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Union, LSA Building open up study spots for students
Campus refurbishments provide additional spaces for school work ARJUN THAKKAR Daily Staff Reporter
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‘CONCRETE ACTION’
Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivers the State of the State at the Capitol in East Lansing Wednesday night.
Governor Whitmer gives second annual State of the State address, calls on members of Michigan Legislature to reach bipartisan solutions KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporter
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer discussed education, jobs, health care and roads at her second State of the State address on Wednesday evening at the State Capitol in Lansing. This was her second state address since her swearing-in as the 49th Governor
of Michigan in January 2019. In her 2019 address, Whitmer discussed key issues including Michigan’s infrastructure and educational system, emphasizing her intention to garner bipartisan support to address these problems. On Wednesday, Whitmer revisited her solution for Michigan’s infrastructure, which she claims would have
fixed the roads by 2030 if it had been accepted by the Michigan legislature. “I am not giving up because the problem remains. In fact, it is worse because another year has passed. Cracked windshields, blown tires, busted rims,” Whitmer said. “That’s money that could go into your childcare budget, or your retirement fund
or rent. And it’s also bad for business. We can’t ask businesses to invest in Michigan if we refuse to invest in ourselves.” With a lack of bipartisan cooperation for her initial proposal and a disappointing gridlock, according to Whitmer, she vowed to pursue executive action with her “Plan B.” See WHITMER, Page 3A
The College of Literature, Science and the Arts Building and the Michigan Union both opened their doors to students and faculty on South State Street earlier this month, providing new study and meeting spaces. The reopened buildings provide more room for students as well as several cafes, study rooms and meeting spots. Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Kiran Mangrulkar said it was easy to come to the Union because he lives in West Quad. Mangrulkar said the Union was a better study space than the Shapiro Undergraduate Library and Hatcher Graduate Library, where he has studied in the past. “I come here somewhat often,” Mangrulkar said. “I like the new spaces. I wish there (were) more outlets… I think they’re just very common, normal in general,
CAMPUS LIFE
Ford panel Experts on drinking water discuss discusses current contaminants regulations impact of Professors and researchers analyze state’s handling of hazardous chemicals Facebook IULIA DOBRIN
In Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte manipulated public opinion to caputure an election ISABELLA PREISSLE Daily Staff Reporter
The auditorium was slow to fill up, as students and community members trickled into the event. The projector above the speakers moved through slides with captions such as “Senator DeLima is still imprisoned” and “Duterte is called the indisputable king of Facebook conversations.” In an event at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy on Wednesday afternoon, Davey Alba, a reporter for the New York Times, and Ceren Budak, an assistant professor at the School of Information, discussed the crisis of social media disinformation in the most recent election in the Philippines. Alba, a Filippino American journalist, recently won the Livingston Award, a prize bestowed by the University each year on media professionals under the age of 35. In her article “How Duterte Used Facebook To Fuel the Philippine Drug War,” Alba exposed the disinformation campaign Filippino President Rodrigo Duterte used to get elected. See FACEBOOK, Page 3A
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As attendees walked into the Emerging Drinking Water Contaminants Panel at Ford School of Public Policy on Wednesday afternoon, they were greeted with pizza, salad and voter registration forms. Panelist James Clift, deputy director at the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), explained the role of the word “emerging” in the name of the event.
“Contaminants have been around for a long time,” Clift said. “It’s usually an emerging understanding of what this contaminant means to us as humans.” One of the types of chemicals currently under the public eye is perf luorooctanoic acid (PFAS), which is a group of manufactured chemicals that have been found in water. According to panelist John Meeker, professor and associate dean for research in the School of Public Health, it has been found to have
negative effects on immunity, thyroid, liver, cholesterol and fetal development. Several of the panelists said Michigan’s government was ahead of the curve on PFAS and other water regulation policies compared to other state governments. They also mentioned the implications of the federal government’s inactivity regarding updating water care policy. Sara Hughes, an assistant professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), was one of the panelists. Her
research focuses on the political and institutional dimensions of water and climate change policies, specifically in an urban context. “It is really exciting that the state of Michigan is acting ahead of the federal government and ahead of most other state governments,” Hughes said. “It’s a pretty exciting thing, and fun to watch, but we don’t want to give up on federal action by the EPA.” See WATER, Page 3A
nothing crazy, but nothing awful.” LSA junior Aparna Iyer said she appreciates the Union’s additional collaborative spaces. “I really like the student org spaces,” Iyer said. “The Idea Hub on the second floor, and I like that they put a ceiling over that courtyard, because that was just an unused wasted space, and I’m glad that we’re able to make use of that.” LSA freshman Alex Majie said he likes the Union’s older design and anticipates studying there in the future. “I haven’t necessarily studied here yet,” Majie said. “But as I’m looking around, like, it would be a nice place to study. It’s not as quiet as a library, which is good in some aspects.” Iyer said she thinks the Union has opened up space in other frequented study spaces. See STUDY, Page 3A
ANN ARBOR
Saline HS teenagers post racist comments Staff, administration respond to messages football players sent in private group chat JULIA RUBIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Saline High School staff and administration were made aware on Monday of racist comments posted on social media by students. MLive obtained messages posted in a group chat on Snapchat created by Saline High School football players. In a chat titled “Racist,” followed by two gorilla emojis, one student introduced another to a chat with a message saying “My ni****,” while another responded by saying “Sup n****.” More messages were posted afterward by the same two students including “WHITE POWER” and “THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.” The chat included four students of color. After students sent the slurs and racist messages, some other students left the chat. In an interview with The Daily, Scot Graden, superintendent of the Saline School District, said the school has a three-phase discipline policy, including initial discipline, restorative justice and education.
PAULINA RAJSKI/Daily Panelists Eric Oswald, Charlotte Jameson, Dr. Sara Hughes, Dr. John Meeker and James Clift discuss drinking water contaminants at the Ford School Wednesday morning.
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EMU lecturer gives talk on primary selection system
Professor Jeffrey Bernstein discusses the process of nominating a Democratic candidate for president at the Kellogg Eye Center SUNSKRITI PARANJAPE Daily Staff Reporter
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute hosted a talk by Professor Jeffrey Bernstein titled “The 2020 Democratic Nomination: Who Gets to Choose, the Parties or the Voters?” on Wednesday at the Kellogg Eye Center auditorium. The event was attended by more than 100 members of the University of Michigan community. Bernstein is an awardwinning professor of political science at Eastern Michigan University. The talk focused on the evolution of the nomination
SALINE From Page 1A The restorative justice component typically entails either group or peer-to-peer meetings between perpetrator and victim but will be crafted on the comfort level of the victims. Graden stressed the importance of the educational component to ensure the impact of the racial slur used in the text is fully understood and never used again in the District. “Understanding the implications of that term, understanding the historical context of how that word has been used over time is incredibly important for us to make sure the students understand and internalize,” Graden said. “I think it’s important for us to be able to learn about the history
process, the transfer of power from the parties to voters over time and the implications of this transfer. Bernstein began by explaining the importance of such talks in the current political climate. “I think we’re living in a time right now where neutrality and sitting on the sidelines and looking at politics and saying, ‘Someone else can handle it: that’s not my thing,’ I don’t think we’re there right now,” Bernstein said. “These are highly charged and very interesting political times, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to be here and talk a little bit about what’s going
on and a little bit about what’s happening in the world.” Bernstein elaborated on the basic differences in the rule-setting procedures for nominations between the Republican and Democratic Parties, highlighting the relatively dynamic nature of the Democratic nomination process. “The Republican Party has a rule: that nomination procedures for the next election get dealt with at the Convention,” Bernstein said. “The Democrats are able to change the rules and continually evolve the rules. That creates a problem — it creates a challenge, a moving
target really, for figuring out what the Democrats are doing and who stands to gain or to lose from it.” One of the aims of the event was to inform the audience about the way the Democratic nomination process has evolved over time. Bernstein explained the transfer of power from the delegates at the Democratic National Convention to the voters by referencing the events of the 1968 Democratic Convention, when Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., challenged incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson.
of that word, and they may have lacked awareness prior to this week, but there should be no scenario where they lack awareness following our steps to educate them as to what and why that word should never be used.” At a Tuesday night school board meeting, MLive reported that Karamba Kaba, a Black Saline High School student who was added to the group chat, expressed feeling frustrated and unsafe after the incident. “I honestly hope you can do something to make us feel comfortable walking the hallways of that school,” Kaba said. “I feel like everybody is looking at me the wrong way.” Graden said the District is taking efforts to make students of color feel safe in the school district by explicitly calling out the language as racist
and integrating educational opportunities inside and outside the classroom. The Saline High School student body is nearly 90 percent white, while only 3 percent of students are Black. LSA senior Kevin Schnitzer graduated from Saline three years ago, and his younger brother is a current student at the high school. Schnitzer said he remembers multiple incidents when Saline students made racist comments, and said all were internally handled by the District. According to Schnitzer, the lack of diversity in Saline as a city and school district could exacerbate this problem. “I don’t know how much the school board talks about it or anything, but a lot of people say it’s a super white school, and I mean, it’s kind
of true,” Schnitzer said. “The vast majority of students there are white, that’s just Saline residents. A lot more of them are white than anything else In a letter sent to school district community members, Graden said Saline High School administrators conducted an investigation and found the incident to be an “act of racism” that caused harm to all of the District’s students, but especially students of color. “Our School and our District find the words used in these posts to be deplorable and we strongly denounce the actions and words of these students,” the letter read. “This is an opportunity for us — the staff, students, and community of Saline Area Schools — to stand for anti-racism, respect, and inclusion of all students.”
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CONTAMINANTS From Page 1A In relation to federal inactivity, Meeker explained the risk assessment process and how it relates to water contamination research. The process involves three steps: hazard identification, dose-response and exposure assessment. He particularly criticized how the United States addresses hazard identification, treating chemicals as “innocent until proven guilty.” Charlotte Jameson, program director of Energy and Drinking Water Policy and Legislative Affairs for Michigan Environmental Council, described the passive way the nation deals with hazardous chemicals, noting the difficulty of having such a large number of potentially dangerous chemicals in existence. “In the U.S., we do not follow precautionary principles when it comes to chemicals of concern,” Jameson said. “You and I, we’re all guinea pigs for toxic chemicals, and there are thousands of them that are in commercial products right now that we don’t have sound information on.” Environment and Sustainability graduate student Colin Welk is currently taking EAS 558: Water Policy and Politics, a class taught by Hughes. “It seems like this is
STUDY From Page 1A “I’ve noticed that this place (the Union) fills up so I’m assuming that like Ross, the UGLi and Hatcher, they must be less full,” Iyer said. LSA junior Conor Duggan studied in the LSA Building for the first time Wednesday night. Duggan, who normally studies in the Hatcher Graduate Library, the UGLi and the Fishbowl in Mason Hall, said he hasn’t noticed a particular difference in the number of people studying there. “I’ve only studied at the UGLi three times this semester so far, which sounds bad, but it is still early,” Duggan said. “I had no problem getting a seat, but it’s still early, so I mean, exams haven’t happened yet, you know, people aren’t feeling that rush
FACEBOOK From Page 1A
In 2013, Facebook paired with internet providers in the Philippines and allowed citizens to access Facebook for free. Alba said about two-thirds of citizens have internet access, and 99% of users have a Facebook account. But during the 2016 presidential election in the Philippines, Alba began to notice a change in the way people in her home country used Facebook. “It started to shift when the presidential election in the Philippines was getting underway, from just like cute cat videos, to this really extreme rhetoric backing certain candidates that had really aggressive platforms like Duterte, who had a law and order platform that he used to promote what he said was the way to solve the country’s problems, which were a war on drugs,” Alba said. The Duterte campaign used social media inf luencers, blatant disinformation campaigns and general fear regarding drugs to gain support across the country, Alba said. After Duterte was elected, he continued with the disinformation campaign to fuel his war on drugs, which Alba described as a human rights violation. Alba said each of these issues was a focus point for her journalistic work. “When I was conceiving of this story, I wanted the drug war to be part of the story because I wanted to connect the human consequences of Facebook’s platform to the drug war, and just show that it’s not just algorithms
definitely the next area in water policy,” Welk said. “I’m interested to learn more about contaminants and how they’re regulated.” According to panelist Eric Oswald, director of the Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division of the Michigan EGLE Department, Ann Arbor has a well-funded and well-managed drinking water system. However, most other systems in the state don’t have the funds to follow in Ann Arbor’s footsteps, and even with the changes made, Ann Arbor is still far from contaminant-free. The event ended with a Q&A session with the panelists. Attendees asked about the quantitative measures of sources of contaminants, the feasibility of other cities making the changes Ann Arbor has and which contaminants citizens should be focused on. The final question inquired which other states, municipalities or utility districts the panelists thought were leading the change. According to the panelists, on the state level, it was Michigan. In the closing remarks, Public Policy graduate student James VanSteel, acting president of the Environmental Policy Association and mediator for this event, and the panelists encouraged citizens to leave public comments on the Michigan Environmental Council website.
yet. So it’s kind of too early to tell whether or not the space is really opened up.” Majie also noticed the Union was busy and said there were fewer students at more traditional study spaces. “I’ve definitely noticed less people at the libraries since these two places have opened, which is nice in a way, you know, everybody’s like branching out, finding new places to study,” Majie said. Duggan said students shouldn’t have trouble finding a place to work on campus. “I think there’s a lot of resources on campus, like even you could go to like East Hall, the Law Library, the Graduate Library, the UGLi,” Duggan said. “I feel like sometimes it stinks that you have to walk around a little bit to find a place, but I mean after that you can always find a place if you actually look for it.”
operating in the void and changing people’s opinions, but the cost of disinformation is sometimes an actual human death toll,” Alba said. The larger consequences of this issue struck Alba, who emphasized the fact that the dominance of certain social media platforms and new sources could limit what information people are exposed to. “Facebook is all about the world (media) domination,” Alba said. “They obviously started in the U.S., but really, really quickly their ambitions grew to an international scale, and the Philippines, this country that was very ripe to be a testing ground for what a Facebook country could look like.” A similar disinformation campaign to the one that occurred in the Philippines in 2016 happened in the U.S. just six months later, during the U.S. presidential election. However, according to panelist Ceren Budak, a researcher who studies the diffusion of information on social media, the situation in the U.S. was different from the Philippines. Most private citizens in the U.S. have wide internet access, and much of the population still got their news from the mainstream media, rather than from social media. However, as Budak pointed out, Americans have different laws regarding how candidates can contact citizens on social media. “That’s one of the things that we care about in the U.S., is the personalization of information where the political elite can reach out to particular people and give them a very narrow message, and there is no accountability for that,” Budak said.
WHITMER From Page 1A “Tomorrow I will ask the State Transportation Commission to issue state road bonds so we can start fixing the roads,” Whitmer said. “Since it does not require the legislature to act, we can get started right away. That’s important.” Whitmer reflected on progress made in 2019, mentioning bipartisan legislation that decreased the cost of car insurance after six years of Michigan having the highest auto insurance rates in the nation. She also highlighted collaboration with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to launch redistricting efforts, criminal justice reform and the creation of the environmental justice advisory council. Whitmer detailed these accomplishments and tied them back to the importance of upholding Michigan’s diversity of thought, despite tension between political parties stemming from the national level. “These firsts honor the beautiful diversity that is Michigan,” Whitmer said. “Unfortunately, we’ve also seen an uptick in hateful, harmful language in Michigan and across the country. A lot of it starts in Washington, D.C., and now it feels like it can work its way to Lansing. Whether it’s misogyny in the workplace, or threats of violence online, this is unacceptable. Let’s debate. Let’s disagree. But then, let everyone in this room live up to our responsibility to stand up to hate and harassment. Remember that our children are watching. In Michigan, diversity is our strength.” Whitmer then moved to her next point of discussion — jobs. Though Michigan has boasted 10 years of economic growth, Whitmer said underskilled and overtime workers are still struggling to get ahead. Presenting her policies as part of the solution, she highlighted investment in the auto industry and collaboration with the Canadian government to construct the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a project which is projected to bring in thousands of jobs. Alongside the creation of new jobs, Whitmer emphasized job security and worker rights as integral to creating a healthy
workforce. To solve this, she has worked with the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to expand the right to overtime pay and cracked down on company regulation to pay employees. “We should be able to take time off when our kids are born and afford childcare when we are ready to go back to work. We need employers who invest in a strong workforce,” Whitmer said. “When I was growing up if you worked more than 40 hours a week you were paid over. It was that simple. It should still be that simple.” Whitmer then transitioned to the topic of education. She mentioned Michigan’s ranking at the bottom 10 states for overall literacy, and highlighted efforts to make pre-K universal for districts where test scores are low and providing better access to childcare. Expanding on this, she advocated for literacy coaches and organization partnerships in communities to help families navigate reading laws enacted by her predecessor Gov. Rick Snyder, and continue support through middle and high school by equitably funding schools. “We can get ahead of this problem if we start early, but our work cannot stop with early literacy,” Whitmer said. “All Michigan students should have the opportunity to go to properly funded schools. The one-sizefits-all approach does not work. Any teacher can tell you that every student has potential, but their needs are often very different. This year, together, we move forward with an equitable funding formula.” Whitmer’s final topic of the evening centered on affordable health care. She said while Michigan expanded Medicaid to cover more than 600,000 Michiganders in 2014, many residents still lack access because of a lack of insurance. She emphasized the importance of the Affordable Care Act to protect Michigan residents, highlighting an effort to eliminate disparities in the care of people of color, extending mental health services and addressing the opioid crisis. “So here is the bottom line: the health of our state is only as good as the health of our residents,” Whitmer said. “I want to end where I began. Impatience is a virtue. Sure, it’s good to be patient when you’re waiting in the line of the grocery
Thursday, January 30, 2020 — 3A store, or when you are a Lions fan. But not now. Not when people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake.” In addition to these main topics, Whitmer promised a Thursday follow-up on topics of climate change and protection of Michigan’s water in the coming weeks, addressing the issue of PFAS and rising lake levels’ impact on tourism, agriculture and infrastructure. State Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, echoed the policy points in Whitmer’s address and the importance of her specific focus on the lives of workingclass Michiganders, whether that be through the scope of job security, health care or roads. According to Rabhi, it was a notable shift in topics from those addressed during Snyder’s administration. “She highlighted a bunch of the stuff that her administration is working on, but what I also liked is that she highlighted specific things that she is working with the House Democratic caucus on as well, that there are really cool initiatives that we’re all working together on to actually help move our state forward,” Rabhi said. “Policies that are very focused on everyday working Michiganders and fighting for working-class people, that is exactly the kind of stuff that I was hoping she’d talk about, and I’m really glad she touched on those things because we didn’t hear that for the last eight years from our Republican governor.” Rabhi further commented on the division between Republicans and Democrats in Lansing, despite his belief that these should be universally supported issues. “There was a very sharp division on the floor in terms of when she talked about that kind of stuff,” Rabhi said. “And many of the points that she made, we stood up, the Democrats stood up and said, ‘Yes, we support workers’ rights, we support what you’re saying about that.’ And the Republicans just didn’t. And it wasn’t controversial issues, we’re just trying to fight for everyday workingclass Michiganders and make sure that people aren’t getting defrauded by employers, and that’s not something the Republicans can even stand up and support.” Rabhi echoed the importance of the topics discussed and emphasized the need for further discussion regarding clean water
contamination as a problem that is plaguing Michigan’s most valuable resource in all corners of the state. He mentioned his role in prioritizing clean water on the administration’s agenda, and noted green ooze that was discovered along a highway in southeast Michigan. “Obviously with this green ooze in Oakland County, what I like to say, and what I think is true, is that every single state house district has a version of the green ooze,” Rabhi said. “In Ann Arbor, it’s PFAS, it’s dioxane, and we all have a massive contamination problem in our state, which is why we need laws like the one I introduced last year to make polluters pay to clean up their messes. And that’s a conversation that we need to continue to have, and highlight in the state because we also deserve to have clean water.” The Republican response to Whitmer’s address, however, was far more critical. Laura Cox, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, said Whitmer’s message of bipartisanship was far from the reality of her past year as governor. “Tonight’s address is yet another reminder of Gretchen Whitmer’s failed first year as governor, and even more of the same empty promises for the future,” Cox said. “Instead of committing to work with Republicans to find common sense solutions to Michigan’s problems, Governor Whitmer made it clear that she’ll go it alone without the legislature if they don’t agree with her tax and spend policies. From her support for impeachment and Medicarefor-all, and her unrealistic road proposal that raises taxes on hardworking Michiganders — Whitmer has proved that she is no different than the same out-of-touch liberal Democrats determined to sabotage the American dream.” Next week, Whitmer will be one of two Democrats, alongside Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, who will deliver the Democratic rebuttal to President Trump’s State of the Union address. Her selection to deliver the rebuttal follows Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s praising of Whitmer’s progressive policies in Michigan, and national attention as a possible running mate to the Democratic presidential nominee.
JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily Journalist Davey Alba, Ceren Budak and Molly Kleinman discuss how political campaigns around the world are weaponizing social media in Weill Hall Wednesday afternoon.
Budak explained how users get their information on social media and said the algorithms tend to expose users to what they already want to hear. Calling social media an “echo chamber,” Budak said it’s important for people to expose themselves to different sources of information. She stressed that people have to carefully choose what news they pay attention to. “From research, once something is out there it is really hard to stop,” Budak said, “So it is important to be able to stop sharing, don’t
do it right away, just give yourself a couple of minutes before you share something.” Alba and Budak both agreed the issue of social media disinformation is not an easy one to solve. Because the problem is both social and technological, multiple steps are required to fix the issue. According to the panelists, however, solutions include creating proactive policy, getting individuals to purposefully expose themselves to different ideas, targeting domestic disinformation creators and cutting off the revenue sources to the people who
spread disinformation. The issue of disinformation has played a role in several contemporary political issues. According to LSA junior Jackson Hawkins, the events in the Philippines have worldwide relevance. “I thought this was really interesting because even though this was about the Philippines the same thing happens in the U.S.,” Hawkins said. “I really liked the solutions that they offered, such as disincentivizing advertising and disinformation.” Alba concluded the event with thoughts on her home
country and how social media disinformation has continued to be an ongoing problem across the world. “With this stuff happening before the U.S. election and the same stuff happening during the U.S. election, it felt like the platforms being American-centric companies instigated the move to scrutinize these platforms and the power of these platforms,” Alba said. “I really wish this didn’t have to go that far and that they had looked at it even when it was going on in the Philippines.”
Opinion
4A — Thursday, January 30, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MIN SOO KIM | COLUMN
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RAY AJEMIAN | COLUMN
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ack in September, a friend of mine admitted he was attracted to me. Not emotionally, he assured me, just physically. That seemed off — he’s usually into women, and he knows in no uncertain terms that I am not a woman — but I wasn’t going to let that ruin a four-year friendship. That took a few more months to ruin. The vulgar jokes didn’t bother me so much; those had always existed. It was the sudden commentary about all the sexual things he wanted to do with transgender guys, things he didn’t talk about before I was 18 and living an hour away. It was the sudden inquiry into the circumstances under which I would send “someone” nudes. It was the lamenting over my lack of confidence in my transgender body because it was “so hard” for him to listen to, as someone who appreciated that body in such a way. He said more than that, of course — nor was he the only one — but those words don’t belong in a newspaper. We often hear of the transphobia and disgust directed toward trans people, but the opposite is often true as well: We are simultaneously fetishized by the same transphobia that deems us undesirable until rejection and exploitation are our only options. When speaking of transgender exploitation, sex work comes to mind. Transgender porn (almost always of trans women) is undeniably popular, in some cases being the most popular genre for a given porn studio. This sexualization partly explains why so many trans people end up in sex trafficking, trading sexual favors, as victims of sexual assault or in prostitution. This works in tandem with the fact that we’re at high risk for homelessness, a fact uniformly addressed in these particular studies about trans sex work. Within the trans community, we use the term “chaser” to refer to someone who fetishizes and seeks out trans sex partners because of our transness, as it’s such a common experience. The fetishization of trans people remains prevalent even in non-sexual media because porn was previously the only sphere in which the existence of trans people was acknowledged. The New York Times, for instance, reported on the death of a trans woman in a fire, noting that she was “curvaceous” and “was known to invite men for visits to her apartment” within the first line. The article was published in 2012 and was never edited to remove the unnecessary, sexually-charged commentary despite public backlash. Mainstream media finds other ways to exploit us, too. Once trans people started to make themselves known to
To use or refuse? the public, news outlets leaped at the chance to cover the controversial matter of our existence. Caitlyn Jenner’s transition was one of the biggest news stories of 2015, to the point that she was given an eight-part documentary series, garnered a million Twitter followers in a matter of hours when she launched her profile and was considered for TIME’s Person of the Year. A transgender person’s transition, often a long-awaited and life-changing process, was broadcast nearly constantly for the world to see, knowing that many people would give her backlash for it. In a sense, her fame made this publicization inevitable, but to this extent? It is hard to call Jenner’s news coverage altruistic in nature
It’s the same transphobia as before rebranded to seem less malicious. Even fictional media co-opts trans stories for the sake of drama. In some cases — 21 percent of cases according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation — we’re made to be the villains, often portrayed as serial killers like in Sleepaway Camp and Silence of the Lambs. Other times, our existence is played for laughs. In “Friends,” Chandler’s “father” is supposedly a drag queen but is portrayed much more like a trans woman, and she apparently only exists to be misgendered and made fun of; “Family Guy” takes the same concept to another level, with other characters being downright disg usted and terrified, while demonizing the trans women in question as if this terror is funny rather than dangerously true to life. Then, in most other cases, we are victimized: “The Crying Game” sees a trans woman beaten when a straight man takes her clothes off; and “Boys Don’t Cry,” one of the few mainstream portrayals of a transgender man, is about the murder of the trans protagonist. All these stories were written by cisgender writers, seizing experiences that are foreign to them for the sake of comedy or drama and condemning trans people in the process. If that wasn’t already exploitative enough, consider that none of these parts were played by trans people, or even by cis people of the correct gender — each of these roles is filled by a cis actor of the characters
assigned gender at birth (that is to say, men playing trans women, and women playing trans men). This sort of backhanded acknowledgment of our struggles showcases how we interact with all of society. Trans people are twice as likely as others to serve in the military (driven in no small part to disproportionate homelessness), yet we’re banned from serving at the behest of our commander in chief. I personally have denied recruiters several times with equal parts smugness and bitterness. The medical establishment we depend on to transition forces us to jump through hoops to get healthcare, such as a therapist’s approval letter to start hormone replacement or get surgery, while said therapy and procedures may or may not be covered by insurance (if we even have insurance). I received my approval letter for testosterone back in April, only to be denied care by every trans-serving practitioner in my county until other health issues inevitably demanded my attention. The legal system charges us to petition for name changes, update our passports and similar documentation and often mandates expensive and invasive “reassignment” surgeries before we can legally be recognized as the correct gender; thankfully, Michigan has recently eliminated the last issue, which otherwise would have prevented me and many others from legal transition indefinitely. Even within the LGBTQ+ community, trans people have historically spearheaded activist work only to face hate from transphobic members of the community. Unfortunately, allies and even trans people themselves don’t always realize how exploitative these establishments can be, thinking that media representation and sexual appeal are inherently a net positive. The truth is that it’s the same transphobia as before rebranded to seem less malicious. The choice between exploitation and rejection is often life or death: For trans sex workers who can’t get wage work because employers can fire or deny them for being trans, for trans people who have to shell out thousands for surgeries they don’t need or want so that their driver’s license doesn’t out them and for trans youth who want to love and be loved without experiencing domestic violence, there is no real choice. As a trans college student choosing between sexual harassment from a “friend” and a nagging sense of unwantedness, I’m one of the few who could afford rejection over exploitation. Ray Ajemian can be reached at rjemian@umich.edu.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
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Appreciate the love! Sincerely, Asians
love watching movies but never paid too much attention to award shows. I knew the names of some of the biggest film celebrations, like the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, but that was the extent of my knowledge. I would scroll through my Instagram feed and maybe see a couple posts about which film won Best Picture, but that was about it. This all changed when “Parasite” came out. The movie came out this past summer while I was in Korea and I had the opportunity to see it in theaters. The movie is directed by Bong Joon-ho, one of South Korea’s most famous and critically acclaimed directors, and stars Song Kang-ho, a top South Korean actor. Because of the film’s star power, everyone had high expectations for it. I left the theater in awe of how good it was. This well-made thriller about coexistence, centering on an impoverished Korean family that begins to work for a wealthy one, satires our modern-day class system. As much as I would love to talk about the plot, I will not spoil the movie for those who have not seen it yet. Currently, “Parasite” is collecting many of the most prestigious cinematic awards worldwide. It won the Palme d’Or — the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival — as well as some Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards. As a Korean, I am immensely proud to see a Korean film enjoy such an unprecedented amount of success. But what feels better is the sense of acceptance and validation finally being awarded to Asians in media. For her role in 2019’s “The Farewell,” Awkwafina became the first Asian American to win Best Actress for a Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes. Netflix apparently had to win a bidding war to secure Ali Wong as the hostess for stand-up comedy
specials after the success of “Always Be My Maybe.” “Crazy Rich Asians,” the first major Hollywood studio film with a majority Asian cast in a modern setting since “The Joy Luck Club” in 1993, also enjoyed commercial and critical success. It became the highest-grossing romantic comedy film in nearly a decade. Disney’s live-action “Mulan” and Marvel’s first Asian hero film “Shang-Chi” will arrive in theaters soon. Before these recent successes, Asian representation in traditional media took a number of unfortunate turns. Only a handful of Asian roles existed before “Crazy Rich Asians,” and some of these roles were blatantly racist or heavily stereotypical. Mickey Rooney — who is white — played the role of a Japanese man named Mr. Yunioshi in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Randall Park, who starred in “Always Be My Maybe” alongside Ali Wong, remarked to TIME magazine that he played doctors maybe a few too many times. Asian Americans make up about six percent of the entire population, yet only one percent of all leading roles in Hollywood were played by Asian Americans as of 2018. One study from professors at six California universities proved that only one-third of the 242 scripted shows on broadcast, cable and streaming TV had an Asian Amerian or Pacific Islander character who was a series regular. Media lives off of stereotypes and, to some extent, is responsible for furthering them. While stereotypes are not the most sincere form of judgment, I must admit they are based on some truth. Asian parents are widely recognized to be passionate about their children’s education and, not to much surprise, want their children to become doctors or lawyers. However, this does not mean that the media should exploit such stereotypes and further consolidate them.
I still remember one of my high school friends showing me a clip from “Family Guy” where an Asian dad, in his heavy Asian accent, scolds his son for not being a doctor at the age of 12. This was during my first year in America, and I instantly knew that was how we were portrayed. The stereotype and its presentation lingered on and was stuck in the back of my head. I unconsciously put myself under the stereotype and even wanted to live up to it. I never liked math or science, but felt like I had to ace those classes, and felt proud when a non-Asian peer of mine approached me to ask questions on those subjects. Limited and stereotypical representation in the media certainly played a part in driving me toward the pre-established stereotypes. There were no cool Asian characters in any shows or movies. There was nobody for me to rely on. Then, once again, “Parasite” came out and is now collecting numerous meaningful accolades. Asian Americans have only recently gained some momentum in media representation and I hope the film’s success can be the breakthrough. I hope the film, along with individuals like Ali Wong and Awkwafina, can bring some spotlight to Asians so that we can correctly represent ourselves. I do not expect all stereotypes to be wiped out, but I sincerely hope that these collective achievements can provide society with the more diverse and appropriate representation we deserve. I hope we can be better assimilated into society as who we are: wonderfully talented, culturally diverse and capable of many different things, just like everyone else. We are not just good at math or science; we are more than just doctors or lawyers. We can be award-winning movie directors, actors and actresses, comedians and even superheroes. Min Soo Kim can be reached at kiminsoo@umich.edu.
VALENTINA HOUSE | COLUMN
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Appropriate cultural appropriation
rowing up, I learned in school that racism was an easy fix: Treat everyone equally and judge them by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. While that axiom and mindset come naturally to most, it works mainly as a “going forward” proposition. What about all of the damage done, particularly that of slavery? We need to be more than fair and open-minded going forward. We need to show deference to those who have been neglected. One solution to this difficult problem is to educate people about the further damage that cultural appropriation may cause – even though this still falls far short of any real repayment of a debt owed. Dana Schutz’s painting “Open Casket,” a depiction of the exposed face of Emmett Till, a 14-yearold Black teenager murdered in 1955, at his funeral, was widely criticized at the time of its debut in 2017 – not for its content, but for its white creator. Although Schutz wasn’t making any money from the painting, it was still thought to exploit Black suffering “for fun” or artistic gain. The argument was that she couldn’t possibly relate to black mothers and shouldn’t claim she can. One of the first forms of cultural colonialism dates back to the 1900s. Blackface was an early technique used in minstrel shows to effectively weave whiteness into every part of society. Today, the entertainment industry is still making progress in becoming more inclusive of diverse cultures. New York Times article “Hollywood, Separate and Unequal” by Manohla Dargis and A. O. Scott outlines the development of Black roles from historically being “servers” of more white, dominant roles to recently gaining more prominence on screen. Movies need more Black actors, but directors need to be conscious that they’re casting them for the right reasons and not just for political clout. Instances of white people rapping, kindergarteners wearing Native American costumes on Thanksgiving and Gordon Ramsay cooking Indian food are debated in the same breath as blackface and the misuse of “negro” music during the Harlem Renaissance period. But are they the same? Is
the modern-day any less racist than it was 80 years ago? The term cultural appropriation originally referred to a global ruling class dominating and taking advantage of a globally marginalized class. Today, it is a highly individualized concept that applies to any person who takes offense by a white person using their culture and its tortured past lightly as a costume or style. As a Mexican, society gives me the right to claim cultural appropriation on my friend who wears a sombrero on Cinco de Mayo, even though I’ve always considered it a lighthearted form of celebration. While some cultural antics are better left to those that created them, there’s a difference between a “colonizer in disguise” and a “sad try-hard.” There are important discussions to be had about white supremacy and race struggles that still exist in America today. However, if we claim every instance of a pop star dressing the wrong way a grossly construed form of racism, we will be having “reductive conversation(s)” about whether the newest Zara skirt is offensively stealing the style of an Indian lungi or not, making little progress along the way. While I’m sure there’s someone out there who takes deep offense to the newest fashion trend, these conversations are limited and hold us back from focusing on the real racism in America — the one that offends not just a handful of individuals but a whole class of people. Excessive claims dilute the meaning of class appropriation and run the risk of sounding like a hammer that thinks everything’s a nail. Millennials have developed a “cancel culture” whereby public figures quickly come under fire for culturally appropriated remarks or actions. This concept, however, has been used so sweepingly that deep divisions have formed between cultures, limiting unity and progress. Yes, affirmative action, other reparative measures and just the general goal of respect necessitates we recognize and appreciate different identities, but there’s also worth in coming together as one. Usually, when someone copies another person, it is a form of flattery. Influencers deem it cultural appropriation unless it’s done in a very specific, fine-toothed way. In the real world,
that looks like buying Japaneseinspired pillows from a Japanese market itself because buying it from Urban Outfitters would be inappropriate. I’d argue everyone appropriates culture. Cook a Chinese meal lately without cultural consent? You appropriated. Use a singing technique that’s not from your own culture? A Canadian awardnominee was bullied for that. Wear a qipao to prom and you’re not Chinese? That was the latest social media scandal. Ironically, people of color are “nearly as likely as whites to face accusations” of racial identity theft. Cultural exchange is natural and inherent to growth. There are certainly harmful instances of culture being placed flagrantly out of context. However, when done right, cultural exchange inspires creativity, encourages differentiation and even bonds people. I’d love to see Black and white rappers work together to produce the next greatest hit, instead of white rappers being shunned for not having the cultural angle to sound good. Refusing to include other groups in the exchange of ideas and intellect seems discriminatory to me. People like to make the argument that cultural appropriation is about a power struggle. It’s fine for colonized groups to borrow from each other but wrong for white Americans to do so because of their history of exploitation. However, as David Frum at the Atlantic points out, cultural staples from these groups have also been founded on histories of empires that dominated and exploited other cultures: “The Han Chinese learned to drink tea … from peoples to their south.” James Zwerg fought against racism as a Freedom Rider in the 60s alongside John Lewis. He is a white man who expressed anger toward white supremacists and unapologetically voiced his support for Black citizens. Dana Schutz is an artist who used her talent to speak on the same issues. One is honored as a civil rights advocate and the other an offensive artist, but they might be more similar than one might think. Valentina House can be reached at valhouse@umich.edu.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 30, 2020 — 5A
‘Do I think aliens are real? No.’
The Daily sits down Cam York and Johnny Beecher to talk about hot dogs, Deflategate and Area 51 BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sportds Editor
MOLLY SHEA
Daily Sports Writer
The Daily hockey beat used to run a video series during the 2011-12 season called “Quick Hits.” They were one-on-one interviews with players that covered everyday life and all of its funny moments. Now, it’s back in written format. For the first edition of the semester, The Daily’s Molly Shea and Bailey Johnson sat down with freshmen Cam York and Johnny Beecher to discuss conspiracy theories, Deflategate and if a hot dog is a sandwich. *** This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Molly: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Cam: No. Johnny: I wouldn’t say it is, no. Molly: Why not? It has meat and it has bread, and those are the two main components of a sandwich. Cam: Yeah, but there’s not two pieces of it. Johnny: Yeah that’s true, it’s only one piece of bread. Molly: But isn’t a sub a sandwich? And that’s one piece of bread. Johnny: A sub? Why would you call it a sub? Associate head coach Bill Muckalt walked through the office. Bill: Do you call it a grinder or a sub? Johnny: I call it a sub. Would you say a hot dog’s a sandwich? Bill: You know what, at Portillo’s it might be. I love Portillo’s. Have you been to Portillo’s? Molly: The chocolate cake shake is so good!
Bill: Not only that, the Italian beef with the hot peppers. Ugh, it’s the best. I would call it a grinder, hero, it’s all subs. Johnny: I wouldn’t call a hot dog a sandwich. Cam: I wouldn’t either. Bailey: If the team was stranded on a deserted island, who would survive? Cam: I would say myself, to be honest. Johnny: What? You’d be one of the first to go, man. Bailey: Why do you think it’s you? Cam: I’m a good fisherman, I know how to fish. I can catch fish. Johnny: That is true, you could eat. Cam rubs his hands together like he’s going to start a fire. Cam: I know how to make a fire out of wood. Johnny: That’s a blatant lie. Cam: I’m not kidding. Johnny: I don’t know, I’d probably say (senior goaltender Hayden) Lavigne. He would just be good at the weird stuff and he would be able to do that stuff and survive somehow. Cam: Jeez, he has a family. Molly: If you were a superhero, what would be your power and your name? Cam: Probably to fly, and I would say Forny. Johnny: I don’t know. I’d say super strength or something like that, I don’t know what my name would be. Beech? Molly: Do you guys believe in aliens? Johnny: I think they’re out there somewhere. I feel like there’s gotta be another life form somewhere else in the universe, I don’t know. Cam: I don’t know. We would’ve had an interaction with them already.
Molly: But what if the government’s covering it up? Cam *dead serious*: They wouldn’t do that to us. Bailey: Are there any conspiracy theories y’all believe in? Bill and program assistant Steve Shields entered the office from the smoothie room. Johnny: Hey Shieldsy, you got any conspiracy theories? Steve: I’ve got problems with conspiracy theories. Molly: Which one? Steve: All of ‘em. Molly: The moon landing? Steve: That is the biggest conspiracy I have problems with. Molly: That it was fake or that it was real? Steve: No, the fact that you’re even saying that. I’ve got problems with the moon landing, with flat earth people. Jay “The Beav” Flannelly, known acquaintance of Tom Brady, entered the room. Bill: What’s your favorite Deflategate conspiracy theory? The Beav: Uh, that it even existed. That’s the whole point. Steve: Cheating’s a part of the game. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. The Beav: Tom was never the target of that. I think we know who the target was. I don’t know, his coach? Steve *suddenly reappearing*: Area 51. Molly: You don’t think that’s real? Steve: Do I think that aliens are real? No. There is a place called Area 51, but there’s no UFOs there. Molly: But do UFOs in general exist? Steve: No.
The Italian beef with the hot peppers. Ugh, it’s the best.
Molly: The universe is so big, there’s no way that they don’t. Steve: The universe is so big? Prove it. Molly: It’s constantly expanding. That’s physics. There are billions of galaxies. Steve: If there were intelligent life forms somewhere in the universe, they would secretly come to this small little planet in a spaceship that we could recognize as a spaceship? It doesn’t make sense. Yeah, in theory, 100 years ago, before you knew anything existed beyond our sun, yeah. Yeah there’s people from outer space. But if they’re coming here, they’re coming here to kill us. It’s like the movies. Assistant coach Kris Mayotte, who was standing next to Steve, chimed in. Kris: Area 51’s real, what’s at Area 51 is fabricated.
Cam: Alright, let’s get this interview going. Kris: Where do you gotta go? Johnny: Eat dinner, homework. Cam: Hang out with my girlfriend. Jeez. The coaches trailed back to their half of the office, still arguing about aliens and Area 51. Bailey: Who has the worst hair on the team? Cam: Keto (freshman defenseman Keaton Pehrson). Johnny: I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus. It’s kinda mean. I’d say (sophomore defenseman Nick) Blankenburg right now. He’s got a greasy mullet. Cam: He does have a greasy mullet. We’ll both go with Blankenburg. Keto would be so pissed. Johnny: He’d be mad at that. Molly: When we did this with Keaton and Jack Summers,
I’ve got problems with ... flat earth people.
they said they wanted to be you, Cam. Which one of those two would you rather be? Johnny: Definitely Sums. Cam: Is neither an option? No, I’d be Sums. Molly: Why? Cam: He’s got good flow, he’s a pretty nice person. Bailey: Johnny, what about you? Johnny: Probably Luke Martin. He’s an absolute beauty. He’s one of the big boys with me, so I like that guy a lot. He’s funny. Fun to be around. If you’re him, you’re around him 24/7. Just having a good time. Bailey: Do either of y’all have any useless talents? Johnny: Useless talents? Not really, honestly. I don’t really do weird stuff. Cam: I definitely do, but I can’t think of any. Johnny: Do you like juggling? Cam: I can tie fishing knots really good. Johnny: That’s not useless, though. Cam: That’s true. Johnny: If we’re on the stranded island, you need it.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman defenseman Cam York thinks he could last longer than any other Wolverine if he was stranded on an island.
‘M’ faces bad matchup against ‘Cats Offseason fun helps build chemistry KENT SCHWARTZ
NICHOLAS STOLL
Throughout the season, the Michigan women’s basketball team has been plagued by one issue: turnovers. Last Sunday, against Rutgers, it survived the first half unscathed, taking care of the ball and instead forcing the Scarlet Knights into turnovers. But as the teams came out of the locker room, Rutgers pressed — it needed to cut into the Wolverines’ 17 point lead as soon as possible. It couldn’t, but that wasn’t because Michigan broke through the press. In fact, the Wolverines continuously lost the ball, their turnover margin plummeting to a negative throughout the second half. The Scarlet Knights just couldn’t capitalize, missing uncontested layup after uncontested layup — shooting 34.8 percent in the fourth quarter. “Then towards the end they turned it up a little bit, and we had a couple turnovers,” sophomore forward Naz Hillmon said. “We’re gonna see our strengths and weaknesses in that and figure a couple more things out. With Kayla (Robbins) out, that’s another long person, tall person that could jump out of the gym, get those passes out of the air. But we’re gonna work on it.” In Michigan’s upcoming game against No. 23 Northwestern, the turnover battle will be key. The Wildcats are second in the Big Ten in steals — behind only No. 17 Maryland, which dismantled the Wolverines’ offense earlier in the season, forcing 22 turnovers. Northwestern also has a solid plus-6.7 turnover margin on the season while Michigan is in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten — barely squeaking out a positive ratio at plus-0.9. The turnovers for the Wolverines have been notoriously topsy-turvy, though they rarely have two bad games in a row. After their first game against the Terrapins,
Last weekend, the Michigan softball team took on a new challenge. A challenge that had coach Carol Hutchins worrying whether she or a team member would end up in the emergency room with an axe sticking out of their leg. Fortunately, everyone came out of the axe-throwing excursion unscathed, and the team had crowned an axe champion: junior infielder Taylor Bump. This outing was part of the team’s offseason activities and one of the things the team got to do together that wasn’t directly softball-related. After practicing six days a week the entire offseason, Hutchins decided the team needed to do something fun to get away from the grind. The Wolverines had lunch together after practice, watched the men’s basketball game against Iowa and then she took them to the night’s main event. “We just had fun together,” Hutchins said. “We’ve got to enjoy being around each other. You know, we’re different. We’re all diverse. We don’t all agree about everything, but we’re a team and you’ve got to get along with your teammates. So, we try to create some of those moments.” Despite her fear that someone might put an axe through themself, Hutchins recognized
Daily Sports Writer
Daily Sports Writer
EMMA MATI/Daily
Kim Barnes Arico will need her team to overcome turnover issues Thursday.
they capped their turnovers in the low teens, sustaining a successful portion of their season. Until the rematch. After struggling with turnovers in the last quarter against Rutgers, Michigan will need to continue its pattern of rebounding from large turnover games if it’s to compete Thursday. It’ll also look to continue dominating the glass, where its plus-7.5 rebounding margin is second best in the conference, while the Wildcats are one of three teams in the Big Ten with a negative margin at minus-0.4. Second chance points, as they usually are, will be vital for Michigan against one of the best defenses in the conference — Northwestern holds opponents to 54.9 points per game. But perhaps the biggest challenge for the Wolverines will come at the 3-point line. The Wildcats’ senior forward Abi Scheid stretches the floor and shoots at a team-leading .475 clip, and Michigan has struggled throughout the season to match the momentum booster of the three with its post play.
“Most of the time going into the game (opponents have) had a poor shooting night before or multiple poor shooting nights, so we don’t really — I’m not saying we don’t defend the three — but we don’t exaggerate it as much as we should,” senior guard Akienreh Johnson said last week. “And then in the game when they start hitting them we don’t adjust. So we need to adjust getting out, taking away the shot and giving away the drive more the remainder of the game. Being able to adjust is something we have to consistently have to learn to do.” Northwestern, though, isn’t coming into the game cold from downtown — it shot 40 percent in its last game, and Michigan will come into the match laser focused on defending the 3-point arc. It won’t need to adjust. The Wolverines face a tall task Thursday when they visit the Wildcats, a team that has strengths that appear to perfectly match Michigan’s weaknesses. The Wolverines will need to play one of their best games of the season in order to come out with a win.
We need to adjust to getting out, taking away the shot.
the importance of taking time as a team off the field and what it means for the players. The Wolverines have gone on excursions in the past to find a relief from practice, laser tag being cited as a Hutchins favorite, but typically at the end of the season. In Hutchins’ 36 years of coaching, this is the first time they have done anything in the preseason. This is not to mention the team’s Cuba trip over fall break — also a first. The Wolverines went to the country and spent time with each other as well as with a Cuban softball team. They brought over toiletries, gave the team gloves and dumped out their backpacks at the end of the trip to give to the team. In December, the team had its annual Christmas party where it played a game of white elephant and requipped with gifts of new gloves. This, along with the new experiences provided by the Cuba trip and axe throwing, gave the players a chance to bond with each other. “I mean the most important thing, I think, is getting to know an individual teammate,” sophomore outfielder Lexie Blair said. “That’s what I feel like can build chemistry. … Us doing the team axe throwing, our Christmas parties, going to Cuba together. You kind of get to learn more about each other.” And the hope, for Hutchins, is that the chemistry translates to the field.
Last year, Michigan started out its season 12-10 before coming home and straightening out to 33-3 down the stretch. The slow start could be attributed to a lot of things — competition, readiness, overall performance — but the importance of teamwork and cohesion was not lost on Blair. “Yeah, last year was a really slow start,” Blair said. “It’s just finding that chemistry within the team. Learning to mesh within each other, kind of finding a common ground and working together as one. That’s what you need to find for each team.” Connection. Cohesion. Chemistry. However it’s stated, it’s important to the success of a softball team. Outs are made as a team. Runs are made as a team. Wins and losses come as a team. Blair recognizes this, and so does Hutchins. After losing five senior starters the Wolverines will need to find unity on a relatively young team. And quickly — the season starts in just nine days. It is possible that a trip to Cuba, a Christmas party and an axe throwing competition could have done that for the Wolverines. The only hint will be on the players’ faces. “A team that’s happy together plays better together,” Hutchins said. “No question.” So when the team takes the field for the first time this season on Feb. 7 — watch for smiles.
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
The Michigan softball team increased its chemistry in the offseason with multiple team bonding activities.
Sports
6A — Thursday, January 30, 2020
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
What we did and didn’t learn in Nebraska win
wo months ago, when the Michigan men’s basketball team looked at its upcoming Big Ten schedule, a midweek trip to Lincoln probably didn’t ring any alarm bells. The Wolverines had just beaten now-No. 2 Gonzaga in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game and jumped out to a 7-0 record to start the season. That was then — and it feels like a lifetime ago. Whatever Michigan may have thought at that point CONNOR has been BRENNAN turned on its head. It lost junior forward Isaiah Livers to a groin injury and then a subsequent hip injury. It dropped five of six conference games in January. And to make matters worse, its senior point guard and unquestioned leader Zavier Simpson was suspended Monday for violating team policy. All that is to say, entering Tuesday’s contest, what had previously appeared like a mundane road game was anything but. Without a true road win to date, the Wolverines’ backs were against the wall and they needed to take a step forward. “Every team goes through adversity,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said on Monday afternoon. “Through a process like this, it defines character, and it builds character.” In short, Michigan did take a step forward last night, albeit a small one. Collectively, the team filled the voids left by Livers and Simpson en route to a 79-68 victory over the Big Ten’s bottomdwellers — and looked good doing it. Junior guard Eli Brooks showed once again that he can be depended on both offensively and defensively, registering a stat line of 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists, a block and two steals.
Freshman wing Franz Wagner’s 18-point performance highlighted his potential, while sophomore forward Brandon Johns Jr. — typically the Wolverines’ spark-plug on the boards — had an impressively efficient and career-high 16 points. Others contributed too; sophomore guard David DeJulius took the reins at point and his classmate, Adrien Nunez, played 17 minutes despite recent struggles. And so, Michigan returns to Ann Arbor a bit more comfortable than when it departed. The Wolverines avoided disaster, and now at least have an opportunity to get back into good standing in the Big Ten. “It was a huge win for us,” Howard said after the victory. “To be able to get a road win, seeing the guys stepping up and giving us some minutes — Adrien Nunez, who hadn’t played in a while, but being able to give us a spark. It was a total team effort. Proud of all of our guys.” And yet, given that everything looked so new and different, I feel obliged to ask: Did we learn anything from last night’s win? Anything? Yes, as onlookers, we learned something about this Michigan roster under Howard. The Wolverines responded, away from home, to a cascade of setbacks from the previous two weeks — showing mental fortitude and their acceptance of the “next man up” mentality. “I just liked how everybody stayed aggressive and was confident out there,” Wagner said. “Obviously stuff went wrong, but I liked how we stayed the course. People stepped up and stayed ready.” It’s also fair to say, in Brooks’ 10th double figure game of the season, the junior is a key cog in Michigan’s machine. The Wolverines are 7-3 when he scores more than 10 points, and with Livers sidelined for the foreseeable future, Brooks’ ability to space the floor and knock down shots from the perimeter gives Michigan a
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Juwan Howard was able to overcome the absences of Zavier Simpson and Isaiah Livers on Tuesday, but the win came against 7-14 Nebraska.
much-needed dimension. Additionally, speaking to the team’s depth, we learned that the Wolverines can win without a dominant display from senior center Jon Teske. Despite holding a pronounced height advantage over the Cornhuskers’ 6-foot-9 starting ‘5’ Yvan Ouedraogo, Teske only managed nine points on 4-of-7 shooting. Nevertheless, for the first time this season, Michigan won a game in which Teske didn’t reach double digits offensively. We learned all these things about the Wolverines — they can be perseverant and tough, Eli Brooks is a reliable outlet for them going forward and they’re deeper than we may have thought, winning a game without Livers, Simpson and a stellar game from Teske. What we didn’t learn though, is whether Michigan will turn this taste of momentum into
something more. Record wise, Nebraska is the second-worst team in the Big Ten at 2-8 and 7-14 overall. In his first year in Lincoln, coach Fred Hoiberg has tried to implement the up-tempo offensive philosophy that was so successful during his stint at Iowa State, but doesn’t have the necessary personnel yet. And so, while any win on the road in the Big Ten is a “good win,” they sure as hell aren’t all made equal. Michigan travels to Madison Square Garden at the end of the week to take on a resurgent No. 25 Rutgers, ranked for the first time since 1979. A win in that game would register much higher on the Richter scale than yesterday’s. There is still a tremendous amount of uncertainty swirling around the Wolverines. According to Howard, Simpson’s one-game suspension was going to be “reevaluated” after the Nebraska
game. With no official word yet on his status going forward, it may be a bit naïve to think Simpson will definitely be back by Saturday. Sure, DeJulius and Brooks played well in his stead, but to reiterate, that was against the Cornhuskers — the Scarlet Knights are a different beast. “It was very important to see how much (Zavier) gives us every single day,” Wagner said after Tuesday’s game. “I can see now how much he does except just initiating the offense. There’s a lot more to (Zavier) than just X’s and O’s — to be able to talk, to get everybody involved and everybody ready.” Similarly, after suffering a hip injury in his first game back against Illinois, Livers’ situation is also up in the air. As documented, his absence extends well beyond his 13.6 points per game. His athleticism and ability to space the
floor opens up Michigan’s offense and allows Simpson — when he plays — Brooks, DeJulius and even Wagner to penetrate the opposing defense. Missing that veteran duo may have galvanized the Wolverines on Tuesday, but it seems foolish to believe they can adequately fill in for both Simpson and Livers against better opponents over the next few weeks. So yes, with the pressure on, Michigan bounced back in a big way against Nebraska. But at the same time, you’re quite the idealist if you believe the team is automatically back on track after one road win. Then again, given the circumstances, maybe the Wolverines need to be optimists. Brennan can be reached at conbrenn@umich.edu or on Twitter @ConnrBrennan.
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2B — Thursday, January 30, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
B-SIDE: MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Teenage dirtbags, cherry bombs: Youth in music videos MIRIAM FRANCISCO
2) Lauryn Hill, “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” (1998)
Youth is everywhere in music. Everyone wants it, remembers it, aches to return to it. In music, youth is the time when life is the fullest and the most exciting — late nights, hijinks, drugs, sex, crying and dancing. The days are short; the nights long; the years even longer. In song, youth is the perfect storm of irresponsibility and impressionability. You can do everything and anything, and it all feels important. There are so many songs about youth, about both living it and remembering it. Youth is visual, like all memories are: the fashion, the people and the places. But, of all the songs surrounding the idea of youth, those with particularly interesting music videos stuck out to me while trying to compile a best-of list. Which songs had videos that seemed to accurately ref lect on some aspect of teenagerhood in the era in which they were produced? I narrowed it down to five songs about youth, all of which have music videos that feel especially “of their era,” acting as a visual record of the song’s subject.
Is this song about being young? I think so. I think it’s about the competing interests of youth — dressing right, having fun, falling in love without getting your heart broken. She’s instructing youth on how to find self-worth within impossibly challenging conditions. The problem, of course, is that the hot desires of young adulthood often run in opposition to other longings. Can you be cool and true to yourself? Respected and silly? These are the questions Hill addresses. The song could be considered preachy, but instead it’s moving. “Now, Lauryn is only human,” she sings. “Don’t think I haven’t been through the same predicament.” And the music video! It’s something else — a split-screen extravaganza of the late ‘50s, early ‘60s sock hop aesthetic on the left and ‘90s Afropunk on the right. The video’s concept drives home the central point of the song: The same struggles will follow men and women through every generation. Youth are prone to compromising their values in search of love or a cure for loneliness, and they always have been. “How you gonna win, when you ain’t right within?” she asks. “Come again, come again, come again, come again.”
Daily Arts Writer
1) John Mellencamp, “Cherry Bomb” (1988) “That’s when a sport was a sport, “Mellencamp sings, “And groovin’ was groovin’ / And dancin’ meant everything / We were young and we were improvin’.’” Who doesn’t want to be improvin’? The song is everything you want: sentimental but upbeat, with lyrics begging to be karaoked. There’s the requisite melancholy for days gone by, but what’s most palpable is Mellencamp’s joy at remembering the wonder and excitement of his adolescence. The music video is a moving collage of absurdity and sincerity: Found footage of teens in the ‘50s and ‘60s, accompanied by shots of a suspender-clad Mellencamp singing next to a jukebox as a teenage couple dances and feels each other up. Sometimes, the camera even cuts to Mellencamp doing his best Neil Young impression on a beach, wearing a denim jacket with no shirt.
3) Wheatus, “Teenage Dirtbag” (2000) BBB wants us to think he’s all about rebellion and angst, but this song is about something far more tender: a crush. Do you remember the innocent fantasies of high school infatuation? It was a secret thrill — hoping that special person would sit next to you at lunch, or that they’d come up to you at a party, or that you’d be put in the same homeroom class. This is that feeling — a delicate hope, mixed with fear and self-doubt — wrapped up in a gleefully screamy alt-rock package. The music video is a melding together of original footage from the 2000 movie “Loser,” starring none other than Jason Biggs of “American Pie” fame. In the movie, Jason’s character has a crush on a girl who’s having an
SPOTLIGHT OTTAWA
affair with a terribly pretentious English teacher (played by Greg Kinnear, of course). Problematic source material aside, the music video is such an embodiment of the early 2000s that, when watching, it feels as if long-dormant memories are surfacing rather than being created. The plot of the video is a daydream in which a boy discovers his crush is also a teenage dirtbag who loves Iron Maiden. “She’s walkin’ over to me, this must be fake / My lip starts to shake,” sings Brown. Biggs wakes up and the fantasy ends, but the world of the song — being a teenager and an outcast, hoping that the person that you love will reveal themselves to be just like you — lingers. 4) Bronski Beat, “Smalltown Boy” (1984) One of the top comments on the music video for “Smalltown Boy” is “I forgot the name of the song, so i searched ‘Gay train song 80s’ and this was the first video.” Yes, this is the seminal gay train song of the ‘80s, and it’s earned its place in the canon of music surrounding the struggles and joys of LGBTQ+ identity. “Smalltown Boy” is the sad prequel to “Take Your Mama” by the
In song, youth is the perfect storm of irresponsibility and impressionability. You can do everything and anything, and it all feels important
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Scissor Sisters, cataloguing the grief of a teenage boy who must seek his fortune outside the prejudices of his hometown. “Mother will never understand why you had to leave,” sings Jimmy Somerville. “But the answers you seek will never be found at home.”
Somerville’s signature falsetto, supported by a synth-heavy beat, narrates the story in terms vague enough that the song’s meaning isn’t always obvious. The music video, however, makes it painfully clear what the song is about. Somerville plays a gay teenager, riding a train and reminscing about his emerging sexuality and the reactions of his peers and parents. The song’s subject was especially groundbreaking at the time of its release in 1984, when the AIDS crisis was in full swing. The video, a nosedive into mid-‘80s Britain, is a moving portrait that ends on an unexpectedly happy shot of the protagonist stepping off the train with his new friends. The scene freezes, Somerville grinning at last. 5) Asher Roth, “I Love College” (2009) The lyrics of “I Love College” are probably not going to win any awards. “Man I love college (Hey!) / And I love drinking (Hey!) / I love women (Hey!) / Man I love college (Hey!).” It’s a silly romp of frat-rap about partying and drinking and weed and girls. But the music video for “I Love College” is a gem, displaying the conspicuous carelessness of party culture in full swing. Roth makes his way through the rooms of a house where a burn-it-down party is in full swing. Revelers make out, throw a mattress off a balcony and play strip poker. Someone dressed in a dinosaur costume simulates sex with a keg. Roth grins next to an unconscious, Sharpiecovered partier getting a buzz cut, singing, “Don’t pass out with your shoes on.” It’s dumb and dangerous and it feels weirdly familiar, like this 11-year-old party could have happened last weekend. It’s hard to say anything about being young without falling into the dangerous territory of aphorisms. These artists say something new, but they also say all the old things. Run away, find yourself, fall in love. “When I think back about those days / All I can do is sit and smile,” sings Mellencamp. Go West, young man — you’re only young once.
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘EVERYTHING I WANTED’
SINGLE REVIEW: ‘B.I.T.C.H.’
DARKROOM AND INTERSCROPE
ROC NATION
Hot Girl Meg marks her return this winter with a new single: “B.I.T.C.H.” The new single will appear on her upcoming studio album Suga, named after Stallion’s new alter ego. The song samples Tupac’s All Eyez on Me song “Rather Be Ya N**ga” (a track that samples Bootsy Collins’s single “I’d Rather Be with You”). “B.I.T.C.H” embodies the same swagger and groove as its throwback inspiration, but with Megan’s own sexy twist. Whereas Tupac wants to get with his muse, Megan maintains her independence and commands respect on her track. “I’d rather be a B.I.T.C.H., ’cause that’s what you gonna call me when I’m trippin’ anyway / You know you can’t control me, baby / You need a real one in your life,” she asserts in the
chorus. Despite the vintage bubble wrap, “B.I.T.C.H.” does not run the risk of sounding out of place from Megan’s standard discography. The tune is just as sexy and fun as it was when Tupac first introduced it in 1996, but with a raunchy
“B.I.T.C.H.” Megan Thee Stallion Roc Nation
twist; this rendition’s twinkly, romantic plinking is a lot more downplayed under slight trap inflections. With “B.I.T.C.H.” Stallion doesn’t want to appeal to anyone so much as she strives to position herself as a force
worth reckoning with. She is cool, calm, talented and sexy without having to comply with anyone’s standards. The banger flourishes over a bouncy, funky beat. Sultry whispers of “I’d rather keep it real with ya” echo to signal the delicate vulnerability that tinges the track. Despite Megan’s reputation and her assertion of dominance and independence, she recognizes her man’s ignorance of her feelings. It’s not that she’s drawing his attention so much as she’s pushing him away; she refuses to waste her time on someone who won’t devote any to her. — Diana Yassin, Daily Arts Writer
Right before the final award of the night was announced at the 2020 Grammys, Billie Eilish could be seen whispering, “Please don’t be me.” Moments later, her name was called — making Eilish the night’s biggest winner. Her music video “everything i wanted” details the fear that comes with her kind of fame. Eilish has never been one to shy away from dark subject matters. However, “everything i wanted” feels distinctly personal. Not only did Eilish direct the video herself, her brother and collaborator, FINNEAS, is her only co-star. It opens up with Billie driving Finneas through a sunset San Francisco-esque cityscape. Yet as the pattern of skyscrapers repeat,
blinking along to the music, it becomes clear that she’s really driving through her dreamscape. According to an interview with BBC Radio 1, the song itself is based on a dream Eilish had in which she committed suicide and everyone turned
“Everything I Wanted” Billie Eilish Interscope on her. As horrifying as that sounds, Billie drives blankfaced. She doesn’t need to acknowledge the lyrics that weave together her imagerelated anxieties, they already feel present — and heavy.
“everything i wanted” ends ominously. Billie and Finneas drive onto the beach and then f loor it into the ocean, where the car sinks. In these final scenes, it’s obvious that this video is as much about Eilish’s mental health as it is about her relationship to her brother. He mouths the lyrics “they don’t deserve you” and takes her hand with a smile as they go deeper into the water. This allows for a glimmer of optimism. Although they’ve both been consumed by the darkness of being in the spotlight, they still have each other — and a lot more success — ahead of them. Katie Beekman, — Daily Arts Writer
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Thursday, January 30, 2020 — 3B
B-SIDE: TV NOTEBOOK
The TV of our youth and how it shapes our realities SOPHIA YOON Daily TV Editor
Only the lucky ones get to experience the highs and lows of human existence. Despite how special your parents insisted you were when you were a kid, some emotions are universal — happiness, sadness, nostalgia, heartbreak — these emotions that simmer in our core are what bonds us as humans. But emotions are delicate. The same happiness you feel when you get accepted into your favorite college can easily be elicited by your two favorite fictional characters finally confessing their feelings for one another. The same deep sadness you get from failing an exam could easily be duplicated by an unexpected fatal car crash in your favorite television drama series. The cause for these emotions may change over time, but the feelings they stir within us remain the same. I remember being devastated by Troy and Gabriella’s separation in “High School Musical 3,” which, over time, evolved into the way I felt when Nick and Jess broke up that one time in “New Girl.” Different causes, different stakes, same pit of emptiness. In hindsight, sure, I can now judge things more realistically. Troy and Gabriella probably should have gone separate ways. By the time I watched “La La Land” with my early-teenage sister, I could tell I was old by how I appreciated the realistic ending whilst she was heartbroken over it. At her age, I would’ve likely felt the same way, but now, I can’t even imagine being so hung up over something that wouldn’t have been right. I tried to help her appreciate the reality behind it, but to her, it was a cinematic tragedy. Though we’re only four years apart, there was something about our age gap that made us
There are few shows that bring me back in the same way that music might, mainly because we listen to music to match our emotions, while we often watch TV to make us feel emotions.
different enough to see Mia and Sebastian’s amorous demise in opposite ways. I’m not sure when the switch happened. Maybe it’s because I realized “Gossip Girl” was feeling a little incestuous, or more practically, maybe it was because sometimes in my later teenage years, I was given a glimpse of what adults have been threatening me with my entire life: the real world. All of a sudden, I was expected to know not just my career path, but also my five-year plan and how to avoid scams. Life wasn’t so glamorous anymore, and I started to watch television in the same way. Call me jaded, but “The Office” became funniest when I realized that coworkers could really be that stupid and offices really do waste that much time on a daily basis. “Parks and Recreation” is at its peak when you realize that characters like Councilman Jamm exist in real
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life and make up over half of Congress. When shows can cleverly mimic the chaos we experience on a daily basis, it becomes more real to us the longer we live. Still, everything feels like a finality. When I was younger, and massconsumed “Riverdale”-esque shows thinking that they were the epitome of television, nothing else appealed to me. I’ll watch shows like this for the rest of my life, and it’s all I really need, I thought. Embarrassing, but there’s a reason why I can barely remember the shows I was addicted to when I was a teenager. They were iterations of one another, and looking back, they were as micro in perspective as we are when we’re younger. I suppose I can’t bash on these shows entirely. For teens, they provide comfort — an escape from mundane life. Their impracticality isn’t exactly what teenagers are worried about when they watch them. For a lot of teenagers, raw emotion is really all they need to feel when they watch television. All they need is a stretched image of the life that they secretly hoped they could live — a high school drama they could vicariously live through, despite the absurdity of it all. There’s a side of me that wonders whether there’s any nostalgia tied into this mess. I’ve rewatched plenty of shows too many times, and while I don’t get the same intensity of reactions that I did from my first time, I’m temporarily brought back to the headspace I was in at that moment. There are few shows that bring me back in the same way that music might, mainly because we listen to music to match our emotions, while we often watch tv to make us feel emotions. Most of the time, I watch television in random places: in bed, on the treadmill, when I’m supposed to be working. Watching a show straight through means that, no matter what mood we’re in, the show can be factored into our schedule. When we listen to music, or even watch movies, it’s more of an emotional commitment — most people carefully tailor them to act
parallel with how we feel in an instance. I realize I might have contradicted myself multiple times throughout the duration of this recorded stream of consciousness. The reality
When a creator loves their show, you can tell. And that care is what we search for when we’re older, because it means that our microscopic presence in the world is acknowledged. We’re seen.
is that television serves different purposes in our life: a distraction, white noise, a mood booster, an excuse to bond with a loved one. As we continue to grow older, our search for more doesn’t stop with television, and it likely never will. This doesn’t mean shows like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” or “The Bachelor” lose all value — even a trash fire is entertaining sometimes — but it will never be as satisfying as a show that draws you in from the deepest parts of your core and keeps you there for reasons that you might not be able to explain. When a creator loves their show, you can tell. And that care is what we search for when we’re older, because it means that our microscopic presence in the world is acknowledged. We’re seen.
B-SIDE: BOOKS NOTEBOOK
Adolescent angst and Eugenides’ ‘The Virgin Suicides’ chalk it up to any number of reasons: selfishness, illusions of importance or even blatant hypocrisy. Regardless, “The Virgin Suicides” highlights the superficiality inherent in this reaction to tragedy. In contrast to the clear parallels I saw between my experiences and those of the Lisbon sisters, the similarities I found between the experiences of the neighborhood boys and my own are a bit more indirect. The neighborhood boys are problematic to say the least, but they do embody the agony of being an emotional and distraught pre-pubescent middle schooler. As someone who has always been shy and, consequently, never great at making new friends, I recognized the longing for friendship born out of their emotional isolation. Though my own experiences with this were more akin to what my friend terms “friend crushes,” (or, meeting someone who you think seems really cool, but you are too nervous to actually try to be their friend) the underlying social anxiety, over-analyzation and daydreaming that the narrators experience rings familiar.
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TATE LEFRENIER For The Daily
I am not the first to say that the later years of middle school and early high school were hell. Nor will I be the last. That must be one of the few universal truths of childhood. And as someone who has struggled with mental illness, especially so in those oh-so-cringeworthy years, those pains of adolescence were only amplified. Mental illness is by no means uncommon — my experiences aren’t unique — but there are still a few emotions and sensations that I have never been able to translate fully into words, nor have I seen others have much luck with the feat. So, when I read Jeffrey Eugenides’s novel “The Virgin Suicides,” I was caught off guard. Narrated by a group of now-grown neighborhood boys several decades after the events of the main story, the novel is about the successive suicides of the five Lisbon sisters and the boys’ desperate attempts to uncover why these girls of American suburbia killed themselves. The novel explores themes of sex and sexuality, femininity and misogyny, mental illness and emotional isolation, taboos and all the weird, gross and sticky feelings that accompany the early teen years. What was so interesting about this novel is that, somehow, both the narrators and the sisters articulated some aspect of my own experiences with mental illness in middle and high school. The experiences of these characters obviously don’t perfectly align with my own: I can’t speak to the experiences of those who are objectified, sexualized and repressed, nor can I say I’ve ever shared the misogynistic views of the narrators. However, the community and characters portrayed ring familiar nonetheless. From the obsessive and insulting way the community sensationalizes and elevates the five young girls following their
deaths, to the deep social anxiety and desperate loneliness that both the neighborhood boys and the five sisters exhibit, this book was an emotional echo of what I experienced and saw in the early days of my struggle with mental illness. Most ref lective of my adolescent years was the novel’s depiction of the Lisbon sisters. In particular, the physical and emotional isolation the remaining four sisters endured in the wake of Cecilia’s death captured my own persistent, pre-teen feeling of estrangement. After about a year of the community’s collective obsession over Cecilia’s suicide, the other four Lisbon girls fall into a passive acceptance of their grim reality and grow cynical of the world around them. They seem disillusioned by the superficiality and hypocrisy of the community, their feeling of disconnect only amplified further by their entrapment in the echo chamber of suicidality. I felt trapped in a similar mindset for years, but the similarities run even deeper. Towards the end of middle school, I began to notice that when tragedies and deaths occurred, people who never associated themselves with the individuals in question began to ref lect on how well they knew them. And while this is not something that is exclusive to youth, going through such a difficult time myself made me see these fairweather mourners in a different light. The narrators note that a bench donated in honor of the girls’ memory labelled them as the “daughters of this community, despite how secluded the Lisbon sisters were from the rest of the community,” Moving beyond the clear irony of the bench, the most frustrating phenomenon the book depicts is the narrators’ reductionary idealization of and projection onto five girls who they, in reality, seldom talked to. “They were too beautiful for this world, they were perfect, they were so kind…” As I mentioned earlier, performative claims of personal connection in the aftermath of a death are a very common phenomenon. One could
The experiences of these characters obviously don’t perfectly align with my own: I can’t speak to the experiences of those who are objectified, sexualized and repressed, nor can I say I’ve ever shared the misogynistic views of the narrators. However, the community and characters portrayed ring familiar nonetheless.
It’s been years since middle school, and I’m guessing that for most people reading this, looking back on those times isn’t at the top of your to-do list. But, with a book as entrenched in the nuanced horrors of middle school as “The Virgin Suicides,” it’s difficult not to remember that time period. As opposed to the community depicted in “The Virgin Suicides,” we, as readers, don’t need to remain stagnant, obsessing over the past. From those terrible adolescent years emerges (hopefully) an individual who can look back on that time and appreciate how much growth has occurred and how much growth there is to come. From stories such as these, of those who can never hope to understand why suicides occur, of others who are disillusioned and objectified by the world around them, we can recognize why growth beyond our adolescence is so important, and how much clinging to narrow and reductionist views can warp our realities. As we move into the future, the problems we face will change, and we will as well.
4B —Thursday, January 30, 2020
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
B-SIDE: MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Youth, nostalgia and growth in MGMT’s albums ANDREW PLUTA
Daily Book Review Editor
Sometimes an album’s lyrical content alludes to themes that explicitly or tangentially reflect the experiences and mentalities of younger people. Sometimes an album features a sound that evokes a youthful energy, like through springy chords or energetically chaotic melodies. Often the mere happenstance of an album’s release date aligning with the listener’s childhood can grant it a youthful quality in and of itself. MGMT managed to fulfill this trifecta as they unearthed the anthology of adolescent anthems better known as Oracular Spectacular. Though this quality of the album is obvious enough in isolation, it is impossible to ignore when the album is held alongside MGMT’s most recent fulllength creation, Little Dark Age. The differences in age begin to reveal themselves long before the first second of audio is played. Oracular Spectacular’s tracklist alone sets the tempo for the type of energy the record conveys as tracks like “Kids” and “The Youth” catch the listener’s attention as they hover above the
The song then goes from adolescent to altogether childlike, with the lyrics now reminiscing of playground days and an ultimate carelessness that couldn’t even by touched by later aspirations of living carelessly. Those were the days
play button. Conversely, “When You Die” and “Days That Got Away” indicate that Little Dark Age lacks the upbeat, carefree emotions of its predecessor of 11 years. But the forwardness of these indications does not undermine the substance of the actual songs, which further their titles’ indications of distinct points of maturity while contributing to equally distinct and high-quality albums. In the very first verse of Oracular Spectacular, MGMT wastes no time caricaturing themselves as reckless young adults; they do so in a manner so hyperbolic that one would expect their words to come from a sitcom elder before telling the neighborhood delinquents to vacate the lawn. In the opening seconds of “Time to Pretend,” after asserting that they’re in the prime of their lives, MGMT have laid out their goals — getting rich quick, driving luxury cars, doing a medley drugs, marrying models, the works. As fluttery synths continue to remind the reader not to worry, MGMT defend their shortsightedness, pointing out that a short but eventful life beats out a monotonous job anyday. The song then goes from adolescent to altogether childlike, with the lyrics now reminiscing of playground days and an ultimate carelessness that couldn’t even be
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touched by later aspirations of living carelessly. Those were the days. MGMT’s discussion of what they wanted to do takes on a sharply different meaning when it appears in the Little Dark Age song “One Thing Left to Try.” The more distorted and solemn synths that permeate through this album help the group convey their maturity and mortality on this track and others. MGMT profess their fear of dying knowing they had something left on their bucket list and imply that there will inevitably be something left on this list. Yes, this is the same MGMT that wants nothing more than to die young after a bout of euphoria and could not be less interested in the nuances of adulthood. But dying young and experiencing highs still remain on their mind, as though MGMT are unsure if they are fully ready to abandon their prior thrill-seeking, indifferent-to-death mentality. The bridge of the song finds itself in a tug-of-war as “Do you want to keep us alive?” and “Do you want to feel alive” are repeated over and over, as though the two are paradoxically mutually exclusive. This segment may hint that MGMT are scantly more mature than they were 11 years ago, but really, it parallels the nostalgia they expressed in “Time to Pretend.” Just as they once fantasized about the comfort of a childhood lacking responsibilities, they now remember the excitement of being a reckless, adrenaline-seeking adolescent. There is always something in the future left to do, and there is always something to reflect on from the past. And there truly are concepts worth reflecting on from MGMT’s past. There are insightful moments throughout Oracular Spectacular, but they can be overshadowed by the more pervasive and less overtly thought-provoking dialogue. Perhaps this is reflective of adolescents — we are capable of birthing great ideas when we put our minds to it, but we’re not always putting our minds to it. There’s no denying that the notions of living in the moment established in “Time to Pretend” play a key role in the duration of the album; their interlockings with upbeat chords and psychedelic, dream-like sounds and imagery give the album its recognizably youthful sound. But the progressive warnings and beliefs sprinkled throughout the record are equally representative
of the un-aged vigor that the album exudes. Throughout “Kids,” MGMT repeatedly urge the listener to be sustainable and wary of their usage of the Earth’s resources. “Control yourself, take only what you need from it.” Their proposed wariness extends to monetary resources as well. In “The Handshake,” MGMT stresses that people’s losses in the acquisition of great wealth can outweigh the wealth itself. “Black credit cards and shoes / You can call all the people you want / But it’s you who’s being used.” Maybe they’re more than just adolescent heathens. The problems tackled in Little Dark Age tend to be more individualized, but they are also the ones that younger people — especially those described in MGMT’s debut album — are content not to concern themselves with just yet. The younger MGMT seem more than content with lustful, passionate exchanges like the one in “Electric Feel,” but Little Dark Age is punctuated by the mixed results of sought relationships. “She Works Out Too Much” and “When You Die” highlight the frustrations of someone who is at the age to settle down but can’t find success. Fortunately, the cycle might be broken in the `80s sounding piece “Me and Michael,” as the title pair are “solid as they come” and may end up having the enduring long-term relationship that many in their thirties yearn for. There is another recently-developed, close attachment analyzed in Little Dark Age. “TSLAMP” stands for “Time Spent Looking At My Phone,” and it is time that MGMT resents. Often disregarded as a boomer-centric ideology projected upon younger generations, the condemnation of phone usage in the song is actually self-critical for MGMT. The group expresses personal disgust — over an inability to look away from the phone, over a terror at the prospect of its battery dying, over a love for the inanimate object. This exemplifies the album’s overarching nostalgia. MGMT recognize that their struggles with mortality, relationships and phones were much less prevalent in Oracular Spectacular’s 2007. But they accept that they’re at a little dark age, and they’re working and willing to get past it.
B-SIDE: FILM NOTEBOOK
Youth as a process in ‘Lady Bird’ and ‘Frances Ha’ ANISH TAMHANEY Daily Film Editor
So, I have this theory. Protagonists Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson of the 2017 film, “Lady Bird” and Frances Halladay of the 2012 film “Frances Ha” are the same character. If you’ve seen both of their eponymous movies, maybe you’ve instinctively understood their superficial connections to one another; Both are from Sacramento, attend school in New York and explore the concept of youth with unmistakably bright verve. Yet, to pretend that their connective tissue is coincidence would be silly. They are both pieces of Greta Gerwig’s own experiences (she wrote and directed “Lady Bird” on top of penning “Frances Ha”). For me, it’s impossible to totally separate the characters, because, despite their myriad differences, they speak together in a pricklingly honest way about what it means to become an adult amid the brilliance, failures and compromises of one’s own dreams. “Sophie and I are the same person with different hair.” Let’s be clear about something. Where Frances and Lady Bird are similar — in their confident insistence on their own goals, the economic constraints on their passions and a clarity in communication that leaps out of them even when they aren’t speaking — they are vastly different too. Lady Bird is frequently stoic, incessant and self-certain about her desires, while Frances often holds back with immeasurable wisdom. But these divergent character inf lections are what make their connection so fascinating. If “Lady Bird” explores the idealism and the beckoning promise of growing up, then “Frances Ha” admits the necessary, all-consuming strife that comes with that pursuit. Lady Bird’s dreams are soaring, luminous promises more than they are tangible things. She wants to move out of what she dubs “the Midwest of California” and expand her cultural horizons. She wants the world to know who she is. Frances, while never explicitly shying away from any of these hopes, finds herself constrained by her (literally) gray surroundings. For her, the steps in achieving what she wants are often sacrifices. Staying on a lease with her roommate means damaging her relationship with her boyfriend. Flying to France for two days to see a colleague is an utter and lonely waste. Moreover, while Lady Bird’s friends possess a similarly unbridled optimism towards their dreams, Frances’s become stilted and hideously practical with adulthood. Nearly every word out of Lady Bird’s mouth is a declaration, a fact or an idea she means to make fact, whether it be her own stern insistence of her nickname or a heated blow towards her mother: “You give me a number for how much it cost to raise me, and I’m going to get older and make a lot of money and write you a check for what I owe you so that I NEVER HAVE TO SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN.” Perhaps Frances’s only comparably open moment is her monologue about love: “sort of like how they say other dimensions exist all around us but we don’t have the ability to perceive them. That’s ... that’s what I want out of a relationship.” Yet, upon this profound offering, her adult friends (mostly couples) merely nod and stare in silence. For them, the reality of love is likely a shade of Frances’ moving characterization. And regardless of whether her words are a futile wish or a demonstration of her mystical patience, it doesn’t matter. Lady Bird’s proud and electrifying defiance strikes eager, convivial peers. Frances’s words bounce off of deaf ears. “I just got a tax rebate. You wanna go to dinner?”
Gerwig has demonstrated an uncanny ability to weave in threads of economic anxiety into her characters in a way that feels simultaneously real, essential and somehow optimistic. This is integral to both films; despite the differences in how Lady Bird and Frances articulate their wishes, they both encounter formidable financial obstacles in realizing them.
For me, it is impossible to totally seperate the characters because, despite their myriad differences, they speak together in a pricklingly honest way about what it means to become an adult amid the brilliance, failures and compromises of one’s own dreams
For Lady Bird, this economic anxiety manifests in the struggle of paying student loans. For her, the higher cost of attending school in New York is about so much more than the monetary value; she sees the city as a vibrant expression of the eccentric, marrow-deep creativity she has harbored inside of her for her whole life. For Frances, New York holds all of the same promise — it’s a stage where Frances can pursue her dreams of dancing. At the same time, the everyday economic struggles she faces come at direct cost to her — both socially and professionally. Moving in with her new friends means risking their frustration when she’s fired from a Christmas show at her dance company. In the midst of achieving her true aspirations, the limits of paying her bills have bitingly real consequences. On the other hand, Lady Bird’s ignorance about her own family’s financial burdens lasts until those burdens implicate her directly — refinancing a mortgage to
pay student loans, shame at the comparative appeal of her house compared to her classmates. The sacrifices Frances and Lady Bird must make due to their socioeconomic statuses may differ, and so do their ultimate outcomes. For Frances, adulthood salvation comes in the form of compromise, keeping an artistically meaningless office job at her old job in order to also hone her choreography skills. Lady Bird’s reckoning in the last few moments we see her — or perhaps, Christine’s, since here she reverts to her given name — are less overtly economic, but imply a transaction too. At a greater cost to her own family, she has moved far away from Sacramento. That distance should be freeing, but Christine’s ambiguous, unsure expression suggests otherwise. Gerwig, Master of the Self-Portrait One pleasant surprise from the ending of Gerwig’s “Little Women” was the juxtaposition of the character Jo March onto the life of source text author Louisa May Alcott. The writerdirector turns Jo into the narrator of the story we’re watching, which demonstrates Gerwig’s understanding of the relationship between art and the artist. For Gerwig and those that love her work, that journey is surely worth the price. Beginning as a New York actress, in circumstances not dissimilar to Halladay’s, she has become without a doubt one of the most exciting directors today. To create films centered around their author is a bold and impressive feat if executed with the indelible care that Gerwig has. And between Lady Bird, Frances Halladay and Jo March, Gerwig shows genuinely impressive vulnerability in articulating the kinds of obstacles that the creators of art face. But in the search for an optimistic ending, perhaps one has to look no further than Gerwig herself, who has championed her own experiences in service of a parable that her whole career has been building to: the harrowing, surging, all-consuming process of making art can be artful in itself.
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B-SIDE COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
THE JOFFREY BALLET
Sacrifice and your sanity: A look at children in dance ZOE PHILLIPS Senior Arts Editor
In 2011, a 12 year-old girl sat in her desk chair facing away from a computer in a dimly lit California bedroom. A film crew recorded as she worked on math homework. Later, the same girl stood in a dance studio, her small frame covered in only a blue leotard and pink tights and her right leg lifted at a 180-degree angle. Her arms rested delicately in ballet’s fourth position, and she balanced her lifted body on only the ball of her left foot. The girl was Miko Fogarty, a featured dancer in the 2012 documentary “First Position” by Bess Kargman, which covered the lives of seven children, ranging in age from 10 to 17, in their pursuit of success at the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition. The award-winning film shed light into the unknown world of blistered toes and broken dreams that is a ballet student’s reality. Though the 90-minute documentary offered many gems of insight into the pressure placed on children
in pursuit of success in ballet, Miko’s story might be the most interesting. By the time “First Position” was filmed, she had already begun homeschooling in order to allow more time for ballet classes. Her family had moved houses to be closer to the dance studio and her mother had hired a stretching coach to build on Miko’s existing elasticity. Her young body was well on its way to being molded into an idealized vision of the perfect ballerina: thin, stretchy, and strong. Beyond the physique, though, she was truly an exceptional dancer. She could balance and turn with mouth-watering precision and her arms moved through the air like graceful droplets of water in the gentle wind. She performed with unprecedented strength and grace beyond her years, and in doing so caught the attention of millions of fans. Videos of her competition appearances garnered international attention and her Instagram account accrued hundreds of thousands of followers. In every sense of the word, she was one of ballet’s first “inf luencers.” She was also, in every sense of the word, a child. But young Fogarty didn’t
seem to mind. In the movie, she told filmmakers, “I think I’ve just had the right amount of childhood and the right amount of ballet.” She was content with the long hours, sore muscles and lack of sleepovers. She loved it that much. This isn’t a foreign concept to dancers — smile while you lift your head, point your toes, turn out your feet and you’ll be on your way to finding a job. That’s what Fogarty did — in 2015, she joined the corps de ballet of England’s prestigious Birmingham Royal Ballet. The world sat back and waited. We figured it’d be a year, maybe two, before she climbed her way to prima ballerina. But 12 months later, Fogarty was nowhere to be found. Her instagram sat untouched and her stage appearances were nonexistent. She stayed in the dark for several years before reappearing as a junior at the University of California, Berkely, studying biology. She’d completely started over. Most of the ballet world, shocked as they were, supported her drastic shift. Many still follow her pre-med journey with as much fanfare as they did her ballet, invested in her success no matter where
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she finds it. This has been heartwarming to watch, and Fogarty spoke openly about her appreciation for the positive reactions. Nevertheless, her story remains an interesting perspective on the darker side of children in dance. Ballet favors the young. Whether this is good or bad is often beside the point — above all, it is necessary. As choreographers push for increasingly diverse and athletic movement, dancers push for more strength, more f lexibility, more speed, more grace. They ask as much (and even more) of their bodies as NFL players, and one can only do that for so long. An athlete only has so many seasons before their body is too tired or broken to keep going. With that limit in sight, the inspiration to start as soon as possible is strong. Dancers will typically join a company toward the end of high school; often, promising candidates will be offered contracts at 16. To get to a professional level by then, most ballet students start training before the age of five, usually as early as three. This dedication is often glorified through depictions like “First Position,” in which audiences oggle the lives of performative glory led by children decades younger than them, but behind the stage curtain there is often more to the story. When Miko Fogarty reappeared after her hiatus, she told stories of serious eating disorders, sexual abuse from her childhood ballet teacher and a distinct lack of joy that started long before she quit. Ballet’s reliance on the historically thin lines of a human body unfortunately makes eating disorders common (though we have recently seen an increase in prevention
education), and the skewed power dynamics borne out of over-traditionalized non-verbal classroom atmospheres leads to a heartbreaking number of stories in the #MeToo era. Plenty of people write about this. Among these issues, as important as they are, I notice one that is harder to discern: the construction of a child’s reality. For dancers like Fogarty, ballet becomes synonymous with life at a very young age. Rehearsal quickly becomes more important than school and social lives are replaced with technique class. In “First Position,” 12-yearold Fogarty told the world that “most kids my age, they’re not 100 percent sure what they’re going to do, but I know I’m going to do ballet for the rest of my life.” In the context of
my life’s unknown opportunity, hearing young Fogarty speak with such confident tunnel vision makes me deeply sad. The dance industry does this a lot. Teachers push students to stretch more and balance longer all with the end goal of becoming a professional. In doing so, ballet dancers are never given the chance to find themselves at a time when identity formation is at its peak: adolescence. In doing so, we create exhilarating athletes with gorgeous physical capabilities, but we do not create artists. We do not give students time to develop the one concept that makes dance dance. As a result, we’re left with thousands of students onstage at competitions performing pieces wrought with emotions that they themselves have never experienced. It’s misguided, hollow and annoying to watch. I don’t intend to ref lect on Fogarty’s life for her. Perhaps this path was exactly what she needed, and there is nothing wrong with having changed careers. To see anyone taking control of their happiness is a success story to me. That said, I believe there is and always should be room for life alongside dance. In a YouTube series on New York City Ballet, principal dancer Sara Mearns once said it took a debilitating back injury to give her the chance to become an adult. There should be room for mental balance outside of physical injury. Balance, as Mearns acknowledges, is a prerequisite for artistry. By forgetting to encourage artistry, we disable dance students in ballet and life. Just as we construct and reward a world of dedication, then, we must construct a world of freedom, too.
Young Fogarty didn’t seem to mind. In the movie, she told filmmakers, “I think I’ve just had the right amount of childhood and the right amount of ballet.” She was content with the long hours, sore muscles and lack of sleepovers. She loved it that much. This isn’t a foreign concept to dancers — smile while you lift your head, point your toes, turn out your feet and you’ll be on your way to finding a job.
the film, this statement was inspirational. She was working hard — most likely harder than you. She was dedicated, driven and focused. But she was also not even a teenager yet. She had never consciously lived in a state of not knowing what one wants to do. As a woman who lives in constant fearful excitement of
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
Luke Geddes talks ‘junker mindset’ at Literati reading CAROLINE ATKINSON For The Daily
Compared to the standard lively chatter and packed tables of a typical afternoon, there was a hushed silence as I climbed the stairs of the popular Ann Arbor coffee shop above Literati Bookstore just before 7:00 pm. Instead of the sunlight illuminating study groups and friends working side-by-side, five empty rows of chairs faced a podium in front of a dark window. Slowly, about a dozen tentative audience members filtered in — some in pairs but many of them alone — careful to leave several empty seats between each of them. They ranged in age, some carrying heavy college backpacks and some with graying hair. It was clear that this was not a sellout event, but a quiet and comforting appreciation for each other’s presence passed from person to person. This strange crew gathered at Literati on an overcast Thursday evening to listen to author Luke Geddes speak about his new book “Heart of Junk” as part of the bookstore’s “Fiction at Literati” series. Geddes himself fit right into the shy yet distinctly eccentric atmosphere of the coffee shop. With his round glasses, brightly striped sweater and white tennis shoes, he could easily be mistaken for a college freshman. However, his genuine, steady passion for the world he created in his book was undeniable, even if a little timid. The novel, while technically a comedic mystery involving a kidnapping and a pageant
queen, centers around antique malls and extreme collectors in the middle of America. The conversation at Literati lingered on the “junker mindset” and the unique community found while haunting vintage shops. When asked by moderator and fellow novelist Michael Zadoorian about his knowledge of these subjects, Geddes spoke from personal experience; stifling a laugh, he described his awkward encounters at second-hand stores and antique malls. At one point he explained that he rarely talks to people on his research trips and instead prefers to eavesdrop on the veteran collectors or let his wife haggle with the cashiers. These comments seemed so insanely in line with his quiet and slightly offbeat demeanor it was almost comical. Geddes’ writing style further contributed to his unconventional image. His book opens with an advertisement for a roommate on craigslist. In his characteristic understated humor, he writes: “I cannot have anybody touching or moving my stuff because it would set off a chain reaction of emotions and feelings towards you and towards my things. Hoarding is not a mental illness, it is something environmentally responsible because I don’t like to throw things away. But the Department of Public Health said my living conditions were unsafe and came in and forcibly removed my things I have been collecting for over 40 years. It traumatized me and I have been rebuilding my collection ever since.” Another topic touched on was what Zadoorian termed the depressing nature of estate
sales. Here Geddes started to get at his central argument that material objects can represent or even replace life experiences. He described the bizarre feeling of picking through an entire life compressed into a room or a house and explained how he tried to translate this idea to his book. With this thought in mind, he presented the audience with the question of what it means to take someone’s objects after they’re gone. While Geddes provided
his nervous charm, the cast of characters in the audience brought its own entertaining personalities. Sitting alone on the side was a young man with a small collection: a stack of books, some written by the author and some by the interviewer. Whether an aspiring new writer or just a fellow connoisseur of strange objects, it was clear this guy had done his research. Prepared with his books and a pen for signing, the boy on the side chuckled in agreement
when Zadoorian mentioned a specific hard-to-come-by album apparently only found in the dustiest, most secret record stores and the dreams of diehard collectors. In the front row sat two older women clad in wool and polkadots, both clutching their brandnew copies of Geddes’ book. When Geddes was asked about his research on the more obscure collector’s items, such as antique glass and postcards, these two perked up. They nodded along
at Geddes’ description of the mature crowds that he found at antique conventions, exchanging knowing looks and seasoned smiles. After the event ended with several questions and a line for Geddes’ signature, the audience members drifted down the stairs to the cash register to purchase “Heart of Junk.” I left with the warm thought that for that last hour I’d been allowed take part of in such a small collection of intriguing and peculiar people.
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B-SIDE: MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Coming of age in the days of music streaming, Spotify JULIANNA MORANO Managing Arts Editor
When I find a song to share with my mom, I always wait until it’s the two of us in the car. It would be difficult to trace how many of our shared obsessions began with this exact scene, but I imagine the fugitivity of the moment and ourselves on the road — minds and bodies alike — are somehow linked. It’s something to do with not having to watch her face if I don’t want to, which is something to do with fear of finding disinterest in it, which is something to do with how absurdly high stakes these transactions feel to me. It doesn’t make me feel like I’m in the crosshairs; instead, it calls my understanding of the person sitting beside me into question. A folk cover of a Nirvana song played between those seats, as did my mom’s first contemporary hip-hop record, as did the song that initiated our (neverending) Solange phase. Once, on a night drive during my new wave spurt, I queued a sequence that started with The Replacements’ “I Will Dare,” probably included a Cars song I thought she might be able to pretend wasn’t the Cars (Dad loves, Mom hates), definitely included Echo & the Bunnymen and concluded with Iggy Pop. She told me she hadn’t listened to those songs since she was around my age, commuting to college at U-M Dearborn. Those moments, identifying, then translating across a synapse I hadn’t detected, are the ones I wait for. The ones that compensate for the face she made when, say, I tried to convince her Bob Dylan could sing. *** I don’t know if I should be writing about this. I wasn’t there to see how it began: with the artful labor of creating a mixtape. I’ve never had a cassette slipped into my hands, never consulted someone’s carefully printed, cryptic title to gather a hint as to what I might hear. I’ve come of age in the days of Spotify and other digital streaming services. I don’t tend to look at the past in a way that lends itself to longing, so I quickly
adapted to an increasingly intangible experience with music. Even after admiring box after box of vinyl, I rarely make purchases at the record stores I visit, and I don’t miss the choreography of extracting a CD without leaving fingerprints on it. Does that mean that I have no taste of that old-school magic? I don’t think so. I think when I pull up the Spotify playlist I commissioned from a friend after hearing his favorite Kendrick Lamar song by chance and finally admitting that I had neglected a revolutionary genre for too long, I know something of its charms. I don’t think that because the songs on the digital counterpart of a mixtape were easier to compile that less attention and care were devoted to the act of compiling them. I don’t think that kind of transaction will ever depreciate if music is still part of it. *** I’ve begun to confuse the absence of a person with the absence of their music. I’ve begun to confuse the presence of a person with the sound of their music. I’ll give you an example: It’s not when I visit the house where my Pa once lived that I perceive his absence most clearly. That might proceed in part from my Nana’s refusal to move anywhere else and curatorlike preservation of the home they once shared. Regardless, it’s when I listen to a song and think, I know exactly who would love this song, and that person is him, and the music sharing comes to a sad, jolting halt that I know what it means for him to be gone. It got worse when my Grandma Laura died. Unlike my Pa’s heart attack, her death was anticipated, slowly, painfully ambled toward. At one point, she gathered her grandchildren around her chair and presented us with paper butterflies, glued to adjustable clips so that we could attach it to something. It was supposed to be her way of being with us, even as her mobility slipped away. I cried in the bathroom: Because of what it meant, I both wanted and didn’t want it in the most severe way. Six years after her death, in the process of moving in and
out of college dorms, I lost the butterfly. One of the most fragile, most important belongings I have ever had, and ever will have. Telling my mom was much more shameful, much more distressing than any Catholic sacrament I had ever been forced to participate in. How could my grandmother ever be present if I lost the object in which she vested that presence? I don’t know, but I can tell you that I turned to music. “Paper Butterfly,” I titled it. The caption adds, “favorite songs of and songs inspired by the favorite songs of my grandma, Laura Leigh Schmidt (19482012).” It’s a playlist on Spotify, with a foundation of Paul Simon and Queen (her favorites), a few songs of special significance interspersed (Elton John’s “Your Song”: the song my mom told me my uncle and Grandma Laura danced to at his wedding) and, of course, songs I wish I could play for her. Yusuf’s “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out.” Paul Simon’s not the only one with the voice of an angel. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals’s “Stars.” I can’t look at the stars / They make me wonder where you are. Aretha Franklin’s “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.” Tell me what that feels like. That’s more than translating across a synapse. It’s the letter I’ll never send because I can’t. It’s a language for grief, a less painful iteration of the imagined conversation, where at least the silence, still impervious, is disturbed. *** So I’m confessing once and for all: I’m your Spotify stalker. I can’t tell you how many essays and sorrows and long nights your playlists and inadvertent recommendations have gotten me through, so what I should say next is thank you. Thank you for luring me into the worlds of dream pop and contemporary R&B, worlds I’m not sure I could have found the entrance to without you. Thank you for dismantling the concept of “guilty pleasure,” for listening publicly, so I can also listen publicly to songs I worshipped in ninth grade,
when I need them to remind me of what that time felt like. And no, I’m not proud of this one, but thank you for showing me you’re alive when sometimes I wonder. When I haven’t heard from you in a few days, sometimes I stakeout the “Friend Activity” sidebar. Then I’ll see your name and your song and the speaker with the arcs representing sound, and I exhale. You’re okay. It’s post-punk, so you’re probably not happy. But the music is on, so you are alright. In adequate hands, for now. *** I’ve used playlists as the language of my grief, so, naturally, I’ve also used them to try to make legible fleeting, off-mark feelings that could have thickened into something like love. “Could have” because I should preface this with another confession, that I forgot how the story goes. It was the same promising, blinding boymeets-girl, followed by the same violation of boundaries, the levying of power dynamics, for which boy expresses guilt and girl comforts boy. (Who comforts girl?) But between points A and B of course, there was music. There were songs that said, I’m trying to figure out my feelings for you. There were careful recommendations that said, You might understand this, even though no one else has. The songs added up in our minds and told us what we wanted to believe about one another. For me, that was that I found a man who wasn’t just luring me in with feigned respect for boundaries and limits, who wouldn’t take advantage. (I was wrong.) For him, it seemed something more like I was the antidote to some part of himself, with involuntary powers of healing. (He was wrong, too.) These song statements and misrepresentations were housed in Spotify’s collaborative playlist function. We had two of them; especially in the beginning, I would contemplate my contribution obsessively. I tried to calculate all the ways it could misfire, both in terms of whether he would actually like it and whether it would say what
I wanted it to say. And I would wait for his response song, check the playlists obsessively, listen the moment he added something. One day, close to the end, at a time where I was somewhere between wanting to see him often and feeling like I was supposed to want to see him often, I was walking to work. It was cold and I’d forgotten the earmuffs he’d once complimented. To make matters worse, my hair was pulled back, so the wind gnawed mercilessly at both ears. I inserted an earbud in each, numbness still blossoming, and queued the most recent songs he added to one of the playlists.
I don’t think that because the songs on the digital counterpart of a mixtape were easier to compile that less attention and care were devoted to the act of compiling them. One was about finding a reason to live in another person, which he had promised I wasn’t, that he wouldn’t let one person be that, but the song still had warmth. Another was about a couple’s atypical, wonderfully awkward track to falling in love. I felt a flood of warmth, starting with my ears. His songs playing in them, their lyrics I figured might as well be his words, warmed me from the inside out, swirled around my head, dizzying, almost fashioning a pair of earmuffs out of thin air and a few well-sung notes. After the boundary violation, I grew resentful of his music. I didn’t look forward to adding songs to our playlists anymore; when I did, it was perfunctory and begrudging. I shuddered when I saw him listening to
a song I’d recommended or whenever his name displayed on my “Friend Activity” (“friend,” the word I questioned). When I realized how not only permissible but also how simple it would be to escape this dimension of his lingering, it was ridiculously liberating. How unburdening it was to unfollow the playlists, to delete the one I made for him and lastly to unfollow him. It’s unnerving how still, when I listen to a song by an artist he liked and I once liked, it carries a new weight of having been part of a trust I developed with someone but deeply regret. Maybe it’s that we surrender pieces of ourselves to our songs, the transaction, the dialogue that they are. We must because the associations between a person and their music is wonderful sometimes, unbearable other times and always incontrovertible. We must, because getting free from him and getting free from his music felt like the same, almost possible, depriving but necessary thing. *** It used to make me sad, how integral music or really any form of media can be to some of my relationships. I thought of it as the mark of a fizzling connection, like the unintelligible audio that occasionally bursts through static as you drive away from the tower. Now I’m not so sure. What if, instead, it was the strongest connection we could have among ourselves? What if it’s the cables buried deep, the ones that survive the storms and are there even after the soil and pollution are piled on top? My favorite line of poetry comes from a sam sax poem called “bury.” In it, sax entertains his fascination with burial rites, concluding with his own such preferences: “when I’m gone, make me again / from my hair. carry me with you / a small book in your pocket.” When it comes down to it, I think I see music in a related, baseline way. When I’m gone, remember me by my songs. Make a playlist in my name; I’ll be there, somewhere, probably in between the minor chords.
DAILY STYLE COLUMN
Velveteen Dreams: On heaven and hell, part 1 SAM KREMKE For the Daily
The store where I work is getting these new shirts in stock for the spring (I promise this isn’t a plug). I’m deeply excited about them, partly because I haven’t seen them in person and I want the swift rush of dopamine that comes with showcasing a product that really stands on its own. And partly, because I’m afflicted with a feverish interest in anything that brings to mind the work of Giotto and Hieronymous Bosch — not to say that Medieval, Early and post-Renaissance depictions of European Catholic mysticism are even close to the entirety of what’s at play. Dubbed by Max Grobe at Highsnobiety as makers of “the occult alternative to your favorite Hawaiian shirt,” Endless Joy is the brainchild of designer Stevie Anderson, whose creations are “instilled with cryptic symbology and the subversive artworks play host to a motley crew of deities, shamans & spirits engaged in a dialectic of complementary opposites.” On its website, the brand normally goes out of its way to explain the source of inspiration for the artwork. From my perspective, Anderson has managed to create a visual language of global mysticism without coming from a Westernizing, colonizing, exoticizing or otherwise problematic positionality. Anderson does not directly take from different cultures, but rather envisions ways in which belief systems might intersect without valuing one over the other, and also goes out of his way to explain the histories from which his inspiration comes.
Iterations of his philosophy like the Paradise Lost shirt eschews the assumption of a classical rendering of the primordial fall from grace that the John Milton-indebted name might entail. A classic camp collar shirt, fashioned out of ecologically sourced Indonesian silk and mother-of-pearl buttons, affords an atmospheric canvas filled with skies of deep lapis,
quite open to interpretation. However, the shirt in question just isn’t, really. The two aforementioned figures appear to come from late-medieval and earlyItalian-Renaissance depictions of both deities and anthropomorphic figures of the afterlife envisioned by artists like Giotto di Bondone through Catholic and aristocratic patronage. To the left is a humanoid
Iterations of his philosophy like the Paradise Lost shirt eschews the assumption of a classical rendering of the premordial fall from grace that the John Miltonindebted name might entail
palm trees that at once look tall and thin and muted and wilting and beaming with energy, sugilitehued fruits that adorn them and a ground filled with what looks like translucent hair.The ground comes up around and brushes against the feet of two opposing figures, each occupying one side of the shirt’s two front-facing panels. The identity of the figures, vastly different in their appearance, is
rabbit woman, wearing a goddesslike, one shoulder coral dress out of organza or tulle, donning perked up ears, wide eyes and a modest grin as she exalts a blue python snake that’s wrapped around her arms. To the right of this scene is a woman completely cloaked in a white, form-fitting, jerseylike material with exaggerated goddess sleeves and a high slit starting at the right hip. She holds
a tall, lit candle and maintains a friendly posture that welcomes you into this new environment. That same woman is mirrored on the back of the shirt, with the same friendly posture and slight smile that’s visible even through her cloak. To her right is a humanoid man with the head of a goat. He wears a loincloth out of that same white jersey fabric, his hands and fingers are splayed and slightly stretched out to his sides and his renaissance-like contrapposto is directed elsewhere. He seems curious, but not with any respect to the viewer that’s now being welcomed in from both sides of this wearable canvas. The symbols in this work are extensive. A cloaked woman, a candle, and the sexualization of what appears to be religious attire and its fusion with references to Roman statues and idealized nudes. The nods to
Greek mythology, biblical texts, and to the kinds of creatures that are often exaggerated and made to be unsettling depictions of what might exist in canonized versions of hell. The luxuriously deep blue, suggesting both night and a kind of otherworldly environment, and the ties to nature that are altered just enough to toe the line between reality and fantasy. These all present more questions than they do answers. The sum of the shirt’s parts don’t necessarily add up to anything, and they certainly don’t have to be read into this deeply, but they do draw on familiar visual narratives in order to present something new. In a short description, the brand states that “beneath the electricspirit of the acid-lit palm, swinging in the blue night & surrounded by stars… emerge the archetypes.” Followed by the quote from famed
psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, “Man has developed consciousness slowly and laboriously, in a process that took untold ages to reach the civilised state. And this evolution is far from complete, for large areas of the human mind are still shrouded in darkness.” What are these archetypes? Is this scene a depiction of Heaven? Hell? If not, then where might we be? If this environment isn’t based entirely in an ideology that’s been laid out for us, then how can we go about understanding it? In what could be argued as one of the brand’s more visually straightforward garments, Anderson calls on the consumer and viewer alike to challenge their notions of the supernatural, the afterlife and how they might apply to the frameworks through which we view culture in a broad sense as well as in our everyday lives.
MALE RAFFINE