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Major ‘U’ supporter A. Alfred Taubman dead at 91 Detroit area developer donated millions to architecture school, biomedical research By SHOHAM GEVA Daily News Editor
ZACH MOORE/Daily
Common performs at the MUSIC Matters concert during Spring Fest at Hill Auditorium on Friday.
ROBERT DUNNE/Daily
TOP: LSA sophomore Mira Hart models during the Spring Fest fashion show on North University St. on Friday. BOTTOM: Participants compete in the Buffalo Wild Wings wing eating contest during Spring Fest.
Common headlines SpringFest Day-long events showcase student groups, encourage collaboration By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily News Editor
Throughout Friday night’s capstone concert on the tail end of SpringFest, rapper
Common reminded students the importance of diversity and inclusion. “Music matters. We matter. All lives matter,” he told the crowd. This was a theme constant during the day’s SpringFest events, which included a fashion show “One,” student organizations’ largely interactive booths, live music performances and more. Business senior Darren Appel, president of MUSIC Matters
— the student organization that put on the fourth annual SpringFest — said campus-wide collaboration was an essential facet of the event. “I thought that this year, one of the cool things was the student orgs seemed to really get the idea a lot more of actually creating an engaging event,” Appel said. LSA senior Marli Siegel, MUSIC Matters communications manager, added that the “perfect” weather, which was sunny and in
the 70s, was conducive to student participation. “I think the level of student engagement was the highest it has ever been, and I think that made SpringFest the best it has ever been,” she said. “There were people that set up shop to play guitar just because they wanted to. Something like that is so awesome.” One of these impromptu performances was the group Stankface, composed of LSA
M A K I N G WAV E S
ACADEMICS
By the numbers: Transferring to the University Transfer students account for 16 percent of new undergraduates By SAMANTHA WINTNER Daily Staff Reporter
Last fall, 7,546 new undergraduates enrolled at the University. Apart from an incoming freshmen class of 6,505 students, 1,041 of these new enrollees were transfer students, according to data provided by the University’s Office of Public Affairs. These transfer students represent roughly 16 percent of incoming undergraduates. LSA junior Reid Klootwyk, LSA Student Government vice president for upcoming academic year, transferred to the University last fall from Muskegon Community College.
He said the contrast between entering college as a freshmen and entering a new university as an experienced college student adds additional challenges. “We’ve been through some small tidbit of college, but we’re also so fresh to the University and so new to things,” he said. “We’re a little bit like the upperclassmen in that we have (taken college-level classes) and think we know how to succeed, but, at the same time, it’s all so new and it’s not easy to transition.” LSA senior Marissa Miars, chair of the Central Student Government Commission on Transfer Student Resources, said the college experience can also be difficult for transfer students because administrative policies do not entirely know how to address their unique needs. She transferred from Grand Valley State University in 2013. See TRANSFER, Page 2A
junior Cody Fayolle, Music, Theatre & Dance junior Alex Greenzeig and Engineering junior Brent Ritter. Greenzeig and Ritter played electric guitar harmonies, while Fayolle provided percussion. Organizers have already approached the group, which was not affiliated with SpringFest, about performing at next year’s event during the day. The members of Stankface said their See SPRINGEST, Page 3A
A. Alfred Taubman, one of the top donors in the University’s history, passed away Friday night at age 91. His death was confirmed in a statement released by his son, Robert S. Taubman, to employees of Taubman Centers, Inc, according to the Detroit News. Robert S. Taubman is the current CEO of the company. “Tonight, after dinner in his home, a heart attack took him from us, ending what was a full, extraordinary life that touched so many people in so many wonderful ways around the world,” the statement read. “Right now it is difficult for me to express our sadness. One thing that will never be taken from us is Alfred Taubman’s vision that will continue to guide and inspire us.” Taubman, a Michigan native, built his career in the retail industry developing high-end shopping malls. He attended both the University of See TAUBMAN, Page 3A
HEALTH
Third breast cancer panel draws 500 to campus Doctors emphasize early detection, treatment options at annual summit GRANT HARDY/Daily
The University of Michigan Synchronized Swimming Team performs at the Spring Water Show in Chanham Natatorium on Saturday.
Former surgeon general talks politics, public health Bush-era official discusses response to tobacco, AIDS By NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT Daily Staff Reporter
Richard Carmona, former surgeon general of the United States, spoke to a full auditorium
Friday morning in the School of Public Health. Carmona’s lecture focused on the intersection of public health, politics and his experience serving in the Bush Administration from 2002 to 2006. One of the main themes he discussed was the obstruction of important pieces of public health policy by special interests in Congress.
“The greatest plague I ever faced as surgeon general was not infections or terrorists, but politics,” Carmona said. “The plague of politics has its own morbidity and its own mortality.” As surgeon general, Carmona issued a prominent report on the negative effects of secondhand smoke, and served in the federal government’s command center See SURGEON, Page 3A
By ALEX JUNTTI For the Daily
University researchers and doctors, as well as cancer survivors, emphasized the importance of early diagnosis on Saturday as nearly 500 people gathered for the third annual Breast Cancer Summit. Held at the North Campus Research Complex, the event was sponsored by the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Breast Oncology and Community Outreach programs. Martha Laatsch, the event’s organizer and community outreach program director at the center, said the event allows both women and men See BREAST CANCER, Page 3A
Sweeps Michigan swept Big Ten opponents in both baseball and softball
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MONDAY: This Week in History
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35 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (APRIL 20, 1980)
Students leave, pets abandoned The Humane Society of Huron Valley noted a significant increase in its animal population during the spring, citing students leaving for college who wanted to get rid of their pets. Diane Allevato, the organization’s executive director, said the trend is nothing new: students often give up their pets after they realize the new location they are moving to does not allow them. Estimates from the Humane Society show that approximately 2,500 animals were brought to the animal shelter last year due to student housing prob-
lems. Though all animals brought to the society are put up for adoption, only about 18 percent of them find a new home. Animals were typically held for about week and are then euthanized as new animals are brought in. In 1980, about 115 animals were terminated weekly at the center. During an average week, only a few animals are turned in to the society, the Ann Arbor Police said. These animals typically have owners, but only two out of five dogs are picked up by their owners within a few days. Apart from dogs and cats,
THE WIRE
Spartan Statue BY NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT
Michigan State University’s Spartan statue was found covered in blue paint with a maize block ‘M’ on its chest Thursday morning. The statue is a 2005 replacement of the original statue, which had to be replaced due to frequent vandalism by University students.
NEWS
The Startup BY JING JING MA
The Center for Entrepreneurship concluded its semester-long competition, The Startup, Friday afternoon. LSA freshman Saharsh Hajela and Engineering seniors Allsion Powell and Kyle Bettinger won the competition with their project, Puffbarry, which uses air to command speech.
Lentils WHAT: Author Liz Carisle will discuss her recent book, “Lentil Underground.” WHO: UMSFP, UM Sustainable Food Systems Initiative WHEN: Today from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center
Securities and futures WHAT: This lecture will feature Alexa Lam, who recently stepped down as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. WHO: Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Vandenberg Room
CONNOR BADE/Daily
Rapper Common performs at Hill Auditorium on Saturday.
Renovation
Speak 4 Earth Polish Jews
JERUSALEM (AP) — With a resounding election victory last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to have an easy path toward quickly establishing a coalition government with his traditional nationalist, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies. But after weeks of negotiations with potential partners, Netanyahu is finding the task harder than expected and is flirting with the idea of reaching out to his main dovish rivals to form a unity government. As he decides which
path to take, he will seek an additional two-week extension to put his coalition together. Which way Netanyahu goes will have broad implications. If he sides with the hard-line allies that he often calls his “natural” partners, Netanyahu will have a solid parliamentary majority of like-minded parties that could avoid much of the infighting that plagued the outgoing government and provide some welcome political stability at home. But such a coalition — averse to peace moves with the Palestinians and in favor of expanded settlement construction in the West Bank — quickly would find itself on a collision course with the international community at a time when Netanyahu is already feuding with his allies over the moribund peace process and a nuclear deal with Iran that he loathes. A
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WHAT: The lecture features Dariusz Stola, professor of history and director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. WHO: Judiac Studies, Center for European Studies WHEN: Today at 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. WHERE: Museum of Art Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com.
Israeli prime minister could unite with dovish opponents Conservative Netanyahu faces coalition building challenges
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she said the humane society also receives exotic animals. Allevato recommended that students and community members who were forced to give up their pets advertise to coworkers, friends and family before bringing them to the Humane Society. She explained that an animal’s chances of being adopted might be higher if a potential owner has some information on the animal’s background.
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unity government that includes his leftist rivals would help blunt that looming international isolation. Throughout the heated campaign, Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of joining forces with Isaac Herzog and his center-left Zionist Union and vowed to rule from the right. Election results gave his Likud Party 30 seats and secured him a potential 67-seat majority of the 120-seat Knesset along with his traditional allies. In negotiations, however, these allies have made demands to head powerful government ministries, and an initial four-week window to form a new government is now set to expire. On Monday, he is scheduled to meet Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Reuven Rivlin, and seek a two-week extension. Under Israeli election rules, if he fails to form a coalition during that time Rivlin then can assign someone else the task of doing so.
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
The FBI admitted to giving flawed testimony in almost every trial for two decades before 2000, the Washington Post reported. The National Assocation of Criminal Defense Lawyers and others are assisting in the government review.
2
The Michigan softball team recovered from a 9-1 loss Friday to beat Minnesota on Saturday and Sunday and win the series over the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis. >> FOR MORE, SEE SPORTSMONDAY
3
Up to 700 migrants could be dead after a boat capsized on its way to Europe from the Libyan coast, Reuters reported. If the estimates are true, the death toll for migrants in 2015 will reach 1,500.
TRANSFER From Page 1A Miars said it can be frustrating for transfer students — who are not entering college for the first time — to be treated like freshmen who are coming to the University from high school. However, she notes the University cannot treat transfer students like returning sophomores or juniors either. “There’s also the danger of going the complete opposite way and being like: ‘Transfer students have already been to college, they already know everything and they don’t need our help,’” she said. “That attitude can also be problematic: We are new to this University, and there are things we don’t understand and challenges to overcome.” Klootwyk and Miars said transfer students face additional challenges when choosing the right classes, joining campus organizations, securing housing and making new friends. According to data provided by Public Affairs, the University received 3,691 transfer applications in total during Spring, Summer and Fall 2014 — of those, 1,408 were offered
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admission and 1,041 enrolled. This would place the 2014 acceptance rate for transfer applications at about 38 percent, slightly higher than the 32 percent acceptance rate for freshmen applications for the academic year 2014, calculated using data from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions’ “Admitted Student Profile.” About 53 percent of the enrolling transfer students were out-of-state students. Less than 35 percent of the applications came from students at two-year schools, while fewer than 65 percent came from students at four-year schools and the remaining few came from students whose current enrollment was unknown, according to the data set. One hundred sixty students applied to transfer to the University from Washtenaw Community College, and of those, 51 percent were offered admission. This year, the CSG Commission on Transfer Student Resources conducted a survey of 334 current transfer students at the University. The survey found that 75 percent of respondents said they utilize some form of financial assistance. Fifty percent of participants self-reported their socioeconomic status as uppermiddle or upper class, 18 percent said they are lower-middle class and 15 percent identified as working class. Additionally, 51 percent of current student participants transferred from a domestic fouryear institution, 40 percent from a domestic two-year community college and the remaining 9 percent from international colleges and universities. From community college to the University Klootwyk said while many students would love to attend a university immediately after graduating from high school, for some students, that is not a realistic option for various reasons. “You want to be able to tell everybody: ‘I’m going to MSU’ or ‘I’m going to U of M,’” Klootwyk said. “And so even after a successful high school career, I went to Muskegon Community College. And that wasn’t the
most glorious choice, but it was the cheaper option, and I am paying for it.” He said though he was unable to come straight to the University after high school, living at home with his family to attend community college for two years saved money. Miars said because Grand Valley — a state university — is set up similarly to the University, she feels she had less difficulty adjusting when she transferred than her friends and peers who attended community college before the University. “There are just additional challenges coming from a community college,” she said. “Obviously it’s just a different academic setting than a fouryear institution, and so there’s additional challenges adjusting to that.” Advising and mentoring Klootwyk said the University has some resources to help transfer students assimilate, and both he and Miars have dedicated their time at the University to both improving those that currently exist as well as developing more. “There are some resources that are really strong and are possibly under-utilized, he said. “And then there are resources that simply don’t exist that possibly ought to.” One of these existing resources is Transfer Orientation for admitted students. Klootwyk said orientation can be an enormous tool for transfer students and can help them get a feel for campus life, learn about student organizations and explore possible housing options. “However, there’s a downside in that for transfer students, orientation is much shorter (than freshman orientation) — it’s a one-day, five-hour process,” he said. “At a university this size, how much can you tell someone in one afternoon?” Another such resource is Transfer Connections, a peermentoring program run by the Office of New Student Programs for LSA students. Transfer Connections offers new students a chance to join together in small groups led by former transfer students to ease See TRANSFER, Page 3A
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SURGEON From Page 1A during Hurricane Katrina. He later testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, accusing the Bush administration of censoring his public health research because it did not align with its political stance. During the talk, Carmona told anecdotes related to various public health issues, including Guantanamo Bay, tobacco, the AIDS epidemic and Hurricane Katrina. He said Washington politics hindered potential
solutions to all of these challenges. Carmona detailed how partisan politics and special interests influenced both the state and federal response to Hurricane Katrina. “The system (in Katrina) broke down because of special interest politics,” Carmona said He also warned against appointing surgeons general and other officials without backgrounds in public health. “All clinical practitioners should be, first and foremost, public health practitioners,” he said. “As public health professionals, we deserve the most qualified person who merits the position, not the
person who most aligns with a political party... “We must work to prevent the politicization of public health. I was not the doctor of the Republican or the Democratic Party; I was the doctor of the people of the United States.” Charley Willison, a firstyear doctoral student in Health Management and Policy, said Carmona’s comments were insightful. “I appreciated his sharing his experiences and the importance of growing the network of public health as an authority to counteract politics and help to validate the credibility of these institutions,” Willison said.
CONNOR BADE/Daily Richard Carmona, former surgeon general of the United States, speaks about the intersection of public health, politics and his experience serving in the Bush Administration at the School of Public Health on Friday.
TAUBMAN From Page 1A Michigan and Lawrence Technological University, but did not graduate from either. “This company and all that you stand for were among the greatest joys of his life,” the statement read. “Just last month he was in Puerto Rico to celebrate with us the grand opening of The Mall of San Juan. He was so proud of what this wonderful company he founded 65 years ago has accomplished.” Over the past several decades Taubman — whose net worth is estimated at $3.1 billion by Forbes — gave over $150 million to the University. He also donated to multiple other colleges, including Harvard University and Brown University In 1999, in his first major gift to the University, the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning was renamed for Taubman after he donated $30 million. The gift was one of the largest ever received by the University at the time Starting in 2007, he also gave a total of $100 million to start up and fund projects within the Taubman Medical Institute, part of the University’s Medical School. This included initiatives such as a $56 million endowment for research into stem-cell therapy and Lou Gehrig’s disease. The institute also supports a group of scholars
TRANSFER From Page 2A their transition to the University. Additionally, Miars said the Commission on Transfer Student Resources holds “coffee hours,” during which former transfer students are available to advise new students and share their own experience and knowledge. Though transfer students meet with an academic adviser at orientation, Klootwyk said one session couldn’t provide any new student with all the information they need to know. Michael Hartman, coordinator of Transfer Student Programs at Newnan Academic Advising Center, noted that Newnan tries to explain at orientation the purpose of a college adviser, in the hope that new students will seek guidance from their advisers during their time at the University. “For transfer students, depending on where they’re transferring from, we emphasize that (advising) might be different from what they’re used to in terms of our goal is not just to be there to help make sure they meet their degree requirements, but to make sure that they get everything out of their degree that they want,” Hartman said. Miars said the proportion of transfer students who are of lower socioeconomic is greater than for the student body at large, citing the fact that many choose to transfer to the University after
each year in pursuing individual research objectives. Last year, Taubman was one of several donors to support an expansion of the Taubman College, pledging $12.5 million of the $28 million cost. The expansion was approved by the University’s Board of Regents last March. At a 2008 stem cell symposium on campus, he also announced plans to leave $22 million to the University’s Medical School as a bequest after his death. In a statement to the Detroit News Friday evening, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald called Taubman a “great friend of the University of Michigan.” Over the course of his career, Taubman faced several controversies, namely allegations of price fixing and misconduct. In his capacity as the former chairman of Sotheby’s auction house, he was convicted of conspiring with rival auction house Christie’s International in 2001 to artificially inflate prices and commissions received by both, serving close to a year in jail. In response to the conviction, Taubman did not deny the possibility of price fixing, but told the court he wasn’t aware it was taking place. Additionally, in 2012 he was sued by a former employee for multiple counts of sex discrimination. The suit was dropped by the employee several weeks later.
attending another institution to save money. Consequently, she said, many transfer students feel pressure to graduate in four years despite having spent fewer years at the University than most students. “That pressure manifests itself in: ‘I need all my credits to transfer so I can be at the same place I was when I went to my former institution,’” she said. She also noted that, often the University accepts fewer credits than transfer students had hoped, or accepts classes for departmental credit and not as the equivalent of a specific class. As a result, both Klootwyk and Miars said it is common for transfer students to petition for University credit. Miars said students have had success with this procedure, but that for a while she did not know it was an option, and she said she is sure that other transfer students are unaware of it as well. Hartman said students see a presentation at orientation that explains the process of transferring credits and what it means to receive departmental credit. He said Newnan understands that students receive a lot of information during orientation and that they may not remember some details from the presentation. However, he said they hope students will ask for clarification from their advisors in the event that they forget what they need to know. Miars said the University will make students aware of the resources available to them,
SPRINGFEST From Page 1A goal, like the other elements of SpringFest, was to engage students through their music improvisation. While musical acts were performed periodically on the event’s main stage on North University Avenue on Friday, other collaborative activities were also held in the area, including a fashion show and MTank. The fashion show incorporated numerous fashion groups on campus: NOiR, SHEI Magazine, EnspiRED and Bronze Elegance. Students lined the sidewalks on either side of North University to watch the show, which used the street as a runway. LSA senior Karen Doh, president of NOiR, said NOiR was responsible for recruiting models and selecting the music and visuals to accompany their runway walks. “We felt like one together,” Doh said. “It wasn’t just the motto … It was the students and the attendees, really cheering each other on and supporting fashion for a cause. It was very successful.” Doh also noted that the models’ runway walks were organized to represent the five groups of student organizations represented at MUSIC Matters: arts, innovation, sustainability, social identity and philanthropy. For example, she said, one of the walks involved numerous models to represent the construct of social identity — four models surrounded one central model for the first portion of the walk, and ultimately the central person walked to the front of the pack as an expression of individual identity. MTank, the other major event on the SpringFest main stage, showcased numerous student startups and made its debut at the event this year. Modeled after the television show “Shark Tank,” University-based judges, or “sharks,” fielded startup pitches, provided critiques and offered monetary prizes to help further the startups’ mission. LSA junior Saad Jangda,
but will not babysit students by reminding them about transfer student policies and about making appointments with advisers. Improving resources Klootwyk said as LSA-SG vice president, he has been working to update University policy to provide admitted transfer applicants the opportunity to defer enrollment, an option available for freshmen applicants that want to take a gap year. He said he would have liked to have had that opportunity and that a gap year would have enriched his education and given him the chance to learn more about himself before coming to the University. Miars said the Commission on Transfer Student Resources works with the administration to improve policies that already
BREAST CANCER From Page 1A to educate themselves about cancer prevention, detection and treatment options — even if they haven’t been affected by cancer. “It’s an opportunity to learn about breast health and the latest advancements in detecting breast cancer early as well as types of breast cancer that are genetically passed on from one family member to another,” Laatsch said. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) delivered the summit’s opening remarks and emphasized the importance of continued efforts to fight breast cancer. “Because of the talent like we have at the University of Michigan, we are going to kill this disease and make sure it stops killing people, God willing, within the lifetime of many of you in this room,” she said. “The University of Michigan, we thank you for creating this coalition of people to come together to learn, to educate, to advocate, to take care of yourself, your friends and family and make sure that this is a community that takes breast cancer on and tries to eliminate it forever.” A panel of University oncologists also gave a presentation explaining how doctors detect and treat breast cancer. They focused on a case study from cancer survivor and former Cancer Center patient
co-founder of MTank, said the group’s second iteration was a fun way to increase visibility for entrepreneurial efforts on campus. He said MTank featured companies that had already gone through more formal pitch processes, including optiMize’s Social Innovation Challenge and MPowered’s 1000 Pitches event. “An event like MTank shows that part of entrepreneurship that is exciting, that is creativity, that is innovation — all in one event where every student is walking on campus,” Jangda said. Tom Frank, director of the University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, was one of the MTank “sharks,” and echoed Jangda’s feeling that it is important to acknowledge and encourage student entrepreneurship. “I think one of the most important things we can keep doing as a community is that, when we identify would-be entrepreneurs, we continue to nurture them and provide help and support through every milestone, so that they stick with their ventures for as long as they have opportunities for it.” Frank said his favorite of the pitches came from a company called Get Up and Go, which makes and sells caffeinated food products. The startup was one of the MTank competition’s collective judge favorites,
Monday, April 20, 2015 — 3A Melonie Mitchell, who also spoke during the event. The panel talked extensively about the treatment options available to patients, including surgery, radiation, counseling, breast reconstruction, supportive care and drug therapy. After the panel presentation, Mitchell thanked the University for playing a role in her treatment and recovery from breast cancer. “I’m thankful for U of M and to have been here, all of the wonderful research and all of the wonderful practitioners and providers,“ Mitchell said. In another presentation, Radiation Oncology Prof. Lori Pierce, the University’s vice provost for academic and faculty affairs, said it’s vital for the community to understand the modern techniques doctors are using to fight breast cancer. “It’s very important to know what goes on behind the scenes,” Pierce said. “There has been a lot of work that has gone into the planning of these treatments before patients come in. We want to make sure we optimize the treatment for our patients by giving them the best possible chance of cure.” The summit’s afternoon session, titled “Continuing to Thrive,” turned the focus from cancer treatment to a discussion of healthy living habits designed to benefit all types of people —
including patients, survivors and those without cancer. Katherine Goldberg, a culinary specialist with the University’s MHealthy Health and Well-Being Services, discussed the role a balanced, organic diet plays in good health and cancer prevention. “By eating well, you don’t just reduce your risk of cancer but so many other types of diseases like obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, macular degeneration and diabetes,” Goldberg said. Public Health Prof. Vic Strecher closed the event with a talk about the process of finding purpose, happiness and comfort. “Very importantly, in the cancer field, we’re starting to give meaning-centered therapy or purpose-in-life therapy to patients who have cancer and have been finding really super promising outcomes on well-being,” Strecher said. “So my own purpose is to help other people find a purpose.” Ann Arbor resident Jennifer Wrisbrod, who is a cancer survivor, said the event was the perfect opportunity to familiarize herself with the new research available in the field. “I live with the possibility of a recurrence,” said Wrisbrod. “It’s not behind me. It’s with me everyday and I learned here what’s in the future, which provides more hope and helps me live every day a little better.”
subsequently winning a $1,000 prize. The day’s events were not exclusive to members of the University community — for the second year, MUSIC Matters also organized a program for 150 Detroit-area students to come and participate in workshops, talk to University students and walk around SpringFest. SpringFest culminated with the Common concert, throughout which the theme of people working to make collaborative change was apparent. Video 7, a Detroit-based jazz collaborative that involves University alum Brendan Asante among others, opened for Common. As the group was launching into song, one of its lead singers, Antwaun Stanley, told students, “I want you to know tonight that you have the ability … to change the world.” Common held students to a similar standard in a small preamble to his performance of “Glory” — a song from the movie “Selma” that won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. He spoke to recent waves of racism in the form of nationwide police brutality toward Black people, and urged students to take part in making a change. “It’s going to be up to us to change the system,” he said. “It’s up to us to go out and change the
situation. We can’t just tweet about it and Instagram about it, we gotta plan and strategize and be active out there — support groups, vote, organize groups that will get better education for our youth. “As you all go out as college students and people in the community, the things that you want to change, change them yourself,” he said. After the concert, Common told event organizers and reporters from The Michigan Daily that he appreciated the cause MUSIC Matters proceeds will go to: establishing a summer program at the University for Detroit youth that will launch in the summer of 2016. “You all are students,” he said. “That is very important. I appreciate you all having me be a representative of what you all are doing because I think it’s super important that we provide opportunities … for the young people that are coming up after us.” “I know hip hop, for me, was a way to express myself in ways I never had done ever before,” he added. “Art and music and culture and just being able to be you through the art is an important thing. So if we empower our young people to be able to do that through MUSIC Matters and other organizations that are supporting that, I’m telling you we’re going to make a better world.”
ROBERT DUNNE/Daily LSA senior Olivia Hobson models for the Spring Fest fashion show on North University St. on Friday.
exist, as well as create new programs catered to the specific needs of transfer students. She said finding housing has always been a difficult process for transfer students. “We’re the last ones that get to apply for on-campus housing and typically transfer students end up getting placed in Northwood on North Campus,” Miars said. The commission has been working to try and secure more housing on Central Campus for transfer students to help facilitate an easier transition for sophomores and juniors who may already feel removed from social groups that their peers have already formed. “(We are trying to) make sure they’re not further isolated by being put on North Campus,” Miars said. Miars said Housing has
reserved spaces for transfers on Central Campus for next year. She said the commission is also in the process of developing a Transfer Student Resource Center on campus that would be used as a study and hang out space for transfer students where they could meet other transfers and receive advice. Newnan has offered the commission space in their basement for the center, which is still in its early planning stages, and Miars said it has been a very helpful resource for the commission as well as for transfer students in general. “The (immediate) hope is to create a center where we can offer ongoing programming and drop in advising specifically for transfer students,” he said. Miars also said the commission is in the process of
producing a website that pools all transfer resources in one place and would ultimately be run by the University. She said consolidating resources will be helpful because it can be difficult to find University resources online through many different websites. Miars said she has noticed the administration paying a lot more attention to transfer student concerns in the last few years. She said University officials have been working to create programs that target concerns specifically impacting transfer students. “Five years ago, the University of Michigan had a bad reputation when it came to transfer students; It wasn’t seen as the most transfer-friendly institution,” Miars said. “Now they’re trying to change that and making the effort.”
Opinion
4A — Monday, April 20, 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.
FROM THE DAILY
Vote Yes on Proposal 1
Passage of state tax initiative will provide support for road repair n May 5, Michigan will vote on Proposal 1, an initiative that seeks to repair Michigan’s deteriorating roads. Proposal 1 aims to raise the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent, exempt fuel sales from the sales tax and create an additional tax for fuel sales that would go toward road repairs and public transportation, among a host of other measures. The additional 1 percent in sales tax would help cover the revenue lost from fuel sales that currently go to schools and municipalities. Though overly complicated and a roundabout way to obtain funding, voters should vote yes on Proposal 1 due to the necessity of road repairs and lack of sufficient alternative plans.
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Passing Proposal 1 would bring 10 bills into effect, several of which go beyond simply moving around taxes to raise funds for road repairs. In addition to raising the sales tax and creating a fuel tax for road repairs, this proposal would also increase registration fees for trucks, do away with discounts for new car registrations and add surcharges on electric vehicles. Additionally, some of the revenue gained through the new fuel tax would be used to pay off debt accrued by previous roadwork. The Earned Income Tax Credit for low- to moderate-income families would also be raised from 6 to 20 percent, returning the rate to pre2011 levels. According to a 2014 study by TRIP, a national transportation research group, Michiganders pay $2.3 billion each year in additional vehicle operating costs associated with poor road conditions, which includes unnecessary repairs. The Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council deemed 38 percent of Michigan’s roads to be in poor condition. While staggering, these statistics can hardly come as a surprise to anybody who has driven in Michigan; Michigan’s roads are in dire need of repair. The hike in sales tax Proposal 1 would allow is far from outrageous. As of Jan. 1, 2014, Michigan had the 13th lowest sales tax rate in the country, and a one-percent increase would hardly push Michigan to the top. Furthermore, Michigan’s highway expenditures per capita are the lowest in the nation, at $126 per capita. Therefore, increasing spending on roads seems not only reasonable, but integral. Proposal 1 has the groundwork in place to fix the roads, which is crucial to the safety of Michiganders and the
state of our roads. That said, Proposal 1 is not without flaws. It is a complicated and bloated plan, which can deter and confuse voters. The state legislature should aim to draft bills that are concise and accessible to voters; Proposal 1 clearly fails in this regard. Additionally, sales taxes are regressive taxes, and as such, the one-percent sales tax hike and added fuel tax would disproportionately target those on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. This is a regrettable aspect of the proposal. However, it should be noted that the reinstatement of the EITC to 20 percent would help offset this damage. Furthermore, while Proposal 1 does include wording that mandates local governments create a system for tracking roadwork projects, measures to ensure preventative maintenance are vague. If Proposal 1 passes, Michigan lawmakers must develop a plan to guarantee the roads stay fixed. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, “Costs per lane mile for reconstruction after 25 years can be more than three times the costs of preservation treatments over the same 25-year period.” Deferral is no longer an option. Michigan roads must be overhauled to prevent the continual accumulation of costs from temporary repairs. Proposal 1 is the only plan in place to effectively fund and fix Michigan’s roads. Although it might initially be perceived as unfairly affecting those with lower incomes, it accounts for this issue through its funding for EITC. The necessity of road repairs ultimately outweighs the proposal’s issues. Vote Yes on Proposal 1.
DANIEL KARR | VIEWPOINT
Reversing Michigan’s brain drain Stephanie Comai, the head of Michigan’s Talent Investment Agency recently pointed out a major flaw in Michigan’s economic recovery: “the talent gap is one of the biggest issues facing Michigan.” A key reason why this talent gap exists is that almost 40 percent of graduates of Michigan’s public universities leave the state after graduation. Instead of contributing to Michigan’s economy, our graduates are taking their talents elsewhere. In order to maintain the strength of Michigan’s economic recovery, our state needs to reverse this trend and strengthen the pool of young talent that can help our businesses develop. To accomplish this goal, Michigan needs to create the right incentives for graduates of Michigan’s universities to remain in the state. That is why on Michigan’s House of Representatives needs to pass House Bill 4118. If passed, this bill would provide up to $2,150 in annual tax breaks on student loans for graduates of Michigan universities who remain in the state for five years. Why, you might ask, is this the best way to address Michigan’s talent gap? Because there is one thing that all millennials agree on: college loans are a major burden.
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The Class of 2014 was the most indebted in history, and the average college graduate now has nearly $30,000 in student loan debt. There is widespread need to alleviate the pressure of student loans among college graduates, and Michigan needs these graduates to remain in our state to help spur economic growth. This presents our state with a major opportunity. Signing HB 4118 into law would increase the pool of educated talent that our state needs while simultaneously reducing the burden of student debt. The importance of this issue is resonating with millennials across the state. Earlier this year, a group of Michigan State students testified before the Michigan Senate Finance Committee asking our legislature to address this issue. It’s time for our campus to pull our weight and make our voices heard. Students on campus need to let our representatives know we support this bill. The millennial generation has the opportunity to change the status quo in Washington. Now, we have the opportunity to take ownership for the policies that affect our state and our students. Daniel Karr is an LSA sophomore.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
I hope we are an inspiration to those who are starting their own journey to healing.” — Priscilla Salyers said Sunday at a memorial on the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Salyers is a survivor of the attack.
T
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
What are you reading?
oday, information is more readily accessible than it has been at any point in history. Academic faculty — including professors at the University — write blogs and op-eds for personal sites and popular news outlets. Cable infotainment — where comedians like VICTORIA John Oliver spin NOBLE serious issues into entertaining bits — has made learning about national and international affairs increasingly fun for the average viewer. New online news sites increasingly blend opinion and reporting, producing content that fits the site’s “brand,” in an era where most readers reach content through a Google search or Facebook post, not paid subscriptions. Meanwhile, the percentage of people who read print newspapers dropped 18 points between 2002 and 2012, according to a Pew Research Center survey, and advertising revenue dropped 50 percent between 2008 and 2012, according to the American Enterprise Institute. But, contrary to what those facts alone might suggest, news media is a long way away from its proverbial deathbed. While traditional sources have watched their profit projections crash into the red, the industry has provided sufficient incentive for new entry into the market. News startups are free to adapt to the changing demands of the digital consumer absent the constraints of existing management and production structures. This has enabled them to more easily pioneer new ways to inform readers. It’s not that people don’t want to know what’s going on in the world around them — they just want to learn about it in different ways than they have in the past. This is supported by a 2007 Pew study, which found that Americans are about as
informed about current events as they were in 1989. Further, those who got their information from non-newspaper sources were actually more likely to be knowledgeable about the news. Fifty-four percent of people who regularly watched the Daily Show or Colbert Report, 53 percent of people who regularly read news websites and 50 percent of people who listened to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show had “high” knowledge of current affairs. As a point of comparison, only 43 percent of people who regularly read print newspapers had “high” knowledge levels. But while news sites and entertaining news shows are correlated with higher information levels, they are also more likely to present opinionated content. Compare a site like The Atlantic, Quartz or Vox with the type of content you see in the newspaper. It tends to advance a viewpoint and certainly doesn’t give a cut-and-dry, traditionally structured depiction of events like many news stories do. The same can be said for Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Rush Limbaugh. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these sources, especially if they are actually more effective in educating readers. Consuming opinionated content, however, requires a whole new level of media literacy. Based on what I’ve seen in my classes, media literacy is hardly, if at all, emphasized. Let me be clear — media literacy has always been important. But as media evolves in this direction, it becomes increasingly essential to a well-rounded education. Several classes use news media in class to connect course content to real world issues — that’s awesome. It makes school more engaging and helps students make connections between academic work and issues that they might already have a bit of background on. One class of mine attempted to show the “conservative” side of a
debate by playing a clip from the Glenn Beck show. For a few minutes, the class watched, eyes glued to the projection screen, as the pundit stared into the camera, telling his audience that a particular piece of legislation represented the decline of America, a gross deviation from the vision of our founding fathers and would allow the state to take unprecedented control of family life. Representing the other side of issue, we had read academic and New York Times articles. The professor didn’t say anything about the type of video the class had just seen. She said nothing of the emotional ploys the speaker had made, of the inherent differences between an opinion-based cable show and the other media forms we had read. The video was an interesting addition to class, but context was needed to help students more effectively understand how the media format structured the information they had received. This might sound like a lesson best suited for a communications class, but probably every student at the University will consume media products — and the news articles, shows and blogs we consume are products — throughout their lives. As professors work to integrate news sources into class materials, it’s important that they also take that opportunity to educate students about the sources they use. Our college education is largely focused on learning course material in preparation of work in business, engineering, public service, medicine, law or the wide variety of fields University graduates work in after college. But our education is also meant to prepare us to be thoughtful, critical and knowledgeable citizens. Understanding how to critically evaluate the information we receive is a necessary skill — especially in a world that increasingly provides information that aims to influence our thoughts about an issue. —Victoria Noble can be reached at vjnoble@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe CARLINA DUAN | MICHIGAN IN COLOR
A ‘mild’ story One recent evening, a friend and I walked down Main Street. The night was busy. Cars rushed; wind rushed. Boots clucked. We touched strangers’ elbows by accident as we passed them down the street. “Yeah, all the Michigan in Color pieces recently just haven’t been … that good,” my friend said, laughing, as we passed the pasta restaurant where inside, diners twirled curls of spaghetti on silver forks. “I mean, they’ve just been mild, like … eh,” she made a dark noise with her tongue, “It’s all just reiterations of the same thing.” Outside, dusk began to spill across the pavement, and just as suddenly, the streetlights snapped on — automated and glinting across my friend’s pale face. I paused. In front of us, a small dog peed into the brush, and I said nothing, watching the black hairs on my wrist rise in the wind. As a writer, I have thought often about “good stories.” What makes a story “good,” as opposed to “mild,” or, in simpler terms, bad? In my English classes, we learn that good stories require a “driving question.” We learn that good stories don’t “tell,” they “show.” We read Virginia Woolf and Chaucer; we learn how to use metaphors and footnotes; we learn how to craft. But what we don’t learn, and what, I suppose, some might never learn, is what makes a story ours: How do we pass judgment — and how do we lay claim — over what is inherently our own meat, our own blood? What do we do when our stories, as People of Color, are dismissed by others as too “easy,” “mild,” “the same” — clumped together and labeled as homogenous in anger, rage, pain, shame? How do we still find the humility and self-power to celebrate? How do we still find the urge within us to share, expose, listen? At times, writing about how I move through the world — Chinese American, woman, black-haired, with two fists and a pink lip — feels risky. It feels frightening. It feels like yanking out many thick threads — pain and joy and violence and
loss — tugging them from my body; threads which, sometimes, do not want to be unraveled. They want to sit, stuck. My stories contain as much pain as they do joy: I have felt used. I have felt trampled upon. I have felt loved. When I write, and choose to give up my story to the world, it so often feels precious and painful. To lose a story outside of its safe nest: the body. To let a story be bitten into by other teeth. How specific do I need to get to make my stories “good” enough — real enough — for an “audience” to “believe”? If I write that, my sophomore year of college, at the intersection between North University and State, a woman rolled down her window and blared, “Hey, CHINK; What’re you lookin’ at, CHINK,” and I did not make eye contact, and the light changed, and I pressed the balls of my feet upon the sidewalk and kept walking fast, fast, away … If I write that, at a retreat, another woman told me, “I never even have to think about your race; it’s just not something I’ve ever noticed about you at all … ” If I write that a friend once asked me to show him how to use chopsticks, and when I refused, he laughed, “Are you even a real Asian?” If I write that I feel, so often, pummeled and seared to invisibility? Or brandished as exotic, alien, prop? How much more bone do I need to show to make myself visible? My white friends and peers are, at times, skeptical that the racist experiences within my poetry and my world can be so “tidy.” They ask me to complicate my claims. They do not believe the hurt in me. They do not believe that the racism can be the same knife making clean cuts — again, again, again. Oftentimes, I am deeply offended when I hear my white peers speak about “good” stories with regards to race. Frequently, the conversation revolves only around craft: how “entertaining” a story is, how much it lives up to their expectations of what a PoC writing about race should be…
But Michigan in Color was not created for “craft.” Michigan in Color — and spaces akin to it — exist in order for People of Color to voice their narratives — not because we have “good” or “easy” stories to tell; not because we have the desire, frankly, to tell them … but precisely because these stories thrash inside of us. We are pulling them out of us, which is, in itself, a revolutionary act. These stories will not be killed. They are alive; they are injured. They are in love; they are tender. They are fearful; they are brave. So what if our stories are not different “enough”? Why should we have to dilute — or dress up — our experiences for an audience? These stories are not meant for outsiders, who purport themselves to be allies, to call “mild.” They are meant to nourish ourselves. I am tired of hearing white “allies” and readers express that every East Asian woman writing for MiC has the “same story”; that every Black man writing for MiC has the “same story”; that it is all “reiterations of the same thing”; that acts of racism in literature can be “overdone,” “too much,” “too obvious.” I call: bullshit. You cannot tell our hearts to shut up when they cannot, instinctively, shut out our lived histories of brutality, rage, love, shame. Over, over, over again. We will not shut up. We will not shut up. We will tell the “same” stories — and they do not need to be made glossier in order for them to be worth your attention. Of course, stories should always be constructively critiqued. We would not be made stronger sisters, humans, or artists if our stories were not questioned, or prodded at. But I am reminded, again and again, that the conversation needs to center around storytelling not only as “craft,” but also as tenderness and as loss. All stories are, in part, lived experiences, embedded into our muscle and skin. It is unfair — an act of erasure, even — to treat them as otherwise. Carlina Duan is a Michigan in Color editor.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Monday, April 20, 2015 — 5A
EVENT PREVIEW
TV REVIEW
Lyon Opera Ballet performs ‘Cinderella’ By COSMO PAPPAS Daily Arts Writer
HBO
“Do you have an app that will shave my mutton chops?”
‘Silicon Valley’ subverts macho In season two, the weirdest workers become the richest By HAILEY MIDDLEBROOK Daily Arts Writer
“For thousands of years, guys like us have gotten the shit kicked out of us,” said Richard Hendricks (Thomas A Middleditch, “SplinterSilicon heads”), the twitchy and Valley brilliant proSeason Two tagonist of Premiere HBO’s “SiliSundays at con Valley.” 10 p.m. “But now, for the first time, HBO we’re living in an era when we can be in charge and build empires! We could be the Vikings of our day!” His statement, delivered in endearing nerdiness, speaks not only to the rise of tech giants in our culture, but the shift in our idea of “heroes” — especially portrayed in media. Stock male characters (or TV’s “vikings,” if you will) have forever been strong, smooth and assertive, like President Fitz of “Scandal” or Don Draper of “Mad Men.” But in “Silicon Valley,” creator Mike Judge (“Office Space”) flips TV’s macho characters on their meaty heads — or, more accurately, gets rids of them completely. In this world, the weirdest workers become the richest bosses, pimply programmers become overnight millionaires and Kid Rock becomes the poorest guy at a tech kid’s sell-out celebration. The setting creates a nearperfect backdrop for comedy: while the Valley may be the
“cradle of innovation,” it’s also an adult version of the high school cafeteria nerd table. Heated debates aren’t about NFL rivalries, but over which Steve (Wozniak or Jobs) played the bigger role in Apple’s creation. After-work parties consist of cringingly awkward small talk, nodding into beer bottles and slurping delicate “liquid shrimp” — a far cry from the raucous, drug-fueled escapades thrown by “Wolf of Wall Street”-depicted millionaires. Still, money pulses on the pristine, color-popping campus of Hooli, the fictional tech company à la Google or Apple, where Richard works in season one. While staying at the “Hacker Hostel” with crass landlord Erlich Bachman (T.J. Miller, “Big Hero 6”), sardonic Gilfoyle (Martin Starr, “Adventureland”), competitive and gullible Denish (Kumail Nanjiani, “Franklin & Bash”) and sweet but unskilled “Big Head” Nelson (Josh Brener, “The Internship”), Richard designs “Pied Piper,” an app that allows musicians to screen their music for copyrighted material. Though bland on its surface, Richard’s app contains an incredible data-compression algorithm, which catches the eye of Hooli CEO Gavin Belson (Matt Ross, “Big Love”) as well as of eccentric venture capitalist Peter Gregory (Christopher Evan Welch, “War of the Worlds”). Suddenly, Richard finds himself in a tug-of-war between the two billionaires, each with different offers: Belson’s willing to buy the app for a staggering $10 million dollars; Gregory will invest just $200,000 — but will only take five percent ownership of Richard’s company. After talking to Monica (Amanda Crew, “Charlie St.
Cloud”), Gregory’s assistant and the lone female in a maledriven cast, Richard decides to keep Pied Piper and build the company himself. What ensues is chaos — Richard and his programming posse, with the new edition of the smart but socially inept Jared (Zach Woods, “The Office”), must build Pied Piper from scratch before Hooli outdoes them with its copycat product, “Nucleus.” Season one ends with a David and Goliathlike fight between the rivals at TechCrunch, a tech competition. In a frenzy of last-minute coding, Richard’s team wins, making Pied Piper the hottest thing in Silicon Valley. Season two finds Pied Piper on the rise, as the team is wined and dined by venture capitalists eager to invest. Along with their newfound fame, another change has happened: Peter Gregory has died in a tragic safari accident involving a hippo, leaving fast-talking Laurie Bream (Suzanne Cryer, “Wag the Dog”) in his place — adding another much-needed woman to the scene. What hasn’t changed in “Silicon Valley” is its comedic genius. Where the show could’ve plateaued after Pied Piper’s meteoric rise, it delivers scene after scene of the team scrambling in dysfunctional perfection — like when Erlich states that they’re “three-foot cocks covered in Elvis dust,” and Richard blurts angrily to investors, “I’m a threefoot cock! I’m covered in dust!” Elvis-dust-covered or not, Pied Piper isn’t in the clear yet — Hooli’s rumored to be suing the company, investments are murky and Richard still can’t keep his lunch down under pressure. But despite their growing pains (or perhaps because of them), we’re still rooting for “Silicon Valley.”
Ballet and its practitioners study the movement of the body in an artistic context. Dancers train for the majority of their Lyon Opera lifetimes to Ballet: perfect this Cinderella amazing, strenuous, Friday, Apr. athletic and 24 - Sunday codified form Apr. 26, 2015 of movement. The Lyon Power Center Opera Bal- $34-$54, limited let, visiting Ann Arbor half-price student this week- tickets available end for three nights, weds the rigorous professionalism of a world-class ballet company to creative, spectacular set and costume design in their production of “Cinderella.” The Lyon Opera Ballet’s “Cinderella” is a carnivalesque retelling of the story originating (in written format) with 17th century Neapolitan writer Giambattista Basile in his work of collected fairy tales, the “Pentamerone,” under the name Cerenrentola. Charles Perreault and the Brothers Grimm later took up the story, the former in his 1697 “Histoires ou contes du temps passé” (“Stories or Fairy Tales from Past Times with Morals”) under the name ‘Cendrillon’ and the latter in their 1812 collection “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” under the name ‘Aschenputtel.’ Featuring toy cars instead of carriages and rocking horses in lieu of their breathing counterparts, this crowd favorite production of “Cinderella” is a tour de force that would make Walt
Disney blush. All of the dancers are decked out in elaborate costumes, the most striking elements being the “fat-cheeked” baby masks. The production is set to Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s score, composed during World War II and premiered in 1945. Debuting in 1984, the Lyon Opera Ballet’s production has been met with broad acclaim and is a continuous hit. The company has performed it annually since its premiere. Maguy Marin, the company’s choreographer, took a radically unorthodox approach to this staple of the classical ballet repertoire.
“It is like a very strange theater for children,” Loukos said. “Maguy Marin is one of the very few choreographers in France very much inspired, if I can say so, by what we call German expressionism. So it is a very theatrical dance,” said Yorgos Loukos, the artistic director of the company, in an interview with The Michigan Daily. “And what she wanted to do was not like a classical ballet with beautiful girls dancing on points and boys and princes and all that. She wanted to make a real theater almost in an Oriental way with huge costumes. Everybody is like puppets.” Loukos explained that the Lyon Opera Ballet prides itself on its international presence and team.
With an emphasis on the commission and performance of contemporary ballet, they have performed works by renowned choreographers Trisha Brown, William Forsythe and Lucinda Childs. With this emphasis on theatricality and exaggeration, dancers are faced with the challenge of presenting the same level of nuance, precision and expression without their traditional means like their faces or their exposed limbs. “It is like a very strange theater for children,” Loukos said. “The dancers, you don’t see their bodies. They have strange bodies and all that. So it is a very theatrical thing and it works very well. I’m not sure the dancers like to do it, since they have masks, big hats and wigs.” But it would be negligent to reduce this performance to the gimmick of costume and the consequent “knockabout pantomime.” For every measure of “childlike wonder” that this show brings to the table it has the cruelty and sophistication to match. The Lyon Ballet Opera’s production of “Cinderella” is one that aims to unite the emotional experience of remembering childhood and the coming of age and to cull methodological insights from many different kinds of theater. “It is a very sophisticated work theatrically speaking,” Loukos said. “It is a very full and rich approach of what theater is together with music and movement. It’s definitely our biggest success ... We’ve done it for thirty years from Moscow to Beijing, and from Toyko to New York, again and again.” Ann Arbor will be lucky as the only city in the country this year to see the Lyon Opera Ballet’s innovative, exciting and thoughtful presentation of this canonical work of ballet.
Arts
6A — Monday, April 20, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV COLUMN
F
CONCERT REVIEW
A final question for Netflix
or the past eight months, I’ve had the pleasure of being The Michigan Daily’s TV Columnist. With this role, I’ve used my journalistic power to ask the truly important questions. Why are you not watching “Shameless?” How did Patricia Arquette go ALEC STERN from Oscar to “CSI” in just one week? What did “The Mindy Project” ’s racy sex scene mean for broadcast television? And of course, how could a Halle Berry-led television series about mysterious alien pregnancies be so damn unsatisfying? Now, with this final column — the last piece I’ll write for The Michigan Daily after three incredible years — I have one last question to ask. Netflix built its television brand on the binge. In 2013, a press release from the company asserted “(Netflix’s) own original series are created for multi-episodic viewing, lining up the content with new norms of viewer control for the first time.” The idea: if viewers devour entire seasons of “Breaking Bad” in one weekend, why not employ that mindset with an original series? And of course, Netflix’s signature all-at-once delivery has paid off immensely, forging several hit series such as “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black.” (Netflix doesn’t release ratings information, though research has estimated that both series are watched by many millions of viewers.) And two years later, with dozens of original series aimed at multiple demographics, it’s understandable that Netflix would double-down on its lucrative original content. In December, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos announced that the company’s long-term goal is to premiere a new season or series every two and a half weeks. In theory, this iniative is great. It means more original content from a now-proven television heavy-
weight. But in reality, can this work? How much can we binge? How much is too much? Because right about now, my many binges are beginning to infringe on my ability to binge it all. (Translation: I’ve been staring at this computer screen for too long.) My question to Netflix is: how can we possibly binge this much? As a massive “Friday Night Lights” and “Damages” fan, Kyle Chandler’s new series “Bloodline” is a perfect show for me. As a lover of comic book movies (and a secret admirer of Ben Affleck’s campy take on the character), “Marvel’s Daredevil” is immensely intriguing. As someone who can quote almost any episode of “30 Rock,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is a must-watch. And two seasons in, how can I give up on Netflix’s flagship series “House of Cards?” And yet, the progress I’ve made on any of these series is unimpressive — 10 episodes of “Schmidt,” four of “Cards,” one of “Bloodline” and none of “Daredevil.” Why? Because all four of these series debuted within just weeks of one another. But it’s not just that. Sarandos’ plan to debut new series every two and a half weeks forgets to account for one key ingredient: Netflix’s non-original series that started all the binging in the first place. With all the series Netflix has to offer — both new and old, original and acquired — it’s getting more difficult to reconcile the site’s original programming with the rest of its catalog. In other words, my failure to keep up with Netflix’s ambitious slate of original programming has a name, and that name is “Sons of Anarchy.” Just one week before season three of “House of Cards” premiered, I (perhaps foolishly) started what would become a months-long journey with the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club — six seasons on Netflix, right there in front of me. And as promised by friends and family, the series, led by Charlie Hunnam (“Pacific Rim”) and Katey Sagal (“Married… with Children”), is fantastic. But even more, it’s addicting, as if it were created with
binge-ability in mind. (In reality, the series premiered on FX in 2008, long before “House of Cards” ’s 2013 debut.) And as any Netflix enthusiast knows all too well, once you’ve discovered that one arresting series — a “Breaking Bad” or a “Friday Night Lights” or a “Sons of Anarchy” — few other shows matter. Any free time you have is devoted to that series, my television viewing predestined for Jax Teller and his motorcycle cronies. Seven seasons into “Sons of Anarchy” and “House of Cards” remains largely unwatched; “Bloodline” a blip on the radar; “Daredevil” nonexistent. And I’m OK with that, mainly because there are few series that I’ve enjoyed as much as I’ve enjoyed “Sons of Anarchy.” From start to finish, “Sons” was everything you hope a television series about a notorious motorcycle gang would be — its action exciting, its developments shocking, its writing and acting of the highest caliber. I’m OK that for me the words “television” and “Netflix” have been synonymous with “Sons of Anarchy” for the past few months. But is Netflix OK with it? Should Netflix be? As long as Netflix continues to release its own series as quickly as every two and a half weeks, it will become harder and harder to enjoy the varied programming the service has to offer. And let’s face it: we’re not all going to be second semester seniors with endless time on our hands for very much longer. At some point, we’re going to have to choose. “Sons of Anarchy” or “House of Cards?” “Breaking Bad” or “Bloodline?” “30 Rock” or “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt?” And at that point, when you’re in the real world and your time is valuable and the hard choices have to be made … that’s when we all lose. So, with this final column, I ask Netflix: how can we binge it all? Believe me, we want to. But you need to give us the chance. Stern has uncovered the first world problem par excellence. To congratulate him, email alecs@umich.edu.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Monday, April 20, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle DOWN 1 Dumpster fill 2 Classic Unilever laundry soap 3 Religious rebel 4 Bowling pin count 5 Frozen custard brand 6 Instagram uploads 7 Soul singer Rawls 8 Crunched muscles 9 Bit of cosmetic surgery 10 Dinner table faux pas 11 Kentucky Derby, e.g. 12 Yemen’s Gulf of __ 15 One of five in a maternity ward delivery 17 Criminal group 18 Ready for business 23 Singer Kristofferson 25 Auto parts chain 28 Sport-__: off-road vehicle 29 Chicago ballplayer
30 Fake diamond 31 Move like honey 32 Dregs 33 Low in fat 34 Aquatic predator 38 Grab a bite 39 “__ Loves You”: Beatles 40 One, in Dresden 42 “Used to be ... ” 43 Frighten 45 Sicily’s country 46 Sicily’s wine
47 Headgear on the slopes 51 Strength 52 Botanical connecting points 53 Mennen lotion 54 One of the Gilmore girls 55 Kilted family 57 Land measure 60 Total amount 61 Capote nickname 62 Opposite of fast fwd.
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Thank God for hip 2 hop: Common in A By ADAM THEISEN Senior Arts Editor
Less than five minutes into his concert at Hill Auditorium last Friday, Common was already one of the common people. During one of the set’s earliest songs, “Blak Majik” from last year’s Nobody’s Smiling, the Oscarand Grammy-winning rapper left the stage and ran into the crowd, high-fiving jubilant fans as he moved through the aisles and continued to perform. It was an early highlight of an especially intimate performance from Common. In front of fans that included Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh and former Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner (with the latter sporting a “Do The Right Thing”-inspired Radio Raheem t-shirt), Common played a career-spanning set ranging from songs that were less than a year old to tracks that he laid down over two decades ago. Dressed simply in jeans and
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Common exercising his right to bare arms.
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a blue jacket over a dark shirt, Common looked confident and relaxed, happy to be there yet entirely ready to deliver a topnotch set. Early on, he listed off all of his albums in order for the crowd, getting cheers for each one while mentioning that he was “still hungry” for more. Common connected with the crowd and turned Hill into an intimate performance space during energetic favorites like “Go!” and “Get Em High” as well as more dramatic work like “Testify.” In fact, he completely shattered the performer-fan divide when he brought a fan from the front row onto the stage, dancing with her for a bit before sitting her on a stool and performing for her.
Common was already one of the common people. “I’ve always felt like Michigan was a second home to me,” Common said from the stage, referencing to the Fab Five and the late great Detroit producer J Dilla. He backed up those words later when he stopped “I Used to Love H.E.R.” to launch into a freestyle that name-checked Ann Arbor landmarks like State Street, South Quad, the Fishbowl, Skeeps and Rick’s. “I’m sorta like Jalen / the way that I Rose,” he improvised. The show was organized by MUSIC Matters, with the proceeds from the concert going to a summer camp for Detroit youth, and Common gave the evening an extra helping of socially conscious credibility. Though fearless with his power to put on a great show, Common also took care to emphasize that he never let celebrity get to his head, telling the crowd that no matter how long he rapped, he would always stand for the people. The night felt like a celebration of hip hop and old-school soul music as much as it did a Common concert. For an extended period of time during the show, Common let his DJs spin golden age hip-hop tracks, from Biggie to Naughty by Nature, while the crowd cheered and grooved. In addition, opening act Antwaun Stanley and the Detroit creative collective Video 7 started the night with Stanley singing a medley of classic soul, including “What’s Going On,” “O-o-h Child” and “Love Train.” Musical references to De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest also made their way into Video 7’s performance, and there was also a fantastic reimagining of J Dilla’s “Dime Piece,” featuring just a harp, synthesizer and vocals. The bittersweet memory of Dilla, in particular, hung over the entire show. Common even took some time to recall a moment long ago in Downtown Detroit, when Jay Dee picked
him up, and Common became enthralled with the music playing on Dilla’s speakers and was amazed to discover that the tracks were Dilla’s own productions. Fittingly, it was the Dilla-made “The Light” that got the night’s loudest singalong. Of course, the show’s most poignant moment came near the end, when Common performed a stripped-down version of “Glory,” his song with John Legend that featured in the end credits of “Selma” and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song just a few months ago. Accompanied by just a piano and back-up vocals, Common dedicated the song to Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and so many others “who have lost their lives to ignorance, to lack of humanity, to law enforcement who have no respect for life,” Common said. “We all come from the one true creator, the most high,” he continued. “And it’s going to be up to us to change the system. It’s up to us to go out and change the situation. We can’t just tweet about it and Instagram about it; we gotta plan and strategize and be active out there supporting groups, voting, organizing ... and as you all go out as college students and people in the community, the things that you want to change, change it yourself.” A hush fell over the crowd as Common performed the verses quietly and reflectively, ending the song not with a note of triumph, but with the knowledge that more work is still necessary if the Glory is going to come. Outside of Hill after the show, Common posed for a picture with members of Music Matters, commending
“I’ve always felt like Michigan was a second home to me.” them for the job they did and encouraging them to continue with their work. “I think it’s super important that we provide opportunities not only for ourselves and each other but for the young people that’s coming up after us,” he told the group. “I know hip hop, for me, was a way to express myself in ways that I never had done ever before, so art and music and culture and just being able to be you through the art is an important thing,” he continued. “So if we empower our young people to be able to do that through MUSIC Matters and other organizations that are supporting that, I’m telling you we’re gonna make a better world, because I know that without hip hop, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be here.” Thank God for hip hop.
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News
Monday, April 20, 2015 — 7A
Opposition centrists win in Finland election Incumbent falls, new coalition talks economic recovery HELSINKI (AP) — The opposition Center Party has won Finland’s parliamentary election but its new leader faces tough talks on forming a government following the success of the populist, antiestablishment Finns Party that placed ahead of the main government partners, the conservatives and Social Democrats. Center Party leader Juha Sipila declared victory in Sunday’s
election and will take on the role of forming the new ruling coalition, saying he would approach the leaders of the three parties on Monday. “Tomorrow the phones will be ringing, and we’ll work out how to take it from there,” Sipila said. “Finding trust between the future government parties is the most important factor.” The self-effacing millionaire businessman, who entered politics four years ago, said the main problem in conservative Prime Minister Alexander Stubb’s current coalition had been a lack of trust among the ruling parties.
He warned that Finland, in the midst of a three-year recession, was in a “difficult” situation. “It will take 10 years to get Finland back into shape,” Sipila told reporters. Stubb had campaigned on economic issues and acknowledged his government had not made sufficient reforms. He has also advocated spending cuts of 6 billion euros ($6.5 billion) over the next four years, a proposal strongly opposed by Sipila who says half the amount in cuts would suffice. Stubb conceded defeat. “It’s a fact that the Center Party has won the election,” he said.
“Now we have to focus ... on how to get Finland back on track to growth.” Finns Party leader, Timo Soini, who vehemently opposes bailouts for ailing eurozone members and advocates kicking Greece out of the euro, dropped out of government formation talks in 2011 because the other parties supported bailouts. He described his party’s performance on Sunday as a “repeat rumble” of 2011 when they rose from being a tiny political force to become the country’s third largest political party, causing a political storm and headache for
European countries preparing bailouts for eurozone partners. Soini declined to discuss whether his party would take part in future government talks. “We’re here in Finland to stay because we are needed,” he told shouting and clapping supporters in Helsinki. “Our work has been rewarded; let’s reap the benefits.” With all the votes counted, Sipila’s center-right party, which traditionally represents farmers and land owners, won 21 percent of the votes giving it 49 seats in the 200-member Parliament —an increase of 14 from the previous election.
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STYLE NOTEBOOK
COURTESY OF DIANA VREELAND
At least she has a good personality.
Seeking a stylish sense of yourself Infatuation with the inimitable icons of fashion By CAROLINE FILIPS Daily Arts Writer
When people ask me why I like fashion, or why I intend to work in the industry, I never have an immediate, straight answer. At the initial utterance of the question, my mind is instantly flooded with images of iconic Vogue spreads, sketches, fabrics and troops of models trotting down the runway. I often retort with my usual sartorial spiel — how fashion is pertinent to all of our lives, a reflection of the past and an indicator of the future … paired with other eye roll-worthy answers that the inquirer undoubtedly tunes out.
Fashion’s top tier doesn’t compromise or apologize.
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Sometimes I even share a favorite childhood anecdote: the time my fifth grade teacher complimented the way my babydoll Hollister blouse matched my blue braces, swearing I was destined for a career in fashion design. Though my tweenage concept of “fashion” (RIP Limited Too) evokes pain and shame, it was when I truly understood what fashion was all about — how style choices could be an extension of your character. Beyond that, fashion says what we can’t; it’s a voice we don’t have on our own. Yeah, there’s some heavy stuff beyond the cloth. Yet when I mull it over, ref lecting on the countless documentaries of doyens I’ve watched, chic PR-girls I’ve internet-stalked and industry editorials I’ve re-read endlessly, I’m reminded of the fashion world’s inimitable icons who keep me so bizarrely infatuated. Though all unique in their signature idiosyncrasies (i.e. Tom Ford bathing thrice daily, Valentino Garavani’s place-setting fetish, Largerfeld’s … well, everything) the industry’s key contributors are all bound by one distinctive characteristic: they’re all so unapologetically themselves, and that individual eccentricity is translated into their work. True fashion icons don’t subscribe to any notion of normal. Like any arts-related endeavor, success in the industry is equal parts raw talent and being atypical in whichever facet you pursue. It’s a sphere for weirdos to thrive and the
most quirky to flourish. Normalcy doesn’t exist in fashion; it’s about the misfits. Fashion applauds the individual and gives a resting bitch face to the conventional. Ranging from the gamechanging theatrics of wonderfully outrageous shows (see: McQueen’s Dante, Fall 1996), to Linda Fargo’s trademark platinum bob — figureheads know it’s all about their schtick. Famous for her strictly hyperbolic candor along with her succinct and sassy memos, there’s no one who emulated fashion’s uncanny uniqueness better than Diana Vreeland. Vreeland once said, “You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you to get up in the morning. It’s a way of life.” Though I regrettably wasn’t alive at the height of her editorin-chief reign at American Vogue in the early ’60s-’70s, it’s clear she lived out her mantra, embodying everything style was, is and will continue to be. In any and all clips of Vreeland, particularly throughout her documentary, “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel,” she’s brash, outspoken and 100 percent herself. Her brand of style consisted of accentuating her anomalous features and larger-than-life personality. She didn’t care what anyone thought of her, she trusted her instincts and her irrefutable eye for style and ran with it. And if that leads you to Vogue by way of Harper’s Bazaar, you’re doing something right.
There’s some heavy stuff beyond the cloth. Vreeland emphasized her own imperfections and those of others (she literally discovered Twiggy — THE TWIGGY — at the peak of youthquake). She knew perfection was bogus and uninteresting, she foresaw fashion’s globalization; in life and death, Vreeland is all that fashion was and ever will be — genuinely absurd, somewhat misunderstood and perpetually one step ahead. And that’s why I’m enthralled with the sartorial sphere. Though I fawn over the sheer art of couture and commend the unparalleled creativity of les artistes, that’s not the ultimate answer to “why, fashion?” It’s the allure of the edgy factors possessed by all the greats — from Anna Wintour’s polarizing snark to Diane Von Furstenberg’s effortless elegance; that nth degree that is so fantastically fashion. That’s why.
SportsMonday B
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | April 20, 2015
‘M’ sweeps doubleheader, series over Purdue By NATHANIEL CLARK Daily Sports Writer
It’s never easy to win both games of a doubleheader. But that’s exactly what the Michigan baseball team did on Saturday. The Wolverines (8-6 Big Ten, 23-16 overall) defeated Purdue (1-10, 12-16), 7-0, in game one and took the second contest, 7-5. “Our guys were on a mission,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “We talked about not thinking of today as two games, but just thinking of today as giving everything we got to each inning, each at-bat and each pitch.” The big story of game one was Michigan’s pitching, specifically freshman righthander Ryan Nutof. He pitched 7.2 shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out five. His start closely resembled his March 28 outing against Maryland, in which he struck out six
and surrendered only one run in 7.1 innings. “You don’t see a freshman like Nutof very often,” Bakich said. “He’s been consistent with his attitude and his work ethic. His demeanor on the mound and his success doesn’t surprise me because of his preparation.” But the Wolverines’ offense chipped in, too. The first inning began with a single by junior infielder Jacob Cronenworth. Senior outfielder Jackson Glines followed up with a single of his own before junior third baseman Travis Maezes hit an RBI single to drive Glines in. “Top to bottom, we have guys that can hit home runs,” Glines said. “We have good hitters top to bottom.” Another RBI single by sophomore designated hitter Carmen Benedetti and a sacrifice fly by junior outfielder Cody Bruder gave Michigan a 3-0 lead. But it wasn’t until the eighth frame that the Wolverines truly put the game out of reach. With Michigan up 4-0 at the start of the inning, Cronenworth got things going with a one-out RBI single and
scored when Glines hit a triple. A wild pitch on the next at-bat allowed Glines to score, extending the lead to seven. Glines, after hitting .174 over the previous nine games, completed the doubleheader hitting 6-for-8 with five runs scored. “Hitting has peaks and valleys,” Bakich said. “I think everyone knew that (Glines) wasn’t going to be down for long. He’s kept the approach of hitting line drives and having quality at-bats.” The scoring was more spread out in the second game as Michigan found itself ahead, 4-2, going into the seventh inning. The Wolverines’ offense was then put into action, as a one-out RBI double by sophomore infielder Carmen Benedetti and a two-out RBI single by freshman infielder Jake Bivens extended the Michigan lead to three. Benedetti finished the day a combined 7-for-10 with five RBI — four in the second game alone. “Clutch hitting is also known as two-out RBIs,” Bakich said. “When you get those, they are huge momentum plays for your team. It uplifts the entire dugout.” See BASEBALL, Page 4B
HOW SWEEP IT IS SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Wolverines earn third Big Ten sweep over Indiana By TYLER SCOTT Daily Sports Writer
The way the Michigan and Indiana softball teams both attacked the pitching throughout Saturday’s doubleheader looked like a welterweight title fight. As each team jabbed with the bat at the plate, the other stepped to counter with the glove. The resulting dance kept everyone on their toes. The Wolverines (14-2 Big Ten, 41-6 overall) ultimately landed the punches that mattered and downed the Hoosiers in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader, 3-0 and 7-1, respectively. They extended their lead in the Big Ten and earned their third conference series sweep. Indiana (5-10, 14-31) came out swinging at nearly every pitch, but senior left-hander Haylie Wagner handled the Hoosiers’ attack, allowing no runs and five hits while striking out five through seven innings in game one. “Any team can be a good
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
hitting team, and they were really going after the firstpitch strikes,” Wagner said. “They put up a good fight. I was just going out there to attack them.” The first hit from either team that did any damage was sophomore Abby Ramirez’s stand-up double in the third inning of game one. Junior centerfielder Sierra Lawrence immediately followed with a double of her own, and a homer from junior second baseman Sierra Romero gave the Wolverines a three-run lead. Michigan recorded nine hits in game one, but after the three-run third inning, the Wolverines failed to advance a batter past second base. “I felt that we were swinging (too) big,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “I thought (Michigan) was seeing the ball well. They were just trying too hard to hit it – and trying harder doesn’t really work.” Indiana’s defensive effort was backed up by starts from senior righthander Lora Olson in Saturday’s first game and senior right-hander Miranda Tamayo in the series finale. They each took losses, but prevented
Michigan from doing catastrophic damage at the plate. “It was a good game for us because it forced us to rely on our pitcher, and I thought (Wagner) did a great job,” Hutchins said. “There are going to be games like that. We’re not always going to run-rule people.” Lawrence put the Wolverines on the board early in game two of the doubleheader with a leadoff homer. Her 11th home run of the season gave sophomore righthander Megan Betsa an immediate cushion to work with. Sophomore right fielder Kelly Christner had an RBI single in the third inning that extended the Wolverines’ lead to two before Indiana responded with a run of its own. The Hoosiers were resilient throughout both games, coming within a few hits of erasing Michigan’s lead multiple times. Even with 14 strikeouts from Betsa and a fifth-inning, three-run jack from junior left fielder Kelsey Susalla, Indiana had chances to cut deeply into a 5-1 Wolverine advantage in the sixth inning. With runners on first See SOFTBALL, Page 3B
SportsMonday
2B — April 20, 2015
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
B
efore I had the Daily, I lived for those weekends. The ones filled with football and baseball early in the fall, when I could sit in front of the TV and watch games all day. Those were the GREG days I could name starting GARNO lineups, where players went to college and God knows how many stats. I was eight years old, at the house on Merrick Street. I would mimic the sport on TV because I was too excited to just sit down. Sometimes, the games on TV were too tense to run around, so I moved closer to the TV clutching my football. I was so enthralled with the skill that went into hitting a 100-mph fastball or hitting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. I felt a sense of belonging, of pride and happiness, the kind you can’t get anywhere else, when I saw my favorite teams win. Dad had been in and out on one of those afternoons, cleaning the old garage, when he returned to the living room. I began pleading, really crying, for him to join me on the couch. I hadn’t been able to attend games, so watching them on TV was the closest I could get to those moments. “Dad, it’s the Tigers on right now,” I said. “They’re down two runs, you have to watch.” “That’s all right, I’ll check in later,” he said, ready to turn back. “There’s plenty of work to finish up outside.” “Well, somebody has to care about this stuff, Dad,” I shouted, tears running. He looked at me, silent and confused. He turned to my mom for an answer. I lived for this
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Somebody has to care weekend; Dad didn’t. He went back to work. I watched the game alone. Two years later, Mom purchased season tickets to the Toledo Mud Hens for the family. I cheered the announcement, hugged her because I could finally go to a game in person. She thought they’d be good to make us get out and stay together, but Mom despised baseball games — “They just never end,” she’d say — and my sister, Elizabeth, looked for anything else to do. So Dad and I went together, just the two of us. He’d buy me a sausage and peppers from Sofo’s, he’d grab a beer for himself, and we would watch a bunch of guys we’d never heard of. I’d be upset when they lost and chatty when they won. He was indifferent, looking at programs and chatting up the neighbors in the seats. On weekdays in the summer, when we had moved to the house on Amsler, I’d sit outside on the brick porch steps. Dad used to call to say he was coming home, so I sped through dinner and rushed outside to wait for him. I’d hold my new redand-blue mitt, tossing the ball to myself while Dad’s mitt was waiting. He’d come home in a shirt and tie, as usual, and most times he’d say he had to change and eat. I’d roll my eyes and beg him to hurry. His shoulder was almost always sore, so he threw underhand pop-ups and grounders as I kept running and running as the sun faded. I didn’t have many close friends in Adrian, but Dad was there. I still watched games night
after night. My parents put me to bed and I’d proceed to form my pillows into the shape of a body under my sheets. I’d sneak to the basement to watch whatever game was on. Dad found out, after a few weeks, but he didn’t stop me. He saw how much I cared. And he saw how much I cared about playing sports too, so he did what he could to support me. When the middle school basketball team needed a coach, I begged him once more, “Dad, please, I can’t play unless you’re there.” I cared, and he watched the way I pouted. He coached us that season. When I ran cross country in high school, he helped pay for all six pairs of shoes because I researched them for hours. Eventually, he’d take the stopwatch with Mom and call out times when I asked. Really, though, no one cared like I did until I walked into the Daily in January of my freshman year. There, I found people as crazy as me. I called Mom and Dad in January, “I know what I want to do. I want to write sports.” I wrote as much as I could, called Mom and Dad again, begging them to read my stories “just this time.” Sometimes, they did read. Sometimes they just listened. They sat silent when I told them about trekking back from Sault Ste. Marie in the middle of a blizzard with Laurila driving. They laughed as I told them about singing Mulan in the middle of Iowa to keep Jeremy awake. And they cheered when I told them that the great people at Sporting News wanted the
“I know what I want to do. I want to write sports.”
COURTESY OF THE GARNO FAMILY
Greg Garno and his dad bonded over baseball when Greg was younger.
kid who cared so much for an internship. I called to tell them when I met Dan and Alejandro, who also moved close to the TV. We all groaned when Trey Burke’s block was called a foul, and we all argued about what we thought was wrong with Michigan football (but this column is already long enough). We moved in with David, we drank (a lot of) cheap beer and we all cared. Imagine if I hadn’t started believing that day that someone had to care? How lucky was I to have a place where I had met my best friends, to find people who found the joy in watching a step-back 3-pointer save the day or 40-yard heave fall into Roy Roundtree’s hands. I became passionate about beating (destroying) The State News, about fighting in a game of chair monkey with Max and Max or breaking a light with Alejandro.
And so at the Daily, watching sports and telling stories — like Andrew Copp’s or Drake Johnson’s, athletes, students who cared enough about what they did and who they were to share — were ways for me to speak to Dad. He cared for me as I cared for the 50 members of the sports section. Eventually, Dad even learned how to use the iPad to read my stories — he had never even turned on a computer before that. A year ago, during a hockey game, I sat in the press box when the police officer came over calling my name (I should have stopped stealing Cokes). She announced that my father had come up, said he needed to see me. It was the first time he had come to a game at which I was working. I left my seat, watching the other reporters snicker and stare. I found him laughing with an
usher. “Pretty neat setup you get up here,” my dad said. “What’d did you have to eat? And look at all these TVs. Did you see me down there at all?” He walked around and lingered in the middle of that 2-1 game, smiling the entire time. I stayed in that moment briefly — long enough to realize that Dad had always cared. And that someone — the Daily, Dad and I — always would. Garno could have written 1,200 more words about his mother and sister, both of whom have shown more love and support than he could have asked. He thanks you, the reader, for caring enough to follow along. He’ll be covering the Chicago Cubs and White Sox for MLB.com this summer, where he’s bound to run into Alejandro once more. Garno can be reached at ggarno@umich. edu or on Twitter: @G_Garno.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
Y
ou warned me I couldn’t major in football spectating, but you must have realized during one of the dozens of surgeries in Ann Arbor that nothing would keep me from the University of ALEJANDRO Michigan. ZÚÑIGA We would walk down State Street before doctor’s appointments, and I would sprint from store to store pointing at the winged helmets and block ‘M’s in the windows. You’d eventually give an exasperated sigh at my unbridled enthusiasm and usher me away to the hospital. You must have known how much this place meant to me. On the worst day of my life, you sang me to sleep with “The Victors” as the anesthesia dripped like shards of ice into my arm. During the month that followed, when the discomfort meant I’d spend entire days in bed, you watched me struggle up a flight of stairs to watch Michigan’s bowl game. The Wolverines won, and then they carried Lloyd Carr off on their shoulders. A picture of that moment still hangs on my wall. It was my freshman year of high school, but I knew then I wanted to go to school here. And I’m not sure what drew me to Michigan over Michigan State or anywhere else, but thank you for helping make this possible.
April 20, 2015 — 3B
Majoring in collegiate athletics
My story begins outside my grandparents’ tin-roofed home in Orotina, Costa Rica. My cousin and I would play fútbol until abuela called us in for lunch, and we’d scarf down our meal and scurry back out until it became too dark to see the ball. When we outgrew the backyard, we’d play on the streets. The fence would be the goal, the birds our crowd, our scrapes and bruises the reward for a day well spent. My story wears the red and white of Albion High School. We cared so much about fielding a squad each year that several of us would host foreign exchange students — on the condition they joined the team. Opponents called us the Albion Internationals, and I was voted captain twice. Our mix of Black, white and every color in between represented the very
Sports provide people the outlet to reach immortality.
***
SportsMonday
best of sports. My story is a soccer field in Pader, a city in northern Uganda which was devastated by a terrorist group around the turn of the century. I stood between the wooden goal posts that had been erected behind an elementary school and joined 21 other men as we played odilo. They didn’t understand my English, and I couldn’t translate their Acholi, but we spoke with our feet. They called me Alex Andrew, and I was their goalkeeper. My story involves the passion of the Michigan Ultras. One night during welcome week my sophomore year, I stood at a match next to a freshman who didn’t know any of the cheers. For the next 90 minutes, I taught her. Michigan lost, but I got the girl. And this story will end next week at the Big House, where 100,000 people recently came to watch soccer. Somehow, that’s fitting. *** Sports provide people the
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
outlet to reach immortality, where flesh, blood and tears may fade — but not the memories. They offer a place that fosters extraordinary moments, where someone can shatter the conventional boundaries that restrict us and achieve the spectacular. Denard Robinson demonstrated that when he lost his shoes and kept running straight into Michigan lore. So did Trey Burke with his dagger 3-pointer against Kansas. Their emotions were my emotions, their accomplishments mine. Maybe we all yearn for that freedom to be a part of something unforgettable. There were instances that transcended the sports realm, too, like when Austin Hatch tallied his first point or when Devin Gardner comforted an Ohio State player after a seasonending injury, reminding everyone how, at the core of athletic competitions, we’re all human. In those moments, the result became secondary to remarkable displays of humanity. But sports have always meant
COURTESY OF THE ZÚÑIGA FAMILY
Alejandro Zúñiga’s story began in Costa Rica and continued in Ann Arbor.
more to me than a score. The days I spent with a tube strapped to my leg helped me appreciate my ability to walk, run and play soccer. I’m appreciative every day for those opportunities. Thank you, Dr. Bloom and Dr. Malaeb, for making me better. Thank you to Costa Rica for the 2014 World Cup. You allowed a nation to believe in the impossible. Dad, thank you for your stories. Thank you for Spanish and for Costa Rica — for opening those doors in my world. You warned me I couldn’t major in football spectating, Mom. But here I am. I’ve majored in football spectating,
fútbol spectating, basketball spectating and hockey spectating. Thank you for recognizing how happy it makes me. Thank you for realizing it makes me feel free. Thank you, Michigan. You were my best four years. Zúñiga would like to thank everyone who has influenced his life — especially Greg, Dan, David and Amrutha, who have become like family. Saludos a las tías en Orotina, who are family. He’ll be covering the Tigers this season for MLB.com, and can be reached at ByAZuniga@ gmail.com and on Twitter @ ByAZuniga. Thank you for reading and supporting The Michigan Daily. It has meant so much.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
‘M’ misses Super Six Wolverines clinch sixth By CINDY YU Daily Sports Writer
Less than two-tenths of a point separated the Michigan women’s gymnastics team from securing a spot on the floor at Saturday’s Super Six. Though the Wolverines came up just a hair short of qualifying among the top three teams in the first NCAA semifinal session Friday, they still have much to be satisfied with. Not only did they close out the season as the only team in the nation to score at least 49.000 in all 52 rotations, but they also counted zero falls in competition. “I think everyone did their jobs like they were supposed to, which ended up not being enough to make it to the next day,” said sophomore Talia Chiarelli. “We’re still really happy with how we performed.” Sophomore Nicole Artz was named a first-team AllAmerican in the all-around with a score of 39.425, and freshman Brianna Brown was awarded second-team honors with her 39.325 total. The team put up the second-highest team total in program history at the NCAA Championships. At the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, No. 6 Michigan (27-6 overall) scored 197.025 to place fourth among six teams. No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Utah tied for first in the qualifying round with scores of 197.475, while No. 11 Stanford rounded out the top three with a total of 197.175. No. 10 Georgia and No. 7 UCLA finished in fifth and sixth with scores of 196.600 and 196.400, respectively. For the third consecutive year, Michigan drew the same rotation order at the NCAA Championships. “Our biggest obstacle was having to end on a bye,” said Michigan coach Bev Plocki. “Hopefully things come in three, and we’re done with that.” The Wolverines started the meet on the uneven bars. Though
the entire lineup performed well, with each gymnast recording at least a score of 9.800 and a few even sticking their dismounts, leading off on that particular event may have been to the team’s disadvantage. “Typically, the judges will start out a little conservatively and then loosen up, so I think that it really hurt us,” Plocki said. “We had a great bar rotation, but as the meet went on, it seemed like things loosened up over there, and other teams were able to take advantage of that.” Among all six teams, Michigan had the lowest total on bars with a 49.225. On the balance beam, the Wolverines matched their program record of 49.250 for the highest total on the event at an NCAA Championships. Artz and Chiarelli led the squad in the anchor positions with wobblefree routines that each scored tallies of 9.900. Both gymnasts qualified to Sunday’s event finals and were named NCAA AllAmericans on beam. While their scores ranked among the highest in the session, it was challenging to pinpoint what the judges took off in Chiarelli’s set. “I have no idea where they came up with a tenth of a deduction because (Chiarelli) did not have an eyelash out of place in the routine and she stuck her dismount,” Plocki said. “She does a round-off double back, which is a more difficult dismount than most people do.” The Wolverines finished the day strong on vault. Chiarelli, Brown and senior Brooke Parker stuck their Yurchenko fulls. Chiarelli performed the best vault in the lineup, scoring 9.875. After she stuck her vault cold, she immediately sprinted off the podium and was welcomed by high fives from all of her teammates. “That was actually the first vault I’ve stuck all season,” Chiarelli said. Though the vault gave Plocki
chills, the score may not have warranted its merit. “Her vault was the best I’ve ever seen her do, and actually, there was a good part of the audience that was kind of booing when they put up the 9.875,” Plocki said. “Nevertheless, she had the meet of her life.” During the event finals, Chiarelli, senior Sachi Sugiyama and Artz represented the Maize and Blue well. On floor, Chiarelli and Sugiyama tied for seventh with identical scores of 9.900. Both gymnasts showed off explosive tumbling sets and expressive dance choreography. Sugiyama closed out her season in fashion. The Texas native performed the last routine of her collegiate career before a hometown crowd. “I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the whole routine,” Sugiyama said. On beam, Chiarelli finished eighth with a score of 9.825. and Artz finished 12th with an impressively improvised routine that scored 9.8125. “My heart breaks for these kids, the work they put in and everything to not be able to compete at Super Six,” Plocki said. “I think that our gymnastics should’ve been on the floor then, but I’m certainly not disappointed in any way, shape or form with any of these young ladies or their efforts. “I couldn’t be more proud of everything they’ve done and accomplished this season.” While success may be measured in wins, losses and championships, the personal development of the Wolverines this season has been tremendous. After graduating six seniors from last year’s team, many expected Michigan to have a rebuilding season this year. But in the end, it proved it belonged among the rest. With Artz, Chiarelli and the majority of their teammates returning next season, as well as a strong incoming freshman class joining the team, the Wolverines can only improve.
straight conference title By BETELHEM ASHAME For the Daily
The Michigan women’s tennis team has enjoyed an impressive run in Big Ten play all season long, and this weekend was the culmination of the success the Wolverines have achieved. Michigan traveled to Columbus on Friday to take on No. 17 Ohio State (9-1 Big Ten, 17-5 overall) in a must-win match with a share of the Big Ten Championship on the line. And in order to win the title outright, the 14th-ranked Wolverines had to earn it at Penn State (8-3, 12-10) on Sunday. “We haven’t really thought about it that much,” said senior Sarah Lee. “We’re looking at both as just another match because we’re focused on each team, like we’ve been doing all year.” The Wolverines (11-0, 21-3) started off on the right foot Friday against the Buckeyes, earning the doubles point from the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. The No. 1 pair of senior Emina Bektas and freshman Alex Najarian went up 3-1 and eventually pulled out an 8-3 victory. The No. 3 doubles pair of Michigan freshman Mira RuderHook and sophomore Sara Remynse had a tougher battle in their match. The two fell behind by three games early before rallying to salvage a 4-4 tie. The back and forth affair reached a 7-7 tie, but Michigan’s duo took full control over the tiebreaker,
SOFTBALL From Page 1B and second and the tying run on deck in the sixth inning, Hoosier outfielder Brianna Meyer lined a shot into the gap in center field. If the ball fell in, it would have scored at least one run, but Christner extinguished that hope with an acrobatic diving catch
winning 7-1, to secure the doubles point. “Mira was definitely the reason we won that match,” Remynse said. “She keeps being positive and making me feel comfortable. When we’re down, we play more aggressively, and when we play within ourselves, it works out.” In the singles matches, Remynse and junior Ronit Yurovsky gave Michigan a comfortable 3-0 lead over Ohio State with straight-set wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 positions. Both Yurovsky and Remynse earned 6-4, 6-2 victories against their Buckeye counterparts. At No. 3 singles, Najarian defeated her opponent, Ohio State’s Sandy Niehaus, 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (5) with a 7-5 tiebreaker win to clinch a share of the Big Ten title for the Wolverines. Michigan would go on to finish the match with a 6-1 victory over the Buckeyes. After passing its first test against Ohio State, only the Nittany Lions stood in the way of Michigan’s quest for the Big Ten Championship. “We’ve been taking it one match at a time,” said Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein. “We haven’t been looking at it like we needed two matches to do it because we don’t overlook anybody.” The Wolverines got off to an even brighter start Sunday in the doubles matches when Remynse and Ruder-Hook made quick work of the opposition,
cruising to an 8-0 win. Bektas and Najarian followed in their footsteps by securing an 8-3 victory against Penn State’s No. 1 pair of Katia Blik and Victoria Kisialeva to clinch the doubles point for Michigan. In singles play, the Wolverines needed just three wins to capture the title. And they earned all three wins in impressive fashion. Both Lee and Remynse quickly dispatched their opponents with 6-3, 6-1 victories. In between, Ruder-Hook sunk her No. 5 singles opponent Devan McCluskey and dropped only one match in the process. With those performances, the Wolverines earned a 4-0 victory over Penn State and the greater prize of capturing their sixthstraight Big Ten Championship with an undefeated record. “I’m excited for the girls,” Bernstein said. “The regular season is long and it’s challenging, and you have to stay healthy. But I’m proud of them because they worked hard. I thought we played really well. It’s not so much about how many in a row because every year is different, but it’s definitely good to come through.” With the two victories this weekend to end the regular season, Michigan has now won 15 consecutive matches and a Big Ten Championship to boot. The Wolverines are in prime position to continue their dominant campaign next weekend when the Big Ten Tournament kicks off.
and throw to second base to turn the double play. “Honestly, when it was hit, I didn’t think I had any chance of getting to it,” Christner said. “When I caught it, I kind of freaked out but I was like, ‘Alright, I’ve got to finish the play.’ I jumped up and saw the girl was still running back to second, so I tried to get her out at second then too.” Michigan erupted in
celebration of Christner’s display of athleticism. And just when Indiana got its best chance to come back, the Wolverines took it away. In a series condensed into two days, the play encapsulated the sweep of the Hoosiers. Just when Indiana thought it could sneak by the Wolverines, Christner delivered the knock-out blow — squashing any chance of a comeback.
SportsMonday
4B — April 20, 2015
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SOFTBALL
BASEBALL From Page 1B
Hitting proves contagious By CHRIS CROWDER Daily Sports Writer
In the second inning of the Michigan softball team’s game on Friday, an epidemic came across the team. The hits didn’t stop coming from the Wolverines as 11 straight batters reached base and 10 of them scored. The virus easily spread from teammate to teammate, and it doesn’t look like the Wolverines will be cured of it any time soon. The epidemic that came across the team was hitting, and it’s more contagious than ever. “Once they all start hitting, they all believe we can hit,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “I like for them to focus on every pitch as the same, whether bases are loaded or if nobody is on.” This weekend, No. 4 Michigan (14-2 Big Ten, 41-6 overall) excelled at the plate, especially with runners in scoring position, going 11-for-32 in such situations. Hitting when it mattered most led the Wolverines to a sweep of Indiana (5-10, 14-31). In the first game, Michigan went 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position, including 3-for-6 with the bases loaded in the second inning alone. Those at-bats contributed six runs to the 10-run frame. Nearly every Wolverine batter stepped up when they walked up to the plate. Not a single Michigan player struck out in the second, and every batter put the ball in play, forcing Indiana’s defense to react. The Hoosiers had two errors in the inning, giving the Wolverines more opportunities to keep piling on their lead. Michigan had 15 batters step up to the plate in the second. The two freshmen in the lineup, catcher Aidan Falk and first baseman Tera Blanco, each had two hits in the inning, driving two and three RBI, respectively. They were responsible for the first two runs of the inning,
starting the rally to take control of the game. “(When the bases are loaded), I try not to think about it,” Falk said. “Because if I start to think about it, it just doesn’t end up well. I didn’t even know the bases were loaded.” Soon after the freshmen had their first at-bats, junior second baseman Sierra Lawrence tattooed a three-run homer to put the Wolverines up, 7-0. Michigan wouldn’t fare as well with runners in scoring position in the third inning, going 0-4. After that, there wouldn’t be another at-bat with runners in scoring position for the rest of the game. But the damage was done as Michigan won game one, 11-2. In game two of the weekend, the contagious hitting with runners in scoring position continued. In the third inning, the Wolverines went 2-for-3 with runners in scoring position, scoring all three runs in those situations. Sophomore shortstop Abby Ramirez and junior centerfielder Sierra Lawrence hit back-to-back doubles, with Lawrence knocking in Ramirez on her knock into the right field gap. Romero was the next batter, and again, poked one over rightfield wall, this time for a tworun homer. The home run was a display of Romero’s power, as the ball was nearly in the left-side batter’s box. But she stuck her bat out anyway, giving Michigan a 3-0 cushion. The Wolverines finished 2-for7 with runners in scoring position in game two, holding on to the 3-0 lead to defeat the Hoosiers by the same score. “We’re not always going to run-rule people,” Hutchins said. “I didn’t always like our at-bats, but I like the fact that we were in a tight game.” Game three of the series started with a leadoff solo home run by Lawrence. The next run came in the third inning,
as sophomore left fielder Kelly Christner hit an RBI single to score Ramirez from second. With two on and two down, junior right fielder Kelsey Susalla got all of a 2-0 pitch. Off the bat, it looked like a no-doubt home run, as fans stood up and cheered as the ball flew through the air. The ball went over the wall, but didn’t land there, as the wind blew it back in play, allowing the Indiana right fielder to catch it nearly a foot in front of the wall. But Susalla got her payback against the wind in her next at-bat in the fifth inning. This time, she hit the ball a little harder in the same direction, landing in the right-field bleachers for a threerun homer. The round-tripper gave Michigan a 5-1 lead, and its second hit with runners in scoring position for the game. “I wasn’t too happy about (the near home run),” Susalla said. “After I hit the second one, I felt a lot better and a little more confident.” With the bases loaded in the sixth inning for Romero, the wind was once again a factor. She hit what looked to be a fly out to right field for the second out, but the wind stopped the ball from traveling any further, as it fell into no-man’s land for a single. Two runs scored on the play, and Romero advanced to second. The Wolverines didn’t score again, winning 7-1 and finished 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Though sometimes the hitting wasn’t infectious for Michigan’s benefit, it hit well enough to earn all three wins. But if the contagiousness continues to strand from base hits, the Wolverines may reach their full potential soon enough. “Honestly, we’re very contagious,” Hutchins said. “If one (batter) hits pop-ups, we all hit pop-ups. If one (batter) hits home runs, we all hit home runs. We’re very infectious, and we need somebody to break out.”
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Ryan Nutof pitched 7.1 scoreless innings in one of Saturday’s wins over Purdue.
The insurance runs proved to be vital with the Boilermakers mounting their own comeback in the eighth. First baseman Kyle Wood singled to center field to drive in a run, and outfielder Brett Carlson hit a two-RBI single to left two at-bats later to cut the Wolverines’ advantage to one. Michigan appeared to be on the verge of falling behind as Purdue loaded the bases with two outs. But junior left-hander Evan Hill got the Wolverines out of the jam when he got Boilermakers first baseman Daniel Sander to fly out to center. Michigan’s weekend series sweep was its first in Big Ten play since April 12-14, 2013, against Penn State, while the Wolverines’ last doubleheader sweep occurred May 11, 2008, against Minnesota. Michigan now sits in fifth place in the Big Ten standings, three games behind Illinois for the top spot.
BASEBALL
Stars shine bright in sweep By DANNY VARGOVICK Daily Sports Writer
Friday, roughly 15 to 20 scouts were in attendance to watch junior right-hander Jacob Cronenworth pitch. What they may not have been expecting, though, was his dominating performance at the plate. Cronenworth, along with senior centerfielder Jackson Glines and sophomore first baseman Carmen Benedetti, dominated Purdue’s pitching all weekend. The trio hit .659 on the plate and accounted for 13 runs scored and 14 runs batted in of the team’s 23 total runs. Friday, Cronenworth set the tone for the Wolverine offense, reaching base four times in five plate appearances. Michigan scored nine runs on the day, with Cronenworth credited with either a run scored or an RBI on six of them. In the first game Saturday, Cronenworth picked up right where he left off, going 4-for5. The only change in his plate appearance was that of additional power, sending the ball over the 395-foot marker in straightaway center field. “I didn’t even expect it to go out,” Cronenworth said. “I thought it was just going to be a deep fly out, but it got caught up in the wind up there.” Over the last two years, it has been Glines who has been the Batman to Cronenworth’s Robin. As the top two hitters in the lineup, the duo presents a
daunting challenge in the first inning for any opposing pitcher. Friday, Glines had three hits in five plate appearances. He managed to top those numbers Saturday. Not to be outdone by Cronenworth, Glines reached base eight times in 10 plate appearances in the doubleheader. Like Cronenworth, he found his power stroke, tallying three doubles and one triple over the two games. It was an encouraging line for Glines, who is back to leading the conference in hitting at .399 and on-base percentage at an even .500. The senior seems to be past a nine-game stretch in which he hit just .147. “Hitting has some peaks and valleys,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “Jackson Glines is fortunate that everybody knew that he wasn’t going to be down for long. He wasn’t really down, he just had some tough luck with balls hit right at people.” Adding to the onslaught, Benedetti has been the third member of the Wolverines’ big three offensively this season. Benedetti joined the party Saturday in the first game, also going 4-for-5. He went 3-for-5 in the second game, and collected four RBI, three of which plated Glines.
The team’s cleanup hitter has hit .510 over his last 12 games, improving his average to .378 — good for second in the Big Ten behind Glines. He also leads the conference in RBI with 44, 10 clear of second place. Bakich has said that last season, the team often relied on its stars to do all the heavy lifting on offense. That hasn’t been the case this season; the lineup is much deeper with players like freshman shortstop Jake Bivens consistently contributing and senior catcher Kendall Patrick turning in quality performances like his 3-for-4 line on Friday. Even sophomore outfielder Johnny Slater — gently used for much of his collegiate career — posted two multi-hit games in the weekend sweep that saw Michigan outscore the Boilermakers, 23-8, in three games. The Wolverines have been able to win without their stars contributing, just like they did during the stretch when Glines hit .147. But the Wolverines are at their best on days like Saturday, when Cronenworth, Glines and Benedetti all reached base four times in five plate appearances. Though Michigan doesn’t need its stars to shine to win, it certainly helps to have them.
“Everybody knew that he wasn’t going to be down for long.”