statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | FE B RUA RY 1 3 , 2019
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Wednesday, February 13, 2019
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statement GOVERNMENT
Funeral held to celebrate life, legacy of John Dingell ALEC COHEN/Daily
Ceremony for longest serving US rep. featured former Vice President Joe Biden
Govenor Gretchen Whitmer delivers her first State of the State address in the Michigan State Capitol Building Tuesday evening.
CARLY RYAN
released. Several politicians, including former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., were expected to speak at the ser vices. However, though Biden made it in time, the harsh weather conditions prevented planes carr ying Lewis, Upton and Speaker Nancy Pelosi from landing. Ninet y members of Cong ress were expected to attend, however only a third made it to the ser vice.
Whitmer emphasizes education, infrastructure at State of the State climate Last in line: University Daily Staff Reporter
Friends, family and several prominent politicians braved icy conditions to honor the life of former U.S. Rep. John Dingell at f uneral ser vices in Dearborn, Mich. The longest-ser ving member of Cong ress in histor y and spouse of U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., passed away last week at the age of 92. John Dingell had a heart attack in September and had been battling cancer, ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN KUZEE though the exact cause KLUSENDORF of death has not yet PHOTO been BY ANNIESee DINGELL, Page 3A
policy faces re-evaluation
Governor discusses policy priorities for administration at first address ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered her State of the State address to Michigan lawmakers Tuesday night at the state capitol in Lansing. Whitmer began her
address with a joke about being asked to “fix the damn weather” — a nod to one of her main campaign refrains to “fix the damn roads.” After thanking members of the state legislature for attending, Whitmer dedicated the majority of her speech
to discussing her plans for repairing Michigan’s infrastructure and education system. “Turning a blind eye or passing phony fixes won’t solve our problems,” Whitmer said. “In fact, they make it harder. Filling potholes instead of
rebuilding roads. Pretending that little increases can fix an education crisis like we have … A government that does not work today can’t get the job done for tomorrow and that ends now.” See WHITMER, Page 3A
Students, professors incorporate President’s Students, CSG veto virtual reality systems in classes ‘U’ alumni
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
results in controversy Conversation continues on SOFC resolution, Greene gives State of Students PARNIA MAZHAR Daily Staff Reporter
Tuesday night, the University of Michigan Central Student Government held a meeting during which Engineering junior Zeke Majeske, chair of the Executive Nominations Committee, expressed his intentions to pursue an ethics investigation against CSG President Daniel Greene, a Public Policy senior. Majeske brought up two main issues with Greene’s past behavior to the Student Assembly. He began by discussing his belief that the president misled the Assembly in an attempt to sway the potential override of his veto of A.R. 8-033, a resolution discussed last week titled “A Resolution to Reschedule SOFC Chair Confirmations.” The resolution proposes to change the process of selecting the Student Organization Funding chair: the representative leading the SOFC, the CSG committee in charge of allocating funds to various student organizations. See CSG, Page 3A
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BUSINESS
Shapiro Design Lab offers access to AVMR technology on campus to aid learning SAMANTHA SMALL Daily Staff Reporter
Inside the Shapiro Design Lab, located on the first f loor of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library, is a new form of experiential learning: augmented, virtual and mixed reality, or “AVMR”, technology. Virtual reality has been widely adopted within fields like nursing, medicine and dentistry, allowing for modeling and simulation in complex circumstances where using real people might be too painful or expensive. It can be as elaborate as
locating symptoms that link to Alzheimer’s or as simple as simulating an elementary school’s trip to a zoo or museum across the globe. In fact, VR has already found its way onto The University of Michigan’s campus. Jim Harbaugh, head coach of the University’s football team, uses VR to recruit potential team members, allowing them to experience “a day in the life of a Michigan football player.” The Mcity Test Facility uses virtual reality to test the reliability of self-driving cars in a multitude of different
traffic scenarios that would otherwise be both costly and difficult to produce in a real-life environment. In the Duderstadt Center, medical students can examine a human cadaver through the lens of the Michigan Immersive Digital Experience Nexus. Similarly, the Computer and Video Game Archive in the basement of the Art, Architecture and Engineering Library on North Campus includes a Sony PlayStation VR, open for reservations for all students.
Now, virtual reality has made its way into the humanities classroom. About a year and a half ago, faculty approached the Shapiro Design Lab in a search for space where they could utilize this new technology and produce an immersive experience within their own coursework and research. The Shapiro Design Lab’s equipment is available by request and includes Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard and PlayStation VR. It opened for students, staff and faculty last year. See VIRTUAL, Page 3A
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Vol. CXXVII, No. 71 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
launch safe sex service
BusyBox provides new customized box full of sexual health products OLIVIA TAUBER Daily Staff Reporter
A group of University of Michigan students and alumni launched a business supporting sexual health both on campus and throughout the country: BusyBox, LLC. BusyBox is a personalized box full of sexual and reproductive health supplies that are sent to customers’ doors, eliminating the need to purchase these items in a store. BusyBox, LLC, started by Public Health senior Monica Smolinski and LSA senior Alison Elgass, was created for the School of Public Health’s Innovation in Action project last fall. BusyBox officially became an LLC in December. School of Education senior Sarah Mason, and Kayla Carter, then a graduate of the Public Health School who is now a doctoral student at the University of Washington, also joined the team. The BusyBox team eventually went on to place No. 1 in the Innovation in Action competition, encourages students to develop a solution to a real-world challenge. See BUSYBOX, Page 3A
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2A — Wednesday, February 13, 2019
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: COMMUNITY REJOICES AFTER MANDELA’S RELEASE the streets in Africa,” shouted Paquetta Palmer, a member of the Free Southern Africa steering committee and the Washtenaw County Coalition Against Apartheid. The two antiapartheid groups organized the celebration along with the United Coalition Against Racism. Speakers stressed that Mandela’s release was the
Feb. 12, 1990 Beating drums, singing songs, and dancing arm in arm, members of the Ann Arbor community converged on the Diag last night to celebrate yesterday’s release of former South African political prisoner Nelson Mandela. “Our struggle has reached a new level because our comrade Nelson is finally free to walk
result of the people’s struggle in South Africa, and that the event should not be looked upon as an initiative for change by President F.W. De Klerk and the national government. “When we look at the situation in South Africa, we know the government has been and will be the enemy of the Blacks,” UCAR steering committee member Pam
Nadasen told the crowd. “When the De Klerk’s are replaced by the Mandela’s in the presidential palace, then we can celebrate victory in South Africa.” Another UCAR steering committee member, Barbara Ransby, echoed Nadasen sentiment. “We don’t come here to praise the South African government.”
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MICHAEL BAGAZINSKI/Daily Michigan students enjoy winding down with waffles at the Center for Campus Involvement sponsored event at Pierpont Commons Tuesday.
ON THE DAILY: won Best Jazz Vocal Album for “The Window.” This is fitting, as Mack Avenue Records specializes in jazz and similar music and is a sponsor of the Detroit Jazz Festival, to which Mack Avenue Records founder Gretchen Carhartt Valade donated $15 million in 2006. While this is Greta Van Fleet’s first Grammy award, Mack Avenue Records has boasted previous awards from its slate of recording artists,
including Stanley Clarke, Alfredo Rodríguez, Jimmy Greene, Kirk Whalum and Christian McBride. Other notable award recipients at this year’s Grammy Awards include Childish Gambino, who won record and song of the year for “This is America,” despite not attending the awards show; Dua Lipa, who won Best New Artist; and Kacey Musgraves, who won Album of the Year for “Golden Hour.”
Pro-Whitmer group fined $37.5k for violating state campaign finance laws Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson penalizes Build a Better Michigan for ads advocacy,” exempting them Whitmer’s campaign, there occurred,” Benson wrote. The fine will be paid from the Michigan Finance are limits on how much the next two Campaign Act. money the organization within months. GOP spokesman Build a Better Michigan The Michigan Finance could spend. will have to pay a $37,500 Campaign Act requires Benson said in a letter to Tony Zammit said he was fine after Secretary of financial disclosures from the lawyers representing unhappy and called the deal “shameful.” State Jocelyn Benson all groups. Political action Build a Better Michigan and entire determined Friday that committees that support Whitmer’s campaign that The Michigan GOP said the nonprofit organization a certain candidate must two particular ads were the they thought Benson and Whitmer had worked out a violated campaign laws also file reports with the main area of concern. with advertisements run in Michigan Department of “I conclude that the deal for a smaller fine. Benson’s spokesman phrase, ‘Gretchen Whitmer support of Gov. Gretchen State. Whitmer. However, because Build | Candidate for Governor,’ Shawn Starkey told The Build a Better Michigan a Better Michigan filed its constitutes express Detroit News Benson did was formed by Whitmer organization under Section advocacy,” Benson wrote. not believe the fine was on allies, and spent more 527 of the Internal Revenue “… I view this interpretation the smaller scale and she than $2.4 million in Code, it cannot advocate of the MCFA, as applied to asked her staff to keep the the 2018 election. The directly for a candidate. this specific set of facts, context of the case in mind Sudoku Syndication http://www.sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ group ran a series of ads Since they are not as critical to promoting when deciding. they described as “issue independent from greater transparency.” The two ads showed Whitmer speaking on camera with the words “Gretchen Whitmer, Candidate for Governor.” The complaint filed by EASY the Michigan Republican Party and a conservative group claimed Build a Better Michigan should have disclosed their direct advocacy for Whitmer. According to Colleen Pero, the chief of staff for the Michigan Republican Party, the ads advocated for Whitmer by identifying her as a candidate for governor and indicated collaboration between Whitmer and Build a Better Michigan. Benson said by doing so, the group violated state campaign finance law. Public Policy junior Katie “The fact that BBM communications obtained video and audio Kelly, of the candidate speaking director for the University directly to the camera of Michigan’s Chapter of EASIER. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. from a predetermined College Democrats, said script is sufficient to no party is above violating indicate that coordination campaign laws. ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter
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competitive field. The nominees for Best ZAYNA SYED Rock Album included heavyweights Daily Staff Reporter Alice in Chains, Fall Out Boy and While the 61st annual Grammy Weezer. Members Josh Kiszka, Jake Awards honored many prominent Kiszka, Sam Kiszka and drummer celebrities, some notable Michiganders Danny Wagner formed the band in also left the Grammy Awards victorious Frankenmuth, Michigan in 2012. A singer for Mack Avenue Records, on Sunday. Michigan band Greta Van Fleet a record label based in Grosse Pointe won Best Rock Album for “From the Farms, Mich., also won a Grammy. Fires,” despite being nominated in a Mack’s artist, Cecile McLorin Salvant,
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“We strive to promote fair campaigns and elections and it is disheartening to see these kinds of violations within our own party.”
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.
“Campaign finance violations are wrong no matter the party that commits them,” Kelly said. “As an organization, we strive to promote fair campaigns and elections and it is disheartening to see these kinds of violations within our own party.” The University’s chapter of College Republicans did not comment in time for publication. Build a Better Michigan spokesman Mark Fisk said in a statement he was disappointed with the decision, but accepted Benson’s conclusion. “Build a Better Michigan’s advertising is part of a long tradition of issue advocacy used for years in Michigan by both parties and we’re proud to have played a role promoting affordable health care, improved infrastructure and clean
water,” Fisk said. “While we respectfully disagree with the secretary of state’s determination and settlement, we fully intend to comply with her ruling to put this matter behind us and move forward.” LSA sophomore Maeve Skelly worked on Whitmer’s campaign. She said she agreed with Benson’s decision, adding she thought the fine was overall a step in the right direction toward better communication between government officials and the public. “I think that this fine was justified and I think that Jocelyn Benson did the right thing setting a precedent for transparency in campaigns going forward and to make sure the Michigan’s Campaign Finance Law is upheld,” Skelly said.
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BUSYBOX From Page 1A Elgass explained the team aims to better sexual health and literacy on campus and beyond. She said BusyBox was born when members of the team recognized a gap in the sexual-health market. “What we found talking to friends and people around campus and customers, in general, is that these products are very widely available, but a lot times people feel uncomfortable buying them,” Elgass said. “As a result, it can be a barrier for people using these supplies.” Smolinski described the contents of the box, which includes safe-sex items as well as pamphlets discussing relevant sexual health topics. “(These products include) internal and external condoms, personal lubricant, dental dams and pregnancy and UTI tests,” Smolinski said. “It also comes with BusyBox-made infographics with topics such as consent, healthy relationships, gender and sexuality, and emergency contraception.” Carter said the team set out to better the way college students purchase and use sexual and reproductive health products.
WHITMER From Page 1A The Michigan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Michigan a D+ grade in infrastructure overall and a D- grade for state roads in their Infrastructure Report Card, with only 18 percent of roads being considered in good condition.. Whitmer asked Michiganders to share their personal experiences with what she called an “infrastructure crisis.” “We need to act now though, before a catastrophe happens, before the situation becomes truly unrecoverable,” Whitmer said. “To everyone at home who is tuning in: Share your stories about what the infrastructure crisis means to you. Take a picture of your damaged car or your repair bill or a pothole outside your house and post it with #FTDR.” Whitmer further expressed concerns over education. A report from researchers at Michigan State University released in January found Michigan’s public school financing was nearly 20 percent lower than it was in the 1990s, a drop in funding unparalleled in any other state in the country. Whitmer said the money in the state budget typically used for K-12 funding has been used to fill other areas of the state budget. She blamed the government, not the educators or students, for allowing Michigan’s education system to falter. “I want to send a message to all the devoted educators across Michigan: You’re not failing us. We have been failing you,” Whitmer said. “Our educators and our kids deserve our support,
CSG From Page 1A The proposed process would have the outgoing SOFC chair nominate at least two individuals to take their place. Further, the chair of the Executive Nominations Committee would vet the nominees and present them to the Assembly, who would vote to confirm the position. Prior to last week’s CSG meeting, in which the Assembly discussed the veto of the resolution, Greene released a statement describing his decision to veto. According to Greene, if certain changes were made to the resolution, then he would highly consider approving it. “There’s a few changes (I’d like to make),” Greene said. “One is who does the nomination of the successor to the SOFC chair. Another concern was about this philosophy or idea of business not carrying over to the next
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“We want to foster people’s ability to have safe and consensual and pleasurable and informed sexual experiences,” Carter said. “We want to market towards anyone out there who is having sex or thinking about having sex soon and wants to be prepared for it.” Elgass echoed Carter’s thoughts, and added that they want to encourage people’s confidence surrounding sex while making sure they stay safe. “We are trying to be that middle ground of, ‘Yeah, you should be having sex in the way you want to have sex and that is a great thing, but also be doing it safely and be prepared,’” Elgass said. “Our product is designed to make you confident and prepared so it’s not something that you should be ashamed of in any way.” To appeal to individuals, the process is catered to customers, allowing them to select items each month, Smolinski said. “It is all tailored to the user, so they have an online profile where they click and choose what they want in their box and it comes to them either once a month, every other month or every two months,” Smolinski said. Smolinski also described
how the supplies come in a discreet, unlabeled white box in order to keep a customer’s personal and sexual health private. Additionally, since the box is customizable, it is not geared towards a particular gender and the products can be used for anyone. LSA sophomore Soraya Zrikem said the customizable aspect of BusyBox might be something especially appealing for customers. “I think that a lot of people do value privacy and what they want to be buying and I think that would be totally valuable,” Zrikem said. “With any of these services, if it is something as personal as your sex life, you would want to customize it… that definitely makes it more attractive.” Zrikem added that the privacy of BusyBox is also a draw, as many people might be anxious when going into a store to buy sex items. “I don’t know how taboo buying condoms and lube and stuff is as an adult, but for people who are uncomfortable with that… they don’t have to deal with the embarrassment or social anxiety that can come along with doing those things,” Zrikem said. However, Zrikem questioned the service being a subscription, worrying people
might get the supplies but not use them. “I feel like it would be more successful if it weren’t a subscription,” Zrikem said. “I feel like people’s sex lives… they aren’t as regular, like your period or shaving… It would require people to know how much they’d be having sex. ” This project is a years in the making, and has recently put up pre-order opportunities on their website, according to Elglass. “This past year was about taking the idea and developing the plans and getting inventory,” Elgass said. “We just launched our pre-orders so our website is now live and you can preorder your box for the beginning of March — right around spring break is when we’ll start shipping.” When asked about the future of BusyBox, Mason said she is excited to see where the first year of their startup business is going to take her and her teammates. “This is a really exciting time for us to see how much we can grow in the first year.” Mason said. “Ideally I would love to do this full time … I hope that we are able to be successful and keep that success going for years to come.”
not a funding crisis that undermines the work in the classroom, that weakens our schools and compromises the education.” Whitmer laid out her plans that included three separate pathways for high school graduates. For those already in the workforce, Whitmer detailed her “Michigan Reconnect” plan, which will teach already employed individuals new skills to adjust to the changing workplace. Her “My Opportunity” scholarship program offers two years of community college free to graduating high school seniors seeking an associate’s degree. The third pathway would be another scholarship under the “My Opportunity” program, but would give two years free to students attending a public four year institution. In response to President Donald Trump’s new health care plans, Whitmer said she wrote to the president to defend the Affordable Care Act. She personally thanked Attorney General Dana Nessel for leading the fight. Whitmer ended her address by promising to work with both parties. She believes working together is the best way to help Michigan. “The enemy is not the person across the aisle,” Whitmer said. “The enemy is apathy, the enemy is extreme partisanship. The enemy is self-interest. When we stand together as Michiganders … we can get the job done for the people of our state. One of Whitmer’s administration’s priorities is addressing hazardous water conditions, she said. Even though Flint water was tested and found to have its
lowest levels of lead since before the water crisis, other contaminants such as PFAS are polluting the Great Lakes and the state’s rivers. In order to support the next generation of entrepreneurs in the region, Whitmer made a promise to connect small businesses with contracting opportunities. She said promoting economic development in Michigan meant supporting in-state investment. In her speech, Whitmer noted her filing of an executive directive to ban the use of private emails for governmental purposes. She also extended the use of Freedom of Information Act requests to the executive department of the state government. Whitmer also filed executive directives in January prohibiting employers from asking all applicants what their past salaries were as well as a directive banning state government from discriminating based on gender identity or sexual orientation. State Rep. Matt Hall, R-Emmett, told The Daily he was concerned Whitmer did not offer a payment plan for any of her initiatives. “I thought there were a lot of good sounding ideas,” Hall said. “However, I want to see how we’re going to pay for it before I decided whether I want to support the proposals. I think that anytime you’re promising large expansions of new government programs, you have to also identify how you’re going to pay for it and I did not hear anything from the governor about how she intends to pay for these programs. I will say that makes me
very concerned that she’s proposing enormous tax increases. The last time Michigan was a high tax state, we led the country in job loss.” Despite some worries from Republican legislators, Michigan’s Democrats seemed to leave the address with largely positive feelings. Minority Floor Leader Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, told The Daily he was overall very satisfied with Whitmer’s speech. “I thought it was amazing,” Rabhi said. “It was great to have an opportunity to listen to a speech where I actually wanted to stand up for a good chunk of it and it was just so cool to hear her talk about the skills gap and how we’re going to address it. Talking about funding for our education, community colleges and higher education and then our environment. The fact that she talked about clean water and the work we need to do in that category. There’s so much that this governor is passionate about that she outlined in the speech and I am just so excited to work with her and get some of this stuff done.” Paul Ajegba, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation, told The Daily he was especially pleased with her plans to improve the workplace. “I was in the meetings that she mentioned with all the executives,” Ajegba said. “There was a common theme Michigan workforce, the supply is not meeting the demand, which means a lot of these companies are going to out of state because we’re not producing enough workforce to meet that demand. I think she did an outstanding job today.”
assembly… and there was also the big question that sometimes — not always — the outgoing SOFC chair becomes treasurer, and so if the SOFC chair is nominating their successor, do they nominate themselves if they’re not a graduating senior?” In his report to the council, Majeske described his issue with Greene’s handling of the resolution. “He claimed further that the resolution contained certain provisions that it did not, as well as contradicting his previous statements and claiming that if one seemingly insignificant change was made, he would be in favor of the resolution,” Majeske said. In addition, Majeske claims, in Greene’s introduction of the vetoed resolution, the president led people to believe the interests of SOFC were not taken into consideration when writing the resolution. According to Greene, he
spoke to Anthony Garvey, the current chair of SOFC, and Nico Beltramo, the former chair, and both agreed with Greene’s concerns with the SOFC resolution. Both members also approved of the veto statement Greene released. “The veto statement went through a vetting process by the communications director, the student general council, the individuals who helped me author the letter, and no one took issue with what is in the public veto statements,” Greene said. “I believe that the issues the representative is concerned about are political in nature in the sense that it’s different interpretations and analysis of what’s written there, not matters of facts of what’s physically there.” After further discussion, Speaker of the Assembly and Rackham student Austin Glass stated that
the first issue was resolved and would no longer be discussed by the Assembly. The second issue Majeske focused on pertained to the nomination process for new members of the Assembly. Specifically, he believes Greene engaged in unethical behavior, which resulted in the confirmation of Saveri Nandigama as CSG chief of staff. The president came to the Executive Nominations Committee with recommendations for three candidates for the CSG positions of treasurer, chair of a commission and COS. The committee gave positive recommendations on two of the nominees, but did not give a positive recommendation to the COS position.
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Wednesday, February 13, 2019 — 3A
DINGELL From Page 1A Despite weather delays, f uneral ser vices carried on with a liturg y from Rev. Terrence Kerner, who said John Dingell wished for a celebrator y yet respectf ul ser vice. Kerner said John Dingell was about f ighting for the ordinar y man, and shared stories from constituents whose lives were bettered by his policies. “But I think when a common man knew John Dingell, he probably felt he was uncommon,” Kerner said. In a lighthearted eulog y, Biden said John Dingell was one of the few
VIRTUAL From Page 1A Justin Schell, director of the Shapiro Design Lab, has seen a spike in interest in the incorporation of virtual reality in all types of classrooms. “Virtual reality was something that more people were interested in using on central campus,” Schell said. “Different faculty wanted to use it to explore and add it as part of their classes. It ranges from fully immersive headsets like Oculus and HTC Vive and PlayStation, to more lo-fi VR like Google Cardboard. There’s been interest from American culture and history classes; film, television and media studies classes — all the way to electrical engineering and computer science.” English professor Sara Blair took her How to Read Images class to the design lab to create a dialog ue pertaining to the way in which images shape societies’ “collective experience.” In this setting, students were immersed in a video experience related to the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis. “One of the longstanding concerns about imaging and particular photography is wondering what damage or injury we might do to other people by capturing them in photographs and sharing and responding to their experience from a distance,” Blair said. “Are we appropriating the experience? Are we in some ways impeding their opportunities to tell their own stories? But, around a series of VR projects, those questions become even more powerful: What does it mean to try to know the experience of refugees or people who have been traumatized by wars or subject to disasters either human or natural? What kind of knowledge do we get?” Lisa Nakamura, director of the Digital Studies Institute, brings many of her classes including The Internet is a Trash Fire to the Design Lab to use virtual reality as a way to relate to marginalized people, and thus create a greater scale of understanding. “I was originally interested in virtual reality because there is so much journalism about how it can create more empathy,” Nakamura said. “People who don’t understand or want to feel more kind to refugees, the blind, people of color can now experience life through their point of view and stand in their shoes. Studies even show that having a female avatar in a video game can be empowering because you see yourself there.” However, one of Nakamura’s students, LSA sophomore Riley McMahon, had a negative experience with the device when someone over virtual reality used derogatory terms in an attempt to have a conversation with her. “I was a little uncomfortable using the device and talking to people I didn’t know,” McMahon said. “He got angry that I wasn’t conversing with him
politicians he looked up to as an outspoken champion of health care and labor rights. He said it was John Dingell’s belief that ever y single person deser ves dig nit y that made him a successf ul leg islator. “Dig nit y was how John walked,” Biden said. “Dig nit y was how John talked. Dig nit y was how John carried himself. A nd more than that, it was how he treated ever yone — and I mean ever yone.” Thursday, more f uneral ser vices will be held in Washing ton, D.C., where former President Bill Clinton and former Speaker John Boehner are expected to speak.
and started swearing.” Nakamura acknowledges this risk when working with virtual reality and decided to use the experience to generate a conversation about the negatives
“Are we in some ways impeding their opportunities to tell their own stories? But, around a series of VR projects, those questions become even more powerful.
spawned by the certain affordances the internet provides. “It became an interesting lesson on how the internet can be toxic and not necessarily a kind place,” Nakamura said. The Shapiro Design Lab is not just used by humanities professors, but by humanities students as well. Jeff Edelstein, recent graduate from the School of Education, has used Shapiro’s VR within his own work regarding students with disabilities and the ways in which they are represented in video games. “I worked with the Shapiro Design Lab in partner with a group I ran called Disability Culture at U-M,” Edelstein said. “VR is still relatively a new thing; they are still finding new ways to make it work. One great game is ‘Moss.’ You are able to choose a mouse character that communicates with you via American Sign Lang uage. It helps start a conversation related to inclusivity and representation in gaming.” VR is not just a tool for STEM fields, Nakamura said. It can be applicable to any type of classroom setting, even those in the humanities. She hopes to see a rise in this technolog y, a technolog y she believes can help create a new story. “I think our students should be using the latest technolog y in our humanities classes,” Nakamura said. “North Campus has a lot of that, and we take it for granted. People doing arts and literature and media should get the same access. It is a new kind of storytelling, and a new kind of medium, where I feel like people who are more interested in the humanities are able to talk about how it works on emotions and what visual traditions it’s in, and what kind of experiences you can have there, which is different than using it as just a tool. We’re talking about it more as an object to study, as well as a tool.”
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, February 13, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SAMANTHA SZUHAJ | COLUMN
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KRYSTAL HUR | COLUMN
“
On selective outrage
Brokeback Mountain” is probably my favorite movie. Not only are Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal phenomenal actors, but the film is also moving in a way that isn’t overly theatrical. The plot itself is quite simple, and there are no cliché scenes dramatized by overpowering music and overdone camerawork that are present in so many other films today. Ledger and Gyllenhaal received accolades for their roles at the time of the film’s release, including Gyllenhaal’s British Academy Film and Television Arts award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Ledger’s New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Actor. Both actors also received praise for their willingness to be a part of a movie that was controversial for depicting a love story between two men at a time when movies featuring heterosexual love stories such as “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “A Cinderella Story” and “The Notebook” were popular. At the time of the film’s release, no one seemed to question why two straight men were chosen to play the roles of two decidedly not straight men. This was most likely because there were few movies being produced at the time that did feature gay characters or love stories. Either no one thought to say anything — or they chose not to. However, in 2019, celebrities are being held accountable for their past problematic productions and roles. In particular, white actors who played non-white roles and nonqueer actors who played gender queer characters are being heavily criticized for choosing to play a role that was never theirs to take. Yet no straight actor who chose to play, or is currently playing, a non-straight character receives public backlash. In fact, many of these actors are loved by the LGBTQ+ community for their roles: Darren Criss’ Blaine in “Glee” and Shay Mitchell’s Emily in “Pretty Little Liars” are both well loved. Neither actor has received backlash for portraying gay characters. Neither have Ledger and Gyllenhaal for their portrayals of Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, respectively, in “Brokeback Mountain.” Why is that? Perhaps people have chosen to refrain from attacking Ledger’s portrayal of Del Mar out of respect for his death. Yet Gyllenhaal, Criss and Mitchell have all escaped criticism for their characters and performances while other actors who have played roles that don’t align with their identity, such as Emma Stone, who played an Asian-American character in “Aloha,” and Scarlett Johansson, who also played a traditionally Asian character in “Ghost in
the Shell” – both who have been heavily rebuked for their roles. Eddie Redmayne has also been criticized by the transgender community for playing transgender woman Lili Elbe in “The Danish Girl” and Johansson recently dropped her role in the movie “Rub & Tug,” where she would have played a transgender man, after heavy backlash from the transgender community. These actors have also been the butt of some jokes: Sandra Oh made a joke about Johansson and Stone’s roles as characters of Asian descent during her Emmys monologue, quipping, “(Crazy Rich Asians) is the first studio film with an Asian-American lead since ‘Ghost in the Shell’ and ‘Aloha.’” Stone could then be heard yelling, “I’m sorry!” over the sounds of the audience laughing.
In 2019, celebrities are being held accountable for their past problematic productions and roles While Redmayne has been mostly lauded by cis people for his role in “The Danish Girl,” even snagging an Academy Award nomination for his work, he has been put under scrutiny by members of the trans community. Carol Grant, a trans female writer, explained her ire with Redmayne’s role in the movie in an IndieWire article, commenting, “For a film that’s being touted as a progressive step up for ‘transgender visibility’, everything about its view of trans women and women in general is regressive, reductive, and contributes to harmful stereotypes: the cisnormative idea that a trans woman is simply a man performing faux-femininity, as Redmayne twirls and vogues his way into womanhood.” She also criticizes the way in which the movie portrays Elbe as being weak, condemning “the reductive portrait of a trans woman as a figure of pity whose tragedy stems from being a man unable to ‘practice womanhood’, rather than accepting her womanhood as natural fact; the arguments that TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) love to perpetuate that trans women only reinforce outdated gender stereotypes; the leering at a trans woman’s body as something unnatural and abnormal instead of inviting the audience to understand our dysphoria.” Grant’s argument about the problematic nature of “The Danish Girl” suggests the reason
that so many people have a problem with whitewashing and cisgender actors playing trans characters, while they don’t often have a problem with straight characters playing gay characters, is because of the stark difference between the accuracy in which the characters are portrayed. Grant does not approve of Redmayne’s casting and performance because he, as a cisgender man, cannot accurately portray a transgender woman. This is true not only because he is a man playing a woman but also because he perpetuates false cisnormative beliefs about trans-ness. People take umbrage with Johansson and Stone’s portrayals of AsianAmerican characters because white people cannot accurately portray characters of Asian descent. This is a visibility issue: Being white automatically disqualifies an actor for playing a character of Asian descent, since they don’t look Asian. With gay characters, most performances have not been marred by stereotypes and instead have allowed members of the LGBTQ+ community to feel authentically represented in popular culture. Furthermore, there is no visibility issue. “Pretty Little Liars” Emily isn’t portrayed as a masculine character who chops her hair and makes unwanted passes on straight girls; Glee’s Blaine isn’t portrayed as an extremely effeminate character who loves shopping or tokenized as the “gay best friend.” Del Mar and Twist of “Brokeback Mountain,” similarly, aren’t portrayed as feminine, and are actually portrayed as being quite masculine, which combats stereotypes about gay men. Furthermore, people who are not straight don’t have an obvious “look” to them, as people of different races do. I wonder, then, if this permission from the LGBTQ+ community for straight actors to play queer characters is at all contextual: If a movie centered around the life of a gay activist is released and the activist is played by a straight actor, is that still acceptable? Regardless, representation in media continues to be a multifaceted topic and the LGBTQ+ community’s willingness to allow non-straight actors to play gay characters shouldn’t be exploited to argue against problematic aspects of Hollywood, such as whitewashing. This selective outrage is not ref lective of irrational anger or pettiness. Rather, it is because in an industry where representation is iffy at best, Hollywood may have gotten it right. Krystal Hur can be reached at kryshur@umich.edu.
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W
What of a woman’s strength?
atching Justice Ruth According to Comedy Bader Ginsburg, Central’s satirical cartoon South played by Felicity Park, in which they have a Jones, climb the steps character duly named of the Supreme Court the Vice Principal moments before Strong Woman, the credits rolled this feminine elicited not only an persona is rooted in emotional reaction stubbornness and from the theater’s having qualities crowd, but also equal to that spurred my thinking of a man. This on the emphasis on interpretation, albeit the recent portrayals SAMANTHA very hyperbolic, of of strong women in powerful women SZUHAJ the media. in society does Looking back, the 2016 hold a grain of truth. Women presidential election cycle in positions of power are brought this conversation to portrayed and evaluated on the forefront in a re-energized these characteristics and are way. With a female candidate generally, though not always, as the presidential nominee on expected to comport in this a major party ticket for the first limiting way. time, the conversation in the unending news cycle created a constant critique of what it meant to be a female leader. Hillary Clinton was under the media microscope — facing gender-related commentary on her political approaches and decisions. After the elections came to a close, there was a tangible energy increase in American women and, since then, our media have sought to capture it. Strong women have come to So how do I as a college the forefront of television news, student fit into this narrative? shows and movies. From two What do strong women look like films coming out within the year as young adults, still searching about a Supreme Court justice for their passions and places, who has championed gender instead of as professionals? equality on the legal front, to Can we dare to break free from numerous female politicians this mold, or has society in its announcing their candidacy championing of women already for 2020, to actor Regina King tried to do this? vowing that everything she I believe the idea of strength produces moving forward will is entirely subjective and to be be at least 50 percent female, powerful can mean so many being powerful and female is different things to people. The now, more than ever, a hot topic. ability to perform equally to This leads me to wonder: How male peers can be approached can I be strong in my own in numerous ways, instead of right and what constitutes the stereotypical way media being strong according to this presents it to us. Being strong popular narrative? can take form in silence, in
How can I be strong in my own right?
being outgoing, in spearheading initiatives or in being a good team member. One does not have to embody the “Vice Principal Strong Woman” aura to be taken seriously. So, as we move forward into 2019, I intend to answer Regina King’s call to lift up other women. Let’s encourage others to be comfortable in their own definitions of what strong is, instead of trying to emulate a societal metanarrative. Let us rally behind female politicians as we move into the upcoming election cycle, not solely because they are women, but because they are individuals who deserve a candidacy without the white noise of subtle gender-based remarks and outfit critiques. Let us stand together and continue to contribute to the energizing wave of championing each other, instead of turning our backs. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg established herself as an independent, strong-willed woman in the 1950s. Today, she sits on the bench of the highest court in the land. The fight that she represents is not over, but rather renewed. We find ourselves riding on this new momentum of outspokenness for women’s rights and recognition, but must take note as to how to best contribute to this. Let us be aware of this expected mold that media urges female leaders and personalities to be and implore others to break free of these restraints. I am strong in my own right, and it may not be because I am stubborn or need to prove my capabilities. And all of those around me equally share this strength, regardless of their qualities — we just need to get rid of the narrative trying to tell us otherwise. Samantha Szuhaj can be reached at szuhajs@umich.edu.
ROSIE VAN ALSBURG | OP-ED
Who decides what contributions are valuable?
L
ast semester, I had to take Space 101: Rocket Science as a requirement for my minor in space engineering. I am majoring in engineering physics and computer science, so I went into the class with a relatively high level of comfort with the topics that would be discussed. On the first day of class, I quickly realized the course would satisfy the LSA natural science requirement and only required a working knowledge of algebra. Given the average historical grade was an A-, the lecture hall was packed with humanities and social science majors looking for a class that would satisfy the requirement and involve as little math as possible. Was I a little frustrated most students had no interest in a subject near and dear to my heart? Yes. Do I think courses like Space 101 should be limited to engineering students? Of course not. Intellectual breadth requirements vary for each major, but their purpose remains the same: to expose students to subjects and skills not taught in their major’s core curriculum. Those classes help make students more well-rounded and allow them to interact with students from whom they may not normally get to learn. For engineers, they can also serve a different purpose and teach us skills we may not learn in our structured, problem-solving based curriculum. Engineers taking upperlevel humanities classes have frustrated engineers and LSA students alike, but the importance of this requirement can’t be overlooked. Generalizing the average engineering student as someone who only watches lecture recordings or has to submit all assignments to a harsh autograder (something only the Program in Computer Science employs, as far as I know) is stereotypical and somewhat demeaning to the entire college. Engineering students frequently are required to work in groups on projects, discuss the merits of various problem-solving techniques and teach each other material when office hours are busy. We aren’t all introverts
who can’t communicate well enough to take a discussionbased course. In fact, many required engineering courses also have required discussion sections, not to mention the other 13 liberal arts credits we have to take. Engineering students are required to take a minimum of 16 credits of liberal arts courses, which include humanities, professional development and intellectual breadth courses from a wide range of departments. Only three credits must be 300-level or higher. Implying that engineering students are only required to take one nonengineering course in the entire four years they spend at the University is flat-out wrong. Admittedly, engineering degrees are often structured differently than social science or humanities degrees. To reach upper-level core classes in a subject, students must take several enforced prerequisites in a sequence to even be able to register. When looking at upperlevel humanities courses, almost none of the classes (taught in English) even have advisory prerequisites. This implies that these courses can be taken by any student, regardless of major or academic background. The difference between upper-level and introductory classes in the humanities is that the classes become more specialized. The classes still have the same structure of learning material during lectures and analyzing the content in discussion sections. These discussion-based courses allow everyone to be on the same playing field. As there are no prerequisites, students who pay attention in class and learn the material should all be able to contribute. Engineers may have a disadvantage of being used to learning environments where there is only one correct answer, but there can be hundreds of ways to reach that answer and find a working solution. We do often have a different perspective from our LSA peers, with a relatively weaker background in humanities, but that doesn’t mean valuable contributions from engineering students “tend
to be the exception, not the rule.” In fact, that statement is somewhat insulting. To be fair, there are many engineering students who don’t have the same enthusiasm for humanities as they do for their major core classes. However, there are always going to be students who have no interest in the subject being taught. That subject just varies from person to person, major to major. I am sure many LSA students majoring in math or a science feel the same way about humanities. Should there be a limit on how many non-majors are allowed in a class? What about a limit on how many underclassmen take upper-level humanities? Both of those options would let upper-level humanities students enjoy their classes more, but I think that would end up hurting everyone. The whole purpose of a discussion is to have students analyze material and compare their insights with their peers. Nowhere does it say that every student in a 300-level philosophy class should have already read all of Kant and Nietzsche’s works in order to be able to “elevate” the class discussion. So the main question here is this: Who gets to determine what contributions to a classwide discussion are valuable? Assuming the only valid contribution is something we would’ve thought of ourselves seems somewhat narrow minded. Some of the most interesting perspectives I’ve heard have come from people in other majors and other colleges. Isolating each major in their own echo chamber of students who take the same classes, learn the same information and are interested in the same things is not how college should work. We pursue higher education to learn about different things, to meet people from a variety of backgrounds and to discover new interests we may have never considered. Those are the things that create a positive, supportive learning environment. Rosie Van Alsburg is a junior majoring in Engineering Physics with a concentration in Computer Science and can be reached at roseva@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 — 5A
BOOK REVIEW
With ‘Go Ahead,’ Abdurraqib never loses sight of love CASSANDRA MANSUETTI Senior Arts Editor
When I think of A Tribe Called Quest, I think of my high school’s art room. I think of the overflowing cork board, pushpins doing their darndest to tack down exceptional student work and inspiration, with a cardstock square print of the Beats, Rhymes and Life cover hanging on for dear life at the top left corner. I think of playing “Oh My God” in the select, seniors-only space that was the back room (affectionately referred to as “the closet,” because it wasn’t much bigger) while we were painting the annual homecoming mural. I think of my classmate approaching me the next day, gushing about Midnight Marauders and asking for more music recommendations similar to it. I think about finally breaking down the façade of my too-cool-forschool art teacher when he regaled the story of his first Tribe concert to me. When Hanif Abdurraqib thinks of A Tribe Called Quest, he thinks of his father’s reverence for jazz, sour cherry candies he bought on a road trip and Tony, the bootleg “CD Man” in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Abdurraqib thinks of a lot of things I have never thought of, but we are still united in the fact that when we think of A Tribe Called Quest, we think of a lot of thoughts. Both him and I are selfdescribed ATCQ fans, and while our backgrounds can’t be any more disparate — Black boy from urban Ohio who blossomed alongside the golden age of hip hop and white girl born and bred in varying suburbs who rediscovered that era as the internet made her more musically conscious — this strand of fandom has lassoed us together. In “Go Ahead in the Rain,” Abdurraqib threads together all these thoughts using the keen needle that is A Tribe Called Quest. The book’s function is multifaceted: a history, a
commentary, a love letter, a memoir. It tracks the history of the Tribe from its inception to its final bow, supplemented with sketches of scenes from Abdurraqib’s own adolescence and grounded in the American landscape at any given moment. Take, for example, his situating of ACTQ’s sophomore album, The Low End Theory, in the context of the Rodney King riots: “Los Angeles wasn’t on fire yet when (Low End) was being made or when it was released. But it would be on fire by the time the songs were playing in heavy rotation across America … The constant replaying of the footage (of Rodney King’s beating) was laying a new groundwork for rage in communities miles away.” Low End is an album undercut by “righteous anger,” as Abdurraqib puts it, but in his exhaustive profile of the group, he never loses sight of the world they moved with, and the world that moved against them. A Tribe Called Quest’s anger on The Low End Theory was more audibly weaponized by other groups defining the rap game in divergent ways, groups like Public Enemy or N.W.A. That same anger was channeled through Abdurraqib in a heart-wrenching anecdote where he punched his older brother, “not because I wanted to hurt him, but because I wanted him to imagine a world in which I was unafraid to hurt him.” This complex interconnectedness is indicative of how the book flows as a whole: For everything A Tribe Called Quest did, Abdurraqib has a story to tell. And through the stories he tells us, they live on through stories of our own. In this regard the book is timeless. There is no Midnight Marauders without the legendary cover art, a veritable who’s who of rap in ’93. There is no Midnight Marauders without young music nerds like Abdurraqib, who would complement his listens to the record flipping the sleeve back and forth, trying to correctly identify everyone on the cover without peeking at the
cheat sheet on the back. There is no Tribe Called Quest at their peak, Midnight Marauders if it doesn’t live my fandom is one primarily defined on decades later, in an unlikely high by wistful appreciation, delving school art room hundreds of miles critically into their catalog for the away from Linden Boulevard in New sake of my growth as a listener and a scholar. I was overjoyed that York City. This is not to say “Go Ahead Abdurraqib introduced the mostly in the Rain” falls into a formula. chronological framework of the book Abdurraqib does not spend the with a discussion of “Jazz (We’ve whole time laying out a concise Got),” my absolute favorite Tribe compendium of the major players song, and even mentioned a very in late ’80s and early ’90s hip hop, specific line from the song, one that nor does he spend the whole time has stuck with him as much as it has talking about his childhood attempts stuck with me since my first listen years ago: “I to impress the don’t really cool kids on mind if it’s over the bus rides your head / to school Cause the job with his everof resurrectors expanding is to wake up taste. He the dead.” Yet satisfyingly I was slightly swirls all these disappointed parts into a he didn’t have simmering much to say stew, meant about the for all to enjoy, Hanif Abdurraqib actual music on from old to their last and young, fan to University of Texas Press most recent critic. Its taste album We Got is irresistible. Feb. 2019 It from Here... No two Thank You 4 people will Your Service. have the same Much like experience reading “Go Ahead in the Rain.” Q-Tip’s bumbling road trip in the You might have never heard of A “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo” Tribe Called Quest before picking video and much like life, the book up the book, or you might be so is a meandering odyssey, one with well versed in hip hop history you no clear end or beginning. It is felt Abdurraqib’s version of it was loaded with references, stories and incomplete. No matter how you feel, background information, but there is Abdurraqib makes you think about no semblance of a traditional music your relation to the Tribe, however biography. The core communion idiosyncratic it is. He uses ATCQ’s between the artist, the listener and music as a springboard to uncover the world is the main narrative tool an unsure truth behind their impact, that binds all these moving parts wonderfully juggling tons of golden together, but is perhaps only evident nuggets of supplemental information to those who actively synthesize while never losing sight of the task at their interest in the music with hand. Abdurraqib asks a seemingly what they are reading on the page. simple question — “Is there more How you feel if given an exit survey to A Tribe Called Quest than their might directly depend on your level discography?” — only to stumble of familiarity with ACTQ. However, it doesn’t matter if you upon a wealth of answers. Since I didn’t live alongside A feel “Go Ahead in the Rain” was
‘Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest’
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
encyclopedic or inadequate. What matters is that it makes you feel something, because the thing so damn captivating about the Tribe is their timeless capacity to touch us any listener. A common criticism of the group nowadays is that they are corny, that it’s rap for your parents. The irony is that this criticism has been thrown at them for their entire lifespan. I think that says a lot — A Tribe Called Quest might not be for you, but at least you tried to listen to them, you had a clear experience with them, be you mother, son, father or daughter. Celebrity deaths don’t usually hit me hard, but the passing of Malik Izaak Taylor aka Phife Dawg challenged me in a way I was never familiar with. He was a core fixture of a group I immensely admired, but never associated with anything more than some damn good music — the same music that I got everyone bopping to in my high school art room. Back in my advanced art class senior year, we had free reign to take on any project. To make sense of Phife’s death, I decided my next endeavor would be a tribute, a dual portrait of Q-Tip and Phife united in brotherhood. But because of my misguided laziness and the reality that deadlines are a fickle mistress, I only ended up drawing Q-Tip solo, and my tribute felt hollow. I have always found myself mesmerized by Q-Tip’s craft: I had never felt the betrayal that Abdurraqib felt when he learned Tip was the most responsible for Tribe’s inevitable break-up. On one of those late nights painstakingly sketching the countless strands of straw composing his hat, Thank You 4 Your Service dropped. I immediately bought it on iTunes (I know, something unheard of in today’s day and age of streaming). I needed to own this album: It wasn’t enough to just look it up on Spotify, a place where its continued existence is not fully guaranteed. The greatest impression I had after my first listen was that the album is a bridge
between the past and future, life and death. To Hanif, who never “wanted another Tribe Called Quest album” before “Phife died,” “it was even greater than (he) could ever ask for.” To me, it was the old guard’s way of formally passing the torch to the rap I grew up with, those like “Joey, Earl, Kendrick and Cole,” as shouted out on “Dis Generation.” If I had to describe “Go Ahead in the Rain” using only one Tribe song, it would be “Black Spasmodic,” a cut off the second half of Thank You 4 Your Service. Tip’s verse on the song is very much trying to make sense of Phife’s death, using his words to summon Phife’s own spirit “through mixing chords and boards and even drum machines.” His verse ends: “Live the Tribe principle of having impeccable taste Enjoy that breath like that one was your last one left If you don’t believe me, Tip, there’s truly life after death So refer to the Biggie covers and shout out my Trini brothers And please check in on my mother Malik Izaak, call me shorty.” It seems Malik’s death was the impetus for Abdurraqib to write “Go Ahead in the Rain,” his way of making sense of it. We are blessed with him giving the Tribe everything he could, acting a lovely curator and chronicler of all things A Tribe Called Quest. Abdurraqib reminds us that the soul of the group was always one to be shared, then and now, between Hanif and me, through speakers in art rooms and headphones on bus rides, to anyone willing to hear.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
‘Murakami’ to be magical ‘Complex Rhythms’ stuns ALIX CURNOW Daily Arts Wrtier
Suspended on top of a metal ladder breaching into the ceiling of the Newman Studio at the Walgreen Drama Center, was Theatre and Drama professor, Tzveta Kassabova. “Can I just drop this tire first? Before the interview?” she called down to me. “Of course! Absolutely!” I exclaimed in response, excited to be witness to a bit of theatrical magic as a large tire fell from the darkness of the ceiling with a simple flick of a rope. Tzveta cheered in admiration at the contraption having worked, and went to hug her set designer Niki White. With less than a week left until the opening of the devised show “Murakami by the Sea,” the entire studio was buzzing with hands busy at work. “And then I realized that the deep darkness inside me had vanished. Suddenly. As suddenly as it had come. I raised myself from the sand and, without bothering either to take off my shoes or roll up my cuffs, walked into the surf to let the waves lap at my ankles,” are the brilliant words of Haruki Murakami, a Japanese writer, whose short stories and novels have influenced people across the world. His writings are the foundation of the devised show “Murakami by the Sea.” Tzveta Kassabova, the director of the piece, speaks of the visceral feelings that can be found in specific moments such as the ones Murakami addresses in the above passage. “I find it beautiful that sometimes things happen in one moment. You don’t even necessarily know how it happened but you understand that singular moment, made everything very different.” In the rehearsal process, Kassabova has been working with the actors to create life-altering moments like these, on the stage. “A lot
during the rehearsals. While this can be creatively exciting, it can also be difficult. Dubin explains the difficulties he found during the process: “It’s no joke that this can be frustrating and most of the time things don’t make sense in our head,” says Dubin. “One thing our dramaturge (Teresa Kovacs) would say is that there’s a human need to want the questions to be answered. She told us that we should enjoy the questions we have and allow them to push us forward. Maybe we will find the answers, but in away our goal is to end this process with more questions. If you give an audience answers and you make it easier for them, Th. Feb. 14 @ 7 p.m. it’s more likely that Fri. Feb. 15 @ 7 p.m. they’ll forget about it. Even if someone sees Fri. Feb. 15 @ 11 p.m. ‘Murakami by the Sea’ and they don’t Sat. Feb. 16 @ 7 p.m. understand what’s Sun. Feb. 17 @ 2 p.m. going on, it’s more valuable to let an Walgreen Drama Center audience go and be able Free to confidently say that they’re questioning.” Audience members are encouraged to enter into this show not expecting to find answers, but rather partaking in the development new ideas and queries about life of the show. Sam Dubin, to ruminate upon. “It becomes Sophomore BFA Acting major a part of you,” Dubin says of and an actor in “Murakami by devising theatre. “You care the Sea,” explained what the about it, and you put so much rehearsal process was like for of yourself into it, sometimes it him: “We met a month before can hurt you, in a way. Seeing it we started rehearsals and the leave so quickly like that. It can entire cast and crew had dinner hurt you.” After this February together and talked about our weekend, the actors will have relationship to the text to begin left the stage. The set will be with and our expectations taken down, falling tire and all. with the text moving forward,” The stage managers notes will he explained. The rehearsal be tucked away. But one thing process of a devised piece is not will always remain: what was the same rehearsal process of a felt along the way. Moments scripted play. There are no lines found on the stage that provoke given to actors to memorize new emotions, new connections, at the beginning, no character new questions, provide the objectives to configure. Actors audience and creative team create the story with the rest alike, an opportunity to leave of the ensemble in the room, the experience changed. of it is setting circumstances so that something can happen,” she began, “It’s a blank slate starting from scratch. We all (the cast and crew) read the short stories and researched images that we then can create with. We started to play improvisational games, that set the structure for certain moments to occur. Nothing is forced in this, it just happens.” A devised piece of theatre is a process of theatre creation in which the whole team: Actors, directors, designers, etc. are
‘Murakami by the Sea’
SAMMY SUSSMAN Daily Arts Wrtier
Throughout the performing arts, diversity initiatives are beginning to take on historical problems in representation — particularly regarding directors, choreographers, conductors and others important to and yet removed from the performance process. This past weekend, the Department of Dance demonstrated their dedication to diversity with “Complex Rhythms,” a multi-work performance featuring three works by women of color. The evening spanned four works: “7 x 12 And A Little Bit of Cha-Cha,” “Studio A, will you die with me?,” “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs” and “Shelter.” Two of the works, “7 x 12 And A Little Bit of Cha-Cha” and “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs” were choreographed by SMTD professors; the other two were by guest artists. The evening opened with Professor Robin Wilson’s “7 x 12 And A Little Bit of ChaCha,” featuring the music of Marwan Amen-Ra, Alina Moor and SMTD Lecturer of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation, Marion Hayden. Though it began with singing and limited movement, the work quickly morphed into a vibrant, colorful display. The dancers wore simple costumes of bright and solid colors. The cast of 12 traversed the stage from left to right, sometimes diverging into smaller groups and solo moments. At one point, the ensemble began walking repeatedly across the stage. As they continued walking, their motions went from simple to expressive, elaborate to profound. Motions that once represented walking began to represent dance. This was my favorite moment of the work, the moment at which human aspects of the elaborate, eye-catching choreography became apparent to me.
The second work, “Studio A, will you die with me?,” was a solemn, thought-provoking meditation on race. As the choreographer described in the program, “‘Studio A, will you die with me?’ is a fire ritual that works to disrupt the anti-black, heteronormative and capitalist structures that live within the fabric of Western dance studios and dance curriculums.” The work began with a long blue sheet being drawn across the front of the stage and giant metal racks with candles on them being placed in the back. This blue sheet was quickly covered in miniscule sparkling objects that I can only assume were stones. The dancers, wearing neutral grey/green clothing, moved slowly across the stage. After a little while, they put on sparkling masks that all but completely obscured the facial region. This, combined with the dim lighting, made individual identities all but unidentifiable. And while one member of the ensemble performed an impressive and elaborate dance, the others moved slowly and deliberately, their lack of motion perhaps representing more than their motion. The finish was truly unforgettable. The music ended, the cast pulled off their masks and the audience sat in rapt attention. As the ensemble cleaned up the cloth and wheeled off the candles, the audience sat in silence, processing the poignant, complex work that had just occurred. The third work was “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs” by Professor Bill DeYoung. It featured a recording of Leonard Bernstein’s “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs” by the University Symphony Band conducted by Professor Michael Haithcock. The set was magnificent, containing individual points of light and grey rectilinear shapes mimicking an urban skyline on a starry night. The dancing, much like the music,
reflected big band jazz taken to a hectic, almost frenetic extreme. Piercing jazz lines and frantic blues riffs were matched with busy ensemble motions and energetic solo moments. The dancers’ stamina was on display, as they managed to maintain for ten minutes what few could for one minute. After a short intermission, percussionist Marwan Amen-Ra returned to the stage accompanied this time by Professor (and in this instance narrator) Robin Wilson for Jawole Willa Jo Zillar’s “Shelter.” Wilson and Department of Dance Chair, Anita Gonzalez, were both part of the original 1988 performance, a performance attended to address “the suffering and isolation of homelessness” according to dramaturge Efe Osagie, who is a Michigan in Color editor for The Daily. The work had been modified following Hurricane Katrina to address those made homeless as a result of this storm; this was the version of the work being presented. The performance was simple, yet profound. As Wilson read simple poetry and prose, the percussionist and the dancers evoked the struggle of these people. It was mournful at times, violent at others. It built to great heights, with dancers convulsing on the ground as the percussion aggressively beat time. And it traversed considerable lengths, the deliberacy of motion never ebbing though the intensity waned. Though it ostensibly lasted over twenty minutes, it was engaging to the point where I lost track of time. It was a fitting end to the night and a stunning testament to the works of those outside the traditional canon of Western dance, particularly women of color. It was both a reminder for the need to increase the diversity of the performing arts and an example of the amazing work being done by those within the canon.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, February 13, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
FILM REVIEW
‘PEN15’ is grossly uncomfy and relatively unwatchable MAXWELL SCHWARZ Daily Arts Wrtier
WARNER BROS.
‘Lego Movie 2’ was dull IAN HARRIS
Daily Arts Wrtier
Not all movies need sequels. Movies whose entire premises are based around huge twists really don’t need sequels. It’s a shame then that 2014’s “The Lego Movie” simply made too much money to condemn it to only child status. “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” attempts to live up to the high bar set by the original, but stumbles mightily along the way. Picking up right where the first film left off, returning writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“SpiderMan: Into the Spider-Verse”) waste no time at all dropping the audience right back into the world of normal-special g uy Emmet and his various LEGO-based friends. The animation is still brisk and colorful. The characters are still funny and charming. The ending is arg uably just as emotionally resonant as the first film’s. And yet, despite all of that, something never quite feels right with this second chapter of the brick-based film franchise. Maybe it’s the fact that a huge part of what the first film so successful was the shocking originalit y of it. When the original “Lego Movie” was first announced it was assumed it would be nothing more than a 90 minute commercial for toys, and while it was that to a deg ree, it was also a welltold story about creativit y, fathers and sons and the pain of g rowing up. “The Lego Movie 2” goes all-in on the meta fourth-wall-breaking twist that defined the ending of “The Lego Movie.” But,
you can’t do the same gag twice, and the film feels half baked and empt y because of it. The plot is extraordinarily simple, even for a kids movie. After his friends are captured by the seemingly evil aliens of the “Systar System” Chris Pratt’s dweeby Emmet must team up with a parody of
‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ Warner Bros. Ann Arbor 20+ IMAXw
Chris Pratt’s more recent action hero characters (such as Star-Lord of “Guardians of the Galaxy”) in order to rescue them before “Ourmomageddon” is unleashed. The villain of the first film was the father. It’s not hard to see where “The Lego Movie 2” is going. Unlike the first movie, the writers never appear to be exactly keeping their cards close to their chest. The main plot drags on and on, with none of the main characters seeming to have quite enough to do. Wyldst yle (Elizabeth
Banks, “Pitch Perfect 3”), Batman (Will Arnett, “Arrested Development”) and Emmet’s other friends spend most of the movie trapped in the Systar System without anything interesting to do. Emmet himself mostly meanders around the LEGO cosmic universe without much of an urgency to his actions or a clear path to achieving his goal. The gag of Chris Pratt playing different versions of himself is funny at first but wears thin quickly, and like the other third act twists, its denouncement is predictable. Musical numbers abound, much more so than were previously present. While these numbers are all fairly interesting in and of themselves, they stop the narrative completely in its tracks. The film never totally justifies its decision to become a half-musical, and although there is a reason for it in-story, it’s an open question whether this particular LEGO movie might have been better off if they had just gone all the way with it and made “The Lego Movie: The Musical.” As it stands, this second Lego movies that we do have accurately ref lects with it is like for children to play with Lego, because the story comes across as though it was completely made up as its writers went along. Thematically it doesn’t tie together nearly as well as the original “Lego Movie” and many characters feel lost in the shuff le. The potential and enormit y of the world that existed in “The Lego Movie” is gone. The spark is dead: onto the next one.
DAILY HUMOR COLUMN
What to do on Valentine’s Day: Don’t watch the film Valentine’s Day is a day invented by the capitalist patriarchy to ensure single girls feel sad and alone one day a year. Well — news flash — we always feel sad and alone. I know it is tempting, but please, for the sake of humanity do not watch the movie “Valentine’s Day” this Valentine’s Day. On the surface it seems apropos, I mean the movie is basically instructing you when and how to watch it. When being on Valentine’s Day and how is by yourself and buried in Hershey Kisses wrappers. But really there is no good time to watch “Valentine’s Day” because it is the worst. It was the first and last time Taylor Swift was ever in a movie because “The Giver” does not count. But it was also how a) Taylor met Taylor (Lautner) and started their Taylor-filled Taylormultuous relationship and b) gave us the ballad that is “Back to December.” Also, let’s just talk about how everyone is in this movie but no one is good. It’s like if you make pie and fill it with things that individually taste good, then mix them all together in a dough of weak plot and flimsy characters. It will taste like a Nicholas Cage movie. Yeah, I like cookie dough and I like chicken nuggets, but I would never put them in
a pie together. Even if Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper become plane friends in your pie or Anne Hathaway plays a phone-sex operator in your pie or Ashton Kutcher lovingly delivers flowers to women who are not Mila Kunis in your
BECKY PORTMAN pie, it won’t make the pie taste good. And it certainly won’t encourage you to make another pie for another holiday (cough, cough “New Year’s Eve”). So, dear reader, here are some suggestions of things you can do this Valentine’s Day that doesn’t include watching the movie “Valentine’s Day.” Poke your eyes out with a Command hook. Then reapply the Command hook to the wall for its purpose of holding your bathrobe. Watch sports. They’re literally always on. Experiment with Satanism. Create a dating app for dogs.
Write the next great American novel. Like it’s hard? Become an ASMR YouTube sensation. Date Noah Centineo and have a very public, very dramatic breakup. Organize your desktop. Text your crush a questionably suggestive meme. Discover a deadly species of spider and name it after your ex. Drink blood. Ask your parents if you were an accident. Start communicating only via carrier pigeon. Find your long lost twin at summer camp and switch places to mess with Dennis Quaid. Look up pictures of Dennis Quaid. He has still got it Watch all 275 episodes of “Cheers.” Contemplate the existence of an afterlife. Create a shrine to Adam Driver in your closet. But you should do this anyways. Pose nude for an art class filled with your crushes. Do stand-up comedy. Replace all the faces in the Vatican with Chrissy Teigen grimacing at the 2016 Oscar’s. Befriend a quirky inventor, witness his murder and then travel back in time to ensure that your parents boink. Fuck it, just watch “Valentine’s Day.”
Middle school is the apex of discomfort. It is three years of mag nif ied displeasure and embarrassment, most of which are psycholog ically repressed and buried deep within our psyche — which makes it all the more baff ling that someone would not only suggest to revisit it, but also mag nif y how uncomfortable it is. Whatever their reasoning, they managed to convince a few other unfortunate souls. The terrif ying, disturbing and depressing result is “PEN15.” The show follows t wo friends, Maya (Maya Erskine, “Betas”) and Anna (Anna Konkle, “Rosewood”), as they start the seventh g rade together. The catch? Maya and Anna are played by adults, while the rest of the cast are acutal children ( because
The school lockers are plastered with “Dustin hearts Maya” and “Brandt hearts Maya” written on notebook paper
that won’t make anyone uncomfortable, right?). The premiere, “First Day,” shows their disastrous f irst day. The school lockers are plastered with “Dustin hearts Maya” and “Brandt hearts Maya” written on notebook paper. While Maya is at f irst lured into believing these boys “like-like” her, she is duped by the wicked popular kids, who christen her that year’s UGIS — the Ugliest Girl In School. In the end, she challenges Brandt (Jonah Beres, “Strange Nature”) to a trash-talking competition, where she almost stands up for herself. In the end, she claims his uncircumcised penis is the reason why his dad died. Yikes. For a comedy about the struggle of navigating pubescent politics, “PEN15” cannot even muster a chuckle. Most of the jokes operate off of Erskine and Konkle’s airheaded characters. However, their acting is so insufferable — their voices so irritating — that all the jokes land closer to the side of pit y than humor. It really is embarrassing to watch these t wo suspiciously youthf ul-looking women attempt to imitate middle schoolers. Their classmates — who are all played by children — are just as bad at acting. At least they have an excuse. Which brings me to the dynamic Erskine and Konkle share with their co-stars. One stereot ype of middle school the show nails is the f lirting and note-passing occuring bet ween children who are beg inning to understand their sexualities. “PEN15” does not shy away from incorporating the strange way children attempt to interact with one another. But, adult actors in their 30s f lirting with child actors is simply unpleasant. As child-like as Erskine and Konkle might seem, they still visibly look like adults, braces or not. For as much as the show
Classifieds
‘PEN15’ Hulu Series Premiere Now Streaming
lacks direction or humor, it also lacks conscience. The aforementioned scene wherein Maya says that Brandt’s uncircumcised penis is the reason why his dad died stands out for how uncomfortably shocking it was. Even worse, Maya suffers absolutely zero consequences for this. Brandt cries. Maya runs away. Then the next night, when Maya asks Anna if she was being too harsh, Anna asserts that no, she was not. Instead, Maya gets to erase her name off the UGIS list in the boys bathroom for a triumphant win. If there’s any thing “PEN15” does well, it’s capture the atmosphere of middle school. The awkward clothing choices, the uncertaint y about bras, passing notes and the strange way t weens and pre-teens talk to each other are all expertly captured here. Even the soundtrack is f ull of 2000s alt-classics. But “PEN15” also emulates the reason we’d like to forget middle school ever existed. The show is uncomfortable, disturbing and unsettling. The t wo lead actresses are so almost like middle schoolers — and yet so far — that it errs too close into the territor y of the uncanny valley. If it was at least f unny, there might be something to spare. But it isn’t. Instead, “PEN15” belongs in the land of psycholog ically repressed memories, never to resurface.
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
Release Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Lamb bearers 5 Common Vegas hotel room amenities 10 Tea holders 14 Herod sent them to Bethlehem 15 Full of energy 16 __ Day: Bayer vitamin brand 17 Faction 18 Cook’s reply to 37-Across? 20 Nightmarish street of film 21 Gimlet garnish 22 Dr. Reid in “Criminal Minds,” familiarly 23 Librarian’s reply to 37-Across? 26 Double Stuf treats 27 “That’s __ to me” 28 “__ and the Real Girl”: 2007 film 30 Operatic solos 32 Spook 34 Animal house 37 Insomniac’s lament 40 Canadian singer DeMarco 41 Of help 42 Slugger Barry 43 Big fusses 44 Remnant 45 Buffalo NHL player 48 Trainer’s reply to 37-Across? 53 Photographer Alda married to Alan 55 Prefix with pit or pool 56 Classic auto 57 Auditor’s reply to 37-Across? 59 Flamboyant Dame 60 Word spoken con affetto 61 Arroz con __: chicken dish 62 Horseback rider’s control 63 Globes 64 Cake raiser 65 Wilson of Heart et al. DOWN 1 Arson evidence, perhaps
2 Pixar film robot who falls in love with 8-Down 3 Vanity case? 4 [Not my bad] 5 Misters, in old India 6 Texas tourist spot 7 The cops 8 Robot who falls in love with 2-Down 9 Old salts’ haunts 10 Complexion aids 11 Ridiculous 12 Wafer maker 13 Sushi bar brews 19 Some exercise tops 21 Torts enrollee 24 Actor James or singer Jimmy 25 1971 Sutherland title role 29 Chilean year 30 Intent or intend 31 Nipper’s label 32 Bank job 33 NHL’s Thrashers 34 Meditation setting with rocks and gravel
35 Exhaustive ref. 36 Black __ 38 Sporty ’60s Pontiac 39 MGM mogul Marcus 43 Stadiums 44 Totalitarian leader 45 Vanzetti’s partner 46 Like Times Square on New Year’s Eve
47 Book jacket entry 49 Swift Northeast train 50 Ship stabilizers 51 Red Square honoree 52 34-Down teaching aids 54 Athlete’s award 58 Row maker 59 Pitcher’s stat
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Blake Slonecker ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/13/19
02/13/19
LARGE 3 BDRM at 119 E Liberty. Free washer and dryer, central air. Heart of Ann Arbor, 5 min walk to UM. Available for fall. $2400. Please contact 734 769 8555 or 734 277 3700.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 — 7A
Dilk still working through injury To be successful, Michigan baseball needs to be consistent ROHAN KUMAR Daily Sports Writer
KENT SCHWARTZ Daily Sports Writer
Last season, the Michigan baseball team got off to a horrid 4-11 start. It lost a three-game series to Lipscomb — which had just a .444 win percentage last season. The Wolverines were outscored by an average of 1.2 runs and posted a batting average of .230 while their opponents maintained an average of .255. Michigan had its worst moment, though, in its home opener, when they lost 8-3 to Lawrence Tech, an NAIA school that lost its final game by a score of 28-0 to the Indiana Institute of Technology. Yet, after that 8-3 loss to the Blue Devils, the Wolverines won their next 20 games, outscoring opponents by an average of 5 runs. During that win streak, Michigan found itself. Posting a team batting average of .317, their defense also found their groove. Its pitchers held opposing hitters to a .197 batting average and the team averaged 1.05 errors per game — at one point going four straight games without an error. “Just the consistency of the approach and the mindset,” said Wolverines coach Erik Bakich. “It’s one thing to get up for Big Ten play, it’s one thing to be able to have a lot of energy when the team is winning or has the lead in the game. It’s another to be able to bring it to training days, to be able to take care of the little things, keeping the locker room clean, going into the weight room and really getting after it and just competing in everything.” Then Michigan lost and kept losing. The Wolverines ended the season having won only one of their last six regular season games. Michigan’s batting average dropped to .205, while its opponents managed a .251
average, eventually leading to the Wolverines being outscored 35-16. The slump couldn’t have come at a worse time, as they quickly crashed out of the Big Ten tournament after three days, only winning one game: a tournament opening 2-1 victory over Iowa. Last year, most of the core players on the rollercoaster team were underclassmen, having lost 11 juniors to the MLB draft in the previous offseason. This year, the team returns eight defensive starters and 10 pitchers, as well as most of its offensive production. “I see a group of kids who’ve had another birthday, who’ve gotten stronger, who’ve become more physical,” Bakich said. “So I would like to think we’re capable of hitting for more power this year and I like to think some of our pitchers are going to be stronger, more durable. We’ve seen some bumps in velocity from some of our pitchers, and
they look more physical on the mound as well.” Stronger hitters and more durable pitchers will benefit this team, but if Michigan wishes to make as far of a run as its talent allows, it’ll also need to learn how to lessen the slumps and stay consistent. “I think this group has a lot of potential,” said Bakich. “On paper, at least, the pieces are there to have a special, magical type of season. We’ve got our goals set as high as you can set them, and in terms of how we’ve prepared and being around these guys every day, it feels like a championship team.” This season, the growth of their breakout freshmen and sophomores will need to not only come physically, but also mentally. If they can translate their experience from last year into taming the waves they go through, and finding a way to get hot towards the end of the season, perhaps the team can meet Bakich’s lofty expectations.
Daily Sports Writer
It wasn’t the most difficult matchup of the season, but it did provide the No. 4 Michigan wrestling team (10-1 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) an important opportunity. Coming off their first loss of the season at topranked Penn State, it was time to see if the Wolverines could process a loss and respond. As Drew Mattin reminded everyone, they absolutely can. By pinning Matthew Vinci at 4:04 into the match, the sophomore brought Michigan back to its winning ways in the team’s return to Cliff Keen Arena. The fall gave the Wolverines a lead they would never relinquish and Michigan shook off its first loss of the season, beating Northwestern (3-10 overall, 1-7 Big Ten) by the score of 30-9. The commanding win saw the Wolverines drop three matches — all by decision — while the seven victories included two decisions, three major decisions and two falls. Prior to Mattin’s match, the dual got off to an eventful start as freshman Mason Parris wrestled the Wildcats’ Conan Jennings. Down 5-2 to start the match’s final period, Parris escaped from the bottom position quickly to narrow the deficit to two points. An aggressive late push by Parris tied the match at five with 20 seconds remaining, eliciting
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman guard Amy Dilk remains day-to-day after injuring her right knee.
Early against the Nittany Lions, the Wolverines lacked direction again. They had a shaky start and picked up 22 turnovers — 13 of which came in the first half. “To try to adjust without your point guard took a little bit of time in the last two games,” Barnes Arico said. “The problem is at this point of year, we don’t have too many practices to start working on developing another point guard. But at least we have the next couple days to really get people ready to be in that position.” In the Penn State game, sophomore guard Deja Church, junior guard Akienreh Johnson and senior guard Nicole Munger shared most of the time running the offense. Barnes Arico plans to keep a rotation going — potentially giving freshman guard Danielle Rauch more reps, too — but looks to Church as the starter. “I think for each of them, they’re willing to take on that
She has a knee injury and she’s day-to-day right now.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior infielder Ako Thomas looks to spearhead Michigan’s offense in 2019.
‘M’ bounces back from lone loss OWEN SWANSON
The Michigan women’s basketball team finally has some momentum it desperately needed. Sunday’s win over Penn State was the team’s fourth-straight win and its second conference victory on the road. Prior to their victory over the Nittany Lions, the Wolverines (7-6 Big Ten, 16-9 overall) lost six out of nine games. So, things are trending up. There is one significant concern, though. Last Thursday, during the first quarter against Nebraska, freshman guard Amy Dilk went down with a right knee injury while attempting a floater. She hasn’t played since, and the status of her injury remains uncertain. In high school, she injured the same knee twice and had surgery. “She has a knee injury and she’s day-to-day right now,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico on Tuesday. “So, she’s out until she is back 100 percent.” From the moment the season started, Dilk has been the main starter at point guard. She logged 27 minutes in each of the first four contests and quickly transitioned to the pace of the college game. Since the new calendar year, she is averaging close to 36 minutes per night. When healthy, Dilk is a key asset to the Wolverines’ offense. She scores 7.6 points per game and has strong court vision that creates opportunities for her teammates. Though Michigan won its two games without Dilk, her absence had a clear impact on its ball handling abilities. Michigan committed 21 turnovers against the Cornhuskers — its most in a game since late December.
a roar from the packed Cliff Keen Arena crowd. It wouldn’t be enough, as Jennings earned a point from an escape and Parris’ late attempt at another takedown was unsuccessful upon video review. In the 133-pound class, Northwestern’s Sebastian Rivera was bumped up from the 125-pound category to compete with redshirt junior Stevan Micic. Both wrestlers are ranked atop their respective weight classes, and Rivera was bumped up moments before the match. But Micic had little trouble scoring and wrestled to a 10-4 decision regardless. “I didn’t really get to have a reaction (to the change in opponent). I was already on the mat,” Micic said. “I literally just turned around and shook his hand and wrestled. I treat every opponent the same way. Obviously you’ve gotta have some game plan, a little, but it’s hard, and you’re going to have to stick to your own way of wrestling. That’s most important.” Redshirt sophomore Kanen Storr followed Micic with a win by major decision to extend the Michigan lead to 13-3, but the Wolverines’ momentum was
halted by Shayne Oster’s decision victory over fifth-year senior Malik Amine. Coming out of the intermission, Michigan’s lead decreased when Alec Pantaleo lost to Ryan Deakin. The loss would be the Wolverines’ last and the Wildcats’ score never rose above nine, as redshirt junior Logan Massa promptly won by major decision. Michigan never looked back en route to its victory. In a meet full of impressive performances, though, sophomore Reece Hughes’ stands out among the rest. Wrestling above his weight, Hughes needed only 1:18 to earn six points and then pin his opponent to earn a fall. The Wolverines’ score subsequently vaulted to a seemingly insurmountable 23-9 margin. “When you’re going up (in weight), the pace tends to be a little bit slower, so I can keep the pace higher for longer,” Hughes said. “Usually with bumping up, like I’ve done a few times this year, I have to wear down the dude a little bit more, but this time I got in, I got a smooth shot, and I could finish quick, and then just went to work on top.” Redshirt freshman Jelani Embree and redshirt junior Jackson Striggow closed out the dual with a major decision and a decision, respectively. The four consecutive victories — including two major decisions and a pin — to finish the dual meet was a dominant end to a dominant performance by Michigan. “We were a little concerned coming off two weekends — really big opponents, really big arenas — that guys might not have their intensity as high as they need it (today),” said coach Sean Bormet. “So we talked about that during the week and I think overall they did a good job and responded really well.”
...they did a good job and responded really well.
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Redshirt junior Stevan Micic wrestled to a 10-4 decision this weekend.
role. But the responsibility of doing it 100 percent of the time is enormous,” Barnes Arico said. “And I think at this point in the season, for the best interest of our team it’s great to have different people there throughout the game. “And Deja obviously is gonna be the first one there, and I think she has the most experience there and I think she can definitely handle that role and I think she embraces that role.” Michigan’s three main options all bring something different to the table. As the veteran of the group, Munger is the most fundamentally sound. Her experience can help avoid mistakes in crunch time. Church is quick and excels at attacking the basket. Johnson brings size and hit her stride recently, scoring in double-figures twice this month. Regardless, time will tell how well those characteristics compensate for Dilk’s absence. “I can’t wait for (Dilk) to get back,” Barnes Arico said. The Wolverines though, have managed — at least in the short term — without her.
Wolverines face questions on offense AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA Daily Sports Writer
On Tuesday, the No. 17 Michigan softball team spent most of practice doing one drill: batting with the bases loaded. The Wolverines’ struggled against the nation’s elite, putting up a total of one run against then-No. 5 Florida and then-No. 7 Arizona while failing to drive baserunners home for much of the weekend. “The only question we asked them after the Florida game was, ‘What do you think people say when they watch you play?’ ” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “One of the words that came out of everybody’s mouth was timid. Well, timid is not really a good quality, you know, in a playing surface.” Added freshman outfielder Lexie Blair, “I feel like our first few games we were a bit tense up at the plate. We were just trying too hard, we’re thinking too much. And then I would say after the Florida game, our coach was just telling us to not think, swing with intent. We’ve been playing for such a long time, we know what we’re doing when we go out into the box.” By its last two games, the
Wolverines’ offense broke out of its cage, lighting up South Florida and Illinois State for 10 and 11 runs, respectively. But this resurgence very well could have been the result of playing unranked competition. “(Playing against top-ranked teams) is something you can’t let get to your head,” said junior outfielder Haley Hoogenraad. “And I think, personally, it did at times, but I caught myself.” But if Michigan has any hopes of being one of the best teams in the nation, it will need to replicate those performing against the likes of Florida and Arizona. Opening weekend also raised some positional questions for Hutchins, who still isn’t sure what to expect and who to rely on offensively. One of those glaring questions is who will play first base as the season progresses. Sophomore Taylor Bump started the first three games before senior Alex Sobczak got the nod against South Florida and Illinois State, but neither seemed to outperform the other at the plate. Hutchins, though, wants answers now, which means she will continue to experiment until she finds the
perfect fit. “First base is a hitting position, we all know, but you gotta be able to take care of the defense,” Hutchins said. “We gotta find a place for our best hitters. And first of all, I gotta figure out who the best hitters are.” With the Big Ten/ACC challenge coming up and more top-10 nonconference opponents to follow, the Wolverines will continue to be challenged. And if performances like those against Arizona and Florida occur again – when the lineup struggled to produce offense – it could raise bigger concerns for Michigan. Chief among those is whether the team has enough power to hang with the best of the best. With senior catcher Katie Alexander hitting the only Wolverine home runs this past weekend, Hutchins hopes to find that power throughout the rest of the lineup. This could possibly mean playing one of the catchers at first base or Hutchins could try freshman infielder Morgan Overaitis who went 3-for-9 with three RBIs as a designated hitter. For now, though, she’ll just have to wait and watch.
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins lamented her team’s offensive inconsistency in the season-opening series.
Sports
8A — Wednesday, February 13, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
State College stunner Beilein ejected for first time at Michigan, frustrations spill over in ugly upset loss at Penn State, 75-69 JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Editor
STATE COLLEGE — The Michigan men’s basketball team ran out of the tunnel, but this time John Beilein did not join them. Near the end of the Wolverines’ worst half of the season, Zavier Simpson fell, the recipient of a hard screen from Penn State’s Jamari Wheeler. Rasir Bolton, who Simpson had been guarding, easily flipped in a runner as time expired. The Nittany Lions led, 40-27, and Beilein was fed up. Fed up with poor shooting. Fed up with sloppy ball control. Fed up with lackluster defense. And in this moment, fed up with the officials. He shouted towards them and was hit with a technical foul in response. Then another. For just the second time in his 41-year coaching career, Beilein was ejected. One half after losing its head coach, Michigan lost its third game of the season — falling, 75-69, to Penn State (2-11 Big Ten, 9-15 overall). “There will be some pretty interesting discussions with the Big Ten office,” Beilein said. “But what I will say is, you guys know I don’t get upset with officials.” Beilein’s rare frustration was the culmination of 20 minutes of malaise for the sixth-ranked Wolverines (11-3, 22-3). It began when Wheeler caught the opening tip-off, raced to the basket, and laid in the first points of the night. Six minutes later, Lamar Stevens muscled home an and-one to put the Nittany Lions up, 17-9. Stevens, the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer, was a menace, scoring with ease inside. Playing as a small-ball
‘5’, Stevens consistently beat the bigger Jon Teske, normally one of the nation’s best post defenders, to the tune of 26 points. The Wolverines often go as their point guard goes, and for Simpson, it was a night to forget. Like many of Michigan’s opponents have done, Penn State sagged off the junior and dared him to beat them from outside. He couldn’t, missing all four of his first-half attempts. Simpson’s decision-making, meanwhile, was at its worst. He had six turnovers, his errant passes often sailing deep into the stands. It wasn’t just Simpson — before Beilein’s ejection, the picture of the Wolverines’ first half was Charles Matthews, arms outstretched, exasperated at sophomore guard Eli Brooks for being out of position to collect a pass. “Credit Penn State,” Beilein said. “They got us out of sync. They’ve gone to more of a downhill attack, they’re more of an isolation team, they just isolate, isolate, isolate. And at the other end, their press, they can turn you over, and the switching of every ball screen was brilliant.” With assistant Saddi Washington taking over the head coaching duties at halftime, the Wolverines fought their way back. Eight minutes into the half, they went on a 12-2 run to cut their deficit to five, capped off with a Matthews turnaround in the lane. Matthews did all he could, mixing three treys with his usual repertoire of mid-range jumpers to keep Michigan in striking distance. He scored 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting, looking very much like the player who willed the Wolverines to a win over Wisconsin last Saturday. After a
Nittany Lion spurt, he splashed a 3-pointer with a hand in his face, making the score 60-54 with five minutes left. But Stevens kept Michigan at bay by swatting away two transition layups in a row, and with 3:19 remaining, Mike Watkins placed the dagger with a turnaround over Teske. From there, the Nittany Lions salted away the upset at the foul line. “They punked us,” Matthews said. “They punked us. Simple as that. They outrebounded us by 10. Twelve offensive rebounds — you’re not winning a game giving a team 12 offensive rebounds.” For the Nittany Lions, it was the high point in a down season. For the Wolverines, it was the third time they trudged away as euphoric students rushed the court. But this time — from a oncein-a-blue-moon ejection, to being handled by a conference bottom-dweller — was by far the most unexpected.
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
STATE COLLEGE — The ball fell through the net and Luke Yaklich’s head slumped over his body, hands falling forward, then everything else moving with it, the assistant coach’s posture shaping into an upside-down L. It was just over three minutes into Tuesday night’s game and Jordan Poole had started to run back in transition. Zavier Simpson instead turned it over, leaving Myles Dread uncovered. He proceeded to hit a 3-pointer, and for Michigan, things went downhill from there. The Wolverines’ defense — one Yaklich has helped build to the heights of a national title contender — came into State College ranked second in the country in adjusted efficiency. In the first half, it got rocked to the tune of 1.29 points per possession, and that wasn’t the biggest thing that went wrong in Michigan’s 75-69 loss to Penn State.
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews said Penn State “punked” his team.
John Beilein got ejected for the first time in roughly 40 years. A second-half comeback fell short as the Wolverines couldn’t find a good shot after gaining control of the game. Poole’s shooting slump continued with a 1-of-8 performance from beyond the arc. The Nittany Lions took it to Michigan on the offensive boards. This against a team that earned its second Big Ten win on Tuesday, whose student section wasn’t big enough to cover the court when they stormed it. It was, you might say, a wake-up call. The Wolverines haven’t played with a deficit like the 16 points they were down after Rasir Bolton hit three technical free throws to start the second half. They haven’t faced adversity like Beilein watching the second half on TV from a room inside the bowels of Bryce Jordan Center. It showed. “We have to have more discipline,” said assistant coach Saddi Washington, who replaced Beilein in the second half. “Defensive end, I think we gave up two — at least three, maybe even four fouls on 3-point shots. Which were big. I don’t know how many of them they converted from the free throw line, but just little things like that.” This loss was about more than John Beilein getting ejected, and it was about more than a few calls going against the Wolverines. Michigan is at a crossroads in its season. No longer is it invincible — three court-stormings, one at the building of the league’s bottomfeeder, saw to that. Instead, it has lost two of four. Its offense seems to have leveled out, and defense can’t win every game. Thus, days like Tuesday, where someone other than Charles Matthews needs to score in crunch-time and nobody can until it’s too late. Some of that will get solved
inherently — Jordan Poole won’t stay in a shooting slump forever. At times on Tuesday though, he tried to shoot himself out of it, jacking a pull-up two late in the first half. In his seat on the bench, Beilein leaned all the way back, arms crossed. The shot fell out. That, too, won’t work. “He’s really a good 3-point shooter,” Beilein said. “He has gotta keep working on maybe taking the right shots. But I think there’s something that, right on, every slump — every guy’s gonna go through these times, where you have none of those 1-for-something games.” After Tuesday, the Wolverines sit tied with Michigan State in the Big Ten standings, on the back of December and January wins. Their goals are bigger than the Big Ten though. Right now, meeting them requires something more — far more — than whatever Tuesday was. The job of explaining that fell to redshirt junior Charles Matthews, who stood in a back hallway postgame donning a gray sweatshirt, stat-sheet in hand, voice low. “We gotta be better than that as a collective group,” Matthews said. People talk about coach B getting ejected, that had nothing to do with it. We gave up 34 free throws attempts. You’re not winning a game, you can’t guard that. That’s 23 free points right there.” Matthews has a year of eligibility left, but at this point, seems unlikely to exercise it. It went unspoken after the loss, but everyone understood — this is probably his last, best chance to win a national title. To do so, Michigan needs to get over the hump it found itself struggling with in State College. Fast. “Time is running short,” Matthews said. “It ain’t no more, ‘We’ll fix it later.’ Time is now.”
No luck Michigan surrenders early flurry of goals, falls to 15th-ranked Fighting Irish in South Bend, 5-2 BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND — Just 27 seconds into the Michigan hockey team’s game at No. 15 Notre Dame (15-10-3 overall, 8-8-2-2 Big Ten), junior forward Will Lockwood was sent to the penalty box for interference. One minute and 44 seconds later, forward Dylan Malmquist fired a shot from the right circle that went over junior goaltender Hayden Lavigne’s shoulder. After taking a penalty so early in the game, the Wolverines (12-12-6, 8-8-4-2) found themselves in a hole they couldn’t climb out of. “We took penalties that weren’t saving goals or protecting teammates,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “They were selfish. You can’t do that on the road against a good team.” The Fighting Irish added two goals in under a minute in the second period to put the game firmly out of reach for Michigan, who lost, 5-2. At the end of the first period, the Wolverines trailed by two goals but appeared to be close to cutting into Notre Dame’s lead. Shots on goal favored the Fighting Irish, 8-7, but Michigan’s chances were good looks that goaltender Cale Morris — who ranks 11th in the nation in save percentage — was able to stop. The Wolverines killed off a penalty that carried over from the opening stanza to start the second period and from there took control of the game for a few minutes. They generated breakaway chances, worked to keep the puck in the offensive zone and put pressure on Morris. Despite that pressure, it wasn’t until Lockwood picked up the puck at center ice that Michigan had a ‘Grade-A’ scoring opportunity. Lockwood weaved his way through three defenders from the neutral zone and found himself all alone in front of Morris. Lockwood waited until Morris bit before releasing his shot. The puck bounced off one of the posts
and into the net. For a moment, the Wolverines were firmly within striking distance. “They were going for a line change and it was delayed offsides,” Lockwood said. “I think (senior defenseman Joseph Cecconi) was just screaming to get up as fast as I can. Saw a lane, I think there was a pick at the blueline or something. Two guys ran into each other. Fortunately enough, kinda just went down (on) a breakaway.” But 50 seconds later, forward Jake Pivonka fired a shot through the legs of senior defenseman Nicholas Boka that found twine behind Lavigne. And under a minute after that, forward Michael Graham scored off a faceoff win for Notre Dame. “It’s pretty devastating,” Lockwood said. “We’ve gotta learn to find momentum when it’s not there. That’s something we gotta work on.” The game that appeared to be in reach for Michigan suddenly wasn’t, trailing 4-1 entering the third period. The Wolverines had a chance to cut into Notre Dame’s lead with about 10 minutes to go in the final period when Cecconi sent the puck in from the blueline. It ended up loose in the crease and Morris had moved to the outside — there was a wide-open net for Michigan. But there wasn’t a Wolverine in the area to clean up the rebound, and Michigan’s best chance of the period to that point was neutralized. From there, the Wolverines lost their composure. Cecconi — Michigan’s captain — took two penalties in the final stanza and seconds after he left the box, sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes slashed a Notre Dame player. “Disappointed (with the penalties), especially from our leaders,” Pearson said. “You can’t do that. Things aren’t going to go your way and you have to maintain your focus. You have to continue to play for the team and you can’t take things personally in your own
end.” While on the penalty kill, freshman forward Garrett Van Wyhe picked up a loose puck at the blueline. Defenseman Bobby Nardella slipped and fell trying to stop Van Wyhe from having a oneon-none breakaway and Van Wyhe buried a shot five-hole on Morris. But on the very next shift, Notre Dame came back down the ice and tallied its second power-play goal of the game. Just when Michigan had hope, the Fighting Irish once again eliminated that hope within just a few seconds. “Disappointed just (with) how things unraveled in the third period,” Pearson said. “We lost our cool. We lost our composure. We lost our discipline and you can’t do that. Things aren’t gonna go your way each and every night. You’re gonna have some adversity and its how you deal with it.” After earning their first sweep of the Big Ten season last weekend, the Wolverines certainly found adversity in South Bend. And with just four regular season games left, Michigan may run out of time to learn to deal with that adversity.
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND — On the penalty kill, a shot. On the power play, a shot. On even-strength, a shot. No matter if it played with a man-advantage, man disadvantage or at even strength, the Michigan hockey team couldn’t prevent Notre Dame from getting a shot off. And five times, Hayden Lavigne couldn’t prevent those shots from becoming a goal. The junior goaltender saw 23 shots at him in a 5-2 loss. He saved just 19 for a save percentage of .826. The first shot Lavigne faced set the tone for the night. On a power play mere seconds into the game, the Fighting Irish relentlessly pursued an early lead. They were met with airtight defense from the Wolverines that prevented any shots until the penalty neared a close. The first shot Michigan allowed — a slapshot from the faceoff point — found the back of the net. Looking for an answer, the Wolverines saw their chance
to retaliate when Notre Dame’s forward Mike O’Leary was called for high-sticking. Michigan, though, failed to exploit the one-man advantage. Freshman defenseman Jack Summers couldn’t contain a pass to the blue line, which leaked for a Notre Dame breakaway. The Fighting Irish’s Pierce Crawford raced down the ice and was met by senior Nicholas Boka at his side. Taking it strong to the slot, Crawford finished the chance given to him with a simple over the shoulder wrister that extended the Notre Dame lead to two. “You need your goalies to step up and make a save here and there for you,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “... We left him in after it was 2-0. They had two goals on four shots. One was a breakaway and they had a good look on a power play.”
It’s hard to put all the fault on the goaltender when he has to defend against a power play and a breakaway — situations that inherently put netminders at a disadvantage. Instead of pulling Lavigne from the game, Pearson gave him the benefit of the doubt. “I wanted to let him battle through it,” Pearson said. “It wasn’t all on him. I just wanted to give him some confidence and see what he would do.” Lavigne, in turn, “gave the team a chance to get back into the game.” “But he made some good saves at the start of the second period to give us a chance,” Pearson said. “And we did, we made it 2-1.” That was the end of the chance. Lavigne subsequently let in two goals, one on a push immediately after the Wolverines’ first goal. It was a drive down the ice that gave Jake Pivonka a one-on-one situation with Boka. Setting an unintentional screen on Lavigne, Boka could only watch as the puck sailed past him and Lavigne to return the deficit to two. Lavigne’s failures to stop standard shots continued to increase once Notre Dame tacked on another, a goal that was deflected in immediately after a faceoff win. “They’re just going in easy,” Pearson said. “And we were just starting to play well and they found the back of the net, and you’re just going to need that goaltending. You can’t give up four goals in a period and a half and expect to win on the road.” Power play, breakaway, off a screen and deflected in — encompass all the ways in which the Fighting Irish scored on Lavigne. He saved the shots he should have saved but ultimately failed to save the ones that mattered.
You can’t give up four goals in a period and a half...
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior goaltender Hayden Lavigne gave up four goals in less than two periods, which put the Wolverines in an early hole.
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | FE B RUA RY 1 3 , 2019
Last in line: University climate policy faces re-evaluation ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN KUZEE PHOTO BY ANNIE KLUSENDORF
2B
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 // The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | FE B RUA RY 1 3 , 2019
Managing Statement Editor Andrea Pérez Balderrama Deputy Editors Matthew Harmon Shannon Ors
Designers Liz Bigham Kate Glad Copy Editors Miriam Francisco Madeline Turner
No more pasta, please
Photo Editor Annie Klusendorf Editor in Chief Maya Goldman Managing Editor Finntan Storer
BY MICHELLE KIM, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
I
begged my mom to pack me American food for lunch every day. I wanted perfectly prepared meals with sliced green apples in a brown bag and a cute note on the napkin. Almost every day from elementary school to high school graduation I ate either turkey and Swiss or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I prayed that she didn’t run out of time in the morning and resort to slapping sticky white rice with bulgogi beef into a container because on days like this, I knew I would be eating alone. In the cafeteria, my peers would crowd around me and point at my main meal of the school day. They would sometimes pick it up and pass it around, bring it up to their faces for inspection, and eventually toss it back to me, calling it smelly and weird. These moments never ended. Even in high school someone glared at my pierogies and yelled across the table, “Ew, what is that? You brought dumplings to school?!” I dealt with this pain and discomfort by stubbornly convincing myself I didn’t like Korean food. I stopped eating with my family at dinner, instead making my own pasta and taking it up to my room. I didn’t accept any of the homemade dishes my grandma made, and let my sister eat it all. I didn’t go out to eat at Korean restaurants, afraid that people would be able to smell the kimchi on my jacket afterwards. Before friends came over, I walked through my kitchen and hid anything Korean in the cabinets for the perfect facade. My disillusioned self believed and desperately hoped that if I just rejected everything Korean, including food, I would one day wake up white
and life would be simple and easy. Then I went to college and started having late night cravings for my mom’s kkori gomtang” (oxtail soup). When I was up late studying for an exam, I couldn’t stand the idea of eating even one more microwavable mac and cheese. I missed studying at home, where my mom would come into my room with a plate of Asian pears perfectly skinned, cut and arranged into a circle. I missed my family, a place of belonging and familiar food. In college, I stopped caring about what I ate in front of other people. As soon as the option of Korean food was gone, I desperately craved it. I started to understand what my parents had meant when they said Korean food had so much more flavor and variety. I realized I had been in on this secret the whole time — the secret concoction of tasty yet healthy food, a composition of ingredients and tastes unique to the Korean people. I explained to friends that Korean food was more than just barbecue — Buddha bowls are a rip off of bibimbop, you can get poke bowls for half the price at the Korean grocery store, and soju has always been extremely popular — just not in America. I had been part of this secret club, but by the time I finally let myself enjoy it, when I could finally breathe, it was too late. I was in college, hundreds of miles away from home and from my mom’s food. I craved Korean food so much that I started mixing together random ingredients and reminders of my childhood. Hidden on a shelf at Kroger, I found a small carton of gochujang (red chili paste). I mixed that with microwavable sticky white rice and gim (dried seaweed) from Amazon Pantry. I close my eyes and savor the very slight taste of childhood in this pathetic mélange of ingredients. As I stand in the kitchen hoping that the bowl in my hands will turn into something much tastier, I am sad that I can’t have the food of my upbringing, and I am regretful that I rejected it when it was available to me. I am ashamed that I denied my family and my culture. I am also confused on as to why I ever thought Doritos tasted better than Korean shrimp crackers. When I am homesick or stressed, more than anything I want my grandma’s home cooked meals with fresh produce straight from her garden — the truest form of farm to table. I miss the Korean grocery store where the nice employees would give me extra samples of the fish cakes and my dad would let me buy Korean chips against my
mom’s rules. Non-Koreans probably don’t know the relief of smelling ramen with fresh scallions and poached egg cooking in the kitchen instead of hot cocoa after playing in the snow. Nights in meant baked yams that were so sweet and delicious they didn’t need marshmallows or any other toppings found in the candy aisle. Nights out meant driving 45 minutes to go to our favorite soondubu jjigae (spicy soft tofu stew) restaurant and laughing for hours on end. I reminisce about shaved ice with red bean paste and an assortment of toppings after playing in the backyard. Even when I was sweating and overheated, I used to swat my dad’s hand away and insist on spinning the ice shaving machine by myself. Then when we ate buldak (fire chicken), I would grab him for help as I both cried and laughed from the spiciness. My family would coach me through the pain, as learning to handle extremely spicy food is a sign of being a true Korean. These were the times when no one ridiculed me and made me feel different for what I ate because I was only surrounded by my family. I never had to explain myself to anyone because my family understood me, inside and out. It was only when I started elementary school and opened doors to people outside my home that I suddenly felt so vulnerable and abnormal. I didn’t understand what I had done wrong for people to outcast me, and dealt with the frustration and loneliness in a futile way. When I left home and got sick for the first time in college, I fully realized that no one would ever love me as much my family does. While I was doubled over, they weren’t there to bring homemade rice porridge to my bed. Back home, someone used to always bring it on a tray, set with a glass of water and the exact amount of medicine I would need for the rest of the night. As the years went by and the decorations on my walls changed from Jonas Brothers posters to a Michigan flag, my family was always the first to take care of me. The rice porridge was all I wanted when I was sick and that’s still all I want. For now, I have random Korean snacks and recipes I try to compile, even with no Korean grocery store nearby, and I am trying to make up for lost time and memories by learning, asking and participating every time I am home. Now when I go home, my mom picks me up from the airport and we go straight to a Korean restaurant. I sit with her and my grandma, the three generations making dumplings together. I drive to my grandma’s house and ask her about her childhood in Korea as I eat the japchae (glass noodles) she makes for me. I am trying to watch Korean movies without subtitles so I can re-learn the language. I am still trying to apologize for the times I was too embarrassed of my Asian identity to walk next to my parents in public. I am apologizing for a lot, but I am also trying to learn. The one thing I know for sure is that I will never again say no to the food my family offers me. To reject their food is to reject their love, and I have spent too many years already selfishly doing just that. ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 // The Statement
3B
SuperBowl LIII: CBS wins big, Bud Light defeated A
fter the Patriots and the Rams kicked off the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in its 53-year history, ad space became as scrutinized as the space between Rams wide receiver Brandin Cooks and the ball in the third quarter. Whether you were wearing a Brady or Goff jersey at Charley’s last Sunday night, rivalries united during commercial breaks to watch the notorious Super Bowl ads. From the Backstreet Boys promoting Doritos, to Amazon Alexa controlling all the electricity on planet Earth, corporate America went above and beyond to entertain. Toyota and Google were among those that used their 30 seconds of fame to contribute to the ongoing national discussion on diversity and inclusion. Some could argue that the ads were more eventful than the 13-3 score. It is well known that each player takes home a nice bonus check for even stepping foot into Mercedes-Benz Stadium — $118,000bonus for each Patriots player and $59,000 for each Rams player according to CNBC. This amounts to a huge pay raise for some players, but pocket change for those like Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, whose average annual salary amounts to $22.5 million. While Donald has to work for an entire year to earn that sum, the real moneymaker is CBS, earning an average of $5.25 million for each 30-second commercial it airs. CBS’s final estimated paycheck for the night? Over $350 million. While many entities saw a big pay day, Bud Light may have a different narrative. Despite it being a market leader, its continually declining market share resulted in ads as bold as a Hail Mary in an attempt to reverse this trend. Their partnership with HBO to advertise “Game of Thrones” made for a moderately controversial ad that night, as the brand’s typically light-hearted scripts took a turn to adapt to the violent nature of the television show. Advertising two brands within an ad can often create beneficial synergies, but it is a risk within the short 45-second timespan. Even more risky was pitching it to CBS, as displaying any
BY ROMY SHARMA, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
violence is usually a tough sell. Nevertheless, the ad garnered successful buzz on social media. What may be less of a hit with the U.S. justice system is Bud Light’s contentious false advertisement targeting their direct competitor, MillerCoors. In an ad stemming from Bud Light’s “Dilly Dilly” campaign, a king reroutes a misdelivered barrel of corn syrup to Miller Lite, where Miller claims to have already received its shipment. The king then “rightfully” delivers it to Coors Lite. Within minutes of the ad airing, MillerCoors and the National Corn Growers Association struck back on Twitter. MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley and his executive team took to Twitter within minutes, citing the same idea: MillerCoors does not use high fructose corn syrup, though Anheuser-Busch InBev (Bud Light’s parent company), does. Adam Collins, vice president of communications and community affairs, followed this up with a reminder of MillerCoors’ 17 consecutive quarters of increasing market share, while Bud Light rides on a losing streak. The NCGA then expressed their disappointment in Bud Light for putting corn syrup back into a negative light, thanking Miller and Coors
and Anheuser-Busch InBev. According to Google Trends, it is estimated that more people have shown interest in corn syrup this month than ever before. This has resurfaced the conversation around high fructose corn syrup’s detrimental effect on American health, but Bud Light has made the effort to deem corn syrup synonymous to high fructose corn syrup by association. In light of this, companies have risen to the occasion to defend themselves before a spotlight lands on them, including Samuel Adams and Frank’s Red Hots. So, what’s the difference? While there is ongoing debate about the health disadvantages of corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup, the University of California-Berkeley cites that while glucose (corn syrup’s main component) has a direct effect on blood sugar, fructose (high fructose corn syrup’s main component) has an immediate effect on blood ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN KUZEE fat, which could lead to a fatty liver and decreased insulin for their business. However, this only sensitivity. Companies lean away from added grease — or rather, corn syrup — to promoting their use of either, but high the fire. fructose corn syrup comes with arguSince that eventful Sunday night, ably worse side effects and the baggage Twitter accounts have done everything of negative cultural connotation. but stay silent. The NGCA has since While Twitter accounts wrap up their tweeted disappointment in Bud Light focus on the #corntroversy, a lawsuit and their praise for MillerCoors. Two could surface. Under the Lanham Act, if days after the Big Game, MillerCoors there is a misleading statement of matedelivered free beer to NGCA, and issued rial fact in an ad that expressly uses the two separate statements clarifying an name of a competitor, it is deemed false interesting point: While they do use corn advertising. Bud Light directly used syrup in the fermentation process to help MillerCoors’ name and implied that their beers taste better, they do not use their beer contains corn syrup, which high fructose corn syrup, the ingredient could ultimately result in a false adverthat carries the connotation of having tising claim. After all, corn syrup is used links to obesity and diabetes. Bud Light, in the fermentation process, but alleghowever, waited out the storm for three edly does not appear in the final product. days before issuing its own statement via Thus, if MillerCoors decides to pursue Twitter. Less apologetic, they presented a case against Anheuser-Busch InBev, it as a vintage piece of parchment writ- it will be up to the court to decide if the ten by the king from their commercials, ad’s statements were materially false. In standing by the ad and emphasizing that other words, would they impact a typical they brew with rice, hops and barley, and customer’s decision to purchase Millernot corn syrup. Interestingly enough, Coors? If so, Bud Light could owe both there is little to no difference between monetary damages and an injunction using rice and corn as a source of sugar in from running the ad. the fermentation process. But perception Bud Light may just have a court date in itself can make or break your product. their future, but until then, cheers to CBS There is a greater context to the dis- and #GoPats. putes than just competitors MillerCoors
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Wednesday,February 13, 2019 // The Statement
Wednesday, February 13. 2019 // The Statement
Last in line: U-M climate policy faces re-evaluation
BY RILEY LANGEFELD, STATEMENT CORRESPONDENT
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limate activists can usually remember the moment they realized the magnitude of the ecological problem humanity faces. Ten years ago, Noah Weaverdyck, currently a doctoral student in physics at the University of Michigan and a member of Climate Action Movement, an environmental policy organization on campus, attended an environmental advocacy event at Goshen College. He had heard about climate change and its supposed dangers, but didn’t know much else. He decided to attend the event and listen to the featured speaker’s presentation with an open mind. The speaker was Bill McKibben, a renowned author and perhaps the most influential environmentalist in the country. McKibben recounted his experiences suffering through dengue fever, a painful and potentially fatal disease spread by mosquitoes whose habitats have expanded due to global warming. McKibben used this to underscore the global nature of the threat posed by climate change. Weaverdyck was struck by the certainty of this threat and the supreme importance of fighting it. “That was what queued me into the reality that this is the biggest thing that’s happening and has ever happened in terms of challenges facing humanity,” Weaverdyck said. This is a perspective shared by scientists and activists around the world. There is a strong consensus in the scientific community that the significant global warming of the last 150 years is both caused by human activity and preventable through the efforts of governments and individuals. This warming is caused by an overage of greenhouse gases
in Earth’s atmosphere. These gases trap the sun’s energy in the atmosphere and warm the earth, an effect which normally keeps the planet habitable for life, but now threatens to overheat it and irreparably harm the ecosystems on its surface. A major goal in combating climate change is thus the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. American universities have made pledges in the last two decades to reduce their emissions and build permanent sustainable systems that will both reduce their impact on the environment and provide resources to other communities and organizations to follow their lead. The University of Michigan, however, has faced some criticism from students and faculty for lagging behind institutions with similar resources and academic standing. While the University has improved its environmental stature and made laudable efforts to build a more sustainable school, other Big Ten universities and elite research institutions have set more ambitious goals and made further progress in fighting climate change than the University. Stanford University, for example, has been remarkably proactive when it comes to climate policy. The institution has committed to using 100 percent renewable energy by 2021 and is currently building its second solar power plant in order to meet that goal. Additionally, Ohio State University, historically Michigan’s biggest rival, has some of the most ambitious environmental policies of any school in the Big Ten. Its administration has pledged to cut its emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050 as well as achieve a zero waste system by 2025.
When asked how the University compares to such other schools, Andrew Berki, the director of the Office of Campus Sustainability, said environmental policy should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. “Each school has a different approach to reducing its impact on the environment because each has different circumstances,” Berki wrote in an email interview with The Daily. “U-M involves a broad range of stakeholders in the goal-setting and decisionmaking process, which is important at our institution.” It should be noted that the University does face several unavoidable challenges that make climate progress more difficult than at other schools. For example, the University administration has noted that Ann Arbor exists in a more extreme climate than both Stanford and Ohio State — its facilities require significantly more heating and cooling energy to keep people safe and comfortable. The University, along with individual state residents, is also required by state law to use electricity from the local utility grid, which is more carbon-intensive than most others in the nation. The University involuntarily inherits the environmental impact of this electricity. However, seeing the progress of these other institutions and spurred by the increasingly apparent dangers of climate change, concerned students and faculty have been pushing the University to make greater strides in its environmental policy. The most prominent campus advocacy group in recent months has been the Climate Action Movement, a group of undergraduate and graduate students that was founded last year by LSA junior Julian Hansen.
CAM is now composed of several dozen students with considerable involvement in the campus environmental community. These students are at the center of an increasingly urgent debate among activists, faculty and administrators over how to effectively combat climate change in higher education. Most members are part of other climate organizations, including Climate Blue, the Climate Reality Project, the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Students for Clean Energy, the Sunrise Movement and undergraduate environmental fraternities and sororities. According to Sasha Bishop, a doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology and a member of CAM, this wealth of experience informs much of CAM’s work; members make recommendations for policy and advocate for specific causes based on the expertise its members have gathered in their years of involvement in environmental activism. Bishop believes this is one of the core strengths of CAM and a reason for its considerable presence despite its relative youth. Weaverdyck said a significant portion of CAM’s work has simply been spreading awareness about the University’s climate policies and their potential shortcom-
ings. Weaverdyck believes that most students overestimate the University’s level of involvement because of its self-identification as a leader in higher education and scientific achievement. “We need to raise a lot of awareness,” Weaverdyck said. “A lot of people assume that U-M, as this progressive campus, one of the world’s leading research institutions — people just assume that U of M is at the top when it comes to emissions reductions and being proactive. But that’s not the case.” According to Weaverdyck, one of the biggest challenges for climate policy is the reluctance of the University leadership to set concrete goals as the administrators of other prominent universities have. “When the leadership comes forward and sets a public goal — that’s what’s needed to get the huge machinery of a university to start moving and working together to achieve those goals,” Weaverdyck said. For this reason, CAM has campaigned heavily for a firm commitment to carbon neutrality by 2035. Members have created a petition, published criticisms of the University’s policies and made appearances at the University’s Board of Regents meetings. After several months of lobbying and activism, the administration made a commitment
to take action, and on Feb. 4, University President Mark Schlissel launched a commission tasked with developing timelines and strategies for the University to achieve carbon neutrality. However, members of the campus environmental community have expressed concerns that the commission will not be effective in solving the problem. To explain their worries, Weaverdyck and Bishop cited the example of the President’ Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee. This committee was similarly formed to reduce the University’s carbon footprint in 2011, and it delivered a non-binding reportwith several recommendations in the summer of 2015. The University has made progress on several of the goals, including an upgrade to the Central Power Plant and plans to purchase renewable energy credits, which would allow the University to pay for the creation of renewable energy elsewhere. However, these plans still include extensive use of fossil fuels and no plans for future renewable energy sources on campus. “We are currently implementing many of the GHG committee’s recommendations, including the Central Power Plant natural gas turbine; continued investment in the Energy Management Program, which
focuses on energy conservation within some U-M buildings; on-campus demonstration projects; and renewable energy purchases,”
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Energy at DTE Energy, which is a Detroitbased energy company that runs the grid on which the city of Ann Arbor isSHIFT situated. NIGHT But he was surprised to find out the committee had never done so before, describing the collaboration as a “no-brainer” that should have been started years previously. Despite such delays, Simon praised members of the committee for initiating the relationship with DTE and cited it as an example of the kind of environmental work the University needs to be doing moving forward. In his view, it will be absolutely necessary to bring in outside expertise to accelerate the work of the Commission on Carbon Neutrality. “I hope that (the Commission on Carbon Neutrality) does exactly what we need it to do, which is to reach out to people in the real world who do this for a living and figure out how we can partner with private industry to make carbon neutrality a reality,” Simon said. Simon has also expressed particular concern about the University’s 2011 goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2025 — which, remeber, is a goal among the least ambitious in the Big Ten. As of 2018, the University has achieved only a 7 percent reduction from the 2006 baseline measurement. The impending upgrade to the Central Power Plant is expected to reduce emissions further, to around 12 or 13 percent. Right now, the University buys roughly two thirds of its energy from DTE Energy. The other third is produced by the Central Power Plant. Once the plant is upgraded, the University will produce about half of its own energy. The Greenhouse Gas Committee’s report stated this upgrade is the single largest contributor toward meeting the emissions reduction goal. But the report also noted the upgrade ties the University to fossil fuels for at least another two decades, and likely more. Natural gas still has a notable environmental impact due to the emissions involved in its use. Emissions are often organized into three categories, called scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of energy that an institution purchases. Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions, not included in scope 2, that occur from sources not owned or controlled by the institution.
“It’s death by committee,” Weaverdyck said. “That’s something that we really can’t afford given the timeline that the science makes clear. We can’t afford to lose another few years debating what the target is.”
Berki said. Bishop and Weaverdyck also expressed worried about a perceived lack of accountability for the commission, again drawing parallels to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee. They believe a firm commitment from University leadership at the outset is the only way to ensure that progress will be made in the near future. “It’s death by committee,” Weaverdyck said. “That’s something that we really can’t afford given the timeline that the science makes clear. We can’t afford to lose another few years debating what the target is.” Adam Simon, a professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, shares this concern. Simon has been a member of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee since the summer of 2017. He believes the committee has been able to do some productive work despite a few shortcomings. “It was overall a positive experience,” Simon said. “There were certainly some times when I felt frustrated by what, to me, seemed like a slowness to react among the committee members.” For instance, Simon was glad the committee met last year with the director of Renewable
INFOGRAPHIC BY NOLAN FELICIDARIO
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Wednesday, February 13, 2019// The Statement
From Page 5B The University does not count scope 3 emissions in its measurements, and neither do other institutions; this is the standard procedure for emissions measures. But during the extraction, storage and transportation of natural gas, methane — a greenhouse gas — leaks into the atmosphere and warms the planet. These emissions fall under scope 3 and are thus not considered when calculating emissions reductions. This means the reductions are being measured without considering the life-cycle environmental impact of the natural gas that the University uses. Because of this, Simon expressed frustration with the lackluster impact of the Central Power Plant upgrade. “For a university our size, with an $11 billion endowment and some of the greatest intellectual power on the planet, we should have nailed that target,” Simon said. “We should have moved beyond that target.” Proponents of the plan say the upgrades will reduce emissions and give the University time to consider renewable energy sources. “It is important in the view of the committee to establish concrete plans for alternate fuels for this facility in the longer term, and/or ways to offset its emissions,” the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee’s report reads. “It will also be important for the university to be clear that this investment is part of a transition toward carbonfree alternatives.” Simon noted the University has made negligible progress on finding significant long-term renewable energy sources. When asked about the University’s progress in this search, Berki said there are “currently no plans” for future sustainability measures at the Central Power Plant. According to Berki, the University’s plan for renewables in the future is to buy more renewable energy credits, which would technically reduce the University’s emissions by paying for the use of renewable energy generated and used elsewhere. But according to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee’s report, this kind of action “is unlikely to be viewed as the action of a climate leader or to engage the campus community in the vision and implementation of GHG reduction.” Schlissel, for his part, has stated the administration’s priority is forming a specific technical plan before making a pledge for carbon neutrality. Previously, he said he believes the University will be better placed to carry out its goal if it starts with a complete plan rather than setting an arbitrary deadline.
“We can’t continue to preach a message in our classrooms that climate change is today’s civil rights movement and yet not do anything at all to mitigate our effect on climate,” Simon said. “To be honest with you, if I were a student, I would be confused and depressed.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to get there yet. So what good does it do for me to put out a statement that says I’m going to do something on a certain day if I don’t know how I’m going to do it?” Schlissel said in an interview with The Daily in October. “We want to do it in a way that other organizations can follow what we do and become carbon neutral themselves.” Weaverdyck, however, said he believes the University has already missed its opportunity to be a leader in tackling climate change. Both he and Bishop think methods for reaching carbon neutrality are in no short supply and that the University merely needs to follow the path of other similar institutions that have already made progress toward similar goals. “The problem, historically, has not been in generating those technical plans,” Bishop said. “The University of Michigan is a top-tier research institute. We have had committees come up with these plans before. We have the skills. We have the resources. The problem has been not committing the resources and not having any reason to do so (in the absence of a public goal).” Simon, Bishop and Weaverdyck all expressed approval for the climate policies of certain schools similar to the University. They singled out Stanford University; Michigan State University; University of California, Berkeley; the University of Illinois and Ohio State University for particular praise. In Simon’s view, one of the drivers of these schools’ success is people in positions of power who can make the necessary change at the university level. This is a view shared by Weaverdyck and Bishop, who believe the absence of a high-level administration official dedicated to tackling environmental policy conveys a lack of interest in the area from University leaders. “We think it has to do with a diffusion of accountability and responsibility,” Weaverdyck said. “There’s nobody put in charge. When you don’t have an individual who’s high up and who’s accountable to that and have them have a clear target or a goal that they’re appointed to help meet, then nobody really knows what we’re aiming for.” Simon also said he believes the administration’s focus has been in the wrong places, which has hindered development of a more comprehensive climate plan. “What really has limited our abil-
ity to make progress is the absence of people who are progressive thinkers,” Simon said. “I think for the administration, it hasn’t been an issue they seem to be concerned with.” Members of CAM believe the University’s reluctance to join any of the nationwide academic environmental coalitions is evidence of this. These organizations work to foster collaboration between schools and help those schools become more sustainable in the long term. They include the Climate Leadership Network and American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which inspired the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 set by Ohio State University and dozens of other colleges. Simon said he believes current University policy is hypocritical in some respects. He said he sees a school that teaches its students extensively about the dangers of climate change and the threat it poses to human civilization, but neglects to take significant action and demonstrate its resolve to combat that threat. “We can’t continue to preach a message in our classrooms that climate change is today’s civil rights movement and yet not do anything at all to mitigate our effect on climate,” Simon said. “To be honest with you, if I were a student, I would be confused and depressed.” This sentiment is shared by Weaverdyck and Bishop. Members of CAM have emphasized in their messaging that colleges — particularly large and well-funded elite research institutions — are uniquely well placed to be leaders when it comes to environmental policy. Though the individual impact of a school’s emissions is small when compared to global emissions, the University can set an example for
active and intellectually rigorous climate action and aid other institutions in the fight. “There’s so much well-informed consensus on precisely how catastrophic the impacts of climate change can be,” Bishop said. “It isn’t a question anymore of if people should be doing something about it. The University is in a position to address what is essentially the defining problem of right now.” “Frankly, if the University of Michigan can’t do this, then how can we expect anybody to do this?” Weaverdyck said. “This should be the easiest thing for this institution over any institution, given our resources, given our understanding, given our mandate. This should be the lowest hanging fruit.” Above all, members of the campus environmental community have expressed a supreme disappointment with the University’s policies. They see it as a shortcoming not merely in addressing the issue, but in staking a claim as one of the foremost universities in the world and a true leader in higher education. “If you look at the intellectual power we have across campus, among our faculty, staff and students, and you compare us to other universities, we’re so far behind (in combatting climate change) that it’s embarrassing,” Simon said. “You don’t do it because the shame game makes you look bad. You do it because you claim to be the world’s best university and a university that is committed to making a positive impact for our global society. Scientific consensus is that we need to mitigate humans’ effect on the climate. And as the University of Michigan, we should be leading that. We shouldn’t be following others.”
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Wednesday, 13, 2019 2019 // // The The Statement Statement Wednesday,February January 16,
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BY FRANCES SMITH, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR
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or the last three years, I’ve measured my self-worth by an admission officer’s decision. I spent countless hours drafting Common Application essays about my community and “Why Michigan?” to prove I was worthy of going to the University of Michigan. The first two times I was rejected, it felt personal. I had bared everything in my essays, hoping they’d look past my sub-30 ACT score and two Cs from high school and see that as a person, I was a good fit for the University. When I finally got in, I changed my Instagram bio, bought a Michigan pennant flag, and stole my sister’s old block ‘M’ pin to put on my backpack. Now that I’m here, though, I’m torn between being proud of my acceptance and being ashamed of how long it took me. I don’t even know which I’d rather be. My identity crisis has stemmed not from the need to differentiate myself, but rather a desire to be like every other student crossing the ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE HUANG
Diag. In some ways, being a transfer student is a lot like being a freshman all over again — I, too, have struggled with a new campus and navigating Mason Hall’s weird floor number system. And just like the other eager freshmen, I found all my classrooms before the semester started so I wouldn’t get lost. But as a transfer student, I’m not naive — I know how to send an email to a professor and manage my time. I’m used to the demands of higher education and the freedom of eating cookies for dinner. Plus, I know how to properly dress for a November football game at the Big House. As a transfer student, instead of worrying about making friends, I wonder if non-transfer students can tell it’s only my first year here. I am not scared of raising my hand in class, but rather I am nervous about my classmates finding out I wasn’t good enough to get in the first or even second time. When the inevitable “What year are you?” is asked,
I stumble over my words. I issue a caveat every time, explaining that I’m a junior but I transferred. It’s a simple question and should have a simple answer, but I think I’d rather people know my flaw than think I’m trying to conceal it. I have a friend who once said to me, “Literally no one cares that you’re a transfer student.” It was meant to be comforting — a keen observation that I care too much about how people view me. Now though, when I think about the comment, it comes across in a different way. I don’t want to belittle the work I did to get into the University — I had to change everything in order to be accepted. I started caring about my grades and meeting with professors to actually learn the material instead of memorizing it. The feeling of getting a hard-earned A was addicting, and I became an entirely different student than I was in high school. I could’ve gone to a mid-tier, four-year college, but I decided that the University was worth it. In some ways it was, but at times it feels like I’m the only one who sacrificed something to be here. And that I’m the only one who can’t seem to move past the typical “college experience” I chose to give up. On the other hand, I’ve never been surrounded by so many people committed to their schoolwork. The general atmosphere on campus and in the classroom reflects the reputation the University’s students have earned, and now I’m part of it. I bond with my classmates over grades and studying. We compare classes we’ve taken and who has had less sleep. The pressure and expectation of good grades and a successful career pushes me to work harder in order to keep up with my peers and that excites me. I remember my dad once took me on an unofficial tour of the Universi-
ty when I was still in high school. We walked through Hatcher Graduate Library and it struck me how many generations of students have studied there. Silently, I wished I were like them: self-motivated and hardworking. Now, when I walk into the Reference Room, I view them as my peers. When I study, I don’t feel like an outsider. I remember how desperately I wanted to go here and how I once prayed for the chance to pull an all-nighter at the library. In this way, I belong at the University. People often ask me how the University of Michigan compares to my previous school. It’s hard to answer exactly, especially with how much this university means to me. But students here care more — about everything. We’re connected through our mutual love for the University, but also through our passion for academics. Before this fall, I had never seen people in the library on a Saturday morning. I’d never heard casual, intelligent conversations about the doctrine of socialism. I’ve had more book recommendations this semester than ever before. I feel as though I’m constantly absorbing my surroundings, soaking up an environment that will disappear after I graduate. We’re students who naturally thrive when we’re learning, and I truly fit in here. It’s comforting — the feeling of relating to a larger community. School is our commonality, and I’ve never felt more connected to the strangers that surround me. In August, at my transfer orientation, they gave out these little pins that say “I <3 Transfers.” They told us to put them on our backpacks so we could easily spot other transfer students. Is it as easy to spot my struggle as it is a bright maize pin? I’ve seen a couple of them around campus and each time I’m reminded that I can’t be the only person struggling with this duality. Right now, it’s sitting on my dresser in my room, a subtle reminder that I’m a minority among U-M students. And I can’t decide whether it’s a badge of honor or a badge of shame.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 // The Statement
the visual statement
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photos by Annie Klusendorf