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Giving Blue Day garners almost $1M less than ’17 2018 brings in more donors but less overall donations than previous year JACK SILBERMAN/DAILY
Samples show rise in dioxane levels, need for more tests around Ann Arbor Mayor Taylor emphasized likely carcinogen has not been found in Ann Arbor water GRACE KAY
Daily Staff Reporter
Water samples taken from the storm sewers at West Park in Ann Arbor reveal an increase in the levels of 1,4 dioxane — a likely carcinogen — in the groundwater. Within a year, the samples jumped from 4.4 parts per billion to 19 parts per billion. In response to the increase in dioxane contamination,
the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has confirmed plans for further dioxane testing in Ann Arbor. Evan Pratt, water resources commissioner of Washtenaw County, said while he does not think the dioxane in the West Park groundwater is dangerous to residents, he supports continued testing in the area. “What I’ve asked of the DEQ is for them to) take samples every month for six months. Then we can have a better
understanding of whether it is something that is a trend at that location or just something that f luctuates,” Pratt said. “In addition, I’ve asked for sampling at four or five other locations.” In an MLive article, Gerald Tiernan, district supervisor of the DEQ’s Remediation and Redevelopment Division, confirmed Pratt’s sentiments, explaining the DEQ plans to take monthly samples from multiple locations within the
area. Mayor Christopher Taylor said the city will continue to support further testing. “We are always looking for more testing — it is of critical importance to the city of Ann Arbor,” Taylor said. “We need to make sure that our homes are safe, that our drinking water is safe. We are going to continue to learn more about the location and direction of the plume and we are going to continue to See DIOXANE, Page 3
CALLIE TEITELBAUM For The Daily
During the University of Michigan’s fifth annual Giving Blueday, donors gave a total of $3,638,612 to the University, according to a University press release. Over 12,600 donors contributed over the course of the 24-hour event, though the sum donated has decreased by close to a million dollars since 2017. In comparison to previous years, the amount of donors has increased while the total amount raised has decreased. In 2016, about 7,000 donors raised over $5.5 million on Giving Blueday and in 2017, over 8,000 donors raised over $4.4 million. The size of the average donation has decreased considerably, from approximately $753 in 2016 to $288 this year.
“Our primary goal for Giving Blueday is to encourage as many people as possible to donate to U-M, no matter the size of the gift,” Pamela Stout, the senior director of executive communications, wrote in an email statement. “We’ve been fortunate enough to increase that number every year. This year, we focused even more directly on the goal of 10,000 gifts, and are thrilled with the 12,635 gifts received in just 24 hours. According to Stout, the total sum of donations drastically varies based on the size of gifts. “In previous years, we booked more major gifts on Giving Blueday.” Stout wrote. “This year, we focused more directly on expanding our community of donors, and they very generously responded.” See GIVING, Page 3
Camp David officer recounts his time UNC prof. Mcity uses augmented with presidential families at retreat discusses
RESEARCH
reality for car testing Researchers say testing driverless cars in real world is more dangerous RACHEL LEUNG Daily Staff Reporter
Researchers from the Mcity Test Facility at the University of Michigan are using virtual reality to more safely and efficiently test driverless vehicles. The Mcity Test Facility is located on North Campus and features over 16 acres of roads and traffic infrastructure. The facility allows researchers to test automated vehicles and other technologies in simulated urban and suburban driving environments. With a virtual world, similar to the simulated environment of a video game, researchers can test real driverless vehicles in an almost infinite number of traffic scenarios that would be difficult and costly to test in real world environments. In the augmented reality testing environment, real autonomous vehicles interact with computer-simulated vehicles. The testing method of using augmented reality was outlined in an MCity white paper released last See MCITY, Page 3
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CAMPUS LIFE
Rear Admiral Giorgione presents memories of “secret weapon” at Ford Library NIKKI KIM For The Daily
Rear Admiral Michael Giorgione, author of “Inside Camp David: The Private World of the Presidential Retreat,” spoke Wednesday night at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library to discuss his book and share personal anecdotes from his time at the camp. Giorgione was the commanding officer of Camp David, a country retreat used by U.S. presidents and their families, from 1999 to 2001. During that time, he worked under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Located in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland, Camp David, according to Giorgione, has been American diplomacy’s secret weapon since its founding in 1938, playing a vital role in both international and domestic relationships. The Public Policy library often invites speakers or hosts events that are related to the presidency, Elaine Didier, the director of the library and its affiliated museum in Grand Rapids, explained. “We have both journalists and scholars who are researching different presidents, looking at issues that the presidents cover, and in this case, it’s not the presidency but a place that the presi-
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dents used,” she said. “So that was the driver in inviting Mr. Giorgione here.” The lecture began with audience members sitting in a pitch-black room, with the lights turned off. Almost immediately, the sound of choppers played over the speakers. Giorgione used these effects to highlight a typical start to a working day at Camp David: the arrival of the president. Edward Vincent, an Ann Arbor community member,
said he enjoyed the use of auditory effects during the presentation. “That really stood out to me because that was a very dramatic and suspenseful moment. I wasn’t sure if he was going to put something on the screen. But he used that to dramatize how Camp David is when the president isn’t there and when he is,” he said. Giorgione describes the camp as a simple place. “It’s a very nice camp with very plain facilities. Single
story structures. No brass. No polish. No marble. That’s Camp David. That’s part of the allure of this mountaintop retreat at 1,800-feet elevation.” he said. Such plainness is what creates the tranquil nature, he explained — there is an intimacy to the place that cannot be felt in the West Wing of the White House. Giorgione further recounted moments spent with members of the Kennedy family who have spent every See CAMP DAVID, Page 3
MIKE ZLONKEVICZ/DAILY Rear Admiral Michael Giorgione speaks on his time as the commanding officer of Camp David under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in the Gerald R. Ford Library Wednesday evening.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 40 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
academic freedoms
Admist semester clashes of faculty over letter, Nichol talks student protections NOREEN KHAN For The Daily
The University of Michigan Faculty Senate hosted its 28th Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom Wednesday afternoon featuring Gene Nichol, a law professor at the University of North Carolina. The annual lecture hosts different leaders to speak about different aspects of educational policies and expression for academics. H. Chandler Davis, Clement Markert and Mark Nickerson were University professors in the 1950s who, in 1954, refused to give testimonies before the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, invoking their constitutional right to not disclose their political associations. The trio was suspended from the University, with only Markert asked to return. This lecture honors the three professors’ adherence to the values of academic freedom. Academic freedom has been a hot topic on the University’s See UNC, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............5 SPORTS....................7
News
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MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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W O LV E R I N E O F T H E W E E K What is your horoscope sign? Do you identify with its attributes?”
“I’m a Pisces. I am such a Pisces. Everything is true. I firmly believe it... so Pisces first off is a water sign, and I’m very drawn to the water. I actually have a tattoo of a wave, which is unrelated, I had the tattoo and then I found out I was Pisces. So that’s a thing. Pisces are also supposed to be very emotional and in touch with that. That is me. They’re also in touch with their creative sides, and I relate to that.” LSA senior Tim Mayer
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MIKE PERSAK and LANEY BYLER
‘U’ joins in partnership with MSU, state government to research education MAEVE O’BRIEN Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan announced the launch of the Michigan Education Research Institute and Michigan Education Data Center Tuesday morning, presenting a collaboration between the University,
Michigan State University, Michigan Department of Education and Center for Educational Performance and Information. The new research collaboration and data center will conduct research projects in early childhood, K-12 and postsecondary education and evaluate data to improve performance in
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public schools across the state. The collaboration creates the opportunity for policy leaders and government officials to work together with top university experts on education and policy analysis. The Interim State Superintendent Sheila Alles said in aUniversity press release the department looks forward to the partnership forged between the two Michigan universities and the state government. “Becoming a top 10 education state in 10 years takes a knowledge of what is happening in our schools now, learning what has proven successful and using that to develop better practices for all our educators and students,” Alles said. The Michigan Education Data Center, housed at the Ford School of Public Policy, will host and process educational data given to researchers while protecting students’ private information. “While ensuring privacy and confidentiality of students’ data, we will be able to learn what
works and what doesn’t so our educators can provide the best education for Michigan’s students,” University Public Policy professor Susan Dynarski said in the release. One of the first projects of the Michigan Education Research Institute plans to conduct is an implementation study of Michigan’s Competency-Based Education Pilot. The study involves surveys of both educators and students, as well as site visits to pilot schools. In the release, Michael Barr, dean of the Public Policy School, said he hopes the research will inform the Department of Education on how to better meet the needs of the schools transitioning to competencybased models “Our faculty have proven their commitment to applying research to solve education policy challenges, and through MERI will be able to make a big contribution to helping Michigan’s young people,” Barr said. a“We are so excited to fund this unique collaboration between the state of Michigan, @UMich and @ michiganstateu to improve schools by looking at the impact of policies and practices and finding out what works!” the Laura and John Arnold Foundation tweeted Wednesday.
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GIVING From Page 1 Stout also revealed previous donor number statistics may not be comparable to current statistics due to a recent software change. This year, the individual number of gifts from donors was calculated, whereas in previous years, the number of donor transactions was calculated. This means that there is not a statistic to compare the exact number of donors from this year to previous years. The number of gifts does not necessarily ref lect the number of donors because some donors give multiple gifts. All three University campuses –– Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint –– participated in Giving Blueday, which coincides with the national Giving Tuesday after
UNC From Page 1 campus this semester after a professor and graduate student instructor declined to write letters of recommendations for students applying to study abroad in Israel. Administrators disciplined the professor, John CheneyLippold of the American Culture Department, claiming his action did not “support students’ academic growth.” Members of the University community have been outspoken about their opinions on the instructors’ actions and the University’s response, and several events and panels have sought to foster campus discussion around the topic. Some have felt the University’s response has been inadequate, while others argue the University’s punishment of Cheney-Lippold was unwarranted. Public Health student Melissa Makled attended a panel on academic freedom held this Tuesday
CAMP DAVID From Page 1 Thanksgiving at Camp David, with Chelsea Clinton who gave her old stuffed dolls to Giorgione’s kids to use, and with Laura Bush who loved to play in autumn leaves on the lawn. Jerri Jenista, a hospital worker at the Medical School, said she enjoyed hearing about the presidents’ everyday lives. “It was nice to hear that the
DIOXANE From Page 1 work with our partners.” The dioxane plume was introduced to the groundwater after Ann Arbor manufacturer Gelman Sciences, now Danaher Corp., released the chemical as an industrial byproduct into an unlined lagoon from 1966 to 1986. The chemical was able to leech into the underlying groundwater and the contaminated plume continues to spread underground. The plume was first reported in 1969 and has since spread, covering an area more than three miles long and a mile wide. As the pollutant progresses underground through the Allen River and West Park, it moves toward the Huron River. and possibly Barton Pond, Ann Arbor’s main source for drinking water. “Once it’s in West Park, it’s pretty easy for it to get to the river,” Pratt said. “It’s really primarily testing to find out if the tip of the plume, which is the weakest part, is headed towards the park.” The tip of the plume, as estimated by test results, is believed to be moving east through West Park. Pratt said one of the primary aspects the tests is looking at is which way the plume is heading. “We are definitely going to keep monitoring it and making sure it is moving east and not north because
News
Thursday, November 29, 2018 — 3
Thanksgiving. Donors could choose to direct gifts to various funds across the University, a specific school or college, or student organizations. The University release also reported LSA received the most gifts through the Giving Blueday website this year, while the Michigan Sailing Team raised the most money out of any student organization through the website. The amount of student participation in Giving Blueday increased for the fourth straight year, as over 150 student organizations took part. Dance Marathon raised the most money out of any student organization overall. Other student orgs such as MUSIC Matters and the Health Policy Students Association ranked in the top 10 organizations to increase donors from last year by the highest percentages.
The Michigan Sailing Team, SAE-Michigan Baja Racing and M-Fly all received monetary prizes to contribute to their cause for ranking as the top three student orgs to increase donor turnout by the highest percentage. According to the press release, first-time donors who donated $50 or more to the University received an extra $50 to donate to the cause of their choice. First time student donors who donated $25 to U-M received an additional $25 to give to a fund of their choice. LSA senior Marina Ross, co-chair of The Quito Project, spoke about the impact of the funds raised during Giving Blueday. The Quito Project is an organization run by University students who work in partnership with students from the Universidad de San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, to hold a free summer camp
program for Quito children in extreme poverty. According to Ross, The Quito Project raised about $200 on Giving Blueday in 2017. This year, they raised approximately $1600. “We are going to use (the funds) to run the entire summer camp,” Ross said. “We do provide our students with two meals a day, so we’ll use that money to actually purchase all the food and also pay the local workers there that will prepare it.” Donors on Giving Blueday also contributed to the Victors for Michigan campaign, which extends until December 2018 and continues to break public university fundraising records. The campaign has raised $5 billion to date.
and said she was curious to see where the University will take this issue in the future. “I’ve been unimpressed with the University’s response and I really liked the Graduate Employees Organization’s response,” Makled said at Tuesday’s event. “I really liked the nuance in their stance because they say it’s not a political decision, but a matter of academic freedom.” At the Faculty Senate lecture, Neil Marsh, chair of the University’s central faculty governance, gave the introductory remarks. Marsh noted upholding these values “requires continuous vigilance and courage.” “This lecture is an example that academic and intellectual freedom are essential … for a university,” Marsh said. Nichol, who described himself as a self-proclaimed “devotee of public universities,” detailed his personal pitfalls and views on the unique struggles that public universities have in terms of constitutional rights,
specifically the issue of freedom of speech. “The constitution itself is not self-triggering,” Nichol said. “It often requires blood and sacrifice and bravery.” Nichol cited this bravery specifically as intellectual courage as he went on to explain the main problem public universities face: the intersection of free speech and equal protection. He gave the example of boycotts, as well as sexual harassment and bullying policies as measures that threaten to weaponize the freedom of speech. “When a University is sued for implementing harassment and bullying policies, the dispute usually presents competing and colliding essential constitutional values of equality and expression,” Nichol said. “When a faculty member or a graduate student participates in an expressive boycott, speech and equal protection guarantees can meet head on. Perhaps the collision can be avoided, but it’s not always easy work.”
Nichol also detailed his personal struggles with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC, the governing boards are handpicked by state legislative leadership, which, according to Nichol, causes administrative suppression. “Academic freedom is deeply weakened in places, including my home,” Nichol said. “If the last decade has taught us anything, it is that there are fewer fixed stars, fewer uncontested, consensusbased constitutional standards and patterns of behavior that we might have supposed,” Nichol said. “Who would have thought, for example, that a dominant political party would take as a central agenda point the suppression of the effective exercise of the right to vote. Who would have guessed a large segment of political leadership would overtly seek to limit the active participation of African Americans without shame or embarrassment?”
presidents were real people, they have real lives, their families are real people,” she said. The retreat is necessary, he Giorgione says, because of the lonely sentry theory, an idea he references from his book. The theory states a marine will patrol alone all night in freezing subzero weather because of his duty to the country. In his mind, the marine is the president. Giorgione discussed the challenges of being in place of responsibility as well as com-
mand, where all eyes are on them. “They don’t really have a place to getaway that often but maybe this is the one place that they can getaway.” he said. Giorgione also discussed the challenges of being a leader, whether that is the responsibility that comes with being the commanding officer of Camp David or the international challenges the president of the country faces. That is why Camp David is so necessary, he
said, to offer a tranquil escape. Though Camp David was primarily a retreat for the presidents, it has also been the grounds for international talks and peace treaties. From President Ronald Reagan entertaining British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill smoking cigars and discussing how and when the U.S. will enter WWII. “It still comes down to two
people building human relationships,” Giorgione said. “You have to get face to face. You have to get to know each other.” Giorgione told another story from his book, dubbed the “infamous horseshoe incident.” In 1990, Bush invited President Mikhail Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union to Camp David, where they then engaged in a game of horseshoe tossing. Bush had always been an avid fan competitive games, Giorgione said. But, Gorbachev,
despite not having ever tossed a single horseshoe, gets a ringer for the first time. “It is the little things that resonate and stay with you,” he said. “It is perfect but natural.”
if it’s headed north, there’s potential it could get upstream and head towards the water treatment plant,” Pratt said. “One of our primary goals is to make sure it’s not moving toward the water treatment plant.” Outside of polluting water, the DEQ acknowledges dioxane could potentially pose vapor intrusion health risks. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry explainshumans can be exposed to the contaminant through both air and direct skin contact. “1,4-Dioxane can be released into the air, water, and soil at places where it is produced or used as a solvent,” the website reads. While dioxane can enter the air, skin contact is unlikely and usually through substances like lotions. “Your skin may come into contact with 1,4-dioxane when you use cosmetics, detergents, and shampoos containing 1,4-dioxane,” the website reads. Despite potential vapor intrusion health risks, Pratt argues dioxane is not a chemical like gasoline, which is can be easily separated from water and released into the air. “Dioxane is not a good thing at any levels, but it is not absorbed through the skin and the likelihood of the chemical entering the air is not high,” Pratt said. “From my understanding, it is not a chemical that wants to break free from water. It wants to stay in water once it’s in water.
It does not want to vaporize and go into the air.” However, Pratt said the DEQ will continue to look into vapor intrusion risks. Residents have also expressed concern regarding whether the polluted groundwater may find its way into their basement. But Pratt said the residents near West Park need not worry, explaining any f looding the residents might experience is caused by rainwater, not the plume. “A lot of people are quick to tie rain water in the basement to the dioxane plume, but the two are not correlated,” Pratt said. “The houses are substantially higher than the ground and the ground is a little bit higher than the groundwater. The groundwater is separated from the basements beyond where the EPA would even think about keeping an eye on it, as far as would it possibly get into somebody’s basement. Right now, it doesn’t seem possible.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies dioxane as likely to be carcinogenic to humans via water, air and, in some cases, direct skin contact. The chemical is also linked to potential kidney and liver damage as well as respiratory issues through long-term exposure. According to the EPA, only a few parts per billion of dioxane in drinking water over a long period of exposure can pose a 1 in 100,000 cancer risk. The dioxane levels are well below state standards even
though Michigan standards for dioxane in groundwater venting to surface water were tightened earlier in the year. The national advisory for dioxane in surface waters that are protected as drinking water is 3.5 parts per billion, while the limit for dioxane in surface waters that are not protected as drinking water sources is 280 parts per billion. For the dioxane in residential drinking water, the state’s separate limit is 7.2 parts per billion. Taylor emphasized dioxane has never been found in Ann Arbor drinking water. “It is incredibly important that we understand the nature of the plume and the risks that are associated with dioxane,” Taylor said. “It’s also important to understand that it’s never been found in Ann Arbor drinking water and that we are doing everything we can that folks in Ann Arbor remain safe.” While Pratt supports further testing, he said much of the testing for dioxane has come up negative and he does not currently see the pollution as a threat to the city. “There isn’t any threat specifically to anybody — everybody in the city is on wells, but we’d like it cleaned up even though that’s not what the current legal system says (and) the county is in court fighting for something better.”
The plume is a source of an ongoing legal battle against Gelman Sciences by Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Scio Township, The Huron River
Watershed Council and the state.
MCITY From Page 1 week. Henry Liu, a research professor at the University Transportation Research Institute, developed this testing technology with UMTRI assistant research scientist Yiheng Feng. Currently, Liu and Feng have a patent pending for the testing technology. Liu explained while augmented reality is not exactly the same as a real world environment, testing autonomous vehicles in a virtual environment eliminates many of the restrictions of testing in the real world. “Testing driverless vehicles in an augmented reality environment is not going to be as ‘accurate’ as testing in the ‘real world,’” Liu wrote in an email interview. “However, testing in the real world has a number of limitations that are difficult to overcome.” Liu cited safety as a top limitation and concern when testing autonomous vehicles in real world environments. Testing in a virtual environment is safer, he said, because there have been many driverless vehicle accidents when testing in the real world. According to Liu and Feng’s publication, there have been 26 crashes while testing autonomous vehicles at their site in California from 2014 to 2017. Liu explained augmented reality also makes testing autonomous vehicles more efficient because researchers can simulate rare traffic scenarios that may be difficult to find in the real world. “Most of the testing in the real world is not very useful, as the testing environment is repetitive and it is not challenging to autonomous vehicles,” Liu wrote. “What is important is to find ‘corner cases’ that can challenge autonomous vehicles, but ‘corner cases’ are rare events
so it is not easy to find in the real world.” Mcity Director Huei Peng Huei Peng supported the use of augmented reality in the testing of University driverless vehicles. “Since virtual vehicles are used, instead of real vehicles, we can simulate risky situations without the real safety risk, we do not need to waste fuel and we can run continuously,” Peng said. “So it is safer, cheaper and faster compared with using real test vehicles.” Engineering senior Michelle Kearney has been a research assistant at UMTRI for her entire undergraduate career. At Mcity, she has been involved with several studies on passenger behavior and responses to autonomous vehicles. “Our recent tests at MCity have focused on the safety of individuals who are actively engaged in a task other than driving (i.e. working on a laptop, reading a book, etc.) and are subjected to an abrupt automatic braking or lane change by the vehicle,” Kearney wrote in an email interview. “In addition to safety considerations, the study also provided great insight into consumer response to unanticipated abrupt vehicle movements.” Kearney said using augmented reality for testing autonomous vehicles will help advance research of consumer safety. “Simulators can be very important tools in autonomous vehicle research, as they allow researchers to gather key information about consumer preferences and behaviors with regards to autonomous vehicles without requiring individuals to trust the actual vehicle for a test drive,” Kearney wrote. “It is going to be a slow process to convince the public that these vehicles are safe and reliable, so using virtual reality simulation is a good first step.”
Opinion
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A
America’s drug epidemics are classist
lbion, Mich., is an underwhelming place for someone from Metro Detroit. Aside from the small — very small — private liberal arts college that bears the city’s name, there is not much else. Beyond Albion College’s campus, you will find rows of dilapidated houses with peeling paint. Driving through Albion, you get a sense that the city has seen much better days. In fact, if you drive through any number of Michigan cities, you get the same feeling. Detroit’s ongoing comeback story is a towering achievement for the state, but outside of the economic engines of southeast Michigan and Grand Rapids, the picture is not an optimistic one. Cities like Albion, Jackson and Monroe do not have their own comeback stories. Albion is located in Calhoun County, which also contains Battle Creek, home of Kellogg’s Cereal. One of the 17 counties in Michigan where there are more prescriptions than there are people, Calhoun County has one of the highest rates of opioid prescriptions in the state. When the media covers the opioid epidemic, they depict working class folk in rural and rundown urban areas devoid of hope. It’s the same stereotypical habitat of Donald Trump voters, but that is another matter for another time. Now, there is a common sentiment that criticizes American society for meeting the current drug crisis with empathy and concern: a stark contrast to the police crackdown and demonization of people of color during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. There is no question that the racist War on Drugs has destroyed and continues to destroy Black and Latino lives and families. It is deeply unfortunate that the U.S. did not take the same approach with crack as we are taking with opioids, an approach rooted in public health instead of criminal justice. Ta-Nehisi Coates author of the bestseller “Between the World and Me”, is right when he speculates about how different the current opioid epidemic would be if society had invested in a substance abuse treatment infrastructure in 30 years ago. Similar to previous epidemics of crack cocaine and methamphetamine, the opioid
epidemic hammers the working class and the poor. According to national 2016 data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation, West Virginia has the highest rate of opioid overdose deaths (Michigan ranks 11th). There is not a lot of good data directly on the rates of opioid misuse in America, so I like to use prescription rates and overdose death rates as proxies. These proxies are far from perfect, though. Case in point, only a small portion of opioid users overdose and even fewer die as a result. Risk of death is also highly dependent on external factors such as whether the incredibly deadly opioid fentanyl has made it into the community.
Why do people of lower SES shoulder a greater burden in this epidemcic? The opioid epidemic should be viewed as a socioeconomic issue as well as a public health issue. The trend generally holds that opioids hit poorer communities harder. Moreover, treatment for addiction can be expensive and hard to access. For example, there are no specialty clinics that dispense methadone, one of the drugs used in medicationassisted treatment, in the entire Upper Peninsula. So, why do people of lower socioeconomic status shoulder a greater burden in this epidemic? After all, oxycodone has the same addictive potential whether it is taken by a billionaire or someone who is unemployed. By and large, people who become addicted to opioids begin with opioids prescribed to them by a medical professional for pain. Working class people are at a much greater risk for pain than their middle- and upper-class counterparts. A major cause of pain is workplace injury, and certain jobs are far more dangerous than others. A study out of Massachusetts, which has also
EMILY CONSIDINE | CONTACT EMILY AT EMCONSID@UMICH.EDU
been hit hard by opioids, found physically-intensive occupations like construction, fishing and material moving have a much higher risk of opioid misuse and overdose death. It may surprise some but fishing is the most dangerous job in America, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Turns out cushy desk jobs result in a less painful life. Another way people are exposed to opioids is after dental surgery such as tooth extractions and root canals. The fact that many Americans, 21.3 percent to be exact, have not seen a dentist in several years never ceases to amaze me. Oral health is an important part of overall health, but because dentistry is separate from medicine (the reason behind this is ridiculous), 33 percent of Americans do not have dental coverage. While we are lucky in Michigan to have expanded Medicaid, which covers dental care, lower income residents of states like Texas, Florida and Georgia do not have this option. Rotting teeth are extremely painful, but they are completely preventable, as are the surgeries needed to fix them. Dentists, love them or loathe them, have an important role to play in addressing the opioid epidemic. I could go on and on about all the links between opioids and socioeconomic class, about how the stress of living paycheck to paycheck may lead people to self-medicate with heroin or painkillers, or how higher rates of obesity in poor communities leads to an epidemic of chronic lower back pain that is the reason many start opioids. In the crack epidemic, society viewed those suffering with addiction as criminals. Today, the stereotype of communities hardest hit by opioids also includes the notion that these people are lazy and getting high because they are bored. Both are blatantly classist and far from the truth. Whether it is crack or opioids, America’s drug epidemics are reflections of socioeconomic inequality that plagues our nation.
Ali Safawi can be reached at asafawi@umich.edu.
T
The WHCA has surrendered to Trump
his past Monday, the White media. Since his 2016 presidential House Correspondents’ campaign, Trump has demonstrated Association announced his inability to coexist peacefully with journalists who it would be departing criticize the current from its usual tradition administration. Not of inviting a comedian to only has he publicly roast the president and denounced major news the press corps at next outlets like CNN and year’s annual White The New York Times, House Correspondents’ severely compromising Dinner. Instead, in a public trust in the controversial decision, media, but our president the organization has invited renowned AMANDA has gone as far as to threaten to eradicate historian Ron Chernow ZHANG press briefings entirely. to deliver a speech on First Amendment rights and Time and time again, he has shown freedom of the press. Though these a blatant disregard for the principles topics are certainly relevant to that are not only foundational to today’s volatile political climate and our nation’s Constitution but also the strained relationship between essential to the preservation of a the media and the President healthy democracy. Donald Trump’s administration, the WHCA’s decision to stray from a decades old tradition ultimately compromises the very principles upon which the association was founded. There are plenty of reasons why the WHCA should continue to host comedians at its annual dinner, but let’s first start with the obvious—the comedy roast is literally the only notable part of the event. The annual White House Correspondents’ dinner is an ornate The WHCA was established in black-tie spectacle during which journalists and politicians get to response to a growing fear regarding schmooze with A-list Hollywood a lack of independence between the celebrities and athletes. For many White House press corps and the of us, the event is simply a reminder government itself. The WHCA is of the stark divide between the elite an independent organization, and and regular, everyday Americans. its annual dinner is meant to be a But for a mere 20 minutes or so, the celebration of the freedom of speech unforgiving comedy roast reminds and the press. Virtually every president has us that the rich and powerful are human, and they are not invincible. issues with the press, but Trump’s From the late Steve Bridges’ uncanny tense relations with the media are George W. Bush impression to Seth unparalleled. Since the start of his Meyers’s relentless mocking of term, Trump has skipped both then-candidate Trump’s “birther” WHCDs, making him the first controversy, America’s most president in 36 years who has not beloved comedians have shown us attended the event. Hasan Minhaj even presidents and billionaires are put it bluntly in his 2017 WHCD roast when he acknowledged not immune to the sting of satire. Though public regard for the Trump’s absence, stating “I think dinner is sure to dwindle following he’s in Pennsylvania because he the WHCA’s recent deviation from can’t take a joke.” Historically, the president tradition, perhaps the greatest fallout from this decision is the press’ has been a centerpiece of the symbolic gesture of submission to dinner. His presence represents an important and foundational the Trump administration. It is a dangerous time for the principle in this nation: The
This is not the time to bow down to Trump’s demands
government will protect journalistic integrity and refrain from scrutiny or interference. In refusing to attend the event, Trump is not only breaking a decades-old tradition, but he is solidifying this administration’s continual unwillingness to respect an independent, free media. At the center of this contentious decision to substitute a comedy roast for a history lesson is comedian Michelle Wolf who drew criticism for her controversial routine at the 2018 dinner. Despite Trump’s two-year-long boycott of the event, the WHCA’s recent announcement has prompted the president to reconsider, tweeting, “Good first step in comeback of a dying evening and tradition! Maybe I will go?” The fact that the WHCA, an organization comprised of well-educated and experienced writers, cannot see the irony in its recent decision to forgo the comedy roast is a bit jarring. The WHCA may think by eradicating a controversial part of its annual dinner, it is mending a strained relationship with the current administration, but it is not. Getting rid of a long-held and important tradition simply to appease a president who “can’t take a joke” is not a compromise; it is a concession, and we should all be concerned. This is not the time to bow down to Trump’s demands. Now more than ever, it is essential that the press maintain their integrity and independence. The WHCD’s comedy roast may seem like a trivial concession in the grand scheme of things, but it is reflective of an important and growing threat to our nation’s First Amendment. The press cannot allow intimidation from the government to influence their actions, no matter how insignificant. If the president of the United States won’t attend a dinner because he “can’t take a joke,” so be it. Carry on with the jokes.
Amanda Zhang can be reached at amanzhan@umich.edu.
ERIK NESLER | COLUMN
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Inequality in higher education
ichael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and potential Democratic presidential contender in 2020, recently donated $1.8 billion (yes, billion with a b) to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University. He wrote about the rationale for his donation in an Op-Ed published by The New York Times: he wants Hopkins to have a completely need-blind admissions process. Students will be accepted based on their merit, and not their ability to pay, which is unfortunately still a factor at many of the most prestigious universities in this country. Though his desire to halt intergenerational poverty through need-blind admissions is commendable and inspiring, there exists controversy over his donation. In a Letter to the Editor of The New York Times, Kathleen McCartney, president of Smith College in Massachusetts, wrote how the money could have been better spent at a less prestigious university—one that was more widely available to low- and middle-income students. She mentioned how the City University of New York “propelled almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all eight Ivy League campuses, plus Duke, M.I.T., Stanford and Chicago, combined.” Helaine Olen, a contributor for the New York Times, echoed this sentiment by writing in her piece that while Hopkins may be ethnically diverse (with 25 percent of the student body African American and Hispanic) the university is less inclusive of those from lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. With only 12 percent of Hopkins’ student body classified as first-generation college students, Olen suggests the university could be doing more to promote economic diversity. The controversy surrounding Bloomberg’s donation reminded me of a powerful piece I read last year titled “The 9.9 Percent is the New American Aristocracy.” In it, Matthew Stewart details how the wealthiest 10 percent of American
households (excluding the top 0.1 percent because of their obscene amount of wealth) like to give off the impression that they’re a part of some meritocracy – that any individual from even the lowest socioeconomic background can work hard enough and make their way into the top 10 percent. This idea, however, could not be further from the truth.
The lack of economic inclusivity extends beyond the Ivy League Economic mobility in the land of opportunity is no longer a realistic expectation for those seeking to advance their financial position in this world. The children of the top decile settle down later in life near their starting point (as doctors, lawyers or senior vice presidents at a major corporation). This reality extends to children in the bottom decile too. It is intergenerational poverty that pulls these children right back to where they came from. The wealthiest 10 percent of American households, Stewart asserts, have managed to secure the financial security (and prosperity) of their children through higher education. He writes “(t)he skin colors of the nation’s elite student bodies are more varied now, as are their genders, but their financial bones have calcified over the past 30 years.” Inequality is perpetuated in higher education through the use of legacy-admissions policies, which reward applicants whose parents attended the same university. In addition, acoording to Stewart private high schools serve as “affirmative-action programs for the wealthy” because “only 2.2 percent of the nation’s students graduate from nonsectarian
private high schools, and yet these graduates account for 26 percent of students at Harvard and 28 percent of students at Princeton.” The lack of economic inclusivity at elite institutions extends beyond the Ivy League. Even the University of Michigan is affected, as only 16 percent of Michigan’s student body is made up of students from the bottom 60 percent of earners, while nearly 10 percent of the student body comes from the top 1 percent. It turns out that this inequality in higher education is also perpetuated through the U.S. News college rankings. Colleges and universities are ranked (quite arbitrarily) on a host of factors—with one of great importance being the average test scores of its student body. In order to improve their ranking, colleges and universities are incentivized to admit only the best and brightest. The problem arises when you consider students from the top income bracket can score more than 130 points higher on all portions of the SAT than their peers in the bottom bracket. Bloomberg’s donation may make his alma mater’s admissions process need-blind, but that assumes the students from lower socioeconomic classes are viable contenders in the process. His donation does nothing for the high school students unable to prove their worth to the institution through high grades or test scores. While Bloomberg’s $1.8 billion will certainly have an impact on the economic diversity of Hopkins’ student body, the money will make but a small dent (which he admits) in the effort to halt intergenerational poverty in the United States. Making America the land of opportunity once again will require greater, more economically impartial access to higher education. It may also require restraining the New American Aristocracy. Erik Nesler can be reached at egnesler@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Thursday, November 29, 2018 — 5
STYLE NOTEBOOK
Makeup is de-gendered SAM KREMKE For the Daily
In Sept. of this year, Chanel released Boy de Chanel in Seoul, with plans to launch a global release in early 2019. Their inaugural line of men’s makeup is fairly pared down, with offerings of “tinted fluid” in (an abysmal) four different shades, an eyebrow pencil and a matte lip balm. Despite its humble catalogue, the announcement initially felt like a liberating step forward for a beauty industry that is becoming something of a microcosm for the erosion of gender norms. After a little bit of consideration, however, that foundation doesn’t set quite as evenly as one might think. Boy de Chanel is a definitive moment in normalizing the use of makeup for people who present masculinely, but it is also a cry to reinforce the gender binary in a realm already laden with it. Chanel wields decades of unmatched multinational cache, and the power to set standards in its respective trades. Earlier this year, it exposed the underpinnings of its tweed box
jacket, revealing a streamlined overview of its sales in 2017 for the first time in over a century. The lining can stand up to its finely woven shell — clocking in at almost $10 billion in annual revenue, it continues to dominate markets as a luxury brand, outselling more outwardly progressive names like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Dior. For a venerable force in fashion that can, from a numbers standpoint, walk its talk better than any of its competitors, it’s a mark of something when it engages with a social movement that was once considered deviant, or at least unconventional. Whether or not that engagement is productive is a different conversation. The gendered designation of cosmetics is a perennial issue that is varied widely depending on its cultural context. Historically speaking, its usage of cosmetics was associated more with class than it was with gender. In aristocratic systems, most notably Imperial European systems in the 17th and 18th centuries, those with inherited power would wear white powder, wigs and rouge as a visual assertion of their
status. Ancient Roman nobles would paint their nails with the blood and fat of pigs for similar reasons; makeup was a way of distinguishing oneself as a member of a privileged group. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, a socially conservative wave in religion, championed by Queen Victoria, along with the development of psychology and the study of sex, concurrently placed cosmetics at the cross-section of vanity and a strict sense of devalued femininity. The modern beauty industry, despite the capitalist — duh — concept of being able to make more money marketing a product to a range of markets as opposed to one, still very much adheres to and enforces these norms. Sexology and psychiatry were the two defining hands in how society has viewed and continues to view gender. Inversion theory, one of the earliest conceptions of samesex sexuality, was an attempt to put words to and legitimize an identity that, until then, was only thought of as a form of deviant behavior and was often swept under the rug. While
FILM NOTEBOOK
The genre-blending ‘Black Christmas’ has an impact ANISH TAMHANEY Daily Arts Writer
Here’s the issue. I’m among the most avid horror fans I know, and the genre’s most classic, scariest features don’t terrify me one bit. In particular, the ’70s can be considered as a sort of fertile breeding ground for new horror ideas. Not all of them were widely adopted into the popular consciousness, but they were certainly creative. Now, many of these films are idolized, not only as the most successful, but as the scariest horror can be. Whether I’m watching “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “The Last House on the Left” or even one of my personal favorites, “Halloween,” I am consistently more interested in the craft than I am strictly terrified. The body horror of “The Exorcist” and the ghostly apparitions of “The Amityville Horror” play for laughs, not scares. These films, for all their fearless innovation, have aged far from gracefully. And I’m not the only one who feels this way. Whenever I suggest watching a horror movie with friends, the titles that come to the top of our list are rarely older than 15 years (with the notable exception of “Silence of the Lambs”). Horror, for all of the wonderful, electric, introspective things it has meant to me, is also ephemeral in its generational impact. Of course, there is an exception to all these generalizations about a decade of horror movies: 1974’s “Black Christmas.” It is a film that not only stays resoundingly unsettling to this day, but is a lost horror gem that
institutionalized myriad slasher tropes. “Black Christmas” follows two nights at a sorority house during the holiday break. We can hear nothing but faint cheerful voices from within the house and unsteady, ragged breathing from a masked lurker right outside. The ground is snowy, the air is frigid and the stalker prowls around without any clear purpose. That’s why he’s so frightening. Whether for personal vendetta or gleeful masochism, he could be stalking the girls inside for any number of reasons or none at all. Before “Black Christmas,” horror had rarely placed a camera in an attacker’s point of view. Every murder that happens doesn’t feel as detached and punishing as much cinematic violence does. The brutality is kinetic and impossible to look away from because we as viewers seem, on some level, to partake in the stabbing and the strangling. More than this, there is a sense of inevitability to the stalker’s rampage, a feeling that the audience is not only responsible for his aggression but also helpless to resist it. Three features of “Black Christmas” — the panting breathing, POV mask shots and obscene phone calls to foreshadow the killer’s rampage — were borrowed by none other than “Halloween” three years later. From there, they took off to horror and thriller flicks for years afterword. One of the few elements of “Black Christmas” that did not deeply pervade the parade of serial killer stories of the ’80s is probably one that has aged the best. These slasher films almost
always had a “final girl,” which turned into an archetype of sexual punishment that killed off the promiscuous and only allowed the virginal to survive. However, “Black Christmas,” even in 1974, transcended this dry and sanctimonious stereotype. In fact, its protagonist Jess is pregnant during the events of the film. She is an indelible character and among my favorites in horror, not because she follows common horror archetypes, but because she defies them and acts only on her own agency. Aside from the film’s modest influence on whole horror subgenre, it holds up well today for one reason: It’s terrifying. It’s one of the few older horror movies that provoked me to scream, to jump back in my seat and to peek at the screen only through interlocked fingers. “Black Christmas” is unrelentingly tense, a wound machine that threatens to implode at any given moment. But to label the movie as a slow-burn would be an oversimplification. “Black Christmas” upholds its promise for violence with murder sequences that are breaktaking in their ambition and unforgettable in their gore. The greatest thing about “Black Christmas?” It is both a Halloween and a Christmas movie. That means it is acceptable to watch from Oct. to Dec. — like right now! If you’re like me, and have never been frightened by older horror movies, I can’t recommend this enough. If you’re also comfortably into the holiday season but can’t resist some decent scares, this is more than ideal.
WARNER BROS.
CHANEL
noble in its cause, it conflated gender expression and roles with sexuality and failed to separate societal notions of same-sex sexuality from pederasty. Sexual inversion theory and the work of early psychiatrists (see: Sigmund Freud) also placed a lot of emphasis on the environmental factors that might shape sexuality. The culmination of religious conservatism and conjectures from social scientists of that era resulted in the idea that (A) same-sex sexuality and gender expression that deviated from what was considered “standard” were the same thing, (B) these behaviors were not inherent and, therefore, either a set of reversible choices or a result of something that went wrong during childhood and (C) they were indicative of sickness, sexual perversion and predation of the highest order. The stigma placed on occupying any space on the gender or sexual spectrum that wasn’t rigidly adherent to the cis-heteronormative status quo was subjective and context dependent (as it continues to be), but could be and often was absolutely dire. Notions of what is meant to be a man and what it meant to be a woman at this time were effectively under the purview of medicine, law and religion — and the beauty industry marketed its wares accordingly. Rigid gender expectations still exist, but they slowly began to erode over the course of the 20th century. The first glint of expressive freedom in America’s eye was during Prohibition, when many urban speakeasies were also places with an anything-goes policy. Harlem ballroom culture exploded in popularity at this time, and artists au courant such as Marcel Duchamp did not shy away from poking fun at gender norms in their work (Duchamp himself very famously had a drag persona called Rrose Selavy). Drag’s relevance in the mainstream consciousness grew over the course of the 20th century and played a part in deconstructing societal expectations by both poking fun at unrealistic gendered expectations and celebrating femininity and freedom of expression. Part of the reason that drag was able to survive in spite of such blatant disregard for an institutionally backed binary was that it was considered performance art. While it still wasn’t treated with the same level of regard as other mediums due to its association with gay culture, it created a space in which the concept of a man throwing on a little pressed powder wasn’t so alien. Cinema’s march to ubiquity as the most popular form of entertainment also
re-indoctrinated the concept of the idealized male. It was no secret that the likes of James Dean and Cary Grant wore foundation on screen, and while other masculine attributes were reinforced by this medium, gliding in the background of “washing your face makes you gay” culture was an aesthetic standard that could be achieved by wearing makeup. On the other end of the spectrum, stage performers, who were undoubtedly influenced by drag queens and attitude shifts brought on by the gay liberation and feminist movements of the late ’60s and early ’70s, blew the lid off of what the mainstream consumer could expect to see from a visual standpoint. An entirely separate online drawl belongs to the influence that David Bowie, Prince, Siouxsie Sioux, Boy George and their ilk had on creative expression. Punk, glam-rock and other movements of the time spawned artists that went beyond enhancing their own features or smearing kohl in their waterline for a touch of externalized melancholy. Pigment became a vehicle to forge new identities that could change over time. Stage personas championed by these idols were about exploration in every sense, often blowing the roof off of gendered norms and creating something entirely alien. They were about materializing ideas and recovering a sense of agency over what people can present to the world around them. Though the concepts put forward by wildly famous artists were tangental at best to the general public, their popularity indicated that people were ready to embrace the idea that visual communication is not attached to sex or gender identity. Though it was motivated by rebellion to his record label, Prince briefly changing his name to a symbol that fused gender together at the height of his fame best encapsulates the collective work done by entertainers of the 20th century. Entertainment and other forms of media are both institutions of influence and societal barometers when it comes to group dynamics like representation, stigma and realms of acceptability. Time’s arrow has marched forward into the era of information, in which technology has both redefined media and agents of influence to mean almost anything and allowed it to act much more quickly. People with access to the internet are flooded with content on a daily basis and the visibility that content has created has been a huge catalyst for the expansion of what’s considered “normal.” As social networking has become a
platform for people to develop their own personas and have a greater impact on normalization, it has enabled brands and other organizations to function in the same way — both influencing and tailoring their products and brand identity according to their interactions with consumers. Beauty lines like Milk, Fenty and GCDS have facilitated a wave of inclusivity as well as interaction between industry and the individual, reposting selfies they’ve been tagged in and showcasing MUAs across the gender spectrum. Queercentric Fluide wears their heart on their sleeve — proclaiming themselves as a “celebration of kinship, love and queer glamour,” reflecting that in the models they work with and the organizations they give back to. Brands having the agency to interact with individuals at an immediate level and act as one themselves, their core philosophy and what they do as companies is becoming more and more central to their success. The words and actions of a company’s founders, as well as those that are given the authority to represent it, are now paramount — companies need to be transparent and consistently incorporate their morality into what they do. The declining reign of gendered constructs indicate that inviting all creatures to experiment with you is a winning mantra for cosmetic brands. As GCDS founder, Giuliano Calza, put it for The Flow House, “Everyone is battling for gender equality and beauty diversity. I just consider it necessary and something that should already exist, something that should be guaranteed. If you handle it normally, everyone will think it’s normal. That’s why I try to push for beauty and unconventional ideas in my communication.” Quality of the product, the standards of beauty you set and the people you choose to support ultimately manifest themselves in the groups that will spend with you, or whether they will spend at all. Beauty lines from luxury giants like Chanel have their reputation to rely on, but their respective social market economy is a rapidly expanding current that will move and shift without regard to it. Symbolizing opulence isn’t a big enough balance to cover a dusty move like taking the same formulas and repackaging them to appeal to fragile masculinity. Boy de Chanel symbolizes an earnest effort to democratize cosmetics, but as one of the premier purveyors of face paint, it would carry a lot of weight if Chanel’s focus was a little bit less “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.”
CHANEL
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, November 29, 2018— 6
STYLE NOTEBOOK
VS lacks body diversity PRIYDARSHINI GOUTHI Daily Arts Writer
Each year as Nov. rolls around, the entertainment and fashion industry begin to buzz with chatter of the much anticipated Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Over the years, the annual show has been characterized as a night filled with glamour, beauty, confidence and gorgeous pieces of lingerie. However, the show is also synonymous with advocating the perfect, dreamworthy bodies of its models, be it the original Angel Adriana Lima or rising stars such as Kelsey Merritt and Sui He. While Victoria’s Secret prides itself in having changed over time and increasing the diversity of cultures represented on the ramp, one aspect remains a constant: the body types. Recently, especially after this year’s fashion show on Nov. 8, Victoria’s Secret has garnered immense criticism for not being more body positive and for its lack of size diversity. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is known for its rigorous selection process of the 60 or so women who will take the stage, but all of them share the same body with their slender thighs, flat stomachs and muscles toned to perfection. They have a body that most, if not all, women envy and desire at some point or another in their lives. Every single one of these models works tremendously hard towards maintaining herself, and there is nothing wrong with that, but the issue lies in the company’s resistance towards inclusivity. For while having Gigi Hadid or Jasmine Tookes walk the show is a sight to see and builds the exclusive image of the brand as one that is desired by all, it also propagates the unhealthy thinking that only thin can be beautiful and sexy. As a result, it continues to feed the growing insecurities of women and especially young adults, including so many of us, across the world, irrespective of whether we are already thin or not. The constant reiteration and glamification of a particular size by the fashion industry sends many of us thinking that
we will never be good enough if we don’t have a 24-inch waist or a thigh gap. This line of thinking is what is putting our generation and those in the future at a higher risk of suffering from eating and body image disorders, and companies such as Victoria’s Secret are not helping. Furthermore, the build-up to the show is equally extreme due to the social media presence of the brand. Interviews and videos of the models outline the intense regime of multiple workouts in a day and limited diets that they engage in to reach Angel status. But they do not caution the risks that are associated with obsessing over one’s body type, nor do they stress the importance of accepting your own body. My complaint with Victoria’s Secret is not that they are casting women of a particular size. Instead, my issue is that they are not casting women of other sizes. It is not an an either/or situation, because one woman should feel as good and confident in what she wears as any other. As a business student, I acknowledge that at the end of the day, Victoria’s Secret is focusing on the bottom line, wanting to earn the highest possible profits. If this mold of their fashion show works and brings them more money, then there is no reason for the firm to change from a business standpoint. However, the famed reputation of the company and its leading position comes with a certain moral responsibility to fairly represent its consumer base, which is not limited to those who meet what are often unrealistic body standards. Victoria’s Secret needs to acknowledge that there is a problem, and if they do want women of all sizes to shop at Victoria’s Secret, then it is high time that their actions reflect that. However, the tragedy is that the issue runs much deeper than just a single fashion show held each year. The truth of the matter is that there are so many brands apart from Victoria’s Secret that simply do not produce garments larger than a particular size, inadvertently telling many women that they
Classifieds
are not wanted. Some brands like Brandy Melville only produce clothes of a single size which, too, is limited to an extra-small or a small at the most. Such conscious decisions tend to have adverse effects on the mental health of young girls, especially when these brands are the ones that are perceived as popular due to being worn and promoted by influencers who the girls look up to and emulate. The ratio of companies that are body positive to those that are not is both astounding and saddening, but being body positive does not simply mean having a “plus size” section. Rather, this sense of inclusivity needs to be demonstrated through each aspect of the brand, be it their marketing strategy or even the pricing of products. Often, in many stores, like Banana Republic, sizes apart from “regular” tend to be more expensive and hence reduce accessibility for so many consumers. Body positivity has come a long way with change that is now visible. Fashion icons such as Ashley Graham and Tess Holliday are embracing their curves, becoming ultrasuccessful in the fashion industry and inspiring millions along the way. Brands like Aerie have recognized the importance of this movement and have focused on creating more inclusive campaigns in terms of cultures, sizes and even disabilities. But is this enough? The reason I ask is that there still exists a distinct misalignment between the views of the fashion industry and its audience — but companies are not the only ones to blame. Brands seek to deliver and fulfill demands, and hence the lack of diversity is the result of the continual approval given to smaller sizes while reprimanding others that don’t fit the bill. As a society, we have started the journey toward true inclusivity in some measure, but need to yet encourage greater love for our own bodies irrespective of the size, color or anything else for that matter. On the other hand, brands need to move with time and realize that in the current
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Release Date: Thursday, November 29, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
SERVICES
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Goat quote 4 Monorail users 9 Driving range instructors 13 Central cooling systs. 14 Kick 15 She converted to Judaism after marrying her comedy partner 16 Study of a portentous woodchuck? 18 Opposition group 19 Submits returns online 20 Prevents legally 22 Hoppy brew, for short 23 Study of tears? 24 Humanities maj. 26 Dash gauge 29 Slovenia neighbor, to the IOC 30 Player of The Bride in “Kill Bill” films, familiarly 31 Made a blunder 33 Take suddenly 37 Small store 39 Fuzzy fruit 41 Exercise in a studio 42 Android operating system named for a cookie 43 Trusty mount 45 Shaving cream type 46 “American Experience” network 49 Bart’s bus driver 50 Draw upon 51 Study of common articles? 55 That woman 57 Echo Dot-waking words 58 Cornell’s home 61 Others, in Cuba 62 Study of hiking choices? 65 Tells all 66 “At the Movies” co-host 67 Shepherd’s pie piece 68 Craftsy website
69 Brother in Roman lore 70 Give a darn
DOWN 1 It may have an “X” 2 Physical discomfort 3 “Whatever!” 4 “Missed your chance!” 5 Romeo or Juliet 6 “A Sorta Fairytale” singer Tori 7 New car stat 8 More timid 9 Study of literary tools? 10 7:11, e.g. 11 Circular gasket 12 Impertinent 15 The Masters, e.g. 17 Carmex target 21 MoMA location 23 Puppy plaything 24 Heavyweight fight? 25 “Rubáiyát” poet 27 First rescue boat 28 Football Hall of Famer Carter 32 Count calories
34 Officers who follow their own code 35 Many months 36 Christian of “The Big Short” 38 Study of lids and caps? 40 Matching group 44 Throw back some Absolut, say 47 Sanctify
48 Chi __ 51 “All __ in favor ... ” 52 Bandleader’s cue 53 Works for 54 Rubbernecker 56 Evil film computer 58 Thing 59 Dead-end sign word 60 Screenwriter James 63 Wartime prez 64 Veer off course
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11/29/18
11/29/18
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climate, consumers are not going to continue accepting what comes their way and will demand change. Victoria’s Secret has been seeing a decline in financial performance in recent years, and with CEO Jan Singer resigning after this year’s fashion show following chief marketing officer Ed Razek’s rather uninformed comments on how “No one had any interest in it, still don’t” when referring
to the plus size lingerie market, it is safe to say that the brand has taken a hit. The fashion industry continues to be one of the most fast-paced and evolving global communities that is filled with talent of all kinds, but it isn’t perfect. As young adults who are now the prime market of the industry, the responsibility to call out what’s missing and push for change falls onto us.
I don’t mean that we need to boycott brands or stop shopping at every store that isn’t equally diverse, but we do need to be more aware and at least address the issue at hand. We could do this by speaking out in any form, be it through social media or initiating conversations about the problems the industry faces, immaterial of whether we are personally affected by them or not.
DAILY COMMUNITY CULTURE COLUMN
Alinearity in the performing arts This past weekend, I went to see the Wheelhouse Theater Company’s revival of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Happy Birthday, Wanda June” in New York City. I am a huge fan of Vonnegut’s books and I wanted to see if Vonnegut’s unique writing style would transfer well to the stage. And transfer it did, as the play was filled with obscure 1970s cultural references and Vonnegut’s signature dark, absurdist humor. As I left the play, I began to piece apart my thoughts on the work. I had definitely enjoyed the play, but I was also very confused, struggling to understand both the intricacies of the plot and the meaning of the work itself. I would definitely recommend the work to a friend, but I’m not sure if I could ever summarize for anyone what happened in the work. I realized that I almost enjoyed the play because it was confusing — the complexity and irregularity of the plot forcing me to concentrate and engage more with the work. It had jumped between memories and actual events, between Heaven and Earth. It jumped all over the place, and much of my energy as an audience member was spent on keeping up. The work was also thematically ambiguous. I know it focused on hypermasculinity and death. It juxtaposed the horror we express over car accidents with the excitement and awe we express over wartime deaths caused by American soldiers, but these themes weren’t developed. They were frequent, recurrent aspects of the plot, but they never moved past that. This wasn’t my first experience with complexity on the stage. If anything, this play was less abstract than some other works I am familiar with. Compared to many of Samuel Beckett’s plays, for example, this play was accessible on the surface. Conversations between characters flowed logically and characters’ motivations and emotions were frequently made explicit. Compared to Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” for example, this play followed a small cast of six in a single-room set. And this wasn’t my first experience with complexity in Vonnegut’s work. Compared to “The Sirens of Titan,” the first Vonnegut novel I read, this work was remarkably static. It never moved to any unfamiliar planets or dealt with any fictitious, alienistic creatures. What then, I asked myself, was making this work so difficult for me to fully understand? “Happy Birthday, Wanda June,” I eventually realized, refuses to conform to the linear conception of time inherent to the performing arts. Almost all works of performance art involve development over the course of time — much as our lives inevitably evolve over time, so do works of performance art. In works of theater, this involves characters
that change or refuse to change as the world around them changes as well. Yet Vonnegut specifically avoids this linear transformation. None of the characters in the play develop, they only react to the outside forces that bring them together and pull them apart. The work darts
SAMMY SUSSMAN between memories and the present without any noticeable changes occuring in any of the characters. And though the viewer can easily understand this concept on the surface, larger thematic meaning behind this stasis gets lost behind the alinear intricacies of the plot. This alinear conception of time is not new to Vonnegut. He does this frequently in his novels to great success. In “SlaughterhouseFive,” for example, events do not happen chronologically and characters profess not to believe in chronological conceptions of time. “It is just an illusion we have here on earth,” says the main character at one point, “that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.” Others artists have taken inspiration from Vonnegut in applying this structural alinearity to performance art. Andrew Norman, for example, composed his orchestral work “Unstuck” based on the concept of time laid out in “Slaughterhouse-Five.” When I first discovered this piece, I was fascinated by how it challenged my perception of time — I knew the recording of the piece lasted nine minutes and 33 seconds on YouTube though I couldn’t imagine that I had only been listening for around nine and a half minutes. Norman achieves this effect by jumping between disparate musical ideas without transitional material. He constantly varies the tempo and gestural pacing of his ideas, preventing the listener from becoming comfortable with any specific conception of time. He also carefully develops the relationships between ideas throughout the piece without developing the ideas themselves. The result is jagged and complex, violating the steady, tempo-based conception of time endemic to contemporary orchestral music. It is an incredibly complex piece to fully understand even as it is an incredibly simple piece to consume on the surface. I believe that I could listen to the piece for months without ever finding it to
be predictable or routine. Another example of an alinear conception of time that I like is Christopher Nolan’s “Memento.” For those unfamiliar with the movie, it follows main character Leonard Shelby as he investigates the murder of his wife. Shelby suffers from anterograde amnesia, the inability to form new memories, and he resorts to tattooing himself to maintain some memory of his investigation as it progresses. In the beginning, this nonchronological structure is extremely confusing. Events are being portrayed in black-andwhite and in color — two separate plot lines that don’t seem to connect. As the movie progresses, however, the structure of the movie slowly comes into focus: The black-and-white footage depicts events chronologically while the color footage depicts events in reverse chronologically. As with the other alinear works, this proves to be extremely offputting to first-time viewers. To obsessive viewers like me, however, it creates ambiguities that leave the work open to endless analysis. So what makes these works successful even as “Happy Birthday, Wanda June” fails? What makes some alinear works successful and others confusingly unsuccessful? What defining feature separates the good alinear works from the bad? Alinear conceptions of time, I realized, are only successful when they still exist within the confines of larger structural linearity. To put it in simpler terms, alinear conceptions of time only work when contrasted against linear structures of long-term development. The performing arts, after all, are confined and defined by time. There is something beautiful, I find, in the fragile impermanence of these artforms — they exist over the course of an hour or two; they must be experienced over the course of an evening. The best alinear art creates connections between disparate moments in time, allowing for development to take place over the course of a work though time may not be contributing to this development. And in this regard, “Happy Birthday, Wanda June” failed to deliver. I felt no different leaving the theater than I did after witnessing the first scene. The entire play was a wash of individual scenes with no overarching concept — I left the play noting no overall development that extended beyond any individual scene. And without this development, the work failed to move beyond the realm of the absurd to the realm of the powerful. And this, after all, is the ultimate goal of every work of art — to present some aspect of the human condition that we as audience members can relate to, allowing us to come to new realizations as we reflect on the lives of others.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, November 29, 2018 — 7
Michigan dominant in 84-67 win over UNC ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
Roy Williams stood in front of a crowd of media, castigating both his team and himself. It was about 11:40 on Wednesday night, and North Carolina had just met Michigan — the type of team that can drive coaches to this sort of frustration. “Guys, I got no positive things,” the Tar Heels’ coach said. “If you want some positive things, you better go find somebody on the street. “... I’ve coached for 31 years. Right now, my coaching sucks.” A little later, it was Wolverines’ John Beilein at the podium, singing a different tune. “That’s one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever had,” Beilein said, disposition sunny. “... It’s not like we’re trying to frustrate you. We’re trying to keep people from scoring baskets.” That they did — and about as well as you could ask, holding No. 11 North Carolina (6-2) nearly 30 points below its season average, as No. 7 Michigan (7-0) engineered a domineering 84-67 win. It was the type of win that makes you think the Wolverines can contend for a national title, and when they opened the second half by jumping out to a double-digit lead — a lob from junior point guard Zavier Simpson to junior center Jon Teske prompting a timeout from Williams — Crisler Center sounded like the home of a national contender. On the other end of that timeout, Michigan started to break the game open, leading into the under-16 timeout with another Teske dunk. After Simpson missed a layup a couple minutes later, redshirt junior Charles Matthews slammed it back home for an and-one, sending the crowd — and the Wolverines’ bench — into hysterics and bringing the lead
to 14. When North Carolina’s Leaky Black tried a driving layup, Matthews put an exclamation mark on the night, blocking the ball past the cameramen seated along the baseline, flexing for the cameras and shouting amidst a sea of noise. “Charles has possessed the defense,” Beilein said. “He and Zavier are the most driven defensive players I’ve ever coached. This is what they want to do. And the offense is sort of residual out of it.” Just after the 12-minute mark, sophomore guard Jordan Poole nailed a corner 3-pointer, bringing the lead to 20, enough to stave off North Carolina’s attempt at a late comeback. The Tar Heels managed to cut the lead to 11 with 5:29 to go after Kenny Williams hit two straight 3-pointers. But after another Matthews triple, followed by four straight points from freshman forward Ignas
Brazdeikis, the Tar Heels’ hopes were right back where they had started. This was a game that — at one point — the visiting team led 21-11, looking to coast. But after Simpson quelled an early 8-0 North Carolina run with a steal in the backcourt and subsequent layup, Michigan settled in. Immediately following, freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis led a 9-0 run for the Wolverines, hitting a 3-pointer and notching an and-one after the under-12 timeout. Shortly after, Eli Brooks put Michigan in front, 22-21, with a 3-pointer of his own. Right before halftime, the Wolverines broke a tie after Simpson managed to pass his way out of a half-court trap, the ball eventually finding Charles Matthews for an open 3-pointer. Poole followed that with another three — this one just before the buzzer — after a loose ball sent Jon Teske sprawling
on the floor in a mad scramble, coming up with the basketball to give Michigan a four-point halftime lead. “7-foot-1 guys don’t go and get that ball like that,” Beilein said. “So he didn’t shoot the ball well, didn’t shoot foul (shots) well — he’s such a huge presence for us, defensively.” That momentum carried into the second half, Poole providing the nail in the coffin with a stepback 3-pointer, and the Wolverines leaving Crisler Center with no doubt about where they stand — in both the Big Ten and the national title picture. “It just felt really good, but we can’t dwell on this victory,” Brazdeikis said. “This is just a November win for us, it’s only the beginning. It’s a big mark for us, it shows us where we’re at, but we need to continue to improve.” For a November win, it makes quite a statement.
Daily Sports Writer
Ignas Brazdeikis sat on the bench, watching Michigan’s sluggish offense fall in a hole to North Carolina. After getting whistled for a foul just three minutes into the game, the freshman forward came out. Without their leading scorer on the season, the Wolverines struggled to find a rhythm. “I told him, ‘You can’t make fouls like that early in the game, you know how much it means to this team,’ ” said redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews. “ ‘You’re a freshman, but your contribution to the team is huge and we need you on the floor.’ ” Brazdeikis learned from his freshman mistake and resolved to
Wolverines filling roles when needed TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
Ask anyone. Ask Michigan coach Mel Pearson. Odds are, they haven’t noticed a small habit Jake Slaker picked up since the start of the year. A season prior, former Wolverine Tony Calderone took on the leadership role as a captain. He had been credited with sparking a fire under the Michigan hockey team after a film session that fueled a lateseason push to the postseason — a journey that ended in a Frozen Four appearance. But it was a smaller notion, unnoticed by many, that might define that role better. Before every game, there’s a brief period when the players are let loose on the ice to get some practice shots in. Goaltenders mark their place at the net, scraping the ice around the crease. Skaters line up and shoot at the net. The pucks build up. It gets to a point where there’s only one or two pucks left to shoot around with before it’s time to empty the net. And that’s where the veterans of the team clear it. “You’re not going to see many younger guys stepping in and (emptying the net),” Slaker said. “It’s usually an older guy, usually a leader of the team.” Back then, it was Calderone. This year? Slaker stepped up to the plate. “I think it’s just one of those things where Tony was our captain, and he did it, and no one really stepped up so I just said I would really do it,” Slaker said. “So it was just one of those things where I just decided and ended up doing it. And I shoot for the goalies at the beginning of the game too, so I just kinda went along with it.” It’s just another example of filling a role that needs to be filled, no matter how big or small. An action that Pearson thought Michigan had done well in its Friday matchup against Wisconsin. The team found out close to puck drop that Slaker, who Pearson noted wasn’t 100 percent, would sit the game out to recuperate. “He still wasn’t 100 percent,” Pearson said. “I think you could tell that, just some puck touches and that. I thought we won the game, Friday, he comes back and we lose the game Saturday. He didn’t make a big difference in
the game either way.” Slaker had been an integral part of the offense all season. With 13 points and seven goals, he is third-highest in points and tied for second in goals scored on the team. His production has powered the Wolverines through much of their tougher matchups. In the 6-5 win over No. 6 Penn State, Slaker scored a lategame goal to claim the lead for Michigan before scoring another to put a nail in the coffin. Against No. 8 Notre Dame, he responded with a game-tying goal immediately after the Fighting Irish had scored to turn momentum in favor of the Wolverines. But Friday, when his teammates found out about his absence, they didn’t doubt the replacements could step up in his place. To take his place, Pearson sent in senior forward Brendan Warren and freshman forward Jack Olmstead to fill the role. “I think it’s definitely tough, because he’s been playing so well for us,” said sophomore forward Josh Norris. “Obviously Slakes and myself and Will have really enjoyed playing together, but we’ve got a lot of other guys that can fill those roles, and I thought Olmstead did a great job tonight. Warren filled in a couple shifts there too, so it’s always nice when you have those guys that can fill in those roles.” Olmstead primarily filled the first-line forward all game. Despite no points in the stat sheet to show for it, he generated chances and made cuts that forced players to chase after him. When Warren was in, he recorded a primary point off of an assist to junior forward Adam Winborg. “That’s the beauty of a team sport,” Pearson said. “When you have guys out, someone’s going to step up, and next man up, and we had that Friday night. And I thought we played much better Friday night. “Sometimes, when your team’s down a guy, your team rallies around that. Little more sense of urgency, and sometimes when you get guys back, you think, ‘Oh it’s going to be easier, or maybe I don’t have to do as much,’ or whatever, and if you don’t, then you’re in trouble. That’s why we have the depth we do. It’s easy to throw a guy like Olmstead in and not worry about him.”
“It’s usually an older guy, usually a leader of the team.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers and junior center Jon Teske celebrate during Michigan’s dominant 84-67 win.
Brazdeikis provides momentum shift in win ARIA GERSON
ICE HOCKEY
make up for it. Five minutes later — with Michigan down by eight to the Tar Heels on an 8-0 run — he checked back in. “I made that foul and it was kind of a mistake,” Brazdeikis said. “So I was like, ‘As soon as I get back in, I need to make some plays, be aggressive, get back in the groove of the game.’ “ … I’ll take my leg off if I have to … I’m gonna do whatever it takes to win the game.” He made good on that promise. After a layup cut North Carolina’s lead to six, Brazdeikis collected a turnover off a bad pass and drove down the court for a layup and-one. Moments later, Brazdeikis once again got the ball following an empty possession from the Tar Heels and a Wolverine defensive rebound, and he nailed a triple to
“...I’m gonna do whatever it takes to win the game.”
cut the deficit to two. And on the next possession, he grabbed a defensive rebound that set up another 3-pointer by sophomore guard Eli Brooks. One minute and 20 seconds after re-entering the game, Brazdeikis had almost singlehandedly turned a six-point deficit into a one-point lead. The ensuing 17-2 run — including another layup from Brazdeikis — extended Michigan’s lead to five. “We just started to hit shots, started to make plays,” Brazdeikis said. “I felt like early on we were kinda missing shots that we usually make, missing free throws, so I felt like when I got back in, I made a couple plays and then everything just started rolling from there.” Brazdeikis’ run was a wake-
up call for the offense, which scored 45 points in the second half en route to an 84-67 win. Appropriately, Brazdeikis scored the Wolverines’ first points of the second half on an open layup under the basket. By then, Crisler Center was rocking and Michigan was rolling. “I don’t think he’s in awe,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “He’s never played in an environment like that and he’s not in awe of any of that. He just comes in and performs through it.” Brazdeikis finished with 24 points on the night — a season (and career) high — proving that for him, no stage was truly too big. But it was those six points halfway through the first half that served as a wake-up call, just when the Wolverines needed it most.
“He just comes out and performs through it.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis provided a spark for Michigan’s offense that resulted in a 84-67 win over North Carolina at Crisler Center on Wednesday.
“That’s why we have the depth that we do.”
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Junior forward Jake Slaker has tallied 13 points and seven goals this season.
Sports
8 — Thursday, November 29, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Michigan ready for challenge against No. 13 North Carolina State BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
When Michigan heads to Raleigh, N.C. on Thursday to face No. 13 North Carolina State, there will be plenty of storylines to watch for. One storyline pits the youth of the Wolverines (5-1) against the experience of the Wolfpack. Michigan — which features just three upperclassmen in its regular rotation — relies on youth, balance and depth to dismantle opponents. NC State (6-0), meanwhile, uses experience, efficiency and high-volume scoring from its players, as it has only three underclassmen in its regular
rotation. This matchup will be the Wolverines’ first time in a hostile road environment this season, and it remains to be seen how the young squad deals with intense noise and pressure, which is something it will see more of come conference play. Michigan did travel to Kalamazoo earlier this season to take on Western Michigan, but the Broncos averaged a mere 679 fans per game last season. The Wolfpack, on the other hand, averaged 2,500-plus fans last year. Despite the age and experience gap between the two teams, as well as the road environment, Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico is not worried about her
freshmen. “I think (freshman guard) Amy Dilk has been waiting for this opportunity her whole entire life, … as did (freshman forward) Naz Hillmon,” Barnes Arico said. “Our other freshmen, I mean the opportunity that they have every day in practice to go against some of the best players in the country really prepares them.” Another storyline to keep in mind will be the battle on the boards. Both teams have
dominated the glass thus far in the season and have yet to be outrebounded by their opponent in a game. The Wolverines have outrebounded their opponents by an average of over 16 rebounds per game, while NC State has out rebounded its opponents by over 11 rebounds per game, good for the eighthand 26th-best rebounding margins in the nation, respectively. Michigan, which will take on
“... she just sets a great example every day.”
its third ranked team in a fourgame span, will also look to senior center Hallie Thome to step up and lead the team. Thome, who averaged over 21 points on 70-percent shooting in 22 minutes over the first three games, has struggled since the competition heated up. Over the course of the three game Gulf Coast Showcase, Thome averaged only 10.3 points on 48-percent shooting in nearly 29 minutes. In addition to heating up on the offensive end, Thome will have her hands full on defense with her matchup against Wolfpack freshman center Elissa Cunane. Despite averaging just 20 minutes per game, Cunane
has scored 13.3 points on 61-percent shooting in her six games thus far. Still, Barnes Arico remains undeterred, preaching total confidence in her players and knows that all of Thome’s hard work will pay off in the end for the Wolverines — regardless of the stats next to her name in the box score. “(Thome) has continued to work and work and work for an opportunity to be the best player she can be, but also for an opportunity to help the team be the best team that we can be,” Barnes Arico said. “I think she continues to work (hard) and … she just sets a great example every day.”
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