CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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GOVERNMENT
State bills could allow students to dual enroll Proposed legislation would enable high schoolers to take college courses By EMMA KINERY Daily Staff Reporter
In accordance with Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s alternative education initiative, several bills were introduced into the Michigan legislature last week regarding higher education. In his State of the State address, Snyder said he aims for Michigan to become the number one state for skilled trades programs, and praised alternative education routes such as dual enrollment for high school students and apprenticeships. Dual enrollment for high school students State Sen. Darwin Booher (R– Evart) introduced Senate Bills 36 and 37 last week, which would allow high school students to
enroll in community college courses. Should these bills pass, high school teachers could receive qualifications to teach certain collegelevel classes, which the students could subsequently take without traveling to a community college campus. Booher, who is the Community Colleges chair, a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, noted that concurrent courses were the best way to put dual enrollment into practice, as not all high school students have the luxury of commuting to community college after school. “Part of the kids that didn’t have jobs after school or didn’t have some kind of requirement, they could go, but not every student can. A lot of them have jobs, and a lot of them have athletics,” Booher said. “This is the fair way to do it; they’re already there.” SB-36 proposes that any “school district or public school academy may partner with 1 or more postsecondary institutions or 1 or more intermediate school districts and See ENROLLMENT, Page 3A
BRIAN BECKWITH/Daily
Eastern Michigan University alumn Kamilah Davis-Wilson performs at the Body Monologues show where participants share their stories at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in the Michigan League on Tuesday.
Body Monologues explore experiences with self-image Students examine self-acceptance with spoken-word performances By ALYSSA BRANDON Daily Staff Reporter
Inspired by the critically-aclaimed “Vagina Monologues,” a dozen University
students appeared on the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre stage on Tuesday night to share their experiences grappling with body image. Sponsored by the University Health Service, the “Body Monologues” featured 12 spoken-word performances by University students. Though performers often stopped during their monologues for comical asides to the audience, the performance also
addressed more serious issues such as low self-esteem, eating disorders, suicide and sexual identity. Public Health student Tahiya Alam performed a monologue titled “Chai Tea or Latte?” which discussed how her struggles with gaining acceptance in both American culture and her native Bengali culture often made her feel like an outsider. “My skin will always stand
CAMPUS LIFE
DETROIT
Array of music styles shaped by Detroiters Jazz, punk, rock and techno all have deep roots in the city
By PAULA FRIEDRICH and STEPHANIE DILWORTH Daily Staff Reporters
DETROIT — From Berry Gordy’s Hitsville, USA to Eminem’s “8-Mile,” Detroit’s geography is strewn with music history. But the legacy of Detroit’s music runs far deeper than the names that first come to mind. It runs from the methodic din of factories, from unsatisfied suburban teens and from clubs now shuttered. It’s nearly impossible to name a genre that isn’t rooted in Detroit this history still affects musicians and venues working in the city today — from jazz to rock to techno. Detroit jazz and a ‘Culture of Mentorship’ Every Tuesday night at Cliff Bell’s, the Marcus Elliot Quartet
takes the stage. Audience members order drinks and chat while the guys on stage play — eyes closed, fingers dancing. Elliot leads on saxophone, throwing out rolling, brassy swells. He dips off stage every now and then to give space for another musician to solo: Michael Malis on the piano, Steven Boegehold on the drums or Ben Rolston on the bass. The quartet all came up together in Detroit’s close-knit jazz scene, and while they’re all still in their early to mid-twenties, they credit much of their development and success to the long lineage of musicians that played jazz before them. “Detroit has such a deep history, not only in jazz, but in Motown, techno, hip-hop — everything,” Elliot said. “It’s just really, really deep and I just wanted to make sure I tapped into that.” Detroit’s jazz scene stretches back to the early 1920s when 11or 12-piece bands like the Jean Goldkette Orchestra and the nationally famed McKinney’s Cotton Pickers played for crowds See DETROIT, Page 2A
out in this crowd,” Alam said. “Growing up in the Midwest, I was landlocked in a sea of white, forever an outsider.” In the monologue “Mischief Managed,” Engineering senior Jake Heller examined how his struggle to accept his weight led him to contemplate suicide. “I truly believed that being dead was better than being fat,” Heller said during his performance. See MONOLOGUES, Page 3A
Planet Blue web interface improves Online update allows users to track success with sustainability By NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT Daily Staff Reporter
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
LSA Dean Andrew Martin answers students’ questions at Desserts & Coffee #withDeanMartin in the UMMA multipurpose room Tuesday.
LSA Dean talks diversity, interdisciplinary initiatives Nearly 20 students convene in UMMA for candid talk By ANASTASSIOS ADAMOPOULOUS Daily Staff Reporters
Though the University’s Museum of Modern Art offers a number of renowned exhibitions, Tuesday night at the
UMMA was as much about literature and science as the arts. LSA Dean Andrew Martin, who assumed the dean’s office in September 2014, held a discussion with students in the Multipurpose Room of the UMMA, where he explained both his short- and long-term administrative goals. He held a similar discussion in November. The chat follows the inauguration of five new minors by LSA for this year’s winter term:
Yiddish Studies, Arab and Muslim American Culture, Art and Design, Intergroup Relations Education and Entrepreneurship. Martin spoke to about 20 students on a variety of issues, including interdisciplinary studies, the Race and Ethnicity requirement and his main priorities as LSA dean over the next few years. He said one of his main goals See DEAN, Page 3A
The University’s Planet Blue Ambassador program, an online sustainability initiative, received an upgrade this past month as new improvements were made to its user interface. PBA launched in 2013 as part of former University President Mary Sue Coleman’s campus-wide sustainability goals. The program aims to engage faculty, staff and students in campus sustainability through an online platform. Program Coordinator Nicole Berg said the program has received positive feedback since the program’s launch. “There is a lot of supSee PLANET BLUE, Page 3A
» INSIDE
the statement How do students interact with our local government?
WEATHER TOMORROW
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 59 ©2015 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A
SUDOKU.....................2A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A T H E S TAT E M E N T. . . . . . . . . .1 B
News
2A — Wednesday, February 4, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Campus Voices
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
Syracuse class talks Super Bowl
BRIAN BECKWITH/Daily
JP Park, assistant professor in the Department of the History of Art at University of California-Riverside, gives a lecture on Misreadings of Chinese Art in Late Choson Korea at the School of Social Work on Tuesday.
Students enrolled in Sports Management 199 at Syracuse University analyzed Sunday’s Super Bowl from an academic perspective, The Daily Orange reported. Now in its fifth year, the course is dedicated to both understanding the political and economic influence of the Super Bowl and studying its historical and social implications for U.S. culture. Sports Management Prof. Dennis Deninger said he hopes his class will encourage Syracuse students to observe the game with a “critical eye.” “I want them to see how things have come together, how things that they take for granted like the Super Bowl were the product of various political and economic and
social forces at work,” he said in an interview with The Daily Orange. Michigan State University event raises awareness about disabled community Michigan State’s Council of Students with Disabilities hosted university faculty, alumni, and students at their first Adaptive Sports Day on Saturday, The State News reported. The event encouraged individuals of various identities to experience adaptive sports, or activities aimed to increase the accessibility of physical exercise within the disabled community. Duncan Wyeth, instructor for disabled studies and former Paralympic athlete, stressed the impor-
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES michigandaily.com
THE WIRE
CSG passes winter budget BY TANAZ AHMED
Central Student Government passed resolutions to enact its winter budget of $386,132. The budget was passed unanimously. CSG also set election dates for March 25 and March 26.
Country concert
Photoshop workshop
Poetry app presentation
WHAT: Kathy Mattea will be performing a live show that includes songs from her album “Coal,” inspired by the Sago mine disaster in 2006. WHO: Michigan Union Ticket Office WHEN: Tonight at 8 p.m. WHERE: The Ark
WHAT: A seminar which will teach the practical applications of Photoshop. WHO: Teaching and Technology Collaborative WHEN: Today at 3 p.m. WHERE:Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, Faculty Exploratory
WHAT: Prof. David Porter will discuss and demonstrate the mobile application he developed to make Tang dynasty poems more accessible. WHO: Confucius Institute WHEN: Today at 12 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Koesller Room
Relations with Medical lecture Philharmonia WHAT: MD candidate, Yael orchestra Cuba
THE WIRE
Frat. sends resort $25,000
WHAT: A panel will explore the potential reprecussions and benefits of re-establishing relations between the United States and Cuba. WHO: Center for Latin American and Carribbean Studies WHEN: Today at 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Weill Hall, Annenberg Auditorium
BY LARA MOEHLMAN
Barry Owens, general manager at Treetops Resort, reported that all damages have been repaired after the University chapter of fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu stayed there last month.
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
SPORTS
(MIS)READINGS
ON THE WEB...
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Shinar, will discuss the role physicians played during the Holocaust and how their experiences relate to contemporary issues. WHO: Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine WHEN: Today at 3 p.m. WHERE: North Campus Research Complex, Room 266C, Building 16
WHAT: The University’s philharmonia orchestra will perform following a preconcert lecture at 7:15 p.m. WHO: The School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Tonight at 8 p.m. WHERE: Hill Auditorium Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com.
tance of adaptive sports for mental health, recreational therapy and social development. “Physical exercise has a great impact on mental health and emotional well-being. It promotes a sense of accomplishment of setting and achieving goals,” he said. MSU student Julia Christensen, the Associated Students of Michigan State University representative to CSD, noted the value of learning about disability through adaptive sports. “It’s important for people to realize a disabled person can do something everyone else can do. They just have to do it in a different way,” Christensen said in an interview with The State News. — KRISTINA PERKINS
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” will publish a sequel to her acclaimed novel in July. The book, titled “Go Set a Watchman,” was written in the 1950s, the New York Times reported.
2
This week, the Statement examines the historical progression of city council to its current state, which features no Republicans and only one Independent. >> FOR MORE, SEE STATEMENT
3
A Royal Caribbean nine-day cruise to Jamaica was cut short after more than 200 people were infected with norovirus, CNN reported. The ship docked in the Port of Baltimore on Monday.
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from “jazz for listeners” to “jazz illustration by Francesca Kielb for musicians.” While Paradise Valley was one of the areas destroyed by freein huge ballrooms like the Grayway construction in the 1960s, stone. the community of music has surElliot said he searches vived. through record stores to listen to Elliot met his bandmate and new “old” musicians all the time. pianist Michael Malis while the As a Detroit jazz artist, undertwo were both still in high school standing his predecessors is playing in the Detroit Civic Jazz crucial, he said, because it helps Ensemble. The Civic gave them contextualize his creative develthe opportunity to start gigging opment. — performing professionally — at “This music’s been passed a young age, and with that came down and passed down and the opportunity to play with passed down, and it would be musicians that “define the tradifoolish for me to think what I’m tion,” Malis said. doing is new,” Elliot said. Malis said the “king” of nurDetroit’s greatest contribution turing young jazz talent is Marcus Belgrave, trumpet player and Detroit’s Jazz Master Laureate. Malis remembered auditioning for Belgrave at age 13, but said Punk, rock, Detroit, suburb Lathrup Village. he was wholly underprepared to Ann Arbor “Do you know what a transisplay in a jazz band at the time. At the outset of the 1960s, the tor radio is?” he asked during “I thought he was just going sound of Detroit ballrooms began a recent interview in the Lager to send me home with my tail shifting to something a little House—a narrow space with between my legs,” he remem- bit harder. Bands like Iggy, the layers of posters on the wall and bered. “He looked down at me Stooges and the Motor City Five deep stage that has hosted the from above the piano and ‘Yeah, were bringing suburban-spun White Stripes and The Von Bondyou’ll do.’ ” discontent and an entirely new ies, among countless local bands. Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ And that meant Malis “was music scene into the city. “With a transistor Radio and in” even though the group “(It is) a scene that screams a 9 volt battery underneath your already had a piano player. Malis for its righteous recognition pillow at night you could listen said Belgrave even played with every weekend at every ballroom, to WKNR and CKLW,” he said. him that day. That willingness of every shopping center teen club, “And I listened to those things a seasoned professional taking every free concert in the park, religiously.” the time to play with a kid exem- every time the music is heard Ryder remembers seeing his HARD plifies the culture of mentor- anywhere,” MC5 manager John some of favorite rock musicians ship that exists in Detroit jazz. Sinclair wrote in an early manu- like The Frost and The UP, anothThe culture can be traced back script now housed at the Bentley er band on Sinclair’s label, play almost like a family tree. Historical Library. at high school dances and sock “The people who he’s come The MC5 were staples of the hops. from directly are people who punk scene in Detroit throughout “The thought of it now is just define what the word jazz the ‘60s and the ‘70s, though much so mind boggling,” he said. means,” Malis said. of their development occurred in The suburbs were brimming Ian Finkelstein, a pianist that Ann Arbor. Their music was fast with anti-establishment music, was already in the group that and loud, their practice space was but bands flocked in to play gigs Malis joined, said the weight of 1510 Hill Street, the location of in the same ballrooms that had that lineage is important. Luther Co-Op, and their first gigs been hosting big-band jazz con“We had the privilege of com- were at fraternity houses. They certs a few years earlier. ing up in that lineage and by were managed by John Sinclair, a “I never got out to the Grande extension we are continuing it,” legendary poet and activist, who to the East Town or Punch and he said. started managing bands under Judy any of that stuff. I was a subAll of these young musicians the label “Trans-love Interna- urban white kid,” Ryder said. have, at one point or another, tional.” The Grande Ballroom (prothought about leaving Detroit Bands on Trans-love served as nounced Grand-eee) served as for a bigger city like New York some of PJ Ryder’s first introduc- a hotspot for teenagers to dance or Chicago, but they all stuck tion to Detroit’s rock scene. Ryder to jazz until 1961— hanging on to around because of the people now owns PJ’s Lager House, a bar swing even as its audience flow they’ve met. The connections at the edge of Detroit’s Corktown trickled as music tastes changed. and opportunities are great, that showcases live music on deck In 1966, the Grande finally © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com UNBREAKABLE. they said, but so is the opportu- almost every night. He remem- made the switch after Russ Gibb, nity to continue the legacy that bers discovering Detroit’s music a middle school social studies raised them. scene growing up in the nearby teacher, bought the ballroom. At Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku and Godoku puzzles at sudokusyndication.com!
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to jazz, according to historian Lars Bjorn’s “Before Motown,” is its role in developing “modern” or “bebop” jazz. In the 1950s, much of the innovation in jazz was coming out of predominantly Black communities establishing their own entertainment districts like Paradise Valley. The former intersection of Adams and St. Antoine fostered clusters of bars and “jazz spots,” giving musicians a community to jam and experiment. While in Detroit, artists like Milt Jackson and Yusef Lateef worked to further elevate the technical difficulty and artistry of their style. Bjorn describes the shift as moving
DETROIT From Page 1A
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the urging of John Sinclair, he let the MC5 play the first show. The group became a mainstay at the Grande and filled the venue up regularly. But like the jazz musicians before them, Detroit’s rock scene was facing a hard fight to win over the mainstream. “The established critics had a hard time ‘recognizing’ the ‘value’ of the new long-haired low down music,” Sinclair wrote from Marquette Branch Prison, after being sentenced for possession of marijuana, “just as it had taken them almost 30 years to reconcile themselves to jazz artists that had taken the forefront in the 20s.” The mainstream didn’t catch on in time, Ryder said, and concerned governments started shutting down the scene’s lifeblood—the venues. He remembered that the Talking Heads were going to play a show at the Punch and Judy in nearby Grosse Pointe. “The City of Grosse Pointe— this is Talking Heads mind you— went to court and tried to get a stop because they said they didn’t want to have punk bands playing in Grosse Pointe,” he recalled. “And it’s like—punk bands? Really? Talking Heads?” This crackdown included some drug busts, Ryder explained, and ultimately put the “scene on life support.” Shows were still popping in in “oddball kind of placSee DETROIT, Page 3A
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ENROLLMENT From Page 1A
PLANET BLUE From Page 1A
postsecondary institutions,” thus allowing high school students to take college classes while in high school. SB-37 does the inverse, allowing community colleges to enroll high school students. Jason Morgan, director of government relations at Washtenaw Community College, said dual enrollment for high school students has been an option for as long as he can remember. The proposed bills, however, differ from the status quo because students would not have to travel to community colleges to gain credit. “Dual enrollment is really beneficial for everyone involved,” Morgan said. “The community colleges get additional students, the students get college credit while they’re in high school, and the high schools get a chance to allow their students to take college classes without incurring any additional cost to the high school.” In February 2014, the MASCO Foundation provided a $150,000 grant to establish a partnership between Ypsilanti public schools and WCC so high school students could earn an associates degree, or at least a certificate, with their diploma upon high school graduation. He noted that the providing students the option of dual enrollment also provides potential economic benefits. “The long term direction is to encourage even more dual enrollment with community colleges, in hopes that students can save money on college right off the bat,” Morgan said. Snyder knows the value of dual enrollment as he earned 25 credits while attending high school through dual enrollment at Kellogg Community College. These credits allowed him to earn three degrees from the University of Michigan by the time he was 23. State Sen. Goeff Hansen (R–Hart) also introduced a bill regarding dual enrollment for high school students Jan. 28. Senate Bill 38 would allow state universities to offer academic credit for concurrent enrollment courses offered by public high schools. Employing the same concept behind SB-36 and 37, high school students then would not have to leave campus to gain credit from state universities. As of now, Ferris State University has a concurrent enrollment program available to high schools with certified teachers. Under the proposed bill, tuition would be free to high school students and instead would be funded through the public schools. College benefits for veterans In the State of the State address, Snyder also highlighted the passage of the National Guard Tuition Assistance Act — which provides financial aid to members of the Michigan National Guard attending college in the state of Michigan. On Jan. 28, State Rep. Holly Hughes (R–Montague) introduced House Bill 4060, which would further help veterans by informing them during the college admission process that they can receive credits for training completed while in the military. Veterans can submit a transcript for credits that they may have earned and receive appropriate credits from the university. Tax credits for graduates State Rep. Andy Schor (D– Lansing) and State Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr. (D–East Lansing) both introduced versions of a bill that would offer students who stayed in Michigan postgraduation a tax credit worth 50 percent of their student loan payments that year. A similar version of the bill introduced at the end of 2014 stalled, but now is being reintroduced as HB-4118. In a statement, Schor expressed confidence that passing the bill could be a bipartisan effort. Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) is a sponsor of the bill. The proposed bill is based on the Opportunity Maine program, which allows students who graduate from Maine colleges to receive an Educational Opportunity Tax Credit.
port from the University, and there’s been great participation in the programs from people that are passionate all across the university,” Berg said. “It’s been great getting input from across the University and a broad spectrum of stakeholders.” The PBA 2.0 upgrade allows users to make pledges and track the success of their goals as well as includes personalized information about each user’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions, waste, dollars saved and more. Berg said the program currently has about 2,000 active and certified ambassadors, 700 of whom are students. Program Assistant Ryan Gourley, program assistant for the Planet Blue Ambassador Program, said an sustainability should be embedded in everyday life. “Right now in society, sustainability is often treated as this separate issue like it’s its own field,” Gourley said. “Really, in an ideal world, sustainability undergirds everything. There’s no human activity that should occur without an eye toward sustainability. It is necessary for both the survival of our species and the continued well-being of the planet.” Berg said University-wide involvement in energy, food, water, waste and community sustainability is critical. “When you get this sort of grassroots involvement and input is really where you’re going to see the real difference made,” Berg said. “We have this expertise in our research,
MONOLOGUES From Page 1A UHS health educator Kellie Carbone, a Body-Peace Corps adviser and the event’s director, said the program focused on struggles with body and appearance because it is a subject that students are often unable to talk about freely. “Over the years, I started to realize there was real value in people telling stories and I saw there really wasn’t a platform for students to do that,” she said. “Our goal was to get people talking and listening to stories about struggles with body appearance in a supportive way.” “Most of the time people suffer in silence about these things and then they become
DEAN From Page 1A as an administrator is to ensure all classes are engaging for both students and faculty. “The environment that I’d like to create for the faculty is an environment that encourages collaboration and encourages experimentation and is a place where different types of approaches are embraced, to see if they work,” he said. “And if they don’t work we will get rid of them.” He noted that he would like to maintain the University’s academic excellence, and added that having a competitive faculty body contributes to that high quality. “University of Michigan is one of the world’s greatest universities, and LSA is the country’s best liberal arts college,” Martin said. “We are the best liberal arts college because we have the best faculty in the country across the board. Across all three divisions we have world-class scholars who are doing state of the art research and are teaching undergraduates every year.” To maintain a high level of excellence, Martin said LSA is planning to review its Race and Ethnicity requirement. He added that Angela Dillard, the recently appointed associate dean for undergraduate education, will spearhead this effort, working with students and faculty to evaluate the requirement and amass feedback. He said it would be interesting to further integrate the Race and Ethnicity requirement into the LSA curriculum by potentially granting more upper-level classes R&E certification.
News and our training and operations in sustainability is something that everyone can get involved in, and we can make a real impact at the University.” Last week, University President Mark Schlissel voiced his support for the initiative on his “On the Agenda” blog. “As a public institution, U-M must be part of our society’s response to sustainability challenges on local to global scales,” he wrote. “This requires meaningful commitments at both institutional and individual levels. Our Planet Blue initiative unifies all of U-M’s sustainability work – spanning research, education and campus life.” In November, Schlissel called for a review of the University’s sustainability goals, the first round of which were scheduled to for completion by 2025. The University has seen mixed results in making progress on the goals, which include reducing waste, carbon emissions and transportation emissions. The new PBA website, which is funded through the Office of the Provost and administered by the Graham Sustainability Institute, also includes teambased activities for students to compete with their friends. Gourley said he hopes the program will eventually become part of the campus climate. “I would measure the success of this program being at a point that would render it obsolete,” Gourley said. “We won’t need a program like this because people just automatically choose the sustainable option.”
secrets,” she added. “But giving a people a space to open up about that inspires people to take a brave step and do it in their own words too.” At the event, Social Work student Hannah Miller spoke about her 10-year battle with anorexia. She said she hoped the event inspired the University community to break the silence regarding body disorders. “I hope that it just spoke to at least one person,” Miller said in an interview after her performance. “There tends to be a lot of shame and stigma associated with eating disorders. I hope the event encouraged someone to get out there and break that silence.” Carbone and the Body-Peace Corps are currently planning events for Eating Disorders Awareness Week at the end of the month.
Last year, the Black Student Union called on the University to adopt a R&E requirement across all of its schools and colleges as part of their demands to address campus climate and diversity. On this subject, Martin also said one of his main focuses is diversity for undergraduate students and among faculty. He wants to see low rates of attrition across all demographics. He added that faculty diversity has decreased over the last decade possibly due to lack of strategy. “I will be, in the next month or so, charging a task force with the job of radically rethinking the way in which we do recruitment and retention with the eye of non-incrementally improving the diversity of our faculty,” he said. Martin added that he wants to make access to the University easier through scholarships and financial aid. He stressed that the University’s national standing with regard to provision of aid needs to improve. LSA junior Ananya Mukundan, who went to the event because she wished to learn Martin’s mission and his plans for improving the campus, said she liked his discussion on diversity. “It’s really important that we have frank discussions about diversity and how even faculty have to get diversity training, not just students, and so I really liked hearing about that,” she said. Martin also discussed interdisciplinary degrees. He noted that LSA’s collaboration with some schools like the School of Education and Ross School of Business is better than it is with others. He said physical distance between LSA and the College
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 — 3A
DETROIT From Page 2A es,” but rock bands were finding less and less space in bars and clubs. At this point Ryder moved to Ann Arbor, finished his degree at the University and opened up PJ’s Records—an experience he described as a “graduate degree in music.” In the early ‘90s, he decided to move back to Detroit, where the scene was on its way back to health, churning out acts like the White Stripes, Eminem and Kid Rock. Ryder bought the then-dilapidated Lager House in 1995. Things have changed a lot since he bought the place and the city seems to be back on the upswing. Today there’s a “healthy scene,” Ryder said, with shows happening almost every night, if you know where to look. “There’s this whole other level that’s constantly churning with activity,” he said. “And it to me it doesn’t seem like it’s slowing down. If anything it’s picking up.” The Birthplace of Techno In the mid ‘80s, halfway between Ann Arbor and Detroit, three teens at Belleville High School were trying something different. Juan Atkins and classmates Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, collectively known as the “Belleville Three,” are widely credited for creating the beginnings of what is today called Detroit Techno. In an e-mail interview, Atkins said it all began when he talked his grandmother into buying him a Korg MS-10 synthesizer, a keyboard-like instrument that creates electronic bass sounds, when he was a senior in high school. With that gift, he built and layered sounds, making music not grounded in physical instruments, but out of a digital realm. “I would define techno as being electronic music made or
conceived with computers and what have you- electronic equipment, synthesizers,” he wrote. Today the synthesized, electronic sound that came out of Atkins’ early experiments would not seem out of place at a house party. But at the time, using computers to bring the mechanical sounds to life was an entirely new endeavor. Atkins’ friends encouraged him to record the new sounds he was experimenting with and in 1981 the trio opened their downtown disco, the Music Institute, where they could play their songs for an audience. Atkins produced prolifically throughout the ‘80s, working under the name Model 500, and when recording with collaborator Rick Davis, Cybotron. Cybotron’s single, “Techno City,” introduced the term “techno” to brand their futuristic, electronic beat. By the late ‘80s, Detroit techno had found an enthusiastic audience overseas, and many Detroit artists found themselves touring in Europe. Alvin Hill, who has lectured at the University, has been a DJ for over 30 years and said Detroit’s place in the history of techno has been critical to his development as a musician. “When I think of techno, I think of Detroit techno because that was my first introduction to the word,” Hill said. “Detroit techno is very much a reflection of the city itself: urban, industrial, futuristic.” Hill explained that his involvement in the techno world began when he first met Derrick May of the Belleville Three. They spoke about opening up a club together, and while those plans never came to fruition, Hill ended up staying in contact with May, running May and Saunderson’s record labels in the early ‘90s. Hill said when he met May, clubs and record stores were the place to go for aspiring DJs. Detroit’s clubs were “where
music was happening,” and were what ultimately pushed him to a career as a DJ. “The more I was out at clubs, the more I thought just how cool DJs were,” Hill said. “They took this music and blended it together and created this sort of journey.” The Belleville Three’s experimental sounds defined the first wave of Detroit techno, the genre developing a more blank sound in the mid ‘90s, with DJs like Carl Craig defining the second wave. Today’s Detroit DJs have a quite different experience from DJs of the past. Hill explained that the lines between DJ, producer and music-maker have blurred as the equipment for those jobs becomes more widely available and user-friendly. “In the 80s, DJs were DJs, there was no expectation that you were going to create music. But now I think it’s very hard to be a DJ if you do not create your own music,” Hill said. “Also in the ‘80s if you wanted to DJ, you had to have records, now you can just have to have a hard drive.” But accessibility isn’t necessarily a good thing for the techno industry, Atkins said. Easier production methods are a boon for quantity, not necessarily quality. “I think you have a lot of productions out there coming from people who shouldn’t really be making music,” he said. “However, the technology has allowed them to make songs and I think that what we are feeling now is an onslaught of all of this crap music.” Techno’s Detroit roots make the city a special place for EDM fans today. “I think that because this movement was started in Detroit and we are from Detroit, it made Detroit a kind of revered place in electronic music circles,” Atkins said. “I think that just recently have we been getting the accolades that we deserve from the city of Detroit and the people of Detroit.”
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#READTMD of Engineering, the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design, the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance had been a problem in the past — and added that he wants to work closer with them in the future. Martin also informed the students that some LSA classes will be taught on North Campus starting in Fall 2015. “I think the thing that would be most helpful for my perspective would be for you students as
a group to think about what are those interdisciplinary crossschool undergraduate experiences that would be most beneficial to you,” he said. LSA junior Jennifer Liu, also a Business student, said she attended the event to learn more about the expanding interdisciplinary nature of LSA. As a dual major, she said she feels there is animosity and unnecessary separation among schools. “What he said was promising from his point of view, but what
I would like to see is engagement across all different colleges on campus and I think that is going to take a lot more time and a lot more effort,” she said, adding that she would like to hear from a panel of deans from across the University’s colleges. “I was surprised and somewhat happy with how blunt he was,” Liu added. “I think Dean Martin comes across as someone who wants to be honest with the students and who is here to learn.”
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com JENNIFER CALFAS EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH and DEREK WOLFE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
MATTHEW JACKONEN | VIEWPOINT
Je suis Nigeria
The embarrassingly minute coverage on Boko Haram’s recent escalation in Nigeria in both the media and on social media needs to be discussed. It seems our national fixation on the Middle East and Euro-centric terror attacks is blinding us from other pressing humanitarian issues. In a country where the epicenter of our international obsessions lies in the heart of the Middle East, we are ceaselessly bombarded with coverage of ISIS push for dominion in Iraq and Syria, usually innately partnered with some grainy videos of overzealous jihadists spouting their plans for world domination in the greatest tradition of Stewie from “Family Guy.” Nevertheless, while it’s reasonable to make light of the ramblings of these mad men, what they’re doing in Iraq and Syria is truly gruesome and inhumane. Reports of hundreds or thousands slaughtered seem to come rolling in each week, and the psychology of the average American’s current obsession with ISIS seems to be at least somewhat rooted in the desire to see these wolves brought to justice. No doubt we have all seen the videos and read reports of the beheadings and execution-style massacres, and some viscerally American part of our collective soul yearns for the opportunity to bring these dirtbags to justice as the self-affirmed messiah of the world. But is that truly the whole story of our obsession with the Middle East? The answer: no, not even a little bit. Without going into the tiresome and playedout retelling of the history of the U.S.’s Iraqi occupation and our other various endeavors in the region, suffice it to say that we can agree it was clearly our political and economic interests that took us down those often-mistaken paths. At first glance, even the title of the operation in Iraq —“Iraqi Freedom” — itself seems to intimate the aforementioned obsession with bringing an end to the struggle and trauma the Iraqi people dealt with each day. But if we care so much about the slaughter or displacement of innocents, why doesn’t anyone in the media or on Twitter seem to be fired up about the current state of affairs in Nigeria? Oh, right, because we don’t exactly have any pressing interests there. You have probably heard of Boko Haram at least once in the past year, and it was likely during the coverage of their abduction of 276 girls from a school in the village of Chibok. Like ISIS and other garden-variety jihadist groups, Boko Haram’s modus operandi is essentially the same: the establishment of a Shari’a-based Islamic state in Africa with the lion’s share of attacks carried out against state institutions and local police and military forces. The group was fractured — some “experts” believed the fracture to be beyond repair at the time — in 2009 after a Nigerian security raid on a Boko Haram compound, in which a significant amount of their leaders was either captured or killed. However, what was left of the group recollected to lick its wounds with the help of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, and Boko Haram has since slowly escalated its attacks with its quickly growing forces and significant aid from AQIM. The numbers are frankly disturbing. Since 2010, where there were just 75 Boko Haramrelated fatalities during the low point of their fracture, the amount has increased each year with 569 fatalities in 2011, 1,646 fatalities in
HEIDI LIU
2012, 2,973 fatalities in 2013 and an alarming 7,711 fatalities in 2014. In the month of January 2015 alone, well-known political scientist Ian Bremmer reported that the group has already slain upwards of 3,000 people in the region. Where is the outrage and solidarity? What is even more frightening is the corrupt Nigerian military’s lack of any ability to stop the streaking Boko Haram insurgents. Currently, Boko Haram is making a push into the capital city of Maiduguri after taking control of many of the towns and villages surrounding the city. If successful, this push could spell the genesis of the realization of an extremist Islamic state in Nigeria. If we’re being frank, the Nigerian military is no match for the current force that is Boko Haram, but luckily, African leaders across the region have agreed to send 7,500 troops to help the ailing Nigerians fight back. What further exaggerates the sheer weight of the geopolitical importance of this issue and the farce that is the lack of coverage in the media is the possibility that at some point, should Boko Haram find success in Nigeria, the group could link with AQIM, which already has a large presence in much of northern Africa. Together, the pairing could wreak significantly more havoc on the region in pursuing their dream of a global Islamic caliphate. All of this sounds like a pressing humanitarian problem, right? Like, one that we might see updated regularly on a nightly CNN or World News broadcast? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The earlyJanuary massacres in Baga — in which Boko Haram forces sadistically executed more than 2,000 civilians over the span of a few days — were severely overshadowed by coverage of the Charlie Hebdo slayings in France. Though the Charlie Hebdo murders were a clear affront to freedom of speech and a wanton act of aggression toward the West, how can that one event so heavily overshadow the systematic slaughter of thousands of innocents over a period of four days? While the hashtag “Je suis Charlie” quickly became one of the most tweeted hashtags in history, nobody seemed to pay any heed to the increasingly burdensome daily existential struggle of innocent men and women in Nigeria. What’s ironic (since we are on the free speech trope that was so heavily invoked in the coverage of the Charlie Hebdo incident) is “Boko Haram” is linguistically the embodiment of anti-free speech: boko is the Hausa word for “fake” and haram is Arabic for “forbidden.” When combined with colloquially, the group’s common name translates to “Western education is a sin,” a slam on our world and our way of life. With all the brilliant artists of the Charlie Hebdo response cartoons, you’d think the media could get some pretty good content out of that. Even in our latest obsession with police brutality (to which I take no importance from and agree with its pressing nature) in Ferguson and New York, I see hypocrisy in its highest form. In the months of hearing about and even participating in marches and vigils for these tragically killed Black men, I thought I had learned one thing: Black lives matter. Or is it just that American Black lives matter? Je suis Nigeria, anyone? Matthew Jackonen is an LSA senior.
E-mail Heidi at heidimae@umich.edu
I
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Eliminate the Athletic Department
n what is a now fading spotlight on our football woes, the University of Michigan still manages to humiliate itself in regards to our Athletic Department. During a press conference to address the “sports stuff” earlier this year, University President Mark Schlis- ERIC sel stated that “we KUKIELKA admit students who aren’t as qualified, and it’s probably the kids that we admit that can’t honestly, even with lots of help, do the amount of work and the quality of work it takes to make progression from year to year.” Fast forward to last week, when assistant football coach Greg Mattison allegedly told a potential recruit that he wouldn’t be accepted to the University if he didn’t play football. At a time when we have groups kicking down boardroom doors to protest the lack of diversity on campus, Michigan is quietly accepting students that shouldn’t be here just because they play a game. They then get a whole host of extra advantages to which the average University student just doesn’t have access. Because of this, I think it’s time we take a serious look at abolishing the Athletic Department and removing these semi-professional sports from campus. There is a major issue with the amount of general resources certain entitled “student-athletes” use up. All over the nation, there’s a concern about players “clustering” their majors, with many athletes being pushed toward one or two “special” programs. Some schools create classes specifically for these athletes, and in the past, Michigan has proven to be no exception. According to Schlissel, “very few” student-athletes are enrolled in single-student independent study classes. The number of students in these specialized classes at any time is very low, and quite possibly zero. However, since Schlissel decided to address these classes, they are now relevant to this discussion, regardless of whether or not we have students taking those classes this semester. Looking at the entire picture, this would mean we have students who aren’t academically qualified taking up classroom seats they don’t deserve, utilizing systems that we maintain
only for the privileged elite, just so many of these athletes can miss time in the actual classroom to play a game. The system is only going to get worse, not better. There are now two colleges in the United States that offer scholarships for playing the computer game “League of Legends.” It’s only a matter of time until this program comes to our University. You know that kid with the puffy, red eyes who looks as if he was up all night playing games, hitting a bong and eating Doritos? That’s possibly only months away from being a University-sanctioned event (the playing games all night part, at least). They may even qualify for a scholarship to do that. Obviously, we need to put an end to this nonsense. Stopping this insanity won’t be easy, though, because the push to include these programs is coming from outside the University. Our main sports programs exist as they do today primarily because the professional leagues cultivated them this way. Why pay money to establish a farm system when you have people willing to pay the costs for you? There are now billions of dollars in college athletics, but the vast majority of that wealth does not go to the schools. The NBA and NFL are especially egregious in this regard. To them, it’s win-win. They use these schools to polish their own brand, the universities get a lot of publicity and TV time and the NCAA gets to roll in the cash. Only one group of people loses in this: the students. College athletes are essentially free laborers, and the powers that be like it. That’s why when a bunch of studentathletes threatened to unionize in Illinois, the Michigan Legislature moved to block that from happening here. It’s just not “good business” to allow students to get paid. After all, the college football market is possibly even bigger than the pro market, and the NFL generates about $9 billion in yearly revenue. The monetary loss to the student-athletes is enormous, but students aren’t the only customers that are buying this product. Michigan Stadium isn’t filled with 100,000
students and alumni on Saturdays during football season. From my perception, it’s seems to be mostly “Walmart Wolverines,” the fans of the team that never attended the University, making them the target audience. Since they’re the primary consumers, non-students and nonalumni, University resources are further privatized. The most valuable of those resources is the real estate. It’s impossible to overlook the sheer amount of land the Athletic Department uses. Michigan Stadium, Yost Ice Arena, the Crisler Center and many others athletic sites on campus are all land hogs. Instead of looking to some of the largest, least populated areas of campus when the University needed land for an over-priced apartment complex, they decided to reclaim the five square feet (approximately) occupied by Blimpy Burger. Between the football program and the restaurant, only one of those two businesses regularly puts a smile on the faces of its customers (hint: it’s not the football program). By freeing ourselves from the burden of these facilities, we’d have more land available for student benefit. In the end, it’s all about money. The more our school gets pushed toward a “business” and away from a “university,” the more these things will continue to happen. Our students are being exploited for private gain, and our state legislature has shown it cares more about the interests of big business than students. It’s time to say “enough.” The University has enough money. It needs to step up and put an end to this charade. Closing the Athletic Department would prove exactly how serious the University is about protecting its students and upholding the integrity of the institution. Athletics would still live on at the University in the form of intramural sports and extracurricular activities, but without a financial motive. By taking the lead and either abolishing or reducing the role of the Athletic Department, we would show the world the true meaning of the “Michigan Difference.”
Only one group of people loses in this: the students.
— Eric Kukielka can be reached at ekuk@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Devin Eggert, David Harris, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe
W
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— Willie Filkowski can be reached at willjose@umich.edu.
Life & Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 — 5A
ALBUM REVIEW
Radio-ready, but out of tune ‘Reflection’ By STEPHANIE SHENOUDA Daily Life Editor
Editor’s Note: This semester we’re launching a new Life section within the paper. We’re beginning this endeavor with a few individual installments with stories related to healthy eating, fitness, and mental health. Our goal is to provide information relevant to college students and to help interested readers lead happier, healthier lives. When LSA senior Lisa Schlosberg walked into the newsroom at 420 Maynard for her interview, I thought I knew what she would say. I knew that she used to weigh around 300 pounds and lost 150 pounds during her sophomore year at the University. This was supposed to be a tidy 600 word article on how to maintain weight loss on a college campus from someone who’d been there. Over the course of our 90-minute interview, however, I learned that host of complexities associated with losing weight. It’s not just a physical journey, but a mental journey. Healthy eating At first, it seems simple. “I lost a lot of weight sophomore year,” Lisa said. “I was overweight my whole life, after freshman year here I started Jenny Craig and did that for seven months before taking it into my own hands and dieting myself.” Though some people who decide to lose weight report an “aha moment,” Lisa said she’s not sure what prompted her to make such a drastic change to her life, especially because she was usually happy before losing weight. “It’s the one question everyone asks me that I still don’t have an answer for. It was just time,” she said. “I took a gap year before college and I think going abroad and being alone and independent kind of set me up so I could do something like that. For me it wasn’t what it is for a lot of people: I wasn’t bullied, I wasn’t sad, I didn’t hate what I looked like. I just needed to do something for myself.” Lisa said she’d been overweight her whole life, but never felt compelled to do anything about it because she wasn’t interested in understanding nutrition or how to live a healthy lifestyle. She’d been on a slew of diets growing up but none of them stuck because her heart wasn’t in it. “My parents tried and tried, but there’s only so much you can do for a kid who has no interest in losing weight,” she said. “This time was different. I couldn’t count points — I wasn’t doing that again. I just followed the rules and did what I had to do and I saw it start working so that was good.” Lisa selected the Jenny Craig program because she said it was like dieting for dummies. “When I first started I had no idea how to eat right, even if I wanted to. I had no nutritional knowledge and I had no interest. I just thought, ‘If I have to go through this, let’s make this as easy as possible.’ ” Lisa began the program, seamlessly replacing her favorite foods with the preportioned food sent in boxes by Jenny Craig. While it may seem like a tough adjustment, Lisa opened the first box and never looked back. “When I started Jenny Craig I think I was on 2,300 calories and then as you go you drop off hundreds of calories. They give you snacks and dessert and from the very beginning I thought I didn’t need snacks or dessert, or dressing on my salad. I cut it all out from the beginning and I shouldn’t have. I really didn’t know any better.” Lisa said she learned a lot from her weight loss consultants, including the difference between good and bad fats, why fiber is filling and how to incorporate protein into meals. But because of the nature of the program, she didn’t have to apply what she learned. She
just had to eat the food they sent. “Once I started everything was black and white, things were allowed and things were not,” she said. “I wasn’t patient. I wasn’t lenient. I was trying to lose as much weight as fast as possible.” After seven months on the program, Lisa decided that she could lose the rest on her own and decided to take dieting into her own hands. She knew that as she lost weight she was supposed to eat less, so she began restricting her caloric intake even further and continued to drop weight. “On one hand I learned a lot. At the same time, they didn’t teach me enough and I don’t blame them, but I wasn’t prepared to do what I thought I could.” Though losing weight didn’t change her personality, Lisa said the extreme measures she took to shed pounds often did. December 2013, she realized she was getting dizzy and saw black spots in her vision a lot. She wasn’t hanging out with her friends because her life revolved around making food, avoiding it or working it off. It was around this time she recalls she didn’t want to eat at all, and that her health began to decline. “I remember calling my mom from the library during finals and telling her I couldn’t study or see straight. I went to doctors for those few months and trying to get to the bottom of why I felt like shit all the time.” Lisa said she was told repeatedly that her symptoms were side effects of her rapid weight loss, and that with time and maintenance her mind and body would recover. But because she still had 15 pounds to lose before she hit her goal weight, Lisa ignored their advice and continued consuming fewer calories. “That summer, I hit the worst plateau and couldn’t lose any weight, so I spoke to a nutritionist. She told me I was literally starving myself and the whole summer became about trying to reverse it.” Lisa said it was at that point she wasn’t able to recognize herself or how she’d let it happen. “I was in Ann Arbor over the summer and I never wanted to go out to eat. If people went out, I made excuses not to go. I was never that person. I love drinking and I love getting drunk with my friends. I love to eat and I love food and I love going out with my friends to eat food. I’m not a scared, paranoid person and I’m spontaneous, and that’s when I realized this had taken away everything. I wasn’t at all who I used to be.” “It was obvious to me that my entire life had been an eating disorder, either it was overeating or it was under-eating.” Fitness In addition to changes in her diet, Lisa committed to exercising for the first time, though she’d worked with trainers off and on in the past. Initially it wasn’t fun. “I hated exercise, but I did it all the time. From the very beginning I would work out twice a day,” she said. “I would swim after my lifeguarding shift and go home and do cardio at the gym. I really, really hated it so much, but it was just like everything else, I had to do it. All I did was cardio because I wanted to burn calories.” Lisa said she was motivated by her own progress and strived to be a few seconds faster every day. She stuck to cardio because she didn’t know much about working out, but knew that if she was sweaty and out of breath, she was doing something right. “Months later, I started to realize I was kind of enjoying this and the way it makes me feel. I never, ever thought that would happen. Months and months later I started getting into lifting and strength training, but when you’re so used to cardio it doesn’t feel like anything,” she said. “Now I love it, working out is my favorite thing. It’s how I blow off steam. I do it every day. I do Insanity DVDs a lot; I love running. I pretty much
do everything.” Lisa has come a long way since her first 17-minute mile and has even taken the steps to become a certified personal trainer. Lisa said she’s not sure if she wants to make a career out of personal training or how long she’ll be doing it. “I don’t know where I’m going to be after graduation and I’m not looking for a long-term career, so at this point there’s no better job than working in a gym and helping people lose weight,” she said. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do, so I have the opportunity to do this, time-wise.” As excited as she is for opportunities to pursue fitness at a higher level, Lisa admits she never saw it coming, even as she began her own journey. “I always heard about people who would lose a ton of weight and become a personal trainer and I thought that was never going to happen to me and now I’m that person, I’m so that person.” Mental health Lisa said when she began losing weight she thought it was going to be solely a physical journey. She thought she would be thinner, but her life would stay the same. Though her journey has had many ups and downs, Lisa said she’s a stronger person physically and mentally after what she went through. After losing more than 150 pounds and then struggling with an eating disorder, Lisa said she applies the dedication and mental toughness to every aspect of her life and that now, everything is possible for her mentally. “I thought I was just going to wake up thinner and move on with my life and that’s so far from what has happened. I feel like I can do anything, I know how to talk myself up and be positive and self motivated and dependent on myself, so that helps in everything I do all the time.” Lisa said that her close friends have had only positive things to say about her transformation and that nothing about that aspect of her life has changed. “I feel to the core, I’m the same person and I always have been,” she said. “Having consistent people is a testament to that. I’ve heard countless times that nothing has really changed, and I’m grateful for that. I wasn’t losing weight to look good, so I never had the mindset of a social climber that was going to get skinny and get cool, but there are for sure people who have treated me differently. There are people who are more friendly now and they’ll comment on all your Facebook pictures and don’t even try to hide how transparent they are.” However, Lisa added that she’s noticed people she’s not close with often treat her differently now that she’s thinner, from boys to bartenders. “I remember walking into a frat here freshman year, and I’ll literally never forget this guy opening the door and glaring at me. I knew exactly what it was, I was 300 pounds and with my hot freshman girl friends. I didn’t want to think about the fact that it was because of how I looked, but I knew. There were moments like that all the time.” Lisa said she realizes she was more or less “ignored” before she started losing weight, and that “skinny privilege” was something she gained by slimming down. “I didn’t know I was uncomfortable until I knew what it was like to feel comfortable in social situations. It’s so easy for me now,” she said. “I don’t think that most people take it for granted being a normal weight and an able bodied person, but once you’ve gained enough weight to be on the other side you know how society works and it’s disappointing.”
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By GREGORY HICKS Daily Arts Writer
Fifth Harmony’s muchanticipated debut, Ref lection, is plagued with an angry mob of fans who have a bone to pick Bwith the solo distribution ‘Reflection’ of the record. Despite Camila Fifth Harmony Cabello being Epic one of the weaker voice boxes in the quintet, she takes the reigns on the majority of the record’s made-for-radio tracks — stirring up quite a frustrated mess from the group’s fan base that ranks priority by talent. That’s not how pop music works. A weaker voice tends to be more digestible for pop music and the world doesn’t need four Christina Aguileras hovering over the microphone every given second. The record’s producers deemed Cabello the group’s X-factor, so c’est la vie, Fifth Harmony. There’s no need for the Pussycat Dolls treatment. Ref lection may not have the solo showcases that fans wanted and it may not be booming with innovation, but it does display pop savviness. The beats are hip hop-oriented, the lyrics lean toward independent-female anthems and then there’s the recurring brass instrumentation continuously heard in the latest “Problem” (Ariana Grande), “Shake It Off” (Taylor Swift) and “Talk Dirty” (Jason Derulo) hits. Coast through the first half of the record (“Top Down,” “Boss,” “Worth It,”
EPIC
Which one is Posh Harmony?
etc.) and you’ll find more than enough of these characteristics. And in the event that teen girl hip hop isn’t your cup of tea, Meghan Trainor and Dr. Luke have tailored a few hyper radiofriendly EDM tracks for you. With pen and paper in hand, Trainor whipped up the pulsating smash “Sledgehammer” — the group’s most recent hit — while Dr. Luke concocted the party-licious “This Is How We Roll,” which reintroduces the atonal, bouncing synth chorus that will.i.am brought to radio with “Scream and Shout.” The record’s writing and production becomes stale after the heavily sampled seventh track “Like Mariah,” but given that this is a debut in a world of low sales, it’s wise not to scatter the potential singles in the sequencing of the album. Momentum is key, after all, and there’s quite a bit — even if only for a short while.
That being said, the pop net is cast pretty wide here, so radio will most likely eat it up the first chunk of Ref lection. And given the absence of a dominant girl group on the market, the industry will probably give Fifth Harmony a push. After all, they’ve got that sexy, seductive, looks-like-a-12-year-oldgirl brand that all the kids are so into these days — just in case Ariana’s act isn’t uncomfortable enough for everybody. Just don’t creep too far into the realm of diva branding, Fifth Harmony. Shying away from the super teeny-bopper tracks of Better Together was a move in the right direction, but visually speaking, the group appears to be taking themselves quite seriously for a group of teenage girls who have been in the industry for all of half a second. You’re starting things off on the right musical foot, so crack a smile, ladies.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Learn to love Dolly By CARLY SNIDER Daily Arts Writer
I have been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton lately and I don’t really know how to handle it. As someone who cringes at the first twang of anything resembling country music, this feeling is particularly surprising. Strange things are happening, and I’ve decided to go with it. A few weeks ago, my mom, sister and I stumbled upon a Dolly Parton concert on TV. Catching the show just at the start, we were intrigued but planned to watch only a few songs before inevitably switching back to HGTV. Twoand-a-half hours later, we were watching the encore. This performance took place at the Glastonbury Festival in England a year or so ago. Parton put on a great show, easily commanding the stage with high energy and flaunting her still-impressive pipes. (Not to mention being 69-years-old and rocking what can only be described as a jumpsuit made in sequin heaven.) Initially skeptical, I recognized more songs than I originally anticipated, including “I Will Always Love
You” — which I had forgotten that Parton wrote — “Jolene” and “Islands in the Stream.” What struck me most was the sheer number of young people present to see Dolly — someone who, I thought, was entirely off of my generation’s radar. Not only were they there, but they were loving it. Some even wore elaborate wigs mimicking Dolly’s signature blonde locks. In a time when popular country music seems to be characterized by overly affected southern accents and lyrics consisting mainly of sunshine and beer, Parton’s more classical style is a refreshing change of pace. She keeps things simple, singing about working and fighting hard for who and what you love. Her roots seem to lie closer to some contemporary folk music, rather than the somewhat rock-influenced country of today. My experience with Dolly has stuck with me. It led me to explore some of the other classic women of country – women like Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline. Even in my brief listenings, I can’t help but notice the soul and swing of their music, both in the tone of voice and melodies. There is something
inherently jazzy and honest about these women, especially with Cline. Hard work, strong self-identity and a don’t-messwith-me attitude run throughout — all classic characteristics that southern-raised individuals value. Their sound is deconstructed and essentially unprocessed, more closely linking them to folk and alternative country. This provides a stark contrast to the mainstream country genre of today. Long gone are the days when simple arrangements and acoustic guitars would suffice. This may explain my liking Dolly and Patsy, yet avoiding all things Florida Georgia Line – for the most part, I like things to be kept simple. There is something much more sincere to me about a stand-out voice, rather than a singer always backed by a heavily layered melody. I know that I will never become a full-fledged country fan, but I have come to embrace the roots of the genre and its widespread influence. Who knows, maybe the mainstream millennials will come to appreciate the soulful simplicity of Patsy Cline just as I have.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, February 4, 2015
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TV REVIEW
‘Suits’ promises a thrilling finish
TV NOTEBOOK
Midseason premiere is addictively suspenseful By HAILEY MIDDLEBROOK Daily Arts Writer BUDWEISER
On its surface, USA Network’s “Suits” has a tired plot. Focused on two lawyers in a swanky New York City law firm, every epi- Asode brings a new case for the Suits Armani-clad Season 4 greyhounds to scrutinize. Midseason Premiere Sophisticated, yes, maybe even Wednesdays inspiring for the at 10 p.m. anxious graduate pining for USA acceptance from Harvard Law, but what makes “Suits” entertaining enough to be thriving in its fourth season? Like any good case, the answer is in the details. The premiere of season one introduced Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams, “Friday Night Lights”), a brilliant college dropout who was expelled from school after selling a math test to the dean’s daughter. With his dream of getting into law school dashed by the expulsion, Mike makes a living taking the LSAT for others, proving that he knows the law better than any aspiring attorney. Seeking an escape from the cops, Mike unknowingly stumbles into the lobby of Pearson Specter law firm. There, dozens of young Harvard graduates are waiting to be interviewed by Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht, “Love & Other Drugs”) as his new associate. Harvey, infamously the “best closer in the city,” bemoans the thought of dragging along one of these bookish newbies with him, but Mike’s disheveled appearance catches his eye. In a tense interrogation, Mike reveals that he didn’t graduate from Harvard (a staunch requirement for the associate
Drunk in puppy love.
USA
“I’ve got two more suits underneath this.”
position) or any law school for that matter. Nor does he even have a college degree. What he does have, however, is the brain to beat Harvey at his own game — a feat greater than any Harvard degree. Brushing all rules aside, Mike is hired to be second-in-command to New York’s best attorney. And Harvey must keep Mike’s secret, or risk losing his brilliant associate, his law license and the firm as a whole. Suddenly, a “suit” doesn’t necessarily mean a lawyer, but simply a fast-talking genius in a suit. What makes “Suits” so addictive is the suspense: namely, can Mike pull this off? The show’s fourth season premiered this past June, opening with a very different situation than in previous seasons. Fearing that his fraud is too much of a risk for the firm, Mike has left Pearson Specter and accepted a job working for an investment banker. Things get heated when Mike’s new company faces one of Harvey’s clients, Logan Sanders (Brendan Hines, “Lie to Me”) in a takeover battle for ownership of Gillis Industries. To make matters more awkward, Mike’s girlfriend Rachel (Meghan Markle, “Remember Me”), Pearson Specter’s best paralegal, has a past with Logan and may have lingering feelings for him. The case
is thwarted, however, when Mike gets fired because of a rumor that he’s planning to cut the company out of the deal. If “Suits” teaches us anything, it’s that leverage on someone is more valuable than any paycheck. The man behind Mike’s firing turns out to be Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman, “Jake in Progress”), a jealous attorney in Pearson Specter who has never measured up to Harvey. But when his shady deal comes to light, Litt resigns from the firm. The absence is shortlived, though, because after a fatal visit with Mike, Litt uncovers the fraud: remembering that each Harvard Law magna cum laude graduate receives a golden key, Litt reasons that Mike should own one. But Mike knows nothing about a key. Click. Litt’s reward for keeping the secret? Being re-hired as a partner by the firm, under the new name of “Pearson Specter Litt.” Directed by lead actor Macht, the mid-season premiere is a deadly dance between the walls of the firm as Litt, after years of being treated as second-best, unleashes his wrath, intent on making both Harvey and Mike suffer. The thing about lawyers, though, is that they have a funny way of flipping leverage back around — especially when it’s personal.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Super Bowl Ads 2015: Beer, girls & fungus By ALEX INTNER and DREW MARON Daily Arts Writers
If Seattle fans didn’t have enough reasons to suffer, the commercials gave them plenty. Between dead children, lame jokes and an egregious amount of useless celebrity cameos, this year’s crop of commercials were the darkest and most cynical in recent memory. Fortunately, there were some gems in the muck, as well as some heinous creative decisions to make Seahawks Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell feel a little less self-conscious. Best: Budweiser – “Bond of Clydesdale and Pup” There were a lot of commercials this year that attempted to pull on the heartstrings, but the recent gold standard for this type of ad has been Budweiser and its team of animals. This year’s ad focused on a puppy’s journey home after getting lost, with a Clydesdale saving it from a wolf on the way. It brought out emotions in the right way since it focused on a cute puppy and its friendship with the horse. It was simple, but effective. Worst: Nationwide – “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up” It’s one thing to make a state-
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ment about a real issue in American society like accidental child death. It’s another to do it in a Super Bowl ad that comes off as manipulative. This ad missed the mark in almost every way. Instead of coming off as a conversation prompter, it was unnecessarily depressing and dour. Even worse, Nationwide actually did a solid job with its Mindy Kaling ad earlier in the game. Maybe if the company had followed Coke’s model, which raised awareness of cyberbullying in its “#MakeItHappy” campaign, Nationwide could have made a better spot. Best: Always – “Like A Girl” The Super Bowl might not be the best time for a public forum about gender inequality, but you have to give Always and the team behind the #LikeAGirl campaign props for giving it a try. Even if certain aspects of the ad felt staged, the young women in front of the camera expressed a commendable honesty lacking in most big-name commercials. “Like A Girl” didn’t pretend its company sat on a pedestal of higher morals, nor did it become too trite or preachy. Instead, the commercial hijacked the airwaves for a couple of seconds to talk about something actually interesting to listen to, even if it wasn’t the most effective advertisement for the product. Worst: Weight Watchers – “All You Can Eat” Wow, what an ugly piece of garbage. This year had a plethora of horrendously executed attempts to be progressive, diverse and bold. Most of them, however, came off as pretentious and mean-spirited. Despite what Weight Watchers wants you to think, eating a cheeseburger is a far cry from selling your life savings to buy heroin. Health is indeed an issue — as is body image — but to artlessly formulate a PSAlike message to America saying, “join Weight Watchers, you fat, stupid drug-addicts” only did more harm than good. It’s even more tragic that it was a well-made montage with a solid voice-over from Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”). Had it been for a documentary, that would be one thing, but Weight Watchers is a multi-million dollar corporation, not an independent docudrama from Morgan
Spurlock. Best: Bud Light – “Pacman Up for Whatever” In what could be described as a year with several dour ads, commercials that hit the mark with comedy stuck out above the rest. While the conceit of a real life game of Pacman is silly, it worked in the context of a Super Bowl ad. It was a fun minute-long spot that made us laugh much more than others did. Worst: McDonalds – “Lovin’ It” Opposite Weight Watchers’ pretentiousness is McDonald’s pandering sappiness. Yes, running a company with a reviled reputation to rival British Petroleum doesn’t leave a lot of room for friendly face-time with American viewers, but this attempt at communalism just felt like the company was giving up. Instead of dispelling any legitimate concerns about its food, McDonald’s went for the lowest common denominator, and in doing so, only made the fast-food empire seem even more out of touch. Best: Discover – “Surprise” There were plenty of mediocre Super Bowl commercials that followed the easy formula of saying the absurd (like a flying pig), then showing that in the next frame like a lame granduncle elbowing you in the rib, begging you to laugh. That kind of joke-telling is lazy and tired. If a commercial wants to actually surprise, then surprise. The Discover “Surprise” commercial was like a parody of this tired cliche. It was everything a good Super Bowl commercial should be: creative, witty, light and above all, surprising. The fact that it lacked dead children was also a plus. Worst: Jublia – “Tackle It” There were several firsttime advertisers in the game, attempting to bring their products into the national spotlight. None stuck out more than the ad for Jublia, a drug that removes toenail fungus. The ad effectively communicated what the product is and what it does, but it felt more gross than entertaining. This writer is not sure if spending $4.5 million to show hors d’oeuvres-munching Americans what toenail fungus looks like was a good idea.
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Arts
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 — 7A
FILM REVIEW
ALBUM REVIEW
VICE
No glitter for this vampire.
Intense indie film transcends genre ‘Hyperview’ is Title
ANTI-
If you gaze long enough into the abyss, you still won’t find your shoes.
‘A Girl Walks Home Alone’ artfully blends cultures By VANESSA WONG Daily Arts Writer
Budding screenwriters have it hard. There are more people writing great scripts than can be produced, let alone Arecognized enough for ‘A Girl Walks their auteur to break into Home Alone the elite cir- at Night’ cles of cinematic fame. Michigan Theater But writer Vice and director Ana Lily Amirpour’s (“A Little Suicide”) feature film debut “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” flags her as someone to watch. She brings a refreshingly new perspective to film, which is evident in her work. Priding itself on being the first and only Iranian Vampire Western flick ever made, “A Girl Walks Home Alone” seamlessly collages heritage and genre. Amirpour’s home state, California, acts as a stand-in for the fictitious Iranian Bad City. Here, everything slumps and everything is still. Moody black-andwhite shots track desolate night streets and the wayward inhabitants who traverse them. Only by day do oil refineries grind on. Still, they’re no less greasy than the community surrounding the protagonist Arash (Arash Marandi, “Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur”), a James Dean figure struggling to support his father, who turns to costly vices
after his wife’s death and grows addicted to drugs and women. Next, we meet the purveyor of said drugs, a pimp with “SEX” tattooed in capital letters across his Adam’s apple. Along with him is the beautifully sad 30-year old prostitute he controls. And of course, there’s the mysterious girl walking home alone at night, a seemingly omnipresent vampire who quietly observes everything and instills her own, vengeful version of justice on Bad City. This film can tack any number of genre labels onto its name because it draws from an astoundingly broad camp of elements. It smashes opposites together and turns the typical on its head. Already, The Girl (Sheila Vand, TV’s “State of Affairs”) ignores the cultural mandate that comes with being a girl and walks slowly, purposefully into the dead of the night. When she stands face-toface with a sleazy pimp, we dread what’s to come, and for once we’re not scared for her – we’re scared for him. She has confrontations that, while subtle, are truly terrifying, just by the force of her allknowing gaze. What’s more, the film’s blend of American and Iranian cultures earns the hyphen that third-generation immigrants so desperately need: Iranian-American. The Girl dons black chador, stylized as her vampire cape, on her nightly rounds. In the all-black garment that many Americans stereotype as a sign of submissiveness, The Girl cuts a powerful, imposing figure. Yet underneath, she wears jeans and a striped T-shirt, and listens to Lionel Richie under Christmas lights and poster-strewn bedroom walls. This film – originally a short – first premiered in its full length at Sundance Film Festi-
val under an American production company. Though the dialogue is almost entirely in Farsi, this isn’t a foreign film. It’s deeply American, representing an immigrant identity etched into the base of the Statue of Liberty – an identity lived every day by millions across the country, but one that has rarely found its way into media. For all its intertwined conceptualism, “A Girl Walks Home” asserts itself slowly and quietly. The sparse set, minimal dialogue and long-track cinematography are impeccably complemented by a blend of Iranian-pop and American rock songs. Everything gives heed to the characters and their actions. Therein lies “A Girl Walks Home” ’s only flaw: though artistically gorgeous and intensely thought-provoking, the plot is not very complex. Nor are the characters deeply fleshed-out enough to carry the slack. Vand’s evocative performance, deftly shifting between ferocity and fragility, aloofness and determination, cannot be the only force connecting the audience to the characters. We empathize with them, but only as we might out of general curiosity. It needs to feel like we are personally linked to their fate, and we aren’t enough to understand their motivations. Still, there’s no denying the film’s many virtues. Though a little too slow-moving than it should be, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” balances richly layered thematic concepts and a minimal artistic vision well. It’s everything it needs to be: an unconventional romance, subtle horror, a glorious mix of campy movie genres and just exquisitely well-made.
BOOK REVIEW
Daily Book Review: ‘I Am Not a Slut’ By SOPHIA KAUFMAN Daily Arts Writer
Slut. It’s a word that has fallen from so many tongues so many times that it barely registers anymore, whether used in casual conversation or spat to insult. It usually refers to women who enjoy sex unabashedly, have sex with more than one other person or have no reservations about going after someone they want. In “I Am Not a Slut: SlutShaming in the Age of the Internet,” Leora Tanenbaum (author of “Slut!: Growing Up Female With a Bad Reputation”) pieces together a theory about why this four-letter word has such a complicated, ugly existence — and why it needs to be permanently discontinued. In the book, Tanenbaum explains how the word “slut” is used as a weapon against women ranging from preteens to college-aged women, and how it can never be reclaimed due to sexual double standard, only exacerbated by the exploi-
tation of social media culture. The word has gained multiple meanings as young people have created an entire culture on the Internet, only understood fully by themselves. The hypersexualization of girls and women on social media is spilling over into real life, and vice versa, creating a vicious cycle. As girls and women are hypersexualized in movies and TV shows and advertising campaigns — and these unrealistic portrayals are seen as desirable — real girls and women often consciously or subconsciously try to emulate them. Tanenbaum says today that the word “slut” is not just used simply as an insult, but as a casual, ironic greeting or joke among friends, perhaps even worn as a badge of honor. Tanenbaum strives to differentiate between women who own their sexual agency in a way that inspires envy and admiration and women who use it to inspire ridicule and disdain by using the terms “good sluts”
and “bad sluts.” “Good sluts” are the women people love and “bad sluts” are the women people love to bash. “Good sluts” are sexy, “bad sluts” are sloppy. “Good sluts” post attractive pictures to social media that tease, “you can look, but you can’t touch,” and “bad sluts” post photographs that beg, “look, please, look.” Sluttiness, Tanenbaum observes, is as much about appearance and attitude as it is about sexual behavior or history. Citing Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Tanenbaum urges us to recognize how girls and women are encouraged to be sexual creatures, but whenever they take control of their sexuality, they run the risk of being labeled a “slut” — and not in the good way. When a woman acts in a way or with an attitude that feels too transparent, she’s “desperate.” Being sexy has to look effortless; if it looks like you put too much effort into it, it immediately becomes slutty. Her dichotomy of “good”
Fight’s new paradox By BRIAN BURLAGE Daily Arts Writer
Not much of Title Fight’s third album, Hyperview, will sit particularly well with fans of shoegaze. While it’s Btrue that the band is (was) ‘Hyperview’ a traditional punk group, Title Fight they seem to ANTIwant to break into a different sphere of guitar-focused noise rock. Add a few dream-pop riffs, wobbly rhythm solos and sprightly bass sections and you get Hyperview, more or less – a sort of synthetic drawl that blends punk with post-punk in attempt to arrive at shoegaze. Unfortunately, Title Fight’s method is flawed. Whereas shoegaze requires overt precision and coordination, postpunk demands a more loose and sloppy edge, and the band seems to think that, with enough of the latter, the former might be achieved. Bassist Ned Russin spoke for the band to Alternative Press in early December, saying about the record, “We were looking at bands like Dinosaur Jr. and The Beach Boys. We were looking at the moment where they found something that had never been done before and was now being done well. We were just chasing that energy.” What’s interesting about this statement, and especially about the band’s approach in general, is that they’ve drawn direct com-
and “bad” sluts, which she uses throughout the entire work, sounds clunky and unnatural, as no one actually thinks about it in those terms — but it’s an important distinction to explore and she scrutinizes it well. While Tanenbaum’s approach in “I Am Not a Slut” is well-argued, it sometimes feels too academic and unrelatable. By making assumptions about all young women and dealing in absolutes, she’s ironically giving them less credit for understanding the world they themselves are living in, part of which she is only experiencing second-hand. There is nothing revolutionary about this work. The most important parts are the interviews she recounts with women of all backgrounds who have grown up in this hypersexualized, cyber-centric,
parisons to Ride, Chapterhouse and Joyce Manor, Mazzy Star, Lush and all the dreamier bands in between. Title Fight isn’t creating new forms so much as it is stitching together older, more disparate ones. Hyperview is an enjoyable and highly-digestible combination of dream-pop, punk and post-punk – but, at the end of the day, that’s all it really adds up to. By being so actively conscientious about genre while making the album, Title Fight has indirectly rejected genre all together, and this is the paradoxical and most troubling part of the record. Evidence lies in their signing to a new label, ANTI-, an inclusive compendium of genres and styles. Consider for a second that Hyperview was financed and sponsored by the same people who finance and sponsor the reggae music of Michael Franti. Just as well, producer Will Yip has spent most of his eight-year career at the soundboard as a recording engineer and mix man. Good production requires vision and an unbiased (but devoted) perspective. However, much of the record’s lack of color can be traced to its visionless sprawl. If the scapegoat here is, in fact, Yip’s production, then Title Fight can chalk this record up as a sort of half-win. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Hyperview begins with “Murder Your Memory,” a solid trance-rock homage to something Slowdive might’ve produced on Souvlaki; something in the vein of shoegaze,
but still not quite self-aware enough to be necessarily ethereal. Lead vocalist Jamie Rhoden whispers, “Murder all your memories,” before a wash of faux slide-guitar snatches the melody away. Before you can register exactly what it is you’re listening to, “Chlorine” begins and slightly alters course. It’s a light recapitulation of some of shoegaze’s more notable characteristics: bass colliding with percussion, guitars dripping metallic tone after metallic tone from their electric wailing. Sadly, after “Murder Your Mystery” and “Chlorine” the record loses sight of what it wants to be. The indecision on the back half of Side One spills over onto the front half of Side Two, and it isn’t until “Liar’s Love,” when the band re-addresses shoegazelike dream-pop, that they finally get back on the rails. Hyperview’s most pointed and perhaps most successful endeavor is “Dizzy,” a four-and-a-half minute escapade across the ocean in a flimsy life raft. It approaches, but doesn’t quite produce the sound of shoegaze: the eye of the hurricane, the fleck of sunlight from behind snow clouds, the kindred warmness you somehow feel with heartache. These few moments of illumination fail to support the rest of the record, which sinks in too many places and deflates when prodded with the least bit of emotion. A lyric in “Chlorine” describes it best: “Hollow / You can’t hold it in / Pour out / All your emptiness.” Substitute “try to” with “can’t” and you’ve got Hyperview to a T.
still sexually unequal society. Sexy or slutty is a dangerous game to play, they say. Even if you win, you lose. Tanenbaum’s “I Am Not a
or Tinder. It comes at a time when male leaders of our government are still making blatantly erroneous statements about women’s reproductive health issues. It comes at a time when college campuses all over the country are protesting the widespread issue of sexual assault and mishandlings of rape cases. It comes at a time when young women are finding pictures and videos of their assaults blowing up on social media and are bullied to the point of suicide. We can’t reclaim the word slut; its history is too ugly, and our present isn’t nearly receptive enough to be able to accept it as a point of pride. This is Tanenbaum’s final point, and she drives it home in a way that leaves the reader absolutely positive she’s right.
Sexy or slutty is a dangerous game to play. Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet” comes at a time when the sexual degradation of women is so ingrained in our society that we have top 40 songs with lyrics like “I know you want it, but you’re a good girl,” and it’s not uncommon to see rape threats on Twitter
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8A — Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
McConnell explores new frontiers after basketball By MAX BULTMAN Daily Sports Editor
In November 2014, just six months after he won the Big Ten regular-season basketball championship and made the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, Cole McConnell was celebrating an entirely different title. No longer a member of the Michigan men’s basketball team, McConnell mostly plays pick-up games now. But after he and his teammates won “Hoops for Hope” — a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, sponsored by the Delta Delta Delta sorority — there was some new hardware coming his way. The prize? A signed ball from the Michigan basketball team. It’s all part of life after college basketball for McConnell, who parted ways with the team after last season to focus more on his academics. “For me, it just came down to the decision of ‘Do I want to focus on school more or basketball?’ ” McConnell said. “And I got into (the Ross School of Business), so then (Michigan coach John Beilein and I) just both decided it would be better to part ways, and I could focus on school and they could get a new recruit to replace me.” He scored just four career points, and his career high in minutes was three, but basketball was as much a part of McConnell’s as it was any other athlete’s. He put in the same rigorous work on the same demanding schedule. Since he left the team, McConnell has had time to enjoy some of the elements of campus life he didn’t have time to before. While he was already focusing hard on his studies — McConnell was a recipient of the University of Michigan Athletic Academic Achievement
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Cole McConnell (right) left the Michigan men’s basketball team to explore other ventures. He still says he could beat Zak Irvin (left) in a shooting contest.
award in 2013-14 — he has also been able to spend some time rounding out his social life and honing his entrepreneurial skills. “I’m loving (life after basketball),” he said. “I joined the SAE fraternity, that’s a lot of fun. I’ve got a lot more free time so I can focus on school, and I’m trying to start a social media app.” He wouldn’t detail specifics, preferring to keep the project under wraps until it was farther along, but McConnell did divulge that his app would be called “Porter.” McConnell also said he recently ran into former Wolverine basketball captain Zack Novak, a Ross graduate, who gave him some
encouragement and wisdom about life in the business world. But while he has made productive use of his time, McConnell admits it has been a strange transition period. “It was a really great experience, I had a great time,” he said. “The coaches are great people, the players are great people. “I think it’s for the best I’m not playing right now, but it’s definitely weird,” he said. When the Wolverines were awarded their Big Ten
Championship rings before their exhibition against Hillsdale, McConnell was on the court. He took in the moment, heard the chorus of applause and got his ring. Then, along with Brad Anlauf, who also played for Michigan last year but left the team in the offseason, he took his seat in the stands. “I’ve played basketball since I was like three years old, and this is like the first time I’m not playing anymore,” McConnell said. Of course, as the Tri-Delt
“The coaches are great people, the players are great people.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
3-on-3 participants can attest, that isn’t entirely true. McConnell’s squad was made up mostly of SAE members and destroyed the competition before pulling out a four-point win in the championship game. But despite his clear athletic advantage, McConnell said he didn’t dunk on anyone — less out of respect and more because of a lack of recent practice. “I stayed mostly behind the 3-point line,” he said. “I haven’t done a leg workout since I stopped playing basketball. I gotta start doing leg days.” In addition to the signed ball and special-made Tri-Delt jerseys, McConnell’s team also got to donate $200 to a charity of its choice. For McConnell, those types of
prizes aren’t what he expected when he signed up to play at Michigan. After finishing high school, McConnell attended the New Hampton School, where he played with, by his estimation, seven Division I prospects, including former Indiana standout and current Charlotte Hornets forward Noah Vonleh. While there, he earned offers from multiple Ivy League schools, though he ultimately decided against them. “You can’t say no to Michigan over the Ivy League,” he said. “When you see the level of play, and Coach B is a great guy, you can’t say no.” That affinity for Beilein and the program, he says, is what has been difficult to move on from. “I miss the sub minutes of games — the last five minutes of the Nicholls State game, when I would have gotten in,” he said. “I miss the upper-body lifts, and I miss the whole team atmosphere. “I think it’s for the best I’m not playing right now, but it’s definitely weird. All in all, I’m not tripping about it too hard.” There is, though, a little bit of unfinished business. Asked who would win in a 3-point contest between he and sophomore forward Zak Irvin, McConnell said he wants to show that you don’t need to be a Division-I basketball star to beat a Division-I basketball star. “I would win,” McConnell said. “Does he know I won the Tri-Delt 3-on-3 intramural championship? I would love to challenge him in a 3-point contest. His excuse is gonna be ‘I gotta focus on the team, and I don’t have time.’ But we all know there’s time. There’s time to get a couple shots up.” Now McConnell just needs to find time for a leg day.
FOOTBALL
Three Things We Learned: Former players give advice Maryland and Nebraska for National Signing Day By KELLY HALL Daily Sports Writer
1) The Big Ten is as good as advertised.
After dropping its second consecutive Big Ten game to Nebraska, the Michigan women’s basketball team’s flight was cancelled, ultimately snowing the team in. There’s only so much you can do on a snowy day in Lincoln, so we’re assuming the Wolverines (5-5 Big Ten, 13-8 overall) mulled over lessons from Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico while watching Super Bowl XLIX. Luckily, the Daily had some extra time to ponder what the Wolverines had been taught — thanks to a snow day, of course — so here are the three things we learned from Michigan’s last two losses.
Barnes Arico can’t emphasize this enough. With the additions of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten this season, the conference is likely the strongest in the nation. Last Thursday, the fifthranked Terrapins showed Michigan how they were able to make it to the Final Four in 2014. On top of outrebounding the Wolverines 49-25, Maryland wreaked havoc on offense as well. Guards Laurin Mincy and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough dropped 24 and 20 points, respectively, to help lead their team to a field-goal percentage above 50 percent and a final
score of 91-65. The undefeated Terrapins don’t have a weak spot on either side of the ball. Though the Cornhuskers aren’t a new Big Ten powerhouse like Maryland, they were able to make a statement about the strength of the conference as well. In Sunday’s contest, No. 15 Nebraska went on a 26-5 run when the Wolverines ran out of gas in the second half. The Cornhuskers never looked back, ending the game in a decisive 75-60 victory. 2) Lately, Michigan has had too much trouble scoring in the second half. There was a startling similarity between the second halves the Wolverines played against Maryland and Nebraska. In both contests, Michigan’s scoring ability dropped dramatically after the first half. Against Maryland, the Wolverines’ field-goal percentage dropped from 47.1 percent to 37.5 percent. Against Nebraska, it fell even more, from 52.2 percent to 35.5 percent. 3) Cyesha Goree’s inside attack game will continue to be challenged by ranked opponents. Both Nebraska and Maryland knew who to watch out for and double-team: senior forward Cyesha Goree. With so much emphasis on Goree in the paint, the ball was often outside and in the hands of another Wolverine. Against Maryland and Nebraska, Goree was limited to 14 and six points, respectively. Goree is Michigan’s leading scorer — she was averaging 18.5 points in Big Ten play before the past two games — so the lack of scoring proved to be troublesome.
By ALEJANDRO ZÚÑIGA Daily Sports Writer
Jim Harbaugh hasn’t spent much time in Ann Arbor since he became Michigan’s football coach, and neither have his assistants. The new staff has been busy visiting and calling top high school recruits in the hope that several will sign a binding National Letter of Intent to the Wolverines on Wednesday, the first time athletes of the current high school senior class are allowed to do so. For coaches and fans, National Signing Day is part of a nonstop arms race to secure future success on the gridiron. For the players, it’s the culmination of years of recruitment with a long-term commitment to a program. “When I finally signed, it was like, ‘What a huge relief,’ ” recalled Brennen Beyer, a fouryear letterman for Michigan at defensive end from 2011 to 2014. “It’d been a long process, been a really crazy process. It just felt so good to have set in stone where you’re going.” The Wolverines’ 2015 class fell in size during the fall, when the status of former coach Brady Hoke became more uncertain. It’s a shakeup similar to what Beyer experienced when he was a recruit — he had verbally committed to Rich Rodriguez and the Wolverines in 2010, but that staff was replaced by Brady Hoke and company by the time he signed in 2011. Harbaugh reached out to verbal commits and other prospects the day he was introduced as Michigan’s coach, and Beyer hinted at what that conversation may have been like from the athletes’ end. “The main question I had (to Hoke) was, ‘Hey, I like Michigan. I still want to go here. Do you guys still think I deserve my scholarship? Do you guys want
me?’ ” Beyer said. “I wanted to make sure they did.” Though he visited several other Midwest schools and received increased interest from them closer to National Signing Day, Beyer said it would have taken a lot to pull him away from Michigan. “I think it’s good to see what else is out there, to have something to compare Michigan to — to see if it stands up to what I thought it was,” Beyer said. “Michigan had everything I wanted. “Schools, more so than getting me to switch, were just saying, ‘Hey, are you 100 percent set on it? Is there any desire for you to want to come here? If anything changes, let us know.’ And then highlighting what they think makes their school better. There was some of that definitely toward signing day.” Beyer didn’t sway from the Wolverines, but then there are stories like Roy Roundtree’s. The receiver was verbally committed to Purdue but made a last-minute switch to Michigan in 2008, prompting then-Boilermakers coach Joe Tiller to publicly call Rodriguez a “wizard-hat wearing, snakeoil salesman.” The Wolverines could use a few more players to follow Roundtree’s path and flip — and Harbaugh has already gotten some recruits to do so, including quarterback Zach Gentry, who previously had been a verbal commitment to Texas. “Everyone thought on signing day I was going to sign with Purdue, but that wasn’t the case,” Roundtree said in a text message to the Daily. “I wasn’t passing up on playing at Michigan. “After signing to Michigan, it felt like a dream came true. I was heading to Ann Arbor for four to five years to accomplish something that no one thought
I could. It was outstanding and joyful to see my parents watch me play and leave as a Michigan graduate.” Roundtree, like Beyer, enjoyed a successful career with the Wolverines. The receiver made Sporting News’ Freshman All-Big Ten team in 2009, caught the game-winning touchdown under the lights against Notre Dame during a Sugar Bowl-winning 2011 campaign and ultimately finished his career with more than 2,300 receiving yards. It all might have gone differently had Roundtree signed elsewhere, but ultimately, he said instinct led him to the right place. He offered similar advice to recruits who are still still deciding their collegiate plans. “You’re going to have so many options, but at the end of the day, follow your heart, because once you sign to these universities, you’ll be attending them for four to five years,” Roundtree said. “I promise you, if you do that, you’ll enjoy every minute of it and gain major respect. It’s a marathon to an outstanding journey — good luck!” Added Beyer: “It’s a fun thing, so enjoy it, and just get yourself ready as best you can. Get to know the team — come to Ann Arbor if you live close. And be confident, because you got yourself here, which means you’re good enough to be here.” Beyer and former receiver Drew Dileo, who played at Michigan from 2010 to 2013, both warned signees to prepare for the transition to college football. As Beyer explained, “You’re not the man anymore” as a freshman. “High school football and college football are two completely different levels with size, speed and maturity of guys,” Dileo said. “Best thing to do is come ready to listen and work with your mouth shut.”
statement THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FE B RUARY 4 , 2015
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 // The Statement
Becoming a Townie: A web of connections BY EMMA KERR
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nn Arbor is a city built upon a framework of relationships — people finding friends, jobs and love. Writer Italo Calvino describes a particular fictional city — Ersilia — as full of color-coated strings, each representing a relationship between two people. In his work, “Invisible Cities,” Calvino writes, “When traveling in the territory of Ersilia, you come upon the ruins of the abandoned cities, without the walls which do not last, without the bones of the dead which the wind rolls away: spiderwebs of intricate relationships seeking a form.” Though time carries away the
physicality of cities and even of the inhabitants themselves, the relationships made continue to stand erect, to matter. Strolling down the street this fall somewhere near Greenwood Avenue, I hear voices singing along to Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” on a paint-chipped porch. While stuffing biology notes into my backpack, I watch a student and Graduate Student Instructor discussing their collaboration on an upcoming research project in New England planned for the summer. After a “Spy Kids” marathon, I look over at my friends and wonder if I will be looking over at them on my own porch somewhere in Florida 60 years from now. These relationships might begin on campus, but their potential to evolve into real-world friends, colleagues, and spouses is more of a reality than I like to acknowledge. Ann Arbor is a place to build these relationships, but also to consider our role and interactions with people outside of the University that are worth investing in — the residents with wildflowers scattering their front lawns or the guy spooning lobster bisque into your cup at Le Dog. Paris has been called the city
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of love, but college towns in the United States might be our twisted equivalent — where people find it, bring it with them, lose it, agonize over it, and download Tinder a few times only to end up deleting it all the same. Scribbling your initials onto a five-euro lock, wrapping it around the Pont des Amoreaux and tossing the key into the river below is the Paris equivalent of kissing under the Arch at midnight. There is a significant population of Ann Arbor that consists purely of residents (think: the people who make you roll out those fences between houses when you’re planning a party). Many of them are lifers, born here or having attended college here. Their lives and relationships grew here and they chose to stay. I fantasize sometimes about coming back to Ann Arbor one day and finding myself and what will probably be a few weird little children named Julip, Indigo, and Theodore living in a rickety old house just walking distance from Kerrytown. Even the most cold-hearted and focused among us can stumble upon love and connections amid the possibilities and opportunities of this city. On autopilot, rushing
VIDEO: WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
to a class or to work, you don’t see the city. Trapped, you end up forgetting that it is human connection that makes a city to begin with. I wish I could see all of the strings that were formed between us in this city: to see the ones color-coated to signify the lasting marILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND riages that began on the streets of Ann Arbor, or the ones the power to banish the hopelessthat represent the grungy weirdos ness this overworked, underpaid we eventually call best friends city can exude from time to time. dancing mindlessly for the first The numbers and connections are time at the Blind Pig, or our room- insurmountably numerous and mates, and all of the roommates the lives we touch altered, such before us, talking at three in the that while the walls of the city will morning in the worn down, quirky never again look how we rememhomes so many of us will “enjoy” at ber them now, this place has been some point in our college careers. and continues to be magical, a welYou think about a city as you coming open door of opportunities see it — no strings involved — but if you let it. they exist and that realization has
ON THE THANK S, SCHLISS! RECORD
Magazine Editor:
Editor in Chief:
Ian Dillingham
Jennifer Calfas
Deputy Editor:
Copy Editors:
Natalie Gadbois
Hannah Bates Laura Schinagle
Design Editor:
Emma Sutherland
Jake Wellins
Photo Editor: Luna Anna Archey Illustrators: Megan Mulholland Maggie Miller Managing Editor: Lev Facher
COVER BY JAKE WELLINS
“This was my first major Michigan snowstorm, and my reaction to your response over the last two days is simply, WOW!” – University President MARK SCHLISSEL, in a letter to University employees who kept critical operations up during Monday’s snow day.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 // The Statement 3B
My Cultural Currency: Life’s just a soap opera B Y TA N YA M A D H A N I
M
y mother and I disagree on everything. That’s how, she says, she’s able to get me fantastic, on-point birthday and Christmas presents. “I just walk into a store and, if I love something, then I buy you the exact opposite of it. Here, I bought you this shirt. I absolutely hate it though, so I’ll walk two feet in front of you when we go to dinner.” Ha. My mother — I think — loves me. But our banter never reaches RoryLorelai proportions of epic and our conversations never approach “Full House”-worthy sentiments. For a longer time than I’d admit, I thought it might be possible that — and this probably sounds a lot harsher in writing than I mean it to, Mom — I was adopted. And the idea, or at least some tiny suspicion of this possibly being true, probably would have endured had it not been
THE LIST
for the following two things: 1. I once saw a picture of her from when she herself was in college and had to double take because we looked “The Shining” twins level of terrifyingly similar. 2. Most importantly, we have an unabashed and shared, fervent love for lowbrow Indian television — specifically, soap operas. Take it from me — Indian soap operas, with their overdramatic, overcooked plotlines, are better than Samoas, better than Tagalongs. Better than Thin Mints. I’m dead serious, even if these soap operas often aren’t. Some mother-daughter pairs enjoy scrapbooking mundane moments from their life, planting flowers that will eventually die in Michigan’s six-month winters or traveling together for highly inappropriate benders to Cancun, but
B U Z Z F E E D, B U T B E T T E R
not Mom and me. The foundation of my relationship with my mother is built on our mutual obsession for badly acted television programs with excessive thunder sound effects. And, like many of my other bad habits (i.e. nail-biting), it started young. To give you a bit of background, soap operas in India, called “serials,” take drama to a whole other level. Telenovelas are nothing in comparison. Serials usually involve a large, wealthy family that owns some sort of vague, powerful Google-like company. The men in the family are always signing some contract or fighting over some “very important merger that will determine the fate of their company.” But that’s irrelevant to the actual plot of the serials. More often than not, people — like Mom and I — tune in for the conflict between the women on show. Because serials
are so family-oriented — probably stemming from India’s widely-held belief in traditional values, but that’s neither here nor there — they rely on classic tropes of rivaling daughters-in-law and aggression between the son’s mother and his wife. It’s all very riveting and, every year since I was four, my mom and I have gotten sucked into a show’s black hole. That was all before I went away for school, but I still get updates from my mom and, after asking standard Mom Questions — How are you? Have you eaten? — she’ll give me vivid descriptions of what I’ve missed and who’s been poisoned or pushed down the stairs since the last episode. It’s like I haven’t missed a thing. It’s like I’m back
home, parked in front of the TV with my eyes glued to the screen, guessing exactly how the evil, eyepatched mother-in-law is going to separate her husband’s adopted daughter from the girl’s husband.
ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE MILLER
THE THOUGHT BUBBLE
READ A BOOK , AVOID THE WORLD It’s miserable out. And binging on Netflix to avoid homework can only be sustainable for so long. Here are five great books to cuddle up with and ignore the snow piled outside your door.
1. “YES PLEASE” - AMY POEHLER
The resident queen of comedy released her memoir in September to the thrill of fans worldwide. Poehler doesn’t disappoint, both funny and poignantly relatable in the book you never want to stop reading.
2 . “ T H E P O I S O N WO O D B I B L E ” - B A R B A R A K I N G S O LV E R
In no way a beach read, “Bible” beautifully examines many moral and humanistic questions in stunning prose. Following a young family of missionaries in the Congo, it will make you question ... everything.
3 . “ T H E C H I L D R E N AC T ”- I A N M C E WA N
The “Atonement” author does it again with this gripping story of morality and desire. It’s short, but this modern fable enthralls.
4 . “ B A D F E M I N I S T ”- R OX A N E G AY
Unsurprisingly, this book of essays discusses feminism, political correctness and conflicting identities. Gay contributes a fresh, frank voice to an oversaturated lexicon.
5 . “ T H E M A R R I AG E P LOT ”- J E F F R E Y EUGENIDES
Set in familiar Grosse Pointe, “Middlesex” is a modern masterpiece, chronicling the mysticism of a family from Greece to Ellis Island to Detroit. The story focuses on the earnest youngest daughter, who happens to be a hermaphrodite.
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/DAILY
“We take a lot of theory classes, but after that we go more into the practice of music … Trying to step out of that bubble, I guess that’s something one has to learn in college. Not just talking with professor, but speaking with friends — gaining that confidence, that boost, to just tackle the world … You want to build a special connection and a bond when you perform for people.” –MUSIC, THEATER & DANCE JUNIOR KHRIS SANCHEZ
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 // The Statement
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 // The Statement
IS ANN ARBOR REALLY LIBERAL? The evolution of city council By Shoham Geva, Daily News Editor
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et’s lay out a hypothetical scenario: it’s the 2014 gubernatorial election and the statewide results are based solely off the vote tallies in Washtenaw County. The results? To say the least, we’d find a very different state government. A Democratic governor. A Democratic attorney general. A Democratic secretary of state. And, in the only totals that align with the actual reality, Democratic senators and representatives both in the U.S and state congressional bodies. In Ann Arbor, which makes up about a third of the county’s population, that distinction only grows more pronounced. Growing up here, the jokes are pretty frequent. We’re “25 square miles surrounded by reality” or “The People’s Republic of Ann Arbor.” And nowhere is that easier seen than in local politics, where Democrats have held all but one seat on Council for ten years. Last year, following the status quo for the past few decades, no Republicans ran for office. There are no Republicans currently on Council, and only one independent, elected in 2011. Incoming mayor Chris Taylor (D), after winning a four-way Democratic primary, faced off against 28-year-old independent Bryan Kelly in the actual race, who said at the time he was running primarily to create options for voters. I moved to Ann Arbor when I was six, in 2001, one year after the last Republican to hold city office, mayor Ingrid B. Shelton (R), chose not to run again. For four years after that, Ann Arbor’s Republicans clung to a diminishing majority — two
Council seats. Following them, no Ann Arbor resident has been represented by a Republican locally. The implications of that, however, are sometimes a little harder to find. On the surface, Ann Arbor isn’t that different from other cities; its size and its policies, many less easy to define as liberal or conservative like they might be at the statewide level, echo those of many other cities in the state. At least in name, it’s Democratic — that’s clear. What isn’t always clear is what that means, both for residents and for the path of the city for years to come. Checkered history To understand Ann Arbor’s unique composition, it’s first important to understand that it hasn’t always been this way. Fifteen years ago, Sheldon, a popular Republican, was mayor of Ann Arbor. She was the 27th Republican mayor the town has had, interspersed with a steady stream of independents, Democrats, and, in 1851, a Whig. Ann Arbor’s newly elected mayor, Chris Taylor, marks only the 28th Democrat to hold that position, meaning that, historically, the balance is actually pretty even. A similar narrative holds true for City Council, which began to see Democratic predominance over the past few decades, cemented by the end of the last two Republicans on Council — incumbent Mike Reid, who chose not to run again in 2005, and fellow incumbent Republican Marcia Higgins, who switched parties. Longtime residents and City Council members point to several reasons for the slow collapse of Republicans running for office, namely the change of general election dates from spring to fall in 1992 and the redrawing of the wards in 1991. Ann Arbor attorney Tom Wieder, who helped orchestrate both those policies, said the changes helped highlight a longterm trend in the town’s demographics. “Basically, the town just became — by the evolution of history and talent — a Democratic town,” Wieder said. “I mean, it used to be a Republican town many years ago, but that’s before students voted, eighteenyear olds voted — that was the biggest change. UPPER LEFT: Former Mayor John Hieftje and the council discuss the expansion of the Ann Arbor Transit AuthorBut then there’s been a ity’s services to include routes to Ypsilanti at the City Council meeting June 2, 2013. (Marlene Lacasse/Daily) change in populations getRIGHT: Councilmember Jane Lumm discussing a proposal at Ann Arbor City Hall Feb. 2, 2015. (David Song/Daily) BOTTOM LEFT: Protesters gather outside City Hall for The Vigil Against Police Brutality Nov. 25, 2014. (Luna Anna ting older and a lot of the townies who used to be Archey/Daily) Republican conservatives,
moderates, they were replaced by liberal baby boomers.” City Councilmember Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2), who served three terms on Council as a Republican from 1994-1998, said the city’s Republicans viewed the fall election dates as a significant challenge because of an increase in voters. “That was around the time the City Republican committee dissolved, because it was essentially viewed as no longer really likely or possible to elect Republicans in these fall elections,” she said. “The turnout during presidential, gubernatorial races … local elections get lost in those election cycles, which is unfortunate.” The ward changes, which came a year earlier and are still mostly represented in the current divisions today, were also a contributing factor, though aided heavily by the election change, Wieder said. “(The wards) were drawn to try and ensure Democratic majority,” he said. “At that point, that was thought harder to do, but as things kept changing — we got the November elections put in in 1992 — I wouldn’t say made the ward boundaries completely irrelevant, but it diminished their importance because at least in the even years, with such a big turnout, you could be very sloppy almost in drawing the boundaries and still get five Democrats elected.” Political Science Prof. Ken Kollman pointed to another phenomenon linked to the moving of election dates — the increase in partisanship on the national level for both Democrats and Republicans, which in turn pushes people to become more polarized on the state and local levels. “Ann Arbor is not all that unusual in being a one-party city, for a city of its size,” he said. “People who are in Ann Arbor and deciding where they’re going to vote for Republican or Democratic are primarily thinking about the reps of those parties at the national level. So as the Republican party, nationally, has trended more conservative, more to the right over the last 30, 35 years, places like Ann Arbor are going to just naturally become predominantly Democratic. It goes the other way, of course. The state of Mississippi is predominantly Republican for much the same reason.” All the same policies When it comes to policy, Ann Arbor is, perhaps, arguably progressive, as evidenced by objectives like early movements towards conservation and a mandated living wage. But despite the oft-repeated jokes, many of the day-to-day activities local government engages in — like funding streets or deciding on zoning laws — are not that easily definable as such. And despite the clearly strong Democratic predominance, it’s hard to pin down exactly what changed, in regard to policy, as that dominance grew. The two so-called liberal examples referenced above, for example, come from years where there were still Republicans on Council — 2003 and 2001. Kollman said that’s not uncommon for city-level politics. “Dealing with issues that are strictly local, it’s hard to attach conservative and liberal labels to them that have meaning at other levels of government, like national levels,” he said. “In other words, is spending more money on roads and streets, is that a Democratic or a Republican pro-kind of policy? Well, who knows. You’ll find plenty of Republicans who would say the government should spend money on roads and streets.” Lumm agreed. She said her party affiliation rarely comes
up in her role as a Councilmember — rather, she said she’s been able to focus is on the issues, both in discussions with constituents and during formal sessions. “If you look at the issues that we deal with at the local level, they tend to be more operational,” she said. “It’s not so much the great philosophical debates of the day, but it’s operational things like public safety, and making sure people are safe, and feel safe, maintaining the infrastructure of streets, water, sewer systems, city parks, rec facilities, picking up folk’s garbage and recyclables.” Instead, when talking about divisions on Council, it becomes more about the issues, such as development, removal of homeless camps from city land, and support for the mayor’s policies. “You have to be paying very close attention to know the subtleties of who is on which side of these issues, because the party labels don’t give you any indications,” Kollman said. “I mean, all the Democrats on the City Council, there’s two pretty powerful divisions, or have been, on the Council, over some important issues for the local residents. But the party label obviously doesn’t communicate anything. You have to be paying attention closely.” City Councilmember Julie Grand (D–Ward 3) said while she agreed not everything had a party label attached to it, some issues, like the recent issue of homeless camps, did. “I think a lot of issues we deal with are non-partisan,” Grand said. “For example, things like potholes. Very non-partisan issue. But I also feel like there are values that come into play when you’re setting priorities, and some of those are inevitably shaped by what I would call Democratic values. So for example, last week I was a co-sponsor of a resolution that was addressing, or helping to design, our practices in terms of homeless encampments, and I think that focus is influenced by Democratic values.” She said at the local level, strict partisanship loyalty sometimes has less of an impact, such as with issues like raising taxes, which has been contentious on Council. “It’s a difference of opinion, and one I don’t think Democrats would tend to argue with at the state level,” she said. “They would agree that yes, we need to grow our tax base and pay for things like social services and other types of services that make us an attractive state. But at the local level, it becomes a little more insular in terms of thinking.” For students, said both LSA senior Gabe Leaf, chairman of the College Republicans, and LSA junior Trevor Dolan, chair of the College Democrats, the impact is mixed. “I think it gives us a lot more opportunities for programming and collaboration,” Dolan said of the Democratic nature of the city. However, he added that the group rarely engages in policy at the city level. “I think that there are a lot fewer partisan issues on the city level,” Dolan said. “Because we swing so heavily Democratic. And I think there are a number of social issues that can be addressed on the city level, but more often than not it’s fiscal issues, and we find issues with a lot broader appeal on the state and federal level.” Leaf expressed a similar sentiment. He said the group rarely gets involved with city politics, namely because of the lack of Republican representation, but that there are policies Council has considered he would support. “One of the platforms was increasing public transportation for the city of Ann Arbor,” Leaf said. “Whether that be buses, or more Amtrak, all that kind of stuff that is more of just a policy instead of a Democratic versus Republican issue. So that’s something I feel like we can get behind.” Like the College Democrats, he said their ultimate interest lies with broader issues. “There’s dialect, but not really a campaigning effort with
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them,” he said of city politicians. “We focus on the larger state or national state.” The future Adding another layer to the puzzle is that, perhaps ironically, Ann Arbor is one of the few cities that still relies on partisanship for its local politicians. There are two others: Ionia and Ypsilanti. Every other city has adopted a nonpartisan system, a proposal that hasn’t gained much traction here. For cities that have done it, there have been mixed responses. Bay City, Michigan, faced controversy earlier this year over nonpartisan city commissioners posing for pictures to be used in partisan promotional materials. Writing for the Royal Oak Patch in 2011, Frank Versagi, editor DAVID SONG/Daily of the Versagi Voice, a news Mayor Chris Taylor presenting the Volunteer of the Month proclamation honoring the Student United Wayoutlet focused on city politics, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor City Hall Feb. 2, 2015. said Royal Oak elections still had partisan tinges. “I am hesitant to give that up, because for me being a Demo“So-called ‘non-partisan’ elections for mayor and commis- crat means something, and I’m proud to have that ‘D’ next to sioner aren’t really non-partisan, anyway,” he wrote. “Can- my name,” she said. “I feel very conflicted about it, honestly. I didates come with a history known by most voters, but party see the pros and the cons. But the pros of bringing more citizens affiliation has little influence on most local issues which a City into the system, if I felt that it was really going to increase our Commission must address.” voter turnout and engagement, that would be a more compelEveryone interviewed for this piece echoed the same idea ling pro than what I’m seeing right now, but I don’t know if it — that, in Ann Arbor, winning as a Republican is currently not would actually do it.” really an option, a sentiment most also said they didn’t like. Kollman, too, said party labels are important. Nonetheless, Lumm, the sole independent on Council, said she thought he said the current situation — one-party control — might not nonpartisan elections would allow a broader scope of individu- be sustainable for the city. als to run, regaining some of the diversity lost from not having “I think (party labels) communicate a lot to voters,” he said. both parties represented. “In the long-run, not having healthy party competition tends to “With nonpartisan elections, voters will then be more likely lead to a disconnect between voters and their government, and to focus on the individual candidates, their qualifications, posi- also leads to cronyism and so forth. Now, is Ann Arbor headed tions and local issues, and that’s a good thing. And also, what’s in that direction? I don’t know. I hope not. It’s not always the happening now is Ann Arbor elected officials are being elected case that that happens, that that leads to bad things. I think now in these off-peak primaries, in August, and that’s when we that the evidence from the history that I know, is that one-party have very low turnout, and that’s certainly not the optimal situ- dominance at any level is generally less desirable than healthy ation.” two-party competition.” But Grand said while she would welcome more engagement, she also likes having her Democratic affiliation.
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
Protesters gather outside City Hall for The Vigil Against Police Brutality Nov. 25, 2014.
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 // The Statement
Drawing the Vote: Ann Arbor city wards split students by Austen Hufford and Patrick Sier, For the Statement
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hen West Quad Residence Hall reopens next semester, residents will have to walk into another Ann Arbor city ward just to eat breakfast. Despite being across the street, South Quad Residence Hall and West Quad are in different wards — meaning they have separate representatives for Ann Arbor City Council. Situations like these arise across the University as all five of Ann Arbor’s wards converge on the Central Campus area. In Ann Arbor, the wards are used to determine representation on city council. There are two city council members to represent each of the five wards. The Ann Arbor City Council is the governing body of Ann Arbor and decides a number of important issues from taxation to local smoking policies. The general shape of the wards is no accident. The Ann Arbor City Charter calls for the wards to have “the general character of a pieshaped [sic] segment of the City” focused “near the center of the city.” It has been this way since an amendment was passed in the election of 1967. The ward map seems, on its face, to cut up the student population of Ann Arbor into multiple wards. The Michigan Daily wanted to see if this was actually true. To come up with the distribution of students across the city, we cross-referenced public voter registration records for the city of Ann Arbor, which include every voter’s full name and address, with the University’s MCommunity campus directory. While some students may have common names that incorrectly matched with voters, we only looked at voters that registered within the last 10 years whose full name matched exactly with someone holding a current student designation. Through this analysis, we were able to create a map of the general distribution of students registered to vote in Ann Arbor. This map clearly shows that no more than 29.4 percent of the student population is contained within any one ward — despite a clear concentration of students in certain areas of the city. While we only found approximately 7,000 registered student voters in Ann Arbor, for this analysis we assumed that their general distribution is consistent with the overall distribution of students across Ann Arbor. To see how this plays out with the overall number of students on campus (43,710) we can subtract international students ineligible to vote (9,047 as of 2014, according to the International Center) as well as students under 18 in September (approximately 750 according to the University Housing). This leaves us with about 34,000 students in a city of about 117,000. Given that there were only 37,098 votes cast in the most recent November election in Ann Arbor, this is no insignificant number. Despite this, multiplying our 34,000 estimate by the distribution of students in each ward doesn’t result in a student majority in a single ward. If there is any doubt about where students are concentrated, one look at our map should put that to rest. Traditional student housing areas including Hill Street and South Forest Avenue south of campus, Kerrytown north of campus, and the Geddes and Oxford area east of campus all show clear student populations. A quick glance also shows that each of these areas is in a different city ward. It seems clear that the Ann Arbor ward map has the effect of splitting the student vote, but there isn’t much student vote to speak of. Out of the 7,000 students registered to vote in Ann Arbor, only 1,900 voted in the most recent Ann Arbor election. This raises multiple questions: if students aren’t going to show up at the polls, do they deserve a dedicated ward? Or is it even worth it for students to vote in Ann Arbor if their interests are clearly split between wards? Will Leaf has a unique perspective in this debate. An Ann Arbor resident and University alum, Leaf was the co-chair of the Mixed Use Party, a political group focused on a relaxed zon-
ing code in the city and ran several students for City Council in the 2013 elections. Beyond the apparent lack of engagement with local politics, many feel that students do not have enough of a long-term stake in the Ann Arbor area to warrant any type of voting accommodation. Leaf disagrees. He believes that students’ unique position as residing in Ann Arbor without strong ties to property ownership actually gives them a longer-term perspective on issues like the environment and property development. This is not to say that when students vote, their votes are better or worse — just different. However, Leaf feels they’re not as different as they seem. He spoke of campaigning with the Mixed Use Party and trying to appeal to student voters on issues of alcohol and student housing, that they often were more interested in the same issues as the rest of Ann Arbor. He painted a picture that was far from the idea of the radical student liberal or uncaring college student, and suggested more that increased student involvement was possible, albeit unlikely, in the city. High student participation recently became a reality at the University of California- Berkeley. The City Council in Berkeley passed a city charter change that enacts a map including a student-majority ward into law. One of the organizers of the campaign, Berkeley alum Safeena Mecklai, explained that it was a lengthy process. In some ways, their situation looked similar to what we’ve described here. Students were split among the city wards and weren’t able to have much representation in local government, which ultimately resulted in tensions between students and the city. Mecklai recounted how they argued for a student ward largely on the basis of it being beneficial for both students and the city as a whole. With a government more responsive to student needs in the campus area, those issues became more likely to be addressed, and the issues less spread between different constituencies. But the ward change was no magic bullet. Once students had a more consolidated representation, they had to register and vote to maintain it. Mecklai spoke of a concerted effort to register students to vote, not just anywhere, but in Berkeley specifically. She believes both the years-long process of creating the ward and the final ward itself made a substantial change in city politics. Students are now more engaged, and government leaders listen to them as a valuable stakeholder. What would that look like in Ann Arbor? While it’s difficult to speculate on the impact on town-gown relations, there is a way to see what the actual map would look like. It’s a bit more difficult in Ann Arbor than Berkeley, particularly because of the split between North and Central Campuses, but we believe it’s an idea worth discussing. To take this beyond hypothetical, we created a map using a mix of census data and the data we’ve collected to make a potential student ward that holds about 4,000 of the 7,000 students. Continuing with the same distribution we’ve been using, that would make students about 19,500 of 23,000 total residents in the ward — a definite supermajority. Creating a student-majority ward would be no easy task. Most likely a City Charter amendment would be required and then an entirely new ward map would need to be created and approved by the City Council. While no proposal is perfect, Berkeley’s example as well as pure appearance would suggest that a more concentrated student ward would be worth examining further. Maybe students would not be able to sustain a ward, but with a chance at representation, at least they would have more of a reason to vote.
AUSTEN HUFFORD AND PATRICK SIER/Daily
Ann Arbor’s wards are drawn so that students constitute less than 30 percent of inhabitants in each one. Here, we show a map of the current wards (above) and a map that we drew to include a proposed student ward (below) as seen in Berkeley. Both maps are overlaid with estimated student distributions. For interactive versions of these maps, visit michigandaily.com/the-statement.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 // The Statement
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Personal Statement: Growing up with an OCD mother by Karen Hua, TV/New Media Editor
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he digital clock flashed 1:23, its red austerity shouting at me. “Mom, hurry up!” It was competition day. I spent my morning gluing on fake eyelashes and my afternoon rushing my mother. My dance team was set to be backstage at 1:30, the venue a 15-minute drive away. I did the math. “One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one-two-three-four,” I heard her chant from behind the shower curtain. “MOM.” “Onetwothreefour, onetwothreefour onetwothreefouronetwothreefour –” “– and five, six, seven, eight!” and my team stepped out on stage. I was still at home, shouting at my mother. Selfish, selfish, selfish, I scream. This day isn’t about you, this isn’t about you! Every electron inside me was combusting, a negative explosion toward my mother like I never experienced before. I was 12 then, the shortest girl in my homeroom and nominated for Little Miss Sunshine in West Middle’s yearbook. But I harbored an internal hatred like no other — one that I parasitically clung onto, one that was rooted deeper than the oak in our backyard. I didn’t have middle school enemies — I just had my mother. My mother out-witted me in every argument. She was thick-skinned, and my petty insults could never shake her. But my greatest weapon remained three letters strung together. “You OCD. You’re such an OCD!” It was the easiest way to shut her down about anything. It was my go-to in every situation. My mother is an accountant. Her profession is to order, to check and to count and count and count. She counted at the office, and then she came home and counted too. She counted for leisure, voluntarily, involuntarily — automatically, uncontrollably. She worked her eight-hour job into a 16-hour one — seven to 11 every single day. I knew her daily schedule consisted of an hour in the office kitchenette, obsessively washing up for breakfast; an hour in the bathroom scrubbing the toilet and sink before she could use them; then an hour napping in the stall to compensate for her exhaustive days – and a little bit of work somewhere in there. Some may call this dedication — perseverance, perhaps. I just called it another attribute to her disease. She wasn’t consumed by her work — just consumed by an illness. Worst of all, she had always refused to get treatment. She has had this disorder for as long as I can remember, yet she has sat paralyzed with fear of taking action. Her idleness was exactly why I vowed I would never, ever turn into my mother. I wanted to be ambitious, proactive, a leader — taking initiative wasn’t a problem for me. I could not possibly comprehend how she could not incite change in her life. I remember my 16th birthday, when my mom took off work to spend the day in Boston with me. Before gelato and shopping though, I was determined to drag my mother to her first therapy appointment for treatment, even if she would kick and scream. I spent the past month scavenging the depths of the Internet for psychiatrists with availabilities that weren’t two years in the future. I found 18 fully
ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND
scheduled doctors who couldn’t take a new patient — but finally, I hit one opening. In the waiting room, I flipped through magazines that detailed the success stories of other mental health patients, all pictured in candid laughter photos with their families. I anxiously waited for an hour until my mother finally came out — from the lobby bathroom. She didn’t need a doctor to confirm her condition was too severe for healthy functioning — this missed appointment just added to the tally of other missed events because of her condition. As I grew older, I became her caretaker — her chauffeur, her secretary, her usher — and I begrudged her the more responsibility I had to take on. I was a teenager; I didn’t want to be so mature. I didn’t want a mom who needed to count on me. *** It was my senior year of high school. I sat in my mother’s car in our garage after my parents went to bed. It was quarter past one, and my seat reclined a degree parallel to the clock’s hand. I breathed in against the humming engine pressing back. I breathed out — as the carbon dioxide would soon no longer allow me to do. I smoothed out the pristine white dress my mother bought me for graduation. I unfolded my copy of the Boston Globe to pass the time, the one with an article on dance that my mother suggested I read that morning. My own mental condition shouted, “Do it!” I couldn’t do it. I felt the stress of academics, the loom of college, the weight of having to parent my own parent. I felt the necessity to do everything and be perfect. My mother felt the pressure of the clock, each tick pushing her forward in a disorder she did not understand. She became the clock, counting second after second, until she ticked, too. She felt the tug of time, tearing her away from being a good parent. She felt and she felt and she felt, until this condition numbed her daily routine, reducing each moment to mindless counting.
She, too, understood the need to be perfect. I guess we were not that different after all. Somewhere deep inside my spite for her, there was also the deepest love. I spent so much time resenting how much I had to take care of her that I never quite realized how much my mother actually took care of me as well. On top of her 16-hour occupation, I was her other 24-hour job — a job where she had to teach calculus and cheerlead at dance competitions and tell bedtime stories and watch my adolescent soap opera. It’s my mother’s birthday today. After over 10 years of battling her obsessions and compulsions and denials, she will finally receive regular treatment next week. She has finally accepted that part of her is vulnerable — and through this, she has encouraged me to make myself vulnerable through my words too. Occasionally, I hear someone say, “Oh my gosh, I’m so OCD about the neatness of my room.” “Prof., can you erase that mark on the board there? The OCD in me is freaking out.” It takes every iota of restraint within me not to slap these words in the face. Yet, in reflection, I used to slap my mother with the same ones. In graduate school in the States, my mother studied numbers. In college as an English major, I study words. It’s taken me a while, but I finally understand the weight of language, of words, of letters. They have power, and they can inflict pain. My mother is not defined by her mental condition. There is so much more depth to her than I could ever see before. She graduated valedictorian at a university where she was not native to the language. She taught me trigonometry in eighth grade simply for the sake of knowledge. She fought for me to keep dancing – she is so much more than her OCD. She did not reproach me or resent me for venturing 750 miles away from home to pursue my education. My goals have always been hers, and now hers have become mine. For now, it’s an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but I believe with all my heart, that she will undeniably OverCome this Disease.
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 // The Statement
VISUAL STATEMENT: ALE X KOI
Koi relishes in playing a saxophone for the first time. She is constantly experimenting and creating new music.
Alex Koi commands the attention of the audience with the band Caves at a Battle of the Bands competition at the League.
Koi performs as part of a jazz trio with bassist Adrian Koch and piano player Andrew Hintzen at the Luminosity art exhibition opening in Kerrytown.
Alex enjoys a yogurt and a quiet moment after her Battle of the Bands gig.
Alex Koi doesn’t just perform music, she embodies it. She has a quiet confidence offstage and the kind of commanding presence onstage that can hold the rapt attention of an audience, whether she’s singing jazz or indie electronic. She says her mind is bursting with melodies that seem effortlessly articulated, as if they always existed. Koi is a senior studying history and jazz vocal performance. She recently left the band Caves after a year of collaboration to pursue solo work in jazz and other improvisational music.
Photo Story by Andrew Cohen
Koi, dressed as Icelandic artist Björk, stands in front of a costumed crowd before performing a show at the Luther Co-op Halloween party.
Koi works out chords on the piano at Vail Coop for a song she’s in the process of writing.