ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Monday, April 16, 2018
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Beilein’s way The Michigan men’s basketball team has found success by following John Beilein’s blueprint.
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COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
Greek DEI group works to diversify membership ALEC COHEN/Daily
Collaborative represents all four Greek councils but has no members in NPHC
Vice President for Student Life E. Royster Harper speaks with The Michigan Daily for the final interview of the semester Friday afternoon.
Royster talks Greek life, building name changes and new CSG execs
In interview with The Daily, VP for Student Life says Greek rush changes not punitive AMARA SHAIKH & JORDYN BAKER Daily Staff Reporters
On Friday afternoon, Michigan Daily sat down Vice President for Student E. Royster Harper for the
The with Life final
interview of the term. The conversation included discussions on recent administrative approval to change the names of C.C. Little Science Building and Winchell House, Greek life winter recruitment, and the recent CSG elections. TMD: Seeing as the recent approval to change the names of
RESEARCH
Michigan sixth for homeless students University research shows lack of afforable housing contributes to problem MOLLY NORRIS Daily Staff Reporter
In 2016, the state of Michigan was ranked sixth in the United States for its number of homeless students. Jennifer ErbDownward, a senior research associate with University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions initiative, analyzed data surrounding schoolchildren who are considered homeless. Underfederal education law homelessness is defined as all children and youth who “lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” “Michigan had the sixth largest number of homeless students in the United States,” Erb-Downward said. “That’s over 36,000 students in the 2015-2016 school year. That’s a very large number of children who are going to school while experiencing the instability of not knowing where they’re going to sleep at night, not knowing whether or not they’re going to be able to stay in school or have to transfer.”
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C.C. Little and the Winchell House in West Quad took place after many protests from various students and student organizations on campus, it can be said the names of various buildings, plaques, etc. at the University impact student life on campus. In an interview about the renaming recommendations, President Schlissel said “We don’t
want the names of things to be changing as fashions change.” Do you suspect this will be a common occurrence or is the bar too high after Little and Winchell to change building names?
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SHANNON ORS
Daily Staff Reporter
Through internal means, fraternities and sororities at the University of Michigan have been attempting to address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, but face an obstacle in obtaining buy-in from across all four Greek life councils. More than 6,000 students are involved in Greek life at the University of Michigan according to the Office of Greek Life. Representing approximately 20 percent of the undergraduate population, the community often struggles with negative perceptions,
perpetuated by a national narrative and a turbulent past year for the University’s Greek life community. Apart from the lack of demographic diversity among traditionally white fraternities and sororities, disparities also emerge in areas like parties. Students have noted police tend to shut down festivities hosted by traditionally Black fraternities more than those hosted by white fraternities. Many Black students have experienced overt racism at fraternity parties in recent years.
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Have scholarship, will travel: Costs Researcher of study abroad remain prohibitive finds ‘U’ is RESEARCH
Students find scholarships insufficient in both size and eligibility criteria SAYALI AMIN
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA sophomore Moe Charara transferred to the University of Michigan this semester. He never seriously considered studying abroad at his previous college. However, with some research and help from the Center for Global and Intercultural Study, Charara will be studying in Greece this coming summer. “At my old university, we had a few study abroad programs, but (they) weren’t too serious or anything,” Charara said. “I went to the CGIS office to see what they had to offer and see if I could use the opportunities U of M had.” Charara said CGIS helped find scholarships and programs that would suit him and for which he could earn credit. “There are so many ways to cover the costs for these programs,” Charara said. “U of M does give a lot of scholarships. (CGIS advisers) are really cool and they’ve helped me a great deal.” According Scholarship Program Assistant Director Doug Fletcher, the LSA Scholarship Office works closely with CGIS to make students aware of the available resources the University provides. “Scholarships are all needbased,” Fletcher said. “We recognize that financial aid provides great support for Check out the Daily’s News podcast, The Daily Weekly
students to go abroad. For many students, there’s still a gap between what financial aid can provide and what they need to go.” For the 2016-2017 school year, Fletcher said the Scholarship Program provided a total of $1.7 million in scholarships, with an average of $4,200 given per student. Out of the 708 applicants, 407 were awarded scholarships.
“Students have to have financial need, that’s the first thing,” Fletcher said. “Out of the 708, some of them don’t have need or didn’t file a FAFSA. Some of those students were packaged fully, given all the funding they needed from financial aid or departmental resources. We awarded every student that wasn’t packaged fully already.” Despite being ineligible for
financial aid, LSA junior Kallie Bernas was unable to afford a program through the LSA Opportunity Hub to research abroad in Berlin this summer. “I didn’t have the money to support myself without being paid for the research I would have been doing,” Bernas said.
off-pace on emissions
School’s goal of reducing emissions 25 percent by 2025 needs more work KATE JENKINS
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Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan is not on track to reach its 2025 emissions goals, according to Environment and Sustainability graduate student Tyler Fitch’s research. In 2011, the University promised to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent below 2006 emissions levels. By combining data from the Office of Campus Sustainability and a report by the University President’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee, Fitch tracked the University’s progress and found they will not fulfill this commitment if they continue on their current trajectory. Fitch was inspired to conduct research on the emissions gap after returning from the November U.N. climate conference in Bronn, Germany. During his time in Germany, he decided to act on the calls for community action. ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 112 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
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SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................1B
News
2A — Monday, April 16, 2018
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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FRIDAY: Behind the Story
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ON THE DAILY: MICHIGAN TIME ALMOST UP RACHEL LEUNG Daily Staff Reporter
HAPPY MONDAY.
Time is almost out to save “Michigan time,” the tradition of starting classes ten minutes after the scheduled hour at the
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University of Michigan. However, state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, among other concerned alumni and students, are fighting to preserve this custom. Students and alumni have spoken out against the University’s decision in February to end Michigan time. U-M students started a Facebook event — “Boycott the End of Michigan Time” — with more than 1,200 people interested in and 300 going to a boycott of the first day of spring term classes May 1. Representatives of the University’s Central Student Government also raised questions about the decision to Dean of Students Laura Blake Jones at a meeting shortly after the announcement was made. Rabhi, a University alum, has taken the issue of Michigan time to the Michigan House of Representatives. Rabhi proposed an amendment to the state higher education budget during a Thursday meeting for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education. Though Rabhi’s amendment was not adopted, he maintains his commitment to helping students at his alma mater. “I am committed to doing all I can to help students at our universities have the support and tools they need to be successful,” Rabhi said in a statement to MLive. “Michigan time has been a treasured tradition at the University for more than 80 years, providing students and faculty the flexibility they need to navigate campus and arrive at class with enough time. This tradition is one of many that gives the University of Michigan its unique character, and I would be sad to see it abandoned.” Michigan time is currently scheduled to end May 1, after which classes will start at the hour and instead end 10 minutes early. University officials cited a need for consistency among campuses and schools as a reason for the change.
University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald explained in February the University’s decision was motivated by requests for a more uniform schedule to facilitate collaboration among schools on campus that currently use Michigan time and those that do not, such as the School of Nursing. “I’d say one of the hallmarks of our campus is cross-University collaboration,” Fitzgerald said. “From school and colleges and departments and different units who are constantly crosspollinating all of our efforts, and this really facilitates that … We’re just eliminating one of those stumbling blocks.” Instead of starting early, classes after May 1 will now end 10 minutes before the scheduled hour to allow students to continue scheduling classes back-to-back with adequate travel time. LSA sophomore Lexi Michaels predicts ending Michigan time will cause confusion for professors instead of making scheduling easier. “I really like Michigan time. I think it makes so much sense, especially when you have back-toback classes,” Michaels said. “It gets your day rolling. I think that (this new system) is just a cause for disaster. I think that professors are way more aware of starting 10 minutes late because they haven’t started yet, but if they have to end 10 minutes early, they’re not going to know to stop.” Despite the protests of current students and alumni like Rabhi, University Provost Martin Philbert claims to have received positive feedback about the change. “Especially through Vice President Royster’s office, we have worked with many student organizations,” Philbert said. “In my experience, there’s been an enormous sigh of relief that we’re all going to be operating on the same expectations of starting and finishing.”
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Michigan in Color
Monday, April 16, 2018 — 3A
Combating the Monolith: IV Fighting white supremacy PRIYA JUDGE
MiC Assistant Editor
Aishu Chandrakanthan is a junior at the University of Michigan studying business and psychology with a minor in digital studies. On campus, she is involved with United Asian American Organizations, Indian American Student Association, Yoni Ki Baat and the Michigan Fashion Media Summit. She can be contacted at caishu@umich.edu. THE MICHIGAN DAILY: Tell me a little about you and your family. CHANDRAKANTHAN: I’ve always struggled to understand how to express who I am. I’m Sri Lankan, but I’m Tamil — which is not the ethnic majority in Sri Lanka. I’m a Canadian citizen and most of my family lives in Canada, but I’ve lived in America for most of my life. Because of this, I’ve struggled with not really fitting in anywhere. I don’t feel truly like a Sri Lankan Tamil-Canadian sometimes because I didn’t have the same experience as those who are Sri Lankan Tamil in Canada. I didn’t grow up going to Tamil school or weddings every weekend, in between classical singing classes with Sri Lankan friends whose parents went to the same high school as mine. And even though I grew up exposed to Indian-Tamil culture, because of my “Amma’s” love for India and since my family owns an Indian grocery store; I never fit in with Indian Tamils because I don’t have the Indian-Tamil dialect, so it made it hard to communicate my thoughts. When I’m in the United States, I don’t always feel like I fit in because I’m not particularly familiar with American pop culture and politics. I didn’t listen to English music until I was 12-years-old and I rarely watched Hollywood films. Despite this confusion and struggle to find my identity, I like that there is some mystery around who I am. My family came to Canada as refugees because of the civil war in Sri Lanka. My “Appa” left when he was 17 for Germany, but he later came to Canada as a refugee in order to find a better life for himself and the rest of his family. My Amma had also escaped Sri Lanka when she was 16-years-old to live in India. My Appa passed away ten years ago, so my Amma has been wary of taking my brother and me back to Sri Lanka alone because
she doesn’t consider it safe. While my Appa was able to escape most of the horrors of the war, my Amma actually got caught in the crossfire. Back then, in Sri Lanka, a Tamil liberation group called the Tamil Tigers started a separatist movement to create Tamil Eelam, a country just for the Tamil ethnic group. They often used violent tactics to get their messages across. During one of her visits back to Sri Lanka during her school break, Amma and my “Ammama” had gotten badly injured from a bomb blast. That night left most of my Ammama’s arm severely injured, wounds on my Amma’s leg and severe PTSD that has left them both traumatized for the rest of their lives. The Tamil Tigers also sent a suicide bomber to India to assassinate then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. After that, many restrictions were imposed on Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India. My Amma was affected by that — she couldn’t get the education she wanted because the Indian government only allowed Sri Lankan Tamils to study certain subjects. I feel like my Amma always associated being Sri Lankan with being unable to achieve her life’s goals. She really embraces Indian culture and considers it her home, while my Appa was very Sri Lankan. I always wondered why she was so against her own country, but then I learned to understand why it was so different for her. Sri Lanka was so shaped by war that, for her, the experiences of getting hurt and having limited freedom made it easier for her to just distance herself from her country. She always talks about how beautiful Sri Lanka was and how the war ruined everything. TMD: Has having a Sri Lankan Tamil identity distanced you from the larger South Asian community on campus? CHANDRAKANTHAN: I think I’m lucky. Because my family has owned an Indian grocery store for twelve years, growing up, I was able to immerse myself in the Indian culture and community. I grew up watching movies in different Indian languages such as Telugu and Malayalam, so I used this as a way to connect with my peers in the Indian American Student Association (IASA) community. However, I still never felt like I fit in. Even when it comes to Tamil people in IASA, I still feel that we have very different backgrounds.
Their parents didn’t grow up in Sri Lanka, experience a war and aren’t refugees. A lot of people don’t know what happened in Sri Lanka, so they don’t understand the struggles that my parents experienced while coming to this country. In the past year, I’ve realized that a lot of my South Asian friends have parents who could get the education and careers they wanted. My Amma wasn’t able to do that. Her Sri Lankan identity prevented her from studying what she wanted. A lot of South Asian people don’t realize that Sri Lankan Tamils had to go through different obstacles to achieve the same level of success as other South Asians. My family members had to go through extreme and nontraditional methods to end up in this country, away from the war raging at home. TMD: What weight does your identity as a Sri Lankan Tamil and Asian/Pacific Islander American (A/PIA) hold for you? CHANDRAKANTHAN: I don’t feel that I am able to fully identify as an A/PIA, because the term seems to suggest very specific experiences — ones that tend to exclude South Asians. A lot of the A/PIA spaces on campus are more representative of East Asians and it’s often hard to find other Brown people, nonetheless Sri Lankan Tamils. However, the A/PIA community on campus has also been one of the most accepting communities I’ve been a part of. Even though there aren’t many Sri Lankan Tamils, I feel that I have been able to bond with others in the community who similarly may have felt like they had difficulty finding communities throughout their lives. I’m excited for the next year, because I look forward to being more involved in organizations such as Uncover: A/ PIA and UAAO where I can hear other people’s stories and share my own. TMD: Has your conception of your identity as an A/PIA shifted over the course of your life? CHANDRAKANTHAN: In high school, I was surrounded by a very different group of people. Though there was a huge South Asian community in Novi, I wasn’t super involved in it. I had South Asian friends, but my closest friend group consisted of my Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean friends. However, I still felt out of place because I felt like they all had their own communities.
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CHARDE MADOULA-BEY MiC Contributor
Every morning, I find myself walking to class listening to my favorite songs, watching squirrels as they finesse food from passersby and moving around white people walking in my direction on the sidewalks. Before I noticed this disturbing pattern of mine, I always thought that stepping out of the way for oncoming pedestrians was just the polite thing to do. However, I recently noticed that the oncoming traffic, specifically when the person was white, would never return the common courtesy of stepping to the side when I walked by. I began to ask myself questions and wonder if I was carrying out the same subconscious behavior with people of other races. So, I decided to experiment a bit. Whenever a person of color walked by, I made space — while carefully watching if they would do the same. I tried doing this with people of color in large groups, small groups and by themselves. Each occurrence led to the same outcome: mutual respect for sidewalk space. This data then led me to the belief that this was a natural behavior of only white people, notably among white women. After coming to such conclusion, I decided to try something even riskier: not move at all when white people passed by. I thought perhaps the confidence of a large, stocky Black woman standing her ground would make a difference and would be a call for change.
EFE OSAGIE
NA’KIA CHANNEY MiC Senior Editor
When Drew Metcalf, an LSA junior studying screen arts and culture, submitted his project proposal to optiMize’s Social Innovation Challenge, he had no idea he would end up forming a creative expression showcase that would impact more than 150 students. With a strong passion for creativity and art, Metcalf has a natural drive for building community, cultural understanding and confidence — all through the power of expression. With his new organization, Creatives of Color, Metcalf is using art to revolutionize how students of color come together. The purpose of Creatives of Color is to foster connections among artists of color by providing opportunities for collaboration, expression and networking. Its platform is centered around providing support and resources to give students the freedom and means to pursue their creative initiatives. Metcalf got his start from optiMize, a social innovation organization dedicated to inspiring students to initiate self-driven products to work toward a more sustainable world. Through optiMize, Metcalf received mentor support, visioning workshops and an expansive network to help him
make his mission a tangible reality. To formally introduce his organization, Metcalf held a creative showcase April 11. The showcase featured an expansive range of art, such as photography, animation, singing, dance and poetry. It featured projects from 25 participants of varying cultures, ages and majors, adding to the diverse makeup of projects presented. In preparation for the showcase, Metcalf said he and his team randomly paired students together as he wanted to explore the creative capacity that could come from strangers. Metcalf and his team provided guidance and assistance to student teams. He hoped students would feel encouraged and confident enough to pursue creative means not traditionally explored. “We wanted to showcase all kinds of art. When people think of creative work, they jump to music, poetry and dance. But, we also have committees for other written art, like journalism and creative writing,” he said. Though the showcase received an immensely positive response, it did not occur without setbacks and moments of discouragement. As the term went on, more and more groups dropped out due to academic demands and other time restraints. However, Metcalf stayed optimistic, commenting even if two people showed up to the showcase, as long as everyone
had fun, the work would not go to waste. “There were a couple of times that I wanted to throw in the towel … But my team kept me grounded,” he said. Drew’s project was received so well that it solidified additional funding, which will allow the organization to continue active development over the summer. His summer project will consist of building the social network of professional and aspiring creatives, striving to bridge the gap between access to resources and mentors. With this amount of momentum, it is clear that Creatives of Color has a bright and eventful future ahead. Future plans include creative workshops, collaborations, exhibitions and youth outreach. As the organization is still in its infancy, the possibilities are wide open, and Metcalf is ready to take them head-on. “The cool thing about (this project) is that there’s so much room for creativity and innovation. There are so many things we can we can do with this organization, and the ideas keep coming. I’m interested to see what comes of it,” he said while smiling. Anyone interested in getting involved with Creatives of Color can join their Maizepage group, contact the group directly at thecreativesofcolor@gmail. com or fill out their EBoard application.
noted previously, if a Black person failed to do so, they were acting as defiant, uppity and downright disrespectful. Now it all makes sense. This demonstration of subservience during such a simple thing like walking on the sidewalk was not and is not my fault. Instead, it is deep-rooted racism and white supremacy among white people that led me to feel inferior, just as my ancestors felt during the Jim Crow era, and much earlier. But wait — there’s more. I didn’t just notice this flat-out disrespect and sense of superiority on the University of Michigan’s campus. I’ve experienced it in the halls of high schools, where younger white students would do the same thing. I’ve experienced it walking downtown Detroit, a place where many white people dramatically state that they are afraid to go, yet there they are, subtly enforcing white supremacy. I’ve experienced it in grocery stores, malls and just about anywhere you could think of. But now, I don’t move. I don’t budge. I don’t care. I don’t care whose shoulder I bump into, whose avocado matcha smoothie I spill or whose day I ruin. Why? Because every day that this continues to happen to other students, especially Black students, the more embedded and unnoticed it becomes, and the further it goes. So now when you see me walking and I don’t move, do not think it is because I am just another stuck up Black girl with an attitude, know it’s because I’m sick and tired and a change is bound to come. One step at a time.
Now: Diversity and The Daily MiC Assistant Editor
Art as a creative revolution
But hell, was I wrong. Instead of change, I got shoulder bumped and glared at, commonly followed by snarky remarks such as, “Watch where you’re going,” “Wow that was rude” or “I can’t believe she just did that.” Of them all, it was the repetitive comment of “I can’t believe she just did THAT.” Confused on what “that” was referring to. As I continued my investigation of this behavior, I became aware of some not-so-surprising history of racial tensions and practices of white supremacy. I was in Associate Professor Stephen Berrey’s American South course when he started the lecture by talking about the more blatant and explicit forms of Jim Crow and racial superiority. He then clicked on a slide informing the class about more subtle practices in Southern states. He went on to state that “the expectation that Black people would step off the sidewalk for approaching white people was a common custom across the South that had extended back into the days of slavery (in which enslaved people were expected to step off). The incident (that exemplifies this was) in Danville, Va., in 1883 during an election year in which many white people were alarmed over growing Black political power and fears that Black people considered themselves the social equal of white people — as evidenced by the refusal to perform expected roles.” And many decades later, during the Jim Crow era, Black people continued to step off the sidewalk when a white person were to walk in their direction. Otherwise as
Today, I had the honor of receiving the Wendy Owen Scholarship from The Michigan Daily. This particular scholarship is given to freshmen, sophomores and juniors at The Daily who have constructively contributed to the paper. It was created in memorial of Wendy Owen, a Daily staff member from 1949 to 1951. As one of the few freshmen at the Scholarship Celebration, as well as one of the only students of color, it was really empowering to receive a Daily scholarship. The whole celebration was extremely moving — listening to various Michigan Daily alumni and donors speak upon their experiences, memories and lessons learned at the newspaper. It was also really inspiring to see all of my peers who also received scholarships and to hear about all of the amazing things they’ve done at The Daily and the
ways they’ve managed to keep journalism in their lives despite their various other academic endeavors. The whole time I was at the celebration, though, the one thing that kept occurring to me was how little representation of people of color there was. Throughout my semester at The Daily, I was quickly able to observe how little racial diversity there was outside Michigan in Color. Though it was disheartening at first, I was able to forget about it because of the strong and supportive community I adopted through Michigan in Color. But when I was at the Scholarship Celebration, I was able to see not only is the current makeup of The Daily largely white, but also was the makeup of previous Daily staffs — it was even more so than it is today. Almost all of the donors and alumni who came to speak were white, which made me realize
even though The Daily has made positive steps in becoming a more diverse work environment as well as newspaper, it still has a long way to go. In The Michigan Daily, I often feel as if MiC is thought as a solution to the newspaper’s lack of diversity, but it’s more of just a bandage to cover up a bigger problem. In an ideal world, The Daily shouldn’t need a “people of color” section. The Daily would be diverse enough that people of color could feel heard without having to look to only one section. I know that making The Daily I want to see will take baby steps, but I’m just hoping that someday The Daily is able to have the Scholarship Celebration and have just as many successful people of color alumni as there are white people who come back to talk about their experiences at The Daily and how they were able to take those experiences into the world.
Opinion
4A — Monday, April 16, 2018
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D
An open letter to CSG
ear Central Student Government leaders, As you take your new seats as representatives of our campus community, I would first like to congratulate you on your election and to wish you the best. I hope that you are able to meet the numerous challenges, both old and new, with practicality and grace. I am sure the new CSG administration and assembly will make positive change. With that being said, allow me to offer my suggestions as to how CSG can address the growing mental health crisis on our campus. All of you ran with parties whose platforms and campaigns dedicated significant time to mental health. For instance, MVision, whose candidates won the presidency and vice presidency, as well as a plurality of assembly seats, ran a campaign focused on recognizing the concerns of students with mental health conditions as well as other “invisible identities.” Both MVision and the runner-up party MomentUM also endorsed a goal of reducing the student to mental health professional ratio from 1,200 -to-1 to 1,000-to-1. I am assured that you all believe that it is a serious issue. Yet, realizing an issue’s seriousness is only the first step in taking concrete actions. There are three interrelated issues I would like to see CSG take on: One, access to mental health care; two, substance abuse; and three, sources of chronic stress. While hiring more mental health providers and opening a Counseling and Psychological Services center on North Campus are both worthy goals, more needs to be done to ensure equitable access to care on our campus. First, the current mental health system, focused on CAPS and the University Health Service, requires students to travel to receive care. This may not seem like a significant issue for routine care, such as biweekly counseling sessions, but forcing students to travel to seek care at the Union or UHS could cause issues in situations of trauma and crisis. Let’s take a hypothetical but all too probable situation of a student in a dorm — say, Couzens —who is in the middle of an emotional crisis. Yes, residence advisers are given basic training in crisis management, but that may not be enough. Now imagine having the student in crisis, who could really benefit from a face-to-face session with a psychologist or social worker, walk to CAPS. Add to that
the potential for bad weather or the fact that emotional crises do not solely occur during the open hours of CAPS and you end up with a detrimental situation for the student already in a bad place. I would ask CSG to work with the Residence Halls Association, University Housing and CAPS to assign mental health professionals to each dorm to make it easier for students on campus to access care. While many students live off campus, the University has more power to implement initiatives in the dorms. We already have the staff for this change, we just need to put them in new offices. I realize that the logistics of such a policy are more complex than I have laid out, but I believe such a change, which would decentralize the mental health system on campus, is both achievable and worth the effort. Second, CSG can play an important role in addressing substance abuse on campus, especially related to prescription drugs. I have noticed almost all of the substance abuse education we get as University students is on alcohol. While attention to alcohol abuse is merited — 20 percent of college students suffer from it — there are other forms of substance abuse on campus that pose a danger to students.
Yet, realizing an issue’s seriousness is only the first step.
Since the release of Netflix documentary “Take Your Pills,” there has been a new focus on the nonprescription use of central nervous system stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin by college students. A survey by The Michigan Daily found 24 percent of University students use Adderall, whereas only 8.95 percent have a prescription for it. Ignoring for now the academic consequences of nonprescription Adderall use, there is a real mental health danger to students. For instance, there are documented cases of Adderall abuse driving students to suicide. Another prescription drug, Xanax, also causes me concern. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Xanax is the fourth leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. Per an investigation by the CUIndependent, students at the University of Colorado Boulder, a similarly prestigious state university, use Xanax often in combination with alcohol to deal with anxiety and panic attacks, even without a prescription. While I am not aware of any studies on the prevalence of nonprescription Xanax use on campus, I suspect it would be comparable to Adderall. While prescription drugs like oxycodone carry a stigma and sense of danger owing to the opioid crisis, I feel the same cannot be said about Adderall and Xanax. I encourage CSG to work with the University on a public health education campaign about the dangers of using these drugs without a clinician’s supervision and about campus resources for those looking to break their addiction. Third, the University must enter a culture shift to reduce the dog-eat-dog academic environment that breeds so much stress in students. Academic stress is one reason why students turn to Adderall and Xanax. I remember nearly pulling my hair out with worry over my first organic chemistry exam. This should not be happening. While a culture shift will take longer than one CSG term, it is critical that we begin a dialogue on how our academic environment is directly affecting mental health in negative ways. Another stressor that needs attention is the recurrent racist incidents on campus. It is not enough to declare racism or other prejudice has no place on this campus. Last year, students of color found strong allies in former CSG President Anushka Sarkar and Vice President Nadine Jawad. I hope current CSG President Daniel Greene and Vice President Izzy Baer will continue in that mold. Let’s prevent mental health problems from developing in the first place. Granted, there are many serious issues on our campus, however, mental health is one that touches the lives of all students one way or another. I will continue to advocate for better mental health services on campus and look forward to having allies in CSG. Warmest regards, Ali Safawi
Ali Safawi can be reached at asafawi@umich.edu.
NATALIE BROWN | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT NGBROWN@UMICH.EDU
Dear Me
G
raduating high school, I thought college would be a simple continuation of what I had been doing, but, you know, different. That wasn’t right at all; well, for the most part, anyways. My first semester was through the Summer Bridge Scholars Program and in a way it was like high school. We had predetermined classes at set times and we all got to know each other pretty well. Classes started at 8:30 every morning and there were two lunch periods. We were all done by 4:30 p.m. and after classes we would meet up to play basketball, bet on video games or maybe watch a movie. Kind of like high school but, you know, different. As I conclude my second year at the University of Michigan, I would like to reflect back on my time here, what has led me up to this point and what I wish I had done differently (thanks for the idea, Writing 350). If I could write a letter to my high school self, reminiscing on how I screwed up or the times I didn’t know any better, it would probably start with something along the lines of “Dear Me, you have no clue what you’re getting into,” or maybe more like “Dear Dumbass, please try harder,” or possibly even “Dear Idiot, if you don’t put 110 percent effort into the coming months you are absolutely going to regret it.” After that first summer, I was overconfident, unprepared and just straight-up not ready for college. Flash forward to fall semester freshman year and I actually had to pick my own classes (which I had never done before) and basically decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Or so I thought. Ambitious as ever, I signed up for the earliest class times and, as a hopeful Engineering transfer, thought it would be a splendid idea to take all the core classes at once (Engineering
100, Chemistry and Calculus). To top it off, I also took the LSA language requirement as I was still an LSA student and had not yet been accepted into the College of Engineering. I scheduled my classes back-toback-to-back-to-back, figuring I would just get them all out of the way, do homework for a little bit afterward and hang out for the rest of the day. Spoiler alert: that is not how college works.
Spoiler alert: that is not how college works.
I wish someone would have given me a reality check about what college was really like. Being a first-generation student, I wasn’t able to consult my parents in regard to how I was supposed to go about the whole college thing. I didn’t have many friends in college either, and I was afraid to ask those who were. In high school, I never thought very highly of those who dropped out of college, but I wish I had taken the time to ask why they did. After that fall semester I was seriously considering taking some time off myself. After that, I was a little more sympathetic to those who did decide to take a break from school. College sucked, man. I have now been able to settle into college and I feel much more confident in my ability to manage the work involved, but if it hadn’t been for the high expectations of my family and friends, I might be f lipping burgers for a living right now. I thought I was
alone in my situation, but I later found out that this was not the case. In fact, according to the First Generation Foundation, “Nationally, 89 percent of low-income first-generation students leave college within six years without a degree” and, “More than a quarter leave after their first year.” Feeling unable to finish college has become a pretty significant problem facing first-generation students and, for me personally, it was due to the lack of preparation for college. I guess it would seem I managed to dodge a pretty large bullet. If I could write a letter to myself, knowing what I know now, it would probably look something like this: Dear idiot, dumbass me, First and foremost, you are done with high school. It’s over. Please don’t go out partying if you have homework to do. Yes, even if it’s the weekend and all your friends are going. Stop procrastinating and do not prioritize a social life over school because you are really going to kill my GPA, dude. Second, please take a more manageable course load, especially in your first semester, because you will have me considering dropping out, for goodness sake. And last, but definitely not least, sit down and take some time to think about your future. Plan out what classes you need to take and how you are going to go about taking them. Talk to an advisor if you need to ( just do it, man) — they are way smarter than you. Oh, and that calendar/schedule thing that you thought you were too good for? Well use it, idiot: it’s so much more helpful than you know. Sincerely, You, on a come up.
Lucas Dean can be reached at lbdean@umich.edu.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. JULIA COHN | COLUMN
C
An homage to freshman year
oming to college, everyone echoed a similar mantra: “Cherish every moment, you only have one freshman year.” In the weeks before I finally left for Ann Arbor, I was wrought with anxiety and apprehension by the thought of going to college and leaving everything I knew behind. After unpacking my dorm room and hugging my parents goodbye, I knew, very rationally, that I was turning a new page in my life. Adulting, growing up, maturing, however you want to frame it. I was heading down a new path in my life. With two weeks of the school year remaining, I get a little choked up every time I think about leaving the University of Michigan, a place that has truly become my new home. Looking back at my first few weeks to my last, the contrast is humorous. I want to pay homage to the parts of my freshman year at the University that made it so special. My first few weeks of class, I had to use the Google Maps app to get from building to building. Being both directionally challenged and in a whole new environment is quite possibly the worst combination. Sadly, Maps wasn’t able to lead me to shortcuts, no matter how advanced the newest update may appear. First semester, I had to walk from South Quad Resident Hall to the School of Public Health three times a week. For those of you who are geographically savvy, this
is typically a 15-minute walk, but for the first three weeks of classes, it took me almost exactly 20 minutes to get to class. Maps was like my baby blanket, and I was too scared to go in any other direction other than where Siri directed me. Eventually, when heading to class with a friend one day, she looked at me wildly when I told her I had never cut through the Diag. Like, literally, I had never walked through the Diag to get to class. Finally being able to understand the intersecting paths around the emblematic ‘M’ on the Diag was a life-
I get a little choked up every time I think about leaving.
changing experience. One fundamental part of the University’s character is the people that you meet here. I know, not everyone is great; it’s not a perfect place. But coming to this school, I never could have fathomed what it was like to be surrounded by so many smart, passionate and engaging students. There’s a competitive spirit to the University that challenges each student to become the best they can be. And believe me, there were,
are and will be so many times when I will sigh in frustration believing that I am the dumbest person on campus. But having the opportunity to learn in an academically rigorous environment surrounded by peers who foster ambition and achievement is an unparalleled experience. No matter how hard the classes may seem, your classmates, professors and the campus environment are teaching students to grow and achieve more than they have believed. Another fundamental part is the school spirit and our glorious game days. To be completely transparent, I am not a football person, but I love U-M game days with all of my heart. There is something so incredible about thousands of students, dressed in maize and blue, singing “Hail to the Victors” and willing a win out of our team. Win or lose, there is always unprecedented pride toward our team and our school. The student body feels as one unit, united by the spirit of the University of Michigan. To the future Wolverines: Don’t take your freshman year for granted. Of course, it will be hard, and the University won’t feel like home with the snap of your fingers. But hold tight to the little moments, cut through the Diag and sing “Hail to the Victors” like it’s the last game day of your senior year.
Julia Cohn can be reached at julcohn@umich.edu.
Arts
5A — Monday, April 16, 2018
FILM NOTEBOOK
CONCERT PREVIEW
‘Isle of Dogs,’ cultural fetishization and the Asian American experience MEGHAN CHOU Daily Arts Writer
FADER LABEL
Matt of Matt & Kim talks album, performing style share a confident, breezy charisma that is intensified by their dynamic, Senior Arts Editor playful jokes and back-and-forth banter — for example, Schifino joked about Johnson’s enjoyment I saw Matt and Kim for the of “pegging” at Mo Pop in 2017. first time when I was 15 years “I assume people connect to old. My parents dropped me and seeing two people who really do two friends at the show in Detroit love each other on stage — that — untrusting of my older friend could go for any sort of friendship who offered to take me — before to any escalation … I’ve seen bands heading to Greektown Casino. that have a tough time getting Prior to that day, I had never been along, and I think sometimes that to a standing room energy comes on show, having only the stage,” Johnson Matt & Kim tagged along to explained. concerts with my Johnson also Royal Oak Music family to see Zac elaborated on their Theater Brown Band or carefree attitude in Kenny Chesney performance that April 18 perform at arenas. adds to this energy: $30 Over the years, I’ve “We make so many seen Matt and Kim mistakes, we’re play progressively imperfect, we’re no larger stages in front of bigger and sort of virtuoso instrumentalists, bigger crowds, each time going but there’s an energy we try to toe-to-toe with their growing fan create that we get wrapped up in, base’s enthusiasm. Despite the and I think that the audience gets changes that the passing years wrapped up in it, too.” have brought for the duo, they’ve We then discussed Matt and managed to hold onto a unique Kim’s upcoming release Almost sense of bliss and belonging that Everyday, where the duo makes spills into their crowds and floods a noticeable jump towards the bodies of everyone dancing electro-pop without abandoning and singing along. Almost six years the signature simplicity of their after that fateful day in Detroit, I melodies. Yet, Johnson noted that still owe its magnetic atmosphere the state of the world around them for most of my love for live music to had a much larger influence in this very day. the writing of their new album in In an interview with The comparison to their past work. Daily, keyboardist / vocalist Matt “It came from somewhat of Johnson (who composes one half a different place than all of the of the duo alongside drummer/ albums that preceded it. Mostly vocalist Kim Schifino) discusses because it was about getting the signature energy of a Matt and some stuff off our chest and some Kim show, his relationship with feelings we were having on a year Kim and their forthcoming album that was tough. Because Kim was Almost Everyday, which is set to recovering from surgery, and just release on May 4. out in the political climate it was Discussing his experiences so difficult and bad things were and priorities as the musician on happening,” Johnson said. “You the stage, Johnson highlights the know, a lot more of our albums, importance of crowd interaction lyrically, came from a different at their shows, which produces perspective, a more everyday incredibly spirited results. perspective. This ended up a lot “A huge thing for us for years, more personal, these sort of realer as we grew and got bigger — things we were going through.” the rooms got bigger, festivals, This idea threads through the whatever — it was how to keep it album, rationalizing internally all about everybody in the room, what is happening externally. not just the two people on stage,” First single “Forever” explores the Johnson said. “Like, when we difficulties of living in a “world first started out we were playing of shit,” while “All In My Head” in little warehouses in Brooklyn features only a few cries of the title where we’d be on the floor with over waves of crashing cymbals everyone else, and it was just this and interjected horns, almost like party/vibe energy: we’re all doing a reflection on the chaotically this together.” fluctuating nature of living in While I’ve never seen them play today’s world. The duo asks “How on the floor of a warehouse, I can do you wake from a nightmare?” attest to “this party/vibe energy” on final track “Where Do We Go of their shows. The attendees From Here?” while perforating never stop moving, crowd surfers this uncertainty with quips of bask in an unnamed glory atop the positivity in the song’s last minute. hands in the crowd, while people The unifying force of Matt jump and sing to every song. and Kim’s music is the pursuit Johnson’s voice is welcoming in of happiness, and this is far from tone, inviting the fans to sing along abandoned on Almost Everyday; with a budding happiness growing speaking to their decision on the up and outward with every passing title, Johnson explained: “It just minute. seemed like we were just dealing Supplementing the accessibility with more tough shit, more of their indie pop, Matt and tough news and all of that ‘almost Kim know how to take their everyday.’ They’re just like us, performance to the next level working through the difficulties through crowd interaction. They of everyday life that might seem blast confetti, toss balloons and a little more oppressive and literally dance on top of the crowd omnipresent in 2018, but they (while encouraging their fans to do certainly haven’t let that negativity the same). warp the cheeriness of their music. “It’s like breaking that wall On Apr. 19, Matt and Kim will in the front. Just trying to get be performing at Royal Oak Music everyone to dance and jump Theater, undoubtedly ready to around, that energy is what makes ignite one hell of a fire under the the show,” Johnson said. feet of the crowd and hopefully Beyond their crowd with a few new tricks up their interactions, Johnson also sleeve from Almost Everyday. reflected on the importance of his Tickets for the event can be relationship with Schifino. Both purchased here. DOMINIC POLSINELLI
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
For lovers of Japanese anime, the most common debate is subbed versus dubbed, referring to using subtitles or Englishspeaking voice actors to voice over the original Japanese dialogue. Proponents of “subbed” argue this preserves the intended language and delivery of the actors, as well as prevents the distracting nature of most “dubbed” versions. Wes Anderson, writer-director of the new stop-motion film “Isle of Dogs,” falls into the category of pro-subbed, telling Entertainment Weekly, “I don’t like to watch Japanese movies that are dubbed into English. I like the performances of actors in Japanese. It’s interesting to me, and it’s a very beautiful, complex language.” Ironically, no part of Anderson’s statement applies to his approach to “Isle of Dogs,” which follows a young boy in futuristic Japan trying to find his exiled dog. Let’s break down Anderson’s explanation for how he sets up the dialogue in “Isle of Dogs.” The film begins with a disclaimer: The Japanesespeaking actors speak only in Japanese and the dogs on Trash Island only in barks, translated into English. It’s a funny joke that devolves into something more sinister. A handful of scenes use subtitles, but for the most part Anderson places the Japanese-speaking characters in the background and a white interpreter — either Interpreter Nelson or foreign-exchange student Tracy Walker, portrayed respectively by Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) and Greta Gerwig (“Frances Ha”) — in the foreground speaking in English. Anderson claims he dislikes dubbed Japanese movies, yet that is essentially
what he has done with “Isle of Dogs,” albeit in a more cinematic, purposeful fashion. Most dubbed Japanese animes feel unpleasant, since adding voices to a scene constructed to time with the Japanese language comes across as an afterthought. However, Anderson goes to great lengths in a number of scenes to hand-draw footage of the Japanese characters and animate the English-speaking interpreters to accomplish his ‘brilliant’ setup. His silencing of non-white characters is pre-planned, intentional and problematic. For such a political movie, with obvious side-jabs at immigration policies, “Isle of Dogs” should not silence the non-white characters, particularly Asians who have the most underwhelming voice as a collective ethnic group in American politics and on-screen. According to a report from the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California, Asian directors lead just 3.4 percent of major studio films. The same study found Asians land only 5.1 percent of speaking or named parts in film, TV or on digital platforms, with no Asians in 50 percent of all projects and around one percent featuring an Asian lead. Furthermore, Asians are often painted as the model minority who keep their heads down and do as they are told. Anderson perpetuates the model minority myth, along with other stereotypes about Japanese culture like sumo wrestling and sushi, in his new film. The native Japanese characters are completely silenced and fit the passive, submissive role America wants Asians to occupy. In fact, despite Atari Kobayashi, a 12-year-old Japanese boy and adopted son of the Mayor of the fictitious city Megasaki, marketed as the main character, Anderson surrounds
him with non-Japanesespeaking dogs, essentially making Atari mute. Instead, a white foreign-exchange student leads the revolution and prodog rebellion, motivating the passive Japanese students to help her cause against the passive Japanese adults. Anderson wants “Isle of Dogs” to serve as a sign of appreciation towards Japanese culture, but he champions their passivity as a reason to sideline and silence the Japanese characters. In addition to silencing Asian roles, Anderson also treats the culture as a backdrop. His comment to Entertainment Weekly about the beauty of the Japanese language illuminates the problem with his portrayal of Japan in “Isle of Dogs” — it’s fetishy. Western cinema and crowds have always had an unflattering over-fascination with all things (stereotypically) Asian — be it the movie “Karate Kid,” Asian women or anime in general. This approach to Asian culture is magnified prominently in “Isle of Dogs” through Anderson’s aesthetic. All of Anderson’s films have a distinct and stunning mise-enscene. However, in “Isle of Dogs,” his greatest gift turns into an exploitation of an entire culture simply to satisfy his artistic eye. Evidently, Anderson chose to set his film in Japan out of a love for how it looks, not its essence. The people, their cultural traditions and historic tragedies merge with the landscape, becoming props and puppets in Anderson’s quest for aesthetic pleasure. Although he touches on different parts of Japanese culture, Anderson’s exploration is so shallow that the film could easily have taken place instead in some rural town in Canada and barely skipped a beat. So, why set it in Japan? Anderson goes on to say with Entertainment Weekly, “The movie is a fantasy … a reimagining of Japan through my experience.” There we go, it’s
Classifieds
a “fantasy,” a fetishized version of Japan for aesthetic purposes. All writers appropriate stories. A white man making a film about Japan is less than ideal, but that’s why “Isle of Dogs” should more aptly be called cultural fetishization. This is my term for artists who want to appreciate another culture, but end up tone-deaf and treating their subject matter as exotic or secondary to the story for aesthetic as well as educational reasons. This mindset shows in an interview that Bryan Cranston, who voices the dog Chief in “Isle of Dogs,” had with The Independent. Cranston argued, in support of Anderson and against the idea that the film is cultural appropriation, “Art should in some cases be very relatable … ‘I know this guy, I like him, I know where he lives, I’m very familiar,’ and then there are other art forms that should introduce you to something you are not familiar with … and ‘Isle of Dogs’ has that sense of the culture, the language, the drumming. It is an introduction to something you’re not familiar with and it adds to the fabric of the storytelling.” In other words, “Isle of Dogs” is a white man’s attempt to explain Japanese people to a white audience. This film waves the flag of diversity as a cover-up for the fact that it is meant to educate the dominant (white) culture, not pay homage to Japan. If the purpose of a film is to ogle at the ‘other,’ the unfamiliar, then at least put us, the supposed ‘other,’ in the spotlight — giving jobs and a voice to the people being put on display. The insult is only greater when we are simultaneously treated like animals at the zoo and ignored. In the case of “Isle of Dogs,” the appropriation is not the biggest problem, but rather the fetishization of a whole culture for the purpose of aesthetics, while this culture is not even the center of attention.
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RELEASE DATE– Monday, April 16, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Sounds showing revelation 4 Actress Winger 9 Beer, casually 13 Speedy shark 15 Bars between wheels 16 Travel aimlessly 17 Angling method using hand-tied lures 19 Bar orders 20 City recaptured from ISIL by Iraq in 2017 21 Sincerely 23 Hunk of concrete 25 Tic-tac-toe diagram 26 Memorization technique 29 One doing the Electric Slide, e.g. 34 Brian of ambient music 35 DDE’s WWII command 36 Renter’s document 37 Stinging comment 39 Complains 42 Like the Magi 43 What the beverage cart blocks 45 Sellout letters 46 Brit. pilots’ squad 47 Hamburger meat 50 Beach or Backstreet follower, in music 51 At any point 52 Subway charge 54 Mark McGwire rival 58 IHOP handouts 62 Furthermore 63 Beatles’ Shea Stadium performance, e.g. 65 Casino card game 66 Steinbeck migrants 67 Jekyll’s alter ego 68 Little League airer 69 Nervous 70 One of an inning’s three, which can follow the first word of 17-, 29-, 47- and 63-Across
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38 Lunar symbol for a very long time 40 Books’ opening sections 41 Couch 44 Green-eyed monster 48 Absolute ruler 49 Actress Shields 50 Tree that sounds like a summer vacation spot
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Arts
6A — Monday, April 16, 2018
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT
COURTESY OF ALLISON HYLANT
Alum Allison Hylant on her company Dale & Blue CARLY SNIDER Daily Arts Writer
Making art — with all its intentions, elements of unpredictability and rewards — should be meaningful from start to finish. Or, at least, so is the case for Ohio native Allison Hylant. Hylant, who graduated from the University with a BFA in Fine Art in 2012, decided to dedicate her professional self to creating textile products that are eco-friendly, handcrafted and entirely inimitable. “I come from a long line (of artists, and) ... although none have pursued art professionally, being creative was something that was always encouraged in my family,” Hylant wrote in an email interview with The Daily. “My father has a minor in ceramics and my grandmother was a painter. I started taking art classes at age three. I always thought I would probably study Art History in college, but I had some amazing teachers and advisors in high school (that) really encouraged me (to) apply to studio art programs.” Dale & Blue, her Detroitbased business and design studio, launched in 2016. Currently, Dale & Blue offers a selection of indigo-dyed pillows and home goods; all of which, of course, are handmade
in small batches. Though a few years out of art school, Hylant still finds joy in her process. “The first time I learned about shibori dyeing, I was a freshman in college. Almost 10 years ago,” she wrote. “I can’t even tell you how many hundreds of yards of fabric
“In Detroit you have this great sense of all things being possible, people here aren’t afraid to try new things”
I have dyed in that time, but there is a magic to it every time. No matter how many times you prepare fabric, fold it, bind it, wrap it, block it into place, you never really know what the piece will look like until you pull it from the dye bath.” Hylant was living in Boston working as the in-house seamstress for Marimekko
after pursuing an additional degree, a post-baccalaureate year at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, when she founded the LLC. “(Marimekko) proved to be the perfect training ground to launch a business,” Hylant wrote. “After several years of working, I realized I had gone as far as I could with the company. I wanted a new challenge, to be working with my own designs, making my own decisions. I kept working at Marimekko, while I was figuring out the particulars of the company.” One such particular was the company’s name — Hylant wanted something personal, but something versatile enough to work as the company grew and changed. Eventually settling on Dale & Blue, Hylant opted for family names. Ironically enough, she didn’t know she would be working with Indigo when settling on the name. “Dale & Blue were the names of my two grandfathers,” she wrote. “Neither are still alive today, so I thought it was a great tribute to them. I was very close with my Grandpa Dale; he lost his battle with cancer when I was a senior in high school. And (my) Grandpa Blue passed away a year before I was born. His real name is Robert, but he was such a big Michigan
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ROGUE & Radfun to host Guerrilla Fashion Show TESS GARCIA
Daily Style Editor
On the afternoon of Saturday, Apr. 21, a diverse variety of student models will take to the sidewalks of downtown Ann Arbor as part of a Guerrilla Fashion Show hosted by fashion publication ROGUE and Ann Arbor-based organization Radfun. “(The goal of the show is) to celebrate and center bodies of color, big bodies, queer bodies, trans bodies — bodies that are not often given a place within fashion — and advocate for the issues that come with those communities,” wrote Kai Mason, LSA junior and founder of ROGUE. “My favorite description of the fashion show as yet has been ‘at once a protest, a party and a celebration.’” According to LSA senior and Radfun co-organizer Darian Razdar, onlookers should expect to see plenty of f lashy costumes, along with models in self-styled outfits. Some garments will be designed specifically for the show. They should also expect the chants and noise levels characteristic of social demonstrations. “I’m really excited because
this Guerrilla Fashion Show is going to be a way of blending art and activism, and allowing people who aren’t centered in our pop culture. We’re centering them in this fashion show,” Razdar said. “We’re focused on giving marginalized people space, and the idea of a guerrilla fashion show is to
Guerilla Fashion Show Apr. 21 Free command space in a way that isn’t sanctioned by institutions or by politics.” In Mason’s eyes, the Guerrilla Fashion Show will bring a new dimension to both fashion and activism in Ann Arbor. “It’s something I’ve never seen done before at Michigan,” she wrote, “and I’m so excited to have a chance to question the status quo, the unspoken pressures of conformity and complacency that are imposed on us in both this institution and beyond, through fashion.” To get involved, contact Mason and Razdar at kaimason@umich.edu and drazdar@umich.edu, respectively. Students are also
encouraged to visit ROGUE and Radfun’s upcoming mass meeting, which will be hosted on Wednesday, Apr. 18 in room 1405 of East Quad.
fan everyone called him Blue. (I guess I was destined to be a Wolverine.) The company name actually has nothing to do with the color blue, the signature color of the brand … But the name has proved to be extremely serendipitous.” Behind the name is a strong philosophy. Having worked in a more traditional, high-end environment as well as having spent time interning with a fair trade company, Hylant is committed to bringing those two worlds, though often at odds, together. Simply put: people over things. “We love things; it’s why we make them, and buy them,” she wrote. “But that should never come at the expense of the people who make them or the environment … At the forefront of my practice is the belief that where the raw materials are sourced from is just as important as the life the products have once they leave the studio.” To do this, Hylant chooses U.S.-based manufacturers whenever possible — both to promote national employment
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com and to reduce Dale & Blue’s carbon footprint. She wants her customers to be proud to own her products, because of their beauty and their backstory. Knowing that the standards she sets for herself are high and often cumbersome, Hylant sees the benefit to society as more important than her potential personal gain. This kind of personal dedication to her artistic and economic output is inspiring and entirely at home in Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial spirit. Hylant is part of Ponyride studios, a nonprofit with a large studio space on Vermont Street. Ponyride, like Dale & Blue, is invested in promoting positive social output and growth. “In Detroit you have this great sense of all things being possible, people here aren’t afraid to try new things (or re-invent old ones) and some of them are really working!” Hylant wrote. “It is an exciting time in Detroit … Ponyride has provided me with a network of other like-minded businesses and resources to help navigate what can be a very stressful
process.” Despite the trials of getting a business off the ground — especially one that holds so tightly to its goals of changing an often problematic industry — Hylant is hopeful and excited for the future of Dale & Blue. She hopes to launch printscreened fabrics by the yard, and to collaborate with another artist to create fine art prints and original paintings. Behind all the social goals, there is still the art. The two elements play off each other, challenging Hylant to create in a way that is sustainable and allowing ecofriendly practices to be integral to her work. “I would love to see Dale & Blue expand to be a cohesive lifestyle brand,” she wrote. “But really at the end of the day, it is less about what we make and more about how we make these products and the impact we have on the people who make them … As a company and a businesswoman I am still finding my footing, it’s a long process, but I am really excited for all the things that could be next.”
COURTESY OF ALLISON HYLANT
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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | April 16, 2018
SPORTSMONDAY
John Beilein leads the way MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Editor
Just months after Michigan fired Tommy Amaker and hired some coach from West Virginia in April of 2007, the men’s basketball team opened offseason workouts. It was a directionless program, desperate for national relevance and one — just one — NCAA Tournament berth. It was day one of the John Beilein era. And, little did anyone know, day one of perhaps the greatest sustained period of success in Michigan basketball history. At the beginning of the workout, then-assistant coach John Mahoney barged into the weight room, hooting and hollering. “We’re trying to win a motherf-ing national championship,” he yelped. “And that’s why we’re here.” Guard Jevohn Shepherd gave his teammate Anthony Wright a glance. Wright still recalls what Shepherd said next. “Man, this guy has to calm down.” *** John Beilein was plenty calm. He looked down, then at the clock, then back up. He took five steps to his right and shook Jay Wright’s hand with a smile, walking off the court 40 minutes short of immortality once again. For the second time in six seasons, he and his team had fallen one game shy of fulfilling that brash weight room proclamation 10 years ago. Maybe it’ll happen one day. Maybe not. But there’s a pit that still lingers in fans’ stomachs, a laundry list of “what-ifs” that will live forever. It’s an emotion bred from a program-wide attitude change, cultivated through day-to-day, incremental improvement. There’s one guy responsible for that. That same coach from West Virginia has now qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last eight seasons, made the Elite Eight three times and the championship game twice. His resume vaults him alongside the premier coaches in college basketball; he directs a program that is now a model of consistency. It’s not a change that happened overnight or without its fair share of trial and error. But to fully understand the Beilein-led transformation, take a dive into a desperate timeout, a huddle at the Big Ten Tournament in 2009. A glimpse into a fledgling program learning what it really takes to win. *** He had to call timeout to get something out in the open. After all, a potential NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in 10 years — and the entire trajectory of the program — hung in the balance. It was the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, and Beilein’s squad trailed Illinois by 20 late in the second half. Beilein and his team had all but conceded hope of a comeback. If this team — sitting at .500 in conference play — came short of the NCAA Tournament, murmurs asking for his job would only amplify. It would’ve been 11 years and counting without a tournament bid, three under Beilein. In a candid moment, he warned his team of what a blowout loss might mean. For the team. For the school. For him. “Beilein called timeout just to say, ‘Look the committee is watching this game,’” Wright, a Michigan forward from 2006-10, recalled. “‘If we get blown out this could hurt us.’ He literally said that during the timeout. He said, ‘We’ve got to get this as close as possible.’ It wasn’t ‘win the game,’ just ‘keep it close.’” The timeout was a blunt reality, a mark of tempered expectations. That coveted leap to prominence doesn’t come without putting one foot in front of the other, taking one small step after another. Michigan trimmed its deficit, losing by a respectable 10 points. It would later be selected as a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament, where it fell to the Blake Griffin-led Oklahoma Sooners in the second round. Still, there’s no way to see the 20082009 season as anything other than an unmitigated success. In the first season free of scholarship limitations due to the Ed Martin payment scandal, the Wolverines made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 seasons. Every tidal wave begins with a ripple. That rag-tag group in 2009 laid the foundation for what came next. *** “Culture shift” is a phrase that gets thrown around in sports, when change wants to be
sugarcoated with a smile. It can often be meaningless and exaggerated in its tone. There are countless examples of failed attempts at culture shifts in sports because culture, as it turns out, is hard to shift. This isn’t one of those stories. As with everything John Beilein does, this change took time, and it was a process. But the results have been on display for nine years now. The national runner-up Wolverines are a shining beacon of a college basketball program, and it’s easy to forget it hasn’t always been that way. “When he first started recruiting me in 2007, the program … was obviously not in a good place,” said center Jordan Morgan, a member of the Wolverines from 2011-14. “At that point in my life, Michigan going to Final Fours and winning Big Ten Championships, it was a little bit hard to fathom at the time just because of where Michigan was at.” At the start of Beilein’s tenure, “where Michigan was at” could only be classified as oblivion. It hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1998, and at a school in the heart of the Lloyd Carr era in football, the basketball team toiled with mediocrity more than disaster. Well removed from the Fab Five era, with the 1989 national title a faint memory, Michigan had yet to turn a page on the court. Final Fours? This team just wanted to make the damn tournament. It was stuck with the only thing worse than failure: Irrelevance. Hiring John Beilein, a little-known Jesuit coach with a measured attitude and a sunny disposition, did little to change that reputation overnight. Internally, though, the overhaul began immediately. “I’m not sure I really knew what ‘rebuild that program’ meant,” Morgan said. “But from the minute that I met him, he used to talk to me about rebuilding. Rebuilding a program. Building something special. Being a part of rebuilding that. And that was what made me want to go to Michigan in the first place.” Before practices even began, Beilein and his staff instituted a number of tests — tests of skill and of athleticism — that each player needed to accomplish before he could even step on the practice court. They ranged from conditioning requirements, like running a mile in 5:30 or less, to skill-based measures, like making 50 threes in five minutes. Couldn’t do it? No practice. No games. No exceptions. Those tests still exist today, though they’ve evolved with more focus on skill than the mile run, for example. The best of the best can now peak at 70 or even 80 threes in that same timeframe. “If you could do those tests, it didn’t necessarily mean you were gonna be a better basketball player. It was testing your mental toughness, I think,” said guard Zack Novak, a Michigan forward from 200812. “He was coming in, saying, ‘I’m going to get you as tired as you can be, and you’re not allowed to practice until you show me that you can get through that and win these drills.’ ” And once you made it into practice, each drill had a winner and a loser, with punishment doled out to the latter. “You have to learn how to win,” Novak said. “That’s a real thing. Just the way that we competed in practice, every drill. … He just had us learning how to win, how to execute when the pressure was on.”
But learning how to win doesn’t automatically translate into winning. The players struggled to grasp the complexity of an offense that has since come to be accepted as one of the most efficient in the country. At the time, its genius was also its biggest flaw. “There are so many plays, and there are always plays within the plays,” Wright said. “And there are always counters of the plays within the play that can change just by someone doing an action.” Confused? You wouldn’t be alone. Bewildered players asked questions that often took 30 minutes for Beilein to explain before his team could execute it all.
Read more online at michigandaily.com
Design by Jack Silberman Anything for another day Former managing sports editor Kevin Santo reminisces about his time with The Daily.
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Katelyn Mulcahy / Daily
One of the girls Former managing sports editor Betelhem Ashame reflects on the friendships she found at The Daily.
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SportsMonday
2B — Monday, April 16, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
I’d give anything
I
’m the baby of the family — by a large margin. Janet is 40. Vinnie is 37. TJ is 34. Mike is 33. James is 29. And growing up, I wanted to be just like them. KEVIN When I was SANTO eight years old, I asked my dad to buy me a soccer jersey — not Ronaldinho’s, not Thierry Henry’s, not Wayne Rooney’s. No, I wanted a Rockville Centre Nitro jersey. That was James’ travel team. And when my dad asked me what number I wanted on the back, I told him 23. That was James’ number. Two years later, when I made my own travel team, it came time to pick my own number. I wasn’t allowed to choose anything below 25, so I chose 31. Janet wore 13. I wanted to play like her. And two years after that, I started playing basketball. Mike decided I needed to learn how to shoot a proper jumpshot. So he took me out in the backyard one day and forced me to copy his jumper over and over and over again. Our hoop hung above our garage. I hit that garage more than I hit the rim. I went inside whining about how it was too hard, and then I copied his jumper every day after — or at least tried to. I was better at rebounding than shooting, to put it lightly. Even that skill, inadvertently, was the product of my siblings’ creation. About a year after trying to emulate that jumper, my mom woke me up for school. I showered, put on my St. Agnes uniform and went downstairs, only to see that the clock was 20 minutes ahead of my normal routine. My mom walked into the living room and told me to grab a basketball, put on my coat and come
COURTESY OF THE SANTO FAMILY
Kevin Santo always wanted to be like his older siblings growing up.
outside. I met my mom on the pavement, and she told me to shoot. As soon as the ball left my fingers, my mom was crouched down, backing me further and further away from the rim. I asked her what she was doing, and she told me she was sick of seeing me get outrebounded in rec league even though I was taller than all of my siblings. Then she took the ball, and told me we weren’t going to school until I boxed her out like TJ used to. As for Vin, well, baseball was his sport. I have no shame in admitting I might have set a record for Little League strikeouts. But one day he walked in the door and asked me how I was. I told him I was good, end of sentence. Then came the sarcasm that I’ve gotten used to — “I’m doing good too, thanks for asking.” I was nine. I haven’t failed to ask someone how they’re doing since. I tell you all of this so that you can understand why my plan was never to end up in Ann Arbor. As I grew older, the admiration for my siblings materialized in different ways. As a junior in high
school, it just so happened to manifest itself in my college application process. Vinnie and TJ had gone to Cornell, so I wanted to go there too. I told my guidance counselor I was applying there early decision. That wasn’t good enough for him, so he rattled off a list of colleges I should also plan on applying to. Eventually, he told me to consider Michigan. I was incredulous. Michigan was a “sports school,” I told him. Then he showed me the average SAT score of admitted students, and I realized how wrong I was. I think Mr. Moss would laugh at me now. I never got into Cornell. I came to Michigan, and joined The Daily a month into my freshman year. I’ve been writing about a “sports school” ever since. *** Before I decided to come here, my dad and I ended up visiting Ann Arbor in the middle of my senior year. After our campus tour, he pulled the rental car out of what was a foreign parking structure and turned right on to what was a foreign
street. Coincidentially, as he stopped at the first intersection, I told him that maybe I could write for the business section of the school newspaper. It was a passing thought. Now I know there is no editorial business section at the Daily. Now I know that was the intersection of Maynard and East William. Now I know that if he drove straight, I would have seen 420 Maynard about seven months prior. But he turned left, and we watched the Michigan basketball team play in the Big Ten Tournament at Cantina. I never imagined covering that same tournament three years later or going to a bar to write about that same team a year after that, and I realize now why an 18-year-old with braces and his dad were getting funny looks. When I got home, I was still apprehensive about going to college so far away from New York. My siblings told me to go, to enjoy a big-university experience that they had never had. I put off the decision as long as possible, then told my dad on the drive back from
visiting SUNY Binghamton that I was going to Michigan. *** I arrived in Ann Arbor with a new plan: I was going to join a fraternity, enjoy the college experience and apply to the Ross School of Business. By the end of September, I had a C in Econ 101, and I hadn’t received a bid to a fraternity. Desperate for a way to fill my time, I stumbled upon the contact information for the sports editors at The Daily. I typed up an email that I now know was too formal. I attached a resume. I explained that I’d never written for a newspaper, but I’d really appreciate an interview. I got a response from Greg at 2 a.m., which now makes perfect sense to me. “Just come to a meeting this Sunday, there’s no application,” it read. I went to that meeting, found Greg, was ushered into a conference room full of strangers, and the icebreaker began. The third person to speak enlightened us about how he/she had received a hickey the size of a tennis ball that weekend. One guy was wearing a suit and tie (Hey, Jake). I questioned what I was getting myself into, until I didn’t. As the icebreaker moved on, I realized I was surrounded by some characters. They were weird, but in the best way. I knew this was a community I wanted to be a part of. I didn’t know then that the same community would teach me chairmonkey, land me inside the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, thrust me into Wild Tymes in St. Paul, make me fall in love with Lincoln, introduce me to Kansas City barbecue, send me to Tampa to cover a bowl game, or allow me to find some some of my best friends. But here we are. *** I called my parents this
November. I started crying like a baby. I had two papers and a presentation due the next day, one of which was already late. I hadn’t had time to work on them, because I’d been working at The Daily all week. I told them I wanted this to be over. My mom said everything would be ok. My dad said it would be over soon. When I was a freshman, I told them I wanted to chase this newspaper thing as far as it could go. They both gave me their support. They’ve done so countless times since. And I couldn’t have done any of this without them. But there I was on some November night, letting stress consume me enough that I uttered six words I never imagined saying in my life. I want this to be over. The notion seems blasphemous to me now. Because it is over. And I’d give anything for Janet, or Vinnie, or TJ, or Mike or James to have gone here, so I would have never questioned coming here myself. And I’d give anything for Mr. Moss to have told me about Michigan’s student newspaper in his office that day, so I could have emailed the sports editors earlier. And I’d give anything for my dad to have driven straight, so I could have seen this building an extra time. And I’d give anything to know I wasn’t getting into a fraternity the first day I stepped on campus, so I could have walked into this newsroom sooner. And I’d give anything to take back that phone call, if it meant I had just one more day. Santo can be reached by email at kmsanto@umich.edu or on Twitter @Kevin_M_Santo. He wants Meg to know she deserves a column too. And he wants to thank anyone who has ever read one of his stories.
One of the girls
I
thought I would always be one of the guys. Growing up, that’s what everyone said about me. My guy friends who wanted me to know that I was just BETELHEM like them, ASHAME and my girl friends who wanted me to know that I wasn’t. Everyone knew me as the girl who loved sports. So naturally, that’s how I began to see myself. But as much as that was true, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong with me. Paired with the joy of playing soccer at Catalpa Park with my dad, playing basketball with the guys after church and playing catch with my brother in the front yard was the anxiety of arranged playdates with girls my age, icy glares down the school hallway and awkward mistakes about my gender. While it would have been easier to write about the first three, that’s not what this story is about. In all honesty, if I were a boy, it likely would have been. But as a girl in a boy’s world, it’s more important for me to elaborate on the latter three. They are the ones that stick with me to this day, and not in a good way. *** I used to have so much trouble with girls that it would have made more sense if I were a boy. When I say that all of my friends were guys up until high school, I’m not exaggerating. I wasn’t purposely avoiding girls. I just didn’t have anything to say around them. All the girls I knew only wanted to talk about shopping, clothes and makeup. They weren’t shallow. We just had different interests. The more I hung out with them, the more I felt invisible. I couldn’t add to the conversation, because I didn’t know how. So I kept to myself, and the group kept going. In those moments of uncomfortable silence, I began to wonder if
COURTESY OF THE ASHAME FAMILY
Since before she can remember, Betelhem Ashame has been the girl who loved sports.
I was supposed to be interested in those things, too. I still remember when, at the age of 10, my mom told me that one of the other parents had said it would be good for me to spend more time with girls instead of boys. But she didn’t explain why, and at the time, I didn’t understand either. In middle school, I was the only girl who wore pants instead of a skirt for our school uniform, and who kept my hair in braids or a ponytail instead of wearing it down. I didn’t think much of those choices back then. I just wanted to play outside with the guys at recess. I didn’t just play sports with them, though. I could keep up with them in conversations about sports, too. I spent most of my free time as a child watching soccer, basketball, football and baseball. I started with the professional teams from my hometown of Detroit, and then learned about the national scene by reading a lot of stories on ESPN and viewing many hours of SportsCenter.
My standing as a genuine fan allowed me to gain the respect of the guys, along with acceptance into their group. So instead of walking from class to class with my best girl friend, I strolled down the hallway with my guys. The move wasn’t received very well. I still remember how my body tensed up as I saw those girls staring at me disapprovingly. One of my guy friends told me not to worry because they were just jealous. I didn’t understand that either. Now, I think I do. Gender roles are so quickly ingrained in us that we try to enforce them in ourselves and each other before we hit puberty. I think those girls thought they were trying to help me. So did the older gentleman who saw my guy friends and I having a snowball fight in the parking lot one winter day. I was still a child at the time, and I was wearing a hat that covered my hair. He saw two of my friends double-teaming me and happened to yell toward my broth-
er that he should come rescue the other little boy. I froze. My brother looked at me. I’ve never seen him look so defeated. As he told the man that I was his little sister, I ran inside and cried. *** When I joined The Daily freshman year, I thought it would be easy to be the girl among guys. I went to every weekly section meeting during my first semester, but I didn’t pick up any stories. During my second semester, I stopped coming to meetings altogether. It took until March, when I received an email from the Managing Sports Editors at the time, for me to come back and write my first story. I always tell people that I started my Daily career late because of a tough academic course load and a leadership position in another student organization, but I’ve left out a key detail until now. I had been around guys my whole life, but I soon discovered that my experience couldn’t compare to joining a 40-person staff
with maybe four girls in the room. As I moved up the ladder, becoming a beat writer and an editor, I kept noticing the disparity and its subsequent effects. In four years, there has been only one time that two girls have worked together on one of our six beats. And I’ve seen many four-man beats. There has also been only one time that two girls became two of our six senior editors simultaneously. And I’ve seen more than one shutout. The more I noticed it, the more I felt like the odd one out. There was only one other girl for me to look up to, and I needed her to help me see how far my career could progress. I followed in her footsteps on the softball, men’s basketball and football beats, and for two months, we were even senior editors together. Kelly took me under her wing and finally gave me a sense of belonging. Because of her, I realized how important it is to have a mentor who helps you grow into who you are meant to be. So when I became the CoManaging Sports Editor, I wanted
to help move the culture in the right direction and do that for the girls who came after me. And I’ll be honest, I didn’t always succeed. But in the four years I have been here, the future has never looked so bright. Next year, there will be eight women consistently contributing to what we affectionately call the best college sports section in the country. Three of them will be senior editors together. That might not seem like much just by the numbers — even though onefifth beats one-tenth any day of the week — but when you know them like I do, it’s easier to understand. Laney, you have a heart of gold. Paige, you are a fierce soul. Anna, you have the brightest disposition. Aria, you are full of ambition. Sarah, you have more potential than you know. Maya, you have turned into a pro. Jodi, you are improving every day. Bailey, you are well on your way. I’ve loved being your leader as much as I’ve loved leading the whole section. Keep moving in the right direction. *** The Daily has done so much more for me than I could have ever imagined, and I could have written this whole column about the incredible experiences I’ve had from a sports perspective. But I don’t know the next time a woman will be writing these biweekly columns, so this is the story I knew I needed to tell. The greatest gift The Daily has given me is the understanding that there was nothing wrong with me after all. This community of girls has shown me that. There is more work to be done, but my work here is done. I thought I would always be one of the guys. But now, I’m finally one of the girls. Ashame would like to thank everyone who read her stories throughout her Daily career. You helped the girl who loved sports believe in the power of her voice. She can be reached at ashabete@umich.edu or on Twitter @betelhem_ashame.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
‘M’ overcomes the elements to win 17th straight THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
It took a postponement, four hour, 18 minute rain delay and eight innings of battling freezing rain but the Michigan baseball team (2111 overall, 8-0 Big Ten) has finally extended its win streak to 17. The outcome of Sunday night’s 6-3 win over Maryland (16-19, 3-5) came down to the eighth inning — the final inning before the Terrapins had to catch their flight home. Slugger Kevin Biondic came to the plate down four, representing the tying run with one out and the bases loaded. He fought off an inside pitch to place a bloop into the outfield, where it looked destined to cut the Wolverines’ lead to two. Junior second baseman Ako Thomas came sprinting into the outfield, took a look over his left shoulder and laid out onto the block M in center field. When he stood up, the ball was in his
glove and the win all but secured. As he fired the ball back to the infield, Thomas’ hat flew off his head like Willie Mays making ‘the catch.’ “That should be on Sports Center tonight,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “I don’t know if there are nine better plays in sports today than that one. “It saved the game because that was two runs that would have scored and flip the momentum. Instead the momentum stayed with us. … That was a huge play in a huge spot and only Ako Thomas can make that play.” Earlier in the game, Michigan took its first lead with four runs in the second after going down 1-0 in the top of the frame. “Six quality at-bats in a row including three free passes,” Bakich said. “So drawing the three walks was a big part of it.” Junior center fielder Jonathan Engelmann provided the fireworks,
knocking home two with an opposite-field double after a basesloaded walk and RBI groundout to put the Wolverines in the lead. “I didn’t think they were going to pitch to him with a base open and runners on second and third and one out,” Bakich said. “I thought they would pitch around him and go after (junior third baseman Blake) Nelson, but Engelmann did a good job, taking advantage of a 3-1 fastball to hit and drilled it down the line and got those two runs in.” From there, freshman lefthander Ben Dragani took over. He gave up two runs — more than his previous four starts combined — on two home runs but fought off the rain to make it through six innings. He got into a jam in the fourth, with runners on second and third with one out before freezing Zach Jancarski with a fastball on the inside corner to get the strikeout. Dragani got the next batter to lazily
fly out to right to get out of the inning unscathed. “He seems very calm and collected out there,” Bakich said. “That, combined with his good stuff — he’s got a good fastball, good breaking ball, good changeup and the ability to command all of his pitches — creates an opportunity to escape a jam and that’s what he did.” Added Dragani: “I was just trying to stay focused, and make the next pitch and make it as best I could, whether it was inside fastball or slider, just try to put it where coach calls for it.” Freshman first baseman Jesse Franklin gave Dragani some room to breathe. He roped an RBI double off the right-field line in the fifth before blasting a solo home run two innings later. Despite its eighth inning scare, that would be all Michigan needed to win its 17th in a row — the longest streak it has seen in three decades.
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Freshman left-hander Ben Dragani gave up two solo home runs but made it through six innings in Michigan’s victory over Maryland on Sunday night.
Monday, April 16, 2018 — 3B
MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
Despite wind, storms Michigan finishes third VAQAAS ASLAM For the Daily
The Michigan men’s track and field team’s runners struggled to make an impact. With lightning and high winds slowing down the track events at the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, TX., the Wolverines needed a boost. And with two personal bests and a broken school record, Michigan threw hammers like Thor and closed out the two-day event in third place overall. Though the weather delayed the hammer throw by four hours, seniors Grant Cartwright and Joe Ellis proved their performances were worth the wait. After fouling three of his five attempts, Cartwright threw a personal-best 65.47 meters — good for fourth place. Lightning struck twice for Ellis — after breaking the school record in hammer throw at the same invitational last year, he threw an outstanding 71.00 meters, breaking his own record and winning first place. Cartwright continued to score points on throws with a shot put of 18.19 meters, placing fifth. Junior Andrew Liskowitz scored the most points on shot put, throwing 19.13 meters and earning a third place finish. As hammer throw and shot put carried the team with a stellar performance, Michigan coach Jerry Clayton remained collected when reflecting on his throwers. “(Ellis) is coming into form,” Clayton said. “He’s ahead of where he was this time last year, and that’s what we want and expect. He threw a personal
best, (Cartwright) had a personal best in the hammer. Very good opening throws for (Cartwright) and (Liskowitz) at the shot put. At this point, the big thing is to make sure we get (qualifying) marks.” The strong performance on field events continued with senior Kevin Haughn jumping 5.00 meters in the pole vault, landing fourth overall. At triple jump, senior Kevin Stephens Jr. hopped, skipped and jumped to third place overall with 14.96 meters. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, wind speeds gusting up to 21 miles per hour proved detrimental to their track events. Despite a strong effort from Noah Caudy, placing seventh and ninth at the 400meter hurdles and 100-meter hurdles, respectively, they failed to score any points on foot. Michigan’s distance runners were uncharacteristically absent, but to Clayton, this was the plan coming in. “We didn’t take any distance runners,” Clayton said, “because they’ll be going this weekend to a very prestigious meet, the (Cardinal Classic).” Although the Wolverines struggled in the track events, the team was overall satisfied with its performance. “We went into the meet with a partial team, because (the Longhorn Invitational) is really good for the field events and sprints and hurdles,” Clayton said. “We divided the team up. Texas is not the place for 800meter events and up. Taking a partial squad, I thought we did quite well.”
“Taking a partial squad, I thought we did quite well.”
SportsMonday
4B — Monday, April 16, 2018
Rain showers can’t cool off red-hot Wolverines BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
Typically, baseball drama comes in the form of a walk-off hit, a major comeback or a strikeout late in a game. But this weekend, Michigan experienced something new: scheduling drama. The Friday game, the first of a three-game series against Maryland (3-5 Big Ten, 16-19 overall), saw no issues for the Wolverines in any way, as they beat down on the Terrapins in a 10-4 win. With Saturday, though, new issues arose for the surging Wolverines (8-0, 21-11). Even though the temperature was hovering around 70 degrees Thursday, Saturday’s combination of near-freezing temperatures and rain created unwelcoming playing conditions. The game was postponed until Sunday, setting up a doubleheader. “We can’t control it so there’s no sense getting frustrated about
it,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “The weather, especially in Michigan, is just one of those things that you know that you’re gonna battle the elements here.” Similar problems arose again on Sunday, though, and instead of playing the doubleheader, the Wolverines experienced a weather delay for over four hours before finally getting in only one weathershortened game. Maryland had to catch a flight home at 10:00 p.m. so the game, which ultimately began at 5:18, was played with the stipulation that no new inning could begin after 7:45 p.m. Despite the massive delay, Michigan came out firing, as it put up four runs and batted through the lineup twice in just the first three innings. Ultimately a 6-3 victory in eight innings brought the Wolverines’ win streak to 17. “Fortunately for us, we train outside in much worse, so when we have adverse conditions like today we can thrive in them,” Bakich said.
“Our guys just didn’t seem phased. They didn’t seem phased by the delays, they didn’t seem phased by the conditions. If anything, they think it’s an advantage.” Freshman left-hander Ben Dragani tossed six innings of two-run baseball, continuing his dominant stretch as a starter. Dragani, who is from Wisconsin, echoed his coach’s sentiments, adding that he is used to playing in poor conditions. “In Wisconsin, high school baseball isn’t (played in) the best weather,” Dragani said. “It’s raining, it’s cold, below freezing a lot. We had games a lot where it was snowing, so having those experiences really helped that factor like, you’ve done it before, it’s nothing new.” Freshman first baseman Jesse Franklin also continued his recent success, as he went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run on Sunday after going 2-for-3 with a home run Friday. Like Dragani, Franklin — who
is from the state of Washington — played through unusual baseball weather during his high school career and was well prepared to play in games with conditions similar to Sunday. “Today was just kinda of about making sure I stayed mentally ready to play,” Franklin said. “I’m kind of used to that from Seattle and high school ball, like all the time it’s raining and you don’t know if you’re gonna play all day.” Bakich made sure to emphasize the weather did not have any impact on the team’s performance. Rather, it was waiting to play and being in the dark as to when the game would start that impacted the team. Michigan, though, was ready for the challenge and handled the situation well. “We got ready, and then at game time at four o’clock it wasn’t ready and so we had to wait another hour and 15 minutes,” Bakich said. “So all of that is what the adversity was and I thought our guys responded well.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich emphasized that inclement weather didn’t affect his team’s performance at all in Michigan’s win against Maryland on Sunday.
Michigan sweeps doubleheader ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
Sometimes, a sweep is nice and easy. Other times, the wins on the record conceal the less-thanglamorous means it took to get there. The latter was the case for the No. 17 Michigan softball team (10-1 Big Ten, 35-7 overall) on Friday when it swept a doubleheader against Rutgers (2-7, 17-21) with scores of 11-1 and 9-2. Despite the lopsided numbers on the scoreboard, both games at times seemed as if they could slip away from the Wolverines. It was evident from the start of the first game that freshman left-hander Meghan Beaubien didn’t have her best stuff. She allowed a double and a single in the first inning to put the Scarlet Knights on the board. Michigan was in an unfamiliar position: playing from behind. “It’s kind of like getting in a fight,” said senior right-hander Tera Blanco. “You get punched first, well, what are you gonna do? You’re obviously gonna punch back. (So) that was kind of our mentality.” The Wolverines didn’t take long to punch back, as sophomore third baseman Madison Uden hit a grand slam in the bottom of the frame to put Michigan up, 4-1. From there, it was mostly smooth sailing. Beaubien settled in and the Wolverines kept tacking on runs. A twoRBI double from senior first baseman Aidan Falk in the third and RBI singles from freshman shortstop Natalia Rodriguez and junior center fielder Natalie Peters extended the lead to 8-1 when Blanco stepped up to the plate. The first three pitches missed, but Michigan coach Carol Hutchins gave Blanco — who had already walked three times — the green light to swing. She did, and launched the ball out of the stadium for a three-run home run to end the game with the score 11-1.
“I told her before she got to bat, ‘Hey, if they put one in there, just hit it to the moon,’ ” Falk said. “She hit it past the moon.” The beginning of the second game was reminiscent of the first. Blanco didn’t have her best stuff. She got out of the inning with no damage done, but consistently fell behind in counts. The Wolverines got an early 3-0 advantage on a tworun home run by Falk and a RBI single from Canfield, but the lead felt uncomfortable. In the fourth, a double and a single cut Michigan’s lead to 3-1, and, while Blanco scored on a single from Uden in the bottom of the frame, she found herself in more trouble in the fifth. A double, a walk and a single once again shaved the Wolverines’ margin to two. Then Blanco allowed another single to put runners on first and second with two outs and Rutgers’ best hitter, Rebecca Hall, coming to the plate. Hutchins opted to intentionally walk Hall instead of having her face the struggling Blanco. “(We) were debating whether we were gonna walk her and then put in Meghan, whether we would change pitchers,” Hutchins said. “ … She’s their best player. She’s hitting .400,
her stats are huge. “ … We left her in because Tera has to be able to pitch herself out of jams, and sometimes we’ve taken her out, but tonight her offense was on and we’ve gotta be able to trust that her offense can make up anything that happens.” Hutchins was right. After running a full count, Blanco came back to strike out the final batter swinging and minimize the damage. And in the bottom of the inning, her two-run single erased any memory of her struggles. Michigan would add two more runs in the frame on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch and another in the sixth on a solo home run off the bat of Falk, and by then the score was 9-2 and what was once a tense, dramatic contest was suddenly anything but. “You can see the intensity go up and down in the lineup,” Hutchins said. “We get ahead in the game, we were 3-0, I thought we kinda coasted for a couple innings. … Then we — the game’s getting tight, and then I thought our intensity tightened itself up.” Maybe, for a team used to near-effortless wins, a little adversity was just what the doctor ordered.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SOFTBALL
Strong pitching ignites ‘M’ vs. Scarlet Knights JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer
Coming into Friday’s doubleheader, the Michigan softball team had allowed only one run in seven home games this season. But there were points in both games on Friday against Rutgers where it appeared as though the Wolverines were at risk of surrendering multiple runs in an inning — a rare occurrence for a team that had previously outscored opponents at home, 46-1. Clutch pitching performances, though, prevented multiple runs from crossing the plate. In the opening frame of the doubleheader’s front end, freshman left-hander Meghan Beaubien found herself in a jam. A walk, wild pitch and double gave Rutgers a 1-0 lead. Then a single put runners on the corners with only one out. Despite giving up the early run, Beaubien remained evenkeeled — setting down the next two batters on a popout and groundout to junior secondbaseman Faith Canfield. “They were on Meghan, that was the thing,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “But you can’t panic. … Honestly, it’s better if they score early, so that your team can get going.” After stranding two runners in the first inning, Beaubien did not allow a hitter to reach base. In the fifth inning of the doubleheader’s nightcap, senior right-hander Tera Blanco allowed two runners to reach base with one out and gave up an RBI single, cutting the Wolverines’ lead to 4-2. Michigan opted to intentionally walk infielder Rebecca Hall — who boasts a .391 batting average –– to load the bases.
The Wolverines and their lead looked vulnerable. After getting ahead, 1-and2, Blanco ran the count full against freshman infielder Myah Moy. “Hutch just said, ‘Do what you’ve been doing’, ” said Blanco, “and (catcher Katie Alexander) was just like, ‘Do you,’ and that’s just me attacking the zone and trusting my stuff and trusting my defense.” Blanco wound up and fired the pitch past a swinging batter for the third out of the inning. In both games, the Michigan offense — seemingly energized by the performances of Beaubien and Blanco — responded by putting up four runs in the bottom half of the inning. “Sometimes kids don’t seem to have as intense of at-bats when they’re not behind,” Hutchins said, “but I thought we responded well.” The runs came courtesy of a grand slam by junior third baseman Madison Uden in the first game, and a combination of a bases-loaded walk, a twoRBI single by Blanco and a wild pitch that scored a run in the second game. Both instances gave the Wolverines comfortable leads and sparked the offense for the remainder of the contest. The confidence exuded by the pitching staff spilled over to the offense in both games of the doubleheader. Michigan wound up taking both contests by scores of 11-2 and 9-2. “We just knew that we could come back with the bats,” said senior utility player Aidan Falk, “and that really didn’t scare us at all and we did, so that was all we needed.”
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 6:30 P.M. U-M MUSEUM OF ART In conjunction with Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection
BUILDING CONTEMPORARIES:
ART AND ECONOMIES IN DETROIT A Panel Discussion Dive into a conversation about what current initiatives and leaders are contributing to the artistic ecosystem in Detroit today. Reception to follow. Established through the generosity of Dr. Herbert Sloan, the annual Doris Sloan Memorial Program honors Doris Sloan, a long-time UMMA docent and the Sloan’s shared passion for art. Lead support for Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Michigan Medicine, and the University of Michigan CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund. This program is co-sponsored by the Penny W. Stamps Speaker Series and the U-M Institute for the Humanities.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior first baseman Tera Blanco hit a game-winning homer on Friday.
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