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Monday, September 9, 2019

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Squeaked out

The Michigan football team narrowly skirted an upset loss to Army on Saturday, winning in overtime, 24-21.

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Local businesses grapple with the effects of flavored e-cigarette ban US Rep. talks Store employees, students take next steps in responding to state-wide mandate strategy, plans in North Korea GOVERNMENT

Stephen Biegun explains diplomacy, challenges surrounding the region JULIA FANZERES Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY ALEC COHEN

MELANIE TAYLOR Daily Staff Reporter

In an effort to combat the formally-recognized public health emergency of youth vaping, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced a ban on the sale of f lavored e-cigarette juice on Wednesday. With just over three weeks before the ban goes into place, many

local Ann Arbor businesses and University of Michigan students have been left to consider the next steps in response to the state-wide ban. This announcement follows a spike in high school students’ e-cigarette use between 2017 and 2018, as well as a surge in national attention paid to vaping-related illnesses becoming more common across the country. The announcement also follows e-cigarette brand

ADMINISTRATION

1U to keep advocating following fiscal report Campaign focuses on tri-campus funding ALEX HARRING Daily Staff Reporter

When the One University Campaign launched last year, it aimed to change the way the Michigan state legislature and the University of Michigan administration allocate funding among the three University campuses. Though the University’s Board of Regents did not change the budget model to reflect the coalition’s platform this May, 1U members remain undeterred in achieving their platform points. Over the past year, One University has studied the University’s policies and budget and found specific instances in which the University can better support students on its regional campuses.

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Juul’s decision last November to stop selling fruity f lavors in gas stations, allowing them only in designated smoke shops. According to LSA junior Zac Kolbusz, the University has a pervasive “nicotine culture” which will be heavily affected by the ban. “I feel like a lot of people get here for the first time, try it at a party or something, and from that point on, there is the

big risk of addiction,” Kolbusz said. Though Kolbusz uses a Juul himself, he says he supports the ban and believes Whitmer “did the right thing.” As a result of the ban, Kolbusz said he and many of his friends will try to quit using nicotine. However, Kolbusz is fearful the ban may turn many previous e-cigarette users onto cigarettes instead. See BAN, Page 2A

Since North Korea began building their nuclear arsenal, maintaining diplomacy with North Korea has been a point of contention in the United States. The individual tasked with the challenge of negotiating U.S. diplomatic efforts with North Korea is U.S. Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun. He spoke at a packed Rackham Auditorium on Friday afternoon as the inaugural speaker in a launch series organized to celebrate the opening of the Weiser Diplomacy Center, hosted by the Ford School of Public Policy. Biegun serves on behalf of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and directs all U.S. policy talks on North Korea, leads negotiations and spearheads U.S. diplomatic

Ingalls Mall hosts largest group of organizations for 2019 Festifall Center for Campus Involvement adds new tables, space for increased demand NIKKI KIM

Daily Staff Reporter

This year’s Festifall was bigger than ever, with 623 students organizations setting up tables in North Ingalls Mall, according to the Center for Campus Involvement. Last year,approximately 500 clubs participated in the annual club fair, which is held on the first Friday of school each year.. According to Devon Vaughn, the organization consultant for the Center for Campus Involvement, they needed to add more tables and spread out to make more space for more new clubs on campus this year. LSA senior Amanda Gross, co-President of MUSIC Matters, a student-run nonprofit that hosts concerts on campus, explained Festifall has always been instrumental in attracting a variety of new members to the club. “We want to get as many kids as possible,” Gross said. “A large bulk of the kids that do show up — we get their

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signatures through Festifall. We don’t want to have to target any specific groups on campus and this way anybody who wants to can find out about us.”

Business sophomore Nina Farahanchi, a member of the Persian Students Association, was dancing in front of his organization’s table with a boombox in one hand.

Farahanchi emphasized that it’s the energy at Festifall that draws potential members in.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

RESEARCH

U-M health system data breach calls for concern Students, expert consider cybersecurity, privacy FRANCESCA DUONG Daily Staff Reporter

Michigan Medicine published an article last month notifying patients about a possible health information breach. An estimated 5,500 patients were put at risk due to an email phishing campaign. The incident occurred when an email containing a malicious link was sent to 3,200 employees in July. Three employees clicked on the link. “Employees were directed to a webpage that looked like a legitimate site requesting the username and password for their email account,” the Michigan Medicine statement said. ALEC COHEN/Daily

University students visit various student organizations at Festifall on North Ingalls Mall Friday afternoon.

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INDEX

NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS................6

Read more at MichiganDaily.com MIC.....................3 ARTS...................5 SPORTS.................2B

News

2A — Monday, September 9, 2019

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY: By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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BAN From Page 1A

done the opposite. Whiner y the ba n, though she sa id a lready prohibited f rom sa id he saw more people she does not believe it will e-ciga ret te use in this coming in a nd buy ing bulk work in the way Whitmer pa r t of the state. Whiner y sa id he thinks remov ing over the weekend tha n he intends. “I don’t necessa rily f lavored options merely “A ny time you have has in the past. someone that ’s addicted to “I believe, if a ny thing, think that the f lavoring inconveniences the adults looking for a ciga ret te a substa nce a nd pull the it ’s been easier to sell the a lternative. r ug out, there’s going to be things because ever ybody ’s “There’s just a few hiat us (f rom not lit tle issues in the day-to- in yea rs bet ween 18 a nd 21, day life,” Kolbusz sa id. “I’m smoking) you know, ‘Oh my but menta lly there’s a big hoping that people act ua lly goodness. They ’re ta king dif ference, a nd I think the tr y a nd quit. I know that ’s our vape away,’” Whiner y 18-yea r-old kids probably what I’m tr y ing to do, but sa id. do think more a long Patricia King, owner expectations a ren’t a lways the lines of f lavors a nd results. With a ny dr ug, of 42 Deg rees a r t ga ller y ‘y ummy, this tastes good’ with a ny kind of substa nce, a nd glass shop, ref uses to tha n maybe a 21-yea r-old, there’s cer ta in things sell tobacco products in 22-yea r-old who maybe going on that ma ke it ha rd her store g iven the ef fect smoked ciga ret tes for a few it has been proven to have to quit.” yea rs a nd gave them up,” Kolbusz believes on users’ hea lth. However, Whiner y sa id. st udents will f ind creative King sa id she has seen Kolbusz is sy mpathetic ways to get Juul pods on ma ny people over the to business owners, stating ca mpus a nd could t urn to past few days coming into that though he suppor ts her shop a nd requesting ciga ret tes if a ll else fa ils. the ba n, he wishes there According to loca l e-ciga ret te pods. was a way for the sma ll smoke shops, the ba n’s “ We act ua lly, at some businesses to adjust a nnouncement has not point, looked into (selling without such abr upt yet slowed e-ciga ret te e-ciga ret te juice), because cha nge. However, he does sa les. Clif ton Whiner y, a n it would be of huge Sudoku Syndication at A nn A rbor ’s f ina ncia l benef it to us, but http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ not believe the 21 a nd employee over nicotine ordina nce Bongz a nd Thongz, sa id the I just ca n’t do it,” King sa id. is enforced ver y of ten, King voiced suppor t for upcoming ba n has act ua lly leav ing vape products ava ilable to a ny susceptible pa r t of it is necessa rily underage st udent. In addition to posting something gea red towa rd children or teenagers,” about the ba n in the Bongz HARD King sa id. “I think that a nd Thongz store windows, it ’s ‘a cool thing to do,’ a nd Whiner y sa id he has been that ’s why they ’re doing encourag ing customers to it, but I don’t think the contact state of f icia ls to f lavor thing is rea lly the renounce the ba n. “ We’ve lea rned, as a a nswer. I suppor t people not smoking or vaping business, that there is a ny t y pe of tobacco, so if something that we ca n do,” that ’s going to keep people Whiner y sa id. A nn A rbor smoke shop f rom using this, then yes, I Red 13 posted a simila r suppor t it.” in their store, Whiner y doesn’t notice believe the ba n will prov iding customers with work as intended either, a pre-generated ema il to because he doesn’t bla me send to the Governor ’s e-ciga ret te juice for of f ice. Red 13 was unable the recent outbrea k in to comment by the time of vaping-related illnesses. publication. Never theless, Whiner y He points to black ma rket THC pods as a n a lternate sa id Bongz a nd Thongz pla ns to continue selling cause. Because of A nn A rbor ’s f lavored e-ciga ret te juice ordina nce preventing the until Whitmer ’s ba n is sa le of nicotine to those “sta mped a nd sig ned a nd BRAIN SUDS puzzle by sudokusyndication.com © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. under 21, Whiner y a lso sea led.” sa id the f lavored juice ba n ta rgets a t y pe of consumer

According to local smoke shops, the ban’s announcement has not yet slowed e-cigarette sales, but has actually done the opposite.

SUDOKU

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Michigan in Color

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Monday, September 9, 2019— 3A

First day of school for people of color Fashion is a way that any individual can express their culture on an everyday basis — and even more importantly, on the first day of school! This year MiC wanted to showcase the first day of school outfits of students of color who use their fashion to express

their creativity and present themselves to the rest of the world. The students we are presenting have cultivated their style to truly express themselves as individuals. Please enjoy their fashion choices and the effort they put into expressing their identity in the form of fashion.

SEAN TRAN

MiC Off the Record blogger I chose this outfit for my first day of classes because the top is a vintage 1940s shirt in my favorite color. I want to get into more sustainable ways to shop for clothes this year and stop supporting fast fashion, especially when there are secondhand clothes

that are this cute and unique! My Hello Kitty backpack is peeking out from the bottom left corner—it’s a purchase that I made because I’d like to think that Hello Kitty is not only a baddie, but also an iconic woman of color.

Malikah Pasha

MiC Contributor

Chanel Barnes

MiC Contributor Fashion gives me the ability to put together a piece of artwork everyday when I wake up. I want to let people know through my

fashion that you are not subjected to. a specific style and that you have the freedom to wear anything that sets your soul fire.

I love to either completely match, or use colors of same palette. While I decided to choose an array of blues for my nails, I sadly forgot about my closet—I barely own anything blue. However, I found this spearmint striped

shirt-dress hiding in my closet. Even better, I’ve never worn this dress, so what better way to start off my junior year than in a new fit!

Street Life station in Queens, I could have been walking out of a metro MiC Editor station in Delhi or Mumbai or Chennai. Everyone around When I walked out of the me was Brown, storefronts Jackson Heights subway all around selling samosas, DANYEL THARAKAN

chaat and chai. It felt like home. It made me realize how empowering it is to be surrounded by people who look like you, something so many white people take for

granted. Two of these photos show the predominantly South Asian area in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York; two of these photos are from the streets of Kochi, a city

in my dad’s home state of Kerala in South India. To me, it is comforting how immigrant communities are able to recreate their homes wherever they settle. In the

moment, sipping my chai and listening to all of the different languages being spoken around me, I was grateful to be there.

and felt my knees grow weak. I’ve seen my smile frame many millimeters, and I’ve felt my eyes rain. In your presence, the space between space and time is lost. In your presence, there has never been enough space and there will

never be enough time. In this life, your soul has proved to latch onto mine. And in this space and time, I don’t mind mating with a soul so fine. I’d let you fill my space until the end of time, for I’ll always be yours and you’ll forever be mine.

Space and Time DIERRA BARLOW MiC Podcast Editor

There’s a space between space and time that you’ve managed to reside in. A grey area that should

have slipped through the cracks. But, you’ve managed to maneuver adhesive after adhesive into what was once shattered. This space between space and time used to seem endless. Like the union of black hole to infinity.

Like the consolidation of now and then. Like the reality of an unwanted death during life. The space between space and time was massive yet miniscule. And you managed to fit right in. I don’t believe in fairytales. I don’t

believe in the idea of one soul being my required mate. But, I’ve seen the grey turn to light. I’ve seen you slip through the cracks to make the space between space and time seamlessly disappear. I’ve seen my soul turn soft,

Opinion

4A — Monday, September 9, 2019

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ALANNA BERGER | COLUMN

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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

ZACK BLUMBERG | COLUMN

Putin’s international success and domestic struggle

“

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” began Charles Dickens in his 1859 novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” Today, more than 150 years after Dickens’ death, those words remain relevant: At present, they describe the predicament facing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Internationally, Putin’s reign has been a time of great success for Russia. Since first coming to power in 2000, he has emerged as the face of the modern Russian state, increased his nation’s power on the global stage and made significant strides towards Russia’s long-term goal of destabilizing Western, liberal democracies. However, while Putin continues to project strength abroad, he faces a spate of domestic concerns, with economic struggles and recent protests over electoral freedom causing his approval rating to drop as Russians begin to worry about their future. It is undeniable that through the lens of global geopolitics, Putin’s tenure as Russian president has been a time of great accomplishment for his nation. Today, Putin’s name and image are synonymous with the Russian state, a sign of his global political presence. He is consistently ranked alongside American and Chinese leaders as one of the world’s most powerful heads of state, despite governing a substantially smaller and less economically powerful nation than his Chinese and American counterparts. The sentiment that Putin is a strong leader is reflected in his global perception: As of 2018, 52 percent of Americans believed Russia played a bigger role in the world than it had 10 years prior, while only 15 percent thought it played a smaller role. However, Putin’s projections of strength are just the tip of the iceberg: On the world stage, he’s made tangible strides towards achieving Russia’s political goals. Russia’s primary goal is bigger than Putin: to destabilize Western nations it believes to be part of the liberal order. This aim extends back to the founding of the modern Russian state. After the Soviet Union fell, many former Soviet Republics and Soviet Union protectorates, which the Russians saw as culturally Russian, joined Western organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, manifestations of the U.S.-backed liberal order. As the Russian president, weakening the liberal West is naturally a goal Putin has worked to further. His

most-publicized triumph came in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when Russia’s government-backed online trolling group, the Internet Research Agency, helped sow political discord and promote President Donald Trump’s candidacy, which ultimately aided his victory. However, Putin’s accomplishments extend far beyond causing chaos in the 2016 presidential election: there are ties between Russia and the United Kingdom’s “Vote Leave” campaign from the 2016 Brexit referendum, and many of Europe’s newly-empowered far-right parties, which share Putin’s disdain for liberalism, have ties to Russia. While Russia’s governmentsponsored electoral meddling has been highly effective, perhaps its most significant contribution is the blueprint it left behind. Across the globe, online political trolling has become a common electoral tactic. Though the aforementioned European far-right does maintain ties to Russia, many parties can now rely on a steady stream of inflammatory misinformation from far-right websites in their respective countries, a move inspired by the IRA’s tactics. Meanwhile, in other countries such as the Philippines, spreading misinformation has blossomed into a major component of political campaigning, with independent companies offering their online trolling services to candidates. In addition to promoting democratic destabilization in the West, Putin has also worked to effectively expand Russia’s influence in Africa. Documents leaked earlier this year showed the Russian government’s plans to build ties with various African nations, including the Central African Republic, Libya and Madagascar, with the aim of introducing Russia-friendly leaders, promoting Russian political values, accessing natural resource deposits and securing lucrative military contracts. By competing with foreign nations (namely China and the United States) for influence in Africa, Putin aims to strengthen Russia’s influence abroad to a degree which has not been seen since the fall of the Soviet Union. With regard to Russian values, the documents revealed the Russian government’s interest in creating a sense of Pan-African nationalism among the countries it worked with in Africa, something which bears many similarities to the idea of the “Russky Mir” (Russian World), the ideology Russia uses to justify encroaching on the rights of

former Soviet states like Belarus and Ukraine. Although Russia cannot match the massive financial investments the United States and China have made in Africa, they still demonstrate Putin’s vision of Russia as a global power capable of molding the world in its vision. However, despite Putin’s success in expanding Russian influence abroad, he faces several problems in his home country that may be of serious concern. Putin’s biggest obstacle is Russia’s struggling economy and its impact on everyday citizens — over the past five years, the average real income in Russia has dropped by over 10 percent, and Russians are understandably frustrated. Russia’s economic struggles, including the decreasing real income, can be traced back to two primary causes, both of which Putin bears some responsibility for. Most directly, at least some of Russia’s contemporary problems are tied to sanctions placed on Russia for annexation of Crimea, a move Putin had direct control over (ironically, the original invasion boosted Putin’s popularity). More importantly, Russia’s key economic problem in the past decade has been falling oil revenues. Though Putin cannot singlehandedly control the global prices of oil, many of Russia’s oil problems are linked to the government’s inability to diversify the Russian economy beyond natural resource production, something which stems from Putin’s disinterest in tackling economic corruption (though that is unsurprising, considering Putin is a personal beneficiary of the current system). While Putin’s most pressing domestic concern is the economy, Russian citizens have also grown frustrated with some of Putin’s repressive political tactics and are coming out in protest. Earlier this year, investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was held in jail on fabricated drug charges after he investigated corruption in the Russian funeral industry. However, after protests across the nation, the government ultimately admitted defeat and released Golunov. In recent weeks, a spate of protests have been held in Moscow after Putin’s government disqualified several rival candidates running for city council positions.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Zack Blumberg can be reached at zblumber@umich.edu.

KAAVYA RAMACHANDHRAN | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT KAAVYAR@UMICH.EDU

“

On mental health and mass shootings

Mental illness and hate pulls the trigger, not the gun,” said President Donald Trump at a White House address following the back-to-back shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio in early August. Trump’s words echo a greater sentiment put forth by a multitude of politicians and gun rights advocates in the days following mass shootings. In the wake of the mass shootings that have plagued the United States for the better part of two decades, elected officials and various public figures have often steered the debate away from gun control toward mental illness issues within the country. Perhaps, at first, this seems to make sense. To many Americans, the thought of entering a public space with high powered weapons for the sole purpose of killing innocent strangers is incomprehensible. A sensible conclusion seems to be that no individual of a sound mind would do such a thing, and therefore such a perpetrator must have some sort of mental illness. However, the majority of research demonstrates that the propensity to make a connection between mass gun violence and mental illness is misguided. Though some high-profile mass shooters, such as those who committed the massacres at Virginia Tech, in Tucson, Ariz. and in Newtown, Conn., had a history of mental illness, evidence demonstrates this relationship is not causal. The first piece of evidence to disprove the relationship between mental illness and mass gun violence is that the United States is not unique in terms of rates of mental health issues. In fact, statistics show rates of mental illness remain roughly the same throughout the world. When compared with peer nations such as Canada, Ireland or Germany, the United States demonstrates similar rates of mental illness. If mental illness was truly the main cause of these random acts of mass violence, then the rates of mass shootings in these countries should be comparable to those in the United States. However, when it comes to gun violence, the United States stands alone among its peers. As of 2017, gun-related deaths comprise 73 percent of homicides in

the United States, compared with 3 percent in England and Wales as of 2017, 38 percent in Canada as of 2018 and 13 percent in Australia as of 2013. In fact, gun homicides in the U.S. are at a 25.2 times higher rate than gun homicides in other comparable developed nations. Additionally, the United States ranks as the 28th highest in terms of rates of deaths from gun violence worldwide, far higher than other developed countries. While the mental illness epidemic appears to be universal, the gun violence epidemic remains uniquely American.

When it comes to gun violence, the United States stands alone among its peers

Another counterpoint to the notion of mental illness as a cause of mass shootings or gun violence is the fact that mentally ill individuals, in reality, commit a small fraction of overall violent crimes. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that less than 5 percent of violent crimes are committed by those with diagnosable mental illnesses. Thus, those with mental health issues are overall unlikely to perpetrate violent crimes, including gun violence and mass shootings. Moreover, further statistics demonstrate that mentally ill individuals are, in fact, much more likely to be the victims of violent crimes. More than 25 percent of those diagnosed with a mental illness will be the victim of a violent crime. It seems that the existence of a mental illness is a far better predictor of victimization of violence rather than of perpetration. At this point, it is clear that a mental illness does not make an individual more likely to harm others in acts of gun violence. However, there is another link between mental illness and gun violence that often remains

undiscussed. Suicides have long accounted for the majority of gun-related deaths in the United States. Suicide by firearm is also an extremely brutal method, accounting for less than 6 percent of suicide attempts but over half of fatalities. Furthermore, ease of access to guns contributes to suicide risk. People living in states with high rates of household gun ownership are four times as likely to die by gun-related suicide when compared to states with lower rates of household gun ownership. In this sense, there appears to be a link between gun violence and mental health struggles. However, access to firearms proves to be a greater risk to the mentally ill themselves rather than to the rest of society as a whole. In the wake of mass shootings that continually rattle the United States, politicians repeatedly blame the mental health crisis for the carnage. This is an issue that persists on both sides of the ideological spectrum, with Trump blaming the mentally ill for pulling the trigger and Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo calling for a “mental health data base to prevent the dangerously mentally ill from purchasing a firearm.” Repeatedly placing the blame for our gun violence crisis on the nation’s mentally ill, an already vulnerable and stigmatized population, is unfair and dangerous. The fact of the matter is that both mental illness and gun violence are massive public health epidemics inflicting untold damage on the American populace. Even though the brazen capacity for violence demonstrated in high profile mass shootings seems far outside the bounds of sanity to most people, mental illness is decidedly not responsible for the high rates of gun violence in the United States (barring those related to suicide). In order to properly provide for our nation’s mentally ill, we must dispel harmful stereotypes that mental health issues are responsible for one of our worst national scourges and begin to look elsewhere to combat our gun violence epidemic. Alanna Berger can be reached at balanna@umich.edu.

TIMOTHY SPURLIN | COLUMN

Observe the inverted curve

ollege students ought to be interested in the recent inversion of the yield curve, as its ramifications could potentially pose a significant threat to our postgraduation plans. For those who don’t know what the yield curve is, it is a graph that plots different bonds by their contract length and their respective yields, or how much one gets back for investment. Typically, 10-year bonds have higher yields because that means people are lending out their money for a longer period of time and thus should expect a greater return on their investment. However, for the first time since 2006, the yield curve recently “inverted,” meaning that short term yields increased above long term ones. Why is this such a big deal? Bonds are generally a much better measure of the economy’s health than other markers, such as stocks, for a couple reasons. First and foremost, the variability of the stock market is pretty much unpredictable. When it is up or down, people will offer their thoughts on what has influenced it as a whole, but typically the day-to-day just sometimes changes. Bonds are like stocks but are generally considered safer due to their complexity and guaranteed returns. As business journalist Heidi Moore eloquently explained in a tweet thread: “The stock market is a way that people tell short stories about a company … Bonds also tell a story about a company or a government. But it’s a BETTER story, a novel rather than a short story.” The inverted yield curve is a better indicator of the economy’s health than any given down turn in the stock market. As shortterm bonds have increasingly higher yields than long-term ones, investors are essentially

saying that the short run is looking riskier than the long run, and therefore yields should be higher in order to compensate for the higher risk (i.e., there is most likely a recession landing in about two years’ time). That may seem like a whole lot of economic jargon, but in reality, the track record for inverted yield curves and recessions in the U.S. and United Kingdom is rather uncanny. All of the recessions in post-war America have been preceded by an inversion in the yield curve about two years prior. That is cause enough for serious concern. Truthfully, it is incredibly difficult to discern the exact cause of this phenomenon. All we can do is infer plausible causes and make judgments on them on a case-by-case basis. What we do know is that the temporary inversion in the yield curve means that there is some sort of short-term uncertainty in the market. Most likely, it is a combination of factors all impacting the market. Global growth is down: Germany is nearing a recession with a shrinking economy and Argentina’s stock market lost about half its value in a few days. Pair this with the ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China and a looming disaster brewing in the United Kingdom. due to the possibility of a “No-Deal” Brexit, and it all points to a murky short-term future for the global market. It is also somewhat possible that there is a self-fulfilling aspect of this warning. After all, the inverted yield curve does not cause a recession; it merely acts as a historic signifier of one. Warnings of a looming downturn could influence stakeholders to respond accordingly by saving more and spending less, which in turn slows the economy and thus we have the very thing we

feared would happen anyway. It should be noted that while this inversion has occurred before every recession, the sample size for this indicator is still rather small. The outcome is not guaranteed, but it is reasonably probable — we ought to take the warning seriously all the same. President Donald Trump has tried diverting much of the attention away from the warning signs, tweeting recently that “the Democrats are trying to ‘will’ the economy to be bad for purposes of the 2020 elections” while also attacking the Federal Reserve for not keeping interest rates lower. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the Fed’s interest rates have much to do with this phenomenon, and it is unlikely the Democratic party possesses the will to impact global markets in such a way. Regardless of possible causes, everyone attending a university should be paying close attention over the next year or so. Great resources include keeping up with news sources such as The Economist, The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times that all cover the economy in detail (and all have some sort of student discount available). Another tool to stay educated is social media. Find and follow a few economists to stay up to date. If the inversion of the yield curve is correct again that means a recession is just two short years away. Which, by my math, means it will hit as most of us currently attending the University of Michigan are graduating. Securing a job can be hard enough after getting your diploma. Let’s hope we don’t have to do that in the midst of a new recession too. Timothy Spurlin can be reached at timrspur@umich.edu.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Monday, September 9, 2019 — 5A

COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

On growing as I go, & Leaked: ‘Yandhi,’ track by track loving the in-between DYLAN YONO Daily Arts Writer

DANA PIERANGELI Daily Arts Writer

Pa r t of g oi n g t o a n el it e u n i ve r s it y i s s om e t i m e s t her e ’s a n o ve r w hel m i n g pr e s s u r e t o a l w a y s b e bu s y. D u r i n g t i m e of f f r om r i g or ou s a c a de m ic s c h e du le s , m a n y f e el t h a t t he y sh ou ld b e doi n g s om e t h i n g e xc it i n g a nd c a r e e r - e n h a nc i n g . I stressed m y s el f out a l l s e c ond s em e s t er lo ok i n g f or i nt er n sh ip s a nd jo b s t o ke e p m y s el f o c c upie d t h i s s u m m er. To m y d i s m a y, e ver y si n g le pl a n I m a de f el l t h r ou g h . E ven t h e c l a s s I w a s g oi n g t o t a ke a t t he c om mu n it y c ol le g e b a c k hom e w a s c a n c ele d . I le f t A n n A r b or f e el i n g de f e a t e d , b or e dom a l r e a d y s e e pi n g i n . B ut I d id n ’t s t a y b or e d f or lon g . A c ouple i nt er n sh ip s worke d out , I s e c u r e d a jo b, I t o ok on l i ne c l a s s e s . Sudden l y, m y s u m m er w a s f u l l of f u l f i l l i n g e x p er ienc e s . My m o s t a d ve nt u r ou s ende a vor w a s g oi n g t o L o s A n g ele s f or a m ont h -lon g f i l m i nt er n sh ip. I l i ve d on m y ow n f or a m ont h i n a c it y I ’d n e ver b e en t o w it h out k now i n g a s ou l — a s e ve n -hou r pl a ne r ide f r om m y hom e . I worke d a n i ne - t o f i ve i nt e r n sh ip a t a f i l m c omp a n y a nd lo ve d (a l m o s t) e ver y s e c ond of it . I e x plor e d c a r e er op t ion s I d id n ’t e ve n k n ow e x i s t e d . I f u l f i l le d d r e a m s , I e x p a nde d m y r e s u m e , but m o s t l y I le a r ne d h ow s t r on g I w a s . W h e n I c a m e b a c k , I n a n n ie d a t wo - a nd- a -h a l f-ye a r - old t o dd ler, g e t t i n g a d i f f e r e nt t a s t e of a du lt r e s p on s i bi l it ie s . A s I w a s m a k i n g s u r e she d id n ’t r u n i nt o t h e r o a d or f a l l dow n t he s t a i r s , I f ou nd t h e old s a y i n g t h a t b a b y sit t i n g i s t h e b e s t bi r t h c ont r ol t o b e t r ue i n a s m a n y w a y s a s it i s f a l s e . I e ven e x plor e d m y lo c a l t h e a t r e , doi n g a n i nt er n sh ip t h a t a l lowe d m e t o le a r n t he s t or ie s of p e ople i n m y c om mu n it y. I r e c on ne c t e d w it h t h e hom e I f ou nd l a s t s u m m er b e f or e m a k i n g A n n A r b or m y h om e . I f ou nd a p a s s ion f or he a r i n g a nd sh a r i n g o t her p e ople ’s s t or ie s . A l l t he s e e x p er ienc e s pr o ve d t o b e h a r d work , but i nc r e d i bl y f ulf illing. I g rew in so ma ny ways t h a t I b a r el y r e c o g n i z e d m y s el f . Aw a y f r om t he t i g ht s c he du le s a nd a c a de m ic pr e s s u r e s of t h e s c h o ol ye a r, s u m m er i s t h e t i m e

w h en we f i n a l l y h a ve a c h a n c e t o e x plor e w h o we a r e a nd w ho we w a nt t o b e . A lo t of t h a t c om e s f r om t h e ne w opp or t u n it ie s we a r e a l lowe d t o e x plor e , s uc h a s jo b s , i nt er n sh ip s a nd volu nt e er work . B ut a lo t a l s o c om e s f r om h a v i n g s om e t i m e t o ou r s el ve s t o i ndu l g e i n ou r p a s sion s a nd g i ve ou r s el ve s t i m e t o e x p a nd ou r m i nd s on ou r ow n t er m s . I n t h e we e k s b e t we en jo b s , I f ou nd m y s el f g r ow i n g m or e a nd m or e c om f or t a ble h a v i n g t i m e t o m y s el f , w it h a lo t of m y s u m m er s p ent c u rle d on on m y b e d t y pi n g a g g r e s si vel y on m y l a p t op or q u ie t l y s t r u m m i n g m y g u it a r. I f i n a l l y h a d t he f r e e dom t o do a l l t h e pr oje c t s I a l w a y s w a nt e d t o do but w a s t o o bu s y t o a c t u a l l y do. A t f i r s t , it w a s a lo t of pr e s s u r e . B ut e vent u a l l y, I s e t t le d i nt o s t a r t i n g pr oje c t s f or m y s el f a nd n o t wor r y i n g a b out h a v i n g t o f i n i sh t h em f or a de a d l i n e . Th a t le d t o a lo t of u n f i n i she d pr oje c t s , but a l s o a lo t of ne w a nd e xc it i n g ide a s . I w r o t e a s y n op si s f or a b out s e ven d i f f er ent pl a y s I w a nt e d t o w r it e a nd d id n ’t f i n i sh a n y of t h em . I w a t c he d do c u m ent a r ie s . I le a r ne d how t o do a m e d io c r e S c o t t i sh a c c ent f or n o r e a s on o t her t h a n I t hou g ht it wou ld b e a f u n sk i l l t o h a ve . I d i s c o ver e d ne w mu sic (t h a n k s B en Pl a t t f or t h e t it le). I g a ve m y I n s t a g r a m a n a e s t h e t ic , I p a i nt e d , I w r o t e , I c o oke d . I sle p t i n u nt i l n o on a nd w a t c h e d a l l of “A r r e s t e d D e velopm ent ” i n on e we e k . I l i ve d i n m y ow n sk i n a nd b e g a n t o enjo y h a v i n g t i m e t o m y s el f f or t he f i r s t t i m e i n a lon g t i m e . G r ow t h i s n ’t on l y a b out ke e pi n g bu s y a nd h a v i n g t he c o ole s t s u m m er s t or y. A s h i g h a c h ie v i n g s t udent s , s om e t i m e s we f e el t h a t i f we ’r e no t doi n g t he b e s t i nt er n sh ip out t h er e , we a r en ’t doi n g en ou g h . B ut h a v i n g a b a l a n c e of t he s e t h i n g s i s how we g r ow i nt o w ho we a r e m e a nt t o b e . We n e e d d a y s w h er e we work n i n e t o f i ve a t a d r e a m i nt er n sh ip a nd d a y s w hen we sle e p u nt i l n o on a nd w r it e c r a pp y pl a y s , or e ven ju s t bi n g e Ne t f l i x . G r ow t h i s a pr o c e s s , a nd a l l f or m s of c r e a t i v it y a dd t o it . My s u m m er m a y b e o ver, but t he g r ow t h f r om it w i l l c ont i nue on t h r ou g hout t he s c ho ol ye a r a nd b e yond .

Last week, Kanye West off icially announced the tracklist and release date for Jesus Is King, his upcoming ninth studio album. It ’s common knowledge now that album rollout announcements from Kanye should be taken with a g rain of salt. We’ve seen this happen for years, most memorably the haphazard yet wholesome rollout of The Life Of Pablo, in which the tracklist was f inalized weeks af ter the initial release. The most recent unorthodox album rollout came in fall 2018 as Kanye teased Yandhi, a spiritual successor of sorts to his 2013 album Yeezus. It was orig inally slated for Sept. 29, then delayed to Nov. 23, but 2019 came around and Yandhi never did. Some time in mid-Aug ust, several leaked versions of Yandhi began circulating — in particular, a 28-minute leak on YouTube that compiled nine demos and recordings, presumably from sessions for Yandhi. Since then, the title has become fairly synonymous with this collection of leaks. There’s a lot of debate about the ethics of leaks. Some arg ue they are harmf ul and can cost artists or labels f inancially, or cause artists to throw away tracks that had potential. But af ter a song (or album) has been leaked, there’s no going back. Yandhi is an especially interesting leak: It ’s ver y much a rough draf t. Most of the songs are unf inished, embodying a certain idea Kanye was reaching for but not quite realized. I took this opportunit y to dig into the brief tracklisting for Yandhi for insight into Kanye’s creation process and ask a question: What could have been? The opening track, “New Body,” is a pop-rap song with appearances from frequent collaborators T y Dolla $ig n and Nicki Minaj. The

lyrics celebrate plastic surger y, something relevant to Nicki Minaj herself and Kanye West ’s current (and past) partner. A catchy f lute melody plays throughout, a vag uely African pop sound maybe inspired by Kanye’s 2018 trip to record in Uganda. The instrumental is prett y middling, though. Next is “The Storm,” featuring the late XXXTentacion in a mildly awkward and ang r y verse. The agg ression in the verse comes off especially strange because the vocals are unmixed, so he just sounds like he’s pissed off, screaming over a Sk y pe call or something. The song is repetitive and uninteresting. So far, it seemed fair for Yandhi to hit the bin. “Alien” is the f irst song to show potential. As the title suggests, it features a surreal and colorf ul beat with an eerie melody. At one point the instrumental really kicks in and starts to envelop your ears like a g randiose movie soundtrack. The song ends abruptly though and Kanye’s deliver y is pathetic — they are clearly f irst-time laid-out lyrics. If the track were f inished with a better performance from Kanye, “Alien” could be a highlight track on a f uture Kanye West project. “Law of Attraction” (also called “Chakras”) is probably the most obvious demo on the album, as similar to the previous track, Kanye mumbles nonsensical lyrics to get his f low down throughout. It seems to be a pattern for Kanye in his song writing process that the f lows and emotions and concepts come before any f inished lyrics. The layered vocal harmonies are wonderf ul, and there’s an intensit y to Kanye’s deliver y that could make for a respectable album deep cut, but the next track, “Bye Bye Baby,” f ulf ills the same role on an album. It ’s similar in intensit y with a more interesting instrumental and features a ver y emotional (and completed)

Kanye-core verse, touching on his feelings of insecurit y that have shined on his last few records. Only one track, “Hurricane,” is a really unlistenable demo. The beat is prett y cool and glamorous — it sounds like something you might f ind on a Travis Scott project — but the weird falsetto vocals are horrif yingly annoying. The song won’t be missed. It ’s followed by “ We Got Love (Remix),” another high potential track. That ’s rumored to have orig inally been for Teyana Taylor’s album, which would explain why her verse is so well put together beside Kanye West ’s awkward and vag uely offbeat contributions. “Garden” is a beautif ul and soulf ul track that presumably came from a session with the choir for Kanye West ’s “Sunday Ser vice” performances — weekly, inviteonly stag ings in which Kanye West performs gospel-esque versions of music from his catalog. It sounds like an even better version of something you might f ind on Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book. The audio is notably lowqualit y, like it was recorded on a cell phone during a live session. This is a track to be excited about: It ’s one of the only leaked songs to appear on the tracklist posted for Jesus Is King, so we can (cautiously) expect a f inished release in the near f uture. The leaked album closes with “Slave Name,” a gorgeous instrumental outro led by a g uitar, but clearly incomplete. The verdict? Yandhi has potential. We’ll probably never see f inished versions of “Alien” or “Bye Bye Baby,” something that ’s actually deeply unfortunate. The ideas and concepts on Yandhi are actually extremely fresh and exciting. The insight into Kanye West ’s creative process is interesting, but unf inished demos aren’t really revisitable. The best fans can do is wait and hope that Jesus Is King embraces the best of Yandhi — if it even comes out.

WORLD MUSIC COLUMN

‘Moon Safari’ by Air SAYAN GHOSH

Daily World Music Columnist

Whether you call it trip-hop, “downtempo” or “lounge,” the type of music that falls under this large umbrella of related genres is incredibly difficult to pull off without sounding unbearably corny, boring or both. Successes do exist, from Portishead to Massive Attack as well as some work by groups such as Zero 7, but as a whole, and for good reason, there’s not much out there that excites and intrigues more than it cures insomnia. I heard Moon Safari described using some of these terms, and while not wrong per se, I discovered how meaningless they really were. The 1998 debut album of the French duo consisting of two students from Versailles, Nicolas Godin and JeanBenoît Dunkel, is perhaps one of the most playful and, dare I say, cheeky albums you will ever hear. Borne out of endless tinkering and experimenting with synths, preceded by remixes and a middling EP, Moon Safari is itself an odd experiment, a mish-mash of genres and time periods. At times sophisticated and at others melancholic yet strangely childish, the album still sounds futuristic in the same way a Lamborghini Countach still looks futuristic. Both didn’t necessarily predict the predominant aesthetics of the future, but perhaps we just haven’t really caught up. And like the Countach, Moon Safari is both breathtaking and prone to fall apart at any moment. The fact that Moon Safari never reaches the heights it’s capable of makes it that much more fascinating. These heights, however, are teased at in the memorable opener, the instrumental “La Femme d’argent.” Anchored by a lovely, fun bassline, it nonetheless makes me feel like it should be the soundtrack to an awful B-movie, or at best (worst?) Roger

Moore dumping around in space as James Bond in “Moonraker.” “Sexy Boy,” the following track, is the prime example of how the duo, like Giorgio Moroder in Italy decades prior, transformed overwhelming corniness into something that is somehow cool. The vocoder-based vocals, whispering in French during the verses and letting out protracted versions of the title during the chorus aren’t quite D’Angelo’s croons, but the charging drumtrack and wobbling synth patterns make the track surprisingly addicting and captivating. “All I Need,” featuring Tampabased singer Beth Hirsch is the most “lounge”-y track on the album, but the bassline and intermittent synth f lourishes elevate it above most madefor-Lifetime-commercial tracks that permeate the genre. “Ce matin-là,” another instrumental, is similar in that it is just too damn pretty for its own good, but self-aware all the same. Air achieved some popular success after the release of Moon Safari, scoring Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides” and contributing to her later film “Lost in Translation” as well. Like those films, Air’s music ended up capturing the late ’90s and early 2000s too well in a sense. In Air’s case, they were never able to recreate the purity ever-present in Moon Safari, and considering the events in the world in the following years continuing up to now, I suppose that makes sense. The sense of self-awareness permeates the entire album and is the reason why it eclipses many of the works that followed it up in the early 2000s. “Sexy Boy” isn’t in anyway supposed to be sexy, for example, yet there’s an undeniable confidence and swagger underneath all that cheese. This is not an album for the ironypoisoned and cynical (as I personally found myself drifting towards when I first listened to it). To me, it was more of a reminder that I needed to get over myself and, well, have some fun.

DEF JAM RECORDINGS / GETTY IMAGES

FILM NOTEBOOK

To end: Openings, part three JULIANNA MORANO Daily Arts Writer

EMMA CHANG Senior Arts Editor

In the spirit of Welcome Week, Festifall and all things post-Labor-Day, The Daily Film section has written a collection of blurbs celebrating our favorite “Openings” to movies. Here’s to another year of learning, changing, trying, failing, crying, smiling, passing, movie-watching and (most importantly) a-best-picture-awardedto-a-film-that-surpasses-the-lowbar-of-not-being-problematic-at-bestand-severly-discouraging-as-to-thecurrent-state-of-the-conversation-onracial-equality-in-America-at-worst. “If Beale Street Could Talk” Barry Jenkins’s (“Moonlight”) opening scene in “If Beale Street Could Talk” technically lasts just three minutes. The leading pair, Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James, “Race”) and Tish Rivers (KiKi Layne, “Native Son”) step into the frame hand-in-hand, invigorating Baldwin’s quoted words — they stroll down a quiet sidewalk and kiss before the movie cuts to a more current scene of Tish visiting Fonny in jail. For the purposes of this blurb, I am only concerned with 40 seconds of this sequence, which are entirely spent tracking their walk. Point A to Point

B. That’s all. Is it, though? Not if you play along with Jenkins, look where he wants you to look, play along with his tricks just long enough to fall under his spell. The camera arcs around the lovers, starting behind and slightly above Fonny and Tish, so at first, what stands out is the perfect synchrony of their steps like we are watching a ballet. As we watch from a steepening angle, however, we see this choreography is imperfect: Fonny’s intoed gait is not an absolute counterpart to Tish’s. As the camera begins its descent, we see their clumsy upper bodies hazarding into each other, in spite of the synchronization of their feet. Poise and clumsiness. Plans and inevitability. Jenkins’s lightly but not over-choreographed simplicity to mimic romance’s. Like waiting in your car for 10 minutes so you ring the doorbell reasonably late. Like “running into them” as they exit one classroom as you enter your next. Like matching a stride, slowing or quickening to keep up with the person you love. — Julianna Morano, Daily Arts Writer “No Strings Attached” The first week of classes is over, “sylly week” if you will, and the only real way to mourn the end of Welcome Week parties is to watch the beginning of “No Strings Attached” several times

over. The opening of the film moves quickly from the characters’ first meeting as young teens at camp to an awkward encounter at a frat party. While a wide shot of a frat house is no cinematographic feat, the beauty of the scene lies in the set design. Block M flags hang out the windows of the house and there’s a slow realization that Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, at one point in their lives, were just like us. Or, at least, pretended to be. The shot continues and soon, you’re reliving freshman year — except it’s not Greta Gerwig shouting about how drunk she is but one of your new dorm friends you have to grab from an elevated surface. And there’s something special about watching Ashton Kutcher pretending to be a “brother” while surrounded with various university paraphernalia. He embodies the fraternity aesthetic and his confused recognition as he spots Portman from across the room is a look all too familiar from Welcome Week shenanigans. So, as the school year starts and schedules fill up, anytime you’re feeling down, just remember that Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, or at least their characters, also once awkwardly tried to remember why someone seemed so familiar during the school year. — Emma Chang, Senior Arts Editor

Arts

6A — Monday, September 9, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

CONCERT REVIEW

FESTIVAL COVERAGE

On Christian French’s We loved Lollapalooza so much youthful enthusiasm that this took a month to publish KAITLYN FOX Daily Arts Writer

When it comes to performing, Christian French pays attention to the details. Upon entering the Blind Pig, a large crescent moon illuminated the stage. It was a centerpiece for his tour, named after his newly released EP, bright side of the moon. Ann Arbor was the first stop, and eager students packed up against the walls of The Blind Pig in anticipation of the opening performance. They repeatedly chanted the singer’s name in the moments leading up to his entrance and erupted into cheers as he ran on stage sporting a University of Michigan jersey given to him by a fan. French opened with his 2018 single, “superstars,” a love song about enjoying the glory of youth, a common theme in not just his music but also the tour as a whole. French kept the energy up at full throttle, jumping into one song after the next and constantly encouraging the crowd to sing along with their hands in the air. He had a presence that engaged with every part of the audience as he migrated to different parts of the stage and even performing at the very edge, as if he wanted to get as close to his fans as possible. This kind of genuine spirit could be felt palpably by the crowd. As I looked around, everyone appeared captivated by French, eagerly waiting to see what he would do next. French’s ability to connect so well with the college crowd probably stemmed from the fact that he recently was just a college student himself. The 22-year-old singer was a pre-med student at the University of Indiana before deciding to drop out to pursue a career in music. And he’s no stranger to Michigan: The singer performed at The Blind Pig a little less than a year ago and opened for Quinn XCII at the Fillmore in downtown Detroit this past Winter. After playing a handful of songs from his older projects, including “Fall For You,” the first song he ever recorded, as well as a tune off his new EP titled “head first,” French paused to explain the story behind “Sweet Home.” French wrote the song about his experience moving from Indiana to California, and how daunting and exciting the transition was. He offered another pause before performing the heaviest song of the night titled “Dying Alive.” Behind his keyboard, French explained how he suffered from anxiety and destroyed the romantic relationship he was in because of it. Before playing “Time of Our Lives,” one of his unreleased songs, he politely asked the crowd to put their phones away and simply live in the moment. After all, he pointed out, “We are literally the only ones that get to experience this.” The timing of this request couldn’t have been more perfect

— “Time of Our Lives” is all about being present and enjoying every moment we have, and the crowd cheerfully swayed along to the music, seemingly content without their mobile distractions. French wrapped up the show with “bright side of the moon,” the album’s title track, which captures the album’s focus on seeking positivity even when the rest of the world seems to be

French kept the energy up at full throttle, jumping into one song after the next and constantly encouraging the crowd to sing along with their hands in the air

tossing around negative thoughts. He then returned his University jersey to its rightful owner in the front row, which revealed the other University jersey he was wearing underneath with “French” printed on the back. He ended with his hit song “love ride” before running off stage. But the crowd wasn’t done with him yet. Cheers for one more song pulsated throughout the venue, and French reappeared to perform one last and arguably his most popular song, “By Myself.” After the show, French offered a meet and greet with fans, just another example of how he wants to invest in his fan base and give them an experience they will always remember. As an artist still trying to make their way into the big leagues of music, Christian French has the tools he needs to reach new fan bases and build a successful music career. French delivered a seamless opener, and there’s no doubt he will continue to impress audiences as he takes on the rest of his fall tour.

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis 68 Caustic chemical 69 Bowler’s target 70 Emails

DOWN 1 Barbecue rod 2 Arm bone 3 *Deadly “game” in “The Deer Hunter” 4 Big Band __ 5 *Ones helping with the horses 6 Expert 7 Low-pitched brass instruments 8 Cookiedom’s Famous __ 9 *Stallone nickname, with “the” 10 Henri’s “Hi” 11 Pilothouse wheels 13 Lion constellation 14 Severe reprimands, and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues 18 Singer Lauper 21 Slight market slide 24 St. Louis hrs.

26 Short skirt 28 Kitchen master 29 Iranian currency 31 *Trio after turtle doves 33 Paris pronoun 35 TV watchdog 36 “Wow!” 37 “No sweat” 40 Letter-shaped fastener 43 October gemstones 45 Italian hour

48 “We’re __ schedule here!” 50 Permitted by law 51 Bugs Bunny animator Tex 52 Ballade’s last stanza 55 Website with business reviews 57 Rejuvenation site 59 “__, James __” 60 Poems of praise 62 Many millennia 64 Deli bread

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Daily Arts Writer

The first show I saw on Friday was the worst show I saw on Friday. I don’t want to hate on Conan Gray, because he seems like a nice guy who loves his fans, and performing at Lollapalooza clearly meant a lot to him. However, his music is not very good: His particular angsty brand of synthpop is so unoriginal that it defies specific description, and he doesn’t even have that much of it. Gray was allotted an hour, and after performing every song he has ever released, he finished his set with fifteen minutes to spare. In the end, it was an uninspiring performance. Luckily, up next was Japanese Breakfast, the solo project of Michelle Zauner, an act who could hopefully right the wrongs of the previous set. Tito’s, the stage upon which Japanese Breakfast played, is the worst at the festival — there’s rarely sufficient space for the audience and those who aren’t far from the stage are forced to stand on concrete while baking in the afternoon sun. That said, the music of Japanese Breakfast could not have contrasted more sharply with the mood in this ill-favored setting. Japanese Breakfast put on perhaps the most relaxing set of the weekend, her groovy bedroom-pop the perfect antidote to the stultifying sea of concrete that engulfed me. Zauner’s voice is breathtaking live, soaring with clarity over reverb-laden guitar and fuzzy bass. Her guitarist is also quite talented, firing off a handful of roaring solos. Towards the end of the set, as a tribute to Chicago, she performed a touching cover of Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.” It was an allaround pleasant experience. Maggie Rogers may not make the most interesting pop music in the

The headliners and higher-billed artists performing later tended to live up to expectations

world (or have the keenest sense of melody), but it is impossible to dislike the artist herself. Rogers put her heart and soul into her performance, and it shone through. The crowd adored her; they were singing and dancing to every song, and even did their best to sing through the technical difficulties on “Alaska.” It was a delightful set, even if the songs themselves are not remarkable. Death Cab For Cutie put on an earnest and enjoyable performance, but their elegant music does not translate all that well to live shows. The desolation of “Title and Registration” and the creepy intensity of “I Will Possess Your Heart” seem not to carry through from their studio renditions. Strangely, the band only played one song from their most recent album, and the album they are ostensibly touring in support of, Thank You For Today. Granted, it wasn’t a very popular album, but neither was Kitsugi, which got more

Maggie Rogers may not make the most interesting pop music in the world (or have the keenest sense of melody), but it is impossible to dislike the artist herself

play time despite being four years old. Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard claimed they originally were not going to play their most popular song, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” but changed their mind thanks to the request of “a prominent Chicagoan.” That Chicagoan, to the surprise of no one given his appearance earlier in the day at Calboy’s set, turned out to be none other than Chance the Rapper. He emerged from backstage to join the band in a performance of “Do You Remember,” a sentimental cut off of Chance’s new studio album, The Big Day, that features Gibbard on the hook. The performance was decent. They did not play a few of their live staples (“Transatlanticism,” “Grapevine Fires”) that were expected by many, likely due to time constraints. There was no encore. While I enjoyed Death Cab For Cutie’s set in spite of some flaws, they were not the primary reason I was at that stage. I had come to secure a spot for the act that would follow them on the Bud Light stage: Tame Impala. Friday was an experience similar to Thursday: The earlier sets were mixed in quality, generally functioning better as background music than as something to really get into. The headliners and higherbilled artists performing later tended to live up to expectations. Four days is perhaps a little too long for such an intense festival — Lollapalooza used to just be three days until 2015, when they switched to four for reasons unknown (money). The need to be as big as possible, while probably a clever business decision, has diluted each individual day’s lineup and contributed to a sort of festival fatigue. Four days is a long time, and people seemed to already be feeling the marathon catching up to them by the end of Friday. Perhaps it’s time for another change.

TV REVIEW

Release Date: Monday, September 9, 2019

ACROSS 1 More certain 6 Gp. with moms, dads and educators 9 “Thereabouts” suffix 12 “Men” or “teeth,” grammatically 14 One of Ringo’s set 15 __ kwon do 16 Absurd, as a scheme 17 Autodialed annoyance, often at dinnertime 19 Prof’s aides 20 System of rules 22 Protection for political refugees 23 German I 25 Philosophies: Suff. 27 Picky details 28 Computer event with a “blue screen of death” 30 Penultimate Greek letter 31 Big Pharma watchdog: Abbr. 32 Suggest 34 Encroach (on) 38 Musical knack 39 Naughty 41 Black or Red waters 42 Downpour concern 44 Bills with Franklin on them 46 Good times 47 Japanese vegetable 49 Infatuated with, with “about” 50 “__ Land”: 2016 Best Picture? Not! 52 Elite English boarding school 53 Deadly “2001” computer 54 “Brideshead Revisited” novelist Waugh 56 Laundry 58 Wall St. takeover 61 Exacts revenge 63 Punctuation that Brits call a full stop 65 Guggenheim display 66 Johns, to Brits 67 “__ can play!”: “It’s easy!”

JONAH MENDELSON

09/09/19

‘Untouchable’ topples standards SOPHIA YOON Daily Arts Writer

For years, Harvey Weinstein’s powerful career allowed him to domineer over Hollywood without repercussions, but in “Untouchable,” director Ursula Macfarlane (“One Deadly Weekend in America”) helps victims of his abuse speak their truths through interviews and archived material. With no introduction to the crimes Weinstein committed, the documentary dives immediately into Erika Rosenbaum’s story and her experience as a young actress who was assaulted by Weinstein after meeting him at in Hollywood. From there, “Untouchable” jumps in between victims’ testimonials to try and capture the essence of Weinstein’s grotesque abuse of power during his time with Miramax, a film production company. In several different ways, the documentary makes clear that if Weinstein hadn’t had the ability to sweep his actions under the rug with such ease — which consisted of carefully detailed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and cash settlements — there would have been more than enough evidence to prove that he was the culprit of these crimes. Zelda Perkins, Weinstein’s former assistant,

provides several details on this matter and delves deeper into Weinstein’s temperament as well. She admits that she originally didn’t take his words and actions very seriously, and often warned others that “he will behave inappropriately” but reassuring them that if they dealt with him “robustly,” then it would be fine. That is, until another one of Weinstein’s assistants divulged the story of her assault at

‘Untouchable’ Hulu Streaming Now

the hands of Weinstein. Perkins resigned, but Weinstein grew anxious, leaving around 18 voicemails asking her to meet him. When she eventually signed an NDA, Weinstein’s team made sure to cover all bases, adding to the contract that if they went to court over the matter, Perkins was contractually obligated to try and keep Miramax in good standing. Several NDAs were signed, but rumors started to spread throughout the industry. Many had heard and believed that actresses were having sex with Weinstein to get better roles, and had consequently turned a blind eye to the matter. At the time, and probably to this day, the film industry holds its demons away from the public eye. In Weinstein’s hayday, he

was, essentially, untouchable. Andrew Goldman, a reporter, recalls an instance where he caught Weinstein speaking indecently on his recorder. Weinstein grew quickly agitated, and tried to snatch the recorder out of his hand. Weinstein smashed Goldman over his head multiple times, and Goldman distinctly remembers seeing other reporters taking pictures of the incident. But none of them ever surfaced in the media. It goes to show how Weinstein and his team ultimately controlled what the public thought of him at the time, and despite the times he could have been exposed, maintained a relatively clean reputation for far too long. In terms of the documentary itself, at times the theatrics were dramatic to a fault, and slightly distracting for the graveness of the story. The stories themselves were harrowing enough, the documentary could have done with a little less dramatic sound effects and B-roll. Nevertheless, this was a story that had to be told, and despite its medium, the world has taken a step toward justice with documentaries that seek to expose the truth. It’s absolutely unacceptable that Weinstein escaped accountability for so long, and still has not faced the full consequences of his actions. The only upside to his offenses is that we know now that no matter how long it takes, the truth will always come out, and we won’t stop until those truths are acknowledged and actions are taken.

SPORTSMONDAY red, white, and almost

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | September 9, 2019

BLEW IT T)

(2O 1 2 Y RM

A 4 2 N A MICHIG

MICHIGAN ESCAPES IN 20T Ethan Sears Managing Sports Editor

Natalie Stephens and Alexis Rankin / Daily Design by Jack Silberman

All Aidan Hutchinson remembers is that Michigan was in its base defense. He doesn’t remember bending around one lineman and going through another. He doesn’t remember that Kwity Paye had already hit Army’s Kelvin Hopkins and he doesn’t remember extending his left arm, knocking the ball loose. He just knows he hit the quarterback. After that, he blacked out, in a celebratory haze. He wasn’t the only one. So did Zach Charboonnet and so did Paye himself, the man who pounced on the ball, waiting at the center of a packed Michigan Stadium for the referee to confirm what the whole building already knew, then charging upfield to the student section to commemorate a game that should have been routine and instead was anything but. “Whatever I did,” Hutchinson said afterwards, the game ball placed next to him on the podium, “hopefully, it was good.” It was. Without it, Army might have picked up a third-down conversion, breathing new life into its offense when a touchdown would have won the game in the second overtime. Thanks to that play, Michigan escaped an upset bid, pulling out a 24-21 double-OT win over Army, moving to 2-0 in a game that could have derailed its season before Big Ten play even started. The Wolverines needed Army to miss a 50-yard field goal as time expired in regulation to even get as far as overtime. After trading scores in the first OT, Michigan got nothing on its next three plays, setting up a 43-yard kick from Jake Moody and putting the weight of the world on its defense’s shoulders. They carried it. “That was a gem of a defensive performance, there’s no doubt about it,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Talk about the last play, the last series, just the entire football game.” Despite the positivity of the head coach, all the promise of Michigan’s offseason seemed to evaporate in the September heat, a heavily advertised offense struggling to move the ball and a defense that got pushed around at times by a smaller Army offensive line. Two first-half fumbles handed Army a halftime lead, the Wolverines’ only score coming after a fake punt extended a drive. Midway

through the third quarter, Michigan still seemed poised for collapse. Then, staring at third down on Michigan’s five-yard line, Army coach Jeff Monken decided to throw the ball. Lavert Hill picked the floating football out of the air and a cheer came in the form of 111,000 exhales. On the ensuing drive, it took a third-down pass interference and a perfectly-placed ball from Shea Patterson to Ronnie Bell, also on third down, to keep things moving. But freshman running back Zach Charbonnet punched it in from a yard out for his second of three touchdowns on the day, knotting things up at 14. The score stayed there until overtime as Michigan failed to convert a red-zone chance deep in the fourth quarter, Army stuffing Charbonnet on fourth-and-2 and bringing all of Michigan Stadium’s anxiety to a nadir. After the game, Harbaugh said the pass protection was “really good,” acknowledging only missed assignments on Patterson’s two fumbles. He said left tackle Jon Runyan Jr. will likely play after the bye week and went out of his way to praise Ryan Hayes’ performance in his stead. He rejected outright a question about the run-heavy second half and had little patience for another about whether Patterson not keeping the ball on option runs had to do with a minor injury suffered last week. Still, the fact remains: This did not look like a team ready to compete for anything, and the schedule does not get any easier. Josh Gattis’ offense, which promised an up-tempo, modern attack, has failed to sustain success, averaging just 4.5 yards per play against Army. The offensive line looked out of its depth in protection against a Black Knight defense that must blitz constantly to make up for a lack of size. Injured or not, Patterson has seemed reluctant to run the ball, and he’s fumbled four times in two weeks. “We just got some kinks in the offense that we’re still working through,” senior guard Ben Bredeson said. “It’s a new look for us. We’re two weeks in and going into this bye week, going into the Big Ten season, it’ll be good for us. “We’ve seen what’s working for us, what’s not and we’ll be able to make some changes.”

SportsMonday

2B — September 9, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SportsMonday Column: Patterson isn’t the problem

et’s get it out of the way: Shea Patterson wasn’t perfect on Saturday and he never will be. Michigan’s quarterback fumbled twice against Army and lost both of them. He missed a wide open Ronnie Bell streaking down the field early in ETHAN the game on SEARS what probably would have been a touchdown. His internal clock seemed off in the pocket and that Bell miss wasn’t his only one. On zone reads — or at least on plays that seemed like zone reads — Patterson refused to keep the ball even when his rushing lanes were wide open. Though a lingering injury from last week may have been a hindrance, he bears a fair amount of blame for Michigan’s nearimplosion on Saturday, as it took two overtimes and a missed field goal at the end of regulation to put away Army, 24-21. Predictably, Saturday brought with it cries for a change at quarterback. Jim Harbaugh said during the preseason he wanted to play Patterson and redshirt sophomore Dylan McCaffrey in each game, and he’s lived up to his word thus far. On rare occasions that Patterson left games last year, McCaffrey acquitted himself well. He’s done enough to be a clear successor when Patterson leaves after this season, and in the minds of some, enough to start right now. It makes sense to be alarmed

right now — to see the need for change. The Wolverines are lucky to have won their first two games despite both coming against clearly inferior teams. They’ll go to Wisconsin after the bye week, seemingly unready to win a game of that magnitude, and with Michigan’s goals, a loss in the third game of the season means perfection is required the rest of the way. It doesn’t make sense to bench Patterson as a result of that alarm. He isn’t the problem. Everything else is. It’s a problem that an offense meant to be predicated on runpass options has barely run any run-pass options through two games. It’s a problem that Josh Gattis has struggled to find a playcalling rhythm in his first two games with the job. It’s a problem that Michigan fell into old, predictable habits — three yards and a cloud of dust — late in a close game against Army. It’s an even bigger problem that its offensive line couldn’t push around a team with no defensive linemen over 300 pounds or keep Patterson safe in the pocket. “I thought our pass protection was really good,” Harbaugh said after the game. “At times, we had a long time back there in the pocket and some of the big thirddown conversions were by pass.” That there are even questions about an offensive line that returned four starters from last year, including a preseason All-American in Ben Bredeson, undermines his point. Jon Runyan Jr. is expected to return against Wisconsin, which will likely help things. But it doesn’t change that the line wasn’t good enough against the Black Knights. “Mostly I would say just some

At times, we had a long time back there in the pocket.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Senior quarterback Shea Patterson has not played to his potential, losing three fumbles, but the fault for the Wolverines’ offensive struggles lies elsewhere.

of the blitz pickups,” running back Zach Charbonnet said when asked what needs improving. “They had a lot of corners blitzing and we just gotta adjust to that.” Fix all of this and the quarterback issue becomes trivial, because the fact remains that Patterson is a good quarterback. Not just that, but he’s the best quarterback Michigan has had in a decade, at least, when it comes to throwing the ball (that thing quarterbacks are supposed to do). Patterson threw for 2,600 yards in 2018, averaging 8.0 per attempt and turning the passing game into a legitimate weapon. He wasn’t the savior people advertised him as, and that label was always unfair — a way to tear him down for not reaching an unreachable expectation. None of this is to say Pat-

terson doesn’t have issues to fix. Fumbling four times in two games is a very real problem. Harbaugh said last week that Patterson suffered an injury against Middle Tennessee State, and video from the locker room made it seem that it was a rib issue. If you’re looking for a reason he didn’t pull the ball and run more against Army when there were oodles of space in his path, that might be it. “He was better,” Harbaugh said, which is what he had to say. “He was able to work through what he had and felt 100 percent for the game.” When a reporter followed up

and asked whether that meant those plays didn’t have reads attached to them, Harbaugh replied, “Yeah, or the read was not there for the quarterback to pull it.” Regardless, it undermines the very foundation of Michigan’s offense if the entire defense knows the ball is going to the running back every time the quarterback starts to hand it off. If Patterson isn’t healthy enough to make a legitimate read, asking whether he should start is valid. If he is healthy enough to do that and Michigan simply wasn’t attaching reads to anything, the fault lies with Gattis. This is his offense. He should

They had a lot of corners blitzing and we gotta adjust.

run it as he advertised it. On rare occasions when the Wolverines have put their foot on the gas — running RPOs, moving fast and keeping the defense off-balance — things have looked as good as promised, Patterson very much included. This won’t work if Michigan either can’t do that because of Patterson’s health, or it simply won’t. “Where is the speed in space?” a reporter asked Ben Bredeson after Saturday’s game. If that question is valid after any other game this season, Michigan has done something wrong, and it will never be fixed by going to the backup quarterback.

Sears can be reached via email at searseth@umich.edu or on Twitter @ethan_sears.

Lack of ball security haunts ‘M’ Offense struggles to deliver on hype ARIA GERSON

Daily Sports Editor

After a comfortable win over Middle Tennessee last week, Shea Patterson sat at the podium fielding questions. He seemed anything but comfortable as he got candid with reporters. “A win’s a win,” the senior quarterback said then. “But I think everybody in that locker room knows that we didn’t live up to our standards and I put that on me. I gotta take care of the football. We got the W but we just gotta play better. I gotta play better.” Patterson wasn’t available a week later, after the Michigan football team’s 24-21 win over Army in double overtime Saturday. But his words echoed through the press conference nonetheless. I gotta take care of the football. Because a week after Patterson fumbled on the first drive, leading to easy Blue Raider points, he did the same exact thing, leading to easy Black Knight points. This time, on first down at the Army 43, Patterson dropped back to pass. The rushers came. He couldn’t escape and let the ball go. It squirted out of his arms and off to the side as a Black Knight fell on it. Five minutes later, Army had a 7-0 lead. The Wolverines got the ball back and scored a touchdown. They kicked off and Army fumbled in its own territory. Michigan had the ball and a chance. Then, the Black Knights brought a blitz. Sophomore running back Christian Turner couldn’t see it coming. They came for Patterson and sacked him again. The ball came out. Army had it. “You can’t get that loose with the ball,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. “The first one was (Patterson’s) and the second one was the missed protection with the running back.” As if that weren’t enough, the Wolverines lost another fumble on their very next drive, when sophomore running back Ben Van Sumeren lost the ball before

being brought down. The Black Knights got the ball at Michigan’s 40 and scored a touchdown then, too. Three giveaways on three straight drives is never a good thing, but against Army and its clock-draining triple option — designed to limit possession — it was almost fatal. The Wolverines had squandered three vital opportunities and gifted the Black Knights 14 points. “I’d love to get three turnovers every half,” said Army coach Jeff Monken. “We’d probably not lose a game again.” A damning statement from the 20-point underdog. To his credit, Patterson didn’t get down on himself after that. He had one of the loudest voices in the huddle, telling everyone it was going to be alright. Eventually, it was. But it took double overtime and — ironically — a strip sack on the final play that the Wolverines recovered. After the game, the players were happy with the way they’d fought back. They didn’t have any turnovers in the second half, and the defense did its job. No one pointed fingers. They stuck together, determined to win it. But even then, it wasn’t satisfying.

“It was frustrating,” said junior defensive end Kwity Paye. “ … We should’ve played better.” That’s two weeks in a row a player has said those words. Sure, a win’s a win, but at some point it becomes more a question. When Paye and sophomore defensive end Aidan Hutchinson went after Army quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr. on thirdand-11 in double overtime and stripped the ball out, it was a sort of cathartic release, the ball security issues the Black Knights took advantage of all day coming back to haunt them. Hutchinson brought the game ball to the press conference — a simultaneous reminder of the defense’s heroics and the offense it had to bail out in the first place. Harbaugh praised the defense postgame. He praised the team’s resilience. Then, he suggested more live tackling in practice for the running backs, as if that would cure the mental mistakes that have plagued Patterson and others. Sometimes, the solution is as Patterson said himself: I gotta take care of the football. I gotta play better. After a second straight game of security issues, his words from last week are a good place to start.

THEO MACKIE Daily Sports Editor

Tarik Black laid on the 15-yard line, face buried in the turf as Shea Patterson’s pass attempt hit the sideline beyond him. If Army’s final drive of overtime had gone a little differently — ending with the Black Knights streaming into the south end zone rather than the Wolverines into the north one — it would have been the perfect summation of Saturday afternoon. Instead, Michigan rescued the game from the precipice of disaster and escaped with a 24-21, double-overtime win. Its last offensive play — the mistimed comeback route that sent Black to the turf — faded into memory, but the big-picture offensive frustration remained. “There are just a lot of details that we need to clean up,” said freshman running back Zach Charbonnet. “And we’ve just got to thank the defense for stopping them when we had those turnovers and just giving us a chance to come back.” Through no fault of his own, Charbonnet felt the crescendo of Saturday’s frustration. On Michigan’s second play of overtime, he took his 32nd

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Senior quarterback Shea Patterson has fumbled four times, losing three, over Michigan’s first two games.

carry of the game, saw only a blur of Army defensive lineman in front of him and got stuffed at the line of scrimmage with no other alternative. As Charbonnet hit the turf, his yards per carry standing at an even 3.0, a parade of boos rained down from a disgruntled fanbase. Seeing a star running back stopped at the line of scrimmage with nowhere to go is a sight at once familiar and unexpected. Through three first-half turnovers and one missed field goal, it was that innocuous run up the middle that drew Saturday’s biggest boos. For eight months, after Michigan hired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, this play-calling — the repeated inside zones, perhaps thinly veiled with a read that carried no threat of a quarterback keeper — was paraded as a relic of the past. When Michigan came out and threw the ball 25 times before halftime against Middle Tennessee State last week, there was evidence to support that promise. “Obviously, expectations, everyone tries to make it as sunshine and rainbows as possible,” senior guard Ben Bredeson said Saturday. “So this was good for us, it shows us what we need to work on as we head into the Big Ten season.” Against Army, that all evaporated, culminating in a pair of failed 4th down attempts on consecutive fourth-quarter drives, each in Black Knight territory. Each time, Michigan faced a fourth-and-2 with a chance to right three quarters of offensive wrongs. And each time, Charbonnet was stopped, sending Army’s offense back onto the field. After the game, the reflections remained calm, various position groups refusing to pin blame on one another. But perhaps Harbaugh, after crediting analytics with the decision to go for it, offered up the reason that reality didn’t follow suit. “They had a better defensive call than we had a —,” he said, stopping himself mid-sentence, “than we executed our offensive

play.” It was the only time Harbaugh allowed a glimpse into Saturday’s playcalling, even if he cut himself off mid-sentence. When asked about the pass-run split that reverted back to 2018’s averages, he called the question “lowhanging fruit” — “... We could go every game with the ‘Why didn’t you pass when you ran and it didn’t work so you should’ve passed?’ We could do this for every game that’s ever played in football.” But when an entire offseason carries the promise of a downfield passing attack and your leading receiver from a year ago — junior Nico Collins — sees three targets compared to 45 rushing attempts, these are the questions that follow. Asked about the reasons he may have shied away from the pass — Army’s defensive setup, inconsistent pass-protection, Patterson’s two fumbles — Harbaugh rebuffed. “At times, we had a long time back there in the pocket,” Harbaugh said. “And some of the big third down conversions were by pass.” Therein lies the frustration. According the Harbaugh, the passing game was working. And yet he repeatedly turned to a rushing attack that managed just 2.4 yards per carry. The play after Charbonnet’s run up the middle brought a chorus of boos, Gattis dialed up a pass and Patterson hit sophomore receiver Ronnie Bell for a first down on a crossing route to keep Michigan alive. Two plays later, Charbonnet was in the end zone. “When we get our tempo going and we move the ball in the run game, it kind of sets everything else up,” Bredeson said. “We want to get the defense on their heels and keep going. I like when we’re rolling that way.” Saturday afternoon, those moments were limited to fleeting spells amid a slew of turnovers and penalties. And with it, the “sunshine and rainbows” of offseason expectations continued to dissolve into a harsher reality.

SportsMonday

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

September 9, 2019 — 3B

Offense plagues Wolverines in loss Ragen leads Michigan to shutout win BRENDAN ROOSE Daily Sports Writer

In the 86th minute of the Michigan women’s soccer team’s match against Notre Dame, junior midfielder Sarah Stratigakis received a strong cross from the wing and fired a header on goal. The shot was the Wolverines’ best and final chance to go ahead, but Fighting Irish goalkeeper Mattie Interian denied it with a diving stop. Seconds later, Michigan’s fortunes shifted drastically. Instead of celebrating a dramatic, game-winning goal, the Wolverines found themselves chasing Notre Dame forward Kiki Van Zanten as she charged through the Michigan back line and buried a header on a flawless cross. Instead of walking away with a solid nonconference win, the Wolverines left the field with a 1-0 loss. For Michigan (3-1-0), the defeat was marked by an inability to convert offensively. The Wolverines only managed seven shot attempts to Notre Dame’s 13, despite roughly even possession time.

“I think we just need to shoot,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Klein. “I think it looks like we’re looking for this magic opportunity, and I think you just gotta swing it and get the ball in the frame and see what happens.” From the start, the Wolverines struggled to find any rhythm offensively, failing to register a shot until the 20th minute, when a weak Stratigakis header bounced safely into Interian’s mitts. The first half featured conservative, possession-oriented soccer from both sides, characterized by short passes and a strong emphasis on defense. Still, turnovers in the midfield created some opportunities for Michigan, including its best first-half scoring opportunity. In the 25th minute, a Fighting Irish turnover in their own end led to a scoring chance at the top of the box for sophomore midfielder Raleigh Loughman. The shot was strong, but fired straight into Interian’s arms, and the game remained scoreless going into halftime. “Once the game settled, we started to gain some

momentum,” Klein said. “We went into halftime with a really good fire and creating some really good opportunities.” The second half featured much of the same, with both teams continuing to emphasize sound defense over explosive offense. Early on, a defensive lapse from the Wolverines left Notre Dame midfielder Luisa Delgado open at the top of the box, but her shot sailed just over the woodwork, keeping the game level at zero. Michigan used its superior speed in the second half to get behind the Fighting Irish defense on runs, but misplaced and overshot passes prevented it from capitalizing on these opportunities. For the latter part of the second half, the Wolverines appeared to be in control, with Stratigakis, junior forward Emma Cooper and fifth-year senior defender Sura Yekka all tallying shots in the final ten minutes. But in the end, Van Zanten’s 86th minute score proved to be too much for the Michigan to overcome, and the Wolverines’ inability to find the back of the net became their downfall.

CONNOR BRENNAN Daily Sports Writer

Calm, cool and collected. Those three words typified Jackson Ragen’s play Friday night against Cornell. Thanks in large part to the junior centerback’s goal and defensive performance, the Michigan men’s soccer team (2-1) dominated the Big Red, 3-0, earning their second victory in a row. “We started a little bit nervy CAMERON HUNT/Daily on defense with some of our Jackson Ragen helped Michigan to keep a clean sheet with strong defense. clearances and back passes but As a result, Ragen has better ball in, though.” after that we settled in,” said Though he’s mainly out Michigan coach Chaka Daley. needed to be much more of a “I thought our (defenders) were vocal leader than in previous there to stabilize the backline absolutely spot on after that. seasons. Friday night Ragen and limit the opponent’s They made some desperation could be heard directing his chances, Ragen has also shown blocks in the first half. In the teammates into the proper the ability to finish. It was his fourth career goal. second half, they moved their position constantly. Having given up four goals to “I have a lot experience after feet, they defended well and last year,” Ragen said. “I feel Florida Gulf Coast in the season cleared their lines.” In a game where Cornell like I can help control the game opener and a questionable goal (0-1) registered only one shot with my comments and just to SIUE last Monday, shoring on target, Ragen never looked helping the younger guys out.” up the defense was a point of With over 18 minutes to go emphasis for the Wolverines rattled and commanded a restructured backline with and Michigan leading 2-0, coming into the game Friday’s relative ease. The junior Ragen sprawled out to block contest. Ragen’s leadership, displayed why he’s the clear a shot from Cornell’s John steadiness, and challenges leader of the backline with the Scearce in the box. Ragen’s — not to mention his goal — were crucial to most starting experience of 6-foot-5 frame, Michigan getting speed and Michigan’s defensive unit. its first shut-out Having entered college as composure of the season. a 2017 NSCA All-American have made him “We want and a member of the 2017 U.S. a formidable Jackson to to Soccer Nationals Best XI, defender continue to in Ragen played in 16 matches challenge grow,” Daley as a freshman Wolverine and the air or on said. “He’s started in 10 of them. As a the ground. obviously one of That size sophomore, he started all 21 the main men in helped games and was named to the even the group. He All-Big Ten Tournament Team. him score a demonstrated With the departures of goal off a setveteran defenders Daniel piece against the Big Red. Out- that last year. His personality Mukuna, Marcello Borges muscling his defender, Ragen needs to match his quality and and Peter Brown from last reached out a foot to a deep he’s getting there. He had a year’s team, Ragen is now free-kick from outside the box little bit of a taste of adversity the anchor of a Wolverines’ and nudged it past Cornell’s and was a little quiet but now defense comprised of two first- goalkeeper Brady McSwain I think he likes being on top of games. time starters — junior fullback from a tight angle. “From our standpoint, he’s “It was a great ball by ( junior Joel Harrison and freshman fullback Carter Payne — and midfielder) Mark (Ybarra),” done incredibly well and we senior centerback Abdou Ragen said. “I was just trying hope he continues to grow Samake, who started only to get across it and get my foot exponentially over the next on it. Couldn’t have asked for a season.” seven games last season.

I feel like I can help control the game with my comments.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Junior midfielder Sarah Stratigakis had Michigan’s best scoring chance in its 1-0 loss against Notre Dame on Friday.

Dayton disappointment

Wolverines go 1-2 in Dayton Invitational, dropping two fifth sets, must find offensive balance after Skjodt’s graduation ADAM RICH

DANIEL DASH

Daily Sports Writer

A year ago, the Michigan volleyball team’s offense started and ended with Carly Skjodt. The senior outside hitter was responsible for nearly a third of the Wolverines’ total offense during their 2018 campaign, which ended in Michigan’s seventh trip to the Sweet Sixteen in program history. Skjodt served as the workhorse for most of the season, leading the Wolverines in kills in 24 of their 34 matches. She recorded 29 double-digit kill performances and eclipsed the 20-kill mark seven times, earning second team AllAmerican honors for her efforts. This year, the No. 14 Michigan volleyball team knows Skjodt’s production is gone. And with such a realization comes another: Nobody on the roster can replicate the numbers she posted. So, the Wolverines (4-2) have chosen to adapt rather than force. Their offensive makeover was on full display over the weekend at the Dayton Invitational, even as they lost two of three matches against unranked competition in the Flyers and Missouri. Throughout the nonconference tri-match, senior setter MacKenzi Welsh turned to three relatively new faces — senior outside hitter Sydney Wetterstrom and freshman middle blockers May Pertofsky and Jess Robinson — to shoulder the majority of the burden. Though it’s still admittedly a work in progress, as seen in the two weekend losses, things are moving in the right direction. When the team controls the ball, it gives those three new faces a chance to shine. While Pertofsky and Robinson are still acclimating to the college level, Wetterstrom appeared in 23 of Michigan’s

Daily Sports Writer

EVAN AARON/Daily

MacKenzi Welsh must shoulder an increased load this season.

34 matches in 2018. She tallied 163 kills on a mediocre .220 attack percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Paige Jones, who finished with the second-most kills on the team last season, has seen a similar volume to begin 2019. Jones was the only Wolverine besides Skjodt to reach the 175kill milestone a season ago, a sign of dependence on the outside hitters. But through six matches without Skjodt, four different Michigan players — Wetterstrom, Jones, Pertofsky and Robinson — have already recorded at least 45 kills. For reference, that’s a 250-kill pace. “There’s way more options,” Wolverine coach Mark Rosen said. “There’s way more things we can do and that’s a good thing.” The new offense is a credit to Welsh’s willingness to embrace a fresh system. This season’s balanced three-middle offense is a far cry from last year’s outside hitter-reliant strategy, and its success is contingent on Welsh’s commitment to keeping every attacker involved. “Setters don’t always set with a purpose, (sometimes) they just deliver balls,” Rosen said. “Today, I thought she was purposeful. Every set she set was with the objective of getting a kill. … The one thing with having more options is that you have to make more decisions. She’s handling that really well. “You treat it a little bit like

a kid in a candy store. She’s got to make a choice to get it to the right person at the right time and tonight she did an outstanding job.” In Michigan’s five-set loss against Dayton on Saturday night, six players saw at least 15 attack attempts. Welsh has made the transition from setting one player at will to running an offense in which every weapon is involved, including herself. Surprisingly enough, the Wolverines’ offense has taken a step forward since Skjodt’s departure. The unit’s attack percentage is 53 percentage points higher, Welsh is making the most of her new options and the middle blockers are more effective than they were at any point last season. Though a two-week, six-games sample may not be enough to draw any conclusions, this season’s start has been an encouraging sign for the Michigan. A balanced offense could be what the Wolverines need to break into the upper echelon of the Big Ten, which boasts seven top-18 teams in the national poll. This year, such an offense rides on its setter — not its primary weapon. So far, that’s made all the difference. “(Welsh) did a great job of making the people around her better,” Rosen said. “She’s our floor captain — that’s what you want that player to do and I was really proud of her.”

Call it inexperience or earlyseason jitters, but the No. 14 Michigan volleyball team’s first road trip of the year did not live up to the team’s ranking. Its first match of the Dayton Invitational put the squad’s youth on full display. Right out of the gates, Missouri’s aggressive offense and serving approach exposed the Wolverines’ biggest weaknesses: first contact and ball control. Consequently, the Tigers (4-0) breezed through the first two sets, winning them, 25-12 and 25-13. In the third set, Michigan (4-2) punched back, and at one point led, 18-14, before losing the final set, 25-23. “One of the more frustrating, difficult matches I have ever been a part of,” said coach Mark Rosen. “Nothing was working.” Several hours later, against Northern Illinois (2-5), the Wolverines could have easily succumbed to their frustration. Against a Huskies team that came out playing with nothing to lose, Michigan’s first touches were more crisp and its passes

were more accurate, but it still showed signs of cracks. As the game wore on, though, the Wolverines grew more comfortable and elevated their defensive and offensive execution. In turn, they obliterated the Huskies and swept the match, 25-19, 25-18, 25-9. Compared to their match against Missouri, the Wolverines made ten fewer errors, hit .322 points higher and registered 17 more kills. “You could just see us shaking off the frustration from that first match,” Rosen said. “We allowed ourselves to just play volleyball the way we needed to play it.” The following night, Michigan looked to parlay the previous night’s success into a win against tournament host Dayton (3-4). In front of the largest crowd in Flyer history, the young Wolverines were not fazed. Michigan dropped the first set, 28-26, but rallied back to

take the second. After trading sets through the first four, the Wolverines took the floor for the 5th in a race to 15. In such an expedited set, both teams knew the importance of a big lead and it was Dayton who grabbed it. Redshirt sophomore Jamie Peterson propelled the run behind one of the nation’s deadliest serves. She stumped the Wolverines and secured a commanding 11-4 lead for the Flyers in the process. Down but not out, Michigan battled to the end, drawing within two late in the game. But, the effort was not enough as Dayton took the set, 15-12, and thus the match to drop the Wolverines’ weekend record to 1-2. “We don’t look for moral victories,” Rosen said after the match while trying to remain positive. “But at the same time we have to look at the process and make sure we are focused on doing what we need to do to get better as the year goes on.”

One of the more frustrating, difficult matches.

EVAN AARON/Daily

Michigan coach Mark Rosen said that “nothing was working” for his team against Missouri in the Dayton Invitational.

Sports

4B — Monday, September 9, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

A near loss, with plenty gained On a day when Michigan skirted a disastrous loss, there were plenty of reminders of a greater meaning MAX MARCOVITCH Managing Sports Editor

Donning a plush blanket and a happy-go-lucky demeanor, Kevin and Paula Cooper sat atop Section 10 of Michigan Stadium late Saturday morning. They were there early to catch a glimpse of their son, David, who’s one of Army’s backup kickers. Paula served in the military from 1992-1997. Kevin has served the last 27 years. “I’m just happy to be here,” Paula said, as the conversation wound down. “Did I mention that?” It was still hours before two fourth-down stops rattled the steel beams supporting sections 8-12. Hours before inches separated her son’s team from a monumental upset win and hours before the defeat that ensued. Hours before Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson rescued a lackluster Michigan performance, forcing a fumble in overtime to somehow salvage a 24-21 win. There will be droves of analysis on what that means, how it came to be, where things go now. Soon thereafter, it will be discarded into the vast archives, receding under the tidal wave of whatever happens next. Some spent the afternoon lamenting Michigan’s decision to schedule Army in the first place. Playing against a tripleoption the second week of the season, the thinking went, only invited pitfalls. The logic is sound. But there were reminders littered throughout every crevice of Michigan Stadium of the larger factors at play. College football itself is a uniquely American enterprise, warts and all. Within that ecosystem, military academies are the living embodiment of

that patriotism. If you dug deep enough Saturday, walked to enough sections, stumbled upon enough clues, it wasn’t hard to unearth a microcosm of what this sport, at its best, can mean to those who celebrate it. “They’re going to be teammates and most of them are going to go straight into a combat zone. So what they’re building here will stand in a good stint for the next 40 years. He and I have been classmates for 40 years — ‘78,” said Chuck Dimeco, a former Army football player, before the game, gesturing to the man seated by his side. “That, I think, is different than what you get at a regular university. These guys

have a reason for being there other than being on the field. “It’s a loyalty to the institution, to the Army, to the communities, to the people who sacrificed. It just brings back memories that 99 percent of the population will never have.” One man, watching the fourth quarter from the concourse, said he attended a 1,700-person Army tailgate before the game. “I might not know everyone (there),” he said, “but I know somebody who knows somebody, who knows somebody.” As he spoke, a friend nudged his shoulder, trying to get his attention. The two exchange pleasantries before he walked

off to the restroom. “Bill’s still in the army, but I hadn’t talked to him in 20 years,” gesturing to his friend, now walking away. “I reached out to him like five years ago. It’s like he’s my roommate again — calls me everyday, we hang out. He moved to Madison. He’s an army colonel, and he’s up in Madison stationed out there. … So we all come here not only for the game — 50 percent of the game and the 50 percent is the camaraderie and the bond that we reconnect when we get here.” That understanding is part of the “Long Gray Line” — a phrase those at West Point use to bind Army graduates past,

present and future. For some, that manifests itself through family lineage. Darrell Scales sat next to his wife, Katie, and one of their daughters. Both Darrell and Katie were Army alums, and had driven up from Atlanta for the game. “For our girls, they just want to be a part of the gray line,” Katie said. “ ‘That Long Gray Line,’ they call it.” As Army’s stranglehold on the game tightened, their excitement grew. The roars became louder. High-fives more intense. Sure, it was one thing to see the tailgates, reunite with friends, share in a bond. It would’ve been another for that

NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily

Army fans flooded The Big House on Saturday, offering reminders throughout the stadium of a greater importance than just the results on the field.

traveling contingent to walk out of Michigan Stadium with a win for the ages. Michigan fans resorted to nervous tendencies outside section 11 — one nursing a Diet Coke, another clutching his vape — while Army fans kept their cool. Eric Lee, a father of an Army student, slotted his hands in his pockets, watching the field goal at the end of regulation drift ever-so-slightly right and fall ever-so-slightly short. “You know what the student body is at West Point,” he chided after the miss, “right?” When the game ended — an abrupt halt to Army’s upset bid — Michigan players joined with Army players, gathered around those dressed in uniform on the sideline. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh had asked Army coach Jeff Monken before the game if they had a postgame ritual the Wolverines should partake in. Monken explained they sing the alma mater, and he’d be honored if Michigan joined. So there they were, conjoined under a bright blue sky. The crowd stood up. The alma mater blared. The whisper of “U-SA” soon cascaded into a fullstadium chant. The players all stood there, bound by a sport that is stitched together by its eccentricities. “I’m proud of our guys,” Monken said shortly after. “I’m proud of how they represented West Point today. I’m proud of how they represented the United States Army. I hope that everybody that had a chance to watch — not everybody bought a ticket, them included, people on TV, I’m sure they were watching — we made them proud of our United States Army and the determination of the American soldier. Because that’s what those guys are.”

Fake punt propels ‘M’ in victory Charbonnet becomes workhorse ARIA GERSON

Daily Sports Editor

In his postgame press conference Saturday, Army coach Jeff Monken emphasized one play more than any other. It wasn’t any of his team’s three touchdowns or three fumble recoveries. It wasn’t the clinching play of the game, where his quarterback was sacked and fumbled. It wasn’t the Black Knights’ missed game-winning field goal attempt, either. Monken wanted one play back: Michigan’s fake punt. “We knew we needed to get some turnovers if we were gonna beat them,” Monken said. “We had to get some balls away from them and steal a possession, and they stole one from us on the fake punt. That was my call. … They stole one from us there and it’s probably my greatest regret.” The game couldn’t

have started out any more disastrous for the Wolverines. Senior quarterback Shea Patterson fumbled on the first drive, gifting Army the ball and an eventual touchdown. Michigan got the ball back, of course, but it wasn’t long before the Wolverines ran into trouble again. Michigan’s drive stalled as it faced fourthand-5 from its own 47. To make matters worse, it seemed, senior linebacker Devin Gil’s false start moved everyone back five yards. But before the false start, the Michigan coaches noticed something in the Black Knights’ punt coverage. They’d eschewed a deep corner in order to put an extra man in the box, hoping to block the kick. It’s the kind of coverage you run when you’re the underdog, when you need some big, crazy plays to win. Except that when the Wolverines lined up again

They stole one ... and it’s probably my greatest regret.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Freshman Daxton Hill caught a fake punt late in the first quarter on Saturday.

and saw Army in the same coverage, they were one step ahead. Sophomore linebacker Michael Barrett — a former high-school quarterback who contributes mostly on special teams — lined up in front of punter Will Hart, took a direct snap and threw a pass to the waiting freshman safety Dax Hill, who broke through a diving tackle for 25 yards and the first down. Five plays later, Michigan tied the game up with a touchdown. They went on to squeak out a win, 24-21, in double overtime. “Disappointed in myself. I wish I would’ve changed the call there,” Monken said. “But ... we’re not gonna be safe, we’re gonna go play. So if I’m safe as a coach, that can’t be the way I lead. They gotta know I got confidence saying we’re gonna go for it. You know what? We went for it, got a guy out there and we missed the tackle.” Ronnie Bell was sitting on the sidelines during the play, not knowing what was about to happen. Ben Bredeson and Aidan Hutchinson were equally clueless. “All of a sudden I see everybody screaming,” Bell said. “And I looked and Dax made the miss and I was like, ‘Oh, let’s go,’ so I was excited as everybody else.” Most of the key players in the Wolverines’ offense don’t play on special teams and subsequently had no idea it was a play Michigan even practiced. But on Saturday, it was the reserves and the freshmen who pulled out the play that brought the drive back from the dead. Monken spent so much time dissecting the play because he realized that it led to one of the Wolverines’ only two touchdowns of regulation. The fake punt was a gamesaving play for Michigan, and perhaps a season-saving one. For the Black Knights, it was merely the one that got away.

THEO MACKIE Daily Sports Editor

Michigan’s running game wasn’t supposed to look this way. All offseason, coaches posited that it would be a three-headed committee. When running backs coach Jay Harbaugh spoke to the media three days before the start of the season, he listed five names in consideration for touches. And for one week, reality bore that out. Then Saturday afternoon arrived. The final carry split: Zach Charbonnet, 33; Christian Turner, 3; Ben VanSumeren, 1. That’s not to say that the Wolverines’ backfield will always look this way. After the game, Jim Harbaugh said that split was a product of circumstance. But the truth remains: two games into his college career, Charbonnet is Michigan’s workhorse. “Full faith in Zach,” said senior guard Ben Bredeson. “He had a great fall camp, he’s doing a great job. Still is, as you can see from today. If he’s got the ball, we as an O-line are absolutely fine with that.” At the heart of Charbonnet’s emergence have been performances that stand in direct contrast to everything a freshman running back is supposed to be. He has run well, to the tune of 190 yards on 41 touches — 4.6 yards per carry. He has provided a threat in the passing game with four receptions. He has punched the ball into the end zone when asked to, scoring all three of Michigan’s touchdowns against Army on Saturday. “You’ve gotta give the kid a lot of credit,” Harbaugh said Saturday. “He rose to the occasion. Had to be tired,

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Freshman Zach Charbonnet got the bulk of Michigan’s carries on Saturday.

but did a heck of a job in my opinion.” But Christian Turner — bar the touchdowns — has done that too, averaging 4.9 yards per carry and showing a dangerous burst to the outside. The difference between the two has been in pass protection, the one area where common sense dictates that the sophomore Turner’s experience should give him an edge. In week one against Middle Tennessee State, all of Michigan’s presumed top three backs — Charbonnet, Turner and redshirt junior Tru Wilson — were perfect in pass protection, according to Harbaugh. And the carry split followed: 11 for Turner, eight for Charbonnet, two for Wilson before he hurt his hand on a blitz pickup. Against Army, the plan seemed to follow a similar path through two drives. Wilson stood on the sideline, dressed but not fully healthy, while Charbonnet and Turner split the early carries. Then, on Michigan’s third drive, Turner failed to pick up a corner blitz, allowing Elijah Riley to force Shea Patterson into his second fumble of the game.

I just felt like we really had to lean on Zach today.

The rest of the way, Turner saw just one carry. Charbonnet had 28. “I just felt like we had to really lean on Zach today,” Harbaugh said. “(VanSumeren) fumbled and we had another (Turner) that missed protection and we just felt like we just had to give it to Zach.” But while Charbonnet converted his opportunities into 100 yards and three touchdowns, Harbaugh still wants to shy away from overburdening him. “This next week, that’s going to be something that — next two weeks, really — getting that next back that we can get in there and really trust and play well,” Harbaugh said. “And we’ll evaluate this week to get another back in because that’s tough duty, going a whole game on a hot day.” The issue then becomes which running backs can earn that trust. Through two games, Turner and sophomore Hassan Haskins have each missed a vital blitz pickup, while VanSumeren’s fumble led to an Army touchdown. Maybe Wilson will fit the bill when he returns. His path to playing time a year ago was pass protection and the blitz pickup that he got injured on led to a touchdown. But for now, Harbaugh has a running back he knows he can trust to be a workhorse — if he needs one.