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Admin was aware of Philbert complaints, Free Press reports
More than 20 women have filed allegations of sexual misconduct ARJUN THAKKAR Daily Staff Reporter
University of Michigan administrators and faculty were aware of several complaints about Provost HANNAH YOO/Daily Martin Philbert while he served in various roles within the School of Public Health, according to The Detroit Free Press. Philbert was placed on paid administrative leave on Wednesday, Jan. 22 following several allegations of sexual misconduct. Thomas Komorowski, a rule of law, private property, former research associate individual freedom and for the University who equality based on free trade. worked in Philbert’s lab at As Mills explained, classical the School of Public Health liberalism was the dominant in 2003, claimed in a 2004 political ideology of modern lawsuit he was wrongfully Western countries including terminated because of an the United States prior to the inappropriate relationship 20th century. Classical liberals between Philbert and a claimed to break from oppressive, female researcher. Philbert undemocratic political systems denied that Komorowski such as feudalism, a hierarchical was laid off due to his medieval-era system in which relationship with the peasants worked on the lands of female researcher and nobility, and absolutism, a belief claimed Komorowski’s in the absolute power of a king grant aid had run out. who owned by divine right. In 2005, the University See PHILOSOPHY, Page 3A
NY philosophy professor lectures on racial justice, historical prejudice Dr. Charles Mills discusses racial justice at Rackham Auditorium Wedneday afternoon.
Charles W. Mills highlights issues of oppression inherent in classical liberalism CLAIRE HAO
Daily News Editor
About 100 students, faculty and community members came to Rackham Auditorium on Wednesday afternoon to hear Charles W. Mills, a distinguished philosophy professor at the City University of New York, speak on the concept of racial justice and why it has been historically ignored within the field of philosophy. Mills was featured as the guest speaker of the 20192020 Tanner Lecture on Human Values sponsored by
the University of Michigan Department of Philosophy. The Tanner Lectures are funded by Obert Clark Tanner, a late philosophy professor who hoped the series would contribute to an ongoing dialogue on human morality. The University was the first to host a Tanner Lecture and is one of nine institutions worldwide to participate in the tradition. University President Mark Schlissel lauded the lecture series as an opportunity to consider important issues demanding our intellectual attention.
“With Dr. Mills, we have a pioneering scholar who has added new dimensions of thought to the examination of human values,” Schlissel said. Mills opened by framing his lecture with the question of why racial justice has been so rarely addressed in Western, and particularly American, political philosophy when justice is a main idea of debate within the discipline. To lay the groundwork of his argument, Mills explained the theories of classical liberalism, a set of ideals from the Enlightenment era advocating for free markets,
+Impact Undergraduates express frustration considers with volunteer waitlists at ‘U’ hospital inclusion Confusing process leaves pre-med students unsure of availability, eligibility in finance BUSINESS
VARSHA VEDAPUDI
Adrienne Harris speaks on fintech developments, accessbility of newer start-up technology HANNAH MACKAY Daily Staff Reporter
The Ross School of Business’s +Impact Studio and the MBA Finance Club co-hosted Adrienne Harris, Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Ford School of Public Policy, at the Business School for a discussion on financial technology, or fintech, and financial inclusion in the U.S. About 90 people attended the event on Monday. Harris is currently a Gates Foundation Research Fellow and advises fintech companies, incumbent financial institutions and venture capital firms. Harris has worked in the government and corporate realms developing strategies to address financial inclusion and fintech availability to underserved populations. Most recently, she worked with a San Francisco-based inter-tech startup. Harris shared her expertise on fintech and engaged in a Q&A dialogue with Business professor Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, faculty director of the +Impact Studio and Business graduate student Gabrielle Alves, the vice president of diversity and inclusion for the MBA Finance Club.
Daily Staff Reporter
Volunteering in a clinical setting is an important part of pre-med students’ medical school applications. Each semester, there is a high demand for positions at the University of Michigan Hospital, the biggest and most accessible hospital on campus, with slots for attending an information session filling up within five minutes. After attending an information session,
students are offered an interview on a lottery basis and then assigned a volunteer position based on their top three choices and time availability. Some students told The Daily they have found this process to be too long and sometimes frustrating. LSA sophomore Sadie Mauger said she has applied twice to volunteer through Michigan Medicine, but did not get an interview despite attending an information session. According to Mauger,
the problem lies not only with capacit y but with the process itself. She said the hospital was unclear when sharing interview times over the past year and was assig ning time slots before people had finalized their schedules. “I think the most frustrating thing is that there is no seniorit y in terms of volunteer preference,” Mauger said. “I a m applying to medical school, a nd I need that experience to apply, a nd I know that there a re a lot of
freshmen that a re already volunteering, so seniorit y is something that would help the process.” Though f irst-semester freshmen a re not elig ible to apply, the hospital does not have a preference a mong the other st udents during the hiring process. Ret urning volunteers have f irst pick at available positions at the beg inning of each semester before new volunteers a re reg istered. See HOSPITAL, Page 3A
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See PHILBERT, Page 3A
ANN ARBOR
Librarian declares Ward Two candidacy Social Work lecturer, AADL board president announces city council bid ahead of election JULIA RUBIN & EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporters
Linh Song, boa rd president of A nn A rbor District Libra r y, a nnounced her bid for A nn A rbor Cit y Council on Monday. She will run in Wa rd 2 as a Democrat for the seat that Councilmember Ja ne Lumm, a n Independent, currently holds. Lu m m ha s represented Wa rd 2 si nce November 201 1 a nd ha s been t he on ly non-Democrat on Cit y Cou nci l for severa l yea rs. She a lso ser ved a s Wa rd 2 Cou nci l member f rom 1993 t h roug h 1997 a s a Republ ica n . Lumm has said she does not pla n to run again in 2020, citing her slim cha nces of winning with ma ny people voting straight-ticket when f illing out their ballot, pa rticula rly in a Democratic stronghold like A nn A rbor. Both Lumm a nd Song did not respond to multiple phone calls seeking comment.
DESIGN BY AYA SALIM
See FINTECH, Page 3A
GOT A NEWS TIP?
settled the lawsuit for an unknown amount. The Detroit Free Press reported that more than 20 women have filed complaints of sexual misconduct against Philbert, according to anonymous sources. In 2009, when Philbert was leading research at the School of Public Health, an anonymous woman notified her supervisor in the dean’s office that Philbert had sexually harassed her. Philbert was one of several candidates who applied to be dean of the School of Public Health in 2010. When the search committee moved Philbert’s candidacy forward, an anonymous email accusing the committee of manipulating the process was sent to the leader of the committee and copied to the entire school. Then-Provost Phil Hanlon replied with an email to the school. “This kind of vicious, personalized and
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 69 ©2020 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS..............6
See COUNCIL, Page 3A
SUDOKU...............6 SPORTS...................7 ARTS..............1B
News
2A — Thursday, February 13, 2020
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
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Emma Kaznowski @emma_kaz What if when you graduated, umich automatically took you off email lists...... but we can’t live in a perfect world soooooo
vibes when umich hangs posters of MLK saying “students have a responsibility to participate in the movement” but arrested & charged students for protesting the climate crisis
phlegmmanuel @Phlegmmanuel I think instead of painting my graduation cap I’ll just pin all the leftist buttons I’ve collected through my time at Umich
em @emilylevy1414 my brand of working-class organizing is befriending anyone else at UMich i meet whose number has an 810 area code
BRAPRIPPER @ElectricJizzard Walking across ann arbor with two eggs in my pocket please DO NOT bump into me
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PAULINE RAJSKI/Daily Dr. Cindy Leung explores the imapcts of food insecurities of college students at No Food For Thought: Food Insecurity at the University of Michigan Wednesday afternoon.
Conservative students respond to Trump impeachment trial
Individuals believe there is no proof for wrongdoings by president, discuss political implications of the historic proceedings for voters JULIA FORREST Daily Staff Reporter
The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump has generated much debate across the political spectrum. The Daily spoke with several conservative students about their viewpoints on impeachment. On Jan. 15, 2019, the House of Representatives filed two impeachment articles against Trump, accusing him of abusing his power as president and obstructing Congress. In the following two weeks, U.S. senators filled the chamber to conduct an impeachment trial against Trump, ultimately voting to acquit the president of all charges. The vote was along party lines, with the exception of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who voted that the president should be charged with one of the two counts. The filing of the two articles came after a whistleblower in the White House filed a complaint on Aug. 12 to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, claiming the president used his position to get a foreign country to meddle in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In a phone call, Trump allegedly asked the president of Ukraine to investigate disproven corruption allegations against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Austin McIntosh, Michigan campus correspondent for Campus Reform and LSA
senior, said the president did no wrongdoing and therefore should not have been impeached at all. “When I read the transcript, I didn’t see any (wrongdoings),” McIntosh said. “I would say (Trump) didn’t (commit any crimes). (Trump) didn’t even begin to ask about (looking into Biden), what he did tell him about was ‘Look, we found out that there seems to be some corruption going on. It’s your administrators or your advisers, and I think you need to find the root of that.’ I don’t think Donald Trump saying ‘Hey, there’s corruption in your government, figure it out,’ I don’t think that’s so bad or anything.’” Nicholas Schuler, freshman chair of College Republicans and LSA freshman, said though Trump did have a phone call with the Ukrainian president, he believes there was nothing said that would be worthy of impeachment. This is a view supported by many within the Republican party. Though one in three Republicans believe that Trump may have done something wrong, 86 percent believe he was not deserving of removal from office. “So we know that he had a phone call with the Ukrainian president, and we also know that aid was later cut to Ukraine,” Schuler said. “I think anything in between that we don’t know. There was no explicit wrongdoing by the president and certainly not something impeachable.” Lincoln Ballew, president
of Young Americans for Freedom and LSA junior, said she believes the impeachment trial isn’t a pressing issue for many Americans. “I don’t think very many people care about it or pay attention because it’s really complicated and there hasn’t been very much transparency with the issue,” Ballew said. “It’s been really hard for the public to follow what’s been going on, so I don’t think many people care.” Voters in Michigan are divided over their thoughts on impeachment. Michigan is a key battleground state in the 2020 election, and a state Trump won in 2016. Trump has made two campaign visits to the state since January 2019, and Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to make an appearance in Troy at the end of the month. Another common argument voiced by those who spoke with The Daily was that the process of impeachment should be fundamentally nonpartisan and should remain based on the facts. McIntosh also said senators should use their voting power to ref lect how their constituents feel about impeaching the president. “There’s congressmen or senators who feel like they shouldn’t be afraid of the backlash from the right — you’re supposed to represent your people,” McIntosh said. “You should represent your base, and if a certain base feels a certain way on the president, that’s how you should vote.” Since the conclusion of
impeachment, many have speculated about how the impeachment trial will affect the 2020 election. LSA junior Caroline Martin, vice president of outreach for WeListen, said she believes the impeachment trial did not have much effect on the 2020 election. “I think the impeachment proceedings are timed very well,” Martin said. “I don’t necessarily know if they would have impacted my personal view of this particular president because your opinions of him before, whether or not you agree with him or disagree with him, wouldn’t change as much after hearing some of the evidence; you would be more inclined to stick with what you already believe.” Regina Egan, communications director of College Democrats, also wrote in a message to The Daily that the organization believes the impeachment trial shows voters in the 2020 election that the Democrats are steadfast in their commitment to the truth. “In fact, (the impeachment trial) shows that Democrats value the integrity of a trial and are willing to deliver on their fundamental responsibility to the American people, the majority of whom wanted witnesses,” Egan wrote. “What voters will remember in November is the Democrats’ pursuit of truth and a fair trial.” Daily staff reporter Julia Forrest can be reached at juforrest@umich.edu.
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HOSPITAL From Page 1A Catherine Marudo, Public Health junior and president of Phi Delta Epsilon, said she believes that despite the drawn-out process, it is still worth it to apply. She also advised students to have reasonable expectations. “If you’re looking for clinical experience, it’s either a hit or a miss,” Marudo said. “You shouldn’t go in with the expectation that you will have patient experience since those clinical positions go really fast. But especially for pre-med students, any form of service in the longterm will go well with their application and they should keep reaching out, whether at U of M Hospital or elsewhere, to find those opportunities.” LSA Honors Adviser Stephanie Chervin addressed the importance of clinical experience for pre-med students and advised students to apply to other clinical settings as well, such as the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Mercy and other clinics in the Ann Arbor area. She said she often comes across students who complain about the appointment slots filling up or missing deadlines. “With the 10,000 premeds we have, it definitely is a stressful thing for our students trying to get into U of M Hospital,” Chervin said. LSA junior Kateryna Karpoff is currently involved in the Hospital Elder Life Program, a program at the University Hospital. For those looking to volunteer, she advised reaching out to upperclassmen to understand which programs allow for more patient interaction. “Not all volunteer positions are equal, you do kind of have to fight for the better ones
(with patient interaction),” Karpoff said. “I think (initially applying to the hospital) is a good segue, just to get your name in the system, and then each semester, you can reach out to the departments and ask if you can be placed in a position you’re interested in.” Loulie Meynard, director of volunteer services at the University Hospital, said the department has made changes to the process over the years in an attempt to make it fairer. She discussed how in previous years, students would grab whatever appointment time they saw open without considering their own class schedule. Realizing this was an issue, the department shifted to a lottery system and assigned appointment times based on the availability indicated in the student application form. “The only thing we got tripped up on this time was one of the info sessions was scheduled before anyone got their class schedules. So now we are really paying attention to when that works,” Meynard said. Michigan Medicine has more than 2,000 active volunteers. Meynard said it can be hard to manage all of them, but she said she attempts to work with students on a case-bycase basis if they’ve attended multiple information sessions without getting an interview by guaranteeing them one in the next cycle. “We have a wonderful, terrible problem,” Meynard said. “There are more people in this community who want to volunteer at Michigan Medicine than we have places to put them.” Daily staff reporter Varsha Vedapudi can be reached at varshakv@umich.edu.
PHILBERT From Page 1A
FINTECH From Page 1A
anonymous attack threatens the collegiality of the School and violates all standards of professional behavior,” Hanlon wrote. Hanlon said he received two similar emails that summer. These emails reportedly warned Hanlon to investigate Philbert’s behavior. Hanlon was also allegedly told in person that there were previous complaints about Philbert. When the University was informed of allegations of misconduct on Jan. 16 and 17 this year, the University hired Washington D.C.based law firm WilmerHale to investigate Philbert’s history. Philbert first came to the University as an assistant professor of toxicolog y in the School of Public Health in 1995, later becoming an associate professor in 2000. He was the associate chair for research and development in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences from 2000 to 2003. Philbert was promoted to professor in 2004 and served as the senior associate dean for research at the School of Public Health before being appointed as dean in 2010. He was approved and began serving as provost in 2017. As provost, Philbert presided over the Office of Institutional Equity, which is responsible for investigating claims of sexual misconduct. In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen emphasized the importance of letting the investigation run its course. “It is critical that we all allow the outside investigators to determine the facts,” Broekhuizen wrote. “While that process is ongoing, there is very little that we are able to say.” Reporter Arjun Thakkar can be reached at arjunt@ umich.edu.
Alves said having worked in the legal sector in New York, in politics at the White House and at fintech startups in Silicon Valley, she’s found the hardest problems facing the financial world require different types of knowledge. “The hardest problems to solve are ones that require people to have a perspective from different sectors, and that’s how I thought about my careers … I needed to have experience in all those places and speak those languages and understand those cultures to be able to bring them together and solve really thorny problems,” Alves said. Harris also spoke on regulating U.S. financial institutions and challenges in the new age of fintech, where technologies involving machine learning and artificial intelligence have the potential to inf luence finances. Recent changes and the incorporation of technolog y into the financial industry have drawn attention to systematic issues and require policy innovation.
COUNCIL From Page 1A Song was elected to the A ADL board in November 2016. In 2014, she was appointed the executive director of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation, a non-profit organization that distributes funds to area public schools. Song, an alum of the University of Michigan, is currently a lecturer in the School of Social Work. Song will need to register 100 signatures by April 21 to get on the ballot in Aug ust. She is
PHILOSOPHY From Page 1A
Thursday, February 13, 2020 — 3A
While Mills said liberalism is a great idea in theory, he noted the ideals of it have not been carried out in practice. He noted freedom and equality have exclusively been the rights of certain members of society, while others, such as people of color and women, have been left out. Mills said the conventional narrative portrays modern Western society to be more egalitarian than it truly is. “We need to remember most Western European states at one time or another had empires — British, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Belgian — in which non-Europeans, indigenous peoples, in some cases, African slaves were systemically subordinate,” Mills said. “Together, these Western countries ruled undemocratically over the vast majority of humanity.” With these considerations in mind, Mills said classical liberalism has historically been both a “patriarchal” liberalism, supported by male gender domination, and “racial” liberalism, underwritten by white racial domination. Yet, Mills said the philosophy discipline has done little to address these historical biases. According to Mills, part of the problem with the philosophy field is that it is predominantly white. He acknowledged his claim is controversial as some say philosophy isn’t affected by race because it supposedly theorizes about the general human condition. However, Mills said this argument misses the experiences and issues specific to people of color. Mills said a consequence of non-diverse academia is that the education system ignores
certain aspects of history. For example, Mills told the audience that Japan, one of the few non-white countries in the post-World War I diplomatic council the League of Nations, advocated for a racial equality clause in the Treaty of Versailles. However, the other countries rejected the proposal. When Mills asked the audience how many people knew about the unsuccessful racial equality clause, only a handful of people raised their hands. “This is a prestigious, very well-known university,” Mills said. “You need to ask yourself, what does this say about the education system … and the broader history of colonialism?” Mills spent much of his talk criticizing the theories of John Rawls, a 20th-century American political philosopher. In his book “A Theory of Justice,” Rawls proposed the idea of distributive social justice, which expanded upon the social contract theory developed by Enlightenment thinkers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. According to social contract theory, individuals in a state agree to give up their freedoms and be governed by the state in exchange for security. Rawls added onto this theory through the thought experiment of a “veil of ignorance,” which hypothesizes that a person, before they are born, has the opportunity to create an ideal society. However, the person has no knowledge of who they will be in this world. Because they do not know if they will be a part of the privileged class or not, Rawls claims people will create an objectively just society out of self-interest in case they are born without certain privileges. According to Mills, Rawls’s
theory does not apply to the U.S. because Rawls sees the country as one with racism instead of as an inherently racist society. However, Mills said Western societies have historically been racist because race affects the basic structure of these societies, from the economy to the main political and social institutions. Instead of theorizing about what an ideal world would look like, Mills believed racial justice should consider and acknowledge racist histories and focus on corrective justice. According to Mills, corrective justice entails actions such as radical revision of the prison-industrial complex and perhaps even a consideration of reparations. Mill’s revision of the Rawls’s “veil of ignorance” thought experiment, under the lens of corrective justice, would aim to repair historically racist structures. “As a white person, you ask yourself, I’m doing this thought experiment … let’s say I’m a Black woman in a ghetto in South Side Chicago, or let’s say I’m a Latino somewhere in southwestern United States or I’m a Native American on a reservation,” Mills said. “What structures, what policies would I want to see put in place to make sure as much as I can that I’m not radically handicapped?” Following his talk, Mills opened the f loor to questions from the audience. The first person to speak in the Q&A portion claimed Ann Arbor is a reverse racist and reverse sexist community that discriminates against white males like himself. When people started clapping after he said he planned to leave the country because of this discrimination, he became angry and left the event. Several audience members
asked Mills how to incorporate discussions of racial justice into the classroom, both in college courses and in secondary schooling. Mills said efforts should be made not only to have dedicated courses to race theory but also to center considerations of identity. “See how race can be incorporated into the curriculum … because it’s not as if you’re distorting the material,” Mills said. “Because race permeates everything.” Rackham student Gabrielle Peterson and the rest of the Racism Lab, an interdisciplinary group of scholars, attended the event together. She said Mills’s point about the lack of diversity in academia resonated with many of them. “Mills’s discussion of the demographics within research bodies in philosophy that inf luence and inform the misrepresentations of Black people and other minorities was extremely helpful in rethinking and ref lecting on our own experiences in our respective disciplines,” Peterson said. Jessica Castellani, a graduate student at the University of Toledo, drove to the event with her classmates and her professor to hear Mills speak. Castellani said she is taking a class on critical race theory and has been reading Mills’s work in class. Castellani said she talked to classmates about the audience member who brought up reverse racism. She said she believes his anger is a product of the fear of having his rights taken away.
“Before, fintech data was just your transaction data … but now everything is financial information,” Harris said. “You take Uber or Lyft, where you went and at what time is now tied up with a financial service, and payment apps — everything has become financial data and everything has become data on which financial decisions about you can be made. The trick is, as a regulator, as a policymaker, is how do you stay close enough to industry to help drive an affirmative agenda, to help catch the no-no’s when they happen, but not stif le innovation?” Harris said the highly personal nature of money and finance and the unknown role fintech companies will play in possibly perpetrating or amending mistrust in financial institutions. “(Finance) is emotional, it’s personal, it’s stressful, it’s all of these things and you’re basically expected to just hand it over, whether it’s the money itself or it’s our login,” Harris said. “When fintech first came along they were like, ‘We’re not the big financial institutions.’ ... But that also used to be the case, sort of, with Google and Facebook, so we’ll
see how this changes. I think we start off feeling trustworthy and become less so over time.” Alves discussed some of her motivations behind organizing this dialogue. Alves said the event took place as part of diversity week at the Business School, which aims to bring awareness to key issues regarding access to financial institutions and trust in them. “I thought of why I wanted to do an event on financial inclusion and what did I want to learn more about and what did I also want my peers to hear about in terms of financial inclusion,” Alves said. “Some of the main points (were) trusting financial institutions and getting traditional banks or bigger financial institutions to actually serve these underserved communities and populations.” Harris elaborated on the potential for fintech companies to help decrease the cost of providing traditionally “underbanked” people, or those without frequent access to mainstream financial services, with access to credit as well as educating people on financial health. “Historically, people
have said it’s too costly to serve those populations because they don’t create enough revenue for the institution,” Harris said. “Fintech sort of came about with the promise of we’re going to use tech to drive down the cost and therefore that ratio will be going back and we’ll be better able to serve these people.” Sanchez-Burks said the subject matter of the event was interesting, noting the interdisciplinary aspect of the event. “There’s a lot of work being done in the studio around financial inclusion and credit … to focus it on fintech and financial inclusion, the dangers and possibilities have got to be very interesting,” SanchezBurks said. “We want to be this hub for the University of innovation and partner with other units on campus.” Harris answered questions from the crowd of students, alumni and faculty addressing topics including fintech’s durability during a possible economic recession. “A big question in the fintech community is what’s going to happen when there’s a recession,” Harris said. “We just don’t know yet because we’ve
only seen fintech in this one economic cycle.” Harris also addressed the potential to use fintech to analyze wealth gaps in the U.S. and the role that race plays in accessing credit and financial resources. “Because of the history of this country around race, there are wealth gaps, income gaps that tend to, themselves, perpetuate,” Harris said. “I’m hopeful that part of what technolog y will allow us to explore is our conceptions about this.” Business freshman Isabella Conti attended the event and expressed her interest in fintech, considering its potential to increase financial access in underserved communities. “(The talk) brought up a lot of things that I’d never thought about, with the future of finance and technolog y and how that intersects,” Conti said. “My family is Latino and my parents are both immigrants, so how this could help underprivileged people and demographics was really interesting to me, as I know a lot of people who could benefit.” Reporter Hannah Mackay can be reached at mackayh@ umich.edu.
holding an event this Friday in hopes of gaining petition signatures. She has yet to publish a platform, but she described her motivation to run for office in a statement posted to her Facebook page. “My training and instincts are to make sure people are ok and safe. My upbringing reminds me how a poor, refugee family can claim new identities and build new communities,” Song wrote. “My friends were right. More social workers need to run for office.” She also noted her previous electoral victory when she won her seat on
the Ann Arbor District Library’s Board of Trustees in 2016. “My term ends this year and I’m committed to fulfilling my obligations as Board President,” Song wrote. “However, I’m once again called by community members to serve, this time for a different institution. I’ve pulled petitions so that I can be on this November’s ballot as a Democratic candidate for Ann Arbor’s Cit y Council. The meetings are longer but the goals are the same when it comes to serving the public good.” In 2018, Song protested a proposed amendment
to the cit y charter to build a downtown park, instead advocating for the lot to be sold to Chicago developer Core Spaces to build a highrise apartment building. Song told MLive she thought the proposal was fraught. “Desig nating the majorit y of the block in perpetuit y as parkland, without the formal planning process, funding or public engagement that any other park or development would undergo, sig nif icantly limits future options for the downtown library and downtown area,” Song said.
Song is one of many communit y members newly running for Cit y Council seats. Zingerman’s Bakehouse baker Dan Michniewicz declared his candidacy for Ward 5 on Monday, running as a democratic socialist. Lisa Disch, political science professor at the Universit y, is running in Ward 1. Former MLive journalist Jen Eyer is running in Ward 4 and Erica Briggs is running in Ward 5. Daily staff reporters Emma Ruberg and Julia Rubin can be reached at eruberg@umich.edu and julrubin@umich.edu.
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Opinion
4A — Thursday, February 13, 2020
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DAVID LISBONNE | COLUMN
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MARY ROLFES | COLUMN
Make reproductive rights non-partisan ... again
S
peaking to my own experience of President Donald Trump’s election, the aptest way I can describe the event is surreal. In the moment, it was as if we’d had the collective wind knocked out of us and were all trying to catch our breath. But once that breath was found, not a moment was wasted in using it to speak as survival plans for the next four years were laid out. For many folks with uteruses, reproductive health was a primary concern. Facing uncertainty about the future of insurance coverage and the right to choose, people took to the internet to seek and share suggestions for adapted birth control solutions. A popular recommendation was to get an intrauterine device (IUD), a method which can last for up to 12 years — outlasting even an eight-year administration. This advice was not taken for granted, with a 2019 JAMA Internal Medicine study finding the demand for IUDs and other long-lasting birth control increased after the 2016 election. While this demonstration of outreach and agency is inspiring, its necessity is somewhat absurd. Of course, there is a lot that’s absurd about Trump’s presidency. What began as a laughable candidacy rode a wave of manipulation, divisiveness and those notorious red “Make America Great Again” hats all the way to the Oval Office, taking Trump from a reality TV host to the president-elect in just over a year. But this need for a heightened fight for bodily autonomy seems especially unexpected when considering Trump’s past positions on the right to choose. In a 1999 interview he claimed to be “prochoice in every respect,” a sharp contrast to his current status as the most pro-life president ever, according to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. The changes he made to Title X, which caused the withdrawal of Planned Parenthood from the program, support this claim. But regardless of how genuine — or agreeable — this change in opinion is, it’s, in theory, the objectively strategic move. How could anyone hope to earn the Republican nomination without an anti-choice approach, considering the Republican Party’s definitively conservative stance on reproductive rights? Actually, this stance is not as definitive as many may think. At present, reproductive rights, including access to birth control and abortion, are seen as a highly partisan issue. According to a Gallup poll, the proportion of Democrats who support legal abortion in all cases has risen distinctly in the past three decades while Republican support has gone down. For the stance of illegal abortion in all cases, the trends are reversed, with Democratic support decreasing and Republican
support going up. But most significantly, these polls show how similar the proportions of Democratic and Republican support are to one another across all three circumstances — legality, limited legality and illegality — in 1975. In fact, in the first and last case, Republican and Democrat support differ by just one percent. So, what happened? When did party opinions divide? Why do they stay that way, and what can be done to change it? Uncovering the answers to these questions is imperative in the advancement of health equity and bodily autonomy. Reproductive justice is a human rights issue — it should not be a political strategy. Legislation and accessibility should not be decided by strict partisan lines, but through consideration, compassion and critical thinking. And there should not be talk of strategic birth control survival every time a Republican takes the presidential oath.
Reproductive justice is a human rights issue. The history of birth control is a complicated one, woven with threads of politics, overpopulation concerns and a dash of the American Dream. There is not a precise split resulting in a partisan approach to reproductive justice, but Harvard University professor Jill Lepore points out a moment when it began to fray in her 2011 historical chronicle of reproductive rights in The New Yorker. Abridging this history a bit, let’s begin with Dwight Eisenhower. As a Republican president in 1959, Eisenhower claimed the funding of Planned Parenthood and family planning at large was not a public concern. But in 1965, with overpopulation concerns rising, he reversed his position, even co-chairing a Planned Parenthood committee. A few years later, U.S. Rep. George H.W. Bush and President Richard Nixon, both Republicans, pushed for public family planning, in terms of visibility and funding. As president, Nixon would go on to sign Title X in 1970, a federal grant dedicated to the provision of widely accessible family planning services. This point, however, is where the non-partisan support for family planning hits a snag. Preparing for the election of 1972, Nixon hoped to court Catholic voters and to divide the Democratic Party. His advisors urged him to reconsider his stance on abortion, a strategic move that would accomplish
both objectives. Ultimately he listened, reversing his position on Title X, utilizing the Catholic rhetoric of the sanctity of life. And he won in 1972, leaving a divide in the Democratic Party. The origin of the partisan fight over reproductive rights is not some ideological imperative — it’s a matter of campaign strategy. As Lepore puts it, “abortion wasn’t a partisan issue until Republicans made it one.” The legacy of this divisive move was not solidified until the late 1980s, with First Lady Betty Ford, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and President Ronald Reagan all demonstrating inconsistencies in the Republican stance on abortion. But today, the effect is clear: The Republican Party at large stands firmly against abortion, while refusing for the most part to support better birth control accessibility, improved sex education or address the social structures which reproduce socioeconomic inequality and drive the desire for abortions in the first place. American history makes it clear that reproductive rights do not have to be a partisan issue — and if we hope to advance them, they shouldn’t be. Moreover, the right to not have children should be incorporated into the larger, intersectional framework of reproductive justice, which also includes the rights to have children and to raise them with dignity. According to Nixon, “no American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.” The right to plan a family — whether or not that plan includes children — is a fundamental one, regardless of not only economic class, but of race, gender identity, sexual orientation and even marital status. The Trump administration continues to threaten this right through stricter Title X regulations, attempts to slash the Affordable Care Act and a plan to gut Roe v. Wade. In this era of oppression and control, it’s clear the increasingly partisan divide on family planning is on a dangerous trajectory, jeopardizing the accessibility of reproductive rights and dismantling hope for a future of total reproductive justice and equality. We need to advocate for a collaborative approach to reproductive justice that is not based on Republicans or Democrats, but on mutual dedication to freedom and liberty. Together, we will make reproductive rights nonpartisan again. Oh, by the way — if we make any merchandise, can we instead go for a colorless gaudy than imperial red? It just clashes with everything. Mary Rolfes can be reached at morolfes@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.
I
New dog, old and vitally important trick
n July 1787, the United States, under the governance of the Articles of Confederation, enacted a piece of legislation titled the “Northwest Ordinance.” The Ordinance called for the delegation of land to new states in the Northwest Territory — land bound to the west by the Appalachians, the south by the Ohio River and the northwest by the Great Lakes. Allocated to the U.S. in the Paris Treaty of 1783, which formally ended the Revolutionary War, the territory had not yet been developed into designated states. The legislation contained rules regarding the formation of new states and their governments. However, its lasting effect lies not in its specificity, but rather in its advocacy for the adoption of righteous virtues in society and government. But what does this have to do with the University of Michigan, and how can this be relevant today? Well, every student has likely walked past the Ordinance’s moral pith, literally: It’s inscribed on the western facade of Angell Hall, the University’s largest academic building. Article 1 of the ordinance guaranteed that “no person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments.” Similarly, Article 2 ensures the writ of habeas corpus, trial by jury and no cruel and unusual punishments. Readers will recognize these as core tenets of the Bill of Rights that would come four years later. Perhaps the Ordinance enacted in 1787 — one year before the Constitution’s drafting — was a trial run of what would become foundational legislation. Additionally, Article 6 declares “there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude” in the territory, and Article 3 mandates that “the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent.” Keep in mind, this was 76 years before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. To my eye, they got it all right.
But my fascination with the Ordinance — and what I believe is its paramount lasting effect — lies in the first sentence of Article 3. It reads: “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” This is the text forever inscribed in stone above Angell Hall, and is clearly fitting. First is religion, which I believe, despite its debatable flaws, is the most successful and most effective means for teaching character that has ever existed. There are myriad lessons and teachings on virtue that are undeniably valuable; the condemnation of murder, theft and Coventry, the praise of integrity and encouragement of charity are all examples. Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Ordinance, understood this and rightly sought to preserve religion’s benefits. Morality follows next and is unique not only for its ambiguity or contentiousness but because of the means, and mediums, of its teaching. Religion is a longstanding source of morality, expounding lessons and stories that comment on the nature of that which is good and bad. On the other hand, education — especially through subjects like philosophy, history and English, with its analysis of texts — offers alternative means for discussing morality. Both operate synchronously and are each necessary to inculcate virtues vital to effective government and mankind. Again, Jefferson understood — and his pen further cemented in writing — these complementary forces as necessary means to an educated, virtuous and content populace. Last is knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge has forever been the driver of mankind, from his first discovery of fire to Newton’s articulation of the world around us. And this pursuit is not rooted in vanity or fame, but in discovering new, more effective means to achieve prosperity. Fire enabled man to cook food, light his caves and triumph over the cold. Education is knowledge’s natural complement; it is how new knowledge is distributed. And
once distributed, that knowledge is left to the creative and productive devices of the individual. By virtue yet again of mankind’s constant pursuit of knowledge — now embarking with more complex building blocks — fantastic achievements can be had. From Bacon to Babbage to Tesla to Turing, and more along the way, we arrived at the device on which I’m writing this. Not bad. Today, more information is accessible than ever in human history. Globally, 3.7 billion people access the internet. Google processes 40,000 searches every second. It has never been easier to access new information, and this is the modern legacy of Angell Hall’s inscription. Yes, “the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” Schools and universities must continue to educate class after class of scholars to ensure that each generation is well versed in broad fields of study. But I disagree with the notion that educational institutions must alone bear that burden. As a species, we learn a great deal from one another. Communities and religious institutions provide excellent resources to grow, and learn morals, virtues and engage in mitzvot. To some degree, it is the onus of the individual to pursue knowledge, in any and every aspect of life. For example, as a civic duty to our country exists the responsibility of individuals to formalize themselves with our government, and the processes by which it operates, to complement that which we are taught in schools. This dynamic must hold true across multiple disciplines. History, economics, writing and English are necessary proficiencies, and while it’s sad to observe the subpar performances in these provinces from vital institutions, there exists a complementary responsibility of every individual to seek knowledge. The Ordinance articulated this 233 years ago, but the widespread accessibility of information today brings entirely new meaning to its text. We must adapt, and follow through on our instructions to achieve “good government and the happiness of mankind.” David Lisbonne can be reached at lisbonne@umich.edu.
KIANNA MARQUEZ | COLUMN
Technology should be our salvation, not our downfall
T
oday, technological failures often drive conversations about how inconvenient and counterproductive technology can be. As evidenced by the app used to carry out the data collection during the Iowa caucus earlier this month, technology can be complex and problematic. Additionally, the overwhelming difficulty of utilizing start-up technology on a national scale has become apparent, and we have to realize that digitized products must be improved by developers for years in order to ensure widespread success among consumers. Major issues can be averted when we embed preventative technology into our infrastructure. The proven effectiveness of applying computerized numerical models to predict weather patterns, including damaging storms, outweighs the inconvenience of the lack of public access to this type of technology. That said, we have not discovered the potential benefits of enacting automated infrastructural processes — such as building rehabilitation or land restoration — in immediate response to climate disasters. Processes that use algorithms to direct unmanned, automatic equipment could be adapted by technology to limit human interaction and facilitate faster reactions to large scale issues. Though difficulties exist, automated infrastructural recovery efforts and their ability to help society recover from destructive natural disasters are promising, just as engineered remedies in medicine serve as promising solutions to health issues today. Technological advancements have assisted society in carrying out solutions to physical problems in the natural world. But these
advancements have essentially been isolated solutions and I wonder if expanding the functionality and accessibility of technology could allow society to increase its reliance. Could current efforts to develop smart stormwater systems in Ann Arbor have been used to prevent or mitigate the contamination of the Detroit River with uranium and other harmful chemicals? In other words, could reducing the impact of these mistakes imposed on the environment be instigated with digitized infrastructural solutions? In this regard, the advancement of technolog y could serve society in more conducive, far-reaching ways. More importantly, this technolog y could better equip us to address major climate issues. Since the University of Michigan is a public research institution, it’s our responsibility to commit to innovation to facilitate how college campuses address climate issues with technolog y. Leaders on campus should understand the importance of investing in the future of the entire campus and work to prioritize these efforts above other points of interest, like the apparent aversion to making substantial transitions toward a carbon-neutral campus. As community members with the potential to influence administrative decisions, we should push for legislature that will not hinder a society distressed by climate change. Instead, these developments in citywide, regional and national policy should become tailored for an inclusive environment where not everyone is required to be educated thoroughly and where everyone can benefit from the intellectual and physical access to technology. In doing so, a community like Ann Arbor could see
widespread benefits from research-developed technology, and as these solutions ultimately become implementable for society, they could be used to address climate issues. Society should strive to create more automated climate solutions that can be executed through technolog y due to the opportunities technological progress can provide. From separating cafeteria waste to restoring a coastal wetland affected by a hurricane, technolog y could enable society to achieve more in both trivial and monumental tasks. Transforming our mindset to one of speculation about how we utilize existing technolog y and act on hypothetical advancements is essential for progress. It’s reasonable to wonder if human intervention is the answer society is looking for, one that could ultimately restore all humans have laid waste to. Should we, as the carriers of modern civilization, instead remove ourselves from the natural world as a way to prevent further burden going forward? With this question in mind, the driving force behind a sustainable future should be the belief that we are capable of involving ourselves positively in the healing process of the planet. Every day, the commitment to creating positive human intervention in the natural world contributes to its revival. Challenging ourselves to commit to technological solutions that propagate a positive way in which we respond to and remedy the climate disasters we will inevitably face is the first step in making our multifarious natural world a better place. Kianna Marquez can be reached at kmarquez@umich.edu.
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Sports
Thursday, February 13, 2020 — 5A
Michigan learning to adapt with three wrestlers out on Olympic redshirts ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
Shortly after the World Wrestling Championships ended, Michigan coach Sean Bormet met with his competitors in a hotel room. They had 24 hours to make a decision. At the week-long competition, two Michigan wrestlers had qualified for the Olympics. Two others had a shot at Olympic Trials. But now, they had to decide if they wanted to remain with the Wolverines or disenroll from classes and take Olympic redshirts. Worlds ended on Sept. 22. The add/drop deadline was Sept. 23. Each wrestler had put this choice aside for a bit, but now, they had to make a decision. The NCAA offers Olympic redshirts to wrestlers who meet certain conditions: past national team members, top-3 finishers at NCAAs, top-8 finishers at the Senior U.S. Open or previous medalists at Cadet, Junior or U23 Worlds. This year, Michigan — coming off a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2019 — had four wrestlers who met those conditions. Myles Amine and Stevan Micic both finished fifth at Worlds — competing for San Marino and Serbia, respectively — and punched their tickets to Tokyo. Logan Massa and Kanen Storr both compete for the United States and would have opportunities throughout the year to qualify. Because they compete for European countries, Micic and Amine had travel obligations that would make attending classes difficult. Olympic wrestling has just six weight classes compared to the NCAA’s 10, so Micic needs to drop a weight and Amine is moving up one in preparation. The four decided that whatever they did, they would do it together. Amine, Micic and Massa were set to be fifth-year seniors, and they wanted to complete their last year of eligibility together to ensure the team was as strong as possible that
year. Storr, a redshirt junior, had two years left, so he could go either way. By the end of the day, they’d made their decision: All four withdrew from classes to chase their dreams. And with that, the rest of the Wolverines entered uncharted territory. Though he’s just in his second year as head coach, Bormet competed for Michigan in the early 1990s and returned as an assistant coach in 2011. Through his years with the program, Bormet doesn’t remember an instance of the Wolverines using even a single Olympic redshirt. At the start of the season, Bormet had to take a team with high expectations and navigate through the loss of four of its top wrestlers. Michigan scuffled out of the gate, dropping a dual to North Carolina and finishing in the middle of the pack at invitationals. Meanwhile, Storr realized his chances for the Olympics were dwindling — his main hope to qualify for Olympic Trials was to win an NCAA title. So he registered for classes for the winter semester and pulled his redshirt at the Midlands Championships in December. “Midway through the (fall) semester, I thought, ‘I really don’t wanna put off school any longer. I wanna wrestle a long time, so there’s no point for me to delay my career,’ ” Storr said. “And ... I think me coming back was just a good little kickstart to kind of start the second half strong.” Storr’s return helped, but the results for the team have nevertheless been mixed. Michigan still has three top-10 wrestlers — Storr and redshirt freshman Will Lewan are both ranked No. 9 in their respective weight classes, while sophomore Mason Parris is No. 2 in the country at heavyweight. But there’s only so much three wrestlers can do. Many of the Wolverines’ matches tell similar stories: Michigan starts out stong and builds up a lead, but that cushion evaporates as the middle of the lineup comes up —
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Sean Bormet is dealing with a depleted roster because of Olympic redshirts, but figures to have an improved lineup in the 2020-21 season.
the spots Massa, Amine and Micic usually fill. Young wrestlers try their best to hold their own against tough Big Ten competition. Then Parris comes and tries to save the day. Sometimes it’s enough. Sometimes it isn’t. Bormet admits that he’s a competitive person and he’s not fully satisfied with Michigan’s results. But he also views this season as a challenge to his entire staff — how can they get the most out of a depleted roster? Sometimes, wrestlers have had to compete in higher weight classes than normal — redshirt junior Tyler Meisinger has wrestled at three different weights this year and junior Reece Hughes has wrestled at four. Michigan knows it’ll take its lumps at times. From there, it becomes about limiting damage. Even in losses, individual wrestlers can mitigate the blow by keeping opponents from earning bonus
Hayhurst helped by position switch BAILEY JOHNSON
points or major decisions — potentially allowing a teammate like Storr or Parris to aid in a comeback later. Meanwhile, Amine, Micic and Massa are still in Ann Arbor. They go through individualized workout regimens, but still occasionally practice with the team, along with providing moral support and offering advice. That gives the wrestlers a chance to learn from some of the best in the sport — and an extra year to compete with them, too. “It’s not the end of the world cause it’s … just a redshirt,” Lewan said. “They’re gonna get back and be able to wrestle for us still. It just gives me a longer time to get people that good in the room.” It’s not hard to see the flip side of the struggles this year. Amine, Micic and Massa plan to return for their final year of eligibility next season. Storr will be back too, along with Lewan and Parris. That’s 60
Daily Sports Editor
Daily Sports Writer
Back in December, Mel Pearson leaned back in his chair at Yost Ice Arena and reflected on graduate transfer forward Jacob Hayhurst’s firsthalf performance. At the time, Hayhurst had only one goal through his first 20 games — after Pearson picked him up as a graduate transfer because of his offensive ability. In each of his last two years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Hayhurst led the Engineers in points with 23. But when he started at Michigan, the offensive output dried up. In game after game, Hayhurst found himself with Grade-A scoring chances, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. It took until Nov. 8 for him to light the lamp, and it was the only goal he scored in the first half of the year. “I thought he’d be a better goal scorer,” Pearson said Dec. 11. “He’s had some great chances, even this weekend he had some. Saturday, (he had) some great looks. He just can’t finish.” When the Wolverines came back from the mid-season break, it appeared that Hayhurst’s old issues had come back with him. In the second game back — the GLI championship against Michigan Tech — he caught the post late, when Michigan needed a goal to tie things up and force overtime. Then the Wolverines got back into conference play, and a switch flipped. After moving from center to the wing in late November, Hayhurst looked settled in his new role by the time Michigan went to Notre Dame in early January. It was a move made by necessity — Hayhurst was injured in November and it wasn’t clear if he’d be able to play, so Pearson had him work as the extra skater instead of centering a regular line in practice — but it ended up being exactly what Hayhurst needed
EVANSTON – Michigan’s game plan against Northwestern on Wednesday night was clear from the outset: make the most of a size advantage and attack the paint all night long. The first five minutes of the contest made it clear that the plan needed some adjustment. The Wolverines went 0-for-8 attacking the rim over that stretch. Despite being significantly smaller, the Wildcats looked surprisingly solid defending the paint. So Michigan changed its approach, looking more to the outside, searching for open shots and able shooters. And there, in the steady hands of a pair of juniors, was the solution to Wednesday night’s problems. Forward Isaiah Livers and shooting guard Eli Brooks combined for 35 points, 10 rebounds and a fair number of electrifying shots, helping Michigan to a 79-54 win. With Livers’ recent longawaited return from a lingering groin injury, Michigan’s offense has been finding some of the energy and movement
ASHA LEWIS/Daily
to find his footing. “That’s been an awesome transition for me,” Hayhurst said Wednesday. “Wing wasn’t something that I was really used to to start the season. … I think jumping to a wing just gives you a little more space. You get to kind of observe the ice a little more instead of having a definite defensive-end responsibility where you need to pick a guy up and stay on him, so it definitely gives you a lot more option for creativity.” Complicating the adjustment was that Hayhurst’s transition in roles at Michigan wasn’t just moving from center to winger — he went from go-to scorer to playing more of a depth role. At RPI, Hayhurst carried the mantle of the leading scorer on a team that struggled to get wins. For the Wolverines, even when they were struggling for most of the year, the offense has come by committee, and Hayhurst has spent most of the year on the third line. Adjusting to a new role, in a new system, at a new school, took longer than anyone expected, but now it looks as though Hayhurst has fully acclimated. “I don’t think, for me or for the coaching staff, things transitioned as fast as we would’ve liked,” Hayhurst said, “but I think now you can see that they’ve finally transitioned
and I think it’s at a good point in the year where the whole team’s hot. We’re heading into playoffs, we’re kind of on a roll, so I think everything’s going really well.” In his seventh game as a winger — after playing center for almost his entire career — Hayhurst found twine for his second goal in a Michigan sweater. Three games later, he added another. Two weeks after that, he scored a goal in each of the Wolverines’ wins over Wisconsin. Both goals against the Badgers were highlight-reel tallies — and Saturday night’s goal was the eventual gamewinner. The goal-scoring acumen Pearson saw when looking for a transfer back in the spring was finally coming to light. “You see it,” Pearson said. “The goal he scored Friday, he just had patience. Most guys will just bang that puck right back into the pile, but he fakes, takes some time, takes a step. He’s got the net to shoot at. And then even on the goal on Saturday, it was all individualistic, but you can see the skill and the change of pace and the deception that he has. “He knows how to put the puck in the net. I think he’s positioned to have a really good finish here.”
any wrestler knows that intense roster competition comes with the territory, and Bormet believes the idea of a powerhouse team next year will be just as enticing. “Even in the recruiting process, that’s talked about a lot,” Bormet said. “And when you go to a school that has a really good wrestling program like ours and a really competitive program, next year we’re trying to put our best lineup on the mat to win a national championship, guys know that it’s gonna be competitive to get a starting spot.” Bormet sees it as a two-way street. Of course it’s a sacrifice for any college coach to lose three of his best wrestlers for a season. But wrestling is also one of the most difficult sports to make an Olympic team in — just 16 athletes make it at each weight.
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Livers, Brooks proving dangerous ABBY SNYDER
Graduate transfer Jacob Hayhurst has seen dividends since moving to wing.
percent of Michigan’s lineup spots going to top-level wrestlers. With that much talent and experience, the Wolverines have a good chance to contend nationally. There are a few roster complications, of course. Losing three wrestlers to the Olympics wasn’t part of any long-term plan for Bormet; rather, it was something that the athletes and staff only started discussing in the last 6-8 months. That would throw a wrench into even the best thought out recruiting plans, but the nature of wrestling scholarships mitigates that issue somewhat. Division I wrestling teams get 9.9 scholarships to work with; Michigan has 33 athletes on its roster this year. So most wrestlers are on just partial scholarship, if they’re on scholarship at all. On the other hand, the redshirts mean there are people who believed they would have lineup spots next year who suddenly won’t. But
it had been lacking without him. Livers had 17 points Wednesday night, but he was also key in keeping the ball in motion on offense, in creating opportunities not just for himself, but for everyone. “When I’m out there, I mean, yeah I try to get my shot, cause coach (Juwan) Howard tells me to be aggressive, but also, I’ve been able to move the ball,” Livers said. “If I’ve been on top, I’m trying to orchestrate, get (Jon Teske) the ball, try to swing it to Eli for a 3, get (Zavier Simpson) downhill, Franz (Wagner) doing what he does. I just — I know my players, so I know who to swing it to.” But Livers is one of Michigan’s top talents, and with that mantle comes added pressure from opposing defenses. In situations where Livers can’t get open, Michigan turns to Brooks, who Livers refers to as “the silent assassin.” When the Wolverines get him an open shot, more often than not, the result is nothing but net. Often, it’s enough to shift the rhythm, the pace of the game back to Michigan. When Northwestern started making a run late, the Wolverines needed something to swing the momentum back
to them, something to stem the purple tide. So they looked to Brooks outside. He buried it from the arc. “That was huge,” Howard said. “Eli made that three when we’d been struggling to score, but more importantly, struggling to make a play. The three was huge. It gave us that momentum that we needed.” Both players have proven themselves capable of making those kinds of poster-worthy, morale-boosting plays throughout the season. Late in Wednesday’s game, a resurgent Livers — still nursing the remnants of that nagging groin injury — couldn’t resist making one more. He got the feed from sophomore point guard David DeJulius. The result: a massive, one-handed airborne dunk. The healthy Michigan crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena exploded. Livers — and the Wolverines they knew — were finally back. “Every time I run down the middle, Dave is always giving it back to me,” Livers said, grinning. “I already knew. I’m there in my take-off zone, want to jump off one. I’m all good. No injuries. So it was exciting to get a dunk — two dunks — and finish a game.”
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Junior forward Isaiah Livers combined with Eli Brooks for 35 points against Northwestern on Wednesday night.
Sports
6A — Thursday, February 13, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Cat killers
Michigan trounces Northwestern, 79-54, behind standout performances from Davis, Livers JACOB KOPNICK Daily Sports Editor
EVANSTON — Michigan coach Juwan Howard stepped off the plane in Chicago and inhaled deeply. He was back home. There was something different about the air in his hometown, he said. Whether it was the nostalgia of being back where he grew up or the crowd of maize and blue in the bleachers at Northwestern or the herd of old friends — including former NBA All-Star Dikembe Mutombo — Howard felt different about Wednesday’s game. Whatever was in the air though, clearly affected the Wolverines (15-9 overall, 6-7 Big Ten), who trounced the Wildcats (6-17, 1-12) to the tune of 79-54 in a full display of the team’s talents. But things weren’t so rosy from the onset. Michigan started the game badly, opening up the contest 0-for-11 from the f loor with seven of those shots registering as either layups or dunks. Most of the offensive stagnancy fell on the shoulders of senior center Jon Teske, who failed to convert around the rim, missing easy looks against a drastically undersized Northwestern team. He finished with six points on 3-for-14 shooting. But that was the last time Michigan needed to worry about the outcome of the game. And, as if possessed, the Wolverines’ shooters began to take things into their own hands. Junior guard Eli Brooks lit it up from behind the arc, going 4-for-8 and finishing with a team-high 18 points. His quick release and deep range torched the Wildcats all night and earned the nickname “the silent assassin” from teammate Isaiah Livers. Adding to the offensive production — largely in the first half — was senior forward Austin Davis, who checked in for the f lailing Teske and
added a much-needed presence in the interior. If a programmer were designing a consistent, reliable player to fill the 10 feet or so in front of the rim, that player’s performance would look strikingly similar to Davis’s in the first half. The big man opened up his scoring in style with a two-handed f lush, making a statement that the lax interior presence would not continue. The new-life offense went on a 26-5 run to take a strong 38-23 lead into the locker room. Oh, and the Wolverines did it all without star guard Zavier Simpson, who watched all the action from the bench with two quick fouls. Sophomore guard David DeJulius stepped up, as he’s done in the past, and filled Simpson’s shoes to the inch, finishing with seven points and seven assists. “When (Simpson) came in, they told me it was my opportunity,” DeJulius said. “And I watched film and saw how they play defense, and I just executed the game plan. “And I’m naturally a scorer, that’s just my game, but that’s not what I care about. I care about doing whatever is best for the team, and just to see that I got seven assists. … That feels good for me.” If ever one play could characterize a game of basketball, it would have to be Livers’ ferocious slam late in the second half. With just over five minutes to play, Livers found himself streaking down the court after a massive block from Teske. The junior caught the feed from DeJulius and forced down a thunderous dunk to shake the building. It also helped that the Wildcats sit comfortably in the basement of the Big Ten standings.
Northwestern showed some life later in the half though, catching stride with its shot selection. The Wildcats threatened to chip away at a 20-point Wolverine lead with an 8-0 run, but would never actualize the comeback with Brooks drilling a 3-pointer to snap Michigan out of the rut. Brooks’s 3-pointer felt like more of an inevitability rather than a big-time shot by a veteran player. The game was never truly in doubt and the Wolverines proved to be simply too much for the undersized Wildcats. After all, they were never meant to spoil Howard’s homecoming. Maybe that’s why the “Let’s Go Blue!” chants emanating from the stands in Evanston following Livers’s gamedefining dunk didn’t feel out of place. Through Howard, this was Michigan’s home game too.
I watched film and saw how they play defense.
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
EVANSTON — When the Michigan men’s basketball team needed a spark on Wednesday, it turned to an unlikely source. It was a game in which the Wolverines shouldn’t have needed a spark in the first place, for a number of reasons. But even coming off a seasonaltering win over Michigan State, Michigan struggled out of the gate against Northwestern. The Wolverines’ early-game struggles have become all too predictable. Just four days after missing 10 of its first 11 shots against the Spartans, Michigan failed to find bottom on 13 of its first 15 against the Big Ten’s doormat. Enter Austin Davis. In the midst of a breakout senior season, the forward injected a jolt of life into a halfempty Welsh-Ryan Arena when the Wolverines needed it most. After Isaiah Livers’s baseline drive was cut off, the junior forward found an open Davis beneath the rim. With Michigan trailing, 13-8, he rose above three Wildcats
and threw down a two-handed flush. The dunk ignited an 8-0 spurt for the Wolverines — one that eventually became a 27-5 run, propelling Michigan to a 79-54 victory. Davis was a key cog through it all, scoring seven points in just six minutes, on his way to nine total points. His first-half performance came on the heels of a dismal start from senior center Jon Teske, who missed his first four layups before throwing a dunk off the back of the rim. “(Austin) is so strong,” Livers said. “… His finishing around the rim is probably the best on the team, honestly.” Just over a year ago, he was upended by then-freshman forward Brandon Johns Jr. for Michigan’s backup center duties. At the time, Johns was battling a steep learning curve and playing out of position. Even still, former coach John Beilein preferred him over Davis. This season, however, Davis has flipped the script. He began the campaign behind sophomore forward Colin Castleton before surpassing
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Senior forward Austin Davis scored nine points off the bench, giving Michigan a spark in a 79-54 win over Northwestern.
him in December. Against conference opponents, Davis is averaging 5.3 points on a teambest 71 percent shooting clip. What’s most intriguing about Davis, though, is the timeline of his emergence. He’s peaking in his fourth year with the program — a time in which players have usually already reached their ceiling. In Davis’s case, the turning point came when Michigan tabbed Beilein’s replacement in May. “That’s the Austin we knew, but the man just took coach (Juwan) Howard to come in here and work on his post moves,” Livers said. “His post moves are elite. I’ve had to guard that big dude down there before — it’s not easy at all.” Added Davis: “(Howard) is high energy all the time. He’s pedal to the metal every minute of practice. I love it. He’s down in the trenches with the post guys working with us. He’s got the pad, he’s banging on us and he’s giving us feedback as we’re going. It’s really invaluable. … The amount of knowledge and corrections he makes everyday is incredible. He played 19 years in the NBA, and it really comes through.” Following Wednesday’s 4-for-4 shooting performance, finishing with nine points, Davis is now shooting an eyepopping 94 percent from the field over Michigan’s last five games. At this rate, he won’t remain an unlikely spark source for much longer. When Davis returned to the locker room after the game, there was an unfamiliar face waiting. Dikembe Mutombo, one of Howard’s self-proclaimed “favorite teammates” from his playing days — greeted him with the hand he used to popularize his signature finger wag. For a moment, the line between idolization and reality was blurred. And for Wednesday’s unlikely spark source, it was only fitting for his first congratulations to come from an unfamiliar face.
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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Suffix for Wikipedia 4 Humiliate 9 Network with a “Cameras in the Court” page 14 Excessively 15 Where many watch the Beeb 16 Get to laugh 17 Crow 19 Plug-in Chevys 20 Series-ending abbr. 21 Lightning __ 22 “Settle down!” 23 Delete for security reasons, say 25 Alphabetize, e.g. 26 Crow 32 Lapped (up) 35 Take to a higher court 36 Amana Colonies state 37 Copier pioneer 39 Taylor of fashion 40 Likely 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee 41 Composer Satie 42 Taco sauce brand 44 IRS identifier 45 Crow 48 In years past 49 Range that contains much of the Mark Twain National Forest 53 Temple with an upcurved roof 56 Blue-__: pain relief brand 58 “Allow me” 59 Meter measure 60 Crow 62 Electric car named for a physicist 63 Kirin competitor 64 Zero, in soccer 65 Get to the point? 66 Exorcist’s target 67 “Get how it’s done?” DOWN 1 “Some __ time” 2 Waze recommendation 3 Lose one’s grip
4 Delta hub code 5 Draft source 6 Pet food brand 7 Avoided a tag, perhaps 8 “Queer __”: revived style show 9 Frolic 10 Blended beverage 11 Yank 12 Bubbly city 13 Stick-y place to sleep? 18 Spill the beans 22 Slinky shape 24 Persuade with flattery 25 Title river in a Gershwin/Caesar song 27 Like Wyoming’s population 28 Start of the back nine 29 Quickly writes 30 Is in the red 31 It may get crewel treatment 32 x, y and z, in math 33 Polo of “The Fosters”
34 Shillelagh’s land 38 Words that activate an assistant 40 “Empire State of Mind” rapper 42 White-bellied swimmer 43 First name in comedy 46 Make lovable 47 Souvlaki meat 50 Comes down
51 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year __ Irving 52 Crab-walk 53 Miniature golf stroke 54 Riding the waves 55 [Oh no!] 56 Besides that 57 Word said with a tip of the hat 60 Evil 61 It’s all relatives
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B-SIDE: MUSIC
B-SIDE: BOOKS
From Lana to CupcakKe, the crucial Doing nothing for reinvention of pop-star sexuality as long as possible CLARA SCOTT Daily Arts Writer
“Once upon a time, not long ago, I was a hoe,” sang rapper/singer/Internet meme Mariahlynn through our phone speaker, my two best friends and I singing along as we hurtled across Europe in a rickety passenger train. This was not the first time any of us had mimicked her risque lyrics in public. By the end of our trip to Vienna last year, we had memorized the entirety of “Once Upon a Time” and several other incredibly explicit songs. Sitting on that train, whisper-screaming lines like “But I fuck him though / And I don’ even care if his mother know,” I had a momentary thought — would songs like this have even existed 15 years ago? Sure, maybe from a male writer or singer, but not from a woman, at least not so brazenly. The reinvention of lust in music has turned what used to be unmentionable into a badge of pride for some female-identifying artists, as glitter and sweat and everything in between mixes to create the new sound of sex. This sound seems so commonplace now, with samples that would fit right in on PornHub, littering songs like the popular “Deepthroat” by CupcakKe. They are created by somewhat fringe artists, but the shock value of their work and its positive embrace of sexuality have catapulted this new idea of popstar sexuality into the spotlight. Though CupcakKe announced she was retiring in September 2019, in December she came back to announce she had not only lost 30 pounds, but also signed an $8 million deal with Sony Music Entertainment. That’s right, SONY. The same company that boasts Beyonce, Michael Jackson and Prince in their ranks not only signed CupcakKe, but gave her millions of dollars, of which she is allegedly donating $60,000. If that’s not evidence of a major paradigm shift, I don’t know what is. In the age of the internet, anyone can cultivate their own audience, regardless of the content they are producing. For artists like CupcakKe, this independent following is what supported her brash acceptance of sex and its motifs in her music. But even for those who aren’t putting orgasm-like sounds in the first seconds of their singles, things are changing for the sex-positive artist. This change began in the late ‘90s and early aughts for artists like Peaches, whose 2002 record The Teaches of Peaches includes titles such as the ultra-popular “Fuck the Pain Away.” Her early songs are a cacophony of machine-generated drums
and cymbals, the artist’s languid talksinging detailing her sexual escapades in emotional and physical detail. It’s this nonchalant acknowledgement of female sexuality that marks the difference from previous artists, as the hidden secrets of ‘70s songs like The Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight” are now made clear for a listener to plainly understand. These moments of heightened femme pleasure-seeking exist on a scale, ranging from the drawling lyrics of artists like Lana Del Rey to the intensely explicit Brooke Candy, but the fact that they exist at all in the mainstream is a wonder of its own. Del Rey sings “My pussy tastes like Pepsi-Cola / My eyes are wide like cherry pies,” and an audience of millions listens. Del Rey in particular represents a niche of the sexualised pop-star that bridges the gap between traditional songwriting and the new world of increasingly devoted internet fanbases. Her fans love her because she is transparent about the harsh realities of hypersexuality, about the turmoil and violence of relationships with bad men and good men all the same. One could argue that Del Rey, real name Lizzie Grant, is a character immune to the flak of sharing her sexuality so plainly in the public eye. But I’d say that her presence in the mainstream media is that of an interloper from the internet age, where her flower-child inspired persona grew into what it is today. The reason she can sing lyrics like “In the land of gods and monsters / I was an angel, lookin’ to get fucked hard,” is because of her fanbase, much like CupcakKe’s, yet she has hidden them in
a traditionally pop format. If you don’t look closely, she could be singing about anything in a sexy voice, seemingly slurring her words in a stylized oldHollywood persona. As one of the initial female artists to bring the complexity of bold sexuality from an internet subgenre to top-40 stardom, Del Rey’s popularity signaled the introduction of newer, even more intense and honest artists than herself. This shift is in part due to these artists, as the audiences for their music become desensitized to the shock value and up-front crudeness of their lyrics, but it has also been influenced by the massive changes in the music industry at large. We no longer rely on sanitized, FCC-regulated radio to get our music — not even in the car or on a train — as my friends and I found that day on the way to Austria. Listeners are now able to choose what they want from their musicians, supporting artists that would not have made it to the ears of record executives, let alone the radio, because of their niche status or subjects. We are now able to directly support artists like Del Rey, CupcakKe, Peaches and Brooke Candy, at the same time proving the existence of an audience for them and furthering the presence of sex-positive music for femme, queer and other traditionally underrepresented demographics. The personalization of music in the last two decades has made it possible to bring what has always been private into the public eye, thus allowing the hushed existence of female lust and sexuality to enter the spotlight it so desperately needs.
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B-SIDE: COMMUNITY CULTURE
The seven sins and the swag bags LILLY PEARCE For The Daily
Greed Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie and Quentin Tarantino: some of the biggest stars of the principal categories of the 2020 Oscars who left without a golden man. However, these stars did not exactly leave empty-handed. In 2001, The Academy began administering swag bags for all of the nominees in the leading categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Roles and Best Director. Recognized by their luxurious gifts and expensive cost, the bags were soon investigated by IRS, and The Academy officially put an end to the superf luous gifts. This is when Distinctive Assets stepped in. Unaffiliated with the Oscars, it is now Distinctive Assets who sponsors these swag bags for the top nominees. Those who accept are subject to an income tax, and in recent years the refusal of the swag bag has occurred. But the 2020 Oscar swag bags entail the most luxurious items of them all — how could anyone resist? Pride A tried-and-true initiation to “thank you” speeches usually follows along the lines of being so “humbled” to have been chosen. That they are undeserving. Small hints of hesitation may be disclosed, but all is forgotten when the gift bag arrives. The winners may take more pleasure with their goodies while the losers find solace on their 12-day “Scenic Eclipse” cruise, during their secluded getaway in a Spanish lighthouse or perhaps during one of their cosmetic treatments, worth around $25,000 in itself. How embarrassing it must be for Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson and Charlize Theron (all included in Forbes’ List of Highest-Paid Actresses this year) to be snubbed for their incredible performances. Money couldn’t buy them
an Oscar, but it could buy stays at Wellness Resorts and phone calls with a Life Coach to help them push forward.
meditation headband. Turn their anger into gratitude. Turn their wrath into acceptance.
Gluttony Though the nominees may be Hollywood stars leading entirely different lives to that of average citizens like us, all of us are connected by our universal appreciation for comfort food. Is there anyone in need of more comfort following the Oscars than the forgotten nominees? While there are McDonalds in Hollywood, what better way to welcome a win or cope with a loss than with Mad Mac Macarons, dinner for two at Flora’s Field Kitchen in Cabo, Mexico, a guided tasting of Coda’s Signature Chocolate edibles and more.
Envy Envy, our final sin, does not belong to the argued perpetrator. The final sin belongs to us. While the Oscars swag bags may not be the most moral signifiers of achievement for our beloved Hollywood stars, is it
Sloth Distinctive Assets ensure the nominees feel rewarded. Guaranteed relaxation is tacked on to the luxuries in the swag bags, persuading the stars to take a break. To let loose and enjoy themselves. After all, life is hard for millionaires. Lust The swag bag has all one could ever need to partake in rather than merely lustful activities. Romantic getaways, gold-infused bath bombs, trips to a destination spa, everything condoning pleasure and indulgence, sealed with a red ribbon and placed into the hands of the biggest faces in film today. Wrath Distinctive Assets knows just the route to take to prevent stars from speaking out. Dilute their anger with gifts, let them know they will get to take a prize home. Smother them with jokes about the lack of women nominations for Best Director and rather repetitive jokes about the lack of representation present in the nominations and the audience, preventing them from insisting that those with power do something about it. Find the fury and diminish it with hydrogeninfused water and a brain-wave sensing
The 2020 Oscar swag bags entail the most luxurious items of them all — how could anyone resist?
not our own envy that drives us to make these claims of dubious intent? These accusations are reeking with jealousy. I enviously type away, framing these stars and their acknowledgments, deeming them unworthy of such acclaim due to my own insecurity that my own achievements and impacts will never equate. But these celebrities are doing their job. A job we liken to worth, notability and success. A job we label as impressive, a necessary asset to the functioning of our society. Are we not the engine driving such award shows to take place? We are greedy for quality films, prideful in our original opinions, gluttonous for movie snacks, lazy as we stream from our beds, lustful in our engagement with the indecent scenes, angry when our top pick doesn’t win, and we. Are. Envious. Jealous in our recognition that we have such small odds of being on that stage. That we will never be gifted anything as salivating. Perhaps we are the most sinful of all.
EMILY YANG
Daily Arts Writer
Not long after I sat down to write about Ottessa Moshfegh’s third novel, “My Year Of Rest And Relaxation,” I got an email notification from the campus health center informing me that I had mono. I wasn’t surprised, exactly: when I went in for tests, I figured I had the f lu but with an abnormally prolonged and intense sore throat. As it turns out, I somehow have something worse than the f lu: a disease that stays latent in a person for months, slowly taking out a tide of fever and fatigue. I was mortified about this, obviously, but I was also a bit relieved. I had something to call the feelings that were amassing in my body and a satisfactory explanation for everything. I could send emails to my professors and safely take a few days off to “recover,” which is to say sit around and do nothing. In the meantime I would get sympathetic coos from friends and housemates who would wander into the room and see me in my pathetic state curled up in a blanket. The unnamed protagonist in Moshfegh’s novel, who tries to sleep off her malaise for a year, doesn’t have anything to call it — the word “depression” doesn’t make a single appearance in the book — but she does give her vague feelings a shape. She gives herself a year of nothing, an allotted time for her to change. Moshfegh writes: “I thought life would be more tolerable if my brain were slower to condemn the world around me.” She wants to detach, to not care. And so she goes to a disreputable psychiatrist and gets prescribed all manner
This is the fundamental problem with rest, relaxation, so-called “selfcare” and a good portion of “wellness” — that in the end you have to return to your life of anti-anxiety medications, sleep aids and sedatives, and self-medicates herself into a stupor somewhere between wakefulness and sleep. The novel manages to be engaging despite this premise. There’s still a whiff of agency and rebellion in this dramatic act of refusal, a sense in which the protagonist is taking control of her life (or at least attempting to) by refusing to live it. Given what the rest
of her world looks like — an unsatisfying job at a gallery, a humiliating on-again-offagain relationship with an older Wall Street type, a single friend with whom she has a codependent, resentful
I was mortified about this, obviously, but I was also a bit relieved. I had something to call the feelings that were amassing in my body and a satisfactory explanation for everything
relationship. It’s additionally implied that the protagonist is trying to undo her memories of her emotionally cold parents, both of whom died a few months before the plot of the novel started. In this light, her decision to just try to remove herself totally has its merits and even comes across as eminently reasonable given the circumstances. The excessive, self-destructive rest she goes through is both a coping mechanism and a way (in her mind) of shaping herself into someone better, without the baggage of her previous life. There’s a sense in which her self-administered care is a way of forgetting, of purging, of becoming clean and pure. It’s clear that the scheme isn’t going to work, at least not in the way the narrator thinks it will. Moshfegh knows that you can’t rest yourself into wholeness, or even wellness, really. Even in my case, where I’m resting off an aff liction of the body rather than of the spirit, I understand that rest can only do so much. When I return to class next week, I will have a degree of the same fatigue and aches, and I will still have more to do. This is the fundamental problem with rest, relaxation, so-called “self-care” and a good portion of “wellness” — that in the end you have to return to your life. It’s possible, in the end, that rest is only ever its own reward, something Moshfegh seems to understand: there’s a particular pleasure the protagonist feels throughout her voided months, somewhere between active and passive, sadistic and masochistic. The ambiguity of this desire forms the dramatic tension of this book. For now I can have long languid hours to stew in my dizzy mind, which feels to me the point.
Ottessa Moshfegh via WATERSTONES
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B-SIDE: BOOKS NOTEBOOK
Giving up heaven to find the eighth deadly sin: tangents TATE LAFRENIER Daily Arts Writer
I love sinning as much as the next guy, but when it comes to literature and writing, there is one cardinal sin that truly irks me. The eighth deadly sin, more insidious than its seven predecessors, is the non sequitur (a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement), the tangent, the digression. It’s funny and bizarre at first, but when it drags on for too long, it becomes grating. There is media, literary or otherwise, that is able to pull off going on tangents well, and then there is media that is not able to. But before delving into some of these sinful works, it’ll help to trace back the etymology of these words with the assistance of the Oxford English Dictionary, one of my favorite sites. My other most visited sites are isitchristmas. com (by the way, it’s not Christmas today. Christmas celebrates the birth of the religious figure Jesus Christ, though the actual date of the historical Jesus’s birth was likely not Dec. 25. There are many theories as to why Dec. 25 was chosen as the day to celebrate this event, but it remains uncertain) and michigandaily.com ;). The usage of ‘non sequitur,’ for example, dates back to 1450, as used in Melbourne’s “Pilgramage Lyffe Manhode” to indicate some sort of article of clothing. It’s unclear how our current usage relates to this definition, but the OED indicates that a play on words may link the two. This, however, is uncertain. Philology and etymology can inspire deep appreciation for the beauty of our language, like why knight is pronounced “nite” instead of “kuh-nee-ght” (spoiler alert: we can thank the Normans for that. You may have heard of the Norman Conquest of England — not to be confused with the Lana Del Rey album titled Norman F*cking Rockwell. The title song of this album and the album itself were actually nominated for Grammys. Unfortunately, the song got snubbed, not unlike “Cats” got snubbed this year at the Oscars. And James Corden’s costumed appearance at the awards ceremony did nothing to assuage the pain I felt over “Cats” not being nominated for its phenomenal visual effects. In all honesty, the only comfort that could have soothed me was if every speaker who followed was dressed as an anthropomorphic cat, but, knowing the snobbery of the Academy Awards, this was unlikely. Nevertheless, other parts of the night did
excite me. “Joker” winning awards for being too edgy was so exhilarating, and it should have won more. I will always believe “Joker” got snubbed for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Production Design, Best International Feature Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay, Best Short Film, etc. because it was too deep and philosophical for the Academy to understand. At least Joaquin Phoenix stood up for what he believed in when he won his Oscar and talked about how angry he was that cow orphans exist. The Joker himself philosophizing on how we live in a society was inspiring. The world is so dark and twisted these days that it is so enlightening to have a voice of reason in these times of madness. His life really is a comedy… Much like the first half of the winner of the Best Picture category, “Parasite.” “Parasite” might have been shallow and meaningless compared to “Joker,” but I’ll accept it as the winner that “Joker” was supposed to be. But I digress… — which was the successful campaign to invade England marked by a decisive Norman victory at Hastings in 1066. The resulting influence of NormanFrench in this period permanently changed the English language), or why ‘yeet’ is a word. Words can undergo much more radical changes than the mere loss of syllables, of course. For example, did you know that the word ‘nice’ originally was meant to denote stupidity? I think a lot of things are “nice” in the sense that we use it today, but one of the nicest things on this planet is food. I’m not talking about bland white-people food, like casseroles or unseasoned chicken breasts, I’m talking about the good stuff, like Kraft Mac and Cheese, and that purple ketchup from the ‘90s. One way to really spice up your Kraft is to add some seasoning, some extra cheese, or some bacon bits. Personally, I love peppering my Kraft with cilantro, from the herb coriander. Apparently, it’s possible to blend cilantro into a dipping sauce and even a cocktail. I can’t imagine dipping my fries into cilantro sauce, but to each their own. I can appreciate the variety of preferences some can have. What I don’t appreciate is the lack of variety in a few of the University’s dining halls. South Quad in particular draws my ire. I love fruit, yet all that MDining can scrounge together is a limited selection of melons, pineapple, bananas, and apples. Where is the watermelon, the dragon fruit, the blueberries, the strawberries, the raspberries, the durian, the loquat, the cherimoya, the kumquat, the apricot, the coconut,
COURTESY OF SHERRY CHEN
the jujube, the cloudberry, the European blueberry, the damson, the gooseberry, the boysenberry and, most importantly, the kiwi? Where are my brown fuzzy little ovoids filled with green goodness? Speaking of kiwis, which are one of my favorite fruits, the Apteryx mantelli (the bird kiwi) is one of my favorite animals, and not just because these birds look like the fruit in question. I like the kiwi bird due to its association
The eighth deadly sin, more insidious than its seven predecessors, is the non sequitur (a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement), the tangent with the beautiful island country of New Zealand (Speaking of the Oscars, Taika Waititi, director of the Oscar-winning “Funny Heartwarming nazu Film” and the upcoming “Romeo and Juliet” adaptation, “Thor: Love and Thunder,” just so happens to be from New Zealand. Much like the kiwi bird, Waititi is emblematic of much of what New Zealand represents: beauty incarnate.); New Zealanders are even often called kiwis. Assigning names to groups or individuals is often an
endeavor loaded with meaning, and oftentimes the name assigned holds cultural or personal significance. For fear of going off into a tangent, I won’t discuss the historical significance of names and titles, so I’ll list ten names and their etymological roots instead. The name ‘Julianna’ comes from the name ‘Julian,’ which traces its way back to the name ‘Julius,’ which denoted ‘youth’; ‘One Directioner’ derives from the hit boy band ‘One Direction,’ and is used to talk about fans of said band; Christ comes from the Greek Khristos, deriving from khriein, meaning ‘to anoint’; the Jewish/German name ‘Schlissel’ comes from an occupational title for a “maker of dishes”; ‘Reggie’ is a nickname for the longer name ‘Reginald,’ which comes from Old German and literally translates to ‘ruling with power’; ‘Belieber’ is a combination of the pop idol Justin ‘Bieber’ and the word ‘believer,’ used to discuss fans of Justin Bieber— many artists have fans with humorous names, and even the fan bases of these artists often have names. One example is Beyonce’s fan base, dubbed the ‘Beyhive.’ Beyonce’s transcendence as a music artist is hardly done justice by this name, but it seems that this higher plane of talent runs in the family: I have recently discovered that Beyonce has a sister, Solange. Her latest album, When I Get Home, is a beautiful discussion of race and femininity. This duo of sisters is not novel in their familial talent, for they are preceded by the 19th century authors Charlotte and Emily Bronte. And, of course, the Brontes follow a literary period of satire, during which Laurence Sterne’s novel “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy” was published, which is a perfect example of a piece of media built around the idea of tangents and non sequiturs. A more modern example of media that plays with non sequiturs is “Monty Python and Holy Grail”
B-SIDE: TV NOTEBOOK
The Real Housewives as the seven deadly sins ALLY OWENS
Senior Arts Editor
Imagine a reality television show devoid of sin. Oh, it’s already been cancelled. Now, imagine watching a reality television show, but this time, the disgustingly great feeling of schadenfreude is missing from your viewing experience. Not nearly as fun, right? Since the dawn of the genre, reality television and the idea of sin have been intrinsically intertwined. It’s easy to see why: Few reality shows have ever touched on subject matter extending outside of the realm of petty social in-fighting, sex and the fallout from having it, beach vacations and other exploitative pursuits. So depraved is the reputation of reality television and its viewers that it’s almost become a sin to admit to being a fan. But how could you not consider it to be a vice? The industry is comprised of channel after channel, program after program built upon the foundation of miserable people gathering together weekly (in person or on Twitter) to watch other people’s lives in some state of disarray. What ground do we, the fans, have to stand on? What I have found in my near-lifelong addiction to reality television is that, contrary to popular belief, what lies beneath most people’s fascination with reality television isn’t a superiority complex, but rather a level of underlying self-identification with the caricatured people on our screens. This is particularly true of the network providing some of the most nuanced and individualized depictions of American superficiality, Bravo. The seven deadly sins, or capital vices, are essentially our own natural tendencies in overdrive. We are all born with the ability to feel jealous or angry or like you’d fuck the shit out of Harry Styles. However, the sins provide a sort of exaggerated, cautionary framework to indicate when you have experienced too much of a good, bad thing. I see a striking parallel between this notion and how we view the stars of reality television in relation to ourselves. I almost see them as the contemporary versions of stock characters used in early theatre to espouse morals. In viewing the sensationalized versions of vulnerabilities we most likely already recognize within ourselves, in a sense, we are better able to reflect on and ground our own anxieties. No one likes to admit to their own sins, but we are self-aware enough to look for it in other people. Is this healthy? 100% no. Is this better than having no awareness of the origins of your feelings of inadequacy? That’s up to you to decide. But, until Bernie gives me free healthcare or CAPS finally remembers that I’ve already filled out that form before, I’ll continue to selfmedicate with the icky comfort Bravo provides. A close reading of something as seemingly trivial as reality television, specifically something as notorious as the “Real Housewives” franchise, may be off-putting — I’m keenly aware of how this could be viewed. But, you’ve already made it this far, why not stick around for some armchair psychoanalysis? Here are the Real Housewives as the seven deadly sins. PRIDE: A tie — LuAnn de Lesseps (“The Real Housewives of New York”) and Karen Huger (“The Real Housewives of Potomac”)
There are many ways to define pride. Webster’s defines it as a “high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit or superiority,” but it could also be pretty well summed up through the act of browbeating everyone in your life to refer to you as “Countess.” Unironically. To be fair, once LuAnn de Lesseps of “The Real Housewives of New York” was divorced from her now ex-husband, Count Alexandre de Lesseps, she did stop using her courtesy title. After she was forced to do so. Seven years after the divorce papers were signed. While LuAnn serves as a reminder of a bygone era of early reality television pridefulness — when stars actually believed that they could dupe audiences into looking past the very apparent shortcomings of their lives via performative haughtiness — Karen Huger, the self-proclaimed “Grand Dame of Potomac,” represents the future trajectory of this cautionary tale. The more I mull over the topic, the more I believe that the act of forcing others to call you by a fabricated title of nobility might just be the best metric to gauge one’s pridefulness, as well as his or her grasp on reality. Huger prides herself on two things: her marriage to the “Black Bill Gates” and her wigs. Ironically, both of these things have been weaponized against her to poke holes in her delusions of grandeur. Her husband, Ray Huger, more Papa Smurf than Bill Gates, was outed for “personally [owing] nearly $1.5 million in back-due federal taxes, and his software company owes more than 3 million.” As for her wigs, please do me a favor and Google the video of her wig falling off mid-argument, and see her attempt to act as though it is not happening. You won’t regret it. Karen refuses to make substantial comment on either of these matters, choosing instead to pick fights about her fragrance line (that is still missing from department store shelves). Unlike during the early years of the “Housewives” franchise, now, everyone can see through the illusion of elitism propped up by the Bravo network’s checkbook. But, the beauty of the pride archetype is the hilarity that comes out of their efforts to convince us otherwise.
Parks (“The Real Housewives of Atlanta”)
WRATH: Lisa Vanderpump Housewives of Beverly Hills”)
Bravo fans (who I keep addressing, but know aren’t actually reading this), I know there are plenty of other options in the Housewives arsenal who probably would have been simpler picks: Brandi Glanville, Claudia Jordan, even Ramona’s blonde-in-crime, Sonja Morgan. But the thing about lust is that the sin of it lies more in the excessive and obsessive act of desiring*, not necessarily the catharsis that comes in the follow through. *The Catholic Church gets final say, though. The other women have demonstrated the follow through, so consequently, the housewife who serves as the cautionary tale of this sin is the one who would never cop to the charge, Ramona Singer. For context, in earlier seasons, Ramona was a staunch traditionalist. She was the woman who, because she was married, demonized the single women in the friend group and self-indulgently used her own marriage to support the archaic idea that if you can keep your man happy, he will stay. Then Ramona’s husband Mario publicly left her for a woman 30 years her junior. Go figure. While this karmic retribution could have provided a learning experience for Ramona, she ultimately did not take this route. Maybe it’s because she’s insecure about reaching her 60s. Maybe it’s because her daughter doesn’t visit enough. Maybe old habits die hard and after
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Unlike pride, wrath is an easier sin to unknowingly fall prey to. Anger is a slippery slope, but wrath only comes when you prolong the effects of the initial burn and then weaponize it to hurt the person who hurt you instead of acknowledging the feeling in the moment. Using her British origins as a crutch for her passive aggression, Lisa Vanderpump of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” has made an art form of grudgeholding. Lisa was likened to chess master Bobby Fischer one time for her careful manipulation of others. Eight years later, we are still talking about it. No comment on whether or not she sees the irony of accusing others of being “real” chess masters for scapegoating her as the chess master. Though I am admittedly a fan of both a good grudge and Vanderpump, she has never been able to hold down a considerable friendship on the show for more than two consecutive seasons. Maybe she’s better off taking a note from other “Housewives” franchises and just escalating to physical fighting. GREED: Another tie — Teresa Guidice (“The Real Housewives of New Jersey”) and Phaedra
Easily the most recognizable of the “Housewives” couples, you’ve probably seen Teresa and Joe Guidice on the cover of a magazine when the line at the grocery store is taking too long. Whether the story is covering rumors about Joe, Teresa’s infidelity or Teresa’s rise to the top of the bodybuilding world, they can’t seem to stay out of the news. You may think I’m going to be making the argument that they represent the downside of when one is too greedy for the spotlight — but you’d be wrong. The Guidices represent greed because of their 39-count conviction for charges of wire, bank and bankruptcy fraud. It would be inaccurate to include a section on greed and not memorialize the first couple in franchise history to do hard time while still signed onto the show, however, I have a conscience and know that Teresa and her four daughters are going through an even harder time right now dealing with Joe’s deportation back to Italy. The number one rule of the Housewives is that “you don’t bring family into this,” so like my televised icons, I will also choose to situationally invoke this principle and give her a break. After all, at least Teresa copped to her charges — unlike Phaedra Parks from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Who can forget that one time Phaedra’s husband, Apollo, was convicted on charges of producing and cashing fraudulent insurance checks and Phaedra apparently “knew nothing” about it? And can you believe the timing — just when they were almost finished building their extravagant new home? The interesting thing about these twin displays of greed is that both the Guidice and Parks families began their tenure on their respective shows espousing the traits associated with pride, and only turned to crime when it became clear that they could no longer keep up with Joneses — or their castmates with more money. LUST: Ramona Singer (“The Real Housewives of New York”)
you’ve internalized misogyny for over 50 years, you just can’t break the habit. Either way, Ramona embodies lust in its most exaggerated form, not only because of her continued undying need to prioritize the pursuit of a significant other above all else, but because she also has developed a cringe-worthy pattern of hitting on, sending drinks to and publicly making out with men who have already been claimed by her close friends. GLUTTONY: Kandi Housewives of Atlanta”)
Buruss
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To me, gluttony isn’t that big of a deal. Yeah, I do ask for double rice at Chipotle — you wanna fight about it? Honestly, I don’t think many people retain the nuance to be able to delve into what connotes gluttony without veering fully into the territory of fatphobia, so to save us all the headache, this categorization will not be a condemnation. Kandi Burruss is a cut to the chase kind of woman. As she said prophetically in her season seven tagline, “I’m not about the drama. Don’t start none, won’t be none.” She’s earned a reputation for being one of the most prolific songwriters in R&B (penning TLC’s “No Scrubs” amongst many others), and being the one Housewife to always locate the food or snacks when the cast is away on a girls’ trip. And for that, I give her props. ENVY: LeAnn Locken (“The Real Housewives of Dallas”) Yes, there really is a LeAnn and a LuAnn within the “Housewives” franchise. And what about it? Envy, like greed and lust, is characterized by an uncontrollable desire for something that other people have. And though she’s open — very open — about her humble upbringing as a carnie, you’d think she’d be a bit more transparent about her feelings of inadequacy toward her castmates. Instead of outwardly expressing a desire for more, LeAnn claims she’s “happy” with what she has while simultaneously planning a wedding she can’t afford and blackmailing (on camera) an upscale wedding dress designer to give her a gown for free. However, the sin isn’t inherent in the striving for a better life. Her sin isn’t even marrying a cop who wears a permanent eye patch. Like Watergate, the true sin comes in the cover-up. Rather than honesty, LeAnn opts for reactive (and misplaced) ridicule of friends’ things as being low quality — like castmate Kary Brittingham’s sevenbedroom, waterfront beach villa in Careyes, Mexico that she claimed was “too small” and had “too many stairs.” As a comparison, LeAnn did not provide food at her wedding. SLOTH: Any of the one-season wonders that gave zero effort to produce drama Last, but definitely not least, sloth is characterized by “an excessive laziness or the failure to act and utilize one’s talents.” You can see where I’m going with this. Who feels self-important enough to sign on for a reality show and then proceed to act as though they are above the genre by providing viewers with absolutely no drama, no effort and no vulnerability? I won’t name names, because I honestly can’t remember most of them.
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, February 13, 2020 — 4B
B-SIDE: STYLE
The seven deadly sins...but make them fashionable DANA PIERANGELI
Daily Community Culture Editor
The “Seven Deadly Sins” is such an iconic image that even my theatrical scenic design class incorporated it into our lesson plan. The final project of Introduction to Scenic Design (THTREMUS 240) taught by Rob Murphy asked us to create costume designs for each sin, incorporating the animal and color related to the sin in mythology, as well as an artist of our choosing. I’m no artist, as you will see from the frequent eraser marks and poorly drawn features, but the project was a fascinating way to explore these classic vices and what impact they have on society.
GREED
I set Greed in the 1910s, because this era seemed to be obsessed with gaining wealth and social standing. A confining dress of gold with flaps modeled after Faberge Eggs, paired with an extensive amount of heavy jewelry are the featured parts of this outfit.
PRIDE
SLOTH
I thought Pride could be embodied perfectly through the 1940s, during the height of war. I imagined a veteran still full of pride for his country, despite having suffered immensely. His leg is replaced with a rifle, and his uniform made of Tiffany glass is shattered from bullet holes.
I took inspiration for Sloth from the 1970s, since that era is often associated with pot-smoking hippies. I pictured this androgynous look as something they rolled out of bed in. I heavily featured the goat in the horn shoulder pads and go-go (or goat-goat) boots.
ENVY
GLUTTONY I decided to focus on the idea of overindulgence in the form of alcohol instead of food for Gluttony. This 1920s flapper has spilled alcohol down her dress, and dons a cape made of various alcohol labels and a pig face fan.
WRATH
I set Envy in the 1950s because of the cultural tendency to try to portray everything as perfect, from clothes to home life. The lack of artistry on my part really comes out in this piece, especially with the dog pelt around her neck, but I tried. Her headband is a nod to Roy Lichtenstein.
Wrath is a classic 1990s grunge girl for obvious reasons. The makeup is smeared, the clothes are ripped and the hood of the flannel tutu dress is a bear to bite all of her enemies.
LUST Lust is set in the 2010 #MeToo era. I envisioned a Harvey Weinstein-esque male authority figure, using his power to sexually assault women. I wanted to make this man as disgusting and sleazy as possible, uncaring of who he exposes himself to. The animal paired with Lust is a cow, so assless chaps were a must, especially with a cow udder protruding from the front.
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Thursday, February 13, 2020 — 5B
Watching anime is not a sin: On media that’s uncool DYLAN YONO Daily Arts Writer
During a drive to Ann Arbor with three other people in my car, I asked each of my companions to queue two songs on Spotify for us to listen to along the way. Two were quick to add their songs, but one of my friends was hesitant to add something to the queue. “I don’t know what to add, just skip me,” she insisted, but I demanded two songs from her. So she reluctantly queued two songs. I suspected her hesitance stemmed from embarrassment about her taste in music — I wagered a guess it was K-pop. The first track, a bossanova-esque indie ballad, was perfectly inoffensive to her audience of artsy people in the car. Then the second track played: “dayf ly” by Korean R&B singer Dean. “Were you nervous because you like music in other languages?” I immediately asked. I told her, I may not follow K-pop, but even I have listened to Dean, and I think his music slaps. Only then did
she spill her interest in Korean R&B and other genres of international music. The last few years have seen so many hobbies that were once considered “nerdy” or “lame” become mainstream and cool. Video games are vanilla. Mid-40s office workers who couldn’t name a single Pokémon before 2015 are often the most devoted of Pokémon Go players. Just five years ago Reddit was
things. Many people won’t adopt the label “gamer” or admit the true extent to which they play video games. Dungeons & Dragons players remain fairly low-key. The breakout popularity of BTS has still not fully normalized open interest in K-pop, with many listeners opting to keep it on the down-low. Reading young adult novels has seemed to constantly f luctuate between
The last few years have seen so many hobbies that were once considered “nerdy” or “lame” become mainstream and cool
considered (by its users) to be a geeky website you couldn’t talk to other people about, but today it’s almost as normal as using Facebook — it usually hovers in the top 10 or 20 most visited sites on the web nowadays. Still, there’s a hesitance to fully embrace some of these
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feeling “totally normal” and “utterly uncool.” I’ll never forget my chief paranoia of 2012: hiding my obsession with anime. There was nobody going around saying “anime is for dweebs,” but the pressure to hide my hobby was like a heavy weight
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over my shoulders. Anime turned out to be just a phase for me, one that I would keep secret for several more years. Then at some point in college I finally stopped caring and covered my bedroom in posters of anime I hadn’t watched in six or seven years. It’s almost like I needed to make up for all those years repressing my hobby. I know I wasn’t the only one hiding it, and the feeling of embarrassment still exists: A plea for subtle anime wallpapers was posted on Reddit just one year ago (The caption reads: “I need some new phone and desktop wallpapers, but im not going to expose myself as a weeb to everyone i know just yet.”) Though a sense of shame seems to run particularly high
Schramm’s Mead and the case for beer’s alt-cousin BRENDON CHO For The Daily
ABC
The seven deadly sins: ‘The Bachelor’ Edition Daily Arts Writer
The experience of devoting nearly two hours of one’s life to watching an episode of “The Bachelor” is not only transformatory, it is blissfully sinful. On both sides of the screen, people are being as unabashedly awful as they please. Some background on the show for those who aren’t familiar: “The Bachelor” is a reality TV show where a cohort of 20+ women is winnowed down to “the one” by the bachelor himself, a single man “dating” all of these women at once. He chooses who continues on the show by giving the contestants a rose — if you don’t receive a rose, you go home. It’s a patently ridiculous concept that gamifies love and dating in a way that would be awful if we, as a collective fanbase, didn’t all agree that it was a complete charade. Almost none of the couples from “The Bachelor” or its spinoffs, “The Bachelorette” or “Bachelor in Paradise,” end up still together a few months after the show has ended. And yet every single contestant walks into the competition the first night claiming earnestly that this man, who is dating 20 other women, is truly the love of their life and their future husband. I don’t mean to belittle these women — among them this season are an attorney, a marketing executive, a foster parent recruiter and a nursing student — but the entire premise of the show essentially destines any relationship for failure.
others. Hiding our true selves is an unfortunate consequence. I say stop hiding what you love. Taking pride in it is not a cardinal sin. As I’ve grown older I’ve sought to shift the dynamic. Today I prefer to make the things that matter to me loud and clear as a sort of litmus test. I’ll proudly blast “Flamingo” by Kero Kero Bonito out my car windows, and if someone were to give me a weird look for listening to music sung in Japanese, then they probably aren’t worth getting to know. On the same token, don’t take your anime posters down before bringing your Tinder match into the bedroom. If they think it’s weird, then they’re probably not worth another date.
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B-SIDE: TV
EMILIA FERRANTE
in the anime community, I can imagine some K-pop fans or D&D players similarly looking for subtle ways to express their passions without “outing” themselves. When I think deeply about it, I struggle to pinpoint what exactly is so “different” about these “nerdier” interests. Maybe the perceived obnoxiousness of their fans, but there are just as many bad apples in more mainstream fanbases like sports. So what’s responsible for this overbearing sense of shame and embarrassment? I think most people are just looking to feel welcome and accepted, even at the expense of showing who they really are. Society has trained us to feel validated by the thoughts of
Let me start by saying that I love “The Bachelor” in a way that should probably be a little bit more ironic than it actually is. As a snobby middle schooler, I believed myself above the other girls in my grade who gushed about the bachelor and regaled the drama from last Monday night’s episode. This was my first excursion into this sinful experience, because while I thought I was better than the people who were amused by such petty drama, I was actually exhibiting the first deadly sin: pride. The truth is, no one is above watching “The Bachelor.” You may think you’re better than the men and women who go on the show, but the truth is, you’re letting your pride hold you back from an experience that will liberate you from the stressful drama of actual daily life and release you into a world where the only thing you have to worry about is whether Hannah Ann intentionally stole Kelsey’s champagne. We all deserve a break from the real world sometimes, and “The Bachelor” is the perfect way to indulge in our sins. First of all, watching someone else act in a blatantly awful way when it has no actual consequences is genuinely incredible. I relish the moment that one of the women gets up from the couch and walks over to Peter to say “Can I borrow you for a minute?” because I know for a fact that it will cause drama that will have absolutely no effect on me or the world whatsoever. The women on this show consistently commit sins that are nearly textbook in their definitions. Greed: wanting
Peter all to themselves. Envy: watching other girls date the same man they are dating. Wrath: (allegedly) stealing another girl’s champagne to drink with Peter. Pride: to quote one contestant, Kelley, “The other girls are children… Just look at me. I’m an attorney.” Lust: this one goes without saying. The key to “The Bachelor’s” success, however, is not just the sins on the screen. It is the fact that the show implicates its viewers in those sins. Watching an episode from a place of complete moral high ground would be not only boring, it would be painful. Luckily for us, it is impossible to watch it from a moral high ground. By watching the show, the viewer is absolutely implicated in the sin that they are watching. This is the beauty of reality television: we must accept, or at least play along with, the insane rules that govern the show. That acceptance instantly enmeshes us in the same moral fabric of the bachelor and the women on the show. Not only are we committing gluttony, by eating potato chips and Twizzlers, and sloth, by sitting in one spot and doing nothing productive for two hours, but we are susceptible to every sin committed on screen. But ultimately, there are worse ways to sin. Why should we feel bad for completely indulging in our baser natures for two hours a week on Mondays? Let yourself get completely enveloped in the unreal reality of “The Bachelor.” Care deeply, for two hours, about things that do not matter. Come out on the other side, laughing at yourself for getting so invested, knowing you’ll do it again next week.
Mead has unflattering image problems, and the most common imagery may be what you think of at your local renaissance fair. That drink is overly sweet yet insipid — a drink you would reluctantly sip as you wistfully pine for a drier, sharp-tasting beer. You may wonder how an ingredient as aromatic and complex as honey can be reduced to what amounts to little more than alcoholic, sweet and yellow water. Compared to its more popular cousins, beer and wine, mead has yet to grab the attention of mainstream culture. But the production and quality of craft mead has exploded within the past decade, with some of the finest meads coming from the state of Michigan. At the center of that boom is Schramm’s Mead, the storefront of the eponymous Ken Schramm: author of “The Compleat Meadmaker” and referred to by many meadbrewers as “The Godfather of Mead.” Schramm’s Mead is located within a cluster of wellestablished restaurants of Ferndale in the heart of Nine Mile Road. You may find the storefront of Schramm’s quite comely aside from the garish American stars with its blue background painted on its side facing the parking lot. Walking in, you find the interior is anything but garish; you are greeted by a warm, cozy bar and tasting room and knowledgeable bartenders passionate about the meads they have on tap. Before I encountered Schramm’s Mead, I had been indulging in sweeter dessert wines such as the 2014 - 2016 batches of Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling. It’s a surprisingly crisp but light drink — a wine that almost reminds you of a drysweet cider made from Granny Smiths as opposed to a wine made of white grapes. This is a drink you savor on its own, perfect for a night-in while binging Netflix. Yet a dessert wine like this feels somewhat incomplete. You crave full-bodied drinks which possess a thick, luscious mouthfeel that complements their intensely sweet and fruity profile. What you crave, in essence, is an alcohol unicorn to provide the perfect finish to your day. A brief look into Schramm’s tasting menu shows that
Schramm’s specializes in melomels, meads which include fruits along with honey in the fermentation process. You may be confused about this kind of mead if your previous experiences with mead were solely with ghostly renaissance fair varieties. Given the bias towards berries, you may wonder whether these meads have some passing resemblance to young ruby port wines or perhaps even to a Korean raspberry wine called bokbunja. Among the selections are the raspberry mead and the blackberry mead, excellent
Compared to its more popular cousins, beer and wine, mead has yet to grab the attention of mainstream culture. But the production and quality of craft mead has exploded within the past decade
starting points for your adventure. Upon first taste, you may be stupefied by the sheer intensity of honey flavor and aroma that sings throughout each sip. The tartness of either the raspberry or the blackberry alleviates the heavy-hitting sweetness of the honey while also complementing the honey with a fruity and jamlike quality. Taking a second sip, you are intrigued and amazed at how the honey and the berry harmoniously express their individuality without compromise, similar to the proud, unabashed confidence of Shakira and J.Lo performing “Let’s Get Loud” at the LIV Superbowl
halftime. Following the raspberry or blackberry mead, you may be piqued by the boldly-named “The Statement” — a sour cherry mead. Like the raspberry and blackberry meads, the flavor of the Batalon cherries melds inconspicuously with the sweetness of the honey. Fans of sour flavors may rejoice to find that compared to the raspberry or blackberry meads, the sourness of the Batalon cherries takes the center stage compared to the sweetness of the honey. “The Statement” is reminiscent of the 1976 London live performance of “Europa” by Carlos Santana, in which the sour tartness of the cherries melodically riffs across your tongue in the midst of honeylike synthesizer melodic chord progressions. But perhaps no night is complete without trying Schramm’s “Heather” mead. Unlike most of the other selections, “Heather,” as its name suggests, consists solely of Scottish Heather honey. In contrast to many of Schramm’s offerings, “Heather” provides a flavor reminiscent of vanilla and oak barrels — somewhat similar to a whiskey, yet packed with a honey aroma bordering on caramel. Consider the possibility of the “Heather” as a whiskey substitute in an old-fashioned, or instead simply enjoy “Heather” for the drink that it is — a showstopping, exclamatory punctuation to end your mead-drinking experience. You may be concerned that a prerequisite to enjoying a bottle of Schramm’s for your nightly Netflix binges would involve driving to Ferndale. Luckily, Schramm’s is available across many locations within the state of Michigan, including Ann Arbor stores such as Blue Front and Plum Market. Not all of Schramm’s products are available in these locations. Notably, the “Heather” is disappointingly missing from these available meads. In the cold, overcast winters of the Midwest, any reminders of warmth and sun provide a welcome respite to an otherwise dreary day. During the winter, Schramm’s Mead is a powerful but demure reminder of the warmth and joy that lies ahead of the harrowing weather. In the height of spring and summer, Schramm’s is a celebration of nature’s luscious bounty that flourishes throughout Pure Michigan. Schramm’s Mead is located at 327 W Nine Mile Rd, Ferndale, MI 48220.
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, February 13, 2020 — 6B
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
Silencing the voices of shame in my mind at Pizza House NATALIE KASTNER Daily Arts Writer
At three in the morning at some point during the winter of freshman year, Pizza House was just a quick, frostbitten walk away. I had avoided this destination many times before, but now I was swept up by the masses to this greasy heaven for the buzzed. I see the archway to the establishment and shudder at what will become of me tomorrow, a month from now, years away. Visions of weight gain creep through my mind in between shrieks of excitement from the night. My group of eight friends, most of whom I begged to go back to the dorms with me, dramatically ogle pizzas and shakes on the menu. I think, “Oh god. What am I going to order? I can’t not order anything, because no one likes that person. I can’t order any of the things everyone else wants to order because then I will lose all control and become a giant blueberry.” I hear my mother in the back of my head warning about how anything eaten past 4 p.m. just turns to fat. As the waitress skillfully makes her way around the loud, crowded table, I begin to sober up. I see my aunt who is constantly struggling with her weight in between Diet
Cokes and donuts; she ended up alone, living with her parents. My other aunt got a divorce after having kids because her husband couldn’t take her changing body. My grandmother always told me how crucial keeping your weight down is. My father recalls with pride when my mother was able to lose 25 pounds in two months for her sister’s wedding. I hoped to avoid any conversation about the appearance of my body with my family by upholding the routine set for me by my mother before I went to college. I would avoid all food past 4 p.m. and put all sweets and carbs under intense scrutiny before consuming. Above all else, for the love of God, no late-night eating. Throughout my teenage years, I attended ballet class and rehearsal from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. every day. One night, I came home, sweaty and exhausted from the day. I picked out a peach in the kitchen and collapsed on the couch to enjoy it. My mother was also on the couch. “What do you think you’re doing?” “Eating a peach. I’m hungry.” “It’s only going to turn to fat, you know.” “I’m hungry. I’ve been sweating and exercising for the past five hours.”
“Then drink water.” I didn’t budge. I took a bite and felt the juice run down my chin. She glared at me. “Throw it away.” She said. I didn’t move. “What? Do you want to be obese like Aunt Jenny? It’s in your genetics. You’re already halfway there anyways. I’m just trying to help you. Throw it away!” She said. What was I doing sabotaging myself? Didn’t I want to be beautiful? Didn’t I want to find a husband that would love me? No one could truly love someone fat. And then there was my career to worry about. I wanted to be an actress. It would be significantly more difficult to get a job if I gained weight. My father would be disappointed in me. I began to cry, but I threw the peach away. As my mother’s screams echoed in my mind, I remembered all the other times we would go out to dinner, and she would mock me for whatever I chose, even if it was the salad, because she had the discipline to not eat anything, meanwhile I would have to work off the croutons at the gym later. As the waitress made her way to me, I panicked. I had never eaten so late in my life, let alone at a place where everything was forbidden. “And what would you like?” She asked.
“I’ll have a cup of fruit and some water, please.” Everyone at the table went silent. Everyone else had gotten
I ate more than he did. We ate and ate and ate, and laughed, and ate until I was in a food coma. We would work it off later, anyways
towering, extravagant milkshakes. “I’ll just split the pizza with you guys.” “Just get a shake. They’re so good here. It will be worth it, I promise.” My friend urged me. I could hear my mother warning me against it. I would never be loved, only pitied. I would never be successful.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll have the smallest chocolate shake you have.” Well, that was the end to those voices of shame in my mind. Upon completion of my drink, I floated back to my dorm. Everyone was full and blissfully unaware of whatever we ate at the restaurant. I went to ballet the next morning and looked the same. A couple months later, I met a boy who I was blindingly in love with. He was a senior and a stoner, but also a connoisseur of ordering the most extravagant and delicious things at restaurants. The first time I spent the night, he suggested we go grab some food at around one in the morning. Fleetwood Diner smelled like burned butter and burgers. He ordered us milkshakes, fries, hippy hash, sandwiches and pancakes. I could feel the voice of my mother screaming as she melted into nothing in the back of my mind. I ate more than he did. We ate and ate and ate, and laughed, and ate until I was in a food coma. We would work it off later, anyways. I was getting used to this whole late-night eating thing. It looked good on me, too. I filled out my jeans and bras. I developed cute little cheeks people could pinch, and above all else, I was really, really happy.
I enjoyed the time I spent with my friends more at restaurants. I enjoyed the time after eating; I enjoyed indulging in it. I remember going back home after the first year and giving my mom a hug. I never realized how frail she was. We were the same weight, but I felt like I had to be very gentle with her. Now, I’m a senior and have figured out how to balance my eating habits. Through both a nutrition class and learning how to enjoy life more, it seems strange to recall all the times my mom projected those toxic values onto me. She is a good person — I don’t want to put my mom completely on blast — it’s just a difficult world to live in as a woman. She came into her womanhood as anorexia was being glorified in the media. Women still live in a world of unattainable beauty standards. In a world of implants and photoshop, it’s easy to get lost comparing yourself to others. However, it really doesn’t bother me much. I think what’s most important is how you feel instead of how you look. Thankfully, I have amazing friends who always make me feel beautiful. Funnily enough, when I was approached to do this article, it was very late and I was on my way to a friend’s 21st birthday. I stayed for the cake.
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
DAILY STYLE COLUMN
Velveteen Dreams: U’s ‘Latin Xpressions’ is Dada’s stylistic emergence admirable but mediocre SAM KREMKE
Daily Style Columnist
The showcase of Richard Quinn’s Spring 2019 line opened with what many fashion publications would call a “luxe morphsuit.” The first four models were covered from head to toe in skin-tight black velvet accompanied by tonal tulle cocktail frocks, commanding silk capes, a pair of lilac pants and a striking blue satin a-line dress, covered in a jeweled vine of ruby red roses (with a matching bag!). The initial onslaught acted as something of a palettecleansing agent for the looks to come, the first of which were an abrupt change in tone. That’s not to say that the collection lacked cohesion. In fact, different ideas were neatly tied together through a range of silhouettes, but the “luxe morphsuit” concept was particularly interesting because of the jarring, almost sinister allure it held. The models were obfuscated by
The photos might feel categorically dissimilar, but they instill that same sense of relative unease
this stylistic choice, and it afforded them a kind of agency that can only be wielded by playing the role of a silent actor. Quinn’s masked foray fits neatly into a larger movement of labels tapping into concepts first brought forward by the Dada movement in the early
20th century. Perhaps the first to introduce this idea since Maison Martin Margiela in 2009, Gucci debuted a model covered in crystals in the fall of 2017. Demna Gvasalia’s Balenciaga, a house with a reputation for pushing stylistic directions to their absolute extreme, posted photos on their Instagram of models similarly covered in pantyhose as well as digitally manipulated images that either multiply figures to the point where they are rendered unrecognizable or do away with them entirely. The first and most notable installment of these is a digitally manipulated closeup of their blockbuster knife boot in a compiled money print. The sharply pointed boot lurches toward the viewer in a penguin-toed fashion, only to vanish into thin air at the mid calf. Another photo features a house-branded “Space Hunters” tee and a pair of suit pants hanging over a drying rack with a model creeping out from underneath. The photos might feel categorically dissimilar, but they instill that same sense of relative unease as Quinn’s morphsuits, which they achieve by tapping into the uncanny. We all have agreed notions of what reality is supposed to look like and they become linked to metrics of mental clarity and basic safety. Dada artists like Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Höch and Sophie Taeuber were among the first to introduce the idea that those notions can be upended through art. By creating work that undermines universal norms, like the expectation that a pair of boots will be connected to a pair of legs or that clothing will be modeled by a person and not a faceless morph, the viewer is asked not only to question the work itself but the environment surrounding them. As one might expect, exploring the strange vegetations and fears that occupy the unknown can also be a chance to consider or call attention to existing problems in the sociopolitical sphere. RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 finalist Asia O’Hara was seen alongside her sisters during one of her pre-finale appearances covered in black mesh, a protruding rib cage, ruched knee-length dress
and matching halo crown. Speaking on her sartorial choice, O’Hara told London’s Metro “I think there comes a point in the competition where some non-majority queens or non-perfect queens start to fade and disappear into the background. My dress and my attire was just a visual representation of exactly how I was being perceived.” Around this time, Asia was also receiving death
Quinn’s masked foray fits neatly into a larger movement of labels tapping into concepts first brought forward by the Dada movement in the early 20th century
threats for suggesting that 4th runner-up Miz Cracker shouldn’t continue in the competition during episode 10. It should be noted that Asia was the only Black queen (or queen of color, for that matter) to have made it to the final four and has been vocal about the disparity in treatment she has received in comparison to the other finalists. In visually ref lecting her experiences, ranging from lack of credit to virulent aggression, her look helped forward the long overdue conversation around race issues in the Drag Race fandom. Vehicles of Dadaism remain a piercing and cogent tool at the disposal of artists regardless of their chosen medium, whether that pertains to getting onlookers to sit up in their seats during fashion week or addressing issues that permeate society as a whole. In choosing to isolate themselves, Asia, Quinn and Demna are in good company.
TRINA PAL
Daily Arts Writer
My mother thought she was in for a night of f lamenco when she agreed to accompany me to “Latin Xpressions” this weekend at the Power Center. Regrettably, she was wrong. “Latin Xpressions,” an annual show put on by the Department of Dance, featured multiple works choreographed by Spanish or Latin American choreographers as well as School of Music, Theatre &
My mother thought she was in for a night of flamenco when she agreed to accompany me to “Latin Xpressions” this weekend at the Power Center. Regrettably, she was wrong
Dance faculty. Performers included guest artists as well as BFA students at the University. Right from minute one, I wondered why this show had been called “Latin Xpressions.” Pieces were set to Latin music: I caught a lively castanet beat or delicate marimba in almost every song. Yet, the dances themselves were far from Latin styles. Almost all numbers were modern dance except for one, which may have been included in the lineup just to label the show as vaguely Latin. I wasn’t expecting this twist, and it was clear that the audience wasn’t either; confused chuckles and hesitant applause followed
most pieces. The program and posters featured dancers in red tops and long f lowing black skirts, leading me to believe I’d be watching a night of f lamenco-style pieces, not modern dance with a few tinges of Latin inf luence. A friend later told me that the program was choreographed by people of Latin or Spanish origin, but there was no introduction to the program to offer that insight. The first few acts were enjoyable at best; the last two, “Interlude 3” and “End With You,” were phenomenal. The show kicked off with “Prized Possession,” choreographed by Rosie Herrera, a lovable and quirky piece. Each dancer had large swaths of velcro on the chest of their costumes, and each embrace with a partner was followed with a slow burn, crackling rip as they pulled apart, an amusing and appreciated addition to the dance. But after the applause died down, I could already sense the unease from the crowd: Is this what they’d come to see? The following performances were similar: pleasant but unsettling. Frequently, f lamenco music switched abruptly to jazz, leaving the audience craving the former and unsure about the latter. “Cuca Deluxe,” a piece based on la cucaracha (cockroaches), featured dancers acting like insects: scattering when light shined on them or being symbolically stomped on by a crunching sound effect. The hilarity of this segment lost interest fast, and even more so when dancers were “crushed” but came back to life multiple times during the piece. The first exception to this mediocrity was “Interlude 3.” Dancers entered the stage in intricately frilled lace tops and traditional skirts to perform a mixed routine with elements of samba and merengue, among others. Though a little uncoordinated at times, the piece moved the audience. By the end, everyone was clapping to the beat, egging on the dancers. I dare say the final dance, “End With You,” choreographed by the acclaimed Ron De Jesús, a prior dancer with Hubbard Dance Street Chicago, made the whole program worth attending. Three rotating
staircases of lights dropped down slowly from the ceiling, teasing the audience with a subtle black and white strobe effect. All the dancers were precise with their movements and spatially aware of everyone around them, creating a sense
With some more careful marketing, “Latin Xpressions” could become a staple, enjoyable show. But this weekend’s performances, while carefully executed, were mediocre at best
of harmony within lighting fast mounts and lifts. I had the magical sense that I was in the eye of a hurricane, like watching the currents and waves of an ocean crash around me while staying perfectly stationary. With some more careful marketing, “Latin Xpressions” could become a staple, enjoyable show. But this weekend’s performances, while carefully executed, were mediocre at best.