2018-10-31

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Monday, October 31, 2018

Ann Arbor, Michigan

The University’s forgotten roots

Originally a venture by frontier clergymen in Detroit, has the University abandoned its origin story?

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Enrollment of minority, low-income students up AARON BAKER/Daily

Students whose household incomes are less than $65,000 increased by 8 percent

First generation college students speak at a panel about challenges and the importance of mentorship at the Student Activity Center Tuesday.

First-generation student panelists spotlight unique invisible identity

Event took place as part of First Gen Week, an inititative to highlight experiences LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily Staff Reporter

First-generation student panelists convened Tuesday morning for a discussion about the invaluable role of mentorship in transitioning to life at the University of Michigan. The panel, hosted by the Office of

New Student Programs, took place during First Gen Week as part of a series that spotlights the unique experiences of first-generation students and will culminate with the First-Generation Symposium on Nov. 2. Ayeza Siddiqi, assistant director of ONSP, opened the panel by defining what it means to be a

first-generation student and noting how this identity applies to many students regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic class. “Because it is an invisible identity ... it can be hard to know who’s first gen despite the fact that there are over 3,500 first-gen students on this campus,” Siddiqi said. “Hearing about these students and hearing

about their narratives is going to be really critical as we move forward in doing the work that we do.” Though first-generation students account for a sizable portion of the total students on campus, they are still a distinct minority and often struggle to find resources to help them acclimate to the demands See FIRST GEN, Page 3A

JORDYN BAKER Daily Staff Reporter

With another record number of applications submitted for the fall 2018 freshman class, the University of MichiganAnn Arbor campus enrollment has seen increased economic diversity and higher numbers of underrepresented students, according to a report published by University Public Affairs. The University received an 8 percent increase in applications for the fall 2018 freshman class. More specifically, 64,917 applications were received, 14,818 were offered admission, and 6,695 enrolled, making a

slightly smaller freshman class than last year. For in-state applicants, 40.5 percent of those who applied were offered admission. For out-of-state and international students, 18.8 percent were offered admission. Seventy-two percent of in-state freshmen accepted the admission offer and 31.8 percent of out-ofstate or international students accepted the offer. Erica Sanders, director of undergraduate admissions, discussed the rising levels of interest and applications each year, explaining the process used by admissions officers to accept incoming freshmen. “We’re continually amazed See ENROLLMENT, Page 3A

Professors outline history of voter Bridge MI CSG talks film shows suppression in U.S. ahead of midterms organizing

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a divided Michigan

Speakers also addressed Proposal 2 referendum on increasing voter accessibility

Documentary analyzes increased partisanship and post-Trump faultlines

More than 100 students, faculty and staff attended the event “There’s Always Someone Who Doesn’t Want You to Vote” Tuesday at Tisch Hall at the University of Michigan. The event discussed historical targeting of minority groups and infringement of voting rights throughout the voting process ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections. The panel began with remarks from Heather Ann Thompson, a professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, who discussed the impact of mass incarceration on voting today. She drew from historical policy trends post-Civil War and during the civil rights movement of mass imprisonment that directly targeted Black males. To illustrate her point, she referenced a study which revealed Black men in apartheid South Africa had lower rates of incarceration than they do today in the United States. She explained voting is not an act which solely affects individual rights, but also the 40,000 citizens in Michigan who are incarcerated. “Right away we are discounting a huge swath of our population that cannot

LEAH GRAHAM Daily Staff Reporter

With days until the election, resurfacing the documentary “Michigan Divided” from earlier this year seems appropriate. The film focuses on the differences and similarities between Michigan residents from across the state and the political spectrum. The film’s producer, Bridge reporter Ron French, discussed the logistics of the film and editorial decisions made behind the scenes at the Ford School of Public Policy Tuesday night as part of Bridge Magazine’s “Michigan Truth Tour.” He defended his team’s call to included segments where a President Trump supporter from Harbor Springs cited unsubstantiated claims Trump made as a candidate. “Actually, I felt that was a very important part of the film to have in there — to show the sort of bad information that some people have and on which they make their decisions,” French said. “We made a conscious decision at the beginning of See FILM, Page 3A

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access the ballot,” Thompson said. “Of the people from these communities who can access the ballot, there is such community devastation from mass incarceration that there is a disincentive to vote. People are very disinclined to imagine that the voting system is for them.” Thompson also mentioned prison gerrymandering, where incarcerated people

are moved to prisons in certain counties to obtain more power. In Michigan, the prison population disproportionately comes from Detroit and four state Senate districts only meet the federal minimum population requirements by claiming prisoners as constituents. “Those who benefit most from funding prisons instead of schools, roads, we can

go on and on, those people have more voting power than anyone else, simply put,” Thompson said. “That means that those who are most in need of weighing in with what we do with our state’s budget, those of us who are hoping for more public education funding, those of us who are worried about the potholes, who are worried about See VOTER, Page 3A

MILES MACKLIN/Daily

University professors speak at the “There’s Always Someone Who Doesn’t Want You to Vote Panel” at Tisch Hall Tuesday.

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Vol. CXXVIII, No. 21 ©2018 The Michigan Daily

for renters’ protections

Student Legal Services attorneys back new Ann Arbor Tenants’ Union BARBARA COLLINS For the Daily

The University of Michigan Central Student Government convened Tuesday night to discuss the development of an adaptive sports program and the possible creation of a tenants’ union in Ann Arbor. Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami, an alum of the University’s Medical School, spoke to CSG members about the importance of adaptive sports to students both with and without disabilities. Pointing to the emphasis of athletics at the University, Okanlami said he believes the addition of an adaptive sports team would give the University a successful program unrivaled by any other in the country. “We care about athletics for everyone,” Okanlami said. “And you have an ability and an opportunity to pioneer an adaptive sports program right here on campus that is going to be unrivaled by anybody in the country.” Okanlami ran track as an undergraduate at Stanford See CSG, Page 3A

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News

2A — Wednesday, October 31, 2018

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY: By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk

FRIDAY: Behind the Story

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: STUDENTS DISCUSS MENTALITY BEHIND REVEALING HALLOWEEN COSTUMES October 28, 2011 By Alexandra Mundalen

American Apparel doesn’t offer packaged costumes, she said it sells enough metallic spandex and lacy leotards to meet the demand of students trying to complete their collegiate Halloween ensemble. Richard said she thinks female students often opt for more revealing costumes because of media inf luence. “I think it’s kind of easy to go the slutty route because that’s how Halloween is marketed towards girls,” she said. LSA freshman Abby Lyng and Engineering freshman Jillian Jackson said having the perfect costume is a one-

This weekend, hoards of students will roam the streets of Ann Arbor dressed as celebrities, witches, animals and pop-culture references, while wearing costumes comprised of tight and revealing clothing. Emily Richard, shift manager at American Apparel on East Liberty Street, said the store fills with shoppers searching for the perfect costume in the week leading up to Halloween — the store’s busiest time of the year. Though

way ticket to the best parties, as students often compete for recognition for the time and money spent on their costumes. Lyng said she dislikes dressing up in revealing costumes in the cold weather, but said that for her and many of her peers, practicality and sensibility are forfeited on Halloween weekend. LSA sophomore Paige Lester, a member of F-Word — a feminist activist group on campus — said at the organization’s meeting last night that she thinks females on campus should be entitled to wear whatever

they please on the holiday. to im “I think that girls should be able to wear whatever they want on Halloween,” Lester said. Catherine Berlucchi, attendingmanager of Allure Boutique on East Liberty Street, said the items that transform a run-of-the-mill cat costume into a sex kitten are still in high demand. The store sells garter belts and fishnet tights to the demand of students specifically before Halloween. LSA sophomore Gia Tame, another member of F-Word, said women often dress to impress their male peers, but questions if the

same is true for men. “Girls are usually dressing for the guys because that’s what think that they have to do,” mone said. “But are they dressing for the girls?” LSA senior Matt Mortellaro said he thinks students often dress up on Halloween with the intention of impressing others than for their own enjoyment. “I reject the idea that we dress strictly for ourselves,” Mortellaro said. “I’m not sure that’s possible.” Though there might be a mentality among female students that men prefer scantily dressed women on Halloween, some male

students believed the contrary. LSA freshmen Scott Marlatt and Benjamin Schmutzer said they would rather approach a girl dressed in a creative and unique costume at a party, rather than a girl dressed provocatively. “I think that it’s wrong,” Marlatt said. “A lot of girls are pressured into it because it’s what every other girl does ... the nurse costume, the sailor - all those things are overplayed.”

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Research team confirms predictions on small galaxy collision modeling Astronomy professor makes discoveries of star movements with new satellite HANNA SCHECHTER For The Daily

At the University of Michigan, a professor in the Department of Astronomy is taking the phrase “reach for the stars” to a whole new level. In a new discovery, Astronomy Prof. Sally Oey and her team observed runaway stars using Gaia, a new satellite launched by the European Space Agency. “What we were originally trying to do was look for runaway stars and those are massive stars,” Oey said. “So they’re moving really fast and …

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this satellite is able to see very tiny motions of stars in the sky with extreme accuracy.” LSA junior Johnny Dorigo Jones has been working with Oey monitoring runaway stars for a year. He said his primary role was to synthesize the data and construct pictorial representations of the findings. “My main role with this paper was working with all the data from Gaia and creating the image showing all of the arrows that you might have seen in one of the press releases,” Dorigo Jones said. Oey said the new satellite is able to detect the motions of

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stars in a smaller companion galaxy of the Milky Way around 150,000 light years away. The new technology, she explained, will shed a new light on the studies of the Milky Way and other galaxies. “I think this new telescope, in particular, is something that has really revolutionized our view of our own galaxy and in nearby galaxies because we can really see the stars as objects that are in motion now,” Oey said. During her research, Oey said her team noticed how one section of a satellite galaxy was moving in the same direction and wanted to consult outside help to investigate the astronomical finding. “We were like ‘Woah, what is that?’” Oey said. “When all of those stars in one section of the galaxy are moving together in one direction, so that’s when we got in touch with this professor at the University of Arizona, Gurtina Besla.” Besla is an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, focusing on theoretical astrophysics and galaxy formation. In conjunction with Oey, Besla modeled the interaction between the two satellite galaxies. “She’s modeled the interaction of these two galaxies and she had predicted back in 2012 that the two Magellanic clouds galaxies should have collided with each other,” Oey said.

Oey said if these two galaxies had a direct collision, then the smaller Magellanic cloud stars would be gravitationally drawn to the large Magellanic cloud — this is what the research team observed. “So these observations are actually confirming her theory, her prediction, that these two galaxies have had a direct collision,” Oey said. “We were originally interested in looking for the runaway stars but this was just something that we happened to see and it was a very very cool result.” LSA freshman Max Resnick said though he doesn’t know much about astronomy, he finds the research fascinating and ground-breaking. “Though it might not directly affect us that two galaxies collided hundreds of millions of lightyears away, it’s still really cool to think about something that grand and happening in our universe,” Resnick said. Jones said he was excited by the confirmation of some of Professor Besla’s predictions by kinematic evidence from the Gaia telescope. “It’s always cool when the simulations and actual observations can line up,” Dorigo Jones said. “It’s really cool that we were able to use this data from the new very accurate telescope Gaia to confirm some of these predictions.” According to Resnick, new discoveries can be beneficial to many, not just astronomers. “I would say there are some things in any science which can be applied to other sciences that might be more directly impactful to our lives,” Resnick said.

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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.

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CSG From Page 1A University before he dove into a pool and broke his neck — paralyzing him from the chest down. He said being exposed to adaptive sports gave him the opportunity to continue to participate in sports that were a major part of his previous life. Oklanlami concluded his proposal by saying an adaptive sports program would help the University attract a diverse student body that values inclusivity and would demonstrate that adaptive sports are for everyone. “There are so many other sports that we can allow everyone to have access,” Okanlami said. “Eventually

VOTER From Page 1A reductions in food stamps, any of us who care about any of those issues: We will not have the voting support of other people who care about those issues because oftentimes they don’t vote, they can’t vote or their vote is undermined from prison gerrymandering.” Vincent L. Hutchings, a professor in the Department of Political Science, spoke next and presented his research on race and partisanship in the South. He began by describing the subtleties of voter suppression by primarily targeting Black people, who disproportionately vote in the Democratic party. “We have a very heavily racialized partisan system throughout the country, but especially in the South,” Hutchings said. “You can visually look at somebody and make a high probability

FIRST GEN From Page 1A of college. According to the 2016 Campus ClimateSurvey on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, first-generation students comprise approximately 8 percent of the student body and are, on the whole, less satisfied with the campus climate than their continuinggeneration counterparts. Panelist Jiten Parbhoo, an LSA senior, said coming to the University as a first-generation student was a bewildering experience at first because he did not know the basics of how college functioned. “I didn’t know what credits were,” Parbhoo said. “I didn’t know how many credits you need to take, or what’s a four-credit class, or what’s a lab and why it’s different from a class ... They don’t know anything, really. That was the biggest part. Also, you don’t really know what you don’t know. That’s the hardest part.” A lot of the discussion focused

ENROLLMENT From Page 1A and humbled by the level of interest in the University of Michigan, here in the state, across the country and internationally,” Sanders said in the release. “As has been the case for many, many years, we received applications from far greater numbers of qualified students than our campus is able to accommodate … We rely on our holistic review process to select students who not only have the academic record to succeed at U-M, but also a strong interest in our university and connection without institutional mission and goals.” With University financial aid, about 26 percent of in-state undergraduates are paying no

it would not be a team full of people with disabilities, it could be having a specific event in the Big Ten championships that is a Paralympic event that allows the points to be for everyone.” Rackham student Austin Glass, CSG speaker of the assembly, said he believes an adaptive sports program would be a beneficial addition to the University. “I am hoping to work on this addition,” Glass said. “It might not be soon, but it’s certainly going to set a pipeline.” Following Okanlami’s presentation, attorney Douglas Lewis, director of Student Legal Services, and Gayle Rosen, an attorney with Student Legal Services, answered questions regarding the possible creation of a new tenants’ union in Ann

News Arbor. The previous Ann Arbor Tenants’ Union existed for 35 years before shutting down in 2004 due to funding loss. Rents have risen steadily in Ann Arbor in last decade — the median rate for rent in Ann Arbor increased 14 percent from 2010 to 2015 reaching $1,075 per month. “The tenants’ union helped a lot of things happen in government in this town that wouldn’t have happened without it,” Lewis said. “I think their last shot was trying to get rent control in Ann Arbor.” Both Lewis and Rosen said they would want to support the creation of a new tenants’ union. “I think if it’s something most people want to consider,” Rosen said. “It probably makes sense to get a group of people together of

someone who used to be on the tenants’ union and talk about what the structure should be.” CSG has previously received backlash regarding affordability guidelines and the search for housing, and believes that the creation of a tenants’ union could be a step in the right direction. At a panel on affordability last week, State Rep. Yousef Rabhi said the onus would largerly rested on students to organize. “The Tenants Union was valuable partially because of its independence,” Rabhi said. “I don’t think politicians or University officials can recreate something like the Tenants Union. People in this room need to take it upon themselves to help start something up like that again.”

estimate as to what party they belong to. That is relevant because if, hypothetically speaking, Republicans were motivated to prevent Democrats from voting, the best way to do so is prevent people of color from voting because they are very disproportionately Democrats.” The third speaker, Law School lecturer Michael J. Steinberg, presented his view of voter disenfranchisement and infringement from the viewpoint of his position as legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. Steinberg referenced the restriction of early voting, restrictions with absentee voting and lack of an option to vote a straight-party ticket in Michigan as methods that decrease student and minority voter representation. He advocated for initiatives like Proposal 3 on the November ballot, which will reverse many of these procedures and

make voting more accessible. Steinberg added while there is criticism of the straight-party ticket method of voting, he said it will increase voter turnout and allow the working class more opportunities to vote. “In a perfect world, people would have all the time in the world to go through a ballot and not worry about the length of the line,” Steinberg said. “This proposal doesn’t mean that people don’t have the option to go back, but the precise reason that straight party ticket voting was eliminated was to suppress the vote in Black communities, so I think people should have the option.” He also added the importance of Proposal 3 in Michigan in terms of numbers, claiming Michigan would have 400,000 more voters if Proposal 3 were to pass. Steinberg also advocated for Proposal 1, which would legalize marijuana, which could prevent mass incarceration, and Proposal 2,

which creates a nonpartisan commission to combat gerrymandering. Nursing freshman Taylor Haake said she went to the event to learn more about contemporary voting issues, especially in regards to communities that she personally doesn’t belong to. “This event stuck out to me because I feel like it’s so prevalent, especially with the election coming up soon, and I wanted to be more informed about issues I should vote for and why they’re important,” Haake said. “I’ve always known that my vote is important to me and that I should be able to use it, but I guess I didn’t necessarily make connections to things in politics that I didn’t really understand. I wanted to get a better understanding of what’s happening in our country. A lot of the times students can get very involved in their own little bubbles, so I wanted to break that.”

on the role mentorship can play in forming support networks for firstgeneration students and helping them understand these basic facts. Resources such as First-Generation College Students @ Michigan, an organization created in 2007 by undergraduates, provides events and workshops for students navigating the University for the first time. Panelist Taryn Hayes, an LSA junior, said her experience with mentorship in the Women in Science and Engineering residential community gave her the confidence to pursue a field that she previously shied away from. “WISE was amazing,” Hayes said. “It really supports women in STEM, because women are often underrepresented in STEM fields. I truly believe that if I wasn’t in WISE, I wouldn’t be pre-med still today. It’s a really intimidating field and I received nothing but support from my peers and my advisers.” Siddiqi, who moderated the discussion, was a first-generation at the University as well and noted how 32 different mentoring programs on campus give students

a sense of direction that their parents are often not in the position to offer. “I was in the Transfer Connections mentoring program, and it shaped me as a person and shaped what I do because my mentor in the program told me about higher education as a field of work,” Siddiqi said. “I didn’t know that that could be a thing, my parents still don’t know what I do in my life, but I have a decent, stable job. It’s just opening up those avenues and opportunities that you didn’t think were initially possible because your parents might not have had the same experience.” Panelist Nourel-Hoda Eidy, a Public Health junior, said having to explain her interests and field of study to disapproving parents is a unique challenge many firstgeneration students face. Eidy, who said that she has “very immigrant parents,” explained how her family is supportive of her studies but still remain distant from her life at the University. “My parents still don’t ask about school,” Eidy said. “I think

that for a lot of us it builds a lot of autonomy in knowing that I can’t complain to my dad about school or complain to my mom about school. My dad works insane amount of hours and is insanely exhausted when he comes home. My parents, their purpose was, ‘We’re going to immigrate, we’re going to provide you with the resources, but you’re going to figure it out.’” Hayes said while firstgeneration students may struggle to keep up with their continuinggeneration peers, they are often high-achieving students with a strong work ethic and desire to succeed. “I would say don’t doubt us,” Hayes said. “I mean, even though we might need a little more guidance and a little bit more patience, we can still accomplish really good things. I’m sitting next to an amazing group of students who have accomplished amazing, great things, and I know that we’re all really excited for our futures and when it comes to that, we are equal to students who are not first generation.”

tuition this semester, which includes around 1,700 students who are included in the Go Blue Guarantee. This guarantee allows in-state students whose families earn less than $65,000 in annual income and who hold assets under $50,000 to attend the University free of tuition. In the first year since the implementation of the Go Blue Guarantee, admissions applications from some of Michigan’s lowest-income household students increased by 24 percent. From this, there was a 6 percent increase in the fall freshman class of students whose household incomes are $65,000 or less. “Through the Go Blue Guarantee and commitment to financial aid, we are sending a message to the people of our state and beyond that we seek

to welcome students from all communities and backgrounds who have the talent and desire to be a Michigan Wolverine,” University President Mark Schlissel said in the release. In addition to the Go Blue Guarantee, the number of undergraduates receiving Pell grants has increased to 17.9 percent from 16.5 percent in 2014. According to the Office of Enrollment Management, in the fall 2018 freshman class 45 percent of in-state students and 68 percent of out-of-state students have family incomes of over $180,000. 19 percent of in-state students and 15 percent of out-of-state students have family incomes that are less than $65,000. These numbers are based on students who applied for financial aid, and

students who did not apply for financial aid are included in the percentages of those whose family income is above $180,000. In terms of underrepresented minorities and first-generation students, improvements were also seen in fall 2018 admissions data. Of new freshmen, 14.8 percent are underrepresented minorities, which equals 949 of 6,403 freshmen who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. This percentage is an increase from 13.9 percent in 2017 and 10 percent in 2014. In 2017, the number of total underrepresented minorities in the fall 2017 freshman class increased marginally from the previous year. Black enrollment decreased marginally, Native students doubled, Hispanic enrollment

What’s scarier than a spooky skeleton on Halloween? The decline of local journalism!

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 — 3A

FILM From Page 1A this project not to argue with anyone. So if someone was saying that they believe the earth was flat, we just said, ‘Uh huh,’ and moved on, which with some of those things, it was hard at times, but that was what we decided to go.” The film is built on a series of reports Bridge published in January 2017 that examined divides that exist between Michigan residents on political, economic and social issues. Bridge started the project the day after the 2016 election, following 11 families for a year, and reporting on their

I wish that there was a little bit more of a discussion about the racial lines and equity lines that divide us because I think that that might be able to get at the core of ways to have conversations that will take us to a more positive place experiences, opinions and hopes for the state and the country. Six of those people were then featured in the documentary. French said as far as he knew, none of the film’s participants had changed their point of view, adding that a person’s source of information was a major contributor to the gaps that exist between those with different political beliefs. French described an instance in which a liberal couple from Ann Arbor who read The New York Times and listened to Michigan Radio switched news feeds with a conservative man from Troy who got most of his news from Republican talk radio shows and the president’s Twitter feed. “Frankly I think that’s the biggest source of the divide that we have,” French said. “... They swapped for one week. Actually, the conservative, six hours into the one-week project, he emailed me and said, ‘I’m out. I can’t read The New York Times anymore. This is too crazy stuff.’ I really do think that’s something that’s new for this generation and I don’t know what the solution is gonna be.” The participants’ reactions to the election were also a major source of difference. French said Dave and Sherri Frohriep, a couple from the Upper Peninsula, stocked up on ammo day before the election because they were worried former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would win, while a

increased by nearly 1 percent and Asian students decreased by 2.5 percent. The report came out during the University’s First Gen Week. According to a 2016 campus climate survey, first-generation students make up 8 percent of the student University community. Students who are the first in their family to attend a fouryear college or university, comprise 14 percent of this fall’s freshman class, which is also an increase from the 11.3 percent total in 2014. In addition, enrollment of transfer students increased this year by 14.6 percent. This fall 159 more students transferred to the Ann Arbor campus than in 2017, and this year there are 16.6 percent more transfer students who are underrepresented

liberal woman from East Lansing named Lisa King stocked up on contraceptives in case Trump won. The majority of the documentary participants, regardless of political affiliation, listed family as one of their top concerns. Public Policy graduate students Emma Dolce and Aloka Narayanan attended the event, and said they were not particularly surprised that people featured in the film had similar values. “I don’t think it’s necessarily an issue of shared values because people value similar things in their lives,” she said. “It’s an issue of what policy decisions do we want to employ enact to those values.” Narayanan, who is originally from California, was interested in hearing about the differences between Michigan residents. She said her initial perception was that Michigan was less divided than California, but she began to think otherwise after seeing the film. “I think that there’s always common ground, and that’s something that I actually found after coming to Michigan,” Narayanan said. “I’m liberal, and I didn’t have any Republican friends in California since high school, but coming here I realized that I have some friends who are moderate and have different political opinions than I do and I think that there’s totally a way to be friends with somebody or share values like family and have fun together and things like that — that’s a way to find an in to bridge a gap.” Dolce, who is from Ann Arbor, said living in a liberal city can sometimes feel like a bubble. “I’m pretty heavily invested in Michigan politics and local politics, and I’ve kind of seen divides like this develop for a while and I kind of came to remind myself of those because I think it’s easy to live in the bubble of campus and the bubble of Ann Arbor,” Dolce said. “It’s important to recognize that other people have different views and different thoughts than me and I was curious about what those thoughts and ideas were.” Dolce noted the film failed to include a participant from Detroit, which she said was an important perspective to take into consideration. Narayanan said she wished the film would have included more discussion of racial divides and equity problems, saying that they were key factors in the political issues that tend to divide people most. “I wish that there was a little bit more of a discussion about the racial lines and equity lines that divide us because I think that that might be able to get at the core of ways to have conversations that will take us to a more positive place to bridge the gap,” she said. “We’re talking about where we’re different and where we have shared values but not necessarily the differences in our values that come from the fact that we have racial backgrounds.”

minorities than five years ago. According to Kedra Ishop, vice provost for enrollment management, improving campus and enrollment diversity is something the University takes into account each admissions cycle and strives to continue to improve. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan, the University’s program to increase diversity in all realms of University activity, is now in its third year and, according to Ishop, the University still has a way to go. “We’re making progress in some areas and face challenges in others,” Ishop said in the release. “We have to continue to find legal solutions to provide the opportunity of a Michigan education to a diverse set of students. We’re not there yet.”

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Opinion

4A — Wednesday, October 31, 2018

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AMANDA ZHANG | COLUMN

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HANK MINOR | COLUMN

W

Liberalism is dead, long live liberalism

hen the Democrats yielded the House to a resurgent Republican party in 2010, the prevailing mood among Democratic party members was still one of placid, optimistic curiosity: “How will Obama and the Senate continue steering the ship of state?” Since then, their fall from power has only accelerated, and the GOP delivered a coup de grâce to the movement President Obama started in 2008 with the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. For the past two years, Democrats have managed a nearly powerless organization — what happens next week, then, if they win back the House? It seems unfortunately possible that #resisting will dominate their agenda, preventing the construction of a vision of consensus for 2020. The Democratic House could spend two years trying to incapacitate President Trump’s agenda with hearings, investigations, spending cuts and general obstructionism, or it could methodically lay out an alternative for their future candidates — I don’t think they have the bandwidth for both. Fortuitously, Trump’s election has prevented any revival of the awful phrase “America is already great.” Democratic candidates in 2020 will have to present a case — new or not — that the right-wing project is inferior to their own. It’s easy to be the perpetual rebel, never forced to take power even when it’s handed to you — so easy that savvy politicians might opt to avoid doing so altogether. Dragging Trump officials through essentially trivial House investigations, motions for impeachment and byzantine procedural rebuke isn’t pointless, but it leaves open the possibility that the prosecution of grievances from 2016 will overwhelm any attempt at progress. The constant drama of the past two years has prevented the country from — as many

“

voters in both parties hoped — “just ignoring politics.” The failing New York Times and once nearly-defunct Washington Post have drastically expanded their readership. TV news has slowed its march toward obscurity, and it seems that social media companies are constantly trying to capture a piece of the political news market. The electorate has, happily or not, resigned itself to a 24-hour circus. Now people are watching, and the left should feel compelled to say something interesting. It’s possible relevant politicians will recognize the utility of having half a branch of government as a weapon and will use it in a way that supplements the larger project

It’s easy to be the perpetual rebel, never forced to take power even when it’s handed to you of taking back the hundreds of seats they’ve lost. This would be a strategy borrowed from the GOP. The nonsense controversy of Benghazi wasted millions of dollars and countless hours of time — and it helped make Hillary Clinton the second-least-popular candidate for president ever. The scorched-earth war against Obamacare was a failure on the surface — Obamacare still exists, sort of — but it appeared to make Clinton wary of championing any specific planned legislation. She relegated policy detail to her website and focused on broadly popular generalities in her speeches. The advantage this type of strategy has brought to the GOP, though, is only maintained through sheer force of will. Without voter suppression efforts, gerrymandering, the

inherent advantage of equal representation for states and a fundraising advantage, they’d already be losing most elections. The left will have to pair ruthlessness (which they clumsily debuted at the Kavanaugh hearings) with a genuine message — nobody wants a second chance to vote for Clinton. Victories in 2018 and 2020 will rely on the willingness of left politicians, like Obama in 2008, to say something voters actually want to hear. The concerted effort to increase turnout this cycle is a good sign. It seems the Democratic party organization might be fully committed to inspiring non-voters rather than converting voters whose connection to reality has been obliterated by Fox News. The question is finally, “Why aren’t people who like us voting for us?” instead of, “Why are people who hate us voting for someone else?” It’s likely that less than a week from now, Democrats will regain legislative power, and the power of subpoenas and public hearings for the first time in four years. They’ve pursued a watereddown version of the Tea Party strateg y following Clinton’s loss in 2016: obstruct what you can, and fearmonger about what you can’t. Taking back the House will compel them to pursue different goals ( building a platform for their 2020 races, offering alternative legislation), and will be the first time since 2010 that they’ve been asked to present a unique vision for the country. They might offer people a second chance at Hillary Clinton — moderation, neoliberalism and social progressivism — or they might offer something else: policies that directly counter Trump’s language of “making America great again.” Hank Minor can be reached at hminor@umich.edu.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t.

— President Trump in an Axios interview when asked about circumventing the 150 year old 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution through the use of an executive order

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I

American political discourse needs to change

t’s no secret that our current political climate is becoming exceedingly polarized. Not only are Democrats shifting left and Republicans shifting right, but liberals and conservatives alike are witnessing a “rising tide of mutual antipathy.” While both of these trends are undoubtedly contributing factors to the hostility of today’s political climate, it is really the latter that prevents us from escaping this seemingly endless stagnation. Political discourse should ultimately be about discussing different points of view with the intention of walking away with a more nuanced or perhaps entirely new perspective. But nowadays, politics has become an almost taboo topic, and discourse has been reduced to a series of echo chambers and unproductive arguments. With such divisive issues dominating today’s current events, it’s easy to fall victim to this trap. We all enjoy hearing our opinions validated by those who agree with us and antagonizing those who don’t, but it’s time we start thinking about what our actions and words actually accomplish. For example, within the past month, my Facebook feed has been riddled with text posts from friends all offering their two cents on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. My immediate reaction when I see these posts is almost always to cringe. While there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to share an opinion with a wide audience, these strongly worded social media posts are simply unproductive — they garner support from those who already side with the point and reinforce the negative opinions of those on the opposite side of the aisle. Unfortunately, this type of discourse is all too common, and these so-called “slacktivists” who use social media as a platform to express their viewpoints have a misguided perception that they are making some semblance of an impact in the world when in reality all they are doing is feeding an already raging fire.

In civil discourse, rhetoric is almost as important as the content of the arguments themselves. As a liberal, it is hard to watch people with whom I agree preach their opinions to conservatives with such aggressive tactics. Regardless of whether their points are valid, when liberals make personal accusations of racism or sexism or attempt to nullify their opponent’s credibility by imposing politically-charged identities like “straight white male,” the actual argument, regardless of its merits, almost surely goes disregarded. This type of discourse is hard to avoid. It’s satisfying to outsmart or embarrass others, especially when we live in a political climate that fosters hostility toward the other side. But when we discuss important and contentious issues like illegal immigration or Kavanaugh’s nomination with the primary intention of frustrating our opponents, when we treat political discourse like a tactical game rather than a constructive discussion, we do so at the expense of the important issues that deserve healthy examination and debate. During the 2016 presidential race, thencandidate Hillar y Clinton made headlines for publicly referring to half of thencandidate Donald Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Many viewed this statement as a political g if t to Trump, as the news in the following days and, to some deg ree, for the remainder of the campaig n, was dominated by that sing ular sound bite. Meanwhile, Clinton’s actual campaig n policies and initiatives took a back seat, and her chances of earning any uncertain Trump supporters’ votes dwindled to practically zero. Though the political impact of Clinton’s blunder was far greater than anything most of us could ever individually cause, our collective hostility toward our political opponents is equally as dangerous.

Clinton made an error in her campaign that the greater liberal community seems to make on a daily basis. She extrapolated her perceptions of a group of people based on their political leanings or beliefs. Today, the term “Trump supporter” is practically taboo among liberals. Like Clinton, many of us, even if only subconsciously, make immediate assumptions about this community. But more than 60 million Americans voted for President Trump in 2016, and if the left really wants to change that number, they might want to stop equating these 60 million politically active Americans with the morally depraved. We tend to forget t he u ncont rollable fac tors i n ou r lives t hat i n f luence ou r polit ica l lea n i ng s. I a m a fema le A sia n-A mer ica n who g rew up i n nor t her n New Jersey on ly 45 m i nutes out side of New York Cit y. I a m a lso a reg istered Democrat who wou ld ca ll herself a relat ively educated voter. That bei ng sa id, I have no idea how I wou ld vote had I been bor n a wh ite ma le i n r u ra l A mer ica . Fac tors li ke ou r gender, educat ion , race a nd place of residence a re not on ly power f u l i n f luences, but t hey a re a lso la rgely beyond ou r cont rol a nd of ten t a ken for g ra nted. The A mer ica n ex per ience is a ma zi ngly diverse, a nd we shou ld keep t h is i n m i nd when we eng age i n polit ica l discou rse. It is incredibly easy to disregard our political opponents as evil or innately wrong, because discrediting those with whom we disagree is the easiest way to validate our own opinions. But if we are truly interested in making a political impact and interested in educating and changing those minds which are open to change, then we must engage in a political discourse that fosters that mentality. Amanda Zhang can be reached at amanzhan@umich.edu

HANNAH HARSHE | COLUMN

I

When you can’t do everything

grew up with full than AP calculus. Additionally, confidence that I am I learned that I’m just not as capable of achieving smart as I thought I was. This discovery many anything I put my of the University mind to. I have my students I know parents to thank for had — to push that mindset. As a myself even harder little girl, when I came and learn what I’m stumbling out of my truly capable of. bedroom in my footie Of course, I didn’t pajamas and curly have a doubt that bedhead, whining, I was capable of “I can’t sleep,” my I put my dad would invariably HANNAH everything mind to. answer, “Whether you HARSHE I’m not alone think you can or you can’t, you’re right.” (A Henry in this instinctive, almost overwhelming desire to push Ford quote, by the way.) In high school, this mindset myself too hard. As the Harvard drove my scheduling. If I’m Business Review explains, we capable of anything I put tend to overwork ourselves due my mind to, why not take to a variety of “inner drivers,” notoriously difficult courses such as, “ambition, machismo, like accelerated chemistry and Advanced Placement calculus? Never mind whether or not I had any interest in those subjects. I didn’t pretend for a minute that I thought I would actually enjoy either of those courses. I just wanted to challenge myself as much as possible. I’m not here to brag about my high school course load. I would suspect that almost every student at the University of Michigan has had greed, anxiety, guilt, enjoyment, a similar experience, whether pride, the pull of short-term it was in high school or in a rewards, a desire to prove we’re different setting. We attend important, or an overdeveloped this university because we’re sense of duty.” Additionally, motivated students who are work (including school work) willing to put in the hours to is often less stressful than our get things done. I don’t regret home lives. Oftentimes, we feel taking challenging courses lost and out of control in our in high school. It’s because of social lives, and working hard them that I learned to work in school is a chance to prove hard, even when it’s not fun. ourselves. Of course, it doesn’t However, I wish I had been told from a younger age that, though always work like that. Spoiler I can do anything I put my mind alert: Every single day at this to, I can’t do everything I put university, it becomes clearer and clearer that I am not, in my mind to. Upon arriving at the fact, capable of everything I put University, I learned the world my mind to. It’s not that my parents were is full of problems and classes that are even more challenging lying to me when they told me

It becomes clearer and clearer that I am not capable of everything I put my mind to

I can do anything. It’s just that I interpreted that “anything” to mean everything. I’m sure that if I focused on just school, or just one job, or just one organization, I could be great at any of them. But, we live in an academic culture that glorifies busy schedules and long hours. We live in an academic culture that glorifies doing everything. When you try to be good at everything, you won’t be good at anything. I’ve experienced this firsthand, and it’s backed by research. The Wall Street Journal explains that only 1 to 3 percent of people can sleep five or six hours a night without it affecting their work performance. Additionally, of every 100 people who believe that they’re part of this group, only five actually are. The average college student gets less than seven hours of sleep, so if a student is getting a below average amount of sleep, it’s highly likely it is affecting their academic performance. Additionally, high levels of stress can ultimately lead to anxiety, which can drastically decrease a student’s academic performance. According to Time magazine, “In spring 2017, nearly 40% of college students said they had felt so depressed in the prior year that it was difficult for them to function, and 61% of students said they had ‘felt overwhelming anxiety’ in the same time period.” As students at the University of Michigan, we really are capable of achieving anything we put our minds to. But, when we try to turn that “anything” into an “everything,” eventually it will turn into nothing. Hannah Harshe can be reached at hharshe@umich.edu.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

DAILY HUMOR COLUMN

TV REVIEW

Can we be funny?

NETFLIX

Netflix’s ‘Sabrina’ reboot is a witching good time MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN Daily Arts Writer

“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” presents the titular teenage witch (Kiernan Shipka, “Mad Men”) with what we’re told is an impossible choice: Should the half-mortal, halfwitch accept her birthright, pledge herself to Satan, attend a magical school and join the Church of Night? Or should she keep on living a quiet life in Greendale, with friends she loves at Baxter High School and her doting boyfriend? It’s the tension in every adaptation of the Archie Comics series: The allure of magic perpetually in conflict with the adolescent desire to fit in. Watching “Chilling Adventures,” though, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the foul world of the coven is really much fairer than our own. It’s deliciously morbid, enlivened by off-kilter dialogue delivered with sinister bravado — what language might sound like in a minor key. Sabrina’s quarrelsome aunts and guardians, Hilda (Lucy Davis, “Better Things”) and Zelda (Miranda Otto, “24: Legacy”) are the best reminder that the Church of Night is as fun as it is frightening. “Where’s Aunt Hilda?” Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo, “Killed by My Debt”) wonders in the second episode. “She annoyed me, so I killed her and buried her in the yard,” Zelda

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 — 5A

replies matter-of-factly. A short while later, Hilda claws herself out of her grave and heads back to the kitchen in a huff, saying: “You’ve got to stop killing me!” Resplendent with classic horror influences, the show shares some visual DNA with fellow gritty Archie Comic reboot “Riverdale.” But “Chilling Adventures” is on an extra dose of macabre; in the third episode, a vampish clique of witches helps Sabrina carry

“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” Season 1 Netflix out a revenge plot that would make even Dark Betty blush. It’s inevitable that the two worlds tugging at this heroine aren’t quite evenly matched. Once we’re given a taste of witchhood in all its glory, the teenage trials Baxter High throws at Sabrina are all a bit too pedestrian. Her relationship with the dopey Harvey (Ross Lynch, “Austin & Ally”) is so vanilla, we’re left practically begging her to choose Nicholas Scratch (Gavin Leatherwood, “Grown-ish”), the handsome young warlock competing for her attention. Sabrina’s mortal friends are sweet, but not much else. And Sabrina’s principal adding “The Bluest Eye” to

a banned books list, though arguably a satanic act in itself, doesn’t hold a torch to the problems she has involving the actual Satan. In the effort to keep Sabrina down-to-earth, “Chilling Adventures” forgets that it’s far more interesting when those adventures are beneath the Earth. Shipka’s Sabrina feels akin to her comic book predecessor, plucky and earnest, as if a big smile and can-do attitude might just keep the Dark Lord at bay. But it’s her mortal teenagerness, her disdain for authority and tendency to question everything, that adds some psychological depth to the show. The coven is presented as a path to empowerment, a way for Sabrina to become a great, unstoppable witch. But really, Sabrina points out, isn’t it all just in the service of the man down below? What’s so empowering about the choice between freedom and power? Being branded a witch, once a punishment inflicted by the patriarchy, has recently been reclaimed as a feminist badge of honor — a way for women to signal their strength and defiance. It’s not so simple in the Church of Night, a rigid institution filled with the same kinds of jockish bullies that lurk the halls of Baxter High. “When will the world learn?” laments Sabrina’s possessed teacher Miss Wardwell (the fabulous Michelle Gomez, “Doctor Who”). “Women should be in charge of everything.”

“Saturday Night Live”’s 27th season premiere was scheduled to air just 18 days after the 9/11 attacks. Reese Witherspoon was going to host and Alicia Keys was scheduled to perform as musical guest; it would be Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler’s first show as new cast members. The question loomed over the heads of “SNL”’s staff: Will the show go on? Creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels answered that the show must go on. At 11:30 p.m. EST on Sept. 29, 2001, “Saturday Night Live” aired the first episode of its 27th season. The cold open featured former Mayor Rudy Giuliani alongside Lorne Michaels. Behind them stood a group of New York City’s finest — firefighters and police officers with uniforms still covered in the dust and ashes from Ground Zero. Mayor Giuliani spoke about the importance of preserving New York institutions like “SNL” and Michaels asked the question we were all thinking, “Can we be funny?” Giuliani responded with perfect timing, “Why start now?” In a time where calamity befalls calamity, I look back on this moment in comedy history for guidance. In the wake of tragedy, can we be funny? Stephen Colbert said, “You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time.” If Colbert believes laughter is the best medicine for fear, then I believe as well. If fear can be cured by laughter, I think we should all take a big huff of laughing gas every damned morning. If fear can be cured by laughter, John Mulaney is my doctor and he just prescribed America with 1000 mg of sidesplitting snickers. If fear can be cured by laughter, then the only option in fearful times like these is to laugh — laugh with friends, laugh with family, laugh with your roommate, laugh with your cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, laugh with the people you hold dear. In the wake of tragedy, can we be funny? On Saturday night, hours after I discovered that 11 of my people were murdered in Pittsburgh during Shabbat services, I was to go on stage and make people laugh. My improv group was to perform, as we do every month, in Angell Hall, in front of an audience of our peers. But, now, how were we supposed to go on?

ALBUM REVIEW

KONICHIWA RECORDS

The momentary bliss of ‘Honey’ MATT GALLATIN Daily Arts Writer

When Robyn describes the eight-year hiatus she took from her solo career, she says that she spent the time “rebooting.” “I really feel like I rearranged my insides in a way,” she told The New York Times. Her hard drive was wiped clean to make way for an entirely new program. Honey is our introduction to the new software. What we meet is an album about resolve, about sticking your tongue out to taste the sweetness and closing your eyes with satisfaction because you know not to

ask for too much more. The momentary bliss is enough. On the astonishing title track (the existence of which had been rumored for years), Robyn opens in an ascending

Honey Robyn Konichiwa Records

voice, “Baby you’re not gonna get what you need / But baby I have what you want / come get your honey.” A version of the song was previewed on an episode of HBO’s “Girls”

in 2017, but was far from complete. Robyn reportedly spent four years trying to finish it, and it became, she says, her white whale. The result sounds accordingly deserved. “Honey” glimmers like liquid metal on the dance f loor; it pulses and churns with a wistful determination, the sort of contradiction that Robyn is so skillful at capturing. Pop tastemaker Jack Antonoff, in praising her song “Dancing On My Own,” describes Robyn’s ability to capture apparently disparate feelings succinctly, like they’re sides of the same coin — “this idea… where the sadness is sewed into the glory,” he wrote. “Honey” is the sequel to

“Dancing On My Own.” In the latter, Robyn watches an ex-lover from the corner, begs him to see her and ultimately dances with sorrow alone. It’s a crystalline encapsulation of bittersweet. When she wonders, “I’m right over here / Why can’t you see me?” she’s asking a question, but it sounds like a demand; with that demand is the implicit belief that a better world might exist — that she might deserve the right to escape her loneliness. As she twirls around on the dance f loor and looks up at the ceiling, she knows what she needs and thinks maybe she can get it. On “Honey,” Robyn learns that the fact of necessity has nothing to do with its

How could we go on stage with the purpose of comedy during such tragedy? As students lined up outside Auditorium A, we asked ourselves the question if

massacre. The laughter we created will fund part of a Shiva, a funeral, or the rebuilding of a temple destroyed by senseless hatred. In the wake of tragedy, can we be funny? If we stop living, laughing and loving, fear has won. The show

must go on. And after we can wipe away the tears and look towards a better future, we are ready to live again; we are ready to laugh again. After a national tragedy, we are in a period of mourning as a country. Acts of terror remind us how much hate there is in the world and it is beyond scary. Eleven people were murdered for being Jewish, and the AntiDefamation League reported that it was the deadliest attack on Jews in this country. In this terrifying time, it helps just a little to find the good in the world. To remember those who helped: the neighbors, the community and the brave service men and women. Because now more than ever, we need good, we need love, we need laughter. In parting, dear reader, I offer you several anecdotes that never cease to put a smile on my face. A few funny lines that have circulated around many a Shabbat dinner table and Passover Seder. Some classic Jewish jokes that my uncle brings back time and again from his box of borscht belt comedy. Because we could all use a smile right now. Jews believe in the sanctity of numbers, and three is a good number — three patriarchs, three daily prayers and the Kabbalistic belief that there are three pillars in the mystical diagram of the Tree of Life. Therefore, I have listed three Jewish jokes for your laughing pleasure. Also, I couldn’t choose just one. How do you know Jesus was Jewish? Four reasons: One, he was 30, unmarried and still living with his mother. Two, he went into his father’s business. Three, he thought his mother was a virgin. Four, his mother thought he was God. Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort. And one of them says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other one says, “Yeah, I know — and such small portions.” Three bubbies are sitting on a park bench. The first one lets out a heartfelt “Oy!” A few minutes later, the second bubbie sighs deeply and says “Oy vey!” A few minutes after that, the third bubbie brushes away a tear and moans, “Oy veyizmir!” To which the first bubbie replies: “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to talk about our children!”

fulfillment. That’s a profoundly sad realization, and it’s easy to underestimate the minimal, early-morning-hours-in-theclub production of these songs. Robyn says she’s no longer an optimist, not like she once was. “Things don’t always go well, that’s just how it is,” she told Pitchfork. What replaces optimism is an acceptance of love as a viscous f luid, something that slips through the fingers and falls onto the f loor with ease, glittering up at you from the ground. You can still enjoy it, but it’s f leeting. Robyn is the pop star of ambivalence, and the sadness comes with its counter. “Missing U,” a song about loss, sounds like a triumph with its carnival synthesizers. “Because It’s in the Music” is a track to happy-cry to. The counter melody makes it sound as if it’s moving in two different directions, mirroring the back and forth of the lyrics when she sings, “It’s a tired old record / I still play it anyway / Because it’s in the music.” On “Ever Again,” she describes the push and pull of a new relationship while declaring that she’s never going to be broken-hearted again. It closes out with the most joyous production of the entire album. And it’s a triumph, too, when you consider her newfound realization in context. After eight years of battling pain and loss at the fault of love, she doesn’t say that she’ll never love again — she says she’ll never “hurt” again. She’s still taking licks of the sugary stuff while she can. She’s just dropped the expectations

she once had. Gone are the questions of “why” that dogged her on the Body Talk series and her eponymous album. This time around, Robyn knows. Also gone is most of what could pass as mainstream pop. Opener “Missing U” and the title track are as close as she gets to pure pop, and even these sound anachronistic — not necessarily of the past or the future, but of some ethereal medium which draws from both. There’s ’80s house music, ’90s R&B and the futuristic synths of “Send to Robin Immediately.” What brings it all together is the obsession with entrancement. To achieve it, Robyn avoids simple choruses and the predictable drops of EDM. The beats wander unexpectedly. You have to wait and see where they take you, and the moments of transcendence are almost always a surprise. In “Send to Robin Immediately,” a discernable beat pattern doesn’t emerge until more than halfway through the song. The tropical “Beach2k20” is in no hurry, strolling along for six minutes, with pauses for swim breaks. Honey rewards patience. Perhaps, though, the greatest achievement of this album is that it exists at all, and still sounds so essentially Robyn. No one else could have made this album, and despite her reboot, despite the trauma, despite the eight-year hiatus, with her newfound realizations, new software and an added calm, the absolute joy is that Robyn is — after everything — still dancing on her own.

BECKY PORTMAN we could be funny. Could we really be funny for an audience that was just crying? Could we really be funny, as natives and strangers to Pittsburgh alike, for ourselves? In a well-timed response, we looked at one another and asked, “Why start now?” All of the funds we collected from that show will be given to the families of the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue

The show must go on. And after we can wipe away the tears and look towards a better future, we are ready to live again; we are ready to laugh again

Arts

6A — Wednesday, October 31, 2018

EVENT COVERAGE

COURTESY OF DETROIT FILLING STATION

Over vegan food, a fight to raise the minimum wage ELI RALLO

Daily Arts Writer

It is a cool Saturday in late Oct. and as most of Ann Arbor sleeps, Kerrytown’s Detroit Filling Station wakes up with the intent of changing the world. As I arrive at the activist brunch event, I have little idea of what to expect. All I know before arrival is that the event is a partnership of sorts between the owners of Detroit Filling Station and the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, who are currently advocating for the Michigan One Fair Wage Campaign. The One Fair Wage Campaign is a national campaign advocating for better working conditions and higher wages for restaurant workers around the United States. The server-for-anhour event held at the Ann Arbor restaurant on Oct. 27 was just one stop on a tour of public appearances across Mich. this past weekend featuring actress and activist Jane Fonda, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United co-founder Saru Jayaraman and Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors. Also at the event was congresswoman Debbie Dingell, former state legislator Rashida Talib (who is running unopposed in Nov. and will become one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to the U.S. Congress) and state representative Yousef Rabhi. Restaurant Opportunities

Center co-president, Saru Jayaraman, educated me further on the cause and the current reasoning behind their stop in Mich. when she gave some opening remarks as the event began. “The Michigan state legislature passed the law for a $12 minimum wage for tipped employees in the state of Michigan, and now they are trying to take it off the ballot,” Jayaraman said passionately as patrons nodded in agreement. Her rousing speech had a common thread: urging everyone to call their senators and condemn the removal of One Fair Wage (OFW) off the ballot. The public appearance of these celebrities to advocate for OFW was well placed at Detroit Filling Station — a restaurant that ensures the respectful treatment of their employees. They make sure to provide fair wages, with everyone — from dishwashers to servers to cooks — making between $14 and $19 an hour. Additionally, all who work at least 30 hours per week are eligible for Michigan’s top-of-theline health & dental plan, ensuring that employees can cover all of the necessary costs of living. As the event carried on with gusto and charisma, I walked around and talked to some of the customers and local community members about what they thought of the event, as well as what brought them there. “It is super exciting to be a part of something in this community

dedicated to a fair wage,” said Ann Arbor resident Lynn Dils, who was enjoying her coffee and waiting for the event to begin. “We have waitresses in the family, so it’s great to be a part of something locally that supports them too.” Many other patrons who I had the chance to speak with shared her sentiments exactly. There was something stirring in the air as the diner bubbled with passionate discourse between one another. “I am so excited to be here with national celebrities who are lending support to a local issue… and it’s also my favorite restaurant,” said patron Marian Gonsior when asked about how it felt to be at an event like this in Ann Arbor. The event was an amalgamation between so many different people from the Ann Arbor community, all sharing a common love for social activism and vegan food. It pushed people to want to leave the doors of Detroit Street and go out and spread the word about One Fair Wage. Activist and actress Jane Fonda, the biggest name on the bill, had a lot to say on the topic of paying it forward and marching on past the doors of Detroit Street, in order to really make a difference. “My former husband (Tom Hayden) came from Royal Oak, went to the University of Michigan and was the editor of The Michigan Daily, and he taught me to really love this state,” she began when she took the microphone to speak in front of anxiously awaiting

Release Date: Wednesday, October 31, 2018

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

ACROSS 1 Story with many chapters 5 Hoops gp. since 1996 9 Colorado tribe 13 Curved fastener 15 Remote batteries 16 Former Persian ruler 17 Actor who’s anxious to get the Halloween party startled? 19 Only 20 Man __: trendy hairstyle 21 Neighborhood 22 Sonnet line fivesome 23 Communications co. with a blueand-white globe logo 24 Sci-fi character trying to creep it real? 27 Bends to retie laces, say 29 Velvet-voiced Tormé 30 Air rifle ammo 31 One might put stock in it 32 Small keyboard 35 Comedian who says no body’s perfect? 39 Zero 40 Composer who was a CBS reporter 43 Medium ability 46 __ de deux 47 Everycity, USA 49 Pop group whose music is in en-crypted files? 53 __ shot 54 Pear centers 55 __ B’rith 56 Former Fed chair Bernanke 57 Just barely 58 Actor who frights for every part? 61 Show impatience, in a way 62 Opposite of away 63 Actor Nick 64 Ice cream brand 65 Messy stack 66 Ran, as dye

DOWN 1 Speaker for low sounds 2 Momentarily will, after “is” 3 Travel with the band 4 Greece neighbor: Abbr. 5 Gets one’s feet wet 6 Bedevil 7 Sweetie, in slang 8 Donkey 9 50states.com graphic, for short 10 Crime film group 11 Dangling jewelry 12 Mideast chieftains 14 Pooch who shared spaghetti with Lady 18 Crocus kin 22 Florida key, e.g. 25 Novelist Zola 26 Russo who plays Frigga in “Thor” films 28 Uncork, say

32 Smidge 33 Fenced-in area 34 “Africa” band 36 Chowderheads 37 Dudes-only 38 Spongy toy 41 Matte finish? 42 Like this puzzle’s theme? 43 Way out 44 Brief TV plug 45 Kidd stuff 47 Remote button

48 Complete, as a PDF contract 50 Gives over (to) 51 Michelle Robinson’s married name 52 Gen. Assembly member 58 “Lower your voice!” 59 Country singer David Allan __ 60 Steal from

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

By Bruce Haight ©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

customers. “This is a midterm election and it is the most important election that I’ve ever lived through. If we don’t at least take back the House, we’re in even more trouble, and it’s very important that everyone understands to vote down the ticket,” she said. “Call your representatives after the election and tell them you will not stand for them repealing One Fair Wage, or for taking it off the ballot,” she finished strongly, before introducing co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Cullors, who agreed with and elaborated on her sentiments. “Black Lives Matter has really been on the front lines of changing the debate and the conversation about racial justice in this country and also around the world. And I think that this particular bill really challenges the idea of who is deserving and what they deserve. We live in a country that has built our foundation on who is inferior and who is superior,” Cullors said. “So in our efforts to challenge the state and local governments to make sure that this bill isn’t gutted — it’s going to take everybody in this room. It’s going to take all of our work, all of our love and all of our commitment,” Cullors said. “I hope that after today you go home. You talk to your family members, you talk to your co-workers, you go on your social media and you make sure that you say that this One Fair Wage bill cannot be gutted in Michigan.” With her conclusion, the crowd roared in agreement, picking up their forks again to finish piles of thick vegan pancakes, layered with strawberries, whipped rice cream and Mich. maple syrup. I overheard Congresswoman Dingell expressing her commitment to being involved and present at the local activist events over last weekend — including an event for domestic violence and a breast cancer awareness event. Right away, she asked the manager of Detroit Street for an apron, so that she was ready to serve. “I can’t just stand here and not remind you that we’re 10 days away from an election,” she began, which elicited a laugh from the audience. Many of the speeches by the guest servers surrounded voter mobilization. In recognizing that, for the Democratic Party especially, this election is extremely important, they emphasized the issues of unfair working conditions and low wages to bring to light the necessity of voting in the coming election. They expressed repeatedly that the only way One Fair Wage will see light on a Mich. ballot in the future, and maybe one day become a reality, is if everyone in the room and beyond goes out and votes.

10/31/18

the community they foster through their restaurants. “People eat at our restaurants monthly, weekly and sometimes even daily. We are told time and again that we are their favorite restaurants. I believe that, yes, our food is good, but that is only one thing that keeps people coming back,” Engelbert said. “The other thing is that people feel welcome and a sense of belonging here. I have been told by some, that they were first attracted to Detroit Street Filling Station by the rainbow flag, hung near our entrance. Others have mentioned being comforted by our Black Lives Matter signs.” Clearly, the team at Detroit Street is motivated on so many levels of social activism and in so many different topics, but when asked specifically about One Fair Wage and how Engelbert incorporates it into her businesses, she was very passionate and excited. “We try to stay ahead of the curve. When activists were pushing for earned sick time, we brought them into our restaurants and helped them collect petition signatures. And we began offering it to our employees,” Englebert said. “For us, One Fair Wage is do-able, and it’s the right thing to do.” After attending such a riveting event, I was curious when I could come back on my own accord to taste more of this activism and vegan food fusion. I inquired what I could expect in the near future, so I could mark my calendar, tell all my friends and make the trek over to Detroit Street for some gluten-free Tater Tots and social advocacy. “You can expect bold new directions in vegan cooking, a continued lineup of great music, expanded opportunities for activism — buses to the women’s march in DC anyone? — possibly a mural, a vegan Thanksgiving Feast on Nov. 20 and a New Orleansthemed New Year’s Eve Dinner Party,” Englebert said. “Everyone needs a good party, right? As Emma Goldman said: ‘If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.’” That sentiment certainly rang true at the event on Saturday. Though a lot is at stake in the coming elections for many people and the issues at hand are severe and life-changing for large groups, everyone was able to be lighthearted, silly at times and overall just excited to try and make a change. Their positive attitudes and spirited words mingled with the great food, warm environment and strong sense of community etched in the walls of Detroit Street. It may seem unconventional for you to enjoy a side of social activism with your Saturday morning brunch, but I urge you to head over to Kerrytown and try it — at Detroit Street. It just makes sense.

FILM NOTEBOOK

It’s the ‘Great Pumpkin’ EMMA CHANG Daily Arts Writer

10/31/18

In addition to the myriad of celebrities present, Paul Saginaw, co-owner of Zingerman’s Deli, took the floor to agree with all of the previous sentiments and offer opinions of his own. Zingerman’s is another restaurant that, like Detroit Street, treats its employees well and stands in support with One Fair Wage. “It is very easy to not be political,” he began. This, to me, spoke directly to the eligible University students who did not vote in the 2016 presidential election. Of eligible voters, approximately 44.7 percent voted in the election according to the National Study of Voting, Learning and Engagement 2016 campus report. On the topic of voter mobilization, I was able to talk directly with Rashida Talib. She is a passionate speaker, an astute woman and a fierce individual. She expressed how excited she was to have a hands-on job serving people in the restaurant that morning. “So many of us march together and won’t vote together,” she said when asked why voter mobilization is so important in young people. “You are needed,” Talib said. “You and your peers have a really important role right now in coming out and selecting leadership with compassion.” The air was filled with chatter and the mouth-watering scent of breakfast food as the morning progressed. I overheard young girls who couldn’t be out of middle school declaring they’d be an activist at some point in their lives, people at neighboring tables sharing moments between one another and co-owners Phillis Engelbert and Joel Panozzo connecting with everyone around them, ensuring the event was running smoothly. I had the privilege of stealing Phillis Engelbert away from her busy life as a restaurant owner and activist for a moment to say a few words about the restaurant’s mission and the event itself. When I asked Engelbert what she and Panozzo thought the intersection between the restaurant industry and activism is, she had a lot to say. “For us, they go hand in hand. My business partner Joel Panozzo and I both have histories of social activism. So it makes sense that we apply a community organizing model to our restaurants,” Engelbert said.“We see our restaurants as resources, to be used for building community and making social change. We try to set an example for other businesses by offering our employees a fair wage, health and dental benefits, earned time off, retirement benefits and a fitness bonus.” Engelbert and Panozzo have a commitment to the food they serve, but an even bigger commitment to

Halloween at 19 and Halloween at nine are two very different experiences: Costumes tend to be a little more revealing and, while some of us still go door-to-door, we’re looking for a party instead of candy from a neighbor. Some of us might take on the adult role of passing out the candy or even skip celebrating altogether to study or work. Yet despite these seemingly glaring differences, “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” serves as a reminder of the wholesome Halloween fun that accompanies the holiday, whether or not you’re in the third or 13th grade. “The Peanuts” Halloween special, in which Linus spends a night in a pumpkin patch and Charlie Brown finally gets invited to a party, is surprisingly similar to the way Halloween plays out here at the University. Most obviously, the characters are all just a bunch of kids who think they know what they’re doing but, in actuality, have no idea what’s happening. Whenever an adult voice of reason tries to interfere with their fun — looking at you Schlissel — all we hear is a muffled garbling that really makes no sense. But it goes even further than that. Take Charlie Brown for example: His consistent hope that someday, somehow, he is finally going to kick that football is the same kind of naïve dream

that all of us carry into game day (only to watch Michigan fumble somewhere critical or miss a field goal). Charlie Brown’s unexpected invitation to a Halloween party, and his subsequent joy, is the same kind of feeling we all got when Michigan actually beat Michigan State. Unfortunately for Charlie Brown, the similarities don’t stop there; his night of trick-or-treating is brought down by the fact that instead of getting all the candy he could ever dream of, he gets rocks. Similarly, my expectations for going out on any night far exceed what actually happens and more often than not, I end up dead asleep by midnight regretting my decision to even go out at all. Lucy, on the other hand, encompasses the person bent on having a good time and who is baffled when anyone seems to think there’s anything to do other than party on Halloweekend. Her criticism of Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin carries the same kind of disappointed tone I might hear from friends as I say no to the frats or when I leave at 11:45 p.m. to go hop in bed. She might even call me a blockhead on my way out. Snoopy is that one person that gets so into their costume and their character — I have to wonder why they aren’t in SMTD; his World War II flying ace costume is elaborate and detailed, down to his dog house as the plane. There are people in this world, and on this campus, who go to the same extremes. I just can’t help but think about the time it would take to come up with a

quality costume and execute it well. I can barely do that with homework. I will also proudly admit that I am Linus and that I have, in fact, carried a security blanket around, which I will shamelessly take to class and lecture. Linus also happens to be that person who insists on doing something other than partying and talks excessively about these different plans. In our 21st century case, I would liken it to posting it on Instagram. He writes a letter to the Great Pumpkin; I’ll post a picture of myself studying at Espresso Royale on a Saturday night. Interestingly enough, whether someone is waiting for the Great Pumpkin or studying for a good midterm grade, both rely on a healthy level of sincerity that Linus and I both don’t have. Charlie Brown and Linus always also have their little chats on a brick wall — in “Great Pumpkin” the two recap Halloween night, discussing the highs and the lows of trick-ortreating and the disappointment of the Great Pumpkin. This whole segment of the cartoon is reminiscent of the morning after brunches we all go to with our friends while ignoring whatever responsibilities we may or may not need to address in the near future. This Halloween, make sure you watch, or re-watch, “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” Whether you do it while pregaming a house party or baking a pumpkin pie with your mom, just remember to never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker and always get your signed documents notarized.

Michigan in Color

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, October 31 2018— 7A

How to not be racist: a starter guide for UM A.B.

MiC Contributor

The University of Michigan just scored an “F” on racial equity in a public university study. And since we are in the spirit of writing guides, I thought it would only be right to create a guide where a Black student attempts to educate their peers on how to be a little more civil and culturally competent. I write this to the incoming college student, and anyone who might’ve gotten too much exposure to Fox News. I write this to all of the racist, sexist, bigots in the classroom and around campus. I write this to the parents who failed miserably to educate their pasty-ass kids in their lilywhite neighborhoods. I write this to the professors who’ve essentially told me that they’re sorry, but I need to sit down, shut up, and deal with it. I write this as solace — in solidarity to those who have had to put up with too much for too long from their oppressors. “I am tired of being sick and tired.” — Fannie Lou Hamer

Common Myths that derail actual conversations on racism MYTH 1: The Irish were slaves, too. You don’t see me complaining. The Irish were never slaves. “While it is true that antiIrish sentiment was present in the United States until well into the 20th century, but that is a separate issue from 17th century indentured servitude,” Leslie Harris, a professor of AfricanAmerican history at Northwestern University, said. “The descendants of indentured servants, Irish or otherwise, did not face a legacy of racism similar to the one faced by people of African descent.” Harris also notes “an indenture implies two people have entered into a contract with each other but slavery is not a contract . . . It is often about being a prisoner of war or being bought or sold bodily as part of a trade. That is a critical distinction.” MYTH 2: Asians are able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps — why can’t you all?

Asians are not, and have not, been subjected to the same complex and purposeful systems that were built to oppress Blacks. Let me emphasize: Asians definitely were (and are) discriminated against. There were lynch mobs, housing discrimination, internment camps and immigration quotas to oppress Asian people. But the system that oppressed Blacks has been here longer, was enforced more brutally and has remained to this day. Let us not forget: Asians were not subjected to as heavily as a community to slavery, black codes, segregation, redlining, ghettos, police brutality and prison systems. And let’s remember that stereotypes cast Asians as smart and workaholics, while Blacks are portrayed as lazy, dangerous and dumb. These stereotypes can cost jobs, opportunities and even lives. The struggles that Asians and Blacks went, and continue to go through, are completely different. Asians came over mostly as willing

economic migrants or as refugees fleeing war. Blacks were forcefully taken from their homelands to work as slaves. 3. MYTH: I am not responsible for my ancestors’ ills. Yes, yes you are. Whether your ancestors owned slaves and exploited their labor to gain familial wealth, or you are simply white, you are benefitting from a system created to help you succeed. Most recently, the history of immigration law, civil rights law, and this country at large has one people’s history at large. Name one law that helped Black people that wasn’t undoing some shit white people did. You benefit from their ills every day. As Jeanne Curran, a emeritus faculty member at California State University-Dominguez Hill campus wrote, “When past actions, such as colonialism and/ or slavery, exploited some and

privileged others, the exploitations and privileges became part of our system of law through the unstated assumptions of privilege. The law was created by the privileged, and so reflects their perspective to the exclusion of the perspective of those colonized, enslaved, or exploited. To the extent that we continue to take advantage of the unstated assumptions of privilege on which our current system is based, we continue to bear responsibility for the effects those unstated assumptions have on people harmed by them.” She goes on to say, “Institutional racism is racism that arises from the rules and normative structure of social interaction in personal relationships and in institutions, rather than from any discriminatory or racist intent of an individual perpetrator. In other words, some acts of discrimination and racism occur because someone, operating on racist or discriminatory assumptions

and beliefs, intends to exclude or harm a specific group or person. But other acts of discrimination and racism occur simply because ‘that’s the way we do things,’ or because ‘we’re just following the rules.’” MYTH 5: Get over it. Slavery was so long ago. Lol. See figure 5 in the online version. For more on why you shouldn’t blame Black people for what you did to them. MYTH 5: Africans were complicit, and sold other Blacks into slavery. Africans and Europeans had different definitions and understandings of what a slave was, so don’t even start with “Africans were complicit in the slave trade” when there is little evidence to support that they did understand the totality of what they were doing.

Basics/101- (Shit You Should Know, But Your Parents Probably Failed to Learn and Teach You) Racism is not just being a part of the Ku Klux Klan. Racism is also an attitude, in which you would prefer not to get involved with issues of race, or understand how race works and operates to keep minorities around you disenfranchised. Racism

is putting your own comfort over the lives of the marginalized and oppressed. In America, you have two options when it comes to racism: 1. Ignore all of this, and continue perpetuating the problems.

OR 2. See exactly how this is, fight against it and stand up to it. Sitting and repeating “I’m not racist” does absolutely nothing to change racism. And pretending that you do not see it definitely does not

“Victim Mentality”/ “Victimhood”/ “If you don’t like it here, then leave!” “Why is it so easy for white people to fix their barely-there lips or curl their fingers to tell people of color to leave the country if they don’t like it? I wanna ask them why they don’t leave? Most, if not all, white people know their lineage. So why not go back to where they came from? After all, their ancestors chose to come here. Mine were stolen from Africa.” — WOC Allies White people have been saying “Go back to your country” for ages, even though they all should be the first to

leave. You stole this country from Native Americans. You committed genocide to keep it. You profited off Black and people of color’s labor for centuries to build this nation. You even created immigration loopholes to benefit from cheap labor. See: the Bracero Program. And now you want us to leave, so you can reap all the benefits? Further, many racists assert that if you acknowledge how racism affects you, a community or any social or political interaction, you are playing

change anything. I am tired of sitting in a class full of white racist students who have done nothing to educate themselves on how race works and operates in this country. Their “opinions” work to maintain

the status quo and actively endanger my livelihood. I wrote this so that you can be better, and so that this country doesn’t have to fall for the same reasons Rome did: the failure to incorporate people of different backgrounds into society.

Colorblindness the victim. I’m here to tell you — that’s categorically false. If someone stabs you, do you just say, “Oh, it’ll heal itself”? Acknowledging institutional racism exists isn’t antithetical to social progress. Acknowledging wrongdoing is the healthiest way to move on and repair damage that has been done to communities for centuries. Someone is not a victim for acknowledging what has happened to them.

“But I’m not racist! I don’t see race! I’m colorblind.” In any conversation about race in modern America, resorting to “colorblindedness” is a defense mechanism in order to avoid talking about race because you “don’t see it.” “But then what do you do at a stop light?” — Trevor Noah Put bluntly in the words of writer Hayley Burroughs, colorblindedness does the following: “It denies cultural heritage and negative racial experiences. It fails to acknowledge the

people of color haven’t had access to the “old boys network,” or nepotistic practices — those white people have had to keep their wealth insulated for years. Blacks and whites in Household Income: The data in figure 2 show that there is around a $30,000 income disparity between the median Black household income and the median white household income.  Spoiler alert: it’s not that the Blacks are lazy!

racial construction of whiteness and supports systems of privilege and oppression. It discourages people from acknowledging the racism they face. It views racism at the individual level without looking at the larger societal, institutional, and structural mechanisms in which racism operates. It assumes we live in a country where race no longer matters, even though is still a major issue. It invalidates people’s identities. It narrows white people’s

 “In 2016, the most recent year for which all of these data are available, the median black worker earned 75 percent of what the median white worker earned in an hour; the median black household earned 61 percent of the income the median white household earned in a year; and the value of net worth for the median black family was just 10 percent of the value for the median white family. Related to these relative proportionate differences is also a wide range

understanding of the world, disconnecting them.” We all see color, or, more importantly, are capable of understanding that someone’s race affects how they move throughout the world. We know that obtaining money/resources does not alleviate racial struggle. As a result, colorblindedness ideology encourages and fosters racism, as it fails to recognize the economic, political and social differences within race. Racism is alive and well in America. And it’s not going away anytime soon.

of absolute differences. While median hourly wages vary by a few dollars ($14.92 for black workers, $19.79 for white workers), the difference in median household income is tens of thousands of dollars ($39,490 for black households, $65,041 for white households), and the difference in median family net worth is hundreds of thousands of dollars ($17,600 for black families, $171,000 for white families).” Valerie Wilson, Economic Policy Institute

NOLAN FELICIDARIO/Daily Figure 1

Racism Is Over Racism is not over. It is built into the fabric of American society — into how suburbs, cities, education systems, income levels and every single tier of existence are created. This system, which has been fashioned in America over centuries, is far too complex to be broken down in this starter guide. But to be fair, let’s look at just a few recent statistics on discrimination. Blacks and whites in Educational Attainment:

As you can see from the data in figure 1, Blacks and Hispanics are enrolling more in college than ever — but why are they conferring less bachelor’s degrees? Spoiler alert: It’s not because they’re lazy. Maybe it’s due to the institutional barriers they’ve been facing since they were children. The idea of education being the great equalizer is a tall tale at best. The “American dream” is largely dead. And even though exceptions exist, social mobility has remained stagnant and even decreased over

the past 30 years. In Harvard’s “Civil Rights Project,” “Lee and Orfield identify family background as the most influential factor in student achievement. A correlation exists between the academic success of parents with the academic success of their children. Only 11% of children from the bottom fifth earn a college degree while 80% of the top fifth earn one.” Maybe institutional and generational wealth has something to do with all of this, because

WILLA HUA/Daily Figure 3

Blacks and whites in Unemployment: “In 1954, the earliest year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has consistent unemployment data by race, the white rate averaged 5% and

the black rate averaged 9.9%. Last month, the jobless rate among whites was 6.6%; among blacks, 12.6%. Over that time, the unemployment rate for blacks has averaged about 2.2 times that for whites.” - PEW Research Center

Is it clear yet? Disparities between whites and Blacks exist. Racism is alive and well.

The rest of this guide will be published online on Thursday, November 1. To view the published guide, visit michigandaily.com/section/MiC. WILLA HUA/Daily Figure 2

8A — Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Facing McSorley, Michigan looks for redemption Karan Higdon takes

on leadership role

ETHAN WOLFE Daily Sports Writer

After allowing season highs of 506 yards and 42 points to Penn State in last season’s blowout, the Michigan football team’s defense can seemingly rest easier. This Saturday, it doesn’t have to line up across some of the threats that keep defensive coordinator Don Brown up at night. There is no whiteout crowd in Happy Valley, no DaeSean Hamilton or Mike Gesicki running the sidelines and, most notably, no Saquon Barkley to gash the Wolverines’ defense. But some teams have indescribable characteristics that can cause fits. The 14th-ranked Nittany Lions are one of them. “They don’t have Saquon, but they’re still Penn State,” said redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Carlo Kemp. “They’re still super successful, super dangerous and they’re a couple plays away from being undefeated.” And in Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley, No. 5 Michigan will still face off against an offensive weapon it had no answers for last year. McSorley threw for 282 yards and a touchdown in last year’s game, but carried the ball 11 times for 76 yards and three touchdowns. Sure, Barkley and the headaches he presented are now in the NFL. But running back Miles Sanders and McSorley are still executing runpass-options as well as anyone in the country. With a chance at redemption, the defense’s success is contingent on stopping McSorley. “Terrific player,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. “Consistently plays really well. Always is a threat in the passing game, defending the passing. He’s running the ball a lot more this year, really effectively. He’s quite a quarterback. Their winit factor shows up over and over.

MIKE PERSAK

Managing Sports Editor

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Junior safety Josh Metellus has recorded 30 tackles and three picks through eight games so far this season.

Big challenge for our team this week.” With junior linebacker Devin Bush Jr. likely spying McSorley and a weaker run game (read: not the best in the country), the Wolverines could see a more balanced, but still explosive offense. “They got some key guys that they like to go to,” said junior safety Josh Metellus. “Like No. 1, KJ (Hamler), he’s a fast guy, he creates space well himself and he has acceleration to take a five-yard play to an 80-yard play. And then on the outside they’ve got No. 84 (Juwan Johnson), we know he’s a good deep ball threat and a possession guy too. If they need a third-and-nine, they’ll go to him on a curl route or something.” And like any powerhouse offense, it all runs through it’s quarterback. “He keeps plays moving with his feet, extending plays really well,” Metellus continued, “and that’s one of those things that

— as a defensive back in man coverage — you don’t want the play to extend because now you cover your man for six seconds instead of three or four. That’s what makes their passing attack hard to defend.” Michigan has played quarterbacks that are also light on their feet this season. Notre Dame’s Brandon Wimbush, Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez and Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke all fit that bill, with only Wimbush finding any semblance of success. McSorley will be the most decisive and quick quarterback it will see all year. The Wolverines’ defense is boiled down to manning an assignment on a given play. It’s simple enough in practice, but failure in execution could be the difference between a stop and a touchdown. “Just making sure you read your keys properly,” Kemp said. “Make sure you do your job, don’t try to do too much. If you have the quarterback, make sure you

have the quarterback, because if you don’t, then you’ll look at him going that way.” Kemp, whose face briefly shifted from a smile to a concerned look, pointed behind his back. He, and the whole Michigan defense, saw themselves chasing Barkley and McSorley often against the Nittany Lions a year ago. Brown was adamant that last year’s defensive performance keeps him restless. Metellus knows he’s telling the truth, because he feels the same. Their frustration extends from a loss, and exposing a highly-touted defense. Beyond that, feeling helpless is something Michigan’s defense has rarely confronted. “I’m sure everyone on the defense felt they could’ve done something to improve the output of the game,” Metellus said. With a second chance to tackle McSorley, the defense doesn’t need much more motivation than that.

Mann to continue receiving opportunities JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer

Two is better than one. Last season, thensophomores Jack LaFontaine and Hayden Lavigne split time at goaltender for the first half of the season until Lavigne wrestled away control of the starting job. Though Lavigne retains a hold on the position through the first five games of the season, the emergence of freshman goaltender Strauss Mann has provided the Michigan hockey team (3-2) with a viable second option. Even after Lavigne recorded a shutout on Friday against St. Lawrence, Mann received the nod the following evening. And for Michigan coach Mel Pearson, having two good netminders is better than one. “(Lavigne)’s a good goaltender,” Pearson said. “It’s nice to have one really good goaltender, but it’s even better to have two really good goaltenders. So, I just wanted to make sure Strauss got in.” In Pearson’s time as an assistant for the Wolverines, the team would traditionally ride one goaltender, including Scott Sharples, Steve Shields and Marty Turco. Last season was a bit of an anomaly for Pearson who was getting a feel for his two sophomore goaltenders in his debut season as head coach for Michigan. Now in his second season at the helm, Pearson has a freshman in Mann who has shown the ability to provide quality play in the crease. Mann allowed only one goal on 19 shots in Saturday’s 3-1 victory after showing some signs of struggle in a 5-4 loss at Western Michigan last weekend. “I wanted to get Strauss in and just to get him a home game,” Pearson said. “We sort

After the Michigan football team’s last game, a 21-7 win over Michigan State, there was a lot to talk about. So when Karan Higdon sat in the visitors’ press conference room at Spartan Stadium, he was asked about pregame antics and motivation and doubters. The senior running back had an answer ready. “Every week, it seems that people, with the playoff rankings or whatever it may be, find a reason to critique us about why we don’t deserve to be a top-ranked team,” Higdon said. “Last week it was we don’t show up in big games. This week, it’s Michigan State’s got the No. 1-ranked defense. Blah, blah, blah. We showed up and we did our job. That’s all that matters, and that’s what it is.” Higdon was positioned in that press conference between sophomore wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones and junior quarterback Shea Patterson. He answered a majority of the questions during the presser, and he gave calm, confident responses. When the three players stood up afterward, PeoplesJones and Patterson smiled at Higdon, giving him high-fives and handshakes before they exited stage right. The game, and Higdon’s words, seemed to have pumped them all up. Higdon was named captain before the season, and he exudes the confidence of one, both in front of the media and elsewhere. When the Wolverines beat the Spartans, and Wisconsin before that, they sealed the games on the ground, feeding Higdon over and over and bludgeoning the opposing defense into submission. He is the workhorse of the offense. On Monday, facing the media for the first time since East Lansing, Higdon said he feels he has always run with an aggressive, downhill style. What he has been trying to develop this season, is his leadership skills. “Being more vocal,” Higdon said. “Holding guys to a higher standard, making sure we’re all on the same page and that I’m not just playing and leading through my play, but being vocal and making sure that guys are on top of their stuff, keeping that focus, keeping that higher

energ y.” The ability to be a vocal leader and a strong performer go hand-in-hand, though. If Higdon wasn’t leading the team with 831 yards and six touchdowns on the ground, if he hadn’t taken nearly the entire workload after junior running back Chris Evans went down with an injury, or if he hadn’t put in work off the field to become Michigan’s bell cow, his voice wouldn’t have a place on the team in the first place. But he has done all those things, and his voice does hold water with the Wolverines. “(Higdon) has been getting a bulk of the carries these last eight weeks, and you can tell he knows he’s a leader,” said junior safety Josh Metellus. “He knows guys look up to him, and he’s taken that with a high head and like, ‘Alright, if people want me to be the leader, I can be the leader.’ You know, he’s speaking up. Whatever he doesn’t like, he says it. Or, you know, if he wants to talk to the team, give us some encouragement, he does. Everybody really listens to him.” Added redshirt junior left tackle Jon Runyan: “Karan’s a guy that’s not afraid to call anybody out. When guys are slacking, missing a block or not catching the ball, having him, knowing that he has your back even when he says that stuff, it’s very nice. Karan’s a great dude. Everybody loves him, rallies around him, and it’s great having him out there with us.” To Runyan, the way Higdon has earned respect is the same thing he expects from those around him. He calls people out, because he wants them to work as hard as he does. From Higdon’s perspective, that likely has more to do with the constant push to get Michigan to its highest level of performance. For his teammates, though, Higdon’s respect for them means something, too. “For Karan, it’s coming in, doing your job, working hard every day,” Runyan said. “Don’t get too boastful about yourself, and you’ll eventually earn his respect. I think I’ve definitely done that. Everyone on the offense has done their part to earn that, and that’s something really special when a type of player like Karan’s caliber, you earn his respect.” The feeling is almost definitely mutual.

“That’s all that matters, and that’s what it is.”

“Karan’s a guy that’s not afraid to call anybody out.”

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Freshman goaltender Strauss Mann has a 3.07 goals against average and .860 save percentage so far this season.

of threw him into the deep end right off the bat at Western Michigan, it’s a tough place to play and I just wanted to get him a home game ... And I want some competition.” As for Mann, the competitiveness between himself and Lavigne only drives him to be better. “As a goalie, there’s only one guy that can be in the net at a time,” Mann said. “So that’s something I’ve really had to deal with my whole career so that’s nothing new. Everyone is just trying to play their best when they’re in the net and that’s just been my approach. When I get my chance just do what I can do and hopefully things will work out in the long run. “I think the best goalies

“We sort of threw him into the deep end right off the bat...”

are really competitive, and I’d like to think I’m competitive as well. We both know we’re friends off the ice, so anything that happens on the ice is just hockey and just competing and at the end of the day just looking to make each other better. So, no one ever takes offense to anyone wanting to stop pucks or getting competitive on the ice, it’s just the nature of the game.” Lavigne will likely continue to receive the majority of the time between the pipes. But with Big Ten play beginning next Friday against Notre Dame, Pearson knows that he may have to ride the hot hand if one goaltender stakes a claim to that level of success. Thus far, both Lavigne and Mann have put up nearly

identical numbers in three and two regular season starts, respectively. Lavigne has a 3.04 goals against average with a .864 save percentage, while Mann has a 3.07 goals against average and a .860 save percentage. Though he’s currently the clear backup now, Mann embraces the opportunity to continue to improve on and off the ice and earn more playing time. “(Lavigne and I) have a really good relationship and definitely push each other on and off the ice. We have a good line of communication and definitely talk about goaltending a lot and how we can make each other better and push each other. It’s been a good relationship so far.”

“As a goalie, there’s only one guy that can be in the net at a time.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Senior running back Karan Higdon has embraced his position as captain.

statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | O C TO B E R 3 1 , 201 8

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL

Why should we care about the University’s forgotten Detroit roots?

2B

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 // The Statement

statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | O C TO B E R 3 1 , 201 8

Managing Statement Editor: Brian Kuang

Editor in Chief: Alexa St. John

Managing Editor: Dayton Hare

Deputy Editors: Colin Beresford Jennifer Meer

Photo Editor: Amelia Cacchione

Copy Editors: Elise Laarman Finntan Storer

Designer: Elizabeth Bigham

I Bet Your Grandma Can Work Out Harder Than You: What I learned from the step aerobic generation

A

few days ago, I saw a man rollerblading while pushing a stroller with a golden retriever trailing behind on a leash. The spectacle looked like an American Ninja Warrior audition. As I watched the feat from across the street, I considered the skill of this man completing his Saturday morning to-do list while balancing on eight wheels. In that moment, I came to two conclusions. First, his dedication to exercise seemingly convinced him that rollerblading while responsible for the livelihood of a baby and a dog was a good idea. And secondly, my own coordination will likely never surmount to the athleticism required to complete such an act. Not that I am disappointed, I can certainly think of a lot better things to do with my weekend than fall face first on a potholeridden road. I have never categorized myself as naturally athletic. You

BY SHANNON ORS, DAILY STAFF REPORTER know, one of those people who can effortlessly recall their days as a three-sport athlete and win Spikeball the first time they play. The one sport I played in high school was swimming, which I had grown up participating in. And like anything, once you spend 10 years practicing something, it is reasonable to expect your ability to hover around at least average. The only biological evidence I have of my athletic ability was when a nurse told me that my low blood pressure suggested I spent a lot of time holding my breath. I guess swimming with your face in the water for a decade does something to your body beyond pruney fingertips. So I don’t have the blood of a track star. But I did not need a doctor to tell me that. The sheer number of times I have stubbed my toe while walking around the house or didn’t catch the beach ball during icebreakers is probably enough empirical proof.

My lack of natural athletic ability was confirmed in seventhgrade gym class — arguably, an experience specifically designed to test the resilience of fragile 13-year-old self-esteem. I dreaded having to don the cotton uniform and break a sweat to the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga dance party anthems found on any middle schooler’s iPod Nano in 2012. The crown jewel of my gym teacher’s curriculum was the track and field unit. We were required to complete every event for a grade. I wish I was joking. We did everything from shotput to relays to high jump. The only event not on the agenda was pole vault. It apparently was a liability to catapult grossly untrained kids into the sky with the momentum of a pole. The capstone of the unit was the 100-meter hurdles. The big kahuna of middle school physical education. A true test of athleticism to see who could master the technique of leaping over a barrier after just a 15-minute demonstration. Have at it kids. I panicked. My body did not like to leave the ground. The only time I caught air was diving into the pool. The prickly track did not qualify as a soft-landing surface. I braced myself and ran towards the first hurdle with no clue of how I was going to clear it. I lunged and somehow found myself on the other side I ILLUSTRATION BY MOLLY WU unscathed.

was surprised, but this confidence quickly evaporated when I looked up and was reminded of the other hurdles ahead. Mind you, the entire gym class is watching from the sidelines with my gym teacher holding a stopwatch ready to record my time. What happened next is one of those middle school moments locked in my mind with the same clarity as Rebecca Black’s “Friday” lyrics. I knocked down the next nine hurdles. Let’s just say, I did not try out for the track and field team. After the hurdle incident, my relationship with athletics was reserved for the pool and morning practice weight room sessions where I would bring flashcards to “study” before school. That remained the extent of my relationship with exercise upon graduating high school. However, when you go to college you realize just how many things you do not know how to do in life. For me, the top of the list was working out. I tried running, but my water raised joints could not handle the smashing on the pavement. Most runs I would find myself regretting not turning around earlier and end up with resorting to a run-walk that made me look like a limping kangaroo. I sometimes tried to power walk and listen to a podcast, which worked out well for a while until I got annoyed with the headphone cord and didn’t want to invest in Bluetooth. I even briefly tried to establish a gym workout routine, but soon realized I had no clue how to organize a workout. I tried downloading apps, googling exercises, setting a timer, but it was all too complicated and I never pushed myself enough for my heart rate to go up. It is still a mystery to me how all those people at the gym with their “in the zone” face and flawless transitions between exercises know what they are doing. Do they count in their

head? How do they decide which exercise to do next? Have they just been doing the same workout since 10th grade? These are all questions I would like answers to. I soon realized that I was going to need a little more hand holding if I wanted to release endorphins. This is how I found myself at a step aerobics class. Yep, a class of 55-year-old women taught me how to work out. I understand how ridiculous this sounds coming from a 19-year-old girl. We are supposed to be young and agile and do yoga four days a week in athleisure attire. At first, I truly was a fish out of water. The thing about gyms is no one ever tells you the protocol. It was trial and error until I learned the latest you could arrive to still snag a spot in the prime real estate of the back row and which weights I could sustain for the entire five minutes of the remixed version of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” The class was certainly not sexy like Soul Cycle. And I was definitely not part of the inner circle of regulars who would share recipes and save spots for each other. But there was something about awful America’s Top 40 music playlists. The instructors on their air traffic controller style headsets yelling during mountain climbers to “pretend there is a wine glass in front of you.” And the mutual judgement that would incur when the occasional male dropped into the class and put three risers under his step without realizing the class is an hour of nonstop cardio. I was there for the bad music and sweat. It was incredibly motivating. No wonder this echelon of suburban moms and grandmothers were so fit, they figured out something no one ever teaches you in gym class — athleticism isn’t always about proving yourself. It is enough to show up wearing an old T-shirt and mimic an instructor jump around a step for an hour.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018// The Statement

3B

Aftershocks

BY B.A. BACIGAL, CONTRIBUTOR

“I

am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.” - Dr. Christine Blasey Ford On a Thursday afternoon late in September, these words were spoken but not heard. They fell on the deaf ears of blind men sitting just feet away, the Kings of the Hill — Capitol Hill. Reverberations of these words were felt through television sets in living rooms, and through car radios, and through newspaper headlines and through conversations between couples behind you in coffee shops. While these words were not heard, they were felt. Half of the committee room felt them, half of America felt them and I felt them. For two full days of “hearings,” a week of an investigation and finally a vote, things carried on pretty much like this. Time is truly, as they say, of the essence when it comes to these kinds of things, like when healing time sometimes exceeds that of the statute of limitations. And while time may seem to be working in your favor, it might actually be working against you. How much time did it take us to get here? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers. Many point back to a letter, which Ford sent recounting her alleged sexual assault by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Others point back to his nomination itself as the impetus. Others still look over 30 years back, to the summer of 1982. Some look a little closer, to about this time in 1991 when another woman, attorney Anita Hill, fought the same fight only to lose. Have the rules changed since then? Personally, I’d say it took about two years. “Have you heard anything about this whole Kavanaugh thing?” he asked. I hadn’t. But, two weeks into school I was still actively trying to fit in with my boyfriend’s new “law school” friends. “She’s not like other undergrads.” I’d imagine them thinking after I wooed them with my eloquence discussing current events. Of course, such a facade could not be maintained for long. I nodded, adding, “It’s a real shit show,” every bit as eloquent as one might expect. Thinking I’d entered this Buffalo Wild Wings to pretend to watch the Lions game, I fell, ill-prepared, into a political arena I’d been hoping to avoid. So it began: “Do you think she made it up?” No. “When do you think she might step forward?” Why should she? “Why’d Feinstein keep it under wraps so long?” Who? “Could it really be any different from Anita Hill?” There’s been so much progress since then, hasn’t there?

ILLUSTRATION BY VALERIE CHRISTOU

“Can I get out? I have to pee.” The last one was from me. My thighs stuck to the seat as I slid out from the booth. My now red and slightly sticky thighs carried me to the bathroom. Pants up, I sat down on the toilet, arms outstretched, hands pressed into either side of the stall. My breathing slowed, and only then did I realize that I’d been breathing quickly. I had heard of Kavanaugh. I knew he’d been nominated to the Supreme Court. And, living in Washington, D.C. over the summer had indirectly taught me a lot about his opinions on everything from presidential indictment to the maintenance of precedent. But I hadn’t yet heard the 50 yes votes and 48 no votes. I hadn’t yet seen him sneer and spit through his testimony. I hadn’t yet read the Washington Post article outing Ford as the accuser, or the Wall Street Journal op-ed where he too claimed the status of “victim,” and I certainly hadn’t yet heard of a letter being passed hand-to-hand that would change the course of Kavanaugh’s nomination. At this point in time, I had only heard thoughts on an attempted rape from the mouths of first-year law students in between slurps of Canadian beer and bites of mozzarella sticks. They liked beer.Sliding back into the booth, they were once again talking about the game.

The Lions actually won. In retrospect it feels like a sick sort of foreshadowing. For that entire week, I was besieged by the Kavanaugh hearings. Being a fairly politically-active person, and associating with similarly politically-active friends, it was the only topic of discussion. Like a dance we’d begin slowly, circling each other from across the room to start with small talk. The music begins, with a soft introduction: “How’d your meeting go this afternoon?” “Did you end up getting that summer job?” then, like a sharp note to switch the tone we clasp hands: “So, what do you think about all this Kavanaugh stuff, huh?” A tango. For the most part, I let them lead. Some push the tempo, “Timing was way too fishy, she’s gotta be lying.” Kicking up my heels, in, out, step back and one, two, three… Others slow things down. “Really, I just never watch the news anymore,” an open embrace. But eventually, we get there, their hot take I didn’t ask for, or a tempered position that I could’ve gone without. Since tango is highly improvisational, personal and impulsive, it is not strange that it has managed to quickly evolve from its traditional form into dozens of styles that are today practiced all around the world.

So too, is it not strange that the simple topic of the Kavanaugh hearings has evoked dozens of different conversations, following me, one leg wrapped around, gancho-style in a closed embrace. Friday ended and I was granted the temporary reprieve of an empty dance card. During that break, I, and the country waited. And it is in this in-between, this schism of time, that I put pen to paper. Like Ford had told the Washington Post before going public, “Why suffer through the annihilation if it’s not going to matter?” For me, the Kavanaugh hearings had crumbled a wall. The reverberations of Ford’s testimony were felt in a part of my brain that had gone untouched for nearly two years — dormant and undisturbed. I had built a wall in the back of my mind and forgotten what I’d placed behind it. Then in sleepy September a voice came knocking, cracking and crumbling the wall I’d maintained for so so long. During her five minutes, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Judge Kavanaugh whether or not he had ever blacked out from drinking. Quite famously now, he retorted “Have you?” I had. While I heard a lot of questions over the two days of hearings, many listed above, the one that rose above the rest, that resounded the loudest and hung in my mind was; “What would have happened if I had reported?” and “If not then, will I have to later?” Fickle time reared its ugly head once more. I didn’t speak up when it happened to me. I didn’t know how. I wasn’t ready, and I didn’t want to. I needed time to process what had happened. To sober up and straighten my clothes. I needed healing time, both physically and mentally. Later, I needed therapy, 55 minutes at a time but sometimes we went a little over. I just needed time. But, as written, and pinned on the black dresses among the protestors in the Senate building, “Time’s up.” Looking back, the evidence is undeniable. Not that Kavanagh was guilty of anything or even guilty of attempted anything, but instead that truth is placed at a lesser premium than politics and privilege. When it comes to reporting rape and attempted rape, the burden falls wholly on the shoulders of an already broken woman. We don’t give time credit for how ruthless and unforgiving it can be. Time will not wait for you to be ready. I will never be ready to report. I don’t know if anyone is ever actually ready. Sometimes, something just forces you to — a desire for justice, the hope to prevent a perpetuation of pain, or in Ford’s case, the recognition of something bigger than the self. For me, this piece was not written, it was born: the bastard child of two unwanted affairs.

KY

4B

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 // The Statement

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 // The Statement

“The problem is this so-called “BALANCE” Slimane is after, that he mentioned in the re-branding Instagram posts. Under Philo, Céline was completely off kilter.”

by KATE GLAD

éline was a fashion house run by women for women. Celine — with the accent above the “e” conspicuously deleted — is a fashion house run by Hedi Slimane for Hedi Slimane. On Sept. 2, every post on the official Céline Instagram was deleted and replaced with a new branding campaign by Slimane that introduced a logo that purged the ubiquitous accented “é.” A series of three posts that debuted the new, accentless Celine. In the caption, an explanation was given. “THE ACCENT ON THE ‘E’ HAS BEEN REMOVED TO ENABLE A SIMPLIFIED AND MORE BALANCED PROPORTION, EVOKING THE CELINE COLLECTIONS OF THE 1960’S WHERE THE ACCENT WASN’T USED OFTEN,” the photo caption read. “#CELINEBYHEDISLIMANE.” These posts were Slimane’s debut as the new creative director of Celine, where he succeeded the beloved, previous creative director Phoebe Philo, who held the position for 10 years. This rebranding, along with Slimane’s reputation based on his work at Dior and as creative director of Saint Laurent — also a name change he is responsible for — had the fashion world waiting skeptically for the Celine SS19 show on Sept. 28. And it was bad. The show was full of designs directly derivative of his work at Saint Laurent. He showed that the one aesthetic he can execute is short skirts and dark colors that never quite have the edge of punk (think McQueen) and lack the polish of being truly mod (think Burberry). Everything that could have possibly been wrong with the design was wrong. The colors were too dark. The textures were trying too hard to be interesting, and the music wasn’t trying hard enough. Silhouettes — boring. Makeup — lacking expression. Audience — stacked with invited celebrities. And, only nine models of color walked in the entire show. But making boring, overtly-sexualized clothes isn’t necessarily a crime. “Why am I so mad?” I ask myself when I see the YSL 2.0 dresses and the accent-less logo. The problem is this so-called “BALANCE” Slimane is after, which he mentioned in the rebranding Instagram posts. Under Philo, Céline was a home for quirky, artistic fashion that women could feel comfortable in — wearable sculpture that was actually made for everyday wear. Céline women had to worry about keeping their SS12 sunglasses, modeled by Joan Didion (pictured), scratch free. They did not have to worry about itchy sequins scratching their skin. The unapologetic imbalance of Philo’s Céline in favor of empowered women, comfort and art counterbalanced the rest of the fashion industry that objectifies women and makes uncomfortable clothes without artistic integrity. Now that Slimane’s Celine follows suit, the industry is lacking balance.

5B

Why should we care about the University’s forgotten Detroit roots? BY KEVIN BIGLIN, CONTRIBUTOR

T

hrough my childhood, I attended Père Gabriel Richard Elementary School in Grosse Pointe, and was taught the accomplishments of the school’s namesake. There are at least four schools in and around Detroit named after Richard, a person who was committed to the promotion of education in Michigan. Richard was a humanitarian who spent much of his life promoting education on the frontier. He built schools for both white and Native American children — despite the area’s generally problematic history with Native Americans — helped the city of Detroit avoid a food crisis and potential ruin after the fire of 1805 and assisted cholera victims until he died in 1832. But perhaps Richard’s most lasting legacy was the establishment of an overly-ambitious joint venture on the American frontier in 1817 which would ultimately become the University of Michigan. For its first 20 years, the University was only an idea, with no student ever enrolled at the university level. The school we know today wasn’t established in practice until 1837 when it moved from Detroit to the then-small settlement of Ann Arbor. It was during the Detroit fire in 1805 that Richard also penned the official motto of Detroit: “Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus,” or “We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes.” In many ways, this is also a metaphor for the University, which nearly faded into irrelevance leading up to 1837. While I didn’t know Richard’s legacy completely as a young student, I could nonetheless appreciate his dedication to education. From a young age, his lesson was ingrained in me — helping teach me the importance of education. This appreciation spread out of the confines of my elementary school building as well. Living minutes away from Detroit, I would often see Richard’s many memorials in the city. Whether it be driving past Pere Gabriel Richard Park on Jefferson Avenue or visiting his tomb and state historical marker at Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church, I knew Richard helped build Detroit. Yet, years later when I arrived at the University, the figure who was so ever-present in my hometown’s lore drew barely a mention in Ann Arbor — a town he was arguably even more instrumental in building. Walking down State Street in 2017, it was impossible to miss the banners commemorating the University of Michigan’s Bicentennial. Our school’s 200th birthday instilled a sense of commonality for students, faculty and alumni alike, one in which we could take pride in our heritage. At least that’s what I was supposed to think. When the banners were pulled down and the festivities faded, our school origins were once again difficult to find. Sure, we knew it was old and prestigious — but while many students (myself included) saw this history as distinctive, we failed to recognize the ones who founded the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, in the first place. I am only aware of our university’s founders’ legacies because I went to an elementary school named after one of them. When the University moved to Ann Arbor, new leaders emerged and, from their perspective, they started from scratch. Yet, since the 1930s, the University has proclaimed 1817 as its original founding date, prompting debate over whether or not the University may claim an extra 20 years of history. In recent years, the University strengthened its efforts to connect to its original home in Detroit, perhaps an attempt to fully recognize to its roots. Whether or not this commitment will be successful remains to be determined. Regardless, I now go to a school founded by — yet not named after — Richard. Why is this? Continued on DETROIT, Page 6B

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL

2B

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 // The Statement

statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | O C TO B E R 3 1 , 201 8

Managing Statement Editor: Brian Kuang

Editor in Chief: Alexa St. John

Managing Editor: Dayton Hare

Deputy Editors: Colin Beresford Jennifer Meer

Photo Editor: Amelia Cacchione

Copy Editors: Elise Laarman Finntan Storer

Designer: Elizabeth Bigham

I Bet Your Grandma Can Work Out Harder Than You: What I learned from the step aerobic generation

A

few days ago, I saw a man rollerblading while pushing a stroller with a golden retriever trailing behind on a leash. The spectacle looked like an American Ninja Warrior audition. As I watched the feat from across the street, I considered the skill of this man completing his Saturday morning to-do list while balancing on eight wheels. In that moment, I came to two conclusions. First, his dedication to exercise seemingly convinced him that rollerblading while responsible for the livelihood of a baby and a dog was a good idea. And secondly, my own coordination will likely never surmount to the athleticism required to complete such an act. Not that I am disappointed, I can certainly think of a lot better things to do with my weekend than fall face first on a potholeridden road. I have never categorized myself as naturally athletic. You

BY SHANNON ORS, DAILY STAFF REPORTER know, one of those people who can effortlessly recall their days as a three-sport athlete and win Spikeball the first time they play. The one sport I played in high school was swimming, which I had grown up participating in. And like anything, once you spend 10 years practicing something, it is reasonable to expect your ability to hover around at least average. The only biological evidence I have of my athletic ability was when a nurse told me that my low blood pressure suggested I spent a lot of time holding my breath. I guess swimming with your face in the water for a decade does something to your body beyond pruney fingertips. So I don’t have the blood of a track star. But I did not need a doctor to tell me that. The sheer number of times I have stubbed my toe while walking around the house or didn’t catch the beach ball during icebreakers is probably enough empirical proof.

My lack of natural athletic ability was confirmed in seventhgrade gym class — arguably, an experience specifically designed to test the resilience of fragile 13-year-old self-esteem. I dreaded having to don the cotton uniform and break a sweat to the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga dance party anthems found on any middle schooler’s iPod Nano in 2012. The crown jewel of my gym teacher’s curriculum was the track and field unit. We were required to complete every event for a grade. I wish I was joking. We did everything from shotput to relays to high jump. The only event not on the agenda was pole vault. It apparently was a liability to catapult grossly untrained kids into the sky with the momentum of a pole. The capstone of the unit was the 100-meter hurdles. The big kahuna of middle school physical education. A true test of athleticism to see who could master the technique of leaping over a barrier after just a 15-minute demonstration. Have at it kids. I panicked. My body did not like to leave the ground. The only time I caught air was diving into the pool. The prickly track did not qualify as a soft-landing surface. I braced myself and ran towards the first hurdle with no clue of how I was going to clear it. I lunged and somehow found myself on the other side I ILLUSTRATION BY MOLLY WU unscathed.

was surprised, but this confidence quickly evaporated when I looked up and was reminded of the other hurdles ahead. Mind you, the entire gym class is watching from the sidelines with my gym teacher holding a stopwatch ready to record my time. What happened next is one of those middle school moments locked in my mind with the same clarity as Rebecca Black’s “Friday” lyrics. I knocked down the next nine hurdles. Let’s just say, I did not try out for the track and field team. After the hurdle incident, my relationship with athletics was reserved for the pool and morning practice weight room sessions where I would bring flashcards to “study” before school. That remained the extent of my relationship with exercise upon graduating high school. However, when you go to college you realize just how many things you do not know how to do in life. For me, the top of the list was working out. I tried running, but my water raised joints could not handle the smashing on the pavement. Most runs I would find myself regretting not turning around earlier and end up with resorting to a run-walk that made me look like a limping kangaroo. I sometimes tried to power walk and listen to a podcast, which worked out well for a while until I got annoyed with the headphone cord and didn’t want to invest in Bluetooth. I even briefly tried to establish a gym workout routine, but soon realized I had no clue how to organize a workout. I tried downloading apps, googling exercises, setting a timer, but it was all too complicated and I never pushed myself enough for my heart rate to go up. It is still a mystery to me how all those people at the gym with their “in the zone” face and flawless transitions between exercises know what they are doing. Do they count in their

head? How do they decide which exercise to do next? Have they just been doing the same workout since 10th grade? These are all questions I would like answers to. I soon realized that I was going to need a little more hand holding if I wanted to release endorphins. This is how I found myself at a step aerobics class. Yep, a class of 55-year-old women taught me how to work out. I understand how ridiculous this sounds coming from a 19-year-old girl. We are supposed to be young and agile and do yoga four days a week in athleisure attire. At first, I truly was a fish out of water. The thing about gyms is no one ever tells you the protocol. It was trial and error until I learned the latest you could arrive to still snag a spot in the prime real estate of the back row and which weights I could sustain for the entire five minutes of the remixed version of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” The class was certainly not sexy like Soul Cycle. And I was definitely not part of the inner circle of regulars who would share recipes and save spots for each other. But there was something about awful America’s Top 40 music playlists. The instructors on their air traffic controller style headsets yelling during mountain climbers to “pretend there is a wine glass in front of you.” And the mutual judgement that would incur when the occasional male dropped into the class and put three risers under his step without realizing the class is an hour of nonstop cardio. I was there for the bad music and sweat. It was incredibly motivating. No wonder this echelon of suburban moms and grandmothers were so fit, they figured out something no one ever teaches you in gym class — athleticism isn’t always about proving yourself. It is enough to show up wearing an old T-shirt and mimic an instructor jump around a step for an hour.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018// The Statement

3B

Aftershocks

BY B.A. BACIGAL, CONTRIBUTOR

“I

am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.” - Dr. Christine Blasey Ford On a Thursday afternoon late in September, these words were spoken but not heard. They fell on the deaf ears of blind men sitting just feet away, the Kings of the Hill. Reverberations of these words were felt through television sets in living rooms, and through car radios, and through newspaper headlines and through conversations between couples behind you in coffee shops. While these words were not heard, they were felt. Half of the committee room felt them, half of America felt them and I felt them. For two full days of “hearings,” a week of an investigation and finally a vote, things carried on pretty much like this. Time is truly, as they say, of the essence when it comes to these kinds of things, like when healing time sometimes exceeds that of the statute of limitations. And while time may seem to be working in your favor, it might actually be working against you. How much time did it take us to get here? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers. Many point back to a letter, which Ford sent recounting her alleged sexual assault by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Others point back to his nomination itself as the impetus. Others still look over 30 years back, to the summer of 1982. Some look a little closer, to about this time in 1991 when another woman, attorney Anita Hill, fought the same fight only to lose. Have the rules changed since then? Personally, I’d say it took about two years. “Have you heard anything about this whole Kavanaugh thing?” he asked. I hadn’t. But, two weeks into school I was still actively trying to fit in with my boyfriend’s new “law school” friends. “She’s not like other undergrads.” I’d imagine them thinking after I wooed them with my eloquence discussing current events. Of course, such a facade could not be maintained for long. I nodded, adding, “It’s a real shit show,” every bit as eloquent as one might expect. Thinking I’d entered this Buffalo Wild Wings to pretend to watch the Lions game, I fell, ill-prepared, into a political arena I’d been hoping to avoid. So it began: “Do you think she made it up?” No. “When do you think she might step forward?” Why should she? “Why’d Feinstein keep it under wraps so long?” Who? “Could it really be any different from Anita Hill?” There’s been so much progress since then, hasn’t there?

ILLUSTRATION BY VALERIE CHRISTOU

“Can I get out? I have to pee.” The last one was from me. My thighs stuck to the seat as I slid out from the booth. My now red and slightly sticky thighs carried me to the bathroom. Pants up, I sat down on the toilet, arms outstretched, hands pressed into either side of the stall. My breathing slowed, and only then did I realize that I’d been breathing quickly. I had heard of Kavanaugh. I knew he’d been nominated to the Supreme Court. And, living in Washington, D.C. over the summer had indirectly taught me a lot about his opinions on everything from presidential indictment to the maintenance of precedent. But I hadn’t yet heard the 50 yes votes and 48 no votes. I hadn’t yet seen him sneer and spit through his testimony. I hadn’t yet read the Washington Post article outing Ford as the accuser, or the Wall Street Journal op-ed where he too claimed the status of “victim,” and I certainly hadn’t yet heard of a letter being passed hand-to-hand that would change the course of Kavanaugh’s nomination. At this point in time, I had only heard thoughts on an attempted rape from the mouths of first-year law students in between slurps of Canadian beer and bites of mozzarella sticks. They liked beer.Sliding back into the booth, they were once again talking about the game.

The Lions actually won. In retrospect it feels like a sick sort of foreshadowing. For that entire week, I was besieged by the Kavanaugh hearings. Being a fairly politically-active person, and associating with similarly politically-active friends, it was the only topic of discussion. Like a dance we’d begin slowly, circling each other from across the room to start with small talk. The music begins, with a soft introduction: “How’d your meeting go this afternoon?” “Did you end up getting that summer job?” then, like a sharp note to switch the tone we clasp hands: “So, what do you think about all this Kavanaugh stuff, huh?” A tango. For the most part, I let them lead. Some push the tempo, “Timing was way too fishy, she’s gotta be lying.” Kicking up my heels, in, out, step back and one, two, three… Others slow things down. “Really, I just never watch the news anymore,” an open embrace. But eventually, we get there, their hot take I didn’t ask for, or a tempered position that I could’ve gone without. Since tango is highly improvisational, personal and impulsive, it is not strange that it has managed to quickly evolve from its traditional form into dozens of styles that are today practiced all around the world.

So too, is it not strange that the simple topic of the Kavanaugh hearings has evoked dozens of different conversations, following me, one leg wrapped around, gancho-style in a closed embrace. Friday ended and I was granted the temporary reprieve of an empty dance card. During that break, I, and the country waited. And it is in this in-between, this schism of time, that I put pen to paper. Like Ford had told the Washington Post before going public, “Why suffer through the annihilation if it’s not going to matter?” For me, the Kavanaugh hearings had crumbled a wall. The reverberations of Ford’s testimony were felt in a part of my brain that had gone untouched for nearly two years — dormant and undisturbed. I had built a wall in the back of my mind and forgotten what I’d placed behind it. Then in sleepy September a voice came knocking, cracking and crumbling the wall I’d maintained for so so long. During her five minutes, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Judge Kavanaugh whether or not he had ever blacked out from drinking. Quite famously now, he retorted “Have you?” I had. While I heard a lot of questions over the two days of hearings, many listed above, the one that rose above the rest, that resounded the loudest and hung in my mind was; “What would have happened if I had reported?” and “If not then, will I have to later?” Fickle time reared its ugly head once more. I didn’t speak up when it happened to me. I didn’t know how. I wasn’t ready, and I didn’t want to. I needed time to process what had happened. To sober up and straighten my clothes. I needed healing time, both physically and mentally. Later, I needed therapy, 55 minutes at a time but sometimes we went a little over. I just needed time. But, as written, and pinned on the black dresses among the protestors in the Senate building, “Time’s up.” Looking back, the evidence is undeniable. Not that Kavanagh was guilty of anything or even guilty of attempted anything, but instead that truth is placed at a lesser premium than politics and privilege. When it comes to reporting rape and attempted rape, the burden falls wholly on the shoulders of an already broken woman. We don’t give time credit for how ruthless and unforgiving it can be. Time will not wait for you to be ready. I will never be ready to report. I don’t know if anyone is ever actually ready. Sometimes, something just forces you to — a desire for justice, the hope to prevent a perpetuation of pain, or in Ford’s case, the recognition of something bigger than the self. For me, this piece was not written, it was born: the bastard child of two unwanted affairs.

8B

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 // The Statement

VISUAL S TAT E M E N T:

Concert by Candlelight photos by Prashanth Panicker With bands traveling all the way from Connecticut, the loss of power couldn’t stop us at Sigma Phi from hosting our house show. My feet were wet and it was real cold, but sitting together in the candlelight made it that much more special.