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AAPD chief to relocate to Colorado skiing town Chief Jim Baird finishes 25 years with department, replacement unconfirmed ANDREW HIYAMA Daily News Editor
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Confronting failures at MSU, ‘U’ begins prep for external review University has not begun considering firms for review of its sexual misconduct policy SHANNON ORS
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan will be hiring an “outside expert” to perform a review of how the University handles sexual misconduct reports and the policies that guide these practices. The announcement came eight days after the University’s revised sexual misconduct policies went into effect on Feb. 7. At the Feb. 15 Board of
Regents Meeting, University President Mark Schlissel laid out the purposes behind the Feb. 7 revision, which was in accordance with the policy’s annual review, and the decision to hire an outside firm. “Now we will seek a broader examination of our entire community,” Schlissel said. “This includes students, faculty, staff, visitors and patients. We will ask an outside expert to assess the quality of our current efforts and suggest what we can be doing better, so
that we can make any fixes that are necessary.” University of Michigan spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said while staff at the University “are already working on it,” many details of the review, such as which firms would be considered or how the review would be structured, were not yet worked out. Still, Fitzgerald said, the University wanted to demonstrate its commitment to overseeing an effective review. “I think what the president wanted to make clear very
quickly last week is that we’ve done a lot of work in this area, but of course we always want to take the opportunity to see if there’s more we should be doing, or if there’s a process that can be refined,” he said. “I would say that’s how we’ve done things in the past — pretty open and transparent. I don’t know how exactly this process will work because we haven’t gotten to that point yet.” A report released by the University’s Office of See REVIEW, Page 3
After 25 years with the Ann Arbor Police Department — the last two as the head of the department — Police Chief Jim Baird will be relocating to Breckenridge, Colo., according to the Summit Daily of Summit County, Colo. Howard Lazarus, Ann Arbor city administrator announced Baird’s retirement from the AAPD Tuesday at the City Council meeting, though not where he would be relocating. “I will leave it up to him to share as he deems appropriate what life’s next great adventure is, but we will be preparing for an orderly turnover and transition,” Lazarus said. “We all wish the chief well as he chases what lies around the curb and the trail.” Baird, who currently lives in Stockbridge, will officially step down on March 24, at which point Robert Pfannes, AAPD deputy police chief, will take over as interim chief. Baird will begin the job in Breckenridge on
April 23. Breckenridge, a town known for its ski resorts, has a population of approximately 5,000, much smaller than Ann Arbor’s population of about 120,000. However, due to the town’s large tourism industry, thousands more can flow in on short notice –– circumstances Baird compared to football games at the University of Michigan. “From what I’m hearing, on Breckenridge’s busiest days, the town will swell up to 30,000 people,” Baird told the Summit Daily. “For a home game, the University of Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor holds over three times that. So that difference in scale will be significant.” Baird’s departure comes as the city is considering the creation of a police review board that would review and potentially investigate complaints against the department.
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Historian outlines Native American Local teens Allowances participate political movements, activism in talk for learning
ANN ARBOR
ACADEMICS
in national gun protest
Heather Bruegl, member of Onieda Nation tribe, discusses legislation at MESA event
Ann Arbor school board gives encouragement to students after walkouts
Despite being a member of Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, historian Heather Bruegl had never been particularly passionate about Native American history or culture –– until she went to Wounded Knee, S.D., the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre in which 300 Native American men, women and children died at the hands of U.S. cavalry. Bruegl now travels the U.S. delivering talks on Native American history, and on Thursday gave a talk titled “A History of Native American Policy and Activism: From A.I.M. to Standing Rock to Present,” to about 40 people gathered in the Michigan League. The lecture, hosted by the University of Michigan’s Native American Student Association and Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, focused on defining moments in the history of Native American policy and activism. Engineering senior Gabi May, chair of the Native American Student Association, discussed how the talk aimed to raise awareness of Native American culture among students at the University of Michigan. “We’re trying to do more publicly engaged events that are focused on educating the U-M students on Native American culture and history since I think it’s something we miss in
REMY FARKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
This Wednesday, hundreds of Ann Arbor high school students joined the scores of teenagers participating in national walkouts to protest gun violence in the wake of the Feb. 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 14 students and faculty members in Parkland, Fla. According to MLive, the Ann Arbor School Board is working to support students in the fight to secure the safety of their local schools. The district’s response contrasts with other national reactions, including Needville Independent School District near Houston whose superintendent threatened a three-day suspension for any student who participated in a walkout. Jeanice Swift, superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools, has for years worked to maintain weaponfree school zones and mental health support systems throughout the school district See TEENS, Page 3
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our curriculum a lot,” she said. Bruegl began the talk by explaining key government policies toward Native American tribes. She highlighted how many of these policies, including the Indian Removal Act, the Dawes Act and more, worked against the tribes’ favor, often stripping them of land, rights and representation. She explained the somewhat demeaning attitude U.S. policies have typically had toward Native American individuals. “You find through a lot of
policies that there is kind of a parental relationship between the United States government and Native populations,” she said. “Every policy, they say, is an act to cut ties and lose custody of us — they don’t want to have to deal with us anymore.” While the policies often inflicted pain on the Native American community, Bruegl stated they lead to the American Indian Movement, founded in 1968. The organization focuses on representation and action
among the Native American community. She went on to discuss some defining instances of activism from the group, all in an effort to raise awareness of injustices against their community and their generally painful history. While not all of their goals were achieved, they reportedly did succeed in effectively communicating Native American struggles to the larger population. “We didn’t exactly get what See ACTIVISM, Page 3
SARAH KUNKEL/Daily
Heather Bruegl speaks about Native American policy and activism at a talk titled “A History of Native American Policy and Activism: From A.I.M. to Standing Rock to Present” in the Michigan League Thursday.
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Vol. CXXVII, No. 83 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
disabilities improving
Students with disabilities find ‘U’ accommodations “helpful”, individualized SAYALI AMIN
Daily Staff Reporter
When she was younger, LSA junior Felicity Harfield always took longer than her classmates to read and complete assignments in school. As a result, she was separated from the rest of the students in her high school and placed in the special needs department. Hartfield’s high school special education teacher told her she was crazy for applying to the University of Michigan since she has dyslexia. Harfield is now a member of the Services for Students with Disabilities Advisory Board. Harfield said her disability is something she has learned to deal with on her own. Other than the additional time she receives on exams and the permission to use a laptop in the classroom, Harfield explained she just spends more time on her coursework than others might need to. “My disorder, you can’t see it,” Harfield said. “You don’t even know unless you’ve read See DISABILITIES, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7
News
2— Friday, February 23, 2018
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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FRIDAY: Behind the Story
BE HIND THE STORY Every Friday, one Daily news staffer will give a behind the scenes look at one of this week’s stories. This week, LSA sophomore Maya Goldman broke the story on the end of Michigan time, one of the University of Michigan’s oldest traditions. “So, we heard about it in January. We heard rumors on social media, so we reached out to Public Affairs. They said, ‘Hold off until February, we’ll get you an interview with the Provost.’ So we thought it’s better to wait and then publish the story when we have all the facts rather than a scarce story now, so we waited ... My cousin is in the Nursing school and she told me they don’t use Michigan time at all. I reached out to the Nursing school and they didn’t know what Michigan time was. I sent this guy an email, and he was like, ‘Can you explain what Michigan time is to me?’ ... I think it won’t actually be as big of an impact as students, including myself, think it will be right now. But it’s definitely going to be a shock to everyone’s system in the spring or fall, just to make that shift in their schedules. And I do think some teachers will have a hard time cutting themselves off at the 50 minute mark right now. Eventually, it will get better. And the logic behind the argument for removing Michigan time is pretty sound, so I don’t blame them for it.” LSA sophomore Maya Goldman, “Game over: Michigan time to be eliminated” ALEXIS RANKIN/DAILY
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ALEXA ST. JOHN
Being mayor in Ann Arbor is a part-time job. It’s a weak mayor-strong (city) administrator form of government here. That essentially means that if you think of the city as a corporation, I’m the chair of the board, not the CEO. As chair of the board, I can’t order anyone to do anything. If you have a pothole, I can’t fill it for you ... In terms of having a targeted notion of something that should be done, having it at the local level and having it at the state level is much more approachable. There’s a higher likelihood of policy being effective.“ Christopher Taylor, Mayor of Ann Arbor
CSG party profiles: Meet MVision execs Daniel Greene and Isabel Baer Party’s “bigger picture goal” bridging communities, serving invisible identities KAELA THEUT Daily News Editor
Public Policy junior Daniel Greene has been involved in student government since his first year on campus, when he participated in LSA Student Government. He made the switch to Central Student Government last year, working with the eMerge campaign — the current ticket in office led by president Anushka Sarkar, an Sudoku LSASyndication senior, and vice president Nadine Jawad, a Ford senior. “I’ve always loved hearing
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visible identities as survivors of with eMerge last year and has sexual assault or non-cisgen- spent the last year serving as der or heterosexual students. an LSA representative. Within “I’ve been a little weary of CSG, Baer is involved in proeverything that’s going on,” he moting women’s empowerment said. “I’ve always ran with the on campus, working with the more progressive party, and so Sexual Assault Prevention and what Izzy and I came together Awareness Center and organizand did was this idea of ‘let’s run ing a Women in Government a campaign and a platform that’s event to take place in March. based directly on direct experiBaer said one of the reasons ences.’ So between Izzy, I and she decided to run for vice presiour core team, everything that dent was because of Greene, her you’ll see in our platform speaks running mate. She also hopes to to an intimate and direct expe- continue her work with womhttp://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ rience which someone on our en’s empowerment in the role. team has had. The other thing “I wanted to be working with is that we use that direct ex- Daniel because of how amazing perience to inform what we he is,” she said. “So that was one feel our students who are still side of things, and then the other disenfranchised with student is what Daniel touched upon in government, being a lot of drawing from my own personal people of invisible identities experiences, seeing what CSG such as the LGBTQ commu- can do from that side, and acnity, survivors, people who tually seeing what can be done deal with mental health on a about it. In terms of women’s emregular basis, and it was kind powerment, I grew up in a home of this overarching desire that where my mom always worked Izzy and I completely agree and I have two other sisters and on which is the marginalized that was a huge principle that we voice empowerment that has grew up on. Then coming to cambeen done this past year has pus and seeing that it’s not always been phenomenal and a step in as easy as that, and there are oththe right direction … But what er obstacles especially concernis it to do all that work if the ing fields that have been historipeople who need to hear that cally underrepresented in terms message most on this campus of female faculty on campus.” are not listening? How can In terms of their party’s we find issues which impact platform, Greene emphaall communities and all iden- sized their work to bring totities, and use sexual assault gether people from all parts prevention or mental health of campus to create a compreto get communities from op- hensive plan for what they’d posite corners of campus, like to accomplish if elected. who currently aren’t speak“Before we launched our team ing, and use that as a bridge there was a lot of criticizing and to solve the current divide?” stereotyping over what people LSA sophomore Izzy thought we would launch, and Baer, MVision’s vice presi- when we did launch a lot of heads See MVISION, Page 3 dential candidate, also ran
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what students are concerned about on this campus and trying to solve their issues, because at a school this large, most people don’t realize there are plenty of other people who face the same adversities or issues during their Michigan experience, but student government has always served as an aggregate to solving those issues,” Greene said. “So to me it’s about mainstreaming things.” Greene decided he would run for president this year after hearing from students who he said felt disenfranchised on campus, including those with more in-
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.
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Austrian author Theodora Bauer reads from her latest book, “Chikago,” based off of her research on the emigration of Austrians to Chicago during the 1920s in the MLB Thursday.
DISABILITIES From Page 1 something I’ve written and even then I’ve edited it many times so nobody can ever tell.” At the University, students with learning disabilities make up the largest portion of students with registered disabilities. According to the 2016-2017 Annual Report from Services for Students with Disabilities, 38 percent of the students registered with SSD are students with learning disabilities, about 1,021 students in total. SSD Director Stuart Segal said the reason learning disabilities include the largest number of students is because the term “learning disabilities” encompasses a wide range of disorders and disabilities. “We include students with ADHD and autism spectrum into the category of learning disabilities,” Segal said. “Even though it says LD (learning disorders), it includes a lot more than students with specific learning disabilities.” Examples of SSD accommodations include extended time, a quiet location for testing, a laptop for in-class exams and more. However, the type of accommodation a student receives can be different for students who face the same disability. The accommodations are evaluated for each individual, according to Segal.
REVIEW From Page 1 Institutional Equity in January showed a 40 percent increase in sexual misconduct reports from 2016 to 2017. Of the 218 reports made to OIE between July 2016 and June 2017, 82 were deemed outside “the scope of the policy.” Twenty-eight were formally investigated, and 111 were reviewed by an OIE panel. Of the cases which were investigated, only 8 found a student in violation of University rules. The University’s attention to examining its current practices comes shortly after the sentencing of Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor who sexually abused hundreds of young girls and women he was supposed to be treating. Investigations by ESPN and The Detroit News in the wake of the Nassar sentencing revealed the degree to which the case ref lected a failure of MSU administration and staff on multiple levels, and also extended to other areas of MSU’s athletic department. The announcement also
“(Accommodations are) made on the evidence of impairment,” Segal said. “Depending on the level of impairment, that would be related to what the accommodations are.” LSA sophomore Lucie Rosenthal was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when she was in high school, and she currently receives extended time in a separate room for exams within the University. “Michigan has been pretty accommodating with accommodations,” Rosenthal said. “Even in large lectures, professors have been helpful.” Rosenthal said the process of getting additional time was not overly difficult. Once she had paperwork from her doctor processed by SSD, she was granted the accommodation she needed. Harfield also said specific professors at the University have been especially accommodating for her including lecturer Brenda Gunderson from the Department of Statistics. For Harfield, common fonts like Times New Roman are difficult to read because the letters are very uniform. As a part of her accommodation, Gunderson purchased a special font for Hartfield’s exam so it would be easier for her to read. In an email interview, Gunderson wrote that most of the accommodations in her class relate to the exams.
Stats 250 has a separate email address for students to discuss conflicts and accommodations regarding exams. Gunderson also requests rooms specifically with tables instead of chairs with table arms to provide a good environment for students receiving extra time for their exams. “I learn so much from our students,” Gunderson wrote. “It is from Felicity that I learned about how a cool special font can help people with dyslexia to read.” Celina DeFigueiredoDusseau graduated the University last semester and will start graduate school the School of Public Health next fall. DeFigueiredo-Dusseau has ADHD and has a specific learning disability in reading, math, and writing. Her SLD surfaced during her freshman year when she experienced seizures and problems with her memory. According to DeFigueiredo-Dusseau, it’s possible her learning disabilities appeared from the effects of a traumatic brain injury in her childhood. As an accommodation, SSD provided DeFigueiredoDusseau with a Livescribe pen, which is able to record what she’s hearing in class while she is writing it. The Livescribe pen allowed her to replay parts of lectures as she sometimes faces difficulty remembering what was said while she is writing. As a graduate student,
DeFigueiredo-Dusseau said all of her accommodations will carry over to graduate school, though she has noticed a smaller presence of students with disabilities heading to higher levels of academia. “As I transition to graduate school, what I’m noticing is many students with disabilities don’t make it to graduate school,” DeFigueiredoDusseau said. “I’m finding that a lot of the leadership and the faculty don’t how to deal with (disabilities) quite as well, but they are very willing to help.” In her four years at the University, DeFigueiredoDusseau explained she has seen improvement in how the University helps students with disabilities. She is currently a member of the SSD Student Advisory Board with Harfield. For Rosenthal, sometimes she gets weird looks from her friends when she takes an exam in a different classroom. For Harfield, she has noted some students will joke about dyslexia when they make grammar or spelling mistakes. “It’s a fact, it’s like saying I have a brother,” Hartfield said. “I have dyslexia.” Segal said the accommodations from SSD can’t alter the coursework or requirements from the University, but they can help. “We’re looking for equity of access,” Segal said. “That students should have the same access to course material as other students.”
follows two incidences of possession of child pornography by University of Michigan employees. On Feb. 12, Mark Hoeltzel, a former University pediatric rheumatolog y specialist, was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport for possession of child pornography –– Hoetzel also had a two-year sexual relationship with one of his patients, who started seeing him for treatment at age 17. On Feb. 13, Clifford Raymond Bingham, a former professor at the University, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for child pornography possession. In April 2017, before many of the revelations of the f laws in MSU’s sexual misconduct practices, MSU’s then-President, Lou Anna K. Simon, also called for an independent review of its sexual misconduct policies. Simon’s announcement was part of her administration’s response to the Larry Nassar allegations. MSU hired the law firm Husch Blackwell to conduct the initial review. On Nov. 20, 2017, Husch Blackwell published a report detailing their investigation, which found MSU was Title IX compliant, saying the policies
“ref lect a strong and genuine institutional commitment to combatting sexual misconduct.” A press release published on Feb. 13 announced MSU would engage in another review led by investigative risk consulting firm Kroll to address Title IX complaints. Social Work student Nicole Bedera researches Title IX on college campuses, and explained organizations are often prompted to participate in an external review by a new event or development. In the case of the University’s decision to pursue an external review, Bedera believes the decision can be attributed to the Larry Nassar trials and the fact that the University of Michigan and Michigan State University are in close connection. According to Bedera, the hiring process for firms that lead external investigations depend on the types of results an organization hopes to yield and the insights on sexual misconduct they hope to gain. Bedera made the distinction that a legally-focused firm would likely consider issues like compliance and the legal soundness of an institution’s policies, whereas a sociallyfocused firm may focus the
investigation more heavily on the student experience. While details of the University’s firm hiring process have not been announced, Berdera hopes those involved in the investigation will seek out the perspective of faculty, researchers and students on campus who have valuable insights on the issue of sexual misconduct and how the University interacts with the issue on campus. “As we are moving towards this external review, one thing that I hope the University will be doing is turning to a lot of experts about sexual violence on the campus who should be chiming in,” Bedera said. “And by experts I don’t mean just necessarily researchers, but also people who have been through an adjudication process on campus, who have been involved in sexual misconduct claims whether they are making them or they are the one they have been made about, and I hope those people who know Michigan really well will have a chance to speak about their own experiences.”
were turned because we committed to what our bigger picture goal is — which is to bring people together who aren’t currently speaking from different communities and so our team touches almost every corner of campus and I would say our team also has perhaps, I would say, the most out of any other team right now, people who are brand new to CSG— which sometimes can be a little chaotic, but also keeps that voice towards what the actual average student is — because I think it’s about 14 to 18 percent of students which actually vote in CSG elections, which is unacceptable to me.” MVision’s platform points include more meetings on North Campus and bringing back monthly town hall meetings. “We want to re-establish having meetings on North Campus,” Greene said. “A large chunk of our student body lives and interacts and has their academics always on North and in my mind it’s a little disrespectful to assume everything has to be on Central Campus. We want to bring back monthly town hall meetings, where we can have any student show up and voice their concerns on any topic, but we also want to have structured town hall meetings where we have sexual assault prevention, mental health, LGBTQ issues, even Greek life. Anything that’s going on and is a hot topic issue, to allow the people come together without the 30-minute timeline of community concerns on Tuesday and actually have
TEENS From Page 1 to protect students. At a school board meeting Wednesday, Swift applauded students’ peaceful efforts to voice their concern regarding school safety. “Let me be clear, the presence of a weapon or a gun in school runs contrary to everything we are wired to do in education for children,” Swift said. “We believe it is counterproductive to maintaining a rich, productive and healthy learning environment for our children every day in school.” In some cases, the student walkouts infringed on classroom instructional time for students. Board Vice President Susan Baskett said she wanted the efforts to be collaborative between students, teachers and supervisors, because she disapproved of losing time in class. “To our students, let us help you take action with a purpose. … Don’t be dismissive of us,” Baskett said. “Again, we don’t want to lead this because, truly, I think the most effective body in this work will be the young people themselves.” Board Trustee Jessica Kelly considered the incident in
ACTIVISM From Page 1 we wanted, but we made sure you knew what was happening in our communities,” she said. Bruegl discussed A.I.M.’s success in reinvigorating the Native American community as a whole, citing the establishment of tribal colleges, reestablishing traditional cultures, languages and religion, and bringing about federal policy change expanding the rights of Native American citizens. Bruegl then centered the discussion on present-day controversies faced by Native Americans, citing issues from Standing Rock, a controversy surrounding the establishment of the Dakota Access Pipeline running oil underneath the Missouri River, to the Back 40 Mine, a lesser known issue regarding an open pit sulfite mine which could potentially leak into the mouth of the Menominee River, a sacred place for the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin. She also discussed the threat of privatization of native land by the federal government to easily gain natural resources. Bruegl implored the audience to increase their awareness
two or three hours of just us listening, and I think right now, given everything that’s going on not only in the national dialogue but on our campus — especially with Richard Spencer trying to come — I think that the best qualities for leaders goes through a cycle, and moving into next year, one of the most important things we can, or whoever wins, can do is be a listener.” Baer also brought up MVision’s work to create an inclusive environment right away by reaching out to students for suggestions on their platform. “I think the other big way that we’ve been trying to build an inclusive party is through our platform itself,” she said. “At first people were like you, ‘launched a website without a platform, you launched a party without a platform’, but first we really wanted to get people with our values and that was the first thing that came out instead of the platform points. We really wanted to make it so any student could submit what they want.” Greene said he also hopes to focus increasing representation throughout campus for minority identities. “In terms of what I’m most passionate about outside of the direct experience, is the underrepresentation in terms of CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) counselors, the Spectrum Center, administrators, professors and lecturers of course — I mean that not only by physical identities which are obvious, but also invisible identities,” he said.
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Parkland a “tipping point.” She welcomed ideas on better ways to support students in the fight for school safety and gun control. The walkouts on Wednesday also called into question students’ First Amendment rights in a school setting. According to Ann Arbor Public Schools’ policy, as referenced by Swift, students’ may express their opinions without disrupting normal school routine. Board Secretary Jeff Gaynor said during the meeting it is the job of educators to support students without undercutting their message. “We as educators, it’s our responsibility to help them define the issue, refine the issue,” Gaynor said. Emma Roth, a senior at Pioneer High School and an organizer of the walkout, said she was grateful the board was supporting students and feels there is momentum for students to push for change. Roth is optimistic in seeing a change, especially with the power in the hands of students. “It makes me really, really happy that (the school board members) are behind us right now,” Roth said to MLive. “I think students are the voice we need right now. It feels almost like passing a torch.”
of Native American history and culture through studying literature and watching documentaries. May also announced an upcoming powwow celebrating Native American culture, being held March 24 and 25 at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor. Bruegl ended the discussion by citing a need for more awareness of Native American activism and policy. “Everybody likes the Native American that talks about peace, love and nature, but nobody likes the one who talks about what really happened which is genocide, rape, and stolen land — nobody talks about that,” she said. “In order to get a full, wellrounded history on this, you have to really look out there.” After the lecture, LSA senior Queena Zhao agreed on the importance of gaining awareness for diverse identities on campus. “I’m in an Asian-American interest sorority, and we all want to learn about other people’s cultures,” Zhao said. “We know there are struggles within our own culture and we know there are struggles with other people’s cultures, and throughout history, you find that when people work together, they figure out those struggles better.”
Opinion
4 — Friday, February 23, 2018
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MARGOT LIBERTINI | COLUMN
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STEPHANIE TRIERWEILER | COLUMN
Bridging human and animal rights
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he routine abuse of mindset as a whole in me. animals across several Why are many of my peers major industries is well — otherwise committed to documented, but the recognizing the vast majority of people experiences of those in the United States with marginalized continue to use animals identities — quick as commodities in to dismiss work on various aspects of their behalf of animals life. This is especially that suffer for our prominent in our diets; consumption? In an the average American environment where man eats 6.9 ounces it’s considered critical STEPHANIE of meat per day and, to raise awareness according to a Tyson TRIERWEILER of discrimination spokesman, overall meat against various consumption has steadily increased groups of humans, why treat over the past five years. While the oppression of animals and of plant-based eating is becoming humans as incompatible worlds, as more culturally accepted, still only being unconnected? Why is our gut about 3 percent of the population instinct to draw a line in the sand adopts a totally vegan or vegetarian when it comes to our relationship diet. with animals? One of the major rationales I believe the narrative of animal for going vegan or vegetarian — activism being at odds with human and arguably the most polarizing activism, or at least peripheral to — is the wish to advance animal human activism, is misleading. rights and welfare, the idea that It likely stems from, at best, eating animal products is cruel defensiveness about the notion and unethical. In my eight years of of erasing habits so intricately being vegetarian, I’ve had countless linked to our culture and lifestyle conversations with meat-eating or, at worst, a complete emotional friends, classmates and family separation from species considered members about the ethics of meat. edible or otherwise designated for Arguments against vegetarianism/ our use. veganism have run the gamut from hypothetical scenarios in which I’m stuck on an island and, somehow, only have animals available as food to exasperated sighs of bacon simply being too good to give up. Eating meat has felt, at times, like an even more delicate, difficult discussion among my social circles on campus, which are filled with progressive college students who often advocate for multiple social causes. I’ve heard time and time again a line of thinking from progressive friends who eat Several recent theories have meat that revolves around how examined a kind of dominant vegans and vegetarians unfairly ideology that pervades our mental ignore human issues. For example, understandings and institutional I’ve often heard that vegans and treatment of animals, ultimately vegatarians are hypocritical guiding us to oppress them and because they need to care more see our perceived supremacy over about underpaid immigrants who them as normal and natural. For pick their vegetables — despite example, social psychologist and the fact that raising animals for professor Melanie Joy argues slaughter requires significant that carnism pervades our society crop production and workers in and convinces us eating certain slaughterhouses often face post- animals is a given, not a choice. traumatic stress disorder and other Professor and philosopher Peter health issues. Singer has popularized the concept This kind of logic, depending of speciesism, or a prevalent on context, implies that attitude among humans of bias vegetarianism/veganism is either against non-human beings because directly at odds with human of their species. interests or that it’s too trivial to There’s a more integrative way consider while we are battling to approach this issue, and I saw a against so many other forms of reflection of my own journey with oppression. But growing up, my vegetarianism and feminism in my feminism actually materialized Sociology of the Body course last in part because of the mental semester. Sociology lecturer Luis work I was doing by transitioning Sfeir-Younis began the course by away from meat — reevaluating illustrating societal conceptions and my daily choices, examining treatment of animal bodies in the the violent power structures in first two sessions. Throughout the customs I had previously taken as semester, he teased out the distinct a given, realizing how the erasure experiences of other marginalized of a group’s voice can completely groups such as women, people of erase consideration of its interests. color or fat people. He often showed These thought processes, and the how these groups are dehumanized more intentional relationship I through being compared to — or built with my food as a result of implicitly treated like — animals. them, catalyzed a more progressive In my interview with him last
Why treat the oppression of animals and humans as being unconnected?
week, he explained his intentions with the course structure: “Because we are human beings, it is sometimes hard to be critical of our own experiences. The conversation on animals gives us the kind of distance that allows us to go more in-depth in understanding the concepts of the course. There is no living being that has been objectified as much as animals, to the point that the legal system in most countries considers animals to be things, to be property.” Sfeir-Younis’s teachings demonstrate how oppression of marginalized groups is achieved through common mental processes such as homogenization, which removes individual identities and consequent empathy for members of a given group. If we think of certain groups as a category, rather than a set of individuals with sentience, consciousness or personalities, it’s much easier to ignore their interests and justify poor treatment of them. “Animals are homogenized into one category even though they are billions of unique beings,” he said. “We use language that makes them distant from ourselves, apart from ourselves, as being instruments for our own satisfaction and pleasure … When we talk about the bodies of women being fragmented, it’s hard for people to understand that. But when we talk about animals, people can see how a body is divided into parts we’ll be using or consuming in the future.” He’s careful not to make judgments on the relative importance of different groups’ suffering. But, he emphasizes how certain common elements thread through the mechanisms of injustice against many groups: “In my opinion, when you work for animals or for any other cause, you are actually trying to dismantle the same matrix that causes the suffering of different kinds of humans and non-human animals.” His course ultimately bridges the gap in the two supposed worlds of oppression of animals and oppression of humans. It doesn’t ignore animal issues, but instead utilizes them as a key framework for understanding oppressive processes as a whole. Empathizing and advocating for one group can help us, in turn, develop more empathy for others. Learning about animal issues and adopting a vegetarian or veganism diet can especially reinforce progressive action in other areas because it’s one of the simplest, most practical ways to embody personal values and truly live one’s convictions. It’s the kind of activism that tangibly plays out multiple times a day, each time we sit down to eat. My journey with vegetarianism has profoundly changed my understanding of my own potential to impact lives and fight for a cause. I implore readers to think critically about the oppression of all beings and what they can do on a day-today basis to fight these systems. Stephanie Trierweiler can be reached at strier@umich.edu..
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O
Keep guns away from abusers
n Feb. 14, much of the world and recognize that the problem is a celebrated Valentine’s pervasive misogynistic culture that Day and Ash Wednesday: normalizes violence against women. holidays that honor love Toxic masculinity and peace. In the U.S., we and guns are a mourned the deaths of 17 lethal combination, high school students and and it is one I am faculty who were brutally so tired of trying to murdered in the 30th convince people to mass shooting this year. Of recognize. I’m tired course, a school shooting of searching every that resulted in 17 deaths mass shooter’s name is much different than and finding exactly other mass shootings, I’m looking for: MARGOT what some of which resulted a history of abuse in no fatalities. But in no LIBERTINI toward women. I’m way was this unprecedented — only so, so tired of remembering how five months ago, a shooting in Las little this country cares about the Vegas resulted in the highest death welfare and safety of its women, toll from a mass shooting yet. despite its constant attempts to (An aside: Mass shootings are downplay our agency. a uniquely American phenomenon. It is illegal for convicted abusers Thirty-one percent of mass to buy guns in this country. They do, shootings in the world happen here, though, as we see too often when it and yet we continue to respond by results in abusive husbands killing calling for more guns. Our Congress their wives, their kids and their continues to respond by not community members. How? When responding. We — ignorantly — call an abuser is convicted, only 15 states it a mental health problem, then cut actually require they turn in their mental health funding. Don’t forget guns. In 35 states, a domestic abuser that this is insane). can be proven to be a violent person, The shooter in Parkland, Fla., legally recognized as an abuser was 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. and continue to have a house full of Cruz had a history of abusive and firearms. The Texas shooter was a misogynistic behavior toward convicted domestic abuser, but the women. His teacher reported that U.S. Air Force failed to report his he was stalking a female peer, his conviction to the FBI. So, he was able ex-girlfriend broke up with him to buy a gun that he used to commit because of his violent and abusive mass murder. In all but 19 states, behavior and he was ultimately it wouldn’t have even mattered if expelled for getting into a fight with the FBI was aware, because only his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. 19 states require a full background Why do I find this so significant? check when buying a gun online or Because 54 percent of mass shootings in a gun show. have roots in domestic violence. We are allowing innocent Because the Orlando shooter who people to be in the presence of armed murdered 49 people June 12, 2016 violent criminals every day. Women physically abused his wife. Because are leaving abusive relationships, the Texas shooter who murdered bravely take the steps to report people in their place of worship the abuse, and our laws are failing on Nov. 5 horrifically assaulted them horribly. Our laws are failing his ex-wife, who says she lived in all of us horribly, because not only “constant fear” of him. Because the are the women, children and family Las Vegas shooter who killed 58 members linked to these men at risk, people Oct. 1 acted abusively toward but all of us are. We are all threatened his girlfriend as well. There is a by the reality of violent individuals significant and obvious link between possessing weapons of murder. abuse of women and mass shootings, Beyond mass shootings, but we ignore this and blame it on American women are killed every mental illness. day by guns in an epidemic that Mental illness is not the cause lawmakers ignore. Every month, of abusive, possessive and criminal about 50 American women are behavior toward women. Stop fatally shot by an intimate partner. stigmatizing non-violent Americans Silently, women are being gunned
down in their homes and in their workplaces — the places they feel safest. Some suggest women should arm themselves, just as they suggest teachers should be armed, grocery shoppers should be armed, and so on. Americans really like the idea that further militarizing our society will somehow bring us peace. It won’t, but unfortunately the National Rifle Association will always be more sacred than our lives. Anyway, when women do arm themselves, they increase the potential of being murdered by more than 50 percent. The statistics are dark and disheartening. The cycle of mass shootings, the prevalence of gun deaths each day, the power of lobbying groups, the apathy of those in power, it all feels as though we are powerless in the fight for our lives. There are solutions though: solutions that work in other countries and solutions that have worked in our own country. In states that simply require background checks on all gun purchases, including online and at gun shows, 47 percent fewer women are fatally shot by intimate partners. Treating domestic abuse like a private family matter is unacceptable. It is unacceptable because it puts victims in danger and leaves them living in fear. This has historically not been reason enough to act, though. So, ignoring the serious criminality of domestic abuse also puts all Americans in danger. We claim to want guns out of the hands of violent individuals, so let’s start here. Let’s enforce the laws we already have on the table, enact comprehensive background checks for all purchases and require that all weapons are taken from convicted domestic abusers — in every state. Let’s treat domestic abuse like the pervasive and criminal problem that it is, not a personal matter to be left up to personal mediation. Let’s protect and empower women. “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” Margaret Atwood Margot Libertini can be reached at mlibertini@umich.edu.
CARLI COSENZA | COLUMN
The Shape of Water isn’t groundbreaking
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he 2018 Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars, will be held on March 4th, and as the awards ceremony approaches, I have been trying to see all of the highlyanticipated nominees, since they are generally considered to be the most important films of the year. And according to the numbers, the most important of these important films is Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water. It’s the most-nominated film this year, with a total of 13 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. The critical appeal of this was intriguing to me, so I was really excited when I finally got the chance to see it. However, my excitement was very, very short-lived. Actually, a better word to describe what I felt sitting in the movie theater was: confusion. I asked myself: Am I missing something? I kept waiting for something remarkable to happen. As the film continued, I grew more and more disappointed. I thought, maybe this is it. Maybe one of 2018’s most groundbreaking films really is an unoriginal, perverted sexual fantasy that is not groundbreaking at all. Rather, it relies on the excessive sexualization of a female protagonist that is portrayed through the eyes of a male director and an undercredited supporting role of a black colleague and gay best friend; it reflects age-old patterns in Hollywood that reflect the problematic way our society functions in terms of sexism, racism and phallic worship. As I processed the film, my confusion turned to anger and frustration. In fact, I was so frustrated that I abandoned what I was originally planning to write about this week to talk about it. Let’s start my complaints with the protagonist: Elisa Esposito, a janitor working in a secret military laboratory. Elisa has been mute since birth and she expresses herself through sign language and facial expressions. The audience gets to know Elisa pretty quickly; within the first five minutes of the film, we
see Elisa’s naked body in its entirety when she masturbates in her bathtub. Some critics consider this scene as a display of Elisa’s sexual liberty, even calling Del Torro a feminist for it. To me, this is not feminism. It shows nothing more but the male gaze of a straight male director. Why do we need to see Elisa’s naked body multiple times throughout the film, but her amphibian lover doesn’t even have genitalia? Sure, he might technically be “naked” throughout the film, but he is a fish: with scales covering his entire body and webbed hands, he’s not so sexy. Why is her body objectified when he gets his privacy? Another appalling theme that seems to have slipped by The Academy is the fetishization of Elisa’s muteness, a fact which is unbelievably offensive, gross and twisted. Throughout the movie, the main antagonist, Colonel Richard Strickland, expresses a boorish sexual desire towards Elisa based solely on the fact that she is mute. In Matt Lauer fashion, Strickland locks Elisa in his office and proceeds to tell her how he would like to have sex with her because she would not be able to verbally refuse. How is this “feminism”? In light of the #MeToo movement, this is what the The Academy picked? This isn’t sexual liberation; it’s just another reinforcement of the backwards construction of gender in our society: the domineering man and his submissive female subordinate. As the director, Del Torro could have been so much more groundbreaking with the way he utilized a female protagonist. Instead, he chose to focus on her sex appeal and the fetishization of her disability. I think this has something to do with the fact that so many movies in Hollywood continue to be directed by men. For example, even after the publicity of the #MeToo Movement, only one out of every 22 directors is a female — that’s only 4 percent! Furthermore, the
trend is reflected during awards season: Not a single woman was nominated for best director award at this year’s Golden Globe awards. And this year, Rachel Morrison became the very first woman to be nominated for the award for Best Cinematography for her work on the film Mudbound. I’m not jumping to any conclusions, but I can’t help but wonder about the correlation between a constant need to sexualize women and the looming presence of male directors. Perhaps if we had more female directors, then the ubiquitous male eye would dissolve and allow female characters to be presented in something other than a sensual manner. When I learned that Octavia Spencer had a role in The Shape of Water, I was excited. After all, she is the first black woman in Hollywood history to have three Oscar nominations (one of which became a win). However, much to my disappointment, it became very clear within the first few scenes exactly what type of role Octavia would be playing: a supporting character. Her character, Zelda, is so overlooked that I barely even noticed she was there. I am so tired of seeing black actors being represented as secondary to an all-white cast. I understand this movie is supposed to take place during the 1960s, a period marked by racial segregation, but if the main character’s love interest is an amphibian, would it really be so crazy to have a black heroine too? How have we gotten to the point where a non-human creature has a bigger role in a movie than Octavia Spencer? How can a movie that is nominated for 13 Academy Awards operate on such a primitive model of racial representation?
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Carli Cosenza can be reached at carlic@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts DAILY CLASSICAL MUSIC COLUMN
MUSIC ALBUM CONCERT REVIEW REVIEW
Of operas and ash heaps
Courtesy of Dominic Polsinelli
Porches put on a hypnotic show in Detroit’s El Club DOMINIC POLSINELLI Senior Arts Editor
Aaron Maine, the frontman and creative genius behind Porches, is a man who definitely knows how to move his hips. With each groovy pop hit (whether he was donning a guitar or not), more often than not Maine would be swaying with each syncopated beat. Entrancing and enticing, Maine captivates a crowd with little more than his rhythmic movements and a tempting stare. However, the show at Detroit’s El Club didn’t start out with such a commanding presence. It took Maine and the rest of the band a few songs to really warm up to the rather rudely outspoken crowd, but once in their element, their craft was pure magic. By the third song, Porches’s foray into trancepop “Find Me,” Maine’s persona was magnetic. Opening his set with the first track on Pool, “Underwater,” and the celestial synthline expertly set the tone for the rest of night. Porches’s cohesive brand of deep bass and floaty synths rarely strayed far from these dancey beats, placing emphasis on each
clearly delivered syllable from Maine’s aching, monotone drawl. Despite touring in support of his recently released third album The House, the set included a surprising number of cuts from his sophomore album Pool, including “Mood,” “Braid” and “Glow,” inciting enthusiastic responses from the majority of the packed crowd. Most surprisingly was the band’s stripped down version of normally upbeat The House opener “Leave the House,” featuring a slowed tempo, minimal instrumentals and harmonic accompaniment underneath Maine’s verses. Yet, even the more produced tracks on the album like “Find Me” and “Anymore” had a more organic feel to their live performance, sometimes featuring Maine playing a piercing cowbell. Every guitar note vibrated a little more clearly in conjunction with the sound live drums brought to the forefront, contrasting their more toned down presence during the final mixing of most of Porches’s music. It felt like an entirely new experience hearing live versions of such highly produced and meticulously mixed tracks. The encore left much to be
wondered after the band first left the stage, having already played most of their hits during their regular set like “Car” and “Find Me.” Maine first came out with one of their keyboardists to give a beautiful rendition of the minimalistic “Country,” before the rest of the band came out to perform shocking deep cut “Headsgiving” from their first album Slow Dance in the Cosmos, rounding out the set with a throwback to their indie rock roots. Aaron Maine is probably very aware of his charisma; it radiates off him with an addictive quality — his confidence intoxicating, like a blinding sun we allow him to burn into our retinas. Leaving El Club on Tuesday night, that image of Maine irradiated and backlit on stage was stamped into my memories. Their music left me wanting more — not for lack of quality or fulfillment but rather out of pure addiction for the welloiled machine that is Porches. “Goodbye” (which Maine noted to be his favorite song from The House), with its poppy beats and tender piano melodies, sums up the show well: “It is so sad to say ‘goodbye.’”
BOOKS THAT BUILT US
‘The Williamsburg Novels’ JULIA MOSS
Daily Arts Writer
I come from a thoroughly bookish family. Our relationships have always been mediated by the writers and stories we’ve handed over to each other like little pieces of ourselves, and sometimes I think that the most enduringly true things I know about these people whose lives are so tangled with mine are the books they’ve loved. As the youngest, I got everyone else’s literary handme-downs. When I was little, my brothers gave me “Harry Potter” and “Percy Jackson,” stories that gave us a common language and fantasy worlds we could live in together. When I was a teenager, my dad gave me “Pride and Prejudice,” and when I read it I saw the things he loved about it: The sublime order of a world with such pristine rules and manners, and, within that order, the chaotic hope of love. When I decided I wanted to be a writer myself, my mom gave me the writers I still consider my holy trinity: Alice Hoffman, Anne Tyler and Marisa de los Santos, whose stories give my world richness and texture. My mom is also the one who gave me “The Williamsburg Novels” by Elswyth Thane, our family heirloom. I was maybe 14 at the time: cripplingly insecure, wild and determined to be misunderstood. My mom and I fought more than anything else, and I was convinced as only a teenager can be, without evidence or logic, that the world was ending before it had even begun. But when my mom gave me “Dawn’s Early Light,” the first in Thane’s series of seven novels, something shifted. The book was yellowed and falling apart at the
Friday, February 23, 2018 — 5
seams, published in 1943 and long since out of print. It was written by a friend of my maternal greatgrandmother, and passed down from my grandmother to my mom to me. The story was instantly addictive, a mix of history, romance and adventure. The series follows each generation of two families, the Spragues and the Days, from the American Revolution all the way up until World War II, which was happening as the books were being written. They aren’t perfect by any means; even at 14, I was old enough to know that the pre-
The story was instantly addictive, a mix of history, romance and adventure civil rights, pre-feminist portrait of the American South they offered was revisionistic at best and blatantly offensive at worst. But I was hooked, and I couldn’t be unhooked. The characters felt real to me, and in a way mythological, archetypes for the people I wanted to be and wanted to be with. The men were dashing, chivalrous, passionate; the women were precocious, brave and had moxie coming out of their ears. At 14, there was nothing I wanted in the world more than moxie. There’s nothing I want more now. Just as the books drew generational lines through American history, they helped me
find the thread between myself and the women who had come before me. I could picture Thane giving the books to my greatgrandmother, a woman who was vivacious, popular and collegeeducated long before education for women was the norm. At the same time, she was also cold and sharpedged, and probably wouldn’t have chosen motherhood if she had lived in an era that gave her that choice. I could picture the books moving through the hands of my grandmother, whose life was as marked by adventure and tragedy as any of the book’s characters, who I remember as unfailingly lovely. More than anything, I could picture my mom reading the books at my age. She looks like me at 14, but brighter, prettier. She is as uncertain as me, and as lonely, and as hopeful. An onlychild raised by a single mom, she dreams her way into this fiction of a big, devoted family of siblings and cousins, uncles and aunts, white Christmases. I like to think that when she met my dad a few years later, my mom saw in him the grand romance that she saw in the men of those books. At 14, “The Williamsburg Novels” gave me a way to see my mom as more than the tense stranger she sometimes seemed. They gave me a way to see in her a shadow of myself, to see the ways we were both echoes of what had come before us. When she gave me those books, she gave me a piece of herself, a mythology that we and our grandmothers and our great-grandmothers could all live inside together. Someday, I hope I have a daughter. When I give her these books, I hope that she sees in them all the women who love her.
The more things change, the more things stay the same. As spring teases that it may be just around the corner here in Ann Arbor, out in the nation, the various great institutions of classical music have been, one by one, making their 2018–2019 seasons known — and while one type of season may look like it’ll soon be in bloom, another is turning out to be distressingly grey. One metric I use when judging a given organization’s concert season tends to end up being the amount of new music they include in their program. Of course, this is an element of my own bias (I’m a composer, sue me), but I also genuinely believe that it can serve as a helpful barometer of an institution’s artistic vibrancy. If you aren’t programming any new work, more often than not you aren’t having any new ideas — and at that point, why bother with it at all? But a subset of this consideration, due to historical factors, usually ends up being the quantity of composers from either minority or otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds (read: not European-descended males). As it unfortunately seems to be necessary every year, this discussion reemerged a week ago, prompted this time by the announcement of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2018–2019 season, a depressing catalogue of 27 operas that, improbably yet unsurprisingly, includes a grand total of zero women composers. One of the most disheartening things about the whole affair is perhaps that, not only does the season do a disservice to the neglected composers, it also does a disservice to the art-going public. Setting aside the fact that you should include a more diverse range of artists because, say, it’s the right thing to do, it’s also an artistic imperative. You can only gain so much by hearing Wagner’s tetralogy for the 500th time. You’re never going to expand the art form by just rearranging the furniture and hoping the light catches the sofa in an interesting new way. You have to reupholster the couch. You have to buy a new one. Maybe even hire an interior decorator, if you’re feeling ambitious — but do something. And it would be almost inconceivable for that something to not include women composers: After all, in the words of The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “any serious consideration of the music of our time would have to include a large number of women.” Even looking back at The Met’s
own recent history provides an excellent example of an innovative and boundary-pushing woman composer — in 2016 the company produced Kaija Saariaho’s “L’amour de loin,” a stunning work which I had the good fortune to review at the time. Shortly after the season which included the Saariaho was announced, The New York Times ran an article entitled “Met to Stage Its First Opera by a Woman Since 1903,” which, if nothing else, should give a clue as to how frustratingly rare this sort of thing is. Of course, one also has to take into account the cultural moment. I doubt it’s escaped anyone’s notice
DAYTON HARE that we’re in the middle of the #MeToo phenomenon, and that’s probably an element of why this particular season announcement is getting so much attention. Artistic pillars have sometimes liked to think of themselves as residing somewhere outside the political and social fray, but honestly, one can’t really look at this season, in this moment, without thinking that it comes off as rather tone deaf, especially given the fact that The Met’s own James Levine recently had his past catch up with him. Granted, planning an opera season is a lot of work and takes months upon months to pull together, so The Met can’t really be faulted for the specific sin of lacking timeliness. But the general trend is certainly fair game. The Met certainly isn’t alone in this. If the organization regarded as America’s opera company par excellence got it about as wrong as you can this year (a production of Nico Muhly’s new opera “Marnie” is its one saving grace), it had company. Orchestras and opera companies from Chicago to Houston join it in its pitfall, failing to program female composers with a frequency matched only by a similar failure with respect to composers from minority backgrounds. There are of course exceptions, examples which could be used as a template for a way forward.
One is fortunately in our own neighborhood. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has programmed a promising array of new music, including much by female composers. Detroit, however, pales in comparison to the undisputed leader of the largescale new music scene, the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A look at the City of Angels’ orchestra should be enough to make any competitor blush with embarrassment. There simply isn’t comparison — L.A. is a veritable cornucopia of new music. Last year a no less notable member of New York’s cultural commanding heights than The Times turned its coat to proclaim the L.A. Phil “the most important orchestra in America. Period.” High praise from the paper of record, but certainly not unwarranted. Over the last 15 years or so the orchestra has rocketed to new heights, notably under the leadership of a woman, Deborah Borda, who was last year snagged by the New York Philharmonic to be their president and CEO, just as Ann Arbor’s University Musical Society snagged the Philharmonic’s Matthew VanBesien. L.A. offers a constructive and innovative model for any forward-thinking musical organization to emulate, an aim which sooner or later, I suspect, will end up being existential. If music is to be — as its most strident champions assert — the universal language, it has to do better with speaking in a universal voice. You can’t seriously expect the umpteenth symphony of the umpteenth dead Austrian to necessarily speak to the soul of someone whose ancestors were put into chains by someone who looked a lot like the old maestro. To have a universal appeal it has to draw from universal sources, and that means programming works by people who the canon left behind. But more than that, if classical music is to have a future — and I assume that’s the idea — then it indisputably has to lie in the hands of the young, and the young aren’t going to put up with this for much longer. I’m not saying that the great masterworks should be thrown onto the ash heap of history, but if organizations keep trying to reburn the same classics without adding more wood to the fire, an ash heap is what they’ll get. Of course, no amount of admonishment from the sort of semi-professional opiniongiver who writes columns in The Michigan Daily is going to change all of this. But an ocean is made of individual drops, and, well, you know the rest.
TV REVIEW
‘Everything Sucks’ brings ’90s nostalgia to Netflix SAMANTHA DELLA FERRA Daily Arts Writer
It’s the year 1996, and everything sucks. At least, that’s what Netflix’s latest coming-of-age dramedy is trying to prove. And with unrequited high school crushes, embarrassing parents and the unmistakable angst of adolescence, it’s doing a pretty convincing job. Taking place in Boring, Oreg. — a real-life town whose unfortunate name is a heavy-handed motif in the series — “Everything Sucks” centers around the coming together of the town high school’s AV and drama clubs. The main characters, at least in the premiere episode, are Kate Messner (Peyton Kennedy, “Odd Squad”) and Luke O’Neil (Jahi Winston, “Proud Mary”), the former a sophomore struggling with both her sexuality and the fact that her father is the principal, the latter a baby-faced freshman tasked with finding his way in a new school. They are a charming pair, with an instant bond that is only strengthened by the fact that both are being raised by single parents, which may hint at a future romantic plotline. Yet even with these fantastic young actors and a relatable, if not overdone concept, “Everything Sucks” fails to get off
to a fantastic start. It’s certainly not the cast. Luke’s two best friends Tyler (Quinn Liebling “Halfway House”) and McQuaid (Rio Mangini “Teen
“Everything Sucks” Netflix Wolf”) are the typical combination of the goofy and pessimistic sidekicks that add a healthy level of banter-humor to the show straight from the start. Beyond the freshman, drama club duo Oliver (Elijah Stevenson, “Captain Fantastic”) and Emaline (Sydney Sweeney, “The Handmaid’s Tale”) easily fall into the tropes of the toocool grunge guy and the blondehaired mean girl as soon as the second episode. Each character represents a different sort of outsider in high school, and it will no doubt be exciting to watch how they each fit into and work off of each other. Yet, based off of the first episode, you might not want to make it that far. At first glance, “Everything Sucks” doesn’t seem like anything special. It absolutely could be, but the pilot tries too hard to deploy the ’90s nostalgia that permeates every scene. Luke receives an Oasis album in the mail, Oliver has a meltdown over his broken Kurt Cobain glasses (see: clout goggles) and every girl
dons a distressed flannel over the T-shirt of a band that stopped making music at least seven years ago. The second episode is even named after a “Wonderwall” lyric, and the now-infamous Oasis anthem makes an appearance in a tender moment between Luke and Kate. As it did with the 80s-packed references of “Stranger Things,” Netflix wants to reach out to their audience using a retired culture that once was all they knew. But you need more than a throwback soundtrack and some niche references to create a solid show, and “Everything Sucks” struggles to get off to a good start. That’s not to say that the show is not worth a watch. Luckily, it finds its footing immediately after the pilot episode, as central conflicts both between characters and within them are introduced. The nostalgia-packed episodes capture the uncomfortable and awkward institution that is high school and sets it all to a mix of Alanis Morissette and Nirvana. “Everything Sucks” can be enjoyable, but you are just going to have to keep watching to get to that point. Until then, I’d recommend kicking back with a No Doubt album and some Burger King chicken fries, because there are some things only #90skids understand.
Arts
6 — Friday, February 23, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Phoebe Bridgers opens up about process and poetry CLARA SCOTT Daily Arts Writer
The first time I heard Phoebe Bridgers’s music, I was entranced. I’m a longtime fan of Ryan Adams’s Pax-Am Records: When Bridgers’s first EP Killer was released on the label, I fell head-over-heels in love with her songs, her voice and the emotional investment her music creates in a listener. Though she and other artists like Julien Baker follow a wave of folk-nouveau (which is increasing in popularity), Bridgers has a very unique take on the genre: a perfect mix of poignantly simple songwriting and layered production that fuses storytelling tradition with a modern edge, lodging itself in your brain like an earworm for months on end. She’s one of those artists that represents something more than just herself — Bridgers is evidence of a shifting change in popular music towards complete authenticity, proudly wearing her heart on her sleeve. Adams himself has even compared her to a young Bob Dylan. “In the end,” Bridgers said in a recent phone interview with The Michigan Daily, “I’ll always write what I feel.” Bridgers spoke with me about this singular authenticity, her creative process and how the songs she’s written have changed throughout time. The transition from her EP to last year’s critically acclaimed album Stranger in the Alps was a big one, a shift between bare-bones voice and guitar to a more fully produced sound. “Contrary to popular belief, I met Ryan (Adams), who produced the EP, and Tony (Berg), who produced the album in the same week … We started both at the same time, but the Ryan thing kind of felt like he was recording me in his wheelhouse, which is really simple kind of folk acoustic, and the album was just me,” she explained. “That’s what I sound like.” While recording the album,
Bridgers and Berg fought to strike a balance between production and Bridgers’s musical style, forming a strong partnership in the process. “I’m the kind of artist who needs a producer, and he brought so much to the table,” Bridgers said. “We fought a lot, but the middle ground we would reach was like ... perfect.” “It’s exactly like I wanted it to sound, but I could have never imagined it sounding like that, if
Bridgers is evidence of a shifting change in popular music towards complete authenticity
that makes sense,” she continued. This unique sound carries her incredible lyrics masterfully, touching on topics like depression, heartbreak and death with grace and honesty. I asked her whether this attention to heavier subject matter was a purely creative choice or more tangled with her own experiences while writing. “I obviously don’t want to be pigeonholed as an artist who only writes sad songs,” she answered, “but the truth is for this album that’s what I was going through and feeling, so I just want to tell the truth and hold up my end of the conversation.” For the most part, Bridgers finds sharing her own stories to be cathartic, but occasionally has trouble with the highly personal nature of her songs while performing and writing with others. “When it’s a crowd of people
who come to see me, I know that they know this one album, so it’s great, but then when I open for people I have this weird guilt, where I’m like ‘Oh God, I’m about to ruin the mood,’” she said. “I sometimes write with friends, and that’s sometimes hard because I have to explain all these things like, ‘Yeah, I really hate this person, but I also have these other conflicting feelings.’ It’s hard to put those ideas into words, so it’s difficult — I don’t put half the things I think about on paper.” Despite this, the singersongwriter is committed to sharing her own story through her music, saying she thinks “the importance of (her) music is to process and share whatever (she’s) going through personally, and how that relates to other people.” Bridgers consistently maintains a certain ingenuity, even when collaborating with other artists or trying new ways to approach writing her music. She has always found a niche in expressing herself, a natural truth that shows up deeply in her music: “I think, it’s always kind of been easy for me to do that, maybe at some point it won’t be, but I’ve always thought that what I had to bring to the table, someone would think was cool.” She has now worked with people from Adams to longtime hero Conor Oberst (who appears in the duet “Would You Rather” on Stranger), she sees them as a great inspiration for her own career. “I meet people — especially growing up in LA — heroes that I’m disappointed by all the time. They’re just a dick or whatever,” she laughed. “But these are the kinds of people I want to be around, that they’ve always been true to themselves and real. They’re really inspiring to me on so many levels — the fact that you can make such great music and be a good person. I feel like I really needed in my life, and I love being around it. It inspires me to write more and all kinds of stuff.” She has grown more comfortable with collaborating with artists she
MUSIC ALBUM REVIEW
PAX-AM RECORDS
has admired for a long time, saying “I was intimidated at first, and now I feel way more comfortable, like there’s a reason I’m in this room, you know? It feels good.” Bridgers has evolved quite a bit throughout the process of recording and now touring for Stranger in the Alps, expanding her horizons by translating the album’s music into live performance for the first time. She has now toured with several artists including Oberst, Julien Baker and will open for Bon Iver on two dates during her current foray across the United States and Canada. I asked her about the process of performing live and creating different versions of her songs through touring. “There’s so many things happening at once on the album,” she answered. “There’s a million instruments; it feels very produced, which is a very weird thing to say about my music. I think that in trying (to replicate the recording), we’ve created live versions. So we try to make it sound like the recording, but if it’s not exactly the same, it’s in the same vein.” Bridgers also elaborated on her recent experiences touring, sharing a story about one of the songs off the album.
“I still get nervous,” she admitted. “I do this thing now where I sing ‘You Missed My Heart,’ which is this very slow, very long, sad song, but I don’t play an instrument on it, so the first night I got really nervous. There’s piano happening, but I’m not playing anything, and have nothing to do with my hands,” she laughed, “but we were at this club where I couldn’t hear the monitor, so I ended up sitting down, and listening to the monitors close to the floor. People totally thought it was on purpose and like, badass, so for the next couple of shows I decided to do that, and it was really different.” Bridgers acknowledges her own growth as a performer during live shows, getting out of her comfort zone by trying new things on stage throughout the tour: “I’m not a huge ‘stage presence’ person, I just kind of stand there,” she laughed again. “I can barely tap my foot without going out of time on the guitar, so I’m trying to step out of my comfort zone, but it doesn’t feel disingenuous, like ‘People do this! People do this, right? I can do this!’” This spunky edge and focus on self-realization is something that sets Bridgers apart from the crowd
— she’s genuinely funny, carrying a well-defined sense of dark humor that shows up even in her saddest songs. Even the album’s title is an inside joke, a nod to the TV re-dub of cult classic movie “The Big Lebowski.” “It’s the scene where Walter is screaming at this kid, and he says ‘This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass,’” she explained, “but the TV edit is ‘This is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps,’ which is the strangest quote ever, and I just thought it sounded so pseudopoetic and thought it really represented my personality and my music in general.” This balance between drama and the comedic intricacies and accidents of life is what makes Bridgers’s writing seem so real — it captures the humanity in life’s ups and downs with a beautifully poetic twist. She laughed when I brought this up, saying something I don’t think I’ll ever forget: “I’m not entirely like smoking a clove cigarette in the corner of a fucking coffee shop right now, but I’m also not doing stand up comedy; I’m doing this.” You can see Phoebe Bridgers with Shortly at the Pike Room in Pontiac, Mich. on March 1 at 7 p.m.
MUSIC NOTEBOOOK
An overlooked gem from Classifieds one of pop’s biggest stars DANIEL MADION Daily Arts Writer
For nearly seven years between 1995 and 2001, Michael Jackson went quiet. He released two compilation albums with a few new one-off tracks, but the waiting time for a follow-up album to the 1995 release of HIStory was unusually long — especially for a pop star that continually released material since age six. So when Invincible released in Oct. of 2001, Michael Jackson was expected to make a monumental Thriller-esque comeback. However, the album was unlike any album in Jackson’s discography — it’s vindictive, assertive and disheveled, reflecting the mental state of one of music’s most famous stars. Invincible, in hindsight, offers a rare glimpse behind the curtain of pop music’s ever-present label executives and publicists to reveal soundbites of Jackson’s deterioration. Aside from the pressure of arguably the biggest fan base of all time, Jackson was returning to the charts with Invincible after widespread media coverage regarding alleged child molestation. His life had been more public than ever before — his house was invaded, his marriage failed and a police strip-search revealed detailed descriptions of his private parts on an international level. Regardless of the legitimacy of his charges (which were dismissed at the time), Jackson was the center of international media scrutiny. In retrospect, considering Jackson’s turmoil, Invincible is exactly the album he wanted to release. It’s unapologetically angry, with heavy electronic production and vocal distortion that veers far from early 2000s pop influences. The opening track “Unbreakable” slaps listeners in the face with its wall of sound; there’s a growling lion, syncopated piano and heavy
808s repeated in a short loop that feels militaristic. Jackson lets this beat saturate listeners’ ears for almost a minute before coming in with more grit than ever before questioning, “Now I’m just wondering why you think / That you can get to me with anything?” Perhaps to combat his alleged molestation charges, Jackson is uber-macho, even featuring
In retrospect, considering Jackson’s turmoil, Invincible is exactly the album he wanted to release
a Notorious B.I.G. feature on “Unbreakable” in what feels like an attempt at hypermasculinity. However, this machismo divides the album. The first three tracks (“Unbreakable,” “Heartbreaker” and “Invincible”) follow a similar trend of dense production and bitter lyricism, but there’s also jarring pockets of familiar, yet boring, Jackson ballads. “Break of Dawn” opens with bird noises and “The Lost Children” features sampled audio of children playing — an odd dichotomy of the wellknown and soft-spoken Jackson versus one that is bitter and aggressive. Somewhere in the middle, there’s a glimpse of Jackson as a true R&B artist that’s neither angry or bashful. “You Rock
My World” is what I’d expect a well-seasoned, adult pop star to sound like late in his career — it’s light-hearted and mature while remaining innovative. Produced by Darkchild (Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” and Brandy and Monica’s “The Boy Is Mine”) and featuring ad-libs from comedian Chris Tucker, “You Rock My World” perfectly embodied the growing sound of early 2000s R&B. Darkchild’s signature bass and string production would later dominate the 2000s with Destiny’s Child, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. Jackson feels sincere — he doesn’t sound vocally strained, as he stays in a more achievable range, singing about courting a lover. “You Rock My World” was Jackson’s last number one to top the charts during his lifetime and, looking back, that makes sense. It was exactly what fans wanted — something fresh and innovative that didn’t stray too far from the Jackson they knew and loved, sounding like an updated “The Way You Make Me Feel” but for the 2000s. The more interesting (and likely more genuine) parts of Invincible are those that are brash, showcasing a side of Jackson the public never saw. Invincible’s disjointed, sometimes contrasting flow is why the album is required listening — never before had a mega star released an album that lacked pristine calculation and allowed genuine insight into an artist’s psyche. Invincible, although largely forgotten by fans, is Jackson at his most earnest and, coincidentally, his last body of work. In the years after Invincible, Jackson would face another child molestation charge and spiral deeper into controversy (like dangling his child over a balcony) that prevented any further studio albums, suggesting that Invincible offered fans a warning of his future decline.
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RELEASE DATE– Friday, February 23, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Med. recording 4 Type sizes 9 “__, then ... ” 13 __ Post: Nassau County, N.Y. school 14 Spectacle 15 Haunted house sound 16 Letters on a communications corp. logo 17 *Dog that really needs a bath? 19 The Gray Lady of the press: Abbr. 20 Exile of 1979 21 Els on greens 22 *Donkey that has mastered the hurdles? 26 AB negative, among blood types 27 Cockpit no. 28 Prepared 29 Big Ben feature 30 Odysseus’ faithful dog 32 *Holiday employment schedule in “Animal Farm”? 39 Friend of d’Artagnan 40 Unsullied 41 One-fifth of MD 44 Swindle 45 Any Beatle, say 47 *Offer to acquire a rising agent? 51 Give one final flicker 52 Greatly reduced sea 53 Old possessive 55 When required ... or a terse hint to solving the starred clues 58 Where Simone Biles won four golds 59 Welsh actor Roger 60 Subway entrance 61 Lake Mich. state 62 Criteria: Abbr. 63 Thompson of “Creed” 64 Org. with a tee in its logo
DOWN 1 Joie de vivre 2 Lockup 3 Throaty 4 Hunter’s need 5 Trap during winter 6 Sound on some San Francisco streets 7 Small batteries 8 Muddy abode 9 “__ very hard, and ... play very hard”: Maya Angelou 10 Regional animal groups 11 “Forrest Gump” actor 12 Most stale 17 Voids 18 Bully 23 __ toast 24 Baby food array 25 Bit of aquatic life 26 Nutritional fig. 30 Cadillac compact 31 Hue of many Renaissance drawings 33 Long list substitute, briefly 34 “Cat on __ Tin Roof” 35 Xperia maker
36 Best 37 Causing to foam 38 Marshy expanse 41 Pleasures shared by Churchill and Castro 42 It might be stuffed at home 43 Like one who is beside oneself? 45 How land prices are often calculated
46 Lean (on) 48 Stab 49 Refreshing spot 50 Range with one end in Kazakhstan 54 Small figure wielding much force? 56 Del. winter hrs. 57 Jeanne d’Arc, e.g.: Abbr.
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, February 23, 2018 — 7
‘M’ strategizes for Arizona State Wolverines still need Matthews BENJAMIN KATZ Daily Sports Writer
September 15 was a day of firsts for the Michigan hockey team. It was the opening practice for the 2017-18 campaign. It was the beginning of Mel Pearson’s tenure at the helm. And it was the first look at a group determined to rebound after a lackluster season and restore prestige to one of college hockey’s most storied programs. More than halfway through the year, the Wolverines were unranked with an 8-10-2 record. An NCAA Tournament berth was far from the realm of possibility. But since Jan. 7, Michigan has gone 8-3-1 with three sweeps of top-15 teams, including No. 1 Notre Dame last weekend, and risen to No. 13 in the USCHO poll. Through trials and tribulations over the past five months, the nation’s thirdyoungest team has positioned itself for a postseason run. Following the two wins over the Fighting Irish, the Wolverines (16-13-3) sit at No. 11 in the PairWise rankings and third place in the Big Ten standings. Michigan is guaranteed homeice advantage in the first round of the conference tournament, and College Hockey News gives it a 95-percent chance of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Since Sept. 15, there have been questions about every facet of its game — offense, defense, special teams and goaltending. But many were answered this past month, and the Wolverines have survived the gauntlet of Big Ten powerhouses, looking more complete than they have all season. Now, Michigan is one regularseason series from beginning its chase for postseason glory. The one team standing in the Wolverines’ way? Arizona State (8-19-5), a program in just its third year of Division I hockey and No. 55 of 60 teams in PairWise. On paper, the Sun Devils hardly seem a threat for a Michigan team with so much momentum. After running full speed since September, additional rest in advance of next weekend’s looming Big Ten Tournament would be smart. Taking it easy
before being thrown into highlevel matchups in the NCAA Tournament makes sense. Especially with the season’s last games against a bottom-feeder in Arizona State, a team at which some wouldn’t bat an eye. But a loss or two against the lowly Sun Devils would instantly erase the Wolverines’ secondhalf turnaround. Compiling recent victories over top teams to be an arm’s length from returning to the playoffs would all be for naught. At this point, the implications are known for a weekend that, on the surface, once felt like an afterthought on the calendar compared to series against previous conference heavyweights. “We have to treat Arizona State like a No. 1 team,” said junior defenseman Joseph Cecconi Tuesday. “If we don’t beat them twice, that’s going to hurt us big time in the PairWise. We have to prepare basically just like any other game, any other Big Ten game. It might be these two games are the most important for our season.” *** Despite the high stakes of this weekend felt by players, the length and strain of the past five months remains the reality — something Pearson strives to put into perspective. “This time of the year, you have to be careful with how much you’re putting them on the ice,” Pearson said after Tuesday’s skate-around. “… It’s a long season. It’s all about the games and having the energy for the games right now, so we’re going a little lighter.” Coming down the homestretch, Michigan has taken two days off each week instead of the usual one. Following Sunday night’s win against the Fighting Irish, there was an off-day Monday and just a half-hour skate Tuesday “to get a light sweat.” Even without formal practices some days, Pearson still makes sure to coach off the ice. Realizing the physical toll on a skater’s body throughout the season, he demands his players take a much-needed — and welldeserved — break. Pearson stresses they get schoolwork done on off-days and eight-plus hours of sleep. He
constantly reminds them about the “sleep-rest ratio” and shares articles about the importance of recovery. “I wish the coach followed the same advice he’s giving his players,” Pearson joked. “I’m not adhering to the eight hours, but I don’t have to play.” Though nearing the end of the regular season, practice objectives are the same — focus on individuals early in the week, then turn the attention to the upcoming opponent. While the early days leading into a weekend series are usually for studying film and ironing out kinks in players’ games, this week emphasized rest. “We want to keep ourselves fresh and ready to go,” Cecconi said. “The coaching staff knows what they’re doing. They’re not going to burn us out or they’re not going to skate us too little or too much. We just kind of follow their lead and still work hard.” *** One-hundred and sixty days ago, Michigan began its trek to the NCAA Tournament, which it missed last season. After months of practice and preparation, the Wolverines now find themselves two games away from carrying out the task that once looked overly daunting. Taking a break may be necessary, but Michigan won’t lose sight of the work that originally got it to this place. Intense conference play may have ended with an impressive showing against Notre Dame, but “the highs won’t get too high,” according to Cecconi. This won’t be a down week or a week to celebrate past victories. “It’s a little less workload,” Pearson said. “But we want to stay sharp at the same time.” Prematurely looking to the playoffs and resting for the possibly long road ahead is important, but the Wolverines won’t look past Arizona State, a team with nothing to lose, poised to play spoiler at Yost Ice Arena. “This weekend is big,” Cecconi said. “If we don’t do what we need to do, then last weekend doesn’t matter.” Should Michigan play flatly and the Sun Devils take advantage, all the work since Sept. 15 to return to the postseason will most likely go to waste.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson has emphasized rest with his team in preparation for this weekend’s Arizona State series.
MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Editor
At last, Charles Matthews found himself a good look. With the Wolverines down by two in the second half, the redshirt junior guard cut to the basket and flashed his arm up for the ball. The Penn State defender swung around into position, and Matthews pumpfaked. The shot went up. Off the rim. He ripped down his own rebound. Another layup went up. It crawled off the hoop again. The sequence would be Matthews’ last chance to convert on a night he simply couldn’t buy a bucket. He was bottled up offensively, struggled to pick his spots and finished the game with a towel draped over his head as he watched the rest of the Michigan men’s basketball team pull away from Penn State on Wednesday. He’d finish with zero points for the first time this season. “Charles is not playing with confidence,” said Michigan coach John Beilein afterwards. “I think right now he’s probably, as we’re coaching him, thinking too much.” Three turnovers in the game’s first 15 minutes probably didn’t help that. On the Wolverines’ second possession, Matthews drove from the corner and lost control of the ball as defenders collapsed. He was pick-pocketed minutes later and, finally, just before the under-four timeout, Matthews would again lose his dribble in a swarm of white jerseys. That’s been Matthews’ turnover equation all year: the aggressiveness that makes him such a strong slasher backfires as he gets loose with the ball. And when those issues came back Wednesday night, Matthews found himself sitting to start the second half in favor of freshman guard Jordan Poole — a rare, midgame lineup adjustment for Beilein. “I’m watching Charles right now, and he had three turnovers the other day, and he started out the first half with three turnovers,” Beilein
said. “Not all of them were his fault, but he’s just not confident right now (with) just about anything. “There are times where he gets himself into tough spots. And we got to teach him to ease his game a little bit just to make simple plays.” That “simple play” mindset has fueled the reemergence of Poole, who went 4-of-8 with 13 points in 26 minutes — many of which came ahead of Matthews. For the second straight game, Poole gave an immediate boost to Michigan’s offense. That included SportsCenter’s “Top Play” of Wednesday — an and-one posterization of 6-foot-10 Nittany Lions’ forward Julian Moore. But Poole’s biggest moment of the night came on a more mundane play. With just over seven minutes to go, Poole doubled the Wolverines’ lead with a flick of the wrist from deep in the corner, cutting much of the momentum Penn State built with a furious start to the half. “What Jordan Poole is giving us right now is really good,” Beilein said. “That 3 in the left corner was huge for us. He just gives us that extra shooter out there.” While Beilein admits that Poole certainly has room to grow, Wednesday’s performance was another example of the calmer, more cerebral style he’s developed during Big Ten play. Yes, he still drives Beilein crazy with the
occasional alley-oop and heat-check shot, but it’s clear that Poole has become more calculated with the ball. “I’ve been making simple plays knowing that the ball is going to come back to you, and you don’t have to go out there and force every shot,” Poole said. “I’m being more patient and trying to find the best possible shot we can get.” While Poole can fill in for spurts, he isn’t Michigan’s final answer opposite senior guard MuhammedAli Abdur-Rahkman — or at least not yet. That’s still Matthews, as it was during non-conference play when he led the Wolverines in scoring. “He won a lot of games for us early in the year,” Beilein said. “But right now, it’s not fair to the other guys when he’s not playing with the same swagger that he had earlier.” But hope isn’t lost — even amidst a five-game stretch when Matthews has averaged just 6.4 points-pergame. Beilein has instructed Matthews to take shots after practice, watch extra film and pay special attention to making the right pass. It hasn’t materialized recently like it has for Poole. Still, Matthews is essential for Michigan, and even through struggles, his coach knows it. “We’re trying to get him back because we need him,” Beilein said.
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Redshirt sophomore forward Charles Matthews has struggled as of late.
Sports
8 — Friday, February 23, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tourney Bound Michigan beats Maryland, all but sealing Tounrament bid
Flaherty, Dunston cement their legacies on Senior Night
senior year, will be awesome.” Added Barnes Arico: “I think our kids have put themselves in an incredible position. Last year, they said we didn’t have top50 wins. We have three top-25 (wins) right now.” As the clock hit zero, Johnson jumped into senior forward Jillian Dunston’s arms at midcourt. “When the buzzer went off, when we finally won, I know the feeling that Kate and Jill have,” Johnson said, “because they worked so hard for this and so the win, just — it felt right to jump into her arms. There’s nothing (else) you could do, really.” Johnson tied Flaherty to lead the team in scoring with 17, doing so on 8-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds. This in a game where she played more than her usual handful of minutes only because freshman forward Hailey Brown was out with an injury. “I just think that right now, I’m not on anybody’s scout, so where they (can‘t) know what to do with me,” Johnson said. “So, I took advantage of that and I made myself open. And now, when I make myself open, it takes pressure off of everybody else.” Michigan jumped out to an early lead, starting the affair with an 11-4 run bookended by a pullup triple from Flaherty. Though Maryland closed the gap to three, the Wolverines strung together an 8-2 run to close out the first quarter. When the lead continued to build early in the second quarter, Michigan could feel it — not just the win, but all that came with it. March Madness was well within the Wolverines’ grasp. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. A layup from the Terrapins’ Ieshia Small cut Michigan’s lead to 10 with six minutes to go in the half. Over the next few minutes, 10 became six, six became one. Even after Munger
team that seemed like a lock for the Tournament just a few weeks ago entered the game against Maryland barely clinging to their Tournament hopes. Under the leadership of its seniors, Michigan prevailed. Despite leading the team in scoring, Flaherty had a rather pedestrian game by her standards, finishing with 17 points and four assists. She did hit a clutch 3-pointer with 2:35 to go, though, putting the Wolverines up four. Per usual, Dunston’s stat line was underwhelming – five points, seven rebounds and two steals. But her impact was felt on defense. Under Dunston’s leadership, Michigan held the Terrapins — who rank third in 3-point percentage and 13th in offense nationally — to just 65 points and 0-for-9 from behind the arc. The win was the first time the seniors have beaten Maryland. “It was double special for me,” Dunston said. “I grew up in Maryland, watching Maryland. (I was) a big fan of them. I wasn’t really recruited there, for us to beat them — they’re a nationally-touted team — at a time we really need to.” The win should get Dunston and Michigan into the Tournament, as they now have three top-25 wins. But, at this point last year, it seemed that the Wolverines were locks for the Tournament. “After what happened last year, I will not believe another thing, ever,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “We can go win the Big Ten Tournament, and I’ll be, ‘Oh my gosh’ on Selection Monday.” With Michigan’s last Tournament appearance coming in 2013, Flaherty and Dunston have never experienced March Madness. So would missing this year’s Tournament, and therefore never qualifying, tarnish the legacy of the two seniors? Not entirely, but it wouldn’t help. The two still have much to be proud of.
ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
There are two types of heroes: Those you expect and those that come from nowhere. Michigan found both on Thursday. When the ball found senior guard Katelynn Flaherty, open in the corner with 2:35 to go in the game and the Wolverines clinging onto a 60-59 lead over Maryland, she did the same thing she’s done a million times before. She rose and hit it. When the ball found Akienreh Johnson a minute later, the Terrapins having gotten the deficit back to two, the guard decided to get in on the action. Johnson, who was averaging just 2.5 points per game coming into Thursday, fired one from deep. She hit it. “The whole year, my teammates have been telling me, ‘AK, just shoot it,’ ” the sophomore said. “So, I had to just shoot one.” Though Maryland answered with a Kaila Charles layup, junior guard Nicole Munger converted a driving layup as she fell away from the basket to extend the Wolverines’ lead to 68-63 with 30 seconds to go in the game. That was when you knew. This was really going to happen. There would be no collapse, no lingering doubt on the way to Indianapolis, no tears a week from Monday when the selection show commences. Michigan (10-6 Big Ten, 21-8 overall) beat No. 13 Maryland (114, 22-6), 71-65, on Senior Night and with the win, all but sealed the program’s first tournament berth since 2012-13 — before any current senior was on the roster — a year after being left out on the night of the selection show. “Coming off the floor, coach (Kim Barnes) Arico said, ‘This better be the last one (at Crisler),’ ” Flaherty said. “To go to the NCAA Tournament, for the first time, our
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Seniors Jillian Dunston and Katelynn Flaherty won their last career home game.
hit a corner 3-pointer with just under two minutes left in the half to put the lead back to four, the Wolverines got sloppy. Flaherty turned the ball over taking it up the court when she passed into the teeth of what looked to be a half-court trap. After Stephanie Jones finished a layup with time running down, Michigan went into the half with the slimmest of 35-33 leads. What had been an impending blowout turned into a game where every missed shot clinked off the rim with an extra emphasis. Maryland managed to tie it at 37 early in the third with a mini 4-0 run, but couldn’t take its first lead. Not for the rest of the quarter. Not for the rest of the game. “Everything we worked on today is what we worked on the last three days of practice,” Barnes Arico said. “We throw the ball — like, I’ll have five people standing at half-court, throw the ball up, ‘A minute left in the game. What are we running? What are we in? What defense?’ We’re holding up defense, we have different people on the bench calling (instructions), ‘Okay, now what are we running? What are we doing on defense?’ Because that’s the game. And that’s where we needed to get better.” That, the Wolverines did.
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or one last time, Katelynn Flaherty and Jillian Dunston donned the maize and blue at Crisler Center. Prior to the game on Senior Night, they were honored at center court. Surrounded HUNTER by their SHARF families, Flaherty and Dunston each received framed jerseys. Though a rather simple and customary tradition, it was a nice way to celebrate two Michigan women’s basketball greats. And while the two have certainly asserted themselves among the program’s best, their legacy, in part, hinged on the result of Thursday’s game against No. 13 Maryland. While a win against one of the nation’s best teams would solidify the Wolverines’ NCAA Tournament chances, a loss would have put them on the bubble — and perhaps out of the Tournament. But Michigan won the seniors, final regular season game, 71-65. And while it’s not a shoo-in, the Wolverines should earn a trip to the dance. Going into Thursday, they had lost four of their last five. A
Flaherty — a four-year starter — is arguably the best player in program history. The Point Pleasant, N.J. product has led the Wolverines in scoring each of her four seasons. Her proficiency on offense has left her with exactly 2,700 points – the most in program history. While Dunston doesn’t receive as much notoriety, her play is certainly imperative. Dunston is the voice of the team, always yelling out commands, energizing her team and playing with maximum effort. She does the little things that don’t necessarily show up in the box score. For the past two seasons, she has been the Wolverines’ best defender. She ranks third all-time in rebounds and 11th in steals. The stats speak for themselves. In a video played on the scoreboard, Flaherty claimed her greatest memory was beating Ohio State in Columbus earlier this year. For Dunston, it was winning the WNIT Tournament last year. But they both agreed, making a run in the NCAA Tournament would trump those memories. And Thursday’s win put them one step closer to making that a reality. “This was so crucial to out NCAA bid,” Dunston said. “No one wins the WNIT and then goes back. You want to go to the tournament.” Regardless of if they qualify for the Tournament or not, the legacy of their character alone makes them Michigan greats. “What Jillian Dunston and Katelynn Flaherty have meant to our program, to the culture of our program, is just incredible,” Barnes Arico said. “The kind of people they are and the example they set for the players in our program, for the people in the community, for young girls out there aspiring to be college basketball players. They are Michigan kids. They are leaders and best.” Sharf can be reached at hsharf@umich.edu.
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