Thursday, May 14, 2020
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
inside
‘U’ students start petition demanding new Title IX regulations
NEWS
GEO petition GEO demands more support for graduate students during pandemic >> SEE PAGE 3
OPINION
University community calls for written statement of agreement by June 1
Standing her ground Whitmer’s strong stance in the face of protesters >> SEE PAGE 5 Design by Maggie Wiebe
ARTS
Boyfriend Country Country music’s next trend is bland, sugary and generic >> SEE PAGE 6
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Outdated America
Aakash Ray analyzes the failed institution that has created the American system >> SEE PAGE 8
SPORTS
Leadership
Through tragedy, Ambry Thomas became the leader his team needed >> SEE PAGE 12
INDEX Vol. CXXIX, No. 113 © 2020 The Michigan Daily
NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ............................... 4 ARTS/NEWS..........................6 MiC......................................... 8 SPORTS................................ 10
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City or suburb, mental health impacted by lengthy quarantine SARAH PAYNE AND MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA Summer News Editor and For The Daily
For the last two months, Business senior Ben Lindau has not seen anyone except his two brothers and parents. He was studying abroad in Stockholm, Sweden, when the University of Michigan canceled all study abroad programs and President Donald Trump declared a suspension of all travel from Europe to the United States, except for Americans who had “undergone appropriate screenings.” According to Lindau, he feared he would be stuck abroad, so he flew home the next day. Back in his hometown of Chicago which, like many areas of the country, was under a stayat-home order, Lindau’s life was confined to the compact apartment that his family had recently moved into. Over the past two months, Lindau said he has only left his family’s apartment five times, to “go stand outside for 30 minutes.” But he acknowledged that even doing so posed a risk to his
health. “We do have a park we can go to, but in walking there, everything’s so congested that you’re passing a ton of people,” Lindau said. “You’re definitely in close proximity with a lot of people, so it’s difficult to keep the social distance.” Chicago’s Lakefront Trail, which borders Lindau’s home, has been closed since late March. From his living room window, Lindau said he can see the unoccupied patches of green grass that face a crystal blue Lake Michigan. He said the lake is a sad reminder that he is stuck inside. “That took away pretty much all of the green space I could use,” Lindau said. “Because they closed down that whole lakefront, I feel like there’s simply nowhere to go.” Dr. Srijan Sen, an associate professor of psychiatry and molecular and behavioral neuroscience at the University, studies the connections between genes, environment and stress. He commented on the strain that a global pandemic and quarantine can have on one’s mental health. “It’s a really unusual time for
mental health,” Sen said. “We’re still gathering data, but clearly we see a big increase in anxiety and depression, and depending on the situations, loneliness and social isolation.” Where someone lives, who they live with and how they approach stressful situations all inform their mental health during the pandemic and quarantine, according to Sen. He noted that it’s a largely individualized response. “It’s a difficult time broadly across all of us in the world at this point,” Sen said. “But it’s definitely going to hit different people differently based on their own situations and personal histories and predispositions.” Sen said a student stuck inside in a city can be equally as stressed as a student living in an area with lots of nature, but with a strained family relationship. “What your family life is like — for some people it’s a source of comfort, others it’s a source of stress — that really is going to affect the experience of unexpectedly being back home,” Sen said. “There’s socioeconomic components to
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CLAIRE HAO
Daily News Editor
More than 300 University of Michigan community members have signed a petition regarding the University’s sexual misconduct policy following last week’s newly released Department of Education Title IX regulations. The petition has seven specific demands about investigation time limits, evidentiary standards, processes to resolve off-campus assault and more. The petition was created by LSA senior Morgan McCaul, a sister survivor and sexual violence prevention advocate, alongside student-run non-profit Roe v. Rape, a survivor empowerment organization. They are asking University administration to agree to commit to their demands in a written statement before June 1. In a previous Daily article, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald wrote it will take time to understand how these new regulations will affect University policy. Fitzgerald reiterated this sentiment when asked whether University administration plans to consider the petition’s demands. “We are not able to share anything further until we have a clear understanding of the impact of these new regulations across several U-M policies,” Fitzgerald wrote. The new regulations, announced last Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, come after her department rescinded Obamaera guidelines in 2017. According to
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2 NEWS
Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
$25,000 awarded to nine projects OptiMize aids groups responding to COVID-19 JOHN GRIEVE
Daily Staff Reporter
Last month, optiMize, a student organization offering funding and guidance to students leading selfdirected projects, launched its Community Aid Relief Fund. The $25,000 fund will provide students with support for mutual aid and communitybased projects responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Through the fund, students at the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and Washtenaw Community College had the ability to apply for a grant up to $5,000 to support their community project. Business sophomore Megha Kunju, optiMize storytelling and marketing lead, told The Daily the organization decided to create the fund to support college students leading their communities in the fight against COVID-19. “We exist to help students make a positive impact in their communities and in this moment of crisis, we saw so many inspiring examples of student leaders and community members working on various projects to help each other,” Kunju said. “As an organization that funds socialimpact projects, it just made sense that we would do what we can to provide some support to these efforts.” The Community Aid Relief Fund granted money to nine projects serving Washtenaw county through a variety of ways, including supporting the undocumented community and making personal protective equipment. Kunju said that the mission of optiMize is to help students ask the question that if no one is stepping up, “why not me?” Kunju said the leaders of these nine projects stood out to them as people who had asked that question. “This is their project,” she said. “We are just there to support them and give them the support that they need.” LSA senior Lindsay Calka is the Vice President of Michigan Movement, an organization that gives aid to people experiencing homelessness and poverty in the Washtenaw com-
munity. She also works for Groundcover News, a street newspaper that works to raise awareness about homelessness and combat poverty. Calka orchestrated a “deferred donation” from the Community Aid Relief Fund through Michigan Movement, who then donated the money to Groundcover. OptiMize’s fund granted $4,200 to this project. “We are donating on behalf of optiMize through Michigan Movement,” Calka said. “Groundcover didn’t need care packages like we usually do. They just needed money because vendors lost their jobs basically being unable to sell paper on the street. And so that was the best call that we made, that was just to straight up give the money to Groundcover to have in their fund for them to allocate to vendors as needed.” LSA junior Amytess Girgis,cofounder and co-host of the Mutuality Podcast project, applied for the grant. The podcast has since been renamed to “Concerning Us: Stories of Organizing, Resistance and Resilience.” “(Since I’m) a college student and (my co-founder is) a recent graduate, it’s not like we have a ton of money lying around,” Girgis said. “When we heard that optiMize was offering these grants to help folks get projects started, we applied right away.” The fund granted the Mutuality Podcast $2,000. The soon-to-bereleased podcast aims to propel the voices of people doing critical work to support the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis. “Without this grant, we wouldn’t have been able to afford audio equipment and since we can’t go to the U-M libraries right now to use their equipment, we needed to get our own,” Girgis said. She also noted that the funding has allowed them to offer a stipend to the guests that they have on the show, as well as to compensate some of the podcast’s staff.pandemics so that things would be provided for, there would be supplies and they would have a strategy,” Biden said. “Joe would bring together the leaders of all nations so we could work on this pandemic together … that’s what it’s going to take, a global initiative.”
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Directory launched for small businesses
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Alumni Association seeks to support alumniowned companies CELENE PHILIP Daily Staff Reporter
On April 30, the University of Michigan’s Alumni Association launched a directory of alumniowned small businesses to support business owners amid the COVID19 pandemic. From offering referrals to making donations, the directory includes a running list of actions the University community can do to support small businesses. Upasna Kakroo, Alumni Association executive director of marketing, noted the value of having a large alumni network of over 620,000 alumni in strengthening the support and collaboration between business owners. “Knowing how much Michigan alumni care and want to support each other, we hope that through the directory they’re able to find these businesses and support them,” Kakroo said. “Using our social channels, we will continue to promote the ability to add small businesses to the directory as well as raise awareness for the directory itself.” The directory features businesses from across the country and in a variety of industries such as food service, fitness, law, art and broadcasting. One of the businesses included is Blank Slate Creamery, an ice cream parlor located in Ann
Arbor and owned by Janice Sigler, a 1991 University alum. Blank Slate was closed from March 23 to April 23 but received an overwhelmingly positive response from the community since reopening, according to Sigler. “We have adjusted our operations to advance online orders for pints and sundae kits so we can reduce the number of staff working at one time,” Sigler said. “We typically sell out of the pints we’ve scooped each day, which is great. And we are now producing ice cream again.” Despite resuming ice cream production and being able to implement a system of minimal contact ice cream pickup, Sigler says she and her team miss customer interaction. “We are in this business to see the smiles on customer faces when we hand them an eye-popping dessert or their favorite flavor,” Sigler said. “So that’s been a really hard adjustment.” Another business on the list is Frameable Faces Photography in West Bloomfield, owned by Doug Cohen, 1992 University graduate, and his wife. Since the studio’s closure, the couple have shifted their focus to photo restoration, photography training via Skype and Zoom, and consulting with clients on past and future photo sessions. Cohen stressed the importance of maintaining their online presence now more than ever.
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NEWS 3
Law School clinic re-examines cases Michigan Innocence Clinic investigates wrongful convictions LAURA MILLAR Daily Staff Reporter
1,750+ sign petition calling for grad student protection
Design by Cara Jhang
Graduate Employees’ Organization demands support from ‘U’ VARSHA VEDAPUDI Daily Staff Reporter
Over 1,750 University of Michigan students, faculty and community members signed a petition aimed at protecting graduate students amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter calls for the University to provide an emergency stipend to all graduate students, support international student visa issues, extend degree requirement deadlines and health insurance eligibility, among other measures. Graduate students have been affected by the pandemic in multiple ways — from the closing of labs that left many students concerned about graduating on time to worries about finding a job during an economic crisis. Jeff Lockhart, Graduate Employees’ Organization member, said seeing graduate students at universities like Yale and Harvard demand similar protections inspired the caucus to draft a letter with reasonable demands. “We spent quite a bit of energy trying to figure out what other universities were doing,” Lockhart said. The initial letter was sent to a group of graduate students for feed-
back and was later released to the public on May 1. The Daily published an op-ed by the GEO’s COVID Caucus calling on the University to support the health and safety of graduate students. Lockhart said he hopes they won’t face resistance on the demands, including requests such as representation of graduate students on the provost’s committees. “We feel the graduate students need to be represented in the room as a voice as part of that decisionmaking process,” Lockhart said. The Daily reached out to Public Affairs Associate Director Kim Broekhuizen, who declined to comment and said via email they would “respond directly to those who sent the petition.” Rackham student Nishita Trisal discussed how the University made announcements for undergraduate students, such as the Pass/No Record Covid grading and tenuretrack extensions, but there had been no mention of graduate students. She said there needs to be University support for people finishing their Ph.D.s in addition to help at the departmental level. “I think these (COVID-19-related challenges) kept emboldening us to feel like we need to make the case for broader protections that aren’t just based on the benevolence of this administrator here or there,” Trisal said. Rackham student Theodore Nash
signed the petition because of the challenges he is facing as an international student during the COVID-19 crisis. Nash felt compelled to leave a testimonial when he signed the petition to express the importance of these issues. “I now face profound uncertainty as to when I will physically be able to return to America,” Nash wrote. “I sign in solidarity with all those who faced unexpected expenses (especially if they were unlucky enough to go through the Rackham funding process — which takes a good amount of emotional energy — and have their request denied) and others who are stuck in their home countries facing that same uncertainty.” Rackham student Paloma Contreras addressed the financial issues she is facing in her testimonial. “We don’t receive funding over the summer,” Contreras wrote. “These are four months in which I will not be receiving a stipend, and as an international student, I won’t receive the stimulus check issued by the government. On top of that, many of us don’t receive tax exemptions that U.S. citizens do receive. Coming from a working class family, my parents and brother do not have access to health care in my home country, and the three of them are currently unemployed. How am I supposed to survive financially?”
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David Moran, clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan and co-founder of the Michigan Innocence Clinic, delivered a webinar to almost 200 law students and community members Tuesday morning. He discussed the goals of the Michigan Innocence Clinic as well as recent exonerations the clinic has achieved. The Michigan Innocence Clinic, founded in 2009, aims to investigate cases where there was no relevant DNA evidence in the conviction. Law School students are involved in the clinic’s work through investigating cases while gaining hands-on law experience and credits.. “There is no DNA test, especially since in the United States crimes are usually committed with firearms,” Moran said. “And so if you shoot somebody as opposed to stabbing them or strangling them, you’re especially unlikely to leave behind biological evidence.” Moran also discussed three recent cases that the clinic has successfully handled. The first case involved the wrongful conviction of Desmond Ricks, who was accused of murdering his friend Gerry Bennett outside a burger joint in Detroit. Moran explained how after Ricks witnessed his friend’s murder, he ran home, dropping his jacket and wallet. The police discovered Ricks’ address and showed up at his home to find a gun, which they claimed to be the murder weapon. Years later, the Detroit Police Crime Lab was exposed for fraudulent bullet-to-gun matching. Moran explained how the clinic used the lab’s malpractice to help exonerate Ricks. “The Detroit Police Crime Lab was shut down after an audit was done by the Michigan State Police,” Moran said. “And what
that audit showed was that in the firearms ballistics-matching unit in particular, there was widespread misfeasance, and in fact, they were matching bullets to guns where they didn’t really match.” As a result of the discovery, Moran explained how Ricks’ case was reopened and he was eventually released from prison after 25 years. He received compensation for wrongful conviction and was able to reunite with his family, according to Moran. Another recent case involved the murder of an 11-year-old girl, Jodi Parrack, in Constantine, Mich. According to Moran, Ray McCann was wrongfully convicted of murdering Parrack after he suggested searching the cemetery and Parrack’s body was found there shortly after. McCann claimed he was innocent, yet the Michigan State Police continued to question him, lying to him about having DNA evidence and videos to prove his guilt. Moran went on to discuss how while McCann was spending time in prison, Daniel Furlong, a fellow community member, tried to abduct and murder a young girl. The girl got away and the police called Furlong in for questioning. Furlong confessed he was responsible for the murder of Parrack and that he felt safe enough to do it again due to the police’s intense focus on McCann. Moran explained how he exposed the lies the detectives told McCann after Furlong’s confession. “So instead of doing the right thing at that point and realizing that they had hounded an innocent man for all these years, the police actually went to the prison where Ray McCann was held and told him that Daniel Furlong had just been caught and had implicated Ray McCann as an accomplice,” Moran said. “Again, another complete lie.”
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4 OPINION
Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
KENTARO TOYAMA | OP-ED
Keep tenure protections robust
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ELAYNA SWIFT | COLUMNIST
M
What we can expect for Fall 2020
ore than seven weeks have passed since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued Executive Order 2020-21, urging all Michigan residents, except essential workers, to stay home to combat the spread of COVID19. Life on campus had already been uprooted, with classes being moved online and University President Mark Schlissel urging students to return home if they were able. All non-essential businesses were closed, jobs were lost and some local businesses even closed their doors permanently due to financial turmoil. Decreasing numbers of new cases of COVID-19 in Michigan and recent protests against stay-at-home orders have sparked a conversation regarding whether we are ready to loosen restrictions and begin reopening our state’s economy. This leaves University of Michigan students wondering what we can expect for the fall 2020 semester. Schlissel has spoken of having a “public health informed fall semester,” with ideas being thrown around to hold large classes online and smaller classes in person. This would include urging students to wear masks and reducing student density in campus buildings. His announcement followed news that the University’s losses from the pandemic could range from $400 million to $1 billion. Since other universities in Michigan have already announced plans to have online classes in their fall semesters, Schlissel’s optimism to open campus again seems to be somewhat financially motivated. However, since a vaccine for COVID-19 won’t be available for at least a year, it is crucial that we rebuild our campus infrastructure to allow for high-quality learning while
still taking the proper precautions to keep our students and faculty safe. This is precisely what the University is trying to do. If the University makes an effort to enforce social distancing in classes held in person, decreases student density in campus buildings and asks students to wear masks on campus, returning to campus could be feasible. However, an issue arises when considering social life on campus. The school may ban large gatherings, but they lack power when it comes to off-campus gatherings and nightlife. In public health, when we create interventions meant to better the health of the public, we evaluate the amount of individual effort needed. Interventions that depend more on individual participation are less effective than those which rely on governmental authority. For example, executive orders that are more strict with their stay-at-home requirements and qualifying essential businesses would be more effective than simply asking people to stay home. In context, this means that keeping campus closed, holding classes online and urging students not to move back to Ann Arbor would be more effective than asking students to follow the recommended guidelines. Since this doesn’t seem to be financially practical for the University, I believe Schlissel wants to do what he can to open campus and bring students back. This means that we, the students, hold the responsibility of reducing the spread of COVID-19. Whether we agree with prioritizing University finances during the pandemic, we all can admit that we
would love to return to some kind of normal. As students who just lost half of a semester and already miss their campus and friends, doing our part to reduce the spread of the virus is going to be incredibly difficult. We are all desperate to return to school, see our friends, go to tailgates and enjoy what is left of our college experience. We will want to throw parties, go to Rick’s and enjoy a game day. As a rising senior, I feel this too, but as a public health student, I’m afraid that opening campus and bringing tens of thousands of students back to Ann Arbor is a dangerous idea. Many of us will care more about having these college experiences than we do about hypothetically getting ourselves or someone else sick. We think that it will never actually affect us, and if it does, our youth and health will protect us from severe illness. Unfortunately, there is still so much we don’t know about the virus. People in their 30s and 40s have been suffering severe strokes caused by COVID19. Many of the impacts the virus can have on younger, healthy populations are still unknown. Because of this, we cannot just assume that our campus population is young, healthy and able to survive the virus without serious complications. We must consider our peers who are immunocompromised, our older faculty, staff and the surrounding Ann Arbor community.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Elayna Swift can be reached at elaynads@umich.edu.
T
he University of Michigan’s process we believe necessary for disBoard of Regents is consider- missing a tenured professor, then why ing revisions to Bylaws 5.09 should anything less be acceptable for and 5.10, which have to do with the removing pay, the main intention of demotion or dismissal of faculty mem- tenure? Allowing the president to suspend bers. The bylaws are the University’s legal constitution — they are an expres- pay all but gives the president the power sion of our values, just as the U.S. Con- to fire a tenured faculty member at will stitution expresses American national — exactly what tenure is meant to guard values. It is thus of great concern to against. Imagine that a faculty member me, and to many other University fac- writes public op-eds about a controverulty, that some of the proposed changes sial political issue. The University may weaken academic freedom and erode come under fire for the op-ed, even if the institution of tenure. The University the contents are protected under the should be a leader in supporting these First Amendment and by the principle of academic freedom. The University institutions, not undermining them. Last fall, I was asked to join a work- may suffer declines in alumni donaing group of faculty to make recom- tions, and the president might decide mendations for revisions to Bylaws it would be best to remove the faculty 5.09 and 5.10. Though never officially member. Digging up an unverified acknowledged, it seemed clear that at anonymous complaint, the president least some of the impetus for revisions could then invoke 5.09 and suspend pay came in response to a recent 5.09 case (it would be easy enough for someone that involved an allegation of sexual with the authority of the president to find three committee members willing assault. Under the existing bylaws, a faculty to go along with the decision). Without member charged under 5.09 continues pay, the faculty member might not be to receive their salary and benefits until able to eke out a living, much less susthe proceedings come to a conclusion. tain the legal fees required to mount an Thus, it can happen — as it did in that effective defense against the Universirecent case — that a faculty member ty’s well-funded legal team. They might accused of a heinous crime receives full give up and resign or lose in the hearcompensation while the formal 5.09 ing, even if innocent. I do not expect process unfolds over several months. that any reasonable president would (We were told that a typical 5.09 case do such a thing, but one reason we have can take about nine months to com- bylaws at all is to protect against arbiplete, though many end sooner through trary authority and the abuse of power. And unfortunately, abuses of power faculty resignation.) I am as unhappy as anyone to see fac- do happen. Bylaw 5.09 was added in the ulty members apparently guilty of seri- aftermath of the McCarthy era, when ous crimes compensated with public three University of Michigan faculty funds during a lengthy dismissal pro- members — Chandler Davis, Clement cedure. But, the operative word here is Markert and Mark Nickerson — were “apparently”: To protect those who suspended, with Davis and Markert are innocent despite the appearance of eventually terminated, for acting on guilt, we need a robust due process in their conscience and refusing to tesevery case, particularly in the case of tify before the House Un-American tenure — the closest thing we have to a Activities Committee. The Universacred institution at modern research sity was subsequently censured by the American Association of Univeruniversities. The proposed revisions allow for sity Professors, the foremost institution a process occurring simultaneously representing faculty at American uniwith the main 5.09 hearing that would versities, and the bylaws were instated allow the president, under certain cir- in response. The AAUP continues to cumstances, to suspend the salary of recommend that major sanctions such an accused faculty member before the as suspension of pay “should not be main hearing comes to a judgment of imposed until after a hearing in which guilt. There are many problems with the same procedures apply as in a the proposal such as augmenting the dismissal case.” The proposed bylaw president’s power over the proceedings, revisions go against this AAUP recno compensation if found not guilty, ommendation, against the practices poor definitions, racial bias and lack of of most of our peer universities and protection for non-tenure track faculty against the original spirit in which the altogether. But, arguably the greatest bylaws were enacted. problem is the very possibility of susRead more at MichiganDaily.com pending pay prior to the completion of the main hearing. Such a provision violates the fun- Kentaro Toyama is W.K. Kellogg Professor damental principle of “innocent until of Community Information at the School of proven guilty.” Assuming that the main Information and can be reached at 5.09 hearing includes the robust due toyama@umich.edu.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MADELEINE LAPIERRE | COLUMNIST
Whitmer’s strong COVID-19 response
A
s the semester winds down while the weather warms up across the state, it’s easy to forget that we are in the midst of a global pandemic. But while the pandemic may have slipped our minds, it certainly hasn’t escaped that of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who announced the extension of her stay-at-home order through May 28. This decision has garnered severe backlash, both from her constituents and the Republican-controlled Senate in Michigan, and has even brought the Michigan political landscape under the searing eye of national politics. But Whitmer is no stranger to sending ripples through national politics, having delivered the democratic response after President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address back in February. Now she is rumored to be a potential running mate for Joe Biden. Recently, Whitmer has also been the subject of Trump’s infamous Twitter tirades, and has been labeled “that woman from Michigan.” Beyond her involvement in politics, however, Whitmer displays an unwavering commitment to the safety and wellbeing of Michiganders, demonstrated by the extension of the emergency order, regardless of political backlash. Whitmer’s approach is one that takes the best interest of Michiganders into account and is done so out of genuine compassion for her constituents, not political gamesmanship. Nevertheless, she has faced harsh criticism from politicians and protestors in Michigan’s capital alike. Just because these critics can’t witness first hand the catastrophic havoc wreaked by the virus doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. After all, any issue that preys thousands of Michiganders’ lives should transcend party lines and amass unilateral support. Unfortunately, the political landscape in America is so marred by divisive discord and blind ignorance that many are unable to expand their views to consider more than themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the ever-widening chasm of political disparity into focus, and, rather than being an agent to catalyze unity, it has only served to worsen these tensions. This is not a time to be restrained by political ties but rather a time to come together in solidarity to solve the issue at hand. In refusing to budge in her approach to the pandemic when human lives are at stake, Whitmer intends to do just that. It is refreshing to come across a politician who genuinely values human lives and is undeterred in the wake of backlash. Unfortunately, these qualities are incredibly rare, the highest office in America being corrupted by the antithesis of the qualities displayed by Whitmer. In response to Whitmer refusing to compromise by opening the economy at the
cost of lives, Trump urged Whitmer to “give a little, and put out the fire.” Nevertheless, Whitmer holds steadfast in the wake of a political storm, refusing to lower herself to political quibbles when Michiganders’ lives are at stake. Her actions in response to the coronavirus pandemic prove her a leader well equipped to deal with a crisis (namely that she won’t urge citizens to ingest chemicals) and demonstrate a selflessness and genuine concern for her people that make her a great governor and a praiseworthy politician. But, unfortunately, Whitmer has become the latest scapegoat in Trump’s pattern of blaming others for his blunders. While she should be heralded as having her constituents’ best interests at heart, instead she is falling victim to a sick double standard present in politics, wherein women are criticized harshly for doing the same thing that men do. After all, how is Whitmer’s approach any different than Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s in New York? Sure, New York has more cases, but with Michigan still within the top 10 states with the most cases, Whitmer is simply heeding Cuomo’s warning as “the canary in the coal mine.” On top of criticism from Trump, Whitmer is facing criticism in Michigan’s capital of Lansing. Michigan saw its largest protest yet, dubbed Operation Girdlock, with many gathering outside the Michigan capitol building. The narrative these protestors have adopted is one that criticizes Whitmer’s lockdown, saying it jeopardizes their liberty and infringes on their constitutional rights. These protestors seem to argue that, because they personally haven’t witnessed the havoc caused by the coronavirus, they shouldn’t be inconvenienced by its effects. These protests have even been compared to Rosa Parks’s infamous protest during the Civil Rights Movement by the Trump administration. Apparently what these valiant protestors fail to realize is that a crucial part of the Civil Rights Movement was nonviolence, which their possession of assault rifles directly contradicts. Also, it is impossible to equate systematic racial oppression to government intervention designed to safeguard the health and wellbeing of an entire population. Furthermore, the fact that swastika and noose flaunting protestors are being compared to Rosa Parks is a testament to the gross ignorance that festers in the White House. In addition, many protestors flouted Whitmer’s guidelines, not social distancing and not wearing masks.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Madeleine LaPierre can be reached at madlapi@umich.edu.
OP OPIINION 5
ELIZABETH PEPPERCORN | COLUMNIST
Q
The dark side of TikTok
uarantine has left millions of teenagers, including myself, in search of ways to fill their time while socially distancing. Some have turned to painting, Zoom calls, cooking or learning to play new instruments. However, one of the most popular ways young people are escaping boredom is through the social media platform TikTok. With endlessly entertaining minute-long clips, it is easy to lose track of time on the app. While it can be a fun and creative platform, it can be extremely dangerous for mental health and body image, especially with such a young audience. “In terms of its difference from other social media, it does not stop,” LSA sophomore Shubhum Giroti said. “On Instagram or Facebook, you follow what you follow and then at some point, you reach repeated content and get off the app. The difference with TikTok is that it literally doesn’t stop. You can spend one minute or 12 hours in a row on it. I think that it is extremely unhealthy.” A unique feature of TikTok is the For You Page. The FYP is made up of content recommended for the user based on algorithms that determine what that user likes to see. By consistently displaying new content, it has become one of the most addictive social media platforms. LSA sophomore Megan Shohfi claims that “it is the most addicting app (she has) ever had.” If the algorithm is based on what viewers like to see, it should be things they are interested in and want to see and have a positive impact on mental health, right? Unfortunately not. For many people, the videos that they might spend more time watching are not healthy. For example, Shohfi’s FYP is made up of lots of health and fitness videos. However, she notes, she often sees an “unhealthy diet culture. The way that some influencers use TikTok to promote unhealthy eating habits frustrates me because younger girls probably see that and think that it is normal. I see things like only drinking water for breakfast and extreme diets.” It is hard to control which videos hold our attention. Many videos on my FYP promote
unhealthy habits as well. I find myself watching them because I am so shocked and confused about how they are real. What TikTok sees, however, is that I am taking the time to watch the full video. Therefore, more videos like this appear on my FYP.
However, there are little to no positive impacts on mental health TikTok has a very young audience. Nearly 40 percent of users in the United States are teenagers or younger and more than 25 percent are in their 20s. Many users are in their formative years and are at risk of being heavily influenced by social media. The intense diet culture of the app has the potential to begin or intensify body image issues for all users, but can especially affect younger teens who are already going through a period of higher insecurity and confusion. When interviewees were asked about the typical famous TikTok male and female, very different descriptions were used. The typical female was described by all as skinny, white, good looking, good at dancing and usually showing lots of skin. On the other hand, the typical male was described as average and funny. My 12-year-old brother once said to me, “girls just have to be pretty and wear a bikini” when discussing how to get famous on the app. I am a strong believer that women should be able to wear and do whatever they want in their posts. However, many young females are getting the impression that what society values are their bodies and looks. When they see that famous females are skinny, pretty and happy, they may think that they would be happier if their lives were more similar to those famous TikTok users. “A lot of famous TikTok people are famous because they are good looking and seem to
have fun lives,” LSA sophomore Benjamin Servetah said. “It seems like their lives are better and it can cause you to feel worse about yourself.” Social media allows people to only present the best versions of themselves. Users witness beautiful, skinny, famous people that seem happy and can feel bad about their own situation. The possibility that anyone can reach fame on the app is exciting, but it also means that those who do not get many views or likes may feel that the community is disapproving of them and that they are not attractive or funny enough. The app has many fun and interesting features. As with any social media platform, people can express themselves and relate to others. Even the dancing culture has positive features, as dancers have found an outlet to share their talents. From painting to cooking to fitness, TikTok allows people to be creative and gain recognition for their talents. However, there are little to no positive impacts on mental health. Even famous TikTok users have begun to speak out about the massive amounts of hate and judgment they receive on their bodies and choices. Addison Rae, one of the most famous female TikTok dancers, recently spoke out on Twitter about the body-shaming comments she receives after being compared to a whale multiple times on the app. The app has the potential for creativity and spreading positive messages that could potentially help mental health. For this to become reality, however, users must be aware of their interactions with the app to maximize the benefits. If people stop liking and giving attention to videos with negative ideas about body image and unhealthy messages, those videos will gain less traction and show up on fewer people’s FYP. The culture of the users must change for the app to change. Awareness and a conscious effort to spread positivity can put TikTok in the right direction. Elizabeth Peppercorn can be reached at epepperc@umich.edu.
Thursday, May 14 , 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BOOK REVIEW
A ‘remix’ of a historical work
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
LILY PIERCE Daily Arts Writer
On ‘Boyfriend Country’
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
KATIE BEEKMAN Daily Arts Writer
If you listened to country radio any time in the last six months, there’s a good chance you heard one of Justin Bieber’s latest singles. Alarming, I know, but thanks to country duo Dan + Shay, Bieber can claim a hit country song with their collaboration “10,000 Hours.” A mushy-gushy, country lite ballad dedicated to their wives, “10,000 Hours” epitomizes the latest trend to sweep mainstream country music — “boyfriend country.” Coined by Tom Roland in Billboard, “boyfriend country” is what you’d expect to hear over a compilation video of rustic wedding decor. Beige and flowery, its lyrics compile a scrapbook of stock photo memories — picture-perfect picnics, candle-lit dinners, walks on the beach. Like wedding cake, boyfriend country is sugary and frequently bland. It’s no wonder, then, that “The Bachelor” franchise has made use of the subgenre. Boyfriend country staples like Russell Dickerson, Chris Lane and Matt Stell have all serenaded couples on the show. In a genre that prides itself on being “real,” boyfriend country is often less “dreamy” and more nauseating. Its idealism and soft pop production are convenient entryways for outsiders, resulting in country’s most generic — and popular — duets. It’s a disheartening, foolproof formula. Pop stars like Bieber, and their country counterparts, score a quick number one hit on the country chart with slightly acoustic-sounding pop songs. Take Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus’s single “This is Us” for example. The chorus says nothing in so many
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words: “but it was just you and that was just me / before we found love / now this is us.” From around 2011 to 2015, songs about tailgates, beer and trucks, also known as “bro country,” dominated country radio. Comparatively, boyfriend country is bro country’s sappy, straight-laced older brother. In some cases, however, the “bro” himself has merely grown up. The seeds of boyfriend country were not sown by pop stars, but country music’s own. One of the sharpest, most telling career pivots was taken by Thomas Rhett in 2015. Rhett went from singing about a girl “shakin’ that money maker” in his first hit “Get Me Some of That” to being content with holding hands on his biggest hit “Die a Happy Man.” Fellow bros of Florida Georgia Line got the hint and started worshipping their wives with their 2016 single “H.O.L.Y.” Shortly after, other bros like Jason Aldean and Cole Swindell followed suit. Still, boyfriend country’s roots extend past the tidal wave of brosturned-boyfriends. Lovestruck pop country itself isn’t new. Lonestar’s “Amazed” from 1999 fits the bill. “Wanted” by Hunter Hayes was a massive hit in 2012, right in the middle of bro country’s rise. It’s worth noting though, that Hayes’s career did end up suffering for arriving a trend or two too early. Nowadays a higher voice, boyish looks and a youthful glow can carry male country singers far. Brett Young’s resemblance to a Hollister model has made him the poster child for boyfriend country stardom. Obviously, love songs aren’t inherently bad. And, despite its tendency toward gooiness, boyfriend country isn’t either. Like candy, sweet and
sappy pop country songs sound good in moderation. In fact, male artists’ sensitivity can be refreshing when it’s done right. What’s frustrating is when boyfriend country is the only sound that’s given a platform. And what’s bad is when this sound grows increasingly more homogenous. A song like “10,000 Hours” already sounds like the conglomerate of many shallow, boring love songs — we don’t need 10,000 more. As you may have noticed, I haven’t mentioned a single female country artist throughout the entirety of this article. Country radio has the same problem. Women have been hovering around 10 percent airplay for years. Despite being marketed as a Band-Aid for the way women were portrayed in bro country, boyfriend country actually makes country radio’s gender problem worse. Instead of playing more women, the exclusion of female country artists is now the work of songs that claim to “respect” them. This issue is bigger than boyfriend country, but “sweet” songs by men certainly don’t make women in country any less voiceless. Laying country radio’s gender politics aside, it’s normal in country music to bash what’s played on the radio and long for the sounds of the past, the “authentic.” Memes wishing for the return of bro country have already begun circulating the Internet. A back-and-forth in the popularity of certain styles and themes is also to be expected, not just in country music, but any art form. All this is to say that, like any subgenre, boyfriend country has its share of both thoughtful and careless content. My advice? Find the trendy songs you like and enjoy them while they last. The pendulum will swing sooner or later.
In April 2016, author, historian and professor Ibram X. Kendi published his National Book Award-winning “Stamped from the Beginning.” In what he subtitles “The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” Kendi’s exhaustive research chronicles the timeline of anti-Black racist ideas and their shifting power throughout American history. Kendi, one of America’s leading antiracist voices, was the youngest-ever winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2016. The same year, Jason Reynolds’s “Ghost” was nominated for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. This prestigious celebration of the best literature in America is where the two men met. But, it wasn’t until March of this year, nearly four years later, that “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” was released — the remix of Kendi’s original book, reimagined by Reynolds. In an interview with “CBS This Morning,” Reynolds reveals that he initially declined Kendi’s request to write the remix: “I said no because I’m careful about tampering with things that I believe are sacred.” Yet, he finally agreed when he realized “this work was bigger than the both of us, and it’s not about either one of us.” Reynolds’s remix is geared toward a younger audience, readers 12 and up. While Kendi is a scholar who holds a position as the Director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University, where he is a professor of history and international relations, Reynolds is a writer of books and poetry for young adults and middle-grade audiences. On his website, Reynolds declares that he plans to “not write boring books.” He goes on to say that “I know there are a lot of young people who hate reading… but they don’t actually hate books, they hate boredom” — which is
one of the initial obstacles he faced with the remix. So Reynolds, who has said that young people don’t like to read history books, decided that his remix wasn’t a history book, “but a book about the present: here and now.” Like Kendi’s original version, Reynolds structures the book using five historical figures: Puritan minister Cotton Mather from the 17th century, founding father Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, writer and activist W. E. B. Du Bois and radical activist and writer Angela Davis. The division of the book into five sections coincides with the five guides, spanning from the 1400s to modern day. While that encompasses over 600 years of history, Reynolds’s remix caps at 248 pages, half of Kendi’s 500page original. Another important similarity in the remix is the three different definitions used to identify and describe the people explored: segregationists, assimilationists and antiracists. These three categories are repeated frequently throughout the book, helping us to understand the historical figures represented along with their motives and beliefs (which we often discover to be contradictory). Reynolds simplifies the definitions to help young readers grasp the complex material, calling segregationists “haters,” assimilationists as “the people who like you, but only with quotation marks” and antiracists as “the people who love you because you’re like you.” Later, when discussing figures like Abraham Lincoln, it was helpful to have these definitions as we approached his contradictory views — like that he wanted slavery gone, but didn’t think Black people should necessarily have equal rights: an assimilationist. An assimilationist I found I knew very little about.
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Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BOOKS NOTEBOOK
SUMMER SERIES
A second reading of Jane Austen EMILY YANG Managing Arts Editor
On light and livestreaming
THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE Netflix
ZOE PHILLIPS Daily Arts Writer
It’s said that every theater is inhabited by at least one ghost and contrary to legends propagated by Halloween, these ghosts do not like the dark. Thus, when the curtain falls and a theater’s house empties, an employee will leave a light — a ghost light — to burn onstage until the performers return. Across the world, ghost lights have remained on and untouched for months. But the lives of performers continue offstage, each day adding pressure to find performance spaces on digital platforms. What happens when the ghost lights keep burning and we’re left with a stage wholly mediated by posts, shares, comments and likes? I recently opened a message from my best friend that was a response to a picture I’d sent her of the Ann Arbor sunset. She’d quickly typed a heart eyes emoji, meant to encapsulate her reaction to the beams of soft light that glinted through the fresh spring leaves of a tree on Geddes Avenue. In the chat, we continued a small conversation. “I’ve really gotten into light lately,” she said, telling me about the strings of morning sun that burst through a window in her Massachusetts home. I thought about my own morning when I had lay in bed, half awake, luxuriating in the warmth of sunlight that pierced through my apartment’s window and onto the lower half of my legs. “Me too,” I told her. As Michigan wakes up from a notoriously cloudy winter, the new rays of light appear as unbelievable beings between timid blooms of
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flowers and trees. Our state and our world remain cloistered under the dark wrath of an ongoing pandemic, but the sun and its growing days are blissfully unaware — springtime happens even in war. In 2008, Christopher Wheeldon made a ballet that chased after this thought: “Within the Golden Hour” weaves together 14 dancers in an architecture that wavers between fast and slow, large and small, animal and human. Initially inspired by artwork from Gustav Klimt, Wheeldon based his choreography in Klimt’s use of golden light. The dancer’s movements are airy and sometimes intangible, creating a sense of the sublime — a concept that inspired many of Klimt’s contemporaries. When the work was restaged for the Royal Ballet in 2016, Jasper Conran added costumes of diaphanous netting with reflective rectangles sewn into a middle layer. The result is a shimmery construction of fabric that reflects each movement onstage. In essence, the dancers become beams of light themselves. In the piece, three lead couples complete central sections of varying energies and four background groups braid themselves into undulating structures behind them. The seven couples weave in and out of each other’s shapes, never stopping and never static. They move both simultaneously and individually, calmly switching between the two to create a spectacle of subtle brilliance. Ezio Bosso’s music matches the movement in a dynamic sense of exploration. By the end of the clips found online, it quite fittingly feels as if my screen could erupt in shining golden light. All told, the work feels
like a spring bloom that buds new connections and sends life through newly constructed architectures of life. “Within the Golden Hour” hasn’t gotten much attention lately. Among the growing list of ballets being uploaded and live streamed by companies desperate to share their art and gain much-needed attention, this piece hasn’t been one of them. This statement is born less from frustration and more from opportunity. It may seem like the work is less accessible than those pieces found on YouTube or Instagram, but the memory of “Within the Golden Hour” manages to still feel quite relevant. Its message of exploration, growth and light feels eternally responsive to the human condition. Even when limited to a few archival clips and new technological divisions between the artist and the observer, “Within the Golden Hour”’s themes remind me that a piece of dance can remain relevant even as its visual presence temporarily fades. Lives are stripped bare right now. We’re existing in a polarity of fear and hope, left with little to distract us from our position between the two. We will need a lot of newness to move on — new medicine, new jobs and new normals. But some things will stay the same. Springtime will bloom and sunshine will weave its way through new leaves. Flowers will move in the newfound warmth of the sun just as humans will dance as we begin to rebuild. From afar, “Within the Golden Hour” continually teaches us of our own connection to such light and celebrates what it means to be alive.
I’ve been having a hard time keeping track of time, but Goodreads indicates that it took me just under two weeks to read “Pride and Prejudice.” For some reason it feels like longer. Or maybe not? Time is passing in strange ways now. Maybe it’s that everything I do now has a greater tendency to completely fill my field of vision. When I decided to read Austen’s classic, it was all I really wanted to do. Her long, intricate sentences seemed to take up my entire brain. My housemate, who is the kind of person who read these novels in her adolescence, lent me her copy. It’s one of those ugly-but-useful Dover Critical Editions that has a bunch of essays and an eye-wateringly extensive bibliography in the back. She told me she’s read it six or seven times and you can tell. Her marginalia is that of someone with a real affinity for the material, as well as someone who knows what’s going to happen almost by heart. When Wickham tells Elizabeth his (misrepresented) life story, my housemate filled the margins with skepticism. “Consider how unusual at the time it would be to just say all of this directly to someone you just met,” she wrote. Elizabeth says something similar later on: “She was now struck with the impropriety of such communication to a stranger, and wondered it had escaped her before.” My housemate’s experience of this book reminds me of Zadie Smith’s analogy for rereading: like walking into a house whose rooms you know very well, and you can see clearly the placement of the objects and their relationships to each other. Elsewhere, my housemate’s annotations are enthusiastic. “OMG he is so bad at this,” she writes next to Darcy’s awkward attempts to converse with Lizzy Bennet. “Awful,” she writes next to one of Mr. Collins’s ponderously misogynistic speeches. Austen is a writer who inspires this kind of immediate affinity,
fandom even, in a way that a lot of other literary writers don’t. I wanted to share this affinity, but I couldn’t. Even though I felt a sort of affinity for her style and methods, I never felt fully absorbed by it. This is, of course, my fault and I immediately felt bad about it. I don’t really care about the canon, not exactly, but it does bother me a little bit that when someone asks me what my favorite novel is, I will answer with something published in the last 5-10 years. Uh, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”? Maybe “Conversations With Friends”? I could lie and say “The Last Samurai.” That’s a book that people who want to be writers are allowed to have as their favorite, I think. It’s not that these are not good books, but it’s that I feel a little bit of shame at their topicality. They feel like news items and therefore whatever the opposite of edifying is. Of course, it’s not that I haven’t read “Jane Eyre” or anything, it’s just that I am not the kind of person who loves that kind of thing. What is “that kind of thing,” anyway? Maybe it’s the ethos Austen depicts. Her characters— mostly the lower end of the gentry who are, in their own way, precariously situated—spend a lot of their time visiting each other. They are constantly coming in and out of each other’s houses, being entertained in rooms specifically designed for the purpose, having conversations and judging each other’s conversational abilities. Conversation is like a game for these people: they are always trying to impress other people and (sometimes) trying to be fair and judicious in their own assessments. Darcy, who pretty early on refuses to dance with anyone at a ball and barely speaks to anyone, is met with such universal disdain by the Hertfordshire set because he basically confronts the concerns that animate these people’s lives and says “no, thank you.” No one seemingly dislikes him more than Elizabeth Bennet, who, as we know, ends up with Darcy in the end.
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8 MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
An Idealistic, Outdated America AAKASH RAY MiC Staff Writer
On March 14, an Asian-American family of three was stabbed by Jose Gomez at a Sam’s Club. On February 23, Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead after being followed by Gregory and Travis McMichael, who had grabbed their shotguns and pursued Arbery in their truck. On September 17, 2019 Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal was shot twice in the head by Robert Solis as he was returning to his patrol car during a routine traffic stop. These cases are not political; they do not require the public to pick between red and blue, left or right. They are hate crimes which shake up the very core of American ideals and values. It’s about humanity. Cases such as these beg the question: Is a need for justice not inherent within all humans? Are descriptions of these gruesome cases not enough to spark empathy and activism across all American households? After all, these heinous crimes occurred on American soil, the land of the free — but not free enough where people of color can feel safe going grocery shopping, go
GRAPHIC BY CARA JHANG
on a run or do their job. As an Indian American growing up in a typical Midwestern suburban household and attending public schools, I was always taught to salute the law and order in place to protect our communities and swell with pride when it comes to revisiting our nation’s history.
While I feel privileged to be living in this country, as I grow older I question whether I’ve looked at our past through rose-tinted glass and how that affects my perception of our present and future. The answer lies largely in the United States education system which perpetuates an idealistic,
high school sophomore Devi Vishwakumar who must navigate her life after her father dies and seeks to rebrand herself. Despite the truth, Devi is not marketed as attractive or charming. Instead, she is made to seem like a moderately attractive awkward nerd who is desperate for approval from a boy — putting effort into outfits that clearly do not match and being clumsy in almost any scene where she seems attractive. In contrast to her characterization, her cousin, Kamala, is fair and has glowing light skin, and is always depicted to be naturally beautiful and talented, having men fall all over her for her beauty. This show, while an extremely beautiful stride in representation in media for young Southeast Asian Americans, easily plays into this age-old notion that light skin tends to equate to beauty. This is not a new practice — when famous Bollywood Actresses became well
known in American pop cultures, such as Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, they were notably made to look lighter with their makeup. Even in Bollywood, actors and actresses such as Kajol, Bipasha Basu, and Rekha are all darker in person. However, on TV and in movies, they are made to seem much lighter through the use of makeup. The origin of this notion associated with fair skin can be traced back to Euro-centric beauty standards. A dissertation written by a University of MassachusettsBoston graduate explains these standards as praising “fair skin, long straight hair, thin lips, [and a] small nose,” comparing people to the most prominent physical traits of a white woman. This comparison is unfair, considering that these traits are not normal for so many different ethnic communities. Several Indian women are blessed with rich, dark skin, but are
outdated vision of America. I was taught the oppression of an entire race of people, yet I was never informed of the years of generational trauma that would linger into my young adult years. I was taught racism and discrimination are wrong, yet was never directed to systemic
instances of racism prevalent within institutions like education, healthcare and the justice system. Students sitting in public school classrooms are becoming more diverse, yet educators rarely hold discussions on how to combat the social issues which may lie in their future. Racial equality should be an integral part of conversations in all communities of diversity and injustices of the past and present should be at the forefront of our depictions of American history. To bring about this wave of understanding, schools need to have greater transparency of the American narrative of continual racism and oppression. Racism and discrimination need to be defined and explained to students at younger ages. There should not be any hesitation in addressing these topics, as this is not political but rather about our existence. To believe that racism and discrimination will one day be eradicted is foolish, but to acknowledge past and present wrongs is not.
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Colorism: Seeking fairness in Southeast Asian communities PRISHA GROVER MiC Staff Writer
When I was little, I never understood why my mom used to bathe me with warm milk and honey. Or why her friends (the aunties) would often remark on how light my skin is. Or why Fair and Lovely whitening cream was always in high demand at the Indian grocery store. As I grew older, my friends and I began to spend more time outside — joining after school sports clubs and biking around our suburbs. As a result, we became more tan and more and more aunties would comment on how I had become so kala, which means dark. It’s become a mark of beauty, especially in North Indian communities, to be light-skinned, meaning that becoming darker made us seem less attractive. Recently, Netflix released the first season of the show “Never Have I Ever,” the story of the
GRAPHIC BY CARA JHANG
constantly rejected by the Indian public, modeling agencies and Bollywood casting groups.
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MICHIGAN IN COLOR 9
A Lebanese Breakfast MAYA KADOUH MiC Staff Writer
I share these two classic Lebanese breakfasts recipes hoping you are able to feel connected to something; whether that be yourself, the people you shared the meal with, or the Lebanese culture. With luck, the time spent making and enjoying these dishes will allow you to make new discoveries about your identity or those of others. These recipes are intended to feed four people and can be enjoyed with sides of vegetables, cheese or eggs and meat. Arabic tea is commonly served at breakfast. Sahtein! PROVIDED BY SUNITHA PALAT
A Mother’s Day Reflection: My Amma , A life journey from India to New York SUNITHA PALAT MiC Staff Writer
It’s 1996. The door of the ‘88 Volvo closes with the gentle push of a chestnut-brown, smooth hand. The discounted Macy’s black leather left heel steps forward. With a less assertive movement, the right follows. Back and forth, with pseudo-confidence, the heels click in a straight line up the driveway, as thick, silky black hair moves behind in unison. With each step, my mother looks up from her petite stature. Her bright brown eyes closely monitor how her heels touch the pavement, while refraining from swaying her lean arms; instead she learns to hold them steady against her side. She looks up at their home in a middle-class, simple Atlanta suburb and exudes all the confidence she can. Stand tall. Walk with purpose. Be confident. They need you as much as you need them. My father’s calming, rational voice echoes in her head as she practices. At the age of 29, my mother was learning how to walk like an American. In 1993, my Amma had just immigrated to the United States from India to marry and be with my father. In the following three years, she had my older brother, studied for and passed her Step 1 and Step 2 Medical Exams and began to prepare for residency interviews. After volunteering at Emory’s hospital, she quickly noticed how people in the U.S. walked differently from her. In India, women hold the pallu (sash) of their saris in their right hand, keep their left close to their body and glide. “Here, women were swinging their arms when they walked — it’s just different in jeans.” Every night after getting back from her shift, she would practice walking up and down the driveway, deliberately monitoring her movements to prepare for the American professional environment. Changing the way she walked was only
one part of the adjustment. She would listen to hours of NPR to learn the American accent, took notes on how to eat baked potatoes and other American foods to avoid looking confused during interviews and learned how to have small talk about Christmas dinners and the Fourth of July. Although seemingly minor, these adjustments were difficult; in her resilience, my mother has become a strong American medical professional. These adjustments took small forms in her everyday life, but the hardest moments were those she could never get back — missing her grandparents’ funerals, the births of her nieces and nephews and the aging of her own parents. Immigrating left her with a feeling of irrelevance in the lives of those she loved and a longing for her simple life back in India. I remember our conversation when I asked her what she imagined her future life would be like at my age. “When I was 20, I — hm. I imagined myself practicing there.” She said before she paused “I didn’t see much more than taking care of the family’s daily needs, wanting to be around family, being in the culture you identify with.” Her emphasis on family stung me, especially knowing that my brother and I will never be able to replicate those bonds with her loved ones while growing up oceans away. “I never thought I would live somewhere else, never.” This myriad of experiences has defined her life into two chapters. As she and my father raised us, they became more engaged in American lifestyles, putting their strongest cultural inclinations to the side for the sake of our ability to “fit in” to our New York suburbia, where we have lived for the past 18 years.
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DISH: BATATA HARRA Ingredients: 6 potatoes 3 cups of vegetable oil 4 tablespoons olive oil 2 bunches of cilantro 1 white onion 4 jalapenos 10 cloves of garlic Salt Pepper Garlic powder Instructions: 1. Peel potatoes, cut into cubes and deep fry in vegetable oil until crispy. Once potatoes are fried, season with salt. 2. While the potatoes are frying, dice jalapenos and white onion, chop cilantro finely and crush garlic cloves. 3. Warm up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add crushed garlic to the oil letting it sauté for one minute.
4. Add onion, jalapenos, cilantro and another 2 tablespoons of olive oil, letting ingredients sauté. Mix ingredients frequently to avoid burning. Add a tablespoon of garlic powder and a tablespoon of salt. 5. Add potatoes to the saucepan and thoroughly mix with other ingredients. 6. Transfer to a serving plate.
DISH: FETTEH Ingredients: 2 pounds of greek yogurt 2 loaves of pita bread 16 ounces can of chickpeas 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste) Half of a lemon 6 cloves of garlic 4 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon pepper 1 teaspoon of cumin 1 cup of pine nut 1/4 stick of butter 1 teaspoon of baking soda Parsley to garnish Instructions: 1. Boil chickpeas in a saucepan, add a teaspoon of baking soda. 2. Cut pita bread into squares, then fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. 3. Whisk greek yogurt, tahini, lemon, salt, pepper and crushed garlic thoroughly. 4. In a saucepan, warm up butter. Add pine nuts and cook until golden brown. Be careful not to overcook. 5. Place pita bread, then chickpeas, then yogurt mixture into a serving plate. 6. Top off the dish with extra pita bread, chickpeas and pinenuts. 7. Garnish with parsley and cumin.
PROVIDED BY MAYA KADOUH
10 Sports
Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘Alla familia’: Ben Cirella’s family’s restaurants spread the love DREW COX
Daily Sports Writer
Two weeks ago, Ben Cirella pulled his silver Volvo up to the entrance of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, N.Y. Elmhurst has been at the epicenter of New York City’s disastrous COVID-19 outbreak. Queens has 56,719 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the most of any city borough, and has recorded nearly 6,000 deaths. After being overrun by a ballooning number of cases and facing ill-timed equipment shortages, the hospital was forced to expand its Intensive Care Unit capacity by 500 percent back in April. Alongside his brother, Brad, and sister, Alex, the junior defenseman stepped out of the car, put on proper personal protective equipment and made his way over to the hospital’s doors. In their hands, the Cirella children held trays containing a smorgasbord of fine Italian cooking from their family restaurants’ kitchens — a gift of gratitude to the essential medical personnel who have worked tirelessly to care for COVID-19 patients. The Cirella family owns three restaurants in the Long Island area, and like many restaurant owners, the Cirella family have been offering takeout and delivery for customers ever since the pandemic forced them to close their restaurants’ doors to in-person dining. But Dean Cirella, Ben’s father, has decided to take things a step further, enlisting his children and workers to cook and deliver catering platters to hospitals that have been overwhelmed by COVID-19. So far, Ben and his siblings have delivered food to seven hospitals in the New YorkLong Island area. Dean even offers a joint-venture initiative to his regular customers; if they want to donate food to a local hospital, the Cirella’s will cover half of the bill and deliver it for free. For Ben, his family’s effort is simply them doing their part — the only way they know how, with food and kindness — to help mitigate the stress of the pandemic. “I don’t do enough,” Ben said. “I’m an essential worker and
‘hero’ because I’m delivering food but that’s nothing. It’s not hard compared to what these nurses and doctors are doing, so that’s why I love giving back to them and seeing their smiles. It makes my day and hopefully it makes their day.” Community service has never been a chore for Ben. In fact, he has always thoroughly enjoyed it. This past year, the Michigan men’s lacrosse team logged the most community service hours of any varsity sport. Every Monday night, the team went up to the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor and played bingo with veterans. Every Tuesday night, the team visited Mott’s Children’s Hospital and spent time with patients and their families. And every time, Ben was there. Like other Michigan student athletes, Ben spent the past month-and-a-half wrapping up his classes online, completing at-home workouts and searching for an internship. But when Ben returned home in March, despite an already hectic schedule, he made sure to find time to help out at the restaurants. Even if it meant listening to team Zoom meetings while simultaneously delivering orders, Ben knew he owed it to his dad to lend a hand. Running and building a successful, multi-generational and multi-restaurant business did not come without long days and nights filled with hard work and sacrifice. Summers were the busiest time of the year for the restaurants, particularly Surf’s Out, a restaurant in Fire Island, and Dean almost always had to be at one of the restaurants. Yet with Ben as a highly-touted recruit, his summers were jam-packed with lacrosse tournaments, so it was nearly impossible for Dean to find time to drive him to tournaments and watch his games. Ben’s mother, Caryn, also worked at the restaurants, but navigated her busy schedule to make sure her son could attend all of his games. “It means a lot (to me to give back),” Ben said. “My dad is the hardest worker I know. There’s a lot of businesses struggling right now and my dad is doing everything he can to keep our restaurants afloat. To give back to him, it just means everything. He would do anything for anybody
without asking for anything in return. … I’m willing to jump on it as quickly as I can and help out any way I can. “I think it’s like an extra workout — (something like) working on Fire Island as a barback and carrying all that ice.” Ever since Ben was six years old, he has helped out in some form at the Cirella’s restaurants. It was where we grew up. When he was little, Ben went from table to table and took pictures of customers on holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. On Christmas Eve, Dean dressed himself up as Santa Claus and the kids as Santa’s elves. When Ben was older, he spent his summers at Surf’s Out working as a barback or busboy. “We didn’t have a beach house growing up and that was fine because (Surf’s Out) was our beach house,” Ben said. “We would go out there, hang out at the beach all day and then go work at night. (My friends) always beg me to this day to come to Fire Island and hang out at the restaurant and beach.” And after a childhood of experiences in restaurants, Ben wants to enter the restaurant business, just like his father and grandfather. “I just kept the restaurant in my blood,” Ben said. “(The business) has been around for 30-plus years and we still continue to make customers happy with every order...That’s what I want. I want to continue to spread and grow the family and happiness.” “As has been the case for nearly 60 years,” reads Cirella’s website, “we’re sure that once you experience the authentic Italian flavor of Cirella’s — for lunch or dinner — you’ll become ‘alla familia’…one of the family.” In a period of such fear and uncertainty, the Cirella’s have made a deliberate effort to take care of one another. “It’s cool being with my family through this all,” Ben said. “Since we’re all together, it definitely takes a load off the shoulders a little bit. It’s nice when I’m doing these long deliveries that I can look over and see my brother in the car next to me helping out.” But more importantly, to the Cirella’s, to be ‘alla familia’ extends beyond the immediate family. Frontline workers and
PHOTO COURTESY OF BEN CIRELLA
Junior defenseman Ben Cirella handing off food to a health care worker.
loyal customers are also ‘one of the family’ and equally deserving of care in their eyes. And just as the Cirella’s have made the effort to help others, their customers have returned the favor by consistently ordering food. “During this time, it proves what family we really have,” Ben said. “Just like we’re trying to support hospitals and our neighborhood, they’re supporting us by ordering dinner and giving us business. And they’re really
helping us out by doing that. Some families order two or three times in a week. They’re really supportive.” The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of family and community in the face of dire circumstances. As a country, we are all ‘alla familia’ to one another. And the Cirella’s represent a marquis example of what it looks like to both offer and welcome kindness in a time when it is desperately needed.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BEN CIRELLA
Junior defenseman Ben Cirella (right) and brother Brad (left) dropping off food
Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NICHOLAS STOLL Daily Sports Writer
On September 14, 1998, Janine Smith gave birth to her second child, Natalie. Three days later, she was back on the bench coaching, with Natalie at her side. Right off the bat, the pair’s relationship and the game of volleyball were intertwined. It had to be. At the time, Janine was a Division I coach at the University of Texas at Arlington and taking a season off wasn’t an option. Her husband, Warren, did what he could. He was a stay-at-home father and he took care of their eldest daughter, Brooke, who was just 15 months older than Natalie. But as a newborn, Natalie needed to be with her mother. So she was. “Natalie traveled with me,” Janine said. “She was with me 24/7 for a good three months.” And with a newborn attached to her hip, Janine coached the Mavericks to a respectable 24-7 record, going 19-1 in the Southland conference. After three months filled to the brim with volleyball, time away from the other half of the family and pandering to the needs of a newborn baby, Janine turned over some of the parental supervision to Warren that January. For the first time since she was born, Janine and Natalie weren’t together. *** Janine was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa – a volleyball town. To the north was a big volleyball school, Dubuque Wahlert, the place where she would first truly get to prove herself. During her time at Wahlert, she helped bring home two championship banners and made enough of an impact to be inducted into the Iowa Athletic Hall of Fame for her success at the high school level. But her athletic achievements didn’t stop with volleyball. In track and field, Janine found a way to, quite literally,
rise above the competition — she was a high jumper. In her final three years at Wahlert, Janine became a three-time state champion at the event. Her final high jump win came in 1988, the same year she started her volleyball career at the University of Texas, Austin. And that year, she couldn’t help but just keep winning. The Longhorns were senior heavy, and no matter how good Janine was, she wasn’t going to start as a freshman. But Janine didn’t let that hold her back. “I didn’t know what kind of impact I was going to make,” Janine said. “But … I was going to make an impact no matter what. And whatever it was going to take, I was going to find my way on the court.” She started the year as a defensive specialist. There was no libero position in volleyball at that time, so the defensive specialist fulfilled that role. She remained there until one of the seniors suffered an injury, sidelining them for most of the season. Again, Janine had a chance to prove herself. Stepping into her new role nicely, she became a six-rotation outside hitter for the majority of the season, racking up experience and honing her game the entire way. But towards the end, the senior she took the place of recovered, retaking her position and relegating Janine to her back-row duties. That didn’t stop her from making an impact. Instead, she earned the moniker ‘Super Sub,’ for her prowess as a rotational player. In the NCAA Tournament, Texas faced an undefeated UCLA in the semifinals. The Longhorns didn’t back down. “I had a pretty good Final Four,” Janine said. “That’s why they say that they call me the ‘Super Sub,’ because when I came in, I made a lot of defensive plays to help keep us in it.” UCLA fell in straight sets, albeit close ones, and Texas moved on to face the defending champions, Hawaii. Janine kept her play up, subbing in for sophomore Quandalyn Harrell in the
back row and sometimes staying in for a full six rotations when the coach needed her to. After three sets, the Longhorns were national champions, Janine the ‘Super Sub’ an integral part of the win. “I was just kind of in the zone,” Janine said. “I was pretty focused and wanted it for the seniors who had worked very hard and who had been mentors to me as a freshman.” Over the next three years, Texas never made it back to the championship, only going as far as the regional finals, but Janine cemented herself as a star. She is seventh in Texas history in both career kills and service aces, as well as second in career digs, leading the team in digs in 1989, ‘90 and ‘91. In her senior year, Janine was finally able to compete in the other sport she excelled at in high school — high jump. Due to volleyball, she wasn’t allowed to high jump for her first four years at Texas. But her eligibility had ended, so she was free to join track and field, something the track coaches wanted her to do much earlier in her college career. Another member of the Texas track and field team was her future husband, Warren Smith, a pole vaulter for the Longhorns. Soon after graduation, the two were married. A short time after they tied the knot, Janine received a call. At the opposite end of the line was Colorado head coach Brad Saindon. The Colorado volleyball team was new, having just started in 1986, and had yet to see much success. Saindon wanted Janine to be one of his assistant coaches, barely a year after she finished playing at Texas. “He said he wanted me because he says that I single handedly helped our team beat them,” Janine said. “He wanted me to be on their team as a coach to help his kids.” Janine and Warren knew it was a leap, but they wanted to take it. That year, Colorado won their first Big 8 championship ever, beating out perennial powerhouse Nebraska.
After her first year in Colorado, the UT-Arlington head coach position opened up. Janine decided to throw her hat in the ring for the sake of experience. In the future, she’d need to know how to interview and go through the process of applying for coaching positions, so it was a great opportunity to start building that foundation. In the interview, she was offered the job on the spot. After just one year as a limited earnings assistant coach, she became the head coach of a Division I volleyball program. “It was a fast learning curve,” Janine said. “They had a couple fifth year seniors on their team so you can only imagine, we were like a year apart in age. … And so I had to try to build a program with kids that were basically the same age as I was. So it was, let me say, it was difficult.” But, Janine managed. She started getting her own recruits in the building, and in four years, the program was turned around. The Mavericks were vying for conference championships and making NCAA tournaments, all the good signs of a healthy program. Janine had succeeded yet again; this time, not as a player, but as a coach. *** When Natalie, now a senior libero at Michigan, and her sister, Brooke, were little, their mom was as involved with volleyball as ever. “I would grow up in the gym with her and a ball cart,” Natalie said. “So I feel like our relationship started around that, and our whole lives are kind of around volleyball.” That sentiment wore on Janine. In 2004, it was time for a change. Janine announced that she would be resigning as the head coach of the University of Texas at Arlington volleyball program after two regular season titles and two tournament titles in 10 years, solidifying the Mavericks as a perennial contender in the Southland Conference. Instead, she would be taking a job at Silver Creek Elementary School in Azle, Texas. “I had an opportunity to teach at my children’s school,” Janine said in 2004. “It’s in the best interest of our family. The goal of our family is to be involved in our children’s lives.” In this new situation, Janine and Warren were able to do so. As the girls grew up, volleyball never went away, but it wasn’t their mother’s game anymore, it was theirs, with Janine coaching them. “Whenever we first got into really playing volleyball, my mom coached us both,” Natalie said. “Then my first club year, she coached us.” Janine, as well as Warren, coached the girls, but the age difference between Brooke and Natalie led to
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years with the two on separate teams, and left Janine only able to coach one of them. Natalie’s junior year of high school was one of her years, her parents coaching her club team. “That was a ton of fun,” Natalie said. “And probably my favorite year of my high school. … Because I think we got closer as a family through that.” It was also a big recruiting year for Natalie, and there’s a thin line to pushing your own kid as a recruit. So, Janine and Warren waited for coaches to approach them about Natalie. That’s when they would have to disclose that Natalie was their daughter. “Most coaches will tell you, ‘Oh I like her even more now,’” Janine said. “Because most Division I coaches, highly competitive coaches, like to have coach’s kids on their team because those kids understand the work that you need to do, and they understand everything that goes into the game of volleyball.” Michigan coaches Mark and Leisa Rosen were just two of many that approached Janine about Natalie. They just happened to be the two that Natalie decided to play for. “When Natalie took a visit up to Michigan, she just knew,” Janine said. “She had gone to many visits prior to that, and we went up to Michigan and we just knew that was the place for her.” For Janine, that was a great fit for her daughter. Not only was she playing for Mark, a coach she knew and respected, but was playing for someone Janine met all the way back in high school — Leisa. The two played on the Junior National team together before starting their collegiate and coaching careers in volleyball. “Leisa is a lot like myself,” Janine said. “I think that we bonded pretty well and I think that’s why we get along so well.” But what made Janine feel best about her daughter’s college decision wasn’t about what kind of coaches the Rosens were or that she had played with one of them in high school, it was the kind of people they were. “They’re unbelievable people who take care of their student athletes and really care,” Janine said. And really, that’s what volleyball is for Janine — a way to express herself and care for others. “She cares so much about people,” Natalie said. “So I think I took that a lot from her. Just the way she cares about kids and anyone she communicates with. It’s just very inspiring to see, and she’s like my biggest role model. “I think that’s the thing I love about her the most.”
12 SPORTS
Thursday, May 14, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Ambry Thomas wasn’t supposed to be at Detroit King that day, lacing up his cleats for a 7-on-7 scrimmage, feeling the summer heat blistering up from the field. If it weren’t for a call from his coach, Dale Harvel, the night before, he wouldn’t have been. After a particularly spirited effort at a 7-on-7 the week prior, Harvel told Thomas to take a load off. The team was in Thomas’ hands now, with the likes of Lavert Hill, Donnie Corley, Armani Posey and Martell Pettaway off to college after a dominant 14-0 state title season. His health was too important to risk wear-andtear in a meaningless late-July scrimmage. But then, sitting in his room in the basement of his Detroit home the evening of July 21, 2016, Thomas’ phone lit up. It was Harvel. “It was so weird, because he didn’t ever call me, for real,” Thomas recalled last week, months before his senior season at Michigan is scheduled to kick off. “We would talk at practice; we’d talk like that. To get a phone call from him, it was shocking, so I hopped on and answered.” Harvel, spurred by a change of heart, told Thomas the scrimmage was optional, which gave Thomas the hint it wasn’t optional in the slightest. Thomas, a bullheaded competitor by nature, needed no convincing. Thomas still remembers some of the little details about the following day: The schools that
tried to send their JV teams, enraging the fiery Harvel; His competitive battles with a wide receiver on Dayton Dunbar named Joseph Scates, who’d go on to play at Iowa State. He sure remembers that damn heat. But he, like anyone around the field that day, most vividly remembers how it ended. Harvel, who’d suffered a heart attack in 2014, spent his day in the shade, watching from afar as his assistant coaches took the reigns. As practice wound down, Harvel stood along a fence that lined the field’s perimeter, talking to a group of coaches. Then, suddenly, he collapsed. “We were standing at the gate talking, regular after-practice conversation,” King’s offensive coordinator Terel Patrick told the Detroit Free Press at the time. “And he fell straight back. In front of all the kids.” Screams rang out. Players darted across the street to the Engine 9 fire station, crossing East Lafayette Street in a frenzy. Thomas lingered behind, slowed by a sudden paralysis. Defensive coordinator Tyrone Spencer dialed 9-1-1. “The coach just fell,” yelled out one coach. “He just fell. Go over there and try to get somebody from the fire station.” “And then when EMS finally came,” Spencer said, “Ambry was one of the guys that was next to me helping us put Coach Harvel on the stretcher, and getting him up to the EMS.” “Me, being the person I am, knowing this is my team and
I’ve got more experience with Coach Harvel than all these guys, I just felt like I owe respect,” Thomas said. “I just had to. It was something I had to do.” Thomas helped turn Harvel over and pick him up, lifting him onto the ambulance. Spencer rode with Harvel, frantically telling Harvel’s wife what had happened, holding out hope the doctors would revive him. There’s some comfort in distance now, four years removed from a day that forever altered lives. Time cushions grief. Specifics fade from memory. “It felt like a movie,” Spencer says now. Harvel, 57, was pronounced dead of a heart attack at Detroit Receiving Hospital. When Thomas retells the story, he does so with fortitude. His voice does not quiver. His emotions do not waver. But the details of the moment linger in his memory. “I remember looking into his eyes when we picked him up. I didn’t wanna believe it, but in his eyes he just looked gone,” Thomas said. “It just started to settle in more and more with me that day. And when we broke it down, we broke it down for Coach Harv. Right after we broke it down, I just thought like, I remember seeing the look in his eyes and — my four years I was at King, that’s something you would never see. “I just felt it in his eyes he was gone.”