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Thursday, October 11, 2018
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With a C+ average, Psych 225 has lowest mean grade of any LSA class Prof. says the normal distribution used to assign grades is supposed to help students AMARA SHAIKH Daily Staff Reporter
This is the first installment in a series of articles from The Michigan Daily that explore course evaluation and grade data at the University. Check out the article online to see The Daily’s interactive. When one LSA junior signed up for Psychology 225: Psychology of Human Sexuality for semester, she did not realize she was about to take the course with the worst grade distribution in the entire college of LSA. The class has consistently produced a mean grade of C+ in the past two semesters in which the course was taught: the lowest average grade out of any class within LSA. The course has been taught over the last 9 years by Associate Psychology professor Terri Conley. It offers a broad introduction of the various aspects of human sexuality as well as its intersections with gender. “I was definitely surprised,” the junior, who wishes to remain anonymous due to worries of repercussions in class, said. “First of all, when I’m signing up for classes I don’t really look at the grade distributions — I know that’s a thing I can look at, but I never do. This was kind of something I signed up for last minute. I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be an easy course, but I also was not
GOVERNMENT
‘U’ College Dems push reproductive rights, voting Richards in town to aid gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer’s campaign ELIZABETH LAWRENCE Daily Staff Reporter
DESIGN BY WILLA HUA
expecting it to be graded super harshly, especially since I’m a computer science major and this is a psych class, so I was definitely surprised.” The course has been graded on a curve and often results in a normal distribution. Though the average was low, prior course evaluations showed students felt coursework was not overbearing and demonstrated strong interest in learning the subject matter.
Conley was very surprised to find out about the class’s standing; she did not know it had the lowest mean grade in LSA until The Michigan Daily informed her of the fact. Though she was aware her students did not always appreciate having a curve, she never imagined it would lead to the lowest average in LSA. She explained how students in her class from the Ross School of Business typically seemed
to understand grading on the curve, but others struggled with it. “The business school people who would take my class were always like, ‘Yeah, we know what is going on,’” Conley said. “So it was just shocking to me to have it as the lowest class because I assumed most people were doing this, but I guess this explains why people can’t understand the curve. See PSYCH, Page 3A
University of Michigan students gathered to hear former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards speak Wednesday evening about her experience as an activist and organizer as well as her advice on how to mobilize Democratic voters. The University of Michigan’s chapter of College Democrats, along with Students for Whitmer, hosted Richards, who was in town to help with Gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer’s campaign. Public Policy senior Kellie Lounds, the chair of College Democrats, noted how inspiring Richards is for people wanting to make change. “Our women’s issues committee, which is a part of College Dems, is one of
our strongest groups, so I know there are people who were really excited about it,” Lounds said. “She is such an incredible and inspiring figure for young women across the country who want to get involved in organizing and want to make a difference in the political process without being an elected official is a really important speaker to have.” Richards opened the talk by speaking about her familiarity with Michigan, recalling her time with Planned Parenthood providing health care services and family planning in the state. She knew Michigan and Ann Arbor, well enough to consider a trip to Zingerman’s a must, she joked. She then turned to a more serious note, talking about how liberals may feel upset See RICHARDS, Page 3A
ACADEMICS
BUSINESS
‘U’ panel will look at faculty and ideology
Two-factor ID to turn on starting in January
New body created after boycott of rec letters for study abroad in Israel
Duo effort new part of Cyber Security Month campaign from the ‘U’
MAEVE O’BRIEN
MOLLY NORRIS
On Tuesday, the University of Michigan Office of the President released a letter addressing concerns of antiSemitism following reports of two U-M instructors refusing to write letters of recommendation for students wishing to study abroad in Israel and a controversial lecture given last week in the Penny Stamps Speaker Series. The University’s letter, signed by University President Mark Schlissel and Provost Martin A. Philbert, affirms the University’s opposition to the boycott of Israeli academic institutions and assures the instructors’ actions are being addressed through current U-M policy. “Withholding letters of recommendation based on personal views does not meet our university’s expectations for supporting the academic aspirations of our students,” the letter read. “Conduct that
The University of Michigan is making it mandatory for all faculty, staff and sponsored affiliates to turn on twofactor authentication through Duo by Jan. 23. An email from University Information and Technology Services was sent out to all faculty on Oct. 1, encouraging them to begin turning on twofactor authentication in acknowledgment of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Two-factor authentication is a method meant to make personal accounts more secure. With the system enabled, users must log in to their account by verifying their information with a second factor. Duo Security is one of Ann Arbor’s fastest growing startup companies—Cisco purchased the company for $2.3 milion this summer. Ravi Pendse, ITS vice president and chief information officer at the University,
Daily Staff Reporter
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Dr. Ronni Sanlo discusses the history of the LGBT community and her personal experience at the National Coming Out Day Lecture in the School of Social Work Wednesday evening.
Sanlo highlights LBGTQ activism on eve of National Coming Out Day Former head of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual Programs calls for programming on history LIAT WEINSTEIN For the Daily
LGBTQ rights speaker Ronni Sanlo spoke about the importance of acknowledging the historical roots of LGBTQ activism to a group of more than 50 students, faculty and alumni Wednesday night in honor of National Coming Out* Week. Sanlo also spoke about Check out the Daily’s News podcast, The Daily Weekly
her personal coming out story in addition to her struggles as a lesbian in the 1980s when she faced rampant discrimination in the workplace and lost custody of her children. Sanlo, who served as the director of the University of Michigan’s Lesbian and Gay Programs Office — and added the words “bisexual” and “transgender” to the office name — from 1994 to
1997, highlighted current attitudes toward the LGBTQ community as products of a long fight against prejudice and discrimination. Sanlo said the lack of attention paid to LGBTQ history contributes to the community’s continued invisibility. “You probably didn’t learn about us in school,” Sanlo said. “I sure didn’t. I didn’t learn about Alan Turing, a gay man
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who is considered the great parent of computer science and who broke the German code in 1945 to help the allies win World War II. Or authors Gertrude Stein and her partner, Alice B. Toklas. People need to know that we LGBTQ folk didn’t just pop out of the Out Bar last Thursday night, or at the pride festival this year. Coming out is DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN
See LGBTQ, Page 3A
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 9 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
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2A — Thursday, October 11, 2018
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
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people are getting the mumps at umich what decade am i in
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man umich is a trip sometimes. these yt girls excluded me from our group discussion so I only got to mention one point. when we were called on to share, tell me why the girls regurgitate MY exact point instead of the handful they discussed. this is why I hate group work.
@UMich coordinate with your student health plans to make sure they are not taking advantage of your students
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Researcher finds media coverage has outsize influence on reports of rape
Team rejects uncertainty over reporting rates, claims increase in cases due to more rape
kov wrote in an email interview. “In such areas, police are also less likely to make rape-related arrests.” Spaces with media outlets that Zhukov began the study when use sexual assault victim-blaming he was working on his Ph.D at language or include features that Harvard University. Partnering defend rape perpetrators report with Harvard officials, he created more cases of rape and fewer a machine learning algorithm related arrests, a University of that read and categorized media Michigan study found. Political reports of all kinds. During the Science Assistant Professor Yuri media coverage analysis, however, Sudoku Syndication Zhukov helped lead the first big the researchers came upon a report of an Ohio gang rape case and decided to apply their algorithm explicitly to rape coverage. “We used natural lanEASY guage processing and machine learning to detect victim-blaming language and other types of content in over 300,000 newspaper articles,” Zhukov wrote. “We then used various statistical estimators to establish a correlation between such language and local sexual crime rates, and to exclude various alternative explanations for this relationship.” Zhukov’s data correlates biased news coverage with an increase in rape reports and a decrease in police response. An obstacle in his research, however, is that most sexual assaults go unreported and an increase in rape statistics might also be connected with an increase of more victims CHEESY puzzle by sudokusyndication.com© sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. coming forward or an increase in crime. Even in the data analysis of newspapers from 2000 to 2013 regarding media’s portrayal of rape in the United States. “We used the tone and content of local news reporting as a measure of local norms toward rape, and found that there are more reported instances of rape in U.S. counties where news coverage of sexual assault is particularly insensitive and dismissive,” Zhu-
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aftermath of #MeToo, Zhukov claims his study disproves these ROSEANNE CHAO and CASEY TIN uncertainties. Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com “Unless more victims are comSenior Design Editor: Jack Silberman ing forward in the exact places where justice is most elusive, what ALEXIS RANKIN and KATELYN MULCAHY Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com we’re likely seeing is a genuine inSenior Photo Editors: Amelia Cacchione, Emma Richter, Evan Aaron crease in rape,” Zhukov wrote. Assistant Photo Editors: Alice Liu, Darby Stipe, Max Kuang, Ryan McLoughlin, At the University, sexual misAlec Cohen conduct reports have risen steadiBRIAN KUANG ly in the last four years, even as the Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com national reporting rates hovers http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ Deputy Editors: Colin Beresford, Jennifer Meer around 20 percent of survivors FINN STORER and ELISE LAARMAN notifying authorities of sexual asManaging Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com sault. This year, the number of Senior Copy Editors: Emily Stillman, Allie Bopp, Miriam Francisco reports received by the Office of ROBERT LESSER and JORDAN WOLFF Institutional Equity jumped by 27 Managing Online Editors lesserrc@michigandaily.com Senior Web Developers: Patricia Huang, Abna Panda, Hassaan Ali Wattoo, percent. Rebecca Tung Zhukov said this research canNOAH TAPPEN not determine news coverage Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com causes rape because that goes beSenior Video Editors: Abe Lofy, Robby Weinbaum, Jillian Drzinski, Danielle Kim yond the scope of the data. JASON ROWLAND and ASHLEY TJHUNG “The more plausible explanaMichigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com tion –– consistent with previous Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Lorna Brown, Zainab Bhindarwala, research –– is that local news Christian Paneda, Nisa Khan, Na’kia Channey reporting reflects local norms Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Angelo McKoy, Kareem Shunnar, Maya Mokh, Efe Osagie, Samuel So toward sexual assault,” Zhukov wrote. “To victims, these norms KAYLA WATERMAN and CARRINGTON TUBMAN Managing Social Media Editor might dictate how costly it is to come forward and seek justice. AVERY FRIEDMAN Managing Podcast Editor And where potential perpetrators believe that rape victims are unlikely to come forward, they may ADRIANNA KUSMIERCZYK feel more impunity.” Creative Director Zhukov claims not covering CAMERON COANE DEANA ZHU rape stories does more harm beSales Manager Special Projects Manager cause an increase in news stories JEFFREY ZHANG MARIO DRESAJ Local Accounts Manager Brand Manager regarding rape are associated with ALEC SPELLER ROHIT IYER greater levels of police vigilance Marketing Consulting Manager Business Development Manager and victims coming forward.
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PANEL From Page 1A violates this expectation and harms students will not be tolerated and will be addressed with serious consequences. Such actions interfere with our students’ opportunities, violate their academic freedom and betray our university’s educational mission.” The University is currently taking steps to discipline American Culture Associate professor John Cheney-Lippold, the first instructor to deny a letter of recommendation, a letter obtained by The Daily confirmed. The letter, written by Interim LSA Dean Elizabeth Cole and addressed to CheneyLippold, states he will not be eligible for a salary increase in the 20182019 school year and his sabbatical credits will be frozen for two years. The Office of the President letter also announced the University has created a panel of faculty to “examine the intersection between political thought/ ideolog y and faculty members’ responsibilities to students.” The panel will be chaired by President Emeritus James Duderstadt, a professor of science and engineering. The letter outlined the goals of the panel,
LGBTQ From Page 1A an act of courage, regardless of place, or age, or circumstance.” National Coming Out* Week, hosted by the University’s Spectrum Center, runs from Oct. 8 to 12 and features a queer student panel and student mixer, among other events. The week is centered around National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, which began in 1988 to commemorate the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Mark Chung Kwan Fan, the assistant director for engagement of the Spectrum Center, said the week’s events focused on the intersectionality of the LGBTQ community. Fan hoped National Coming Out* Week would increase visibility for less-known populations, such as transgender people of color. “I think that with the campus climate or societal climate changing, there are visibilities for some but not for others,” Fan said. “When we think about cis white gay men, for example, there’s a lot of visibility. When we refer to the LGBT community, a lot of people say ‘gay,’ and that’s just one subpopulation.” Sanlo, who identifies as Jewish, also discussed the
DUO From Page 1A explained two-factor as a combination of what you know and what you have. “When I think of twofactor, I really think of it as a combination of what you know, meaning your password, and what you have, meaning your second factor,” Pendse said. “And what you have could be your smartphone, or it could be a variety of other things.” Pendse described a number of options people can choose from for their second factor. The most common is to receive a push notification on your smartphone, but a text message, a hardware token or a special string of code are also available. Pendse said he believed that in the current climate, it is necessary to make sure we are protecting our accounts from phishing attacks and other forms of hacking. “Frankly, in the world
which include reviewing current university policy, examining similar policies of peer institutions and gathering stakeholder input. Ultimately, the panel is supposed to give recommendations on how to clarify existing policy or create new policy that better addresses how faculty should balance their personal views with their responsibilities to students. The letter also addressed a Penny Stamps Speaker Series presentation given by Emory Douglas, an artist for the Black Panther Party in 1967 through the 1980s. On one slide of his presentation, he displayed images of Adolf Hitler and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying they both had committed genocide. The University stated Israel was not singled out, as the presentation included imagery critical of other political leaders, and the ideas of speakers are not always ref lective of those of the University. However, it extended an apolog y to those offended. “Hitler and the genocide that he led, however, represent a horrific level of evil with few if any parallels in human history,” the letter read. “We understand how these images are offensive, particularly in this case to Jewish students. We are sorry students were hurt by this experience.”
importance of recognizing the diversity of the LGBTQ community. Citing a piece by writer Rita Mae Brown, Sanlo said the LGBTQ community is “confusing” because its members come from every possible race, ethnicity, religion and socio-economic background. “There are Jewish LGBT people and zen ones, Muslim and all the other religious possibilities, and some who don’t believe in any religion at all,” Sanlo said. “What we do have in common with one another in all our varieties is that many people who are not lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender think us odd.” Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Syd Brown said Sanlo’s lecture made them realize how important history is to understanding current LGBT issues. Brown also discussed how using theater as a form of activism has allowed them to spread their message of acceptance and understanding in a more effective way. “I’m really interested in the creative arts as a whole as a medium for exploring social justice,” Brown said. “(History) is not something that’s taught a whole lot, and it’s only talked about in our circles. I think branching out and reaching people who aren’t necessarily part of the community and bringing our history to them is really important.”
we live in right now, we are constantly dealing with security challenges,” Pendse said. “I’m sure not a day goes by when you don’t pick up a newspaper with an article where somebody is hacked.” DePriest Dockins, assistant director of identity and access management at ITS, also voiced his excitement about the potential of two-factor authentication on campus. “We are really excited about expanding two-factor across the Ann Arbor and the Dearborn campuses,” DePriest said. “I think that this will go a long way in making us more secure.” Florian Schaub, assistant professor at the School of Information and College of Engineering, said he enabled two-factor authentication as soon as it became available and believes in the push to make it mandatory among faculty. Read more online at
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Thursday, October 11, 2018 — 3A
R I G H T S I N M YA N M A R
MIKE ZLONKEVICZ/Daily Wai Wai Nu, international award winning human rights activist, speaks about her advocacy work with Rohingya women at the CEW+ Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe Lecture in the Michigan Theater Wednesday evening.
PSYCH From Page 1A Although I do think it is a little troubling when people with psychology backgrounds don’t understand what a normal distribution looks like.” The Daily’s data estimates PSYCH 225 is the only course in LSA that uses a true normal distribution centered at B-/ C+. The vast majority of curved courses use a skewed distribution, which results in significantly higher average grades. Conley also argued the curve used to benefit students’ overall grade, contrary to what many of her students believed. “The curve actually always helped out students, it didn’t hurt students,” Conley said. “I would say that but I think they didn’t believe me except for the ones maybe who would come in and look at the distribution with me.” Course evaluation data obtained by The Daily through the Freedom of Information Act also shows many students in the course felt like they did not know what was expected of them. Previous course evaluations show 69 percent of people felt they knew what was expected of them in the course. 88 percent of University courses had better expectation scores. The LSA junior also mentioned the issue of expectations. She explained even though the syllabus is pretty cohesive, the exam style and the grading scale are not articulated thoroughly by instructors. “The syllabus is very detailed, and we also have to sign a student contract,” she said. “So I think there is a big emphasis on the setting expectations, but I also think it’s kind of hard to really know what exams are going to be like before you go in.
RICHARDS From Page 1A or despondent about Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court this past weekend. Richards emphasized, though, the importance of perseverance. This time in history is one of the most exciting for activists, she said. “For folks who want to be involved in social change and changing the world, for good or bad, there’s never been a better time to do that,” Richards said. To enact this change, Richards urged students to get out into the community and register people to vote. In response to a question about how to talk to people with opposite beliefs, Richards said while engaging with the other side is important, the focus should be on increasing the voter base. “Right now, if the people in this room just focused on students and other folks who
We did have the practice midterm, but even still, the criteria of the grading scale was not sent out until the morning of the exam. So yes, that sets expectations, but it gives no room to prepare accordingly.” In regard to the course’s level of difficulty, Conley explained she never wanted to make the class unnecessarily hard, but instead hoped to offer a meaningfulchallenge for her students. “I get concerned about setting the bar too low, to some extent you could say if you reward people they persist,” Conley said. “But if it’s so easy that it doesn’t seem meaningful then I think people are less inclined to value what they’ve learned or think it’s important. I tend to think we should be having students work hard because that’s why you come to college, it’s supposed to be a challenge.” Conley also addressed the challenge of getting some students to appreciate the academic nature of a class on sexuality, which is something she feels is not a problem in other subjects. “It’s not like I set out to do this, this wasn’t my goal, but as I think of it, it does serve a purpose with this particular topic — an argument you wouldn’t have to make in students, let’s say, in chemistry, that chemistry is difficult or that chemistry can be intellectually challenging,” Conley said. Public Policy senior Samantha Kennedy is also taking the class this semester. She felt the low grade average might be due to something as simple as differing levels of incoming knowledge about human sexuality. “I think that the most surprising to me about it was just that I assumed a lot of people had the same knowledge I had going in and that’s why it might’ve been
easy for everyone, but I’m realizing people, especially freshman or sophomores who haven’t taken other women studies classes before, might not have had exposure to this kind of thinking, and this kind of open discussion about sex.” Kennedy also praised the content of the course, especially the way that it exposes students to facets of sexuality which are not usually accessible in a classroom setting. “We’ve broached a lot of topics that are often considered taboo to talk about in a classroom setting,” Kennedy said. “For example, we watched porn in class the other day, and we had a guest lecturer come in and pass around sex toys, so it’s been fun.” This semester, Conley redesigned the exam style from mostly multiple choice to short answer. She hopes the change will offer students a chance to critically think about the concepts in class. “This semester, I decided I wanted to try to engage them in a different way that I thought might map on better to how the course is structured, which is asking you to think critically about the issues that we’re talking about and provide their own ideas,” she said. “So that’s how the class is structured this semester to see if we can challenge them in a way that’s different than what we do in multiple choice exams.” Students recently experienced one of the new exams through a practice midterm, which took place last week. While the LSA junior appreciated the chance to try out the exam without the pressure of a grade, she found it very difficult to complete in the amount of time provided. She said the exam consisted of 8 essay-style questions and about 12 minutes were allotted
are registered to vote but who do not vote in midterms, your job is done,” Richards said. Though Richards said her primary focus as president of Planned Parenthood was on affordable health care and reproductive rights, she noted these issues intersect with a broad spectrum of others. The people she helped during her time at Planned Parenthood, Richards said, are also struggling to find access to basic human needs such as clean water or a safe community. “Same folks who are having trouble accessing affordable health care, are having trouble accessing clean water, right here in Michigan, or trouble accessing a community or a school that feels safe for their children,” Richards said. “All of these things are completely connected. So we have to be thinking about how do we change inequality on all of these issues.” Richards started her career as a labor organizer, working across several states
to help service workers with minimum wage and no benefits organize unions campaigns. Many of the people she worked with, she said, were not originally a part of the labor movement and are now doing more work than ever before, even with stricter laws against organizing. Richards emphasized repeatedly throughout her talk how this type of grassroots work is the way to make an impact in the government. “We need to imagine the country we want, and then work to build it,” Richards said. “Because it’s not going to come from Washington down, it’s going to come from the grassroots up.” LSA junior Emily Nistad, a member of College Democrats, said what stayed with her after Richards’ talk was how even by just encouraging her friends to vote, she could make a change. “What really resonates with me right now is talking
to answer each one. “We did just have a practice midterm, so it was the same format as the other exams, but it doesn’t actually count towards our grades,” she said. “Which was a nice opportunity, but it ended up being super hard … Even though it was open note, we had to cite from lectures and the book, so that was definitely kind of surprising for me because that was more difficult than I expected.” Kennedy, however, found the exam less difficult and noted the importance of using critical thinking when answering questions. “To me, it seemed relatively easy,” Kennedy said. “A lot of it was asking questions that sort of encouraged us to do our own analysis of things we had talked about a lot like stigmas surrounding STD, uses and comfort with sex toys and things like that. I felt that I was able to answer the questions pretty well by being able to think critically about topics we had discussed and less because of studying.” Moving forward, Conley offered suggestions on how to succeed in her course. She emphasized talking through the different concepts in class and really thinking critically about the course. She also encouraged students to continue taking her class, even if it is more challenging, because it has a lot to offer. “So many people when they take the course they really appreciate it but they say, ‘I gave you low scores because it was hard,’… and I feel like people should be tougher than that,” Conley said. “You got into Michigan, you’re smart and you’re accomplished and you should be able to be up for a challenge and not downgrade a course because it’s hard – that seems not completely fair. So I’d like people to appreciate that the course has things to offer them even if it’s not going to be an easy A.”
to your friends and getting them to vote and how to get people who are your peers interested and excited about the elections that are coming up,” Nistad said. “I feel like a lot of college students have a harder time thinking about that, but really the focus should be on just talking to your friends about it and the small things you can do.” In the last election, campus voter turned out ranged from 42.8 percent to 49.71 percent. So, according to Richards, voting is key. She said while acts of protest are important, Democrats need to work to make a lasting change. “Knitting your pussy hat, fantastic,” Richards said. “Showing up with hilarious signs, drinking wine with your friends and writing irate postcards to Mitch McConnell is good therapy. But voting and actually building political power that lasts is … so that’s kind of what I’m interested in. How do we take this moment, and make it a movement?”
Opinion
4A — Thursday, October 11, 2018
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ANAMARIA CRUZA | COLUMN
A
The on-demand gig work of survival
mid all the news that filling in the answers to my dominated the media word similarity task. My eyes last week, Amazon also glided toward the answers they had provided on made the headlines. their demographics. After months of The majority pressure, it raised the was middle class, minimum wage of its educated people, U.S. employees to $15 known to use MTurk an hour. to supplement You would think their earnings, but this marked at least there was another one happy ending predominant group. following the amalgam of events ANAMARIA One filled with people who were part occurring last week. CRUZA of the lower middle Instead, Amazon’s decision only reveals the bubble class or even living in poverty. Still, I couldn’t stop there. of indifference in which big tech companies are wrapping Those few comments filled themselves. While Amazon with human gratitude had built raised their hourly pay by $1, it a small bridge between those also decided to cut their yearly MTurkers and me. “My job just bonuses, making its workers fell through …” was among the lose at least $1,400 dollars a first titles I saw on Reddit’s year, as estimated by one of forum dedicated to discussions its workers. Still, this is only between MTurkers. It was part of Amazon’s story, a story written by a person who had that conceals the struggles of a just moved to a new city, had lost their job, had no degree subset of its workers. Part of my research at one and was suffering from anxiety, of the labs in the Electrical asking if working on MTurk Engineering and Computer could provide enough money Science Department is to survive for the next three to collecting data on how people four weeks. The first answer the perceive similarities between person received said a couple words. I was told to set up a of years ago MTurk provided task on Amazon’s Mechanical users with enough money for Turk, an online platform that minimum survival but that was researchers use to collect data no longer a possibility. The rest from people which are later used of the posts were of a similar in creating artificial intelligence nature: people desperate to models. Or, the way Amazon earn enough money for survival likes to put it, a “marketplace” through MTurk and responses that allows the use of “human from those saying that Amazon intelligence” in solving tasks was no longer providing that that computers are currently possibility. A 2016 Pew Research found unable to do. This was my first time using anything remotely 5 percent of workers earning similar to MTurk. The process, money from MTurk used the though, was misleadingly platform because there was no easy. Selecting the number of other available work in their cents to pay each respondent, area. Imagine having a full-time getting 500 responses in less job where your performance is than 8 hours and immediately constantly monitored. Where rejecting 200 respondents for there is a clock timing the unsatisfactory answers was amount of time you spend on strangely straightforward for each task that you have, a clock something that affected 500 that stops whenever you go to people. After all, those cents the bathroom, take lunch or were someone’s food for the start daydreaming in front of day. After all, I had rejected your computer. At the end of the 200 people, who would never day, your pay is based not on the 8 hours spent at the office, but receive those cents. While I was looking through rather the number of minutes the comments section filled completely focused on your by MTurkers (that’s how we work. Imagine on top of that, call Amazon MTurk workers) for every mistake you make on I noticed how many of the your tasks your manager takes comments were a simple away a certain percentage of “Thanks!” or “I really enjoyed your money. Imagining this taking this survey.” I started doesn’t even fully encapsulate wondering about the people the life of an MTurker trying to
JILLIAN LI | CONTACT JILLIAN AT UNIQUNAME@UMICH.EDU
survive the gig economy. The reason why my survey was completed by the time I woke up on that next day? It’s because people who use MTurk to support themselves often wake up at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. to fight for the highest-paying tasks. The reason why people are finding it increasingly hard to earn money through MTurk? It’s because the numbers of MTurkers is growing. It’s because, based on a Pew Research estimation by 2027 nearly one in three Americans might transition to online platforms to support themselves with on demand gig work. MTurk is the perfect model for keeping the world of researchers separated from that of the workers. Broadly put, it is the perfect model for separating the educated and the uneducated, through the power of technology. The bubble of indifference in which tech companies are wrapping themselves? It’s a bubble that helps them set their eyes on the future, to the detriment of the present. People working in the technology world are investing money into creating benevolent Artificial Intelligence, fearing that future AI might get out of hand. People working in the technology world are paying their employees so little that they are forcing them to rely on food stamps. They are scared about the possibility of a future where AI will take over our jobs, while forgetting that the way we are building these AI technologies is by taking advantage of people desperate to make a few cents. As a student, I try to understand this world of competing needs. Where the clear negative impact big technology companies can have, and my carefully tailored résumé to these same companies have to coexist. In a similar manner, tech companies have to start caring about both building the future generation of benevolent AI technologies and their employees and gigworkers. The answer to these two conundrums? That is something that neither Amazon or I have figured out yet.
Anamaria Cuza can be reached at anacuza@umich.edu.
T
The plight of Greek life
he fraternity is an institution almost as long-standing as American universities themselves. The very first can be traced back to 1776 when the Phi Beta Kappa society was founded at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Since then, Greek life has grown astronomically, with over 9 million members nationally. Many politically and financially successful individuals often publicly reminisce about their college days spent in Greek life, and those currently involved in such institutions will defend their chapters with fierce loyalty. To their credit, sororities and fraternities have been known to provide a strong sense of community to emerging college students and to devote themselves to philanthropic endeavors. However, in recent years, it has become glaringly apparent that Greek life is getting out of hand with potentially dire consequences. With reports of deadly hazing, dangerous levels of alcohol consumption, increased instances of sexual assault and stories of racist incidents within chapters, Greek life is under intense scrutiny. Major universities across the nation have taken steps to control this image, either by suspending, banning or regulating the activities of fraternities and sororities. However, as universities work to mitigate the criticisms of Greek life, it is reasonable to question the purpose of the Greek system as a whole. As colleges continue to increase non-Greek life related student organizations, as the internet develops new outlets to connect current students with alumni and as horrific stories of Greek life reality come to light, it is clear that the original purpose of such organizations is now obsolete. There are abundant examples of Greek life gone wrong that illuminate how the disadvantages associated with such organizations far outweigh any potential benefits. Fraternities certainly bear the brunt of this image. While pop culture representation perpetuates an Animal House-type lifestyle of partying and drinking with reckless abandon, the true reality is much darker. Take, for example, the February 2017 death of 19-year-old Timothy Piazza. Piazza, a pledge at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Pennsylvania State University, fell down a flight of stairs after an evening of heavy drinking during a hazing event. He was carried, unconscious, to a couch by his fraternity brothers after the fall, clearly in need of medical attention. Instead, the other members slapped, punched and poured beer on him. He laid unconscious for 12 hours before emergency medical care was called, and Piazza died soon thereafter.
In response to Piazza’s death, his parents pressed charges against several members of the Penn State chapter of Beta Theta Pi, and the president of the university vowed to increase punishment for instances of hazing. Yet, it is not difficult to find instances of hazing with dire consequences. Matthew Carrington died of hypothermia and water intoxication in the basement of the Chi Tau fraternity house when he was doused with cold water while forced to drink five gallons of water as part of a hazing ritual at California State University in 2005. Four student pledges in total died as a result of hazing in 2017 alone. Yet, on the campuses of fraternities where such tragedies have occurred, these names are barely remembered. When a young pledge dies at the hands of fraternity members, there is typically a period of fierce outrage, condemnation of the programs, suspension of the fraternity chapter, and then everyone involved begins to resume their typical lives — not even noticing that the same practices occur frequently after the fact. Beyond the deaths resulting from hazing or excessive alcohol consumption, fraternities have frequently found themselves involved in scandals of another nature. Research shows that fraternity men are three times more likely to commit sexual assault than their non-Greek life affiliated peers. Conversely, membership in a sorority is considered a risk factor for sexual assault, with some reports demonstrating up to 74 percent of college sexual assault victims are sorority members. There have been several public instances of fraternities and their issues with sexual assault. In 2010, fraternity men at prestigious Yale University were recorded chanting the pro-rape phrase “No means yes, yes means anal” around campus. Matthew Peterson, a fraternity brother at Georgia Institute of Technology, circulated an email around his fraternity containing a manual titled “Luring your rapebait.” At many universities, young women are instructed on which fraternities are safe and which to avoid because of their reputations of sexual assault. Sexual assault is just one of the many issues plaguing fraternities today. As most fraternities nationwide are almost entirely comprised of white members, fraternity culture has become deeply intertwined with racism. The University of Michigan made headlines in 2013 when the Theta Xi fraternity planned a social event titled “Hood Ratchet Thursday,” capitalizing on racial stereotypes of Black people and appropriating them to a largely white audience. In 2015, University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon
brothers were recorded singing a fraternity song including the following lyric: “There will never be a (expletive) in SAE.” This chant was allegedly taught across chapters of the fraternity. In April 2018, California Polytechnic University suspended all Greek life after photos circulated of white fraternity members appearing in blackface. While the negative aspects of fraternity life have long been exposed, the practices of sororities are often equally problematic. Three George Washington University students were expelled from Alpha Phi after they posted a picture with a racist caption comparing African Americans to monkeys. Harley Barber, a former member of Alpha Phi was expelled from the University of Alabama in 2018 after posting two racist rant videos to her secondary Instagram account. Compounding the racial issues, sororities have long had issues pertaining to image and what the ideal sorority girl should “look” like. This problem was once again highlighted this past September by the so-called “Beta Delta Letter,” published by an anonymous former sorority recruitment chair for the University of Michigan chapter. In this letter, the author details the methods by which the PNMs, or potential new members, of the sorority were rated on a scale from one to 10, largely based on whether or not their physical appearance fit the conventional beauty standards of a “top tier” sorority. Once deeper in the recruitment process, the recruitment chairs resorted to ranking their fellow sorority sisters on the same scale, determining who would be best apt to recruit the most desirable pledges. Once said pledges were officially recruited, a PowerPoint presentation was sent to fraternities with their names and faces only, with no other personal information. If I were to include all or even most of the publicly known controversies associated with Greek life, this article would be nearly endless. The truth is, these are issues that arise constantly, and very few of us are surprised when we hear them. A tragedy or instance of egregious sexism or racism is uncovered, individuals are reprimanded or chapters are suspended, and similar circumstances occur again elsewhere. The steps taken in the past to remedy these affairs are not working. As important as Greek life is to social life on college campuses and to individuals involved, it is clear that it is now antiquated, resulting in senseless tragedies from which universities must disaffiliate. Alanna Berger can be reached at balanna@umich.edu.
KIANNA MARQUEZ | COLUMN
T
he water filter in the Chemistry Building was still broken today, leaving its attached drinking fountain completely unusable. I think to myself, “For a city that has a knack for self-sustenance, isn’t that kind of disappointing?” Resources both tangible and intangible are plentiful here in Ann Arbor, so it’s always striking when I see it slacking. In 2014, the EPA required cities to test their water systems for a series of chemicals. Ann Arbor complied and found the high rates of PFAS. PFAS are essentially man-made chemicals that are difficult to break down in any setting. As expected, exposure to these chemicals has adverse health effects, such as damage to the immune system, cancer, birth defects and thyroid hormone disruption. Our health can be jeopardized by these chemicals and there’s no doubt that the quality of our grass, ponds, trees, hills and air is at stake as well. It’s not in our control — nor should it necessarily be our responsibility — to maintain the prevalence of these chemicals in the environment around us. This type of professionalism and protection should come from the industries that use and contain these chemicals: manufacturing plants and landfills. The city of Ann Arbor discovered the chemicals due to runoff from these types of urban settings, and the reason we didn’t know they were there in the first place is because our local manufacturing plants and landfill maintenance teams do not prioritize informing the city about the risks that can result from the work they do, or even worse, they are not even aware of how their work can produce these threatening chemicals. I understand that the information
Water we doing? we collectively have regarding the hazards of PFAS is somewhat minimal because it’s a relatively new chemical that’s in the beginning stages of study. However, I don’t understand how industry has proceeded to use or produce it without considering its potential harmful consequences. We should have industrial centers that put quality of life at the forefront of their work. It’s not enough to find solutions to the issues we create for ourselves; those who have the ability to make decisions for household items production and for maintaining our infrastructure need to think about preventing an issue before it even happens. This is a worldwide phenomenon, one almost an impossible one to change at this point, I know that. Despite this, we deserve a healthy life for ourselves and the organisms in our ecosystems, and I am more than willing to come together in this step toward bringing attention to our society’s workings that threaten well-being. Ann Arbor officials have asked for $850,000 from the City Council to upgrade the filtration system of its water treatment plant to reduce the risk of contamination in its filtered drinking water. Using new technology to execute this goal, the water treatment plant staff will fully fund this attempt to restore the quality of the river, as it should. Currently, the city has resumed testing and has measured its drinking water at conditions that already exceed the standards of the EPA, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality,and several other centers for disease control. However, water treatment manager Brian Steglitz predicts even better conditions after new filters
are added, stating, “PFOS/PFOA levels in the drinking water will be reliably below 10-ppt.” He and the water treatment plant staff are urged the decision to be made this month about the amount of money that the city will allow for this restoration. It’s imperative that we use the resources we have to allow ourselves to perform the best we can. There are cities that are unable to concentrate their efforts into a particular sector that is struggling to maintain a consistent output, especially if its people have little to no actual care for it, because they are preoccupied with the issues of other more prominent sectors. But I know that the city I just described is not Ann Arbor. I am proud to live in a city and attend a university that cares now more than ever before about the impact of its actions on the quality of our local environment. I valued being raised in a community that values quality and is mindful of making itself available and adaptable so that everything and everyone can coexist. People in this city don’t deserve to be scolded for its shortcomings that occur when other corporations or government bodies function with ignorance, so I am teeming with urgency for this city. I want it to do better in the ways that it can. I want people to take it upon themselves to fix the disparity we have in front us between abundant capability and subpar output. Be determined to fix what’s irreparable. Demand more from each other. Give us the clean water that should be easily accessible and treatable here out of all places. Invest in the water filter. Kianna Marquez can be reached at kmarquez@umich.edu.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, October 11, 2018— 5A
Pastujov finds footing early for Wolverines Wolverines top OSU RIAN RATNAVALE
MOLLY SHEA
Daily Sports Writer
Six minutes into the No. 4 Michigan hockey team’s exhibition match against Waterloo, Nick Pastujov found daylight. In the middle of a five-onthree advantage, the junior forward positioned himself in the slot, corralled a pass from junior wing Jake Slaker and slapped in his second goal in as many games into the bottom right corner of the net. “It’s huge because it gets the monkey off your back,” Pastujov said. “When you finish the year so strong and you work so hard during the summer and the spring, getting that first goal in the first real game feels amazing. It could have easily just not gone in, but it’s nice to get that confidence rolling in the game.” For Pastujov, a fast start like this is a new and welcome sight. Points were few and far between for him as a freshman, tallying one goal and two assists. To start his sophomore season, Pastujov had to deal with nagging injuries, cutting into his playing time and development. But just as the Wolverines caught fire in the second half of last season, Pastujov found a spark. In the NCA A Tournament, he scored a goal in a 6-3 win over Boston University and notched an assist in Michigan’s semifinal loss to Notre Dame, cementing himself in the Wolverines’ depth chart as one of Michigan’s key wings. With 15 points under his belt, Pastujov found much of his success that year in good, old-fashioned five-on-five hockey. “I think it was definitely
For the Daily
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Junior forward Nick Pastujov has scored a goal in Michigan’s opener against Vermont and in an exhibition with Waterloo.
after Christmas when the team and I got into that same grove and started winning a bunch of games in a row,” Pastujov said. “I think we were also big because pretty much all of the points we got were on evenstrength goals. I think those are important in a game that might not have as many penalties.” That experience has helped him transition to a more prominant presence on the ice this season as a member of the special teams unit. Against Waterloo, Pastujov scored early in the first period after two canceling penalities resulted in four-on-four hockey. A day earlier against Vermont, he notched a game-
“It’s huge because it gets the monkey off your back.”
Classifieds
tying, power play goal at 10:18 in the first period. Beyond producing on the ice, though, perhaps the biggest leap that Pastujov has made was mental rather than physical. “I think he finally got some confidence,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “And what comes first? Confidence and then you have a good game? Or do you have a good game and build some confidence off that? I think he had good games and he got some confidence and that just went right into his finish last year.” That question is now a season-long one rather than a game-by-game one. Pastujov got his foot in the
door and now has a chance to hold it open as a key part of Michigan’s roster. Will the forward find confidence from his start and continue his level of play, or will he let his play dictate his level of confidence? Either way, he plans to use his determination as the main indicator of his season over anything else. “I want to get faster and I want to get more competitive,” Pastujov said. “I want to really go into battles and win every single one-onone. I don’t want to lose any battles. I don’t want to lose any faceoff. I just want to bring in a new level of speed in my game that brings us to the next level.”
“I think he finally got some confidence.”
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Release Date: Thursday, October 11, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Moment of remorse 5 Portrayer of a big scaredy-cat 9 One thing on top of another 14 Saucony rival 15 Resort town near Santa Barbara 16 Buffalo hockey player 17 *They’re for the dogs 19 French clerics 20 Make rough 22 __ tick: disease carrier 23 Open, as toothpaste 26 By any means 28 It may be proper 29 Start to mature? 32 Poll gathering 33 Lancelot and Mix-a-Lot 34 “La Cage __ Folles” 35 Bleak 38 Linguistic suffix 39 *Enter on the sly 41 Word before and after “oh” 42 Freshwater minnow 44 Chaps 45 2002-’03 viral outbreak, briefly 46 Together, so to speak 47 Droop 48 Plasm prefix 49 Followers of shots 52 Taj __ 53 Put the brakes on 54 Phantom 58 “Mental Illness” Grammy winner Mann 60 Jiffy Lube service, and a hint to the start of the answers to starred clues 64 Engagement ring centerpiece 65 Lackluster 66 Like some U.S. mail 67 Belarus capital 68 Start of a decision-making rhyme 69 Actor Miller of “Justice League”
DOWN 1 Bud 2 Park in NYC, e.g. 3 Long of “NCIS: Los Angeles” 4 Garage containers 5 “Copacabana” showgirl 6 Open a bit 7 Verbal hesitations 8 Reacts to yeast 9 ID issuer 10 Laptop alternatives 11 *Two-time women’s soccer Olympic gold medalist 12 Espresso foam 13 “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” novelist 18 Short trip 21 Dropping (off) 23 Indy racing family name 24 Din 25 *Gravlax 27 Key 29 They go for the gold 30 Feel remorse for 31 Finals, say 36 Major artery
37 Germ-killing brand 39 Triangle ratio 40 Hawaii’s Mauna __ 43 Buckles, as a seat belt 45 Yachting event, e.g. 49 Great divide 50 French-speaking Western Hemisphere country
51 Fine English china 52 “So-so” 55 Kerry locale 56 Extended family 57 Frozen dessert chain 59 “Yikes!” 61 Pince-__ glasses 62 Watchdog’s warning 63 ORD posting
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Sophomore midfielder Nicki Hernandez scored Michigan’s only goal on Friday.
Siimar shows maturity in 4-2 run at ITA All-American Tournament AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA Daily Sports Writer
HELP WANTED
The stage was set for a Friday night showdown between the Michigan women’s soccer team (6-6 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) and Ohio State (6-4-1, 3-1-1). The Wolverines snapped their two-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory. The Wolverines held the Buckeyes shotless for the first 15 minutes, dominating them. An opportunity came for Michigan with 22 minutes left to play in the first half, senior forward Reilly Martin sent a bending cross into the box with freshman Raleigh Loughman’s head as the target. Loughman’s header hit off the far post and rolled horizontally across the goal line. The call on the field was a goal, but after video review the goal was overturned, and the game remained tied at zero. “Just keep doing what we’re doing obviously, we’re creating a lot of good chances and so just stick with the game plan,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Klein. “I felt like we just needed to pick up our speed of play a little bit. We kind of dropped the pace of our pass but really just keep doing what we’re doing because it’s working and we’ll get one.” After the called-off goal, the momentum swung in favor of Ohio State. A scoring chance came for the Buckeyes with three minutes left in the half, after a ball was played in behind the defense right to the feet of an Ohio State forward.
Sophomore goalkeeper Hillary Beall came up with a diving kick save to keep the game tied at zero heading into half. The Wolverines’ big break came just 13 minutes into the second half, when Martin sent another soaring cross into the box. Sophomore midfielder Nicki Hernandez headed the ball directly past the keeper. “We worked on winning balls in and out of the air and once we regain the ball how does that spring into our attack, and really being much better about set pieces,” said Klein. “Prior to the game tonight, we’ve given up eight goals and five of them have been on set pieces. We spent a lot of time on how we need to be better about that.” It was not smooth sailing for the Wolverines after this goal, though, because the Buckeyes had a handful of quality opportunities to even the score. The most dangerous of these chances came with 20 minutes left in the game, when an Ohio State forward got in behind the defense and Beall was forced to make another save with her knees. Beall earned her second shutout of the season, stopping all 10 of the shots she faced. “To really win big and be good you have to make sure that you don’t give goals up,” Klein said. “Really putting a big emphasis on being disciplined defensively and making sure that we don’t give away chance and I thought the defense and the goal keeper played great tonight.”
No longer in his first year, Mattias Siimar proved his growth and experience this past week at the ITA AllAmerican singles tournament in Tulsa, Okla. Playing against the nation’s cream of the crop, the sophomore finished 4-2 on the week, playing six matches in as many days. “For (Siimar), the more tennis the better,” said Michigan coach Adam Steinberg. “He just loves playing, so he got to play a ton. So I’m sure he’s thrilled about the whole experience.” The first two days of the tournament, Siimar was forced to play three matches to qualify for the main draw. After comfortably winning the first Monday, he looked as if he was struggling early in his second match, suffering a 6-0 loss in the first set before turning on the afterburners and winning the next two, 6-1, 7-5. “(Siimar), like I said, loves
tennis,” Steinberg said. “He loves to compete. He’ll never give up. He believes in himself. So when he loses a set 6-0, he will not fade away for sure. He’s going to come back. He’s always been like that; he’ll always be like that. So I wasn’t surprised that he figured out and let that set go in his mind.” Though exhausted, he followed that win with another on the same day to get out of the qualifying rounds, this time in straight sets. “(Siimar’s) goal was to qualify and get into the main draw,” said Steinberg. “I don’t think he cared if he played at three in the morning, two matches. He wanted to make it so bad, so he was motivated. And he’s in good shape. He can play those matches.” His toughest test came in the first round of the main draw on Thursday, when he played nationally-ranked No. 16 Aleksandre Bakshi of Oklahoma. Siimar dominated the first set, 6-1, before losing the next two sets, 6-3 each.
“He won the first set easy and was up early in the second set then lost his focus a little bit,” Steinberg said. “When you do that against those top players, then all of a sudden you’re in a bad hole that you didn’t think you’d be in.” “In the big picture of things, I think it’ll help (him) as he goes along because he’ll be prepared to play with the number one and two at the University of Oklahoma right there,” added Steinberg. “Even though he lost, it’ll help his confidence.” Siimar finished the weekend in the back draw, winning his first match before losing Saturday in the consolation round of 16, marking a winning record for the underclassman who is bound to be one of the top players in the lineup when team competition rolls around in the winter. “He lives and breathes (tennis),” Steinberg said. “He wants to get better and when you have guys like that, it’s always positive and they always improve.”
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Sophomore Mattias Siimar played six matches in six days, earning a spot in the main draw after notching three wins.
Sports
6A — Thursday, October 11, 2018
I
t’s a tired ultimatum at this point: win these three games, and only then is the Michigan ETHAN football team WOLFE for real. Only then is Jim Harbaugh, after four years of manifesting his all-star presence, the savior. With No. 15 Wisconsin rolling into Ann Arbor on Saturday (opening as eight-point underdogs, mind you), fans are handling the game as a makeor-break ordeal. The team is, too, and they’re talking about it. “This is one of those games you see on the schedule, you gotta get those first six games out of the way,” said junior linebacker Devin Bush Jr. “But you know this game is eventually coming, and now that it’s here, it’s all you’ve been waiting for.” The 12th-ranked Wolverines have talked big game of their potential in the past and faltered. Why believe them now? Flashback to Aug. 29. Notre Dame awaits. “The reality is,” said assistant head coach Pep Hamilton, “that everybody’s gonna find out who we are and what we’re made of on Saturday night.” The Wolverines, of course, lost that game, 24-17. As of Oct. 11, there is nary a word that Michigan is remotely the same team as the one that looked outmatched end-to-end in South Bend. The team has spoken in the same manner before, but not like it has now. Maybe it’s bulletin board material for them. But maybe, with momentum and genuine confidence in hand, there is truthful conviction.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
What do you believe?
AARON BAKER/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson has improved weekly while players and coaches have noticed his increased confidence going into Saturday’s game against Wisconsin.
Ask the team’s emotional leader, defensive end Chase Winovich. “It’s pretty obvious there’s something different about this team,” the fifth-year senior said. Obvious. Ask another fifthyear senior, Jared Wangler. “There is something special with this team,” Wangler said. “You can feel it. I feel like we’re hitting on all cylinders right now … confidence is there, which is really what you need, especially in these big games coming up. I sense something great about this team.” Even Wisconsin’s head coach, Paul Chryst, can see it on film. “They have great confi-
dence and knowledge in their scheme,” Chryst said. So now you have to consider for yourself if you believe the hype, or if the five games after Notre Dame were just a gift with a pretty bow on top. Can you put yourself on the bandwagon that a loss to the Badgers is devastating and, more importantly, unexpected? Leaving the Wolverines’ words to the wayside, the answer might still be “yes.” Wisconsin, geared for a transcendent season, has been
far from perfect. National title hopes vanished with a loss to BYU, and the Badgers’ patented roughneck defense has been suspect. Michigan State has looked wholly unimpressive in all five of its games. Penn State’s offense is still at a Penn State level, but a near-loss to Appalachian State and three tight quarters against a downtrodden Illinois have exposed chinks in the armor. Going 0-3 in this stretch, like last season, is possible. But it seems utterly more impos-
“I feel like we’re hitting on all cylinders right now...”
sible than winning them all at the moment, like two seasons ago. It’s a rejuvenated confidence predictably built on the shoulders of Michigan’s newfound torchbearer: junior quarterback Shea Patterson. “There’s the preparation part there,” said running backs coach Jay Harbaugh of Patterson. “And then there’s that kind of gut trust that this guy can make some stuff happen. Our team never feels like we’re out of it or we’re gonna lose or anything. But having a guy like that kinda amplifies it. You really feel like there’s nothing that can stop us because he’s so dangerous and able to make things happen.” Added cornerbacks coach Mike Zordich, perhaps the
most no-nonsense coach on the Wolverines’ staff: “They’re starting to feel comfortable with each other the system, and they’re playing together. … I think Shea has done a hell of a job of bringing everyone together on that side of the ball.” The team goes as Patterson goes. Jim Harbaugh said that even his seven-year-old daughter Katie recognizes that. And with marked game-by-game improvement by Patterson, redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry claims that he’s never been more confident in the offense and the team as a whole. It’s not as “fragmented” like last year as Zordich believes. The experience, the hunger and the weight of every confident syllable the team has uttered are there. And if you still don’t believe — if Harbaugh’s play-calling causes you physical distress, if the offensive line has every f law we thought it did, if the defense takes too much time to settle in on Saturday or whatever else can happen — there is nothing that’s been said to suggest a loss is unavoidable. Or maybe the team understands something that we don’t. “This is the part of the season where it defines your whole season and what your team wants to do,” Bush said. “We know how to beat teams like that. We know what it takes to beat teams like that.” They’ve talked the talk. Now, with the hunt of a Big Ten Championship truly beginning with this three-game gauntlet, how those words present themselves will speak to the talent and mettle of this team. Are you convinced? Wolfe can be reached at eewolfe@umich.edu or on Twitter at @ethanewolfe.
‘M’ falls to Penn State Zordich has another message for corners KENT SCHWARTZ For the Daily
The ball edged just outside the reach of a Michigan defender straight into the path of Penn State’s Kristin Schnurr, who took two dribbles forward into the space in front of her. Her shot whistled low and hard past the keeper to the far post. The goal, in the 67th minute, tied Sunday’s game between the Nittany Lions and the Michigan women’s soccer team. Fifteen minutes later, Penn State scored the game-winning goal in a similar fashion. Frankie Tagliaferri got behind the defense and curled a shot into the high near post. The 2-1 lead held for the Nittany Lions, as they improved their record to 9-5 overall, 5-2 in the Big Ten. The Wolverines (7-7, 3-4) fell back to .500, but there were silver linings for the team. “As difficult as this loss is, I’m actually really proud of the way that our team played,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Klein. “I thought our first half was the best 45 minutes that our group has played since being here. I just felt like it was complete.” In fact, Michigan did dominate the first half with four shots on goal and four corners. Meanwhile, the Wolverines
blanked Penn State in both categories. Most of the Michigan attack came from out wide — several dangerous crosses came from both sides, and senior winger Reilly Martin had three shots on goal. “Yeah, it’s an area that we spent a lot of time on over the last couple of weeks because I think we have some strengths in that area with some of the players that are out wide,” Klein said. “And so I think that it’s just something that we’ve been working on.” The high point of the first half, though, was the goal by sophomore midfielder Sarah Stratigakis in the ninth minute. Winning the ball off a Nittany Lions defender, she had a clear picture of goal 16 yards out. Coolly, she slotted the ball inside the far post beyond the reach of the keeper. The goal was what kicked off Michigan’s dominant first half, and gave them the momentum for most of the game. Momentum, though, changes. The Wolverines lost it at the most critical time by letting in Schnurr’s goal. From then on, the game was all Penn State. With four shots and another goal, the pressure on Michigan was mounting — and the Wolverines could not recover.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior winger Reilly Martin notched three shots on goal in Michigan’s loss.
MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Editor
In the vein of its head coach, the Michigan football program is usually tight-lipped around the media. That is except for Michael Zordich, who has twice used press conferences at Schembechler Hall to call out players. In August of 2017, the secondary coach said his group was “scared to make plays” before questioning junior corner Lavert Hill’s willingness to practice through injury last spring. Wednesday, Zordich was at it again. He challenged his freshman corners, Myles Sims, Gemon Green, Sammy Faustin and Vincent Gray. “They need to grow up and get used to being in college and understand it’s a little different than being a four, five-star guy,” Zordich said. “You’re now a zero-star guy, start from the beginning, compete every day and get better.” Even with an injury to redshirt freshman Benjamin St. Juste, the Wolverines returned a deep corner room from 2017. Barring injury, it would have been surprising to see any of those true freshmen receive regular playing time. Still, Zordich hasn’t been especially encouraged by their progress. “They’ve got a long way to go,” Zordich said. “As long as they understand that, and they come here to work every day, they’ll be fine because they got talent. That’s why they’re here. “They’ve got to earn their stripes.” From last Fall Camp’s uncertainty, that’s what Hill and sophomore David Long did in starting roles the past two seasons. Michigan allowed the fewest passing yards nationally in 2017 — a mark it’s on pace for this year, allowing 134 yards per game. In last Saturday’s win over Maryland, Brandon Watson made the group’s biggest
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Fifth-year senior cornerback Brandon Watson returned an undercut slant route against Maryland for a touchdown.
play. The fifth-year senior undercut a slant route in the fourth quarter and returned it 46 yards for the game’s final touchdown. It was Watson’s second interception of the season, furthering his role as a reliable third option for Zordich. “Coach Brown and I — it’s funny, we watch film in the mornings from the night before — there’s (Watson) causing some kind of problems some way along the line in practice,” Zordich said. “It gets noticed.” The Wolverines have occasionally used Watson in nickel sets, moving Hill or Long inside to cover the slot. But that’s not the bread and butter for No. 15 Wisconsin, which visit Ann Arbor on
Saturday. Like Michigan, the Badgers are a run-first, smash-mouth offense. “They’ll get in these sets, it’s like rugby,” Zordich said. “Everybody’s in there real tight running the ball, and then all of sudden — boom — play action and they’re throwing all over. So the running game really sets up their passing game big-time.” Zordich mentioned the Wolverines are focusing on forcing Wisconsin into predictable passing situations on third down. The presence of running back Jonathon Taylor — the Big Ten’s leading rusher with 849 yards and eight touchdowns — and potentially the best offensive line in college football could make that difficult.
“They need to grow up and get used to being in college...”
It’ll be strength-on-strength Saturday, as Michigan is one of eight teams nationally that allows less than 100 rushing yards per game. “Yeah, that’s one thing as a defense we pride ourselves on: can’t run the ball, you gotta beat us passing,” said junior safety Josh Metellus on Tuesday. “Once get them in third down, that’s where we want to thrive as a defense. … So we just make sure a team can’t run the ball, get them in third-and-long, get our ends, D-tackles doing work.” Wisconsin has the best rushing attack Michigan will see in the regular season. Though it won’t be the focal point in stopping the Badgers’ ground attack, Zordich’s group is still preparing for a tough battle. “These guys, they’re going to go north and south,” Zordich said. “For our corners and safeties on the edge, they got to fill the lanes. It’s going to be more of a challenge.”
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A different approach to feel good at Openfloor JACK BRANDON Daily Film Editor
The wellness industry is booming. Brands like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and Jessica Alba’s Honest Company have made the act of being healthy, whatever that may mean to you, into both an experience and an aesthetic. An outfit consisting of a sweatshirt and yoga pants can be chic and stylish — it shows you’re taking care of yourself while also not taking yourself too seriously. A bare-faced look can work, too — show them how you radiate that healthy glow. The popularity of brands like Lululemon and Glossier reflects this trend toward the seemingly natural and unselfconscious. Because there is no “right” way to be well, however, different brands can impose a multitude of standards on the public. Going to the gym Monday through Thursday in his old, white New Balances might be enough for your dad, but for a younger demographic, the optics are a little more important. Behind a trip to the gym is a planned outfit, followed by a smoothie, taken from a recipe on a wellness blog, and then maybe a shower and a couple of steps in a skincare routine. For those who can afford it, being healthy is as easy as building that wardrobe or shopping for the right ingredients. For those who can’t, wellness is constantly just out of reach, hidden behind a high price tag or someone asking you to buy a fitness plan. Paltrow herself, in an interview with The New York Times Magazine, has said, “‘It’s crucial to me that we remain aspirational. Our stuff is beautiful. The ingredients are beautiful. You can’t get that at a lower price point. You can’t make these things mass-market.’” Openfloor Studio, located on State Street, seeks to change that approach. Upstairs, between Totoro and The Getup Vintage, the studio is a wide, long, rectangular room with white walls. There are three air conditioners, three mirrors on the wall opposite the door and three window panes from which sunlight from the street pours in. It’s one of those perfectly nondescript spaces that you want to stand in: bright, open, bigger than it seems. When I arrive to talk with Zack Lennon and Gjergji Prendi, two of the founders of Openfloor, one of their renters is meditating alone with the blinds closed. I decide not to disturb her. My initial impression of Openfloor was that it was a yoga studio only, but Lennon and Prendi are quick to refine my definition. “The vision that we have is to build this ever-changing calendar of local events, local instructors and to provide a variety of classes in one space that are affordable for students and instructors,” Lennon said. “To have a variety, we’re pushing for this start-up idea for instructors, so if there’s a
new student here that recently got certified in yoga and wants to start their own movement. This gives them the opportunity without signing a lease or signing their life away.” The space, however, did start with a yoga emphasis. “It was a blank slate,” Lennon said. “We got the space before we had the final business plan sorted. We had a full yoga schedule and that put the vision of Openfloor in the wrong direction.” Part of redirecting the vision of Openfloor involved putting an emphasis on classes outside of yoga. Currently, its monthly schedule includes Tango, Bachata and Kizomba dance classes, on top of a regular schedule of yoga classes taught by a group of instructors called Nak*d Yoga. Kara Porter, a member of Nak*d Yoga, spoke about her experience at Openfloor. “It’s a very mellow atmosphere. You can just tell the vibes are different,” she said. “Other studios, you show up and everyone has Lululemon and crazy expensive stuff. There’s a lot of pressure. There’s a complete release of pressure (at Openfloor). It’s really nice.” Another member of Nak*d Yoga, Ruby Siada, joined The Daily in a phone interview to speak about her time developing the group within the community of Openfloor. Siada emphasized how Nak*d Yoga’s donationbased approach to the art assists the way that she teaches. “You could have a class that’s filled and only make it out with $20, or have a class of two and come out with $100,” Siada said. “It’s very variable, but the amazing thing is it allows you to meet people where they’re at instead of forcing people to come
to you. The opportunity to spend $0 to have yoga be a part of their life is huge.” Nak*d Yoga’s approach to wellness, then, is markedly different from most health and wellness centers. Most gyms or studios requires purchasing a package or membership, which for some impose a price on wellness before they even engage with it, and thus builds a barrier. With the pursuit of profit comes branding and marketing strategies, which isn’t to say that Nak*d Yoga isn’t building a business. Rather, it’s just that the group’s business doesn’t come before the space and the practice. The walls of Openfloor studio are a stark white, and the only thing that comes close to branded merchandise is a small table that is covered in class schedules and business cards. Otherwise, the space is begging for something to take place. “The entire point of Nak*d Yoga is to strip yoga to its roots, so we don’t realy have merchandise, membership fees, walk-in fees, contracts or continuously pushing ourselves onto people,” Siada said. It also facilitates collaboration between teachers and tenants instead of competition. “We have some people working fulltime, others working in their professions, we have some
students. Our decisions are very much influenced by different perspectives. It’s pretty cool for our studio. We’re all on the same status level, though — we have no lead teachers or anything.” It’s that freedom of the studio that Siada finds important to her practice. “You can take the space and use it to create whatever atmosphere you want, whatever vibe you want,” Siada explained. “It is one of those things, you know, if the studio is run by the right people then the practice that comes out of it is going to be the practice you want. There’s no ego involved in Openfloor.” Prendi echoed Siada’s feelings. “Our motto is ‘The floor is yours,’” Prendi said. “Everyone that has an idea can use our space to come and start their idea with as much support as we can provide. As a concept, we’re not trying to narrow it down to one thing. We do know that some people just want to do yoga here, and Openfloor is just a starting point. We try to build a community vibe around here, because usually (patrons) follow the instructor, not the studio.” The community vibe is essential at Openfloor. Lennon, Prendi, Porter and Siada all emphasized the escape from ego that comes with the create-yourown-pace attitude of Openfloor. Prendi mentioned how eager he
While yoga classes do seem like Openfloor’s most conscious and deliberate projects, the flexibility of the space keeps everyone around
and Lennon are to make new accommodations for those that rent. “We’re 24/7, too. We’ve had tango at 1:00 a.m … You provide a time, we provide access.” As much as the studio is about cultivating a good vibe for those that stick around, there is an element of business to it. The studio adjacent to Openfloor, Créateur Studio, provides some guidance. “The Créateur Studio supports Openfloor’s marketing and branding. We have these two studios that work together to empower people and their passions,” Prendi said. Créateur Studio’s approach to marketing is manifold. “We walk them through the early steps as we’ve developed this business and others, so we can give that support as well,” Lennon said. “We help them with marketing and curating their content for social media. We do some professional photography as well. The whole idea would be to support these local startups and give them whatever assistance they need.” The business acumen of Créateur shines, then, in the way that its tenants are allowed to approach their students and the topic of wellness. The eagerness of Openfloor for new business and opportunity is related by Lennon and Prendi’s entrepreneurial approach. Throughout our conversation, Prendi underscored how those who come to use the space are teachers and entrepreneurs. “(Openfloor) is actually entrepreneurship,” Prendi said. “More than yoga, it’s a space (that) provides all the amenities. Not everyone wants to become an entrepreneur or start their own business, but with us, they can. Everyone that joins here
has the passion to practice their art.” While yoga classes do seem like Openfloor’s most conscious and deliberate projects, the flexibility of the space keeps everyone around. Siada mentioned how the freedom of the studio keeps things light and fun. “The kind of students that come to Nak*d Yoga are people from the community, students, people who have practiced yoga for ages that want to come to a place and those don’t want to feel like they have to join a studio that promotes a cult.” As mentioned previously, Openfloor’s concept has matured over a year and a half. By and large, most of its business comes from tenants that sign on for an extended period of time, but Lennon mentions a few oneoff events that were unique. “There was a juggling class over the summer that was experimental … mixed with various other exercises that were off the cuff. (The hosts) brought pool noodles in and jousted with them,” Lennon said. Throughout this process, Lennon and Prendi agree that journey has taught them to be resilient. “Once our instructors start meeting one another, it’s stronger than doing it alone. In an industry like yoga or dance, it’s not always beautiful days,” Prendi said. “We’re trying to build that resiliency. Success does not come in one day. It’s about doing the right thing and we’re here to help.” Lennon agreed. “We’re learning every day and trying to progress.” The best way to approach personal health and wellness, then, is to calculate the costs and benefits of your current options, and spot the opportunities to innovate based on your own personal needs. Part of the brand of stylish wellness that has developed over the past few years is about conforming to a certain standard (Paltrow would gently call it “aspiring”), but it doesn’t have to be like that. Some instructors, like Porter and Siada, agree the current brand of wellness impedes the vibe of a class and makes the space self-conscious instead of self-determined. “The collaborative nature of our group is the kind of community is what we want to build. We don’t want any competition,” Siada said. I stepped out onto State Street feeling refreshed, invigorated by the openness of the studio and the attitudes of Prendi and Lennon. A gym membership suddenly felt a lot like a marriage certificate — and why would I commit to something while I’m so young? Perhaps, like a healthy attitude about love, wellness should be thought of as an ongoing experience, not an objective. “Everything else,” Siada said, referring to Nak*d Yoga as we were wrapping up over the phone, “extra branding or money, that’s all sometimes nice but unnecessary and, a lot of times — completely irrelevant.”
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PROFILE
B-SIDE SECONDARY
My Pet Rocks: A journey with healing crystals ERIKA SHEVCHEK Daily Arts Writer
COURTESY OF TESS GARCIA
Trust me, CBD cosmetics are much more than just smoke and mirrors TESS GARCIA Daily Style Editor
I don’t smoke weed. Few things terrify me more than the idea of ingesting a substance whose origins I know nothing about, and I know as much about marijuana as your friendly neighborhood Church Lady. When I first heard about the emergence of cosmetics with cannabidiol, or CBD, I was perplexed. I knew the substance had something to do with cannabis. In my mind, that meant labs full of dermatologists grinding up the stuff my friends put in their bongs, only to sprinkle it into a lotion or lip balm. Needless to say, I was wrong. The story of CBD is far more complex than I ever could have imagined. This is my journey with cannabidiol skin care, made possible by extensive research and a beauty brand called Hora. The CBD Movement: A Timeline Cannabidiol is one of several compounds found in cannabis. Along with tetrahydrocannabinol, the “high”-inducing compound THC, it makes up about 40 percent of the plant’s extract. In western culture, CBD has been lauded for its therapeutic properties dating back to the 19th century; it’s rumored that Queen Victoria used CBDrich cannabis to alleviate her menstrual cramps. Cannabidiol wasn’t individually extracted until 1940, when American chemist Roger Adams became the first person to separate the compound from the plant using a mixture of ethanol and “red oil.” Six years later, Dr. W.S. Loewe performed the first CBD tests on lab animals, through which he discovered ingestion of the compound does not produce an altered mental state. Scientific interest in CBD slowed in the following decades until its three-dimensional structure was identified, opening a field of research devoted to exploring CBD’s potential uses. Studies in the ’70s and ’80s cited CBD as reducing nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, producing sedative effects and diminishing convulsions in epileptic individuals. From the ’90s into the first decade of the new millennium, CBD was found to hold anti-inflammatory and calming properties, even boasting the ability to ease chronic pains of neurological origin. Today, CBD oil supplements made from hemp are permitted in all 50 states so long as they’re produced under the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill. Four years after its technical legalization, the compound has garnered widespread use as a treatment for physical pain, anxiety and depression, but new developments have also seen its incorporation into the beauty industry. Enter Hora Skin Care, a Los Angeles-based company that secured its place on the CBD bandwagon from its inception in Jan. At present, its inventory consists of the Super Serum and the Overnight Exfoliating Mask,
both of which contain CBD, along with facial rollers in rose quartz, clear quartz and jade. “I actually have another company called Punch Edibles in the medical marijuana, now recreational marijuana, market here in Cali. I’ve been around THC and CBD for quite a long time,” Samantha Czubiak, founder and CEO of Hora, told The Daily regarding her choice to use CBD in her products. “It became introduced into my skin care because I had a ton of products on my counter and every day I would try to figure out, like, ‘OK, so now I need to worry about pimples,’ or ‘Today I need to worry about brightening,’ and all this different stuff. I was always concocting stuff in my hand, and I was like, ‘Why not create something all in one?’ While I was doing a lot of research on the active ingredients that I knew I already liked, I started looking into CBD as a benefit to anti-aging or extra antioxidants, as well as it’s an incredible antiinflammatory. So people are having a lot of success with it in acne.” Czubiak’s claims didn’t come out of thin air. A 2014 study from the Journal of Clinical Investigation found CBD behaves as an effective “sebostatic” and “lipostatic” agent, meaning it stifles secretion of acne-producing gunk in skin’s pores. The study also indicates CBD reduced inflammation when applied topically. “I thought it was going to be a crucial ingredient in a really all-in-one product,” she said. Other ingredients in Hora’s Super Serum include rosehip oil and vitamin C, while the Exfoliating Mask contains the likes of salicylic acid and MCT oil, a supplement made from Medium-chain triglycerides fats thought to help fight Alzheimer’s disease. In addition to CBD, the products, which were conceived by Czubiak with guidance from a professional formulator, share vitamin A as another common ingredient. The CBD Cynics With every rising cosmetics trend comes a skeptic movement. Those who doubt CBD’s skincare benefits cite a lack of studies in the field. Meanwhile, existing research indicates less efficacy in CBD when it’s extracted from the greater cannabinoid system in isolation, a phenomenon that, according to The New York Times, has been dubbed the “entourage effect.” Many CBD beauty brands, like Hora, employ this isolate, a decision that Czubiak defended. “It’s the purest way to get it,” she explained. “There’s no other plant material in there or extra fats or lipids from the plant itself. You’re literally just getting the active ingredient that you want. It really is just a refined process, and then from there, it really just depends on what you’re using it for.” The uncertainty doesn’t stop there. As The Times points out, there is more CBD in cannabis strains containing THC than in hemp, but only CBD derived from hemp can be legally distributed. This could result
in pain-relieving and antiinflammatory effects that are less magnitudinous than CBD superfans make them out to be. Not only that, in addition, there is no evidence for what an effective dosage of CBD would be for treatment of skin conditions like acne. What scientists do know is a higher dosage seems to signal more potent results. An article from California nonprofit Project CBD reports, “Studies have established that synthetic, single-molecule CBD has a very narrow therapeutic window and requires precise, high doses for efficacy.” The question then arises: What constitutes a high dose of CBD? A 2017 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association showed of 84 different CBD products analyzed, the average concentration for CBD products was 30.96 mg per mL. Compare that to the 250 mg/oz of CBD in Hora’s Super Serum and 422 mg/50mL in the Overnight Exfoliating Mask. That said, Hora has very low concentrations of CBD in their products compared to the average. All things considered, most mainstream dermatologists have yet to get onboard with the CBD push. “There may be some promise for future use,” Jeffrey Orringer, chief of the cosmetic dermatology division at the University, said regarding the potential advantages of CBD skin care. “But it is too early to determine the safety and efficacy of many of these products because rigorous studies are generally lacking in this area.” She Really Tried It When Hora’s public relations coordinator reached out to me asking if I’d be interested in sampling their products, I immediately signed on: This would be my time to put CBD’s claims to the test. After receiving my samples in the mail, I got down to business, applying the Super Serum every morning and night for two weeks, swapping it out for the Exfoliating Mask a total of three times — the package notes it can be used up to four times a week. Most days, I applied the products with my Hora-branded jade facial roller after cleansing with Cetaphil wash. The roller is said to promote absorption of the products, reduce under eye circles and stimulate collagen, the skin’s elasticity agent. This is not an article about jade rollers, so I will keep my praises to a minimum, but that little gadget was especially useful for massaging my sinuses when flu season came for my immune system. The Super Serum has a thin consistency and comes out milky white. Though both dyeand fragrance-free, it emits a noticeable scent that I’ll call “earthy” for our purposes. The Exfoliating Mask is a similar color, though slightly runnier with a less discrete smell. Both were easy to apply, and I was left with no sticky residue after using the roller atop my productcovered pores. During this two-week period,
I documented my skin care procedures each day, reporting significant changes in my skin. Below, I’ve rounded up some of my most noteworthy observations: Night 1 - Sept. 22: Smell is subtle but a little funky and vaguely fungal, kind of like the high school biology classroom the day of the sheep brain dissection.* Morning 4 - Sept. 26: When I woke up, my formerly giant lip zit no longer hurt, its whitehead was gone. Less large, but still red. Morning 10 - Oct. 2: Chacne looks so much better! I went on several skin-picking rampages while testing Hora’s products. Evidence of each almost completely faded over the course of a good night’s sleep. “I’ve had tons of positive feedback from the product,” Czubiak said. “I think just statistically, people are always scared or the marijuana industry doesn’t get the credit it really does deserve. I think it’s just going to take a long time with THC and CBD products to really be recognized in mainstream beauty or mainstream pharmaceuticals. I mean, I just heard the other day that there was a CBD drug that’s the first FDA-approved drug out there, so I think we’re making waves, and we’ll start to hear more positive things coming out about CBD, especially. It really is a rockstar product, honestly.” My foray into Hora’s CBDrich regimen has given me no reason to disagree. I’ve seen the texture of my skin improve in a remarkably short time. My cheeks, once covered in miniscule bumps, are now silkysmooth aside from a few small areas of inflammation. Plus — and I’m fully aware of how silly this sounds — my face feels brighter now. I even received several compliments on my “natural glow” throughout my trial run. In Conclusion I love Hora’s products. Whether CBD is the reason they’re effective is beyond me, but frankly, I don’t really care. In most CBD skin care products on the market, cannabidiol is one of several ingredients, most of which have benefits more generally accepted than CBD’s. Czubiak echoed these sentiments: “I would say that we’ve created just a master formula, and CBD is just one of the ingredients, honestly. I started with, I was getting really obsessed with hyaluronic acid and argan oil … I feel like I was way more focused on making it a complete product and what else was going to go into before I was really like, ‘OK, CBD and just throw whatever else in there.’” Czubiak is not a scientist, nor does she masquerade as one. That doesn’t change the fact that Hora’s products deliver exactly what they promise: a fast-acting, naturally-derived solution to acne and inflammation. They also just so happen to contain CBD. *In retrospect, this was a dramatic exaggeration. I stopped noticing the smell by day three.
I’m sitting in the testing accommodation center, flicking my pencil and worrying about the exam I’m about to take. I open my glasses case, slide on my glasses and pick out my two stones — usually an emerald and a tiger’s eye. I have severe anxiety, but luckily, I have my stones. Since I can remember, I have lived around stones, crystals and rocks. My homeopathic, Buddhist dad raised me with this form of healing, and it’s a significant part of my identity and spiritual practice. An active stone-bracelet wearer and crystal-pocket carrier, he knew that my sister and I needed good energy, and that we needed a type of healing that strayed from modern medicine. I had crystals everywhere: my nightstand, my backpack, my swim bag, my glasses case. I would rub them when I had stressful exams to take, I would play with them before my races. When I got serious about meditation practices, I began to meditate with them in my palms or right beside me. No one understood my unique rock collection or the energy it cultivated. When I asked my dad to talk about his journey with healing crystals, he told me he was not necessarily the right person to speak with. A dear friend of his and an alternative, homeopathic healer, Carrie Hamilton, was indeed the expert. Launching her own practice and specializing in flowers, gem and light essences, chakra based healing and energy medicine, Hamilton’s journey with the natural world has led her to spread her powers with others. “I remember playing with them when I was a kid. I was drawn to stones and rocks and nature. My mom was always into gemstones and she was an artist, so I was always around colors,” Hamilton said in an interview with The Daily. After dabbling with crystals and energy healing in college, Hamilton decided to pursue it further and more intensely after experiencing her own health issues. “I started studying chakras and found out there are certain stones related to certain organ troubles … you can lay stones on your body for certain parts of your system,” she said. Many think the idea of healing crystals is a bunch of bologna, but Hamilton replied that the more she studied it, “the more (she) found out how ancient this practice is.” One of the earliest records of crystal and stone uses can be traced back to Ancient Egypt, where they used them as a form of decorative wear and symbols of wealth. Over time, crystals and stones made their way through Europe and Asia, where communities began using them for medicinal and spiritual practices. But it’s a different world for those of us who were raised with modern, Western medicine. Crystal healing doesn’t work as simply as taking a pill or getting a shot. As living, breathing creatures, crystals should be nurtured with our own energy and vice versa. They involve communication and care, as one would have with a pet or a plant. Hamilton mentioned that different “frequencies of a stones and densities of crystals” is what we can most resonate with. But it’s subjective.
“I learned how to work with colors and stones with corresponding challenges,” Hamilton said. These challenges can vary from person to person. For example, if one feels sadness or an overwhelming heartbreak, rose quartz can help lighten that emotional weight. Carnelian serves as an energy booster and can help find the strength within ourselves. Depending on what people need, crystals provide an energy to heal our chakra or emotional imbalances. One of the most important aspects to crystal healing is finding ones that work best for you. Each person is drawn to certain stones for various reasons, including the stones’ color, shape, texture and radiating energy. Hamilton emphasized trusting that luring instinct because there is something in the subconscious mind that needs a certain crystal for a certain purpose. Regardless of our internal or external healing needs, crystals can show immense changes to our mind, body and soul. “I encourage people that, if they’re traveling, to pick up a rock or stone, even from the ocean of the side of the road,” she said. “I’m always fascinated to see the different types of stones that you could find.” After my dad introduced me to crystals, I gradually found myself instinctually picking up sea glass from the ocean or shiny rocks on hiking trails. Despite knowing their potential power, I’m drawn to certain stones for specific reasons, quickly adding them to my spiritual rock family. If the concept of “using” healing crystals still feels funky, Hamilton also makes mala jewelry: a string of different stones, crystals and rocks that is used in spiritual practices, similar to the use of a rosary. Just by having the mala beads around your wrist and sharing your energy with it, these beads can have a positive effect on your thoughts and your aura. I’ll hold my citrine in meditation, play around with larimar in my pocket before an interview and I’ll sit with my quartz in the bathtub. Just like medicine, crystals serve different functions in a method that feels so natural, so ineffable. Here, I can feel a change in their temperatures, the vibrational pull and push they have in my hands. My crystals make me feel more grounded and connected to the natural world. “When you realize the core of the Earth is made of (rocks) and is affecting it, how could we also not be affected by these crystals?” she asked. After the interview with Hamilton, I look to my crystals sitting on a clear plate near my bedroom window. I close my eyes and try to embrace the energy that is currently circulating in my very own room. “People forget that (crystals) are like plants. They are growing and shifting. It’s just a much slower process than we are used to seeing,” Hamilton said. I face challenges each day knowing that I am growing with each mistake or stressful event that comes my way. Yet, there are my crystals, in their dish, bathing in sunlight. They’ve always been there, sharing their energy, healing me and growing alongside me. “Be playful. Enjoy it. Get back to that childhood state of really connecting without judgment. They (stones) absolutely respond to our affection, our conversation, and our connection with them … It’s that living energy that we are part of it and helps us feel that oneness again.”
One of the most important aspects to crystal healing is finding ones that work best for you
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4B —Thursday, October 11, 2018
ARTIST
IN
PROFILE
COURTESY OF FEELGOOD
FeelGood: ending poverty one grilled cheese at a time TRINA PAL
Daily Arts Writer
I’ve never heard anyone complain about a grilled cheese sandwich. Even the most cumbersome and uninspiring cook — the kind that spikes your blood pressure when you watch them because their sleeve is dangling just a tad too close to the flame, who may not even know how to cook scrambled eggs without burning
them — can make a grilled cheese taste good. Two ingredients for a whole five minutes of happiness. But, eating a grilled cheese is just as easy as making it. What if this basic unit of melting goodness could be used to inspire social change? That’s where FeelGood comes into play. FeelGood is a national volunteer movement working to end world poverty by 2030. Their vehicle to do so is the grilled cheese. At the University, FeelGood is a
student organization that delivers handmade sandwiches to locations on central campus for a donation ranging from three to five dollars. All of the profits go toward eradicating world poverty. It’s that simple. “World hunger is a problem that seems insurmountable and daunting,” Ross School of Business senior and co-president of the University’s FeelGood chapter Madeline Demeter said in an interview with The Daily. “But
BOOKS NOTEBOOK
Incandescence & Horror Porn: To my hairdresser VERITY STURM For the Daily
Nola’s Underground Salon is a feel-good sort of place in its own right. It’s demurely tucked in the basement beneath that random food court on North U., requiring patrons to deliver themselves from the commercial madness above when they descend the otherwise overlooked staircase between Mezes and Silvio’s. The studio itself is much like a womb, wrapped in velvet fleur-de-lis wallpaper and perpetually bumping some sort of warm, spacy noise. My hairdresser Nick owns the only bald head I have ever considered gorgeous and is always garnished in harem pants that emphasize his alarmingly clear eyes. Going to Nola’s has evidently become a spiritual experience for me, and I was really searching for some relief when I crawled down there last Friday, feeling utterly shackled by social anxiety and Brett Kavanaugh. Nick, being the mythical creature he is, picked up on my funk and steered our conversation into some revitalizing book talk. Somewhere along that path, we got into “weird little books,” and his entire demeanor seemed shot with lightning as he recalled Georges Bataille’s novella “Story of the Eye.” He needed me to read it. “It’s written by this crazy fucking French librarian,” he explained, “but I really shouldn’t tell you any more. I used to hand it out to my students at the end of the semester with an album I find rather complementary.” That was unique. I asked what artist. He replied, “Have you listened to of Montreal?” and something in my brain exploded. Too many wonderful things were intersecting right when I needed them to. I ordered the book right then and there. “Story of the Eye” is porn. And it’s no standard porn — it’s sensationally messy, impressively constant, poetically visual, overwhelmingly excessive, often demonic porn that is constantly, constantly flirting with death (if not fucking it outright). In its mere 80 wild pages, the unnamed narrator and his main squeeze, Simone, manage to write some Kama Sutra from hell as a secondary byproduct of the relentless pursuit of their
most unrefined desire. Simone and Bataille-through-narrator boast unfathomable stamina and ambition, managing to throw an almost satirically obscene orgy and execute a full-on asylum break, naked, on bikes, in the first few chapters. Someone almost dies, someone definitely dies and a host of others continue to die as Simone and the Narrator Boi somehow take their lethal debauchery abroad, where it is simultaneously nourished by and unleashed upon the headiest of landscapes: bullfights during the day, cathedrals at night. The repeated demonstration of this relationship between physical and/or material destruction and raw sexual energy is some literary Ouroboros — create and destroy, nourish and damage, turn on and turn off, but above all cycle, cycle, cycle because, for Simone and Narrator Boi, at least, it all seems to average out to infinity anyway. “The goal of my sexual licentiousness,” explains Narrator Boi, “(is) a geometric incandescence (among other things, the coinciding point of life and death, being and nothingness), perfectly fulgurating.” Holy shit. The last thing I’ve read that presented “incandescence” as a character goal was Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own.” Beneath its indisputably singular delivery, there’s some kernel of fiery nirvana in “Story of the Eye” that it shares with literature-atlarge. These kids are trying to transcend. Forget good — they want incandescent. Perfectly fulgurating. This is how they do it. This canonically routine theme can certainly get lost in the genre sauce. Pornography is seldom considered “literature” at all, let alone fertile field for transcendence stories. Bataille’s novella, with its innumerable perversions and taboos, takes it a step further in terms of accessibility. In a particularly keen moment of reflection, Bataille’s narrator seems to anticipate this exact interpretive hurdle, explaining with some encouraging judgment that, “to others, the universe seems decent because decent people have gelded eyes. That is why they fear lewdness … In general, people savor the ‘pleasures of the flesh’ only on condition that they be insipid.” Luckily, there exists a trove
of amazingly helpful theory on pornographic literature to dissolve some of these insidious barriers of convention, and perhaps embolden us to embrace some new flavor. In her essay “The Pornographic Imagination,” which references and is often included in critical editions of “Story of the Eye,” Susan Sontag taps into the unique power of porn: “the physical sensations involuntarily produced in someone reading the book carry with them something that touches upon the reader’s whole experience of humanity — and his limits as a personality and a body.” The thrill of pushing it. We do this all the time: It’s the arguably masochistic euphoria of writing a thesis, fighting through a long run, giving or getting an awesome hickey. Corpse pose at the end of the specific agony that is hot yoga. Overwhelming the senses tends to shock them into a brand new sense of their own, and this style of writing captures that. It would be hypocritical if that were not “literature.” “Story of the Eye,” without a doubt, is a whole different sort of “pushing it.” Writing a thesis and necrophilia aren’t exactly comparable. To this, I say poetry: Bataille is pushing our literary senses, rousing us with so many scandals that they seem to molt their literal meaning, instead operating as vector-like stimuli that culminate in destroying our idea of what we can possibly feel while reading something. Sontag, expectedly, is a little more cerebral about horror-porn, explaining that: “Human beings … live only through excess. And pleasure depends on ‘perspective,’ or giving oneself to a state of ‘open being,’ open to death as well as to joy. Most people try to outwit their own feelings; they want to be receptive to pleasure but keep ‘horror’ at a distance. That’s foolish, according to Bataille, since horror reinforces ‘attraction’ and excites desire.” Pleasure and horror — Ouroboros 2.0. Per my hairdresser’s recommendation, I began to listen for this exciting, excessive relationship in the music of of Montreal and was pleasantly surprised to find its undercurrent pulsing beneath wide swaths of their discography. The group’s frontman, Kevin Barnes, seems to have mastered the art of accepting
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
grilled cheese sandwiches are super simple and easy. And people love food.” Some may be skeptical of the monetary impact one sandwich can make, but about one half of the world lives off of less than $2.50 per day. The international poverty line is currently set at $1.90 per day. About 820 million people suffer from world hunger. Anything and everything is helpful to bridge the international gap between the privileged and underprivileged. “We can have such an impact with just one sandwich,” Demeter said. “People think, ‘If I’m not donating at least $100 then I’m not having an impact,’ and that prevents people from donating when really any amount is powerful and helpful.” All the money FeelGood raises from grilled cheese sales goes toward the Commitment 2030 Fund: a group of organizations that are dedicated to ending world poverty by the year 2030. A majority of the money raised within these organizations goes toward Asia, Africa and Latin America: places where the need is greatest. FeelGood is optimistic that the Commitment 2030 Fund can accomplish its goal. “(World hunger) has been halved before, so I feel like it’s foreseeable to do it again,” LSA junior and marketing chair of FeelGood Dylan DeBaun said. The Commitment 2030 Fund targets world poverty in an environmentally sustainable way instead of “handing-out” money, which often inspires no lasting change in an impoverished community. The Hunger Project, one of the organizations in the alliance, aims to eliminate world hunger in a self-reliant way by ensuring that agricultural and culinary skills taught to the community will be conserved
through generations. The Pachamama Alliance works to reduce the risk of infant mortality by providing safe birthing kits to women in the Amazon and training them to be dulas, among other goals. FeelGood is proud to partner with organizations that prioritize sustainability instead of freely giving out money. “If you go into a community and give them a water purification system — what happens if it breaks?” Demeter said. There’s almost no impact unless the community is taught how to maintain the system and can troubleshoot for problems. This type of lasting change is why FeelGood prefers to think of themselves as partnering with disadvantaged populations instead of viewing their donations as charity. “We give a hand-up, not a handout,” Demeter added. It’s easy to stigmatize world hunger, especially living in the United States and even just in Ann Arbor. It can be difficult to put yourself in the shoes of someone malnourished, and as a result many tend to look down on underprivileged individuals. As a student organization, FeelGood seeks to break down this stereotype by starting conversations with their customers and within their meetings. “It’s inappropriate to call these countries ‘Third World Countries.’ There’s a hugely negative connotation with that,” Demeter said. “They’re born into this situation; it’s not in their control. They’re really just like us.” Few realize that world poverty has a gender component as well: About 60 percent of those suffering from world hunger are women. This is largely due to the lack of resources female farmers
have access to compared to their male counterparts. Women are often given less land to farm on, as well as fewer cattle and seeds. Many organizations that target world hunger focus on women specifically, and FeelGood is no exception. “We’re a gender-based organization,” DeBaun said. “We focus on empowering women in other countries.” Often times, women are more involved in the community, as well as food production for their family unit. Lifting up women can lead to lifting up an entire community of people. When FeelGood isn’t running delis, rushing off to make a delivery or dressing up in a giant, plush grilled cheese sandwich suit, they facilitate necessary conversations about world poverty with their members and across campus. They aim to de-stigmatize the issue by making it more well known while still conveying the full gravity of the situation. Every semester comes with a new fundraising goal as well as different areas of monetary allocation. “It could mean allowing two elected women representatives in India to be trained and supported throughout the course of their five year term, or 23 biodigesters installed in rural villages in Nepal. It could mean 2.5 years of training on water resource management for a one-hand pump in Malawi or 120 safe birthing kits,” Demeter said, speaking on FeelGood’s goal for the fall. World poverty is understandably grim, but FeelGood tries to tackle the problem with optimism instead. “When you hand someone a grilled cheese sandwich, they just smile,” DeBaun said. That smile is exactly what FeelGood is aiming for.
and exploring the wit between his own feelings in whatever form, image or taboo they may naturally assume. Furthermore, he pays direct homage to Bataille in his work: Barnes opens “The Past is a Grotesque Animal, ” the intense, ever-building 12-minute volta of his most critically acclaimed album to date, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, with the statementconfession that, “I fell in love with
the first cute girl that I met / Who could appreciate Georges Bataille / Standing at a Swedish festival / Discussing ‘Story of the Eye’.” Skeletal Lamping, the album that Nick would pair with “Story of the Eye,” is Barnes’s selfproclaimed project to “bring all (his) puzzling, contradicting, humorous … fantasies, ruminations and observations to the surface” in an effect that comes off as
quintessentially Bataille. In particular, the bouncing disco “Gallery Piece” achieves that poetically overwhelming volley of scandals, shooting off triplet after triplet of schizophrenic, verbbased desires: “I wanna make you scream / I wanna braid your hair / I wanna kiss your friends.” It’s churning, obsessive, funky and infectious; in fact, one might call it incandescent.
FOOD NOTEBOOK
Feel good food for the feels TESSA ROSE For the Daily
If you’re anything like me, when you get the feels, you get all the feels. One night, feels and all, you find yourself spoon-deep in a Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia pint, running dangerously low on fuel. With a Calc 3 exam tomorrow and no episodes of “Shameless” left to watch, these are murky waters. You rush to the fridge in search of one more thing to take the pain away, but you’re met with nothing. Just a fridge as empty as a your wallet, your hopes and, now, your dreams. But, don’t let the panic sink in just yet — Trader Joe’s has everything you need to stave off all the feels this fall. There’s something inexplicably satisfying about walking into Trader Joe’s and being blanketed by the warmly tinted lights and aisle after aisle of pleasantly packaged products. And with fall just over the horizon you can count on pumpkin f lavored everything to be filling up the shelves. But sifting through all that Trader Joe’s glory can be difficult, so here’s a little guide to take the edge off: If your S.O. has run off (no horse, no other lover — they’re just running in the opposite direction, leaving you in the dust with a black hole in your chest) you should eat: Brownie Crisp coffee ice cream sandwiches Don’t even stop to think about texting them back, they’re long gone now. It’s just you and a box of the most pleasure-filled desserts in existence. Biting into these,
you won’t even have time to ponder what your long-gonelover is up to. Fudgy brownie crisp outside and espresso ground ice cream: a dreamy f lavored medley you need. It’s the most Penelope Cruz (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) ice cream sandwich on the market — filled with spite, allure and straight-up seduction. I now pronounce you two a match made in heaven. If there’s anything you need to melt the break up feels away, this is it. If you’re listening to Mitski’s latest album, Be the Cowboy, while sitting in a puddle of bittersweet, sappy tears, you should drink: You should just drink. It doesn’t even matter what. Just drink. Just kidding — if you want something to truly feel good, Trader Joe’s has a cinnamony, fall-fantastic Spiced Cider you can chug, or mix in with some rum for an extra punch in the face of feeling. Serve it hot or cold, just like your marble bag of emotions. But if Spiced Cider isn’t enough to endure the heartfelt chords Mitski strikes in the build up to “Nobody,” then try La Ferme Julien Rosé. Imported from France, because who doesn’t love sipping on a nice glass of French wine pretending that you’re walking down les rues de Paris while Mitski softly serenades you through earbuds. Maybe with an “Old Friend,” or just on your own, thinking about a “Lonesome Love,” TJ’s has the specialty drinks that will make your “Washing Machine Heart” sing from delight. At least until your glass runs empty. If the weight of your past
drunken texts, failed exams and arguments with your mom are f lashing before your eyes, you should eat: Pumpkin Joe-Joe’s Yep. Only Trader Joe’s comes up with a food name that isn’t clever at all but somehow sounds quirky and cute because it has the name “Joe” in it two times. Pumpkin Joe-Joe’s take your average trendy pumpkin spice oreos one step further into Bougie City, with pumpkin f lavored cookies and pumpkin f lavored cream. There’s really no other reason to eat Pumpkin JoeJoe’s if you’re having aff lictive mental f lashbacks besides the fact that they taste great and are fall f lavored. If you’re laying in a field of grass, the stars in the night sky and all their grandeur unraveling profound depths of existential thought within you, you should eat: Harvest Spice Trek Mix Studies show nuts are filled with Omega-3 and Vitamin E, making them the perfect brain power snack. Grab a copy of Nietzsche’s or Kant’s most renowned works, discover what dark matter consists of, become the last airbender. We need to keep this thought train chugging down its track. If you just feel hungry, you should eat: T&J’s Hatch Chile Mac & Cheese Mac & cheese. Enough said. If you’re allergic to nuts: No saving the earth kingdom for you, I guess. Now you’re equipped with a grab ‘n go list for all the feel good foods from Trader Joe’s you’ll be needing this fall. So put on your favorite compulsively oversized sweater and get on in there. It’s about damn time you feel good.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Thursday, October 11, 2018 — 5B
PERSONAL NOTEBOOK
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Ann Arbor & the terrific, feel good, very great day SAMANTHA DELLA FERA Daily Arts Writer
INTERSCOPE RECORDS
How I stopped worrying & loved my Spotify history ROBERT MANSUETTI Daily Arts Writer
The greatest social currency in my life circa 2011 was the amount of likes and comments I got on my Facebook profile. Looking back on it now, social media of the early 2010s is sort of a prehistoric wasteland, but to my tween self, it was fertile terrain rife with possibility. My first post was an unmistakable splash, more striking than a David Hockney canvas. “If you think I’m cute, like my status.” It got six likes. I rode that high for just as many days. I had established a clear brand with hits such as “English. Boring.” and an automated announcement that my new occupation was “Pokémon Master” at “Kanto Region.” This was a time when people would take the sans serif inquiry of “What’s on your mind?” at the top of their feeds to heart, but there was an unspoken social contract that one’s thoughts had to be sublimely curated to entertain the masses. For personal and unchecked raw emotion to seep into one’s status updates was a character assassination. And when I first downloaded Spotify, an attempt on my life was made. This article has no concern with establishing primacy in the great music streaming service war, because I only want to establish for context I was a relatively early adopter of Spotify (and have a starred playlist dating back to 2012 to prove it). Back in those naïve years, when the three curves on the Spotify logo were still white, the app had a sneaky feature where it could publish your listening activity to your Facebook profile in a rash of pathogenic posts. Like most embarrassing things, I was notified of it through the teasing of my friends who reported to me that their feed was plagued with undying notifications all prefixed by “Robert Mansuetti listened to.”
I ran to the family computer when I got home, typed my troubles into Google with the fastest fingers in the west and triple checked that the “feature” had been turned off. I pleaded to the most convenient higher power that my mom had not been online recently enough to prompt a conversation about how I’ve been “rotting my brain” with 2Pac, J. Cole and other explicit rappers. However, I discovered a terrible tool that day. Two deadly words: “Private session.” It was a foolproof way to prevent any further ridicule for my musical tastes from my peers. Little did I know that clicking the off button was tantamount to curling the index finger of a monkey’s paw. My Spotify history has mostly remained private since then. The rare occasions when I went public were in service of haughty masters; I wanted to flex on my friends my superior (i.e. superficial) knowledge of classic rock or the golden age of hip hop. For a brief time I was a card-carrying member of “the wrong generation,” a period of my young idiocy I look back on with shame. Ironic, because shame was what I was trying to hide when I switched out of a private session. I was afraid people would think I’m lame for listening to the Jupiter movement of Holst’s “The Planets” or songs off the “Les Mis” soundtrack. I was afraid people would think I’m queer for listening to the likes of Lady Gaga or Katy Perry or any other “girly” popstar. I was afraid people would think I have no taste if I listened to “Pumped Up Kicks” or “Somebody That I Used to Know” non-ironically after trashing its popularity at school. I had slowly built up a reputation as a knowledgeable source of music recommendations for my peers, one who went against the popular status quo of 14-year-olds and thought he could blow your world right open. The last thing my
anxious self wanted was for that cool part of me to crumble. The common thread that made me question my fears was that they were focused on how I perceived other people’s opinions of me. I asked myself, “Besides the middle school teasing, has anyone ever negatively commented on my choice of music?” The answer was a simple no. Plus, the fact that the number of connected friends I have on Spotify is comparatively lower than my count of Facebook friends and that most everyone listens to music on their phone nowadays and can’t even see their friends’ history was enough for me to make my Spotify history public, from now until the heat death of the universe. The private session is a paradox. Many people swear by it and equate accidentally forgetting to click the option to social suicide. Yet in hiding behind this digital wall, the enriching social aspect of music — sharing recommendations, geeking out over your faves, finding new common ground with new friends — is completely obliterated. Many a time I’ve accidently stumbled upon great music by simply clicking on the various songs my friends were listening to. If I love you as a person, what’s to say I won’t love your favorite music? Although my musical perception of the world was quite myopic in my early teenage years, it was slowly expanded by sharing it with others. It’s criminal to not to pay attention to the suggestions of others and only listen to the same handful of artists for the rest of your lifetime. So, if you’re up to it, make a vow to only break out the private session in case of emergencies. Sure, people may see you’ve been listening to “Still Into You” for the past 15 minutes, but c’mon: In 2018, everyone likes Paramore. Instead of both listening to After Laughter ashamedly in the confines of our bedroom and our headphones, let’s dance to it together.
PERSONAL NOTEBOOK
On spending time alone ELI RALLO
Daily Arts Writer
I love to be alone. Headphones in. Blankets tucked up to my chin. Air conditioning on high. A book in my hands, with a spine that cracks. A vanilla-scented candle, or pumpkin (if it’s Oct.), burning on my bedside table. Maybe listening to Vance Joy. Drifting in and out of an uncommitted sleep. Just me and my thoughts. Just me and my words. I like to go shopping alone. Browsing in and out of stores with nobody urging me to go from one place to another, to hurry up or slow down. Just on my very own time. Bookstores are the best for solo browsing. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t have too many distractions if I happen upon a bookstore, unsure of what I’ll select as my next literary adventure. I need time in my own mind, to browse and mingle with the characters on the pages. I can only make a selection if all my attention is on the shelves in front of me. I like to get coffee alone — watching the people cycle in and out of the cafe — on their
phones, with a lover, on a first date. I jot down what I notice, and all I worry about is the ink of my pen, my almond milk cappuccino and this f laky, chocolate croissant. It is much easier to people watch alone. It’s much easier to write poetry alone. It’s much easier to make my cappuccino last for hours when there’s nobody there to tell me they’re bored of sitting and overhearing conversations about baby showers and car accidents and expensive trips to Whole Foods. This is what it means to me: to recharge. I digress. I love to be around people — I thrive off of lovely conversation, a dining room table set for dinner with five chairs too many and long drives as the leaves change with my brother in the passenger seat, talking the whole way as the scenery molds and shifts. But having time for myself is essential in my day to day when I sometimes feel as though the walls of my own mind are caving in on me. It is a rarity to get more than a few moments of alone time each day. I never realized how much I took alone time for granted until I was thrust back into the routine of college life after my summer of solitude.
In St. Louis this past summer, I spent most of my time alone. I went on long, dragging, hot and procrastinating runs — going for as long as my legs would allow, just to kill the time. When I was let off work early I walked around Forest Park, as the Midwest heat beat down on my sunburned shoulders and sunburned cheeks and the sweat dripped from my hairline down my face. St. Louis is dangerously hot in July, but I learned to love the feeling of walking by myself in the heavy heat. I would walk through the free zoo, slowly, noticing and wondering. I would stare at the elephants and hang around the giraffe exhibit. I would smile at the little kids tugging on their mother’s shorts and squealing with delight. I’d wonder about when I was their age. I’d walk from the zoo to Jeni’s for ice cream, and I’d sit on the bench outside, all alone, and lick my butter cake ice cream cone that melted down my fingers and hands. I went on bike rides when I needed to clear my head, happened upon the art museum when I was bored and spent hours in the coffee shop at the intersection of Skinker and Forest Park Parkway, tucked in the corner that was always vacant.
It’s mid-Oct. in Ann Arbor, a crisp Saturday morning in the fall. Instead of waking up to tailgate music pounding outside your window, it’s the soft autumnal glow through your shades and the rustling of a strong wind through dry leaves that brings you out of your sleep. It’s 10:00 a.m. and you climb out of bed, feeling physically worn but mentally rested from the activities of Friday night. In your phone are texts and photos from your friends — stories, jokes and moments captured from another late night out. You throw on your softest top, the one you may have spent too much money on, but you swear is worth every cent. Stepping outside, you head down State St. You pass your old dorm, where you met your best friend for the first time in a tipsy bathroom stupor. You pass a family of three taking pictures on the grass. You wonder if the bouncing toddler with them will find as much love here as you have. As you turn the corner onto E. Liberty, you see the mural you’ve
seen a thousand times over. You muse on whether you’ll ever figure out who each person is. It has been two years and at this point, you’re too afraid to ask. Or maybe you just like the mystery. Walking further and further down Liberty, the bustle of backpack-clad 20-year-olds and athletes on mopeds fades to 30-somethings with dogs and elderly couples linking elbows. They smile at you, nod their heads, remembering the times when they were that young. You keep walking. As you hit Main St., Ann Arbor comes alive. You smell cherries, candles, old books, the unwavering, underlying scent of freshly-cooked breakfast food. As you turn the corner you stop into your favorite book store. Alongside the scent of espresso and ink, you discover new books, new ideas, new journeys to embark on. A young woman sits on a bench twiddling her glasses and flipping through a book about France. You hope she makes it there. You exit the store. You continue to walk as the sun breaks through the morning fog. You close your eyes as it hits your face, its warmth washing over you like a sip of hot tea. As you go, the smells and sights of Main St.
dwindle. Coffee and lamp posts are replaced with apple cider and brick roads. You walk into the Farmer’s Market and feel as though you’ve walked into a field ripe with harvest. A toddler reaches out for a sugar-coated donut. His dad turns him away, but the vendor smiles and sneaks him a piece. Your walk down the aisle is a mirage of color, a new shade hitting your eyes as you go table to table. You stop at a woman who reminds you of your grandmother. She hands you warm cider and a sense of comfort. You continue. On your way back home you don’t notice what’s going on around you. An old dog plays fetch with his young owner. Neighbors greet each other at the grocery store. A second date starts off at brunch. You keep going. That night you’re resting on your couch. There is a knock at the door and your friends tumble in before you can even stand up. They’re chattering and laughing and in the middle of a trifling fight that started on the way over. Wine is poured, games are played and memories are recounted. You’ve heard these stories a million times before. You don’t care. You’re happy.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
COLUMBIA RECORDS
Playing alongside John Mayer, night after night Two pops start the evening session: One comes from my guitar’s connection with its amplifier, the other from the record player’s needle settling onto the vinyl. The record starts spinning with its silent preamble while I tune my guitar and adjust the volume. John Mayer’s guitar sounds, and all is well. Its classic tone wades through the speakers to make it to my ears. Mayer’s guitar has been heard by millions, but when I play his records, it’s just the two of us. Like most ’90s babies, I had heard John Mayer’s hits through childhood: “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” “Waiting on the World to Change” and so on. It wasn’t until the summer before coming to the University that I really started to connect with Mayer himself. Mayer’s 2006 album, Continuum, resonated with me that summer. I found myself listening to the album all the way through, several times a day. Continuum included Mayer’s own lyrical masterpieces in addition to a
cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold as Love.” I loved each song on the record and ended up buying it on vinyl to add to my collection. Continuum led me to retrieve the dusty acoustic guitar from the basement and teach myself how to play guitar — that was one of the greatest decisions of my life. That grew into a passion for the instrument and a greater love for the blues. I invested in a used Fender to try to use the electric guitar for voicing, like I heard John Mayer do. All because of my love for Continuum. I was playing guitar every morning and every night. I found myself returning to Continuum as I started to drown in my first semester at the University. I tried teaching myself a few of the songs on the record, but it was more difficult than I thought it would be. I didn’t know how to play each song note for note, but I could find the particular song’s key and play my own rendition as the record was playing. I had discovered for myself an entirely new way to experience music. The G chord that introduces “Gravity” sounded the same
as the G chord on my guitar. I could mirror the melody of “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” in conversation with Mayer through my Fender. I could echo the somber notes of “Stop This Train.” The two of us could speak the same language. The more that I listened to and accompanied the album, the more that I felt as though Mayer and I were on the same page. We were both struggling with anxiety, regret and uncertainty about the future. We were communicating through the blues scale. In a way, John Mayer was my therapist; my guitar could voice what my vocal cords couldn’t muster. Every now and then, I will return to Continuum to calm my anxieties, even if it is only to remind myself that the first strums on “Stop This Train” still sound that way. After my fingers tire and several records have been flipped, I call it a night. Mayer and I might have talked for hours, or just a few minutes. Expressing myself with John Mayer, someone who shares my love for blues guitar and overanalysis, clears my head and calms my nerves.
I always ended up in the bookstore, on the f loor, with my legs tucked under me, paging through the novels to decide what was next to read. The hours f lew by in the bookstore, whereas they dragged whenever I was anywhere else. When I challenged myself to stop spending money on books, I’d venture downstairs and sort through the $1 used books, buying any collection of poems that had a nice title. I learned to enjoy eating alone — dining in and eating
out, tacos and breakfasts, hamburgers and oatmeal bowls and anything with bell peppers. I spent a good amount of time in the aisles of Trader Joe’s thinking of how I’d be able to master my next unexpected and original recipe. I always ate against the ceiling to f loor windows in my kitchen, watching the sunset bleed through the peaks in the trees. Even when the sun goes down on a St. Louis summer day, it’s still too hot. But now, here in Ann Arbor,
as the seasons change and my entire life seems to be an unfinished to-do list, I long for the heat, its lasting burn through the mindful, peaceful, quiet days. The way it felt on my shoulders and back as I strolled alone and unfettered through the lush green park — nowhere to go, nobody to answer to, not a deadline in site. Just me, my mind, the lone bench in the zoo near the giraffes and a Jeni’s ice cream cone waiting for me — promised to myself in the near future.
ZACHARY WAARALA For the Daily
Arts
6B — Thursday, October 11, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM NOTEBOOK
WARNER BROS.
To all the romcoms I’ve loved before ARYA NAIDU
Senior Arts Editor
I’ve always been someone who tends to disregard whether or not a movie is considered high art or in particularly good taste. Last week, I watched “Penelope” again, even though it’s labeled as one of the “movies for ages 11 to 12” on Netflix. I love it regardless. I love the way Penelope (Christina Ricci, “Z: The Beginning of Everything”) weeds out her undeserving suitors and the way the final kiss makes me feel like I have sparklers sizzling through my chest. There’s a feeling so integral and inherent to movies like “Penelope” — movies that exist to make you feel something, anything, good.
“Penelope” is a romcom. Every time I start to think I’m a parody of myself, I remember two things: One: I am. Two: It doesn’t matter. I don’t care that the line I’ve been holding in my heart for eight years now — “It makes me so sad that people like Kostas and Bridget who have lost everything can still be open to love, while I, who have lost nothing, am not” — came from a franchise founded upon a pair of blue jeans (“Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”). I don’t care. I love these movies with all that I am because they make me feel good. It feels good to watch two people want each other so much that they hate each other, even though they don’t hate each other — not even close, not
even a little bit, not even at all. And they’ve taught me things, you know? They’ve taught me how to stress-scrub my stove, and to speak up even when I feel like the smallest person in the room. They’ve taught me the power of a bootcut. They’ve taught me that I should never — not ever — settle for anyone or anything that doesn’t absolutely thrill me. We’ve all got glitter in our blood and love in our very bones. There was a period in the mid ’90s-2000s (what I like to call The Romcomaissance) when romcoms did nothing short of thrive. 1999’s “She’s All That,” 2001’s “The Wedding Planner,” 2008’s “Definitely, Maybe” — they’re sweet in the easiest of ways. Laney Boggs deserved better and Mary Fiore
VIDEO GAMES NOTEBOOK
ELECTRONIC ARTS
Creative chaos: How ‘The Sims 3’ helps with anxiety MADELEINE GANNON Daily Arts Writer
What do you get when you mix the board-game “Life,”
“Cards Against Humanity” and an HGTV home improvement show? The EA (Electronic Arts) gaming masterpiece “The Sims 3.” Whether it’s becoming a home renovation guru and designing the kitchen of your
dreams (granite countertops and all) or throwing morality out the window to live out your wildest fantasies (like doing-the-dirty with the grim reaper or — more morbidly — drowning your Sims in a pool), “The Sims 3” has a little bit of something for everyone. The franchise’s motto, “Play with life,” perfectly encapsulates the very nature of the game: As you guide your character, or Sim, through their life, the opportunities (if graverobbing is an “opportunity”) are limitless, providing an individualized experience for each player. It’s up to you to make what you will of the game. But beyond the boundless creativity and anarchic freedom of the game, there lies a level of control afforded to the player that is not accessible in reality, making “The Sims 3” the perfect platform to channel high levels of stress and anxiety. After all, when life throws you into a metaphorical shredder, what’s a better way to regain a sense of control than by assuming the role of a virtual god in “The Sims 3”? For as long as I can remember, I’ve always struggled with high anxiety. Anything from being indecisive about what
could dance. Ryan Reynolds — comedy bro and incredibly violent superhero — was ours first. Speaking of fine fellas with roots in the genre, I’ve compiled a short (and surprisingly incomprehensive) list for you: Mark Ruffalo? Ours. Keanu Reeves? Ours. Patrick Dempsey? Ours. Tom Cruise? Ours. Leonardo DiCaprio? Ours. Tom Hardy? Ours. Three of the four Chris-es? Ours. Brad Pitt? Ours. Orlando Bloom? Ours. Hugh Jackman? Ours. Greg Kinnear? Ours. Matthew McConaughey? Ours. The Romcomaissance saw movies like 2002’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and 2004’s “50 First Dates” — movies that never tried to be anything more than exactly what they were.
I want for dinner, to crossing the street as the light f lashes red, to having to say “no” to people (I’m a people-pleaser) can trigger a bout of gutwrenching anxiety. Growing up in New York City certainly didn’t help either. I’m almost always in a constant state of apprehension, so most of the time it’s simple enough to gulp down the characteristic wave of nausea and bite my nails to nubs in lieu of panic attack. But sometimes the anxiety proves too intense to clamp down. Cue the crushing weight on my chest that feels like the breath has been knocked out of me, the bile that bubbles up my throat, the burning, blinding tears. As a young girl, home alone in the midst of a panic attack and no one to come calm and me down, I had to find a way to help myself. So, I got creative. My answer? “The Sims 3.” I can still remember blowing (literal) dust off my neglected iMac 2007, waiting what felt like eons to boot up the game, listening to the rumble of the fans struggling to keep the system from overheating. My monstrous desktop always seemed like the dinosaur of the digital age, big and clunky even when it was still new. More often than not, I would have to coax the computer to play nice, restarting that useless hunk of junk and crossing my fingers that the oh-so-familiar green diamond would pop up on screen — usually accompanied by a full-volume blast of “The Sims 3”’s opening theme song. Playing the game, I would — and occasionally still do — spend hours with the customization tools. Sometimes I would simply recreate familiar figures — friends, family, pop culture icons — and other times I would let my imagination run wild, like when I made my green, kleptomaniac vampire named Steve. The Create-ASim, or the character design, function of the game allows the player to customize nearly every aspect of their Sim, from their voices to their clothing and even their personality traits. The level of character detail allowed me to lose myself in the game, helping me take my mind off my anxiety. The ability to build and design homes, or lots, in the game is also an activity I relished
That’s all romcoms are, really: At their barest bones, they’re movies that are made for their audiences. They’re algorithmic and predictable, and they’re not made for the people that won’t like them or won’t get them. These movies are good because of the feelings they monopolize, not because of their stellar plots or cinematography. They’re good because of The Look. The Look doesn’t say, “I want to lunge at you,” and it doesn’t even say “I want to kiss you.” The Look says, “I think that if I were to never stop looking at you, I’d be OK.” It’s Heath Ledger staring at you as he asks if it’s quite alright that he loves you, baby. It’s Hugh Dancy in the firelight proving, once and for all, that consent is sexy. The Look is an exhale, when you finally get what you always knew you deserved. Romcom ladies were always perfect to me — cutely clumsy, magnetically manic. And they’re still perfect to me, but as I’ve grown with them, they’ve shaped me in more ways than just making flared-jeans my forever go-to. When Hilary Duff tears into the locker room in “A Cinderella Story” to tell the most beautiful boy in school (see: the world) that waiting for him is “like waiting for rain in this drought,” she’s nervous and embarrassed. This is also the one moment in the movie that she holds her head the highest. She fills her life with all the love she’ll ever need, and she walks out of that locker room, one thumb hooked firmly in her belt loop, alone.
She — like all the very best romcom gals — knew her worth. In 2004’s “13 Going on 30” — possibly my favorite romcom ever — there’s this scene where Jennifer Garner’s character is telling a bunch of 13-year-old girls about love, and how it’s a battlefield. And then they danced. The movie is a romcom, yeah, but it’s about a girl breaking in her pink dreamhouse, growing up, teaching her co-workers how to dance to “Thriller.” It’s one of the most profoundly romcom-y romantic comedies I’ve ever seen because, at its very core, the movie is hers. All of it. “13 Going on 30” belongs to this girl who’s not quite sure who she is, giving her the space to hold the hands of other girls who aren’t quite sure who they are and talk about the night with the Razzles. Romantic comedies are holy ground. I’m built from them, and I know they’ve built a lot of other people, too. I know I’m never going to dance to “Bennie and the Jets” on a bar table in the middle of nowhere after hydroplaning with James Marsden. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to see Katherine Heigl do it. I’ve watched that scene at least 27 times (sorry), and it gets me every damn one. There’s just this feeling of knowing that I’m always going to get the chest-clutching, kneecurling, doubling-over-inglee kind of warmth that I’ve sustained myself on for a solid two decades now. These stories aren’t mine, but they are, and they always will be.
in. Not only could I express my own artistic ability, but wasting away the afternoon doing something as simple as designing the pattern of the drapes in my Sim’s home was downright relaxing. “The Sims 3” has a unique mind-numbing effect; unlike other games, I don’t need to think in order to play, and most of the time overthinking is my big, fat problem.
in it and watch a YouTube video of a beach in Fiji while deadlines, responsibilities and my problems sail overhead. But my personal reality is that I’m doomed to suffer through life as a ball of perpetual stress. So I do what I can and indulge in what I’m able to afford in order to stay af loat. “The Sims 3” not only acts as a safe, reliable medium for me to channel my anxiety, but the game also simulates the control and security I need and desire to contend with my anxiety. From my own experience, using something so simple — some would say childish — as a video game has prompted me to reevaluate how video games are marketed to audiences, and for what purpose they’re produced. A game like “The Sims 3” is meant to provide entertainment — I highly doubt any of the developers considered the game as a possible form of therapy for players with high anxiety when they initially created the game. But what if the experiences video games are intended to simulate didn’t simply imitate life or distract from it, but rather help the players process and contend with their own lives? So often video games are written off as being unhealthy, addictive, pointless, childish — and some games are justly described as such. But that doesn’t have to be the reputation of the industry. Recently, arguments have been made for the role video games could play in education, bringing subjects like history to life with virtual reality or in-game educational lessons or activities. So why can’t video games be developed and used to help people of all ages (gamers or not) process and deal with mental and emotional issues? In an age when technology is being integrated into nearly every aspect of our lives, it’s only logical to think that mental and emotional health and digital innovation may one day intersect. So, the next time you feel like the world is crashing down around you, try taking a page from my book: Take a breath, take a break and maybe bootup a decade-old 2007 iMac and go build some “Fixer Upper”worthy kitchens that HGTV’s Chip and Joanna Gaines would be proud of.
I love these movies with all that I am because they make me feel good
Not only does “The Sims 3” simulate a deep level of relaxation, but playing the game also allows me to feel like I’m in control
Not only does “The Sims 3” simulate a deep level of relaxation, but playing the game also allows me to feel like I’m in control. Panic attacks and regular bouts of anxiety are self-perpetuating problems: They are inspired by a perceived lack of control, followed by the subsequent emotional rollercoaster so debilitating that you then lose what little control you might have had — a vicious cycle. However, in “The Sims 3,” the player has control over almost every aspect of the game — I have control over the entire in-game world. I can stop time or speed it up within the game, control every action of my Sim, inf luence the weather and the lives of other computer generated and controlled characters and even age or make immortal any character. I can use cheats or gamemods to surpass what few in-game boundaries there are. Now, I can admit that this can come off as a little bit powerhungry and controlling. But in all honesty, that’s because I am — that’s what my anxiety drives me to be. Sure, I would love to prop my feet up, grab a drink with a fancy umbrella