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Wednesday, January 8, 2020
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Ford School to offer new minor next school year
Dean expects to enroll approximately 25 students in 16-credit program FRANCESCA DUONG Daily Staff Reporter
Members of Witnesses for Peace, an anti-Israel protest group, have protested outside of the Beth Israel Congregation for the past sixteen years.
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Federal lawsuit challenges anti-Israel demonstrations at local synagogue Litigation addresses 16-year protest at Beth Israel Congregation BARBARA COLLINS & SAMANTHA SMALL Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporter
Every Saturday morning since September 2003, members of Witnesses For Peace — an antiIsrael protest group — have stood outside the Beth Israel Congregation on Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor. Members
of the group hold signs reading “Resist Jewish Power,” “Jewish Power Corrupts,” “Boycott Israel,” “Stop U.S. Aid to Israel” and “End the Palestinian holocaust.” Their demonstrations last from about 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., taking place during Shabbat services. After 16 years and more than 800 protests, a Beth Israel Congregation member, Marvin Gerber, motioned to
sue the group on Dec. 19, 2019, claiming Witnesses For Peace have demonstrated anti-Semitic rhetoric. The lawsuit also claims the city of Ann Arbor has not taken the appropriate action to put an end to the demonstrations. According to the litigation, the protests defy Ann Arbor regulations on public gatherings and stretch the legal limits on a person’s right to free speech. Gerber requested the city either
eliminate the protest altogether or install certain restrictions. The plaintiff is also seeking financial retribution due to the protester’s constant “harassment.” “The First Amendment right of free speech does not entitle a speaker to use that right repeatedly to bludgeon, for weeks and years at a time, in the same location,” the lawsuit reads. See LAWSUIT, Page 3A
Starting this April, undergraduate students can apply to the Ford School of Public Policy for acceptance into the new public policy minor for Fall 2020. The minor will be open to students from LSA, the College of Engineering, Ross School of Business, School of Information and School of Public Health. Sharon Maccini, faculty director of the undergraduate program at the Public Policy School, said the impetus for the minor came from hearing students express interest in studying public policy without necessarily majoring in it. “The idea was to attract students who are primarily committed to another discipline and to supplement their education with public
AR game Independent journalist discusses increases ‘myth of objectivity’ in industry access for Lewis Raven Wallace reflects on personal experience as LGBTQ+ activist children TECHNOLOGY
Research team creates gaming system for kids with differing abilities ANGELINA BREDE Daily Staff Reporter
A team of University of Michigan faculty and students have created iGYM, an augmented reality system allowing both able-bodied individuals and those with mobile disabilities to engage in physical games together. iGYM is designed to mimic physical sports by projecting an interactive court onto the floor. It can host multiple games featuring virtual goals and balls. Players interact with the projections to virtually kick and pass the ball to score goals. Art & Design professor Roland Graf, one of the team’s leaders, said the game creates an even playing field for children with disabilities so they can compete and play with their able-bodied peers. The team consisted of students and faculty from the School of Art & Design, the School of Information, the College of Engineering and the School of Kinesiology. Graf stressed the importance of having an interdisciplinary team to bring the research project to life. “What united us was really a shared mission,” Graf said.
JASMIN LEE
Daily Staff Reporter
Lewis Raven Wallace, an independent journalist from North Carolina, spoke at Literati Bookstore on Tuesday evening to a crowd of about 70 people. Wallace discussed his new book “The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity” at an event sponsored by the store. Wallace is an Ann Arbor native who turned his activism to journalism. He currently hosts his own podcast, “The View from Somewhere.” In
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addition, Wallace started his own company called Press On, a Southern journalism collective providing training and education about challenging harmful bias in the journalism industry. During the book reading, Wallace read passages describing how his early career as a journalist was affected by the LGBTQ+ activism he participated in as a teenager. The excerpts detailed how he was fired from a job at a daily paper when he wrote a blog post titled “Objectivity Is Dead and I’m Okay With It,” which would come to define the rest of his
career. Wallace, who is transgender, said he knew his opinion about objectivity would be controversial but did not realize the extent to which it would change his career. “I wrote about my experience as a transgender journalist, never neutral on the subject of my own humanity and rights, even as they were being debated in ‘both sides’ journalism,” Wallace said. “When I posted the blog, I knew it might be controversial. What I didn’t know was how dramatically it would change the trajectory of my life, as my own story became part of a tense
national conversation over truth and journalism.” Art & Design senior Brooks Eisenbise said it is important to challenge the idea of journalistic objectivity. “I like the message of pushing against journalistic objectivity because I feel like in our current fact climate where people can say whatever, it takes more than objectivity to tell people the truth and to know what’s real and what’s not,” Eisenbise said. “Talking to the source and talking with people on the ground is important. Telling the full story is really cool.” See JOURNALIST, Page 3A
Author Lewis Raven Wallace speaks about his book “The View From Somewhere Else” during an event at Literati Bookstore Tuesday evening.
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Vol. CXXIX, No. 40 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
policy studies,” Maccini said. “We offer essentially a toolkit, various types of skills and ideas that can be useful for pursuing effective change and leadership in essentially any field.” According to the press release, sophomores and juniors are able to apply from April 1 to May 15. The application consists of an online form, resume, transcript and two short essays. Students will hear their results by mid-June, and 25 students are expected to be offered admission into the minor. LSA sophomore Sarah Abdelbaki intends to major in economics and international studies. However, she said she is also interested in public policy. After learning about the new minor program, Abdelbaki said she was excited about the opportunity. See MINOR, Page 3A
RESEARCH
‘U’ study: longevity impacted by stress
Results show early-life stressors may lead to increase in lifespan HANNAH MACKAY Daily Staff Reporter
Good news for stressed-out students: there may be a link between stress in early life and longer lifespans, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. The research is being conducted at the Jakob Lab, a molecular, cellular and developmental biology laboratory, and focuses on oxidative stress, a natural byproduct of metabolism, and its potential ability to increase lifespan. The lab uses genetically identical worms to study aging. Postdoctoral fellow Daphne Bazopoulou, a key contributor to the ongoing project, explained what oxidative stress is and why the group chose to study it in worms. “These are oxidants that every organism produces, and these are byproducts of metabolism, and these have been linked to oxidative damage which contributes to aging,” Bazopoulou said. “Worms produce those oxidants at very high levels during development and they do that naturally … so this was a little bit weird because we knew from studies before that excessive oxidants might do harm, however, these juvenile worms were able to recover by themselves.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS................6
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TUESDAY: By Design
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WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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FRIDAY: Behind the Story
Jan. 7, 1999: President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial set to open before jurors in United States Senate “A time it was, and what a time. And this is a time for the president.” Political science Prof. Mel Laracey used the famous Charles Dickens quote to start his first class of second semester in political science 415: The American Chief Executive. Today is a day that will go down in the history books as the second impeachment trial for an elected president is scheduled to begin. Although the trial dominates
headlines, most political science classes - even those dealing directly with the presidency and American government - will not change dramatically, professors said. Laracey warned his students yesterday to keep from getting too wrapped up in the trial. “It is necessary to keep some perspective. This will pass and become part of history,” Laracey said. “This looks like an important occasion, but I don’t think
that it will make any huge impact on the functioning of the office or its integrity. Regardless, we will have a new president in two years.” But students in the class are looking to the impeachment trial to have a significant impact on the course. “I think that the trial will make the class a lot more interesting and more relevant to everyday life,” LSA senior Josh Meyers said. Political science professors at other universities plan to
give the trial a little more weight in their curriculum. “I will make references to it, of course. I have students analyze newspaper articles, so we will be trying to link the ongoing events to the themes of the class,” said James Eisenstien, a political science professor at Pennsylvania State University. “We will use the trial events to teach theories. I will draw examples from impeachment to bring home points about American politics.”
David Rohde, a political science professor at Michigan State University, said he will refocus his class only by teaching that impeachment has become a reality. “If I were teaching two years ago, impeachment was only a theory. Now it is actual and will have to occupy more time,” Rohde said. The historical significance of the trial also is destined to affect American history classes as well, some professors said.
“The debates over impeachment have given students a feeling of immediacy and invigorated class discussions,” said history Prof. Rebecca Scott, who chairs the University’s department. “It really gives legitimacy to discussions about the separation of powers, along with checks and balances. The faculty will link the events of the trial to the material of the course.”
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Editorial Staff File Photo/Daily Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor presides over a city council meeting.
City Council discusses rental property regulations, lawsuit filed over protests Members examine federal ligitation surrounding demonstrations at Beth Israel Congregation BARBARA COLLINS Daily News Editor
The Ann Arbor City Council met for the first time in 2020 on Monday night to discuss a federal lawsuit filed over antiIsrael protests at Beth Israel Congregation and increasing regulations for short-term rental properties. Anti-Israel protester Henry Herskovitz spoke during public comment about the political demonstrations. Herskovitz, who leads the groups Deir Yassin Remembered and Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, is listed as a defendant on a recent lawsuit filed by a member of Beth Israel Congregation. The lawsuit claims the protest group led by Herskovitz use hateful, antiSemitic speech. The lawsuit also lists the city as a defendant for letting Sudoku Syndication the protests continue over the
comprehensive and logical, past 16 years. opinion. “Anti-Semitism in modern adding that it would generate Herskovitz explained why his group chose to America looks exactly like Mr. savings for taxpayers. “In all my years I can say, protest in front of Beth Israel Herskovitz,” Ackerman said. Congregation, citing it as “Anti-Semitism in modern unequivocally, this is the most well-researched, both a house of worship and a America looks like embedding thorough, data-driven distrust in your neighbors. I’m documented, political institution. “We noted that Beth accusing Mr. Herskovitz of report I have ever seen the city Israel f lies a foreign f lag being an anti-Semite and using produce,” Lumm said. “It is in its sanctuary, that the his platform of protesting exceptional.” The council voted in favor of congregation recites a prayer a house of worship for the for the state of Israel every last 16 years as racist and tabling the resolution, moving week, that many congregants anti-Semitic, and I think it’s on to discuss a resolution that would implement more wave Israeli f lags as they drive important to call out.” Later in the meeting, restrictions on short-term into the parking lot and that discussed rental properties in Ann Arbor. some even sport Jewish-Israeli councilmembers Councilmember Kathy license plates,” Herskovitz implementing a revised solid said. waste management plan. The Griswold, D-Ward 2, said she Councilmember Zachary outlined plan advised the thought the city had waited too Ackerman, D-Ward 3, City on how to keep its solid long to address the regulation responded to Herskovitz’s waste, recycling and compost/ of short-term rentals. “We need to balance the management comments, calling him racist organics and anti-Semitic. Ackerman programs financially needs of the neighborhoods, but said he grew up as a member responsible and sustainable. I still think that there needs to of Beth Israel Congregation Councilmember Jack Eaton, be some type of grandfathering and later said Ackerman’s http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ D-Ward 4, said he would like to in of the existing short-term comments were of his own refer the plan back to city staff rentals,” Griswold said. While Councilmember Ali and table the resolution. “Rather than being a Ramlawi, D-Ward 5, said he planning document, it’s hopes City Council can find really just a list of to-do common ground on this issue items that we can do so companies such as Airbnb without a plan,” Eaton said. can still operate in Ann EASY “This really falls short in a Arbor, he said having shortterm rentals often negatively variety of ways.” Councilmember Jeff impacts the community. “I have an issue when you Hayner, D-Ward 1, agreed with Eaton, saying the set up a business in an area revised plan did not support that’s not zoned for business,” said. “We can Ann Arbor’s goals for Ramlawi extrapolate for quite some time combating climate change. “Zero waste is you what that means, but these don’t generate any waste, single-family zoning areas or you generate as little of our community were not waste as possible and what intended for this type of new waste has to be generated phenomenon.” Councilmember Julie is then dealt with in an ecologically appropriate Grand, D-Ward 3, said she manner,” Hayner said. “I saw both sides of the issue but really want the best deal supports moving forward with for the community and regulating short-term rentals. “I do think there are the environment, with our climate action goals, so I providers of short-term rentals will happily support tabling that provide services that are of value to people who this.” Concilmember Jane are visiting our community,” Lumm, I-Ward 2, disagreed Grand said. For personal use only. puzzle ©bysudokusolver.com. sudokusyndication.com with Eaton and Hayner and said the plan was See COUNCIL, Page 3A
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LAWSUIT From Page 1A “The First Amendment … is subject to appropriate limitations on its continued and repeated usage.” Defendants named in the lawsuit include Henry Herskovitz, Gloria Harb, Tom Saffold, Rudy List and Chris Mark. The lawsuit also lists the groups Deir Yassin Remembered and Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends — both led by Herskovitz, a former member of the congregation — as defendants. The Southern Poverty Law Center placed Deir Yassin Remembered on a list of hate groups in 2017 due to their support of Holocaust deniers Michael Hoffman, Eric Hunt, Germar Rudolf and the late Bradley Smith. Board members have also questioned historically accurate facts about the Holocaust. In an August interview with The Daily, Herskovitz criticized the SPLC and said he believes hate is a namecalling mechanism. “They’re an amazing business because all they do is sell fear,” Herskovitz said. “As it turns out we were placed on the hate group due to one person, and that was with my membership to Deir Yassin Remembered, which isn’t the vigil group. But when you’re slimy people you don’t care about the details or the facts.” Deir Yassin Remembered previously campaigned for the release of Ernst Zundel, a German neo-Nazi who was imprisoned for inciting race hatred. In 2006, Herskovitz and Daniel McGowan, the former executive director of Deir Yassin Remembered, visited Zundel in Mannheim Prison in Germany. Herskovitz told The Daily that he wished to meet with Zundel in order to “confront the issue.” “Every time I hear that someone is an anti-Semite, I want to go meet that person,” Herskovitz said. “If you put ‘Holocaust deniers’ in quotes, I’ve met more Holocaust deniers than you can name because I want to go to people. I want to see what they’re really about … I am concerned about Jews, and I am very concerned about how their history is going to be finally written.”
COUNCIL From Page 2A “I’m just not sure when I weigh the pros and cons that the value to those individuals overrides the value of a family being able to live in a house or someone not living next to a commercial enterprise.” Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said he supported the resolution, noting neighborhoods with homes used for short-term rentals often lose their sense of community. “There’s incomplete data as to safety, there are incomplete data as to the effect on pricing, but I think that the absence of community is unanswerable
JOURNALIST From Page 1A To conclude his talk, Wallace said he had a dream where he was in a sinking boat. In the dream, he decided to save the children drowning at the bottom of the ship instead of himself. He explained this dream was a metaphor for him deciding to risk his career in order to share his opinion about journalistic integrity. Ann Arbor resident George Feldman said he found the sinking ship metaphor the most moving part of Wallace’s talk. “It was a metaphor for a situation we all feel,” Feldman said. “What would
However, Herskovitz rejects the claim Witnesses for Peace and any of its members are anti-Semitic. Member Blaine Coleman said the protest is generally against the military aid of Israel. “You’ve got a racist, violent government in Israel that has just shot down dozens of unarmed human rights protesters in Gaza,” Herskovitz said. “Israel is about killing Palestinians and taking their land. I don’t think it’s about religion.” In addition to Herskovitz and the other protesters, the lawsuit lists Mayor Christopher Taylor, City Attorney Stephen Postema, Senior Assistant City Attorney Kristen Larcom and Community Services Administrator Derek Delacourt as defendants, claiming the city has not required the group to obtain a permit to continue their demonstrations. The litigation also alleges that by allowing the protests to continue without restrictions, the city infringes upon the congregation member’s First Amendment rights, as they are unable to practice their freedom of religion without being “harassed” by demonstrators. Taylor told The Daily he has not yet read the complaint or received communications regarding the lawsuit from city lawyers. He said the city has done everything possible to ensure constitutional rights are protected. “The city honors the constitutional rights of everyone, no matter what your political views,” Taylor said. “In my opinion, the protests in front of the synagogue are entirely inappropriate and disgraceful. The city respects the constitutional rights of the people to express themselves and we act accordingly.” The protests are not only harmful and irrational, Taylor said, but are inconsistent with Ann Arbor’s community values. Robert Blumenthal, Beth Israel Congregation board president, gave The Daily a statement on behalf of the synagogue. “While Beth Israel Congregation is in no way associated with this lawsuit, the activity outside of our house of worship every week continues to be offensive and
and for me is of particular importance.” The council voted to approve the resolution. Additionally, councilmembers voted to add a full-time lieutenant position to the Ann Arbor Police Department to audit and review reports and video footage. They also approved annexing parcels of Ann Arbor Township and Pittsfield Township. Local environmental toxicologist Mozhgan Savabieasfahani spoke during public comment. At the last City Council meeting, Savabieasfahani announced her candidacy for the Ward 4 seat in 2020, where she will be running against Eaton and Ann Arbor resident Jen Eyer,
you do (in a situation) when it’s important … What do you do when you risk your job, or even when you risk your promotion, or you risk your friends cutting you off when you take an unpopular or difficult choice?” After the book reading, Wallace held a questionand-answer session. Audience members praised his skills as a storyteller and debated the need for facts versus storytelling. Some said people are only interested in compelling stories and others said facts are of interest when they are from trusted sources. When asked to define the role of journalists, Wallace said the profession should encourage unconventional journalistic writing to keep
News reprehensible, and includes anti-Semitic hate speech,” the statement reads. Rabbi Nadav Caine, from the Beth Israel Synagogue, told The Daily he and members of the congregation are often distressed about the protest. Caine said it is disconcerting that a city such as Ann Arbor would allow these demonstrations to continue for so long. However, Caine said Beth Israel Congregation has a very positive relationship with Taylor, the Ann Arbor City Council and the city attorney. However, he still questions if more can be done to limit the volume of the protests, which he called hate speech. “I value the First Amendment. I value my relationships with the City, but I sometimes wonder if this were happening to an African American church or to the mosque, whether it wouldn’t be more of a topic of conversation,” Caine said. “When it comes to the City Council and local ordinances, that’s really what it comes down to.” Caine also said the synagogue has chosen to not participate in the lawsuit but could not comment as to why. Congregation members at Beth Israel often try to ignore the protesters and signs, Blumenthal said, though the members often find them very upsetting. He said many members of the congregation feel the city could do more, but they understand there are some limitations. Blumenthal said said the city has responded to the protesters when contacted by Beth Israel Congregation in the past. Previously, the protesters had blocked the driveway into the synagogue, Blumenthal explained, which restricted congregation members from entering the parking lot. Blumenthal said the police came after the city was notified and drew lines to prevent the protesters from surrounding the parking lot. “We (Beth Israel Congregation) are fairly resilient as a group, we’ve had to be over history,” Blumenthal said. “Some of us have young children there, and (the protest) has been going on 16 years … it’s been every week with sometimes very hateful signs.”
a former journalist for MLive and the Ann Arbor News. Last week, Savabieasfahani said her platform would be focused on advocating for the immediate cleanup of the Gelman Dioxane plume and PFAS contamination in Ann Arbor. Savabieasfahani said she did not support putting the site of the Gelman Dioxane plume on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list as a Superfund site. “It takes up to 30 years for sites that are already on the EPA list to be cleaned up,” Savabieasfahani said. “If we want to go that route it’s basically just being forced to wait for a really long time if it comes to be clean.”
up with current media trends. According to Wallace, traditional journalism styles, which prioritize key facts over narrative storytelling, were only relevant when news traveled slower, such as when people had to ride horses to deliver newspapers. Ann Arbor resident Anna Brunner said she found Wallace’s ideas of reinventing the role of journalism was inspiring. “My favorite part was how he talked about the fundamental change that is needed in journalism today,” Brunner said. “Providing the different ways with being in community and reimagining a profession in a way that is centering justice and equity was really inspiring.”
STRESS From Page 1A Ursula Jakob, the lab’s primary investigator, said the researchers observed that oxidative stress in juvenile worms resulted in longer lifespans, leading them to begin their experiments. “The worms that have the highest levels of reactive oxygen species during this early stage were the ones that were most stress-resistant and the longest lived of the whole population,” Jakob said. “That was something that was very intriguing because it suggested that you can have these events very early in life in an organism that triggers this production of reactive oxygen species, and that will then extend the lifespan of that subpopulation of worms.” Bazopoulou said they induced specific amounts of oxidative stress in these worm populations during early-life stages to test if it increased lifespan. “The main message is that oxidants in early life might predispose the organisms to withstanding stress,” Bazopoulou said. “They were becoming preconditioned; they were experiencing some early-
MINOR From Page 1A “As someone that’s interested in policy, this would add that to what I’m already learning in school,” Abdelbaki said. “It would allow me to keep econ and international studies as my priorities.” To complete the 16-credit minor, students will enroll in PubPol 201, a four-credit survey course of current policy issues, as well as PubPol 320, a four-credit class on the relationship between politics and public policy that all Ford School majors are required to take. Students who have not taken Econ 101 will take PubPol 310, a four-credit class aimed at using economics to analyze policy, while those who have taken Econ 101 can substitute an elective instead. To complete
GAME From Page 1A “This is the fruit of great interdisciplinary teamwork and also really working with the parents and the kids that are testing the game, they are also a part of it.” Graf said he was grateful to be able to engage in this type of applied research. “Developing technology explicitly to promote social change and the removal of social and physical barriers is just something that feels very fulfilling to make steps towards,” Graf said. “I’m just privileged that the University gives me the freedom to decide in which direction I want to develop technology. The freedom I have as a researcher and academic is to go for the truly life-fulfilling work.” Hun-Seok Kim, an Engineering assistant professor, also found the project’s goal to be important. “It is a unique project for our research team as it directly connects technology development and research to an application with immediate social impacts,” Kim said. “Unlike other more theoretical research, this project allows us to directly engage with people outside of academia.” Graf said participants have had positive responses to the project. He said players appreciated its inclusivity for both those with mobility disabilities and those without. “We had a couple of kids ages 7 to 16 years test the system, and they found the game competitive, regardless of whether they use wheelchairs or not,” Graf said. “My favorite quote from our studies that sums beautifully the idea of what inclusive play can be is a participant who played the game using a wheelchair said
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 — 3A
life stress which made them battle stress that they were encountering later in life.” Bazopoulou said the lab planned to investigate this specific mechanism throughout an organism’s lifespan and how it may affect predisposition to age-associated diseases. “We are also interested now in seeing whether those earlylife oxidants can predispose organisms to better battle agerelated pathologies such as neurodegenerative disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s,” Bazopoulou said. LSA freshman Liam Thew Forrester, an undergraduate research assistant in a different lab at the molecular and behavioral neuroscience institution, studies stressinduced mood disorders. He shared his excitement at the findings of this stress-related research. “I was really surprised by it, it’s really interesting to think that the stress can actually be beneficial if it’s early on because that could vastly change how we do things, not just for longevity, it could help with the stressinduced disorders as well,” Forrester said. Jakob said she hopes to eventually develop interventions
the minor, students must also take four credits of electives. Maccini said the minor is geared towards students like Abdelbaki, who hope to add public policy skills to their degrees. “The idea is to provide this supplementary set of tools that really focus in on policy change, social change, and more generally leadership, analytical skills, critical thinking skills, drawing primarily from an interdisciplinary social science perspective,” Maccini said. In a December email to students and faculty, Dean Michael Barr clarified that certain benefits would be reserved for Public Policy majors. “Please note that while we hope to actively engage our new BA minor cohort into the Ford School community, some resources, such as our dedicated career counselor, will remain
it’s basically adapted for everyone, even people with no physical disabilities.” Information senior Emma Shpiz, who has been a research assistant on the project since the winter 2017 semester, noted her previous experience working with children with disabilities. “I have a lot of background in working with kids, especially throughout high school,” Shpiz said. “I was really involved in clubs where we were using sports to build relationships and have a combination of fun and learning for different kids with different disabilities. Also, having a couple different family members who have various disabilities (made) this something that was really important to me.” Shpiz said she was drawn to iGYM because of how unique the project was. “I was honestly shocked that nothing like this had been done before.” Shpiz said “It’s kind of very different in the field. Obviously, there’s a lot of work towards different games for people with different disabilities, but just finding this really niche space where it keeps it competitive for both sides was really exciting for me.” Shpiz realized how iGYM could improve inclusivity for people with disabilities when she interviewed a 5-year-old girl with a disability and her mother, who found the game very effective for her daughter. “We were sitting in the interview asking her pretty generic questions after she had
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to help people combat the health and lifestyle struggles of aging. “This suggests that at a very early stage in life you can positively affect lifespan by, in this case, changing the levels of reactive oxygen species,” Jakob said. “If we can find out what are the mechanisms that are set in motion at a juvenile stage but ultimately are responsible later in life for higher stress resistance and longer life, maybe we can find an intervention that targets directly those processes so that we actually still have a chance to benefit from this information.” Jakob explained the goal of this research is to have a real impact on human health and physiology. Her lab plans to continue investigating the unknown factors that affect aging. “If we understand all the long-term effects that have been set into motion in early development, maybe we can mimic those long-term effects by pharmacological interventions or other interventions,” Jakob said. “What are ultimately the changes in these organisms when it comes to aging and death that allows them to live longer?”
available only to students who are majoring in public policy,” Barr wrote. Public Policy senior Nicholas Martire serves as the president of the Public Policy School’s undergraduate student council. He noted the minor provides a good sampling of the classes and skills public policy majors learn. “For me, Ford has been an opportunity to look at realworld issues and figure out policy issues to solve them,” Martire said. “The minor sounds like it will offer a similar opportunity.” Martire said he is looking forward to seeing more students get involved with public policy. “It seems like a great opportunity for more students to have a chance to receive a Ford education,” Martire said. “I think the more people that have the opportunity to have some sort of public policy
played the game, and all of a sudden her mom, she starts crying and was like, ‘This is so incredible, I’m so glad you guys are doing this, I’m dying for this game to be placed in my daughter’s school,’” Shpiz said. “For this to be something that I think could have a really big impact is my biggest takeaway.” Kim said iGYM has merited positive reactions from children, parents and researchers alike, who found the project very rewarding. “We had a case where these two brothers had never played a physical game before because their abilities are quite different,” Kim said. “We saw some teary eyes from the parents, and it was a very rewarding moment to see them and also researchers having a lot of fun.” Graf said he and his team foresee iGYM entering the market in the future and are currently working on making the system more robust before consulting with an industry partner. The Houston YMCA and spaces in New York have made inquiries about having the system installed. Kim said the future of iGYM holds many different possibilities due to the versatility of augmented reality systems. “Possibilities are virtually limitless,” Kim said. “AR systems can overcome the limitation of physical surroundings by augmenting the reality. For example, iGYM augments each player’s ability to allow inclusive play among people with different physical abilities.”
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Opinion
4A — Wednesday, January 8, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
YASMEEN DOHAN | COLUMN
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NOAH ENTE | COLUMN
Soleimani strike destroys the region’s true destabilizing force
T
his week, much has been made of the recent decision by President Trump to authorize an airstrike that killed the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force branch, Qasem Soleimani. Social media has been flooded with content suggesting that this act will lead to a third world war, and the political world has come to a hotly contested debate about the implications of the killing. The event has certainly caused strong reactions, especially from high-ranking Iranian government officials, and is sure to dominate the headlines in coming weeks as tensions between the United States and Iran likely escalate. Critics of the strike against Soleimani, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, advance at least one of two main points. First, that the President acted outside of his legal powers to facilitate this strike and should have sought the approval of Congress prior to it. They also assert that Trump’s decision will only serve to escalate violent conflict between the U.S. and Iran and was a serious mistake. Such criticisms, however, fall short of accurately assessing the legal and strategic realities of this military decision. Since the development of military drones, this technology has played an increasingly significant role in military operations, particularly for the U.S. As various presidential administrations have engaged in drone operations, discourse surrounding the regulation of drone use through executive power has surfaced on multiple occasions, often following a significant American drone strike. Yet no legislation has arisen to curtail a president’s right to use drones, or any other conventional means for American military operations, without consulting Congressional leaders. President Obama acknowledged in 2013 that despite his choice to alert Congress about his military decisions in Syria, he was not required to do so. His administration also attempted to expand the definition of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force to apply the measure to U.S. actions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Though the 1973 War Powers Resolution aimed to give Congress some power over military action
by a president, the president still retains his constitutional status as Commander in Chief and has historically had the final say on similar and more extreme operations. Such instances include U.S. interventions in Kosovo and Libya, among others. Further, the Trump Administration did not send any armed forces into action through the decision to eliminate Qasem Soleimani, rendering the act as less, if at all, applicable in this case.
U.S.-Iranian tensions would have continued regardless of any action against the military leader
It is clear that outside of a desire to be kept informed of all strategic operations by the military, members of Congress and others who claim the decision was illegitimate or illegal due to Trump’s decision not to notify Congress cannot justify their claims. Precedent and legislation on such a topic prove that the decision can be legally justified. Yet the question remains, for some, whether the strike can be supported from a strategic standpoint. To answer this question, it is important to establish clarity about who Qasem Soleimani really was. Soleimani commanded the Iranian military’s Quds Force, which is responsible for carrying out the Islamic Republic’s agenda abroad. In his efforts to advance the malignant interests of Iran in the Middle East and around the world, Soleimani’s statesponsored terrorism led to the deaths of many civilians — the most recent example being an American defense contractor in Iraq in late December, according to the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense’s statement also noted the fact that Soleimani has been responsible for the deaths of many American and allied service members and had plans to cause more harm to Americans and U.S. interests.
The operations Soleimani oversaw in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, among other conflict zones, caused years of instability in the region and put U.S. troops and allies like Israel at risk. His career and entire adult life were dedicated to sowing this chaos. The Trump Administration justifiably viewed it as important to prevent this man, infamous for his cunning and unique abilities to promote Iranian hegemony, from causing more destruction. After declaring Soleimani’s Quds Force, and the IRGC as a whole, a terrorist organization (Soleimani himself had already been designated as a terrorist in 2011), the president put an end to his malignant activities. General Soleimani’s record speaks for itself. While those who opposed the strike that killed the Quds Force leader alleged that the attack will only destabilize the region, they fail to consider that it was Soleimani who was the cause of great instability in the Middle East for the past few decades. Though the Iranian regime is sure to attempt retaliation, the risk of all-out war is likely minimal, given Iran’s lack of resources or capabilities to fight the U.S. directly without incurring insurmountable costs. The question for the U.S. is whether this bold act will prove to be justified in the long run. Given the general’s record of wreaking havoc for American interests around the world, and the recognition of his developed strategies for doing so, his assassination will likely turn out to be a force for good in a dangerous part of the globe. U.S.-Iranian tensions would have continued regardless of any action against the military leader, and the attack sends a message to Tehran that Washington is willing to respond strongly when American lives are threatened. President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials were wise to carry out the strike, which required no use of American troops and was intended to save countless lives. Though history will record the outcome of this ongoing struggle, it is obvious that to leave Soleimani alive would have certainly endangered the lives of American and allied troops, officials and civilians. Such foresight on the part of the U.S. should be greatly applauded. Noah Ente can be reached at noahente@umich.edu.
KAAVYA RAMACHANDHRAN | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT KAAVYAR@UMICH.EDU
I
Two years after #MeToo, we need progress
n October 2017, #MeToo swept the web by storm. Victims of sexual misconduct congregated via Twitter to inform the general public of the pervasiveness of sexual violence, despite its lack of coverage in public discussion. Although an outstanding number of women experience sexual harassment, a large majority of occurrences are neither reported nor even acknowledged. One of the key insights from the #MeToo movement was the great urgency to implement more preventative education regarding sexual misconduct, an issue that our nation has yet to take action on. As a young girl going through the public education system in Indiana, I found that health class was the laughingstock of the school curriculum. With mundane and repetitive assignments following day after day, we never needed to pay attention in class. The curriculum was painfully reserved; our lessons were confined to learning about the human body, abstinence and sexually transmitted diseases. Looking back today, the conservative education I was given is irritating. The class had potential to teach young, impressionable teenagers something greater about consent and respect in relationships. Yet, in fear of being too vulgar or promoting sexual activity, the school neglected this immensely important component of health. Comprehensive sex ed has been proven to work study after study and still many schools, including mine, have never implemented an allinclusive sex education. While it can be extremely empowering to sexual violence survivors, calling out perpetrators and shaming their behavior
is simply not enough for the greater meaning of this movement. In order to accomplish what’s most serious — preventing sexual assault from transpiring in the first place — we must take preemptive measures. Because of the great amount of time children spend in schools, it is only rational these preemptive measures be implemented into school curriculums. Preventative education has been proven to work; schools already have alcohol abuse and drug prevention programs in effect, with results showing a reduction in the number of occurrences of sexual assault. If the concepts of consent, respect for others and sensitivity to their feelings were taught more seriously in public schools, serious advancements could be made in the realm of sexual assault prevention.
Educating on sexual assault in the very place where it originates would be especially effective One argument against including consent in public school curriculum is that it will only condone sexual activity and lead to a rise in the rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. However, this has been proven to be false. With the age of the internet, teenagers are bound to learn about sex, whether it is taught in schools or not. The means from which teenagers learn about sex are limitless; movies, pornography and music all teach the youth about sex, and often portray
these sexual relationships in disrespectful or problematic ways. Withholding information about safe sex and consent only harms schoolaged children; preventative education could easily combat these demeaning portrayals of sex. Another argument for preventative education regarding sexual assault is the fact that gender harassment often occurs as early as kindergarten. Educating on sexual assault in the very place where it originates would be especially effective. The #MeToo movement acknowledged sexual and gender-based harassment in the workplace, but failed to address this behavior among grade-school children. Power dynamics and gender socialization are learned at an extremely young age, and tackling the subsequent problems they spawn in the very place they are created would most certainly be the best way to solve them. If young boys were taught their seemingly harmless actions (like pestering a girl) had greater implications, it’d be easier for them to understand the consequences of their actions as they grow older. It would be a waste of an opportunity if the power behind the #MeToo movement didn’t change the way our school systems approach sexual assault. One change that would certainly decrease the ubiquity of this problem would be implementing preventive education in health classes of public schools. From a young age children should be taught that no means no, and we should ingrain in their minds that disrespectful actions have serious consequences before it is too late. Yasmeen Dohan can be reached at yasmeend@umich.edu.
ZACK BLUMBERG | COLUMN
I
Far removed from Mandela, the ANC’s legacy decays
n 1994, South African apartheid ended and the nation’s Black community was finally granted suffrage. With that momentous change, Nelson Mandela and the long-outlawed African National Congress swept into power, winning 252 of the 400 seats in the nation’s national assembly. Beginning here, the ANC established a political dynasty which has lasted ever since — in every election, the ANC has maintained their majority and won at least 230 seats. As the de facto party of liberation, the ANC has maintained a godlike reputation within the majority-Black nation for decades. However, 25 years after the ANC’s political ascension, their dominance is endangered. Largely thanks to self-inflicted problems (namely corruption), a series of political failures and an inability to carry on Mandela’s legacy, the ANC has slowly begun to lose its grip on power, and risks losing the adulation it first earned as the party of Black liberation. The ANC’s values were first officially codified in the Freedom Charter, a document written in 1955, with the party’s most important priority being that “The People Shall Govern.” When the party gained legitimate political power under Mandela, it styled itself as a center-left social democratic party with a focus on African Nationalism, anti-imperialism and social consciousness. Unfortunately for South Africans, the party now appears to care about those values in name only. The ANC’s history of corruption stretches back to its original rise to power under Mandela, beginning in 1994. In order to ensure the nation’s transition to full-fledged democracy was peaceful, Mandela struck a deal with the leaders of the old apartheid regime: While Black South Africans would be given political power, white South Africans would maintain their control over the vast majority of the country’s economic resources. Beginning with Mandela himself, many ANC leaders and party elites — most of whom had little individual wealth — were essentially bribed by white elites
to protect their business interests, creating a culture of corruption and exploitation which has persisted ever since. In tandem with this, a second, even more prevalent form of corruption emerged within the hegemonic ANC: the usage of government contracts and funds for personal enrichment. Since the installment of the ANC-led government, well-connected party members have utilized government contracts as a way to make money, often funneling funds away from legitimate projects and into their own bank accounts. One of the most pertinent examples of this corruption was unearthed last year, when it was revealed that Jacob Zuma, former ANC leader and South African president, had helped the Gupta family, a wealthy business conglomerate, pilfer billions of dollars. For two decades, the Guptas maintained close relationships with political leaders within the ANC, a move which allowed them to win inflated industry contracts and enriched both the family and South Africa’s elites — all at the expense of the greater South African populace. Even more egregious than skimming off of government infrastructure contracts is ANC leaders’ long history of personally taking funds intended for poverty relief, even while South Africa maintains its status as the most unequal country in the world. Throughout South Africa, politicians taking money intended for welfare programs is ubiquitous; an easy way to judge an area’s level of corruption is to simply look at how run-down its affordable housing units are. Unfortunately, this broken system is at least partly due to how the government itself divides up responsibility: While the national government is primarily responsible for collecting taxes, provincial governments are in charge of most spending and receive relatively little oversight, allowing corruption of this variety to run rampant. Beyond numerous corruption scandals, the party’s ability to govern has also been called
into question in recent years, especially as the legacy of apartheid fades and a new generation of South Africans reach voting age. Under Zuma, who served as President from 2009 until 2018, unemployment rose dramatically, economic growth slowed and South Africa’s rankings in a bevy of social and governmental issues dropped precipitously. Furthermore, the ANC has continually struggled to come up with a plan for effectively bridging the massive wealth divide which still exists between Black and white South Africans (and attempts to do so have led to the popularization of a far-right party composed primarily of wealthy, white Afrikaners). Faced with these challenges, the party has been unable to create a cohesive identity and appeal to increasingly frustrated voters. After Zuma stepped down last year, the ANC’s current leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, was elected president. Although Ramaphosa is viewed as a breath of fresh air for the ANC, he is largely surrounded by corrupt figures who remain allied with Zuma, leading to the perception that the party lacks a clear direction. Even worse, Zuma is alleged to have political ammunition on many of these senior figures, which creates further gridlock and incentivizes them to do his bidding. Although Ramaphosa promised a number of economic reforms to try and revitalize the nation’s lagging economy, he has faced criticism from every direction: The left is frustrated his ideas are too favorable to business, while many businesses believe his reforms don’t go far enough. More important than any particular detail, Ramaphosa has frustrated everyone with his inability to get any of these reforms passed in the first place.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Zack Blumberg can be reached at zblumber@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Writer Reid on why her debut will make us cringe VERITY STURM Daily Arts Writer
Kiley Reid is interested in what makes us cringe. “As a writer I’m really drawn toward hyper-realistic, almost awkward dialogue and inner monologue,” said Reid in a recent phone interview with The Michigan Daily. “And I’m very drawn to characters who find themselves in positions of power and don’t really know what to do with it.” Accordingly, Reid situates her debut novel, “Such A Fun Age,” at the nexus of multiple tricky relationships in the politically pregnant year of 2015. Enter Alix (“uh-leeks”) Chamberlain, a 30-something blogger and inf luencer who has spent years cultivating a personal brand loosely based on White feminism (“letterwriting promotion-receiving getting-what-they-want women”) in her favorite place on Earth: New York. After landing a book deal and lowkey inserting herself in the Clinton campaign, Alix decides to give the big city a little break and relocates her news anchor husband and two young daughters to Philadelphia, where she spends her time procrastinating on said book and using social media to pretend she still lives in New York. “I thought it was important that Alix would have the type of job that not just anybody can have,” Reid explained. With all that work, Alix seeks out the perfect babysitter to take care of two-year-
old Briar Louise — her more loquacious, less look-alike daughter — and hires Emira Tucker, a 25-year-old Black woman, chief ly because she’s safely unfamiliar with Alix and her brand. But underneath her employable anonymity, Emira is struggling with the pressures of being a postgrad who doesn’t exactly know what she wants to do yet (“Emira didn’t love doing anything, but she didn’t terribly mind doing anything either”). She’s got a few months left on her parents’ health insurance, $79.16 in her bank account and a voice in her head that says “you don’t have a real job.” “Emira is so naturally anticareerist,” Reid added, “and I think that makes a lot of people … a little bit uncomfortable.” One night the Chamberlains call Emira in a panic, offering to pay her double to distract Briar while they manage a last-minute emergency. Emira leaves a birthday party to take the Chamberlain’s toddler to a Whole Foods analog down the street known for “bone broths, truff le butters, smoothies … and several types of nuts in bulk,” where she is summarily accused of kidnapping the White child she’s been paid to watch. It’s an altercation charged with latent racism , and a self-aggrandizing bystander takes it upon himself to film it on his smartphone. “There’s a lot of people wondering ‘How can I be the best ally and do the perfect thing in this terrible situation?’” Reid said. “And a there’s a lot less focus on ‘How do we make sure that these situations don’t happen to begin with?’” The confrontation takes place at the outset of the novel,
allowing its aftermath enough space to grow beyond the neat boundaries of “aftermath” and into the complex plot of its own. In this respect, Reid has written a book about the consequences of prioritizing allyism over structural change. And it’s masterfully awkward. Alix
The pages fly, relaxed with frequent dialogue and references to social media and paced impeccably by the compelling triangles between Alix, Emira and the various relationships (transactional, romantic) that bind them.
gets anxious about progressive identity and her self-worth morphs into an uncomfortable function of how close she can get to her babysitter, a building obsession that reads like a crush and results in some offputting but well-meaning wine nights. Emira is slightly
spooked but needs the money and genuinely adores Briar, so she continues to make ends meet with the Chamberlains and enjoys herself when she can. Which includes getting involved with the video phone bystander, a 32-year-old White tech bro who has a track record of dating women of color, with the exception of his high school sweetheart. Who happens to be Alix Chamberlain. Yeah. What ensues is a painful, passive series of personal f lexes as Emira’s employer and boyfriend compete to “protect” her, what Alix refers to as “a losing game called ‘Which One of Us Is Actually More Racist?’” And it’s played desperately — in Alix’s case, to the extent of metrics: “… the fact she’d lain in bed the night before and been so pleased as she counted in her head how many African American guests would be present at her Thanksgiving table. This number had totaled to five.” Throughout her novel and our phone conversation, though, Reid adamantly and repeatedly returns to a critical lurking variable in the sticky social equation: class. “Talking about race without talking about class is a moot point,” Reid explained. “In this particular case, Blackness can look and be so many different things for so many different people. If I’m honest — You know what, I think that I was always drawn toward matters of class but I didn’t know that’s what they were,” she interjected. “I thought it was more etiquette in awkward moments and now I realize it’s more people dealing with their guilt and a lot of people finding themselves in positions of power, whether it’s their holding a phone or they have a babysitter, and how they respond to being in those positions.” And a constant consideration of class, according to Reid, makes space for the sort of terribly nuanced people and problems that populate and pace “Such a Fun Age.” The novel itself opens with a quote from Rachel Sherman’s “Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Aff luence,” a series of interviews with upper-class New Yorkers, and a work which Reid cited as pivotal in her understanding and crafting of characters from varying class backgrounds. “By the time I read (“Uneasy Street”) I knew the plot lines that I wanted to have for this novel, but I wanted to dive deeper into the issues of guilt and class solidarity and the very common way that people see their morality attached to their wealth, but not so much the systems that got them their
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 — 5A wealth,” Reid explained. “And I think that it helped in terms of my understanding of capital in America and how that affects peoples’ psyches, but it also helped me with character development for sure … my biggest takeaway from the book was that as soon as you are judging someone for being rich, you stop judging all of the systems that keep poor people
Throughout her novel and our phone conversation, though, Reid adamantly and repeatedly returns to a critical lurking variable in the sicky social equation: class.
poor.” Here Reid paused — something she did frequently throughout our conversation. She speaks deliberately and emphatically, and often ref lects on her words mere seconds after they enter air. “… And that gave me room to have really full characters that aren’t villains, that are really smart, sometimes that are really charming, but that also make really bad decisions.” While responding to some of my questions (and, honestly, judgments) on Alix Chamberlain’s thornier takes (the Thanksgiving scene is unreal), Reid circled back to this class-derived expansiveness of self. “I think it’s a human response that we don’t always arrive at what we think the proper response is right away, and sometimes it takes a little mental gymnastics,” Reid explained, slowing my critical roll. “And so I really wanted the reader to go with Alix and she’s arriving at those things, ‘cause she’s not perfect, and neither is Emira … but I think that all of the characters should have room to process these thoughts, even when they’re not the most sympathetic thoughts on their own.” This is the type of writer
Forget the tarot cards: Finding my future in film EMMA CHANG Daily Arts Writer
A fresh decade, a new year and a semester without tears all mean that there’s only one thing for me to do: develop imaginary and outrageous predictions for my life that will no doubt get my hopes up for the future. With the peak years of Disney Channel Original Movies in the 2000s, as well as whatever Greta Gerwig released during the last decade, there’s no better source material than the last 10 years of films for my new series of delusions. As a junior, I’m expected to have an internship this summer. At the moment, I don’t have anything planned; however, I see myself finding an internship with Anne Hathaway as she tries to juggle a healthy worklife balance. As her seemingly incapable intern, we will have conversations about life. She will feel like she can have these conversations with me because I’m not very intimidating and I’m a good babysitter for her daughter. The internship will teach me about the importance of life and set me up for senior year. Robert De Niro will be
there to take my place and this is where 2015’s “The Intern” starts. After having met Anne Hathaway at her clothing start-up in New York, I’ll come back for my final year at Michigan. A pivotal year made even more important by the fact that, before leaving New York, my superpowers will finally manifest themselves. Senior year will be about trying to understand this new characteristic of my life while also trying to juggle the social consequences of my role as Ann Arbor’s newest (first?) vigilante. Whatever troubles finance courses give me won’t compare to figuring out how to quickly change into a spandex
super suit without the help of movie magic. Whether my superpowers consist of webs coming out of my wrists or an affinity for Excel spreadsheets, I will have no complaints. They really can make my life, if not better, at least more exciting, despite the fact that they supposedly come with “great responsibility.” More realistically, or at least less based in fiction, I plan on cementing a variety of friendships that have the potential to either blossom into a fabulous whirlwind romance that I’ll remember for the rest of my life or employment after graduation. Either option is pretty fantastical at this point in my life. Like many a Disney Channel Original Movie
(T)here’s no better source material than the last 10 years of films for my new series of delusions.
Kiley Reid is. The amount of empathy and consideration she routinely expresses for all her characters, present tense, is a feat of feeling in and of itself. Later in our conversation, while reminding me that Alix is working under the pressures of late-stage capitalism (namely, the double burden of workfor-profit and unpaid child rearing), Reid took a moment to wince in audible pain. “Yeah, poor Alix,” Reid breathed. And then recomposed: “She’s doing the best she can, but if Alix is the perfect mom to nanny for it doesn’t mean that Emira’s financial situation is going to change, or any Black woman’s.” First and foremost, though, Kiley Reid is writing to compel an audience. “As a human I’m very political and not shy about those things,” she explained, “but as a writer I like to make it all about my characters, and what they believe in.” Indeed, with all its awkwardness and tension considered, “Such a Fun Age” is immensely readable, almost unbelievably so. The pages f ly, relaxed with frequent dialogue and references to social media and paced impeccably by the compelling triangles between Alix, Emira and the various relationships (transactional, romantic) that bind them. It’s been selected by Reese Witherspoon as her Book Club pick for January, and the film rights were picked up by Lena Waithe months before its initial publication. “Such a Fun Age” is the sweet-and-sour spot between heavy and light, a book about difficulty and nuance, specifically regarding class, money, and race. This makes it accessible to an unprecedented number of audiences. “I love it when novels give me a lot more questions than answers,” Reid disclosed, “and so my first priority is always just to focus on the narrative and not be polemic or use any character to make an overarching point, but I would love to raise questions in people about these things … Okay, so why does Emira have to figure out what she wants to do at 25? Why did college work so much differently for Alix than it did for Emira? … I would love for readers to feel inspired to dive into why that lifestyle is threatening to them, or threatening to the characters.” In that case, I amend my first sentence. Kiley Reid is interested in why we’re cringing. Kiley Reid will be at Literati Bookstore at 124 East Washington Street on Monday, January 13th at 7 p.m. to read from her novel, answer questions and sign books.
FILM NOTEBOOK
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
protagonist, my odds of meeting a celebrity and having an actual conversation with them will be exponentially higher than the average person in the coming decade. The details here are hazy — will I meet them at a music camp, convince them my mom isn’t the camp chef and have them fall in love with my music? Will we become lifelong friends, have a heart-to-heart on a hill in Massachusetts only to have them marry my sibling a decade later? Or maybe we’ll sing karaoke together at a New Year’s party, coincidentally end up at the same school the following week and fall in love during the school play while trying to juggle the insane social ramifications of a jock dating a nerd. The only thing I can do now is guess, but one of these things is bound to happen
to me at some point in the future. Finally, though many of these predictions have been rooted in specific examples, there is a larger movie theme that, until now, has been missing from my life that I fully expect to experience more of in this decade: love. It can happen in 2020 or it can happen later in the decade, I’m not that picky. And it’s not really the love I crave from these situations, but the dramatic romances
— where is my Nora Ephronchoreographed meet-cute? My “Little Women” friend-turned scorned loverturned sister’s fiancé? I want the kind of intrigue that can take my 20s from just another decade in my life to my 20s. I want that kind of personality that makes my grandkids say, “Damn, I wish I knew grandma when she was hot.” I know it’s out there, otherwise we wouldn’t see so many movies about it — I just have to learn how to flirt.
I want the kind of intrigue that can take my 20s from just another decade in my life to my 20s.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, Janurary 8, 2020
TV REVIEW
ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARD
‘Flirty Dancing’ guilty of missteps in its premiere ANYA SOLLER Daily Arts Writer
Three singles enter. One couple leaves. Yes, this is exactly how dystopian “Flirty Dancing” feels on a first viewing. The American version of the popular UK reality series, “Flirty Dancing” follows two single people who are looking for love in the most traditional way: pre-choreographed, partnered dance routines. Each contestant learns two dances — one for each of their possible matches — and must perform the routines when they first meet their partner. After both dances are finished, the main contestant decides which of the two partners they want to go on a first date with. The series premiere featured Octavius (a choir teacher) and Erin (a hairdresser) as the main single contestants. Their professions, along with a few simple adjectives like “playful” or “cute,” are offered to introduce the two, as the show opts for likability
over nuance or complexity. Their prospective suitors are described only brief ly and have little say in choosing the specifics of the dance, even in one case where a female contestant expressed strong opposition to the amount of intimate touching the
“Flirty Dancing” Series Premiere Fox Searchlight Pictures Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST
choreography required. This matter was quickly resolved, as “Flirty Dancing” does not dwell on the negative. There’s no crying in choreographed dance routines. Hosted by celebrity dancer Jenna Dewan, “Flirty
Dancing” seems sweet enough and even wholesome in its wildly optimistic premise. Can two people fall in love without knowing anything about each other? Can you know a person just from physical chemistry and prolonged eye contact? Where reality dating shows like “The Bachelor” or “Love Island” assume that people can find true love through short interactions in a group setting, “Flirty Dancing” emphasizes that one-on-one connections can bring couples together. Though the intentions of the show are good in theory, the actual end product seems more akin to weirdly staged dance propaganda than anything even slightly resembling genuine emotion. Each interview with the contestants feels highly scripted, footage of the dances is heavily edited and clearly shot in more than one take, and the sheer amount of eye contact is unnerving, no matter how “playful” or “cute” the contestants are. In a move that is both sadistic and a bit hilarious, the show stages the main contestant’s final choice of which partner
they’d like to date by having both dancers show up at a restaurant. While this creates a sweet moment for the reveal of their choice, it implies the unchosen dancer is stood up and never given an explanation for why. Despite this, everyone featured on “Flirty Dancing” constantly praises the show and assures the audience that their experience was overwhelmingly positive. Their confessionals, which are usually opportunities for reality shows to directly connect with audiences and deliver genuine commentary, are so robotic and saccharine that you begin to wonder whether they’re hostages in this dance-fueled utopia they claim to love so much. “Flirty Dancing” fundamentally assumes it has already won the viewers over. By hitting all the baseline requirements of a dating show with little effort or nuance, “Flirty Dancing” figures the appearance of utter
Three singles enter. One couple leaves. Yes, this is exactly how dystopian “Flirty Dancing” feels on a first viewing.
perfection translates to quality television. Unfortunately for the new FOX series, this is simply not true. In pretending everyone and everything is picture-perfect from the start, “Flirty Dancing” fails to deliver the reality of reality TV.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DAILY DIY COLUMN
Cox’s Corner: On perfectionism RYAN COX
Daily DIY Columnist
Over the years, returning home for break has seemed to feel more and more like returning to a state of limbo. At first, my homecoming felt like a return to form, or something familiar. I was only out of high school for a few months, and home still felt the way it should. But, after spending most of my time in Ann Arbor for the past three years, something about going back to my hometown feels slightly off. Either way, after a long fall semester, having two weeks to do nothing in particular sounded pretty nice. So, for the first few days of winter break, I did just that. But then came the inevitable stress that comes with being around your family during the holiday season. I started to become dissatisfied with doing nothing for so many days in a row (something that’s all too common among people my age, unfortunately), and needed to do something to clear my headspace. I needed a creative outlet. But all of my instruments were back in Ann Arbor — how was I supposed to manifest these creative desires? I journaled regularly, but I felt a need for something else. Then I recalled just a few months prior, when my housemates and I tried something that I had never done before: painting. I reached out to a few of my remaining hometown friends and asked them if they wanted to paint. With some cheap supplies leftover from our arts and crafts days, some snacks, and music, we were ready
Your favorite album sucks and other musical insights DYLAN YONO Daily Arts Writer
Let’s get this out of the way: I write negative reviews about music because I hate music, and
you should hate it too. After all, what is music if it isn’t something to dump on? Taking what people love, analyzing it piece by piece and ripping it to shreds to invalidate their enjoyment is what I thrive on. I just want to
Release Date: Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Clemson’s NCAA div. 4 Thom of shoes 8 Preposterous 14 Mexican Mrs. 15 “__ that the truth!” 16 Bullpen ace 17 “Killing Eve” star 19 Remote 20 Cockpit figure 21 Award-winning “A Raisin in the Sun” actress 22 Yin partner 23 It’s a long story 25 Legal postponement 26 Terrific bargain 28 West with 21 Grammys 31 Sugar suffix 32 Open __ night 34 Bathtub buildup 35 Spot for pillow talk 36 “Full Frontal” host 39 23-campus West Coast ed. system 41 General Bradley 42 Ariz. neighbor 43 Part of MYOB and BYOB 44 Justice Sotomayor 46 Big name in whisky 50 Wine quality 52 Long-running Mark Harmon military drama 54 Congregation area 55 First chief justice 58 Made a comeback 60 Synchronicity 61 “Take Good Care of My Baby” singer 62 Fame 63 Luminous glow 64 KC-to-NYC dir. 65 English Channel swimmer 66 Walk of Fame figure 67 CD-__
DOWN 1 Analyzes for purity 2 Decorative neckwear 3 Bloodhound, e.g. 4 Gas station store 5 They’re often exchanged in Venice 6 Hooded Arctic jacket 7 Unspecified degree 8 Org. with a “Speak Freely” blog 9 Gooey mass 10 Some HDTVs 11 Was 12 Turn loose 13 Unmoved 18 Portuguese explorer Vasco 21 Italian alternative 24 Stomach-related 27 Bridal party rides 29 Chinese currency 30 Insert into an email, as a video 33 Commando garb, for short
36 Pleasant forecast word 37 Live-in helper, perhaps 38 In equal shares 39 Cast a spell, say 40 Passed out 45 Freshen by opening windows 47 Written relinquishing of rights
48 “Skin Mind Balance” brand 49 Cash in 51 Former CNN journalist David 53 Hummus brand 56 Lower jaw 57 Pulitzer poet Sexton 59 Letter-shaped brace 61 English lit degrees
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Robin Stears ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/08/20
01/08/20
take your favorite album and show you why it’s so terrible until you hate it yourself. What, you thought I listened to music because I like it? Just kidding! I love music. A lot of people know me for my notorious dislikes. I could aggravate K-pop fans in an instant with my sweeping criticisms of the genre. My friends would put J. Cole on the aux at my own party just to mess with me. If I want to turn a whole room against me, all I have to do is say “I think Lana Del Rey is kind of boring” — that’s always been a very unpopular take. Talking about my dislikes was pretty exciting for me early in my musicappreciating career. As soon as I crossed some threshold of having listened to enough hip hop, I felt like I was qualified to make assessments on big releases in the genre. At some point I found myself questioning: Why am I full of dislikes? Do I think so highly of my own opinion that I assume everyone else is wrong and I’m on some sort of mission to correct them? Can’t I just let people who like J. Cole live in peace? Well, turns out there is joy to be had in saying: “Your favorite album sucks.” Last year I
to search for our muse. This proved to be quite hard for a few indecisive people that don’t regularly paint. So I went to the place I usually went to for inspiration: the internet. On that particular day, I saw that dictionary.com’s word of the day was “splore - a frolic; revel; carousel;.” With that, we were off — painting whatever came to our minds and showing off our progress along the way. This was easily one of the most refreshing things I did over this past winter break. It can often be uncomfortable to try to express your ideas in a medium that you’re not technically proficient in because of the underlying desire to make something perfect. This perfectionism is something that stops many from creating or sharing their work, and something that I struggled with for a while. However, DIY has helped me shrug off that feeling that my art needs to be perfect. Creating art for the sole purpose of creating is one of the most liberating you can do not only as an artist, but as a person. Surrounding myself with supportive peers in an environment that supports even the most unfinished art has completely changed my originally unhealthy thoughts on artistry. Bringing an idea into this world can be an incredibly therapeutic experience. It helps me clear my head, even when it’s been exceptionally cloudy. Thinking back to my break freshman year, I don’t think I would have ever gone outside and painted my interpretation of the word “splore.” After being shown the beauty of abandoning perfectionism, here we are.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
attended a few meetings for Hip Hop Congress, a rap music production and appreciation club at the University. If those meetings were any indicator, sharing hot takes and strong negative opinions is really prevalent in the hip-hop community. I was definitely partaking in the smack talk myself. But that experience helped me realize something: The joy isn’t in changing other people’s opinions or ruining their favorites for them. The fun is in the debate and the argument. Maybe that’s why I like doing what I do so much. I can’t help but think critically about why I like and don’t like music — I’ll be doing that in my head whether I’m writing it down or not — but putting that opinion into words
At some point I found myself questioning: Why am I full of dislikes? Do I think so highly of my own opinion that I assume everyone else is wrong and I’m on some sort of mission to correct them? Can’t I just let
is a springboard for debate. Debate might be one of the most fulfilling ways to appreciate art. Arguing is all fun and good. The hip-hop head in me is always ready to defend an unconventional Kanye album ranking. However, I want to be known for the music I love, not the music I hate. I don’t get joy out of making people dislike an album they previously liked. On the other hand, nothing matches the excitement of getting someone to take a chance on an album they never would have considered before. A real passion has started to emerge for me in finding music that means something to other people. In 2019, I fell in love with slowthai, SOPHIE, JPEGMAFIA and so many more game-changing acts in music. The only joy greater than listening to those artists is introducing them to my friends. The other night, I picked up my brother and his friends from the bar. The day before, I had introduced him to the unconventional music of 100 gecs. I don’t know how to
articulate the surrealness of four drunk frat bros rolling into my car at one in the morning demanding I play “money machine.” That’s the kind of domino effect I want to start as a devoted appreciator of music. So I’ve started to focus on talking more about music I love. Nowadays, when I run into friends at a party, they’ll ask my thoughts on the new BROCKHAMPTON album, the new Kero Kero Bonito EP or the new Rina Sawayama single. One pal of mine texts me artists I should try all the time. Many of my fellow music writers also love Rex Orange County, so when Pony came out, I didn’t want to call dibs on reviewing it — but it was my team on the Music beat that said I had to write about it. At some point, three out of five songs on my Spotify top-five-most-listened being by Kero Kero Bonito became funnier than my mocking impression of J. Cole’s “Wet Dreamz.” That’s something I’m pretty okay with. Bad albums will still get no mercy from me. But my 2020 will be all about artists that are pushing music forward, not holding it back.
I want to be known for the music I love, not the music I hate.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 | michigandaily.com
SPORTSWEDNESDAY 32 pts, 9 asts, 11-19 fg
CASSIUS MEN’S BASKETBALL
Wolverines fall to Spartans, 87-69, in East Lansing ABBY SNYDER Daily Sports Writer EAST LANSING – This game was almost exactly as advertised. Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman: stifling on defense and prolific on offense. As advertised. Tom Izzo: calculating game manager, passionate coach. As advertised. The Spartan faithful: loud. Like, really loud. As advertised. Michigan, too, was just as advertised. The Wolverines played with plenty of juice, the excitement of this rivalry seeming to fuel them, and for a while, they stayed with Michigan State. But eventually, it was too much for them. Tillman and Winston were too dynamic on offense, their arms and hands somehow everywhere at once on defense. Izzo was too experienced with this game and with this Michigan program, his game plan capitalizing on the scoring droughts that have plagued these Wolverines all season. And so, No. 12 Michigan fell to in-state archrival No. 14 Michigan State, 87-69, at the Breslin Center on Sunday. The offense struggled to put the ball in the basket and the defense could not contain the Spartans’ top scoring threats. Just as advertised. “I think we hesitated a lot, and second-guessed ourselves, which kind of helps us to miss,” said sophomore forward Brandon Johns, Jr., who had 12 points and two rebounds on the day. “I think we need to be more confident when we’re shooting. It’s a mental thing. We just have to stay mentally strong, mentally composed. “The more we do that, the more our shots will fall.” Michigan State jumped out to an early lead as Michigan’s offense seemed to falter at the beginning, scoring just six points before the under-16 timeout. The defense also had trouble containing Spartan point guard and
potential National Player of the Year Cassius Winston and forward Xavier Tillman, allowing Michigan State to jump out to a five-point lead around the 15-minute mark. But by halfway through the first half, the Wolverines managed to make it a two-point game behind a strong effort from senior point guard Zavier Simpson and senior center Austin Davis. A quicker pace of play, something that rookie Michigan coach Juwan Howard has continued to stress throughout his first season at the helm for Michigan, seemed to be the key for the Wolverines, who started to match the speed of the Spartans in transition. Michigan’s success was short-lived, though. From there, the Wolverines’ shots just weren’t falling; they scored just five points between the ten- and six-minute marks. The loss of top-scoring junior forward Isaiah Livers was painfully evident. At the end of the first half, Michigan State led, 44-34. “It was a big win for us, because the final score was not indicative of the game,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. “We got that eleven, twelve-point lead, but we just couldn’t build on it. It’s a credit to them.” From there, the game was never really in question. The Wolverines came out of the halftime break playing as physical as they have all year, seemingly in an effort not to go too quietly, but even then, it was too little, too late. The Spartans had found their rhythm, and Michigan could not find a way to shake it. Tillman and Winston were practically unstoppable, and in the entire second half, the Wolverines found themselves within closer than ten points of the Spartans just twice. Every Michigan effort seemed to come up short as Michigan State expanded its lead to the delighted cries of the rabid crowd at Breslin. Every time a maize jersey broke away, he was surrounded by white in a matter of seconds as Spartan shot after Spartan shot found nothing but net – and not a Wolverine in sight to stop them. “Unfortunately for us, we didn’t do a good job communicating on the open man, and where he was, so that’s why they were able to score so much in transition,” Howard said. “There’s no excuses for that. We prepared for it. We just didn’t do it. And at the end of the day, you have to do your job.” In the end, it wasn’t that close. Michigan State’s talent and experience proved too much for this Michigan team. Just as advertised. Alec Cohen / Daily
Design by Jack Silberman
SportsWednesday
2B — January 8, 2020
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Without Livers, problems become easy to see
AST LANSING — Maybe the most surprising part of Sunday afternoon was how inevitable it all felt. As Cassius Winston walked off the Breslin Center floor for the last time with 16 ETHAN seconds left SEARS in the game, a final hailstorm of noise coming down, Zavier Simpson’s hands were on his hips. Everyone’s hands were on their hips. At least those wearing maize. They looked at each other. They glanced at the floor. They had no answers, and never really came close to finding any. Really, as soon as Michigan showed up in East Lansing with Isaiah Livers donning sweats during warmups, it felt like it would take something unforeseen to win the game. Even when the game stayed within arm’s reach, Michigan State’s lead hovering at 10 or 11 throughout the second half, it felt like a mountain. All of Michigan’s warts were magnified without Livers — a 50-percent shooter from 3-point range, a capable ballhandler, a versatile defender. Its lack of depth and its lack of experience chief among them. “We had them scrambling, couldn’t really set up,” Winston said. “We were making plays like that.” Of all the elements that have come to define MichiganMichigan State, a sense of predetermination hasn’t been one in a long time. But the Spartans walked off the floor with an 87-69 win that never came into doubt, not from the moment it became clear that Livers would miss the game with a groin injury. The Spartans collapsed the
floor against Zavier Simpson, daring the Wolverines to shoot. They shot an abysmal 5-of-23 from 3-point range. When they missed, Michigan State beat them down the floor, as Michigan struggled to match — or keep — up. By the end of the first half, the Spartans had 44 points — the most Michigan has allowed in a first half since a Nov. 29, 2017 loss at North Carolina, before Simpson was the starting point guard and before the Wolverines went two straight years with a top-five defense in adjusted efficiency. Right now, the Wolverines are 29th in adjusted defensive efficiency. They’re 24th in adjusted offensive efficiency, and in three true road games
— all losses — they’re shooting 18.3 percent from three. They’re startlingly dependent on the three players left who played over 50 percent of minutes on last year’s team: Simpson, Livers and Jon Teske. Without Livers, Michigan needed Brandon Johns Jr. to step into his role, confidently take 3-pointers and defend anyone put in front of him. “He’s disappointed,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said of Johns, after a performance in which solid top-line numbers belied a 1-of-4 performance from three. “He’ll probably tell you right now that he played badly.” Without Livers, Michigan needed Franz Wagner to hit shots from outside and space
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING — Brick by brick, Michigan laid the foundation of its own downfall. Whether it was beyond the arc, from the elbow or along the baseline, the Wolverines struggled to knock down shots for three-quarters of Sunday’s 18-point, 87-69 drubbing at the hands of No. 14 Michigan State. A fairly even contest through the first ten minutes gradually eroded into Michigan being forced to play catch-up. Without leading scorer, junior forward Isaiah Livers, the Wolverines had nowhere to turn offensively when the Spartans’ All-American point guard Cassius Winston caught fire. While Winston, who finished with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting, orchestrated his team’s offense to perfection, Michigan’s offense sputtered. Senior point guard Zavier Simpson and senior center Jon Teske did their best to keep the Wolverines in the game, but poor 3-point shooting from Simpson — 1-for-6 — and foul trouble for Teske meant that Michigan’s attack was too inconsistent. “Give Teske credit, he went to work on us early in there,” said Michigan State coach Tom
ing only that Michigan would “take a look at it.” It’s hard to pick apart what on Sunday happened because of Livers’ absence and what happened because of problems that might have existed either way. The right answer might be somewhere in the middle. These problems were there when Michigan lost at Louisville, came up short in overtime against Oregon and couldn’t get going at Illinois. On Sunday, without Livers, they multiplied in severity, and his return might cover up those issues against some teams. But that would only serve to belie the point. Simpson, Livers and Teske are the only three players on Michigan’s team who have
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan basketball team was unable to stay close against Michigan State on Sunday with Isaiah Livers (not pictured) missing the game with a groin injury.
Shooting troubles plague Michigan CONNOR BRENNAN
the floor. Desperately. “Wagner hit one,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, after his team held Wagner to just three attempts from 3-point range, a low-impact performance. “But we did a decent job and (what) we had to do to win the game.” Without Livers, Michigan needed Eli Brooks and David DeJulius to take some of the load off Simpson. “We did a pretty good job on Brooks and David DeJulius,” Izzo said, after his team held them to a combined 4-of-14 from the field. “And I think that was the difference.” Howard was predictably noncommittal when asked about Livers’ status for Thursday’s game against Purdue, say-
Izzo. “I didn’t like the way we covered him at times. But, we made some adjustments and got a little better in the second half.” With Teske on the bench, the Wolverines lacked an offensive focal point and resorted to hoisting up some ill-advised shots. This was especially true from 3-point range, where Michigan went 5-of-23 over the course of the game. In Livers’ absence, sophomore forward Brandon Johns Jr. stepped in at the ‘4.’ Johns Jr. may be of the same athletic ilk as Livers, but less polished offensively. Despite scoring 12 points in 30 minutes, Johns Jr. shot 25 percent from three. The rest of the Wolverines’ rotation didn’t fare any better. Junior guard Eli Brooks, who upped his offensive production significantly from last season, was limited to five shots — missing all four of his 3-point attempts. The Spartans chased Michigan’s shooters off their spots, something that they emphasized going in. “We wanted to take away their threes,” Izzo said. “We didn’t give up the wide-open threes. “We did a pretty good job on Brooks and (sophomore guard)
David DeJulius, and I think that was one of the differences. (Freshman forward Franz) Wagner hit one, too, but we did a decent job on what we had to do to win the game.” Without Livers and his shooting threat, Michigan coach Juwan Howard was forced to play more of his bigs. As a result, the paint looked more congested and opportunities to attack the basket were harder to come by. “Isaiah would’ve helped (with the spacing),” Teske said. “But that’s no excuse. We always say, ‘Next man up.’ Brandon played well tonight and we trust him to do that.” The Wolverines’ poor shooting on the road has become an alarming trend and one that reared its ugly head again in East Lansing. 36.2 percent from the field isn’t a recipe for success in Big Ten play — especially when Winston and Michigan State’s offense hums like it did on Sunday. The answer to improving these woes according to Michigan: keep working. “There were some shots that didn’t fall,” Howard said. “Unfortunately for us, it’s been our norm going on the road that our threes don’t fall for us. We just gotta keep forging ahead and mentally stay with it.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore guard David DeJulius struggled shooting the ball on Sunday, with a 3-of-9 mark from the field.
played a big role in a road win of the kind Sunday’s would have been. They’re the only three who battled through a run to the national championship game in 2018. (Brooks was on that team, but essentially out of the rotation by that point in the year). Experience like that breeds confidence — something the rest of the Wolverines seem to lack, both during the game and afterwards, when they talked about second-guessing open shots and communicating more on defense. Those two areas don’t tend to be concerns on experienced, confident teams. “You’ve just got to believe you can make it,” assistant coach Saddi Washington said of the shooting woes. “It’s definitely not a lack of ability. But you’ve got to step up and shoot the ball with confidence.” “You’ve got to sprint back, but you also have to run with vision,” Howard said of the problems in transition. “Guys have got to be talking so that we’re getting matched up and not allowing easy layups or open 3s in transition.” This is the fine line between a top-20 team and a top-five team. There’s ample time for Michigan to grow past what it is right now — ample opportunities for Wagner, Johns, Brooks and DeJulius to grow into the players Michigan needs them to be. Two years ago, Simpson, Charles Matthews and Jordan Poole did just that. That team wasn’t ranked until January, and, in the interest of fairness, nobody expected the Wolverines to be a top-20 team before the season — they raised that bar with their play in November. Now, it’s on them to raise it again. Sears can be reached at searseth@umich.edu or on Twitter @ethan_sears.
The Zavier Simpson ‘M’ needs
J
uwan Howard hasn’t shied away from calling Zavier Simpson his quarterback. In his first season as the Michigan men’s basketball coach, Howard inherited a proven senior point guard. Simpson, DANIEL one of the DASH nation’s craftiest passers and elite perimeter defenders, has been the Wolverines’ backbone since he became the team’s starting point guard halfway through his sophomore season. Even after a coaching change forced him into a new system, Simpson has remained productive. Simpson leads the Big Ten in assists with 8.9 per game, and if you ask anyone around the program about his work ethic, they’ll tell you that above all, he wants to win. That pairing of production and attitude makes it easy to see why Howard likens him to Tom Brady. But over the last month, Michigan has seen a different version of the Zavier Simpson that piloted the team’s 7-0 start this season. Through the first month of the schedule, opposing defenses gave Simpson the opportunity to play to his strengths. And as one of the country’s best pick-and-roll ball handlers, he put together a highlight film of assists. Whether it was throwing alley-oops to senior center Jon Teske or creating improbable angles to find shooters along the perimeter, Simpson’s ability to create offense out of the pick-and-roll fueled a highoctane offense. Until it didn’t. In the Wolverines’ loss to Louisville on Dec. 3, Cardinals’ coach Chris Mack cracked the code. Louisville hedged hard on screens, making it difficult for Simpson to invent the same passing angles that made Michigan’s offense so successful in wins over then-No. 6 North
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Zavier Simpson’s play has a strong bearing on Michigan’s success.
Carolina and now-No. 1 Gonzaga at the Battle 4 Atlantis. “It starts with Zavier,” Mack said after the game. “The deeper he gets in the lane, the more it puts your off-ball defenders in a bind. How much do I help in? In the Bahamas, he’d just get in the lane and spray it out, and (junior forward Isaiah) Livers and (junior guard Eli) Brooks, they couldn’t miss. And so all we talked about was keeping him out of the lane, and then hard closeouts.” When the Cardinals didn’t hedge hard, they played Simpson for the drive. They sagged off. They dared Howard’s Tom Brady to shoot. And surely enough, as Mack predicted, the Wolverines are at their worst when their quarterback becomes their shooter. In Michigan’s 10 wins, Simpson averages 7.6 attempts from the field at an efficient 59-percent clip, which would be the third-best overall mark in the conference. But in the Wolverines’ four losses, he averages 13.5 shots. Increased volume, though, has brought the opposite of increased effectiveness, as Simpson shoots just 31 percent from the field in losses. Simpson’s assist numbers, too, trend in opposite directions based on gameflow. He dishes out an average of 9.4 assists in wins, but just 7.5 in losses. Together, Simpson’s shooting and assist splits often tell the story of Michigan’s fate. When the Wolverines have fallen behind, Simpson has grown
more aggressive. In an effort to will his team back into games, he drives to the rim at a higher rate and takes more contested shots. The most recent example came on Sunday in East Lansing, where Simpson struggled to a 6-for-18 shooting performance, including a 1-of-6 mark from deep. And it’s no coincidence that Michigan was staring at an 18-point loss by the end of the afternoon. With Livers and his 13.6 points per game now sidelined indefinitely, the Wolverines are at a crossroads. Simpson will always be at the offense’s helm, but the team’s best output comes when he’s orchestrating the scoring, not creating it. While he may be the team’s third-leading scorer, making up for Livers’ lost production needs to fall on Brooks, freshman wing Franz Wagner and sophomore guard David DeJulius. If Michigan is to contend for a Big Ten title, Simpson has to play his brand of basketball. And with three of the team’s next four games coming against teams either nationally-ranked or receiving poll votes, there will be times when he’s tempted to stray from exactly that. But for the Wolverines’ offense to weather Livers’ absence, their quarterback has to facilitate it — not produce it. Dash can be reached at dashdan@umich.edu or on Twitter @DanielDash_
SportsWednesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
January 8, 2020 — 3B
Pearson increasing focus on details ‘M’ falls short against Oregon State going into second half of the season BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Editor
After Michigan’s loss to Michigan Tech last Tuesday, coach Mel Pearson — as he always does — went back to look at the tape from the game. This time, he noticed something he thought may have been the key factor in his team’s 4-2 loss to the Huskies. The Wolverines had 37 shots on goal, including 20 in the first period, but only had traffic in front of Michigan Tech goaltender Matt Jurusik on two of those 37 shots. “We watched a lot of hockey over the weekend, NHL (and) college games,” Pearson said Monday. “When you start breaking down goals and how they’re going in, usually there’s a lot of traffic. … We need to get traffic.” It’s no secret that offense has been one of the biggest issues for Michigan this season, and its anemic average of 2.25 goals per game ranks 48th of 60 teams in the country. When there aren’t bodies in front of the net, the opposing goaltender has more time to see the shots coming at him. And not having a skater on the doorstep eliminates any chance of a rebound opportunity after a save. For the second half of the season, Pearson’s main focus for his team is increased attention to detail. So far, that’s entailed getting bodies in front of the net to take the goaltender’s eyes away and readying for rebound chances. In Monday’s practice, the majority of the drills were
MILES MACKLIN/Daily ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore Jack Medley opened Sunday’s meet with an 11-0 decision, though Michigan eventually fell to Oregon State.
Senior defenseman Luke Martin said Michigan struggles with a lead.
focused on exactly that. “Attention to detail, even when you do little drills, someone getting in front of the goalie or constantly standing to the side of the net,” Pearson said. “It’s not fun to get hit with that puck, it hurts a little bit, but you’ve gotta get there. You’ve gotta pay that price.” Outside of the focus on getting bodies to the net, Pearson wants to see the Wolverines put more emphasis on all aspects of the game. Whether that’s a small detail of the forecheck system or making sure to stay focused mentally late in games, it all counts. “There’s certain things we do when we’re either down or tied that we do really well and then once we get the lead, we start trying to change those kinds of things in our game,” senior defenseman Luke Martin said. “I don’t know what it is, whether it’s mental
I don’t know ... whether it’s mental or what the deal is.
or what the deal is.” Michigan has 11 losses this season, but only three have come by more than one evenstrength goal. In three games, the other team scored an empty-net goal late to win by a two-goal margin. On the flip side, the Wolverines have won only one game by a single goal — their six other wins have at least a two-goal margin. When they can create separation, they can win. When it’s a close game, they frequently fall short. These things matter in must-win games. “We’ve been really good for the most part and then a bad play or just a mental lapse has hurt us,” Pearson said. “I think the biggest thing is we just have to clean some things up and a little attention to detail. They’re not huge things. And then the other thing is just we have to get everybody on the same page.” “... We’re just finding ways to lose games instead of win games, and we’re not far off, but winning can be habit and losing can.”
SPENCER RAINES Daily Sports Writer
As Jackson Striggow walked onto the mat in the day’s penultimate match, he knew what he needed to do to keep Michigan alive. A win from the senior, even by a decision, would pull the Wolverines within four points. With the nation’s third ranked heavyweight, sophomore Mason Parris, coming up next, Michigan could have pulled out a win. Striggow, however, fell 5-3, squashing the Wolverines’ hopes, as the No. 22 Michigan wrestling team (1-2) fell to Oregon State (3-1), 21-15. The six deciding points came from a Michigan forfeit at 133 pounds, where it failed to make weight. Sophomore Jack Medley tried to set the tone early for the Wolverines, opening the meet with an 11-0 major decision at 125 pounds. The match saw him get an early takedown and continue the attack through all three periods. “I felt pretty decent in my match,” Medley said. “I thought my energy could’ve been a bit better, I kinda forced myself to hustle back to the center.” Medley’s performance put
Michigan up 4-0, but was immediately overshadowed by the forfeit at 133 pounds, taking away the Wolverines’ only lead of the day. The next match at 141 set the tone as freshman Cole Mattin led for the majority of the match but failed to see it out, losing 6-5. “Our finishing was not good enough today,” Michigan coach Sean Bormet said. “We’re capable of being much better at finishing.” Mattin started a string of matches where the Wolverines lost three of four, with their only win coming from freshman Will Lewan at 157 — keeping Michigan from falling behind by double figures. Freshman Max Maylor came up with only four matches left and an eight-point deficit to overcome. Maylor earned a major decision in his match, cutting the Beavers’ lead in half. “Maylor wrestled a really good match,” Bormet said. “Really glad to see him penetrate and get his offense early in that match.” Maylor’s match could have proved a turning point in the match for Michigan, but Oregon State had other plans. Freshman Bobby Striggow fell
behind by two early and never caught up, but he prevented the Beavers from getting bonus points, losing by decision, 8-2. This put the score at 18-11 when Bobby’s brother Jackson Striggow came out, still just barely in reach. Jackson’s 5-3 loss meant the undefeated Parris would have no impact on the outcome of the meet. Despite the gap, he still went out and earned a 15-5 major decision to bring the final score to 21-15. The main separator between the two teams ended up being the Wolverines’ inability to win close matches or finish strong when they held the lead. Michigan consistently took an early lead in the first period, but then failed to close the match out. “We put guys out there that we knew were gonna be in some close matches,” Bormet said. “We felt confident we could still win those close matches, unfortunately we did not. “I’m a little disappointed in a few of our weight classes just in terms of how we wrestled in those matches. Some of the effort we put in a few of those positions, that’s gotta improve. The expectation is a lot higher.”
Shooting leads Wolverines past MSU No. 5 Michigan reaps rewards of
offseason in Orange Bowl Classic
BRENDAN ROOSE Daily Sports Writer
Near the end of the third quarter, the Wolverines saw the game slipping away. Michigan State forward Madreika Cook had just buried a 3-pointer, and a Michigan turnover and foul allowed the Spartans to cut the Wolverines’ lead to one. Michigan State (8-6 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) had all the momentum, and “Go Green, Go White” chants rang through an otherwise silent Crisler Center. Michigan (11-3, 2-1) got its answer from sophomore guard Amy Dilk. Just before time expired, she caught a pass from junior forward Hailey Brown, set her feet and buried a 3-pointer. From there, the Wolverines dominated all the way through, securing a signature 89-69 win over their in-state rival. At the start, the Spartans set the tone offensively with a 3-pointer on their first possession. They relied heavily on the three early on, shooting 3-of-6 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, including two makes from guard Taryn McCutcheon. The Wolverines, meanwhile, went to their bread and butter and attacked the rim. Sophomore forward Naz Hillmon was unsurprisingly the most productive at the hoop. Though she shot an unusually inefficient 3-for-11 in the first half, she managed to draw fouls at the rim and converted on 5-of-6 free throws. She finished the first half with 11 points. “(We needed to) match her energy,” said Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant. “The kid wants the ball, she ducks in, she can score the ball. … If you’re gonna have any chance to beat Naz, you have to have someone on your team that can do the same thing that she can do at the same level of intensity, and we didn’t have that.” Hillmon’s success down low was made easier by Dilk’s ability to pass the ball and drive the lane. She tallied
JACK WHITTEN Daily Sports Writer
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Sophomore center Naz Hillmon drew praise from Suzy Merchant on Sunday.
three assists and no turnovers — which had been a problem earlier in the season — in the first half, and added eight first half points of her own, six of which came at the hoop. “I think that all of my teammates being such offensive threats opened up the paint for me to be able to get those shots,” Hillmon said. “Especially Amy driving in and attacking the basket, people had to really focus in on her and worry about the outside shooter, so it just really opened everything up.” Michigan’s ability to force turnovers helped it to carry a 35-32 lead into halftime. The Wolverines picked up three steals in the second quarter alone — two of which came from senior guard Akienreh Johnson. Johnson used her speed and length to cut down a number of Michigan State possessions, especially when defending the pick-and-roll. When a miscommunication left a Spartan forward open under the basket for what looked like a guaranteed two points, Johnson jumped in and swiped the ball out of her hands. “We focus on defense a lot,” Hillmon said. “We want to pressure them and make it uncomfortable for them because we know that a lot of times teams do that do us.”
In the third quarter, both defenses disappeared. As Michigan State shot 69 percent in the quarter — and making both of its 3-point attempts — Michigan needed its own answer on offense. At a crucial juncture where the Spartans hit a pair of quick buckets to cut the lead to three, the Wolverines looked in danger of letting the game slip away. But on the next possession, Dilk drove to the basket and picked up a layup and a foul. She missed the free throw, but got her own rebound, leading to a 3-pointer from Brown that stretched Michigan’s lead back to eight. Dilk’s buzzerbeating shot would cap off a third quarter where the Wolverines shot an astounding 91 percent. In the fourth quarter, it was all Michigan. The Wolverines went on a 16-0 run — Michigan State didn’t score for the first five minutes of the quarter — that put any hopes of a Spartan comeback to bed. In a game that felt evenly matched through three quarters, Michigan’s strong second half shooting — they shot 78 percent from the field in the second half — propelled it to a convincing win, not just over a quality opponent, but over its biggest rival.
(We needed to) match (Naz Hillmon’s) energy.
The words “hard work” and “reward” are rarely used to describe the same thing. Usually, the former is seen as the latter’s antithesis. But according to Michigan women’s swim and dive coach Mike Bottom, his team’s training trip to Florida, which began shortly after Christmas and concluded with the Orange Bowl Classic in Key Largo, Fla. this Friday, was both. “We go down, we have a meet, see how we’ve done and where we are,” Bottom said. If his team’s performance against little-known foes including Wisconsin La Crosse, Florida International, and Colorado and Wagner Colleges, can function as such a barometer, the No. 5 Wolverines (3-0 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) appear ahead of schedule. Michigan did more than sweep every entered event; in only one did the Wolverines fail to place two swimmers in the three medal positions. They won the meet without the benefit of points
from the men’s team, a boon which other squads could not capitalize on. The dominance occurred in unfamiliar waters — conditions including an outdoor, short-course pool, which is not NCAA regulation. “The course is a little bit different — it’s meters, as opposed to yards,” Bottom said. “The times are not so meaningful, it’s the racing that becomes most meaningful in the meet.” Michigan now owns meet records in all but two events; sophomore Maggie MacNeil set two in this year’s rendition in the butterfly and backstroke sprints. MacNeil also served as the opening leg of the 200meter medley relay, using her two laps of butterfly to help the Wolverines’ quartet to a sixsecond victory. Also on that relay, in a breaststroke capacity, was sophomore Olivia Carter. A midyear transfer from Georgia, where she was the SEC Freshman of the Year and got named to the All-SEC First Team, Carter arrives with expectations as high as her pile
of hardware. “She swims a lot of different events, so she will be scoring a lot of points in different places,” Bottom said. On Friday, Carter showcased her versatility across distances and strokes. In addition to her breaststroke entry in Michigan’s victorious 200meter medley relay, she also notched a meet record in the 100-meter butterfly and swam to the touch against her teammate, sophomore Victoria Kwan, in the 200-meter butterfly. Kwan won by a tenth of a second. “(Carter) chose us after a lot of research, got to know all of our team and our coaching staff, we got to know her really well as well,” Bottom said. “… We’re real fortunate to have her and get her into school.” Carter’s arrival comes at an opportune time for Michigan, which is preparing for a pair of dual meets against No. 15 Indiana and No. 18 Ohio State. “They’re gonna be difficult,” Bottom said. “… And then we take it from there, just one step at a time.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Mike Bottom has an exciting new piece in sophomore Olivia Carter, a transfer from Georgia.
SportsWednesday
4B — January 8, 2020
Michigan’s ‘D’ deserved better O RLANDO, Fla. — Cameron McGrone mentioned
the big plays first, taking the blame for his unit without explicitly saying it. Michigan ARIA gave up too GERSON many, he said, and that was the key. McGrone wasn’t wrong — the defense did give up six plays of 20 or more yards — but Alabama will do that to you. Loaded with a set of skill-position players just as good as Ohio State’s, if not better, Alabama clearly had more speed, more athleticism. The Crimson Tide won, 35-16, in the Citrus Bowl on Wednesday in part because of that. And yet, the defense did what it could. Any realistic gameplan against Alabama was going to include winning in the 30s or 40s. The Crimson Tide’s 35 points tied a season low, and they might not have even gotten that many if not for a fourth-quarter Shea Patterson interception. They were just 4-for-10 on third down. They were on the field for over nine fewer minutes than the Wolverines. Despite the chunk plays, Michigan’s defense played as well against Alabama as any team has this season. There are plenty of examples of the Wolverines going up against an opponent like this and getting their pants pulled down — look no further than the Buckeyes for proof. This wasn’t that. But it still wasn’t enough.
“The defense played lights out, so it’s a tough one,” said senior quarterback Shea Patterson. He knew as well as anyone what had happened: the defense did as well as you could realistically expect, but the offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain. After Crimson Tide receiver Jerry Jeudy torched the Wolverines for an opening 85-yard touchdown, one where safety Dax Hill wasn’t even close to keeping up, the Wolverines didn’t allow another score for 10 minutes. In the first half, Michigan was in scoring position four times to Alabama’s twice. But the Wolverines came away with just 16 points, leading by two at the half. “That was huge as well,” Patterson said. “Any time you get the ball you want to put points on the board but when you get in the red zone, you gotta score touchdowns and that hurt us tonight.” Asked about Don Brown’s feelings on all this, McGrone noted his defensive coordinator’s disappointment. This wasn’t the way any of them wanted the season to end, and for Brown in particular, it was just the latest in a string of missed opportunities to make a statement on the biggest stage. Once again, Brown is going to head into an offseason of criticism, and in some ways, that’s justified. Brown’s lost big games in pretty much every way — overtime heartbreakers, being caught off guard early, falling apart in the fourth quarter. This time, his unit seemed prepared. It played well. It didn’t matter, because Michigan couldn’t get the win. “We understand the chal-
The offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Cam McGrone was part of a Michigan defense that held Alabama to 35 points.
lenge that’s in front of us,” Brown said Sunday. “We’re confident in our ability. You’re not going to beat them one way. You’re going to have to play a number of different coverages. And we’re confident in our ability to do that.” The sad part for Brown is that he was right to be confident. That performance, against one of the best offenses in the country, one that no team could stop, should have been good enough to carry the Wolverines to a signature victory. Somehow, once again, it wasn’t. Michigan was shut out in the second half. None of Patterson’s deep shots landed. The receivers had a case of the drops. Patterson had a few costly sacks and an interception when he really needed to drive. And the final scoring margin made it seem like the Wolverines had given up too many points again. “(Brown) was disappointed, all the time we put it and just as a defense, we know what we can do but we didn’t show it all today,” McGrone said. “So yeah, a little disappointment but that’s just what it is.”
McGrone knew his unit was capable of more, and said as much. That’s what all good competitors do. But the offense’s anemic performance required the defense to be perfect — and how could you expect it to be? Alabama isn’t like Iowa or Wisconsin. This wasn’t ever going to be a traditional grindit-out Big Tenstyle game. The Crimson Tide were the thirdranked offense in the country, per SP+. Michigan was never going to win this game in the teens or 20s. This was one of the defense’s best performances of the season against about as good of an opponent as you can get. The defense gave the offense every opportunity to seize a signature win. The offense couldn’t figure out how to take advantage. But nobody’s going to remember how the defense did Wednesday, and they shouldn’t. Because McGrone is right. It is what it is now — another bowl loss in a long string of them.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Partridge to Ole Miss ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
Special teams coordinator and safeties coach Chris Partridge left the Michigan football program Thursday morning, taking a coaching position at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin. Though Partridge’s job title was not named in Ole Miss’ press release announcing the move, it’s widely expected that he will be named co-defensive coordinator with D.J. Durkin, another former Michigan assistant whose hiring the Rebels announced Thursday morning in a press release. In Partridge, a former high school coach Jim Harbaugh hired from Paramus Catholic High School in New Jersey, the Wolverines lose their best recruiter on staff. Partridge won 247Sports’ National Recruiter of the Year in 2017. He was instrumental in landing five-star defensive end Rashan Gary — the top-
rated player in the country at the time — and f lipping fivestar safety Daxton Hill back to Michigan from Alabama last season. “I don’t really know where my head was at, at that time,” Hill said in October, describing his recruitment process. “That’s what happened right there.” Having just finished his freshman season, Hill will be an instrumental part of Michigan’s defense moving forward. The Wolverines will have Partridge to thank for that. Harbaugh’s staff has undergone turnover every offseason. It took less than 24 hours after Michigan’s season ended with a Citrus Bowl loss to Alabama this time around. In terms of replacing Partridge, the Wolverines have an experienced safeties coach in Devin Bush Sr. already on staff. They could look there, or to an outside hire.
We know what we can do, but we didn’t show it all today.
Gerson can be reached at amgerson@umich.edu or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Special teams coordinator Chris Patridge was at Michigan for five seasons.
Harbaugh sees bowl chance slip away Collins to stay, Peoples-Jones to go THEO MACKIE
Managing Sports Editor
ORLANDO, Fla. — Jim Harbaugh gathered his team together at halftime with a simple message: Finish the way the way you want to finish. For a month, the widespread expectation for Wednesday’s Citrus Bowl was a blowout. Even in a down year for Alabama, the Crimson Tide are still college football’s flag bearer, providing a measuring stick for any program — like Michigan — hoping to join the nation’s elite. Yet, with 30 minutes to play, the Wolverines held a twopoint lead. Thirty minutes from the type of win that could re-define a season. Thirty minutes from the type of win nobody in that locker room had ever experienced. So Harbaugh directed his message at the seniors. “I know personally, I wanted to get that win for the seniors,” sophomore linebacker Cam McGrone said, echoing his coach’s message. “Cause this is their last time playing a game.” With one half to play in their college careers, they had lost in all four of their games against Ohio State and all three of their bowl tries. But here in Orlando, Harbaugh told them, there was an opportunity to put that behind them and grab a victory that would stand alone in their careers. It’s true for the seniors. It’s also true for Harbaugh. Hailed as Michigan’s savior when he arrived five years ago, he’s now lost the last two games of the season four years in a row. Since the Wolverines’ five-win improvement in his first year, the theme of his tenure has been stagnation. In that first season, he won 10 games. Half a decade later, he’s still never won 11. All of that has been repeated ad nauseum, just with the numbers being updated annually. But on Wednesday, it felt more glaringly obvious than ever. Because on the other
sideline stood Alabama, which did win 11 games this year. The Crimson Tide viewed it as a disappointment. Harbaugh on his nine wins? “I feel good about (the future of our program). I feel good about some of the young players that got great experiences this season and, you know, them getting their opportunity, going to work on that.” Losing to Alabama shouldn’t deter that. The Wolverines held the Crimson Tide to their lowest point total of the season in a far-fromembarrassing 35-16 loss. But it does provide a glimpse at the opportunity Michigan, and Harbaugh, let slip away. “It just builds off going into next year,” Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain said. “Like I said, we needed this game. Just a key moment going into next year. It’s a point of emphasis, going into next year with a high head on our shoulders.” That’s for Alabama, a program whose expectation next year will be a national championship. The Crimson Tide, though, understand that getting there starts now, where a win will propel them into an offseason filled with confidence and optimism. Michigan understands
that too. Tuesday morning, Harbaugh called the Citrus Bowl, “a great opportunity for our season, for this 2019 season.” The difference for the Wolverines is they couldn’t take advantage. So while Alabama enters the offseason with 2019 marking a mere blip on their radar, Michigan enters theirs with no more answers than it had a year ago. It’s why, as the clock ticked toward zeroes late afternoon, Harbaugh paced the Michigan sideline in a familiar pose: hands on hips, eyes trained toward the ground. A few moments after Harbaugh had walked down the tunnel, towards a familiarly uncertain offseason, his counterpart — Alabama coach Nick Saban — cracked a smile and tossed a few celebratory oranges out of the Citrus Bowl trophy and toward his adoring players. “I think that there was a lot of value for our program and our team to be able to come and get a reward, first of all, for having a successful season,” Saban said. “I know most people would think that 10-2 was a good season. That’s not necessarily our standard.” For Harbaugh and the Wolverines, it is. In a good year.
Personally, I wanted to get that win for the seniors.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has now lost his last four bowl games.
THEO MACKIE
Managing Sports Editor
On Saturday afternoon, junior receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones declared for the NFL Draft, electing to forgo his final season of eligibility. It’s the second blow in as many days for Michigan’s offense, after junior center Cesar Ruiz declared for the draft on Friday. PeoplesJones’ departure leaves the Wolverines without one of their top offensive weapons heading into 2020. Junior receiver Nico Collins has yet to make a decision. “Coach Harbaugh and the University of Michigan have provided me with an exceptional college experience and I deeply value the relationships that I forged throughout my time in Ann Arbor,” Peoples-Jones said in a tweet Saturday. “… After much prayer and discussion, I have decided to forgo my senior season and will enter the 2020 draft! This has always been a lifelong dream of mine and I am excited for the new opportunities in store for me. God bless and Go Blue!” Peoples-Jones arrived in Ann Arbor three years ago as one of the most heralded signings of the Jim Harbaugh era. He came in as a five-star recruit and the topranked receiver in the 2017 class. For the next three seasons, though, those skills were only sporadically on display. His 79-yard touchdown against Michigan State in 2018 stands out as one of the most memorable moments in the Wolverines’ recent history. However, Peoples-Jones finishes his Michigan career with just 103 receptions for 1327 yards and 14 touchdowns. In 2019, he was the Wolverines’ third-leading receiver with 438 yards and six touchdowns. Still, the speed and raw talent that made him a top-15 recruit also have him projected as a probable Day Two NFL Draft pick. In his absence, Michigan will likely turn to sophomore receivers Mike Sainristil, Giles Jackson and Cornelius Johnson to take over larger roles in the offense and replace PeoplesJones’ 34 receptions.
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Junior receiver Nico Collins will return for his senior season in 2020.
THEO MACKIE
Managing Sports Editor
One day after Donovan Peoples-Jones declared for the NFL draft, junior receiver Nico Collins announced he will return to Michigan for his senior season. Collins arrived in Ann Arbor as the thirdhighest ranked wide receiver commit in the Wolverines’ star-studded 2017 recruiting class, but quickly established himself as one of their key offensive weapons. After catching just three passes as a freshman, Collins broke out as a sophomore, recording 38 catches for 632 yards. In 2019, he was Michigan’s second-leading receiver with 729 yards and seven touchdowns. His strong season was capped with a 165-yard, three-touchdown performance against Indiana in November, creating widespread belief that he would declare for the NFL Draft, where he was projected as a likely Day Two pick. Collins’ return, though,
should bolster the Wolverines’ receiving corps into one of the strengths of their offense heading into the 2020 season. “I am excited to announce that with the support of my family, I will be returning to the University of Michigan for my senior year,” Collins said in a tweet Sunday afternoon. “I am taking this opportunity to progressively evolve my craft, in preparation for what God had in store for me! “I have always believed in finishing what I started. Coach (Jim) Harbaugh, coach (Josh) Gattis and staff have helped me grow as a player and person. Another season with our coaching staff will allow me to continue to work on my skill and development which will prepare me for the next level.” He is expected to join sophomore Ronnie Bell and freshman Giles Jackson as Michigan’s starting receivers. Along with the return of redshirt junior tight end Nick Eubanks, that group will likely account for the majority of the Wolverines’ receiving production in 2020.
I have always believed in finishing what I started.
statement T H E M I C H I G A N DA I LY | JA N UA RY 8 , 2 02 0
Redemption in dialouge
PHOTO BY ANNE KLUSENDORF
2B Wednesday, January 8, 2020 // The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | JA N UA RY 8 , 2020
Managing Statement Editor Magdalena Mihaylova Deputy Editors Emily Stillman Marisa Wright
Designers Liz Bigham Kate Glad Copy Editors Madison Gagne Sadia Jiban
Associate Editor Reece Meyhoefer
On clandestine reading
Photo Editor Keemya Esmael Editor in Chief Elizabeth Lawrence Managing Editor Erin White
BY CHELSEA PADILLA, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
O
n a Monday night in November, I sat on my half-lofted dorm bed with a book. It was already 2 a.m. My roommate was sleeping on the other side of the room, and I’d carefully angled my desk lamp away from her so I could continue reading without disturbing her. Most weeknights, 2 a.m. is an hour I only experience if I’m staying up to study. But that night, I wasn’t reading for class — I was reading a novel. Outside our window, I saw a few students walking back from the direction of the Diag with backpacks on — I assumed they were coming from Hatcher or the UGLi. A couple of my friends were studying in the lobby of my dorm building some f loors below. As I lay there, I wondered: How many others were reading this late because they really wanted to read? How many of us even read for leisure anymore? When I was younger, I devoured stories. I was the type of kid who would
ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE WIEBE
say goodnight to her parents with a book and a f lashlight under her pillow. I always kept a novel tucked into one of the pockets of my middle school backpack, in case I wanted to read during recess. I remember spending many Saturday afternoons with my dad at Barnes & Noble in the children’s literature section — a magical world. In high school, I stopped seeing the magic in reading, as did many of my peers. Instead, the majority of my free time was dedicated to homework. If I wasn’t doing homework, I was probably on my way to tennis practice, orchestra rehearsal or club meetings. There just wasn’t any time to read for fun, and I had enough assigned reading on my plate between “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Frankenstein.” Deadlines and forced fishbowl discussions in English class made reading a chore rather than a joy. It wasn’t until this past summer when I was finally relieved of the chore
of reading. I was stuck in a weird limbo between an ending and a beginning, and for the first time in a long while, I had no obligations. It was a slow, strange summer, placed awkwardly between my graduation from high school and the start of my first semester of college. I had no summer Chemistry packets to solve, English books to read or History essays to write. Thus, I read. In the muggy heat, I went to Schuler Books, my local bookstore, and explored the expanse of shelves. Eventually, I emerged with an ambitious pile of books in my arms, and then I read and read and read. Upon witnessing this, one of my friends laughed and told me I was making up for the last four years. Looking back now, I wish I had realized how precious that time was. Now that it’s winter in Ann Arbor, my life is nothing like it was back then. Summer is long gone — now, it’s cold and bleak out, and everything – from classes,
friends, applications, orgs and meetings – is chaotic once again. I am here to get an education, but college life can feel like endless work, work, work. There always seems to be a constant need to be doing something. At times, it feels suffocating. On a whim this fall semester, I ordered a novel online. It would be a break from everything, I decided, and maybe it would help make things less chaotic. Maybe I could recreate my lazy days from last summer. When the package arrived, I practically ripped the box apart. I held the book in my hands. It was new, in hardcover: “The Starless Sea,” by Erin Morgenstern. With its black binding and ornate gold engravings along its cover and spine, it reminded me of those books I’d poured over when I was younger, the ones with rough edged paper and maps of fantasy worlds. Despite my initial excitement, it took me awhile to find time to actually sit down and read it: I ended up carrying the book around in my backpack for a few days on the chance I’d find myself free. The spare moment I’d been waiting for finally came on a Monday night in November. One of my weekly meetings had been canceled on short notice, I’d finished most of my homework and the next day was a light class schedule for me — the universe seemed to be on my side. So, I sat down on my bed, nestled into the various blankets I’d brought from home, and laid “The Starless Sea” across my lap. I let myself sink into the pages. Before I knew it, it was two in the morning and I was halfway through the book. By now, I’ve finished “The Starless Sea.” It’s still sitting on my desk next to my bed, underneath a growing pile of secondhand books I’ve bought from Dawn Treader. If I sit in my bed and read at just the right angle, I can see the gold of the book’s spine glinting under the light of my lamp. It serves as a constant reminder of that Monday night — and the natural magic behind reading that I almost forgot.
The idea of it D
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 // The Statement
3B 3B
BY MEGHANN NORDEN-BRIGHT, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
uring the winter holidays, Augie’s Coffee Roasters of Claremont, California is overf lowing with recent college graduates reuniting, families stopping for a moment with babies in strollers and young couples chatting over matcha, oat milk lattes. The customers spill out to the tables of the Packing House, a relic of the ancient Californian citrus empire that’s been repurposed into a village attraction, complete with artists’ lofts and a used bookstore. It’s a joyous scene — a busy one — and a testament to a downtown that’s really come into itself over the past decade. Claremont, my hometown, is a city superficially similar to Ann Arbor, in terms of coffee shop offerings and deliberately cultivated, uppermiddle class quirk. After all, all happy college towns are alike. I found myself at Augie’s not to meet old high school friends or catch up with extended family, but rather to seek out a small bit of normalcy in the strange, boneless time of year that is winter break as a college student. After a semester of a meticulously scheduled Google Calendar, a planner overf lowing with deadlines and overly-optimistic aspirations, friends’ birthday parties and Rick’s Thursdays, moving back into my mom’s house for a few weeks tends to feel weird, for lack of a better word. The structure I’ve built around myself in Ann Arbor dissipates, and there’s the constant, uneasy feeling of falling backwards in time, the hovering fear that without a booked schedule and my college friends around me, I’ll revert back to my 17-year-old self — a terrifying prospect. Coffee shops, however, are familiar territory. Having spent the majority of the past three and half years buying overpriced coffee with most of my minimal income, using the f limsy justification that the caffeine will power me through the essay of the moment, I know my way around these spaces. I know how to be myself — the college-aged version of myself, that is — in coffee shops, whether they are in Michigan or California. So, I swapped out my living room couch for Augie’s, and set up shop with my book of the moment — “Commonwealth” by Ann Patchett — at a wobbly table in the interior of the Packing House, adjacent to Augie’s storefront. Surrounded by the chaos of happy reunifications, I was particularly conscious of my solitude. So, my relief was palpable when I made the discovery that I had a lone comrade in my reading pursuits — a blonde boy sitting diagonal from me, buried in an unidentifiable paperback. He seemed utterly undisturbed by the goings-on around him, absorbed in some alternate world in the pages of his beat-up novel. We were sitting facing each other, yet at a safe enough distance that I managed to sneak glances in his direction, intrigued by my fellow reader. What was he so engrossed in? Did he also feel self-conscious at sitting alone while laughter rang around us? I pulled out my phone to check Instagram and was immediately ashamed of myself — my reading companion would surely never be so superficial as to put aside his literature for the banality of social media. Several minutes later, however, I caught him setting down his book spine-up on the table to scroll through his phone for a few minutes, and was reassured. We were kindred souls, I reasoned: both
big fans of reading and good literature, yet not so self-righteous that we were above the distractions of social networks. He got me, I got him. My companion had to be somewhere in my age range, had the look of an older college student or recent grad and seemed like someone also trying to get some breathing space from his family over the holidays. He was blonde and clean-cut, so I figured he was either an economics major or beginning his studies at dental school. Not the most breathtakingly handsome man I’d ever seen, but definitely workable material. We’d get along, I speculated, and though we probably wouldn’t have the same music taste, I could see him wanting to talk about politics or check out new independent films. He’d get along great with my dad. For an hour, we sat as such, me buried in “Commonwealth,” and him in his respective reading pursuit. Customers came and went — a loud woman with neck tattoos vacated the table to my left in favor of a young father, whose toddling offspring attached herself to any and all passersby. I smiled, and out of the corner of my eye, caught him smiling at the same moment. Suddenly, there came the worst possible betrayal — I looked up from a particularly engrossing chapter to realize that my companion had vanished, leaving behind an empty chair and table. The dad and child were still to my left, as were the loud, grad students behind me, but his place was undeniably vacant. What disloyalty! Such treachery! We’d built a future together in the hour that had passed in Augie’s — and this boy had the nerve to throw it all to the wind! Only now sitting truly alone and feeling quite
jilted — but also rather amused — at my evaporated fantasies, did I allow myself to f loat down to reality. Sure, it was the idea of it. Of course, it was, it always is, right? The idea that buying a new top will fix all my problems, the idea of the perfect internship in a big city and the idea of the guy in the coffee shop. The ideas that always tend to turn out the same way — the top predictably ends up being just a top, the perfect internship inevitably ends up being at least 80 percent busy work. The guy leaves the coffee shop before anything ever begins. It’s the idea that college has made me more educated, thoughtful and self-confident — worlds away from the insecure 17-year-old that frequented this same coffee shop four years — a lifetime —ago. The self who breezes through her hometown on short visits before moving on to bigger and better things. A self who has perfected herself in every possible aspect — overcome all her f laws, a self who no man would (ever) turn down — or even, god forbid, fail to approach in the neighborhood coffee shop. I told myself he probably had awful breath. Or maybe he was studying finance and would have ended up to be one of those men who would advise me on my 401k within the first few minutes of a conversation. So caught up was I in my new justification that I almost missed the blond guy returning to his seat — he’d only gone for a coffee refill. We read together, sitting at our separate tables, for another two hours, before parting ways. This time, it was I who left first and who neglected to bid him farewell. I could have talked to him, I suppose, but what would have been the use of that? It was only ever just the idea of it.
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
4B Wednesday, January 8, 2020 // The Statement
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 // The Statement 5B
Redemption in dialouge BY EMILY RUSSELL, STATEMENT COLUMNIST PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILY RUSSELL
E
njoy your meal!” said the waiter. “You too!” I responded thoughtlessly. The dialogue which shapes our lives is often a fumble. We stutter, misspeak, offend, reveal too much or not enough. Once we say what we do, it cannot be unsaid. In a technological world, what we type is forever imprinted somewhere. Contemporary “cancel culture” ensures that what we say and write is not only permanent, but unforgivable. Similarly, what is unsaid in one moment can remain forever unsaid, and the chances we don’t take in speech or otherwise are rarely offered to us for an opportunity to do-over. This phenomenon, and perhaps its pressure, was one reason I was drawn to playwriting. Drafting the dialogue of drama allowed me to control speech and situation, making the uncertainty of reality anticipatory. The first piece I wrote for the stage centered on this very notion, called “Backspace,” my quasi-one act play had a plot driven by the nonexistence of a backspace key on the typewriter used to write our lives. Without the power to return in time and in text, everything, once written, could not be rewritten. In the end, the characters confronted the one-directional passage of time and developed skills of apology and forgiveness to progress through their stories. There are ways to move forward in a life marked with errors, as we have all been forced to do, but moving on does not always eradicate missed opportunities from
our memory. Playwriting is attractive as a medium in part because the dialogue I write can achieve anything I choose. With that power, I can say the right thing, offer forgiveness, give depth to the unknown and resolve conflict. Still, the stage attempts to proxy reality, and as such, does not show perfectly smooth speech. Certainly, there would be no purpose in drama which was gutless or without despair, but the truth lived on stage is a manufactured one in which the desired ending is reached regardless of contextual complexity. The act of writing a drama, and not simply living one, gives me a semblance of control. Living, however, has provided me ample opportunity to misspeak. One of my most serious errors in dialogue happened when, as an adolescent, I took it upon myself to criticize the life choices of a sister’s friend through the selfrighteous gossiping in which I had learned to participate. After at least 30 long minutes critically disparaging her grades, friends and clothes at a slumber party, I was shocked to find out she had been eavesdropping from my sister’s room next-door and overheard all of the unkind things my friends and I said. In the tense period after the interaction, I took to writing the drama as I wished the reality had unfolded. In one version, my friends and I had complimented her, and she became confident and joyful. In another, she did not cry outside the door but instead
laughed, taking our words as facetious and offering us easy forgiveness. In reality, my 12-year-old self apologized profusely after a period of embarrassment-induced blame I threw at my sister and her friend for sneakily listening in. I could not undo what I had said, but I tried to offer a revision. Fortunately for me, she and I remain friends today, since she accepted my apology. But this outcome was not guaranteed, and on other occasions, these accidental unkindnesses and offenses in dialogue have had lasting consequences. Sometimes, we have to write forgiveness into the story ourselves. Dialogue is instrumental to the unfolding of our lives. How many times have the trajectories of our lives been decidedly altered when we were brave enough to greet a new friend, impress the right executive or defend what we stand for? How many times have we failed to speak and so cannot know what could have been? There is a profound ache that comes with the regret and anguish of life paths not taken and the torture of wonderment they stir in us. What if I had just said “yes,” or “no,” or something at all? I have not been unscathed by the force of regret for the unsaid. One particular fate-induced meeting still stands out as a catalyst for longing. One night, while I was solo-traveling in Stockholm,
I found myself stranded eight miles from my residence — I had been living in Iceland and forgot the sun sets during the night in other parts of the world. Without a phone or cash, I wasn’t sure how I’d hail a ride back across the city’s isles, but that summer I had adopted the Icelandic mantra, “Þetta reddast,” or “it will fix itself,” so I remained unconcerned. I saw a boy my age walking the same direction as me — using his obviously-charged phone — which seemed like the logical way out of my situation. Conveniently, he had called an Uber to the same district that I was staying, and I shared the ride with him through the city. On the 40-minute journey through the night, we talked through multitudes of the political and personal, finding fateful linkages of days we’d both been in the same capital cities, interests we shared and beliefs we both found inalienable. When he implored me to stay up through the night, to explore the posh district and race against the sun’s rising, I fumbled for words and landed on non-adventure. The next morning my instinct of making things right — or rather, rewriting the regret — set in. As I took a train to Oslo, I wrote the dialogue I remembered and altered the ending, subtitling it, “with the grace of hindsight.” What might have happened that night if I said yes? The question would weigh on me for weeks. Most people can name a time they wanted a do-over,
There is a profound ache that comes with the regret and anguish of life paths not taken and the torture of wonderment they stir in us.
and writing for the theatre gives us a chance to create one. This past summer I co-directed playwriting workshops in Kosovo, and we drew on this desire for rewriting the personal to make peace with past things said and unsaid. We created an activity called “Goodbye Stranger” for our final week, where students were to think of an encounter with someone they saw once and then never again. They could write the interaction with any ending they desired. One student wrote of the last time she saw a former crush, when she wanted to accept his apology for the hurtful things he said. When she performed the piece with the dialogue she wished she had actually used, her voice was brave and pure. She showed me that it is redemptive to forgive. Another student rewrote an interaction she had with an aggressor on public transit, who threatened her with stares and catcalls. She reimagined the scene as one in which she defended herself and the women around her from his taunting. She showed me that it is redemptive to empower. Another wrote of the interpersonal depth she thought existed within her favorite celebrity, who she had seen once on the street. Her scene detailed his hardships
and hopes, reminding us what we might miss when we take someone’s surface as their entirety. She showed me that it is redemptive to inquire. Making things right or deep or new by rewriting moments missed is a process of redemption and one of reclamation. I keep writing dialogue to put the world back in order — to forgive myself and others, reimagine lost time and put an end to conflict. On the page and on the stage, the progression of things is in my control. It would be nice if, in the writing in times of war, we ended it, or in recovering time spent we had second chances to muster bravery. In fictive worlds, we can imagine these better outcomes and actualize them when we choose. This process is not as imaginary as it seems. After all, in being reminded of the worlds I wish to inhabit, it becomes easier to set out creating them.
A little faith BY ELLIE KATZ, STATEMENT COLUMNIST 6B
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 // The Statement
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
I
n the August before my junior year, I scrambled to rearrange my schedule. I cold-emailed professors, begging them to let me into their classes and hopping on the waitlist of any possible course. Then I came across one called “The Catholic Novel.” The course description read: “All are welcome: religious, agnostic, atheist, nonChristian, just reading, Catholic curious, and ‘questioning.’” I considered myself Catholic-curious, but it came as a surprise that I could enroll despite being sort-of-Jewish and maybe-atheist. On the first day of fall classes, I found myself in English 473 with an assignment to attend Mass three separate times. I was eager to see what this 2,000-year-old commotion was all about. My first Mass visit was in the basement of St. Mary Student Parish on a Wednesday afternoon. The parish sits on the corner of William and Thompson, just across the street from NeoPapalis. I’d passed it a dozen times and never noticed it before. I locked my bike up, crossed the street nervously and walked into the dim, air-conditioned building. It was a sunny day, but the basement was quiet and still. The second I sat down, a woman breathlessly approached me. “Would you like to be the reader?” she said. Maybe I looked like I needed saving. “The what?” “The reader,” she repeated. “Oh, thank you, but this is my first time at Mass so I probably shoul-” “No, it’s easy. You can do it. You’ll do it. Want to do it?” I reluctantly agreed. Rapidly and without taking a breath, she explained my task. I started to feel like a bit of an impostor, so I jutted in: “I’m not Catholic.” “Oh,” she said, clearly caught off guard. “Are you Christian?” “No.” “Hm. Are you Baptized?” “No.” “Well, are you Jewish?” “Yes.” “Okay, let me think.” She proceeded to think for no more than one full second. “That’s fine. Same God. Old Testament. It’s fine by me. We won’t tell anyone. It’s probably fine. It’s alright.” She took me to the lectern to show me the book I’d read from and finally introduced herself as Rainey. She told me she’d give me a nod when it was time. I returned to my pew, more nervous than I ever anticipated being on a Wednesday afternoon visit to Mass. A priest walked onto the pulpit. He murmured some hellos and maybe a prayer — I wasn’t really listening, distracted
by my imminent Church debut. When he finished, Rainey suddenly turned around. She looked at me and nodded. A-freaking-men, I thought, here goes nothing. I walked past the seemingly-endless rows of pews and stood facing the pulpit like everyone else still in their seats. Five minutes before, Rainey told me, “When you get to that part, do not bow to the tabernacle, the crucifix or the Virgin Mary. Find a place where God rests for you. He cannot rest in any of these places for you since you are not a Catholic, but he rests somewhere, just think of him for a moment.” Remembering Rainey’s instructions, I stood stiff and clammy-palmed, careful not to bow. I closed my eyes, but instead of thinking about God, I wondered how long I was supposed to stand there. When it seemed like a sufficient amount of time had passed for thinking about where God rested, I found my place behind the lectern and peered at the book. All the rapid instructions Rainey gave me minutes before swirled in my mind. Read only the black words, she said; I read only the black words. Pause at this part and raise your arm; I paused at that part and raised my arm. Everyone repeated something with me. It went on like this for a few minutes and then I was finished. I stepped back, closed my eyes and bowed my head for about as long as seemed appropriate. Rainey smiled at me as I returned to my seat. The Mass continued with a short homily, various prayers and ample kneeling. I crossed my arms and did not receive communion like a good non-Catholic. It all went by as one would expect, but when the priest asked for anyone to share grievances or prayers, I was surprised when Rainey piped up, “May all the children of the Abrahamic religions know that they are loved by God, our God, one God,” she said. “That they shall feel and know His love and that they shall know that we are all united in God’s eyes.” As she spoke, I looked around at all the heads bent in prayer. Instead of making me feel like some kind of strange religious voyeur stealthily observing Catholic rituals, Rainey’s words reminded me I was just another person at church on a warm Wednesday afternoon. I laced my fingers together, bowed my head and closed my eyes like everyone else — if someone had come into the chapel at that moment, they wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. For my second Mass, I was at St. Mary again: same basement, different day, different priest. When I went up during communion at my previous Mass visit, I had looked down into the hands of the other priest, but I looked this one directly in the face. My crossed arms interrupted the flow of
his communion. Ready to present the Eucharist, he tripped over his words as he noticed my closed-off body. He looked me in the eyes, leveled his face with mine, put his hand on my shoulder and said in a kind voice, “May peace be with you all your days.” It was a comfort I never knew I was missing — like the comfort I’d experienced after Rainey’s prayer. I felt a sense of belonging and peace, even in the basement of an unfamiliar building with little light and few faces I had seen before. On another Sunday morning at Mass, a priest at St. Thomas the Apostle Church looked over my head to the line of communion-takers behind me, made a Sign of the Cross with the wafer, then waved me aside. It felt like hundreds of pairs of eyes bored into me as I walked back to my seat, seeing me for what I was: an outsider, a fake, unable to take communion. Soon after, the priest and altar servers left the chapel in a procession carrying the crucifix down the aisle, with their green, gold, white and black robes drifting behind them. I watched them pass by as the organ played in the background. Once the fanfare ended, the woman who had been sitting next to me with her granddaughter turned to me. “I hope your day is full,” she said, then left. I smiled. It almost seemed like she knew how I was feeling. Something inside me stirred quietly again, then settled. I walked out of the church alongside those who now felt a little less like strangers and into the cold, gray morning. Maybe God was trying to tell me something on these occasions: That there is mutual friendship or love to be shared with Him, or that there is a universal vision of grace, and Catholicism is the center of it. Maybe He was trying to show me that there are infinite ways to be good to other people. I cannot fully know His intentions — or know whether I believe He exists at all — but I was received with what felt like love by someone at each Mass I attended. And if any laws are regularly broken in life, they are those of human solidarity, social charity and love — laws on which Christianity is built. It was good to see these virtues actually in practice during my three Mass visits — good to be reminded they exist at all. I don’t plan to start praying every night, confess my sins or convert to Catholicism, but I may return to Mass even after those three required visits. And if my return is not for the grace of Christ, then it will be for the wide and open ceilings of the churches and the way hymns filter through their stained-glass windows like rays of light through water. And religious beliefs aside, those three Masses and the people I encountered at them made me pause and reflect. I was an outsider; I never knew the prayers, I didn’t know when to kneel or stand up and I never made the Sign of the Cross. But I was not treated as a stranger, or an intruder or even a visitor — just as another person at a church trying to make sense of why we are here on this earth. At a time in my life where I feel the constant pressure to compete with thousands of strangers who are smarter than me, more qualified than me or more driven than me, going to those churches and experiencing something so unfamiliar came as a relief I hadn’t expected. Not one of us is any less worthy than another of the love, kindness and friendship we encounter in this life. Mass reminded me of this — it reminded me that whatever it is we are doing on this earth, we cannot forget that we are doing it together, that we are beings bound together by history, time and even by which pew we decide to sit in when we go to church. Whatever is up there, around us or below, there is something to be said for quietly sitting beside another person for a while, for taking a stranger’s hand and wishing them peace for the day and for singing, standing and kneeling as one. Even if our prayers are not heard by God, I think it’s alright — we can be sure they are heard by those around us. There is comfort in being side-by-side as we bend towards heaven.
How to be invisible at a date party
Wednesday,January January 2020////The The Statement 7B 7B Wednesday, 16,8,2019 Statement
BY HANNAH BRAUER, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
I
thought I’d aged out of this years ago. I’m sitting criss-cross applesauce in my apartment while my roommate straightens my hair. The brush catches my hair knots and pulls my head back like the boys in my elementary school used to do, though it wasn’t because they liked me. The hair situation isn’t going as planned. My curls are beginning to spring back from stress sweat, caused by either the fact that I’m going to a dance with a stranger or the fear that I won’t fit in with the crowd. I have less than 20 minutes to figure out how I can turn my curly hair, acne and glasses into something remotely resembling a sorority girl. “Do you want me try straightening it again?” my roommate asks. “Who even cares anymore?” I yell and look at myself in the mirror, which I’ve smudged so I have a barrier between myself and my reflection. I wish I’d just left my hair curly but don’t have time to fix it. I swallow my inferiority complex and call an Uber to the fraternity house. Part of my anxiety comes from the fact that I wasn’t technically asked to this date party. It was more of an indirect invite, like in middle school when a friend asked my crush out on my behalf without asking for permission (he said no). My other roommate had been invited to the date party and wanted to set me up with another fraternity brother so we could go together. I said yes as long as she promised not to bail on me. Less than two days later, she backed out. I could’ve backed out, too, but somehow felt obligated to keep my promise. Maybe it was out of compliance to the popularity gods, or an attempt to redefine my status as an awkward art girl. Maybe I was just curious to see if I could fit in with Greek life for a night.
dark and blasts EDM music. Strobe lights signal the passengers to slowly rise from their seats like zombies and I watch in horror as they collectively grind on each other in freeze frames. Their faces are dead, drunk, their bodies moving out of obligation to the night. I wonder if there’s a full moon outside. The club is packed with the same scene. Distant faces, somewhere between bored and aroused, are attached to loose bodies touching each other with a sense of urgency. Again, the DJ seems to be havILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL ing the most fun of anyone. I arrive at the house, an ex-mansion vanMy date asks a girl to take a photo of us. I dalized with large Greek letters. I stand feel like Nick Carraway next to Gatsby, a fan outside the front doors like a child waiting meeting her celebrity crush. The flash goes off for their play date. The doors open to reveal and I place my hand awkwardly on his stommy date, a tall and handsome figure with ach. I imagine my acne scars lit up under the curly blonde hair that makes me feel silly for light, spelling out “she shouldn’t be here” in straightening mine. He invites me inside and Braille. I don’t look at the photo. we pass a DJ hyping up five people dancing. I I head to the bathroom and face a chorus of try not to think about how much money was yelling that someone cut in line, sobbing comspent on this event. ing from the corner and three occupied stalls A girl poses in the living room, her back with girls vomiting. The floor is more toilet arched and eyes averted from her boyfriend paper than it is tile. One girl stands at the sink snapping photos. A crowd cheers her on as posting an Instagram photo. she contorts her body into extreme shapes to I wonder if all the girls in the bathroom accentuate her curves. She’s clearly done this were once posed like the model I saw in the before. frat house. Maybe this is the only place they We pass a few more girls, all of whom are can escape the feeling of being watched, the wearing similar outfits as me but are taller one place where they don’t perform. and with clearer skin. I feel like I’m in fifth I wait as dozens of girls cut in front of me in grade and the prettiest girl in class is sitting line, letting them pass without a word. next to me wearing the same Aeropostale t’s become instinct for me to assume shirt. I am a lab experiment: If we keep outfit attractive people are better than me. I X constant, it will yield significant results in find myself listening to their presentameasuring beauty, Y. tions more closely, following their Instagram My date and I enter a room away from the even if I don’t know or care about them and noise and start getting to know each other. feeling envious of their new job even if it’s at We have more in common than I previously an obscure consulting firm. But the more I’m thought: an interest in the Myers-Briggs test, in spaces with these people, it makes me wona lack of interest in Greek life (ironic consid- der what “attractive” actually means – does ering he’s a frat brother) and an equal hatred it mean being tall and impossibly fit? Does it of the grading system. I wonder if this night mean attending Pure Barre classes twice a week? Or does it just mean looking the exact could actually turn out well. Our party bus arrives and we’re met with a same as everyone else? As I look around the bathroom, I not only cloud of bubblegum nicotine inside. I’m introduced to two identical girls sitting across from realize I’m freed from being watched, but I was never being watched in the first place. us, whose names I immediately forget. “Super cute glasses, don’t feel self con- The girls walking past me in line don’t even scious about them!” the one on the left tells me give me a second glance. I could have skipped the hour before the party I spent staring at before I can say anything. I grimace. Once the bus starts to move, the cabin goes myself in the mirror, my hair curly and frizzy
I
with bangs sticking to my forehead. I could have skipped the makeup and let me acne scars glow. No one even cared that I was there – and neither did I. After finally pushing my way through the bathroom crowd, my date takes me to Buffalo Wild Wings with his friend and his friend’s girlfriend. “Wheel of Fortune” plays on the waiting area TV. I watch Vanna White strut across the screen and wonder if she’s actually there to reveal the clue’s letters or just to boost the show’s ratings. “Did you know Vanna White makes $8 million a year?” I ask. “Just for being beautiful and walking across the screen?” My date shrugs. “Sometimes that’s what pays.” Our food finally arrives and as I bite into my chicken wing, my date’s mouth falls open. “We’re going to miss our bus.” Panic ensues; the friend starts swearing and the friend’s girlfriend sprints outside. Both of the guys chase after her. I take another bite of chicken and watch the scene unfold, amused. The girlfriend finds the bus and screams at the driver to let us inside, pounding on the door and threatening him. He complies. The rest of us apologize on her behalf. It turns out the Vanna Whites of the world really can get away with anything. On the ride home, the bus fights over the rest of our chicken wings like fresh kill. My date stares out the window and says, without looking at me, “I’d give this night a five out of ten. It’s past my bedtime.” I’m offended for a few seconds then realize there was never a version of this night where we would both have a good time. It takes a certain kind of person to enjoy these kinds of events, a collection of values and priorities that I simply don’t have. I remember my date said the same thing about himself. I finally ask the question I’ve been wondering all night: “If you don’t like Greek life, why are you in it?” He shifts in his seat and says he doesn’t really know. “I guess I just like living in the house with the guys,” he says. I wonder why he joined in the first place but stay silent. Maybe he and “the guys” joined freshman year and just stuck with it without question; I probably would have done the same if my friends and this culture were intertwined. I’m immediately thankful they’re not. The bus parks and someone hands me the empty box of chicken wings as if I’m their trash can. My date gives me a quick hug goodbye and I call for a ride home. I stumble into my apartment and look at myself in the mirror. My straight hair has started to curl and my makeup is almost entirely wiped off from walking in the cold. I start to see myself between smudges in the glass. For the first time, I’m glad to see my reflection looks like me. I climb into bed, happy to take off my costume. It’s exhausting being invisible.
8B Wednesday, January 8, 2020 // The Statement
BY JULIA SCHACHINGER
VISUAL STATEMENT: HUES OF HUMMINGBIRDS
COSTA RICA HAS ONE OF THE MOST DIVERSE POPULATIONS OF HUMMINGBIRD SPECIES IN THE WORLD. HERE ARE A FEW PHOTOS OF SOME THAT I WAS ABLE TO SEE ON MY TRIP TO COSTA RICA OVER WINTER BREAK.