License to Love
VOICE C1
Same-sex couples make history in Ann Arbor
A A NATIONAL NATIONAL PACEMAKER PACEMAKER AWARD AWARD NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER
washtenawvoice.com
THE
March 24, 2014
Volume 20, Issue 16
The student publication of Washtenaw Community College Ann Arbor, Michigan
A job nobody wants Faculty union elects new president who accepts with apprehension
6 after her predecessor Jennifer Baker decided that her time in the position had come to an end after a Amid brewing tension between four-year tenure. Washtenaw Community College’s Baker announced her decision teachers and administration, the fac- not to run for reelection in an email ulty union has elected new leadership. to union members on Feb. 6, citing Maryam Barrie reluctantly assumed the role of president of the BARRIE WCC Education Association on March CONTINUED A3 By NATALIE WRIGHT Managing Editor
WCC to release SOQs By NATALIE WRIGHT Managing Editor
Washtenaw Community College agreed last week to release the data results of the Student Opinion Questionnaires for all WCC instructors for the last five years. Despite denying The Voice’s November request for the SOQs, the school has conceded that the students’ evaluations of their instructors are not exempt under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, and, therefore, are open public records. After two Freedom of Information Act requests, one appeal, conversations with 100 students and consultations with a lawyer at the Student Press Law Center, WCC’s general counsel Larry Barkoff told The Voice
that once it makes a transfer to the college for $168.40, it will get access to the SOQ data results reports, the format that instructors receive the SOQs in. The fee is associated with the time that it took the college to compile the record. It’s based on five hours of work at $33.68 per hour. The college denied the request initially in order to uphold the contract with its faculty union. The contract outlined procedures for termination of faculty as a consequence of continuous sub-par SOQ results, but specified that the SOQs must be kept confidential. With the college’s release of the SOQs, this part of the contract is now null and void, Faculty Union President Maryam Barrie said. Perhaps it’s a good thing, she said, if
the administration can no longer fire faculty based on their SOQ results. But it might make it harder on the school to figure out a new way to evaluate faculty, she noted. Barrie added that she fears the SOQs will become a “popularity contest” among faculty. She fears that students do not take the time to write honest, worthwhile comments. Although more than 100 students who were interviewed by the newspaper in November overwhelmingly said that making the SOQs public would lead to more time spent on the evaluations and more thorough comments, Barrie has her doubts. “I guess we will see,” she said. See the Voice's take on the recent SOQ debate. A4
WCC educators: Regarding SOQs, what do you have to hide? Maryam Barrie, WCC Education Association President. KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
One last ride
WCC instructor Mark Daily helps student carry out a last wish By JON PRICE
Staff Writer
For Washtenaw Community College student Mike Szeliga, the past few years had been painful ones. But by last fall, things were finally looking up for the young man. Szeliga, 34, of Willis, was finishing the motorcycle service technology program at WCC and had just learned that he was going to be an uncle. “His sister had been married for 10 years; she had been trying to get pregnant for 10 years,” Shelley Eisner, Szeliga’s mother said. “He was ecstatic.” Just days after receiving the good news, the unthinkable happened. “I found Mike all by myself,” Eisner said. “It was a Saturday. I went downstairs to get him to cut the grass, and he was gone.” Szeliga died of an apparent reaction to medications he was taking for a variety of illnesses.
His family was devastated. “The past seven years were just hell for him.” Eisner said, “He had recently been through a divorce and then his ex-wife passed away.” “Mehow,” a Polish variation of the name Michael, as he was known to his family, seemed to finally be coming out of his slump. Plagued by health issues and emotional stresses over the years, he had recently stopped smoking, started taking martial-arts classes and seemed to have discovered his life’s passion, working on motorcycles. “He was very enthusiastic about motorcycles,” lab assistant Wayne Keesey said. “He was always willing to learn, especially on the Harleys.” The Harley-Davidson name seemed to have a special resonance with Szeliga. “When he started at Washtenaw, he MOTORCYCLE CONTINUED A6
Travis Smith, 25, a motorcycle service technician major from St. Johns, Mark Daily, motorcycle service technology instructor and Steve Matthews, 63, a retired motorcycle technician from Canton, pose next to the bike WCC student Mike Szeliga was working on before his death. KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
ERIC WADE As a Washtenaw Community College student and a taxpayer who has paid for much of my tuition out of pocket, I can’t help but to be a little
upset by the recently published letters to the editors about the Student Opinion Questionnaires. I first must dispute the idea that students are not the customers. A customer is someone who trades currency for goods or service. My education is a service that I pay for. When I pay my tuition, I am the customer. When other students pay back their student loans, as many of the educators at WCC once had, they most certainly are the customers. As a Washtenaw County resident, I
see myself as an investor. My tax dollars are an investment to my community, not a transaction of currency for goods or service. When I pay my taxes, I expect that the money is used for upkeep and as an investment in my community, and that is how I feel about WCC as an institution. By my money going to the college, I hope that more people recognize Washtenaw County as a place SOQs CONTINUED A4
Death sentence or a ‘redo?’ Washtenaw student opts for the latter By DAVID FITCH Staff Writer
Midlife crisis had already hit when Brian Myers took a trip to the doctor’s office in the summer of 2008. He had no idea, though, that that day, his life would change course. Myers spotted the school across the street and decided to check it out. Three hours later and he was enrolling for his first semester, a semester that would start turning his midlife crisis into Chapter Two of his story, a chapter which he is loving. Today, he is a Washtenaw Community College grad and a tutor in the Computer Commons. But let’s rewind. Myers was 28 and living in Chicago when he found out that he was supposed to die, when he found out that he was HIV positive. “At that time, most people didn’t survive more than a few years,” he said. Myers remembered the fear and confusion that took over during the time. In 1989, Myers’ first partner, Lou, passed away of AIDS. It left him devastated and wondering how much longer he had. “I was just moved into a new apartment, and I had said a prayer asking God to please spare me my life, and I will do whatever it is you want me to do,” said Myers. When he was 44, cancer claimed the life of his second partner, Kevin.
Computer Commons tutor Brian Myers, 55, an administrative technology student, found WCC on a whim. That whim, though would be a pivotal step in his midlife 'redo.' KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
Not long after, in 2006, Myers lost his job organizing nonprofit events and services. He was at the end of his rope, he said. “I found myself in the suburbs with a big house and all the wonderful things of life, and I hated my life,” he said. Here, he said, began his midlife crisis, a crisis that would lead him into classrooms at Washtenaw. “And I just decided that I had traveled all over the world. I have bought homes, condos, cars. I have partied the
night away,” Myers said. “And the only thing that I really hadn’t done was go to college because I never thought I would be alive long enough to get a college degree. “And so when I had my midlife crisis, I said, ‘I’m going to get a college degree. I don’t care.’” On a whim, as he describes it, he found Washtenaw and decided to enroll. His first classes, intro to MYERS CONTINUED A6
A2
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March 24, 2014
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PeoPle come here because they’re lookinG for somethinG. It’s not about packing up the car and going to a different town. For them it’s about discovery. What they find is a challenge—something unexpected—that opens up new frontiers. Go West. Discover. Explore. This is one of America’s great universities. A lot of people who have become successful—skilled, happy, wealthy and influential—started by heading West. Western Michigan University. It’s your turn to Grab the reins.
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Ice Cream Sundaes! Join Student Activities for a delicious and sweet treat! Date: March 27 Time: 12 p.m.- 1 p.m. Location: SC Community Room Price: FREE!
Lunch with the President Sign-up and you could be chosen to have free lunch with WCC’s President Dr. Rose Bellanca!
New winners will be selected throughout the semester! Sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/wcclunchcontest
Become a Student Activities Support Officer!
Do you want to make a difference in campus life at WCC? Become a Student Activities Support Officer! This is a paid, on-campus position that is designed to kick-start your professional career! Learn resumebuilding skills that include leadership, marketing, event planning, and much more! For more information and to sign-up go to http://tinyurl.com/sdaofficer
Tickets Coming Soon: Traverse City Trip Tiger’s Game Cedar Point
Earth Day Celebration
Learn many ways to be green, save energy, and have a positive impact on the environment! Date: April 10th Time: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Location: Student Center Community Room Price: FREE!
Upcoming Sports Opportunities!
Women’s Club Softball First Practices st rd Dates: Monday March 31 and Thursday April 3 Time: 5:30pm-7:30pm Where: WCC Softball Diamond located next to the WCC Health and Fitness Center Please bring your WCC Student ID and your own mitt (if you have one). Please pre-register to join this team in the WCC Sports Office prior to the first practice. Interested in a Competitive Dance Team? We are currently looking for any WCC students that may be interested in being part of a competitive dance team at WCC. If you are interested, please come into the WCC Sports Office in SC116 to let us know! We will be gaging interest with the hope of starting a team in the near future. March Madness Bracket Contest th Stop by WCC Sports (SC116) or email elemm@wccnet.edu between Monday, March 17 and th Wednesday, March 19 for a men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball bracket. Brackets are due th by 11am on March 20 . Winners of each bracket will receive a t-shirt. Interested in Upcoming Intramural Sports? Stop by the WCC Sports office to grab an intramural sports schedule which includes sports such as golf, flag football, basketball, softball, kickball, ultimate frisbee and more! Sign-up at the office for all opportunities. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact the WCC Sports Office by calling 734-973-3720 or emailing elemm@wccnet.edu. You can also come into the office and see us and sign up in SC 116.
News
The Washtenaw Voice
BARRIE FROM A1
the “strained” relationship with the administration as the leading cause. Though she has done everything in her power to improve the situation, she said, the relationship remains in decline and she has exhausted all of her options. “It is extremely difficult and exhausting to work in an environment where my integrity and good will toward this college are, at best, received with skepticism and disregard by the upper administration,” she wrote. So, Barrie stepped up to fill Baker’s shoes – shoes that aren’t very appealing at the moment, she said. “Really, no one wants to do this job right now,” Barrie said. “I couldn’t really say that I wanted this, but I am willing and I hope I will do well for our members, the school and our students as we move forward during this really challenging time.” Though the strife between the faculty and the administration has quieted this year, it has not dissipated, she said. “I think we just have less expectation that they’re going to listen to us,” Barrie said. “It’s no longer a big surprise when that doesn’t happen.” Breege Concannon, newly elected second vice president of the WCCEA, echoed this sentiment. “It’s not been as frantic as it felt last year, but that doesn’t mean there’s any less of a problem,” she said. “People have been kind of more resigned to more of the same, I think.” Yet, despite Barrie’s reservations,
other union members convinced her that she is the best person for the job with her 29 years of experience at WCC and her experience within the union, especially in contract negotiations. And when the time came to vote, Barrie’s only competition was Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who received one write-in vote. Barrie will bring a much different leadership style and personality to the position than Baker, Concannon said. “She’s very calm,” Concannon said. “Even her voice is very calm. She can diffuse a conversation just with her voice.” It makes sense that Barrie used to work as a poet. Her calmness and pensiveness are apparent upon stepping into her office, which she has festooned with Tibetan prayer flags, pictures of the Hindu god Ganesh, photos of her children and clusters of artificial flowers. Barrie’s personality is definitely an advantage for the faculty moving forward through the tension, Baker said. “She is absolutely the best person to take this position on,” she wrote. “She is thoughtful, wise and measured in her approach to issues and she has the respect and the support of the faculty.” And Baker added words of encouragement in her note to the faculty, for the organization moving forward under Barrie’s leadership: “As we move forward through whatever changes and challenges we face, may we remain united, with a clear unwavering commitment to always act in the best interest of our students.”
A3
Voice illustrator gives Wolf Pack mascot a new look By David Fitch Staff Writer
Washtenaw’s mascot, Alpha, has entered the digital world. A contest put on by Student Development and Activities chose a winning digital drawing of the wolf which will be featured on school paraphernalia. Graphic design major Erik Morris’ design was selected as the winner. Morris, 18, of Saline, said that he entered on a whim one day after he heard that the competition was seeking more entries. He said he spent the better part of a day on it, working partially off of photographs of the actual mascot costume. “It went through several iterations of not being remotely proportional,” he said, laughing. But eventually, he got it and is excited to see his work on college products. “That’s actually what interests me most about graphic design is actually having my stuff used,” he said. “I’m an extremely practically oriented graphic designer.” Peter Leshkevich, director of student development and activities, in an email to The Washtenaw Voice commended Morris on his work. “We are excited to use it on sports uniforms, bookstore apparel and more. It turned out amazing.” said Leshkevich. Morris is a Voice contributor whose work has been featured throughout the year. “I’m proud of Eric, and I’m not at all surprised,” said Voice adviser Keith Gave. “He is an immensely talented artist who has developed an outstanding portfolio of work in our pages. He has a brilliant future.” Alpha is a relatively recently “elected” mascot. “Wolf Pack” was voted to replace Warriors as the school team name by the student body in July of 2012. Then, a year ago, in March of 2013, the name Alpha was chosen by a similar process, as per the approval of the Board of Trustees.
2014 WCCEA executive leadership board Maryam Barrie, president Michael Duff, first vice president Breege Concannon, second vice president
March 24, 2014
Tom Zimmerman, secretary Kathy Butcher, treasurer David Fitzpatrick, chief negotiator
WCC millage renewal on November ballot school’s funding comes from tuition and 13 percent is from the state. “A little bit extra comes from fedIn November, Ann Arbor residents eral grants and other sources,” he said. will vote on whether or not to renew The money that comes to the an existing millage for Washtenaw school through tax dollars goes into Community College, which would a “general operations fund,” which otherwise expire in 2016. means that it can be used to cover just A ccording to the college, about anything the college’s Board of the existing millage provides $11.2 Trustees sees fit. million annually to the school. “That is why we inform the public WCC’s Government and Media and inform the community about the Relations Director Jason Morgan said impact of WCC,” Morgan said. “So that that local tax dollars cover nearly half they understand when it comes time of the school’s operating cost. to vote why there is value in WCC.” “48 percent of WCC is funded by loSince voters will be asked to renew cal property taxes,” Morgan said. “That the current millage, not to approve reduces tuition and allows us to do a new one at the Nov. 4 ballot, they most of the things we do here.” would not see a significant change in Morgan said that 34 percent of the their taxes. By JON PRICE
Staff Writer
calendar Year of Energy
College Visitations
Wednesday, March 26 Geothermal energy talk and tour in OE 123 from 3:30-5 p.m. Join Energy Manager Bill Ghrist and Mechanical and Electrical Manager Beau Burgen to learn about the geothermal energy systems on campus. For more information, contact ethompso@wccnet.edu
Monday, March 24 Madonna University, from 9-11 a.m. in the first floor of the SC
Friday, March 28 Sustainable dinner and a movie starts at 5:30 p.m. at Garrett’s. The movie will play at 7:30 p.m. in the Towsley Auditorium. For more information and tickets, contact garrets@wccnet.edu Monday, March 31 WCC Community Garden in LA 374 at 3:30 p.m. Get involved in the new WCC Community Garden with counselor Kimberly Groce. For more information, contact ethompso@wccnet.edu
Wednesday, March 26 Walsh College, from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. in the first floor of the SC Oakland University, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the first floor of the SC Eastern Michigan University, from 1-5 p.m. in SC 206 Thursday, March 27 Eastern Michigan University, from noon-4 p.m. in SC 206 Wednesday, April 2 L a w re n c e Te c h n o l o g i c a l University, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. in the first floor of the SC University of Michigan – Flint, from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. in in the first floor of the SC Eastern Michigan University, from 1-5 p.m. in SC 206 Thursday, April 3 Eastern Michigan University, from noon-4 p.m. in SC 206
security notes From redacted incident reports provided by Campus Safety and Security and interviews with Director Jacques Desrosiers.
Larceny A student attending the Health and Fitness Center had her car broken into during her workout on March 6 between 3-4 p.m. The student returned to her vehicle, a 2013 Ford Edge, and saw that her right passenger window was broken and her purse, containing her wallet and cell phone, removed from the vehicle.
ERIK MORRIS | COURTESY ILLUSTRATIONS
briefs
Young Professionals Organization, to help support local retailers. The event will take place at the Ann Arbor City Club on Friday, April 4 at 8 p.m. For more information visit: www.a2ychamber.org
Bellanca appointed on the ACCT WCC President Rose Bellanca has been appointed a two-year term on the Advisory Committee of ‘Her Highness the Prince’ Presidents for the Association of Community College The Comic Opera Guild will offer WCC students, facTrustees to provide presidential perspective on the ulty and staff free admission to its main production this services, policies and positions of the Association. season, “Her Highness the Prince.” The presentations will be held on April 5 at 8 p.m. and GalleryOne presents Expanding the on April 6 at 3 p.m. in the Towsley Auditorium. General Line: Architectural Delineation admission tickets are $20, seniors $17. GalleryOne will open an exhibition on April 7 For more information, call 734-973-3267. that chronicles architectural drawing techniques from the 1920s through the present day in different Women in Non-Traditional Careers methods. The exhibition runs until May 30. The Student Resource and Women’s Center will hold a panel discussion with female construction professionFashion Forward als and WCC construction program faculty to promote The Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber will non-traditional careers for women on April 11 from host Fashion Forward, a spring 2014 fashion show noon-2:30 p.m. in the Henry Landau building. To recoordinated by A2Y Converge, the A2Y Chamber’s serve a spot call 734-677-5105.
A4
Voices
March 24, 2014
The Washtenaw Voice
editorial With public SOQs, WCC and The Voice take a stand for student success For journalists, nothing can be more satisfying than winning a battle for information that the public has a right to know. We are proud to announce that we have won such a battle. More than three months after The Voice filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the Student Opinion Questionnaires for all Washtenaw instructors, the college has agreed to released them. Originally the school denied the request, but more than 100 interviews with students, several articles and a lot of help from our lawyer at
the Student Press Law Center have led the school to accept that the SOQs fall under the definition of public information, meaning legally it had no choice but to release them. The Voice has big plans for the SOQs. We want to give WCC students transparency that they’ve never had before regarding the quality of the teaching at the college. The SOQs will be published soon. We ask our fellow students to take advantage of this tool and to use it to get the best education they can for their dollars.
Faculty members’ reactions to the call for public SOQs, while not surprising, have been disheartening. Some speak like they have no respect at all for their students. In interviews, in classrooms, in the hallways and in letters to the editor we heard generalized judgments from faculty members about WCC’s entire student body, or college students as a whole, as being apathetic grade-grubbers. Students cannot be trusted with this information, they said. The only purpose of making the SOQs public is so students can pick
the “easiest” instructors, they said. Instructors who get high SOQs only get them, they said, because they hand out A’s like candy. The problem with making generalized statements about WCC’s student body, is you’re likely to be wrong. This college is incredibly diverse in every demographic. Students come here from a multitude of backgrounds with a multitude of goals. WCC is a pathway to so many different places and grades are not always the way to get there. Students come here to find and perfect their trade.
They come here to make themselves more marketable after earning another degree. They come here to do something different, to change paths after a long career. They come here to discover their passion in life before moving to a bigger pond. To assume that the entire student body functions with two motives – laziness and a desire to get good grades – is both absurd and offensive. To our fellow students: Let us prove them all wrong.
is their dollars being invested in this institution. A little bit of transparency might go they want to live, which improves my property value, much the same as good a long way in keeping the faith in our roads, parks and primary schools elected trustees, for if they are battling so hard to keep the SOQs concealed, would do. As a taxpayer, I care little about then there must be something to hide. the individual student, but care about And if there is something to hide, then the overall performance of the college at the next trustee election the voters – over which residents vote in trustees might decide they want a more transparent trustee. to manage. In one of the letters to the editor, As a student, it is absolutely essential that students have access to instructor David Horowitz wrote that SOQs to make sure they get the best students’ names and grades should be for their tuition dollar. But there is included with the SOQs. He states that no reason SOQs shouldn’t be made this would help to insure accuracy in public for taxpayers as well, since it the evaluation. I don’t agree.
Adding the students’ names to an SOQ would make them fear repercussions for a poor evaluation of an instructor, leading to inaccuracies in the evaluation. Secondly, there is no correlation between publishing a student’s grades and the accuracy in a student’s evaluation of faculty. What would this mean anyway? If students gets great grades then they are more trustworthy. Trustworthy: That would be the source if students had access to the SOQs to decide their next instructors. Not RateMyProfssor.com. Faculty union President Jennifer Baker was quoted as
saying that students should go to RateMyProfessor to get information on instructors. But anyone, whether they have set foot in a classroom or not, can create an unverified profile and rate any professor as many times as they like. Furthermore, the last place I would want to obtain information when deciding an instructor is the same place I go after registering to see if my next instructor is “hot.” Why are some of the faculty disturbed about the release of SOQs? If they do their job educating, engaging and preparing students for their chosen career path, then they have
nothing to fear. Sure, there may be a few bad reviews that misrepresent the instructor, but I just bought a television from Amazon that had a few bad reviews. But I bought it because it had many, many more good reviews. To me it sounds as if the faculty of WCC feel that the students aren’t educated enough to make decisions based on evidence. If that is the case, then none of the educators at WCC are doing their jobs.
SOQs FROM A1
corrections A photo teaser on Page A1 of the March 10 issue should have directed readers to B8.
VOICE A NATIONAL PACEMAKER AWARD NEWSPAPER
THE
The student publication of Washtenaw Community College Ann Arbor, Michigan
Volume 20, Issue 16
4800 E. Huron River Dr. TI 106 Ann Arbor, MI 48105 (734) 677-5125 thewashtenawvoice@gmail.com The Washtenaw Voice is produced fortnightly by students of Washtenaw Community College and the views expressed herein will not imply endorsement or approval by the faculty, administration or Board of Trustees of WCC. Student publications are important in establishing and maintaining an atmosphere of free and responsible discussion and in bringing matters of concern and importance to the attention of the campus community. Editorial responsibility for The Voice lies with the students, who will strive for balance, fairness and integrity in their coverage of issues and events while employing the best habits and practices of free inquiry and expression. The Washtenaw Voice does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information or content in advertisements contained in the newspaper or its website, www.washtenawvoice.com, nor the quality of any products, information or other materials displayed or obtained as a result of an advertisement or any other information or offer in or in connection with the services or products advertised. The Voice welcomes letters to the editor from its readers and will make every effort to publish them. We reserve the right to edit letters for space considerations, and ask that writers limit their comments to no more than 400 words. All letters must include a name and contact information, such as an email address or phone number, so the letters can be verified before they are printed. The Voice is committed to correcting all errors that appear in the newspaper and on its website, just as it is committed to the kind of careful journalism that will minimize the number of errors printed. To report an error of fact that should be corrected, phone 734-677-5405 or email thewashtenawvoice@gmail.com. A copy of each edition of The Washtenaw Voice is free to everyone. Additional copies are available at The Voice newsroom, TI 106, for 25 cents each. EDITOR Maria Rigou drigou@wccnet.edu MANAGING EDITOR Natalie Wright nkwright@wccnet.edu PHOTO EDITOR Kelly Bracha kbracha@wccnet.edu GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Brian Auten bgauten@wccnet.edu EJ Stout estout@wccnet.edu ONLINE EDITOR Christina Fleming cfleming@wccnet.edu VIDEO EDITOR James Saoud jsaoud@wccnet.edu ADVERTISING MANAGER Becky Alliston ealliston@wccnet.edu
STAFF WRITERS M. M. Donaldson mmorrisdonaldson@wccnet.edu David Fitch drfitch@wccnet.edu Jon Price jprice18@wccnet.edu Eric Garant egarant@wccnet.edu Bob Conradi rconradi@wccnet.edu Eric Wade eswade@wccnet.edu CONTRIBUTORS Marko Delic Sophia Chesnokova Hannah Reaume Peter Hochgraf COPY EDITOR Nina Di Mauro ADVISER Keith Gave kgave@wccnet.edu
Contact Staff Writer Eric Wade at eswade@wccnet.edu and follow him @ logosethosmedia.
College’s ‘official communication’ becomes unofficial funny papers use out of the publication, if not the intended use. Newly elected faculty union President Maryam Barrie called the publication, which according the administration is intended as a communication with faculty and staff, “weird” and “bizarre” and said she is confused about why the college is attempting to advertise to its own employees. It seems, she said, that the publiNATALIE WRIGHT cation is aimed at appearances, not substance. What’s black and white and drawn Several faculty members have apall over? proached The Voice staff asking what Washtenaw Community College’s we think of it. The answer: It’s a great newest publication "On the Record." example of what a newspaper is not – Since it appeared next to every though we’re thrilled that the adminisVoice newsstand throughout WCC’s trators believe, as we do, in the power halls two weeks ago, some employees of the printed word, in newsprint. have taken to adorning their copies of "On the Record" presents only facts, "On the Record" and sending them to WCC President Rose Bellanca said at a The Voice. recent lunch with The Voice staff. It’s Atop one was a pencil rendering of not in direct competition with The the former Soviet Union’s notorious Voice, she said, because it doesn’t preshammer and sickle. ent both sides of the story. On another the word “Truth” was In other words, it’s not tied down by plastered across the top (we’re think- those pesky journalistic ethics. ing it was sarcastic) and “A publication Yet, it looks just similar enough to of the NSA” was added to the flag. a real newspaper to be insulting. In one classroom, the publication You could call it propaganda; you was used as an example of uninspired could call it a newsletter; you could design. call it an attempt to show the commuAt least the faculty is getting some nity that the administration is making
an “earnest” attempt to communicate with the faculty. But please, please do not call it a newspaper. Bottom line: "On the Record" seems like a frivolous use of taxpayers’ money. The college spent $2,258 to buy 39 newsstands and it will pay $420 every two weeks for the printing of the publication, according to the publication’s editor Annessa Carlisle, executive director of public relations and marketing. This may not seem like a huge cost, but when you consider the time that several well-paid employees spend writing, editing and designing it, the expense is substantial. Over the course of the year, it’s easily equivalent to full scholarships for a few students or to the amount of oncoming budget cuts. Instead of putting time and money into a publication that is being ridiculed by those for whom it was intended, these employees could be crafting press releases about all the great things going on at this college – which is closer to the job description they were hired to do – and sending them to publications with credibility. Contact Managing Editor Natalie Wright at nkwright@wccnet.edu and follow her @NatalieKay6.
Conf lict is closer to home than we think
MARIA RIGOU A year has passed since the death of former Venezuelan president/dictator Hugo Chavez, and things have gotten worse for the country. Chavez died last year after a battle with cancer that was supposedly “injected” by the United States, as declared by his successor, Nicolas Maduro. It is hard to really explain what has been happening with Venezuela’s people since then, but I think that we can summarize it with the following expression: People are unhappy. Maduro was Chavez’s vice president and was brought on to power by an apparently extremely fraudulent election against Henrique Capriles. Things started to stir up in Venezuela and suddenly (or maybe not so much?) at the end of February the opposition was organizing and
marching to complain about the government. So what is really happening? The country faces incredible inflation rates that reached 56 percent last year, shortages of basic commodities, like toilet paper and one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. If this is not enough to make people unhappy, then what is? Venezuelans, organized by the opposition, took to the streets, mainly in middle-class neighborhoods. The government’s base of support is the poor and so the opposition has to fight those ideals and target the social problems that are affecting everyone. The government responded by filling the streets with National Guard troops that fired tear gas and rubber bullets to anti-government activists. Official government numbers say that 22 people have been killed and more than 260 have been injured since Feb. 12. Things have been so bad in Venezuela that Air Canada has ceased all activity in that country. CNN, the cable news network, was asked to leave by Maduro and the Mormon Church will pull 152 missionaries. What troubles me the most are two things: On one hand, other conflicts in Europe and the Middle East are
gaining momentum, and I feel like Venezuela’s plight is being ignored by the media or maybe put to the side. And on the other hand, I feel like this is the destiny of most Latin American countries, and Venezuela is just the first country that will lead by example. What will happen if this escalades and is replicated in other countries? How many people have to die to get a fair standard of living? I have no solution to this problem. I just ask that we start paying more attention to other countries instead of focusing on what the people in Crimea actually want (because 95.5 percent of the population voted in favor of seceding to Russia, according to the Associated Press). I read in an article by the AP that U.S. lawmakers are pushing legislation that requires President Obama start imposing sanction on Venezuela. Is this ever going to happen? And even if it does, considering that Venezuela is openly anti-U.S., will this change anything? I hope it does. For the sake of Venezuelans and Latin Americans in general. Contact Editor Maria Rigou at drigou@wccnet.edu and follow her at @mariarigou.
News
The Washtenaw Voice
March 24, 2014
A5
NFL needs head examined before banning racial slurs Committee co-chairman Jeff Fischer said that penalizing the use of racial and homosexual slurs will be a “very significant point of emphasis” during the upcoming season. The proposed ban would have been problematic for a number of reasons, and both it and this compromise represent another example of the league, whose 2013 revenue exceeded $9 billion, according to Forbes, attempting to sweep its problems under the rug. Enforcing a strict ban on slurs would have been a nightmare. Punishing them under the unsportsmanlike conduct rule is better, but that rule is vague and requires large amounts of interpretation from officials. Plus, there’s the problem of there being an incredible amount of racial and homosexual slurs. How are officials expected to keep track of them all? It’s also impossible to ignore the hypocrisy of a league banning its players from using racial slurs while allowing one of its teams (the Washington Redskins) to use a racial slur as its name. How can you penalize a player
ERIC GARANT Following weeks of deliberation, the NFL’s competition committee ultimately decided against passing a rule that would have explicitly banned the use of the n-word, and possibly all racial and homosexual slurs, on the field. The consideration of the rule sparked contentious debate. Some thought it would help to bring about social progress. Others thought that banning the word in a workplace where blacks are the majority was nothing short of racist. In announcing that it would not pass the rule, the committee said that officials already have the leeway to penalize slurs under the unsportsmanlike conduct rule, which prohibits “abusive, threatening or insulting language.”
for saying his team name? The Jonathon Martin-Richie Incognito incident left the NFL with egg on its face. This is the league’s attempt to prove that it is fostering a professional environment for its workers. It won’t make a difference, and it probably isn’t even intended to. It’s a typically lame, political-correctness move by a league that isn’t interested in cleaning up its problems, only in masking them so that the dollars can keep rolling in. The NFL doesn’t care about how it is, only about how it is perceived. We’ve already seen this play once, in a spot where the stakes were even higher. The NFL tried to keep the truth about concussions under wraps for as long as it could. When it couldn’t any longer, it took minimal steps, making rules changes that have failed to make the game safer. The amount of concussions suffered by players has not dipped significantly NFL CONTINUED A6
TAKE JORDAN WOODSIDE
probably. WCC’s like the, I don’t know, everyone who goes to bigger universities, a lot of those people want to be Walking through the halls at involved in everything like that. I think Washtenaw Community College, it’s it’d be good to get a student governhard to gauge an opinion on what ex- ment, but maybe people just didn’t actly students are thinking. Between know about it as much. foreign conflicts, missing airplanes and the dawn of the long-awaited wv: What are you most excited spring season – it’s not surprising if for about spring? they have a lot on their minds. So we thought we’d ask one of j: The lack of snow. I can go out runthem: Jordan Woodside, 23, a crimi- ning again. I can go on a four-wheeler. nal justice major from Pinckney. I can be active. I can be outside.
wv: What happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?
washtenaw voice: Why do you wv: Which city has the better think WCC doesn’t have a stu- night life Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti? dent government? j: Ann Arbor. It’s a college town and
pen. I don’t think we’re going to get involved just because our president is so, like, anti-everything like that. I mean, he doesn’t want to do anything like that, so I don’t think we’re going to get involved.
By JAMES SAOUD Staff Writer
j: Well, I honestly think people don’t want to get too involved in our campus
Ypsilanti is kind of scary if you walk through there at two in the morning.
j: I think it got hijacked. I don’t
think it crashed. I think it’s the most possible thing. They’ve searched thousands and thousands and thousands of miles. I just think it had to be hijacked.
wv: Are you nervous about the Russian/Ukraine conflict affecting the United States? j: I don’t think anything will hap-
Salt, sugar and fat: these are a few of our favorite things
M. M. DONALDSON For several nights, I have been dreaming of Oreos and Oscar Mayer wieners. Usually, this is an effect of eating late at night but, in this case, it is due to reading late at night. I first became aware of Michael Moss’ recently released book “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us” during a nutrition conference. The presenter referred to this book several times as she discussed the emotions and habits humans have with food. Each of the three ingredients is the building blocks of processed food, and each has cadres of scientists studying the bliss point for salt, sugar and fat. As I pondered a review of my nocturnal literature, I abruptly found out how disturbing the stories of processed foods are in “Salt Sugar Fat.” What alerted me to the disquiet was an advertisement on my Twitter feed. It informed me that my dreams of processed meat needn’t be rudely awakened if I possessed the Oscar Mayer bacon alarm clock. It will not only buzz, or more aptly, sizzle me awake, as it is also equipped with Smell-O-Vision. A few scented puffs of fried pork surely have the power to eject someone from the cozy confines of a bed. This is not a joke for those who could win one of these alarm clocks. The competition started on the second day of lent, for those of Catholic faith. It ends April 4, for some who will celebrate as National Hospital Admitting Clerks Day; be thoughtful of those clerks who check in heartattack victims. The marketing ploys of big food presents itself ridiculously, like a jewel-studded undergarment offered by
Vicki’s Whisper. Bacon and bras could both be considered utilitarian in nature. Now they are symbols of overt excess and propelled by mass capitalism to the point of perversion. The 1.53-minute video ad attempts to create a bliss point in the viewers’ minds. My limited imagination never equated bacon with the bodice-ripper themed ad produced by Oscar Mayer, which is part of the blended family of Kraft food companies. Nor have I fantasized how my tortured dreams could cause me to writhe in my bed while a piece of meat full of saturated fat hangs over me, threatening like a stormy sky. Makes me want to light up a cigarette, which is not farfetched in Moss’ examination of the food conglomerate being subject to the marketing ploys of Phillip Morris for over 20 years. “Salt Sugar Fat” is mirthful, such as when Moss quotes Kathleen Spear, senior vice president at Kraft, saying, “we ought to make sure we’re not directly or indirectly or subliminally encouraging overconsumption.” Moss details the history of some of America’s most beloved processed foods and evokes nostalgia when he covers the birth and growing pains of Tang, Kool-Aid and Capri Sun. He also exposes the effort gone into marketing the food we eat, creating salt, sugar and fat as staples in the American diet. It also reveals how our bodies can addictively crave these ingredients. As far as alarm clocks go, I doubt oatmeal, which is a better breakfast choice, will be a future contender. M. M. Donaldson is a staff writer with The Voice and a journalism student at WCC. She has a bachelor’s degree in Family and Community Services from Michigan State University, and has several years experience with nutrition issues affecting infants through older adults. She can be reached at mmorrisdonaldson@wccnet.edu, and follow on Twitter @MMDonaldson1 or Facebook at M.M. Donaldson
“What gets you through winter psychologically?” interviews and photos by David Fitch, staff writer “I’d just have to say the people you hang out with because the classes in winter suck, and this weather is horrible so you just got to make the most of it when you hang out with people. If you hang out with good people, you get good vibes and it’s just a good time. Even (during) breaks when you are walking with someone, even for that five or 10 minutes, it’s worth it so then when you go into class you’re in a good mood.”
Morgan Harris, 17, Wayne, undecided
“The thought of summer, the hope of warmer days, not the hope, the dream of warmer days, just imagining the snow disappear. And then just staying warm, which usually means three pairs of socks and a big sweater.”
Aeisha Ali-Khodja, 16, Ypsilanti, baking and pastry
“I don’t know. It’s always a rough time for me every winter. Spending time with my friends and anything creative like art, painting, drawing. I’d say it’s made me feel more content with my life right now especially since I can’t do anything because my life usually consists of being outside, and I have some sort of seasonal depression so during the wintertime I can’t really express myself.”
Ali Al-Shehmani, 17, Ann Arbor, math and science “Especially in Michigan, knowing that we experience all four seasons which I love, so just knowing that spring is coming and it’s not that long of a winter. I haven’t liked it this winter because it’s been so cold.”
Elizabeth Wozniak, 19, Hartland, general studies
“Food, sleep, a lot of sleep and my friends. They play a big role in my life. I eat the right kinds of foods in the winter… Like strawberries. Towards the summer, because people are already in a good mood, people already eat a lot of junk food ... in winter you need something to get you awake and get your mind thinking because you get really lazy. What you fuel your body with is the main thing.”
Hajar Habbas-Nimer, 17, Ypsilanti, auto body repair “Music and future vacation plans ... Cedar Point, South Korea, New York. Listening to music reminds me of the feeling of summertime. When it’s supposed to get warmer, I can feel it in the air.”
Meggan Hughes, 20, Ypsilanti, childcare
“I don’t come out of the house unless I really have to. To get me up and get me motivated, I have to tell myself, ‘It’ll be over! Spring is coming! It will be over!’ If I don’t have to go out of the house I won’t because I can barely drive in the winter. This winter, I’ve been in three accidents already and my car is not torn up, thank God. And I’ve slipped and fallen like three times. I’m not really a winter person.”
Derica Foxhall, 20, Belleville, childcare
“Songs about spring, usually songs that have nothing to do with winter. That one Pharrell Williams song, ‘Happy,’ that works, too. It makes me feel like it’s spring or summer. Winter’s kind of cold. It makes me think of depressing songs.”
Amariah Carter, 17, Ypsilanti, digital video production
A6
News
March 24, 2014
The Washtenaw Voice
WCC songwriting instructor releases first EP recordings were made available March 22 at Michaud’s opening for the Ben By DAVID FITCH Daniels Band at The Ark, with digiStaff Writer tal versions having been released to Kickstarter supporters earlier this Spencer Michaud, Washtenaw year. Community College songwriting inThe four-track EP features contribustructor has released his debut record tions from WCC-ers past and present like “Tightrope Walker.” Recording Technology instructor Jim The first batch of limited edition Roll, who served as recording engineer,
bassist Graham Lapp and drummer Federman. And Federman did just that, Gabriel Craft, who took Michaud’s class. bringing a new energy into the project, “He’s quite a storyteller,” said Roll, said Michaud. referring to the “epic” nature of the songs. The result? A finished album that Michaud also brought in Ross pleases even the perfectionist Michaud. Federman, drummer for the Ann ArborIt’s been a halting process to probased band Tally Hall, to aid in the mas- duce his first recording, though, one tering process. in which he said he had to fight the Michaud was trying to capture demons of self-doubt. a “whimsical” feel in his tracks, said “When you do something as personal
MYERS FROM A1
WCC student Mike Szeliga died before finishing his custom 2002 Harley Davidson sportster. KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
She said no, he didn’t, and there are parts laying all over the house and said ‘I’m going to get me a bike,’ and he garage,” Daily said. did,” Eisner said. “That bike got him Daily wanted to finish the bike for through a divorce and his wife’s death. his student, knowing there was a conIt meant everything to him.” siderable amount of work that had to That bike was a 2002, Harley- go into it. He offered to purchase the Davidson Sportster, and for Szeliga Harley from Eisner, so when he finit was love at first sight. ished it, the bike could be hauled to “He would always talk about what shows and schools to help pique interhe was going to do,” Eisner said. “He est in WCC’s motorcycle technology would come upstairs and say, ‘I want to and automotive programs. powder-coat that.’ And I would be like “When Mark called to ask me that, ‘what the hell does that even mean?” my heart just melted,” Eisner said. She “But I knew he was happy. The only time he was happy was when he was working on his motorcycle,” She said. Szeliga had big plans for the bike, according to his motorcycle service technology instructor Mark Daily. “I have another Harley-Davidson,” Daily said. “My bike was all black, and he asked if I thought we could make his bike like mine. I said, ‘yeah, I would like that.’” was very happy to learn that Daily and Daily worked with Szeliga in their a few of his students would help to free time, customizing the motorcycle make her son’s dream a reality. and swapping out parts to get it ready The students, Steve Matthews, for the road. Travis Smith, Danny Mcmanamon “He had taken the bike home with and Dave Lewis have all worked on the him because it was summer,” Daily bike in their own spare time, Daily said. said. “Then, come September, I got a “They are all a perfect representacall from his mother … ” tion of the kind of students we have at Eisner informed Daily that she had WCC: selfless and highly motivated,” found Szeliga dead earlier that week, Daily said. with his motorcycle studies close by Szeliga’s former classmates rehis side. member him fondly and are glad to “I asked her: ‘Did he finish the bike?’ see his wish being carried out. MOTORCYCLE FROM A1
But I knew he was “happy. The only time
he was happy was when he was working on his motorcycle
”
“I saw how much he put into his bike,” Earnest Cornett, 26, said. “So I knew that’s what he wanted to do for sure.” Cornett had several classes with Szeliga and said there was no doubt in his mind, what his friend was passionate about. “He was always in the shop, always hanging around.” Cornett said, “Pretty much anyone who is here, around all the time, they really want to do this stuff, you know? That’s who he was.” Szeliga spent so much time in the shop that he earned himself yet another nickname from his peers and instructors: “Metal Mike.” “He had spikes and rings and big earlobes, all kinds of piercings, the whole shot,” Keesey said, “He had so much metal on him, we didn’t think he could get through a metal detector. But he was always a good kid.” Szeliga’s mother was unaware of the playful tag, but the humor was not lost on her when she found out. “If you ever saw Mike,” she said, “he had holes in his ears the size of half dollars, piercings on his face and his leather, which cost him an arm and a leg. “But it was only the best when it came to his Harley.” Eisner seemed amused at her son’s second nickname but to her, he would always be “Mehow.” “That’s what he wanted to get on the license plate, when the bike was finished: ‘Mehow.’”
computers and business law, began in the August of 2008, the earliest time available. And it was quite a shock. “Believe me, when I came back to school, I was one freaked out 50-year-old!” he said. But Myers settled into his new life—the life of a student, a student who was 20 or 30 years older than many of his classmates. “It’s hysterical at times,” he said. “I look at everybody and I’m old enough to be your father, some of you your grandfather. Sometimes I feel really out of place, and sometimes I just sit there and laugh.” Now, five years later, he is still “living the redo.” He wheeled his chair over to a student in technical distress sitting at one of the stations in the Computer Commons. Swiftly figuring out what the problem was, he went to work asking questions, zeroing in on the problem, but never handing the answer to the student. And for many students, he is the calming voice that keeps them on track in their sometimes frustrating required computer classes. For Deborah Ring, 62, a culinary student from Ann Arbor, Myers was a saving grace when she found herself over her head in Word Processing and Document Formatting class. “I have a lot of fears about the computer, and I am having a terrible time in my class. I can’t follow the teacher. I’m totally at a loss,”
as an album, you can feel like people are rejecting you if they don’t like your stuff, and that’s not necessarily true,” he said. “Your art is different than you.” The EP comes at the end of a long road, one that he has shared with the semesters of students coming through his songwriting class. For more information, visit http://www.spencermichaud.com.
she said. “And he’s very, very good at understanding that people have fears and calming them, which is an enormous first step.” Liz Hobart, 30, of Ann Arbor, said that Myers works with a new sense of attentiveness to students’ needs. The business major said that without being asked Myers will walk by and just check in with students. After serving as a lab tech for Business Office Systems courses, he was recommended for the tutor job at the computer commons under Debra Guerrero, the director of Learning and Support Services. “He encourages the students to work as much to their ability as possible, which is what a good tutor does,” said Guerrero. His aptitude for teaching, he said, led him to his goal of becoming a teacher. After transferring from WCC to Eastern Michigan University, Myers is almost at the end of his goal of a bachelor’s in communication and business from EMU. He hopes to become a teacher at Washtenaw – if the opportunity arises, he said. Myers also recently applied for a graduate assistant teaching position at EMU. If he gets the position, he will go for his master’s, he said. If not, no harm. But the future is wide open for this 55-year-old—something he couldn’t imagine once upon a time. Now perhaps he’ll be a good example for others. “I always say that half the problem with most people when they get older is that they quit living,” he said. “They quit doing. “They quit challenging themselves.”
NFL FROM A5
since 2010, when rules barring helmet-to-helmet hits and hits on defenseless players were enacted. The seriousness of head injuries has only become more apparent with time. You could almost field a team from the ex-players who have committed suicide in the last five years following brain trauma they suffered in the NFL. And yet, the league does not seem to be adequately informing its players. After two years of the NFL supposedly making head injuries a priority, a 2012 survey by The Sporting News found that 56 percent of players would still hide their concussion symptoms in order to stay on the field. But hey, the NFL is doing the best it can. Right? Consider two illuminating facts from Best Tickets, a site that tracks ticket sales and other sports trends: 66.72 percent, or slightly more than two-thirds, of NFL players are black, and black players earn the fourthhighest average salary among racial groups. If the NFL has a racism problem, it isn’t on the field. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the rest of the NFL higher-ups know this. Yet they will continue to look everywhere but in the mirror to find the source of the league’s ills. Contact Sports Writer Eric Garant at egarant@wccnet.edu and follow him @garanteric.
Amar Ghalib free-styled rap in Arabic as guitarist Michael Buttiglione played along. KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
Talent on display By MARIA RIGOU Editor
Patricia Ortiz-Tello, also known as Alma, performed a traditional bellydance at the WCC talent show. KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
With a half-full Towsley Auditorium as an audience, Washtenaw Community College students dazzled in the annual spring talent show last week. “WCC’s Got Talent,” hosted by Student Activities on March 20, gave students the stage to show their entertainment skills to students, staff and friends and family. Onlookers cheered on as they performed songs, read poems and free-styled. The show was opened by the Saline Dance Steps Studio
Competition Team that performed the song “Careful with Me.” This year’s show featured, among others, the talent of Patricia OrtizTello, a belly dancer who is originally from Peru. The 31-year-old Ann Arbor resident is enrolled in ballet classes at WCC to improve her skills as a dancer. One special moment of the night: Susan got asked to the prom! But the two WTMC students left before we could learn more. The next talent show is scheduled for November of this year, but dates are not confirmed yet. Auditions for the talent show are generally held one month before the event. WCC's talent show is open to all enrolled students.
The Washtenaw Voice
March 24, 2014
ANN ARBOR
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A7
A8
March 24, 2014
The Washtenaw Voice
Happy 11th Birthday, Dominic “Lil D” Tyner!
...from all of us at the Voice Staff!
The Washtenaw Voice • B Section • March 24, 2014
ESSAY
WCC student fled Syria
Ukraine:
windows for cover, a flurry of bullets had hit the apartments they were living in. In the summer of 2012, Ahnas “It was rare where our house was,” Alzahabi was using a webcam to com- Alzahabi said, “but in other parts of municate with his parents in Syria the country people would consider when he heard a loud bang. that very normal, not even worth He watched as they ducked below mentioning.” By JON PRICE
Where the heart is bigger than any conflict topics to talk about, but that’s what people think first now. On the Washtenaw Community I am standing on the bus station in College campus, a guy asked me if I downtown Ann Arbor. Spring is almost was going back. I was and I am. here, and everything “How can you?” he around is standing moasked. “There is a lot of tionless waiting for a shit there!” sunshine. Well, I think I don’t Peaceful and norneed to explain to strangmal life is not only ers something about the sign of the place belonging, loving the culwhere I am now, but ture, language and land of also for my family and your ancestors. Talking friends who are in a about what is shit and Russian province. In why I should be afraid of the middle of nowhere, it is useless, too. somewhere in Siberia, People now expect me Sofia Chesnokova people are waiting for a to speak the words of a spring, too. They are on the periphery flaming dissident. However, I am not of a global event. But it is too far away so politically inclined. The only one to care much about social shaking. opinion that makes sense for me is The guy who has just come is star- that “big politics” isn’t so easy to talk ing at me: about in bus stations and on Facebook. “Are you waiting for No. 6?” But stop. A month ago my Facebook “Six or five. Depends which one is feed was full of Einstein quotations, here faster,” I answer. recipes of cakes and ads about rent. “Where are you from?” He hears Now I am a Facebook friend of almost my accent. 200 “professionals” in geopolitics. “Russia.” In a war of propaganda, nobody re“Wow! And what do you think about ally knows the truth; every day I am Ukraine?” bombarded by “scary videos from And here the global reality is rush- Sevastopol,” opinions about Putin and ing into my calm March in Michigan. Obama, pictures of the Ukrainian flag. Again. Then someone says that actions of the Some of Americans talk to me West are stupid, and in an hour he gets about Pasternak, others ask if we re- 200 likes and minus 20 friends. ally-really use Skype (nope, we use My Georgian friends remember the pigeon mail). Almost everybody tells conflict of 2008. Everybody becomes me how freaking cold my place is, as an enemy to everybody in two words. they spent there at least some winters. People are confused because nothing But now my talks with strangers is clear. But they hate to be confused; are not the same. Sympathy with the they are scared by the lack of non-bitaste of misunderstanding — that’s ased information, and they try to fill what I feel when someone decides to chat with me a bit. Putin, Obama, UKRAINE Ukraine, pre-war are pretty confusing CONTINUED B5 By SOFIA CHESNOKOVA Voice Correspondent
Kiev residents pile flowers to honor the dead in Maidan, or Independence Square, as they learn that their southern region of Crimea has been declared a part of Russia by the local parliament. MATTHEW SCHOFIELD | MCT
Staff Writer
A partially exploded mortar round that struck the house of Alzhabi’s grandparents in 2012. No one was injured and Alzahabi said his grandmother kept the round as a souvenir. AHNAS ALZAHABI | COURTESY PHOTO
Drawing Club students have a ‘macabre’ sketching opportunity By DAVID FITCH Staff Writer
Seldom do college students come face-to-face with human mortality and sketch what they see. But these young artists volunteered. A handful of Washtenaw students from the Academic Drawing Club were given the unique opportunity to sketch at the Washtenaw Community College cadaver lab on March 6. The students were joined by Nick Reszetar, the club adviser, supervisors Bryan Miller, a WCC math and science instructor, and student cadaver lab volunteer Justin Fitins, 31, a math and natural science major from Ann Arbor. As the students entered the lab, some of them for the first time, the gravity of their rare opportunity sank in. When the covers were first removed and they were able to see their subjects, dead silence overcame the room. Respect, more than curiosity or artistic ambition filled the lab. On the wall, a plaque read, “So embrace this gift with excitement and be eager to use the gift which you will have forever…the gift of knowledge.” That was why these students were here. They wanted to see and learn to grow their art. Quentin Burton, 21, said that seeing the face of the cadaver, while unnerving, was helpful. “I’m studying portraiture, and I want to get really good at it, so
you got to study the skull and the muscles of the face a lot,” said Burton, an art major from Ypsilanti. For Jesse Gilbert, a 29-year-old art major from Ann Arbor, the experience was deeply informative and also gave him an increased appreciation for the work that goes into becoming a great artist like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci or other greats. “Getting to be able to draw like I want to is going to take a lot of work. That feels more true than ever after going to the lab,” he said.
Lorena Ganser, 24, a graphic design major from Ann Arbor, displays her drawing from the Academic Drawing Club’s trip to the WCC cadaver lab last Thursday. DAVID FITCH | WASHTENAW VOICE DRAWING CLUB CONTINUED B3
No one in his family was injured during the firefight but bullets pierced the windows of the apartment complex and cars lined up in front of the building. Alzahabi, 21, is a business student at Washtenaw Community College. He was born in the United States; his father was an instructor at Eastern Michigan University. His mother, Soumaya, 36, is a preschool teacher. She was born in Damascus, but moved to the United States when she was 15. Alzahabi lived with his parents and two younger brothers, Husam, 16, and Humam, 11, in Ann Arbor until 2006, when his parents decided to move to Damascus to be closer to their family. “My father wanted us to have that experience of living in Syria,” he said. Despite recent violence in the region, Alzahabi had very fond memories of living in Damascus. He had visited the country when he was younger, but only during the summer. “There was a big difference in visiting and actually living there,” Alzahabi said, “but I adapted really well to the change.” Alzahabi spent the entirety of his high-school studies in Syria and was enrolled as a freshman at Damascus University in 2011, and then he received a letter that changed everything for him and his family. The letter was from the Syrian government, informing him that he had been selected in the military draft and he was to report to a government office and register at once. “I was frightened when I heard the news of him being requested for the draft,” his mother said. “Joining the military during these times had a high risk of being killed or causing harm to fellow Syrians. “Even commuting in the city exposes him at risk of detention at any of the many checkpoints. In Syrian prisons, many young men are starved to death, beaten, tortured and in most cases they aren’t even accused or guilty of anything.” The violence there is being perpetrated by the regime, Alzahabi said. The most recent conflict in Syria began in April 2011. Civilians who were peacefully protesting the dictatorship were brutally attacked. Soldiers in the Syrian regime and paid mercenaries began to rape, torture and kill protesters and members of their families. Men, women and children were killed indiscriminately if they had family members, friends or associates that were thought to be part of the protests that were taking place, he said. Many media outlets have labeled the crisis a civil war; Alzahabi doesn’t believe the term applies to SYRIA CONTINUED B5
And you call this ‘Global Warming?’ By ROBERT CONRADI Staff Writer
This winter has been cold, no question. We have set records for the lowest temperature on a given date and for the amount of snow. Talk-show pundits and politicians are saying that this proves global warming is a hoax. But is it? Human reckoning can be strange. According to Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, studies have shown that the temperature around us can influence our opinion on global warming. “The temperature of our surroundings, even if it’s not the weather outside, even if it’s our room, actually has an impact on whether we think that the entire planet is getting warmer or not,” Hayhoe said. Our human nature makes it hard to believe in a warming planet while we are shivering. And our local weather is chaotic. Michiganders often say, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” Weather will always be changeable, but climate is more predictable. “Climate,” says Hayhoe “is the long-term average of weather statistics over 20-30 years.” CLIMATE CONTINUED B3
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Who’s up for Hash Bash? By JON PRICE
Staff Writer
St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone, but for Ann Arborites the real festival of green happens on April 5, with the 43rd annual “Hash Bash.” The annual event is held on the Diag of University of Michigan’s campus, starting at “high noon.” “It’s a really exciting time to be involved in Hash Bash,” Jamie Lowell, owner of 3rd Coast Compassion Center, a medical marijuana collective in Ypsilanti, said. “It started as a protest when John Sinclair was given
10 years (in prison) for passing two joints to an undercover officer.” Sinclair, a prominent counterculture figure and pro-marijuana activist, was jailed in 1967. He was released in 1971 when the Michigan State Supreme Court declared the law that sent him to prison unconstitutional. The first Hash Bash was held in April 1972 in response to the court’s decision. “Ann Arbor is a traditionally progressive area,” Lowell said. “People are willing to do something that makes sense, in light of those who still have hang-ups about it.” Lowell warns that those using marijuana on the university’s campus will
be arrested, while those who are “enjoying” the adjacent Monroe Street Fair, will only be subject to a small fine. Live music, speeches from prominent activist and light-hearted civil disobedience rule the day. Medical-marijuana patients, organizers and activist gather with the goal of reforming marijuana laws. However, the Ann Arbor Police Department warns that existing laws will be enforced. “On campus, state laws are enforced where possession of marijuana offenses may be punishable by up to oneyear in prison or a $2,000 fine,” said Diane Brown, spokesperson for the department.
Scenes from the 2012 Hash Bash. KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
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These students were walking in the footsteps of great artistic explorers who had come before them. Artists like Michelangelo, who braved the sea of public disapproval for his dissection of cadavers, and da Vinci, who completed more than 240 such drawings, paved the way for these students 500 years ago. “They’re never going to forget it,” said Reszetar. “It’s going to inform their work.” The experience, while informing them as artists, also shocked them, even those who had done it before. “I think I was just trying to detach myself,” said club President Lorena Ganser, of Ypsilanti. For the 24-year-old graphic design major who had done this once before, it was still a challenge to draw while trying to stay composed. The room smelled of the fluids used to maintain and preserve the bodies. The stainless steel tables and cabinets looked cold in the fluorescent light of the lab. The air was filled by the whirr of the ventilation system and punctuated by conversations between the artists and their supervisors. Gilbert talked with Fitins earnestly about the rib cage, while Ganser sat in a chair across the room, studying her subject and sketching. Those seeing the cadavers needed to be able to separate themselves from emotional reactions, otherwise, as Miller told the group at the outset, their bodies could react to the “very macabre” scene and pass out. The bodies aren’t like what students can study in anatomy books, said Jesse Gilbert, a 29-year-old art major from Ann Arbor. These were the real things, unlabeled and without the commonly expected color-coding. “It was very difficult to identify things and draw them,” he said. “It became less about figure drawing and more about just drawing organic stuff as you see it and trying to organize the general shapes you would see and the general textures.” And so, occasionally having to step out of the room, but always pressing on, the students gained more knowledge of body structures as well as some new perspectives on life. “That’s what we are going to be no matter what. They were a person,” said Ganser. Yet, even in death, the individuals who had donated their bodies were helping young artists to grow, a priceless gift that would not be lost.
By this measure, the average world temperature is increasing. Global warming – what is happening to the whole planet – may not coincide with what we are experiencing in our own locale. The lower 48 states only constitute 1.5 percent of the earth’s surface. Conditions differ in other parts. For example, temperatures in Alaska and Scandinavia have been much warmer than average this year. Our current cold weather has been blamed on the “polar vortex.” This is not a new thing. “The mainline media has erroneously called these cold snaps we’ve been getting the polar vortex,” said Derek Posselt, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan. “It sounds like kind of a neat term, and it’s very evocative, but really the polar vortex is just that massive amount of cold air up over the pole that sits there spinning during every winter.” Posselt says that the cold we have been experiencing this winter is caused by “wobbles” in the arctic air circulation. These wobbles cause the jet stream to dip low over North America, drawing the Arctic air into our neighborhoods. Such dips in the polar vortex are not that unusual when viewed over
a period of many decades, but since There is active debate among sciThis winter in Michigan we are inthey have not happened for about 15 entists about what could be causing deed experiencing record-low temyears, they seem catastrophic. Hayhoe the wobbles in the jet stream to form peratures. But this must be viewed says that in view of historical data, the and to persist. It is possible that warm- from a planetary perspective. recent dearth of subzero winters is ing in the Arctic, which is happening “Now days, on average, we are what is unusual. four times faster than warming else- breaking our high temperature reAtmospheric scientists prefer the where, may be influencing the weather cords twice as frequently as we are term “climate change” to global warm- pattern, Posselt suggests. Ironically, breaking our low temperature reing because it is more consistent with global warming may sometimes cause cords,” Hayhoe said. what we actually observe in our local local cooling. Washtenaw Community College space and time. Individuals do not see Though some details are disputed, has declared its seriousness in addressa gradual and consistent increase in other things are certain. ing climate change. Both former prestemperature. “The things that drive a ident Larry Whitworth and current “What we do see warming planet, the president Rose Bellanca have signed in the places effect that carbon the American College and University where we live, dioxide has on President’s Climate Commitment we see that the planet, (ACUPCC). In January, the college filed our plants that’s sim- a plan to work toward carbon neutralGlobal warming? and trees ply not de- ity. (For more information, visit: http:// Seriously? a n d bated by sustainable.wccnet.edu/.) flowanyone “The college does have a climate Global warming has been called into quesers are anymore,” action sustainability plan, and we are tion by our unusually cold winter. Atmospheric bloomP o s s e l t intending to implement it,” said Dale scientists remind us that Michigan, and even our ing ears a i d . Petty, WCC instructor and sustainabilwhole country, is a small part of the globe, and lier in “Even the ity guru. “We are not taking a pause this winter is just a moment in time. the year,” skeptical from that.” Global warming, defined as a change in the Hayhoe scientists “Having said that,” he added, “this average temperature of the planet over 20-30 said. “We d o n ’ t a r has been the hardest bicycling winter years, is continuing. can see that gue with that that I can remember.” certain animal whatsoever. You There is a positive side to this and plant and incan show we are ac- winter’s cold. Certain invasive spesect species are movcumulating carbon diox- cies such as emerald ash borers and ing northward.” ide and we know definitively the Colorado Pine Bark Beetle die in “We also see that the risks of certain what effect that has on the planet.” subzero temperatures. Other pests types of extreme weather are chang“Secondly, if you average the tem- may also face a setback. ing,” she continued. “Specifically, our peratures over the whole globe, the “I’ll admit that sometimes on these heavy precipitation events are getting planet is warming, and that’s not de- -15 degree days I’ll think, ‘Die mosquimore frequent.” bated either,” Posselt said. toes; die,’” Posselt said.
MCT CAMPUS
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‘Non-Stop’ – but at times perhaps it should hand through a series of bizarre plottwist and action sequences that keep the film from going into a complete “Non-Stop” features Liam Neeson tailspin. as Bill Marks, reprising his role of An impressive supporting cast, aging, action-hero with a “certain set including Julianne Moore ("Big of skills”. Lebowski,” “Children of Men”) and On an overseas flight from New Corey Stoll (“House of Cards”) seem York to London, Marks, a U.S. air mar- to be underused and swift changes in shal, receives a series of ominous texts the direction of the story seem forced from an unknown passenger threat- at points. ening to kill someone onboard every However, at times the action scenes 20-minutes until $150 million is trans- reach impressive heights and Neeson ferred into a bank account. delivers a strong performance, solidiNeeson's character eventually fying his status as everyone’s favorite discovers the account specified was silver-haired hero. opened in his name and he was being As Marks matches wits with the framed for the hijacking. His unseen tech-savvy terrorist, CGI and highly adversary seems to have the upper choreographed fight scenes seem to By JON PRICE
Staff Writer
upstage the plot, which in this high-altitude thriller, barely stays above ground from the takeoff. Overall, the Grade: Ba c t i o n - p a c ke d 106 minutes enGenre: Thriller/Mystery sures “Non-Stop” Runtime: 106 Minutes serves its purpose Rating: PG-13 as a guy’s-nightout flick. But it ultimately falls short of Harrison Ford as the President, kicking terrorist ass on Air Force One. Entertaining and exciting yet lacking in any real depth, the film is worth seeing – but smart viewers will wait until it’s out on DVD.
FORBES.COM | COURTESY PHOTO
‘Need for Speed’ can’t keep up with video games By JAMES SAOUD Staff Writer
When AMC’s “Breaking Bad” ended late last year, it seemed the entire cast could move on to do virtually whatever they wanted. By the time the show ended, they were some of the biggest names in the industry. One name in particular: Aaron Paul. In the crime-drama, Paul displayed some major acting chops that competed with veteran character actor and lead of the series Bryan Cranston. It seems almost like an insult to fans that a brainless car-chase video game adaptation would be the next time Paul was seen on screen. The plot of “Need for Speed” was dull. The acting was amateurish. And the runtime was damn near offensive.
This thing hardly had enough story like this. for the first 30 minutes, let alone an That said, “Need for Speed” deentire two-hour feature. serves some recognition, with virtuThe film features a similar ally all of the praise landing on revenge plot to just about the stunt team and the camany other movie with era department. a revenge plot ever It takes a lot of courGrade: D+ made and is inhabage to make an action ited by characters film with almost no Genre: Action who are painfully faCGI nowadays. And Runtime: 131 Minutes miliar. Imagine, for between the photogRating: PG-13 a moment, if 2009’s raphy and stunts, they “Fast & Furious” was pull off some massive less interesting and achievements. original. However, the great action In fact, during “Need for scenes cannot come close to saving Speed” I actually longed for that se- the plot, pacing and acting presented ries while coming to the realization in this movie. that there are too many talented and Aaron Paul really has no excuse for through his work on “Breaking Bad.” unrecognized filmmakers in the world showing up in this. He deserves much Before spending your money on for theaters to be taken up by movies better, as he has proved to everyone “Need for Speed,” I highly suggest you
Ann Arbor Film Festival a surreal experience taking place all around downtown Ann Arbor, including the Michigan JAMES SAOUD and State theaters. Video Editor The festival will feature everything from documentary to animaExiting the theater after watch- tion. However, since its start in 1963, ing a film from the Ann Arbor Film the Ann Arbor Film Festival has estabFestival is surreal. lished a reputation for experimental I speak from experience, walking cinema, both from today and from alone to my car after seeing one of the past. the festival’s closing films last year. Experimental cinema is impossiMy ears were ringing as colors ble to define, as it takes no definitive swirled in my head with memories of shape. The films labeled as “experiTakashi Makino’s “2012,” which lat- mental” are just as different from one er went on to win Best International another as they are from the films we Film at the festival. may see at a multiplex somewhere. This year’s festival will be held These are not the types of film we March 25-30, with different events know and love.
These are far from the superhero blockbusters, romantic comedies, and even the Oscar favorites that receive so much praise every year. The films here have a focus on imagery and sound rather than character and plot. As a video production student here at Washtenaw Community College, between the hundreds of films I’d seen outside of school, the many I’d studied for classes, and the films I’d produced myself, I thought I had a grasp understanding cinema inside and out. Until I walked into a screening at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.
52nd AAFF Highlights For full 2014 schedule visit aafilmfest.org TUESDAY, March 25 ¢ 6 p.m. - Opening Night Reception (Grand Foyer) ¢ 8:15 p.m. - Opening Night Screening (Main Auditorium)
key: ¢
Michigan Theater
® UMMA’s Helmut Stern Auditorium ● State Theater ► Filmmaker in Attendance
ticket information: Screenings General Admission - $9 Students/Seniors/AAFF Members - $7 All Midnight Movies - $7 Festival Pass General Admission - $95 Students/Seniors/AAFF Members - $80 Weekend Pass General Admission - $55 Students/Seniors/AAFF Members - $45
Info from http://www.aafilmfest.org
WEDNESDAY, March 26 ¢ 3 p.m. - Music Videos in Competition (Main Auditorium) ¢ 7:15 p.m. - Films in Competition 1 (Main Auditorium) ¢ 9:30 p.m. - Out Night: Films in Competition (Main Auditorium) THURSDAY, March 27 ► ¢ 3 p.m. - “Edweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer” (Screening Room) ► ¢ 6:45 p.m. - “Manakamana” (Screening Room) ¢ 7:15 p.m. - Films in Competition 2 (Main Auditorium) ¢ 9:30 p.m. - Films in Competition 3 (Main Auditorium) FRIDAY, March 28 3 p.m. - “From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf” ¢ 7:15 p.m. - Films in Competition 4 (Main Auditorium) ¢ 9:30 p.m. - Animated Films in Competition (Main Auditorium) 12 a.m. - “Suburbia”
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SATURDAY, March 29 ¢ 11 a.m. - Films in Competition 5 (Main Auditorium) ¢ 11 a.m. - Films in Competition 6 (Screening Room) ¢ 1 p.m. - Films in Competition 7 (Screening Room) ¢ 3 p.m. - Films in Competition 8 (Screening Room) ¢ 7:15 p.m. - Films in Competition 9 (Main Auditorium) ¢ 9:30 p.m. - Films in Competition 10 (Main Auditorium) SUNDAY, March 30 12 p.m. - “Reconversão” ¢ 1 p.m. - Films in Competition 11 (Main Auditorium) 2 p.m. - “The Forgotten Space” ¢ 3 p.m. - Films in Competition 12 (Screening Room) ¢ 6 p.m. - Award Screening 1 (Main Auditorium) ¢ 8:15 p.m. - Award Screening 2 (Main Auditorium)
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BROKESTUDENTFILMFESTIVAL.COM
COMICBOOKRESOURCES.COM | COURTESY PHOTO
play your old copies of one of the video games instead. It’s a much more interesting experience.
Students compete in local film festival By DAVID FITCH Staff Writer
More than 20 Washtenaw students took part in the first-ever Broke Student Film Festival 14-Day Challenge. The WCC students made up two teams, Fortnight Productions and Ten Arms Productions. Fortnight Productions included of WCC students Eileen Meier, Brian Johnson, Jake Farah, Chris Ozminski, Travis Reynolds, Zac Chrysan, Alex Mojica, Mike Chu, Jessica Brusher, Przemek Ozog, Audra Meagher, Gabe Heiss, Scott Campbell and Philip Rachford, a video lab assistant. Ten Arms Productions was comprised of WCC students Brad Tennant, Ben Armes, Justin Erion, Angela Juzswik, and Garrett Sammons. They were joined by actor Adam Johns. Students Jeremy Liesen and Shane Law aided both groups. The competition gave students the rush of a time-pressured production, but one that was, according to some, a more manageable time frame. “Usually, we’re used to the 48-hour competitions, and that’s a little rushed for me. In this one, you actually get to sit down and go through really
in-depth stages of production for a couple of weeks,” said Reynolds, 25, of Ypsilanti, who served as actor and the “sub-director” for his group’s project. Kat Ruff, the event organizer, said that WCC has made a great showing in the festival in the past. “I’m so honored to have their films in my film festival,” said Ruff, adding that many of the WCC submissions that she has already seen for this year’s festival are very promising. The film festival, now in its third year, has rapidly expanded from its inaugural event, which had eight film entries, to now, when the three-day event is expected to draw 900-1200 people, said Adam Nelson, Ruff’s fiancé. Nelson, a former WCC film student, has been involved in the organization of the event since the beginning. Submissions for the 14-Day Challenge were due on March 22. This year’s BSFF event will run April 4-6 at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield and will feature submissions from the 14Day Challenge as well as two other BSFF categories, International Broke Student Film Festival and Films in Exhibition. For more on BSFF, visit: http:// www.brokestudentfilmfestival.com.
March 24, 2014
dirt and lies are standing in the middle of it. We – smart and nice people in the vacuum with hysteria. real life – cannot understand that reOne of my friends claims on his ality is not only a black side and white page: “These hard days we shouldn’t side with a fat middle line, or that in give way to despair or say loud words the situation of information’s overwhich are just shameful.” abundance we should be very accurate. But nobody listens. People I like and respect blame me I was raised in the 1990s, and now when I post a new funny video with I see how my generation, people who kitties because now we must forget view themselves as cynical individu- about daily life. I am sorry to tell you, als with independent opinions, people guys, but now when our brothers and who don’t trust TV are successfully in- sisters in Ukraine need our Facebook fluenced by artless provocations. support so much, someone is painting We who associated politics with the wood, another one is listening to UKRAINE FROM B1
Kiev residents pile flowers to honor the dead in Maidan, or Independence Square, as they learn that their southern region of Crimea has been declared a part of Russia by the local parliament. RENI BAITENMANN | COURTESY PHOTO
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the infighting going on in the country. “That implies that there are two equal sides that are fighting for something,” he said, noting that civilians are simply defending themselves against brutal government crackdowns. “It’s very serious,” he said. “If the secret police detain you, your whereabouts are completely unknown.” Once detained, people are subject to inhumane tactics in order to elicit information. Torture is very common,” he said. “They say ‘give us names. We want more information,’ and they will go after your family member as well.” Alzahabi enjoys living in Ann Arbor, but hopes that one day he will be able to return to Syria. “To be honest, right now I don’t have that option. But in the future, hopefully the near future, I would like to go back to Syria.” He said that most Syrians who have relocated outside the country do not share this sentiment with him. “Many Syrians are discouraged from moving back, even before the crisis,” he said: “I believe you should help. You have to help your people, you have to help your country.” However, Alzahabi said there are many aspects of life in this country that he enjoys very much. One of the things I am grateful for in the U.S. is the education,” he said. “Washtenaw is a wonderful institution.”
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He chose to study business because it seemed like the most promising program in terms of having a well-paying career. “I need to work, so that way I can help my family,” he said. Alzahabi said that the move was a tough and confusing time for him and his family. “My dad has been jobless for six months,” he said. “It’s been difficult, really difficult.” He is doing very well in school and hopes that he will be able to use his education to not only better his family but to make life better for fellow Syrians as well. Alzahabi believes his education in America is superior to the one he would have received in Damascus. “It’s a whole different system of education here, a whole different style,” he said. Since both of his parents are teachers, they also appreciate the quality education Alzahabi is receiving at WCC. “I find it very important for my son to have a good education. He was talking about becoming a lawyer since he was in middle school,” his mother said. Earlier this month, he applied for and was granted a booth by the Student Activities Office. He set up a presentation in the Student Center, where he answered questions and dispelled misinformation about the country. “Syria is a mosaic,” he explained to other students at the forum. “It’s made up of many people and cultures. The main thing I would like people to know is that Syria will survive.”
Chopin, a third one is kissing and the next one is selling soap. How can they? What is surprising me a lot is that those champions of liberty showed their anti-Soviet moods, quoting “The Gulag Archipelago” and saying that individual views are inviolable. But nowadays they block me on Facebook because I as an individual would like to post some kitty videos. So nice, I can just slam the laptop to forget about it. I called my father recently. He has no idea what’s going on, because he consciously prefers not to read newspapers. Also, he is in Siberia, and if you look at the map you will see how far, far away we are from Moscow or Kiev. People there are calm and indifferent, maybe too indifferent. Father has no clue of the world situation. He switched off all channels except Discovery, Discovery History and classical movies. Again, I asked him why he did it. He explained and concluded: We can help anybody now and here and not with a Facebook status, but with an action. Violence and crime are happening every minute, and if it occurred in the country whose language we can understand or somewhere in an Arabic desert, it makes no difference. The violence is still happening. We have tools to make this world a little bit better, but in 99 percent of cases it is not an open browser. I know it is much easier to preach than to follow. However, when you remember it’s easier not to discuss online that which we don’t really know well. The sad story is that all these Facebookexperts know that, as Father does, but something made them forget. The man at the bus station in Ann Arbor is waiting for my answer about Ukraine. I can say a lot about this country. Ukraine is a charming place, glossy and hospitable, the place associated with rich meals, ruddy beauties, summers near the sea, endless and alive.
Ukrainian soldiers were back in control of their anti-aircaft base at the city of Yevpatoria in Crimea recently. SERGEI L. LOIKO | LOS ANGELES TIMES | MCT
And you are endless and alive near this sea, too. I was in the Crimea at the age of 13 after six days by train from my city to Simferopol. The pink, gentle Crimea was a big adventure for me, the first traveling without parents, the first and the last time when I stole a good from a seller — a ripe, sugary watermelon. It was the first meeting with a sea, when you wake up in an old-fashioned boarding house and shadows of cypress are patting on the ceiling, and you hear it. Waves are rustling somewhere outside. I don’t care if it is now Ukraine or Russia, because boarders were changing and will change again, but Crimea is still Crimea, the land of vulnerable memories of childhood. This wasn’t my last meeting with Ukraine. From Kiev you can go to Odessa, rent a big room in the old city. Your landlord is an old half-Jewish Mark Ignatievich, who never knocks even 10 hryvnias from the rental price, but who cares about every single guest as he or she is his own kid. You spend days talking with friends, eating crispy fish and swimming. Then, after the sunset, you walk past the
streets with a bottle of a homemade red wine, listening to lovely Russian and Ukrainian languages and finally enter the house through the window since Mark Ignatievich is sleeping and you don’t want to wake him up with a doorbell. In the bedroom you talk again, while a south summer night is chirring and crunching. Next noon, when you wake up, Mark Ignatievich makes you a huge breakfast with products from the local marketplace. This country is an intimate pleasure, and there is no difference where the board between us is laying. It is a place where a heart is bigger than any of conflicts, and I don’t want to know a different Ukraine. “Well, Ukraine,” I finally say. “You know, I visited Kiev and Odessa, the city on the Black seashore, this summer, in July. It was a nice trip to this place, which means a lot to me.” The man who’s waiting for No. 6 looks disappointed. Sofia Chesnokova is an anthropology major from Siberia, Russia. Contact her at schesnokova@wccnet.edu
FAST FACTS ABOUT SYRIA - Located on the easternmost shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The country shares a border with Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. - The capitol of city of Syria is Damascus, with 1.711-million people, but Aleppo is the largest, with 2.302-million people. - Syria has a population of approximately 22-million and is only about the same size as the state of Washington. - Syria was formerly part of the Ottoman Empire until it was dissolved in 1918. PETER HOCHGRAF | WASHTENAW VOICE
Ahnas Alzahabi, 21, setting up a booth in the Student Center Building at WCC in early March. He spent the day answering questions about Syria for his peers. JON PRICE | WASHTENAW VOICE
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MEET the CLUBS
Arts Club expands on cultural appreciation By HANNAH REAUME
Voice Correspondent
After taking a semester-long hiatus, the Washtenaw Community College Arts Club is back in action and planning some exciting trips. With the addition of new members and an entirely new student board, the future of the club looks brighter than ever, its leaders say. President of the club, Seth Illingworth, hopes the organization can be a way for students to find solidarity, as well as to gain a broader view of the world around us. “The events that this club participates in convey how art can give meaning, hope, joy and understanding to people of any background,” Illingworth said. “At the very least, I hope that the club can foster peoples’ appreciation for the arts while they are having a good time and going to amazing places.” He hopes to maintain the new student board for the fall semester — to be able to continue to offer the opportunities of the club to all WCC students. “Overall, I am very excited to see what the future holds for the Arts Club,” he said. “I think we have an awesome staff right now, and I hope it grows. At first, I was nervous to be president of this club, but now, I feel like I am part of a great team.” The board members encourage all students with an interest in art and culture to join them at a Friday meeting and take part in the club’s event trips. Students aren’t required to be artists or art majors. All the board asks is that they come interested in expanding themselves culturally. The club took its first trip of the semester to the Detroit Institute of Arts on March 21. Past trips by the club have included visits to the DIA, the Arab National Museum and the Cincinnati Museum Center. The club has also gone to theater performances such as Shakespeare in the Arb, “The Butler Did It, Again!” by Tim Kelly and “Pamina Devi — A Cambodian Magical Flute,” performed by the Khmer Arts Ensemble, among many others. The Arts Club welcomes all WCC students to check it out at its next meeting, Friday, April 4, at 4 p.m. LA 152.
The Washtenaw Voice
Healthy Lifestyle Club promotes better living By MARKO DELIC
Voice Correspondent
“Health is wealth,” says Kelsey Hart, a Washtenaw Community College marketing student whose interest in healthier lifestyle – including food and alternatives to sweets – prompted her start a club that introduces it all. Started last October, the HLC has shown that people have a lot of interest in health and support this club, whose membership doubled this semester. Hart, 21, of Dexter, acknowledged that starting a club was not something she planned when she began her college career. “Me and my friends shared our healthy secrets and talked about how living can be made healthy,” she said. “That’s when the idea for the club kicked in.” Julia Bell-Streety, 22, a nutrition major from Ann Arbor, and Diante Harris, 22, also of Ann Arbor and a business major, joined Hart in starting the club. “In the future, I would like to run a business related to health,” Hart said. “This is why I do this. I’m learning a lot as I share.” Bell-Streety is a budding expert on the topic, and her interest brought her to her major. These three young people do not play an authority role, but find themselves comfortable in the role of member-leaders. “I learn more than I do share,” Hart said. With an encouraging and supportive attitude, they welcome everyone and share with whoever is interested. While the club brings its members a lot of new knowledge about health, running it brings a lot of new skills. “I’ve taught myself responsibility and various other leadership skills,” said Hart, who pushes other members not to fear sharing their passion. This, she said, helps her cope with all the stress as well. “You’re in control of your own life” she said. “It is up to people how seriously they think about life. The choices are in humans’ hands, whether they’re good or bad. And according to the club’s unwritten policy, questioning things is essential.”
Arts Club when:
First Friday of every month at 4 p.m. where: LA 152 who: Open to all interested WCC students more info: Email sillingworth@wccnet.edu
Healthy Lifestyle Club when:
Every Tuesday, 1-2 p.m. where: TI 114 who: Open to all interested WCC students more info: Email klhart@wccnet.edu
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COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY IS MAY 17
Are you ready to Graduate? There are things you need to do For more details go to www.wccnet.edu and type “graduation” in the search box. Once you’ve applied, look for important information in the mail.
Fill out Graduation application Buy Cap, Gown, Tassel Announcements Rehearsal
n Future-focused business curriculum n Courses offered evenings, weekends, online, and on campus
Ceremony
n Credits for work/life experience and military training
For More Information Contact a Student Records Technician: Mary Singer Nancy Farmer
Transfer friendly. Employer desired.
n Expert, industry-experienced faculty n Small class sizes
734-973-3546 734-973-3658
Apply Today! From here to Career
www.northwood.edu 800.622.9000
March 24, 2014
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1 Injury reminder 5 Pet adoption gp. 10 Environs 14 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wiesel 15 U.S.-Canada defense letters 16 Having a hard time deciding 17 Hard to find, to Caesar 18 __ Gay: WWII bomber 19 Thom __ shoes 20 Original Ice Follies slapstick skating duo 23 “Just one darn minute!” 24 Amazed reactions 27 Three in a deck 28 Retaliatory equivalent 32 Found really groovy 34 Bud 35 Challenge 36 Part of WWII 39 Happy heartbeat sound 42 Like veggies on a veggie platter 43 Expected landing hrs. 45 Prohibition 46 Opposite of post48 Knickknacky stuff 51 Bible bk. with a sea crossing 54 Trite 55 Opie Taylor’s caretaker 58 Small, irregular amounts 62 List-ending abbr. 64 11th-century Spanish hero 65 Give off 66 Low-cal 67 It divides the Left and Right Banks 68 Pal at the barbie 69 Run into 70 More quirky 71 Being, to Ovid
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1 Feudal farmers 2 Red wine from Bordeaux 3 Better ventilated 4 Got through to 5 Lend __: listen 6 14-line verse 7 Cattle poker 8 Ranch newborn 9 Purim month 10 Use of one requires a PIN 11 Groupie’s idol 12 Significant period 13 Raggedy doll 21 Make excited 22 Gone by 25 Prefix with legal 26 Ladled-out meal 29 Bucky Beaver’s toothpaste brand 30 Pub spigot 31 Envelope part 33 Bee Gees family name 36 “Dragnet” star Jack 37 Gillette razor brand 38 Bad weather contingency 40 Paving goo 41 Sales manager’s concern 44 Like the “A” in a Hawthorne classic 47 At the outer edges of the normal curve 49 “Sting like a bee” boxer 50 Bloodhound or boxer 52 White House family 53 Ledger entries 56 8-Down’s milk source 57 Cosmetician Lauder 59 Spanish kiss 60 Iditarod transport 61 Battery fluid 62 Good name for a tree-lined street 63 Dead heat
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CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Students and WCC employees: Classified ads in The Voice are free. Local business owners: Looking for help? Post your free help wanted ads in The Voice. Send ads to thewashtenawvoice@gmail.com. Note: Deadline for the April 7, 2014 issue is Tuesday, April 1, at 5 p.m. FOR SALE 2003 HONDA ACCORD LX. Silver sedan; very good condition (9.1 out of 10 rating by Kelley Blue Book). Sunroof, great sound system, new tires and brakes. 122K miles. $4,800 – far below Blue Book value. Moving to Europe, can’t take my car, and it makes me sad. Phone 818-970-5281. HARLEY-DAVIDSON ROAD KING, 1994, with just 7,500 gently ridden original miles. Completely original except for a few really nice add-ons. Perfect condition. $11,500 or best offer. Info: 989-390-9860.
LOST AND FOUND LOST: ‘New York City Ballet’ baseball hat. Liberal Arts building, Thursday March 6. Please return to WCC Security Lost and Found or contact me at mbertz@wccnet. edu. And thank you.
you enjoy a fast-paced, exciting work environment, don’t miss this opportunity to join a great team this summer! Students, here’s your chance to gain valuable work experience in your field of study. Apply today at www.canton-mi.org/humanresources/jobs.asp. For more information, call 734-394-5260
HELP WANTED BARN AND YARD HELP: 10 hours/ Below is a sample of recent employweek, some flexibility, north side of ment want ads which have been posted with Ann Arbor. Physical work such as lifting WCC Career Services. Students are invited 50-pound bags, mucking, sweeping and to read these ads and to contact Career shoveling. Prefer experience with horses Services to find out how to apply for the or farming. Knowledge of plants a plus. openings. Career Services is located in ML $11/hour. Must have own car. If you need 104. For more information, phone 734-677SERVICES more hours, a neighbor has similar needs. 5155, email careers@wccnet.edu, or visit VOLUNTEER TUTORS: Washtenaw Contact: riverbendfarm@comcast.net. www.wccnet.edu/careerconnection/. Literacy needs volunteers to tutor adults in SEASONAL PART-TIME POSITIONS Front desk/receptionist needed for basic reading, writing, math and English as AVAILABLE: Canton Leisure Services is fast-paced chiropractic/massage therapy a Second Language. If in Help change lives now hiring for seasonal part-time positions practice. Great customer service skills a – one word at a time! Contact info@washt- that start in April-June 2014. Positions may must. Excellent computer skills with speed enawliteracy.org or call 734-879-1320. include: lifeguards, summer camp counsel- and accuracy of data entry. Multitasking NEED HEALTH CARE? Are you be- ors and supervisors, therapeutic recreation required with telephone, computer, patient tween the ages of 12-22? Contact the camp staff, special events coordinators, park and practitioner contact. Corner Health Center at 734-484.3600 or laborers, Pheasant Run Golf Course staff, Assistant Press Operator: Position visit online at: www.cornerhealth.org. Canton Sports Center staff and more. If is entry-level press assistant, but qualified
candidate will be trained to become a press Projects are tailored to the student’s speoperator. Lots of room for advancement for cific areas of interest. the right candidate. While art knowledge Security agent: Entry-level position, is helpful to the position and machine op- patrol of buildings and property, protection eration, candidates should be hard-work- of company assets and people, monitoring ing and able to handle a deadline driven of building security systems. production schedule. This is not a design Certified Nursing Assistant: Fullposition; you will be making an actual and part-time candidates to fill afternoon/ product in a production-based, high-out- midnight shifts (3-11:30 p.m. and 11-7:30 put environment! a.m.). Competitive wage scale and excelFloater Teacher for the infant, tod- lent benefit program. dler or preschool rooms when needed. Also, Floor Manager: Enthusiastic assistant substitute in classrooms for teachers who manager responsible for managing the are out. Responsible for setting up snacks daily operations of our restaurant. Optimize and lunches, feeding children and clean- profits and ensure that guests are satisfied ing. Applicant must be reliable, dependable, with their dining experience. energetic, nurturing and possess a happy Sales Management Trainee: go lucky attitude. Ambitious, hard-working individuals enPatient Care Coordinator for pe- couraged to apply. Applicants should be diatric dentist office. Duties include greet- able to bring new ideas and improveing patients and their families, answering ments to business practices, remain fair, telephones, scheduling and confirming ap- respectful and moral in all situations, and pointments, responding to clinical inquiries, work well both independently and as part handle billing inquiries and maintaining an of a team. impeccable office presence. Project Specialist: The ideal candiInternship, local government: This date must have excellent computer and part-time, paid internship allows students communication skills, working knowledge to apply their knowledge and skills to sig- of Windows OS and IOS, Android and other nificant problems in the public, private or Smart Device operating systems. Must also non-profit sectors and offers an opportunity have knowledge of .NET. Must be wellto develop and enhance skills in areas of organized, flexible, have the ability to inprofessional interest. Work accomplished teract with staff (at all levels) and must be during this internship is expected to be able to operate with a high level of prochallenging and of significance and value fessionalism. Must possess excellent oral to the internship organization. Currently en- and written skills with a talent for training rolled undergraduate or graduate students large groups of internal and external clients. are encouraged to apply for this position. Some travel may be required.
Flip Side
The Washtenaw Voice
March 24, 2014
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A Hilarious Musical Spoof of Gender Expectations
When the Prince of the Realm turns out to be a girl, her coming of age gets complicated for the King. The show combines outstanding singing with lighthearted comedy.
Sat. April 5, 8 pm & Sun. April 6, 3 pm
Towsley Auditorium Washtenaw Community College
FREE ADMISSION
TO ALL WCC STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF General admission tickets (normally $20.00) are available at the door. Simply present your I.D For information, call 734-973-3264
For the second consecutive year and fourth time in the competition’s seven-year history, a Walsh team has won the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Detroit Cup, a mergers and acquisitions case competition among business graduate students. We think that says a lot about our students. We applaud the efforts of teams from Michigan’s most respected business schools, including the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. walshcollege.edu/ACG ®The yellow notebook design is a registered trademark of Walsh College. And the campaign is a creation of Perich Advertising + Design. Thanks to the fine folks at Walsh for letting us say so.
EQUAL and MARRIED and GAY March 24, 2014
Elizabeth Patten, 52, holds up the line number she received back in October of last year as she hugs and kisses her soon-to-be wife Jonnie Terry, 50. The couple, who have been together for 28 years, is the first to have a same-sex wedding in Washtenaw County since Michigan’s ban on gay marriage was ruled unconstitutional the previous day. “This marriage is an expression of many varieties of love,” 6th Circuit Federal Judge Judith Levy, who presided over the ceremony said as she wed the couple. “To marry is a civil right and that’s how it should be.” KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
Same-sex couples make history in Ann Arbor By JON PRICE
Staff Writer
It’s not often that romance trumps bureaucracy. But it did on Saturday. As hundreds of couples braved the bitter cold to line up for hours outside of the Washtenaw County Clerk’s Office, which opened its doors at 9 a.m. to marry them, Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputies walked up and down the lines, handing out applications and hurrying the ecstatic couples along. The atmosphere was overwhelmingly positive, without a detractor in sight. Passersby honked and waved, others stopped and dropped off flowers or coffee to show their support. Some of the couples exchanged wedding vows within minutes after getting their licenses. “We’ve been here since 5:30 (a.m.),”
Alexi Chapin-Smith said. “We’re hoping this will be a way for us to get legal recognition of our marriage, in our state.” Alexi Chapin-Smith and her wife, Jennifer Chapin-Smith, chose to change their last names before they were legally wed, to signify their commitment to one another. The couple was the first to line up in front of the clerk’s office Saturday. “But some of the other couples were here as early as yesterday,” Alexi Chapin-Smith said. “They cruised by various times in the night, like 2:30 (a.m.), to see if anyone was there.” The Ann Arbor residents have been together for the past 14 years and asked local-government officials to consider opening the clerk’s office Saturday. “There was a real scramble to talk to the clerk and ask him to open up today,”
Jennifer Chapin-Smith said, “he was doing whatever it took. The sheriff’s department had to get a deputy here, staff had to come in on Saturday and it was not a simple matter.” Amidst the blissful, celebratory atmosphere, some couples were feeling tense, knowing an injunction could be handed down from a high court that might possibly put a stop to the proceedings. “If it were struck down and the piece of paper wasn’t worth anything for a while, eventually it will go to the Supreme Court,” Alexi Chapin-Smith said, “hopefully the Supreme Court would recognize the way this is going and that constitutionally it’s not right to treat us as second-class citizens.” For the earliest ones in line, that was not the case – and the first staterecognized, same-sex marriage went off without hitch. Jonnie Terry, 50,
and Elizabeth Patten, 52, both of Ann Arbor, were married at about 9:25 a.m. Washtenaw County’s first gay marriage took place in the clerk’s office. They were surrounded by friends and strangers, and a hoard of media there to document history. After the announcement was made, a jarring applause and camera flashes, accompanied by loud cheers, smiles, tears and hugs filled the normally mundane, municipal building with an overwhelming feeling of pride and accomplishment. “We got here at seven,” an emotional Pam Rai said, “We’re getting married today!” Rai, 32, who is a court clerk herself and her partner Pamila Denhan, 31, of Ypsilanti, were excited to be a part of history and feel they should have the same rights as traditional couples are afforded.
“We love each other,” Rai said, “like anyone else, like my parents.” Many shared in the joy that Rai and Denhan felt Saturday, even those not directly affected by the ban being struck down. “My son and his wife refused to get married for years,” Soabra Briere, 64, said, “till California legalized gay marriage. It is a strong family value for us.” Briere believes in the social change but also thinks that issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples would have a positive economic impact on the state. “A lot of people left Michigan,” Briere said, “this ends those reasons why people left. “Marriage should be between two adults, period.” Additional reporting by Managing Editor Natalie Wright
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March 24, 2014
The Washtenaw Voice
A history lesson even a 7-year-old can appreciate By natalie wright Managing Editor
Beth Sherman learned about Friday’s ruling from her 7-year-old son, Ben, who woke her up after hearing about it on TV. She asked him if he understood what the news meant. “I was crying, and he came up and hugged me,” Sherman said. “And he said, ‘It means you and mommy can get married legally in Michigan.’”
Sherman, 52, and her partner Karen Hawver, 49, have been together for more than 20 years and have four children between them, all of whom joined them at the clerk’s office on Saturday along with a few friends. Sherman’s 12-year-old daughter Emma even joined her in a trip to Detroit to sit in on the trial. “I’m just really, really excited today,” Emma said. “It was hard to get up this morning, but it also wasn’t hard at all.” Sherman and Hawver held firmly their number 33 card that reserved their space from when they lined up
in October before the decision was delayed. When a county official began handing out new numbers, the couple rushed to the front of the line to see if their number would be honored, as they were told. They were assured that all numbers would be honored even if there were duplicates. Among a lot of confusion, the women kept their spirits high. “We just feel like we’re excited to be a part of history,” Sherman said.
The Washtenaw Voice
March 24, 2014
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County workers embrace a sweet surprise
“I just can’t believe it’s real. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime ... It’s numbing.”
By Natalie Wright
-Sandy Stoner, of Ypsilanti, who married her partner Ronda Stoner on Saturday
Managing Editor
As Erica Goethel sat outside the clerk’s office Saturday morning writing her wedding vows, she used her American/gay-pride flag as a wind-breaker. Goethel, 20, and her longtime partner, Karen Spicer, 27, both Washtenaw County employees, were in line at 6:30 a.m. and waited in line until the doors opened at 9 a.m. And it paid off; they got number 15. The couple heard the news Friday night via Facebook, they said. “I was not prepared for it yesterday,” Goethel said, explaining that she lost hope when 4:30 p.m. rolled around on Friday, the clerk’s office closed and there was no word from the judge. “I think he did this for a reason,” she said, as a truck drove by, honking at the crowd that cheered in response, “so that this scene could happen today.”
JAMES SAOUD | WASHTENAW VOICE
Bringing the gift of warmth
KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
Karen Hawver and Beth Sherman waited with their children: Bradley, 18, Ben, 7, Faith, 15, and Emma, 12, outside of the Washtenaw County Clerk’s Office on Saturday morning. JAMES SAOUD | WASHTENAW VOICE
JAMES SAOUD | WASHTENAW VOICE
By james saoud Staff Writer
Though Saturday morning in Ann Arbor was occupied with a warm and welcoming atmosphere, it was tough to shake off the cold temperature. When Kevin Sharp, 52, of the People’s Food Co-op, showed up to pass out coffee to ecstatic couples, tired reporters and even passersby, everyone sighed with relief and crowded around the cloud of steam. “We are just pleased as can be that Michigan has finally come into the 21st century and is supporting marriage equality,” Sharp said. “I’d be out here getting married, but I forgot to get my birth certificate.” Sharp said he plans to get his birth certificate on Monday and get married as soon as possible.
“My congregation, the Church of the Good Shepard, we have been supportive of the LGBTQ community since 1987.” - The Rev. Deborah Dean-Ware, who was at the Washtenaw County Clerk’s Office on Saturday to marry couples who received their licenses
Erica Goethel sat down in line outside the Washtenaw County Clerk’s office to write her marriage vows.
Goethel and her longtime partner Karen Spicer. JAMES SAOUD | WASHTENAW VOICE
KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
Finally! ‘Love has to win’ and if necessary I’ll take them all,” he said. “I’ll do it right here on the street Managing Editor if I have to.” Annette Bowman, a close friend of van When the Rev. Ted van Roekel of Roekel’s and a Washtenaw Community Universal Life Church approached the College student, went with him. She line shortly before the office’s doors helped couples commemorate this landopened at 9 a.m., he drew a crowd. mark day by taking their photos and writ“Finally!” he boomed. “(we’re) get- ing down their email addresses with a ting people legally, finally married.” promise to send the pictures their way. He brought 180 marriage licenses “I started crying when I was walking up with him, three for each couple, he said. to the crowd,” Bowman said. “You know, “They said they’re doing 60 licenses, once in a while love has to win.” By NATALIE WRIGHT
JAMES SAOUD | WASHTENAW VOICE
KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
“The only things we’re doing here: Maintaining security, making sure nobody gets messed with out here.”
Sgt. Kurt Schiappacasse, Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputy, who walked up and down the line outside the clerk’s office distributing marriage license applications.
KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
WCC instructor sheds a tear for civil rights
EDITORIAL
Witness to history in the making
By Natalie Wright Managing Editor
KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
Claire Sparklin, a Washtenaw Community College communications teacher, stood in the front of the clerk’s office Saturday morning holding up a sign that read ‘Put a ring on it,’ as couples filed past her to marry. Sparklin, who stood in support of the gay community with her friend Jenn Lowen, was not there to get married, or to join friends who married. She was there to “celebrate with everyone,” she said. “We just came down to watch civil rights happen,” she said. “This is a powerful stand for civil rights, a stand that needed to happen. “I think this is no different than when it was illegal for interracial couples to marry,” she added. Sparklin said she teared up Friday night when the news broke that the clerk’s office would open its doors on Saturday to marry 60 couples. “I always cry at weddings,” she said, “especially when they make civil rights history.”
The 2004 same-sex marriage ban that gave words of encouragement was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. and congratulations, bundles of flowDistrict Judge Bernard Friedman ers that they distributed amongst in what was an historic day for the crowd and treats like coffee and Michiganders. doughnuts. There were even rumors Hundreds of people rushed to of someone bringing wedding cake courthouses, which opened specially to share. on Saturday across the state, to get With not a single dissident in sight, marriage licenses. Impromptu cer- the atmosphere on the street and in the emonies were being held as Michigan clerk’s office was contagiously positive. joined the 17 other states that allow For young journalists reporting at the same-sex marriages. scene, it was difficult to remain profesAnticipation grew in Ann Arbor sional and hold back the tears. as gay and lesbian couples started Some couples said that they to queue outside the courthouse at couldn’t actually believe that this was 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, motivated by happening in their lifetime. the idea that by Monday, the state But it is. attorney general might appeal the The first same-sex wedding in decision. Michigan was performed in Ingham Cars driving past the line honked County by Clerk Barb Byrum, who in a show of support and the crowd kicked off the wave of weddings that sicheered in thanks. Supporters, some multaneously occurred throughout the of whom didn’t even know any of state. On Saturday Washtenaw County the couples showed up with signs issued 74 marriage licenses to couples Friends shared an emotional embrace while waiting for the Washtenaw County Clerk’s Office to open its doors for gay couples to get married. KELLY BRACHA | WASHTENAW VOICE
who couldn’t wait a day longer to realize their dream. Since 2012, there has been a change in the landscape in the country, and more and more states have ruled in favor of gay couples. In the summer of 2013, the Defense of Marriage Act was overturned, recognizing same-sex marriages at the federal level. Hoards of photographers and videographers filled the courthouse and the street outside, because this is an historic day for Michigan and for the country. And The Voice was there to cover it (just like The New York Times, The Associated Press and many other media outlets), because for us, this is history and it was an honor to be a part of it. When attitudes evolve, policy evolves. The country evolves. The world evolves.
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March 24, 2014
The Washtenaw Voice