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‘U’ president claims OIE reviews take “too long” President Schlissel discusses misconduct reporting, letters of rec panel diversity KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Kamaria Porter, Research Assistant and Doctoral Candidate, discusses the new Title XI and campus sexual violence regulations proposed by the Department of Education at Hutchins Hall Monday evening.
Comment writing event responds to Title IX regulation proposals
About 50 students, professors attended event to write comments for Dept. of Education NIKKI KIM For the Daily
In response to concerns with new Title IX regulations, about 50 students and professors from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Law School and Department of Sociology hosted a Title IX comment writing event Monday night in Hutchins Hall Monday night. Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 to the 1964 Civil Rights Act was created to abolish discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs. This policy is applied to public universities in order to prevent gender-based discrimination. In 2017, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos withdrew much of the guidelines created to uphold the requirements of Title IX set by President Barack Obama’s administration. This fall, new
regulations were proposed by the Department of Education. The comment writing event was held in order to highlight the regulatory changes as well as encourage students to participate in the notice and comment process. Nina Mendelson, a University Law School professor specializing in administrative law, said the comment writing process has a large impact on Title IX regulation decisions. According to Mendelson,
educational departments set standards of conduct that institutions who receive federal funding must comply with. Such standards are most often in the form of a regulatory proposal. The law requires agencies to give notice to the public about what the proposal is and allow them to comment on it. Then, they have a legal obligation to review all comments and respond if there is a significant issue raised — they may decide to change the regulation in See TITLE IX, Page 2
SAYALI AMIN & MATT HARMON Daily Staff Reporter & Daily News Editor
Each month, The Michigan Daily Administration Beat sits down with University President Mark Schlissel to discuss important questions about University policy, commitments and challenges. This transcript has been abbreviated and reordered for reader clarity. The Michigan Daily: In recent coverage, The Daily has highlighted the stories of people at the University who have had less than favorable experiences with the Office for Institutional Equity and the Title IX sexual misconduct reporting process as a whole. Do you believe the current Title IX reporting process is effective given these stories and, if so, will the Sixth Circuit ruling make it less effective in your
opinion? President Mark Schlissel: I think the OIE has a very difficult job to do across a very challenging landscape … I think they do a very good job in aggregate. I think our investigations and adjudications often take too long. That’s a problem we have to work hard to correct. We’re going to have to adjust to the implications of the Sixth ruling, which is a pretty significant change. We’re pretty close to having a new approach that’s consistent with the Sixth Circuit ruling that we’re going to roll out in the beginning of the new semester, and recognize that we’ve done this in an accelerated way with some consulting but not as much as we normally do because in effect we’re under a court order … The biggest thing I’m worried about is we know misconduct is underreported, and what we’re concerned about is changes we make in See SCHLISSEL, Page 3
Dual protests urge action from Council Panel talks Assembly issues with on Pangea reopening and deer cull urges CO
CAMPUS LIFE
ACADEMICS
pregnancy in prisons
Piercing shop owner accused of white supremacy, sexism announces his return
Former prisoners, health care workers examine effects of mass detention
Two groups staged protests Monday night outside Ann Arbor City Hall, calling on City Council to take action on disparate issues: the reopening of a piercing shop
PARNIA MAZHAR
LEAH GRAHAM Daily Staff Reporter
with a racist owner and the annual deer cull in Ann Arbor. Protesters from BAMN and Stop Trump Ann Arbor demanded City Council take action against the reopening of Pangea Piercing, which closed in August after its owner, J.C. Potts, was accused white supremacism,
sexism and inappropriate behavior by clients. BAMN organizer Kate Stenvig, a University of Michigan alum, said she wanted to increase awareness about Potts, especially now that he had reopened his store. “The first thing that we’re
trying to do is spread the word that he’s back,” Stenvig said. “We’ve been passing out f lyers outside of his place, we did a picket on Saturday and overwhelmingly people who come by are like, ‘Oh, my god, he’s back.’ On campus, too, people have heard about it See COUNCIL, Page 3
2
neutrality in 17 years
President Schlissel met with SACUA to discuss sexual misconduct reports DANIELLE PASEKOFF
Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Prison Doula Initiative hosted a panel made up of seven formerly incarcerated people, health care professionals and MPDI staff Monday night to discuss insights on the intersections of reproductive justice and mass incarceration. According to LSA junior Sitara Murali, the director for Community Outreach and Activism of the University of Michigan’s Prison Birth Project, as well as one of the organizers of the event, the purpose of the event was to bring the experiences of those exposed to the prison system to light and increase communication about the system as a whole. “Tonight’s event was basically a way for our student org, the Prison Birth Project, to highlight the experiences of people that have firsthand been involved in the prison systems,” Murali said. “Either they were incarcerated, or See PANEL, Page 2
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Protestors stand outside of the Ann Arbor City Council meeting protesting the shooting of deer Monday evening.
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Vol. CXXVIII, No. 43 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs at the University of Michigan met Monday afternoon to discuss student efforts to reduce the effects of climate change on campus and hear several guest speakers including University President Schlissel. The meeting opened as the assembly addressed Central Student Government’s recent resolution regarding climate change and their request for SACUA to support the goals of the resolution. The resolution calls for carbon neutrality by 2035, intermediate emission reduction goals, increased funding and a Carbon Neutrality Commission made up of students, faculty and community members. The assembly discussed whether or not to agree with the resolution as a whole, or simply the goals CSG is putting forth with this legislation. Subsequently, the assembly voted unanimously in support of the principles See SACUA, Page 3
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TITLEIX From Page 1 response to the comments. According to Rackham student Kamaria Porter, whose research focuses on reporting sexual assault, this new proposal drastically limits the places that can be investigated to strictly on-campus sites. In 2015, the University of Michigan Climate Survey found that 41.2 percent of nonconsensual sex occurred off campus for undergraduates and 72 percent for graduate students. Porter said limiting the scope would exclude the majority of cases and continue to perpetuate sexual misconduct and violence. She also claimed such restrictions open up opportunities for the University to avoid liability and put multiple harmful cases on the backburner. Another big change in the new regulations was the definition of sexual harassment. In previous years, the Obama administration worked to broaden the definition, as well as increase guidelines to include the rights of transgender students. However, the new reforms roll back the safeguards for transgender student rights and narrow the definition.
Now, only incidents that are deemed “severe” enough can be investigated. According to Sandra Levitsky, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, the line for severity follows a very strict legal standard which eliminates many cases.
“The new regulation doesn’t account for the power and resource differences between the parties”
“Almost no cases will fall under the new definition — it’s really rigid,” Levitsky said. According to Porter, the new proposal seeks to legalize the hearing process. All cases will now include a live hearing where both sides are mandated to go through cross-examinations. A similar
decision was made by the Sixth Circuit Court last September which mandates the University adopt similar practices to the new regulation. “It’s making it look like even more of a criminal trial-like procedure than an educational procedure you would find in a student conduct hearing,” Porter said. “The people running it — higher educational professionals — aren’t trained to be lawyers, be judges and operate in a criminal legal space. They’re educators, they want to help students go beyond their worst act. And they want to support students to heal in order to access education. The process doesn’t match the people that will be doing it.” Porter said the move towards mandating crossexaminations also introduces new problems of inequality and accessibility, claiming discrepancies between legal representatives and advisers in a misconduct case may make the decision process unfair. “The new regulation doesn’t account for the power and resource differences between the parties,” Porter said. “This affects both sides.” In the wider political sphere, the opportunity to comment on a policy is not unique to the Department
of Education. But due to the legal obligation the agency has to read every comment that is sent, Porter said it is essential for students to participate in the notice and comment process. LSA sophomore Quinn Riley said the new regulations were mentioned in class but she wanted to actively work to reverse the new policies. “My women’s studies course touched brief ly on the new regulations,” Quinn said. “And I felt like it was my responsibility to be more informed as opposed to skimming the surface of a subject. They highlighted the fact that certain groups are marginalized by the proposed regulations and that’s what I’m going to be focusing my comment about.” In the last hour, the event transitioned into an open space where audience members were encouraged to talk among each other and ask questions as they formulated their comments. Levitsky said the event hoped to create a strong voice against the regulation proposal that the Department of Education can’t ignore. “This opportunity is a collective action to make sure that voices are heard by the Department of Education and our federal government,” Levitsky said.
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The goal of MPDI is to “provide comprehensive childbirth education and professional doula services to women in Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility.” It collaborates with various organizations and encourages volunteer participation. Many of the panelists shared intimate experiences about their times in prison in which they felt personally impacted by injustices within
the system. MPDI Executive and progressive reproductive Director Jacqueline Williams justice when we have so described the impact she many people in prison and so hoped the panelists had on the many of those people are in they worked there, or they attendees. prison for non-violent drug work with populations –– “I hope what the panelists offenses,” Williams said. women specifically –– that said today changes their “There are alternatives to this were incarcerated, and we perceptions of what people that countries participate in just thought it was a really actually have to go through like… more actual safety nets important conversation to in prison,” Williams said. before people actually end up bring to campus and something “There’s this conception in prison. Those would be the that a lot of people don’t have that, ‘Oh, they get fed most effective investments Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ a lot of understanding about.” three meals a day and all that we could make.” of their needs are attended Based on her own to.’ And as you heard, experiences incarcerated, it can sometimes take panelist Asia Johnson an enormous amount highlighted the large positive of agency and self- impact students within the advocacy to get even audience could make by the most baseline volunteering at the prison. HARD accommodations.” “The students at U-M have Currently, the U.S. been so instrumental in me makes up about 5 becoming the woman that I am percent of the world’s today,” Johnson said. “Even population. At the same though I went to prison, I spent time, 25 percent of the nine years of my life away, I world’s prisoners reside feel like this is the best me that in the U.S. I’ve been in my whole life, and In women’s prisons it’s only because people gave in the U.S., 85 percent me their time.” of inmates are mothers LSA senior Michele and 25 percent were Laarman emphasized the pregnant on arrest or importance of University gave birth within the last students being aware of both year. Based off of these reproductive injustice and statistics, Williams spoke mass incarceration. about the most effective “Incarceration is a huge part manner in which the of this nation,” Laarman said. U.S. should approach the “Not to know about stuff that’s issues within the prison going on all over the country and system. on such a massive scale, that’s “When we think not okay after you come out of about health care and a four-year degree program reproductive justice, it’s –– especially if you’re in social FINALS. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. just unsustainable to Read more online at think that we can provide michigandaily.com adequate health care
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Tuesday, December 4, 2018 — 3
HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM
SACUA From Page 1
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily Jeffrey Veidlinger, director of the Center for Judaic Studies, discusses the historical background of antisemitism during a panel hosted by the International Institute at Weiser Hall Monday afternoon.
COUNCIL From Page 1 and they’re disgusted.” Public outcry forced Potts to close Pangea Piercing after a tweet accused him of espousing white supremacist ideology while giving a customer a piercing. Twitter user @ LauraStroudd tweeted that Potts “began to talk to me about white supremacy, and why ‘whites must stick together.’ He repeated many times that when it came down to ‘us vs them’ I would have to embrace my ‘white heritage’ to survive.” The tweet went viral and has been retweeted more than 6,000 times. In a statement posted to his YouTube channel in August, Potts said his career was “over” and he was “completely done with the piercing business.” He noted he was “nowhere near politically correct,” but denied being an advocate of white supremacy.
SCHLISSEL From Page 1 light of the court ruling may impose even more challenge around reporting … We need to do everything we can in the context of this legal limitation to support students that come forward with claims of misconduct to hopefully make sure they still feel comfortable. Particularly on these stories of sexual misconduct, when you think or get information from people that don’t think the University is paying adequate attention or if someone accuses the University of trying to brush under the rug or hide these episodes, I can tell you that couldn’t be more wrong … The darn problem with these cases, even this one in Music, Theatre and Dance that has become a bit notorious, the initial complaints were anonymous complaints, and it’s extremely difficult to followup on anonymous complaints but we do … When you don’t hear of an investigation it doesn’t mean the University is ignoring it. It’s just unfair and untrue and this notion that it’s in the University’s best interest somehow to hide misconduct is exactly the opposite. TMD: Given the recent midterm regents elections, the new partisan makeup of the board is seven Democrats and one Republican. Although the members of the Board are supposed to be nonpartisan, how do you believe this shift
“I can see why I present a perfect target in the current climate,” Potts said. “Calling out anti-Blackness, antiSemitism, homophobia or whatever is celebrated and accepted, but extending that to anti-whiteness, and quite a few people get that Pavlovian ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?’ — like that type of discrimination is somehow OK. I’ve always steadfastly said that no one should ever be disenfranchised or dispossessed because of characteristics they have no control over. I’ve always maintained that I do not want dominion over, nor seek to exploit, anyone — that’s like the exact opposite of white supremacy.” Potts decided to reopen Pangea Piercing in late November, telling MLive that he was “a little nervous, but excited to hurry up and get back to work.” Potts said he intended to install bars on the store’s windows and that he had
taken steps to guarantee his employees’ safety as well as his own, installing security cameras throughout the shop and in the piercing bays. Stenvig said Potts called the police because of the picketers
“I used to live in Ward 2, but I moved out because I was so disgusted by the deer cull”
on Saturday. “He called the police, and they didn’t stop us from doing anything because we had the right to picket on the sidewalk, but he felt the need to have the police, like, escort
towards a large majority Democrats will inf luence the decisions made on behalf of the University and the issues the Board decides to undertake? MS: Rarely do partisan issues show up in discussions by the board. They’re responsible for supervising me and then general oversight of the University, and there are way more similarities than there are differences between the members of different parties … With two new people, that’s a quarter of the group that’s different so there’s a whole new dynamic and people come in with their own background and the issues they care about … but I wouldn’t parse those things into Democrat or Republican. TMD: Why do you think we are one of the only three public universities in Michigan that hold statewide elections for the regents? MS: It’s historic. It was done here in a moment in time as part of the bylaws of the University of Michigan. The other universities in the state that do this are Wayne State and Michigan State University. The other publics all have appointed boards. TMD: Do you foresee that changing in the future? MS: I don’t see the politics that would lead to a change. TMD: In terms of political platforms, candidates like Jordan Acker and Paul Brown were running on affordability, which, as you said, is very nonpartisan, but what about issues like Richard Spencer last year and free
him and the people who work there out at the end of the day, which is very unsustainable,” Stenvig said. The other protesters outside of City Hall Monday night were members of The Ann Arbor Non-Lethal Deer Management, who held signs urging passing cars to “Stop the Shoot,” a reference to the city’s deer culling efforts. In 2015, following complaints about what residents saw as an outsize deer population that resulted in car accidents and damage to landscaping, City Council voted to establish a deer cull to manage the local deer population. Former Ann Arbor resident Maggie Sadoff said she moved out of the city in part because she was so opposed to the deer cull. “I used to live in Ann Arbor,” Sadoff said. “I used to live in Ward 2, but I moved out because I was so disgusted by the deer cull. Now I live in Scio Township. With guns in the park, blood in the snow,
speech, which are very partisan issues? MS: I don’t think Democrats or Republicans were thrilled with the content of what Richard Spencer would speak about. I don’t think either party would be excited about the specter of potential violence and spouting racist, misogynistic discourse … I think that members of both parties recognize that free speech is essential for a university … We’ve had discussions on the board about whether the campus is sufficiently welcoming to more conservative political points of view or whether they get suppressed … The commitment to free speech is bipartisan. People look at different groups and worry differently but the commitment is that same. TMD: At our last meeting, you discussed the formation of a committee to address the University’s goals for carbon neutrality. Students have expressed a hope that the “proper individuals” will be placed on the committee to ensure success. How are you taking into account the voices of student environmental advocates or supporting faculty when selecting committee members? MS: The goal of making us carbon neutral is very hard … Experts say the same thing, they’re not sure how we’re going to get there. There are lots of ideas and it’s going to take a window of time … It’s going to be complicated. It’s an area that’s so important that there’s so much activism not
I could not stomach it any longer. I wanted no part of it.” The city’s third annual deer cull took place in January and lasted more than three weeks. Hunters were hired to kill up to 250 deer, but ultimately fell short, killing only 115. Ann Arbor resident Sue Nelson said she thought killing deer was wrong, and called the deer cull ineffective. She disagreed with claims the deer cull was a humane way to kill deer that saved them from a slow death due to starvation or disease. “Maybe I would argue there are too many humans,” Nelson said. “We need to live with wildlife and realize that we have come in and taken over their territory and accept the fact that they live here too.” 2019 will be the final year of the approved four-year deer management plan. The city has not yet released specifics for “lethal removal” plans for this upcoming winter.
just by students, but by faculty and staff, citizens of Ann Arbor and the state. Everybody would want to be a part of this commission because everybody wants to help. What I have found is that for a group to be effective it can’t be too large. I’m going to try to keep it to a reasonable size that allows it to be high functioning and schedule frequent meetings … To make up for the fact that we can’t possibly have every constituency represented on the committee or all the expertise we need, we’ll encourage the committee and help it set up other advisory groups who will be turned to for thoughts and advice. TMD: How is the University also looking into other facets of anthropogenic climate change (wildfires, food shortages, coral reef depletion, etc.)? MS: There are faculty interested in a large number of aspects of global climate change and sustainability. For instance, one of the initiatives funded through the Biosciences Initiative is global change biology … fascinating research but not directly related to our carbon neutrality process. This commission will be focused on advising the campuses on how to become carbon neutral in as rapid a time frame as we can handle economically and in a way that others can replicate so we make more of a contribution than just the campus. TMD: On the topic of committees, a separate panel created to examine “obligations to students as instructors with
outlined in CSG’s resolution. Senate Assembly Chair Neil Marsh wrote a response to CSG’s request on behalf of SACUA, noting the need for the University as a whole to address issues of climate change and to work toward amending the problems at hand as soon as possible. “SACUA joins with the broader University community in recognizing the existential threat posed by climate change and global warming,” Marsh wrote. “SACUA, therefore, supports the goals of the resolution recently passed by Central Student Government.” The meeting continued as the assembly welcomed Schlissel and asked him about the most pressing issues facing University administration is facing as the Board of Regents will be meeting this Thursday. According to Schlissel, the most important issue that will be discussed at the meeting is sexual misconduct and the efforts to improve the handling of such reports on campus. “We’re discussing our work around sexual misconduct and finding ways to improve reporting and make it easier to increase support for people who report,” Schlissel said. “The provost has set up a committee to look at various types of faculty-student relationships, and we’ll discuss the emerging advice and direction to go on that.” Schlissel also noted the recent changes in the Board of Regents which two new members, Jordan Acker and Paul Brown, who will be joining in January. Though they are qualified, Schlissel told the assembly, there is an onboarding process that they will participate in as their terms begin. “I think I’ve spoken to both (Acker and Brown) and they both recognize their full enthusiasm and ideas, but they recognize they have to learn a lot more before they can really feel comfortable contributing as actively,” Schlissel said. Schlissel closed by mentioning the upcoming retirement of Jerry May, vice president of Development, and noting his efforts over nearly eight years to raise $5 billion for the University through the Victors for Michigan campaign.
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regard to letter-writing and all other modes of academic support” was announced in October, reportedly containing mostly senior members of the University community and no representation from the humanities fields. Some faculty members have expressed concern regarding this lack of diversity in the panel. How does the administration intend to address these concerns? MS: The idea is to appoint a committee that’s thoughtful, high-integrity, (with) high expertise on it, but empower them to reach out broadly across the campus where lots of people are concerned about the question that’s been called … The panel’s in charge of collecting thoughts from a diverse array of people as possible and then gathering those thoughts and presenting to the provost some recommendations and an analysis. The panel won’t make decisions. They’ll capture opinions, analyze them and present some recommendations, but then it’s really up to the provost and the deans and, to an extent, myself to decide how to move forward with these recommendations. TMD: Some faculty members we’ve talked to said they think it would be helpful if lecturers and younger faculty are included on the panel because they’re often asked for letters of recommendation. MS: Although (the esteemed professors) are very senior now, they weren’t senior for their
whole lives and they’ve taught over decades in many different capacities so they do bring a lot of different types of expertise. But the criticisms are fair. TMD: Earlier this month, Mohamed Soumah, a University custodian, took refuge in an Ann Arbor church to avoid being deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Due to a genetic kidney disease and a lack of adequate treatment in his home country of Guinea, Soumah has said: “If I get deported, I will die.” Is Soumah still an employee at the University? MS: We don’t discuss information about employees with the media, with anybody in general and particularly if there are issues around status, oh my goodness, we just wouldn’t do that. TMD: How does the University work to assist employees like Soumah who are at the risk of being deported? MS: It’s similar to the situation with undocumented students. We obey the law, we don’t do law enforcement work on behalf of outside agencies, but when making legal requests for information that we’re obligated to provide, we provide it, but it has to be something that we’re legally obligated to provide. We want to be supportive of our employees, and we have to be in compliance with the law.
Opinion
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T
Not pro-life, just anti-abortion
he Ohio House of Representatives recently passed a piece of legislation about abortion that has been dubbed a “heartbeat bill” by a whopping 60 votes for and 35 votes against. The bill would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected with absolutely no exceptions. To describe this bill as “hardline” would be to woefully understate things. Abortions needed due to rape and incest would not be allowed outside of this time frame. Does that seem right to you? While a fetal human heart may start beating as soon as four weeks, it usually cannot be detected by existing medical technology before six weeks. Assuming national trends more or less apply to Ohio, this would effectively criminalize 65.4 percent of all abortions. If passed by the Ohio Senate, the bill would also shift the legal status of fetuses from “unborn human” to a person with full legal protections under Ohio law. In other words, the contents of a pregnant woman’s reproductive system would be deemed a life equal to yours or mine. The ramifications of such a change are nothing short of depraved. This provision means that women who seek out and receive successful abortions after the allowed period would be subject to first-degree murder charges. Really. I’m not making this up. What makes this provision especially sinister is that Ohio is a state in which the barbaric and unconstitutional death penalty is still legal. In practice, a woman who receives an abortion at six weeks because she’s carrying her rapist’s child could be subject to murder under state law. And while crazy laws with no chance of passing get proposed in state legislatures all the time, this “heartbeat bill” certainly does not fall into this category. For starters, the Ohio Senate — where the bill is now headed — is completely dominated by anti-abortion Republicans. Furthermore, Ohio governor-elect Mike DeWine, one of President Donald Trump’s lackeys, has promised to sign the bill should it be brought to his desk. It is far more likely than not that this bill becomes law.
As for abortion providers, doctors that administer an abortion post-fetal heartbeat would be guilty of a fifthdegree felony, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine. There have been some questions surrounding the constitutionality of this bill. Does it conflict with Roe v. Wade’s set legal precedent? Answers may vary, but make no mistake: The Republican majority in the Supreme Court will not strike down or oppose this bill should it become codified law. Those pushing for this bill to pass call themselves “prolifers.” This is wrongheaded. If they were really pro-life, they would be pooling their time and resources into striking down the death penalty not just in Ohio, but on the federal level. How can you be “pro-life” and pro-death penalty? Those who subscribe to this twisted way of thinking may claim that they are opposed to the taking of innocent life and that certain criminals do not deserve to live. This may seem reasonable on its surface, but, upon further investigation, this argument proves to be a fallacious one. For starters, studies reviewing exonerations and post-mortem pardons have found that at least 4 percent of death row inmates are innocent. So long as our justice system is operated by fallible people, error in convictions will exist. Should we do what we can to reduce judicial error? Of course. However, as long as our system of law and order is imperfect, drastic and irreversible, capital punishment is simply unjustifiable. The second part of the aforementioned argument is based on an incorrect premise. Life is a constitutionally enshrined right, not a privilege. Therefore, one does not have to “deserve” life, as it is an inalienable right. To ignore this is to rip out the foundation of our entire code of laws. This would be unwise at best, and wretched and rogue at worst. Self-avowed Republican “pro-life” advocates also tend to support endless war which, of course, leads to the brutalization
EMILY WOLFE | CONTACT EMILY AT ELWOLFE@UMICH.EDU
and destruction of the lives of so many. They also fall in line with a party that has waged a seemingly never-ending crusade against America’s already embarrassingly bounded social safety net. In other words, they may want you to be born, but are not too concerned with what happens afterwards. It is precisely this that so limits the appeal of the “prolife” movement. While half of Americans identify with the “prolife” stance in regards to abortion, so many of them simply cannot sign on to what this movement has become. The wildly hardline approach to the issue exhibited by this “heartbeat bill” is not only alienating, it’s evil. The frothing-at-the-mouth bloodlust for women who get abortions, as exhibited in this piece of legislation, is even causing people who find abortion to be largely immoral to see the “pro-life” movement as adversaries. Pro-choice advocates often label those on the other side of the issue as anti-women. While this is certainly not the case for all, it is not wholly unjustified either. This bill proves that. The sweeping language of the bill makes it unclear whether or not women who miscarry would be legally allowed to get surgical procedures to prevent infections and other potential complications. The fact of the matter is that the movement is not “pro-life,” it’s just anti-abortion. I feel comfortable calling myself prolife, because I am consistent. 45,000 Americans die every year for lack of ability to afford healthcare — I’m against that. Our country, shamefully, has been at war for 225 years out of its 242-year existence — I’m against that. What I am trying to say is that the pro-life worldview should be just that: a worldview. “Pro-life” should be a praise only afforded to those who exhibit that stance across the board. Being pro-life, truly pro-life, is the only way forward for a nation that aspires to justice and morality.
Elias Khoury can be reached at ekhoury@umich.edu.
I
To the boys who tell us they live in fear
t’s the worst when it’s is a witch hunt. You equate a our friends. Because we stained reputation, one that often couldn’t possibly have seen doesn’t even get them barred from a job (take the it coming, otherwise he Supreme Court for wouldn’t be a friend. example), to lives But then he tells us that being ruined. You the #MeToo movement think some of the is a witch hunt. He tells sensational media us that women have too stories applies to much power. He tells us every man who has that he lives in fear. been accused in this So to those boys who #MeToo era being think they have the right crucified and sent to tell us that they live in DANA to rot in jail. And fear of being accused and having their lives ruined, PIERANGELI you conveniently you are wrong. You don’t even forget how much sexual assault ruins the woman’s life. Not only know what fear is. Do you know why you’re is she assaulted, but when she afraid? Because this is the first has the courage to come forward, time anyone has told you your she is tormented, ridiculed and actions are wrong. You have just threatened. By people like you. seen all these mighty men, many You are so self-important that you, of whom you probably looked up for some reason, think that women to, fall to their knees. And you will drag themselves down just to recognize some of your behaviors take you with them. Ask yourself in those men, behaviors that have why someone would do that. And never been fully recognized as don’t tell us that it’s because there harmful, at least not by men, and are bad people in the world. We by extension, general society. already know that. They walk And instead of thinking, “I never behind us at night, they come up to realized this before, but maybe us in clubs, they sit at our breakfast my actions are harmful. I should tables. We look them in the eyes change that,” you wonder, “Am every day. I next?” And then you lash out. You bury these insecurities and blame it on the system, relying on a society that has put you on a pedestal since the beginning of time to back you up. You do not feel fear, you feel guilt. You just don’t realize it. So to dissuade this buried guilt, you change the topic. “It’s just an issue of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and cold hard evidence, gender has nothing to do with it!” You think that by What you could do instead is framing this argument in terms of the justice system you can get understand that you will never away with saying sexist things understand. You will never because they don’t sound sexist. understand what it is like to be a You cover up your sexism with woman and to constantly live in claims of justice — justice for the fear. You were not taught to fear man wrongfully accused, but not from the moment you were old for the women who have been enough to walk. You will never silenced. You give yourself the understand the courage it takes privilege of taking gender out of to stand up for yourself when the equation, a privilege that only you have been hurt, even when you are granted. But sexism is a everyone around you is telling you constant companion of rape cases. to stop and calling you a liar. But You cannot separate the two, and that’s OK. We don’t expect you to trying to ignore this inherent understand. We just expect you to support those who do. You have truth is, in itself, sexist. When that doesn’t work, you seen this massive shift in a society play the victim card, though you that has previously protected lack the deck from which it came. you from consequences, and that You cry that men are the real change, like any other, is scary. victims; that their lives can be We are, as a country, in a period ruined by these women; that any of growth and change. And that man can be wrongfully accused; change comes with doubt. But that the #MeToo movement there are other ways to handle this
You don’t even know what fear is.
change. Instead of telling us they live in fear, some boys tell us that now are more careful about what they do. They tell us they try to lend their support to women and put them in the spotlight where they can finally be heard. But others equate this sudden realization that their actions have consequences to living in fear, which is outright disrespectful. You cannot equate your fear of being accused to the fear of being raped. Because at the end of the day, you can change your actions to be less harmful and less likely to draw retribution. We cannot change our gender. I live in fear of walking at night. I walked home from a club meeting that got out across town at 12:30 a.m., and I was terrified. I saw a group of men outside a store and I immediately crossed the street, my heart pounding, my palms sweating. My parents found out, and both of them yelled at me. And you told me that I can prevent walking home alone. Like it’s my fault and my job to change my behaviors. We must assume the worst could happen and fix ourselves, rather than the problem itself. You tell us we must assume the worst, but also criticize me for doing the same in a trial setting. You tell us to assume the worst of women, but give men the benefit of the doubt. I live in fear of being alone with a boy. Even boys that I am friends with. Because I was taught that I could not trust any boys with myself. And you tried to invalidate my fear by telling me that you, too, live in fear of being alone with a girl, because she could accuse you of rape when you’ve done nothing wrong. Like that’s just as bad and just as common as being raped. I live in fear, and I have never been harmed. I don’t even know what it’s like to actually go through this. But I have heard enough stories; I have talked to enough friends; I have been told enough times that I know the fear. I live in fear that I will write this article again. I’ve written it before. My fingers are tired of typing. My head is tired of pounding. My heart is tired of aching. I am tired of living in fear. You live in fear? You don’t even know what fear is.
Dana Pierangeli can be reached at dmpier@umich.edu.
DAVID HAYSE | COLUMN
J
Passion and misinformation
ames Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers, “Pure democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” He and the other Founding Fathers extensively studied historical governments, specifically of ancient Rome and Greece. They learned from these case studies to not only distrust concentration of power at the top, but to fear common people acting unwittingly against the public good in fits of passion or shortsightedness. This is an important lesson that was relevant in their time, but remains equally applicable today. This past week in a class of mine, my professor used California’s Proposition 13 from 1978 as an example to illustrate the importance of good fiscal policy. This proposition passed with 65 percent of the popular vote and dramatically reshaped tax policy in California. The intended purposes were to ease the tax burden in California and to protect homeownership in the state. The legislation reduced property taxes to levels from 19751976, capped the amount they could increase from year-to-year and established a requirement for a two-thirds majority vote in Congress to increase taxes. In this lecture, we learned that the proposition immediately cut $6 billion from local government revenue and gave taxpayers 57 percent tax relief. Unfortunately, school and highway spending is tied to the usually stable property tax revenue source,
and soon California’s class sizes skyrocketed, while highway spending plummeted. In order to correct this hasty policy, California increased sales and income taxes so much that it is now the most heavily taxed state in the country, but the issue of property taxes remains the same. What we can see from this one example is that the hasty and illinformed actions of the majority of Californians destabilized and mutated the state’s revenue sources, gutted local governments, put more control in the hands of the state over locals and required a patchwork solution to the problem they caused, all without accomplishing their original goal of lowering taxes in the long run. This is obviously just one example, but speaks to the fears of the Founding Fathers. The U.S. Constitution is a complex document that sought to balance power between every party involved. This includes but is not limited to conflicts between the executive, legislative and judicial branches; the state and federal governments; and government and the people. Alexander Hamilton once said “The body of people…do not possess the discernment and stability necessary for systematic government. To deny that they are frequently led into the grossest errors by misinformation and passion, would be a flattery which their own good sense must despise.” What I believe he is saying here is that the citizenry of this country is smart enough to know that we are not smart enough to govern. His concern was certainly well-placed, but today many pick and choose when to apply it. Many so passionately espoused this concern of
inexperience when President Donald Trump announced his candidacy for presidency, yet these past midterm elections incited many different emotions. This past year has seen a dramatic increase in the popularity of citizen-drawn districts in states, with some states passing legislation or approving propositions to establish these citizen-commissions, taking away the power of elected representatives to draw districts in favor of normal citizens. This Jekyll and Hyde personality of America regarding who should be trusted with power is something to be monitored and concerned about. What is scariest about this is that people do not even recognize inconsistencies in their own logic. They act with short-term interest in mind, clouded by their passions, at the cost of long-term goals. This past election, most of the failed measures would have increased taxes, far higher than the usual 50 percent rate over the last 15 years. I am not arguing that Trump is unqualified, that citizen commissions are necessarily bad and certainly not that higher taxes are a good thing. What I do believe is that the common people will, when they are allowed, mortgage the future in favor of short-term interests. This debate over instant versus delayed gratification has been studied psychologically since Walter Mischel’s marshmallow test, in which kids were given the option between one marshmallow now or two later.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com David Hayse can be reached at dhayse@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 — 5
FILM SERIES
Irreconcilable differences: ‘A Star is Born’ divides Irreconcilable Differences is a format where we talk about movies that we just can’t decide on. Is it good? Is it bad? What are its merits as a work of cinema? Irreconcilable Differences is meant to be read with some knowledge of the film in question and a strong set of opinions. I’m not quite sure how one could possibly put a sour spin on the illustrious and stunning masterpiece that is “A Star is Born.” Truly, though, it would be a flat-out lie to pretend that “Shallow” and its hauntingly-beautiful lyrics are not permanently playing on a loop in our heads ever since the big screen went dark. With breathtaking performances from Bradley Cooper (“War Dogs”) and Lady Gaga (“American Horror Story: Hotel”), a spinechillingly-killer soundtrack and a tone of authenticity that prevails throughout, “A Star is Born” is an electric knockout (and it better win a damn Oscar). The film’s portrayal of what appears to be such a real romance speaks volumes to the technology-saturated generations of today. Jack’s question of whether Ally is “happy in this modern world,” or “need(s) more” ripples through the minds of millennial and Gen Z viewers alike. We ponder Jack’s throaty lyrics, wondering if perhaps, in today’s social-media and techoverdosed world, we do need more than Tinder “dates” and raunchy, late night “u-ups.” The film perfectly resonates with an audience that feels nostalgic for a time they never knew, a time when romance was concrete, raw, built on genuine connection and, well, not dead. Let’s rewind to Jack and Ally’s written-in-the-stars meetcute at the drag bar. Jack’s first encounter with Ally is one where she doesn’t know he is watching. She is in her zone. Performing at her local bar, Ally radiates a relaxed, yet sexy sophistication and intensity that Jack is enticed by almost immediately. Right from the start, Jack is introduced to the real Ally. This first meeting is unsullied by superficial impressions from profile pictures or bio captions, and instead, Jack and Ally are introduced to one another in
their natural states, Jack slowtalking and buzzed off more than a few drinks and Ally performing an enchanting rendition of “La Vie en Rose.” Cooper’s superb directing weaves this same vibe of realness throughout the remainder of the film, hooking us into a love so outstanding and wondrous, we swear it is from another time. Following the evolution of Jack and Ally’s relationship from their initial run-in at the bar to their ridiculously charming gas station non-date to their cross-country road-tripping adventures and finally, to their married life, our fascination with their otherworldly chemistry and music continues to grow, ultimately reaching its peak with Jack’s gut-wrenching death. As our tears, or rather, our sobs, echo through the theater walls, we can’t help but glorify Cooper’s directing chops and say a prayer of thanks for the gift that is Lady Gaga’s vocal chords. By the end of this film, a realization that we could never have known hours before sets in: We may never be ready for another movieromance because this one was just that good. Like Ally, we find ourselves believing that we too may “never love again.” And once “A Star is Born” enters on-demand streaming, we may never have to. — Samantha Nelson, Daily Arts Writer *** Hesitant after the impression the trailer of Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born” had left, I asked a male friend: Does the film imply a woman needs a man to succeed? He paused briefly, before answering, “no.” Hesitant after realizing I had asked a male friend a question about gender relations, I asked a female friend the same question. She paused slightly longer, but also answered, “no.”
Little did I know that the question I should have been asking all along went something more like, “Does the film imply that for a female star to be born, a male star has to die?” Given that each of the four iterations of “A Star is Born” stay loyal to this detail, apparently the answer is, “yes.” I cannot withhold Lady Gaga’s due praise for her portrayal of Ally. With a commanding performance, she manages to seize control of every scene — perhaps even ones she wasn’t supposed to dominate. That paired with her and Cooper’s chemistry makes for an unconventionally balanced love story in terms of how it treats each respective lover as independent though their stories may intertwine. But “A Star is Born” has to be held to more than its acting performances. It’s yet another instance of Hollywood’s raging reboot fever, so it is also about the stories we consider worth retelling, as well as how we go about retelling them. Every “Star” has been about stars, of course. The nearcentury of remakes would suggest the story continues to allow insight into the entertainment industry. However, the latest iteration hardly ever averts its eyes from the leads, so the film lacks the contextualization that could help not only justify the remake but also help it say something new. Instead, the main strategy Cooper’s version employs to modernize the story are minute reversals of gender-based injustices. For example, Cooper’s character Jack expresses a fetishistic appreciation for Gaga’s character Ally’s nose after she reveals it barred her from success in the industry. In another scene, Ally throws a punch at an overbearing fan in defense of Jack. But the film remains loyal to
BOOK REVIEW
Daily Arts Writer
“I Might Regret This” is the kind of book that doesn’t come along very often. Freshly heartbroken from her first love, Abbi Jacobson — of “Broad City” fame — sets out to drive from New York to Los Angeles, hoping the change of pace and scenery would both distract her and give her insight. The
“I Might Regret This” Abbi Jacobson Grand Central Publishing Oct. 30, 2018 book she wrote about this experience isn’t literary in any traditional sense; it’s not really about language or plot. Instead, it’s messy and rambling. It feels unedited in the best way. “I Might Regret This” takes a few chapters to settle into. Jacobson throws convention out the window, and it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the breakneck pace of her mind. At one point, for example, Jacobson recalls filming “6 Balloons” and being unable to hit breakaway glass with a set of keys, and while she has explaining this she’s in a field in Southern Utah in the middle of the night, and somehow the whole time she’s been joking about a wooden buffalo keychain and Hot
*** This fourth edition of the well-trodden, self-destructive
musician story leads off with a powerful 45 minutes. Held up by a great one-two punch performance form Bradley Cooper as the vodka-guzzling, fallen-star Jackson Maine, and Lady Gaga as the industry newcomer Ally, the film’s first act is an affecting road movie about two characters who act as each other’s moments of salvation. The relationship is inviting, though fraught, and has just enough sour to it to breathe the mustard-gas breath of what’s to come. “A Star is Born” first finds its strength in the two characters it presents, and only begins to lose its way when it forgets that. As soon as Gaga’s Ally signs a record deal, as soon as she begins her own musical journey, the plot then somewhat split between the characters, the film’s texture begins to slip away. Quickly, “A Star is Born” becomes a movie about selfdestructive tropes instead of a movie about the two characters who had grabbed our attention so far. The last hour or so focuses, then, on how the two drift apart, how the rifts of career and pride tear rifts in their household. It would be
wrong to say that the film isn’t allowed to be sad, instead my criticism would be that the film doesn’t seem interested in being anything else. Sometimes the visceral reaction you get from a movie like “A Star is Born” is conflated with abject quality in the work of art. The film is difficult and sad through and through, but I’d closer classify it as a work in grief-porn than as a terrific piece of cinema. The dissociation of the characters in “A Star is Born” is interesting, as it shows how a movie can lose itself when it puts its themes in front of the characters that are supposed to carry them. The second and third acts of “A Star is Born” could have been out of any movie about a troubled, alcohol-abusing musician in a relationship — and that’s not a good thing. It’s understandable that the film wanted to see itself as two halves — building the relationship up, and then tearing it back down — but in order for it to do that properly, in order to turn those two halves into a whole, it has to feel like it’s the same movie the entire time. — Stephen Satarino, Daily Arts Writer
MGM
DAILY HEALTH & WELLNESS COLUMN
‘I Might Regret This’ an exciting, original memoir MIRIAM FRANCISCO
other formulae, many of which yield disconcerting biproducts. From 1937 to the present day, every time the female star is born, the male star dies. Regardless of whether that male star is self-destructive, a female cannot seem to rise without causing her man to fall. Which brings me to my last point (Can I say it? I have to say it): I’m tired of love stories — formulaic ones. Love stories that seek to gratify audiences with hasty marriages rather than questioning our reliance on a flawed institution, that prescribe romance as the ultimate form of intimacy between a man and a woman, that ask us to go gaga over another white, heterosexual, cisgender couple. No matter how many minute reversals accumulate, these larger tropes make 2018’s “A Star is Born” the same old song and story. It might not be worth retelling. — Julianna Morano, Daily Arts Writer
Pockets and her reckless alter ego, Babbi. A few pages earlier, Jacobson lists “A few thoughts on the 1997 film ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding,’” the first of which is: “How was Julia Roberts such a respected and feared food critic by the age of twentyseven? Is this possible?” She contemplates later, “Maybe hotels put out so many different-size towels so you have lots of options to cover up light sources in the middle of the night.” This writing style is both thrilling and frustrating. Much like when viewing “Broad City,” part of the joy of reading “I Might Regret This” is the scramble to follow along with the barrage of jokes and moments of clarity. By the second half of the book, though, Jacobson settles into a more contemplative voice, and it’s the sections at the end of the book that elevate “I Might Regret This” from a playful, frenzied romp across America to a truly exceptional memoir. The turning point comes during a strip mall aura reading in Sedona (of course), when Jacobson breaks down crying. “This part of myself I’d been trying to hide, the thing I avoided communicating to anyone: that I might be right back where I started, unlovable and unable to love,” she writes. “But I gave them five stars on Yelp, because … damn.” On the drive from Sedona to Jerome, Ariz., Jacobson catalogues the best bagels of her life. Like almost everything
in “I Might Regret This,” the list is really about love, in all its iterations and peculiarities, and about the interplay between love and identity — how over and over love makes and remakes us, through its absence as well as its presence. Jacobson writes fondly about The Bagel Factory, where she hung out in high school and which provided “the perfect food for the past version of myself that wore headscarves and operated at peak weed consumption.” Collegeera Hidden Bean Bagels are a conduit for Jacobson’s memories of riding the bus alone from Baltimore to New York City every weekend: “I’d stare out the window listening to music, chomping on a cinnamon raisin bagel with butter I’d grabbed from the cafe for the ride. Soon I would step off the bus on my own, in the most interesting place in the whole world.” Jacobson is tuned into the ways that physical objects, details, smells and tastes shape the bigger things in our lives. Our loves, our insecurities, our heartbreaks, our griefs: She understands that these things are intricately constructed, that their incongruities and moments of humor lend them texture and weight. The ability to understand that sadness and joy and ridiculousness are necessarily intertwined: This is what has always made Jacobson’s comedy so tenderly funny. Like “Broad City,” “I Might Regret This” is in a league of its own.
Big intellectual Over Thanksgiving break I watched “Sorry to Bother You,” Boots Riley’s absurdist, amazing directorial debut. After the movie was over, I scoured the internet for takes — my jaw still dropped — and landed on A.O. Scott’s New York Times writeup. In the review the film critic claims “If Mike Judge’s ‘Office Space’ and Robert Downey Sr.’s ‘Putney Swope’ hooked up after a night of bingeing on hallucinogens, Marxist theory and the novels of Paul Beatty and Colson Whitehead, the offspring might look something like this.” That’s a loaded critique, but upon reading it I had a gratifying realization: I’ve read Paul Beatty and Colson Whitehead. That’s right; I, Mr. Scott, understand your reference, for I am an English major, which instills in me the ability to find thematic threads between Beatty’s “The Sellout” and Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad” and, most crucially, formulate an intertextual framework to then contextualize “Sorry to Bother You.” As we enter the holiday season, I should recognize that grappling with everything I’ve read in the course of my studies as an English Language & Literature major at the University — analyzing, discussing, writing about it — is the gift that keeps on giving, a yearly routine of Big Intellectual Shit. There comes a time in your academic career — for me it took two full years — when you need to narrow your educational concentration and make a decision on your major. This is a choice that definitely won’t pigeonhole you into an industry for at least the first three to five years of your professional
life, structurally limiting your personal growth for a formative portion of your young adult experience. In any case, opting to study English signals a distinct turn at an otherwise universal fork in the road, and its consequences are one millionfold. For one, you never need to lug a calculator around, a major relief because the emotional baggage of lugging
JOEY SCHUMAN around one of those beautiful, burdensome TI-Nspires can surpass the real breakdown you experience when you see actual numbers on a Scantron exam. Instead your precious cargo comes in the form of Norton Anthologies, which make you look sophisticated enough and also justify a formidable amount of physical working space at library tables. Perhaps most importantly, majoring in English gives you more credence to make sweeping, sappy claims that studying English makes you a better person, which is exactly what I’m doing right now. You see, I operate at a wavelength far more complex than that which is given meaning by programming languages like Python, C++, Java, because software engineers can’t possibly comprehend what it’s
like to establish characters that flip binaries, or use language that subverts image, or splice narratives with split temporalities existing on the same timeline. I think. Elevated thought, I’m aware. Thanks to such a criticallythinking background, I can defuse the grandparents at Thanksgiving who ask about postgrad plans for the fourth time in one conversation despite insistence that no, Grandma, I don’t think I’d have much common discussion material with your book club friend who specializes in private equity, because I don’t know what private equity means, but I can tell you about how Peter Barry’s notions of the post-structuralist inform my takeaway on your own standards of post-professional life. I’ll have you know, Grandma, that over the years I’ve listened to a handful of professors say things that very much changed the way I think about learning itself. When you reinvent your own foundations, you work from the ground up to create a new outlook altogether, and the results are (initially uncomfortable) rewarding gravy. We don’t know much about anything at this stage of existence, so taking unfamiliar risks only makes sense. Besides, I get to walk out of class feeling smarter, better equipped for a range of dialogues, and eager to, um, do my homework most of the time. Not to mention, of course, the social upside: When all else fails conversationally, you always have the patented English major, “yeah, it’s really cool, don’t know what I’m going to do with it once I graduate though (haha).” A real laughing matter.
Arts
6 — Tuesday, December 4, 2018
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Surely the Second Coming of ‘Yeezus’ is approaching ROBERT MANSUETTI Daily Arts Writer
November has come and gone, and Yandhi left with it. Despite enthusiastic words from Kim Kardashian, it was no surprise that Kanye West’s supposed ninth studio album did not appear on streaming services this Black Friday — a fact his legions had earlier been forced to come to terms with after Mr. West took to Twitter to go back on his wife’s promise. All signs point to Yandhi being a spiritual sequel of sorts to Kanye’s 2013 output, Yeezus, (the similar title and cover art are the biggest clues) but taking into account how much Kanye’s career trajectory has changed in the half decade since the release of Yeezus, this act of continuation all seems a farce. If there’s one thing Kanye has done well, it’s constantly evolving and pushing boundaries as an artist while still keeping everything precisely Kanye. Prior to this year’s ye, each of his albums ushered in a distinct era for the man: in his music, his fashion, his character. The best part of this was that Kanye always seemed to know when to pivot, when rockstar Kanye or soulful Kanye had overstayed their welcome, and to break down, rebuild and rebrand. I would argue that no Kanye album ever needs a sequel. (Yes, I know The College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation form a trilogy of sorts, but while thematically and slightly musically similar, they all have their own defining sound and Kanye himself was a much different person in 2004 than he was in 2007). And therein lies the core frustration with Yandhi. Any attempt to recreate the minimalist panache of Yeezus will result in failure. Yeezus is the culmination of every Kanye West we’ve ever known and every album he has ever offered, combined and distilled to the barest form. It is Kanye at his most complete. Setting the contemporary politics of Kanye aside for the slightest moment, what little he has revealed about Yandhi spells unfulfillment. Starting with the two aforementioned chains which bind it to Yeezus, the name and the cover, one can infer the only reason for the similarity was to drive hype, in the same way that the first release date we got (“9 29 18”) turned out to be a ploy to get the Kanye faithful to tune into a “Saturday Night Live” season premiere the same day, trading high attention and ratings for a surreal performance of “I Love It” with Lil Pump. But, in order to dive into Yandhi, one first has to understand Yeezus and what it represents, and what happened to Kanye in the meantime. Yeezus’s cover, or lack thereof, is the perfect primer to the musical equivalent of a dental drill which lies within. As noted in a phenomenal Daily article regarding the album’s relationship with architecture and an interview Kanye did with The New York Times, Yeezus was in part recorded in an acoustically terrible Paris apartment, forcing the songs “to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it’s not going to work in that space.” The cover is perhaps the simplest you can be, and speaking about the sparse promotion of the album Kanye echoes the same sentiment: “Shit, we ain’t even got no cover. We just made some real music.” Regardless of the critical art theory lens through which the cover can be viewed, it’s clear that sound is Yeezus’s main, and perhaps only, focus. Which is almost ironic considering it came during the peak of Kanye’s arrogance: The days of VMAinterrupting Kanye, whom Barack Obama even freely called a jackass, had somehow been eclipsed, replaced with a man who appeared to have seen it all, teetering between insanity and earnestness as he drilled
hours of apocalyptic gospel and sublime self-affirmation to unready radio hosts. So, when you hear this variant of Kanye is releasing an album comparing himself to a savior revered by billions of people right from the title, you can’t help but roll your eyes, all while buckling up for the absolute. And Yeezus immediately thrusts you into a car crash, as “On Sight” is every part abrasive and boundary-pushing while still retaining a certain charm, everything a Kanye song should be. The industrial soundscape of this introduction is interrupted halfway by something that defined early Kanye (what is “soul,” Alex?) when the synthesizers give way to a choir chanting “He’ll give us what we need / it may not be what we want.” This austere contrast of “On Sight” is a microcosm of everything Yeezus is: the intersection between harsh noise and soothing melodies, Kanye honing his craft of dredging up the most obscure yet pertinent samples and music as the starkest representation of the self. There is no defining sound of Yeezus other than abstract sound itself. The sirens and distortion of “Send It Up” make it a more approachable “On Sight;” “Black Skinhead” would fit right in with Graduation and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’s stadium rap anthems, save the zealous manifesto against the establishment and its racism; and “Guilt Trip” and its Kid Cudi croons feel an extension of the love and loss present on 808s & Heartbreak. Each song starts with a single sound, be it the soft press of a piano key or a grisly drone, and then takes that sound and smashes it open, layering the space inside with Kanye’s vocals and strippeddown drum patterns. And while Yeezus definitely pulls from the prior discography, it is as much a synthesis as it is a reconstruction. The primary instrument of the album is the voice, whether that of Kanye, a collaborating artist or a sample. The artist’s full vocal range is on display, from his booming, grumbling bars on “I Am A God” to the auto-tuned trill found late in “Blood On The Leaves.” It is underpinned by a wealth of other singers and rappers — Chief Keef, Frank Ocean and Bon Iver, to name a few. The prolific samples themselves take on a life of their own, as Kanye and his legendary production team revive everything from Nina Simone’s rendition of “Strange Fruit” to a Hungarian rock power ballad. The kicker? The only official featured artist is God himself. Kanye is at the absolute forefront, asserting himself as the divinely untouchable and smashing open the musical ore to reveal 10 disparate crystals and their translucent mystery. Yeezus is at the same time everything and nothing, an amalgamation and a destruction. I’ve talked about the progression of Kanye in a way that could make him seem like some “Split”-esque host for multiple personalities, whereas in reality all of these different Kanyes are just manifestations of some facet of his personality blown up to larger-than-life proportions. Work with me here, but consider Kanye West as a cow: Each cut of meat represents the Kanye associated with a specific album. They all vary in flavor and tenderness, but at their core they are all the same, all some sort of beef. Yeezus is the meat grinder into which everything was shoved in an attempt to make the perfect blend, employing each cut’s idiosyncratic taste and cutting out the fat. But what do you do with the sonic sausage that pops out of the grinder? In The Life of Pablo’s case, you throw it in the trash. Yeezus broke Kanye’s music down and fashioned together something more complete with the resultant shards, but Pablo shattered everything completely. It’s hard to expand on perfect, so Kanye did what any perfectionist
would do. He started anew on the quest to reach perfection, again. And with this blank slate, Kanye continued to find ways to innovate, literally going beyond the boundaries of an album. While it’s completely valid to dismiss The Life of Pablo as messy and unfinished (“Ima fix wolves”), the constant updates and abstract, jagged nature of it make sense when you view it as, in Kanye’s words, “a living breathing changing creative expression.” While the initial reception to The Life of Pablo was mixed for a Kanye album, after people started to spend more time and live in conjunction with music, Kanye’s status as a genius auteur was not challenged. However, and it was hard to see then, chinks in the armor were beginning to expose themselves. This vulnerability can be primarily found in some of the songs on Pablo. The production is excellent, as always, but for an album themed around the interplay between West’s public and private lives and reconciling with oneself, some of the lyrics are downright terrible. Yeezus has a few incendiary lines here and there (“Eatin’ Asian pussy, all I need was sweet and sour sauce” and “get this bitch shaking like Parkinson’s” surely stick with the listener) but they came off as an ironic self-awareness of West’s penchant to provoke. Yet on Pablo you get thought provoking verses like “I bet me and Ray J would be friends / if we ain’t love the same bitch” and, of course, the infamous “Now if I fuck this model / and she just bleached her asshole / and I get bleach on my T-shirt / I’mma feel like an asshole.” On Yeezus, Kanye asserted he’d “rather be a dick than a swallower,” but it resonated because his blunt and brash bravado was the point. He broke meaning down to the nitty-gritty but still conveyed exactly what he was thinking and feeling. He was a little lost with Pablo, and anyone looking for anything profound started to grasp at straws; Kanye being gross and ridiculous was nothing more than Kanye being gross and ridiculous. When The Life of Pablo was released, the president who called Kanye West a jackass was still in office, and things — Kanye, our country — were OK. Nonetheless, it only took a few months for both of them to backslide. Kanye’s appearances on the Saint Pablo Tour became more a space for him to orate increasingly neurotic rants, culminating in a Nov. 17 performance where he stated “If I would have voted, I would have voted for (Donald) Trump” and one two days later where he held the crowd verbally hostage and launched into a tirade against Hillary Clinton, Facebook and Jay-Z, among other things, after only performing three songs. The rest of the tour was cancelled shortly after, citing stress and exhaustion — ironically, the two feelings most of the country was wrought with after election night. The ensuing spiral pulled Kanye down further and further. He was hospitalized for sleep deprivation and dehydration following the cancellation of the tour, and his first public resurfacing was in the lobby of Trump Tower, where West and the president-elect discussed “life.” It soon became clear that Kanye was suffering from severe mental health issues, but this led to the most fervent fans defending him and rephrasing his endorsement as something out of his control, a by-product of the toll stress, depression and paranoia exacted on him. And as Kanye got worse, he made it harder and harder for himself to detach from the controversy. After a year of relative silence, he returned to Twitter in spring of this year, tweeting support of conservative personality Candace Owens. This snowballed into an erratic appearance on TMZ, where he made headlines for saying slavery “sounds like a choice.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com brutality, racial injustice and systematic oppression. Vocally and passionately supporting the president makes everything that Kanye had been saying for decades sound like an empty lie. Kanye West, once Yeezus, to many Lord and Savior, denied us three times, and many more after that. However, on Oct. 30, supposed salvation arrived on the limbs of 140 characters. Ye, his preferred name on Twitter, proclaimed he had “been used to spread messages (he doesn’t believe in)” and he was trading politics for a refocused creative spirit. Hiphop hypebeasts and the general public could finally breathe the collective sigh of relief; Kanye’s long national nightmare was over. Except, the Kanye we got back wasn’t the same one who left us. Pre-2016, I was always one to speak out against Kanye slander, arguing that the man who many saw as just a narcissistic asshole was a complex artist with complex problems, overinflating his ego to try and cope with battles against anxiety and self-image all while pushing the envelope of modern rap and giving us radical genre-bending music. You could make a case for every album of his up to Yeezus as his best. But when push came to shove and the controversies centered less around the person and more their politics, I could no longer let Kanye off the hook. Defending him turned into an uphill battle with an exponential incline, and trying to push a boulder up it would cause unnecessary stress and harm to myself. I let it roll down the hill. I gave up on Kanye West, and you should too. If there’s one thing though, at least he finally gave me an album I can assuredly place as his worst. Every valid criticism about The Life of Pablo and more can be applied to ye: unfocused, sloppy, forgettable. The gross lines are multiplied (“Let me hit it raw like fuck the outcome / ay, none of us would be here without cum” is about the deepest thought he can muster and “I pray your body’s draped more like mine and not like your mommy’s” is a mindboggling thing to say about your newborn daughter), the beats are stagnant and uninspired and there’s a puzzlingly high amount of Ty Dolla $ign and PARTYNEXTDOOR on the record. On songs like “I Thought About Killing You” West maunders about faux-highbrow, superficial philosophy, coming off as, for lack of a better word, a cringe-inducing edgelord and rapping version of the “Rick and Morty” high IQ copypasta. For years, fans defiantly believed Kanye knew what he was doing, that behind his evershifting, inflammatory persona was someone who could see all, do all, pull all the strings. Yet when their favorite artist started
The summer gave us more doses of “dragon energy,” and at “SNL”’s season premiere in Sept. he quickly swapped his Perrier bottle cosplay for that red Make America Great Again hat to throw a rambling Pro-Trump speech at an uncomfortable cast and audience, inciting criticism from Kenan Thompson and even Lana Del Rey. The situation was dire for Kanye stans, with tons jumping ship and even more expressing some form of betrayal. Some still held on that this did not spell the end for Kanye West and he would persevere, acknowledge his faults and grow from them. Then came what they thought was the nail in the coffin, his absolutely surreal conversation with President Trump in the Oval Office, which covered topics like the “iPlane 1” and the superhero armor Kanye felt the MAGA hat bestowed upon him. It seemed the only people left supporting him where the same ones who levelled racist comments against him for his nationally televised remark that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” Supporting Donald Trump doesn’t automatically make you a bad person. Falling prey to his treacherous rhetoric and being pulled into the inescapable hurricane of which Trump is the eye is when it starts to get ugly, and that’s precisely what Kanye did. Now, if this was a hip-hop artist of similar merit who had openly embraced conservative views for their whole career, this would be a different story, but this is Kanye West we are talking about. Kanye West, the man who rapped “How we stop the Black Panthers? / Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer / You hear that? What Gil Scott was hearin’ / When our heroes or heroines got hooked on heroin / crack raised the murder rate in D.C. and Maryland / we invested in that, it’s like we got Merrill Lynched / and we been hangin’ from the same tree ever since.” The man who gave a giant middle finger to the one percent on Yeezus, telling people like Trump “Fuck you and your Hampton house.” Kanye’s fans looked up to him not only for his musical prowess but for him using his platform to call out those in power when no one else was holding them accountable and give a voice to the voiceless, however loud-mouthed it may be. And now this man makes a complete 180° to support the man who called African countries “shitholes,” who said there was “very fine people on both sides” after white nationalists attacked and even killed counterprotestors in Charlottesville and who preferred the term “son of a bitch” for Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who chose not to stand for an anthem that romanticizes a country doing little to fight against police
Classifieds
to support their least favorite political figure, he was being used. He was in the sunken place. He was now a hostage rather than a creation. In a Noisey article of similar caliber, the writer felt Kanye “made a deal with the devil,” that in return for being able to make Yeezus he had to turn over the keys. Make no mistake though, as every tweet Kanye ever sent, every pro-Trump statement he ever espoused was done willfully. Upholding this narrative of a Kanye possessed can only become more dangerous with time. Still, this all makes me wonder if Kanye knew what he was doing in the first place. Did we all just vastly misinterpret his outbursts, his publicity stunts and his music as incomprehensible for us mere mortals instead of the lucky doings of a fool? Parroting Patrick Bateman’s rhetoric, there is an idea of a Kanye West, but no real Kanye. I hope the one thing you take away from this article is to turn a blind eye to Kanye no longer, especially when, or even if, Yandhi is released. Not even considering his politics, the album just seems like a bad idea. With the title of Yeezus, West embraced his godlike status, enveloped himself in it, but Yandhi sounds like the best the people responsible for the titles of the “Fast & Furious” franchise could come up with if given five minutes to think of a title for a sequel to Yeezus. The cover artwork feels lazy this time around, only adding color, a more intricate jewel case and a rainbow sheen to follow up an album defined by a lack of color and the dynamics of black and white. Now, I could be wrong, and he could return with the undisputed best album of his career, but even still, in no way would it be an act of redemption. The Kanye West we thought we knew and loved for so long is dead, and this bizarro husk of Kanye West we have in 2018 consciously killed him. Premeditated murder. Kanye would be hard-pressed to find success on his second quest for perfection. Yeezus was the summation of a lifetime’s work, and the natural response to such a tight, dense work is release. With The Life of Pablo he did exactly that, but after Kanye rode that horse until it could go no more, for once in his life, he had no idea where to go next. ye was a wrong step in the alt-right direction, and trying to rekindle the flame of something as singular as Yeezus with Yandhi spells the end is “nigh.” Returning to the gospel sample of “On Sight” five years later — “He’ll give us what we need / it may not be what we want” — more doubt is cast on the belief Kanye gave us what we needed with Yeezus. Now, he certainly isn’t giving us what we need, and, as much I hate to say it, he no longer knows what we want.
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Release Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
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ACROSS 1 Fights (for) 5 “Whip It” rock band 9 __-slapper: funny joke 13 On the road 14 Biblical paradise 15 Dr. Hahn on “Grey’s Anatomy” 16 Hesitation from Sylvester? 18 Center of activity 19 Fireplace receptacle 20 Accomplishment by Porky? 22 Former Fox TV series set in Newport Beach 23 Curly cabbage 24 Minor flap 25 Ringing organ, at times 26 Detergent brand 28 ’60s hallucinogen 30 Pierre’s negative 31 Near-failing mark 33 Reach its destination, as a trip 35 Slim candle 37 Affirmative from Tony? 40 Royal crown 42 Slim fish 43 Tech sch. near Albany, N.Y. 46 Win, place or show 47 Seasonal shelf sitter 49 __ moment’s notice 51 Curved shape 53 “Frozen” sister 55 Charged particles 57 One of Crayola’s hundreds 59 Story from Remy? 61 Greek goddess of wisdom 62 “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” musical 63 Water source for Simba? 65 Fainthearted 66 Fairy tale heavy 67 Out of the wind 68 “Frozen” reindeer 69 “That was close!” 70 Scottish monster’s loch
DOWN 1 Obey an eviction notice 2 “He scammed me!” 3 Neon diner sign 4 Food service giant 5 College faculty head 6 End of a professor’s URL 7 Italian scooter 8 Playwright Eugene 9 Emmy winner Steve of “60 Minutes” 10 “Good shot!” 11 Quito’s country 12 Crayola Factory’s Pennsylvania home 15 Trains over the street 17 Running rate 21 Unified whole, in psychology 23 Film title “Citizen” 27 Trappings of royalty 29 One of a calendar septet
32 Incoming flight info 34 “The Chronic” rapper, familiarly 36 Each 38 Rage 39 Red and Yellow 40 Israeli port on the Mediterranean 41 “The hour has arrived” 44 Brewpub draft 45 Unexpected turns of events
46 Special Forces headgear 48 Abide by 50 Plays a part 52 Construction site sights 54 “The Lord of the Rings” actor Sean 56 Horse’s mouthful? 58 “Not again!” 60 Smidgen 61 From the top 64 Portland’s st.
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
‘M’ finally through its early-season gauntlet BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
After winning its first four games of the season, the Michigan women’s basketball team has since dropped three of its last four — including three games against ranked opponents. The Wolverines (5-3), who haven’t had a home game since Nov. 19, will finally play at the Crisler Center after spending the last week and a half on the road. Being on the road so much can certainly have an impact — especially with such a young team — according to Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “Definitely I think these past couple weeks were really difficult, sometimes you forget that,” Barnes Arico said. “Then you add a young team on top of the travel and then they’re like, ‘My goodness coach, it’s exams, and we’re on the road.’ At the circle the other day, they were like, ‘We thought this was going to be the coolest thing, but really we just want to get back to the dorm so we can study for our exams.’ “So I think at Michigan academically, it’s so challenging that they’re just trying to stay afloat right now and try and be the best students they can be while at the same time be the best basketball players they can be.” The Wolverines have had seven players log minutes in every game, four of whom are underclassmen: freshman guard Amy Dilk, freshman forward Naz Hillmon,
sophomore guard Deja Church and sophomore forward Hailey Brown. To say youth is a major part of this team’s identity in the young season would be an understatement. Barnes Arico, though, says she sometimes loses focus of her team’s inexperience and needs to remind herself that not all of her squad’s problems can be fixed right away. “You know sometimes I forget this, but the Marquette coach (Carolyn Kieger) said this to me: ‘It’s amazing how good your team is after you lost the program’s all-time leading scorer (Katelynn Flaherty),’ ” Barnes Arico said. “And then I sometimes look at our team and say ‘Holy cow, we have Nicole Munger and Hallie Thome who are experienced kids and then we have all (these) kids that are trying to figure it out.’ … I sometimes need to have a little bit of patience with that.” Michigan, which has four games remaining before the start of Big Ten play, will have the chance to get back on the winning track as all four of its upcoming opponents currently hold a combined record of just 5-26. This stretch begins Thursday when the Wolverines host LIU Brooklyn. This stretch will be an important moment for the Michigan, as it will be the young players’ final opportunity to prepare themselves before conference play — when balancing youth and playing on the road will be the new normal.
“Definitely I think these past couple weeks were ... difficult.”
Sports
Hughes stars on offense, up-and-down on ‘D’ BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer
Michigan coach Mel Pearson often says Quinn Hughes is worth the price of admission alone. The sophomore defenseman — the No. 7 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft — seems to have an eye-popping play in every game for the No. 14 Michigan hockey team. Whether he’s dangling the puck between a defender’s legs on a breakout or finding a teammate in the perfect spot for a goal, Hughes’ dynamic playmaking is key for the Wolverines. In this weekend’s series against Michigan State, Hughes continued his trend of offensive production. As more of a two-way defenseman than a lockdown blueliner, Hughes is noted for his ability in the offensive zone. In Friday night’s game at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Hughes notched three assists — one on each goal Michigan scored for a seasonhigh tally. It’s his second threeassist game this season and the third time he has scored three points in a night. “It’s hard to prepare (for Hughes) because it’s not that it’s unorthodox, (but) he’s very creative,” said Michigan State coach Danton Cole. “He attacks you at different angles. He puts you on different things. You just have to be aware of him and you try not to get him loose. Quinn’s very good with the puck, and his feet are outstanding, and you throw an elite brain in there. … He’s fun watching play, and he’s hard to keep an eye on.” The Spartans seemed to keep a better eye on Hughes on Saturday night as he tallied just one point. But it was a big one. On the power play in the first period, Hughes sent a pass through all four of Michigan State’s penalty killers and found senior defenseman Nick Boka in
Cecconi hopes postgame talk sends message to his Michigan teammates BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer
When Joseph Cecconi sat down for a press conference after Saturday’s shootout loss to Michigan State, he was clearly disappointed in the weekend’s results. The senior defenseman knew that the No. 15 Michigan hockey team had expected to come away with more than one point in two games against the Spartans, who entered the weekend firmly at the bottom of the Big Ten. “We just talked to the team, it’s unacceptable,” Cecconi said Saturday. “It’s a big rivalry against Michigan State, and you want those six points and you only come out with one. (It’s) not where we wanted to go with that.” The Wolverines have fought for team-wide commitment throughout this season. It was this weekend’s series, however, that may have been the proverbial last straw for Cecconi. According to Michigan coach Mel Pearson, Cecconi doesn’t speak his mind to the team very often, despite being its captain. But after this weekend’s series, he had something to say. “After the game, me and the other captains and then (senior forward) Brendan Warren, we all had a little bit of information, our little piece of mind that we wanted to let the team know,” Cecconi said. “The weekend was unacceptable in all of our minds, and we just wanted to talk and figure some things out. Lay a foundation and things like that, just so we know our expectations going into next weekend.” The expectations, both from Cecconi and from Pearson, are fairly simple. Each member
of the team needs to buy in to Pearson’s system and commit to team defense. Both player and coach believe that once individual buy-in comes, the consistency will follow and Michigan will start to perform at the level it was expected to when the season began. “We have a lot of skilled players,” Cecconi said. “We might need some of them to buy into the system a little bit more. Same with the younger guys, same with pretty much everyone. Everyone needs to get on the same page and once that happens, we’re gonna be a very good team, because we have the skill.” Getting players to buy in to the system has been something Pearson has talked about since the first game of the year. Especially now that the Wolverines are facing some adversity, it seems that is more important than ever. “We still have to get the buyin from everybody,” Pearson said. “I think we’re still — sometimes when things aren’t
“We still have to get the buy-in from everybody.”
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 — 7
going your way, you try to take things into your own hands and not just play within the systems and what not. We have competitors, and they want to win. They have to understand that we just gotta keep playing together and then we’ll be okay.” The Wolverines are now in a similar place to where they were last season at this time. They haven’t won a game since Nov. 16, but each game has been close. One of the losses came in overtime, two came in shootouts and one was in regulation. All were decided by one goal. Last year, they started stringing wins together in January and ended up in the Frozen Four. It was thencaptain Tony Calderone who called the team together at that time and told them that they needed to start winning or they wouldn’t make the NCAA Tournament. This year, Cecconi hopes he’s the one that turns things around. “I think he had the whole team and just told them that winning can become a habit, but so can mediocrity, and we just want to make sure that doesn’t — they just don’t accept that,” Pearson said. “I think that’s what he’s trying to say, and that’s our message to them.”
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Joseph Cecconi gave a postgame talk to his team after they lost in a shootout.
EVAN AARON/Daily
Sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes was an offensive spark against Michigan State but was inconsistent on defense.
the left circle. Boka’s slapshot beat the sprawling goaltender Drew DeRidder, and Michigan took the lead, 1-0. “(Hughes) made an amazing pass,” Boka said. “I was just lucky to be in that far side and just try to get it to the goal, and lucky enough, it went in.” Hughes now leads the Wolverines in points with 19 — two more than sophomore forward Josh Norris. His offensive production ranks ninth in the nation overall and ranks third among defensemen. But on the defensive side of the ice, Hughes’ production hasn’t been as consistent. In Friday’s game, he was on the ice for three of the Spartans’ four goals and he ranks last on the team in plus-minus with a minus-six rating. “It is what it is,” Hughes said Friday. “Obviously, I don’t want to be on the ice for any goals, but
I’ll go watch the tapes and I’ll look at it tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow, I can maybe have the three assists without being on the ice for any goals.” While Hughes only had one assist Saturday, rather than the three he hoped for, his defensive skills were more prominent. Late in the third period, the game was tied at one goal apiece. It seemed that at any moment either team could break the stalemate and win the game. Michigan State forward Tommy Apap was coming down the right side of the ice toward freshman goaltender Strauss Mann with just Hughes in between. Hughes skated in and broke up the play, preventing Apap from having a chance at the game-winning goal. Minutes later in overtime, Hughes again prevented a goal, this time by poke-checking the puck away from forward Patrick Khodorenko.
“It’s hard to prepare, because ... he’s very creative.”
“Hughes had a really solid game,” Pearson said. “He gives you everything he has, plays a lot of minutes and is a game breaker. He’s a difference maker. He’s worth the price of admission. You don’t have to be a hockey genius to walk in the building and see really who the best player is, the player who controls the play.” While Hughes controlled the play Saturday, it came in contrast to his defensive performance Friday. Michigan as a whole was stronger defensively Saturday night, and Hughes’ increased effort may be the key. Pearson has spoken numerous times this season about needing defensive commitment and consistency, and Saturday’s performance may well serve as a confidence boost for an often-maligned defense. The Wolverines held Michigan State to just 18 shots in regulation. And while Hughes has lit up the stat sheet offensively, his defensive commitment has taken longer to come through. But if he finds that consistency, it could be a difference-maker for Michigan.
Sports
8 — Tuesday, December 4, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
With OSU loss in past, Michigan looks forward MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Editor
Growing up, Josh Metellus’smother would tell him not to set his expectations higher than reality. “You’re always going to (get) let down when you do that,” the junior safety explained Monday afternoon, “because you’re never going to reach those goals you really, really want.” The expectations — those goals Michigan really, really wanted — are off the table now. There’s no Big Ten title for the Wolverines, nor an upcoming College Football Playoff appearance. Instead, reality came crashing down 10 days ago in Columbus, and now, players are left picking up the pieces. Perhaps anti-climactically, the season will end in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 29 against No.10 Florida — an opponent the Wolverines will have faced three of the last four years. “We had a lot of big goals — National Championship goals — at the beginning of the year. Obviously those now
are unattainable,” said junior guard Ben Bredeson. “But we’re definitely very motivated to try to win that last game.” Bredeson insisted the mood around the team has stayed positive. Some guys, he says, will sear the pain of the 62-39 loss to Ohio State in their memories, pooling it for motivation in the years to come. Bredeson, on the other hand, watched the game once, picked out what he did well and what he did poorly, then moved along. He found no use in dwelling. “Nobody came here with this gloomy, drowned face,” said redshirt junior tackle Jon Runyan “… We know what happened, we’ve got to move forward from that, pick each other up, and go forward and get this win that everybody wants. That’s the cure for it, another win.” For the most part, attention has shifted past the
demoralizing loss and toward the future. Junior defensive end Rashan Gary has already declared for the NFL Draft and decided he will not play in the bowl game. Ben Bredeson all but said Monday he’d be returning to school next year, though “it’s not official,” he clarified. And wide receivers coach Jim McElwain was announced Monday as the next head coach at Central Michigan. More decisions — most notably from junior linebacker Devin Bush, junior cornerbacks Lavert Hill and David Long, and junior quarterback Shea Patterson — are likely forthcoming. Despite the moving parts, players insist that winning the Peach Bowl is important for this team and for the trajectory of the program. Michigan has won one bowl game in the last seven years.
“We’re definitely very motivated to try to win.”
“It matters. We’re really sick of losing the last game of the year,” Bredeson said. “This team, we’ve had adversity worse than any team I’ve been on since I’ve been here. So if there’s one group that will bounce back and get a big win at the end of the year, I think it’ll be this one.” Prior to Harbaugh’s arrival in 2015, Michigan hadn’t finished with double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons since 2002-2003. With 10 wins, the Wolverines have done so in three of the last four seasons. Against Florida, Michigan will go for 11 wins for the first time since 2011. “We’ve lost to two rivals and everyone tries to make it out like we had a bad year, but we finished 10-2,” Bredeson said. “It’s not the year everybody wanted, but it’s a great year nonetheless, and I think we really just need to cap this off with a great bowl win, and everybody will remember it as a great year.” Others might beg to differ. But, really, in the end it’s all relative to expectations. Just ask Josh Metellus’ mother.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior safety Josh Metellus and the Michigan football team set lofty goals this season but were unable to reach them after losing to Ohio State.
WRESTLING
‘M’ finishes fifth at the Cliff Keen Invitational JACOB KOPNICK Daily Sports Writer
It was as dramatic an ending as anyone could’ve hoped for. The bout neared its final moments and redshirt junior 174-pounder Myles Amine desperately clung to a one-point lead over Missouri’s Daniel Lewis. It was the championship match at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas (CKLV) Invitational — arguably collegiate wrestling’s toughest tournament outside of the NCAA Championships — and Amine wanted the crown. Using a strong approach on top, Lewis controlled Amine for the majority of the third period, close to securing the additional one point of riding time to send the match to overtime. Wanting to end the bout in regulation and seal his place as one of the weight classes’ most feared competitors, Amine took advantage of some awkward positioning to score a two-point reversal right at the match’s close. The clock read zeros, and Amine had once again downed a ranked opponent. Strung along by Amine’s heroics, the Michigan wrestling team (2-0) placed fifth at the tournament despite lackluster outings from a few of the team’s other contributors. For Amine, though, this victory was a long time coming after he placed third in the last two years’ CKLV Invitationals. “It feels really good to be able to bring home one,” Amine said. “Placing third the last two times, it’s kind of a bittersweet taste when you finish winning your last match, but you still feel like you came up short.” Besides Amine, redshirt sophomore Kanen Storr, redshirt junior Logan Massa and sophomore Drew Mattin all had solid outings in Vegas, placing third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Despite entering as the tournament’s top seed and fifthranked wrestler nationally, Massa finished fourth after dropping two close matches. In the semifinal match, Massa fell to the
eventual champion, Nebraska’s Isaiah White — an opponent he defeated at last year’s dual meet. As the two wrestlers went head-to-head, the match ended up being one of the tournament’s closest, with Massa falling 6-2. On two separate occasions, Massa had White dead to rights on two takedown attempts, but due to some awkward positioning, he was unable to secure the points. Despite the losses, getting experience wrestling ranked opponents is crucial for the Wolverines, particularly this early in the season, and there’s no better place to get that experience than at the CKLV Invitational. With ten ranked wrestlers per weight class for a total of 110 wrestlers out of 200 possible, the road to the finals leads through multiple ranked opponents. Win or lose, Michigan used the meet as an opportunity to both demonstrate its dominance and to see what areas need improvement. As a team, Bormet asserts that his team needs to develop in two key areas — mental composure and bottom positioning. “There’s always a lot of mental errors to work on, just composure and wrestling wide open in all three positions, so there’s a certain mental component to it,” Bormet said. “Then from a technical standpoint, I think we need to continue to improve our set-ups on bottom position wrestling a little as a team.” Seemingly having the least room for improvement, Amine insists there is still work to be done even while basking in his most recent achievement. “It’s good to see all the hard work and dedication that I’ve put into the room this summer and am continuously putting in is starting to pay off,” Amine said. “And so yeah, it means a lot, but at the same time, it’s right back to the drawing board. The season’s far from over. It’s a big stepping stone, but still a lot to improve on.”
Read the full story online at MichiganDaily.com
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Now the ‘hunted’, the Wolverines prepare to take on Northwestern JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Writer
Three hundred and one days ago, the Michigan men’s basketball team fell at Northwestern. The Wolverines entered Allstate Arena on Feb. 6, 2018 still searching for consistency, their NCAA Tournament berth still far from secure. Despite this, they fell flat on their faces, putting forth 40 minutes of sluggish, uninspired basketball in a 61-52 loss to a Wildcat team that would finish 10th in the Big Ten. Michigan hasn’t lost a regular season game since. The last 301 days have been a whirlwind, and the Wolverines have blown away almost everything in their path. They won the Big Ten Tournament as a fifth seed and made it all the way to the National Championship Game, losing to a historically great Villanova team. In a November rematch this season, they clobbered the defending national champions. Michigan is 8-0 and sits at fifth in the most recent AP Top 25 Poll. Wednesday, it drubbed No. 11 North Carolina. Saturday’s victim was No. 19 Purdue. The Wolverines have won every game this season by at least 17 points. Thus, Tuesday’s matchup with Northwestern in Evanston couldn’t look more different than it did last year. As Michigan prepares for its second true road game of the season, it sits firmly in the national conversation. The target on the Wolverines’ backs is bigger than it has been in quite some time. “I don’t think when we went to Villanova we were the ‘hunted’,” said Michigan coach John Beilein on Monday. “ … Now we are, so we’re going to have to be that
type of team that’s going to go on the road, knowing that you come in there with that target on your back. … The other team’s got extra juice when you’re playing a highly-rated team.” Northwestern fits the definition of “trap game” to a tee. Last season’s loss, while a disappointment for the Wolverines, was hardly new — it’s been five years since they won there. Tip-off is set for 9:00 pm, and Beilein has previously noted the challenge of such late-night games for players. The Wildcats’ home arena, the 7,039-seat WelshRyan Arena, reopened this season after renovations, and Beilein expects a vocal, capacity crowd to greet his team. Meanwhile, Northwestern appears to be somewhat improved from last season, at least in the early going. The Wildcats sit 6-2 and No. 46 in KenPom, up from 85th last season. While one of their losses was a 19-point blowout at the hands of Fresno State, the other was a down-tothe-wire defeat at Indiana this Saturday. Northwestern will mostly rely on two key players. Forward Vic Law — a former high school teammate of Michigan guard Charles Matthews — scores 17.6 points and records 2.8 assists per game, leading the team in both categories, while hitting 44.7 percent of his treys. Dererk Pardon, the Wildcats’ starting center for the last two seasons, averages close to a double-double. “They’re playing a little differently,” Beilein said. “They’re playing mostly man-to-man right now, they played almost all zone last year. Really aggressive manto-man. Their offense is quick, it’s crisp, it’s good. They just had a bad game against Fresno, but
other than that, they were ahead 40-20 on an ACC team (Georgia Tech) at halftime. So they’ve got a lot of tools there, and I expect it’s going to be a really difficult game.” Beilein’s top priority leading up to Northwestern has been preparing for the intangibles. That means making sure his team is ready to take on the specific challenges that conference road games pose — in particular, “trap” games like Tuesday night — and ensuring his team is aware it will receive everyone’s best shot for the rest of the year. “We went into that hornet’s nest at Villanova and played well, but we gotta go do that again and I don’t think you ever get used to that. You never go win there and say, ‘This is normal,’ ” Beilein said. “ … Handling the crowd, handling another away game, a Big Ten game, that’s probably the biggest thing.” For all Michigan has achieved in the season’s first four weeks, Tuesday represents its culmination. Win at Northwestern, and the Wolverines will have shown they can do so as the hunters and the hunted alike. Win at Northwestern, and they’ll make a statement that normally wouldn’t be made following a win over a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team. The reason why? It’s been a while since Michigan’s been hunted like this. “Coach (Beilein) talked about just staying humble,” said sophomore forward Isaiah Livers. “We’re going to have a big target on our back just because we went to the national championship and did what we did last year. “ … Everybody’s going to be coming for us, we just got to be ready.”