2023-03-22

BLUE DEJA

Michigan tops Minnesota, 4-3, wins

accomplished what it had a year prior — again.

And for the first time in program history, the Wolverines captured a second straight Big Ten title.

MINNEAPOLIS — As the No. 4 Michigan hockey team hoisted the Big Ten Trophy following its victory over No. 1 Minnesota, there was almost an overwhelming sense of familiarity to the night’s events. It was deja vu all over again.

The minor details changed, the stars were different and the Wolverines sported a newer, younger coach. But on Saturday night, against the same Golden Gophers (26-8-1, overall) in the same arena and by the same score, Michigan (24-11-3)

“It feels great. It feels great,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato repeated. “That’s a really, really good team over there and an unreal atmosphere this year and last year. … You really have to earn it.”

In a contest that came down to the wire in front of a rowdy sellout crowd, that was what Michigan just managed to do. Its patient, systematic offense outlasted Minnesota’s fiery rush and pushed it to a 4-3 victory.

But for a contest featuring two of

Comeback win sparks Michigan Big Ten regular season title

they found themselves down 3.7 points after the first two rotations.

National champions and Olympians lined the bleachers of Cliff Keen arena on Saturday to celebrate 75 years of Michigan men’s gymnastics. But by the end of the meet, they had something else to celebrate as the Wolverines clinched the Big Ten regular season title.

Led by seniors Adam Wooten and Casey Cummings and juniors Javier Alfonso and Evgeny Siminiuc, Michigan (11-6 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) completed a comeback win against Illinois (10-4, 2-2), winning the meet 411.250-405.550.

With such an esteemed crowd in attendance, Michigan coach Yuan Xiao understood the importance of the moment.

“I’m so fortunate for an opportunity like this,” Xiao said.

“My job is to make our alumni happy and proud, and to make Michigan proud.”

Even though the night ended in celebration, small mistakes added up early for the Wolverines, as

Pommel horse is a familiar struggle for Michigan, and the Fighting Illini took full advantage. The small-yet-loud Illinois crowd was right behind them with cheers and chants of their own, along with Illini gymnasts shouting, “I-L-L” and the away fans promptly yelled back “I-N-I.”

But the Wolverines gained momentum on still rings, with Wooten and Alfonso both scoring above a 14.000. However, the Illini had no intention of allowing Michigan back in the fight. Down 3.65 points after three rotations was not ideal for the Wolverines, but the small amount of momentum proved valuable.

“We have this thing where we say we have to stay in our bubble,” Cummings said when asked how Michigan stays competitive in come-from-behind wins like these.

“We know the routines toward the end are (strengths) and so we just try to focus on the fact we know we can come back from anything.”

straight Big Ten Championship

the nation’s highest flying offenses, the night started at a subdued pace. The Wolverines and the Gophers toiled in the neutral zone for most of the first period, each side unable to string chances together.

Seven minutes in however, Minnesota caught a break. Michigan sophomore defenseman Luke Hughes launched a point shot that was blocked and sent the other way for a 2-on-1 score from forward Brody Lamb.

That breakthrough was all either side mustered, and the rest of the period played out as a prolonged feeling out process.

“I thought we were just OK, almost

second

very average in the first period,” Naurato said.

In the second period though, the wait-and-see tactics were thrown out the window and replaced with a flurry of goals.

The Wolverines pressed early, maintaining zone possession and moving pucks low-to-high. Three minutes in, that all paid off for freshman forward Rutger McGroarty as he ripped a bobbling puck top shelf. And 34 seconds later, back in front of the net with another rebound on his stick, it paid off for McGroarty again as he put his team up 2-1.

“I don’t think those guys (on the first line) were happy as a line with

Mason Parris clinches heavyweight title at NCAA Tournament

After three tough days of competition at the NCAA Wrestling Tournament, one Michigan wrestler remained in the finals — No. 1 heavyweight and fifth-year senior Mason Parris. And after his last seven minutes of wrestling as a Wolverine in which he overpowered No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State throughout the entire bout, Parris stood atop the podium.

His lifelong goal of becoming a National Champion was achieved in the last match of his collegiate career.

Parris was the runner-up in the 2021 NCAA championships his junior year, losing to the Nittany Lions’ Gable Steveson, who went on to win an Olympic gold medal later that summer. Parris would fall to Steveson in the Big Ten Championship final in 2020 and 2021, taking home AllAmerican honors both years. But this season, Parris refused to come up short.

Following a perfect 33-0 regular season, Parris didn’t slow down and dominated his opponents at every

stage of the tournament. In the first four rounds of the tournament, he won two bouts via major decision and beat Iowa’s No. 4 Tony Cassiopi with a 16-1 technical fall in the semifinal. Preparing for the second national championship bout of his career, Parris rode the momentum he had built up in the previous rounds and remained poised.

“I wasn’t really nervous at all,” Parris told The Daily. “I was very confident in myself and felt really good and believed in my abilities.”

In the final bout, Parris’s confidence was on full display. Going up against a familiar foe in Penn State’s No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet, whom Parris defeated for the Big Ten title just two weeks prior, Parris was in full control the entire seven minutes. Thirty seconds into the match, Parris defended a leg attack from Kerkvliet and scored a takedown on a fireman’s dump before riding Kerkvliet out in the period and garnering 2:30 of riding time. Parris started on the bottom in the second period, earning an escape point – and Kerkvliet only scored on a stalling call near the end

how they played in the first,” Naurato said. “ … For them to come out and just get to the net, as simple as that sounds, good things happen.”

With two back-to-back goals, McGroarty almost instantaneously flipped the game script by putting the Wolverines up 2-1. And for the first time, the Gophers were put on edge. In danger, Minnesota returned to what was working — its rush — and the Wolverines had little answer for it.

Midway through the second frame, a wayward pass from McGroarty in Michigan’s offensive zone ended up on the stick of forward Jimmy Snuggerud, who found Cooley with

open ice where he tied the contest. And again, it was the Gophers’ explosive rush that put them back in front early in the third when forward Rhett Pitlick picked his way through three Wolverines defensemen and scored to put Minnesota ahead 3-2. That lead didn’t last long though, as freshman forward Seamus Casey tied the affair four minutes later with a standard point shot, again built off of sustained pressure. The Gophers were playing with speed, Michigan with systematic patience, and as the clock ticked down, there was nothing to separate the approaches.

Michigan secures eighth Big Ten Championship in 10 years

By the time Abby Heiskell stuck her round-off one and a half twist landing — becoming just the second athlete to score a perfect 10 on the beam at the championship — any lingering doubts about whether the Wolverines would leave Coralville, Iowa, as back-to-back Big Ten champions were certainly put to rest.

Competing in the second session of the day alongside Michigan State (8-1 Big Ten, 14-2 overall), Iowa (6-2, 11-6) and Ohio State (6-3, 16-5), No. 2 Michigan (8-1, 19-2) established an early lead and never looked back, cruising to its second consecutive Big Ten Tournament Championship.

“We knew that we had to be on our A-game tonight and I was really proud of our performance,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said.

In Michigan’s first rotation of the day, fifth-year seniors Natalie Wojcik and Heiskell, as well as junior Carly Bauman and senior

Sierra Brooks all scored 9.950 on the uneven bars to put the Wolverines at the front of the pack. With senior Gabby Wilson’s added score of 9.925, Michigan’s gymnasts combined for 49.725 points — tying the program record in the event.

Having taken note of the scoring in the previous session, Plocki explained that the Wolverines were aware that bars and beam would be the two easier judged events, and planned accordingly.

“That’s a great rotation for us to end on floor and vault,” Plocki said, “But we knew that we were gonna have to build up a sizable lead to make sure they didn’t catch us in the last two events.”

And build a sizable lead Michigan did. It set the tone for the night on the uneven bars, and then kept that pace on the beam.

Brooks scored her second 9.950 of the day before Heiskell earned her perfect 10. Heiskell, who decided to return for a fifth season with the Wolverines back in June of 2022, is intent on enjoying every second of it.

ETHAN WHITE For

MEGAN SMITH Daily Sports Writer

President Santa Ono gives March updates in exclusive interview

From GEO negotiations to snow days, here’s what Ono had to tell The Daily this month

On a snowy Monday morning, The Michigan Daily sat down with University President Santa Ono to talk about his recent inauguration, new residence halls, contract negotiations with the Graduate Employees’ Organization and what it would take for him to call a snow day. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Michigan Daily: Your inauguration just happened. How does it feel to be inaugurated?

Santa Ono: The inauguration isn’t about me. It’s about a chapter in the life of the University. I happen to be the person who is in that seat during this period of time. It’s a celebration of what we have been, but more of a conversation about where we want to go moving forward — who we want to be. That’s what’s exciting about the inauguration. It’s a moment to pause and take stock of who we are, how we’re doing and what we can do moving into the future.

TMD: What was that day like from your perspective?

SO: It was fun. It was just an amazing day. And I was so excited that it began with two symposia based on two things that the University is focused on and that matter a lot to me: climate change and sustainability and the Inclusive History Project — what’s happened on this campus over the past 200 years and being truthful about our shortcomings as an institution in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion. The symposium was really looking to the future and how we can become a more inclusive, more diverse campus. And I think the quality of the keynote addresses at my inauguration ceremony were

outstanding, and the conversation was terrific. What I was most excited about were the poster sessions that occurred. The students also presented to the President’s Advisory Group the day after. I was just blown away by the creativity and innovation of our students. What was presented was actually just a small subset of the posters that have been presented prior to the symposia, and I can’t wait to see the outcome of those projects that will be funded by the Office of the President.

TMD: University Provost Laurie McCauley was recently approved for a full term. What do you hope to work on and accomplish in collaboration with her?

SO: We’re very lucky to have Laurie McCauley as provost of the University. Not only has she served as dean of the highly-ranked School of Dentistry for 10 years, but I’ve already had the chance to work with her for three and a half months.

I also had a chance to talk to all the deans and other stakeholders.

I’ve never had a situation where I essentially got 100% unanimous support for that individual and their performance. McCauley not only knows the University of Michigan very well, but I find that she’s a very thoughtful leader, and she really listens to people. I’m lucky to have her as a key partner in moving the institution forward.

For the University of Michigan, it’s really important for there to be stability at the leadership level, and the provost is one of the most important senior executive officers of the University. She’s already made significant investments in the student experience, in wellness and in academic programs. She’s wellequipped to continue with that.

TMD: How do you feel about the recent change to the academic calendar for the 2023-2024 school year that will extend Winter Break

by a week?

SO: The wonderful thing about being president of the University of Michigan is that I get tremendous amounts of input. I have a pretty good idea when people are happy and when people are not happy. I would say judging from all the direct messages and emails that I’ve received, the vast majority of responses have been very positive. We’ll have to evaluate whether this is a permanent change. What we’re hearing from students is ‘thank goodness,’ they needed a little bit of a break between the terms and so if that holds up to be true then I would venture that this will be a longstanding change.

TMD: After the shooting at Michigan State University that left three dead and five more injured, does the U-M administration plan to take any further action to support the students, faculty and administration at MSU?

SO: I have been in direct conversation with the President of Michigan State, and Provost Laurie McCauley has been in direct conversation with the Provost of Michigan State. We have worked

together with their athletic director and coaches. There were a number of games that occurred between Michigan and Michigan State following the shooting, and it was really their decision whether a game was to be played. The basketball game occurred because they wanted to play the game. There were other games where the players weren’t ready for a game and we honored their wishes. We will continue to work directly with Michigan State. We want to do everything we can to help them — they’re our sister institution. There are a lot of families that have ties to both universities. It’s really clear from the vigil on the Diag that this affected our own students as well. We will do everything we can to support Michigan State University. One silver lining is that there’ll be a new chapter written about the relationship between the University of Michigan and Michigan State, not only in terms of athletic competitions but also in terms of opportunities for more collaboration, teaching and research between universities.

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Pollinator populations across the country have been experiencing significant losses, threatening biodiversity, agriculture and food chains. The state of Michigan alone has seen a 61% drop in its bee population over the span of 15 years. A team of masters students at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability is aiming to raise awareness for pollinator conservation and enhance pollinator habitats on campus.

Thanks in part to the work of the team, dubbed “SEAS Bees,” the University was officially designated a bee-friendly campus in December by Bee Campus USA, an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation which recognizes colleges and universities practicing sustainable pollinator conservation across the country. Sheila Schueller, academic program specialist at SEAS and

project advisor for the team, told The Michigan Daily pollinators are essential to life on Earth.

Humans rely on pollinators for 75% of staple crops and 90% of all flowering plants.

“We definitely depend on pollinators in many ways,” Schueller said. “There are studies that show with pollinator declines, malnutrition can occur because you see changes in diets, especially in developing countries.” Environment and Sustainability

postdoctoral fellow Michelle Fearon told The Daily habitat loss and a decline in pollinator populations are directly correlated with climate change.

“Many pollinator species — particularly native bee species — have been declining due to loss of habitat,” Fearson said. “It’s one of the primary concerns along with increasing spread of disease and pesticide use and the interaction of many of these factors. With climate change, we’re seeing changes in the

timing of when different species and flower species emerge, so that can also lead to mismatch and this can very rapidly lead to either local extinctions of either the bees or the native plant species.”

As temperatures rise across the world, growing and blooming seasons have shifted by half a day each year, resulting in unpollinated plants and bees without food. Bee colonies have also begun to experience colony collapse disorder — a phenomenon in which bees abandon their hives due to emerging diseases — which has created a spike in disease among the species.

Global warming has also affected the integral processes of other pollinators, altering the migratory patterns of butterflies, body temperatures of hummingbirds and ultrasonic hearing in bats.

Schueller said the diverse array of species that are classified as pollinators play a significant role in maintaining biodiversity in communities across the world.

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UMich designated bee-friendly campus

As of December, the University has been officially ‘bee-friendly’ following masters students’ pollinator protection advocacy

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director of the World Health Organization, is awarded the Thomas Francis, Jr. Medal in Global Public Health at the Ross School of Business Monday.

Design by Abby Schreck

University of Michigan President Santa Ono in an interview with the Michigan Daily in the Ruthven building Tuesday morning.

UMich partners with Uwill

for student

mental health

U-M students can now access up to 6 free online counseling sessions through Uwill

The University of Michigan’s University Health Services and Counseling and Psychological Services is partnering with online counseling service Uwill to offer students up to six free online counseling sessions per year, in addition to mental health resources offered by CAPS and UHS. Announced on March 6, the new partnership arrives as many students are suffering with mental health issues and as CAPS employees are asking for more support from the U-M administration. How does the campus community feel about these new mental health care services?

LSA senior Isabel Steinberg, executive director of the Wolverine Support Network, told The Michigan Daily the Uwill partnership will allow students to access counselors and other professional support more regularly, helping students who may have been previously unable to access private mental health care.

“I think (the University is) making great strides in the direction of letting students see a counselor on a consistent basis in a means that is accessible to them,” Steinberg said. “Private mental health care is very unaffordable so it’s great to see that the University is focused on making that accessible for students.”

LSA freshman Anika Deshpande is a member of CAPS in Action, a group of students who work with CAPS to help with mental health

outreach. Deshpande told The Daily she believes Uwill creates more opportunities for students to schedule counseling appointments when CAPS is overburdened.

“I think that introducing the new Uwill program will allow a greater reach for mental health resources, because it kind of harnesses the power of providers from all throughout the country,” Deshpande said. “But especially when CAPS gets really busy with more requests to schedule appointments … Uwill would be a great way to get that fast, effective mental health treatment.”

Students have historically expressed frustrations regarding mental health care at the University, including long wait times for CAPS initial consultations and difficulty accessing more specialized mental health resources.

In an interview with The Daily, LSA senior Jacqueline Hillman, vice president of Central Student Government, said she has heard many student complaints about CAPS throughout her time at the University. She said she believes Uwill will help to address some of these issues by giving all students an opportunity to access mental health services.

“I’ve personally heard complaints and issues with CAPS since I was a freshman here,” Hillman said. “I know that it’s sort of become an institutional issue. So Uwill is a great way to not necessarily address those (institutional) issues, but provide some supplementary care, and also address groups of students that haven’t historically had a chance to actually access those mental health

services.”

After using Uwill for the first time, Steinberg said it was easy to log in to the site and find a counselor of her choice. She said she loves the opportunity to consistently meet with the same therapist.

“You literally just log in with your UMID and in (Uwill) you have your 180 credits,” Steinberg said. “That’s six 30-minute sessions. I

UMich community discusses Ono’s “Vision 2034” plan

was able to go through and pick a counselor of my choosing. … (Students) want more than just crisis support. So I love that you’re able to see the same therapist again.”

Though Hillman said the Uwill program is a step in the right direction, she hopes the University will further expand its mental health services for students in the future.

“I think there’s always room for improvement,” Hillman said. “This is a really promising step forward, I really hope students utilize (Uwill) and enjoy it, and (the University) can scale it up even further in the future.”

Steinberg said she hopes the Uwill program will allow students to prioritize their mental health while balancing their other academic and social commitments.

“College is a time where students move away from home, they’re learning things about themselves or things about their environment,” Steinberg said. “And a lot of times, that means the beginning of their mental health journey. I think it’s really amazing for the University to offer opportunities for students to explore their mental health.”

Wynton Marsalis announced as 2023 commencement speaker

Juilliard School in New York City

The University of Michigan has announced that Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, will be the 2023 Spring Commencement speaker at the April 29 commencement ceremony, which will be held at the Michigan Stadium. Marsalis has been recommended for an honorary Doctor of Music from the University, according to a University Record article.

Marsalis currently serves as director of Jazz Studies at The

and is the president of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, a nonprofit that supports jazz musicians and jazz education. Marsalis was the 2005 recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the 2015 recipient of the National Humanities Medal.

The University has also recommended former University President Mary Sue Coleman — who most recently served as the interim University President in 2022 — for an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Playwright Dominique Morisseau and Flintbased entrepreneur Phil Hagerman

have also been recommended for an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts and an honorary Doctor of Laws, respectively. Coleman and Morisseau will be recognized and will speak at the University’s Spring Commencement. Coleman will also be the commencement speaker at the Rackham Graduate School Graduation. Hagerman will speak at the U-M Flint School of Management commencement ceremony, also on April 29. All four speakers will receive their honorary degrees at the commencement ceremonies, pending approval at the March 23 meeting of the Board of Regents.

Whitmer signs bill codifying civil rights for LGBTQ+ Michiganders

Recently inaugurated University President Santa Ono is leading multiple projects to improve the University of Michigan experience.

One of them is “Vision 2034,” which Ono announced in November 2022, a 10-year strategic visioning plan to implement and enforce the University of Michigan’s core values across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses and Michigan Medicine.

Vision 2034 seeks to implement six key values — integrity, respect, inclusion, equity, diversity and innovation — through six plans across all U-M campuses. DEI 2.0 and the University’s carbon neutrality plan, which span all campuses, are included under Vision 2034, in addition to Culture Journey, U-M Dearborn Strategic Planning, the U-M Flint Transformation Plan and the Michigan Medicine Strategic Plan.

The University aims to incorporate student input when activating these initiatives and values by holding town halls, student focus groups and forums.

The Vision 2034 project team is currently in phase two of its four-part plan, which focuses on community outreach and engagement. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, project team leader Jenny Faust said because phase two is still in its infancy, she looks forward to engaging U-M

community members to determine the team’s next steps.

“We have more questions than answers at this point,” Faust said.

“And that is appropriate. This is really a collective effort, and until we have heard from the many groups and individuals who care about the University and our future, we can’t say what that vision is. It will emerge over time.”

Faust added that they have not yet established a clear direction for these initiatives based on student feedback. However, she said the team has been working to incorporate as many student voices as possible through the town hall meetings, unitlevel information sessions and focus groups.

“(These events) are not aimed at implementation, but rather at the formation of a collective vision,” Faust said. “So our job, as a project team, is to create a space for people to share their ideas and thoughts about the University of Michigan.”

Business senior Clare Walby, president of the Ross Student Council, told The Daily she and other student organization leaders were invited to attend a roundtable with Ono in the fall to express their opinions on future directions for the University. Walby said she believes this roundtable was an effective way to incorporate student voices, and she looks forward to seeing similar events in the future.

“Something that I’ve been really impressed with with President Ono

so far is his willingness to engage the student body and connect with the students,” Walby said. “I think he values their opinions, maybe more than other stakeholders, which I really appreciate.”

While she appreciated the opportunity to share her opinions, Walby said she hopes to hear more about the specific details of the plan in the future.

“It’s very broad and, I’m sure, in the very initial stages of development,” Walby said. “So I’d be interested to learn more about the specifics behind some of these points.”

LSA sophomore Bilal Irfan, president of LSA Student Government, told The Daily he is looking forward to the implementation of Vision 2034, particularly the environmental and DEI initiatives.

“Some of the progress that we’ve seen, even since the time (Ono has) been here, has been kind of a cultural shift in the discussion that we have about climate change on campus,” Irfan said. “With the Fleming (Administration) Building, I know LSA Student Government and Central Student Government have made some progress in working with some of the folks that are looking at remapping the building and creating gardens inside of it. So just seeing the progress on that front and support from Ono’s administration to advance that agenda has been really helpful.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expanded the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ+ community

MATTHEW SHANBOM

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill expanding rights and protections for LGBTQ+ Michiganders Thursday afternoon.

The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976 prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status or marital status. The bill expands this list to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

In a press release obtained by The Michigan Daily, Whitmer expressed her enthusiasm for the legislation.

“Today, we are taking a long overdue step to ensure that no one can be fired from their job or evicted from their home because of who they are or how they identify,” Whitmer said. “Our LGBTQ+ friends, family, and neighbors deserve equal protection under the law so they can live their authentic lives, and I want everyone to know that Michigan is a place that will fight for your freedom to be yourself.”

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II joined Whitmer as she signed the

bill. According to the press release, Gilchrist said he sees the bill as an affirmation of all identities.

“Today, we are building on decades of work by advocates, activists, and allies to deliver real change and send a message that you can be yourself in Michigan,” Gilchrist said. “Expanding the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to strengthen protections for sexual orientation and gender identity or expression will prevent Michiganders from being fired from their job or evicted from their

home because of who they are or how they identify. It will recognize and reaffirm that Michigan is at its strongest when every individual is respected and empowered.”

The bill passed with bipartisan support in both chambers, 23-15 in the state Senate and 64-45 in the state House. State Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, who sponsored the Senate bill, said he sees it as an overdue step toward equality for all Michiganders.

Design by Abby Schreck

The University announced Wynton Marsalis will be the 2023 Spring Commencement speaker on April 29

Campus community discusses benefits and drawbacks of Ono’s 10-year strategic visioning plan

Design by Evelyn Mousigian

Gov. Whitmer joins CNN anchor Chris Wallace at Rackham Auditorium March 8.

At a certain point in 2019, internet users in both the drama-filled DeuxMoi and the aspirational New York Cityesque digital spheres were once again pulled towards Caroline Calloway. She has lived through multiple digital selves and has survived multiple news cycles of hatred and ridicule over the past decade. The Cambridge bloggerturned-scammer is now best

A comprehensive history of Caroline Calloway

known for her confessional, often chaotic Instagram presence — but for better or worse, the chaos is intentional. In a tweeted response to a critique of her behavior, Calloway summed herself up with ease. “I’m chaotic. I love my work. My work is writing, painting, photography, posting on social media, and living inside a Truman Show of my own making — performance art. Most ppl do not consider what I make to be art. More chaos ensues.”

In spite of the hatred

associated with her name alone, Calloway has found repeated ways to rebrand herself into a persona that thrives off of whichever news cycle she’s currently a part of. Her life has turned to chaos for one thing: a life of falsities worthy of a memoir.

Act One: The creation of Caroline Calloway, Cambridge

According to Calloway, she first joined Instagram in 2012. At the time, the social media app seemed revolutionary: a photo-based platform promising

connection and marketing towards young, hip users. The app was unique in its ability to create curated images, filtered vignettes and distinct user brands. From the very beginning, the app was made to commodify and create followings. Influencer culture on Instagram has stayed relatively married to the same principles since its creation — dominate the attention economy and build a brand worthy of advertisement partnerships — with the only notable difference being the extremes that are

now required to stay relevant.

Instagram influencers have been running in this rat race since the beginning — Calloway included.

Calloway’s Instagram origins aren’t particularly unique — her page, titled AdventureGrams, was a conglomeration of aesthetically pleasing travel photos, selfies and documentation of a deeply curated life abroad. Photographs in Sicily, Venice and other European tourist traps during the summer of 2012 brought in her first audience. Then in 2013, she accomplished a life-long dream: transferring to Cambridge to finish her undergraduate degree. Her platform faced a harsh pivot here, and soon her page became dedicated to the academic life of lavishness she lived alongside her wealthy, beautiful, British peers. Calloway was not born — she was created and recreated.

Calloway, however, had one unique quality that shifted the way Instagram users connect to their audience and commodify their life stories: long, personal Instagram captions. In an article by The Cut, Calloway’s college friend and frequent collaborator Natalie Beach wrote “… the internet felt like the future of writing … Instagram is memoir in real time. It’s memoir without the act of remembering. It’s collapsing the distance between writer and reader and critic.”

Her page became more of a series of diary entries accompanied by a photo of a beautiful Cambridge student, living a life of deeply curated beauty and adventure. This was an early predecessor of the “radical vulnerability” approach to garnering Instagram fame, and it successfully launched Calloway into being the aspirational and vaguely literary influencer she had been attempting to become since the beginning.

Act Two: book deals, workshops, NYC party girl

The decision to create this account would ultimately change Calloway’s entire future, just as she intended it to. She amassed a cult-like following through her digital diary and quickly became one of the first influencers to acquire a book deal. This, largely, was a result of her careful branding:

adventurous, intellectual and effortlessly perfect. At age 23, her book deal was accepted — only three years after she joined Instagram — as she amassed over 300,000 followers. Calloway had finally nabbed her dream project through an accepted proposal with Flatiron Books reportedly worth $375,000; of course, it was a memoir. True to brand, this process was documented through a careful lens of updates, snippets and behind-the-scenes images being shared online. But Calloway quickly lost interest in writing the book — she claimed that publishers didn’t want her life story, and that she instead sold a story of her life that was purely defined by the men she dated. Her book deal was dropped in 2017, and she was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. The first echoes of hatred, ridicule and “scammer” criticism began in this era — the vaguely literary brand she had made for herself was strewn in artifice.

After the book deal dissolved, Calloway still had her following despite a new, negative connotation attached to her name. During this point she became increasingly candid online: A new brand was created, but this time it relied on being beautifully artistic in a deeply unhinged manner. Her online life showed two, deeply interwoven sides: her life as a party-filled, fun and beautiful New York creative; and being emotionally candid online, to the point of deep oversharing of her mental struggles, judgment-worthy anecdotes and hourly Instagram storyposting. This branding became what she was ultimately known for, and garnered nearly as much ridicule as her failed book deal did. Additionally, this era marked her sharing her deeply personal story of Adderall addiction. Throughout the writing process and her final years at Cambridge, Calloway shared her reliance on the stimulant and her overall mental decline during what was perceived as the best years of her life. Her previous image had shattered, but Calloway still rode the momentum of the attention she was receiving.

“One day ~~~ Day one……. You decide.”

“March Madness.”

The Modern Pinocchio: Steven Spielberg’s ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’

The conversation surrounding the future of Artificial Intelligence weighs heavily on the possibility of artificial life becoming a sentient threat to the human race. Steven Spielberg’s (“The Fabelmans”) “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” changes the tone of this conversation and turns a mirror to mankind, a reminder that humans are solely responsible for what they bring into the world. “A.I.” opens on a catastrophic picture. Surging waves swallow the screen as a narrator tells the familiar tale of a planet ravaged by humans. With only the developed world left with a fighting chance, humans turned to an invention that would maximize economic profit and minimize resource

consumption: mecha (humanoid robots).

The idea for “A.I.” comes from the minds of cinema legends Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick (“The Shining”), both recognized for their influence on the sci-fi genre. Kubrick conceived “A.I.” about two decades before passing the project to Spielberg, deciding he would be better suited to handling the intensely sentimental material. Elements of “The Adventures of Pinocchio” and even Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” can be found in “A.I.” — a story driven by the love for and the desire to be loved by our creators. Although Kubrick did not live to see the final cut, his influence on “A.I.” is present and valuable to one of Spielberg’s darkest and most lachrymose tales of heartbreak, humanity and brutality. In the world of “A.I.,” Mecha

become more than just a means to survive, and the cybertronic industry begins mass-marketing them for human use. David (Haley Joel Osment, “The Sixth Sense”), a prototype Mecha built to resemble a young boy and programmed to feel love, is given to grieving couple Henry

(Sam Robards, “American Beauty”) and Monica Swinton (Frances O’Connor, “The Conjuring 2”) after their ailing son Martin (Jake Thomas, “Lizzie McGuire”) is placed in cryostasis.

Do audiences dream of electric Spider-Men?

Wasp: Quantumania,” you’ve somehow managed to make the impossible possible and unite critics and audiences in an unmitigated “ugh.” That lukewarm reaction isn’t even the worst of it (god knows you’ve dealt with that before) — the real worry is the creeping realization that this might be just the beginning.

Meeting people I’ve only ever seen in my Zoom physics classes. Meeting a celebrity after months of seeing them on social media. Finding out an online figure I followed for years is an abuser, a sex pest or just an all-of-the-above terrible person. The world is slowly revealing its ill-intentioned machinations. A universe projected or simulated, a facsimile or dream of higher beings.

There’s this disconcerting feeling I’ve picked up from many of these situations, one that I find a common thread in — but while of course all of them find their origin in some sort of artifice, we can take it deeper than that. We can sift through these layers of reality and burn away every last one, but in order to cast these shadows out for good, we have to trace them back to their source. We have to dive into Plato’s cave.

Let’s say you chained up several people from birth so that they were always facing the wall of a cave (kind of a fucked up thing for you to do, but just roll with it for the parable). All they have ever seen is that wall of the cave, with one exception. If you were to place a torch behind them, shadows — like puppets — would dance for them on the wall. Those bound would not know anything of light, darkness or life — they would perceive those shadows as their truest reality. But let’s say you freed one of those cave-people (how nice of you). Without the rest of the cave-people knowing, this person turned around to see the torch and the shadow-casting objects in front of it. Furthermore, they venture outside of the cave into the world. For a moment, the outside world’s light burns their eyes, but they eventually adjust.

My life: The backdoor pilot

of cards is about to collapse.

What happened, Mr. Feige?

Just a year ago, you lived on top of the world, pumping out

box office monster after box office monster, living life like there was no tomorrow. And now look at you. You’ve got Marvel’s first-ever flop on your hands. With “Ant-Man and the

For years, “Marvel Fatigue” seemed nothing more than the wishful thinking of pretentious cinephiles, becoming for 2010s movie reviewers what the apocalypse was for 1840s preachers — all smoke, no fire. That is, until now. There is real, palpable exhaustion from audiences all over the U.S. Take it from box office numbers, take it from personal anecdotes, take it from any source you like, this house

But all this brings me back to my original question, the same question Bob Iger must have hastily scrawled on a sticky note before nailing it to your office door: Kevin, what the HELL happened? Maybe you could shrug your shoulders and claim it’s because “Ant-Man” was bad, that’s all. But if that were all it took to damage the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it would’ve been dead on arrival in 2008. No, this problem is more complicated. This problem is something especially unique to our modern era — or should I say, postmodern era. Yeah, yeah, the transition was corny, but so are your movies, Kevin, so don’t be a hypocrite.

I hate backdoor pilots. These self-contained episodes in popular series are meant to act as the introduction to spin-offs for lesser characters. I could be in the middle of a show’s season, fully immersed in its protagonists and their arcs, only to be met with an entire episode centered around characters I don’t care about. On the off-chance I’m intrigued, I have to hope the new production succeeds. All this is for the possibility of a spin-off that probably won’t make it off the ground because it could never measure up to the original. My life started to feel like a backdoor pilot around my fifth

rewatch of “Doctor Who.” It was the first show I remember being really obsessed with, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. I fell in love with its eccentric characters and out-of-this-world adventures. Watching regular people traipsing through the galaxy with the coolest being in the universe made me ache for something that special in my life. Looking around at the mundanity of real life, I couldn’t find the same passion for any humdrum experiences on planet Earth. It was all so boring.

Instead of going out and trying to find adventures of my own, I chose to marinate in stories of other people’s incredible lives while mine passed me by.

Design by Sara Fang

Design by Sara Fang

Michigan in Color

‘Court’ (2014) Review: Subverting the Brahmin Savior Complex

A film that critiques the spectacle of Bollywood’s trauma porn and its ingrained casteism through its excruciating quietness.

Chaitanya Tamhane’s “Court” is an Indian movie in which not much happens. To describe the film as a legal “drama” might be a bit disingenuous, but it is this exact quality of the film that emphasizes its adherence to telling the truth. It’s clear from the initial moments of the film, such as the silent, distant, wide shot of poet Narayan Kamble’s arrest during a Dalit rally, that “Court” isn’t interested in dramatizing the oppression of Dalits. Instead, it is committed to representing real Dalit experiences with the law. It’s no coincidence that Naryan Kamble is played by a real-life Dalit activist, Vira Sathidar, cast right before shooting for the film began. Sathidar, who unfortunately passed away due to complications related to COVID-19 in 2021, spoke on the authenticity of Tamhane’s direction: “What he is showing is my life … what surprised me was that he wrote all this without having met me.” The portrait image of the late Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, known as “the Father of the Indian constitution” who wrote provisions to protect Dalit

ANKITHA DONEPUDI MiC Columnist

This is a story of a girl and a rapper who made her feel seen, understood and safe. The rapper who gave her a new sense of perspective, an ode to how impactful art can be. As a part of Kendrick Lamar’s top 0.01% listeners on Spotify and after months of religiously listening to his music 24/7, I feel as though I have the “qualifications” to detail my experience with Lamar and unfold how his art has impacted me. While Lamar’s music discusses his own racialized experiences with respect to his mental health struggles, his lyricism captures an essence of mental health that is arguably universal and espe-

people, watches over Kamble’s arrest, eerily reflecting how his vision of caste equality has not yet been achieved. In the context of Indian cinema more broadly, but particularly in Bollywood, an industry

dominated by upper-caste Hindus, many films address issues of caste through the lens of the privileged. A recent example is the Bollywood crime drama, Article 15 (2019), in which a Brahmin police officer is asked

to investigate hate crimes against Dalits in a rural village. These films pose Brahmin, or upper-caste Hindu characters, as saviors of caste injustice and often exploit the trauma of Dalits for financial gain. “Arti-

Design by Yuchen Wu

cle 15” specifically uses the 2014 Baduan gang rape and 2016 Una flogging incidents as inspiration to selfishly stir an emotional response from an upper-caste audience unfamiliar with Dalit struggle, while subjecting Dalits

The art of empathy: Kendrick Lamar and me

cially meaningful to me. In this dissection of Lamar’s music, to some surprise, I will not insist that he is the greatest artist of all time, or even our time. Rather than defending his spot on the industry hierarchy, I hope to highlight what makes Lamar’s discography so special, both to his listeners and me. What I will insist on, however, is that his art of emotional storytelling is incredibly distinct — transcending beyond a rapper and giving his listeners a glimpse into his psyche in a way that I’ve never seen conveyed before.

From playing with his vocal tone – by switching between various cadences to evoke emotion – to utilizing his art as a means to make commentary on soci-

etal issues, Lamar’s voice matters both literally and figuratively. Through his music, he has taught me that my voice matters too. The 17-time Grammy-winning artist has impacted the world by unfolding new perspectives for marginalized groups of people, making them feel seen in mainstream media. His album DAMN., referred to as “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life,” won hip-hop’s first-ever Pulitzer prize. No wonder all of Lamar’s studio albums have been certified platinum or higher.

What makes Kendrick, “Kendrick”

Through Lamar’s immediately

recognizable, multifaceted flow and technique, he has been proclaimed the voice of Black America on multiple occasions. On To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick rapped about the oppression and exploitation of Black people and culture by the hands of the United States. He brought cinematic visuals to main stages around the world, documenting the ongoing struggles of Black Americans. He conveyed a similar message during his performance of “Alright” at the 58th Grammy Awards show. Understanding the extent of his influence, he utilizes his music as a medium for political commentary, with his songs consisting of deep social overtones, touching on gun violence, racial and socio-economic discrimination, institutional rac-

ism, sexual abuse, mass incarceration and so much more. Lamar has been able to achieve his incredible success with a social conscience, taking initiative to spread a strong message any chance he gets, something that many rappers have failed to do. To me, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was undoubtedly the most important album of 2022, tackling many narratives in one body of work. The album was composed of songs detailing his pursuit of breaking generational trauma and the struggles that Black families endure due to institutional racism in America.

Lamar’s biggest strength and what infinitely sets him apart from other artists in the industry is his ability to make his listeners empathize. When listening to Lamar,

to reliving the trauma experienced within their communities. This form of activism only works to soothe the guilt of uppercaste people who hope that they can be one of the “good Brahmins” by sympathizing with fictional Dalit characters, thus obscuring how they are complicit in casteism themselves. The favorable representation of the Brahmin cop is especially problematic in that it reinforces an understanding that law enforcement is working to resolve issues of caste. In reality, law enforcement is actively oppressing Dalits, as shown in a recent study by Cambridge University that found officers were “more likely to prefer targeting offenders from caste-class subjugated (CCS) communities … the police are more likely to personally prefer investigating low-caste Dalit offenders than high-caste ones.” “Court” opposes this narrative in mainstream Bollywood of heroic law enforcement officials and demonstrates the complicity of cops, judges, lawyers and politicians alike, arguing that casteism is not simply a bug, but a feature of the Indian legal system.

“Court’s” aversion to sensationally representing caste oppression is shown by its treatment of the character, Vasudev Pawar, a Dalit sewage worker.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

it feels as if you can literally feel his emotional rage in your bones through his tone and vocal inflections. Lamar has mastered the art of creating a narrative and embodying his characters. He employs method-acting and role play, as seen in “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” on good Kid, m.A.A.d city by rapping from the point of view of different people in his life throughout the 12-minute track — allowing his listeners to feel the urgency, anxiety, pain, irritation and frustration that he may have felt at the moment. Lamar’s music has given me a safe space to understand my own emotions. I have struggled severely with my mental health over the past six years.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

been with a Black guy before!”

“Slay the house down boots sis!” “I don’t date Black guys, but you’re different.” “bbc?”

It’s midnight on a Friday, and I stumble home after an hour at an incredibly lame Pride Night. Me and my homegirls tried to season the function, but not even we can shake ass to pop girly remixes under oontz oontz beats. We have to get this white man off aux. How did not a single Beyoncé song get spun? Was Nicki busy that night?

I understand Rihanna has pissed us all off with the lack of an album drop, but not even “Umbrella” made an appearance? My lesbian friends were too nice to say they wanted to leave, but I could tell the overwhelming population of gay men and straight couples had taken its toll. We say our goodbyes.

A wasted buzz and pregame lead me to my bedroom, alone with my thoughts. Boredom overtakes me as the contents of a shot glass did only moments earlier. The night’s still young. I had assignments due at 11:59. I have a test on Monday. Maybe I’ll study?

As I contemplate cushioning my GPA, my phone dings with an infamous high pitched tone. It’s the notification sound of a godforsaken app: Grindr. I will get no work done tonight. Instead, I will spend my evening admiring a stranger’s body.

I open the app and am met with a sea of white torsos, a snowstorm of blossoming six packs. I can’t help but giggle as I imagine everyone flexing for dear life in their bathroom mirrors. Boys making sure their Calvin Klein covered bulges are just the right amount of visible. Bios are littered with “looking for fun!,” “fwb?,””who can host?” Or, as I see it, assorted ways of confessing to each other

that we are all lonely. There are so many fish in this digital sea. With a swipe of my finger, I grow gills and iridescent fins: I become one of them.

Immediately, the taps start rolling in. Tapping on Grindr is the gay equivalent of poking someone on Facebook. You get notified that you’ve been tapped, then it’s up to you whether you want to tap back, pull off the band-aid and message them or just ignore the gesture entirely. Educating straight people on Grindr wasn’t on my 2023 bingo card. Anyways, after the taps, the messages soon follow because 1.) Have you seen me?

and 2.) I am a walking experience. Black skin in the gay community is a kink in itself. The texts range from:

“I’ve never tried chocolate”

And you won’t be trying it tonight.

“Bbc????” x5

Why are white men so obsessed with the British Broadcasting Corporation?

“Into raceplay?”

I was wrong before.

I am not swimming in bodies. I am drowning in them. These boys are not merely fish in this digital sea, but piranhas. Cold-blooded creatures who try to consume you.

They savor flesh until you sink, bite into skin until you bleed lust. I am more meat than man. I am more body part, bucket list conquest, than person. To be Black … on Grindr … in Ann Arbor is to be simultaneously craved and unwanted.

I know what you’re thinking: Just delete the damn app! And I do, over, and over and over again, but deep down we all long for community … touch … connection. An 18-year-old version of me opened Grindr under the safety of his blankets. In the dead of night, he did what he had to do to feel alive. When your family can’t hold

your secrets, maybe a middle-aged stranger can. Maybe he’ll hold you, and your lies, and it will feel right.

Until it doesn’t.

The app doesn’t simply stain my screen. It bleeds into the real world. Necto on a Friday night is just Grindr in Ann Arbor plus Katy Perry. The music is whiter than the boys littering the sticky dance floor. So I grind to EDM and pretend to know every word to “Oops,

I Did it Again.” The nights are only satisfying if I pretend they are.

I pretend not to hear the colonized chorus of:

“Can you vogue?” “I’ve never

“Is it as big as they say?” “no Blacks, no femmes” “Can you do a death drop???”

And a direct quote from vers4now who is 59 miles away (not nearly far enough): “I need a big sexy Black man with a big juicy c*** to worship.”

Grindr in Ann Arbor is a clear representation of queerness on this campus: a space meant for all MLM that dissolves into a playground for attractive white queers. An apparent hotspot for liberal diversity that just divulges into microaggressions, exclusion, and fetishization. Why am I always begging for space in my own safe spaces?

The app that shall no longer be named has since been deleted.

Honestly, I’m still not sure whether this is a permanent solution, or a temporary fix. For better or worse, it has been there for me entirely too long. Will I still go to Live or Necto on Pride Night?

Yeah. I will just hold my people closer than ever. We’ll clink glasses before every shot. We’ll make our own music with aggressively shouted “ayes!” and “periods.”

We’ll dance in close contact, and ignore the white men watching hungrily. We’ll walk home together, and fall asleep in each other’s arms. I refuse to continuously beg for safe spaces, I’m learning how to create my own. Over the years, I lost sight of what it means to be present. I became so heavily entrenched in a nostalgic, imagined yesterday that I found myself constantly grappling with the passage of time, and I lost sight of the here and now.

Design by Tamara Turner

VIK RUPASINGHE MiC Columnist

JAMES SCARBOROUGH MiC Columnist

JULIA VERKLAN AND ZOE STORER Managing Editors

Flowers won’t do

Debates on the Diag

Voluntourism won’t get you into grad school

MOSES NELAPUDI Opinion Columnist

Altruism is a characteristic that all graduate schools seek in potential candidates. It’s a soft skill that admissions committees find in students’ essays, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, interviews and lived experiences. After all, the way you use your free time says a lot about what you truly value and how you will contribute to your future profession. Historically, the most straightforward and surefire way undergraduates have demonstrated a commitment to serving others is through volunteering. For the past three years, for example, 92% of the University of Michigan Medical School’s incoming class had at least one community service experience listed on their application.

language and professional skills to truly connect with indigenous populations and build lasting structures.

In fact, a study of 162 Americans conducted after 1998’s Hurricane Mitch found that years after the Honduran natural disaster, their work in building houses didn’t even make a difference. Instead, the houses that didn’t fall over were given a price tag 10 times the annual salary of the average Honduran. It was also found that 15 times more houses could have been constructed had the Americans donated money instead of their time. And, sometimes, the damage from voluntourists had to be rectified by locals themselves.

President Ono, let’s focus on immediate problems alongside long-term initiatives

NIKHIL SHARMA Opinion Columnist

On Tuesday, March 7, University President Santa Ono gave his inaugural address to the University of Michigan. In it, he focused on setting an optimistic tone for his term, outlining his plans for DEI 2.0, achieving carbon neutrality and restoring the health of the U-M community. Through these bold ideas, he successfully energized students and professors, ushering in a new era of leadership.

While the plans he discussed represent critical components of the University’s longterm success, his speech was noticeably light on details for short-term improvements that could make an immediate impact on student life. Though the University is known for its bold projects and wide reach, an overemphasis on major initiatives can often detract from basic improvements that are easier to achieve but still highly impactful. As Ono embarks on his first term, it’s imperative that he not allow the administration’s long-term focus to lessen its involvement in smaller-scale campus issues.

One of the first areas the administration could make an immediate impact on is hiring resources. While certain colleges, such as the Ross School of Business, have access to extensive resources, including school-specific portals, industrytailored career counseling and numerous major-specific recruiting events, many of the University’s other schools and colleges lack similar support. Though promoting student recruitment is critical for the University, it has made surprisingly little progress in allocating resources to other schools. Even in popular departments like economics and computer science, where students achieve starting

salaries well above the median U-M undergraduate, most hiring is self-directed, with limited U-M involvement. The gaps in recruiting support across those majors are primarily filled by student organizations such as consulting groups and project teams, but other majors lack similar resources.

In departments with more niche recruiting processes and smaller alumni networks, students are often left grasping for career guidance. With professors serving as major advisors for most students, undergraduates not pursuing academia often lack insight into industry recruiting processes.

Since most professors haven’t worked outside academia, they’re typically ill-equipped to provide the type of support students need for other career paths.

In order to improve U-M-wide recruitment, administrators should hire more industryspecific career counselors for each department and allocate greater funding toward organizing recruiting events that bring employers to campus.

As one of the top universities in the country, U-M graduates are highly sought after across industries, so the University has an opportunity to make a tremendous impact through a concerted effort to connect more company recruiters with U-M students. In addition, by offering industry-specific career counseling, students would have the opportunity to meet with counselors who better understand recruiting timelines and networking strategies for their desired fields.

Implementing these basic strategies could have an immediate impact on current undergraduates and significantly boost the value of a U-M degree.

Further, compared to other long-term initiatives like carbon neutrality, the cost of hiring additional counselors and restructuring hiring support

is relatively low, making it an easy area for the University to dedicate resources.

Another critical area where the University falls short is its merit scholarship offerings. Though the University maintains an extensive financial aid program, it has only a small number of merit scholarships available. Especially when competing with other top universities for student talent, these programs serve as critical differentiators that convince top students to attend the University. In addition to their financial support, programs like the Stamps Scholarship offer students individual research budgets and internship funding that enable them to thrive at the University.

Sadly, with the Stamps Scholarship being phased out and the Bell Scholarship and Bentley Scholarship among the few remaining at the University, most departments lack access to scholarship budgets that could help existing students and bring additional talent to colleges. In order to revitalize this critical component of the University’s undergraduate experience, the administration should work with donors and college heads to create department-specific scholarships for students. By doing so, the University would have an opportunity to cultivate talent through specialized grants supporting undergraduate research, internships and other programs.

The final area where the University should dedicate immediate attention is the ongoing professor shortage across departments. As the student body has grown rapidly, several popular departments have been unable to keep up with hiring goals. As a result, many professors have been forced to teach increasingly large lectures, with individualized student attention suffering as a result.

While there is no hard and fast rule about what kind of volunteering looks the best on an application, the competitiveness of graduate school admissions has driven students to pursue larger-than-life and disingenuous volunteering projects. Volunteering at local food banks, nursing homes, hospitals and homeless shelters is no longer enough for aspiring professionals; when everyone and their second cousin is logging their hours at local organizations, many have felt compelled to take their free labor to places that will score them more brownie points. And thus, pre-med students have joined in the trend of voluntourism, a form of tourism in which travelers participate in volunteer work. Developing nations, in particular, are most affected by these undergraduate “saviors,” although the net impact of their “charity” work is often severely overestimated.

Various pre-medical, pre-law and other pre-graduate school clubs and organizations on campus host alternative Spring Break trips and short summer trips to underserved areas to give their members an opportunity to gain volunteer experience. The U-M pre-medical club, for example, hosts a whopping eightday alternative Spring Break trip to the Dominican Republic each year. Students participate in health education advocacy, the installation of water filters and the construction of structures that promote health. While wellintentioned, trips like these don’t do much to actually affect the long-lasting change that local communities need. Instead, students purchase plane tickets worth hundreds of dollars for a trip during a convenient time for them to witness enough disparities to blast on social media as a pivotal “I’m more aware now” moment. With the majority of the University’s student population being both white and in the top 20% for family income (as of 2017), I doubt that students have the

M-Heal, an engineeringfocused club of over 250 students, prides itself on innovating health care technologies intended for underserved communities in countries like Ghana, Bangladesh and Mexico. However, many of their annual service projects occur during a series of one-week Spring Breaks. It is not believable that a group of 10-15 students can both gauge the landscape of health care needs of an entire community and “uncover” disparities from a dayslong trip they are centered in.

While M-Heal does have partnerships with local organizations in their target countries and spends the rest of the year designing technologies, their trips do not adequately entrench their group into the communities’ long-term needs. While it is quite venerable of them to have designed perioperative warming devices, portable exam tables and solar fridges, a community may have acutely different health care challenges in the span of just a few months. The 2014 Ebola epidemic illustrates this discrepancy. For over three years, West African countries were fighting a lethal and potent virus — one that had treatment centers overflowing and physicians rationing care. Collegiate health care and biotechnology groups previously working on projects related to, say, surgical innovations for this region, were deaf to the larger climate of infectious disease transmissibility and the precedent effect it would have.

In their Michigan in Color column “The Problem with white saviorism,” columnist Victoria Tan succinctly characterizes organizations like M-Heal when she writes, “People participating in white savior behavior may also presume that they know better and hold all the solutions because their higher education makes them intellectually superior. However, it is more complicated than that. The issues the residents have been dealing with are not ones that can be fixed in a three-week getaway because they are the consequences of much more intricate problems.” They continue to cite author Pippa Biddle, who notes that during a high school service trip to Africa, her bricks were relayed in the night by local Tanzanians altogether so that the resulting buildings would

stand correctly. While many other campusspecific examples remain, one common truth stands: the money used to cover lodging, travel and accommodation fees for voluntourists would be much better spent supporting local leaders whose physical presence can work to enact the grassroots change communities need. In the same vein, supporting local leaders shifts resources back onto the shoulders that know how to use them best. In this way, global aid is done with reverence to the thoughts, opinions and independence of the local community.

The pandemic was an opportunity to see another way to run volunteering missions. International service organizations switched many of their positions to fully remote work, changing the invasive relationship between international volunteers and underserved communities. New tasks such as online fundraising, advocacy and administration from volunteers thousands of miles away contributed greatly to the efforts in host sites. For example, Habitat for Humanity, a Christian non-governmental organization focused on building houses, hosted successful “virtual builds” during the pandemic where volunteers connected asylees with information, coordinated staffing and raised money — all from their own homes.

But online volunteering is just one way to put an end to treating projects in developing nations as an accessory. From Ann Arbor, students can produce journalism covering global disparities, organize food drives, lobby for foreign aid to underserved places, engage in workshops or advocacy panels, contribute to socioeconomic disparities research and even learn threatened languages. Not only are the possibilities to effect change from home endless, but local efforts also do not force aid; they redirect acknowledgements to on-the-ground volunteers and they place you where you are most useful. I’m confident that the interpersonal skills and experience garnered from the aforementioned initiatives will do just as much of a service for undergrads’ future endeavors as a short mission trip.

We would find it bizarre if college students from impoverished countries spent eight days volunteering at the Maize and Blue Cupboard, and then offensive if they later wrote about their experience in graduate school applications as taking part in a heroic and life-changing endeavor for voiceless Americans. With this all-too-manufactured narrative about “helping impoverished people abroad” in mind, consider ways to make a difference in your home community. After all, local impact over four years ultimately empowers you to see projects through to the end — long after you’ve submitted your application to grad school.

Design by Hannah Wilingham

Design by Joanne Jung

The indomitable human spirit: From optimism to activism

Without a doubt, I’m an optimist. From arguing in favor of the Bursley-Baits bus to arguing for an explicit expansion of our vocabulary, I try my best to see the light in every situation. But the silver lining is often elusive, and sometimes involves extensive searching. This search, in and of itself, is an art. Unlike most arts, though, optimism has a unique faculty and disposition toward improving all that it touches. While it’s not always easy to remain optimistic, the belief we have in the world correlates with how much we believe in ourselves.

Belief is embodied and emboldened by optimism. I’m not an optimist because I choose to be, but because that’s what the world requires. Optimism is the kindling for the fire of change, and the means to overcoming struggle.

On countless occasions, it’s been proven that there are multiple discernible psychological and physiological benefits to “seeing the glass half full.” Multiple studies have found a correlation between optimism and a decrease in different health issues, such as heart failure and strokes, and optimists are even reported to recover faster after undergoing intensive surgery. People who haven’t integrated optimism into their lifestyles often have higher levels of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. Optimism has also been found to have a high correlation with

overall life satisfaction. In a 1990 study, college freshmen who were predisposed toward optimism were found to be less stressed, lonely and depressed than other students. These benefits, albeit numerous and clear, are not indicative of the true effect of optimism. The physiological and psychological benefits seen because of optimism are themselves effects — effects of optimism’s unique ability to alter the way we view the world and help us confront and overcome our struggles.

Struggle is one of the few universal human experiences, making its mark on each individual’s life in some way at some point in their lives. While not all struggles are created equal, they all require at least some amount of tenacity, patience and work to overcome. Whether you’re studying for a University of Michigan math exam or attempting to bring down a systemic bias, optimism is necessary.

The art of optimism is a power that can help in overcoming any sort of struggle, no matter if that struggle is constant or temporary, immense or small. It is a way of thinking that takes a hold of the future and refuses to relinquish it into the hands of defeat.

To anyone who’s facing some sort of hardship, the phrase “everything happens for a reason” can ring a cynical bell. It can sound like complacency to an unfair and unjust present, a consolation that tries to prescribe meaning to a meaningless circumstantial situation. However, therein lies the phrase’s power. By defining meaning in hardship,

Birth control might be your pill to stop popping

we take hold of how it affects us. Optimism allows us to take a hard time and make it worth something, making experience our currency. The power to take control of our own future lies within our own perception of our current circumstances.

In giving meaning to the struggles we face, we give ourselves meaning and purpose to carry on. The meaning that we can find in different struggles can vary. A failed exam could be motivation to study harder, a lesson in accepting failure or a push toward switching majors. These experiences can make us stronger when facing a similar battle in the future, or they can teach us valuable lessons so that we may grow as people.

Undoubtedly, optimism requires a lot of courage. Getting past the face of despair and defeat to see the bigger picture is not an easy task. It feels like the world works to bring us down to its reality, to simply accept that struggle is an immovable facet of life and that it has no point. The only time we can have courage, though, is when we stand in front of the valley of despair. The only time we can overcome it is when we are at risk of being conquered. Hope is as courageous an endeavor as any.

It’s also important to note that optimism might not always be “right.” Many times, an optimist will find the outcomes that they’ve sought out are different from reality. But the differences between what we seek and what we have do not invalidate the use of optimism.

Stirring the Pot: Last straws

Stirring the Pot with Giselle is The Michigan Daily’s biweekly advice column.

“What should I do if I hate the way my boyfriend eats cereal? Like he just smacks the bowl with every bite. I tried wearing earplugs but he gave me a weird look when I put them in at breakfast. Help, I’m at my last straw!”

Hi P, Oh no! That seems dreadful. I hate eating noises, but I hate people that are anti-earplug even more. You could try softly explaining the problem to him, though that does risk offending him or making him feel insecure about how he eats near you. Maybe the best option is to just play music at breakfast. It could be very cute, especially as the weather gets warmer, to turn on a speaker and play something soft and relaxing while you eat. If he doesn’t like that, I recommend you try waking up at a different time to eat breakfast, or try out meditation. You could also suggest making something together for breakfast instead of cereal, like muffins or eggs with toast. That way it can feel like a cute activity along with some auditory relief.

Your song recommendations are:

“Marginalia #65” by Masakatsu Takagi, which I am seriously loving right now, and “Two Sleepy People” by Fats Waller (a little more romantic for the early morning).

“I tried flirting with a bartender at Bab’s and I think he might have been vibing. I’m 22. He looked about 30 and was wearing suspenders. Do I go for it? Or do I just milk it until I get at least 1 free drink and leave him in the dust? -A”

Dear A,

Oof. Suspenders? What kind of suspenders? Like the Millennial Tumblr suspenders or like old man suspenders? I personally prefer the way Louis Tomlinson was basically recreating 2010s fashion with his suspenders, but it really comes down to the rest of the outfit. I think your primary next steps are confirming: a) his age, and b) if he is actually flirting with you. I am not completely sure what “going for it” means to you, but asking him out could be very awkward and uncomfortable for both of you if you aren’t positive that he is flirting.

If another bartender is around at Bab’s, maybe you could try the middle school approach — ask them if you should ask him out. They might say go for it or maybe they

would do some light and casual sleuthing first to make sure that the two of you are a good fit. They might give you a flat-out “no,” but at least it would decrease the chance of embarrassment if you are rejected, as well as his possible discomfort. If that isn’t appealing, buy some suspenders and bring them with you to Bab’s. Wear them literally every time you go (at least four times), and if you haven’t sparked his curiosity by then, don’t wear them the next time. See if he asks about the disruption in behavior. First comes conversation, then come dates and sooner or later you might get married in suspenders! How sweet! (Please don’t.)

If he never asks or engages, give up. Sorry I can’t be of more help. Honestly, I think I know the bartender you’re talking about — I once heard him do a really bad Italian accent to the person next to me and it was seriously off-putting. I won’t ask you to imagine what it sounded like.

PS: I just found a tangible image of Louis Tomlinson’s suspender era and I refuse to take back what I said.

I will say that I respect his bravery and commitment to the bit. I feel like a belt would have fixed any of these outfits.

Your song recommendation is:

“Love On The Brain” by Rihanna. This song has been so good recently, I couldn’t explain it if I tried.

“Hi. My older sister tries to mimic, outdo or compete with me in everything. She sees what I do on Instagram and then does her version of it. She then posts her results, sometimes embarrassing herself. It is maddening to see her doing this. I would love to give her advice, but I know she will not take the advice well. What would you suggest I do?

-B”

Dear B, The only option here is to ignore it. You can always mute her so that her latest post doesn’t come up on your feed. If you think that

Let it be known that I am a bit of a hypochondriac. A recurring headache that pangs in a particular part of my head has left me certain that a burst aneurysm is an inevitability. I was sure that a now totally healed wrist, that broke my fall down some icy stairs, would heal improperly. (Would it snap and become permanently fixed, bent outwards at a ninety-degree angle?) I have, on multiple occasions, required reassurance that the amount of blood lost from a scrape or cut is not worthy of medical attention.

Often, when I’m told my anxieties surrounding all things bodily are unwarranted, I listen. But when it was time to make the grueling choice about whether or not to go on birth control, I still wasn’t so sure I was overreacting. Yes, plenty of people go and stay on birth control without thinking twice, but should they? Birth control’s quiet consequences might make them reconsider.

The light to contraception has a long and trying history. As long as people have been attempting to create contraception methods, people have tried, and often succeeded, at making them inaccessible. Rubber condoms were first invented in the late 1850s by a man named Charles Goodyear, and on its heels would come legislation pioneered by devout Christian Anthony Comstock, who found contraception highly immoral and improper, as it was sexually promiscuous. He would successfully get the Comstock Act passed in 1873, which would greatly stint the supply and spread of condoms, making it illegal to distribute them via mail or across state lines. The act also banned advertisements or pamphlets surrounding anything that made reference to contraception. Activists and doctors alike would also be arrested as a result of Comstock for their efforts to educate people about their birth control options.

the realm of sex and otherwise. The accessibility of birth control is linked to more women pursuing higher education and graduate degrees and becoming economically empowered. Most importantly, birth control ensures that its users are not saddled with the repercussions of an unwanted pregnancy.

But just because birth control is important doesn’t mean it is inconsequential. Birth control does a lot to our bodies. The pill, like many other birth control options, is hormonal, and affects both our bodies and our brains in a myriad of ways.

Many people have stories that attest to this fact; anecdotes of boobs tripling in size, perpetual nausea, weight gain and uncontrollable mood swings abound. And, while there are plenty of users who feel unaffected, some may simply be unaware of how their birth control can affect them.

Sometimes birth control’s effects make themselves unignorable. Other times, they manifest in far subtler ways. The most conventional formulation of the pill contains estrogen and progesterone, which both work to stop the release of an egg during the menstrual cycle, preventing pregnancy. These hormones also alter our brain activity and structure, with studies showing that birth control can impact the processing of emotions and memory and changes in cortisol levels can potentially cause higher stress and moodiness. Hormonal birth control can also affect sex drive and attraction, influencing the nature of intimate relationships and even whom one chooses to be with in the first place. How often you feel sad, nervous, anxious, depressed, angry or forgetful could all be connected to your birth control use.

past three months. The survey estimated that 11.2 million women were on the pill. As of 2017, that number was closer to 9.1 million. Even if we account for this decrease, as women have begun opting for pill alternatives, it still feels like a safe bet to say that there are a lot of women on the pill who are not having sex.

People are prescribed the pill not only for birth control, but also to mitigate period symptoms, improve acne or address other medical concerns. For some, this might still be a worthwhile trade-off, but it needs to be understood as precisely that: A trade-off in which sacrifices are being made. Culturally, we don’t see it this way.

By prescribing the pill so casually, and as a catch-all medication to address issues unrelated to contraception, a crucial and dismaying message is being conveyed about how we value the female body. The production of male birth control has been stalled for years due to it not making it past clinical trials for the same side effects experienced by millions of women on the pill today. This is a disturbing discrepancy. We feel comfortable asking far more of the female body than of the male, while simultaneously not centering women in medical research or believing women’s pain.

she is embarrassing herself then there is nothing more that you can say or do to stop her. Maybe she will eventually realize, or maybe it just doesn’t matter. She’s your sister, what can you do?! (Picture me shrugging like this, with the suspenders.) I suppose you could block her if you really wanted to, so she cannot see your posts either, but that may impact your relationship seriously.

You say that she does not take advice well, but maybe you can try to help with her mimicked “results.”

If she is cooking (poorly), maybe try cooking with her or giving her platedecor pointers in person. If she is knitting (poorly), send her some interesting new patterns and video walk-throughs. If she is drawing (poorly), suggest a collaboration or spend some time making art with her. This is all assuming that she lives relatively close, but maybe she just misses her sister or feels insecure! If you can’t stop her from mimicking you, maybe try (not condescendingly) decreasing her online embarrassment — if you can’t fix the problem, focus on the symptoms! Either that or tell her Instagram isn’t cool anymore and convince her to join Pinterest or some other time-consuming social media. (If Pinterest has one million fans, I’m one; if Pinterest has one fan, I’m it; if Pinterest has zero fans, I’m dead).

Your song recommendations are: “What You Need” by KAYTRANADA feat. Charlotte Day Wilson and “White Horse” by Taylor Swift, which comes from a playlist I made when I had a rattail. It lasted for exactly three days, the playlist was more than four hours long and I did not listen to it once.

(Don’t judge me for my interest in rattails. I am a strong believer in the theory of them in my mind, but I admit to dissatisfaction in real-life application.)

Twirling my imaginary rattail and smiling romantically at you, Your Best Friend Grisella

When oral contraception — what we know as “The pill” — was created in the 1950s, it would still be years before it was made fully legal. The Supreme Court didn’t make it legal for married couples until 1965, and didn’t declare birth control a part of the constitutional right to privacy until 1972.

This history is all to say that access to birth control was hard fought for, and should not be taken for granted. Birth control’s essential role has also been underscored by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as well as conservative politicians riding the repeal’s coattails and advocating for birth control itself to be banned.

Birth control is imperative. It gives those capable of becoming pregnant the agency to take control over their lives both in

Assessing the extent to which birth control has had an impact in regard to these various categories is a challenge. It’s hard to isolate each emotion and compare it with how one felt before taking birth control. Many people also go on birth control in their teens or early twenties, when their bodies and minds are still very much developing, making an accurate comparison impossible.

These drawbacks certainly don’t mean that birth control shouldn’t be prescribed or taken. For plenty, being on birth control is a smart and necessary choice, and easy, free access for those who seek it is essential. But there are also plenty of people on or considering birth control who, if better informed of the side effects and health risks, might decide that the cons actually outweigh the pros.

Data collection on the reasons women go on birth control is severely lacking, which is why I will, apologetically, pull from a national survey from 2011 that found that more than 762,000 women on the pill had never had sex, and more than 911,000 women on the pill hadn’t been sexually active for at least the

I have only my perpetual nervousness, not medical professionals, to thank for the diligence with which I approach my birth control usage. But those with less anxiety than I also deserve to understand just what being on birth control means. When considering birth control, people should be encouraged by their doctors to first spend a month or two actively taking stock of their moods, their emotional volatility and all else that is subject to change, so that they can better make sense of what effect the pill is having on them. The scope of impact needs to be better understood so that people can make an informed decision on whether or not going on birth control makes sense for them. And, even for those of us who still opt to take the pill, understanding its drawbacks is vital. It’s how we know to ask for better. We deserve it. For the time being, being on the pill is the choice that makes the most sense for me. I am still in the committed relationship that led me to go on it in the first place, and, while I have my suspicions about how my current formulation takes its toll on me, the process of switching to a different hormonal method just for it to have similar or worse consequences is not a gamble I’m eager to take. The lengthy periods and intense cramps associated with the nonhormonal copper IUD are also not too appealing. But should my relationship status change, the opportunity to take a break from birth control and reassess how my body feels without it would certainly be a welcome one.

– President Santa J.

Design by Skylar Modell

“We need your ideas, we need your insights, and most of all, we need your dreams.”

Ono

ZHANE YAMIN Senior Opinion Editor LILA DOMINUS Opinion Columnist

On more than one occasion, I have been shocked to find that two people who I never expected to know one another actually did.

I discovered that my friend from my dorm has known my friend from math class since orientation.

A boy in my professional fraternity apparently sails with someone who lives right down the hall from me. A kid I went to high school with ended up being good friends with my next-door neighbor. Time and time again, I was shown how interlinked our campus community really is and how often we seem to overlook our connections.

With more than 30,000 undergraduates at the University of Michigan, it’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond. There are only so many friends

you can make, organizations you can join or classes you can enroll in — naturally you’re not going to know everyone. But just because you don’t know every student passing you in the Diag or the names of everyone in your classes doesn’t mean that you are somehow disconnected or detached from the people around you. We are all more interconnected than we presume, something I feel is better recognized when considering the concept of degrees of separation.

I have long been fascinated by the six degrees of separation: The theory that any two people in the world can be connected through no more than six social connections. The idea that someone living around the globe and I are connected by less than six people is not only mindblowing, but also demonstrates that the world is not as divided as some like to believe. This concept is only amplified in a campus

environment. A recent study from Cornell University which researched course enrollments showed that any two students can be connected in three steps or less. This result doesn’t even take into account the connections that can be found through friends, extracurricular activities, living situations and parties.

To transfer this idea onto our own school, the University of Michigan has what I’d like to call “Michigan’s Two Degrees of Separation.” What I mean by this is that any two people at the University of Michigan are likely two or fewer social connections away from each other without even realizing it. Now, of course, this notion might seem far-fetched, but the harder you think the more it starts to make sense. The average U-M student takes about 15 credit hours per semester, which comes out to about four or five courses. That means that each of us is

taking classes with hundreds of other students each week — students who also take classes with hundreds of other people. To add on to that, we have over 1,600 student-run organizations made up of students from all different years and backgrounds coming into contact with one another. Add all of that together with friend groups, dorm living and any of the other spontaneous ways college students meet on campus, and the result is a complex web of social interaction that connects the University of Michigan together.

To fully grasp how interconnected our community is we need to dig deeper than just the way the University is structured. We need to think critically about what unites all of us as U-M students. Sure, we all love football games and are eager to take a selfie with Santa Ono, but we, as Michigan Wolverines, have a distinct spirit that joins us

together beyond the fact that we think it is great to be a Michigan Wolverine. Regardless of our backgrounds, in-state or outof-state, STEM or humanities students, Greek life-enjoyers or Greek life-avoiders, what unites us and connects us is that desire we all have to be a part of this community, no matter what shape that may take.

That is what makes Michigan’s two degrees of separation what it is. Of course we can attribute our connectedness to the classes we take and the organizations we participate in, but it is ultimately our own attempts to participate in our college community that breathes life into this web of connection. Whatever your background or role at the University of Michigan, who your friends are or what you are trying to do here, all of us are compelled to be here and to grow here in some way. That is what makes us interconnected.

But why just stop at the University of Michigan? Any college whose students are passionate about cultivating an interconnected community should experience the degrees of separation phenomenon. Academic spaces, particularly universities, provide unparalleled opportunities for growth and discovery, and it is truly up to the students themselves to decide how connected they can be. The bottom line is that even when you might feel like you’re totally separated or disconnected from the people around you, I promise that you are undoubtedly more connected to them than you realize. That person sitting next to you in lecture or the guy in front of you in the line for Joe’s Pizza might seem distant, but I promise if you take the time to think hard enough about it you’ll see how connected we all truly are.

would not come with any bonuses.

Ann Arbor’s tallest building is the aptly named Tower Plaza Condominium. Standing at around 300 feet tall, the building was controversial from its first proposal. City Council moved rapidly to enact an 18-story height limit, but Tower Plaza came in right under the wire before that ordinance change was passed. The first time Ann Arbor opposed a tower for being “too tall” was in 1929. The original proposal for the beautiful Spanish Renaissance-style Forest Plaza, at 715 South Forest Avenue, was nine stories tall, but the city bargained them down to five stories. The controversies haven’t stopped since. Ann Arbor’s latest downtown building controversy was 413 East Huron, known as Foundry Lofts. Dubbed “overpowering” and “imposing” by some, the plan nearly failed to pass the council. Now, 512 Ann Arbor residents call it their downtown home.

Ann Arbor’s “high-rises” have made our city a better place to live. They’ve added new housing supply, supported sustainable growth and made our city the place it is today. Ann Arbor’s 21st century high-rises can be attributed to a 2009 zoning ordinance change. When the special tax rules that govern downtown were renewed, residents expressed their desire for a more vibrant downtown. The resulting plan, named Ann Arbor Discovering Downtown,

created our downtown zoning codes. A2D2 gave developers a “premium” option for their developments — more residential space downtown was a major ask during public input. In exchange for building residential floor space, developers received the rights for more height and density. This “residential premium” was used to construct more than a dozen buildings in the new downtown zoning district. In 2019, elected officials altered downtown zoning.

Instead of offering the right to more floor space in exchange for residential space, the city began asking developers to construct subsidized housing. This dealt a major blow to development in the city core. This premium process is called inclusionary zoning. Inclusionary zoning seems to be a free solution to affordable housing woes, and is meant as a response to exclusionary zoning, which is the design of zoning laws to restrict access to a neighborhood. The Biden

administration has taken strides to combat this pervasive phenomenon. Unfortunately, as we can see in Ann Arbor, inclusionary zoning is not really working as advertised.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Emily Hamilton, Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center, at George Mason University, which researches how markets can solve social problems, explained that, because

these programs are typically designed with a density bonus to offset the cost of subsidizing some of the units, “inclusionary zoning always depends on exclusionary zoning existing … to work.”

Hamilton said that, in her research of inclusionary zoning programs in the Baltimore-Washington region, very few have produced any affordable units. She said that Ann Arbor’s program is an optional program, in contrast to a mandatory program, which

“Out of eleven optional programs, only two have provided any units,” Hamilton said. “And those two programs are in otherwise very exclusionary, expensive, supply-constrained localities.”

Some research on inclusionary zoning has even shown that the tool can backfire.

Hamilton confirmed that reality, describing that in her research of mandatory inclusionary zoning programs “actually increased the median house price among localities that adopted (those) programs relative to what they could have expected otherwise.”

A slew of recent planned unit developments, known as PUDs, are a major sign that poorly designed regulations are the issue here, not just macroeconomic factors. A PUD allows a developer to receive custom zoning in exchange for public benefits.

Two projects, at 721 South Forest Avenue and 732 Packard Street, are of a similar mass and scale as the dozen recent towers downtown, but are pursuing PUDs for relief, even offering money for Ann Arbor’s affordable housing fund. Ann Arbor’s planning commission is aware of the system’s failings, recently requesting consultants to review the ordinances. The report confirmed that, just like developers, city staff and volunteer commissioners alike all believe the system to be ineffective — and the numbers are there to support this conclusion.

The Apple AirPods Max are ugly. Or, at least that’s what my last-semester self thought.

As of two weeks ago, though, I own a pair of AirPods Max, and I must say, I’ve been using them quite a lot. They have been nothing short of excellent. The noise-canceling feature quite literally tunes you out from the raucous sounds that may surround you when trying to get work done in popular study spots across campus, and they’re surprisingly comfortable as well.

If you’re debating whether to get a pair for yourself, this is me expressing my fervent support of the purchase.

However, despite my positive experience with the AirPods Max, it is undeniable that there are several other brands that produce high-quality noise-canceling headphones as well. From the Sony WH-1000XM5 to the Bose QuietComfort 45, headphones at half the price of the AirPods Max can be found on the market.

To be completely honest, I was simply looking for a solid pair of

noise-canceling headphones that would get the job done. But as I browsed the choices available at my nearest Best Buy, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the AirPods Max. Why was I so allured by them, knowing that they were the most expensive option? Why did I insist that they looked better on me than any of the other pairs of headphones at the store when, let’s be honest, no pair of headphones, regardless of the brand, is ever going to be the cutest accessory for embellishing an outfit? It turns out that the reason we feel drawn to purchase brand-name products is inherently psychological, and while investing in certain designer products is, at times, worth the money because of their durability, others just aren’t worth paying such high prices.

Designer brands have expertly championed the art of hooking their customers’ attention through their unique “statement” brand names. These brands know that, in order to leave their mark, they must label themselves with a simple yet eye-catching title and aesthetic. The title is thus paired with quality products that adhere to a certain specialty and aesthetic. Take the expensive,

albeit popular, sneaker brand, Golden Goose. The price for Golden Goose sneakers ranges from around $350 to over $2,000. Some would deem this price range ridiculous, given that the brand’s shoes have a distressed and used look, so they barely look worth the expensive price tag they bear.

Some have gone as far as to claim that they fall under the controversial “poverty chic” trend, which romanticizes the idea of resorting to what is considered low-class for fashion inspiration. As Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell presents in her 2017 essay for Politico Magazine, times of increasing income inequality result in a twisted high society desire to cosplay poverty.

Curiously, it is precisely the bizarre, distressed look of Golden Goose sneakers that the brand aims to market and that customers, as a result, covet. In an interview with ELLE Magazine, Golden Goose CEO Silvio Campara explained that “what (they’ve) tried to do, and tried to say (with the brand), is that everyone may have their own reason for why the shoes are the way they are. They are meant to be part of life, and life is not glossy.” The brand

advertises itself as a reflection of life’s tough realities, which, according to Campara, makes the brand “relatable” because it isn’t “polished and perfect.” Basically, instead of having to break your shoes in until they fit your exact foot size like every other person, Golden Goose does it for you, and that is the advertised reason why they are worth investing in.

The phenomenon described above is rightfully known as emotional branding. In attempts to foster consumer loyalty, brands follow a series of steps that help them develop a positive reputation as a company. As explained in a 2019 study by YounKyung Kim and Pauline Sullivan, brands explore market trends that have contributed to consumer happiness in the past, and then propose distinct emotional branding strategies that respond to the trends evaluated. Emotional branding is eventually coupled with emotional marketing, which aims to target human emotions in order to catch customers’ attention. In the end, this is what makes designer products appealing to consumers because we will ultimately buy products that we believe we can trust. This does not eliminate the fact

that designer products are high quality. My mom and grandma are constantly expressing their utmost elation at the fact that, someday, I’ll be able to inherit their favorite Louis Vuitton handbag and their beloved David Yurman necklace because the quality of these products is just that good. But even if the quality of these products is excellent, buying goods produced by designer brands is certainly an investment. And while the Louis Vuitton purse that will last you a lifetime is probably worth investing in if you have the economic resources to do so, perhaps a bottle of expensive Dior perfume isn’t as worth it, given that it runs out in due time.

Take the example of winter parkas. Insulated winter jackets produced by brands such as Canada Goose and The North Face are lauded for their highquality material and fit, which makes them more durable than those generally sold at retail stores. But the winter parka you decide to purchase really depends on how you plan to use it, as Jordan Wand, vice president of production and marketing for Outdoor Research, explains in an interview with ABC News.

However, the societal need to keep up has convinced us that, in order to fit in, we must rep the Canada Goose parka priced at over $1,000, even if we will really only use it for the duration of our four years of college. This phenomenon is especially true if you’re originally from a warmtemperature region that you plan to return to after college, which is, in fact, my exact situation. It is this type of societal and emotional manipulation that often leads us to invest in designer products without considering what we will use them for in the long run.

In the end, your money is your money, and you can use it to purchase whatever you want to purchase. But before spending large sums of your paycheck on a bottle of Dior perfume that will inevitably run out or on a pair of Gucci jeans that you may eventually grow out of, think about the long-lasting effects of your purchase, whether these implicate outgrowing the product you purchased or contributing to a conflicting societal expectation that comes with investing in designer goods. If, by then, you’re still drawn to a designer product, opt for the durable Louis Vuitton handbag instead.

GRACIELA BATLLE CESTERO Opinion Columnist

Design by Leah Hoogterp

“Branding” is the name of the game

Ann Arbor needs skyscrapers

Michigan’s two degrees of separation: We are more connected than you realize

MAX FELDMAN Opinion Columnist

ABDULRAHMAN ATEYA Opinion Columnist

MINNEAPO-

LIS — Remove the interim tag from Brandon Naurato. Do it yesterday, if you can. This has nothing to do with the interim coach winning the Big Ten Championship — though that helps. This has nothing to do with achieving a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament — though that helps. And it has nothing to do with how the No. 4 Michigan hockey team has not skipped a singular beat in its success with him at the helm — though that, too, helps.

At Michigan, winning hockey is an expectation, not a bonus. But to be the right person to lead the Wolverines, it has to do with something much more.

It has everything to do with who Naurato is as a coach. It has everything to do with who he is as a personal and professional leader. It’s easy to point at the winning record and call it a day. Instead, it’s what Naurato does off the ice that makes him fit to lead the Wolverines.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

John Tondora: Remove the interim tag

Saturday night was the culmination of nearly a season’s worth of work and dedication. So now’s the time for Michigan Athletics and athletic director Warde Manuel to make the change. He’s put in the work from the very beginning, and it’s clearly just getting started to pay off.

“He’s a player’s coach,” junior defenseman Ethan Edwards said Feb. 6. “… He’s used to being in (the players’) shoes, so he’s very easy to relate with. He’s very honest and he definitely has goals in mind that he wants to obtain and also has high standards for our team.”

A player’s coach is certainly what the Wolverines need. However, what’s made Naurato’s tenure with Michigan so impactful has been his resilience as a leader.

With a season that began with the sad passing of long-time Michigan equipment manager Ian Hume just three weeks into the new campaign, Naurato was thrust into a leadership role that needed answers you can’t find in the Xs and Os of a playbook.

This wasn’t a singular moment, either. It was the beginning of a rollercoaster season for Naurato and the Wolverines.

Only one month later, on the back of a five-game road trip against three straight ranked programs, Michigan ran into perhaps the scariest scene in its recent program history. Adenovirus, which spread throughout the entire program, threatened the lives of multiple players, sidelining much of the team and almost taking the life of junior defenseman Steven Holtz.

The youngest team in college hockey didn’t just need a coach. It needed a mentor, a friend and a shoulder to lean on.

It got one in Naurato.

“We didn’t talk about hockey too much this week,” Naurato said after the Wolverines lost to visiting Minnesota Nov. 17, starting a barely-eligible lineup in the face of the virus. “It’s been nothing but worrying and thinking about our teammates and their mental health and their physical health. We got a great group of kids and guys are still fighting the fight.”

And that’s the key to it all.

In loss to LSU, Michigan shows that it’s a program in progress

JACK CONLIN Daily Sports Writer

BATON ROUGE, La. — At first glance, there’s not much to take away from a brutal loss like the one that the No. 6 seed Michigan women’s basketball team suffered on Sunday.

In its 66-42 season-ending thwacking at the hands of No. 3 seed LSU, the Wolverines failed to execute a cohesive gameplan from start to finish, managing just 15 first-half points while allowing Tigers’ forward Angel Reese to put up historic numbers.

But in short spurts, there were moments of brightness amid the darkness.

Sophomore guard Laila Phelia added 20 points. Junior forward Cameron Williams notched eight more on 75% shooting, with a teamhigh five rebounds. And a cast of bench players saw NCAA Tournament action for the first time — giving the program’s future a taste of what it takes to succeed in March, even in failure.

In Sunday night’s brutal loss, performances from young players alleviated some of the desperation felt by Michigan’s coaches. Because for the Wolverines, those showings should provide some hope for the

future.

“Reese’s don’t come around the block every day,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said postgame. “Neither do Naz Hillmon’s. She’s just a real difference-maker. But I’m excited about the players we have returning. … You know, coming to Michigan is not for everyone. We’re super selective. And I just think that the players in our program progress through their time here and improve and buy into that philosophy.”

But the Wolverines’ hope just didn’t matter to a team like the Tigers.

Phelia, touted as one of Michigan’s three top weapons, put up a team high in scoring while the other two of its “three-headed monster,” graduate forward Emily Kiser and fifth year wing Leigha Brown, disappeared. But in the game’s early stages, before LSU pulled away, Phelia struggled to assert herself — shooting 1-for-5 from the field during the game’s gritty, low-scoring first quarter. Fifteen of her eventual 20 points came in the second half, proving to be too little, too late as LSU ran away with the game — leaning on Reese’s dominant interior presence to keep the Wolverines at arm’s length.

“(I need to be) able to calm down when being defended and (blocked) really aggressively,” Phelia told The Daily postgame. “ … I feel like I haven’t faced that this year, so I feel like that taught me a lot about myself.” And those lessons can be good in the long run. Phelia’s ability to produce at any

point while her co-stars faltered is a sign of good things to come: the sophomore guard is the lone player from that trio returning next year, and will begin the season as Michigan’s top two-way threat.

Williams, too, showed promise throughout the game.

Frequently named as the Wolverine’s strongest player, her ability to find footing in the slugfest on the interior while Kiser faltered showed why she started every game for them this season. The task of matching Reese’s production proved too lofty for her, but an efficient scoring night alongside spurts of success on the boards should provide some confidence in her as a core piece moving forward.

“(I want to) enhance my post presence,” Williams told The Daily. “And be more of an aggressor on the boards, offensively and defensively. Giving our team and myself second chance opportunities is going to be huge next year. So that’s something I’m gonna lock in on.”

In moments on Sunday, Williams exhibited those traits. Just not enough to change the final outcome.

The list of returning players who showed promise in the postseason doesn’t end there: Sophomore guards Jordan Hobbs and Greta Kampschroeder are two more Wolverines who will enter next year as potential starters. Seeing game action against a team like LSU can only have aided their development in the college game.

The Tigers showed the world that Michigan wasn’t among the country’s top teams. That doesn’t mean it won’t ever be. But Barnes Arico’s crusade to elevate the Wolverines to the sports’ upper echelon didn’t pan out this season.

Amid a tumultuous season instigated by events out of his control, Naurato continuously guided a group of a dozen freshman, tasked with the job of Atlas, carrying the weight of the Michigan hockey world on their shoulders. Through good and bad, up and down, win and loss, Naurato was there for it all.

Saturday night, those ups and downs became all worth it, because although Naurato could have never entirely predicted himself lifting a Big Ten Championship over his head back in August, he certainly put in the effort, guidance and dedication to do so.

And as freshman forward Rutger McGroarty — who scored two goals for the Wolverines on Saturday — sat, laden in sweat during the postgame press conference, he didn’t point to his own immense talent, hard work, or skill set. Instead, he emphasized the necessity of “a lot of video with coach Naur” as the impetus for his performance.

Because Naurato’s personal leadership is straightforward. It’s effective. It’s seemingly beloved by his players. He keeps it simple — just the way he likes it.

“I know how other people treated me, good and bad, and how I treat other people,” Naurato said March 6. “I think if you treat people with respect and communicate and you’re honest, life’s easy.”

Now, after winning another Big Ten Championship, Naurato and Michigan can breathe easy — if only for a moment.

But what will define Naurato’s time with the Wolverines won’t simply be the singular moments. It will be the long-lasting, institutionalized change that he has gifted the program. Changes that clearly came off the ice, but have impacts on it, too.

Naurato’s chance at the helm was never about winning a Big Ten Championship, though his career most certainly hinges on winning those. It was about everything he could do off the ice and more.

Not to worry though, outside of his own personal hockey expertise and player development prowess, Naurato has single-handedly constructed a formerly “non-existent”

analytics program, which has driven an influential level of the Wolverines’ success.

But to purely ascribe Michigan’s success to young talent, or analytics, or even Naurato himself would be disingenuous. It’s a team, it’s a program, and its fate relies on more than one man. Yet what has made Naurato’s short tenure so special is his evidently outward investment in the people that make these units function.

“That’s why people are so important,” Naurato said Feb. 6. “Strength coach, medical guy, equipment, social media, coaches — everybody. If you’ve got the right people in every area, you just ask for their expertise.”

Because this isn’t an endorsement of Naurato’s supposed perfection. He himself will even tell you he doesn’t have all the answers.

Rather, this is an assessment. Cliché lines say that ‘life is a test,’ but for Naurato this season has been just that — one big test. He’s passed, and with flying colors.

Michigan Athletics needs to remove the interim tag from Brandon Naurato. It’s a little late to do it yesterday.

So do it now.

Angel Reese overwhelms Michigan in season-ending blowout

LYS GOLDMAN Daily Sports Writer

BATON ROUGE, La. — It was almost impossible to take your eyes off her. All it took was a few waves of LSU forward Angel Reese’s outstretched arms and the raucous crowd at Pete Maravich Assembly Center erupted. She was animated and emotional, the epitome of a star player who knows the impact of her presence — on both the game’s atmosphere and its final box score.

Reese was involved, to some extent, in nearly every big play for the third-seeded Tigers throughout Sunday’s 66-42 win over the No. 6 Michigan women’s basketball team. Whether those contributions came in the form of emphatic layups, stifling blocks, aggressive offensive rebounds or the frenzies she drew from the crowd, Reese was everywhere — and the Wolverines failed to contain her in any facet of the game.

“She’s just really special, I think,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “Angel Reese’s don’t come around the block every day.”

Putting up 25 points, 24 total rebounds, six blocks and four assists — all team-highs — in addition to firing up the crowd during key moments, Reese showed exactly what makes her so special.

A first-team All-American, she stands at 6-foot-3 but plays like she’s even taller — using her length and strength to overpower opponents on both ends of the floor. She didn’t shoot efficiently Sunday night — going just 8-for-23 from the field — but she still imposed her will on the glass after almost every miss.

“A lot of those rebounds came from a lot of my misses,” Reese said. “… Just paying close attention to where the ball is. I have a really good eye for the ball.”

Fourteen of Reese’s 24 rebounds

came on the offensive end, where her length allowed her to overcome the Wolverines’ attempts to box out. Midway through the first quarter — in one possession — she grabbed three consecutive offensive boards. While she wasn’t able to finish any of those put-back attempts, her intensity and physicality wore Michigan down while disrupting any semblance of defensive rhythm.

“It was super physical,” said graduate forward Emily Kiser, who was tasked with guarding Reese for much of the game. “I struggled a lot just blocking out. … (Reese is a) super physical player, she finds a way to get her shot off. (I’m) definitely going to feel that tomorrow morning.”

In comparison, the Wolverines finished the game with 26 total rebounds, just two more than Reese had herself. On the offensive glass, they gathered just five boards — nine fewer than Reese grabbed individually.

“Obviously, Angel Reese is, you know, one of the best rebounders,” Barnes Arico said. “And we had one of the best rebounders in Naz Hillmon for four years. And Angel Reese might even be better — I hope Naz isn’t listening — than Naz was.”

As Barnes Arico alluded to, Michigan had played against Reese before Sunday’s game. Last year, the Wolverines faced her when

she played for Maryland before transferring to LSU — and she secured 10 rebounds even with Michigan’s former star forward Hillmon in the post.

So, heading into the secondround NCAA Tournament matchup, the Wolverines knew just how dangerous Reese could be.

But within minutes it was clear — they still couldn’t stop her.

In press conferences Saturday, sophomore guard Laila Phelia recognized Reese’s prowess as a blocker while discussing transition offense.

“Personally, (I don’t want) to get blocked by Angel Reese down there,” Phelia said. “Maybe if I try to hurry up and get it down there, it might help us out a little bit.”

Phelia ended up getting blocked three times throughout the game, two of those coming from Reese. That premonition serves as a microcosm for Reese’s impact — despite knowing her strengths, Michigan was simply unable to neutralize them.

At the end of the day, Reese is just “a heck of a ball player,” as Barnes Arico put it.

And on the biggest stage, in a do-or-die game with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen on the line, she stole the spotlight — and with it, Michigan’s season.

SportsMonday: Michigan’s uneasy path forward

Sixteen teams punched their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen this weekend, advancing to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

For the first time since 2016, the Michigan men’s basketball team wasn’t one of them.

Of course, you know that by now. March Madness is chugging along without the Wolverines, who are absent from the Big Dance for the first time in eight seasons. Instead, while San Diego State glided past Furman to become this year’s first Sweet Sixteen team, Michigan authored a stunning collapse in the NIT against Vanderbilt — an abject meltdown that brought a fitting, merciless end to its disappointing season.

There’s no need to rehash the failures of the 2022-23 Wolverines. Their shortcomings have been beaten into the ground, and with the season finally over, they should at last be laid to rest.

What’s more intriguing is the thought of where the program goes next. Because the most important offseason of Juwan Howard’s coaching tenure is officially underway.

“This summer, including me, we all have to get better,” Howard told reporters Saturday, stating the obvious. “We have to get better on all levels when it comes to what we want to do to help serve our team to give us the best chance.”

Through four years at the helm, Howard is yet to experience a placid offseason. Remember the melodrama of five-star recruits Isaiah Todd and Josh Christopher, each of whom spurned Michigan in a 24-hour stretch in April 2020? The 2021 offseason was marked by the departure of three starters; the 2022 offseason one-upped that, with the Wolverines losing four starters and retaining only junior center Hunter Dickinson.

Each time, Howard — buoyed by coaching stability, veteran presence, strong recruiting classes and transfers — handled the turbulence. But this year is different. Those

offseasons followed successful campaigns. This one comes off the heels of the most deflating season in recent memory, and Howard’s unadmirable task is as follows: to claw his program off the mat and back to contention, even though there isn’t a clear way forward.

Next year’s roster isn’t going to look anything like it did this year. Maybe that’s for the better, perhaps it’s for the worst. Freshman wing Jett

Howard seems destined for the NBA. In a more crushing blow, sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin may very well join him.

Say what you want about Jett’s inconsistency or his inability to play defense, or Bufkin’s recent turnover woes. Their departures would create voids on a roster lacking tenable solutions. Michigan’s best coincided with Bufkin’s best: He emerged as a primary playmaker and a legitimate

scoring threat to complement Dickinson. Howard, meanwhile, is a bona fide 3-point threat and shotmaker — a unique skill set that no one else on the roster has.

On top of that, their departures would make for three consecutive years without much personnel continuity. It’s hard to build a consistent winner that way, unless you’re reeling in dominant five-star talent. Howard isn’t.

This incoming recruiting class is Howard’s weakest group so far— ranked 41st in the nation, according to 247Sports, sandwiched between the illustrious company of Georgia and North Carolina State. It’s not fair to expect Papa Kante and George Washington III, two four-star prospects outside the Top 100, to contribute immediately.

That means Howard will have to turn his eye outside the program, something he evidently recognizes.

While 68 programs were busy preparing for their opening matchups in the NCAA Tournament, Michigan conducted a Zoom meeting with

Wofford transfer B.J. Mack — a burly big man who averaged 16.6 points per game in the SoCon.

The Wolverines have embraced the transfer portal under Howard.

But how many transfers will Michigan need to reel in this offseason in order to assemble a holistic roster?

Two? Three? More? Maybe guard Jaelin Llewellyn, who transferred in from Princeton last offseason, comes back from a season-ending ACL injury to play another season.

Still, there are no shortage of problems for the Wolverines to address in the portal: Michigan’s power forward spot was a recurring black hole; its backcourt lacked depth and veteran leadership; it often found itself in need of more shooting, a programwide issue for two years now.

Internal development is just as paramount. It’s easy to forget that Bufkin was an unknown commodity at this time last season, coming off a freshman year in which he rarely saw the floor.

JULIANNE YOON/Daily

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S BASKETBALL

ANNA FUDER/Daily ANNA FUDER/Daily 10 — Wednesday, March 22, 2023 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Read more at MichiganDaily.com Read more at MichiganDaily.com KATE HUA/Daily

JOHN TONDORA

BATON ROUGE, La. — In a packed Pete Maravich Assembly Center, the scenes at the two benches couldn’t have been more different. One by one, the Michigan women’s basketball team’s seniors checked out of their final game, tearing up and embracing each other and their coaches.

Yet just a few feet over and throughout the stands, there were palpable waves of excitement, waves that had been building since the first quarter.

Because No. 3 seed LSU was advancing to its first Sweet Sixteen in nine years, and it had done so by thoroughly dominating the sixth-seeded Wolverines.

The Tigers knocked Michigan out of the fight early. Unable to generate offense for the entire first half and unable to keep LSU off the glass, the Wolverines’ (23-10 overall) opportunity to

advance to their third-straight Sweet Sixteen quickly slipped away as they fell to the Tigers (30-2), 66-42, on LSU’s home court.

“They were physical and really limited our scoring and didn’t allow us to get into rhythm,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said postgame. “I thought they did a great job.”

Both teams initially struggled to take the lid off the basket, shooting a combined 24% from the field in the first quarter, with the Wolverines mustering just seven points. But LSU created separation thanks to star forward Angel Reese, who grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the period, giving her team a multitude of second-chance opportunities.

Then Tigers guard Jasmine Carson sent the crowd into a frenzy, draining three 3-pointers in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter to help put LSU up by 14 points

and force a Michigan timeout to try to stop the bleeding. But the Wolverines continued struggling to score, entering halftime facing a 30-15 deficit.

The Tigers’ defense stymied the Wolverines, all but eliminating the looks that they had relied on all season by taking away post entry passes and tightly guarding the perimeter. Not only did Michigan score its lowest firsthalf total by a large margin, but fifth-year wing Leigha Brown and senior guard Maddie Nolan — the team’s leading and fourthleading scorers, respectively — entered halftime with zero points to their names.

“They were really overplaying. I mean, overplaying, overplaying,” Barnes Arico said “Then when we got the ball inside, they really doubled down and were just taking away passing lanes for any open shots. Maddie didn’t even get a real clear look most of the game.”

To compound Michigan’s

offensive struggles, Reese continued to dominate, notching a double-double by halftime and ending the game with 25 points, 24 rebounds, six blocks and three steals. And each time she swatted a ball into the stands or finished through contact, she further electrified the crowd by whipping her arms around or griddying as she ran back down the court.

But in the first minute of the second half, the Wolverines seemed to find new life. Scoring five unanswered points in 55 seconds, including a triple from Brown to finally get her on the scoreboard, Michigan forced the Tigers to take a timeout.

An ensuing game-wide scoring drought nearly three minutes long — filled with blocks, messy transition play and missed open looks — was broken by junior forward Cameron Williams’ layup, finally bringing the Wolverines within single digits and giving them one last chance to save

their season. But LSU had been there before, in a loss just a few weeks prior.

“We were up 17 against Tennessee (in the SEC Tournament) and look what happened,” Reese said. “We couldn’t get comfortable. We came out, third quarter pretty slow. I think they were on a 5-0 run. Being able to come into the timeout and telling us ‘Stay poised, stay together. We have to address this right now so this doesn’t happen again, like it happened in SEC.’ ”

Despite the Wolverines scoring more in the third quarter than they had the entire first half, the Tigers’ offense quickly reawakened, burying Michigan in a 16-point hole entering the final quarter of play.

And in the fourth, with sophomore guard Laila Phelia the only Wolverine able to generate consistent offense, LSU continued to grow its lead. A couple well-timed 3-pointers, emphatic blocks from Reese and transition

buckets ballooned the Tigers’ lead and fully brought Michigan’s season to a close.

As the fourth quarter wore on, the reality set in for the Wolverines — their season was over at the hands of a thorough dismantling from LSU.

“Unfortunately, tonight didn’t go how we wanted it to,” Brown said, choking back tears. “Just reflecting on the past three years and even this season, I wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Super happy to have all these girls by my side.”

Well before the final buzzer sounded, benches cleared and seniors hugged as the clock wound down on the game — and on Michigan’s season, too. Because there would be no shot of a comeback, no final play to try to extend the season. Emphatic play after emphatic play, dagger after dagger, the Tigers had knocked the Wolverines down and left no room for them to get back up.

Congratulations to the James B. Angell Scholars for 7+ Terms

100th Annual Honors Convocation | www.honors.umich.edu

Congratulations to our scholars who were recognized during the Honors Convocation program on Sunday, March 19, 2023. These individuals have demonstrated the highest level of undergraduate academic success by achieving seven or more consecutive terms of all A’s (A+, A, or A-) while taking a minimum of 14 credit hours, including at least 12 graded (A-E) credits, and earning the designation of Angell Scholar. The University of Michigan congratulates these students on their superior scholastic achievement and wishes them continued success.

ELEVEN TERM ANGELL SCHOLARS

TEN TERM ANGELL SCHOLARS

Laurel Grace Baker School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Justin Applefield Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Henry Kenneth Dickson School of Music, Theatre & Dance

NINE TERM ANGELL SCHOLARS

Elaina Baker College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Tobias John Cormack College of Engineering

Samuel Ori Ephraim College of Engineering

Caitlin Sheridan Hoyng College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Ismael Assi College of Engineering

Anuar Baisynov Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Sophia Janevic School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Sarah Ilana Kreitman Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Liyan Ma School of Kinesiology

Juliana Marks School of Music, Theater & Dance

Michael Ngan

EIGHT TERM ANGELL SCHOLARS

Theodora Wight Bilich College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Sarah Suzanne Bindon Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Jenna Grace Bishop School of Nursing

Robert Ferdinand Buhring Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Tuhin Chakraborty Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Matthew L. Chang College of Engineering

Olivia Dae Chang College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Olivia H. Colborn College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, Dearborn

Nicole Madeleine Coy School of Nursing

Robert Joseph Daniels College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Benjamin Theodore Davis College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Emily Elise Gaertner School of Nursing

Sierra Gillies College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Neha Gogineni School of Public Health

Noelle Lorita Gorka College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Kathleen Gu College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Chloe Halprin College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Madison Hernandez College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Megan Ann Heydrick College of Engineering

Joyce Grace Ho College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Kaltri Hoxha College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Suzanne Conley Huff School of Nursing

Jacob Bruce Keener College of Engineering

Dylan Louis Landau College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Rowan Michael Marchie College of Engineering

Josh Martins-Caulfield School of Public Health

Ella Margrethe Furlong Olesen School of Music, Theater & Dance

Isabella Panse College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Armaan Mehul Patel College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Prateeksunder Chandil Pinchi College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Juliet Schlefer School of Music, Theater & Dance

Samantha Kate Toomey School of Nursing

Audrey Marie Weingartz School of Nursing

Josh Martins-Caulfield School of Public Health

Jessie Williams College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Nathan T. Witteveen College of Arts & Sciences, Flint

Diane Yu College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Haitong Yu College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

SEVEN TERM ANGELL SCHOLARS

Syafawani Binti Abdul Rahim College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Nassim Omar Abuhalaweh College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Kari Marriott Anderson College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Maia Aramburu School of Music, Theater & Dance

Garrett Lincoln Ashlock College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Mira Bader Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Allison Grace Bell School of Music, Theater & Dance

Ryan Tanner Berger School of Information

Mollie Elizabeth Berglund College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Max Bickers College of Engineering

Amanda S. Bluem College of Engineering

Samantha Paige Bodin College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Reina Karthy-Nair Brodeur College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Helen Kathryn Bryant School of Music, Theater & Dance

Antonio J. Bugli College of Arts & Sciences, Flint

Bailey Iliana Burke College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Madison Bala Caldwell College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Andra Jin Campbell College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Michael Vincent Cardamone Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Paige Marie Carpenter College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Sarah Elizabeth Carpenter College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Katie M. Carver College of Arts & Sciences, Flint

Adam Samer Chalak College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Megan Reddy Charlakolu School of Public Health

Amy Nicole Chivavibul School of Information

Elizabeth Eunha Cho College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Sky Christoph Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design

Megan Lynne Coden College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Kaitlyn Elizabeth Colyer College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Josh R. Coulter College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, Dearborn

Jenna Ali Dagher College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Nikita R. Daniel College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Samantha Jolie De Gyarfas School of Music, Theater & Dance

Abhimanyu Deshpande College of Engineering

Clara Joy Dobos College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Olivia Donahue School of Music, Theater & Dance

Elena Grace D’Souza School of Kinesiology

Megan L. Duncan School of Management, Flint

Drew R. Dykowski College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, Dearborn

Matthew Koshy Eitzman College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Samuel Ori Ephraim College of Engineering

Brady Patrick Failing College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Kayla Max Finn School of Education

Henry Fleischmann College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Catherine Josephine Frost College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Emily Elise Gaertner School of Nursing

Lydia Gilbert College of Engineering

Bradley Trevor Goldstein College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Meredith Clare Green College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Rachel Colleen Greenspan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Rishita Reddy Gudeti Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Holly Katherine Gurnik School of Public Health

Evan Jonathon Daniel Hall College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Jingjing Han College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Mariann W. Hayek College of Arts & Sciences, Flint

Gretchen Skye Amara Heidebrink College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Hannah J. Helzerman College of Arts & Sciences, Flint

Nathan Chester Hershberger College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Paige Christine Hodder College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Boyang Huang College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Andrew Lawrence Huston College of Engineering

Jensen Patrick Hwa College of Engineering

Adam J. Illyes College of Engineering & Computer Science, Dearborn

Dania Jaamour College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Mohamed Jawad-Makki College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Cara Jhang College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Raymond Wentao Jiang College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Haley Evelyn Johnson School of Information

Mark M. Johnson College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Sabrina L. Jouney College of Education, Health, & Human Services, Dearborn

Elya Grauer Kaplan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Zahraa H. Kassem College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, Dearborn

Eileen Mary Kelly School of Education

Benjamin Reid Kesman College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Min Ji Kim School of Nursing

Angelina Marie Knight School of Information

Christopher Lawrence Kolb College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Emily Anne Kopp College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Keith Douglas Kozma College of Engineering

Vaishnavi Krishnan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Madison Mila Krumins College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Ian Iong Lam College of Engineering

Jason Matthew Landini College of Engineering

Hannah Joyce Soucheck Langenbach School of Music, Theater & Dance

Jeffrey Langer School of Music, Theater & Dance

Angel Li College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Alexandra Rae Lifton College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Wei Lin College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Jingyi Liu College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Abigail Grace Lysinger School of Music, Theater & Dance

Chenkun Ma A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Joseph Matthew Macek College of Engineering

Julien Noe Malherbe College of Engineering

Saad Omar Malik College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Sahita Indira Manda School of Public Health

Kiran Rajesh Mangrulkar School of Music, Theater & Dance

Samiya Manocha College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Matthew Landon Marcus College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Eva McAlister Lopez College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Natalie Anne McGuire College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Isis Meng College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Scott Ross Merfogel College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Ali C. Morse College of Arts & Sciences, Flint

Jonah Allen Nan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Phat Thanh Nguyen School of Nursing

Emilia Ann O’Brien School of Information

Sarah Jia Qi Ong College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Emma Carlotta Osterrieder School of Music, Theater & Dance

Nadia Phonvilay Para School of Music, Theater & Dance

Ethan Buehler Patrick College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Jaxon P. Pecora College of Engineering & Computer Science, Dearborn

Antonio Marcello Pellerito College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Daniel Orion Pert College of Engineering

Sydney Katherine Peterson College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Joel David Pingel College of Engineering

Robert S. Pobocik College of Arts & Sciences, Flint

Erica Poon Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design

Matthew Proefke College of Engineering

Arun Rajarajan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Samantha Ruth Ratner College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

William Matthew Rich School of Music, Theater & Dance

Andrew Martin Jung Rickenberg College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Tanner Julian Rodriguez School of Music, Theater & Dance

Eli Jordan Rotman College of Engineering

Elizabeth Jeanette Rueppel School of Public Health

Megan Sabb College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Fatema Mustansir Saifuddin College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Nicholas J. Scharrer School of Management, Flint

Denise Cara Schlautman College of Engineering

Jenna Elizabeth Segal School of Music, Theater & Dance

Dylan Reed Selkin College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Saad Shami College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Colleen Ann Sharkey College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Claire Dorothy Shiple School of Public Health

Benjamin Charles Shuart College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Jin Ho Son College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Rachel Jieun Song College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Ashley Marie Stewart-Smith School of Music, Theater & Dance

Noah Charles Streng College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Michael Elias Jackson Strouse Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Caleb Daniel Styles College of Engineering

Elanor Shim Tang College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Christopher Matthew Tarakji College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Mariam Tobia School of Public Health

Elizabeth Kathleen Tower College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

John Griffin Tumpowsky College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Naquia Ali Unwala School of Public Health

Jose Luiz Vargas De Mendonca College of Engineering

Andrea Vazquez Garcia College of Engineering

Ally Marie Vogelheim School of Nursing

Emily Katherine Wagner College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Michael Josef Wattai School of Music, Theater & Dance

Jonah Nathaniel Weingart College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Laura Aileen Williams College of Engineering

Ka Yu Wong College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Brian Wu College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Michael Xi College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Warda Yousuf College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

John Yu College of Engineering

Bokai Zhang College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Anthony Zhu College of Engineering

Jenna Luccia John Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design

ORIGIN

the statement

EDITION

photo by jeremy weine design by leyla dumke

From the editors: The origins and future of The Statement Magazine

Origins, when we manage to unearth them, seldom clarify the cobbled nature of the present. Instead, they often string us along a path of imagined priorities, allowing us to feel qualified in recognizing how the past must inform our current agendas. In the spirit of the Origin Edition, we write to our readership as the editorial team of The Statement — The Michigan Daily’s weekly magazine — with our own origins under the microscope. The Statement we’ve inherited has, by nature of being a college publication, undergone nearly seven decades of change, spurred by institutional shifts, individual leaders’ interests and commitments, and campus and social upheaval. We’ve inherited a dynamic, mercurial force.

But The Statement wasn’t always “The Statement.” Students wanting to pen editorial and features writing did so for the thenlabeled “weekend magazine,” which seemed to have dipped in and out of existence since the Daily’s own inception in 1890 — that is, until August of 1963, when then-editor Gloria Bowles affirmed the magazine’s presence, promising a bi-monthly appearance. In the years following, the magazine would shorten its title to a curt “WEEKEND” and feature photo essays, fashion and literature editions, and even initiate a witty “junk drawer.”

Then, in September of 2005, tucked below The Daily’s masthead in a pithy “From the Editor’s” note, then-Editor in Chief Jason Z. Pesick and thenMagazine Editor Doug Wernert announced the inception of The Statement, which would “feature more in-depth reporting on issues affecting both the University and the city of Ann Arbor. It is more intelligent,” they contin-

ued, “with the goal of exposing new ideas and information to readers in a magazine format.”

In the same edition, planted above The Daily’s masthead, read: “Weekend Magazine Is Dead — Long Live The Statement.” Their choice in language may seem a curiously hostile rhetoric to employ, but Wernert and Pesick would oversee the greatest change to The Daily’s feature-writing capabilities since the advent of the Weekend Magazine. What they understood was a veritable need for focused, exploratory journalism, with an opportunity for the creative to make its way into the fold.

Beyond the editorial shift, the magazine’s name-change to The Statement paid homage to The Port Huron Statement, a founding text of 1960s counterculture, and authored by The Daily’s own Tom Hayden. In a 2021 Statement article by formercolumnist Leah Leszczynski, Wernert and Pesick would clarify that “using the Port Huron State-

ment as the magazine’s eponym was not necessarily due to ideological admiration for the document.” Yet, their choice in namesake seems hardly incidental.

Hayden, a University alum and former Editor-in-Chief of The Daily in 1960, went on to found the Students for a Democratic Society, prompt JFK’s proposal of the Peace Corps on the steps of the Michigan Union, and serve as pallbearer after the president’s assassination. He also inspired President Johnson’s infamous “Great Society” speech and served in the California State Assembly, while still managing to contribute to The Daily.

In June of 1962, Hayden would travel ninety-eight miles east of Ann Arbor, along with nearly four dozen other members of SDS to compose the Port Huron Statement, working for five days straight to perfect a document that would become the New Left’s founding manifesto. Their chosen site — Port Huron, Michigan — sits as an idle waterfront town, starkly

unexceptional in character yet redeemable by nature of its proximity to Lake Huron.

Our editorial team made the same ninety-eight mile drive. We wanted to immerse ourselves in the environment Hayden and SDS had selected as a site of change, even if the site itself seemed to be nothing more than a matter of convenience, a lake to swim in during breaks from the writing sessions. But what we found, both unexpectedly and not, contextualizes our commitment to the Statement as host to a similar kind of journalistic fervor that Hayden embodied.

In the following sections, we make our values as editors explicit, examine the contemporary condition of The Statement and its duties, as well as the role of creative writing and journalism today more broadly. Here, we affirm The Statement’s commitment to producing work that carries the assuredness of fact, the depth and liberty of prose, and the ardor of poetry.

TAYLOR SCHOTT, REESE MARTIN, SARAH AKAABOUNE AND JOHN JACKSON Statement Editorial Staff

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

From left to right: Julia Verklan (former Statement Managing Editor), John Jackson (Associate Editor), Reese Martin (Deputy Editor) and Taylor Schott (Managing Editor) discuss Statement’s importance and future in Lakeport State Park Saturday, March 11.

Julia, Taylor, Reese and John look out on Lake Huron.

Taylor Schott: How creative writing is and isn’t nurtured

The last few decades have been bleak for the writing world. Beloved literary magazines — even those that have been in circulation since the mid-90s, like the New York Citybased Bookforum — have shuttered, or are struggling to stay afloat. The number of college students matriculating into the humanities is down markedly. Print journalism, too, is facing considerable changes.

Online publishing platforms such as Substack, which have won the favor of some novelists, are seeing a rise in popularity. These platforms are providing a good, necessary service. But, as New Yorker writer Kyle Chaka aptly notes, “There is no replacement for institutions that cultivate a point of view over time.” We know that magazines are seldom profitable. They survive while they can, and close promptly when they can’t.

Creative writing housed within a newspaper faces an entirely different set of obstacles. First, the style guide: every respectable paper has one, and every respectable writer defies one. It is in publications like these where you can hyperlink to all hell, and where jumpy, pixelated advertisements crowd out your paragraphs. It is a land dominated by typically provocative,

I showed up to the newsroom for our 9:00 a.m. departure to Port Huron with nothing more than my phone, wallet, a pen and a singular piece of paper folded in my coat pocket. Meanwhile, my lovely co-

SEO-bred titles, and where athletic, concise analysis takes precedence over vaguer, more sparing, language.

Of course, consistency benefits any organization — particularly a newspaper, where words are currency. But to consider a style guide as biblical — to let it have the last say — is to deeply misunderstand the work that sections such as The Statement aim for.

The forces propelling journalism, too: truth, accuracy, objectivity — where the “I” is meant to dissolve, if it exists at all, behind the curtain of reportage — seem diametrically opposed to the motivations underlining creative writing: establishing voice, patiently crafting a plot, experimenting with syntax. Following these tenets tend to require committing a few journalistic sins.

The borders between fiction and nonfiction are, admittedly, massively less interesting to me than the actual language used to define, delineate, and designate how we experience the world. And I am, of course, full of passionate bias. But how not to be?

These observations seem to circle a rather unavoidable question: does creative writing even belong in journalism? Some would go so far as to say that the two are entirely different species, a rhetoric which I find

editors carried travel-sized notebooks, pens for their thoughts, protein bars, a swiss army knife, multiple tissues and, of course, The Daily’s signed copy of “The Port Huron Statement.” When I woke

polarizing, if accurate. But in what world can a term like creative journalism be announced and not immediately register as paradoxical?

It’s been said that The Statement is not a literary journal, either. It’s true, we’re not. We have some funds, institutional backing, and boast a wide regional audience. Very few literary journals — the exceptions being The Paris Review and the New Yorker, though the latter is technically a magazine — are afforded these kinds of privileges.

But imagine if literary journals — or the kind of writing that they attract — were awarded the same resources, credibility, and public fervor of legacy publications? Print journalism isn’t exactly lucrative, this we know, but far more people will readily accept the idea of journalism as a public good than they will the same of literary journals.

So I land, however uneasily, on this axis of priorities. I’m not a journalist; I’m a writer who has happened to find herself at a place with the resources to support good writing. Any opportunity I have to smuggle fictive qualities through the vehicle of journalism, and to be frank about my commitment to emotional truth as opposed to public record, I feverishly seize.

up that morning, I suppose, the only thing I truly deemed necessary was that I made it to the car on time and intentionally put myself in the “I” behind my narrative.

As a writer, I struggle to think of myself as a character — an entity that must be made real to the reader. It’s easy to let my personhood hide behind the implications of a story when the alternative threatens to expose the raw identity buried within the all-encompassing “I” of my sentences. In the words of American essayist and fiction writer, Philip Lopate, I’d rather let my readers perceive the “I” of my narrative as a “slender telephone pole standing in the sentence, trying to catch a few signals.” Yet, as a Statement columnist turned editor, I’ve been taught to appreciate the characterization of my “I.” Those who used this most personal pronoun before me had the courage to reach for the intangible threads of a

story and pull at the seams between fiction and reality. They used “I” to fill the gap between storytelling and journalism — immersing themselves in the heart of a revolutionary genre and time in our history.

Joan Didion was a force to be reckoned with in the 1960s. As a pioneer in the new journalism genre, Joan Didion’s “I” carried the weight of her voice in each of her stories. According to Mark Z. Muggli, professor Emeritus of English at Luther College, “Her ‘I’ goes beyond the intentionally neutral voice of the daily news reporter — it is a created, shifting character who speaks memorably and who sometimes anatomizes her own responses.” Likewise, author Katie Rophie told The New York Times in an interview, “She managed to channel the spirit of the 1960s and ’70s through her own highly idiosyncratic and personal — that is, seemingly personal — writing…

with her slightly paranoid, slightly hysterical, high-strung sensibility. It was a perfect conjunction of the writer with the moment.” Didion showed the world how to let an author’s voice and the implications of a story work together to create an understanding beyond the whos and whats of standard reporting. She paved the way for journalists to make meaning in the nuanced details of a subject and dig into the forces that draw readers in.

Though Tom Hayden’s role as a ‘60s counterculture activist was not as a narrative journalist like Didion, his work in the newsroom put him at the center of a movement and voice in the era. The Port Huron Statement, as a manifesto, is the culmination of student ideals and Hayden’s talent as an author. He too felt the weight of his voice in the narratives he chose to write –– and so do “I” and so should we.

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Reese Martin: The story of an “I”

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

John and Reese learn about boats at the Port Huron Museum.

Taylor opens Tom Hayden’s The Port Huron Statement near the location of its completion some 61 years earlier.

Sarah Akaaboune: To write is to heal

The first person to edit and publish my work was Neema Roshania Patel for The Washington Post. Neema died last October and I miss knowing a world with her in it. She believed in me when not many editors from places like The Washington Post believed in 18 year old girls, when the world rarely ever made an effort to see us or hear us or believe us, to give our words the value and weight they so truly deserved. We spent an entire afternoon working on an essay entitled “At 18, I’m facing a choice that will define my adulthood: Should I wear hijab?” There is a picture in that piece of my grandmother, and we weren’t yet heavy with all the things that come with living. I still loved girlhood and she still loved me. I remember calling my grandmother the day my story was

published and screaming into the phone “GRANDMA GRANDMA YOU’RE IN THE WASHINGTON POST CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? OH HOW I MISS YOU AND I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN.” My grandmother died three weeks later, the night before I began my freshman year of college. I never did get to see her again.

I joined The Michigan Daily because Neema saw something in me, and because I missed my grandmother, and mostly because I so desperately wanted to heal. I spent my first two years at The Daily at Michigan in Color where I wrote “To Restitute,” one of the most important essays I have ever written.

In it I wrote “writing about your pain is a complicated matter; it demands courage and bravery and power of will even

if what little you have left is directed towards living instead. It is an inherently violent act, in that you must choose how much of it the reader will bear, choose how much they can handle, choose what they’ll think afterwards and choose how they’ll feel, choose which pieces of you they’ll keep forever,” because people listen when you write in a way they never truly did before.

The Statement is the sort of place that finds you and only when you’re truly ready. It is when healing is no longer entirely a solitary endeavor, when healing becomes about telling the world’s stories instead, the kind of stories that no one really seems to be able to find a place for anywhere else, stories about all the ways we love and grieve, all the ways we come undone and all the ways we learn

to live again. The Statement was founded because journalism has always been about people first, about narratives and places and lovely wonderful ways of living that have so desperately needed a voice. There is something about

The Statement that is so profoundly humane, how our writers find meaning in the most mundane of places, in fake IDs and train stations and fairy doors, and mostly, in the places that people never seem to look twice.

John Jackson: On protest as a collective action problem

Tom Hayden’s work reached me by fortunate accident, carried on the wing of a friend who’d just watched “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” and assured me its fast-paced, witty drama was well-suited to my own more political impulses. Writer and director Aaron Sorkin paints protagonist Hayden (Eddie Redmayne, “Les Misérables”) as a passionate but straight-laced political activist, and follows the chaos that unfolds at a protest turned riot.

After watching the film, I immediately called my father, who listened patiently while I explained, frantic, how there’d been a revolution: the New Left crashed down on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I’d missed it. The year was 1968.

I should’ve been there. At The Daily, with Tom Hayden. In the streets, defending friends from police brutality. Atop lampposts, shouting with a megaphone.

“Too bad there’s nothing to protest anymore,” said my father.

His tone implied I needed to take the hint: injustice hadn’t disappeared, only my peers’ will to spark revolution.

If protests from the left quieted, so too did I. If the Daily reported in dignified silence, I stayed my hand from more extreme words that needed writing.

Tom Hayden marched for the lives of the approximately 58,000 American soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. When 7,000 American soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans marched again (along with Tom Hayden). In the last five years, police officers have killed more than 5,000 Americans.

Now I wonder, how many lives does it take to wake up a generation?

To claim a complete absence of modern protest would be not only negligent, but outright disrespectful. Rather, I contend the relevance of a protest to an individual consists of its population and proximity.

Population’s inclusion as a factor stems from the idea of the collective action problem, the social dilemma taught in every introductory political science course. For those uninitiated, professors introduce the collective action problem as a catch-all excuse for poor citizen behavior, including tax evasion, fossil fuel use, and draft dodging. The lesson quickly morphs, however, into an oversimplified explanation of lackluster voter turnout:

If everyone votes, one vote is meaningless.

If one vote is meaningless, why bother voting?

Needless to say, a more harmful theory has never been devised. What could one vote save, standing against millions? Everything.

Hayden, via Sorkin, grapples with the unparalleled importance of voter turnout in “The Trial of The Chicago 7” when fellow revolutionary Abbie Hoffman asks him,“Winning elections is the first thing on your wishlist? Equality, justice, education, poverty, and progress, they’re second?”

Hayden replies, “If you don’t win elections, it doesn’t matter what’s second.”

With a stable population of voters and protestors in hand, a given movement impacts an individual largely based on his or her proximity. Often, as a logical matter of convenience, people protest in the communities where they live. Such protests, however, are not usually in full view of those with the power to enact change. Hence, citizens travel to where their voices might be heard loudest: at the White House gates, the European Council, or the Democratic National Convention.

If students march on the Diag, who will hear us but ourselves?

As Hayden said, “If our blood is going to flow, let it flow all over the city.”

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Signage on I-69 points to Port Huron.

Reese and John laugh in the backseat en route to Port Huron.

A quiet strip of downtown Port Huron.

Appraisals from Port Huron

When our editorial team decided to make the one-and-a-halfhour drive to Port Huron, Mich., where Hayden and nearly four dozen members of SDS composed the 1962 manifesto, our ambitions were high and our expectations higher still: we imagined unearthing documents that our peers back in Ann Arbor could envy, we envisioned deep revelations, hours spent dissecting the power of good journalism.

But when we arrive at the town’s main drag, the cold is clarifying, and reality quickly arranges itself before us. The area resembles our own, disappointingly-familiar Midwestern hometowns, and the only other people out on the sidewalks are buzzed, middle-aged celebrants of a St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl. Those who do engage us in conversation — shopowners and locals — surprise us by claiming no recognition at the mention of Hayden’s name, or of the Port Huron Statement. Out on the street again, we dissolve into laughter, imagining that we’ve come to the wrong Port Huron.

In speaking with one of the shopowners, though, we learn that many of the museums in Port Huron are free, renewing our energies. The nearest is the Port Huron Museum at Carnegie Center, which we come upon in a matter of minutes –– a building that, in the snow’s bleak expanse, is easy to miss.

The museum spans four floors, and is crammed with naval artifacts:

yellowed maps and archived ship logs, wheel helms to spin and impossibly heavy copper diving helmets — but no mentions of Tom Hayden, or of The Port Huron Statement. When we approach the museum’s receptionist, hopeful with inquiry, she delicately shields her unfamiliarity with intrigue.

We pass the signed copy of The Port Huron Statement, which we’ve brought along — I think as a kind of talisman — over to her. She receives it tenderly, slides a business card for the museum’s archivist over the lip of the desk in return, and promptly begins to thumb a binder full of donation sheets to serve as an ad-hoc information request form.

I think we’ve gone into the museum — the town, really — with higher, or perhaps outsized, expectations of the town’s interest in Hayden’s legacy. Maybe people who start civil unrest don’t often get statues. After all, we arrived to find the site of a revolution swept away by a forlorn ocean of parking lots.

Having exhausted the downtown area, we head to Lakeport State Park — formerly a United Auto Workers (UAW) retreat — and where the Port Huron Statement, over the course of five tireless days, was written. We hear the water before we can see it, and those of us with low-top shoes begin to lament the existence of low-top shoes. Mud splashes our ankles as we trudge along the path and towards the shore.

Finding a seat on which to hold conversation proves more challenging; no surface is without snow. Finally having located a log to sit on, we waste no time in jumping into the conversation we’ve been building up to all day. We playfully lament the cyclical nature of college journalism, brief iterations of leadership which make it difficult to affect any longstanding change. What it comes down to, it seems, is trust. Inspiration. Subtler, smoother impressions that can’t be codified, leadership inherited.

Where to go from here? We can shepherd our signed copy of The Port Huron Statement back to the newsroom in Ann Arbor; we can look fondly back on the pictures we took and the notes we scrawled standing up, but we hadn’t wound up really changing anything. We didn’t protest at the Democratic National Convention, or start a new cultural movement. We couldn’t even have the Oxford comma added to The Daily’s style guide.

We’d driven out to Port Huron though, and told a few people about Hayden’s legacy. We’d documented our experience, and our priorities here in writing, so that our efforts might turn up in a decade or two when someone else goes digging through the archives.

Even if we went to Port Huron and nobody knew who Tom Hayden was — which nobody did — the point was that we knew who he was, and that we cared enough to find out.

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Jeremy Weine/DAILY

Reese and Julia in Lakeport State Park.

Barren trees in the state park.

Taylor steps out of the car in a Port Huron parking lot. Taylor, John, Reese and Julia on the lakefront beach.

The tale of two red light districts

Brightside” booming from speakers at 7 a.m. before football games.

students passing around a soccer ball on Elbel Field.

Ann Arbor is a small, Midwestern metropolis, home to many families, faculty and students stretching from near and far. It is a city comprised of almost all loyal Wolverines dedicated to the act of rambunctious tailgating for football games, avidly shopping for fresh sourdough bread and vibrant produce at the Kerrytown farmer’s market while inhaling a #48 Binny’s Brooklyn Reuben from

In the rugged winter months, I can be found nestled up in a booth at M-36 with friends, enjoying an overpriced latte and lukewarm chocolate scone — where 80% of our supposed “study sessions” are overshadowed by playful, light-hearted gossip. Maybe splurging on some No Thai tonight for a study snack at the UgLi will help me get my 2,000 word Pol Sci paper done that I haven’t started yet, right?

Seemingly so, Ann Arbor is a relatively quaint and pleasant place to attend college or raise a family, as many do. Ann Arbor still has its systematic issues and occasional scandals; it would be ignorant not to acknowledge such. But it is consistently ranked as one of the best, most friendly college towns in the world. Cordial and genuine small talk — a once foreign concept to my New Jersey upbringing — is the norm. Many white, Christian,

erately minor, regrettable drunk mistake on the Skeeps’ dance floor at 1 a.m. on a Thursday.

But Ann Arbor wasn’t always like this.

During one of those serene Ann Arbor summer evenings, I found myself reading Richard Retyi’s “The Book of Ann Arbor – An Extremely Serious History Book,” which I had picked up from Literati earlier that day. As I read sitting on the porch of my former house on 4th Avenue, I came to learn that my seemingly innocent and untroubled street, nestled between the district library and South Main, was once home to Ann Arbor’s very own Red Light District.

In an interview with Retyi, the communications and marketing manager for the Ann Arbor District Public Library, I learned how he had rummaged through thousands of pictures of local newspaper clippings in the online archives of the library in hopes of finding inspiration for chapter ideas. It is in those archives where he stumbled upon articles detailing Ann Arbor’s former Red Light District. More than anything, Retyi was surprised to learn of the peculiar location for the district.

American Massage Parlor, a topless massage parlor with rumored erotic services like a $20 handjob or a $45 blowjob. You could also check out other brothel-like places and massage parlors around the corners of West Huron and Liberty streets.

Despite consistent backlash from townspeople, protests, police raids and undercover operations, Ann Arbor’s Red Light District continued to thrive throughout the ’70s and ’80s. A decade later, the Danish News — another adult bookstore containing coin-operated peep show booths — opened up its doors to the public.

Ann Arbor’s Red Light District remained operational until the early 1990s. According to Retyi, the area — filled with alleged crime and society’s most stigmatized industry — endured for a long time, in spite of the town’s countless efforts to abolish it. Growing resistance to rid of the district was ironically met with the flourishing of massage parlors and pornographic stores.

Zingerman’s. Its citizens often participate in local political events or protests and can stroll down the endless streets of the summer Art Fair alongside thousands of inquisitive tourists.

When the school year creeps around each fall, tens of thousands of students like myself storm through the muddy yards of fraternity houses on Packard and Hill streets — engulfed by the remorseful smell of Kirkland vodka and greasy sweat, typically complemented by the sound of “Mr.

Spring semester commences with similar brisk days but is fortunately met by budding flowers, chirping birds and a longed-for sun as students have picnics filled with laughter and card games on makeshift blankets in the Law Quad.

Evening rolls around in the summer, and the sun has begun its slow cascade into the depths of the faint blue sky. It’s 64 degrees, a calming feeling fills the fresh air as my friends and I embark on a late night stroll, passing by young couples on a Washtenaw Dairy date, numerous fluffy dogs and

cisgender, nuclear-like families are concentrated in the majority of Ann Arbor’s suburban neighborhoods. Students are smart, friendly and successful, for the most part. The crime rate is quite low, and the Ann Arbor public schools soar in the statewide and national rankings.

There is a sense of quaintness and innocence that inconspicuously fills the air. If a student were to ponder it — socially and culturally speaking — the most dirty, sultry, sensual or sinful experience anyone can indulge in Ann Arbor is a mod-

“I saw this weird storefront, or I saw that they busted some like, topless massage ring, and it’s like ‘What? Oh, this happened, not that long ago,’ ” Retyi said. “It just seemed like a very wacky — and unless you lived here during the time — a weird thing to think that the area between downtown and Kerrytown was dangerous on some level to go down there. And when I think of Ann Arbor, I don’t really think about it being particularly dangerous.”

In May of 1970, within short walking distance from city hall and police headquarters, Harry Mohney and Terry Whitman Shoultes opened up two adult bookstores — Ann Arbor Adult News and Fourth Avenue Adult News — right next to each other. Above these stores containing pornagraphic magazines stood

“I think the people in the establishment of Ann Arbor did not want that (the district) to be part of the city,” Retyi said, later referencing an old news clipping of the local newspaper’s bias towards the demolition of the district, which was framed as an opportunity for new beginnings. “As soon as this (the district) started happening, off my memory, those adult bookstores established themselves and, within weeks, they were pulled into court.”

In 1990, the district collapsed after a series of charges related to zoning for Shoultes’ parlors and book stores. The landlords and city consistently found legal loopholes and various ways to target the district’s businesses; missed rent checks, zoning and other miscellany related to lease agreements were often the path of choice for opponents of the bookstores and parlors.

MARTHA LEWAND Statement Contributor

Design by Grace Filbin

Finding myself in memory’s corridors

DARRIN ZHOU Statement Columnist

The air looks different, almost imperceptibly, like the edges of colors have changed. The sky seems more vivid, trees warmer, taller. Is that possible? The buildings seem to shimmer with red halations — but not a western, lustful, aggressive red. It’s a Chinese, happy, fortunate red.

My uncle picks both me and my father up from the Běijěng Capital International Airport. Both of us have been on an airplane for the past 18 hours — we’re exhausted. The city, even at night, still lights ablaze with the musk of cigarette smoke and the chorus of car horns. I can’t place why; I find deep comfort in that mess.

It’s the first time I’ve been back in six years since we moved. My father offers reasons why we’ve returned: because my family wants to see me and because I need to experience Chinese culture firsthand. But, frankly, we both know the real reason: I am back to remember.

To remember is not an easy task. Memory, her green, fickle mistress, is a complex, elusive entity, one much more complicated than our classic understanding of her suggests. Many of us wish to walk in her footsteps, to pin her on the fireplace mantle like a coyote pelt and indulge in her past, promised beauty. But personally, I am here because some part of me, ever since I immigrated to America, feels null, void — ripped out of its shell. I long to unearth those missing parts of me, to feel that all is normal in the world again, to remember.

To start our search for her, we must understand that memory is neither localized nor discrete. She isn’t the retelling of personal experiences, something we think of like a book in a library or data in a computer bank. Memory, at her basis, is a series of consolidated neural connections — silk webs that span all across your brain,

igniting every lobe like fireworks whenever she is called. She is arrangement, her body expressed through the streets of a city, branches of a sandalwood tree, unable to be seen like a coordinate point on a graphical plane.

Memory is lived; no longer can we view her physique as simply past experience. According to Denis Brouillet, psychologist and author of “Enactive Memory,”

“This means accepting that our memories are no longer considered as the recovery, sensu stricto, of an event that happened in the past, but rather as the product of a cognitive elaboration constructed here and now.” Our memories are recollections skewed by the present self, in the same way that someone’s stray glance can appear happy to us when we are happy and sad when we are sad. And, like a forest, she moves, her roots ever so shifting, footpaths opening and closing as our sense of self matures, vestiges of my past growing on the tree trunks like moss.

Her highness is visceral. Memory is lived emotion, apparent in conditions like the Capgras syndrome, in which someone falsely believes that the people and places dear to them have been replaced by identical duplicates. The condition is caused by an emotional malfunction in your brain’s visual processing system — a healthy person can picture their loved ones and in turn fond emotions will arise. But someone with Capgras syndrome will not experience this instinctive emotional response. Those with Capgras syndrome can see a loved one and not feel anything — an occurrence so alien to your brain that it rejects the logical outcomes and concludes that this stranger person in front of you must be foreign, must be an exact replica of those people you know and trust instead of themselves. To remember, then, is to feel.

Run your hand along your neck and feel the spots your old lovers used to caress. Press your body against the apartment wall and feel the bumps: holes where

posters were hung, places where past tenants have cried, have loved, have been loved — places where she lingers in the air. Passionately, she dances. Memory is dynamic, a dialogue between two systems of information: storage and retrieval. This simple, extended definition of memory has profound implications; her back arches and we see her in a new light — exosomatic memory. Memory can be something that is not purely an internal process, but something stored outside the brain. This is not news to us; we remember materials for a test in our class notes, our past lives through journals, history through textbooks. These are tangible memories, physical artifacts, immune to biological follies.

In that sense, I’ve known Běijěng like an encyclopedia. I can tell you its population, its nine city gates and vivid details about its rich history. But these facts are uninteresting and largely overwhelming — so many bits of information that fly by and splatter like bugs on my mind’s windshield. While this is, undeniably, an important type of memory, I did not

return as a historian. I am back as a taxi driver, who experiences memory like a bloodstream, who knows the city not as facts but as a place beyond language, as somewhere more immutable.

Běijěng is a million different places. Go there and you will see districts of technological superiority and capitalistic achievement far beyond what New York City’s Fifth Avenue or London’s Chelsea Street can offer. But blocks away there will be sìhéyuàns and other reminders of the old past, porcelain statues in her form. It is a city knowable only by its dichotomy, where rapid financial growth meets the roots of a purple past, where marble altars meet concrete and steel lattice.

Běijěng is a city of stone, ceramic roof tiles and the old kingdom’s gardens, embodying the remnants of a lost grace. But it is also a city of poverty. Poverty that the country rectified with capitalistic development — allowing a new city to spring up from the ashes of the cultural revolution and grow to unimaginable heights of magnificence.

An attentive traveler walk-

ing through Běijěng will see two cities: one on wooden roots, another on a concrete tree. Its new incarnation is undoubtedly superior, providing better health for the citizens and more economic opportunity, but its values drifted among its materialism. Before the clock strikes midnight, Běijěng is a rich, unimaginably beautiful city that is pretending to be a Western metropolis — while the edges fail to hold its political weight. The people speak in hushed tones, driftless, rich in metrics of quality but poor in the soul.

Come with me to Tiěněnmén Square and I can tell you the amount of people that died on May 35.

I can recite the exact times everything happened and its sociopolitical ramifications, but I think it would be more resonant if you stood in that square and felt the tension tearing at the edges of your vision like a fisheye photograph. Listen to the chips at the edges of Tiěněnmén’s bricks and hear the gone people sing, feel that hope extinguished and witness the death of the good China.

Design by Grace Filbin