the enemy. How could they ever vote for such a villain and how are we supposed to respond to such an unforgivable sin? Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater, no? For a sizable cohort of young Twitter users (and whoever helped Hillary Clinton write her book), it seems like the world has shed its third dimension. A political climate that is frequently taxing, often invalidating and always unpredictable has become manageable, at the cost of nuance. Enough. Your political opponents aren’t fictional and the person you voted for isn’t a savior. These comparisons to pop culture, though sometimes amusing, are a colossal waste of time and cheapen the political process. Resist the temptation to engage with them, to debate them, to introduce them yourself. The mild chuckle you might get from comparing senators to the cast of “Stranger Things” isn’t worth it. Brett Graham can be reached at btgraham@umich.edu.

Make activism accessible

ith the election of Donald Trump, students have been getting more involved in activism. From the Women’s March the day after the election, to A Day Without Immigrants, to the March for Science in the spring, to the marches and phone banking following the president’s decision to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, students have been partaking in activism at campuses across the United States. In the 2011-12 school year, 11.1 percent of undergraduate students in the United States had some type of disability. With such a large percentage of students dealing with a disability, it is important that activist groups make their events accessible to disabled students by creating a respectful and welcoming environment and improving infrastructure at events. The biggest issue with mainstream activism is not a lack of representation; rather, it is misrepresentation. Even if intentions are good, the way those with disabilities are portrayed in activism can be problematic. A common form of this type of misrepresentation is from the “hero and pity” narrative. For example, we often see the story of “the hero who, despite their hideous impairment, was able to get into the Paralympics.” This “hero and pity” narrative creates a negative sentiment that suggests that having a disability is the worst thing that could happen to a person. Halimat Olaniyan, the president of Disability Studies and Other Identity Politics at the University of Michigan, a student organization aimed toward representing disability narratives and facilitating discussions on intersectionality within the disabled community, echoes this sentiment. “Oftentimes people glorify successful people with disabilities, and that’s problematic,” Olaniyan said. When this narrative appears in activism, it not only does

a disservice to those activist groups, but makes their groups less accessible to those with disabilities by pushing a narrative in which the disabled don’t feel respected. Problematic allyship is also an issue within mainstream activism. While the intentions of allies are usually good, it is important that they stay in the background — to be as supportive as possible without it becoming patronizing — rather than try to speak for the disabled community. This way, disabled folks can advocate for themselves and can feel more comfortable at activist events.

Activists with disabilities fight for more than just disability issues. Social media showcase problematic activism. “It’s really hard, with Facebook and sites like that just being a big part of our lives. Oftentimes you have — not fake allies, that’s not the correct way to say it — but you have people going out of their way to, say, take a picture with someone who is disabled or take a picture that makes it look like they’re helping this person and turning the issue into something about them,” Olaniyan said. It is possible to make activism more accessible to those with disabilities. Bettering infrastructure at events is the most concrete way of making activism accessible. Infrastructure can mean making sure there are adequate ways for those with disabilities to get to the event venue and attend the event comfortably. An example of improving infrastructure is having an American Sign Lang uage interpreter to translate any speakers the event has for those who are

deaf or hard of hearing and know ASL. Activists can also take advantage of the internet to make their events more accessible to those with disabilities by livestreaming their events on social media. In January, the Women’s March on Washing ton paired up with the Disability March. The Disability March was an online-only march for those who could not make it to the Women’s March because of a disability or chronic illness. On its website, the Disability March allowed marchers to enter their stories surrounding disability or chronic illness, either from themselves or from someone they love. By including these types of services, activist groups can make their events more accessible. Accessibility also means inclusivity. Arranging for more disabled speakers is key to making events more inclusive. This doesn’t just include disabled speakers at disability rights events but at events for LGBTQ rights events, events for racial justice and other issues. “It’s really moving to the affected communities (to see a disabled speaker),” Olaniyan affirmed. “It’s like, wow, I can do that too.” Moving toward intersectionality in activism is an important step in incorporating diverse narratives in modern activism. Activists with disabilities fight for more than just disability issues. Many disabled activists are also queer, people of color or transgender, and they have important contributions to conversations surrounding those topics. Nonviolent activism is an effective method of protest that can generate positive change in the United States. To have the largest impact possible, activist groups need to consider all people who want to partake in activism when planning their events. It is possible to create activism that includes all, regardless of ability or health. Emily Huhman can be reached at huhmanem@umich.edu.

ANDREW MEKHAIL | OP-ED

Should I kneel?

knew long before this weekend how I felt about kneeling during the national anthem. Whether I like it or not, it’s a right and a privilege of living in this nation to protest peacefully. I was lucky enough to be born in the United States, and I can say without a doubt that there is no other place I would rather call home. But protest is an integral part of our nation’s character, and often how we set ourselves as a country onto a better moral path. After all, it’s hard to fix something unless you acknowledge that it’s broken. Even if this is the best country in the world, it would be wholly un-American not to want to make it better. That’s not to say that I don’t understand why some people are upset when players kneel. I do, especially when the debate is framed as a matter of respect for our veterans. It seems that, somewhere along the line, the f lag and the national anthem transformed from symbols of something into that something. Some of my friends and my fellow citizens are insistent that you cannot be a patriot, a suppor ter of vetera ns or even a n A merica n un less you sta nd during t he nat iona l a nt hem. (Don’t like this countr y? Leave.) I would agree with them if this were truly about veterans. If Colin Kaepernick, the man responsible for first kneeling in protest during the national anthem, started this controversy by saying that he was protesting our veterans, I doubt this would be such a nuanced issue. Saying “I hate veterans” isn’t going to get you very far in a debate.

However, it should be noted that saying “I like people who weren’t captured” will land you in the Oval Office. So, if you’re not ready for the responsibility of being president of the United States, don’t come out against prisoners of war. And if respect for veterans is of the utmost importance to you, perhaps voting for such a man isn’t in line with your values. But neither of those quotes can be attributed to Kaepernick. In fact, the issue at hand in these protests is police brutality, specifically, and systemic racism in general. No matter which side you stand on regarding these issues — whether you believe those are things of the past or problems to this day — discourse is only ever helpful to a nation’s progress. A lack of discourse, a desire not to talk about something, is often a sign of weakness. Part of what makes this issue so baff ling to me is that this was one of the first issues addressed by Kaepernick to the press when asked about his feelings toward veterans: “I have great respect for the men and women that have fought for this country,” Kaepernick said. “I have family, I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for the people, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone. That’s not happening. People are dying in vain because this country isn’t holding their end of the bargain up, as far as giving freedom and justice, liberty to everybody.” Whether you kneel or stand, let’s choose this as a departing point: Our

veterans deserve respect, and our citizens deserve better. Yes? I hope that my fellow countrymen who voted to “Make America Great Again” can get behind that second clause as something other than misg uided, snowf lake, liberal propaganda. I t it led t h is piece “Should I k neel? ” for a rea son. I a m not telling you to k neel. Kaeper nick is not a sk ing you to k neel, even if ma ny people a re dema nding you sta nd. I a sk myself t h is because I feel a responsibilit y to cont ribute to my com mun it y in some way. Nobody cares, frankly, whether I stand or kneel. I’m a college student. I’m not a professional athlete, I don’t make millions. What I say and what I do does not make headlines. So how do I participate? Hopefully, by writing this article, by sparking conversations about this issue in a way that doesn’t spark fights. I’m not looking for a fight, but I can’t shy away from a chance to talk about something that matters very much to the quality of life for many here in our country. I refuse to believe that being critical of my country is incompatible with loving it. That’s not a choice I have to make. I can respect our veterans, stand for change and celebrate what is already great all at the same time. Let’s get rid of the idea that you have to choose. This wall is not insurmountable. We have enough in common as Americans to get past this.

Andrew Mekhail is an LSA sophomore.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, September 28, 2017 — 5A

No. 20 Michigan upset by Oakland Many pieces missing in ‘M’ loss ETHAN SEARS For the Daily

There’s a distinct noise in sports when a crowd gets the life taken out of it. It usually starts with a gasp, before transitioning into a deafening silence. Whether it’s a local Little League crowd or a crowd of 110,000 at Michigan Stadium, the noise is the same, and it never means that something good has happened to the home side. Austin Ricci, a senior forward from Oakland University, produced that noise on Wednesday night at U-M Soccer Stadium, where the Golden Grizzlies beat the No. 20 Michigan men’s soccer team, 2-1. In the 49th minute, Ricci tied the game at one on a goal defined more by the Wolverines’ sloppiness than anything else. It came off a bouncing ball toward Michigan’s goal that didn’t seem especially threatening. Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Verdi came out to get the ball, but Ricci’s head connected with it before he could. After a first half in which the Wolverines dominated, the equalizer felt

more like a punch to the gut. Michigan opened the scoring early, with a Mohammed Zakyi header just seven minutes into the game. The freshman forward whipped the ball in off a 35-yard free kick from a fellow freshman, midfielder Marc Ybarra. In the early part of the game, it felt like the first of many. Freshman midfielder Jackson Ragen nearly scored off a free kick in similar fashion just seven minutes later, however, his header f lew wide. The f loodgates seemed ready to open. In the 20th minute, Michigan generated another chance in what, at that point, seemed like an endless line of them. It was another Zakyi header, this one after a cross from junior midfielder Robbie Mertz. But Golden Grizzly keeper Sullivan Lauderdale saved it. Even without juniors

Marcello Borges and Francis Atuahene – the former injured, the latter suspended – the Wolverines looked set to cruise. That dream ended with Ricci, as the ball trickled into the back of the net just minutes into the second half. Senior defender Billy Stevens and Verdi both went down on the play, staying on the ground for a few minutes as trainers tended to them, adding to Michigan’s despondency. Though they stayed in the game, the Wolverines never regained momentum. After Oakland’s first goal, the game stayed tied for just 15 minutes until the Golden Grizzlies hit paydirt again. Coming forward on a counterattack, forward Travis Harrington threaded a pass through Michigan’s defense. Midfielder Jacob Moore provided the finish. “For two or three mistakes in the second half we looked really loosey-goosey,” said Michigan head coach Chaka Daley. “We addressed some things at halftime and they still continued to rear their head in the second half. Our clearances weren’t great, our cover wasn’t necessarily great. So I think those are two reasons we conceded.” Michigan didn’t go down quietly, though. As time wound down, a Wolverine onslaught ensued. In the game’s last five minutes, Michigan had four shots. None found the back of the net. The most threatening was the last – a Zakyi header that forced a diving save from Lauderdale with 19 seconds left in the game. When the clock struck zero, Michigan had lost its first game to Oakland in Daley’s tenure as head coach, and their third in four games. “(The loss) does not deter me in any way, shape or form,” Daley said. “I’m disappointed for sure, but it doesn’t determine my confidence in our team, in our leaders, in what I think we’re capable of, in what’s remaining in the season and what I think can be attainable.”

“It doesn’t determine my confidence in our team (or) in our leaders.”

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily

Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Verdi conceded two goals in Michigan’s loss.

RIAN RATNAVALE For the Daily

A loud roar exploded from the stands of one side at the U-M Soccer Stadium, overpowering the other side’s sparse, sad groans. The Michigan men’s soccer team (2-1-1 Big Ten, 5-3-2 overall) took on Oakland on Wednesday and left what little fans who attended as the latter of the two sides. The Oakland fans’ energy, in a way, paralleled the energy of their players in the Golden Grizzlies’ 2-1 win over the Wolverines, who missed a lot more than just their fans on a chilly Ann Arbor night. One of the most noticeable things Michigan lacked tonight was expertise. Junior defender Marcello Borges was missing. So was junior forward Francis Atuaheneone — of the Wolverines’ better scorers — because of a red card he obtained in the last match against Northwestern. “We’re the walking wounded right now,” said Michigan head coach Chaka Daley. “We don’t have a lot of available bodies, we had a suspension and three

major players on the bench for our team. I still think we could have maybe gotten more out of the game, but unfortunately didn’t.” For the first half though, expertise didn’t seem to matter. Freshman midfielder Marc Ybarra continued his strong play when he connected on a free kick from 35 feet out to fellow freshman forward Mohammed Zakyi in the box. Ybarra continued to hit his teammates accurately on set pieces throughout the first half. In the end, the Wolverines’ inability to score late in the first half hurt their momentum, and so, perhaps, did all of the team’s absences. Golden Grizzlies’ forward Austin Ricci popped in a header in the 49th minute. Fifteen minutes later, the player who assisted him, Nebosja Popovic, skimmed the ball over the Michigan back line for another goal. “We were excellent in the first half, carried the game in every single capacity, every single way,” Daley said. Despite making halftime adjustments, Daley lamented how some of the same

Wolverines’ problems still came up in the second half. “We addressed some things at halftime and they still continue to rear their head in the second half,” Daley said. “Our clearances weren’t great, our cover wasn’t necessarily great. I think those are two reasons we conceded in the second half.” Team captain Ivo Cerda echoed his coach’s sentiment. While the midfielder didn’t play the whole game, he played a large role in anchoring Michigan’s defense in the first half. He shared his teammates’ and coach’s frustration with the blown lead, which clearly showed when he earned a yellow card in an end-of-game skirmish after an Oakland foul. Just like his coach, Cerda noted the team’s lack of discipline but expressed optimism towards gaining it back. “Yeah, discipline is a big thing for us, especially with the types of calls we that we got today,” Cerda said. “The good thing about it is that if we can improve on that a lot, we should stay more focused throughout the whole game.”

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily

Junior midfielder Robbie Mertz and the Wolverines suffered a major loss to unranked Oakland on Wednesday.

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, September 28, 2017

Wolverines lack consistency in Colorado ROHAN KUMAR For the Daily

Coming off a last-place finish in its previous tournament, the Michigan women’s golf team looked to avenge its performance at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Vail, Colo. this week. The Wolverines finished the threeday, stroke play event in 10th place out of an 18-team field. And while that was certainly a substantial improvement, Michigan failed to seize an opportunity to place higher. The Wolverines got off to a strong start, leading the field through Sunday. They couldn’t keep up, however, and steadily collapsed over the course of the tourney. During the opening round on Sunday, junior Elodie Van Dievoet took charge of the field, finishing in first place at three-under 69. Van Dievoet’s performance was impressive from the start as she birdied five out of her first six holes, giving the Wolverines the spark they needed. Michigan finished the day with 19 birdies as a team. “We go to every tournament to win it,” said Michigan coach Jan Dowling. “We put ourselves in contention to do that, so that’s a positive.” Freshman Ashley Kim, in her second college tournament, shot an even-par 72, ending at 13th. Other Wolverines carded solid rounds as well, putting Michigan in a tie for second place with a 290 — just one stroke back from the leader, San Diego State. The Wolverines couldn’t repeat that performance Monday, ending with a 303 and falling into a tie for fifth. Senior Emily White led Michigan with a 74 on Monday, but it simply wasn’t enough for the Wolverines to hold their ground. Her teammates

didn’t do anything spectacular, either. 26th while Ashley Kim finished 51st. Van Dievoet shot a 76, failing to fend Seniors Kathy Lim and Megan Kim off the competition and losing her were in Michigan’s lineup as well, lead. She moved into a tie for eighth, finishing 38th and 62nd, respectively. while Michigan’s other golfers carded While it wasn’t smooth sailing substandard rounds. for the Wolverines, they still made Despite coming back with a 295 in progress. They showed glimpses of the final round on Wednesday, the top-notch play throughout the week. Wolverines continued to plummet The next step, it appears, will be on the leaderboard. They finished finding consistency. in 10th with a grand total of 888, 16 “Our ball striking is pretty good. … strokes behind the champion, Denver. We are gonna mostly focus on short Van Dievoet was off to a shaky start game,” Dowling said. “We’ve got two and was six-over through her first big weeks to get ready. We’ve got two eight holes of the final round. After really strong tournaments coming up settling down and finding her groove, in October, and I know the team is she went on to birdie three straight pretty pumped to get after it and get holes. better before we tee it up again.” But that wasn’t all — Van Dievoet eagled a long, 505-yard par 5 a couple holes later, and she even managed to tack on one more birdie before the round ended. She finished tied for 11th with a 217. It was quite the comeback considering the brutal start. “We are obviously doing some things really well, and it shows what our potential is,” Dowling said. “But at the same time, we didn’t handle the lead very well the last few days.” White tallied FILE PHOTO/Daily a 74 to finish in The Michigan women’s golf team couldn’t maintain its strong start.

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Historic spans 5 2012 World Series MVP Sandoval 10 FiveThirtyEight fodder 14 Ristorante bottle 15 “Let’s call it __”: “We’re even” 16 Spring flower 17 Disney CEO since 2005 18 Small, silvery Chesapeake Bay swimmer 20 See 34-Across 22 Experiment 23 See 34-Across 27 National Lampoon writer, typically 31 Old West gunslinger Jack 32 Hand over 33 State with conviction 34 Clue for 20-, 23-, 48- and 52Across 40 Spray holder 41 Casino game 42 __ acids: protein components 44 Fireproofing construction mineral banned in many countries 48 See 34-Across 50 Bit of land 52 See 34-Across 56 Boneless seafood cut 59 Nonstick cookware brand 60 Reverberate 61 Chips go-with 62 Online page 63 Profound 64 Owner of Regency hotels 65 At any point

6 Condition treated by Ritalin, briefly 7 Sailor’s jail 8 Most recent 9 Have financing from 10 Jenny Craig offering 11 LAX incoming flight 12 Muscle spasm 13 Volcanic output 19 __ XIII: Title role in “The Young Pope” 21 Pulitzer winner Walker 24 File menu command 25 Aroma 26 Just announced 28 Two-legged zebra 29 Swear words 30 Feudal workers 34 Hardly envelopepushing 35 “Do you really think so?” 36 Haberdashery 37 Blot gently 38 Cork’s home: Abbr.

DOWN 1 Kick out 2 Hardships 3 Iron deficiency concern 4 Upset with 5 Chess piece that may be promoted By Derek Bowman

39 Respectful negative 40 Kilmer of “Tombstone” 43 Ingredient in une omelette 44 Having fun 45 Scary African fly 46 1380s Norwegian king 47 Unruffled 49 Very silly

51 “House of Payne” creator __ Perry 53 Frequent collaborator with Louis and Duke 54 Take a nap 55 Doc’s “Right away” 56 Nourished 57 Sprain treatment 58 “Thar __ blows!”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

09/28/17

Sports

6A — Thursday, September 28, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

A look around the Big Ten without Michigan With the Wolverines sitting out this weekend, the Daily examines the rest of the conference TED JANES

Daily Sports Writer

It seems like it’s been a year since redshirt freshman kicker Quinn Nordin hit those two 50-yard field goals in Dallas. Yet it’s been just four weeks, and somehow — through a blur of scary moments and unsettling games — the Michigan football team (4-0) is still undefeated. Now, the eighth-ranked Wolverines head into their bye week. Without a game until Oct. 7, the Daily looks outside Ann Arbor at the rest of the Big Ten. Here’s a breakdown of what Michigan’s future opponents are up to this weekend: Michigan State (2-1) When do they play Michigan? Oct. 7 Next Opponent: Iowa (3-1) Despite moving the ball for nearly 500 yards of offense, the Spartans were handed their first loss last weekend against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish scored 21 points off three Michigan State turnovers (one pick-six and two fumbles), and in addition to giving up 97 yards in penalties, the Spartans did little to help themselves. Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke, now a true sophomore, has four touchdowns and two interceptions this season. His next opponent, Iowa, has allowed nearly 250 passing yards every game, which is exactly what Lewerke averages so far. If the young Spartan quarterback cleans up the mistakes, Michigan State should be able to ride out a win at home before they come play at the Big House. Indiana (2-1) When do they play Michigan? Oct. 14 Next Opponent: No. 4 Penn State (4-0) The Hoosiers inevitably got thrown to the bottom of the dog pile when they opened their season against Ohio State. Indiana has had two comfortable wins since playing the Buckeyes, but they’ve also become riddled with injuries. Against a top-five team like Penn State, that will be an issue. Quarterback Richard Lagow left last weekend’s game early

EMMA RICHTER/Daily

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s team will have a bye week, which he has dubbed an “improvement week,” after winning the first four games of their season.

with a leg injury, but the main cause for concern is on defense. The Hoosiers lost three starters in their win over Georgia Southern: cornerback A’Shon Riggins, defensive back Marcelino Ball and defensive tackle Nate Hoff. All three are questionable for this weekend, which significantly reduces their chances against the Nittany Lions, who average 496 yards per game. No. 4 Penn State (4-0) When do they play Michigan? Oct. 21 Next Opponent: Indiana (3-1) The Nittany Lions are living up to all the offseason hype since last year’s Rose Bowl, and the credit is due to running back Saquon Barkley. Though it’s still early in the season, Barkley is the Heisman frontrunner and a potential No. 1 draft pick. He leads his team in both rushing and receiving yards with 518 and 335, respectively. Barkley has six total touchdowns — four on the ground and two in the passing game. Few teams, certainly not Indiana, will be able to stop him.

And even if a team can find a way to halt the running back, it would still have to deal with Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley. McSorley has thrown for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns, completing 66 percent of his passes. It would take a miracle for a handful of Indiana secondstring defensive players to stop the runaway train that is Barkley, McSorley and Penn State. Rutgers (1-3) When do they play Michigan? Oct. 28 Next Opponent: No. 11 Ohio State (3-1) It was actually a decent weekend by Rutgers’ standards during a 27-17 road loss to Nebraska. For starters, the Scarlet Knights didn’t get blown out. A pick-six from Rutgers defensive back Kiy Hester gave Rutgers a lead in the third quarter, but Nebraska rallied to come back for the win. It was the Scarlet Knights’ 15th consecutive Big Ten loss. No. 16 will likely come this Saturday against Ohio State. Rutgers quarterback Kyle Bolin has thrown six interceptions and just three

touchdowns so far. His performance might give true freshman quarterback Johnathan Lewis a fair amount of playing time against the Buckeyes. Lewis, a dual-threat quarterback, handled the majority of the workload in Rutgers’ sole win over Morgan State, but besides that, he hasn’t taken many snaps. Ohio States’ defense would be Lewis’ biggest test yet. But why not play him? There’s nowhere to go but up for Rutgers. Minnesota (3-0) When do they play Michigan? November 4 Next Opponent: Maryland (2-1) New coach P.J. Fleck has the boat rowing in Minneapolis. The Golden Gophers have won three straight games, including a dominant win over Pac-12 opponent Oregon State. The Golden Gophers’ best offensive threat is their depth in the run game. Running back Shannon Brooks leads the team with four rushing touchdowns, but Minnesota has done well in rotating the tailbacks. Its other running backs, Kobe McCrary and Rodney Smith, have over 100 yards on the

season and have combined for four touchdowns between the two of them. Michigan’s former defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin coaches Minnesota’s next opponent, Maryland. The Gophers’ rush offense against the Terrapins’ rush defense should make for a decisive battle on Saturday. Maryland (2-1) When do they play Michigan? Nov. 11 Next Opponent: Minnesota (3-0) It’s a bad year to be a quarterback at Maryland. Just three weeks after starting quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome tore his ACL against Texas, the Terrapins’ backup, freshman Kasim Hill, suffered the same injury. Neither will return this season. The injuries dampened what was once a great start to the 2017 campaign, which included a big win on the road at thenNo. 23 Texas. Now, the Terrapins will turn the reigns over to sophomore Max Bortenschlager, the only healthy scholarship quarterback left on the roster. No. 10 Wisconsin (3-0) When do they play

Michigan? Nov. 18 Next Opponent: Northwestern (2-1) True freshman running back Jonathan Taylor leads the Big Ten with five rushing touchdowns. He broke out against Florida Atlantic for 223 rushing yards and three scores and followed that up with another 100-yard outing on the road against Brigham Young. At quarterback, Wisconsin’s Alex Hornibrook has shown major improvements from last season. Last year, Hornibrook threw nine touchdowns and seven interceptions with just a 58-percent completion rate. Through three games this year, he has eight touchdowns and only one interception and has completed 70 percent of his passes. The Badgers are a 15.5-point favorite over Northwestern, and should come away with another big win if all goes according to plan. For a second straight year, the Big Ten West really is Wisconsin’s to lose. No. 11 Ohio State (3-1) When do they play Michigan? Nov. 25 Next Opponent: Rutgers (1-3) Yes, the Buckeyes are going to beat Rutgers. See you next week.

BY THE NUMBERS Notable Big Ten Stats

Number of teams besides Michigan with a 4-0 record

Touchdowns scored by Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley alone

15.5

Point favorites the Badgers are over Northwestern this weekend

496

Yards gained by Michigan State in 20-point loss to Notre Dame

REMAINING BIG TEN SCHEDULE MICHIGAN STATE October 7 / Michigan Stadium 7:30 P.M. EST INDIANA October 14 / Bloomington, IND 12 P.M. EST PENN STATE October 21 / State College, PA TBA

MINNESOTA November 4 / Michigan Stadium TBA MARYLAND November 11 / College Park, MD TBA WISCONSIN November 18 / Madison, WI TBA

RUTGERS - HOMECOMING

OHIO STATE

October 28 / Michigan Stadium

Nov 25 / Michigan Stadium

12 P.M. EST

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, September 28, 2017

2B —Thursday, September 28, 2017

Arts B-SIDE SECONDARY

B-SIDE LEAD

Dogleg is a on-campus band really into DIY

COURTESY OF BEN LESER

Dogleg digs up power of at -home recording and DIY

Local University band Dogleg has perfected the art of DIY having made it a part of their image and mode of production SHIMA SADAGHIYANI Daily Arts Writer

“At home, there’s this little coffee shop … our friend owns it … his dad used to own it but he passed it down to his son, and his son is super chill and he’s like, ‘We need to start throwing shows here.’ So we threw a show,” said Alex Stoitsiadis, lead singer of a local Ann Arbor band, Dogleg, which also includes Chase Macinski on bass and Parker Grissom on drums. “It went over really well. And then we threw another show at the end of summer and like 200 people showed up. In this little coffee shop, they all just piled in. And it was one of the craziest nights of our lives.” It’s hard to describe exactly what the people in that impromptu venue heard when they saw Dogleg perform for the first time. As a band, they’ve developed a sound that’s difficult to pin down. A blend of driving energy, powerful vocals and instrumentation that leaves you speechless, Dogleg’s music dares you to try and neatly

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

distinct dynamism. Songs are almost like scrapbooks in the way they are pieced together. “Star 67” from Remember Alderaan? hangs off the edge of spiking crescendos and jagged vocals. The mellow intro of “11 AM Drunk” from Dogleg trips into a racing tempo that jolts toward the finish line. Untraditional but not amateurish, irregular but not haphazard, it’s art that is redefined. It’s DIY. Even though this very broad label can encompass a variety of different aspects, the importance of DIY comes in the fact that, at its core, it allows art to be malleable, deconstructing the unyielding stone of more traditional definitions in order for people to create their own systems of production. DIY is art at its most accessible and ingenuity at its finest. Still-life paintings can be made out of instant coffee and water. Movies can be filmed in backyards. Music can be recorded in basements. “Dogleg was just me, initially,” Stoitsiadis said as he explained the band’s beginning. “The friend of

Stoitsiadis found the feedback he received after publicly releasing his music to be overwhelmingly positive. “I didn’t really expect (the music) to go anywhere,” he said. “I threw it out online and pretty soon people were really liking it a lot and I was like, ‘I should start playing shows. I should start actually mobilizing this thing.’” Dogleg emerged from the inconspicuous form of a piece of borrowed recording equipment; Stoitsiadis’s ingenuity and passion empowered his music to grow into the established band it is today. “My old friends, we went to music school together: School of Rock,” he said. “So I called them up … they’re itching to play in a band. So, we get together and everything just gels completely. We’re all on the same exact page as to what we want to do, where we want to go, how we want to sound and things just exponentially took off from there.” Yet, even as Dogleg continue to branch out, the band never strays too far from Stoitsiadis’s original means of music production.

140 characters (sometimes more, often less) Soon, sooner than most of us posters, scrollers, refreshers and general internet lurkers would like, Twitter is going to up its character count to 280 — double the current limit. And while that increases potential for memes and political screaming, it also affects a community of poets who use Twitter as their primary

For some poets, that kind of literary Twitter was more a means to talk about poetry than one to create it. Because the site, and specifically this sub-community, maintained a false air of professionalism and careerism, it became an echo chamber to reaffirm what was already established off line. The internet was growing up quickly and it was becoming more and more apparent that instead of just a new platform, it was a new world that could

poetry. Both poets still use Twitter, as well as traditional print, as a means of spreading their poetry to the masses and bridging the gap between what can roughly be characterized as alt-lit and post-alt-lit. Yes, now, it’s a movement that is established enough to be considered in a post phase. Still alt, still lit, just post what it was before. Like all the great “post”s, this iteration of internet poetry

means of publication. When Twitter first appeared on the web 11 years ago it was a space to talk about what you ate for breakfast. About 2011, people started to toss around the idea that the website might actually be — like most other text-based media before it — literary. That maybe it was possible to fit art, and more specifically poetry, within Twitter’s humble character limit. Poets established in print took to the site to be playful and human — to point

house art and inspire it. From this world, a generation of posters and poets was born. There has been resurgence in Twitter as a platform for organic and original creation. The origins of the alt-lit online community — which started on Tumblr and Twitter in 2011 and came into its own as those platforms did, about 2014. Alt-lit is literature on the internet that is a direct product of internet culture. In its earlier stages, it was poetry that was stylized to look internet-y —

is interested in what poetry is as a concept and an institution. It’s funnier, sharper, more cynical and nihilistic. Popular accounts intersperse their verse with memes and retweets from “weird Twitter” accounts like @dril. This brand of poetry is post New Sincerity’s rejection of postmodernism’s cynicism, which is just a convoluted way of saying it’s cynical again. But, cynical in a different way, a way that knows how to spin multiple plates — beauty,

out, with the sincerity of early internet culture, the beauty in toast and jam and bowls of cereal. Poets like Mary Karr and Sherman Alexie used the platform to send blips of beauty into the web and to reaffirm a kind of canonical body — retweeting and quoting poetry from other, equally established poets. Poetry on Twitter was, in many ways, merely the transposition of pre-existing words.

chat room messages, Facebook statuses, lowercase letters and abbreviations abound. It was characterized by a proximity to the “New Sincerity” literary movement that includes IRL writers like David Foster Wallace and Miranda July. Online, poets like Steve Roggenbuck and Mira Gonzalez rose to prominence. Early on, they blurred the lines between self-deprecating observation and more traditionally recognizable

despair, self-deprecation, selflove — all at once. On Twitter, users like @ atreewithagrape and @ simulacra1990 and @RAF_i_A blend memes, political retweets and small lines of verse into poetic and holistic expressions of the self. Profiles are often devoid of real names, photos or other points of identification. Poets are known by their handles in a

MADELEINE GAUDIN Senior Arts Editor

COURTESY OF SHANNON MAHONEY

categorize it. The rush of color and catharsis that burst to life in that little coffee shop must have shaken the very foundations of the building: an aftermath of toppled-over chairs and cracked coffee cups. It’s not surprising in the least to hear that such a large crowd came to watch the second performance. The different elements in each of Dogleg’s songs are unrestrained, allowing their two albums to spark with a

mine who was in the old band let me borrow his recording equipment, which was literally just a little box that could record two microphones at a time. It wasn’t music production in the conventional sense, but it worked. “I would just record stuff on there and just kind of make it as good as possible … just kind of working with the limits,” he said. Even with limitations,

“I would go and write five different riff or song ideas, just in one day,” he explained. “And then the next day I would come back to them and see what can I change, what can I put together, what can I piece apart.” It’s a casual process. Even when writing vocals, the component that gives Stoitsiadis the most trouble during the creation of new See DOGLEG, Page 3B

See TWITTER, Page 3B

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DOGLEG From Page 2B songs, a rigid schedule is never set. “I’ve always felt limited by writing vocals,” he said. “Writing words, I would just stay up until 3 a.m. until something came to me and something just came out and was like this is what sounds good here and it should happen.” It’s a decisively informal creative process that fits Stoitsiadis’s style well, paralleling the decisively informal way he first started to make music. However, while the method has remained constant, the way Stoitsiadis personally defines DIY music is something that has changed significantly over the years. “When I first started,” he said, “DIY was sort of just doing it all by yourself… and kind of rejecting any help you can get. But, as I’ve kind of grown and the band has grown, and we’ve been exposed to this community of people who believe the same way; it’s kind of like now you’ve got to open yourself up to others and you’ve got to take inspiration from others and give inspiration to them.” It’s a constructive back-andforth of ideas, a connection that seems integral to the expansion of DIY music.

Out of basements, living rooms and cafe corners, music is being made. It’s not perfect. Like all forms of art, it has its shortcomings. But no matter what your opinion is on this type of sound, there is no denying the passion and

But no matter what your opinion is on this type of sound, there is no denying the passion and resourcefulness behind these underground explorations of artistic expression

resourcefulness behind these underground explorations of artistic expression.

There is no denying the significance of bands like Dogleg. Especially during live shows, their preference to play smaller venues allows them to easily build a level of intimacy with the crowd. “We always prefer to play houses,” Stoitsiadis said. “It just allows us to get close with the crowd and talk to people, like right after and during the show. And just be more connected.” In addition, the way Dogleg genuinely seem to appreciate and become motivated by the support of listeners allows them, and potentially the rest of the DIY music community, to be seen as approachable. “I think just knowing that somebody out there is listening to us,” he said, “and just like really connecting with us is what makes me keep wanting to write more songs.” It’s this self less gratitude that highlights the strength of groups like Dogleg; their dedication has the potential to inf luence others to strive and create similar DIY spaces in Ann Arbor. Above all else, DIY art simply empowers creativity: the ability to take that initial low-quality recording device and turn it into something that is so much more. You can listen Dogleg on Bandcamp and Spotify and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Thursday, September 28, 2017 — 3B

FOOD

COURTESY OF THE CAMPUS FARM

Food: It comes from the ground at Campus Farm How often do you wonder where your food is coming from? The ground? Sometimes. But only if it’s from the Campus Farm NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT Senior Arts Editor

TWITTER From Page 2B way that complicates the narrative of the internet as a void of narcissism. There’s an intentional and maintained level of anonymity that feels very akin to the mythic recluses and anonymously published poets of the print canon. And online, a community has formed. Poets can communicate, read one another’s work and talk from across the globe. It’s a community that values authenticity, something that the medium often facilitates more than traditional print media. No editors, no publishers, all that stands between a poem and the world is a click. Some poets, like @pds. literate, use Instagram in a similar way. They post pictures, often screenshots from iPhone notes or stylized photo collages, of their poems. For many poets, the roots of this kind of publication are more based in street art and photography. Because Twitter poetry has historically

favored canon or traditional poetry, Instagram is an outlet for poets who can sometimes feel left out or overwhelmed by the noise of Twitter. The draw of these online platforms as opposed to traditional forms of publication — even smallscale self-publication — for many young writers is the instant accessibility of their art. Publication is, realistically, a lot of work for little readership, whereas in an instant a tweet or an Instagram post is available to anyone with Wi-Fi. In that way, the internet actually becomes what Silicon Valley always dreamed it could be: a great equalizer. Anyone who writes can be published and anyone who reads can come across poetry. Some people think this is all just horrible narcissism. Poetry is just another thing for millennials to kill, to over-post it into oblivion. The self-awareness is seen as selfabsorption, and 140 characters — or 280 if you’re one of the lucky (or cursed) who got to use the boosted count in beta — just isn’t enough for a poem. Twitter becomes a

microcosm for the English language, which can be beautiful and stupid, and often both at once. This new wave of internet poets has seized on the possibilities, viewing every tweet as a poem or part of a poem. Then, like in traditional print poetry, the reader is tasked with making sense of it. Is the individual tweet the poem or is it the whole feed? And, of course, the answer is both. The medium allows poets to publish their process, send words or phrases or sentences out into the world and see how readers respond to them — what they retweet and what they scroll past. The platform is revolutionizing the way people make and interact with poetry. Internet poetry — like all worthwhile art — is an adventure in sifting through dirt (and sometimes shit) to find gold. The fact that the pile of dirt has grown doesn’t dim the gold’s glow. It feels natural that people have taken this cold and detatched thing — Twitter, Instagram, the internet — and animated it with art. What could be more right than that?

STEPS TO DIY 1.CHECKERED VANS 2. SOUNDCLOUD RAP 3. SKATEBOARDS, BUT ONLY WHEN SAD 4. CUTS OWN HAIR WITH CHILD SCISSORS 5. SOUNDCLOUD 6. DEATH GRIPS E-mail arts@michigandaily.com for more helpful tips, tricks and lists

It’s an unassuming lot — that is, if you make it out there. Nestled in a quiet, hilly patch of various shades of green next to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, seven miles from Central Campus, sit an un-showy few plots of land. Deftly manicured rows of crops, a full, working hoop house, an abundance of hoses watering plants — even though we’re definitely not on campus, this is the Campus Farm. *** Founded in 2012 by a group of graduate students, the Campus Farm is a self-sustaining, student-run, year-round farm. There are 10 student managers that oversee almost all aspects of the operation, from planting to harvesting to distribution,

Deftly manicured rows of crops, a full, working hoop house, an abundance of hoses watering plants

and every Friday, about 40 volunteers It’s one of those “Duh!” extracurriculars, if you get what I mean — you had never heard about it, but once you did, of course that makes sense. Engineering junior Carly Sharp is one of those 10 student managers. She’s also in charge of coordinating volunteers for Volunteer Workdays every Friday. “It’s a living-learning community, so the idea is to bring students out there to learn more about agriculture,” she said. “It’s meant to provide a space for students to get a chance to see where their food comes from and its impacts on the environment.” The Campus Farm is funded by grants and donations, but as a model of sustainability, its recent Good Agricultural Practices certification has been a huge step forward for the program. Previously, Campus Farm produce was sold to Argus Farm Stop (a local produce stop) or Student Food Co., or volunteers and student managers would take home what was left. In the past year, the program hired a fulltime manager to help achieve GAP certification, and ever

since, the Campus Farm has sold much of its produce to the University dining halls and the Ross Business School Executive Suite. “I feel like the cool thing about the farm selling to the dining halls is that it’s full circle, almost like we grow the food that we eat,” Sharp said. “We grow food for students, and the students that come out and volunteer grow food for other students.” Katie Samra, another school yeat student manager, tells me that every Sunday at noon, when the Campus Farm sends out its emails detailing the harvest list for the coming week, MDining is often the first to respond, within a matter of minutes. The program even helped the University dining program achieve its goal of sourcing at least 25 percent of its produce from local, sustainable options. *** As weekly volunteers mill about — some experienced gardeners and some first-time freshmen — student managers implore them to wash their hands. This is food to be harvested, bought and sold, after all. Groups are made and volunteers are split up: Some will help with the weeding, some will help to clean up around the farm and some will actually help harvest the crops. The latter are then taken aside for a long instruction period about food handling, cleanliness and safety by Jeremy, the recent full-time hire; the Campus Farm places a great deal of importance on cleanliness and good agricultural practice. In the first plot, there are rows upon rows of tomatoes, peppers and lettuce mixes. In the hoop house — recently built, and of which there will be two more very soon — is an assortment of kale and chard. The farm isn’t like one you’re used to; it’s smaller, more compact. But it is impressively well-maintained — and quite a sight to behold. *** Christian Mackey, a firstyear Masters student in the School of Public Health, is a program director for the Student Food Co., which is an organization dedicated to making produce affordable and convenient for students on campus. As one of the Campus Farm’s main buyers, SFC has been, in Mackey’s experience, nothing but impressed with the program’s success. “They not only help us in making food affordable, but they really help us in the side mission of ours, which is the promotion of sustainability,” he said. “Their practices are all organic and the fact that our partnership gives us a really convenient source of high-quality organic goods is

invaluable to us.” Student Food Co. — which doesn’t process any produce, and only sells whole, uncut fruits and vegetables — began partnering with Campus Farm last year, and it now sells their produce twice a week in Mason Hall. “It’s felt like a growing movement since I’ve been with them, and the academic side of food is starting to grow here at U of M,” he said. “It’s a relationship we want to keep up.” It is quite remarkable, too, to consider how much work goes into maintaining and running a successful farm, especially as students with classes, extracurriculars and other jobs. The fact that they’ve achieved this level of self-sustaining success in such a short period of time is downright impressive. But

A volunteer pulls out a couple of poster mock-ups to help advertise the Campus Farm around campus

Sharp says it never feels like a job to her. “It’s my favorite part of every week,” she said. “I just think it’s important to get out in nature, so I love going out to the farm — and I definitely got a community out of it. *** The students who volunteered to help weeding are crouched on their knees in the main plot, plucking leaves that look — to the untrained eye — nearly indistinguishable from the crops to harvest. It’s hot out, but they’re having fun, and they look committed. So does everyone here. The harvesting group listens intently and seriously to the instructions about cleanliness before steadfastly cleaning their hands and heading over to the hoop house. A volunteer — presumably a regular — pulls out a couple of poster mock-ups to help advertise the Campus Farm around campus. Mackey tells me, “I know that when I go to the farm I feel an emotion that is similar to things that people would traditionally call art.” It sounds a bit cheesy, but it makes sense in context. It’s an experiment that’s paid off, a model of DIY hard work by students, for students. You could definitely call it art.

4B —Thursday, September 28, 2017

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ARTIST PROFILE

COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH Cyrus is currently an artist out of Detroit

COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH

The Cool Club: Cyrus Tetteh’s journey from being just a U-M student to building a Detroit clothing brand NARESH IYENGAR Daily Style Editor

Cyrus Tetteh had grown tired of the feeling that his grades in the classroom were determining his value, and he wanted to do something about it. He started thinking about ways that he could create a platform for himself, and ultimately decided that he wanted to share his creative vision with others in the form of a clothing brand: Cool Club Clothing. I had the opportunity to sit down with Tetteh, a 2015 alum, and reflect on the process of starting his own brand while at U-M, and where he wants to go from here. Can you tell me a bit about yourself and why you decided to start Cool Club Clothing? “I’m originally from Detroit, Michigan. I lived there my whole life before deciding to attend the University of Michigan. … When I started taking classes — just normal freshman classes — I was getting tired of feeling like my value was based on my grades. I didn’t want my value as a person to be represented by the letter grade … And I came up with my own clothing line: Cool Club Clothing in 2012. I haven’t stopped since. I got a lot of support on campus … I did what I needed to do and I was just living and trying to have fun.” You being able to find a way to do your own things outside of the traditional confines that a lot of students face is really interesting to me.

“The whole thing is that it started with the idea of me wanting to break free and figure out the things that I like to do and things that make me happy while still making me feel like I’m progressing in life. One thing leads to another, and you find the things that you love. It started with music. I wanted to create clothing that would promote my music, and then people would start asking me for things, saying, ‘Oh, you should do this in this color, you should do hats or maybe you should do this.’ I started making more things and it turned into a clothing line. I just really want to encourage people to do things and try things. Especially the people who feel confined by their grades like I did.” So when you started Cool Club Clothing, did you have any overarching goals? What was your vision for the brand? “Starting off, I made a couple of shirts for me and my friends to wear with the first design that I had made. … The growth [of the brand] was sort of driven by the people. … At the end of the day, I just wanted to create a platform for myself to climb that ladder to ultimately have that creative freedom and be able to give back to people. With the clothing, I wanted to take it as far as it could go. I didn’t know what that was. It was never concrete — whatever opportunity came my way, I’d jump into it.” Can you talk a bit about the biggest hurdles that you had

when starting the brand? “The main questions were what will my first designs be and how do I get them on a shirt? I was sitting and doing my math homework one night when I got bored. I flipped over my homework and started drawing the first Cool Club logo. My roommate at the time offered to help me make my logo. Before he had done that, I had never used InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop. He introduced me to all of those things, so I got those and I’ve been on since then. … Being so small, it can be expensive to make your clothing, so it’s a matter of finding the best place to do it. It was a lot of trial and error, but it worked out.” Can you talk a bit more about the trial and error aspect? “Everything was really driven by the people, but there was a process of figuring out which materials worked and didn’t work and which shirts fit the way I wanted to was something that took some time. Learning that you can’t please everyone and learning how to communicate with customers was difficult, but I knew that a bad customer experience could be the difference between someone who would never try the brand and a lifetime supporter.” You’ve mentioned a few times that the growth of the brand was driven by the people. What was it like starting a brand on U-M’s

COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH

campus specifically? “It’s an experience like no other. Until you’re a super huge brand, never will you be able to walk outside and see people wearing your brand. There was a point in time where it was regular to walk outside, especially during the winter, and see people wearing the Cool Club hats. And because of that, you kinda get lost in it. … Being on campus, it was cool. I got a lot of support along the way, and the resources that we have — the fashion orgs and everything else — provide so many opportunities to promote your brand on campus. It made it this thing around here. And that was cool. That really helped me a lot and gave me a lot of confidence. It slowly made me feel like I had a leg to stand on. I felt like my value was being determined by my creations instead of my grades. I appreciate the love I got from Michigan. I had the chance to work with some of the student-athletes. I got to work with Denard Robinson — we did a little pop up shop. It was cool, man.” So after you graduated in 2015, can you touch on how it was moving away from campus? “When you talk about hurdles, that’s definitely the biggest hurdle. On campus, it felt like it was cool. It was this trial and error process and people were supporting it. When I left campus, it felt like it was me

versus the world instead of a small community. I had to dig deeper into my artistry, sit down and bring some life to my design. I worked with my high school, Cass Tech, and did a collection with them, which helped because they have such a big alumni network. Right after that, I did a collection with Devin Funchess. That was cool because he was going to the Super Bowl that year, had just come from Michigan and he’s a really cool guy. It wasn’t until the summer of 2015 when I realized that I needed to stop doing all these collabs and work on defining my brand within the city. I wanted to find a way to get out my own name rather than using someone else’s brand. I spent some time working on my designing skills to take my skills to the next level, and came up with my Detroit Players Club design, which was my most successful design to date. That felt like the introduction of my brand to Detroit.” Moving forward, where do you see things in five years? “Really, photography has come in and changed things. At first, I picked up the camera to promote my brand, but now I’m working for the city as a photographer. I’ve been enjoying photography, I’m liking the foundation it’s building and it’s bringing money in. I want to continue to make clothing, but I’m definitely going to be focusing on my photos.

I really want Cool Club to keep growing. I have some designs that will be coming soon. I want Cool Club to be a creative outlet. That’s all I ever wanted it to be — an outlet for when I feel like putting out a design or I want to work with a certain brand. I don’t want to leave it hanging, and I want to keep using it as a creative outlet to make statements. Maybe it turns into a platform to raise awareness for certain issues. I’ll still be doing my thing in five years. Right now I’m just living between the two [photography and clothing]. I’m trying to go hard at both, honestly. Just trying to find a way to balance the two.” Do you have any advice for people who may feel the same way you did as a freshman and want to create something like you did? “My advice is to just get started. Get started and don’t look back. That’s the most important thing that you can do as someone who wants anything for themselves. You can’t think about it for too long. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but if you know what you want and you can see it, you can make it happen. It’s your vision, so trust your vision and start taking those first steps. Do what you need to do to make it happen. You never know what could happen once you take those first steps. The best way to learn is to go through the process, and it really is a process.”

COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH

Arts

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FILM

COURTESY OF FILMIC PRODUCTIONS Filmic Productions is a group on campus

Filmic brings professional production to our campus The independent production company brings organization and diversity to create professional grade video for the university ELI RALLO

Daily Arts Writer

You’re sitting in the Big House, it’s graduation, and you are leaving your home of the last four years. And in the midst of all the tears and commencement addresses, a

video plays — one filled with all of the things that made being a Wolverine over the past four years so special, one filled with the inside jokes that only students at the University share. Professionally done, and over five minutes long, this video, and many of the others you’ve seen throughout your

time at the University, was made by Filmic Productions, Michigan’s premier student run video production group. Filmic is a group filled with a diversity of students, who range in ages, majors and passions. From Ross to Anthropology to Creative Writing, they all share

Thursday, September 28, 2017 — 5B

one passion — making and producing films. As a group, they consider themselves “cinematic problem solvers” and strive to make students, alumni and professors alike “feel something” from the videos they put out year after year. LSA senior Michael Boctor, Filmic’s lead director, was passionate about Filmic from the moment he was accepted to Michigan. “I opened up my acceptance letter to the University of Michigan, and there was this little video attached beneath the ‘CONGRATULATIONS— You’re IN!’,” he said. “I watched it and had chills running through my veins. The video made me more passionate than ever about becoming a Wolverine. It evoked excitement and emotion in me, and I could tell that the University must have had to hire some serious professionals to get that done. I wasn’t wrong. That video was Filmic Productions’s “The Letter M.” Behind the camera were a bunch of individuals with a combination of talent and passion that created a dominant force in the market they were in, and I couldn’t help but be drawn towards that.” The students who join Filmic do so because they have a passion for film and creating art that sends a message to a larger group. They are driven by the desire to create, but also by the larger desire to share stories. “Film is a ref lection of our society, but film also helps define society,” said LSA senior Michelle Kim, Filmic’s producer. Filmic plays a big part in defining the society at the University. Between Bicentennial address videos, graduation videos, acceptance videos and countless others that have racked up thousands upon thousands of views, they are no doubt the head media group on campus. What’s even more important

than the work they do, though, is the community they build doing it. They consider themselves a very tight-knit group — and more than just friends, they are family. They split meetings into general team meetings and project specific meetings to keep organized. “If it’s early in the production timeline, the producer will normally give the update and talk about about how to have conversations with the client

Behind the camera were a bunch of individuals with a combination of talent and passion that created a dominant force in the market they were in

and what we’re brainstorming,” Rachel Hurwitz, LSA senior and producer, said. “If it’s in the production stage, normally the director will talk about the shoots we have lined up, what is working and what’s not and how we are planning to move forward. Finally, if it’s in the post-production stage, the editor will discuss how it’s all coming together.” Though a lot of fun, the team of Filmic has a lot of weight on their shoulders as well.

way to take care of its own. It starts in the classroom. The Screen Arts and Cultures department, lovingly abbreviated to SAC (rumors are circulating of an impending rename, due to overwhelming confusion), often flies under the radar. With a relatively small yearly cohort of about fifty graduating students, the program does not begin to compete in size with the L.A. and New York City film schools. However, the department has developed a screenwriting sub-major completely unique to that of other Film and Television studies programs. In short, it forces aspiring writers to actually do the writing, and do a lot of it. In Screenwriting I: The Feature Script, students are challenged to write an entire, featurelength film throughout the course of a single semester. In Writing for Television II: Pilots, students end the semester with an original pilot under their belt, which is perhaps the single most valuable intellectual real estate an aspiring TV writer can bring with her to Hollywood. And while it’s not particularly in the campus spotlight, the University of Michigan film community is always eager to do more. Students across disciplines flock to organizations like Filmic and M-agination, both clubs that develop and produce original films. There’s an eagerness to create and collaborate, and this energy is palpable.

With the University enlisting them to work on projects for publicity and special events, there’s a lot of pressure to succeed. “Being so professional really puts on the pressure to perform,” LSA senior Leah Hirsh, another producer, said. “It makes a project more than just something you make for your own satisfaction. It’s an opportunity to really say something and have a voice to a larger population. So often as college students, our voices feel unimportant. These larger projects give Filmic, a group of college students, a powerful platform to tell stories.” Filmic prides themselves on their focus as a storytelling group. This makes their art more personal and more influential on the society of Ann Arbor, Michigan. “You’re taking something that never existed and forming something out of it, something that makes people feel different after,” said Kim. “It’s storytelling at its best.” By being such a large part of the University, Filmic reaches a diverse group of people — and it’s really important to the team that they continue to do so. In a world where people need to relate to and understand art, Filmic is more needed than ever. And the work that they have done, and will do going forward, is extremely important to telling the stories of every person who walks through the Diag, sits in the Big House and attends a lecture in Angell Hall. “We brand ourselves as creative problem solvers and I think that is really true,” Hurwitz said. “Being in Filmic has caused me to start looking at the world differently, not only in how to frame a shot, but how to interact with the people and the world around me and influence them in a positive light. It’s not just about how to make the video look professional, but how to make something people are going to feel connected to and want to watch again and again.”

Ann Arbor, in its own way, is a little movie mecca. Home to the annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, what other college town can boast two movie theaters within a five minute walking distance of central campus? Los Angeles is a different beast all together. Celebrity spottings occur daily, traffic is horrible and, somewhere, an assistant is being yelled at for getting the coffee order wrong. And yet, the SAC department still found a way to bring a piece of Ann Arbor to Hollywood. With the help of two particularly generous Michigan alumni, Kelci Parker and Dan Pipski, the department was able to put on a speaker series for all the SAC majors interning in Los Angeles. At weekly sessions, interns had the opportunity to talk with industry executives, writers, directors and producers. It was the exclusive University of Michigan scoop, and somehow, I always left with a renewed sense of hope. Maybe, it wasn’t all just a pipe dream. So, I’ve come to the humble conclusion that the only way to be a writer is to write, and write a lot. Perhaps “making it” only comes to those that tell stories without the expectation of fame, recognition or anyone liking what they’ve done. Success is definitely a function of talent, but not without passion and persistence. Some luck (that may come in the form of a helpful Michigan alumnus) helps, too.

It was the exclusive University of Michigan scoop, and somehow, I always left with a renewed sense of hope

What if we wrote a show about us just ‘hanging out’ you know?

COMEDY CENTRAL

City of Aspiring Angels: How the ‘U’ competes in the LA screenwriting hellscape DANIELLE YACOBSEN Daily TV/New Media Editor

There’s an urban legend floating around the Screen Arts and Cultures department that two students in the program sold a spec-script to “Broad City.” Through my inconclusive investigations, I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of this story, so, for now, it’ll have to remain a myth. (But how cool would it be if it were true?) Regardless, it’s a tale that those with literary aspirations love to hear as they fire up a brandspanking new document of Final Draft. After all, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote “Good Will Hunting” in college, so really anything is

possible. If spending a summer in Los Angeles taught me one thing, it’s that the aspiring writer’s pipe dream is, ironically, a Hollywood cliché. At any given L.A. coffee shop, at least three laptops would be opened to an unfinished screenplay, with an overcaffeinated and under-groomed “creative” at the keyboard. Even Uber drivers, without fail, tried to sell me on their movie pitch as soon as they caught drift that I was in “the biz.” Little did they know I was a just a bushy-tailed intern. Even my “original” ideas were already taken. My roommate and I had been toying with the premise for a workplace TV comedy set in the mailroom of a Hollywood talent agency. Our story was coming

together swimmingly: we’d thought of the characters, the love-triangles, the neurotic bosses. And, since Hollywood loves producing stories about Hollywood, we joked that this was our ticket to screenwriting success. That is, until I overheard some tipsy guy in Santa Monica trying to impress a thoroughly unimpressed girl with a plan to pitch his (identical) original series “The Mailroom” to a network executive later that week. In a market oversaturated with talent, how are aspiring writers able to differentiate themselves? The odds seem daunting at best, if not downright demoralizing. And yet, even in Los Angeles, a city over 2,000 miles away from Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan finds a

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Just a bunch of dudes, talkin’ bought sports ‘n’ stuff

COURTESY OF THE SPEW

Students, sports and success on ‘The Spew’

Undergraduates who have found a way to bridge a seemingly impossible divide between the students and student athletes EMILY BICE

Daily Arts Writer

It’s Sunday night at 5:00 p.m. For some, this means heading to the library to catch up on procrastinated

homework. Others eat dinner with friends or family. Many rush to club meetings and group projects. For U-M

School of Kinesiolog y juniors J.J. Wachler and Ben Meyers, however, Sunday night means one thing: time for “The Spew.” “The Spew” is a fiveminute Facebook TV show that focuses on the University of Michigan athletics and its athletes. In the short time span, host Ben Meyers “spews” statistics, stories and theories about sports. They often have athletic guests to share their opinions, such as football running back and School of Kinesiolog y sophomore Chris Evans. At face value, it sounds similar to a show on SportsCenter or Big Ten Network. What makes “The Spew” different, however, is Wachler and Meyer’s approach to telling these sports stories. Meyers explained how their platform is unique to the University student experience: “We wanted to build a bridge between the students and the athletes on campus.” Recognizing a major issue with athletics on campus — that the athletes are untouchable, so to speak — the pair set out to connect “regular” students to athletes. The decision to report on sports from a student perspective is what makes the show so relatable to their peers. “Athletes are constantly in rooms where adults are asking them questions. They’re just being hammered about their statistics, scores and stats. It’s refreshing for them to have questions about their Yeezys, their recruiting stories … the student side of things.” The approach is working for them. Launched last February, the show now averages 5,000 views per episode. Loyal fans tune in each week to watch and ask questions. A unique

Recognizing a major issue with athletics on campus the pair set out to connect “regular” students to athletes

element of the show is the livestream function, which allows viewers to pose questions and react to the athletes and Meyers in real time. Some of the comments are silly, but others spark interesting conversations. Meyers and Wachler are ahead of the curve when

What started as two friends talking sports in an apartment living room has evolved into a sixperson operation

it comes to streaming on Facebook Live. Just last month, Facebook introduced their “watch” feature, which includes original content that viewers can comment on, share and interact with. It is one of the most accessible ways to watch media content. “They [the viewers] could sit down for five minutes on the platform they’re already on, Facebook, and watch our show and then be done for the day — it’s a nice little break,” Meyers added. Their innovative approach to sports reporting hasn’t gone unnoticed. Wachler and Meyers recently won the Michigan Sports Business Conference “Sports Startup Competition.” As winners, the duo will present “The Spew” to sports business professionals and get feedback on their platform. With aspirations to create a format that can be replicated and rolled out at other colleges, this opportunity is pivotal. On a more local scale, they’ve found sponsors eager to join in: Salads Up, Campus Laundry and Valiant Clothing have all signed on. What started as two friends talking sports in an apartment living room has evolved into a six-person operation with corporate sponsors and big plans. Wachler and Meyers are hungry to make waves in the sports media sector, and have taken it upon themselves to do so. Using Facebook Live to innovate, they’ve created a unique sports experience that isn’t Sunday night football. They’ve created Sunday night “Spew.” The Spew airs live Sundays at 5:00 p.m. You can stream it on Facebook.