Thursday, May 17, 2018
ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
inside
Crime
AAPD says break-ins may be connected
NEWS
Ford program New public policy program funds student engagement with organizations. >> SEE PAGE 2
A single suspect has been identified in several home invasions
OPINION
The pay gap in women’s sports
By ABBY TAKAS Daily Staff Reporter
Marlee Burridge explores gender equality in FIFA. >> SEE PAGE 5
ARTS
DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN
Cannes Film Festival
“Sorry Angel” and “Leto” are highlights. >> SEE PAGE 7
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
I miss the old Kanye
The rapper’s fall from grace a disappointment to many, >> SEE PAGE 9
SPORTS
Softball prevails over Ohio State On Senior Day, the Michgan softball team defeated its biggest rival, >> SEE PAGE 12
INDEX Vol. CXXVII, No. 117 | © 2018 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ............................... 4 ARTS/NEWS .........................6 MiC......................................... 9 SPORTS................................ 10
michigandaily.com
Increased depression found in high-SES Black Communities Researcher discovers high depression rates even in wealthy communities By MATT HARMON Daily News Editor
In an effort to quantify the impact of racism in the United States through statistical analysis, the New York Times Upshot reportedlast March that Black men, even those raised in wealthy households similar to their white counterparts, tended to see their average salaries diminish at a higher rate than white men as they entered the workforce. Shervin Assari’s lab at the University of Michigan continues to study this lack of equal outcomes between white and Black Americans despite similar resources, with his recent paper finding a higher rate of depression among high-socioeconomic status Black citizens than white people from similar backgrounds. The paper, which was published
in “Brain Sciences” last month, used data from 810 Black children who participated in the National Survey of American Life Adolescent Supplement and tracked the children’s levels of perceived discrimination in relation to the rates of 30-day, 12-month and lifetime major depressive disorder, finding a positive association between discrimination and depression in these higher-SES populations. Assari, the primary researcher on the paper, has been conducting research with this model of comparing the outcomes of Black and white American with the same resources. This recent paper dives into the health implications of such a relationship. Assari maintained this theory is not limited to this specific study but has been explored and continually confirmed in other papers he has worked on and by outside sources like the Upshot report. “Across the board, when you look at the effects of economic resources like education, employment, income and you look at the health
outcome, life-expectancy, number of years people live, chronic disease, how much they stay healthy or depression, you see a pattern with all white men, particularly boys, being … advantaged compared to Blacks,” Assari said. When considering variables such as SES, with varying metrics such as income levels, position on the poverty index, and discrimination, Assari’s lab took care to consider the differences between subjective and objective wealth. According to Brianna Preiser, a research technician intermediate in Assari’s lab and the second author on the paper, subjective wealth considers how well off people believe themselves to be while more objective studies look strictly at how high they are above the poverty index. Preiser said the study treats subjective SES with high regard because the opinions and emotions around high-SES populations can have a very large impact on mental health and depression rates.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
The Ann Arbor Police Department has reported as many as five of the recent home invasions that began in April may be related. The suspect is a white male, 20 to 30 years in age, and 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 9 inches in height. Victims of the invasions reported he was seen in dark clothing and in some instances had his face covered. A green mask was recovered at the home invaded on the 400 block of South Seventh St. A resident of the home on South Seventh Street reported she was asleep on her couch when the intruder attempted to rape her. The woman fought the man off, bit him and screamed. The suspect f led the scene as a family member ran into the room. The female victim was not injured. In two other incidents, female residents awoke to the intruder inside their bedrooms. A resident living on the 1000 block of Church St. reported she awoke to the intruder sexually assaulting her. Though the number of recent home invasions have incited local alarm, AAPD has stated the recent series of invasions doesn’t indicate an increase in overall break-ins for the city. As the number of recent home invasions have incited local alarm, many University of Michigan students are taking precautionary measures. Nursing junior Stephanie Shea, who currently lives in Ann Arbor, is taking steps to ensure her and her housemates’ safety in the future.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
2 NEWS
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
New Ford program funds collaboration Research and public policy program helps students engage with organizations By SAYALI AMIN Daily Staff Reporter
Made possible by a $1.5 million gift from the Power Foundation, a new program for the University of Michigan will be housed in the Ford School of Public Policy to engage students and faculty with people and organizations in public policy. Elisabeth Gerber, Public Policy associate dean for research and policy engagement, will be leading the new program known as the Program in Practical Policy Engagement (P3E). This program creates learning opportunities for students outside of a classroom setting, while allowing students and faculty to collaborate with different types of organizations whether they be governmental organizations or nonprofits. “The intention of the program is to make it easier and more accessible for
students and faculty to engage with real world policy organizations, working on real problems,” Gerber said. “We’re not really organized to engage with organizations outside of our campus.” When finding organizations to work with, Gerber said it is important to ensure that the skills of the students and faculty match the type of problem that needs to be solved. P3E can help with the matching of these organizations. “Finding that match, it’s time consuming, it takes practice, it takes patience, it takes cultural competency depending on the types of organizations that we’re working with,” Gerber said. Methods of engaging with outside organizations currently exist within the University, however they are disjointed. P3E’s goal is to bring together those on campus who are working with these organizations. Matt Naud, environmental coordinator for Ann Arbor, has worked on projects with Public Policy students before. One of the projects involved water equity, or how payments for water are determined, in Ann Arbor.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com
ASIF BECHER
Newsroom
Office hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. 734-763-2459 opt.3
News Tips Corrections Letters to the Editor
news@michigandaily.com corrections@michigandaily.com
tothedaily@michigandaily.com or visit michigandaily.com/letters
MATT VAILLIENCOURT / DAILY
New zoning code worries Greek life City Council tables discussion of controversial new zoning Summer Daily News Editor
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
Business Manager 734-418-4115 ext. 1240 tomedye@michigandaily.com
CONTACT INFORMATION
By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM
SHMEDIUM,
TOMMY DYE
Editor in Chief 734-418-4115 ext. 1251 asifb@michigandaily.com
The Ann Arbor City Council has tabled a discussion regarding potential zoning code changes to University of Michigan fraternities and sororities until June, hoping to work out details in the legislation before a vote. The zoning code changes, which have caused tension with U-M Greek life members and lawyers, would require future fraternities and sororities to maintain an affiliation with the University or another academic body to acquire a city permit. Under the proposed changes, if a sorority or fraternity loses University recognition in the future, it can apply for a twoyear special exception before it would lose its house. Councilmember Zachary Ackerman, D-Ward 3, wrote in an email interview that the zoning code changes entered discussion after numerous complaints from neighbors of fraternity and sorority houses and a recommendation from the Planning Commission.
“The City’s Planning Commission (a body of volunteer experts in real estate, architecture, and sustainability) first took this up in response to neighborhood concerns,” Ackerman wrote. “Many neighbors of Fraternities and Sororities (more often Fraternities), have has serious issues, which our current Noise, Litter, and Nuisance regulations cannot effectively control. These existing regulations only punish the student tenants, not the property owners. By using zoning code, the City is better aligning the priorities of the property owner with the needs of the community. For example, a landlord may not care if 25 of their tenants received noise complaint tickets. However, that same landlord probably cares about paying off their mortgage, which higher tenant capacity allows him to do more quickly. Our goal is to get the landlord more engaged in problem properties and tenants because they now have a financial stake in their behavior.” Ackerman also said the ordinance would set a cap on the number of people allowed to live in a fraternity or sorority house.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Photo Department Arts Section Editorial Page Sports Section Magazine Advertising Department
photo@michigandaily.com arts@michigandaily.com opinion@michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com statement@michigandaily.com Phone: 734-418-4115 dailydisplay@gmail.com
EDITORIAL STAFF Emma Richter richtere@michigandaily.com
Managing Editor
Grace Kay
Managing News Editor
news@michigandaily.com SENIOR NEWS EDITOR: Rachel Cunningham
Emma Chang
Editorial Page Editor
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Tien Le & Jacob Kopnick Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com Jack Brandon
Managing Arts Editor
arts@michigandaily.com
Alec Cohen
Managing Photo Editor
photo@michigandaily.com
Jack Silberman
Managing Design Editor
design@michigandaily.com
Olivia Sedlacek
Managing Copy Editor
copydesk@michigandaily.com
Lorna Brown Managing MiC Editor michiganincolor@michigandaily.com Carrington Tubman
Managing Social Editor
BUSINESS STAFF Leah Louis-Prescott
Sales Manager
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published every Thursday during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
City election 2018:A breakdown of Ann Arbor’s mayoral and council candidates City primary election will be hosted Aug. 7 By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM Summer Daily News Editor
The Ann Arbor City Council will hold a primary election for mayor and five council positions Aug. 7. Here is a breakdown of this year’s candidates: Mayoral Candidates: Incumbent Mayor Christopher Taylor will seek reelection against Council Member Jack Eaton, D-Ward 4. Taylor admits he’s proud of the progress made during his first term but feels his work isn’t over. “Although I feel we have done a lot of great work in Ann Arbor, there’s still a great deal more to do,” Taylor said. “Obviously, we have to work to fix our roads; our (storm) water infrastructure is aging. Also, it’s important that we make Ann Arbor the most equitable and sustainable place you’ve ever lived. We need to fund and commit to affordable housing and implement our climate action plan.” Yet the mayor’s first term hasn’t been all roses. After the city voted May 2 to repurchase the Y lot from local real estate developer Dennis Dahlmann for $4.2 million, Councilmember Jane Lumm, I-Ward 2, criticized Taylor for a statement he made in which he lamented how supporters of the vote cost the city “thousands, if not millions, of dollars.” “The statement is plainly and obviously temperate and not a personal attack,” Taylor said. “It is in my view, plainly and obviously factual: The fact that my colleagues made a very poor decision on April 2 and, in my view, contrary to the city interests. I can understand why people don’t want to hear that, but it was not said with personality. It did not get to the motive. It just got to the effect of the decision. That’s public discourse.” Eaton, on the other hand, attributed his candidacy to the fact that he felt the city was not addressing many issues in the way that he preferred. “There are a number of issues that are very important to me that I just feel that we’re not taking a lead on,” Eaton said. “I think that I can provide leadership on the really important issues facing the city.”
Eaton has served on City Council since 2013 and specified the issues he hopes to improve include infrastructure, public safety, affordable housing and the environment. One environmental concern Eaton addressed was the 1,4-Dioxane plume that contaminates Ann Arbor groundwater. Dioxane is a carcinogenic compound that was widely used for manufacturing in the past. Ann Arbor manufacturer Gelman Sciences, now Pall Corp., released the chemical as an industrial byproduct into an unlined lagoon from 1966 to 1986. The main concern is the plume will reach the Huron River and contaminate Barton Pond, Ann Arbor’s main source for drinking water. “I would like to join the petition that other communities in the area have filed with the EPA asking the EPA to take a more active role in the oversight of the progress of the plume,” Eaton said. “I’m embarrassed that a city like Ann Arbor with a strong reputation for environmentalism isn’t more active and seeking an actual remedy.” Yet some critics and councilmembers have complained about Eaton previously accepting donations from Dahlmann, the local real estate developer who purchased the “Y lot” from the city in a failed promise to develop affordable housing and commercial developing. “All council members receive contributions from people who later have business in front of council and the efforts to disparage me for having received the contributions from Dennis Dahlmann are purely political,” Eaton responded. Ward 1: Councilmember Sumi Kailasapathy, D-Ward 1, will not be seeking reelection. Democrats Ron Ginyard and Jeff Hayner are running to fill her position. Hayner sees major concerns with the city’s natural resources and environmental concerns, specifically within his ward. “Especially in Ward 1 where I’m running, we have a lot of landuse issues here on the north side,” Hayner said. “We’re the river part of the city primarily. We had the most vacant land, township (island) and agriculture land left over.”
Visit MichiganDaily.com for
Ward 2: Councilmember Kirk Westphal is seeking reelection for Ward 2 against challenger Kathy Griswold. Westphal feels the main issues the city faces include public safety, affordable housing and infrastructure. Westphal thinks continued University and city cooperation will help address the recent string of home invasions and sexual assaults near the University. “I think I speak for all of Council when I say we will get resources that our police ask for to the extent we can within our budget,” Westphal said. “I think sexual assault is a complex problem that needs focus and cooperation between the city and the University to look at the sources of the problem and ensure we continue coordinating and communicating with each other to go after what’s driving this latest uptick in these assaults.” Ward 3: Ward 3 will see a competition between Councilmember Julie Grand and Alice Liberson. Grand claims city affordability and public safety are major issues in Ann Arbor. As a pre-health academic adviser in LSA, Grand said students often bring up concerns with city affordability in advising appointments. “I hear a lot from students on their struggles to find housing,” Grand said. “If the University is thinking about DEI initiatives and bringing in students from a range of income groups and increasing the number of transfer students, I really am concerned about affordable housing.” Liberson was not available for comment in time for publication. Ward 4: For Ward 4, Councilmember Graydon Krapohl is running for reelection against Elizabeth Nelson. Nelson works as a substitute teacher for Washtenaw County and has been an Ann Arbor resident since 2004. Her inspiration for running for City Council came after her realization that she does not have to be a specific type of person to run for a council seat.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
NEWS 3
Twenty-six Wolverines named Fulbright Finalists Program funds international engagement By ROB DALKA For The Daily The University of Michigan boasts 19 students and seven alumni as finalists for the 2018-2019 Fulbright Student Program. The Fulbright program was introduced in 1945 when Sen. J. William Fulbright presented a congressional bill that encouraged student engagement in the international community. The program currently offers research, study and teaching opportunities in more than 140 countries to U.S. citizens who complete their undergraduate degree before the grant date. The recipients of the grant include young professionals that hold or are pursuing bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degrees. The University’s International Institute hires Fulbright program advisers to help students navigate the application process. The advisers hold information sessions throughout the year and help students make their applications compelling and competitive. Among the announced finalists, 13 U-M students were offered English Teaching Assistantships through the Fulbright program. ETA recipients assist local English teachers in classrooms around the world, including Bulgaria, China, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Slovak Republic, Spain, Taiwan and Turkey. Eleven students and recent graduates were offered the Fulbright Study-Research Award, which allows recipients to work on research projects at foreign universities. Eric Peterson, a recent LSA graduate, is one of the named finalists for this award. As an undergraduate, Peterson researched Rydberg atoms in professor Georg Raithel’s atomic physics laboratory. Last summer, Peterson participated in a two-month research project at a French university through a National Science Foundation grant. Peterson credited his experience in France for his interest in working with people from differ-
ent countries. “Science is really an international effort, whether that be through large collaborations or just through the sharing of knowledge, and I think my experience in France opened my eyes to this,” Peterson said. Under the Fulbright Study/ Research Award, Peterson will be working at the ELI-NP research facility in Romania, studying interactions between high-energy laser pulses and solid material. Two other individuals will be participating in unique Fulbright programs. Laura Lapidus, a recent Music, Theatre & Dance graduate, has been named the finalist for the John Wood LAMBDA Award in Classical Acting. Each year, the award gives one finalist the opportunity to pursue a oneyear master’s degree in classical acting at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. Another finalist, recent LSA graduate Merin McDivitt, was accepted into the Binational Internship Program in Mexico. The program allows fellows to intern at a Mexican company or organization while taking classes at a local university. McDivitt is looking forward to working and studying in Mexico City. “I’m so excited to live in Mexico City!” McDivitt said. “I visited the city recently and fell in love with it — it has more museums than any other city in the world and is home to literally thousands of unique communities, a stunning national park and dozens of layers of ancient and modern history.” McDivitt is interested in sustainable tourism and heritage-based businesses in Latin America and hopes that she will learn a lot during her experience. “I hope to gain a much deeper understanding of Mexican culture, particularly the business and arts environments.” McDivitt said. “Mexico has a rich, impressive tradition of regional artisan wares that I can’t wait to explore and see how I can collaborate on future projects that raise awareness of Mexican heritage.” When reached for comment, the University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen said, “It is always great to see our students recognized.”
4 OPINION
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ETHAN KESSLER | COLUMN
Careening Towards Uncertainty Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com
ASIF BECHER
EMMA CHANG
Editor in Chief
EMMA RICHTER
Editorial Page Editor
Managing Editor
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Emma Chang Joel Danilewitz Samantha Goldstein Elena Hubbell Emily Huhman Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan Sarah Khan Magdalena Mihaylova Ellery Rosenzweig Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury Alex Satola Ali Safawi Ashley Zhang Sam Weinberger
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
MARLEE BURRIDGE | COLUMN
W
The pay gap in women’s sports
omen have faced inequality for as long as we have had written history – especially when it comes to female athletes. Today, players on the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team – the No. 1 women’s soccer team in the world – get paid “as little as 40%” of those on the U.S. Men’s Soccer Team. The pay gap between male and female athletes is glaringly obvious and largely unjustified. In fact, it is often overwhelming. Furthermore, there is little to no representation of women on the governing bodies of sports organizations and previous attempts to achieve this representation have failed. In fact, only 18 percent of board members were women across the 28 international sports federations, and this percentage has been static from 2014 to 2016. If women can’t even get onto the boards of these organizations, how can we expect any change? Even the executives at FIFA admit we shouldn’t be holding our breath for equality; a former FIFA secretary general for the organization stated it might be “another 23 World Cups before potentially women should receive the same amount (of prize money) as men.” This pay gap will not close, and if it does, it will do so very slowly. This means another 100 years until female athletes can expect to be treated as equals to their male counterparts. It asks women to wait 100 more years to receive equal compensation when they often have to outperform men by a huge margin just to gain any kind of respect. If
these organizations continue to remain ignorant of this pressing issue and fail to address it, female athletes will never be able to close the pay gap. Action needs to begin at the top, and that means acknowledging the issue, allowing women to speak about it and implementing real policy change. At all levels of sport, male athletes are held in a higher regard than female athletes. Because of this, it becomes much more difficult to achieve equality. Speaking from personal experience, I can say the men’s teams always get priority. In high school, they got the most qualified coaches, the earlier practice time and more money to pay for gear. The athletic director of the school advertised men’s games and not women’s games. Our administrators and teachers showed up to the men’s games and not the women’s games. As a result, students followed suit. In collegiate athletics, this systematic inequity is most easily seen in ticket prices. This study shows men’s teams are thought to be better simply because tickets to their games cost more due to the assumption that the price of a product reflects its value. This issue can be costly in terms of public perception of women’s sports. The public needs to understand female athletes are just as valuable as male athletes, but different ticket pricing perpetuates the public’s perception that men’s sports are more valuable. At the University of Michigan, season tickets for men’s basketball cost $175; season tickets for women’s
basketball cost $45. Both teams were ranked in the top 25 throughout the season, both teams made the NCAA tournament, both teams play in the Big Ten and both teams play at Crisler Center. Despite the similarities in merit, location and schedule, the women’s team had an average attendance of 2,672 people per game while the men’s team had an average attendance of 11,121 people per game. The public, a.k.a. the consumers, need to know female athletics are just as important as male athletics. Without this understanding, the sports world will continue to justify the pay gap and other inequalities. College athletes, both male and female, put in a lot of time playing their sport. It is disappointing to know despite equal amounts of hours of work, one team is valued more by the University and therefore its students. It is important that inequality is stopped in its early stages, and perhaps the University can set an example for other colleges and universities around the nation by starting to level the playing field for our young female athletes. They work just as hard and are just as talented; in fact, Katelynn Flaherty became the all-time leading scorer for Michigan basketball – male or female – this year. With that kind of talent should come equal respect, and that should be reflected in ticket prices, advertising and support from the University as a whole. Julia Montag can be reached at jtmon@umich.edu.
L
ast Tuesday afternoon marked the beginning of a new chapter for America’s Middle East policy. Ahead of the official May 12th deadline, President Trump announced his refusal to recertify sanctions relief for Iran, thereby withdrawing the U.S. from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal. By no measure was the Iran nuclear deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, perfect. Certain aspects and provisions of the deal have no doubt proved contrary to the interests of Israel and the U.S. However, Trump’s dismissal of the deal without an apparent replacement or follow-up plan, in keeping with his characteristically shortsighted style, leaves America’s policy towards Iran in a troubling state of uncertainty. The deal, although derided as a temporary fix to a permanent problem, addressed several components of Iran’s budding nuclear program which was ostensibly for energ y purposes only but was agreed upon to be military in nature by the international community. All of these comprehensive limitations were enforced through mandatory inspections by the United Nations’ nuclear arm, the International Atomic Energ y Agency, IAEA. In exchange for hobbling its nuclear abilities, Iran would be relieved of the crippling economic sanctions that had followed its nuclear development since 2006, which had cost it hundreds of billions of dollars by isolating it from global financial markets and limiting its oil exports. The provisions of the deal, laid out in ten and 15-year segments, allowed for longer-term arrangements to be made in the interim, which could address the larger issue of Iranian nuclear capability. The lack of permanence within the deal was only
natural, as Iran’s extant nuclear knowledge can never be destroyed, nor can it legally be denied the right to carry out nuclear activity for peaceful means. Iran’s regime clearly deemed the possession of nuclear weapons beneficial to its foreign policy goals before the deal, and the JCPOA did what it could by successfully presenting sanctions relief as a worthwhile tradeoff in the shortterm. Where the JCPOA most notably faltered, however, was in the lack of concern it demonstrated regarding Israel. As Iran has collected the windfalls of the JCPOA’s sanctions relief, it has spent billions to arm Hezbollah and other Shiite militias in Lebanon and Syria, as has been adamantly expressed by Israel. The use of sanctions relief by Tehran to fund proxy wars against Israeli interests has led to unprecedented levels of conf lict in the region, weakening ties between the U.S. and our strongest Middle Eastern ally. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal, however, was most likely not the result of a comprehensive and balanced assessment. Since his presidential campaign, Trump has maintained the deal’s nefarious one-sidedness. Additionally, withdrawal from the JCPOA is consistent with Trump’s persistent hostility towards both Obama’s legacy and multilateral deals that have taken the place of a more traditional emphasis on policy. The long-term ambitions present in the U.S. withdrawal are, instead, represented by national-security advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Bolton’s hawkish propensity for regime
“Since his presidential campaign, Trump has maintained the deal’s nefarious one-sidedness.”
Continue reading on page 5.
Careening Towards Uncertainty by Ethan Kessler continued below:
in hostile states, along with Pompeo’s prioritization of curbing Iranian regional military expeditions, granted the two a boon in Tuesday’s nixing of the JCPOA, while only serving to worry other signatories to the deal. These ambitions are left empty without immediate action to take the place of the JCPOA, which Trump has failed to put forward or even outline. It must be kept in mind that the urgency of the JCPOA originated from Iran’s supposed proximity to full nuclear capability, and the same should be kept in mind for the regime now that it will soon be unbounded by the deal’s limitations. But, tighter sanctions may not be enough to force Iran back to make a more conciliatory deal before it reaches that capability. To begin with, Iran has reacted towards Trump’s decision by maintaining that the U.S. was bound to break its word from the beginning. In addition to the general tradition of distrust towards the U.S. that this inspires – namely in regards to the upcoming meeting between North Korea and the U.S. over Pyong yang’s own nuclear arsenal – it forces Iran into a corner regarding future deals with the U.S., at the risk of being portrayed as spineless to the Iranian people. This shortcoming could perhaps be overcome, if not for the lack of steps that have been taken thus far to remedy it. Namely, the issue of forcing the deal’s other signatories to comply with a return to secondary sanctions places the U.S. at
risk of clashing head-on with the European countries that originally helped broker the deal. Although, in the end, the European signatories will most likely side with the U.S., the case carries the danger of blowing up and damaging key alliances. The hesitation this will likely cause could prove lethal as Iran returns to a limitless nuclear arena. Ultimately, Trump’s refusal to compose anything close to a comprehensive Middle East policy has been adequately ref lected in his abrupt withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. As the country has seen, Trump’s brash “America First” calls for reduced international presence on his campaign have often been relegated to distant memories the moment they are confronted by more uncomfortable realities, as has been the case in Syria and Afghanistan. As of now, Iran will prove no different. The result of withdrawal, beyond the probable resumption of Iranian nuclear activity, will be boosted Iranian confidence in the absence of American coherence. Without a plan to realistically reinstate sanctions to positive effect by ensuring the unwavering cooperation of all other signatories, the U.S. is left with nowhere to turn to after the nuclear deal. The deal as it stood may have instated its own problems, but until further action, the U.S. is surely worse off than it was before. Ethan Kessler can be reached at ethankes@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 emmacha@umich.edu
JULIA MONTAG | COLUMN
I
’ll have a second helping of that wonderful fish you got there, Miss Julia.” A man who claims to be named William Shakespeare addresses me with familiarity. He’s a regular at Food Gatherers on West Huron Street, as are many locals who volunteer their time and serve dinner to those who can’t find it elsewhere. “You know I’m from the Caribbean. This meal tastes like home to me.” As I scoop a little extra fish onto the plate of rice and beans I’ve already made for William, I think about how this meal not only carries him back to his roots in Jamaica but also nourishes him and relieves some of the pressure that homelessness places on his shoulders. Homeless and poverty-stricken individuals face food insecurity, or simply put, the lack of access to food. In an interview, Rackham student Vivienne Hazzard, who is pursuing a doctorate degree in public health, explains, “food insecurity is linked to lower diet quality,” and is associated with “a variety of adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer.” This link may not seem novel; most of us have seen or heard about “Super Size Me”, the documentary about a man who eats nothing but McDonald’s for a month and ends up with all sorts of poor health conditions. What may seem surprising, however, is the sheer volume of food-insecure adults, seniors and children that walk through Food Gatherers’ doors, most of whom need a meal on a daily basis. Each dinner, Food Gatherers goes through countless vats of mashed potatoes or multiple sheets of peanut butter cake. Last week, we exhausted a 5-gallon container of strawberries halfway through dinner.“Food insecurity is much more prevalent than we usually think,” Cindy Leung, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences, said in an interview with me. Leung researches dietary and health disparities among certain populations that are more vulnerable than others. She explains even those above the poverty line may have a hard time accessing a sufficient amount of food, thus exposing more Americans to hunger than to poverty. “Food insecurity can be as simple as worrying about your food running out before you have money to buy more or not being able to eat a balanced meal, and as severe as not
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
eating for a whole day because you don’t have money for food,” Leung said. Our campus lies within Washtenaw County, an area with food insecurity rates at 13.6 percent, higher than the national average at 12.3 percent. About 48,750 individuals, or 13.6 percent of our county, report facing food insecurity. They make up the William Shakespeares, the faces to the stomachs that are fed regularly on West Huron. Emergency food programs like Food Gatherers regularly see many of these people. In a 2009 report, 85 percent of
“Povertystricken indivduals face food insecurity, or simply put, the lack of acces to food.” those served at Food Gatherers have monthly incomes less than $500, 35 percent say a food kitchen is their only or primary source of food, and only 13 percent eat the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. What’s preventing them from eating more smoothies and fresh veggies, you ask? About three quarters of recipients say the main obstacle is high costs. Leung has started challenging the assumption that food insecurity only affects adults by studying the effects of poor access to food in college students. In 2015, a doctoral student in her department found that 41.5 percent of University of Michigan students experienced food insecurity at some point that year. “The administration is starting to work on strategies to address this, but it will take a long time to understand all the factors that contribute to student food insecurity and how universities should best address food security and other basic needs security among students.” This research is essential because good nutrition is also extremely important in fighting diseases. Millions of studies have been
OPINION 5
published nationwide that show the negative effects of a poor diet on health. Foods with high fat and sugar content are often cheaper than nutritious proteins, fruits and vegetables, forcing too much of our population to resort to something unhealthier, like that mysterious fast-food chicken. Because Washtenaw has the highest cost of living in the state, we can see how an inexpensive, low-quality diet is often the only option. How do we put an end to this cycle? Leung says, “Food Gatherers and other anti-hunger programs are vital in helping to alleviate food insecurity in vulnerable populations, but unfortunately, they are not the be-all and end-all solution.” She explains that we need to tackle the roots of food insecurity. Emergency food programs are used at consistently high rates because food insecurity continues to persist. In Washtenaw, almost half of community kitchen users reported being “worse off” than they were only a year ago. On the bright side, with the knowledge that food insecurity is related to lower diet quality, programs are taking steps in the right direction by adopting nutrition standards for foods they distribute. Food insecurity isn’t just a hunger issue; it’s a nutrition issue. Food banks should play a role in distributing foods of high quality, not just high quantity. Can Food Gatherers meet the increased demand for their services? Even with the 6.5 million pounds of food served in 2017, Food Gatherers President Eileen Spring is worried many more locals may soon struggle to find their next meal. This is because of the imminent U.S. House of Representative vote on the Farm Bill; if passed, it would involve huge cuts to SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. You might know SNAP by its benefits, which were formerly called food stamps. This hunger safety net is the largest of its kind in the United States and offers food assistance to nearly 42 million low-income individuals. The Michigan branch of SNAP works with neighborhood organizations to ensure its nutritional-assistance benefits reach all who are eligible. If we want our community to improve and reach its potential, we must do all we can to ensure the Farm Bill is not passed. We can take action by urging our U.S. Rep.
Hannah Harshe can be reached at hharshe@umich.edu.
6 ARTS
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FESTIVAL COVERAGE
FESTIVAL COVERAGE
Cannes: ‘Leto’ MADELEINE GAUDIN Daily Arts Writer
CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Cannes: ‘Sorry Angel’ delves into the heart DANIELLE YACOBSON Daily Arts Writer
I should have taken French in school. I opted for Spanish, as responsible kids often do in California, for it promised to be more useful. However, I now find myself in the south of France — having miraculously schemed my way into the 71st Cannes Film Festival — knowing very little Spanish and even less French. I’ve gotten by with “bonjour” and “merci” as I continue to marvel at the beauty of the language that makes absolutely everything sound wonderful, and wish that I had been a little less responsible. I try to sound out the name of the movie that I stand in the queue for, “Plaire Aimer et Courir Vite,” but it comes out all wrong. The American title is “Sorry Angel,” two short words that don’t seem right at all, and I feel as though I’m Bill Murray holding Japanese whiskey in “Lost in Translation.” “Plaire Aimer et Courir Vite” literally translates to “Pleasure, Love, and Run Fast,” which serves as a much more astute title than the translation it is given. The moody romantic drama from writer-director Christophe Honoré (“Metamorphoses”) fallows a gay novelist and playwright in 1990s Paris named
Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps, “Stranger by the Lake”) as he meets and falls for Arthur (Vincent Lacoste, “The French Kissers”), an adventurous student who, like most, is still figuring things out. Arthur likes to read
Love, or at least Honore’s depiction of love, is painful. It hurts. It hurts when there is not returned. It hurts when it’s perfect, too.
and knows little about authors, which is pathetically normal for kids who have grand ideas about the world but know little of what it actually is. Jacques is more seasoned, falls into a deep depression and can’t seem to put to rest the failed loves that disappear only to reappear again. Jacques, ultimately, may have never loved at all. “Plaire Aimer et Courir Vite” is one of those romantic trag-
edies that is sad in all the right ways. The cinematography paints France in blues, deepening the loneliness of the two lovers stuck in their self-destructive orbits and running out of time. Rather than making a grandiose political statement on gay rights, AIDS or a number of other themes that the film alludes to, “Sorry Angel” is more concerned with matters of the soul. Love, or at least Honoré’s depiction of love, is painful. It hurts. It hurts when it is not returned, when it doesn’t appear like one hopes, and when there just doesn’t seem to be enough of it. Love hurts when it’s perfect, too. And for all the heartache that “Sorry Angel” so masterfully creates through Jacques’s and Arthur’s own heartache, there are moments of pure, cinematic joy that erupt on screen. A flirty meet-cute in a movie theater, a brainy telephone call full of witty banter, a drunken living room dance party — elements that every good romance needs, yet few actually master. Jacques’s and Arthur’s relationship is three-dimensional: Their interest in each other, in the worlds that the characters inhabit, both together and apart, makes sense. And that is what makes this French Cannes selection so moving, heartbreaking and wonderful to witness.
The requiem for the local scene — the underground scene, the house show scene, the “we’ll never be big, that’s okay we just want to be” scene — is the greatest kind of music movie. To perfectly encapsulate how a specific moment in a specific place looked and sounded is one thing. To recreate its feeling is another ambition altogether. Russian filmmaker Krill Serebrennikov’s latest film “Leto” does both with a skill and joyfulness unmatched in recent memory. The film follows Mike (Alexandr Gorchilin), the central and centering figure for the roiling Leningrad underground rock scene of the 1980s. He’s cool, calculatedly distant in aviator sunglasses and exudes a level of carelessness that cannot be matched by the stiff crowd of youths at the rock club he and his band frequent. Their every foot tap and head nod are policed by rule-loving adults. Mike and his crew, including his wife Natasha (Irina Starshenbaum), amble through the woods singing about summer. That’s where they find Viktor (Teo Yoo) and pull him into their circle and really set the plot in motion. They dance and drink and play guitar. Jump over fire and run naked through the water. They are young and free. But “Leto” doesn’t let its audience believe for very long that these are the youngest or the freest or the most counter-cultural youth in the world. Their exuberance is matched by self- and state-sponsored censorship. Unlike its relatives in the music movie genre, “Leto” doesn’t look wistfully at a time when anything was possible, it vividly recreates a
moment when people did as much as they could, as much as they let themselves do. That seems to be the greatest hindrance to Mike’s rise to the top: His inability to let himself rebel or succeed fully. That, and his proximity to Viktor’s superior talent, are crippling. But even for the rest of his crew — who aren’t impeded by success, their main collaborator and rival — Leningrad has slow suffocating effect. Serebrennikov navigates beautifully the divide between the intimacy and secrecy of their scene and the loud rebellion its existence demands. Early on in the film, during a train altercation, a new character looks into the camera and tells the audience they are about to hear a song by “Soviet enemies” The Talking Heads. And thus our heroes are off, running and jumping and punching their way through a heavily accented, thoroughly charming cover of “Psycho Killer.” In these musical interludes (as well as other bursts that are quickly noted to be ahistorical) we see these kids become the clashing, crashing, joyously angry punks their world does not let them be. This tension — between the narrative and the interludes — is where the film finds a great deal of its success and proves an unexpectedly apt way to navigate the disparity between a free mind and a policed body. “Leto” has all the whispering intimacy of “Inside Llewyn Davis” and the joyful noise of “Sing Street.” “Leto” is a standout of its genre not for its musical quality or mastery of rambling narrative (although both are truly exceptional), but for the way in which it provides a space for a deeply intimate portrait of musical moment and an exuberate depiction of youth culture to coexist.
CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MUSIC REVIEW
FILM COLUMN
Arctic Monkeys journey to space
hotel and casino on the moon. The setting of outer space invites a range Daily Arts Writer of perspectives, from the inward Tranquility Base Hotel & to the literally astronomical, and Casino is nothing like anything in the midst of a dreamy, druggy Arctic Monkeys has done before. environment — a fitting canvas It is, however, like things other for space — Arctic Monkeys make bands have done. It’s particularly an effort to explore them all. impossible not to be reminded of Sometimes this is to a fault — songs David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust in like the dread-infused “She Looks the face of this concept album, full of Like Fun” teeter on the verge of science fiction, rockstars and droopy, being muddled and directionless, whispering vocals. Early in a first and “One Point Perspective” is so listen, it’s easy to wonder whether incomprehensible that even the Arctic Monkeys are trying to pick up narrator himself admits, “Bear a mantle that most modern musical with me, man, I’ve lost my train of thought,” by the end. However, culture has already abandoned. Luckily, the album proves to be this same lyric also confirms the a feat of its own, coming into itself album’s self-awareness: For the most with an array of darkly whimsical part, the sprawling confusion feels space rock. “Golden Trunks” is intentional, ultimately leading up to pleasantly choral, and the layered a jointed and unified end. The meaning of the album can but catchy pop of “Four Out Of Five” perhaps best be is only bolstered by accessed through creative images like “Tranquility its final track, “special effects of Base Hotel & “The Ultracheese.” my mind’s eye.” The Casino” The preceding lyrics album-wide, tracks are often while generally Arctic Monkeys showy or occupied strong, aren’t quite as with themes of consistently airtight Domino entertainment, as they have been on some of Alex Turner’s previous from music to cinema, but this work, but they do play a crucial role is where the trajectory finally both in creating some of the album’s becomes clear and the work climbs central confusions and in helping to to a genuine end. Revelations like, “I’ve still got pictures of friends untangle that web later on. The pesky question of on the wall / I might look as if I’m genuineness also bubbles up a few deep in thought / But the truth is more times throughout the album’s I’m probably not,” expose the gaps 11-track span: After all, the band isn’t in the narrator’s own dramatic, quite old enough yet to be washed- attractive façades of fame. This final out and mopey, but in many of the narrator questions the authenticity songs here, they are anyway. But of past friendships and laments the one has to give the layers of the doomed simplicity of “Just trying music due credit, and between the to orbit the sun / ... Just trying to sweeping, hypnotic backgrounds be kind to someone,” allowing the and loungey vocals, there is a album to stretch back toward a kind genuine message here that promises of societal truth linked with humble that Arctic Monkeys is nowhere near self-acknowledgment. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino done being edgy, creative and above may be bereft of a lot of the all — exploratory. One of the things that Tranquility unapologetic verve that made earlier Base does right is that it grounds records like AM so electrifying and itself as a concept album and as a fresh, but it replaces this sentiment work of science fiction, it completely with a new (and more helpful) axis hits the mark. The album is colored from which to understand the band. with the aloof skepticism that, Although the album does sometimes beneath the surface, characterizes veer into the sort of nettling science fiction as a genre. It’s a lush pretension that makes fellow artists dive into imagination coupled with like Father John Misty stand out in a bad way, it is held together by a well an on-guard wariness of the future. The album also makes good crafted and ultimately clever story of use of its chosen vantage point: A fame, alienation and spectacle.
ARTS 7
LAURA DZUBAY
Riding the New Wave: film hunks, cameras and pens STEPHEN SATARINO Daily Arts Writer
The watch list for any academic film course almost always rounds out to something like: a Chaplain comedy, some Technicolor musical, four impenetrable foreign films, two other silent-era juggernauts and Citizen Kane. Which is fine — in order to begin to form an understanding of how cinema has developed and grown and evolved in the past hundred years, it’s absolutely necessary to revisit the timeless classics time and time again. Now, without disputing the all too well-deserved status of something like “Le Voyage dans la Lune” or “City of Lights,” there’s a simple question to be asked: How beneficial is it to force yourself to enjoy something just because of the cultural weight it holds? It’s essentially an a question of pleasure versus purpose; when I sit down to read a book, do I try to wade my way through Tolstoy, or do I reread “The Lightning Thief”? How great can something truly be if the process of experiencing it isn’t? In my own personal experience, I’ve found plenty of both. I’ve sat down to watch classic films that I end up loving as truly great entertainment, and I’ve stood up from watching certain undisputed classics to find that the only thing I watched in the previous two hours was the same two gifs on the front page of Reddit. It’s difficult because as someone who likes to believe they are fan of cinema, to walk away from something like “Tokyo Story” feeling like I could have dozed off is disappointing — more for me than for the movie itself. Which brings us to the French New Wave.
I wanted personally to challenge myself with learning more about cinema’s past, and everywhere I looked pointed to this seven to eight year period beginning in the late 1950s. It’s probably the most paradigm shifting movement in cinema in the past seventy years. It’s probably an era that would be mentioned by any accoladeencumbered director were they to be asked about influence and produced a great swath of truly entertaining pieces of work that will burn the whole point of writing this column to the ground. Along with my decades-late judgment for a slate of undisputed classics, I hope to provide enough historical context for the films so that I can fully understand the implications of the movement. While the main point of this series is to look back on these films with a modern eye, learning about their place in the history of the art form is just as important. It’ll be my first time viewing most of these films as well. Putting it all together, my goal by the end is to have created something that is as readable as it is informative. A lot of the resources related to the topic already written online read like textbooks, so let’s hope this never reaches that. In order to best understand the impetus for such a significant shift in the world of cinema, I found a good starting point in Alexandre Astruc’s 1948 essay “The Birth of a New Avante-Garde: La CameraStylo,” an almost prophetic essay published ten years before the New Wave exploded onto the international stage. In his essay, Astruc writes about the “tired and conventional everyday films” which “put our sensibilities in danger of being blunted,” a rather irate comment on the rote and
predictable nature of early post-war cinema. Largely, this comes from, as Francois Truffaut would later write, cinema’s plague of underestimate; the majority of studio productions going to market at that time were reproductions or recreations of stories already told in some other medium, mainly literature and theater. It wasn’t until the New Wave that cinema began to develop its own language as an art form, Astruc even writing in his essay that “from this day onward it will be possible for cinema to produce works which are equivalent in their profundity to the works of Faulkner and Malraux.” It was the New Wave that first transformed cinema from “nothing more than a show” (Astruc) that sold tickets and filled auditoriums to an artistic medium capable of competing with the best. Astruc called this new era of cinema the age of “CameraStylo” (or Camera-Pen) in reference to the authorship filmmakers were beginning to take over their pieces of work. Film would no longer be a second thought. It’s difficult to point exactly to the first film of the movement, as the “French New Wave” designation was created retrospectively. After a bit of research, I found that a good place to start is Claude Chabrol’s 1958 film “Le Beau Serge” (“Handsome Serge”), as it is the first of the major films by the New Wave’s six major directors. “Serge” is the story of a successful Frenchman, Francois, returning to the town of his youth and reuniting with his childhood best friend Serge, a burned-out drunk who never left.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
8 ARTS/NEWS
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NASTSUME ONO / DAILY
ROSS POSITIVE BUSINESS CONFERENCE Blair Miller, Gregg Letterman, and Ellen Havdala speak in a panel facilitated by Jeff Sinclair, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, at the Ross Positive Business Conference Thursday.
SINGLE REVIEW
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Thursday, May 17, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
FOR RENT
HELP WANTED
1014 VAUGHN AVAIL Fall 2018
ANU SOFTWARE CONSULTANTS, Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI) is recruiting:
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Selfies, e.g. 5 Consumer protection org. 8 Grey Poupon variety 13 “I must be cruel, __ to be kind”: Hamlet 14 Bar mixer 15 Slip away from 16 __ all-time low 17 “Beat it!” 18 Bit of Blake 19 Trousers in the Liberace Museum? 22 Guffaw syllable 23 Estadio cheer 24 Hardware item 25 Overalls part 28 Aquarium fish 30 Title for Maggie Smith 31 “Mr. Robot” TV network 32 Less colorful African carpet? 35 Morales of Netflix’s “Ozark” 37 Father of octuplets on “The Simpsons” 38 Not yet up 39 Surfeit of sweets? 44 Many a craft beer 45 Folk singer Axton 46 Scenic highway offerings 48 “Absolutely” 49 Hose users: Abbr. 50 Holm of “The Hobbit” 51 GI address 53 Made-to-order drum? 56 Cold dish 59 Island off Tuscany 60 Whodunit canine 61 Interspersed with 62 Nectar flavor 63 User of black lipstick, perhaps 64 Gumption 65 Nursery purchase 66 “Orinoco Flow” singer
DOWN 1 Cook in hot milk, say 2 Since 3 “Homeland” Emmy winner 4 Harmonized, with “in” 5 Lawn game 6 Vanilla 7 Drive someone home? 8 Fan 9 Composer Charles 10 8-Across holder 11 Goes overboard (on) 12 Wedding notice word 14 Forensics facility, briefly 20 Circle dance 21 Unfeeling 25 Masters champ in 2012 and 2014 26 “That’s clear” 27 Meter writer 29 Twin Cities daily, familiarly 30 Home __ 33 Slow-but-steady progress
34 Demolish 35 Former Skype owner 36 Dover fish 40 “Dang!” 41 Some assents 42 Video game figure 43 Spanish lad 47 Inconsistent 50 Boast in a 1987 Michael Jackson hit
52 Lincoln neighbor 53 “__ help you?” 54 Muffin spread 55 Sorcerer in fantasy games 56 “Grace and Frankie” actor Waterston 57 Latin trio word 58 Cured salmon
#1 is being rented by the room for $700/m including utilities If you have a group of 5, rent the whole unit for $3100 plus Electric to DTE #2 is a 6 Bdrm for $3720 plus Electric to DTE • 734‑996‑1991
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 1015 PACKARD
4 Bdrm Apt Avail Fall 2018 2 parking space, onsite laundry, 1st floor $2830 + Electric to DTE • 734‑996‑1991
05/17/18
422 HAMILTON
2 & 3 Bdrm Avail Fall 2018 #2 ‑ 3 bdrm ‑ 2nd floor ‑ $2350 #3 ‑ 2 bdrm ‑ 3rd fl ‑ $1550 Tenants pay gas and electric to DTE Showings M‑F 10‑3 • 734‑996‑1991
HOUSES AVAILABLE FALL 2018 1016 Packard ‑ 4/6 Bdrm ‑ $3080‑$4020 401 Pauline ‑ 4 Bdrm ‑ $2900 827 Brookwood ‑ 4 Bdrm ‑ $2900 Showings M‑F 10‑3 • 734‑996‑1991
By Jeffrey Wechsler ©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
05/17/18
Systems Analysts to perform systems requirements, integration testing, technical and risk analysis; Sr. Systems Analysts to provide technical support, gather requirements, and convert to functional specifications, and must have experience, education or training in at least two of the follow ing: ECM admin, FileNet, BO ,Websphere; Software Engineers and Sr. Soft ware En‑ gineers to design, develop and test software solutions; and, Project Managers/Leaders to manage multiple projects, including product activation, ATM prof service, bug fixing, and provide process consulting to streamline project mgmt and estimation processes. All applicants except Sr. Systems Analyst must have experience, education or training in at least two of the following: Embedded, C/C++, RS232, CAN, OOAD, Unix, Mat Lab, Mathcad, Doors, SQL server database, Life Cycle, DFMEA, SAP/BO/ABAP, Java, JavaS‑ cript, J2EE, Struts, Hibernate, IBM FileNet, SRM So‑ lutions,VB.Net, ASP.net and AWS. Travel/relocation required as jobs will be performed at various locations throughout the US. Fax resume, position, and salary requirements to: ASC, Inc., Attn: HR De partment, at (734) 661‑0722.
HAPPYTHURSDAY! EnjoytheSudoku on page 2
I love artists who push the boundaries of music, who convince us to look beyond the boundaries that we create for ourselves and to create something new. However, there is also something to be said for consistency and the foundation it provides. Dream-pop duo Beach House is the best at this. For nearly a decade, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have released creatively solid albums, proving that sources of inspiration don’t have to be unsustainable. Their seventh release, aptly titled 7, was released on May 11, 2018 to critical acclaim.
“Black Car” Beach House Sub Pop The fourth single off the album, “Black Car,” reveals the little tricks that have made Beach House great. In place of their signature drone (at least for the first minute) is an unsteady, cool marimba beat that slinks with anxiety. Even when the synth comes in, and its pitch increases steadily, bursting forth from the shadows, the marimba melody haunts the song like a specter, hidden in plain sight. Much of 7 attempts to bring shadows to light, and “Black Car” is no exception. When Legrand croons “We want to go inside the cold / It’s like a tomb, but it’s something to hold,” we, too, want to the cling to the darkness that provides a framework. “Black Car” hones in on the thrill fear of leaping into darker aspects of the soul, where feeling is murky, intense and deep.
Jack Brandon Summer Managing Arts Editor
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
I miss the old Kanye By ANGELO MCKOY MiC Editor As my Black Twitter timeline blew up with Bill Cosby memes and “now this” videos about yet another act of violence against someone Black, my heart dropped to see Kanye West. I had recently seen a picture of him wearing a MAGA hat posing with two other politicians and I feared for anything he might say to make things worse. Nevertheless, I opened the video and tried to brace myself for whatever he might say. What followed were feelings of shame and disappointment. Kanye had done the unthinkable, claiming that slavery was a “choice” for 400 years. This was something that I may have expected from Stacey Dash but coming from the same man who released “The College Dropout” I was devastated. It’s no secret that Kanye has long been on the bad side of the
By CHRISTIAN PANEDA MiC Senior Editor
May. Not only is it the time for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), but the first Monday of this month signifies, essentially, the fashion Super Bowl formally known as the Met Gala. And per usual, in addition to other self-proclaimed fashion aficionados, I sat with both my cellphone in hand and Macbook on lap perusing Twitter timelines, the Vogue magazine website and Getty images— reviewing each celebrity outfit as if we are in the New York City front lines as esteemed critics and not regular people on comfy sofas. (My personal favorites, but definitely not all of the highlights, included SZA, Janelle Monáe, Solange, and Zendaya. Rihanna is obviously one of the best dressed as one of three co-chairs of the Met Gala adorned in custom John Galliano with Christian Louboutin heels. Shoutout to Chadwick Boseman for doing THAT for menswear.) This year’s theme for the Met Gala was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the
MICHIGAN IN COLOR 9
Black community, but this was something that even the biggest Kanye critic would have never seen coming. The video spread like wildfire, instantly creating a war on two fronts. On one side there were the people who felt deeply offended and disappointed by Kanye’s remarks. For them this was the last straw, Kanye had not just fallen from grace — he crashed and burned. On the other side were the “stans” who tried to rationalize his remarks and look for the deeper meaning in his poorly worded statement. Many made posts about how they felt if there were so many slaves they should have easily overpowered their oppressors. While this may seem like a legitimate argument at first glance, it is very easy to forget the physical, mental and financial distress the people were under. Stripped of all resources, only given what was provided by a tyrant who
was considered your owner. Over 150 years later, it is easy to look at sheer numbers and say what “should’ve” been done, not to mention how easy it is to overlook the numerous revolts and uprisings that did occur during this time. We will never be able to put ourselves in the shoes of our ancestors and for that reason alone it is not and will never be our place to speak on what should have and could have been done. As my mind filled with thoughts and emotions concerning the remarks and how we got here, what came to the forefront of my mind were not the words of Kanye, but those of my brother many years prior. “When he lost the bear, he lost me.” These were my brother’s final words on his relationship with Kanye West. Following the release of the 2007 album “Graduation” (the final piece of the college-themed trilogy that also featured “The College
Dropout” in 2004 and “Late Registration” in 2005), Kanye no longer incorporated the grizzly who came to be known as “Dropout Bear” in his music videos and cover art. After losing Dropout Bear, Kanye released “808s and Heartbreaks” in 2008 which proved to show a more emotional side of Kanye and then “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” in 2010, the album that many consider the best of Kanye’s career. From there he released popular albums like “Watch the Throne” made with Jay-Z in 2011; however, Kanye would also release more controversial albums such as “Yeezus” in 2013 (believed to be his worst album by many fans) and “The Life of Pablo” in 2016. No matter the project, for me and many other fans of early Kanye, no sound would be as honest and true as those during his tenure with Dropout Bear. However, through his good
and bad, nothing could seem to deter Kanye West fans. We were in a musical marriage of sorts, standing by Kanye for better or for worse. We struggled with Kanye, continued to make excuses for whatever misunderstood actions he made and overanalyzed every lyric to create even more reason to believe in his musical genius. However, over time, one by one, fans began to lose hope that we would ever get “the old Kanye” back. Many left in silence, some openly expressed their disappointment but no criticism would be more shocking to me than that of J. Cole. Releasing the song “False Prophets” in 2016, he spoke on his former appreciation of Kanye that bordered on allegiance, only to now be limited to reminiscing about the times when he could appreciate Kanye’s music. Now two years later J. Cole’s words seem to have aged like fine wine, a rather
apt coincidence considering my sudden need for a drink after hearing Kanye’s remarks. In the end, it had a good run. My relationship with Kanye was once that of an adult and baby. The adult is amazed by anything the baby does no matter how big or small and is seldom upset — if so, the anger lasts no longer than a few minutes. Kanye was the musical genius that could do no wrong, a beacon of hope for hip-hop and a role model for the next generation of eager MCs. Almost any aspiring MC, including myself, had studied “Graduation” and could likely rap a verse in every song. Now, my relationship with Kanye has turned into a cycle of disappointment and forgiveness with the hope of a return to grace. Similar to the way you watch “Saturday Night Live” knowing that it will never be as funny as it was when they had Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon.
Catholic Imagination”. This theme really spoke to me. It brings attention to something quite prevalent to my Filipino American upbringing — religion and specifically Catholicism. I grew up Catholic like many other Filipinx Americans, which makes sense because the Philippines is super Catholic — 85 percent of the Philippines is Christian. I thought nothing of how my Filipino roots were related to Catholicism before coming to college. These important aspects of my life seemed rather separate. But after learning about Philippine history and culture in college, I realized they were not mutually exclusive. Though there is a lot to say about Christianity in the Philippines, and while I am definitely not an expert in the matter, what I will say is that Catholicism was used by the Spanish as a tool with the ill intention of colonizing the Philippines. In succeeding, interestingly enough, Catholicism as a whole? was transformed in the Philippines. Filipinx claimed Catholicism in many ways; pre-colonial practices were mixed with the religion to
form Folk Catholicism. In times of hardship, like the People Powers Revolution to overthrow former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, many activists used the figure of Mother Mary to empower themselves.
many Filipinx and Filipinx American communities. There is the Santo Niño— an icon of baby Jesus who is often depicted in a beautiful, embellished cape. There is also Maria Clara — a fictional character of the famous Phil-
shelves in my own family’s and my extended families’ houses, the different pamaypays or fans that many would use in churches in the Philippines to combat the intense heat. Though fashion can be thought of something superficial, it can be a historical, artistic vehicle for social commentary. As I said before, there are many complex implications of Catholicism as it exists in Philippine culture that I can’t do justice in this musing of the Met Gala. There is a lot to say about how the conversion tactics of the Spanish speak to a greater conversation surrounding colonialism. Not to mention that the effects of colonial mentality continue to perpetuate harmful beauty standards, such as colorism and body image, in Filipinx and Filipinx American communities. On a slightly different note, there is a lot to talk about in terms of how some elements of Philippine culture before colonial rule have endured time and transformed Catholic practices to make them unique to the Philippines and its many regions. Aesthetics here can play more sacred roles beyond appear-
ance. I myself frequently think about how Christianity has influenced the experiences of Filipinx families in the United States. But maybe those are even more the reasons why I am so fixated with the Met Gala’s theme. I feel like “Catholic Imagination” fits perfectly in how Filipinx, and Filipinx Americans by consequence, have historically transformed practice while keeping core beliefs intact for the most part. It’s always fun to chit-chat with friends about which celebrities we loved and which celebrities we could not be bothered with on that. That said, this first Monday of May had me thinking about myself: the fashion lover, the Filipino American, and my roots. It would have been so interesting to see more of how Catholicism has metaphorized from cultures that have experienced oppression from conversion like with the Philippines, perhaps even from a Filipinx designer. Now, who would I want to style for the Met Gala? A couple of names come to mind. Probably eternal Filipina icon Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, the former Miss Universe. Either her or Bretman Rock.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PDAVID PHOTOGRAPHY
I think because of such rich context, I have a special connection to this year’s Met Gala theme. Where many of the looks took to European art as reference, once I caught word of the theme, my mind immediately shifted to the Catholic imagery that situates itself in
ippine hero, José Rizal. She is the depiction of controversial Filipina beauty based on purity in parallel to the Virgin Mary that inspired a new sect of fashion. Moreover, I am reminded of the subtle moments from my life: Seeing Santo Niño figures along with Catholic symbols on
10 SPORTS
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BASEBALL
Defense critical in success for ‘M’ THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
With one out and a runner on second in the 10th inning Sunday afternoon, junior center fielder Jonathan Engelmann gathered a flyball on one hop off the wall and fired a perfect throw into relay man Jack Blomgren who then delivered a strike to cut down the potential go-ahead run at the plate. Blomgren exhibited elite range at shortstop on the next ball in play, sliding to his right to keep a ball in the infield and prevent the runner scoring from second. An inning later, Michigan had yet another defense-fueled win. Defense, as much as anything, has been the driving factor in the Wolverines’ miraculous turnaround that has seen them go 28-5 since a 4-11 start. In its 16 losses, Michigan has committed 2.3 errors per game, compared to 1.1 in wins. “We’ve always talked about building a program off pitching and defense,” said Wolverines coach Erik Bakich. “That’s always been our calling card.” This weekend, the gap between winning and losing defense was clearer than ever. On Friday, four errors — all in the Michigan infield — led to seven unearned runs and a lopsided 10-3 defeat. “With (sophomore left-hander) Tommy (Henry)’s five-spot in the second, we had a double play ball and we didn’t even get an out,” Bakich said. “We dropped it and if we turn a double play there, maybe Tommy’s whole entire outing is different. “I think it was a simple lack of execution and we just need to be better tomorrow.” They were— but only slightly, with three errors including two committed by the starting pitcher, freshman left-hander Ben Dragani, as they fell 10-4. Sunday was an entirely different story, however, as web gem defense throughout the game helped the Wolverines jump out to a 4-2 lead. Sophomore right fielder Christian Bullock saved extra bases in the second with a leaping grab and made a sliding catch on a sinking liner in the sixth. In the seventh, junior second baseman Ako Thomas made a spinning play to his left and fielded
A Crisis of Confidence
an awkward chopper to make two tough outs. Blomgren started the ninth with a highlight reel barehanded throw across the diamond. “Pitching and defense were the critical factors today,” Bakich said. “Defense especially.” But for all of the Wolverines’ defensive excellence through eight innings, their flaws shone through in a nearly catastrophic ninth, in which Illinois plated two runs to send the game to extra innings. The game-tying play came via a trio of defensive mistakes, continuing an all-too-familiar commonality in FILE PHOTO / DAILY Michigan’s runs allowed. The Michigan softball team fell to Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament and lost an asset along the way - its confdence A wild pitch with runners on first It wasn’t just Beaubien. All and second moved the tying run into their thoughts, and all that was ARIA GERSON scoring position. Later during that left to do was load their suitcas- pitchers have off-days, and this Daily Sports Writer at-bat, junior left-hander William es, hop on the bus and wonder, team is built to pick her up when she needed it. But at the plate Tribucher looked to have induced MADISON — It was a long trek “What happened?” a game-ending groundout to first back to the bus. The truth was, everything things weren’t any better. The but failed to cover the base, allowThe Michigan softball team happened. It was a bad game at lineup at its best is a three-heading a run to score from third. The was tired and defeated, and it was an inopportune time, yes. But ed monster: contact at the top, damage could have ended there, hard to blame the players. After more than that, it was a deterio- power in the middle and speed at but freshman first baseman Jesse all, it was 1 AM — a result of hours ration of confidence that failed the bottom. Against Michigan State, Franklin did not see left fielder of rain delays that pushed the the Wolverines — the very conDoran Turchin charging home from Wolverines’ game fidence that made though, the Wolverines struck second until the scoreboard at Ray back until after 10 them the team to out 10 times. They had just three Fisher Stadium read 4-4. beat in the first hits, all singles. The more dire PM —and everythe situation grew, the more “After playing defense so well the thing had gone place. entire game, we had some miscues wrong. It started with Michigan pressed at the plate. Having there in the ninth,” Bakich said. swept the season freshman left- The grinding at-bats from earlier “Not covering first, mental mistake, series — including hander Meghan in the season were gone. Instead, allowing a guy to score from second a run-rule victory Beaubien. Ear- with two strikes came a sense of on an infield hit. lier in the season, resignation. in East Lansing — “We talk a lot about trust (but) “You can’t expect to beat very top-seed Michiwhen nothing else good teams and make those mis- gan was heavily was working, she you’ve gotta really believe it,” takes, especially late, so it cost us.” put Michigan on Hutchins said. “And we have not favored over No. The Wolverines have gone just 8 seed Michigan her back and kept shown that we do.” In their finest moments, the 2-4 in their two biggest series of Big State in the Big Ten Tournament the Wolverines in games they had Ten play— series losses to Illinois quarterfinals. But instead, it lost no business being in. More than Wolverines are full of confidence and Iowa. In those four losses they 7-0 in a game even more one-sid- that, her tenacity never wavered and swagger, always laughing have committed 10 errors, leading to ed than the score indicates. — earning her the nickname and joking and cheering. On Friday, they were quiet. the multiple, avoidable losses. And though the Wolverines’ “Beau-bot.” It didn’t matter how Michigan always expected a Next weekend’s matchup against season isn’t over, the loss felt big the jam, she could get out of it. Big Ten Tournament championPurdue in West Lafayette, though, foreboding. After all, an early Until Friday. provides Michigan an opportunity conference tournament exit Even before the Spartans ship. During the regular season, for redemption. The third-place never bodes well for a team’s struck first — on a two-run sin- the Wolverines never doubted Boilermakers pose a formidable test, NCAA Tournament prospects. gle by Lea Foerster — Beaubien that they were capable. But the postseason is a whole one the Wolverines likely need to ace Michigan coach Carol pitched tentatively. She nibbled to have a chance at their first Big Ten Hutchins stood outside, giving the zone, and Michigan State different battle, and Michigan’s title in a decade. wouldn’t bite. And after the confidence evaporated when it an interview. “There’s no two ways around it. “I’m sorry you came all the way Spartans got on the board, it all was most vital. And as the Wolverines retreatThe defense we played today is the out here to see that,” she said. spiraled downward. When she defense we’re gonna need to play if got into another jam in the top ed to the bus after the game, the Those words said it all. we’re gonna be a championship or a Behind her, the players filed of the fifth, the “Beau-bot” was only thing left to do was pick up postseason team,” Bakich said. onto the bus. Their faces were nowhere to be seen. Instead, she the pieces. Gerson can be reached at “Because the defense we played streaked with water — from the allowed two runs to score before the first two days is not gonna be rain or from tears, it was impos- Hutchins took mercy and pulled amgerson@umich.edu or on Twitconducive to playing deep into sible to tell. They didn’t talk to her with the bases loaded and ter @cyan_sunshine. June.” each other. They were alone with still no one out.
It was a bad game at an inopportune time
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS 11
Jesse Franklin’s incredible freshman turnaround RIAN RATNAVALE Daily Sports Writer
For the most part, John Morningstar knew what was about to happen. The softball coach was sitting in a suite at a Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball game with some friends and co-workers watching the Detroit Tigers on a TV at the back of the suite. Detroit was batting with less than two outs and a runner on first, so he figured that the Tigers would try and advance the man on base somehow. The niece of one of his coaching partners, a bright-eyed tween softball pitcher, suggested that it was a bunting situation. Plop. Indeed, it was a bunt. The Tigers advanced a runner. As the game progressed, the two continued to discuss the intricacies of baseball, and Morningstar became more and more astounded at the child’s innate knowledge of the game. “I’m sitting here, talking to a 12-year old girl about advanced strategy in a baseball game like I would talk to an adult that played the game all of their life,” Morningstar thought to himself. “Wow.” That girl wasn’t the only truly prophetic one sitting in the box at Fifth Third Field. It would be years before the girl standing next to him would lead the nation in victories as a college freshman, compile a 32-3 record with 0.90 earned run average and be a successful engineering student, but Morningstar knew that very day: he was in the presence of a star.Her name was Meghan Beaubien. **** The moment Beaubien stepped onto the sprawling green lawns of Saint Mary’s Catholic Central High School in Monroe, Mich., she already had a plan. She was determined to take the hardest possible classes and be the valedictorian. Hardly surprising for someone who scored a 29 on her ACT — as an eighth grader. As if that weren’t enough, she was determined to play softball at Michigan. Beaubien went to Michigan softball games many times during her childhood, and she sat in awe of the atmosphere there each time she went. The summer before her freshman year of high school, Beaubien was already neck deep in the recruiting process. Even though she had been pitching since she was seven years old and paired that experience with a longstanding, acute knowledge of the game, the possibility of high-level softball as a future for Beaubien became closer and closer to becoming a reality.
Even though Beaubien had been to different college softball camps like Michigan State’s, Tennessee’s softball camp was a watershed moment for the left hander. No conference in all of college softball was as strong as the Southeastern Conference was. She rose to the moment and clocked in at 65 miles per hour fastball on the radar gun. Tennessee co-head coaches and NFCA Hall of Famers Karen and Ralph Weekly were impressed and congratulated Beaubien. “Wow this is a big SEC school,” Beaubien thought. “And if that coach is impressed by what I did, I can impress other coaches as well.” Beaubien thanked the two coaches, but the Weeklys knew they wouldn’t have much of a chance with the Michigan native. “Look,” Ralph Weekly said, according to Beaubien. “Call us if [Michigan coach Carol Hutchins] passes on you, but we don’t think she will.” From that point on, Beaubien — who ended up being ranked as the No. 6 recruit in the Country by FloSoftball. com in 2017 — was a hot commodity. Though she didn’t hear back from the Volunteers, she racked up offers from Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan State and two SEC schools. But Michigan remained her preference. The prospect of being a Wolverine seemed almost too good to be true. Beaubien lived less than an hour away from Ann Arbor, had attended games at Michigan’s Alumni Field in the past and was well on her way to becoming a strong enough student to attend the school, with or without athletics. Hutchins and assistant coach Jennifer Brundage attended a few of Beaubien’s games at St. Mary Catholic Central her freshman year and remained in close contact with the left-hander knowing her interest in playing for Michigan. The coach invited Beaubien — like she did with many recruits — to watch Michigan football play Ohio State. While at first Beaubien assumed that this was just another step in the recruiting machine for Michigan, Hutchins’ words over the phone stuck out: “When you’re there, I want to talk about your future,” Hutchins said. “At Michigan.” Beaubien’s heart jumped out of her chest. She basically had one part of her three-part plan in the bag. Yet, when Hutchins pulled her into the tunnel at Michigan Stadium during halftime of the game and extended her an offer, Beaubien didn’t accept the it right away. Like any smart player, she needed time to think about and comb
through her options. No matter where Beaubien visited after that, though, it always came back to Michigan. Was this school as academically renowned as Michigan? Even if it was, how good is the softball program compared to Michigan’s? Was this school the right fit? Sure, it might’ve been easy to accept the offer from her dream school immediately, but Beaubien took time to look at every opportunity in front of her. About a month after the original offer, all it took was one hour of meetings with Hutchins and the coaching staff to discuss academics and finances to make Beaubien a Wolverine. But that was just one goal to check off her list. With three years of high school left, Beaubien had more accomplishments in mind. As a sophomore, Beaubien led SMCC to its first of three consecutive Michigan state championships. She never allowed a run in any of her championship appearances — and even threw a perfect game as a junior. All three years, she was named Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year. As much as she was on top of the softball world, though, Beaubien still had yet to quench her academic desires. She originally wanted to take an Honors Anatomy and Physiology class, but didn’t have room in her normal schedule to take it with all the other Honors and Advanced Placement classes already on deck. Rather than just dropping the class, Beaubien opted to take it as an independent study. “She is a student that does not just settle for the average or norm,” said Beaubien’s Honors Anatomy and Physiology teacher Scott Hoffmann. “She wants to know all the details and inter-workings that go with finding a solution or answer to a problem. She took pride in going above and beyond and when she had setbacks, which were few, she took it as a personal challenge to do better.” After seeing Beaubien thrive in the class and find success in calculus, chemistry and biology, Hoffmann pulled Beaubien aside one day and implored her to explore biomedical engineering. The combination of math and human anatomy piqued her interest, and Michigan happened to have a top-ranked program in that department. It’s not hard to see where some of those smarts and determination comes from. Beaubien’s dad, Jason, was a softball coach in his own right, while her mom, Kim, was a former soccer player at Boston College. Jason,
in fact, coached Beaubien for much of her early softball career and spent time coaching with Morningstar as well. The father-daughter duo worked together through Beaubien’s freshman year at St. Mary Catholic Central. At that point, however, Jason realized that maybe, Beaubien didn’t need him anymore as a coach — he was coaching to spend time with her rather than to actually guide her softball journey. “From that point on, I had to be a supportive parent,” Jason said. “At the time it was hard, but looking back on it it was a great decision…I still was close to her, but I was never on the staff anymore. But obviously, it worked out.” That didn’t mean that Jason or Kim were not part of Beaubien’s athletic life by any means — in fact, quite the opposite. Every Sunday, the Beaubien family would drive Meghan back and forth from their home in Newport to Chicago so she could practice with her travel team, the Beverly Bandits. Jason estimated that going to Chicago cost the family about 10 hours in travel time per weekend — and that doesn’t even include cross-country trips to tournaments. To whom much is given, though, much is expected. In those car rides across the Michigan countryside, Beaubien never put her feet up on the seat and played on her phone. She did two things and two things only in the back seat of her dad’s car: sleep, or manage the mountains of science and math coursework she was assigned. On some school nights, Beaubien would stay up all night doing homework, even after long practices or games. Coaches, teammates and others who know Beaubien are quick to talk about that kind of determination, her aforementioned brand of competitiveness and unmatched intellect. What they’re also eager to talk about, though, is the side of Meghan that the average fan might not see from far away in the stands, or a school acquaintance might see passing her by in the hallway. In one of her first trips with the Bandits, Beaubien and a group of 14Us traveled to California for a showcase. Before the first game, Bandits head coach Bill Conroy and the players met for breakfast. He noticed that most of the players were in uniform, or pre-game clothes, per usual. Beaubien, however, showed up in the hotel’s bathrobe, donning a shower cap on her head like it was a crown. While some of her teammates laughed at her outfit, the pitcher sat down, ate her breakfast and went through the meetings like nothing was wrong. “She was not embarrassed or gun
shy at all about coming down less than her stellar self,” Conroy said. “I thought she could laugh at herself, and she has a unique personality that I thought was a good mix of being really competitive, really smart but also being able to have fun.” It didn’t take long for Beaubien to prove Conroy right in all three of those phases. Beaubien pitched well for the Bandits, who despite playing up multiple levels to 18Us, beat the 18U defending national champions from Southern California in the last game of the showcase. At the end of games, Conroy usually talks to each one of his players and tells each one what she did well during the game and where she might improve. For players like Beaubien, that usually amounted to a good amount of praise, with a few adjustments for the future. As he went down the lineup after the victory, Conroy got to one of the Bandits’ first basemen and paused. He had nothing good to say about her — she got multiple people thrown out because she didn’t protect them and missed a bunch of signs. Before Conroy could say anything, though, he heard a familiar voice. “Xio!” Beaubien exclaimed. “You’re so beautiful!” The whole locker room erupted in laughter. Conroy chose not to offer any criticism of the player because Beaubien’s humor served that purpose without hurting her feelings. On the surface, Beaubien’s comment might just seem like a joke, but her quick thinking showed Conroy that Beaubien was ready more to go far — in the softball world and as a student. “When you have academics and athletic ability and you understand how to be a good teammate from not just a physical standpoint but a mental and emotional aspect as well, those are the three aspects that I look at as a coach to determine what kind of athlete you’re dealing with,” Conroy said. Indeed Beaubien had, and still has, all those traits. Looking back at all those years of hard work from Conroy’s criteria, Beaubien reached perfection. Not only was she able to maintain a fine balance between her pitching life and taking the hardest classes at her school, but Beaubien did in fact successfully check off her goal of becoming valedictorian and pitch at Michigan. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe Beaubien knew from day one that she would reach those goals. Maybe her family and coaches did too. One thing is for certain — Beaubien, just like she did in that Mud Hens suite, called her shot.
12 SPORTS
Thursday, May 17, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILE PHOTO / DAILY
Former Michigan point guard Trey Burke hopes to extend his lease on basketball life and expand legacy
Five years later, Trey Burke discovers a new beginning ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
Trey Burke lined up across from Corey Person with only winning on his mind. This wasn’t a practice drill between the two guards — Burke a sophomore on his way to winning National Player of the Year, Person a walk-on in his senior year. Nor was it a pickup game after practice. It wasn’t even on a basketball court. In a football tailgate lot outside Michigan Stadium, the Michigan men’s basketball team was hosting an event for recruits, and a pickup football game had broken out. Playing wide receiver, Burke’s competitive urge kicked in. “He wanted to win so bad — not only did he want to win, he wanted to embarrass (Person),” recalled then-graduate manager Kyle Barlow. “And (Burke) dominated him.” It didn’t matter that this was a different sport. It didn’t matter that this was as informal a setting as you could get. Burke had to win, and he did. That was what every basketball recruit visiting Ann Arbor realized that day— and what the Wolverines’ coaching staff had come to understand a year prior—when they saw Burke play against live competition for the first time at a closed-door scrimmage against
Toledo. Trey Burke, it turns out, makes a strong first impression. On that day in October 2011, Burke had walked into the scrimmage with Stu Douglass, the presumptive starter at point guard. Instead, video analyst Pete Kahler, assistant coach LaVall Jordan and administrative specialist C.J. Lee watched together, mouths agape, as Burke came off the bench and gave Michigan its answer. Almost immediately, Burke stripped the ball from an opposing player, blew by Toledo’s transition defense and scored. He followed that by coming off a ball-screen and nailing a jumper, then picking up an assist. The coaching staff had known Burke was good, but not this good, and not this soon. “We’re like, ‘Whoa. We might need to give this kid the key to the car,’ ” Kahler said. “It was just very clear right away that (Burke) was just more athletic and more skilled than anybody on the court.” “It was the first experience of him in live competition,” Lee, who played point guard at Michigan between 2007 and 2009, added. “And it was something that was just noticeable. It’s like, ‘This guy is made to do this.’ ” When Burke came out, the offense slowed down. When he checked back in, it sped right back up. This wasn’t just a few good minutes. It was a precur-
sor for the next two seasons. Anyone with eyes knew then and there that Burke was simply better than Douglass. Including Douglass. “Stu went up to (Michigan) coach (John) Beilein and said, you know, ‘Coach, we gotta start him at the point,’ ” Kahler recalled. It took all of one game — the opener against Division II Ferris State — for that to come to fruition. Three days later when the Wolverines faced Towson, Beilein heeded Douglass’ advice. The starting job belonged to Burke. Burke’s legend starts there and, for now, ends 18 months later with a seemingly clean block, a whistle and a national championship game loss to Louisville. Everything that happens after is often considered a mere footnote because until four months ago, Burke was just another player who peaked in college before flaming out at the next level. Burke still may end up being just that, but he’s as close to rewriting that script as ever. *** There’s a formula to a season ending: Coaches frustrated, teammates nervous for the impending finish, shots that normally fall rimming out. In the 2013 Sweet 16 against Kansas, Michigan was following that to a T—until Burke broke it. Burke had been trying to
rally the troops throughout the second half, telling his teammates in timeout huddles it wasn’t over, they could come back — all the things you say partly because you believe them and partly because not saying them would be admitting defeat. It wasn’t until the Wolverines were down eight with two minutes to go and Burke forced a 10-second call on the Jayhawks’ Elijah Johnson that they became more than platitudes. At that point, LaVall Jordan started to holler, using a white Gatorade towel to smack the raised court, getting louder with each shot. As Burke kept hitting shots — a stepback 3-pointer over Jeff Withey to cut the deficit to five, a transition layup to cut it to three — Jordan began ignoring the playcalls Kahler suggested to him. “Pete!” Kahler remembered him yelling. “Just let that boy rock!” When Burke hit a shot, Jordan would scream, “That boy is special!” annunciating each word by hitting the towel against the court, sending fluff towards Kahler, as the rest of the bench stared, wide-eyed, the Wolverines pulling ever closer. Still, Michigan needed to foul Johnson and pray for a miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 to have a chance to tie at the end of regulation. Whether Johnson made or missed his free throws, the plan was the same: get the ball in as fast as possible, set two high ball-screens for Burke and go from there. Everyone knew the last shot — Michigan still needing a 3-pointer to tie — belonged to Burke. But he wasn’t supposed to pull up, at least not from 30 feet. He did anyway and drained it. “The follow-through was like a goose-neck,” said thenjunior guard Tim Hardaway Jr. “It was perfect, pretty, you couldn’t teach it any better.” “After (Burke) hit the shot … and then we all went to the timeout, he kept saying, ‘We’re not losing this game,’ ” thensenior guard Eso Akunne recalled. The Wolverines still had to defend with 4.3 seconds left, a situation they had blown earlier in the season after a Hardaway triple had seemingly won
a game at Wisconsin. But after Naadir Tharpe’s try at a gamewinner fell short, Michigan could see an impending loss on the face of every Kansas player. Throughout that year — even with a starting lineup that included three other future NBA Draftees — Michigan had leaned on Burke, and Burke had delivered. Now, with the season on the line, he had done so again. “It’s almost like a warm blanket,” Kahler said. “You’d go on the court and (know) that, no matter what happened, we had that great chance of winning. We were probably gonna win because we had Trey Burke on the team.” The blown lead oozed into the Jayhawks’ body language and the comeback into Michigan’s, as Burke rollicked around the court, scoring the Wolverines’ first five points of overtime. All the while, Jordan kept thwacking that towel. “Just let him go!” Kahler recalled Jordan belting. “Don’t need to run plays, just set a ballscreen, let him go to work.” When the buzzer sounded, handing Michigan an impossible 87-85 victory, it had Burke to thank. “Probably next to getting married, one of the best feelings in the world,” Kahler said. “I’m serious.” *** Needless to say, Burke hadn’t expected to be taking commercial flights to Canton, Ohio and Greensboro, and North Carolina four years later. But with his basketball career in need of a revival, life took Burke to White Plains, New York, home of the G-League’s Westchester Knicks. Four years after Burke played in front of the entire country during the Final Four, he was running point in front of barren arenas off the beaten path. At Michigan, Burke had been vocal in huddles during games, but often led by example. Now, at age 25, he was one of the team’s oldest, most experienced players. With the Wolverines, the closest Burke had come to mentorship was when Caris LeVert — another future NBA player from the Columbus area and a year behind Burke — came to Michigan. The two trashtalked, telling each other, “You can’t guard me,” until there was
no choice but settle it on the court. They played before practice, after practice — even on gamedays, at least until Kahler kicked them out of the gym. “They would go back and forth — who can’t guard who, or who would win 1-on-1 — and then there was just sorta, ‘Alright, shut up and grab a ball,’ ” Person said. “Next thing you know, they’re at it again.” In Westchester though, Burke embraced being the old guy in the locker room. Burke told teammates where they had to be in practice. He told them about his time in the NBA — about how, early in his career, an opposing player blew by him for a layup and how Burke realized this was different than college — and about anything else they asked. In film sessions, he spoke up. “We had about seven or eight rookies — everybody was instantly willing to listen and learn, because not too many times, coming in your first year, you get that cool of an opportunity to have somebody like that around,” said Paul Watson Jr., a Westchester guard last season. “... Trey was a leader for us instantly.” And, most importantly, after his career had sunk to its lowest point, Burke was having fun again. In one contest against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, he was held scoreless in the first half. The Mad Ants focused their entire defense around trapping him. Then Burke came out of the locker room and went on a tear, scoring 28 in the second half of what became a victory. “(Burke) told the guys (at halftime), he said, ‘I’m good. You guys keep doin’ what you’re doin’. You guys are open and I’m gonna find you,’ ” said Westchester Knicks coach Mike Miller. “... And then (in) the second half, it balanced out and he went on one of those runs.” Miller and Burke’s teammates alike all knew from the day he signed, the Knicks would call him up eventually. When that call finally came in mid-January—bringing Burke a little less than an hour south and a second chance— there was little room to squander it. ***
Read more online at MichiganDaily.com