ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, September 11, 2014
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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PRESSURE’S ON
PUBLIC SAFETY
No threat found after emergency alert issued Navy ROTC member mistaken for gunman in Chemistry Building
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
LSA senior Julia Kim, a member of EnCore dance company, demonstrates a routine at the group’s auditions Wednesday evening in the Union.
ANN ARBOR
Ridesharing’s legality in 2 A still under evaluation Limousine drivers bemoan varied regulations
panies in the city, traditional taxi companies are frustrated with the exceptions granted to companies such as Uber and Lyft. Last week, councilmembers voted to request that City Administrator Steve Powers negotiate operating agreements, which included liability insurance, passenger safety and vehicle inspection,
By JACK TURMAN Daily Staff Reporter
Following the Ann Arbor City Council’s resolution to further regulate ridesharing com-
with ridesharing companies. Contrary to traditional taxi or limousine services, ridesharing companies employ non-professional drivers who use their own vehicles. Uber, which uses a smartphone app to connect drivers and riders, has multiple transportation services. However, the service that has faced the most scrutiny is UberX, Uber’s
New residency rankings place UMHS highly By AMABEL KAROUB Daily Staff Reporter
The rankings are still rolling in. Starting Wednesday, a website called Doximity began offering ranks of different medical residency programs across the country, and the University of Michigan Health System stood out among the 3,700 programs listed. Doximity is a social networking site for doctors. The rankings are based on input from physicians, who give their opinions on the top residency programs within their specialties. Of the 20 residency programs ranked, 12 UMHS programs ranked in the top 10 in their fields, including Anesthesiology, Dermatology, and Surgery. Most of the other eight programs placed in the top 20, with the lowest, pediat-
rics, ranking at 22. Doximity’s Residency Navigator is the first of its kind. According to Monica Lypson, interim assistant dean for graduate medical education, residency programs have never been ranked before. Previously, people looked at overall hospital rankings to assess the strength of residency programs. “Since most training programs happen in a hospital where teaching occurs, people would assume that if a hospital got ranked at a certain level, then the residency programs would follow,” Lypson said. “There really hasn’t been clear rankings for residency programs.” The rankings did not come a moment too soon. Applications for residencies that start in September 2015 are due in less than a week. Students unsure of where they can receive the best possible physician training now have a resource available to help them choose. Lypson said the University’s See UMHS, Page 2A
Daily Staff Reporter
After a brief scare that a possibly armed suspect was in a University building Wednesday morning, students and staff are reacting and evaluating the University’s emergency alert procedure. University officials concluded that the purported “man with a gun” initially reported via e-mail was a Navy ROTC student returning “non-weaponized equipment” to the program’s offices in the Chemistry Building Wednesday morning. This information was revealed nearly three hours after an emergency alert announced reports of a potential gunman at 8:55 a.m. Students were advised to “take
driving service with lessstringent driver requirements. Michigan residents have questioned this service because some believe that it violates the 1990 Michigan Limousine Transportation Act. Under the Act, limousine drivers are required to obtain commercial insurance, have their vehicle inspected, register See RIDESHARE, Page 2A
DINNERTIME
HEALTH SYSTEM
Doximity ranks 12 specialty programs in top 10
By MICHAEL SUGERMAN
shelter, lock doors, quiet phones” at the time of the alert. Eleven minutes later, they were notified again, this time simply that the situation had been “resolved.” University Police said “many officers, police and security” were sent to the scene, though there was ultimately “no threat” to campus, nor was any neutralization required to settle the situation. An update on the Division of Public Safety and Security website elaborated that University Police “received a call around 8:40 a.m. from a subject who stated he had observed two men wearing flak jackets and carrying equipment, including an assault rifle, entering the building.” A police search of the building revealed that the perceived threat was actually “consistent with the ROTC program activities.” University Police Chief Robert Neumann said that though he doesn’t have specifics, “it is not unheard of to get a call regarding an ROTC student carrying one of See ALERT, Page 2A
GOVERNMENT
No debates scheduled for Senate, gov. races After denying offers, candidates evaluate value of public events By SHOHAM GEVA Daily Staff Reporter TERESA MATHEW/Daily
Engineering junior Victoria Cheung and LSA senior Taiki Fujimori are served food at Taste of SAAN in the East Hall Atrium Wednesday.
SPORTS
Hoke calls Gardner ‘a kid,’ says flack is unwarranted Quarterback is OK after Saturday “cheap shot” By ALEJANDRO ZÚÑIGA Managing Sports Editor
In his time at Michigan, Devin Gardner has been a backup quarterback, a starting
wide receiver and the face of the football program. Now in his second full season under center, the fifth-year senior has received significant criticism for his role in the Wolverines’ struggles, particularly following his performance Saturday against Notre Dame. But coach Brady Hoke believes the harsh reactions
are unwarranted. “You’re going to have opinions. That’s fine,” Hoke said at Wednesday’s press conference. “When your quarterback takes some criticism, that might be unjust because of things that transpired. I guess that’s the way we are as a society now. But at the same time, I don’t know if that’s called for. See GARDNER, Page 5A
The debates — or lack there of — have just begun. Grand Rapids television station WOOD-TV had a debate scheduled Monday evening between the Republican and Democratic candidates running for U.S. Senate — Terri Lynn Land, former Michigan Secretary of State, and U.S. Rep. Gary Peters (D– Bloomfield Township). However, because Land did not reply to the station’s invitation to the debate, WOOD-TV postponed the event. Peters, who had accepted his invitation, held a forum in Grand Rapids where he “debated” an empty chair with Land’s name on it. The postponement was the latest development in the question of whether a public debate between the two candidates will be held before the November general election. A similar question has been raised in the state gubernatorial race, in See DEBATES, Page 2A
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2A — Thursday, September 11, 2014
MONDAY: This Week in History
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THURSDAY: Student Profiles
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STORM DAMAGE
Living in the Dark Ages For a student, knowledge is power. But that kind of power doesn’t help when a storm knocks out your electricity for a few days — and that’s exactly what happened to LSA junior Tucker Schumacher and his five roommates. Their power went out last Friday, and they were subsequently stuck in the dark for four days. Schumacher had gone home for the weekend, and though his roommates informed him
via text that they lost electricity, he forgot about it until his return Monday night. “I went to my room, flipped on the light switch and nothing happened,” Schumacher said, adding that this barred him from doing any work there. “I had to go to the bathroom in the dark. I had to shower in the dark. Pretty much I had to do everything in the dark.”
The outage spared one working outlet in the home, which meant that all six roommates were forced to share. Luckily, they had a power strip handy to extend their device charging capabilities and ultimately avoid any squabbles. Food also became an issue for the students, Schumacher said, as their stove would not work during the power outage.
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“I was forced to basically provide BTB (Cantina) with their monthly revenue by myself,” he said. “They’re right next to our house. I mean, damn it, it’s good.” The loss of power was resolved Tuesday, Schumacher said, and now all is well. In fact, he found the experience illuminating. — MICHAEL SUGERMAN
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UMHS From Page 1A high ranking should result in a more dense applicant pool. Even without extra applicants, the University’s residency programs are extremely competitive. UMHS cur-
DEBATES From Page 1A which Democratic challenger Mark Schauer and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder have yet to accept invitations to the same debate. In the Senate race, Peters has called for multiple televised debates and has accepted invitations from Michigan State University, WXYZ and the League of Women Voters along with the postponed WOODTV debate, none of which Land has replied to. The Peters campaign announced Tuesday that Peters’ debate negotiator John Cherry, lieutenant governor under Jennifer Granholm, would work to set up planning meetings with Land and groups who have offered to host debates. “This is the first open U.S. Senate seat in over 20 years,” said Zade Alsawah, deputy communications director for Peters’ campaign. “And that’s why Gary feels it is so important that Michiganders hear from both candidates on the issues that matter most.” The Senate seat Peters and Land are competing for is currently held by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, who announced last year that he would be retiring and would not seek another
RIDESHARE From Page 1A their limousine for $50 and have a Certificate of Authority, which is a one-time fee of $300 with a renewal fee of $50. Uber Michigan Manager Michael White said UberX drivers are usually part-time drivers who are students over 21 and retirees trying to make money to pay off student loans or pay bills. White added that UberX drivers have to pass federal, state and county background checks, a driving record review, a mechanical vehicle inspection and online safety training. However, UberX drivers use their own vehicles and are
ALERT From Page 1A these training items.” In a statement, the University’s NROTC unit apologized for the
rently has 1,199 residents. This year, it brought in 379 new residents, and Lypson said UMHS usually takes between 300 and 400 per year. The number of applicants varies from program to program. In the internal medicine program, only 1.5 percent of applicants were accepted for the 2014 cycle. Most residencies last between
term. Levin has represented Michigan for more than 30 years since winning his first race in 1978. Land spokeswoman Heather Swift wrote in an e-mail that the campaign is currently evaluating opportunities for debates. Following the Peters event in Grand Rapids, Swift said he has differences in his Congressional Record and campaign material regarding issues such as equal pay, immigration and outsourcing. “It’s only appropriate that Gary Peters’s first debate would be against Gary Peters,” Swift wrote. “Congressman Gary and Candidate Gary disagree on the issues that matter to Michigan voters.” Aaron Kall, director of the University of Michigan Debate Team, said when it came to the state Senate race, it was unusual to see no debate in a race without incumbents. He pointed to Land’s previous public speaking experiences, however — she has mostly spoken from notes and in smaller settings — as a potential explanation. “Because there’s no incumbent, both candidates are going to be less known by the public,” Kall said. “Debates, several of them, would give both candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves and make their positions more clear.” In the 2012 U.S. Senate race, which
three and seven years, depending on the specialty. In spite of the potential benefits of a larger applicant pool for the University and more information for medical students, Lypson did mention a possible drawback to the rankings. She said students may feel inclined to apply to the top-ranked programs
pitted incumbent Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow against former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R–Holland), there were no debates. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Snyder and Democratic challenger Virg Bernero had one debate, as well as a joint event at the Detroit Economic Club, a traditional forum for gubernatorial candidates. Aside from the postponed WOODTV debate, the Schauer and Snyder campaigns have additionally been at odds over a proposed debate at the DEC. Both have accepted invitations to hold an event at the club on the same day, but at different times. Emily Benavides, communications director of Snyder’s campaign, wrote in an e-mail interview that the governor offered two dates and times for the DEC event a month ago. “The ball is in Congressman Schauer’s court,” Benavides wrote. “We look forward to discussing the issues facing Michiganders and are proud of our record.” Schauer press secretary Cathy Bacile Cunningham wrote in an e-mail that the campaign is calling for televised evening debates because they are more accessible for the average voter. “Voters have a big decision to make on Election Day, and they deserve to know where each candidate stands on
rather than those that they feel would best suit their needs. “When you are trying to weigh so many possibilities, one of the ways to shorten your list is to go to these rankings to help you start to make some decisions,” she said. “Sometimes that lessens a student’s ability to really make the best choice for themselves.”
the issues that affect them and their families,” Cunningham wrote. The Schauer campaign announced Wednesday that it had also formally accepted invitations to debates from WXYZ, CBS Detroit and Michigan Public Television. The lack of debate this election cycle is not unique to Michigan. Nationwide, high-profile Senate races in Tennessee and Mississippi have also included no debates. In the New York Democratic primary last week, incumbent Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has declined debating his closest opponent, called some debates a “disservice to democracy,” according to a report in The New York Times. Kall said the overall aversion to debating in the current election cycle could be a result of the increased scrutiny that has come to characterize public debates. “It’s a cost-benefit analysis,” he said of a campaign’s choice to engage in debates. “Clearly, if you avoid them, you’re going to take some heat in the press, in the media, because the media is the host of a lot of these debates, and so there may be a loss politically there. But if the debate actually happens and you have a total flop performance, then the voters are certainly going to see that.”
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required to have their own Michigan insurance policy rather than commercial insurance, which is the center of the argument. White said whenever an UberX driver is transporting someone, he or she is covered by Uber’s primary commercial insurance policy, which includes $1 million of liability insurance. “Any time that that person is actually providing transportation to somebody, they are covered by a commercial insurance policy that meets or exceeds the state requirements for a limousine and is more than double the requirements for an Ann Arbor taxi,” White said. Michael Frezell, communications manager for the Michigan Department of Transportation,
and John Heed, former chief operating officer of Select Ride — the parent company of Arbor Limousine and Yellow Car — argue that UberX violates the Limousine Transportation Act because it does not require drivers to have a chauffeur’s license, a commercial vehicle plate or full-time commercial insurance. According to MDOT, UberX drivers can be pulled over by police officers, pay a maximum $500 fine and face imprisonment. Frezell also said UberX drivers selectively using the commercial insurance from Uber and their personal insurance while transporting individuals is putting the driver at risk. “Your own personal insurance for your vehicle will state that if
you operate a vehicle in a for-hire commercial basis, your policy is not valid if you get into an accident,” Frezell said. Heed said by not having to pay for a chauffeur’s license, ridesharing companies are at an economic advantage compared to companies with commercially insured vehicles. “They can be cheaper because they get a huge price advantage of not obeying laws that are on the books,” Heed said. When Uber came to the Detroit area last year, MDOT notified the company about the Limousine Transportation Act by sending them a letter in December. Frezell said they have not received a response from Uber. “It’s not like the company isn’t
aware of the law,” Frezell said. White believes that Uber is not breaking the law because the idea of connecting riders and drivers through technology was not considered. “The whole idea of what we’re doing was not even conceptualized yet,” White said. “That was not written to address the type of service we’re providing as a technology company.” Councilmember Sally Petersen (D–Ward 2), a sponsor of the resolution passed last week, said the first step in addressing these companies is the operating agreement. From the operating agreement, she said she hopes state lawmakers can recognize the significance of this issue and draft legislation. White said Uber is happy to
work with Michigan and its cities to draft legislation that would emphasize the transparency of its pricing and its quality of service. “We’re open to working with both the state and the cities in Michigan in order to put in place regulations that would apply to our service as long as they provide for economic development, provide for competition and provide for consumer safety,” White said. However, Heed said UberX needs to obey law as it has been written — not as it suits them. “Until the laws change, they should comply with the law,” Heed said. “If they are complying with the law, there is no reason for an operating agreement. If they aren’t complying with the law, the operating agreement is not legal.”
incident and said it resulted from a break of standard operating procedures and subsequent misunderstanding. “One midshipman was in possession of a rubberized, non-firing training weapon,” the statement
read. “We understand the implications and optics of armed persons appearing on college campuses and the serious concern and response caused … The midshipman should not have attempted to transport this equipment through campus while on foot, out of uniform and formation.” The statement also said the unit would “implement procedures to ensure this mistake does not recur.” In addition, Commander Scott Howell, executive officer of the University’s NROTC unit, said in an interview that in a typical situation, training weapons are transported in a less conspicuous manner, which would avoid alarming students. Howell said if NROTC students or officers are not in uniform and in formation while holding the training weapons, the students are either in a van or holding the weapon in bags or cases around campus. Kinesiology sophomore Victoria Norris was in a lecture in one of the Chemistry Building’s auditoriums when the first alert went out. She said a student sit-
ting in the front of the class stood up and showed the professor the message, at which point, she said, “everyone started kind of panicking.” The students ultimately worked together to turn off the lights, shut down the projector, silence their phones and shelter themselves under desks and between seats, she said. Norris added that the students neither saw nor heard anything suspicious, and some hadn’t even received the emergency alert in the first place. She received hers solely via e-mail, even though she is signed up to receive text warnings. “We had absolutely no idea,” she said. “And actually, a lot of people didn’t get the alert until minutes after it had already happened. I didn’t get the alert until about 10 minutes after they had already cleared it. “It was probably the scariest thing that ever happened to me,” Norris added. Norris wasn’t the only student to receive delayed warnings, an issue that Neumann said “depends a lot on the technologies involved.”
Inclement weather, service providers and other related intermediary systems were cited as potential reasons for scattered message receipt times, something that Neumann said University Police are constantly working to improve. Some students, including Norris, said the e-mail alerts were significantly more delayed than the texts. University Police said e-mail is not expected to be the primary mechanism for emergency messaging as it is not the fastest way to reach students. Regardless, University Police said the hope is that sending the messages over a variety of media will reach a large area of the campus community. “We’re always trying to get the best technology to help us make those mass notifications,” Neumann said. “We continue to evaluate each emergency alert to try and find ways to make it better. In this case, we would say the system worked.” LSA sophomore Eldar Hoessel, an office assistant in the Housing Information Office, agreed that the system worked. The office is
stationed in the Student Activities Building and went into lockdown after Hoessel’s boss received the notification about a potential gunman. “It was kind of shocking, because no one really expects that (to happen),” Hoessel said. “I thought it was a good effort. I felt pretty safe, just because I think that the timing of everything (was good) in case it was actually a real emergency.” Though the notification system appears to have been effective, Norris was concerned by the content of the alert informing the campus community once the situation was resolved. “It was never clear as to what actually happened,” she said. Though the information became available on the DPS website, Norris felt that a text followup would have been beneficial. “If we got that text right away, I would say 99 percent of students are going to have their phones on them, so it’s going to be the quickest way to communicate with the student body,” she said.
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Thursday, September 11, 2014 — 3A
‘M’ hoops aces ‘The Program’ Dowling begins second season WOMEN’S GOLF
By KELLY HALL Daily Sports Writer
By MATTHEW KIPNIS Daily Sports Writer
Year one is in the books for Michigan women’s golf coach Jan Dowling. This fall, though, four of the seven athletes on her roster will be beginning the first year of their own Wolverine careers. Freshmen Megan Kim, Kathy Lim, Emily White and sophomore transfer Julia Montgomery will replace all four graduated players, immediately looking to revitalize a team that finished 11th in the Big Ten Tournament last year. “We have four new faces, which is very exciting,” Dowling said. “I think they are going to push each other this year and make some noise very quickly. Having new faces is a rejuvenating feeling.” With more than three weeks of practice under their belts, the new players already have a strong grasp of mechanics, but developing consistency is what sets elite golfers apart. “They know how to play golf, that hasn’t changed,” Dowling said. “You have got to make sure you are taking care of all the elements outside of golf. If they adjust to the outside well, their games are going to be just fine.” Dowling will rely on her three returning players this year to lead her team and its newest members. Senior Lauren Grogan, junior Catherine Peters and sophomore Grace Choi will anchor the team as the new members make the transition. Last year, Grogan, Peters and Choi were Michigan’s most consistent golfers, making up three of only four golfers to start all 10 tournaments for the Wolverines. Choi led the team with an average score of 75.64, while Grogan and Peters were not far off, averaging a 77 and
77.7 score, respectively. Choi recorded the team’s best mark in five of 10 events, including four of the last six spring events, while Grogan led in three overall. Montgomery led her team at Oakland in three of four events before transferring to Michigan. Each was named to the Big Ten’s Golfer to Watch List earlier in the month. Although Grogan is the senior, this is Dowling’s team. Last year, Michigan had to adapt to a new coaching staff, but now, she is more familiar with each Wolverine’s strengths and weakness and can build to improve them within her system. “Our goal is to be continually improving, get better and compete,” Dowling said. “We want to be one of the best teams in the country, and that takes time. We trust in our process, and we are going to go about our business and make sure we get our work done and get better every day.” Michigan will be put to its first test this weekend when it competes in the 15-team field of the Mary Fossum Invitational, which includes Big Ten schools Michigan State and Iowa as well as Montgomery’s former team, Oakland. Grogan, Choi, Montgomery, Lim and White will start for the Wolverines, and Peters will travel as Michigan’s individual. The Wolverines struggled in the fall portion of the schedule last year, never finishing better than ninth. In the spring portion, the team showed potential, finishing in the top four twice, but couldn’t consistently keep up that play. With one year at Michigan under her belt, Dowling hopes her rejuvenated squad can build off the glimpses of success it experienced last season.
“Having new faces is a rejuvenating feeling.”
GARDNER From Page 1A
“He’s our quarterback,” Hoke said. “He’s proved it how he’s come to practice.”
“He’s a kid. He’s not a professional athlete.” In South Bend, Indiana, Gardner went 19-for-32 passing for 189 yards, averaging 5.9 yards per completion and guiding the offense into field goal range in its first two drives. But the quarterback also accounted for four turnovers — three interceptions and a fumble — and the Wolverines never reached the red zone. “Was he perfect? No. He wasn’t 100 percent,” Hoke said. “Do we want to be perfect? Yes.” After the game, Hoke explained that the several factors were at fault for the program’s first scoreless performance since 1984, mentioning the offensive line, the receivers’ routes and Notre Dame’s defensive adjustments. “When those things happen, it happens as a team,” Hoke said. Despite Saturday’s blowout, Gardner and the first-team offense remained in the game until the clock read zeroes, nearly costing the Wolverines. Following an interception, the quarterback was leveled by a Notre Dame safety near midfield, resulting in a personalfoul penalty and nullifying an Irish touchdown. Hoke, who has otherwise refused to discuss injuries, said in Tuesday’s Big Ten coaches teleconference that the quarterback is fine and called the hit a “bit of a cheap shot.” And for those wishing Michigan would hand the reins to sophomore quarterback Shane Morris, don’t hold your breath. Hoke tempered any speculation Wednesday, explaining that, while Morris has improved and every position is contested, Gardner holds the upper hand.
OH, LINE: Though Michigan rushed for just 100 yards Saturday, its offensive line was serviceable enough for Hoke. “Right now, we like the group we have,” the coach said. “They’re not making many mistakes.” Saturday’s line consisted of freshman Mason Cole at left tackle, redshirt sophomore Erik Magnuson at right guard, redshirt junior Graham Glasgow at right guard, redshirt sophomore Ben Braden at right tackle and redshirt junior Jack Miller at center. The Wolverines averaged 2.9 yards per carry, but the backs found some success, especially early in the contest. Sophomore Derrick Green had a seven-yard carry on Michigan’s first possession, and De’Veon Smith followed with a nine-yard burst later in the first quarter. But the backs had only one carry of more than five yards in the second half. Hoke hinted that perhaps some of the blame fell on the backfield, which may have missed holes created by the offensive line. “The guys up front, they weren’t perfect, but you can’t put it all on them,” Hoke said. KENNY KICK?: Matt Wile’s first two games haven’t exactly inspired confidence. The senior kicker went 1-for2 against Appalachian State and then missed both attempts in South Bend. And that might be enough for a change. Hoke said Wile and redshirt sophomore Kenny Allen are “fighting like heck” in practice for the starting role. Allen has made two collegiate appearances but has never attempted a field goal.
At 5 o’clock on Saturday morning, the Wolverines dove into the water at Canham Natatorium, hoping to emerge as a more unified team. But these weren’t the typical swimmers at Canham. The Michigan women’s basketball squad welcomed “The Program” to Ann Arbor this weekend. The company is run by former military members that are trained to improve team cohesion and leadership. The Wolverines’ regular season begins Nov. 14, and players agreed the activities prepared them for battles on the court. The Program’s owner and founder, Eric Kapitulik, attended the United States Naval Academy, where he was a Division I lacrosse player. After graduating in 1995, he served in the Marine Corps. He holds himself and all of The Program participants to his company’s slogan, “One more.” It’s something easier said than done. “It was the best way for us to be challenged physically in a way that’s different,” said senior guard Nicole Elmblad. “We had to go through a lot of different types of challenges. It tested our
mental toughness and our ability to come together as a team … I think that’s going to really help us when we get to the season.” The Wolverines began The Program on Friday. That night’s exercises focused on pushing individuals to their limits, whereas the next day, the challenge was to develop leadership and teamwork. Friday, the basketball team set up on an open field to complete an exercise called four corners. The goal was to surpass multiple challenges, like firefighter carries and pushups, in the different corners while listening and learning from a fellow teammate. “It brought out a lot of confidence, especially in our younger players,” said senior forward Cyesha Goree. “It challenged our veterans to become more vocal and challenged us in different ways.” According to Elmblad, the most difficult challenge came on Saturday, when Michigan ventured to Canham Natatorium for water exercises. “We were in the pool, and it’s a totally different environment than what we’re used to,” Elmblad said. “Because we’re basketball players, we don’t really know how to swim. The biggest challenge was coming together and trusting one
another that we were going to help each other.” For part of the morning, the Wolverines had to tread water while putting on and taking off soaked sweatshirts. The athletes had to support their teammates in order to succeed at the task. When The Program ended, the team gathered to discuss the strengths and weaknesses that were discovered over the weekend. After getting over the
mental hurdles that cropped up during the event, Michigan left feeling positive and prepared for the upcoming season. “The team stuck together through the tough challenges and we encouraged each other and stayed together,” Goree said. “We never made anyone feel like they were the people that were struggling, which really shows the kind of team we have moving forward towards the season.”
COURTESY ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
The Wolverines hope off-court exercises will benefit them come November.
Nostalgia sparks Smith in last year By JUSTIN MEYER Daily Sports Writer
Leslie Smith has a lot of stories to tell about field hockey, but her favorite took place on the sidelines of a high school state championship game when a former coach and Michigan player called her a Wolverine for the first time. Just thinking about that story gets her choked up, she says. Smith, a redshirt senior, played her first game for the recreational league Weed Whackers in kindergarten. Later this fall, she’ll play her last in college.
But one thing isn’t lost among the myriad memories and nostalgia — Smith is determined to make this season count. So far, she has. In just four games, Smith has netted five goals to lead all Michigan players, and she has emerged as the team’s top option on set plays. The offensive production has been remarkable, even compared to her 2013 totals, when she led the team with 10 assists. All five tallies have come in the last three games, including a pair of multigoal efforts against William & Mary and Central Michigan,
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Leslie Smith has become Michigan’s set-play specialist so far this season.
and a dramatic overtime-forcing score as time expired against Wake Forest. Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz called Smith a big-time player after the back’s effort led the Wolverines to a 2-0 win over William & Mary. “Being the old lady on the team, I’ve definitely learned a lot in my past few years,” Smith said. “This is my last chance to make a statement, to make my name known, to give everything I can to Michigan field hockey. I came in with that kind of attitude knowing this is my last shot.” The bounce in Smith’s voice doesn’t betray any hint of sadness about her final season. Instead, the Michigan back with a nose for set-piece goals talks like a girl raised in the sport’s heartland. Smith, a Hershey, Pennsylvania native, tells story after story about her career, her teammates and what it means to be a Wolverine. She talks about loving the pressure of overtime, tells stories of club coaches who set her in front of a net with buckets of balls and warns about the self-admitted poor dance moves she likes to bust out in the locker room. Smith fondly remembers the private lessons her dad arranged with former Michigan standout Kelly Fitzpatrick and admits her teammates would probably call her the team goofball.
After Michigan’s disappointing 2013 finish, the offense Smith is generating is crucial to a team which has struggled to score with a young front line. As the set-piece specialist, though, Smith is no stranger to scoring in spurts. Smith has always had a knack for burying the ball off set plays. Though she’s a defender, the steady cockiness and hint of flair she carries onto the field is not unlike that of a striker taking a penalty or a clutch kicker staring down a field goal. “I love that feeling of now or never, do or die,” Smith said. “You have to have a lot of confidence. “You have to put that look on your face like, ‘I’m the best, I can do it, and no one’s going to beat me.’” It’s a mental game that Smith wins frequently, and one that promises to keep her a focal point of the offense this year. She brought that same attitude everywhere, from club teams, to the Hershey High School Trojans and even to a stint with USA Field Hockey. But this last stop at Michigan has been even more special. Smith remembers thinking on the sideline of that state championship game about all the Wolverine alumni she would be representing while in college. This fall, she’s determined not to waste her last opportunity to make them proud.
Opinion
Page 4A — Thursday, September 11, 2014
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com PETER SHAHIN EDITOR IN CHIEF
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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
The housing headache As students scramble, help is needed to navigate the housing market
I
n light of the recent overflow of students from University Housing, other concerns facing the student housing market have surfaced. Due of the University’s apparent shortage of student housing, thousands of students are forced to enter the Ann Arbor’s housing market each year — now subject to the questionable business practices of property management companies in the city. Furthermore, the pressures of the open market and the timing of University Housing sign up leaves too many students gambling on their housing situation in the next year. While there are University programs in place to help students with off-campus housing, there remains a need for additional assistance. Furthermore, the City of Ann Arbor must more closely monitor leasing practices in the city’s housing market. As of 2013, total student enrollment was 43,710. The University only houses about 9,500 undergraduate students in 18 different residence halls and apartments. There are also only 1,100 apartments for graduate students and their families on North Campus. An additional 600 spots for single graduate students will be added when Munger Hall opens in Fall 2015. During the Fall 2013 semester, 28,283 undergraduates were enrolled at the University. Freshmen, however, are the only undergraduates guaranteed a spot in University Housing, and about 98 percent accept first-year dormitory positions. According to statistics from the Office of the Registrar and the University Housing website, 66 percent of undergraduate students live off campus — not necessarily by choice. While it’s of course impossible for the University to generate more physical land near campus for dormitories, it’s important for the administration to continually search for new and creative ways to guarantee housing to a larger portion of the student population. Many undergraduates begin looking for and enter into leasing agreements for the next academic year within weeks of a semester’s start. This early rush for off-campus housing places non-freshman undergraduates in an uncomfortable situation. Since the signup for University Housing opens and closes in mid- to late January, non-freshmen who want to sign up for University dorms must forgo the chance to solidify reasonably priced and located housing for the following academic year. Furthermore, since every freshman is guaranteed one of the 9,500 available residence hall spaces, less than half of University living spaces are open to nonfreshmen. Looking at the student enrollment numbers from the previous five years, this means that the University has been unable to accommodate at least 80 percent of all nonfreshmen undergraduates. With such poor odds, returning students who wish to live in University dorms are stuck taking the serious risk of being rejected by University Housing due to space constraints. Not only are these students left without a guaranteed place to live, having missed the rush for leases early in the fall semester, many are stuck in a seller’s market with few quality prospects. This is a tough predicament to resolve, but one way to begin remedying it is to fix a loophole in Ann Arbor’s Housing Code. The code states that landlords aren’t permitted to “… enter into an agreement to rent the leased premises to another tenant for a subsequent lease period until 70 days of the current lease period has passed,” nor are they permitted to show these properties during this same time period. Despite these
restrictions, many students searching for offcampus housing find themselves signing prelease agreements with property companies and going on unaccompanied tours well before the required wait period has passed. Landlords, in order to sidestep these Housing Code regulations, often have students sign “Priority Lease Agreements” as early as midSeptember. These agreements simply state that the students are legally bound to sign a lease for a certain property when it becomes available after the 70-day wait period, and are often obligated to pay a deposit for the property upon signing these preliminary agreements. In addition, landlords ask their current residents to showcase their respective houses to other students who are interested in leasing them for the next school year. These tours are unofficial and employees of the leasing company are absent. In doing so, this sidesteps the 70-day wait period for opening properties to tours. If Ann Arbor can close these pre-lease contract loopholes, the city will at least give students more time to weigh their already difficult choices. Non-freshman students who live offcampus constitute a large population of captive customers who must live near campus, or otherwise commute. In recent years, highrise apartments such as Landmark, Varsity, Sterling 411 Lofts, Zaragon Place and Zaragon West have been constructed close to Central Campus. These complexes are expensive — prohibitively so in many cases. High-rise apartments aren’t the only exorbitantly expensive housing in Ann Arbor; based on the city’s average rent figures, it’s more economically sound to purchase a house instead of renting after 2.6 years. The University has shown that it cares about its students seeking off-campus housing through its Beyond the Diag program. In order to maintain some semblance of equitability, however, the University should make itself more available to students who are looking for off-campus, non-university housing. It might also consider using its substantial influence as an economic force in the city to act as an advocate for its students by reporting — and thus, hopefully preventing — the kinds of loopholes in the Housing Code that put students in stressful and precarious predicaments. In addition, the city should be more vigilant in enforcing its own legislation, ensuring property management companies follow Housing Code standards more closely. Between expensive pricing and the business practices of housing operations, the current state of the student housing market is bleeding many students’ funds and cornering them into unwanted and less-than-ideal situations when searching for and leasing offcampus housing.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Jaekwan An, Barry Belmont, Edvinas Berzanskis, David Harris, Rachel John, Nivedita Karki, Jacob Karafa, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Paul Sherman, Allison Raeck, Linh Vu, Meher Walia, Mary Kate Winn, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe
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Vapors and vapers
ou mean I can smoke these indoors?!?” So goes the typical reaction of an American cigarette smoker examining their first electronic cigarette. It’s a revelation in a country where, unlike the rest of the ELI world, cigarette CAHAN smokers must crawl outside, tail between their legs, to satisfy their craving. The pitch only gets better when the marketing geniuses at Blu tell smokers that “vapor, rather than smoke” has cured their impending cancer prognoses. Sounds like a miracle — all thanks to our good friends at Big Tobacco. But could it really be true? There certainly seems to be some allure to the blue glow in the hazy nightclub. And yet, the health facts on e-cigs are just that — hazy. Scientifically, though it’s true that e-cigs vaporize liquid, rather than flaming tar, to create the “smoke” effect, the data remains inconclusive on the health implications of the vapor. Though they have been shown to contain fewer carcinogenic substances than the nicotine tar present in traditional cigarettes, the market is highly unregulated and harmful substances have been found in liquid samples. Additionally, since other smokeless tobacco products, such as snuff or dip, have been shown to cause numerous cancers, there is fear that e-cigs might induce an analogous problem. Further concerns parallel the technical name for e-cigs, which is “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems” (ENDS): The name still speaks to the addictive nature of the product. So there is concern that while e-cigs might well reduce cancer cases among long-time smokers, they might
also prove a “gateway substance” for new, prospective smokers. The theory is threefold: First, regarding the addictive nature of nicotine; second, regarding the pleasurable “burning” sensation upon inhalation; third, regarding the mimicked “pulling motion” of hand to mouth. Accordingly, the Centers for Disease Control released a report in 2013 showing that the number of e-cig smokers under 18 years old doubled in the past two years. The CDC recently released another report saying that the number of youths who have “tried” e-cigs tripled between 2011 and 2013. Big Tobacco’s aggressive marketing campaigns (spending increased tenfold from 2010 to 2012) and creative “candy” flavors are indicative of its awareness of this $3 billion future “market opportunity,” so to speak. The counterargument regarding e-cigs’ benefits is made by a study conducted by the University of Nottingham. The study, by looking at recent statistics in the United Kingdom as well as illustrative case studies in Norway and Sweden, speaks to the public health benefits of cigarette replacements and smoking cessation tools. It shows that markets embracing viable alternatives to cigarettes have shown marked decreases in lung cancer rates. Thus, the study concludes that while information on e-cigs remains inconclusive, they may prove a useful tool as a smokeless alternative for nicotine users, an important opportunity worth consideration for public health organizations globally. This is the same argument that traditional tobacco companies (Lorillard, Phillip Morris, Altria, Reynolds, etc.) are backing and lobbying for.
All of this came to a head in the recent report released by the World Health Organization. In the report, WHO recommended regulatory action against e-cigs equivalent to that of typical cigarettes, claiming the potential risks are greater than the benefits. Of particular concern is the idea that e-cigs might “perpetuate the smoking epidemic,” through “glamorization” and “implicit targeting of minors.” Big Tobacco, as well as various public health experts, immediately fought the report, claiming that proposed regulation would be “overly restrictive” and would limit the health benefits of the product. So what does all of this mean for us? In my opinion, it means that e-cigs will only increase in prevalence. Powerful lobbying campaigns in Washington and marketing campaigns on television are seductive, especially when they address health stigmas. Furthermore, as we’ve seen with trends in the food industry with labels like “organic” and “natural,” these movements, codified scientifically or not, tend to gain traction in a self-diagnosing, hypochondriac society like ours. The additional significance here is to a broader theme — the continued influence of the private sector on public health issues. There remains considerable tension between political strategy (demonize corporate America for Main Street) and honest science (embrace the optimal health options for Main Street, regardless of the source): See the Sovaldi controversy. Whatever happens to e-cigs, that tension isn’t going away. But for the time being, expect Skeeps to glow a little more blue.
Sounds like a miracle — all thanks to our good friends at Big Tobacco.
— Eli Cahan can be reached at emcahan@umich.edu.
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S
Our better Angells
eptember is a strange month for commencement like fanfare. These events usually celebrate graduation, where students finally receive their diplomas and are forever freed from required courses, bad ERIC FERGUSON Graduate Student Instructors and having to stick around until the last possible day of finals. It felt odd, then, to attend last Friday’s ceremony inaugurating Mark Schlissel as the 14th president of the University of Michigan and to hear him speak about the future of the University. In his speech, Schlissel emphasized his priorities for the University as a public institution, focusing on the importance of diversity, accessibility and appreciation of all voices. He expressed his desire for the University to address the world’s biggest challenges through liberal education and the promotion of cultural understanding alongside the pursuit of scientific and technological advances. For students current and future, though, no part of Schlissel’s speech will have been more important than his statement that “students and their parents must hear clearly and rest secure that the University of Michigan values curiosity and intellect, not ZIP codes or family income.” With those words, Schlissel echoed another presidential address: one given by James B. Angell in 1879. Angell, the University’s third president as well as the namesake of a large campus building and a leadership organization, argued in his speech that the University’s greatest task is “to reach with our best training men drawn from all classes, from all pursuits in life, and men who are to return to all honorable and worthy vocations
… in all parts of the land,” and that “it is by this diffusion of the educated men … that a great school of learning does its highest work.” Judging from the amount of time he has spent acquainting himself with the state of Michigan and the corners of this campus, Schlissel appears to understand this task — and his leadership role as University president — quite well. He also has an undeniably strong background as the former provost of Brown University and dean of biological sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. All of this combined in his speech to justify the loftiness of the occasion and its accompanying atmosphere. And what an atmosphere it was. Even considering the event’s importance to the University, the amount of pomp and circumstance pervading it was almost absurd. Dozens of University professors and leaders from other prominent higher education institutions paraded around the acoustically perfect Hill Auditorium in full commencement gear at the beginning of the event. As they took their seats, a University representative took great care in placing the University’s ceremonial mace on a 101-year-old lectern while the organist (the organist?) brought his fourth and final piece to a close. Speakers rhapsodized about the richness of the University’s history, with past presidents such as Angell and Mary Sue Coleman held up as nearly equal in importance to some of the great American leaders of the past century. Truly, though, many of these leaders are University graduates. They and their University affiliation are vital parts of the institution’s history and image, and it’s appropriate to invoke their achievements at an event like last Friday’s.
Most importantly, a good number of students aspire to similar prominence and to see their names on buildings, academic programs and school awards alongside the likes of real estate mogul Stephen Ross, U.S. President Gerald Ford and Dorothy McGuigan, a former University professor and distinguished feminist. But the fates of these great men and women are not for every graduate of this university — and that is OK. Many will go into their fields and conduct essential, world-changing work that will never attain the public prominence and wealth this school loves to display on campus and in the public sphere. It would be easy for a freshly inaugurated University president — or one caught up in a multiyear, $4 billon fundraising drive — to miss this fact, and, in doing so, have a misguided start to their stint at the University’s helm. Even worse, a president who disregarded this for any significant period of time would begin to alienate those students who don’t aspire to attain great fame or fabulous riches. Carried out over an entire presidential term, this would be disastrous for the University and for society in general. Due to his prior experiences as an educator and self-proclaimed lifelong student, Schlissel hasn’t fallen into that trap. From his words and actions so far, I have high hopes that he never will. But to live up to Angell’s vision and ensure that the University diffuses dynamic, welleducated men and women across all ZIP codes and into families of every socioeconomic status, Schlissel must prioritize that vision for the full course of his tenure and convince those beneath him to do the same.
Schlissel must prioritize his vision and convince those beneath him to do the same.
— Eric Ferguson can be reached at ericff@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Brad Whipple: Look up and shut down the display It was one o’clock last Thursday Instagram it; while we’re physically when the harsh reality hit me. with two friends, we’re virtually As I walked into my economics with 600. discussion, I stepped into the silence Turk then tells a love story, of 20 students, most, if not all, of in which a man finds and asks a whom were on their phones. They woman for directions. The confronmay have been texting their friends, tation initiates a friendship, which updating their Twitter or aimlessly then leads to a first date, marriage scrolling through Facebook, like later on and ultimately a life togetha social media zombie er with children and that’s hungry for photos grandchildren. It’s love and statuses. at first sight, but Turk I took a seat in my reintroduces the situachair, whipped out my tion with the man using iPhone and conformed an app on his phone to to the trend of my find his destination. As generation. a result, the two wouldAs humans, we tend be lovers never glance at BRAD WHIPPLE to search for comfort each other. Weekend Roundup and belonging, but too The moral of the story Editor often do we go about isn’t “Don’t use your it the wrong way. When we’re pre- phone or you’ll never find true love.” sented with an opportunity to say Rather, it’s an example of how the “Hello” or even introduce ourselves butterfly effect — how small changto someone, such as in an elevator, es have larger implications — may we fear to take that next step. affect our path in life. Turk’s soluInstead, we look at our smart- tion to counteracting this effect: phones, forgoing the opportunity “Look up from your phone, and shut to possibly make a new friend. This down the display. Take in your suris the new reality: Face-to-face roundings, make the most of today.” contact is becoming increasingly It’s an important takeaway difficult in an age dependent on that people can easily forget, and Snapchat and text messaging. something we should try our best It’s becoming more of a challenge to be mindful of on a day-to-day to find students who simply take in basis. So as I became fixated on my the sights and sounds of campus. iPhone in economics last Thursday, Instead, we fall victim to popping I thought back to Turk’s video and in our headphones and checking promptly hit the lock button. the text messages we missed during This isn’t meant to be a cynical lecture. We miss squirrels chasing view about the dangers technology each other, we miss the sound of poses to basic human interaction. laughter and conversation, and We’re at the point in society where we may even miss the beauty of technology is a necessary tool, but summer turning to fall. we must learn which times call for Technology is becoming less its absolute necessity. of a commodity and more of a tool College is said to be the best used to isolate humans from their time of your life. It’s where you can environment. find a passion and stick to it; where Back in April, I was inspired you’ll make friends you’ll have for to make a change in my life after the rest of your life; where you’ll watching a video called “Look Up,” have a professor who changes your which has more than 46 million perspective on life; and where you views on YouTube. grow as an individual. The premise of the video, written Why waste that time on a and directed by Gary Turk, is that cellphone or a laptop? we search for ways to connect As Ferris Bueller said, “Life with each other, but instead end moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop up spending more time alone as and look around once in a while, you we cling to technology. Rather could miss it.” than enjoying the sunset, we must So remember to look up.
Weekend Roundup Photo Illustration by Allison Farrand
CAMPUS
EVENTS Thursday, 9/11
Shrek The Musical 8 p.m. Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre Kayaking Pool Session
8 p.m. NCRB
Friday, 9/12 #Anthem200 Singing and Viral Video
12 p.m. Burton Memorial Tower Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration
6-9 p.m. East Hall ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
5 THINGS By EMILIE PLESSET Weekend Roundup Editor Impending Polar Vortex getting you down? Then soak up the sun while you can. If you want to take advantage of the roughly two remaining weeks of summer warmth, here are a few things to do before students are stuck in coats for the rest of the school year. RELAX ON THE DIAG The Diag is one of the most beautiful spots on campus when it’s in full bloom. There will be many opportunities this winter to hole up in the UGLi, so instead spend some time between class laying out in the shade and catch up on reading. This is also a good
WASHINGTON (AP) — Opening a new military front in the Middle East, President Barack Obama authorized U.S. airstrikes inside Syria for the first time Wednesday night, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of “a steady, relentless effort” to root out Islamic State extremists and their spreading reign of terror. “We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” Obama declared in a prime-time address to the nation from the White House. “This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.” Obama announced that he was dispatching nearly 500 more U.S. troops to advise and assist Iraqi security forces, as well as conduct intelligence and reconnaissance flights, bringing the total number of American forces sent there this summer to more than 1,500. He also urged Congress anew to authorize a program to train and arm Syrian rebels who are fighting both the Islamic State militants and Syrian President Bashar Assad. Obama’s plans amounted to a striking shift for a president who rose to political prominence in part because of his early opposition to the Iraq war. While in office, he has steadfastly sought to wind down American military campaigns in the Middle East and avoid new wars — particularly in Syria, a country where the chaos of an intractable civil war has given the Islamic State space to thrive and move freely across the border with Iraq.
Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Obama’s plans were also an admission that years of Americanled war in the Middle East have not quelled the terror threat emanating from the region. Obama insisted that his plan to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State militants would not involve returning U.S. combat troops to the Middle East. Even so, he acknowledged that “any time we take military action, there are risks involved, especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions.” “But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil,” he added. The president’s speech, which lasted about 15 minutes, followed a summer of deliberation at the White House over how to respond to the violent Islamic State militants. While administration officials have said they are not aware of a credible threat of a potential attack by the militants in the U.S., they say the group poses risks to Americans and interests across the Middle East. Officials are also concerned about the prospect that Westerners, including Americans, who have joined the militant group could return to their home countries to launch attacks. In recent weeks, the militants have released videos depicting the beheading of two American journalists in Syria. The violent images appear to have had an impact on a formerly war-weary public, with multiple polls in recent days showing that the majority of Americans support airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria. The U.S. began launching limited airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq earlier this summer
to do while it’s still warm
location for group meetings.
river trips down the Huron River.
BUILD A SLIP ‘N SLIDE This is your last (and quite possibly only) chance to show off your bathing suit while on campus. Find some friends, a tarp and a hose to create a makeshift slip ‘n slide. This may be the most fun thing you could do with a large piece of plastic.
SPORTS AT PALMER Before Palmer Field is covered in snow, it’s a great location for any outdoor activity. Students can play soccer or Frisbee on the field, lounge on the hill or utilize the tennis courts before the nets are taken down.
KAYAK IN THE ARB The beginning of the school year is a great time to kayak in the Huron River. Many groups, like Outdoor Adventures, have kayaking trips available to students. You could also grab some friends and rent your own kayaks. Argo Canoe Livery and Gallup Park Canoe Livery offer
EAT ICE CREAM While this is not something you stop doing when it gets colder, warm weather is ice cream’s best companion. There are many ice cream and frozen yogurt places near campus including Ben and Jerry’s, Stucchi’s and Amer’s. Choose your favorite place and enjoy one of the last few warm days on campus.
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at the request of that country’s former prime minister. But Obama vowed that he would not commit the U.S. to a deeper military campaign until Iraq formed a new government that allowed greater participation from all sects, a step Iraqi leaders took Tuesday. Officials said Obama plans to proceed with both the broader airstrikes in Iraq and the strikes in Syria without seeking new authorization from Congress. Instead, he is to act under a use-of-force authorization Congress passed in the days after 9/11 to give President George W. Bush the ability to go after those who perpetrated the terror attacks. Obama has previously called for that authorization to be repealed, but he has also used it as support for strikes against terror targets in Yemen and Somalia. Obama said his approach in Syria is modeled after those longrunning U.S. counterterrorism campaigns. But it is different in important ways, starting with the fact that it marks the first time since 9/11 that a U.S. president has authorized the bombing of terror targets in another nation without seeking permission or at least notifying it in advance. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, praised Obama for acknowledging the “grave and growing threat” that Islamic extremists pose, but he said Obama was coming to that conclusion far too late. “He has finally begun to make the case the nation has needed him to make for quite some time: that destroying this terrorist threat requires decisive action and must be the highest priority for the United States and other nations of the free world,” Boehner said. As if to answer the criticism that he has been too cautious, Obama declared of his plan: “This is American leadership at its best.”
Entrepalooza 2014 Feat. Rob Pelinka
8:30-12:40 p.m. Michigan League
Women’s Soccer vs. Minnesota
8 p.m. UM Soccer Stadium Men’s Soccer vs. Maryland
5 p.m. UM Soccer Stadium
Saturday, 9/13 Michigan Football vs. Miami (Ohio)
3:30 p.m. The Big House
Beethoven Festival with André Watts
8 p.m. Hill Auditorium
Welcome to Michigan: Concert on the Diag
7 p.m. The Diag
Sunday, 9/14 Poets & Patriots Recital
WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Obama orders first airstrikes in Syria to combat ISIS President to dispatch nearly 500 personnel to advise Iraqi armed forces
Thursday, September 11, 2014 — 5A
4-6 p.m. Hatcher Library
Classifieds
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RELEASE DATE– Thursday, September 11, 2014
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
PARKING
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Wildlife photographs may be a memento of one 7 Visit Overstock.com, say 11 It’s near Miss. 14 Reebok rival 15 Piece of glass 16 “Collages” novelist 17 Triangular chip 18 Zero degrees Celsius, for water 20 Go out with 21 Synthetic rubber, for one 22 Capacity limit 27 Turn down 28 Bathroom fixtures 29 Airline seat pocket item, briefly 30 Word with ball or cup 32 Molar mender’s org. 33 University of Nevada city 34 Pinnacles 38 Not getting it, and, in a different way, what 18-, 22-, 52- and 58Across are 42 Pound and Poe 43 Bounders 44 Santa __, California 45 Attorney’s thing 47 I-5, for one 48 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics year 49 Abbey recess 52 Moment of change 55 Viruses, worms, etc. 57 Bk. after Ezra 58 Sensitive spot 60 Be unable to stand 63 Squeeze (out) 64 Govt. agent 65 Like most wedding cakes 66 Who __ Nation: New Orleans Saints fans 67 Exists no more 68 Said
DOWN 1 In a funk 2 Stir 3 Diamond corner 4 Parting words 5 Olympic judge, e.g. 6 Equi- kin 7 Beach lotion letters 8 Horn honker of classic comedy 9 Score that often requires overtime 10 Spa treatment 11 Cartoon genre 12 Hotel housekeeping supply 13 Fuming 19 Louisiana music style 22 Forever __ 23 TV feed component 24 Hymn ender 25 Cranberry quality 26 Practical joker’s cry 31 Kennel sounds 33 Opposite of set 35 American Airlines Arena team 36 Film composer Morricone
37 Carpet blemish 39 Scatters, as petals 40 “Private Benjamin” star 41 Nestlé ice cream brand 46 Plays chords, in a way 48 Medit. hot spot 49 Unlike rock bands on MTV’s “Unplugged”
50 Insulated jacket 51 Winter fall 53 Aired again 54 Not reactive 56 Wine from Italy 59 Otitis-treating MD 60 Uno y uno 61 Law firm office, perhaps: Abbr. 62 Journalist Koppel
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6A — Thursday, September 11, 2014
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the b-side B
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, September 11, 2014
THE CLAY
MAKERS
BY AKSHAY SETH
MANAGING ARTS EDITOR
DESIGN BY CAROLYN GEARIG AND SHANE ACHENBACH PHOTO BY NICHOLAS WILLIAMS
the b-side
2B — Thursday, September 11, 2014
FASHION COLUMN
I
Why September matters
was still in high school and it was a few days after Christmas. I dragged my loot of presents into the house and began sorting through them, analyzing and making mental notes of who stuck to my color coded Christmas list and who made the bold ERIKA decision to HARWOOD go off script. My dad mentioned that there was one gift that he forgot to give me, presumably because he ordered it on Christmas Eve and it just arrived. Then, with absolutely zero enthusiasm or feigned holiday joy, my dad tossed me an unwrapped DVD. I shrieked and gasped and did everything in my power not to pee all over my fleece pajama bottoms. “Do you want to watch it right now?” I asked my dad, knowing the answer would be something along the lines of an eye roll, forced chuckle and then a very frank “no.” “No,” he responded after following the order of motions listed above. “Dad, this is ‘The September Issue’,” I stressed. “That’s the most important issue and now I’ll have inside information on it.” He didn’t care and I was only slightly offended, so I went downstairs and watched it, kicking myself for not owning 2007’s issue with Sienna Miller on the cover and Vogue’s biggest issue at that point with 840 pages of glossy ads and Grace Coddington-styled features. Fast forward to 2014 and I’ve probably watched “The
September Issue” 30 times. The R.J. Cutler documentary isn’t as gritty and revealing as it was expected to be in 2007. Anna Wintour didn’t come off as the “ice queen” she’s been painted as over the years and Vogue didn’t seem as “The Devil Wears Prada” as we all probably expected. And as with all documentaries, there’s the question of whether or not everything shown is a matter of Condé Nast’s bottom line or actual authenticity. I don’t really care. Cutler still gives one of the most in-depth looks into the cities, personalities and clothes that go into crafting the 800+ pages of the year’s most important magazine. I anticipate September every year mostly (possibly only) because of the issue’s release. After I get a copy, I bring it around with me for about a week, slowly turning the pages, examining every ad, reading every article, weeping until my eyes dry out after it’s all over. Not really, but I’m definitely not above crying about a magazine with Anna Wintour’s seal of approval. With every year there seems to be a new crop of family or friends who ask me why I make such a big deal out of it and why it’s thicker than most of our textbooks. I usually act over-the-top annoyed and say “It’s the September issue” and leave it at that. Because to fully answer those questions would take me a long time and a lot of retelling of anecdotes like the one that opened this column. Of course, there is one relatively easy and straightforward answer. September is the beginning of fall, which marks a time of sartorial change. Back before the days of the internet and smartphones and everything my
mom still doesn’t understand, this was the issue that debuted the fall collections that were showcased during spring fashion week, and that was some exciting shit. Today, we can watch runway shows in real time because technology is a mysterious and cunning dame that we will never master, so the issue’s task of displaying these collections is less of a surprise and more of a refresher. Despite the change, people still love the September issue. Vogue’s issues keep getting bigger and bigger, showing off designer’s most beautiful campaigns and include unexpected articles like “Cooking With Marijuana.” It’s not just Vogue that pulls out all its stops for this month. Every fashion magazine from Elle to Lucky views September as its most valuable issue. That said, few push themselves as hard and claim as much dominance as Vogue, which in part can be accredited to the nostalgia factor. The magazine has always sought to create some sort of spectacle, something to separate it from the rest and establish itself as the leader of fashion editorial with its September issues. Because of that, we’re left with hundreds of pages that will eventually double as prized possessions for those of us who squeal every time a picture of the cover is released weeks before the pages themselves hits newsstands. Whenever I feel as though the world of fashion has become stale or I find myself losing interest, it’s this issue, every year, that reels me back in. Harwood is crying over Anna Wintour. To stop her, e-mail erikacat@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTIST
IN
AVANT GARDE
By ADAM DEPOLLO Online Arts Editor
For Art & Design senior Nick Tilma, inspiration comes from seeing the beauty in the objects lining the streets and hanging from the sides of buildings; the ones that most of us pass by every day with little more than a casual glance. “I’ve always been fascinated with the urban landscape, and just these things in parking lots, and weird things that come up … even that sort of block at the end of a parking space,” Tilma said. “Just how heavy it is and how permanent it is.” While Tilma is currently using his appreciation for form to work toward a BFA with a concentration in Product Design, his interest in the aesthetic qualities of everyday objects grew out of a game that he and his father played to pass the time while driving around the streets of Grand Rapids. “My dad and I used to just drive around, running errands or whatever, and one day we were just like ‘Let’s start a list and name all of the different cars we see,’” Tilma said. “So, while doing that, I started really studying the shapes of the cars and drawing them, studying car design.” As Tilma explained, his studies of car design gradually grew into a broader study of form and function. “Fundamentally, it was just understanding form. You know, studying every detail of the car and understanding how the lights work, how the different shapes come together in three dimensions.” Tilma transferred to the University three years ago after a year at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids. During his time here, he has assembled a portfolio of minimalist pieces that crystallize the strange beauty of everyday objects into an exploration of the intersection of form and function. For his senior thesis, which
NICHOLAS WILLIAMS/Daily
Nick Tilma holds one of his concrete lamps.
will be presented in an exposition this coming spring, Tilma decided to expand on that exploration with a series of lamps made of fluorescent tubes set into concrete in a variety of geometric shapes. A pyramidal lamp reminiscent of an M. C. Escher staircase sat on the desk in his studio as he described his vision for the project. “(The concrete) is going to last forever, which is kind of scary to think about,” Tilma said. “And then the idea of contrasting that with this glass tube was another sort of play within the object itself. It’s actually set in the concrete — you can’t replace it. So it’s a kind of commentary or just playing around with the ideas of permanence and fragility.” At the same time, Tilma is cognizant of the fact that his pieces are, above all, functional objects. “So it’s like a product — it’s a lamp, you can look at it, it’s not super bright — but it’s also … there is a concept behind it. I don’t want to push that, at the end of the day I just want someone to view it as a beautiful object, but there are
those underlying ideas.” In the future, he sees himself working as a product designer either on a freelance basis or as part of a larger consulting firm. That type of commercial work, he explained, is, in a way, easier than the sort of work he’s currently doing for his thesis. “There is a kind of joy in (designing products for a company) because designers love working with constraints. The more constraints the easier it is for us because there are less unknown factors.” But he certainly doesn’t see himself giving up the creative outlet that more personal projects like his lamp series provide. For a person like Tilma, who constantly looks at the world through an aesthetic lens, it’s impossible not to find something for inspiration. “I’m a super observant person … I’m always seeing my whole environment,” he said. “I find all of these interesting-looking … I call them ‘unintentional sculptures.’ You’d be really surprised if you just look around.”
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
No Wi-Fi? Give art a try Appreciating the finer things in (an Internetdominated) life By ALEX BERNARD Daily Arts Writer
It didn’t happen all at once. It was a process. First, my phone’s reception dropped from MWireless to “4G” and finally to “E,” whatever that means. Texting slowed down, then stopped altogether. Spotify “couldn’t be played without a connection.” The TV turned on, but is it really TV when the only channel is a little blue box that says, “Signal Lost”? What remained was desolation. Nothing but our poorly stocked fridge and fivedollar fans to keep us company. The humidity in the apartment rose to an intolerable level. It was as though the walls had collapsed (which just made us want to go on YouTube and look up the trash compactor scene from “Star Wars.” We could not.). We had no Internet. It was yet to be installed. What could we do? We tried everything. We purchased a football. My roommate bought seven fish. I hummed lightly to myself, hugged my knees to my chest and rocked from side to side. Nothing worked. What had occurred was the systematic dissolution of our connection to the outside world and, ultimately, to each other. How were we to interact if not by Snapchats sent from the other side of the couch? I found myself bereft of energy just days before the beginning of classes. Instinctively, I collapsed onto my unmade bed and gazed blankly out at — what some have called — a “bookcase.” My eyes fell upon the spines. The letters were there next to each other, but they wouldn’t form words. What were these strange, colorful packages and why were they in my room? What did they want? I suddenly had a powerful urge to look up these questions on SparkNotes, was met again and again with “NO CONNECTION FOUND” until, out of furious impulse, I hurled one of these English language puzzles across the room, nearly striking the powerless TV. The book fell on its back and flipped open. There they were, lines and lines of text, filling each page from front to back. It’s like SparkNotes, I thought, only longer and more detailed! My professors aren’t going to know what hit ‘em! I lifted the book to my eyes and read “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson, a haunting piece of nonfiction about the mystery, murder and mania surrounding the Chicago World’s Fair. I laughed. I cried. I hid under my ex-girlfriend’s old blanket. The book ended. I sat. I stared. I shouted, “What is life!” I wanted more. Give me more, Larson! Or better yet, I’d do it myself. I sat down to my disconnected laptop and opened the only program still accessible in my Internet-less wasteland: Microsoft Word. The letters that had before seemed so disjointed and isolated from one another stuffed my blank document with
blocky black text. A boy named Willem leaped over an old cart. A girl named Arianna learned to paint. A cat talked. A farmer flew. An elephant read the morning paper while riding a unicycle made of anchovies. The night wore on, squeezing the words from my brain like dirty water from a sponge. I needed more than my own choppy stories though, but where to find it? My feet clamored up to me. “Walk!” they demanded. “Stop propping us up on your fauxwooden desk and walk!” So I did. The feet carried me into downtown Ann Arbor where a movie theater sign screamed out in all capital letters: “BOYHOOD.” For the next three hours, I sat in The Michigan Theater’s screening room, crossed my legs, drank a Coke and watched an epic cinematic achievement destined to influence filmmakers, critics and biblical interpretations for centuries to come. It was all right. Not once during the film’s duration did I realize I had a Wi-Fi connection and, consequently a Snapchat of noodles. When I left later that night, that same unsatisfied feeling returned to the pit of my stomach, the same one you get after eating dining hall tater tots. But suddenly, there was purpose. There was more to see, more to do. There was more to it than that little blinking circle that tells you your Facebook is loading. There was color. I checked my phone, saw the “4G” in the corner, and promptly used up my parents’ data package looking up Ann Arbor’s art scene. For once, I was blind, but now I see! The Kerrytown Bookfest this Saturday: An entire day celebrating the books with speakers from all the way across the country and even from Ann Arbor itself. Authors, storytellers, publishers, bookbinders, book artists, book illustrators, poets, letterpress printers, wood engravers, calligraphers, papermakers, librarians, teachers, publishers and probably a fire breather or two! Mike Birbiglia on September 14th: The award-winning comedian in our town, performing new material at The Michigan Theater. And — yes! — tickets still available! Thank you, pimply box office cashier! A Michael Gould exhibit in the RC on the 12th! Pussy Riot and Zona Prava on the 18th! The University Symphony Orchestra on the 19th! Space Jam on the 20th! Sweet Mary Sue! Was I living in an undercrowded, over-confident Michigan town or in obscure art Heaven? I smiled and strolled lazily onward, now more certain than ever that I was going to be just fine on my own. There were films and novels and recitals. I’d attend plays, write fiction and watch comedy. Sure, my link to new pictures of my dog was severed, but something new remained. Something more important. Art, the cure for a broken Wi-Fi connection.
CLAY From Page 1B The Yourist Studio Gallery is out of the way. Tucked into a small space on Broadway Street, on the way to an alienated North Campus, everything about the location suggests seclusion. The liquor store next door. A small parking lot littered with a few SUVs. A cracked sidewalk, veined in weeds. And a layer of dust, wafting from the nearby construction work, covering everything else. Until one walks through the front doors, nothing about the facility suggests it could be thriving creative workspace in the middle of a liberal college town. But the studio-gallery has been surviving for close to 40 years — founded in the late 1970s by owner and resident artist Kay Yourist, the facility was originally established as a place where Yourist could continue developing her work. As years passed, the small studio grew with Yourist’s brand, eventually hosting classes for developing professional and student artists. Though one fact remained constant: Ever since its inception, the studio has been solely dedicated to ceramics. Every piece displayed in the gallery, situated toward the front of the facility, is clay-based and every one of the classes Yourist or her employees offer, from beginner to advanced, is dedicated to perfecting clayworking. “I’ve just always been drawn to clay,” Yourist said. “There’s something really special about being able to hold a piece in your hands after having molded it from start to finish.” On her website, Yourist further describes that molding process. “I begin my artistic process by throwing the clay into classic vessels that are as recognizable today as a thousand years ago,” Yourist wrote. “I then alter their form by pushing and pulling and stretching the walls of the pot. When the clay dries to a leather hard consistency, I carve into the walls to give the piece surface relief detail and texture. The last step involves coating the completed forms with copper and iron rich glazes, chosen to emphasize the organic and timeless nature of clay.” The entire methodology culminates in a final product that attempts to bridge a time gap between past and present — classic, traditional potterymaking furnished with her own uniquely contemporary style, glazed in highly metallic format. The art that Yourist produces is often sold at the Ann Arbor Art Fair but is also showcased in her own gallery, where she displays pieces made by the other artists working in her studio. “I’ve been really fortunate in having had the opportunity
to develop this passion for ceramics,” Yourist said. “But I think what’s even more rewarding is that I was able to learn how to run a business.” That business now allows Yourist to host community artists in her studio space, where, for a fee, they can take advantage of her equipment to produce their own pieces. Usually, the community artists working with Yourist are people who have taken classes with her in the past, and in many cases, for years or even decades. Marilyn Edington, one of the community artists who regularly works at the Yourist Studio, first became interested in pursuing ceramics as a side career after enrolling in a beginner class under Yourist’s tutelage. After years working as a statistician at the University of Michigan Health System, Edington decided she needed to f lex her creativity after retiring. She described how, in her first beginner class, she was immediately given that chance to use her hands as she continued working with clay. “Kay suggested I continue taking classes because it was clear I was getting a lot out of them,” Edington said. “So I kept coming back and I fell in love with clay.” “There are just so many nuances with this medium,” she said. “It’s more than just the technical aspects, which with Kay’s help, I’ve spent the last 17 years honing. Using my hands to make art helped me find my voice and understand what it is I wanted to say, which I think is the real reward.”
Yourist Gallery is close to 40 years old. The work Edington produces at the studio regularly sells out and has even inspired her to branch out and write about clay. Edington eyed the clay in her hand, toying with the putty-like grooves. She motioned toward Yourist before silently mouthing “You should be talking to her!” Walking through the front doors of the Yourist Studio can best be described as entering what one considers an art studio is supposed to look like. The front of the facility, just beyond the doors, is cordoned off and lined with display shelves. Original pieces, pots and teacups crowd every corner, leading to larger compositions placed near the entry to an open studio space. The only thing lacking are frenetic Art & Design students. Instead, the f loor is occupied by softspoken adults, part of what’s obviously an extremely tightknit community of artists. Yourist struggled to
Thursday, September 11, 2014 — 3B
NICHOLAS WILLIAMS/Daily
Jerry Bricker works on a piece. He’s been an artist at the studio for eight years.
pinpoint a specific piece of art she’s made in the studio that she finds the most meaningful. “The whole journey of getting this place together has been more meaningful than anything else, I think,” she said. “I’ve been able to grow this business from the start, and going through that has been truly amazing.” A scruffy black dog meanders around. Wet morsels of clay dry on large tables, becoming brittle plates. Two children run through the commotion, playing with handmade clay toys. Darcy Bowden, another community artist at the studio, runs through the basic steps to create a piece of ceramic art. Bowden worked as an art teacher in the Ann Arbor area before retiring and deciding to take classes with Yourist. As someone who had been teaching hands-on art for a large part of her life, she understood the value of continuing that art education herself. She cites the work she has done with ceramics as having helped her find a new niche as an artist. “I’ve learned a lot working with clay,” she said, holding a large clay boat in her hands — a piece she recently finished, now displayed near the front of the gallery. “Being able to experiment with glazes and all of these other techniques that you don’t usually find in a lot of art forms really helped me discover more about the possibilities of art.” Yourist herself became interested in the artistic process at an early age. “I was always encouraged
to pursue art,” Bowden said. “And I guess I always just gravitated toward expressing myself creatively. I studied art in college and after moving to Ann Arbor, I decided to create a space for myself pretty soon.” Over the decades, the Yourist Studio Gallery has oscillated between periods of profit and success, but has f lourished in the last few years. Yourist hopes to use the developing business in order to launch an online version of the gallery that can reach new customers. In addition, she has been trying to reach out to college students who she feels can benefit from the freedom claywork offers. “I’ve had students, engineering majors come in who absolutely blew me away with the type of work they were able to produce,” she said. “I think a lot of collegeage kids don’t realize the ways in which this art can help you calm your nerves and be at peace.” Through another recently launched program, she rents out her studio space to small parties who, under supervision, can work with ceramics while celebrating a special occasion. Which means, yes, alcohol-infused nights around a pottery wheel. “We haven’t had anything inappropriate happen,” she said, laughing. “We’re just hoping to find a place for ceramics in the future. Because it really is something that we all should experience at least once in our lives.”
the b-side
4B — Thursday, September 11, 2014
LOCAL MUSIC
COURTESY OF ALEJANDRA O’LEARY
Alejandra O’Leary recorded her new album, Heartspace Timepiece, in Novi, Michigan.
Struggle inspires 2 Champions of A Poignant lyrics propel dedicated band By ADAM THEISEN Daily Music Editor
To open her second set, Alejandra O’Leary decides to perform a cover song without her band. Wearing a denim jacket over a farmers market t-shirt and jeans, she sits on a stool with her acoustic guitar as the packed-in coffeehouse crowd watches her play a strippeddown cover of the normally bombastic, over-the-top “No Surrender,” a Bruce Springsteen song whose words, O’Leary
says, “perfectly express how I feel about this band.” With all of the attention focused on her, she sings, “We made a promise we swore we’d always remember. No retreat, no surrender.” This show on the upstairs level of Crazy Wisdom, a spiritual bookstore on Main Street, is a homecoming for O’Leary. Less than a week after the release of her new album, Heartspace Timepiece, she’s already staring down a new chapter of her life. But the Crazy Wisdom show allows her to bring together everyone who played on the record, to celebrate the fact that they’ve all made it through difficult times to produce the fantastic finished product. “It’s like the butterfly that lives for one day,”
O’Leary says. She and her band, The Champions of the West, only rehearsed three times for the nearly two-hour show, but aside from occasional feedback from the amps (probably more the fault of the unconventional venue than the band), the group sounds tight, mostly playing an old-school style of rock ‘n’ roll, with odder instruments like the mandolin mixed in. The fact that Rich Rickman plays his bass upright on some songs is indicative of the classic authenticity of the band’s aesthetic. Led by O’Leary and guitarist Jamie Church, The Champions communicate well and never step on each other’s musical toes. Their love for music and playing in the band shines through.
TRAILER REVIEW Jake Gyllenhaal is awesome. There’s literally nothing to dislike about him – he’s a wonderfully B versatile Nightcrawler actor who seems Oct. 31 like the Bold Films kind of guy you wouldn’t mind knocking back a couple of beers with. He can rock a great beard and all the women fancy him. He’s got it all. Coming across as a real creep is a surprising addition to Gyllenhaal’s repertoire, but he performs it with aplomb in the trailer for Dan Gilroy’s next film, “Nightcrawler.” “My motto is – if you want to win the lottery, you’ve to make the money to buy a ticket,” says his character, reminding you of that overeager know-it-all
who sits in at least one of your classes. He’s desperate for any job, and jumps at the chance to become a TV newscaster, doing whatever it takes to provide the scoop before anyone else. But how far will he go in his quest to do and be something? While promising themes – the ethical issues of providing headline-grabbing news and the intoxicating nature of suc-
BOLD
cess that began with desperation – are shown to be the focal point of the film, the trailer itself is poorly constructed. A clumsy montage of clips dilutes the tension with unnecessary comedy and even the lip-sync is way off in some places. Still, the trailer makes it look like a watchable film, and then again – a little bit of Gyllenhaal never hurt anybody. —MAYANK MATHUR
that she thinks of her albums as colors), is another example. The song has all the makings of a carefree acoustic strummer, complete with bright piano and girl-group backing harmonies, but the subject is a person whom everyone except the song’s narrator falsely believes is a cool, fantastic person. O’Leary doesn’t sing with scorn, though. She sounds very content with herself and her own convictions and seems almost amused at the wrongness of others. The influence of the Motor City also shines through with the new material. The cover of Heartspace Timepiece (or “The Red One,” if you’re O’leary) features a painting of the historic Art Deco-style David Stott Building in Downtown Detroit. “It was very important to me to be near a big city,” O’Leary says, “We always like to go to Detroit to see music and play music and look at Detroit because the way it looks is something I’ll never get tired of contemplating.” On the night of the show, the eight or so different Champions (depending on how many instruments the song requires) are squished up against Crazy Wisdom’s window overlooking Main Street. O’Leary jokes that “it’s like my first apartment in New York.” Space is at a premium, and with no risers or stage, the band is at equal height with the audience, making for a very intimate concert. Jamie Ascenzo, who recorded Heartspace Timepiece at his studio in Novi, stands at the back of the crowd, where they’re serving tea. Jimmy Sindelar is unfortunately nursing broken fingers, but he works on the sound and helps out by playing the Omnichord on a few songs. O’Leary seems extremely comfortable in this setting. She’s mastered that sort-of-selfconscious, humble, shy type of audience banter, but she’s excited and smiles a lot. And when she has the opportunity to ditch her guitar, she takes full advantage of it. When The Champions of the West cover the old standard “I Put a Spell on You,” O’Leary completely intensifies her demeanor, singing in a deep, husky voice while putting both hands on the mic stand and leaning on it as
hard as she can, before taking an open seat right next to where the band is playing and letting them jam. When she introduces and explains the songs, most of them seem to be about falling in love, out of love or both, but an exception here is “Beat Ohio.” The track on Heartspace Timepiece with the most clearly Ann Arbor-inspired name, “Beat Ohio” is also one of the new record’s highlights. The song opens the show and also gets a reprise in the second set, before which O’Leary explains that it’s about “never being able to be from here.” Syrupy sweet, O’Leary’s vocals sing-song over a guitar that’s essentially soloing for the entire song. Mandolin, piano and the mellow trot of the drums join in as O’Leary seems to criticize someone who’d rather be from the East than the Midwest, telling him “you’re doing it wrong.” This night at Crazy Wisdom is bittersweet for O’Leary, Church and the band. “This is closing the book on a chapter tonight,” Church says. He’s been really busy with the band and his family, but is finishing up a solo project that he’s been wanting to do for a long time. Sindelar and Martin Maginity, The Champions’ drummer, are also playing together in a separate band called The Landmarks. Most dramatically, though, O’Leary now lives in North Carolina. But they remain confident that they’ll continue to work together, once the timing gets better. In explaining the album’s name, O’Leary says Timepiece comes from the fact that the year in which the record was made was seared into the band’s brain, and the album is “a document of a very specific time in our lives.” Heartspace, she says, “comes from when we were talking about being stressed out by personal tragedy, and how we didn’t have the headspace to think about music sometimes and how sad that was for us, and I was like, ‘It’s not even our headspace, it’s heartspace.’ Our heartspace is not big enough to encompass all this tragedy.” However, now that the band has lived through the tragedy, O’Leary says “I will never undo the pain of that time, but I feel triumphant.”
The more details that emerge about Tyranny, the upcoming album from Julian CasaB blancas + The Voidz, the more Where No it becomes clear Eagles Fly that CasablanJulian cas is trying to distance himself Casablancas from the specter + The Voidz of The Strokes as Cult much as possible. Take the new video for “Where No Eagles Fly” and compare it to the now 12-year-old video for “Someday.” The still-amusing “Family Feud” interlude notwithstanding, the “Someday” video is mostly a collection of nostalgic shots of The Strokes and their buddies just hanging out at a bar and having a good time. Contrast that with “Where No Eagles Fly.” The grainy, found-footage quality of
CULT
the video — as well as the fact that Jules somehow doesn’t look any older — means that it could almost come from the early days of The Strokes. But the shots feature strobe lights, cheap-looking dripping-blood on the screen and ’80s public-access-showstyle effects. Watching, “Where No Eagles Fly,” you’re not going to get the warm fuzzies like you do when you listen to “Is This It?.” Taken with the “Someday”
clip, it’s like the New York of “The Warriors” compared with the New York of “Friends.” It is cool, though, that Casablancas is following this new weird, abrasive style. The departure from his normal, more popular sound may be jarring at first, but it’ll be interesting to see and hear where Casablancas takes this aesthetic when Tyranny is released. —ADAM THEISEN
SINGLE REVIEW
FX
Through the peephole, we get glimpses of most of “Freak Show” ’s main players — the aforementioned bearded Bates, strongman Michael Chiklis, triple-breasted Angela Bassett, promiscuous Evan Peters and finally, Sarah Paulson as a very unconvincing two-headed lady. (Seriously, what is the deal with those shadows on her neck?)
Five years ago, O’Leary was playing singer-songwriter sets in New York City, but she was always a fan of rock bands and never liked being a solo act. When her then-boyfriend-nowhusband got into law school at Michigan, her first priority was to make a band, which she was able to do by using Craigslist. Through the site, she met musically proficient Champions such as Jamie Church, a Plymouth native with plenty of previous experience in the local music scene, and Jimmy Sindelar, who was getting his bachelor’s in biology at the University. Their front-andcenter guitars are a huge part of the latest record’s charm, and they were able to fill in on other instruments when needed. Heartspace Timepiece is the result of work put in during one of the most difficult times of the band members’ lives. The Champions of the West practiced and played enough high-profile shows to be able to get money to record, but about halfway through, O’leary had to leave Michigan to care for her ailing mother in Washington, D.C., leaving Church to finish up the recording sessions. He had to take the lead in the studio, and the two mostly communicated over the Internet as Church mixed the parts together and added more instrumental tracks. O’leary flew back about every month or so to record what was left. Documentation of this time is found mostly in the lyrics of Heartspace Timepiece, not the pretty, Beatles-influenced melodies. “I think I’m a very positive person, and I want to see positivity, and that’s what music is for me,” O’Leary says, “But I also think that I can’t help being devastated sometimes in my life, so you need to get both in there or it’s not a complete figure.” On songs such as the up-tempo rocker “Positive Drag,” she croons lines like “being hurt by you was worth my time” among barbed guitars, but her sweet-sounding voice — even if it is tinged with a bit of a Liz Phair drawl — makes for a very catchy contrast. “When Will They Learn?”, a song from the last record (“The Blue One,” O’Leary calls it, explaining
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
TV TRAILER REVIEW The trailer for “American Horror Story: Freak Show” is a bit of a let down. After weeks of vague (but Bcreepy) American fifteen-second teasHorror ers, FX’s Story: Freak full-length Show trailer is disapOct. 8 pointingly FX ambiguous. Like the series itself, this trailer is a showcase for fancy editing and good talent, but is ultimately unthrilling and without substance. (For a show called “American Horror Story,” the trailer offers no actual scares, unless you count Kathy Bates’ beard.) The trailer offers a cool, voyeuristic peek through segments of the big circus tent.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
But all is rectified when Queen Supreme Jessica Lange steps from behind the curtain. Ultimately, it ’s Lange’s show, and the trailer rectifies all its flaws in the end by reminding us what makes “American Horror Story” so compelling — the campy glory of seeing Jessica Lange under the big top. —CHLOE GILKE
Sam Smith had a big summer. Two of his songs, “Stay with Me” and “Latch” (a collaboration with C DiscloI’m Not the sure) have become hits Only One so inescapSam Smith ft. able that A$AP Rocky even your Capitol mother probably knows every word. His debut album, “In the Lonely Hour,” features soulful ballads that highlight the British singer’s impressive range. Smith’s music has pop sensibilities, with earworm hooks that get stuck in heads for days, and lo-fi tendencies that show off tender songwriting. Smith’s latest single, “I’m Not the Only One,” gets a
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refreshing makeover courtesy of Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky, who sounds at home rhyming over luscious keyboards. The two-part guest verse features Rocky at his smoothest, who once again sounds like the coolest guy in the room with his nonchalant f low. This odd couple pairing works to pump new life into
an already enjoyable song, and should continue Sam Smith’s summer of domination well into the fall. This collaboration works seamlessly, and it suggests that Smith should handle hook duty on more rap songs, à la Frank Ocean, to broaden his audience and to showcase his tremendous vocals. —JOSH FRAZIER