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Tuesday, March 26, 2019
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SCOPE event “Here to Stay” talks financial aid resources
“Run, hide, fight” policy difficult for individuals with disabilities Community members reflect on how false active shooter incident impacted their search to find safety
Undocumented, “DACAmented” students share experiences, focus on new initiatives EMMA RUBERG Daily Staff Reporter
The names of some sources have been excluded due to their undocumented status. Monday night, the Student Community of Progressive Empowerment, a University of Michigan organization that aims to support undocumented and “DACAmented” students on campus, held their first public event with about 50 people in attendance in the Student Activities Building. The event, entitled Here to Stay: Undocumented Students at U-M focused on the experiences of undocumented students at the University and initiatives SCOPE is hoping to achieve in the coming years. They also discussed resources for undocumented students and how allies can become involved in advocacy. Before the event, SCOPE member Barbara Diaz, an LSA senior, explained the importance of the event and what she wished more people knew about undocumented students. “Undocumented students are students here,” Diaz said.
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BARBARA COLLINS Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior Bradley Ebenhoeh was in a residence hall when unfounded reports of an active shooter in Mason Hall surfaced March 16. “I was in East Quad, and they (the Resident Advisors) ... told us there was an active shooter and recommended to us to get downstairs,” Ebenhoeh said. “That made me feel frightened because there was no response from the University.” Ebenhoeh, who uses a wheelchair, said he felt especially frightened because he had not been previously informed of any protocol regarding the ‘run, hide,
fight’ notification that was later administered by the University of Michigan on March 16 — specifically for students with disabilities, faculty and staff. “I move slower than everybody else, so when they said, ‘run, hide and fight,’ I could not run,” Ebenhoeh said. According to the Division of Public Safety and Security website, ‘run, hide, fight’ is a three-step protocol for an active attacker situation. Run — the first step — means to get away from the threat as soon as possible. If a clear path of escape is not possible, the second step — hide — says to find a secure place to hide and barricade yourself. The final
step — fight — says to distract and/or incapacitate the attacker. This step is only recommended if one’s life is in imminent danger. However, the online policy only briefly addresses individuals such as Ebenhoeh, who cannot run from the situation. The section ‘Other Circumstances to Consider’ on the ‘Active Attacker’ page of the DPSS website says to contact DPSS with specific concerns regarding disabled people or other special circumstances. “How you respond to an active attacker will be dictated by the specific circumstances of the encounter,” the page reads. “In addition, many in our community
may need to respond differently as a result of a disability, caregiver relationship, leadership role, unique workspace location, or a variety of other reasons. Please contact us to discuss any specific concerns you may have. Always remember your options: run, hide or fight.” Ebenhoeh said he did not get any official notification from the University until approximately 20 to 30 minutes after the reports surfaced. He said he was only informed of policy regarding fire drills — another policy he does not think is accomodating to disabled people. See ALERT, Page 3
CAMPUS LIFE
“I think a lot of the time people forget that we kind of exist and that we’re part of this campus community.” The event began with a video produced by SCOPE about the effect the organization had on its members. Those who appeared in the video gave advice to prospective students, urging them to “not to give up when applying to U-M,” and to “have courage and be brave.” The first student member of SCOPE who spoke at the event discussed the difficulty of being ineligible for certain financial assistance. He explained how in previous years the University has not given in-state tuition to undocumented students, despite them having lived and attending school in Michigan for the majority of their life. “They’re good enough to attend U-M, but don’t think they can,” he said. “They claim to be the leaders and the best — let’s see it.” Another SCOPE member who spoke later in the event also discussed the struggles surrounding financial aid for undocumented students. See SCOPE, Page 3
COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
U-M to add LSA Student Government debate talks Esports to inclusivity, language requirement rec sports Three tickets also focus on community outreach at first SG debate since 2014 program
Conference discusses programs in prisons
The decision to include competitive video gaming will be enacted in Fall 2019
The Michigan Theory Group hosts talk about restorative justice, education
CALLIE TEITELBAUM Daily Staff Reporter
Starting in the fall of 2019, the University of Michigan Department of Recreational Sports will offer a competitive e-sports program for students interested in competitive video gaming. E-sports are multiplayer competitive video games that are played in a team format. According to CNN, e-sports is a billion dollar industry with millions of fans who tune in to watch the streamed gaming. The Recreational Sports Department is incorporating e-sports into their program to provide professional development, resources and a community for students seeking to play e-sports on a University club team. Cybbi Barton, program manager of club sports and e-sports for the Recreational Sports Department, said the department has decided to create an e-sports team due to student demand. See ESPORTS, Page 3
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REMY FARKAS, EMMA STEIN & MICHAL RUPRECHT Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporters
On Monday, the University of Michigan LSA Student Government hosted a candidate debate ahead of the upcoming election on March 27 and 28. Three presidential-vice presidential candidate tickets debated issues regarding
community outreach, the LSA language requirement, inclusivity and diversity of the Assembly. The event consisted of eight questions asked by Michigan Daily Senior News Editor Remy Farkas, followed by questions from the audience. The questions, compiled by The Daily, included challenging the LSA SG budget, current resolutions and the SG’s internal and external relations. The 2019 LSA executive board elections are contested for the
first time since 2014 with three tickets of a presidential and vice-presidential candidate: Brian Wang and Mary McKillop; Nicholas Bonde and Kevan Casson; and Jon Reid and Wyatt Puscas. The debate began with opening statements from each ticket. LSA sophomore Mary McKillop said she would like to focus on creating a more representative government that listens to its constituents on her platform with Wang.
“We’re both extremely proud of the platform we put together and we hope the other students in LSA see the commitment we’re prepared to bring,” McKillop said. “We also believe that the government itself deserves to be more represented by people who understand the common issues on campus, not just by those who say they want to fix things on campus.”
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ALEC COHEN/Daily LSA Student Government candidates share their platforms at the LSA Student Government debate in Palmer Commons Monday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 94 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Tenisha Yancey, a representative from the 1st District of the Michigan House of Representatives who has two felonies and two misdemeanors on her record, spoke on Saturday about how she became successful despite her criminal record. As the first keynote speaker at the Confined Minds II: Education, Programming, Incarceration conference, Yancey explained how she was able to use her education to become a successful attorney and Michigan congresswoman, despite the numerous people who told her she couldn’t due to her criminal history. Alongside Yancey, state legislators, educators, students and community leaders joined inmates at Macomb Correctional Facility to discuss the importance of education and programming in prisons. See INCARCERATION , Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS................6
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MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
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is a week dedicated to showcasing the ethical, environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet. See what VegWeek events are happening around campus this week.
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The Michigan Animal Respect Society and the University of Michigan Sustainable Food Program will be co-hosting a screening of Forks Over Knives from 7-9 p.m. in Dana 1040. A Q&A with Marc Ramirez, former University football player, will follow the documentary. Jerusalem Garden will cater dinner.
MARS will be hosting a panel from 5-7:30 p.m. in Dana 1040 consisting of five University professors who are either vegetarian or vegan. The professors will discuss environmental sustainability, ethics and public health. Free vegan chili and cookies will be provided from Shimmy Shack.
T U E S D AY Dr. Joel Khan, University alum and cardiologist, will be giving a lecture on the health benefits of plant-based diets from 7-8:30 p.m. in Dana 1040. Samples are included.
F R I D AY For the final day of VegWeek, MDining, Planet Blue Student Leaders, UMSFP, MARS and Friends of the Campus Farm will co-sponsor an entirely plant-based buffet. Dr. Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet, and Daniel McKernan, founder and executive director of Barn Sanctuary, will talk about the ethical and environmental benefits of a plant-centric diet before the buffet.
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TEDxUofM Salon reflects on arts as activism Discussion-based event sponsored by EXCEL Lab included a speech from the Girls Rock Detroit program director, Cosmic Slop Music Festival founder Deekah Rox ANNABEL KELLY Daily Staff Reporter
About 30 people gathered in the Earl V. Moore Building on the University of Michigan’s North Campus Monday evening for a discussion-based event hosted by TEDxUofM and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s EXCEL Lab. The TEDxUofM Salon revolved around the theme of activism in the arts, approaching the idea with an interactive event. As opposed to the conference hosted by TEDxUofM in February, the salons are meant to be smaller and more intimate discussions. LSA senior Allison Radman helped organize the event and gave background on the purpose of Syndication TEDxUofM. Sudoku “These salons are supposed
to be more discussion-based events where we kind of bring together the community and talk about a specific topic,” Radman said. The events are supposed to spark an interactive discussion as well as highlight interesting speakers and experiences. “The arts as activism is … such an interesting discussion and that’s why TedxUofM is so interested in having this kind of event,” Radman said. The event started with a TEDx video featuring artist and activist Marcus Ellsworth. Following the video, attendees split into small groups to discuss reactions and the role art plays in activism. Melissa Coppola is the program assistant for the EXCEL Lab in the Music, Theatre & Dance School. EXCEL is a place for entrepreneurship,
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leadership and career services Rox said. Rox remembers her music within the realm of performing interests straying from arts. “In the School of Music, what others thought of as Theatre & Dance the EXCEL stereotypically Black. “In my headphones, the program is relatively new,” Coppola said. “And one of the music did not necessarily reflect things that we do is provide the environment that I lived funding for students with all in, stereotypically,” Rox said. different sorts of projects, from “It made it very uncomfortable performance-based down to because I always felt like I was things with much greater social trying to be Black enough for my Black friends, and trying to impact.” Coppola hopes the EXCEL calm down my Blackness for my Lab can help students who are white friends.” Rox also described her interested in both the arts and activism, but who are unsure experience in theater as she was young, saying it helped her learn about what that can look like. “I think for a lot of students, more about performance and it’s really hard to understand herself. “It kind of helped me carve what that looks like because it can take many different forms, out my place, or what felt like my and today’s event I think is just place, even though there were kind of getting people to think some stereotypes that were about what the arts can look like reinforced,” she said. “Because http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ when you’re trying to make a I’m a loud Black chick, so I got change in the community all the loud Black chick roles.” Rox described her various you live in,” Coppola said. The featured speaker performance experiences, as of the event was Deekah well as being part of a band. Rox, program director Despite these experiences, she of Girls Rock Detroit and still felt like she was in between founder of the Cosmic two worlds. “I still felt like, every time I Slop Music Festival. Rox became interested in showed up somewhere with this rock music at a young age, guitar, uncomfortable,” she said. One of the memories she looks partially inspired by her back on fondly is the creation of father’s love of music. “My dad told me the Cosmic Slop Music Festival, growing up that there’s a a place for rock musicians of song for every occasion,” color to come together. Most of all, Rox and other Black DetroitRox said. Rox opened the based rock musicians created event by describing her the festival to be a safe space for childhood on the eastside all people. “You miss that feeling of being of Detroit with a loving family. She described in a room that is a safe space,” feeling from a young age Rox said. “Microaggressions as if she lived in between are everywhere. I just walked two worlds because of her away from a very, very good paying job because I am not music taste. “It was very obvious going to be able to be the token from an early age that I Black girl.” was not necessarily into the same stuff that the Read more at rest of the kids in the MichiganDaily.com neighborhood were into,”
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ALERT From Page 1 According to the University’s fire evacuation protocol, people with disabilities inside a University building are directed to an “area of rescue assistance,” defined as “areas of refuge” by the state of Michigan building code. Floor marshals, if safe to do so, will conduct checks of these areas and convey information regarding people in the areas to emergency responders. The webpage does not specify where the areas of rescue assistance are in each University building. Frank Marcinkiewicz, interim University fire marshal, said areas of refuge are readily accessible to individuals with disabilities and are conveniently located along the path of egress within a building. “These areas are clearly labeled with signage and will typically have an emergency phone device that connects them directly to University DPSS for immediate assistance,” Marcinkiewicz said. “Areas of refuge are designed per code to protect an individual from a fire-related incident for a defined period of time.” According to Marcinkiewicz, the areas are constructed with a minimum of one-hour fire rating as required by code. This means the materials used to construct the area are able to resist standardized fire exposure for at least one hour. Ebenhoeh isn’t the only student with concerns about
INCARCERATION From Page 1 The event ran from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and consisted of keynote speakers and panels on higher education and recidivism, programming in prisons, restorative justice and InsideOut. The event was hosted by The Michigan Theory Group, a thinktank comprised of incarcerated and non-incarcerated people aimed at changing the criminal justice system. The group is an extension of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an international program that brings college students into prisons to take classes with incarcerated people and challenges both the “inside” and “outside” students to listen and learn from each other. Inside-Out has been implemented at more than 150 colleges and universities in 46 states, in 12 different countries and in more than 200 correctional facilities. Inside-Out Founder Lori Pompa said the program aims to create a sense of equality and kinship between the prisoners and college students and foster an openminded dialogue. According to Pompa, the classes are primarily taught seminar-style and try to transform teaching styles from “sage on the stage to guide on the side.” Bantu Dawson, Theory Group member and an incarcerated individual, said Inside-Out was a catalyst for both social and academic change for himself and others at Macomb Correctional Facility. He claimed it offers a path for self-redemption. Fellow Theory Group member and inmate Jemal Tipton discussed how Inside-Out is much more than just a classroom and how his experiences in the program changed his perspective on his role in society. “You come in, and you think it’s just an educational experience,” Tipton said. “You don’t think it would change how you view the world and how you view your part in the world, and that’s what I think Inside-Out does — it makes me and a lot of the people I have interacted with take a look at the way we are in the world, individually and collectively.” Theory group member John “Cowboy” Conklin is also incarcerated. He joined InsideOut in 2007 and said being a part of the program gave him his hope and dignity back after being imprisoned for 30 years and counting. He noted how inhumane the treatment of inmates can be and how InsideOut was able to provide an avenue for him to feel human again. “When you first take the Inside-Out class after being
News
the University’s emergency protocol for people with mobility difficulties. Elizabeth McLain, Music, Theater & Dance doctoral candidate, was a student at Virginia Tech in 2007 when the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history occurred on the campus, resulting in 32 deaths and 17 injuries. In wake of the 12th anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting next month, McLain said she was very upset that Saturday’s events were handled poorly. “As a community, we’ve been working very hard to inform universities and try to prevent this from happening, and it kind of feels like a slap in the face when the universities don’t take what we’re saying seriously or don’t learn,” McLain said. “A delay of 30 minutes between when the first people were notified and last people were notified is completely unacceptable.” McLain, who uses a cane, also expressed concerns regarding the ‘run, hide, fight’ protocol. She said the vast majority of people she spoke to did not know what the protocol meant and also thought the second and third messages sent out by DPSS were too vague. “It’s a fact that when they send out a message saying, ‘Run, hide, fight,’ which is the standard shorthand for the advice for how to handle a situation, the vast majority of my friends who are fellow students, and some who are instructors and faculty members here, had no idea what that meant or how to use that guidance,” McLain said. “The
second and third messages we received were so vague — they said, ‘You’re probably not in any danger,’ but they didn’t give any concrete instructions, so it was unclear if this meant we should shelter in place, this meant you should go ahead and go about your day — this should be clear in every communication.” McLain is a graduate student instructor and she said she was not trained or made aware of protocol by the University on what to do in emergency situations such as the event of an active attacker. Though she is disabled, McLain said she has more options available to her because she uses a cane. She said she would not know the best way to assist a student with disabilities in her class in the event of an emergency. “As a graduate student instructor, if I had a disabled student in my classroom while this was going on … I wouldn’t know how to help my students,” McLain said. “I wouldn’t know if I should just stay with them and wait it out, if elevators were an option — that hasn’t been effectively communicated to me, at least.” At orientation, DPSS currently requires students to watch an active shooter safety training video. University community members can also request training workshops by going to the Presentations and Training section under Prevention and Education on DPSS’ website. While it is required for students to view the active shooter safety
training video at orientation, Melissa Overton, deputy chief of police and public information officer for DPSS, told The Daily in a previous interview the decision to make other training sessions mandatory would have to come from a higher University authority. Overton also previously told The Daily that DPSS received many complaints of people receiving the emergency alerts late or not at all. She said DPSS is currently working to analyze the emergency alert system and determine what went wrong March 16. “We did receive multiple complaints on the system,” Overton said. “… We are aware that some of the alerts took a lot longer than they should have, and we are looking into that.” McLain further expressed her disappointment in the protocol and its lack of catering to disabled individuals. She said she hopes the University improves its protocol in the future. “From my personal experience, if there had been an incident it would have been very, very bad because of these communication breakdowns,” McLain said. “I’m a little disappointed because most of what I’ve seen out of these universities, this just proves their system doesn’t work and that concerns me. This should actually be a wake-up call that we’re not doing what we should be doing, and we should do everything we can to improve it.”
treated like a number, not like a name, more like an animal, you walk in there and get treated as an equal human being,” Conklin said. “They give you a piece of your humanity back, and once you get a taste of that humanity, you don’t want it to quit. It is something you haven’t experienced in a very long time, for me it had been almost 30 years. And I mean, I been in 41 years and I got a taste of that humanity and I plan on keeping it as long as I can.” However, according to Deputy Warden George Stephenson, Inside-Out is just one of approximately 30 programs at Macomb Correctional Facility. He claimed the facility is able to have so many due to available resources and volunteers, but many prisons nationwide and in Michigan are not as fortunate. Inmate Tore Price, Theory Group member and general manager of Aioli’s II, the restaurant at the facility, said substance-abuse programs were essential to his transformation. He said not only did programs like Narcotics Anonymous help him help himself, they allowed him to give back to the community and help other inmates going through similar struggles. Another well-liked, transformative program at Macomb Correctional Facility is Chance for Life. According to founder and President Thomas Adams, the faith-based program is in nine prisons and its goal is to change how inmates think, which will, in turn, change their actions. “What we learned, way back when, is that it does not matter what you give a person, it matters how they think,” Adams said. “Anything you give them, if they don’t process information differently, then when they go out, they commit the same crimes and function in the same way. When we go into the institutions, we basically build mediation centers, so we’re teaching people how to solve their own problems from a peaceful perspective.” However, the goal of the conference was not just to educate attendees about different programs at prisons — it was to demonstrate how dedicated incarcerated people can be to transforming their mindset and changing their lives. Attendee Yusef Shakur, a formerly incarcerated individual and current Social Work student at the University of Michigan, is a self-described former “gangbanger.” Shakur has been out of prison for 18 years and has used his time to self-reflect and improve. He said programming in prisons is so important because everyone has the potential to contribute positively to society, but factors like a lack of education or access can prevent those contributions.
“There’s, like, these weeds,” Shakur said. “These weeds that are preventing that flower from growing. It’s there, it’s that rose. But there’s all this stuff around it and you have to be able to remove that. So that self-education of learning about who you are to appreciate and get a certain amount of love to emerge so you can see the value of a different type of education, you can see the value of how to contribute to society that can be greater than what we see today.” Shakur said the men inside the facility have been dedicated to their journey of self-redemption and he discussed the importance of empathy and forgiveness toward the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. He claimed the United States has a history of committing worse crimes than the people in prisons, and he questioned why some people can forgive the U.S. but not the prison population. “What I admire the most are the men inside who was once boys, who was once considered criminals or whatever and they transformed their lives,” Shakur said. “And showing that we all have a story of redemption; we all have a story of transformation. And the fact that we live in a country that has committed the most heinous crimes ever of enslaving a group of people, murdering a group of people, and the fact that we forgive them, why can’t we forgive these men?” Attendee and panelist David LaGrand represents the 75th District in the Michigan House of Representatives. LaGrand discussed how, during re-entry, it can be difficult for the formerly incarcerated to find work due to having a public criminal record. He said, to resounding applause, he wants to introduce automatic expungement in Michigan. “Only 6 percent of people who are eligible for expungement actually get it done, and that’s because you need a lawyer and you need money,” LaGrand said. “I am advocating for automatic expungement in Michigan. Right now, the gate is very narrow, there are a lot of people who aren’t eligible because they have a couple of misdemeanors on their record, they can’t get a felony expunged. I want to change that.” LaGrand said he wants to create more economic equality and opportunities for people of all socioeconomic statuses in the criminal justice system. He said, for example, affluent people can hire lawyers to get criminal offenses off their records, but others do not have the same luxury. “The criminal justice system works fairly well if you’re middle class or affluent — it doesn’t work very well if
you’re poor,” LaGrand said. “I am very urgent that we do a better job of making sure that we’re not simply locking people up because they don’t have money.” Tipton said a common problem with programming in prisons is that they are only available to those who are close to their release date. He said this takes the opportunity away from other inmates to learn, develop and grow. Tipton advocated for programs like Inside-Out and Chance for Life to be required upon entry into prison. “I want them to make some of these programs requirements for paroles and things like that because if you just give people certain programs, they may not get it,” Tipton said. “But if you give people programs that deal with their overall makeup, the mind, the body, the soul, and again how we interact, I think that would change people’s lives. For a lot of the programs, you have to be close to your out date. A lot of us are not close to our out date, so that’s why we’re so grateful for programs like Inside-Out and Chance for Life, because there’s not a prerequisite where you have to be close to your out date.” Social Work student Megan Diebboll, a member of the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan, said a crucial aspect of changing the way incarcerated people are viewed during both their time in prison and upon reentry is just listening to them. “If we’re really wanting to take a stance in criminal justice, you have to have the voices of those who have lived experiences backing it up,” Diebboll said. Shakur agreed with Diebboll and discussed how, while listening to those who have been incarcerated is a great first step, a lot more needs to be done. He claimed the system itself is unproductive, unfair and results in an endless cycle of incarceration for some communities. “For prison reform to manifest itself in the way we desire, then the people most impacted by it have to lead that movement,” Shakur said. “We’re producing money but we’re not investing it back in our communities and our neighborhoods that are broken and that are producing broken men and broken women. If prisons become the opportunity to so-called restore these human beings, then we’re failing them and we’re failing society.”
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 — 3
ESPORTS From Page 1 “E-sports have been around for a very, very long time, and I think with our department and, ‘Why now?’ is just the growing popularity of e-sports,” Barton said. “We see it on ESPN, and all over the news and it’s just a growing popularity among students.” Mike Widen, the director of Recreational Sports, said in an email statement the desire for teams to compete and foster a large e-sports community on campus is growing. This new program will provide e-sports clubs with the same opportunity to develop communities as club-sports teams experience. “We already have a number of other programs that are in place to help students build connections with each other and with the institution, and Esports will do the same for the students who are playing these games,” Widen wrote. “It was because of those opportunities for connections and the interest of the students that led us to develop this program. The students have shared a desire to compete with other University programs and represent the U-M. An Esports program in Recreational Sports will allow that to happen in the same way it does in our Club Sports program.” Arbor Esports, the student organization of approximately 250 students, currently meets in the Ross School of Business and
UNDOCUMENTED From Page 1 She told a story about her own experience applying to the University — when someone from the Office of Financial Aid came to her high school, she asked a question about how she could receive aid with her DACA status. The representative told her he wasn’t sure what to do, and advised her to email the Financial Aid Office, something she had already done. The second speaker, also a student member of SCOPE, discussed actions the organization has taken in previous years. According to the student, after the election of President Donald Trump and the increased uncertainty surrounding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, SCOPE issued a list of requests to the University. The organization requested the University fully meet DACA students’ financial need, hire a staff member to serve as a primary contact for DACA students and increase access to information for prospective undocumented students, among other things. Hector Galvan, who works as the Undocumented Student Program Manager in the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, also spoke at the event. He explained his role — to advise undocumented and “DACAmented” students and collaborate across campus to serve these students. He also gave information about resources available to undocumented students, including Student Legal Services and a website specifically for undocumented students. The last student member to speak discussed his experience as an undocumented transfer student at the University. He explained that University policy indicates a student must apply within 28 months of graduating high school, something he believes greatly affects undocumented students. After spending 49 months working full-time and completing courses at a community college, Galvan was accepted as a transfer student to the University’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Though he completed a summer semester, his status as a student is unclear as his financial aid information is
each player is required to bring their own computer equipment to participate. Arbor Esports President Alexander Downs, Business sophomore, said the organization gives students a community to game together. “People who don’t typically play traditional sports and are just more gamers and go to class, they’ll have something to do on campus other than just go to class and they can come to our events,” Downs said. Barton said she hopes the new Recreational Sports program will be able to provide students with a space to play. According to the University press release, creating that space and obtaining proper equipment is dependent on private and corporate donations and corporate sponsorships. “Right now, the group that we are working with a lot, the student group, they are operating just by reserving rooms on campus where they gather and compete, but we are really looking forward to the help from donors to have a space built specifically for our e-sports program,” Barton said. “Right now, there’s not a space dedicated to them. We hope that the sponsorship and really getting the word out about this e-sports program, that we’ll get some help from donors to create a space for them.” Downs said potential spaces for e-sports on campus would be extremely beneficial for the membership.
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being reviewed. Galvan is currently attending all his classes in hopes of getting retrospective credit after he is granted financial aid and his enrollment is confirmed. Natalia Ipince, a senior in Taubman and the School of Art & Design, is an international student from Venezuela who moved to the United States four years ago. She came to the event after realizing the different barriers undocumented students have to face. “I realized that I was interested in the boundaries people have to cross,” Ipince said. “In this case, I ended up realizing that undocumented students have a lot of boundaries that they have to cross to g˜et the same education a lot of us do.” Ipince also explained she sympathized with undocumented students after experiencing the legal challenges of the immigration system. LSA junior Rosa Avilez also attended the event and spoke to The Daily about her own experience applying to the University as a “DACAmented” student. “Originally, I really didn’t think I could apply to the University of Michigan because I really didn’t know about the opportunities it held for undocumented students,” Avilez said. “I instantly knew I wasn’t going to be able to get federal aid, I might not be able to apply for in-state tuition, so money was a really big issue.” She said the University initially gave her a scholarship, but she wasn’t able to accept it because of her DACA status. However, she also received a similar, privately funded scholarship, allowing her to attend the University. “That only happened after I filled out another in-state application,” she said. “As a DACA recipient, I am not a permanent resident. I am not a U.S. citizen.” She also explained that she wished more students on campus knew about undocumented students and DACA recipients. “All of us, we’re just really hard workers,” she said. “We really just want to go to college, and if I didn’t have the in-state tuition policy that was just implemented a few years ago, this would not be possible. I wouldn’t be here and I know a lot of us wouldn’t be here.”
Opinion
4 — Tuesday, March 26, 2019
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REED ROSENBACHER | COLUMN
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NOAH ENTE | COLUMN
Trump’s “principled realism” pays dividends in the Golan Heights
T
he past few weeks have been quite a whirlwind in Middle East geopolitics. On Wednesday, reports from U.S.-backed forces in Iraq and Syria indicated that the Islamic State in the Levant had collapsed. On March 13, the Senate voted to end U.S. military aid to Saudi Arabia in its long, bloody conflict against the Houthi rebellion in Yemen. Last week, Michael Pompeo, U.S. secretary of state, visited Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a move said to be an attempt to strengthen Netanyahu’s chances in the upcoming Israeli elections on April 9. For those who often find themselves engrossed in the current events of the neverstagnant Middle East, March has been filled with notable occurrences. Yet arguably the most significant news out of the region came Thursday, when President Donald Trump tweeted what has come to be considered an official recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. A formal motion came during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, D.C. for meetings with Trump and his address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference this week. A small plateau on the Israeli-Syrian border, this territory has been disputed for decades, beginning in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. During the war, Israel conquered the Golan Heights in an effort to stop Syrian attacks on civilians in the Galilee region of northern Israel, and to assure that access to the freshwater of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River — then an overwhelming majority of Israel’s water supply — would remain unencumbered. These issues played a large role in the months leading up to the Six-Day War, and had caused problems in Israeli-Syrian relations for years. In 1981, Israel formally annexed the territory and applied its law there, much to the chagrin of most of the international community. There have been many attempts, including United Nations resolutions, to get Israel to leave the territory and return it to Syria in a potential future peace agreement. The status of the region has at times appeared so uncertain that much of the Druze population living in the Golan has attempted to maintain loyalty to Syria by publicly pledging support to President Bashar al-Assad. This comes from the fear that should Syria eventually regain control of the territory, they would be considered traitors. Foreign dignitaries, even Israeli allies, would rarely publicly acknowledge Israel’s authority over the land. All the while, Israel — in particular, Netanyahu — has consistently been adamant that for the purposes of domestic and regional security, the Golan must remain in Israeli hands. For the last 50 years, Israel has transformed the area into a hub of culture, commerce and agriculture. The wineries in the Golan have produced some of the finest wines in the world. Fertile Golani farms are the origin of much of Israel’s dairy products. One peak, Mount Hermon, is the tallest point in Israel and the only place in the country where one can go skiing. There is a proud yet somber
history there, as memorials from past wars and fields of abandoned bunkers and markers of undetonated landmines dot the landscape between the springing cities. In the years since 1967, the area has, for all intents and purposes, become truly Israeli. Its current residents are mostly Israeli civilians, and its land is under full control of the Jewish state. When one visits the Golan Heights, there does not appear to be any dispute at all about to whom it belongs. Trump’s recognition of Israel’s control of the Golan is important and justified for a plethora of reasons. It is a move that is vital to the interests of both the U.S. and Israel, and advances regional security. Israel’s northeast border is an incredibly short distance from some of the hottest zones of extremism and conflict in the region. As a sign at the top of Mount Bental — a mountain on the Golan just inside the Israeli
When one visits the Golan Heights, there does not appear to be any dispute at all about to whom it belongs
side of the demilitarized zone — indicates, the plateau rests just 60 kilometers from Damascus. Geopolitical instability has brought a variety of threats to Israel’s doorstep. Stray fire from the Syrian civil war has sometimes entered Israeli territory, and the Israel Defense Forces have had to alleviate many potentially dangerous situations. An even graver threat comes from Iranian-sponsored forces such as Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Each has set up installations in Syria and Lebanon in recent years, training and recruiting fighters to join their extremist ranks. Sworn enemies of the Jewish state, these militias are dedicated to carrying out Tehran’s dream of Israel’s destruction. These groups have built a stockpile of thousands of long-range missiles, capable of striking nearly any place in the country. In its efforts to combat these attackers, Israel has relied heavily on the Golan Heights as a buffer zone between itself and Syria, home to numerous Iranian and Hezbollah military sites. Israel also uses the Golan to monitor its enemies’ movements in hopes of preventing future violence. For the short- and longterm security of both Israel and the region as a whole, it is imperative that Israel be allowed to maintain control of the Golan Heights. As Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the UN, recently expressed, “The Golan Heights are either Israeli or Syrian. America should never support giving an inch of territory to the barbaric war criminal Assad.” With Syrian control of the Golan, Bashar al-Assad, as well as the IRGC and Hezbollah, would be dangerously close. Just as it happened in 1967, these forces would be able to cut off the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, major sources of freshwater. This would not only harm Israel, but Jordan — also a U.S. ally
and moderate state. Israel and Jordan share water as part of developing peace terms between the two countries, and cutting off the Jordan River could leave both states at risk of seeing their agreements collapse. Such consensus regarding water has also helped in relations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, whose people would also feel the heat of losing the river’s vital water supply. In addition to the strategic benefits of keeping the Golan Heights under Israeli control, Trump’s recognition also serves to acknowledge what has been a fact on the ground for 52 years. Though past U.S. administrations have shirked away from recognizing the legitimacy of Israel’s control on the plateau, Trump has taken a truth-based, realistic approach. Given the seemingly permanent instability across the Syrian border and the history of the territory in regional conflicts, it would make no sense for Israel to cede control. Critics of Trump’s recognition say that it damages prospects for peace between Israel and Syria, and that it only fuels tensions between the two countries. However, in light of the collapse of past efforts toward a potential reconciliation with the Syrian government, there is no incentive for Israel to give up the Golan in the foreseeable future. While the Syrian government has come out strongly against the recognition, it is unclear what the future of Syrian leadership will look like, and a government reliant on military support from Iran and Russia will surely not be the most trustworthy negotiation partner. The current and future costs are simply too high to hold out hope for a complete shift toward diplomacy from militant forces keen on a close ally’s destruction. Trump’s foreign policy doctrine of “principled realism” has drawn great criticism by those who consider the approach brash, ideological and imbalanced. Yet the president’s decision to formally acknowledge and support Israel’s control over the Golan Heights is exactly the opposite. He has looked both to decades of history and the current climate as context and has balanced concerns of the one true democracy in the Middle East with actions that he deems best for security and prosperity of the entire region. Just as the president displayed in both his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his choice to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he has approached the issue of the Golan Heights with careful moral, strategic and logical consideration. This new clarity for the future brings an informed change to a situation that has essentially remained the same since the gunfire ceased on June 10, 1967. No prior U.S. president has dared to step in and set the record straight on the reality of the Golan’s status. On this issue, as is the case in much of his foreign policy, Trump ironically appears to be the only adult in the room.
Noah Ente can be reached at noahente@umich.edu.
I
The tyranny of Ann Arbor’s fast-casual architecture
f you haven’t noticed these buildings all across Ann Arbor, then you just haven’t been paying attention. Each and every one of the buildings follows almost the exact same design formula and they are clustered in two locations: just south of the Diag and just north of it. These buildings go by their “slick” and corporate market research names: Six11, ArborBlu, Landmark, Zaragon, Foundry, Varsity and YOUnion. The similarities between the buildings is striking, to say the least. To start our exploration, let’s begin by examining the outsides. As I see it, all of the exteriors share three central design elements. First, they all have large, rectang ular boxes as their core structure. These boxes are augmented to look more interesting and complex by creating a layering effect in which other boxes jut out of certain parts of the buildings. Second, the materials on the outsides are all the same: orange bricks, a heav y emphasis on windows and a prefabricated “Hardie” paneling that finds itself somewhere on the grayscale. Third, all of them have between 12 and 14 f loors. It is worth noting that most — but not all — of these buildings are also designed with retail space on the first f loor. The interiors and marketing for these buildings are also very similar. All of the buildings advertise a large common space with pool tables, high ceilings and a new take on mid-century modernism in which dark grays are accented by bright colored furniture, usually orange or blue. The f loor plans of all the buildings are nearly the same with the kitchen next to the door, followed by the living room and then bedrooms off to the sides. Many advertise an industrial look to the buildings with exposed concrete ceilings — an easy way to cut costs while also seeming stylish and edg y. The marketing in all of the websites is centered around selling a “luxury” student experience in which all aspects of the ideal student life can be achieved — a nexus of party life, studying, commercial convenience and exercise. Many of these buildings market themselves by selling a lifestyle, a “fam” or a community. Finally, most of the websites have a tab for parents and the concerns they will have for their child’s life in luxury apartments. For many people in Ann Arbor, these developer modernist buildings have become a symbol of gentrification and the ongoing housing affordability crisis. In many ways, this question of
gentrification and developer modernism was the central question of Prop A in this past year’s city election. The proposition proposed making the city’s library parking lot into an urban park as a way of blocking a new luxury housing development. The “Collective on 5th” would have fit seamlessly into the previously mentioned luxury apartments except for the fact that it would have been even more fancy. The people of Ann Arbor voted “Yes” on Prop A, blocking the construction of the Collective on 5th, and making a loud statement about what people in Ann Arbor have come to see as gentrification. While there are interesting and complicated questions swirling around Ann Arbor’s
For many people in Ann Arbor, these developer modernist buildings have become a sign of gentrification
housing debate, it is clear that these luxury apartments are designed with exclusivity in mind ( generally speaking, rent is more than $1,000 in these buildings). All of these developer modernist buildings in Ann Arbor got me thinking about the larger trend of these buildings popping up all across the U.S. in roughly the past five years. What exactly are these buildings? What do we want to call the buildings? Do we like how they look? What kind of impact do they have on the surrounding communities? Why are so many of them being built? And, just generally, what should we make of them? The first term — and my preferred term — that I heard to describe these buildings, was “developer modernism.” In 2017, a series of memes swept the internet mocking and criticizing these buildings. Many of the memes, and their supporting critics, were just simply calling the buildings boring and ugly. Others, however, also saw the buildings as a sign of gentrification. Kriston Capps, an architecture journalist, pointed out a deep state of irony in one of these memes. One building featured in a viral meme as an image of gentrification was actually affordable and low-income housing — it was just built in the developer modernist architecture style. Capps has been shown over and over again to be a supporter of these buildings, and calls them by his preferred term: fast-casual architecture. His arg uments in favor
of the buildings are fairly simple: They are cheap to build, not every building needs to “dominate the view” and they are niceenough looking. Capps sees it comparable to eating at a fast-casual restaurant. The food won’t blow you away, but it’s convenient, fairly cheap and fairly good. What’s to complain about? Kate Wagner, creator of the hit architectural blog “McMansion Hell,” adds to Capps’ arg ument by pointing out that internet critics and meme creators have engaged in form of what she calls “Aesthetic moralism” — the belief that one aesthetic is inherently better or more righteous than another. Wagner says that the left has weakened itself by becoming more invested in aesthetics and traditionalist architecture which comes at the cost of actually finding ways to make housing affordable. Unlike Capps, Wagner does point out that, oftentimes, buildings in the fast-casual style are luxury buildings. Wagner notes that the main difference between the luxury and more affordable buildings are the interiors. From all the research I have done, this arg ument seems to be true that the developer modernist style is one of the cheapest ways to build and that there are a plethora of examples of affordable and mixedincome housing being built in this style. Developer modernism is cheap for a number of reasons. For starters, the insides of the buildings are usually cookie cutter, which cuts down on design costs. Also, the buildings tend to fit very well within city codes, which cuts down development delays. Furthermore, “Hardie” panels and bricks are two of the cheapest materials to build a facade out of, hence the mixture of the two. So, what’s to be made of all this? On the one hand, it is clear that the developer modernist apartments in Ann Arbor are not affordable and largely seen as images of gentrification. On the other hand, we see that this architectural style is one of the cheapest ways to build and can be used to effectively make low-income housing. The takeaway is this: For people in Ann Arbor, like myself, who view developer modernism as a sign of a gentrification, take a second to refrain from aesthetic moralism when you see developer modernism in other cities. The powers of developer modernism can be used on much more noble projects than the next Zaragon Place. Reed Rosenbacher can be reached at rrosenb@umich.edu.
LENA SISKIND | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT LENASISK @UMICH.EDU
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 — 5
EVENT PREVIEW
ALBUM REVIEW
POLYPHONIC
American Football’s third album is new, despite title EMILY YANG
Daily Arts Writer
It’s not hard to imagine how strange the reunion of American Football must have been for its members. Their 1997 self-titled album, which was recorded when the band was in their last year of college in Urbana, combined earnest energy and understated wistfulness in a style that has been often imitated. Among a certain group of people it’s become a sort of avatar for the fleeting, muddled feelings of youth and early adulthood. Its influence can’t be overstated, and rightly so — the album found a sweet spot in between the various currents of music at the time that has proven a fruitful jumpingoff point for an entire generation of musicians. When American Football re-formed in 2014, the members of the group were pushing 40, and the band accordingly had the task of fitting their diaristic material into something that benefits their status as the elders of emo, with other musical projects, careers and families behind them. Their 2016 album (also self-titled) was accordingly a little awkward even as it was more technically proficient, reflecting nearly two decades of experience. LP2 frequently felt as though the group was trying to transpose the malaise of middle age to the “see-through” teenage
angst that their debut leans on. For anyone not familiar with vocalist Mike Kinsella’s solo project Owen, it’s almost strange to hear him sing “Oh how I wish that I were me / The man that you first met and married” with that same naive cadence. LP2 is also a little more sonically conventional. It retains some of the irregular time signatures and bendy, vocal guitar playing that added a crucial third dimension to LP1, but more often than not it settles into a regular groove. The group’s third (again selftitled) album clears out the band’s old sound pretty much altogether,
fine-tuned detail and several levels of distance to play with. American Football was heretofore defined by a certain economy of means, and LP3 feels like the first time the group has seriously experimented with new instruments, relegating the guitar duet to one element among many. These songs are also much broader in scope than anything the band has ever done before. “Silhouettes” and “Doom In Full Bloom” are both nearly eight minutes long, and most of the other songs hover around five and six minutes. If we were dealing with the kind of awkwardly self-pitying lyrics on LP2, this could be tiresome — but Kinsella’s lyricism has, for the first time, a sophisticated elegance to it. It’s still as earnest as we’re used to, but without the starkness of LP2. It’s still possible to hear some of the qualities of LP1 in LP3 — the intertwining guitars in “Every Wave” and “Mine To Miss,” Kinsella’s charming short vocal phrases — but I somehow doubt that someone finding American Football via LP3 would understand the exuberant energy of the band’s first iteration. For all its power, LP3 is pretty obvious and even veers toward filmic at times — it doesn’t have any of the inscrutability and the “wait, what was that?” quality that made LP1 so great. LP3 is mature and settled without repeating itself, but it invites speculation about what the band might have done had they not had to bridge a 15-year gap.
American Football (LP3) American Football Polyvinyl
replacing it with a saturated, effervescent style closer to shoegaze or post-rock. From the opening cascade of glockenspiel and vibraphone on “Silhouettes,” it’s clear the band is working with new materials — there’s an almost orchestral grandeur to the album, a panoramic sweep wholly separate from the stripped-down sound more familiar to the band. The recently-added bassist and multiinstrumentalist Nate Kinsella (cousin of the vocalist) adds several new tone colors, including mallet percussion, a 12-string guitar and a Mellotron. There’s much more
CULTURE NOTEBOOK
Women push us forward JENNA BARLAGE Daily Arts Writer
This summer, I’ll be taking the LSAT and applying to law schools. Somewhere over the course of the next two years, I’ll likely be moving out of my home state of Michigan for the first (official) time to attend law school. For some reason, I’m more excited than nervous about all of these things. My decision to go into law is not for the status or for the money, like many assume, but for the opportunity to serve and defend marginalized voices, to work on our prison system and, optimistically, to do my part in making our country what I know it can be. You’ll hate law school, my family and well-meaning friends say. You know you’re going to be working 70 hours a week. I wonder, though, if they’d think differently if I was a man. Men are cut out for hard work, for long hours, for doing whatever it takes to “provide.” Women, apparently, are not. When I think about law school, I think about the hell that Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford has been living in since the Kavanaugh hearing, while her abuser sits on the Supreme Court and accepts visiting positions at law schools. I wonder if someone like him will be my professor. I think about President Trump’s continued accusations against and slandering of Hillary Clinton almost three years after the election has ended. I think of how the President can be excused for what seems like anything, while a
small misstep by a female politician amounts to an explosion of criticism and dire threats to their careers. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez paid more of a consequence for dancing in college than Trump did for openly boasting about his tactics for sexual assault. I think about how the female candidates in the next election cycle will almost positively be treated the same — What is she wearing? Shouldn’t she be a mother? Won’t she be too moody and unpredictable to serve our country? Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, mourned with her country after the Christchurch attack less than two weeks ago. Six days later, Ardern announced that all military-style semiautomatic weapons and ammunition magazines that can be modified into these types of weapons will be nationally banned. Our U.S. government offered only thoughts and prayers for victims of countless mass shootings in our country; I was going to list some here, but there are too many. Ardern, a woman, proved more fit to serve her people after one instance of hate and violence than our current and past administrations have in hundreds of opportunities to do the same. I’m conscious of my gender when I call myself a writer, too. I once said this at a party and was asked, Oh, so what do you write? You journal and stuff, right? I quickly learned that men are also valiant for choosing a creative field over a professional one — their work is important, profound, world-changing — while women are simply wasting their time. Women writers have
historically been written off as “emotional” or “melodramatic.” Male writers — Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger, David Foster Wallace — have been hailed as literary icons for years, if not decades. I’ve never been in a writing workshop where David Foster Wallace has not been brought up and subsequently praised. I always sit silently, letting the discussion progress into something like worship. In my head, I wonder if we will ever talk about his abuse toward Mary Karr — a brilliant writer, perhaps even more brilliant than Wallace himself. I wonder if we’ll ever talk about Hemingway’s alcoholism and bar fights in a way that isn’t glamorous, or Salinger’s abusive relationship with Joyce Maynard when she was only 18 and he was 53, which she has been ostracized and blamed for for almost 50 years. I’ve had men who’ve never taken a creative nonfiction class, or even read a memoir for that matter, explain to me how to master the art of creative nonfiction, even after I’d told them that I’m a creative nonfiction writer with countless workshops and essays and memoirs under my belt. We should look to Ardern for example. We should look to our female writers, lawyers, politicians, teachers and mothers’ examples. We ignore women doing hard and just work simply because they are women. If we allow women of all races, demographics and professions the space to step out of the shadow of men, maybe we’ll find the change we’re looking for — and the change that we need.
MUSIC MATTERS
SpringFest 2019 brings A$AP Ferg, other talent that.” On top of a day stage, food JACK BRANDON trucks and pop-up shops, Managing Arts Editor SpringFest is also continuing its CoMMunity Partnership MIKE WATKINS initiative, which provides a Daily Music Editor grant for philanthropic student ventures at the University. For this year’s SpringFest, MUSIC Matters joined with HealSince its creation, MUSIC Move-Shift and Michigan Matters has brought an Movement to encourage unbelievable array of big-name educational accessibility for artists to campus, including J. underprivileged students. A Cole, Lil Yachty, Ben Folds, 2 variety of projects funded Chainz, Migos and Louis The by these initiatives will be Child. In typical fashion, this showcased this year. year’s SpringFest 2019 brings MUSIC Matters the mighty A$AP Ferg Social Venture Chair to the University’s Katie Schwartz Hill Auditorium on said, “We are so Apr. 16 as a part of the thankful to have the organization’s annual opportunity to share lifestyle festival a la in and contribute SXSW. to their respective SpringFest, the impactful efforts, largest student-run from facilitating event on campus, is local high school an all-day festival seminars about the and nighttime benefit positive relationship concert. By day, of music and mental attendees can enjoy Hill Auditorium health with Healshowcase work from Move-Shift to over 65 other student Apr. 16 lending a helping organizations, hand to the homeless providing numerous Tickets $15 with valid UMID, $25 for population of Ann opportunities for general public Arbor with Michigan demonstration and Movement.” Part exploration of the of the SpringFest student life that proceeds will be makes the University used to support and unique. In addition, grow the CoMMunity SpringFest features Partnership initiative an outlet for student further. start-ups and The festival’s businesses to display social initiatives their work to a wider audience. By night, attendees 2013, he was crowned Rookie extend to all aspects, ranging can experience an intimate, of The Year for his single from emphases on community Michigan-only concert in Hill “Shabba” at the BET Music outreach to zero waste. Awards. With a discography SpringFest 2019’s full daytime Auditorium. Typically, Hill features full of party-made bangers, schedule is still to come. Tickets for the show at Hill orchestras and theatrical Ferg is primed to deliver a performances, but MUSIC tasty trap treat dipped in 808s are on sale now, starting at $15 Matters is breaking the mold and jocularly intimidating for students with valid UMID with an unprecedented rap one-liners to SpringFest 2019. and $25 for the general public. “My goal is to create the best They are available at the concert from one of the most iconic names in hip hop today. possible concert experience Michigan Union Ticket Office, A$AP Ferg gained notoriety for the Michigan student which is located underground with the rest of the A$AP body,” Talent and Concert at the Michigan League during Mob on the coattails of A$AP Chair Marty Hubbard said. the Union’s renovation, or at Rocky. (There are many “A$AP Ferg as our SpringFest the official MUSIC Matters A$APs.) A coalition from 2019 headliner lives up to website. Harlem, the Mob ushered in a new combination of hardhitting New York gangster rap and boomy Southern trap that quite literally took the hip-hop world by storm. While Rocky is certainly the poster child of the group, Ferg is a close second, developing a personal a sound that is particularly more aggressive than that of the Mob or its pretty-boy leader. Since 2013, Ferg has released two albums, Trap Lord and Always Strive and Prosper, and one mixtape, Still Striving. In
MUSIC Matters’s SpringFest
MUSIC MATTERS
Arts
6 — Tuesday, March 26, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
GRAPHIC CONTENT SERIES
TV REVIEW
Graphic Content: A new dawn with ‘The Pervert’ CASSANDRA MANSUETTI Senior Arts Editor
NETFLIX
Schumer grows herself, if only a little, with ‘Growing’ SOPHIA YOON For The Daily
Comedian Amy Schumer (“I Feel Pretty”) returns to stand-up with a run-ofthe-mill performance in her latest Netf lix comedy special “Growing,” shot in Chicago. Unlike the majority of other comedy specials, the camera never panned to the reactions of any audience members, instead holding the focus on Schumer for its entirety. Similar to comedian Ali Wong’s Netf lix comedy specials, Schumer performs this special while heavily pregnant (about five months along), resulting in more trite jokes about pregnancy than a non-pregnant person can handle. She reveals that she has suffered from hyperemesis throughout her pregnancy, which for her, manifested itself in the form of constant vomiting and nausea. These vivid jokes that she makes about her pregnancy and its symptoms are lackluster at best and end up sounding more like sporadic rants rather than segues into her other bits. Her typical off-color toilet humor takes no breaks throughout the special, especially prevalent when she talks about her struggles with pregnancy. To her credit, she keeps it candid
about the physical hardships she’s endured with pregnancy, but this kind of content is only relatable for someone who’s experienced a difficult pregnancy as well. Although Schumer’s style of humor has always been relatable for only a specific demographic, in “Growing,” her humor is even too fragmented to appeal to her base in full. For the first half of the
Growing Netflix Now streaming
special, Schumer only made brief passes at her political stances, but her casual demeanor completely diminished as she talked about politics at full force toward the second half of the special. She begins by sarcastically referring to her future child: “I don’t know what I’m having. I hope it’s a girl. But really just because it’s such a scary time for men.” From there, the progression of her political commentary only increased. She mentions the time she got arrested in Washington, D.C. for a protest against Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to
Classifieds
the Supreme Court, saying, “Men, you can clap too” when the audience burst out in applause. For the first time, Schumer discloses information about her husband Chris Fischer and his diagnosis with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She introduces the topic with sincerity and genuine love for her husband and their relationship. Schumer’s open expression of appreciation for Fischer is evident in the tact and care clearly put into the jokes, which ref lect on her personal experiences with her husband rather than offend those who live with the disorder. Her stories about her husband are refreshing and easily the most entertaining part of the comedy special. They display her transition from a comedian who only makes empty jokes about sex and food to a comedian who draws stories from a more mature place. Schumer has always been very straightforward with her views, as many comedians are, which is why people find her off-putting. But if her comedy continues to expand from her constant quips about being a single woman to what she gave us a brief sample of in “Growing,” she might be able to find a more loyal and niche audience to support her.
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
Release Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Captain Sparrow portrayer Johnny 5 Exam for jrs. 9 Indy 500 family name 14 Rio contents 15 Machu Picchu builder 16 Loud salute 17 Beethoven’s birth city 18 *Evaluation by one’s colleagues 20 Colorful carp 22 “Born Free” lioness 23 Skin woe 24 *1984 Prince classic 27 Razz 28 Like plagiarized work, say 29 Focus and Fiesta 30 Office asst. 31 Spectacles on one’s nose 36 “That isn’t nice” 37 Intensive goodwill campaign, briefly ... and a hint to the answers to starred clues 38 Except for West Wendover, Nevada summer hrs. 41 Sicilian seaport 42 Hard to come by 43 Glossy finish 46 Harsh critic 48 Very fancy 49 *Region bordering the world’s largest ocean 53 USA part: Abbr. 54 Whirl around 55 Drink from leaves 56 *Yellowstone VIP 59 French movie 62 Like much bar beer 63 Make, as money 64 “In your dreams!” 65 Abodes for birds 66 Liberal or martial things 67 Tenant’s payment DOWN 1 Pat softly 2 Locker room issue
3 *Green Day genre 4 Impressive collection 5 Spot on a die 6 Derisive look 7 Amtrak highspeed train 8 Ankle bones 9 Function 10 Four Corners natives 11 Sandwich maker’s aid 12 Smoothed 13 Sculls competitors 19 Took off in a hurry 21 Percent suffix 24 Attention-getting sound 25 Four Corners natives 26 Some MIT grads 29 Tasseled hat 32 Scale units: Abbr. 33 Baba among thieves 34 Confession disclosure 35 Work support group 37 Cross product 38 *Union demand
39 Eins und zwei 40 Educational period 41 Mongoose family member that uses its tail to stand erect 42 9-Across vehicle 43 Apply hurriedly 44 Showing compassion 45 Applies, as pressure
47 On fire 49 “Don’t text and drive” ad, briefly 50 Snorer’s disorder, perhaps 51 Groucho’s smoke 52 Like noble gases 57 Rotation meas. 58 IV league? 60 Diarist Anaïs 61 Amphibian youngster
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Parikshit S. Bhat ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/26/19
03/26/19
EFFICIENCY ‑ 1 & 2 Bdrm Apts Fall 2019/20 Rents range $875 ‑ $1850 most include heat and water. Showings scheduled M‑F 10‑3 734‑996‑1991
Let’s get this out of the way: I’m a poser of a Senior Arts Editor for the Book Review. I applied to Daily Arts with music and film as my top preferred beats, but I was sorted into books (the reason for which was that I was one of only two people in that fall semester round of applicants who had even a mere mention of books somewhere on their application). I didn’t know any upcoming books to request for review copies, choosing new books to review at Sunday meetings made me anxious and when it came time to submit blurbs for end-of-the-year lists, I had nothing because I had only read two books that were published in 2017, and they weren’t that great. A year passes, and although my confidence grows slightly, I still have the same anxieties about my ability to be a confident books writer. I found myself recently hired as the top books brass and it’s now my turn to help coordinate end-ofthe-year lists. I still had nothing to write about for blurbs because the few books I read over the year still weren’t that great. For the more personal end-of-the-year retrospective we published, I sealed my resolution in ink to attack my books backlog methodically. But, surprise surprise, it’s still as clogged as it was four months ago, except it’s only partly from my laziness. There’s a new obsession stacked ever-high on that Bed Bath & Beyond cart of mine: graphic novels. *** Cut back to mid-December darkness — my editor-incrime, Verity Sturm, wants me to write a blurb for our Top 10 list, despite my having read nothing worth blurbing. We had sent out a Google Form to all our writers earlier polling their best books of the year, and Verity was hard at work collecting all these responses and creating a cohesive and unanimous ranking. One afternoon, as I was piddling my winter break away, she sends me a PowerPoint presentation of the 10 books she wants on the list, unranked. We start assigning blurbs based on who’s read what. We can only assign so much, and three blurbs go unclaimed — Verity, the saint she is, offers to do all of them. Of course, I won’t let her take this much work on herself, so I offer to take any one of the books off her hands. A lightbulb must’ve turned on in her head, because Verity told me to take “The Pervert,” supplying a glowing recommendation to go with it. I look it up on the ol’ information superhighway and find terse synopses: The back cover reads, “A surprisingly honest and touching account of a trans girl surviving through sex work in Seattle.” Oh. OH. I scurry down to the nearest Barnes & Noble and buy the damn thing. At this point in my life I’ve only come out to a handful of friends and my mom that I’m transgender. I make steps like buying new clothes or changing my email accounts, but I still get called my deadname by people that don’t know better and even sometimes by people that do. You would have to pay a random stranger a million dollars to refer to me as “she” or “her,” apparently. It is suffocating. *** In my Spanish Gender, Sexuality and Culture class the other day we learned of a Peruvian artist and travesti (roughly translated, it means crossdresser, but it conveys so much more) who was once photographed vested in garb reminiscent of Latinx depictions of the Virgin Mary. His costume bears a jeweled heart pierced
with seven swords. To co-opt some religious imagery (and I mean, after being shunned by most religious members of my family, I deserve it), that is how I felt every day, except the swords piercing my heart were invisible. Yet they hurt all the same. While only understanding, acceptance and time can pull those knives from my heart, sitting down to finally read “The Pervert” (after it sat intimidatingly on my desk for a few days) was a well-needed reminder that among trans people, this pain is universal. We may differ in the number of swords impaling nuestrxs corazones, or how deep they are driven, but we are stabbed all the same. We transfix others as we are transfixed ourselves. My first read through, I tried to accompany “The Pervert” with music. It has a certain grunge vibe to it, being in Seattle and all, so I put on Sonic Youth’s sprawling opus Daydream Nation with hopes it would match the graphic novel beat for beat. (And to those about to complain in the comments, “B-But Sonic Youth isn’t grunge,” don’t, I don’t care.) “The Pervert” oscillates in moods and content as freely as Daydream Nation does, but its stream of consciousness was inexplicably clashing with the music. The only song that fit, funnily enough, was “Providence,” a sparse interlude with no lyrics, only a voicemail from a man named Watt asking frontman Thurston Moore if “(he) found (his) shit.” Like “Providence,” “The Pervert” is something surprisingly beautiful, a whole greater than the sum of its parts. It’s ghastly, but also serene and undeniably funny. It’s a raunchy throwaway voicemail achieving a loving melody. It’s the beautiful piano paired with the ugly sound of an amplifier frying out. *** I don’t want to go into plot details of the graphic novel because the point of “The Pervert” isn’t the plot. It’s the experience it conveys, and the specificities of that experience sketched to strike a chord with people like me. Even though I am not a sex worker, the reality undercutting trans sex work — that of it being an object filtered through the heterosexual, cisgender male gaze — is intimately familiar to all of us. There are multiple wordless moments where the main character is afraid and ashamed to live in her own skin: It hit me blindsided, like a blurry truck driving down a rainy highway. It’s strangely personal for me, even ending in Michigan of all places. As I mentioned in my Top 10 blurb, the watercolors are perfect and they are so, so goddamn real. The illustrations of “The Pervert” are not forcefully tailored for any gaze. There’s a wonderfully explicit two-page spread with no words, only twelve squares displaying the varying dimensions of trans sex. I got incredibly defensive when my mom approached me about the copy sitting in my room, as she had flipped through it earlier in the day only to tell me I was practically reading porn. However fuming, I quickly dismissed the argument and gave up because I knew she could never fully get it. I think this anger came from me unfairly and suddenly being forced not only to defend this “porn,” but to defend the reality of trans bodies, MY body, from heteronormative distortion. We exist and that’s not wrong. All the characters are cartoonish animals, so unfortunately the uncensored sex scenes might remind you of frightening furry Rule 34, but their human qualities remain the most important. In a certain way, that’s the trans experience, appearing as human but other people
seeing you as a totally different species. If you’re not trans, you will probably find “The Pervert” confusing or not easily understandable but that’s okay because the graphic novel isn’t exclusionary. It’s not just “for trans eyes only.” Reading it does not mean immediate allyship, but it illustrates a certain unseen dimension of the trans experience that cisgender people almost never know because they will never feel it. Simply read it, then turn inward instead of demanding elaboration on the more nuanced panels. For one of my personal essays for an English class this year, I wrote about the formation of my trans experience through a few specific anecdotes, and I feel like a plagiarizing hack that I did this, but I ended my paper with a scene ripped straight from “The Pervert,” because it has happened to me almost word-for-word more than once. I wrote it like this: “Is that all, sir?” says the cashier behind the counter, the rehearsed response to my order. Oh God, I hope so. I felt this a thematic cap to all the anecdotes in my essay (which were connected through the common theme of pain), but I got a comment back from my professor saying the short vignette was unclear and the reader wouldn’t know what I was referring to. While I don’t want to whine that this was an unjust comment because it makes sense in the context of a workshop-heavy class, I took this one personally, just like my mom’s comment about “The Pervert.” Again I felt this necessity to defend it and defend myself, asserting that I don’t have to make sense for you — fuck making it easy for the reader. But I let the anger blow through me, and I let it go. *** Returning to the Top 10 blurb for the nteenth time, after I submitted it to Verity for editing purposes, she was jazzed about it, but also worried that my explosive rhetoric could backfire on myself. I wasn’t ready to come out to the wider world, and publishing this would maybe thrust me into that process unhealthily. I took her concerns to heart and considered taking my tongue down a notch, but after some deliberating I told her to publish it as is. Even if it outed me, like “The Pervert,” I was unapologetic in saying what I wanted to say. Retooling my short blurb would be violence to myself, like Remy Boydell and Michelle Perez trying to remake “The Pervert” for a PG audience. I think deciding to publish that blurb was one of the first times where I started to prioritize my own comfort rather than stress about whether other people are comfortable with me or not. And fuck you if you aren’t. “The Pervert” left an indelible mark on my soul in the form of a watercolor . It opened the gates for me to further dive into the world of graphic novels, especially the challenging, weird and queer ones. After fangirling with Verity about “The Pervert” and my newfound love for visual literature, we decided to capitalize on not only my enthusiasm, but the found enthusiasm of many other Daily Arts writers. Graphic Content, the series that this piece is launching, is the product of that enthusiasm. Credits to the ever-lovely Verity for the name. It’s a celebration of going against the grain and rejecting the literary tradition for the purpose of innovation, personal and universal. I hope it to be as irreverent and wonderful as the works we plan to cover. Keep an eye out for more Graphic Content every Tuesday for the rest of this semester. Until then, to thine own self be true. This, above all.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 — 7
More than just a power surge
W
hen Alex Sobczak launched a three-run blast in the Wolverines’ home-opener, the senior first baseman exchanged words with Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins while rounding third base. DANIEL “It’s about DASH time you swung,” Hutchins recalled telling her as she trotted home. “With runners on base in that RBI spot, we want to put the bat on the ball.” Through the first month of the season, the Wolverines have searched every nook and cranny of the country for such swings. Despite their efforts from Tampa, Fla. to Tempe, Ariz, Michigan returned from each road trip without a season-altering revelation at the plate. With multiple slap-hitters in the lineup, the team primarily relied on small ball to manufacture runs in its five weeks away from Ann Arbor. For much of those five weeks, power was hard to come by. Home runs came few and far between —
in 22 games, the team slugged just seven. But when Michigan took the diamond at Alumni Field last week, the switch flipped. In the seven home games since, the Wolverines have launched 12 long balls en route to seven consecutive victories. With Michigan’s newfound power, those margins were no coincidence. Senior second baseman Faith Canfield homered off the left-field flagpole in the team’s first home atbat, paving the way for her teammates to follow. Since Canfield’s long ball, each one of the team’s regulars — with the exception of slap-hitting sophomore shortstop Natalia Rodriguez — has gone yard. Yes, the influx of home runs has come against weaker pitching staffs than the Wolverines saw in their previous non-conference slate. But the fact that eight of Hutchins’ regulars flexed pop in their bat over a stretch of just seven games suggests it isn’t a fluke. “(Home runs) mean we’re swinging with better confidence,” Hutchins said. “If there’s anything that’s improved, it’s our presence and our confidence. We’ve been a talented team all along, but now we’re playing with the confidence we need.”
This may be a hot streak, but it could be a permanent change. Michigan has added a new dimension to its offense. The team’s recent slugging torrid is rooted in a roster-wide mindset change at the plate, not a dozen fly balls that just caught a gust of wind. Hutchins has said such things, mind you. In 2017 and 2018, the Wolverines also had power surges that looked sustainable — only to fade away in the heat of the schedule. Since the graduation of Sierra Romero and Sierra Lawrence in 2016, power hitting has seemingly eluded the program’s offensive arsenal. The duo combined for 30 home runs that season, but only one player has recorded more than nine in a season since. As a team, Michigan amassed 84 home runs in 2016. In the two seasons since, their respective totals of 44 and 54 have fallen well short. Entering last week’s homestand, this year’s group was on pace for just 23 homers. “Obviously when Sierra Romero and Sierra Lawrence stepped out, we became more of a consistency team than a power hitting team,” junior third baseman Madison Uden told The Daily at a preseason media availability on Feb. 5. “We’re not so much of a power hitting team, but who says you can’t get
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan softball team has hit for more power since returning to Alumni Field, a departure from the norm.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
the job done with consistency?” That approach didn’t work, to say the least, mostly because the Wolverines struggled to achieve consistency. They mustered a lackluster 3.59 runs per game in their 22 road contests — including an uninspiring 16 total runs in eight games against ranked opponents — before last week’s turnaround. After a two-year hiatus from mashing long balls, Michigan has returned to its old ways. The same old ways propelled it to a No. 2 national ranking. The same old ways made Romero the clear-cut favorite for National Player of the Year honors in 2016. The same old ways made the program an annual staple in the Women’s College World Series. This year’s Big Ten race is shaping up to be the tightest in recent memory. Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northwestern all pose formidable threats to the Wolverines, who have won 10 of the last 11 regular season titles. With three conference foes ranked ahead of them in the national poll, adding another championship to that historic run looks like it may be an uphill battle. But after seeing the team’s reinvigorated approach at the plate, Michigan has itself an offensive revival, consistent pitching and coaching brain trust — a trio of advantages that could make that climb manageable. If this team was going to have a kryptonite, it was going to be its lack of power on offense. But after watching the Wolverines plate an astronomical 64 runs in seven games, one thing has become certain: Michigan’s key to winning the conference once again lies in its power, something the rest of the nation thought it left in the past. “I love home runs,” Hutchins said. “They’re like a 3-point shot in basketball — it’s a nice thing to have in your back pocket.” It was about time Sobczak and her teammates swung as such. Dash can be reached on Twitter at @danieldash428 or by email at dashdan@umich.edu.
‘M’ tops Niagara, 16-5 SHIRA ZISHOLTZ Daily Sports Writer
The small, yellow ball soared from stick to stick as senior Bronwyn Shields connected with her teammate, who sent that small, yellow ball to the back of the net. The horn sounded, the crowd cheered and the two embraced as the Michigan women’s lacrosse team increased its lead to 10. More importantly, however, was the emotion from freshman Caroline Cullinan, who had just scored her second career goal with the Wolverines. She didn’t see the field for the Dartmouth game that went into double overtime on Feb. 17, or for either Big Ten matchup — arguably Michigan’s three biggest games of the year. But she had just put her team back into a 10-goal lead as the clock ran down with 4:43 left to play. The support, the cheers, the emphatic goal all served as a big reminder. This is why you play. With the help of Cullinan’s goal — in addition to goals from senior Adriana Pendino, freshman Erin Garvey, juniors Catherine Granito, Molly Garrett, Lilly Grass and Nadine Stewart and hat tricks from sophomores Erin Daly and Maggie Kane — Michigan topped Niagara (3-6), 16-5. The Wolverines held a convincing lead through the whole game with the help of key saves from within the net, despite numerous fouls and yellow cards. As the Purple Eagles scored three goals within the last 20 minutes of play to push itself out from the running clock rule, Michigan’s defense upped the ante and the Wolverines
scored three statement goals to close out the game. The eighth-ranked Wolverines improved to 12-0 on the season, growing the nation’s longest winning streak of 14, dating back to Apr. 21. Michigan is one of three Division I teams that remain unbeaten, which puts them in the company of No. 1 Boston and No. 2 Maryland. As a new varsity sport, only in its sixth season, Michigan women’s lacrosse is now on the map and a force to be reckoned with. “Winning talks,” said Michigan coach Hannah Nielsen. “Winning gets attention. Obviously being 12-0, I think it’s the best record in the country right now, and I think that says enough. This is obviously the best season we’ve had, and people are paying attention to that.” The Wolverines led, 6-0, just 10 minutes into the game and finished the half up 9-1. This allowed for players who don’t usually see as much playing time, like Cullinan, or sophomore goalkeeper Arielle Weissman, to see the field and let their hard work come to fruition. “I think that those same players are the players that either push us in practice as starters playing the scout team, or just they’re competing with us and pushing us to do our best each and every day,” said senior starting goalkeeper Mira Shane. “So, to see them out on the field, you know, that’s the reason why you play. I think sports are great, but in the long run … for them to get time, and to have fun, and to get to play the game that we all love, I don’t think there’s anything better than that. “Except winning, of course.”
To see them ... that’s the reason why you play.
Nemitz solidifies her presence Wolverines place fifth at NCAAs LILY FRIEDMAN Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior infielder Mackenzie Nemitz hit the second home run of her career on Sunday, “Mackenzie Nemitz Day.”
LILY FRIEDMAN Daily Sports Writer
Mackenzie Nemitz started her birthday well. Walking up to the booming guitar solo from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” with the momentum of her team’s 4-0 home-field lead behind her Sunday, Nemitz started her at-bat by taking two high balls. She stepped back, readjusted her grip and lifted her bat for the third time. A moment went by. And then the pitch. Nemitz struck the ball, and it flew. It was the senior infielder’s second home run of her Michigan career. The afternoon before, on Michigan softball’s “Mackenzie Nemitz Day,” Nemitz hit a soaring home run past the right field wall at Alumni Field. The blast, with an RBI groundout single in the fourth inning, topped Nemitz’s total statistical performance at the plate this
season. But it meant more than that. “I was wrapping third and I was like, ‘Please don’t wake up,’ ” Nemitz said. “As I was rounding third and running to my teammates, I was thinking, ‘This is real.’ So it just felt awesome.” Where other seniors’ might be, Nemitz’s presence at the plate wasn’t long-cemented. Nemitz had only played in six games before this season. But now, with 16 starts this season, she has secured a place in the hitting order as a regular for the Wolverines. Starting regularly at designated player, Nemitz has grown into embracing her role and hitting consistently, despite the difficulty that playing designated player and waiting long periods of time between at-bats presents. “It was a position that was open and up for grabs, and she grabbed it,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “(She) really
I was wrapping third ... like, ‘Please don’t wake up.’
has just hung in there through her career and has gotten this opportunity. It’s been fun to watch.” That moment of euphoria, running home to popsicle stick Mackenzie heads waving in the stands and beaming teammates meeting her at home plate, exemplified the work ethic and commitment that the Michigan softball program rewards. “She’s always been a great teammate and worked hard, and it’s just great that she’s taking advantage of that opportunity,” Hutchins said. “The toughest kids of all have come from the wings. …They didn’t get their heads down or their nose bent out of shape. They didn’t start blaming or get sour. They just kept working and trying to help the team win, and those are the kinds of kids that you love to coach, and those are the kids who keep you coaching for 35 years. “A lot of people have to work their way up. And (Mackenzie) has really worked her way up.” Yesterday’s ecstatic atmosphere as she ran into home plate certainly showed that. So happy birthday, Mackenzie Nemitz. Yesterday you gave yourself one hell of a gift.
Going into Saturday morning, Michigan wrestling needed a strong day. After aiming to win their respective divisions, only three of the eight Michigan wrestlers at nationals advanced to the quarterfinals. Those three wrestlers — fifth-year senior Alex Pantaleo, redshirt junior Stevan Micic and redshirt junior Myles Amine — were all two-time All Americans, all in their third quarterfinal appearances at the NCAA Tournament and all looking to push the Wolverines to a topfive team finish. And that they did. The Michigan wrestling team placed fifth in the NCAA Championship this weekend, with third place finishes and All-American honors for Pantaleo, Micic and Amine in the 157-, 133- and 174-pound weight classes, respectively. Despite disappointing outcomes for several wrestlers, including heavyweight freshman Mason Parris, the Wolverines’ performances secured a team finish on par with the No. 5 ranking the team sustained throughout the dual meet season. Thursday’s rounds proved tough for Michigan, with losses in multiple weight classes. At heavyweight, Parris lost in the first round to Iowa’s Sam Stoll. Sophomore Drew Mattin, redshirt sophomore Kanen Storr and redshirt junior Logan Massa also sustained defeats early in the second round in the 125, 141 and 165 divisions, respectively. Parris’ loss in particular marked a premature end to the season considering his breakout performance after burning his redshirt earlier in the season.
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
The Michigan wrestling team placed fifth at the NCAA Championships.
“He had a tremendous freshman year and out of the eight All-Americans, he beat four of them this year,” said Michigan coach Sean Bormet. “He fell a little short first round but he had a great run in the wrestlebacks and scored a lot of points for the team in the blood round. But he really wrestled really hard.” Despite early losses, all four contributed to the team score with their regular bracket performances and wins in the wrestleback rounds. Even with those early letdowns, with fifth-year Malik Amine’s 1-2 elimination from contention in consolations, Pantaleo, Micic and Myles Amine found success in early rounds of the tournament. In the first two rounds of the tournament, Pantaleo defeated Buffalo’s Alex Smythe in a major decision and Army’s Luke Weiland, 5-3. In similar fashion, Micic plowed through Stanford’s Mason Pengilly, 18-7, and Purdue’s Ben Thornton, 11-2, and Amine beat Rutgers’ Joe Grello and Navy’s Spencer Cary in a 12-3 major decision. “They competed with everything they had and did a tremendous job battling their way to a third place finish,” Bormet said. Entering Friday morning with those wins under their
They competed with everything they had.
belt, the three Wolverines advancing to the quarterfinals all lost in that round. While Amine defeated Lehigh’s Jordan Kutler before his eventual loss to No. 1 seed Mark Hall of Penn State, Micic and Pantaleo both lost in the first match of the quarterfinal round. All three moved into the third place consolation round on Saturday to finish the weekend. “It was a really tough round on Friday night and Stevan, Miles and Alec’s goals were to be NCAA champions, so they were disappointed on Friday night,” Bormet said. “But we had a brief team meeting and we talked about the opportunities that were still in front of them on Saturday and how important it was to them to dig deep and put their best performance on the mat for Michigan, our fans, our alumni, their high school programs and their families. “They dug deep and did a great job.” In a 6-0 bout Saturday, Amine, Pantaleo and Micic all won both their respective matches and the third place title. Those places, with wrestleback wins, earned the team 62.5 points, just enough to edge out Missouri — which finished with 62 points — for fifth place. “We had many ups and downs, but I was really proud of the strong finish we had on Saturday to produce three third place All-Americans and finish fifth as a team,” Bormet said. “I feel good about our season.”
Sports
8 — Tuesday, March 26, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
March spotlight finding Livers Against Texas Tech, a tough lesson KENT SCHWARTZ
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
Daily Sports Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa — At Michigan’s media day in October, Isaiah Livers sat with two reporters as a swarm of cameras huddled around Jordan Poole a few tables away. Naturally, the conversation shifted to Poole, and Livers’ reaction to seeing his best friend rocket to national fame overnight. At the time, Livers said he could never imagine being in Poole’s situation, insisting he works better out of the media spotlight. “I think when you go through life, you’re always gonna get overlooked,” Livers said. “I just feel like that’s just how life is.” Saturday night in Des Moines, those roles suddenly reversed. This time, Livers’ name shot across national airwaves after posterizing Florida’s Andrew Nembhard to help send the Wolverines to the Sweet Sixteen — the zenith of a postseason in which he has averaged 12.0 points per game on 58 percent shooting. As soon as Michigan opened the doors to its postgame locker room, Livers was surrounded by media members, two and sometimes three-deep. Without the assumption that Livers was amidst the huddle, it would’ve been impossible to locate him. Across the room, sophomore forward CJ Baird looked on in awe as his often-overlooked teammate found himself in the spotlight. While the media attention was new — even to his teammates — the dunk itself wasn’t. “I’ve gotten dunked on by him like six or seven times,” Baird
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers dunked on Andrew Nembhard Saturday.
said “… It’s great to see it on other people. Cause we get dunked on all the time in practice and finally seeing that on somebody else, it’s good.” Those highlight-reel moments, though, hadn’t manifested themselves in games. Livers’ athleticism has always been on display, on the defensive end or in pregame warmups, but the confidence to go for it in a game had eluded him. But as he drove to the rim with just Nembhard in his way, Livers knew this was different. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Poole pointing to the sky, signaling the alley-oop that Livers might normally settle for. Not this time. Livers took off from beyond the restricted arc, exploding onto the rim with two hands and only realizing the ball had gone through when Michigan’s bench shot to the air in delight. As Livers returned to the floor, Poole’s calls for a pass had turned to a celebratory flex. “When you see Isaiah dunk the ball, it looks different from your perspective but we see stuff like that all the time,” Poole said. “And being able to show his athleticism, it’s just amazing and
I’ve gotten dunked on by him six or seven times.
it’s awesome.” Just eight minutes earlier, Livers had found himself in an all-too-familiar spot, sitting on the bench with his confidence sputtering after a mental lapse that allowed the Gators to finish a lob at the basket. Assistant coach DeAndre Haynes, recognizing Livers’ frustration, instructed him to move on and take the ball to the basket with confidence. For the rest of the game, he sat for just 1:24, scoring seven points and igniting Michigan to a 64-49 win. “It’s incredible,” said assistant coach Luke Yaklich. “Isaiah’s worked his tail off and he has heard so many times in film sessions, ‘When are you going to take the ball to the basket hard? And land on two feet and finish at the rim or dunk on somebody.’ “And that moment right there was so fun because it was a culmination of a lot of film sessions and a lot of individual skill development work to get him to that spot.” As Livers returned to the sideline with 24 seconds left and the win long secured, John Beilein met him with a hug as the Wolverines’ fans behind the bench rose in unison. Eventually, he made his way back to Haynes, who gave him two congratulatory slaps on the chest and one final message. “I told you, man.”
With the bruises of last weekend’s weekend series with No. 19 Texas Tech behind it, the Michigan baseball team knows that it wasn’t good enough. “We got exposed,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “We couldn’t hold (Texas Tech) down in the bullpen. They sped the game up on us defensively, they ran out one mid-to-upper 90s pitcher after the next and we weren’t able to handle it as well as we would have liked to.” The setback comes after a first third of the season where the Wolverines put on a show, winning 15 of 19 games with all components of the team clicking except for a week in California, where Michigan’s offense struggled. That problem seemed to fix itself in the first homestand of the season, when it crushed opponents Manhattan and Western Michigan. The solution, though, was temporary. “We just couldn’t string (clutch) at-bats together against Texas Tech when we
had our scoring opportunities,” Bakich said. “We probably had the best chance to win a game in game three against Texas Tech. We had the bases loaded twice and just couldn’t get that big hit. Against a good team, that’s what you need. You need those two-out RBIs.” The sine curve of the offense wasn’t the only struggle against the Red Raiders — even Michigan’s strengths seemed to wilt. The Wolverines’ defense committed eight errors, costing them nine runs. Its pitching walked 19 batters, 13 of which came from a leaky bullpen. “They took advantage of our mistakes and they did what we’ve done to a lot of the teams that we’ve played and opened up a large margin in the scoring,” Bakich said. “When they walked us or made errors against us it usually turned into a big inning, and that’s what Texas Tech did against us.” Now it’s time for Michigan to learn. The Big Ten season is around the corner, and with it comes the opportunity to play consistently good teams — those that will make the
Wolverines pay when they make mistakes, in the same way the Red Raiders did. “The validation of having been in coaching and being in college baseball for a long time, having validation that we’re on the right track,” Bakich said. “(Texas Tech is) ahead of us right now but we’re getting there and seeing how close we were through the early and middle part of the game, and seeing exactly what we can point to with some costly mistakes.” It was an important weekend for Michigan. A team that has been high on itself was grounded. It can hit the reset button with this gut check. The Wolverines saw what they thought they were and saw they had a long way to go. The timing of the measuring stick, though, is key for Michigan. It’s March instead of June, and the Wolverines have time to learn and reach their potential. “I haven’t lost a single ounce of confidence in our team,” Bakich said. “And what type of team that we’re going to have this year as the season continues.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich said that the Michigan baseball team got exposed against Texas Tech last weekend.
Novice rowing program turns walk-ons into national champions LANE KIZZIAH Daily Sports Writer
In observance of Women’s History Month, The Daily’s sports section is launching its second annual series aimed at telling the stories of female athletes, coaches and teams at the University from the perspective of the female sports writers on staff. We continue the series with this story from Daily Sports Writer Lane Kizziah. Last spring, as the 2V8 boats lined up at the start of the grand final of the NCAA Rowing Championships, Madison Byrd took a second to appreciate where she was. She sat with arms outstretched and her blade in the water, and as she waited for the horn to sound, something dawned on her. Byrd was about to race for a national championship in a sport she knew little to nothing about just two years earlier. “I was shaking because I was so nervous,” Byrd said. “But I was also so thankful for what the novice program had done for me.” The current junior walked onto the novice team — for athletes that hadn’t been recruited to row — at the beginning of her freshman year. Like most of the novice rowers, she was a competitive athlete in another sport in high school. Byrd knew she couldn’t play volleyball, her first love, at a school like Michigan, but she still had an “itch to compete” after graduation. She wasn’t ready to give up being a student athlete. At the suggestion of a friend, Byrd reached out to the novice coach midway through her senior year and started training for tryouts before she even got on campus, although this wasn’t the norm for freshmen joining the team. “The novice coach does a lot of recruiting on campus,” Byrd said. “I’d guess every girl on campus has been approached by the rowing team at Welcome Week or in the Diag or Festifall and a mass email goes out at the beginning of the year.” That mass email is what drew Lara Vanderbilt to the team this fall. Like the majority of the novice
team, the sophomore transfer student didn’t know much about the sport before deciding to try out. But, that hasn’t limited her success as she’s spent all spring bouncing between the top two novice boats. “(Tryouts) were a little scary, just because there were so many girls there,” Vanderbilt said. “I really wanted to find a likeminded group of women that would be my great friends and I could get strong with.” In such a technical sport, the novices spend the beginning of fall season working on the mechanics of the rowing stroke. From the catch to the drive and the finish, there are dozens of small details that can take years for a rower to fine-tune. Not only does a rower have to focus on her own stroke, she also has to make sure that her timing matches the seven other athletes in the boat. Despite the difficulty of this juggling act, novices are thrown into the mix off the bat. “You start off novice year and you plop eight girls in a boat and ALEC COHEN/Daily you don’t know what starboard or The Michigan rowing team includes athletes who started rowing through the novice program, like Madison Byrd, who competed at the NCAA Championships. port is,” Byrd said. “But, you take As the 2V8 boats lined up at a hold of the oar and you start teammates and a competitive mental challenges of adjusting to has never had the opportunity to race — it’s hard to imagine that day the start of the grand final of the moving up and down on the slide. drive. Through facing constant a new sport worth the effort. Many of these women, like coming,” Vanderbilt said. “People NCAA championships last spring, Slowly but surely, your coach physical challenges, these women is teaching you how to insert are pushed farther than they ever Byrd, go on to have remarkable who have experience racing talk Byrd sat at the catch, listening to the blade into the water, how to thought was possible, leaving careers on the varsity team later about it as this culminating, the announcer call out the boats. In lane one, Texas. Lane two, pull through, how to feather the them to wonder what else they’re in their careers. Senior Victoria beautiful but very hard moment, blade.” capable of. Glunt may have started on the but none of us can really imagine Virginia. Lane three Washington. “I love the saying, ‘Those novice team three years ago, but it. All of the physical building of Lane four, California. Lane five, Although it’s a very technical by her junior year, this winter has been to do well at Michigan. sport, the lack of positions in who stay will Even through her nerves — she was rowing these races but we’re just sort of rowing make it more adaptable be champions’ across the finish dreaming up what it would be.” whether in her first novice race than others, such as soccer or because if you Byrd remembers her first or last year’s grand final in which line in of the NCAA basketball, where it can take years stick it out all spring race well. Going in with no Michigan came in fourth — Championships for players to learn the nuances four years, in the top varsity expectations, the top novice eight Byrd has always appreciated the of a particular role. Once the you will be a novices conquer the mechanics of champion in so eight. Senior faced Ohio State and Notre Dame. unique opportunity of being able “When we lined up for our to compete for the Wolverines, an the stroke, they are ready to race. many ways,” Emily Krebs has a similar story. After first race, we thought ‘Let’s see opportunity she rightfully earned While the actual movements Byrd said. “It starting out as a if we really can be good,’ and we through her commitment to the may be adaptable, the physical shapes your walk on, she was a won that race,” Byrd said. “It’s novice program. And now, she and mental strains of training character into member of the 1V4 a shock to your system because knows the experience has been can create a hard transition something you that finished fifth racing a two (kilometers) hurts worth even more. into the sport. A combination of never thought like hell. That’s what you have to “Every single day has pushed self-selection and cuts shrink it could be. You have a whole in the country last spring. the group from almost 200 to new take on life and how to get Novice year is full of firsts, deal with physically. Mentally, me past every single point where just three boats of eight by way through difficult situations. It from the first time on an erg what you go through during a I don’t think I can go any further,” of conditioning inside on ergs, gives you way more motivation to to the first time on the water, race, you have to stay so focused Byrd said. “Mostly because I’m rowing under a pink sky. Another on the rhythm and the person in so inspired and motivated by which rowers refer to as “torture get through challenges in life.” The novice team gives these first is fast approaching for this front of you. You’re also letting my teammates every day. I have devices.” Those who stay — like Byrd women the rare opportunity to year’s novices: the first spring your competitive nature fuel you a newfound sense of how far I and Vanderbilt — stick out the compete as Division I athletes race, which will take place next in order to walk back up on teams can push myself and how hard I and cross the finish line first even can work in order to get the best arduous training because of with no prior experience in their weekend against Harvard. outcome possible.” “It’s hard as a novice rower who though it hurts horribly.” strong connections with their sport — making the physical and
If you stick it out all four years, you will be a champion.